Kisaragi Kaori (如月 佳織) was a 1st Lieutenant in the Imperial Royal Guard and participated in the defense of Kyoto during the BETA invasion of Japan in 1998. She was the TSF squadron leader of the Royal Guard attachment stationed in Arashiyama Supply Base, in the rear of the frontline at Kyoto. Among her subordinates were Takamura Yui, Iwami Aki, Noto Izumi, Kai Shimako, and Yamashiro Kazusa.
Kaori was a model pilot who displayed great ability both in the use of her TSF and as a commander in the heat of battle. As a leader, she maintained a professional relationship with her subordinates and displayed a quality of brutal honesty she believed was key to the survival of her newly commissioned subordinates.
Total Eclipse[]
Kaori was dispatched to Arashiyama Supply Base during the Defense of Kyoto in 1998 to act as a member of the rearguard and command a batch of new recruits that included Takamura Yui, a reputable member of the fudai. Under the callsign of White Fang, the Imperial Royal Guard squadron's duty was to ensure the base remained safe from any BETA that managed to get around the front line, so as to ensure the vital supply line would be maintained.
Kaori offered a short speech to her subordinates and explained to them their duty of protecting the base, and that as fresh recruits, they would not be deployed to the front lest they get in the way of real soldiers. However, not long after the battle officially started, a BETA vanguard numbering over 200 units broke through the line at a distance of 10 kilometers, on a course that would have them overrun the supply base. Leading the squadron, Kaori divided the young pilots into three flights; she would command Flight 1, with Takamura Yui leading Flight 2, and Yamashiro Kazusa in Flight 3. Kaori devised a battle plan that would see Yui's flight deal with the Destroyer-class, while Kazusa's flight would use their Type-87 Marksman weapons to destroy the Laser-class preemptively before the bulk of the BETA force arrived.
Throughout the course of battle, Kaori maintained communication with her subordinates and offered them life-saving tips concerning BETA behavior. After the Laser-class were wiped out, White Fang squadron formed a defensive perimeter and engaged the remaining BETA, which were the leftover Grappler-class. After the initial skirmish ended and the Laser-class threat was destroyed, Kaori ordered her unit to fall back.
An argument with the Command Post quickly ensued over what their unit's orders were, and the transmission was intercepted by Ikaruga Takatsugu. He then revealed to Kaori that information was being withheld from frontline units regarding the true state of the Absolute Defence Line, and showed her the updated map where BETA had pushed all the way through to Kyoto and were sweeping up from Shikoku Island. Kaori was incensed this information was withheld, and Ikaruga agreed, but then told her that because they were stretched thin her unit of trainees needed to hold the line for as long as they could. Unable to refuse a member of the Regent houses, Kaori proudly accepted this duty.
Kaori split her unit into two remaining groups with Izumi, Yui, and Kazusa in one with her taking the rest. They were going to move to another fall back point, but the pass Kaori's unit was going through would be too narrow for the entire unit. When she detected Laser-class signatures, Kaori ordered her units to activate their rocket motors and engage in a series of NOE maneuvers that brought them dangerously close to the mountains in an effort to avoid detection. One of her wingmates was lost to Laser-class beams, and before Kaori knew what was happening, a Tank-class BETA managed to hook onto her TSF as it neared the ground and forced her to crash. By the time she knew what was going on, her second wingmate was targeted and destroyed by Laser-class, leaving her alone and surrounded by Tank-class BETA.
Kaori quickly figured out that she wasn't killed by a Laser-class as her warnings indicated that her TSF was irreperably damaged and that she was surrounded by BETA. Her first option of ejecting out of the cockpit became impossible when the system malfunctioned, leaving her with no options to escape. She attempted to detonate her S-11 device, but despite repeatedly hammering the button, the weapon would not detonate. Kaori readied her sidearm and then presumably killed herself before the BETA could reach her.
In the anime, another wave of BETA led by Destroyer-class was detected by the pilots, which surprised even Kaori that their intelligence had been wrong. She attempted to contact Arashiyama supply base, but failed to receive a response.
During the course of their skirmish with the original BETA vanguard, another group of BETA managed to overrun Arashiyama Supply Base and slaughtered the personnel there. Without a link to the command network, Kaori's squadron had no way of obtaining orders to retreat, so she made the decision for what was left of her squadron to fall back to the pre-determined rally point of Line 8.
During their retreat from the front lines, a sudden warning of altitude adjustment appeared meaning more Laser-class had arrived. Kaori misjudged the angle the Laser-class had obtained given the surrounding moutainous terrain, and believed that their line-of-sight was incapable of tracking the squadron at their current altitude. This fatal mistake led to 1st Lieutenant Kisaragi's untimely death as she was quickly intercepted by a Laser-class's beam.
In the immediate aftermath of Kaori's death, two more of the squadron fell prey to the Laser-class before Takamura Yui took over command and deployed anti-Laser Class smoke. The remains of Arashiyama squadron survived thanks only to the sudden naval bombardment offered by the Imperial Navy's 2nd Fleet, located in nearby Biwa Lake.
Etymology[]
- Kisaragi means "February" (如月).
- Kaori means "good, beautiful" (佳) (ka) and "weave, weaving" (織) (ori).
Trivia[]
- Despite being named in the Visual Novel, Kaori is labeled as 'Central Squad Leader' in the credits of the Total Eclipse animation adaptation.
- In the anime, Kaori's fortified suit is colored a purplish-red color, closer to magenta than the actual crimson red color.
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