Shizuya Kirihara

"In the end, there's no truth to ideas like great effort coming before talent. No matter how bravely you act, it just looks ugly."

- Shizuya Kirihara

Shizuya Kirihara is a second year student from Hagun Academy and a former representative in the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival. Kirihara was considered the strongest Knight out of Ikki's generation.

Appearance
Shizuya is a teen of average height. He has red hair that reaches to the sides of his face, as well as the back of his neck, his hair is also long enough in the front that a single bang is able to cover his forehead.

Shizuya is seen wearing a leather jacket, as well as a white shirt, that has a blackened collar, he also wears black gloves, with holes in the finger slots so his finger can be shown. He is seen wearing white pants and has a differently colored striped shirt tied around his waist. He also wears a necklace, that, instead of the usual straight rectangular chain links, has circular chain links.

Personality
Kirihara is extremely conceited and overconfident in himself and his abilities. Highly sadistic, he will not hesitate to belittle and humiliate others when given the chance and enjoys inflicting pain to his opponents as shown during his match with Ikki when he shot his arrows all over Ikki's body causing him great pain. A true coward in nature, Kirihara is extremely fearful of defeat to the point where he gave up a fight when pitched against an opponent with wide-range tactics, earning the nickname "Hunter" for his unknightly behaviour. The true extent to Kirihara's cowardice was shown when he was begging Ikki, an opponent he looked down on, to stop the fight when he was on the losing and ended up fainting before Ikki strikes him which cost his cheering fans.

History
Kirihara was Ikki Kurogane's classmate from his previous year and the number one rookie of that year. It was mentioned that he was a honour student of that year. He was also the main person who harassed Ikki and even once challenged Ikki to a fight which Ikki refused, as he saw through Shizuya's intension of getting Ikki to be expelled. Shizuya later represented the Hagun Academy in the 61st Seven Stars Sword Art Festival losing in the second round.

New Term, Reunion and Rebellion
Kirihara appears near the end of the Rebellion Incident, shooting Bishou who was holding an old lady hostage. Kirihara then proceeds to leaves the place but not without revealing that he is Ikki's first opponent for the selection battle. Also, Stella Vermillion, insulted by Kirihara calling someone that she knows is stronger than her weak, makes a bet with him that if he beats Ikki then she will become the latest of his many girlfriends.

Debut Battle and Vow
Kirihara is next seen going up against Ikki in the selection match. He initially has the upperhand on Ikki as he had not only activated Area invisibility, but because of Ikki's nervousness of his first official match and was able to hit Ikki from wherever he wanted, he had also the crowd on his side, who were harassing Ikki, and breaking his confidence. He however loses his advantages after Stella ceases the harassment, giving Ikki his confidence to fight back and break through Area invisibility. Kirihara, before being cut, concedes, losing both the match and his supporters.

Abilities
Archery Expert: Shizuya is shown to be skilled in using his bow. He was able to shoot down a hostage taker without harming the hostage. In fact, he's skilled to the point he can pinpoint a body part which is fatal and non-fatal.

Device
Oborotsuki (朧月, lit. "Misty Moon"): Shizuya's Device which takes a form of a green bow and shoots out magical arrows.
 * Area Invisibility (, lit. "Hunter's Forest"): Shizuya's Noble Art which creates a flawless stealth camouflage that completely isolates a person's senses. After training for a year, he gained the ability to camouflage his arrows to make them harder to dodge and to avoid giving away his position. In the anime series, Area Invisible also manifests as a lush forest.
 * Million Rain (, lit. "Sudden Torrent of Violent Light Flashes"): Shizuya's other Noble Art that charges mana into a single arrow, which explodes into more than a hundred projectiles in order to carpet bomb the battlefield.

Trivia

 * Kirihara prefers not to fight an opponent who can use a "wide range" tactics, because his Area Invisibility is weak against such tactics.


 * Kirihara's attire is similar to that of Iori Yagami from the King of Fighters series.