Luka Urushibara

Luka Urushibara (漆原るか) is a close friend and classmate of Mayuri Shiina and so-called protégé of Rintaro Okabe. While feminine in appearance and personality, Luka is a male on most world lines. Mayuri often attempts to coerce him into cosplaying. He works at the Yanabayashi Shrine as a shrine maiden.

Appearance
Although biologically male, Luka has an extremely feminine appearance, which causes him much trouble (and gets him a lot of attention) from men (even Daru was attracted to Luka's appearance at one point). He is very slim, has thin arms and a lanky body.

Personality
Luka is very sensitive and emotional. Even simple, sudden responses from Okabe can cause him to cry or tremble. He likes to wear girly clothing, which caused Kurisu to mistake him as a girl when the two met in Okabe's lab. However, he stil becomes embarrassed when wearing particularly revealing clothing. Okabe describes him as "More girly than any girl, more feminine than any female." in the game. Luka himself is bothered by his girlish tendencies as he views himself as a boy. He wants to act manlier, becoming worried that liking cooking might make him seem girlish and that the gods might not be appeased by a male miko.

Luka harbors deep feelings for Okabe ever since their first encounter in Akihabara, when he was still a male. However, Luka felt that his feelings were taboo and kept them hidden. Later in the story, as Okabe attempts to save Mayuri by reversing the effects of the previously sent D-Mails, the female Luka tearfully agreed to allow her D-Mail to be undone under the condition of Okabe taking her out on a date. The date played out awkwardly, since Okabe was unable to be himself around her. He later visited her at the shrine and apologized for botching the date, and the two embraced. Luka said she would still love him even if she was no longer female. When Okabe asked a male Luka if he liked him, Luka avoided the question by saying that he respected Okabe.

Background
During Luka's childhood, Luka'a father encouraged him to behave girlish and help out at the shrine as a shrine maiden. With the assistance of Luka's older sister (who Luka could not oppose due to her "boyish personality"), his father often made him wear female clothing; a memory that to this day still brings tears to Luka's eyes. His older sister also made him cook dinner in her place, which became a hobby he took a liking to.

One day, while he was walking though Akihabara, Luka was accosted by two men seeking to take photos of him, mistaking him for a female cosplayer. Luka tried to leave, but the two were persistent until Rintaro Okabe, who happened to be nearby stepped in and helped him, shaming the men for their rude behavior. Luka thanked him, but tearfully apologized, revealing that he is a boy and expressing his feeling that Okabe should not be so kind to him. Okabe explained that he did not really care about Luka's gender and took him to BladeWorks to buy him Samidare, a toy sword. Okabe then became Luka's unofficial swordsmanship instructor in order to help Luka build his self-confidence. This interaction led Luka to develop feelings for Okabe.

Quotes

 * “If I go back to becoming a guy, I'm going to forget all about today, that the two of us went on a date, that the two of us trained, that I was able to touch you this way... If I knew I had to suffer like this, I would never have wished to become a girl...” — To Rintaro Okabe.

Trivia

 * Although being feminine, Luka always uses the term "boku" to address him/herself. "Boku" is a male form of addressing oneself in Japanese, so it is unusual that a person like Luka would use it in the world lines where she is biologically female.
 * Luka has an older sister in college who, according to Luka, is the polar opposite (in terms of gender attraction) of him. She is only mentioned in the visual novel.
 * Rintaro Okabe's nickname for Luka regardless of gender is "Lukako". The "-ko" is typical ender of many female given names in Japanese.
 * Luka's ending is the only outcome of the game in that Mayuri Shiina's death is definite as Okabe gave up on his attempts and decides to make Mayuri happy one last time instead. Mayuri also dies of natural causes (heart attack) in this ending.
 * Through "investigation", Okabe realizes that Luka's genitals are larger than his own on Luka's route in "My Darling's Embrace".
 * Luka frequently mispronounces Okabe's motto of "El Psy Kongroo".
 * Luka learned English in order to interact with tourists.

Etymology

 * Luka's surname Urushibara means “lacquer, varnish, seven” (漆, urushi) and “meadow, original, primitive, field, plain, prairie, tundra, wilderness” (原, bara).

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