Houki Shinonono

Houki Shinonono (篠ノ之箒, Shinonono Houki) is a 1st year student at the IS Academy. She's in Class One, and she's also the first childhood friend of Ichika Orimura. She is the first heroine to be introduced in the Infinite Stratos series.

Appearance
Houki is a beautiful teenage girl of average height with long brown hair that she keeps in a slightly messy ponytail (that seems to be divided into two sections) with a green and black ribbon. She has dark blue eyes and a slim, curvaceous body with no trace of fat on her. She usually wears her IS Academy uniform, with high stockings and black knee-high boots that have white soles. After the battle with the Silver Gospel, she replaces her green ribbon with a red-and-white ribbon that Ichika bought for her birthday.

Her initial IS training uniform matched the standard ones worn by all other female students, but after gaining Akatsubaki, she changed into one (a uniform) that is predominantly white with a black neckline, and black edges on the legs.

In the light novel and rebooted manga, it is stated that she is very well-endowed for her age and has the largest bust size among the main heroines, including the older Chifuyu Orimura and Tatenashi Sarashiki, who are very voluptuous themselves. She was even complaining about the size of her breasts being too big and how they just keep getting bigger, only to think to herself that maybe Ichika likes that.

Personality
Having been raised in a shrine, Houki possesses a stern, disciplined personality. As such, she had a hard time socializing with other kids, so she had virtually no friends, with the exception of Ichika. Ichika thought of Houki as a cute girl, and he helped her out by chasing the bullies away whenever they mocked her. Even as a child, Houki had trouble expressing her feelings for Ichika; and shortly after they first met, she asked him to use her first name, but then she justified it by saying that there were three other Shinononos (her father, her mother and her sister). Since her place of residence is a kendo dojo, Houki had been interested in kendo ever since she was young. After being forced to move away from Ichika, Houki continued practicing kendo, as it was the only connection she had left with him.

As a result of the separation, Houki has a serious emotional problem. Although she has been training in kendo which emphasizes obtaining self-control as with most other forms of martial arts, she is very emotionally unstable, often resorting to violence first, and is quite prone to jumping to conclusions without taking the time to understand. Whenever Houki gains a new power, it doesn't take long for it to go to her head, causing her do and say things that she would later regret.

Ichika says that Houki is vile at times. This is because she's too prideful and stubborn to agree with others or admit her mistakes whenever she's wrong. Ichika even notes that this is what leads her to make mistakes as a result. She usually wants to be punished for her mistakes, and feels worse when she isn't. Ichika was quick to forgive her, but she did accept his kindness because she thought that she shouldn't be forgiven that easily, and often feels she doesn't deserve someone as kind as him. She does want to change these tendencies, but still hasn't managed to make any changes regardless of that. Houki also has a habit of constantly frowning, as noted by Ichika. Sometimes, her stubbornness even leads her to be hypocritical (such as not wanting people to bring up the fact that she is Tabane Shinonono's sister, but taking advantage of the fact that she is, in order to gain her own personal IS). Often, however, Houki can be cheered up if Ichika is to compliment her.

Despite her rather gruff attitude, Houki is actually a pretty kind girl. Although she initially act strict towards Ichika upon their reunion to the point of not allowing him to use her first name, as well as have a tendency to act quite mean to him sometimes, it's largely out of a desire for him to see her as a woman, and she soon drops the facade and treats him much nicer, though she still isn't above hitting him when he makes her really angry or is about to do something stupid. She's also shown to get along well with Charlotte, Laura, Kanzashi, Tatenashi, Rin, and Cecilia, considering them friends, despite their rivalry for Ichika's affection, and often watching their backs in combat.

Houki has very little confidence in her looks and in being feminine, likely a result of being bullied in her past for being a tomboy. She always feels uncomfortable when she has to wear revealing and/or feminine clothes like dresses or bikinis (a fact that she's well aware of). She also becomes quite shy when Ichika looks at her or compliments her. She also likes seeing Ichika in suits, to the point that in one instance, she finds it troublesome just trying to look at him directly. Notably, when the girls end up in fantasies about their ideal future with Ichika, caused by the program "World Purge", Houki is shown viewing him as an equal, in contrast to the superficial image the other girls (including the kind-hearted Charlotte) have of him.

Houki seem to have some complex thoughts when it comes to using sex appeal to get Ichika's attention. She usually gets angry when she see any of the other girls getting to physically close to Ichika, calling it indecent. Sometime however, Houki has considered the idea of using her body to attrach Ichika, even thinking that Ichika might be attrached to her large bust. However, she still gets easily nervous about actually do so, such as buying a revealing bikini to attract Ichika at the beach but was to embarrassed to show herself wearing it to him until the last day. In the reboot manga, she tried to show him on the first day but she felt so outclassed by how sexy Chifuyu was in her bikini that she ran away before she could.

History
Prior to the start of the main series, she was a childhood friend of Ichika. Her place of residence is home to a kendo dojo and she has been interested in kendo since she was young. Houki even competes in kendo competitions at a national level and was the winner of the national tournament that was hosted one year before the story of Infinite Stratos began. Her sister, Tabane, is the creator of the IS yet Houki dislikes her because six years ago, Ichika agreed to become her boyfriend if she could win the national kendo tournament of their grade. However, the day of the tournament was also the day the IS were introduced to the world. Because of their links to Tabane, Houki's family was placed under government protection and Houki was forced to withdraw from the kendo tournament. Since that incident, Houki has disliked her sister for moving her away from the boy she loves and abandoning their family.

Relationships

 * Ichika Orimura - Her childhood friend. Although they have not seen each other for six years, Houki still harbors strong feelings for Ichika, as her continuing practice of kendo was her only link to him. She was his first roommate at their dorms prior to Charles Dunois' arrival and tends to get jealous when other girls are around him. Houki tends to take her anger out on the girls, despite the fact that he doesn't like it himself. She would likewise become happy when Ichika noticed her in positive ways, such as her habits, looks, and/or cooking. She has an admiration for Ichikas' steadfast sense of what's right and wrong, regardless of his strength, which goes through a drastic change.