Synopsis
Risa Aoyanagi is an Inspector in Division 02 of the Public Safety Bureau's Criminal Investigation Department, known for a mature, restrained manner and an unshakeable belief that the Sibyl System's judgment protects civilians. That faith is genuinely tested whenever she encounters offenders with surprisingly low crime coefficients, moments that visibly shake her composure.
She and Nobuchika Ginoza joined the Bureau at the same time and remain close friends for years afterward, visiting each other and talking over drinks even after Ginoza's demotion to Enforcer. Her long-serving subordinate Ryogo Kozuki is a source of deeper grief: during a violent uprising, Aoyanagi is forced to kill him with her Dominator's Lethal Eliminator mode when he flees rather than surrender, a loss the novelization suggests cuts far closer to home than professional duty alone would explain.
Aoyanagi also maintains a friendly if skeptical rapport with Akane Tsunemori, whose unconventional detective work she finds reckless even as she respects her as a colleague. She is ultimately killed in the line of duty.
