Benio Adashino

Benio Adashino (化野 紅緒) is the main heroine of Twin Star Exorcists. She is the head of the distinguished Hondo-Adashino family from Kyoto. Together with Rokuro Enmadou, they are the current Twin Star Exorcists, destined to have a child who will be the Miko.

Appearance
Benio is a teenage girl around average height and green eyes. She has waist-long black hair that has a set of long bangs that framed her forehead. She is usally seen in her school uniform or exorcist gear. She used to have 2 purple bobble hair ties on both sides, before replacing them with a pair of Japanese bellflowers shaped hair pins that were given to her by Rokuro.

During their fight against Yuuto, she loses both legs and gets Impurity legs as replacements, much like Rokuro's right arm.

Two years later, she is shown to have grown taller, however her chest is still quite undeveloped.

Personality
Benio first comes off as a cold, quiet person, who dislikes talking and is easily irritated. However, regarding exorcism she is very passionate and can be very talkative. Since she comes from an important family, honor and pride are both very important to her. She is also very competitive, especially around Rokuro, and since she was taught to never back out from her words, she can be pretty stubborn and will use any argument to win.

After warming up to Rokuro, Benio is shown to actually be a very caring person. She is also easily embarrassed, even to the point of fainting when she's extremely embarrassed.

She also really loves ohagi, and is even prepared to make an anime adaption of ohagi man, a hand-drawn manga based solely around ohagi.

After two years, Benio seems to be able to show her feelings comfortably compared to when she first met Rokuro, and seems to show her jealousy more openly than before whenever she notices a woman doing "impure" things to Rokuro. She has also matured as a lady.

After finding Sae, Benio developed a mother-like side to her, such as taking care of Sae and making sure she is happy and healthy all the time, as well as putting her safety first before herself.

Past
When Benio was young, she was raised to learn and practice exorcism for her future as an exorcist and lived a happy life, until a powerful Impurity defeated her parents at the sight of her own home. This "Basara" proceeded to ask her whether she wanted to save her mother or her father, and when she could not answer, asked her parents whether they wanted to save themselves or their daughter, to which they answered without hesitation, orphaning her on sight in front of her. Then later, it was shown that she cried heavily at their funeral.

Four years later, Benio lost her brother Yuuto in the Tragedy of Hiinatsuki Dormitory, furthering her emotional pain.

Before the events leading up to the beginning of the story, Benio had trained herself to become an exceptionally powerful exorcist, wielding her late mother and father's weapons. As a girl living in Kyoto, she attended middle school normally, and was idolized by many students because of her good grades and performance during physical education. Before long, she and her grandmother were assigned to move to Tokyo, and she had to leave her old life behind.

Plot
Benio was first seen falling from the sky after exiting Magano, into a river. Rokuro tried to save her, but she ended up saving him from the river. She asked him to help on getting to the place from the map she had, but in the end Rokuro wasn't able to find the spot. As they saw 2 children disappear into Magano, she used a charm and opened a portal to Magano to go and save them. Inside Magano, she fought multiple impurities and defeated them, but was then surprised that Rokuro followed her. As she helped healing the wound of one of the children, a stronger Impurity showed up. She left the kids to Rokuro and gave him a charm to use to get out of Magano, while she went to defeat the Impurity. She gave her all against that Impurity but wasn't able to defeat it and as she was about to be defeated, Rokuro stepped in and used a black charm, transforming one of his hands and defeating the Impurity with a single blow. This annoyed Benio, as she stepped on Rokuro foot after that and told him that she didn't asked for his help.

As they left Magano, outside they met Kinu, a woman that takes care of Benio. Before leaving towards the place she had to go, she and Rokuro exchanged names. In the end, Benio had to go to Seika Dormitory and when Rokuro came, they mocked him for not being able to read a map to his own place. In the anime version of the series, Benio and Rokuro had to move into a very big villa.

Benio has lost her enchanted powers, due to the battle between her guardian and Sayo's guardian.

Powers and Abilities
To fight Impurities, Benio uses different Talismans (霊符) that vary in effect and aid her in combat.

Exorcism Enchantment (陰陽呪装): By using combinations of charms, she can greatly increase her speed, power, and defense. Benio is capable of using up to six enchantments at once, a feat that speaks volumes of her genius. She usually uses a fox-like mask, markings upon her arms, legs, and torso, and two Charm blades.
 * Saigan Shishi (砕岩獅子): Using the Strong Arm Talisman (轟腕符), Benio increases her strength for combat.
 * Iron Armor (鎧包業羅): Using the Iron Body Talisman (金剛符), Benio increases her defense for combat.
 * Hiten Shunkyaku (飛天駿脚): Using the Fast Leg Talisman (韋駄天符), Benio increases her speed in combat.
 * Raisai Senkan (来災先観): Using the Star Reading Talisman (星動読符), Benio improves her kinetic vision in combat.
 * Banish All Evils (万魔調伏): Using the Purification Blade Talisman (斬浄穢符), Benio enables her sword to harm Impurities.

The Dance of Izayoi Higan (十六夜彼岸の舞):

The Dance of the Hazy Lotus Flower (朧蓮華の舞): She attacks the opponent with quick and rapid attacks multiple times, slashing at her enemy. It has been described by Rokuro as a "super high speed continuous tackle".

Byakurin Touki: After Benio loses her legs, Kamui from whom she asks for power gives her these "Impurity" legs. They give her tremendous speed which aids her fighting style that relies on fast attacks.
 * Obororenge: Henbai Hien no Kata: Using her Byakurin Touki, she attacks her enemy with speed that the eye can't follow. Her attack density improves, Yuuto said that her attacks are comparable to a Basara.

Esoteric Buddhist Mantra: With this mantra, she is able to heal wounds by chanting "Abira, Unken, Sowako".

Resonance (共振 (レゾナンス)): An ability exclusive to Twin Star Exorcists, it allows Benio and Rokuro to combine and multiply each other's power.

Benio's enchanted guardian is Ashiya Doman, Abe no Seimei's arch-rival and a major enemy of Kuzunoha.

Rokuro Enmadou
Benio dislikes Rokuro when they first meet, because he is more powerful than her but dislikes fighting, something she considers unacceptable and selfish for an exorcist.

After they are told that they are the Twin Star Exorcists and will have to marry and have a child, she opposes the idea considering him a disgrace as a partner due to his lack of sense of justice. However, after seeing him fight to protect others, she starts to accept him as an exorcist and motivates him to become one again. When they learn of each other's dark pasts and start fighting together, they start understanding and becoming more comfortable with one another. After the fight with Yuuto she already seems to like him, though she herself is unaware of her feelings.

After the time skip, both seem to have become even closer. They bicker less and behave in a much friendlier way, even being told by others multiple times to stop flirting in public. She is even openly jealous when Rokuro is approached by other women. In chapter 33, it was revealed that she has indeed fallen in love with Rokuro and they shared their first kiss.

Yuuto Ijika
Originally, Benio admired her older brother, and greatly looked up to him, a fact proved by her wearing the hairpins that were gifted to her from Yuuto for the longest time. Through flashbacks, it can be seen that Benio had always tried to become like her brother - at least what she perceived of him (a kind, strong, and virtuous exorcist). When Yuuto revealed that he was behind the Hiinatsuki Tragedy, and that his kind demeanor had been a facade, Benio was utterly heartbroken, and gradually came to hate Yuuto. Benio was so ashamed of Yuuto, that she apologized to Rokuro by bowing to him and crying out for forgiveness on behalf of the Adashino Family.

Benio now recognises Yuuto as an enemy, and has put their whole past behind her.

Trivia

 * In the early chapters, Benio had blue eyes, but was later changed to green.
 * Benio loves to eat Ohagi, a trait she inherited from her father.
 * Kamui states that her impurity legs "Byakurin Touki" are ironically to be beautiful.