Silica (Sword Art Online)

Do-Gooder
Full Name	Keiko Ayano
Alias(es)	Silica Silica-chan (by Asuna)
Origin	Sword Art Online
Occupation	Student, Gamer, Playing ALfheim Online
Powers / Skills	Compassion
Hobby	Playing with Pina.
Goals	No information
Family	Tetsuhiko Ayano (father) Unnamed Mother Pina (Pet)
Friends / Allies	Pina Kirito Asuna Leafa Yui Lisbeth Klein Sinon Alice Zuberg
Enemies	Akihiko Kayaba
Type of Hero	Loyal Supporter

Keiko Ayano, also known as Silica, is a major protagonist from the Sword Art Online light novel/manga/anime franchise. She is a friend of Kirito.

She is voiced by Rina Hidaka in Japanese, and by Christine Marie Cabanos in the English dub.

Background

In SAO, Silica became the first player to tame a Feathery Dragon, which she named Pina (the same name as her cat in the real world), despite SAO being the first VRMMO she's ever played. She is introduced as a character whose parties treat her as a mascot and is immensely popular on the middle floors due to her pet and her status as one of the rare Beast Tamers. She eventually becomes arrogant, which leads to her separating from her party in the middle of a hunt and getting lost in the forest. Soon after, a fight at the forest was the cause of Pina's death and almost hers before she was saved by Kirito, who then helps her revive the dragon. She is in the youngest age group of SAO players that are still active. She usually stays away from the males, who try to marry her despite the fact that she is only 13.

Personality

Silica is a very bright, cheerful and supportive girl toward her friends, especially towards Kirito, often giving him encouragement when he tells her about his sister. She also has a deep attachment to Pina and was very sad to see her die, but was overjoyed when she had the opportunity to revive her beloved pet.

She is also easily embarrassed and flustered, especially when it comes to a romance scenario, such as grabbing Kirito's hand or spotting many couples around her. When her skirt is flipped in some way, Silica tries so hard to avoid the panty shot by holding onto her skirt and then telling people around her not to look.

Gallery

Trivia

• With her avatar in SAO, she reminded Kirito of his adoptive sister/cousin, Suguha Kirigaya.
• Her mother was never seen or mentioned, suggesting that Silica's parents are divorced or that the woman died.
• In the Blu-ray/DVD package volume 2, character song CD will feature Silica (Hidaka Rina) singing "☆Lovely Super Idol☆" as the 3rd Character Song in this series. This CD is bundled along with the 2nd Song, which is sung by Sachi (Saori Hayami)
• Even though «Sword Art Online» is advisable for gamers above age 13, Silica started playing the game when she was 12 years old.
• Keiko's family follows a tradition when naming their children. Since Keiko's grandfather was a chemist, he named his son Tetsuhiko after iron (鉄, Tetsu?) since Tetsuhiko was born on the 6th of February and the 26th element (2nd month and 6th day) in the periodic table is iron. Tetsuhiko continued this tradition and named his daughter Keiko after the 14th element, silicon (珪素, Keiso?), as Keiko was born on the 4th of October but Tetsuhiko couldn't make a girl's name after the 104th element, Rutherfordium, so he resorted to merging 10 and 4 to get 14.
• Keiko's display name, Silica, means Silicon Dioxide (SiO2). She chose this name for her character due to her real name being based on silicon, the 14th element in the periodic table. The reason why she chose "Silica" instead of "Silico" was because "Silica" sounded cuter. She even ties her hair with two red ribbons to have 12 ring baubles which symbolize 2 oxygen atoms bound to her.