Yurina Kanda

Yurina Kanda (神田 百合奈, Kanda Yurina), nicknamed Yuri by her friends, is a classmate of Yoshimori at the Karasumori Middle School who has the ability to detect ghosts, Ayakashi and other supernatural occurrences (which are normally invisible to humans). After saving her from Ayakashi, Yoshimori promises to take care of any future threats for her, so Yurina constantly seeks his advice and protection.

Appearance
Yurina is noticeably shorter than most of her classmates. She has brown hair, which is tied into two long strands that touch her shoulders, and wears orange clips and matching ties in her hair.

Personality
Yurina is naturally curious and intelligent but generally uncertain about many things, partially because she witnesses strange things that most others do not. Meeting the Kekkaishi is an enormous relief to her, as she finally knows that someone else can see what she sees. Having seen Yoshimori and Tokine defeat a swarm of Ayakashi, she has complete faith in their ability to handle whatever situation may rise, and immediately reports any odd activity to them. She is especially loyal to Yoshimori, constantly worries about his health, and is quick to defend him in front of others (though because she can never explain why in front of normal people, she tends to come up with wild stories instead).

Her friends assume she has a crush on Yoshimori and often encourage Yurina to confess to him. However, Yurina only uses these opportunities to discuss supernatural occurrences, so whether she has feelings beyond friendship for Yoshimori remains unconfirmed.

History
Both Yurina and Aoi Shinagawa attended the same elementary school as Yoshimori. However, since Tokine was the only girl Yoshimori paid any considerable attention to, he only has a vague idea of who Aoi is, and probably only remembers Yurina because they're both in Mr. Kurosu's class. Prior to his learning about her ability, Yoshimori and Yurina rarely spoke to each other (likely because they could both see ghosts at school: in one incident, Yoshimori comes upon Yurina staring at a ghost, but when he asks what she's doing, she nervously changes the subject and walks away to avoid seeming odd).

Cherry Blossoms at Midnight
One day, Yurina spots a mysterious girl wearing an old school uniform under a tree. After asking her friends Kyoko and Ayano, she realizes that they can't see the girl, who is a ghost. Just then, Yoshimori approaches the ghost, speaks to her, and drags her away. Yurina begins to think he is strange, especially when the ghost girl accompanies him back to class. Later, Yurina overhears Yoshimori threatening to destroy the girl (who was starting to become threatening herself), and becomes outright afraid of him.

Yurina's friends Kyoko and Ayano want to eat lunch under the school's sakura trees, but can't because the high schoolers have taken all the spaces. Kyoko proposes that they come back at midnight. Yurina is against the idea, but Yoshimori suddenly interrupts and orders them not to do it. It is obvious that her friends don't take him seriously, but Yurina can think of no way to warn them that he is dangerous without revealing that she sees ghosts.

Yurina shows up that night to meet her friends, and instead encounters Yoshimori and Tokine. There is no time to send her away before a horde of Ayakashi arrive, drawn by the sakura trees, so Yoshimori erects a Kekkai around Yurina to keep her safe and defeats the demons with Tokine, not realizing that Yurina can see it all. Meanwhile, Yurina is becoming increasingly frightened that Yoshimori will destroy her after he's done with the demons, and bursts into tears. Madarao confirms that Yurina has some power by sniffing her, and Yoshimori becomes very worried and apologizes to her. Seeing him so flustered, Yurina realizes he is not a bad person, and agrees to keep his and Tokine's nightly activities a secret (not that anyone would believe her, anyway). Yoshimori gives Yurina one of his shikigami to see her home safely. She keeps the used Shikigami paper and later turns it into a good luck charm. Yurina becomes an extra set of eyes for the Kekkaishi at school, and either reports odd happenings to Yoshimori (who is in her class but regularly makes himself unavailable), or visits the high school side of the academy to inform Tokine (who she repeatedly mistakes for Yoshimori's older sister).

Spying the Spy
Yurina passes The Spy on the street, and is able to "see" three feathers, signifying the presence of Shirahago. However, she assumes that it is merely her imagination. Later, after Yoshimori defeats the Spy, Yurina is able to spot the huge crater where they fought from her bedroom.

The Butterfly Effect
When Saki's Ayakashi butterflies fill the school, Yurina is one of the few people outside of the Kekkaishi, Sen, and Shu that can see them. Though frightened to the point of tears, Yurina is amazed when the butterflies are pulled out of the school without warning, courtesy of a four-corner formation Kekkai.

Power & Abilities
Supernatural Senses: Yurina has displayed keen supernatural senses, surpassing even those of a trained Kekkaishi in some cases. She often detects supernatural occurrences in Karasumori Academy before either Yoshimori or Tokine do.


 * Sight: Yurina has the ability to see ghosts, Ayakashi, and other supernatural occurrences. However, she often cannot tell the difference between ghosts and living people, and can only confirm her suspicions by either asking a normal person (who cannot see ghosts), or a Kekkaishi (who can see ghosts). Yurina constantly worries that people will dislike her if they discover her ability, but her friends just assume her "ghost stories" are an odd, somewhat amusing quirk.




 * Smell: Yurina is able to smell blood on Gen Shishio (an impossible feat for normal humans and even Kekkaishi) when she passes him in the hall. Kaguro is the only other being to detect this scent, which may imply that Yurina's sense of smell rivals that of an Ayakashi.

Mid-Range Spiritual Power: Yurina's near-regular exposure to ghosts appears to have made her unusually sensitive to the spirit world. However, because she has had no training, her knowledge of the spirit world is very limited. As a result, even when she does sense something, she generally has little to no idea of exactly what it means without additional information.

Yoshimori Sumimura
Yurina initially considers Yoshimori no different from any other classmate. However, after she sees him interacting with a ghost, she steadily grows more suspicious of him, and this turns to fear once she witnesses he and Tokine destroying a swarm of Ayakashi. After Yoshimori manages to reassure her that they are simply exterminating Ayakashi and that her own powers are not strange, Yurina comes to trust them, especially Yoshimori, who personally promises to protect her. She repeatedly goes out of her way to keep Yoshimori informed of strange events around the school (typically out of fear, since she can do nothing to protect herself from them), and though they rarely interact otherwise, Yurina is very loyal to Yoshimori. Her feelings toward him are commonly mistaken for a crush by her friends, and Yurina has been unable to convince them otherwise, since she cannot explain her actual interest in him without revealing that they both have supernatural powers.

Tokine Yukimura
Yurina first meets Tokine while Tokine and Yoshimori are destroying a swarm of Ayakashi. As a result, Yurina is initially very afraid of them both. After Yoshimori assures her that they were only trying to protect her, Yurina comes to have complete faith in them both to handle supernatural incidents. However, she mistakenly assumes that Tokine is Yoshimori's older sister, and addresses her as such (even when talking to Yoshimori) until Tokine finally bothers to correct her and explains that they are comrades, not siblings.

Etymology

 * The name Yurina means "lily" (百合) (yuri) and "apple tree" (奈) (na).
 * Yurina's surname Kanda means "god" (神) (kan) and "field, rice paddy" (田) (ta/da).

Trivia

 * Yurina likes cats and birds, to the point where seeing them as ghosts doesn't bother her as it would with human ghosts.
 * Yurina's powers are sometimes described as being psychic in nature. In the anime, while passing the disguised Kaguro on the street, she is able to "see" three feathers, representing Shirahago. Additionally, Yurina shares several physical attributes with Saki, a former Miko from Serpent's Eye. Most notably, both had long hair tied into two thick strands, which was typical among Miko, whose long hair was directly connected to their spiritual power.
 * Yurina mistakenly believes that Tokine Yukimura is Yoshimori Sumimura's older sister. This is because she hears him address Tokine by name, but thinks he is saying "Toki-nee". It is common in Japanese culture to address an older sister (or any young woman that is older than you) as "onee-san". Likewise, a younger sibling might attach "-nee" to their sister's name, and/or shorten the name for convenience. So Yurina assumes that "Toki-nee" is Yoshimori's name for his big sister (and that her name simply begins with "Toki-") and refers to her as "Sumimura-kun's onee-san" (or "Yoshimori's sister" in English Dub) until Tokine corrects her.
 * The penguin design on Yurina's Shikigami Charm is based on Yellow Tanabe's depiction of herself in the manga.