Kō Murakami/Abilities

Murakami is currently the no. 4 Attacker in Border. Thanks to his Side Effect, he surpassed his mentor in points in a little over six months. This innate power in fact enables him to grow stronger at a terrifying rate, and it makes him a particularly dangerous opponent for enemies he has already fought, since his ability to retain 100% of what he has experienced allows him to improve not only his general proficiency, but also to see through moves he has already witnessed with great ease. The might of his Side Effect can be seen in his first 10-round match against Yūma Kuga, where, after assimilating the former's fighting style, he managed to turn the tides from 1-4 while his opponent was possibly holding back to 6-4. When the two fought again in a rank war, Yūichi Jin estimated Murakami to have a 80% chance of winning, and it was in no small part through a mixture of previous planning and environmental manipulation that Yūma managed to defeat him. Excluding Jin, whom he has never fought, the only Attackers Murakami has more losses than wins against are Kirie Konami, Sōya Kazama and Kei Tachikawa, the three who currently outrank him, and Masato Kageura. Against the latter his recent record sees him winning 40.5% of the time, while against Kuga he has a victory ratio of 61.2%. As further testament to his power, during the large-scale invasion he was able to hold off three modded Rabbits, each of which was estimated to be difficult for an A-rank member to handle on their own, and managed to deal significant injuries to two of them.

Murakami is a dual wielder who fights with Kogetsu and Raygust, switching hands depending on his focus: when his primary concern is offense, he holds the former in his right hand, but when it is defense, he holds Raygust with it. He particularly excels in the latter circumstance, and it was noted by Sumiharu Inukai that even two fighters of A-rank level like Yūma and Hyuse would have a hard time breaking his guard and reaching Tatsuya Kuruma behind him. When the two caught him in a pincer attack while he only had Kogetsu, he was still able to maim Kuga and almost succeeded in cutting down Hyuse with a single slash.

Regardless of his Side Effect, Murakami is very observant and proficient at seeing through and countering his opponent's tactics, which he proved twice against Yūko Kumagai when the latter had never used Meteor before, first by causing her to destroy her own trion Body and then by neutralizing the trap she had left. This talent and his quick reflexes allowed him to save Border's away ship from Gatlin's arm cannon twice, the second time managing to cancel out all of its remarkable power. Outside of his fighting ability, Murakami is valuable to Border due to being one of the agents compatible with Fūjin.

Side Effect
Enhanced Sleep Learning, Murakami's Side Effect enables him to absorb 100% of what he has experienced after only a short nap and add it to his fighting repertoire. It is thanks to this ability that he was able to rise to the rank of No. 4 Attacker in a relatively short time. It is often rumored that the same move will not be effective on him twice. His Side Effect is also useful for teamwork: Inukai attributed to it the speed with which Suzunari First was able to render their new formation combat-ready. Outside of combat, Murakami's Side Effect is known to have made him an above-average soccer player, among other things.