[NAME]Kaoru Koizumi
[GENDER]Female
[AGE]16
[APPEARANCE]Kaoru has always been one of the larger students in school, and currently stands at a solid 5’7. Although her unusual blue hair is quite long, Kaoru's overall is said to have an androgynous appearance, with her sharp jawline and nonexistent womanly figure. Instead, she has more of a fit, lithe figure. Kaoru has no problem with people teasing her for her height or flat chest, and actually takes pride in her long limbs (jokingly calling them ‘goddess legs/arms' in her own privacy). Fashion wise, she's not too picky with the clothes she wears. Usually a hoodie, some comfortable shorts and a pair of kickass trainers will do for her.
[PERSONALITY]At first glance, Kaoru is a soft spoken, perhaps a little quiet type of girl. She doesn't mind the occasional company, and is actually quite comforting to talk to during the conversations she decides to partake in. There seems to be this strange, yet calming aura that cloaks Kaoru, stemming from her naturally peaceful nature. She often only ever speaks when spoken to, but speaking to people on her own accord isn't something she dreads or dislikes. Although she has this mysterious air to her, she may come off as a bit aloof to some. She's an infamous daydreamer who hangs around with her simple wooden guitar more than she hangs around with people. Her movements even scream ‘lazy piece of gum under the table’, with her slow walk and often slumped shoulders. Oh, and some of this girl's responses can be as blunt a freaking hammer outside of friendly conversation.
Although she appears absent minded and sluggish, Kaoru is by no means naïve, and is actually quite smart and analytical. Her Quirk allows her to come up with all sorts of weird and creative strategies, something she enjoys and something she's thankful for. She's actually a very deep thinker as well, and spends most of her time contemplating such complex thoughts. She doesn't just daydream of her mother's special cookies all day you know.
What comes as a surprise to most is how Kaoru is a very emotional person at heart. Her tendency to keep all her troubles bottled up inside of her may result in her eventual 'downfall’, and when she gets sad or angry, it's extremely noticeable; meaning if she's in such a state, when she gets angry, she gets angry. Listening to music or playing the guitar is her way of calming her emotions, or even chewing some gum can help with the difficult times. Rarely will she open up to somebody and reveal her true thoughts and emotions; keeping everything to herself is definitely her biggest flaw. She's even too embarrassed to admit that she hasn't grown out of her fear of the dark (and the fact that it might have gotten even worse over the years), as she thinks it will cause people to tease her for such a childish thing. She doesn't want to feel alienated, nor does she want to feel squashed into a circle of people; maybe she just hasn't found her middle yet. But to her, being called and treated as something useless is what Kaoru dreads; she never wants to feel like a worthless piece of junk.
[BACKSTORY]If you ask Kaoru about her past, she'll most likely respond with, ‘It's not that interesting. You shouldn't worry about it.’. And to be honest, it really isn't. But if you're really eager, then Kaoru will drag you into an hour of back story like some typical shōnen anime character.
Her parents were, well, always there, to put it simply. They owned a lovely little bakery which managed to pay the bills, and there was always somebody home to look after Kaoru when the other was at work. Even on days her two parents would both work, Kaoru would be there either helping out at a snail's pace or eyeing the yummy cupcakes her mother would make. Of course, there was school as well, which wasn't all that bad. Okay, maybe a little bit.
By the time Kaoru's Quirk manifested, she told nobody about it. She was embarrassed that she had gotten stuck with bubblegum powers, since everyone else around her had managed to develop some pretty cool ones, like the fire breathing boy or the wind controlling girl. She was even too embarrassed to tell her parents, seeing as they had a nice set of abilities too. Kaoru envied the rest of the people in her class and her parents’ lightning manipulation and boiling water manipulation Quirks, and had a hard time accepting her own. A bubblegum Quirk? Bah! How useless was that? She didn't want to reveal her powers to anybody.
Funnily enough, someone had already seen it in action before.
One day, her mother walked in on Kaoru as she was playing around with a gum attached pencil in her bedroom, much to the young girl's shock. Even when Kaoru did try to cover it up, her mother mentioned that she already knew of her ability, but wasn't aware that Kaoru was self conscious about it. Then and there, the young girl spouted out all of her troubles and emotions, only for her mother to laugh it off and saying that something like that was natural. Especially at such a young age, jealousy of others' great Quriks was expected. But, after spending some time with her parents unveiling Kaoru's versatile Quirk, she started to learn how to accept herself and her Quirk for what they were.
Not even the fire breathing boy from before would get in her way of discovering her full potential. After being teased by the boy for her 'weird and boring' Quirk, Kaoru decided that she wouldn't take any more of the boy's insults anymore. So, in a fit of internal rage, she spat gum into his hair, which resulted in him crying to the teacher and coming back to school the next day with a completely shaved head. Totally worth it.
After that, Kaoru's life went on as normal; going to school, helping out at the bakery, playing the guitar she got for her sixth birthday, you know, mundane things. But even so, she felt like there was something missing. Out of place. Then, she realised that she didn't know what she was striving to be. How was she going to serve a purpose? How was she going to show her snobby classmates that her gum powers weren't as useless as they sounded? Just what was her goal?
Once upon a regular night, an idea crossed Kaoru's mind.
‘Why don't I become a hero?’
She had the Quirk. She had the mediocre determination. She sort of had the skill and the smarts. Why couldn't she give it a shot?
Her parents were delighted to hear of this news, as they thought Kaoru had finally gained some confidence in her abilities, and was willing to develop then even further. And it was true. She would become a hero to be useful. To save lives. To help people. And maybe to teach younger kids that went through a similar thing to her that most things can be used for something. You just need the brains and the determination to do it, and the mindset that you're not just a piece of hardened gum under a school desk.
[QUIRK]Bubble Magic - Kaoru’s quirk is an unusual one, as she has been granted the ability to create literal pale pink bubblegum from her hands and mouth. Since it's very sticky and surprisingly durable and strong, her ability is quite versatile. Kaoru's uses for this Quirk can range from simple tasks such as retrieving the remote if she's too lazy to get off a sofa, to much more difficult tasks such as tugging away a unconscious person heavy object. However, if this substance does come into contact with something or someone, you're going to have a hard time scraping the excess gum off.
[SKILLS AND TECHNIQUES]Gum Swing - This is Kaoru's most frequently used technique. By moulding gum into her hands, Kaoru is able to attach herself to hard surfaces or stretch the gum enough to attach it to a surface. All you can really do is hope that it isn't your building that Kaoru attaches her gum to. Think Spiderman's webs as he swings from building to building, but with extra sticky gum that's bound to leave a mark instead.
Gumballs - Kaoru creates a vast amount small bubbles of gum that float around the target. Then, on her own accord, the bubbles pop, leaving the surface her target is standing on or the target itself covered in a thin layer of sticky gum. Kaoru considers it as good stealth tactic, as she prefers to use this technique as a silent and annoying surprise attack.
Gum Shot - In contrast to her stealthy Gumballs technique, this one is mainly used as a quick offense and defense mechanism. Kaoru expels large amounts of gum from her mouth either to cover an opponent's face or, like Gumballs, stop someone in their tracks. As this is often used to bind someone to a surface, the gum Kaoru expels from her mouth is much stronger, unlike the Gumballs technique’s thinner layer of gum.
Gum Dome - By creating a strong, large ball full of gum (about twice Kaoru's height), Kaoru is able to shield herself from or catch objects/people as they stick to the giant pink ball. She is also able to produce smaller balls (one on each hand) to catch smaller objects. This is Kaoru's main defensive technique.
[LIMITS]Proportion and Property - Of course, Kaoru's gum comes with its limits; and these limits mostly being their strength and size/length.
{Gum Swing - Gum Swing heavily relies on Kaoru's own physical strength. If she's tugging something very heavy, then of course Kaoru won't be able to tug it behind her. Kaoru's average strength limits her from heaving heavy things (so there's no pulling in regular people, unless you're light enough for Kaoru to carry). Also, as of now, she is only able to stretch her gum to a length of 13 metres. Anymore and the gum will snap.
Gumballs - Although it's a good way of startling an opponent, it isn't impossible to counter against it. Since the gum layer (after the bubbles pop) is quite thin, it only requires that extra bit of strength to walk over it. This technique is simply just to show what Kaoru's Quirk is capable of doing.
Gum Shot - This is more of a distance issue. Kaoru is only able to shoot gum from her mouth from six metres away at the most, which is why she must act quickly if she intends to use it (especially since some students are capable of covering long distances in a short span of time). Even though her Gum Shot is strong enough to hold the average person in place, anyone with enhanced strength Quirks are easily capable of breaking through this sticky hold.
Gum Dome - Similar to her Gum Swing weakness, this technique relies on Kaoru's own strength, however the size of this full ball of gum helps her to shield herself from more heavier objects. Her Gum Dome is basically a sticky shield, so if for example two trucks were flung at her Gum Dome, it would catch the trucks - but the force of it hitting against the dome would fling Kaoru back, breaking some of her bones. Also, her hands must be on the ball of gum at all times, so there's no moving from her current position if she's shielding herself.}
Another limit that applies to her techniques is that she may only use one technique at a time; for example, if she wanted to use Gum Dome
after using her Gum Swing, then she would have to 'dispel' the Gum Swing before forming her Gum Dome.
