Yoshikage Kira (JoJolion)

"I'm going to steal one... one of those fruits..."

- Yoshikage Kira,

Yoshikage Kira (吉良 吉影) is a primary character featured in the eighth part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, JoJolion. Introduced early in the story, Kira gains significance in the "Vitamin C and Killer Queen" story arc.

Kira is the son of Holy Joestar-Kira and the older brother of Kei Nijimura. He works as a marine surgeon and is also a Stand user, wielding the bomb-producing Killer Queen.

Kira eventually undergoes an equivalent exchange with Josefumi Kujo, fusing parts of his body together with Josefumi's to become Josuke Higashikata.

Appearance
Kira is a man of slim to medium build and seemingly average height. He has dark eyes and fine features, and wavy black hair of irregular chin-length resembling thin naturally occurring dreads (later appearances depict the same lock of hair as straightened). According to Ojiro Sasame, he has beautiful hands and somehow bore a resemblance to Josuke despite him stating their obvious differences in appearance. He wears a sailor uniform much like Josuke's, though with a tasseled beret or bonnet, in contrast to Josuke's "Dixie cup" style sailor's cap. He possesses a star-shaped birthmark on his left shoulder.

His corpse is discovered without testicles, in contrast with Josuke's four, without a related wound.

Personality
Although Yoshikage Kira has many unusual and dark personality traits, his love for his mother and loyalty to his allies put him on the side of good. Kira is a narcissist, keeping sculptures of his own hands around his house, apparently as documents to their ideal state. A copy of the Mona Lisa hangs from a wall in his living room, alluding to the Kira from Diamond is Unbreakable's obsession for beautiful hands although this version of Kira doesn't show the same fetish. He seems to have certain obsessive-compulsive tendencies, keeping an organized stock of entirely green foods, and shelves of containers of his fingernails in his bathroom, labeled by date.

His interactions with others are mostly cold and apathetic, fitting and contrasting his occupation as a surgeon. As a teenager, he immediately jumped to the conclusion that a drowned and unconscious Josefumi was fated to die, showing exasperation when his mother prompted him to manually save the boy's life, only wishing to see Titanic in theater later and leaving the hospital alone because of it. As an adult, when a fellow crew member on his team is injured, sustaining heavy blood loss and the inability to breathe, as the surgeon of the crew, Kira applied little effort to helping him, nonchalantly putting his shoes on before getting out of bed and ordering the others to hold his hand and encourage him, without so much as looking in his direction, his lack of concern was mostly due to presumably knowing the seriousness of the injury and that the crew member was in no life-threatening danger.

He is shown in several instances speaking to Ojiro Sasame in a deliberately confusing and insulting manner, intimidating and threatening him away from the coast in order to rectify Kira's personal problem with him as a surfer; being 'indecisive' about being either a man of the sea or of the land. Apparently, it went to the point that Ojiro ate his own fingers. Another milder instance of Kira brutalizing Ojiro happened when he inserted a small bomb in Ojiro's cheek to chase him away.

However, his sister Nijimura claims that he was not heartless, as he cared for his mother and actively worked to save her from a strange disease. On another occasion, Kira sacrificed his life to save Josefumi when their plan to cultivate and harvest the Locacaca fruit was found out by Yotsuyu and Damo, as he believed Josefumi had no right to die since he was only involved because of Kira's own personal agenda, proving he can be a good loyal friend to those he cares for. His thoughtfulness was also shown the first time he met Yasuho Hirose, as he made sure to kill the Hair Clip that tormented Yasuho while apologizing to her and promising to reimburse the cost.

Kira also shows remarkable spirit in the face of adversity. When Tamaki Damo captured him and Josefumi, Kira showed unwavering defiance, even swearing that he would kill all of them and seize the Locacaca, and at the same time thought up and completed a plan that would help him and Josefumi escape from the Rock Humans.

Kira is one of the few characters who express the belief that there is a kind of fated connection between Stand users.

Stand
Kira's Stand is Killer Queen, with the ability to generate bubbles that explode on contact. Part of this Stand is fused to Josefumi Kujo's when the two are buried together, resulting in Soft & Wet. The Stand also has an ability called Sheer Heart Attack, which releases several miniature remote controlled bomb tanks.

Medicine
As a doctor, Kira demonstrates an extensive level of medical knowledge and is capable of diagnosing and treating injuries on the spot. While on a cargo ship, he displayed confidence in being able to perform on-site surgery on a man who had lost his eye. Kira's calm personality and Stand ability also assist him in his profession as they allow for an advanced level of precision during medical procedures, such as being to remove a blood clot using Sheer Heart Attack. In relation to being a ship surgeon, Kira is also knowledgeable in sailing boats as seen in the Vitamin C and Killer Queen story arc.

Background
Yoshikage Kira was born at some point in 1982, the son of Yoshiteru Kira and Holy Joestar-Kira. When he was 4, Yoshikage met with the Flemish Giant Rabbit Cindy, but broke two of his ribs the same day and was treated by his mother.

At some point in his adolescence, Yoshikage helped save Josefumi Kujo from a blood clot using his Killer Queen's Sheer Heart Attack.

In the fall of 2005, Kira encountered a 13-year old Yasuho Hirose after she had been admitted to the hospital for attempting to commit suicide. Following a brief exchange between her and Holy, Kira entered Yasuho's room and apologized for his mother's behavior, while also revealing that he had stepped on Yasuho's hair clip earlier. He stated that the crystal inside was a fake, but offered to pay for it before walking out.

Kira then became a marine surgeon who was once acquainted with Ojiro Sasame. He continuously bullied Sasame questioning him as to whether surfers are "people of the sea or people of the land", stating that he "dislikes passing through the borders of things", as well as the ambiguity in Sasame's profession, before somehow convincing him to bite off or eat all of his fingers.

At some point, Kira is shown to have the bookseller's mark on his wrist, implied to be Kira who drew it. Josuke theorizes that Kira snuck into the Higashikata household for the "Steel Ball Run Race Complete Record", and removed the name of his sister, Nijimura, from the family tree that was conspicuously printed at the end of the book.

Pre-JoJolion
In 2009, while on duty, Kira accidentally stumbled over Aisho Dainenjiyama in his rock form, discovering the existence of the Rock Humans. Curious, Kira then investigated Aisho's activities, learned of the Locacaca's existence, and met with Josefumi Kujo. Josefumi, having a debt toward Kira and his mother for saving his life many years before, agreed to cooperate with Kira in stealing the Locacaca. The two eventually managed to snatch a branch of the tree from Aisho without him knowing, planning to graft the branch to another tree to harvest the Locacaca later.

At some point Kira associated with Karera Sakunami, and the two took a photo together with Josefumi. She later claims that Josefumi and Kira used to live together.

Kira and Josefumi were eventually found by Tamaki Damo and Yotsuyu Yagiyama. Tamaki proceeded to torture Kira and Josefumi, at one point cutting off Kira's liver. Kira and Josefumi, however, managed to escape and he was dragged to the location of the Locacaca, having already lost consciousness. Josefumi tried to heal him using one of the fruits, even using his Soft & Wet to break the fruit down to feed via bubbles. However, this proved to be in vain, as Kira had already died from his injuries. Josefumi, already undergoing the equivalent exchange process from the Locacaca, hugged his friend as the two were crushed by debris: causing parts of their bodies to be exchanged from the Wall Eyes. Josefumi, later known as, emerged from the rubble with parts of Kira's body exchanged with his own and without any memories.

Kira's corpse, without testicles, is later found at the site. His cause of death was diagnosed as cardiac arrest. His body was later cremated and buried at a temple according to Yasuho. Josuke and Yasuho subsequently attempt to investigate Kira, particularly due to his connections to the Higashikata family.

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