Nishiki Nishio

Nishiki is a diligent yet arrogant student and prodigy. He has an insensitive attitude with a knack for abrasive language. He also demands that people younger than him show respect for their elders. Touka Kirishima once insulted Nishiki and called him "sex-obsessed," in reference to his relationship with Kimi Nishino. Above his sharp tongue, he is a cautious individual who isn't keen on trusting others. Despite this, Nishiki can be shown to be loyal. He is willing to sacrifice himself for Kimi. As a child, Nishiki had the same attitude as Kaneki. He questioned eating humans and questioned his sister's mindset. Nishiki deeply loved his sister and had a very close relationship with her. After his sister was betrayed by her boss and killed by members of the CCG, Nishiki became unable to trust people, especially humans but also ghouls, and hardly socializes with others. He acts like a lone wolf and attacks ghouls that seem to trespass in his feeding ground. He originally approaches his girlfriend Kimi to use her for his own ends. After fighting Kaneki, Nishiki is weakened to the point where he resorts to eating Kimi in order to recover. However, after she accepts him as a ghoul, he cherishes Kimi more than anything else and has regained some trust in others. He joins Anteiku so that he is provided with food and doesn't have to kill humans to eat. After the time skip, Nishiki is primarily noted as a ghoul hunting other ghouls, showing little regard for the lives of both humans and ghouls alike. He is ruthless in dispatching those he considers troublesome or useless, killing those unfortunate enough to encounter him. When he encounters the Quinx Squad, his personality is further revealed to be surprisingly casual and laid-back, with a sarcastic edge. He makes mocking observations of his opponents, calling them names and littering his speech with foul language. Overall, he comes across as arrogant due to his great ability and doesn't seem to take others very seriously. However, despite this arrogant attitude, he appears to be quite saddened seeing Kaneki in his current identity as Haise Sasaki.

Nishiki is a slim young man whose distinctive traits are his glasses and messy hazelnut hair. Like other disguised ghouls, Nishiki dresses in normal casual clothes to blend in. He also wears two bangles that Kimi Nishino brought for them to match together. After the Aogiri Arc and into the Owl Suppression Operation. Nishiki cut his hair into a bowl-cut hairstyle similar to the one he had during his first year at Kamii University. After the time skip, Nishiki appears as a ghoul named "Serpent", donning a snake-like mask and wearing a hooded cloak. With his mask off, he appears to have gained a scar over his left eye during the time skip and his hair has grown back. His expression has become much more melancholic after the time skip.

Ghoul Physiology: Nishiki is a bikaku ghoul, which grants him increased regeneration and durability, as well as agility and strength apart from his bikaku kagune. * Bikaku Kagune: While adept at combat, Nishiki uses his wits rather than brawn when in battle. His kagune pushes his foot to increase the power of his kicks even further. However, his kagune seems to only enhance his leg strength and isn't viable for any other task. As a typical bikaku user, Nishiki makes certain care that his trump card kagune isn't exposed. After the timeskip, Nishiki has completely mastered his kagune's abilities. It can vary in length and size, ending in a double-pronged tip. Rather than wrapping his kagune on his leg to strengthen his kicks, Nishiki now uses the kagune as a weapon by itself. * Superhuman Durability: Nishiki has remarkable endurance, even for a ghoul. He was capable of surviving a large hole torn into his stomach by Kaneki’s kagune and make it home. After only consuming a bite of flesh from Kimi’s shoulder Nishiki was capable of moving around and traveling to Anteiku alone to ask for Kaneki’s help and later traveling to a church to save Kimi. Nishiki managed to endure multiple attacks from Tsukiyama’s kagune and maintain consciousness and later take a blow from Touka’s kagune a short time later. * Superhuman Strength: In :re, his strength vastly improved as he was able to break Urie's kagune with a single kick without much effort. * Superhuman Agility: Nishiki was agile enough to shrug off multiple attacks from members of Quinx.