Namie Yagiri

Namie Yagiri (矢霧 波江, Yagiri Namie) is the former chief of Yagiri Pharmaceuticals and, by the end of volume one, works as a secretary for Izaya Orihara. She was the owner of Celty's head before being forced to hand it over to Izaya in exchange for protection.

Appearance
Namie is a curvaceous young woman with pale skin and brown eyes. She has long black hair that she wears down. Her facial expression is usually stoic or angry. She wears a long white lab coat over a dark red mini skirt and black leggings with a light green turtleneck shirt that changes to a darker shade of green at the bust and down.

Personality
Namie is portrayed throughout the series as a direct and strong woman - she works hard to get what she wants, and no matter what, she will get it. Her personality is seen as very demanding and cold, only ever showing kindness and sweetness to her little brother, for whom she holds incestuous feelings. This is displayed at varying points in the series as she goes to insane lengths to protect and support him no matter what the cost may be to her and to others.

While she has been shown to be somewhat physically capable, Namie's real strengths lie with her intellect. Namie is shown to be adept at manipulating others and turning the situation in her favor, even catching Izaya off guard at times. Her extensive knowledge of medicine also makes her extremely proficient with poison. Unfortunately, Namie is prone to letting her emotions get the better of her. This, combined with her arrogant nature, causes her to underestimate those who would pose a significant threat to her, such as Mikado Ryugamine and Mika Harima.

Background
Before Seiji was born, Namie was frequently sent to her uncle, Seitarou Yagiri's home when she was young. One day, he returned home from a foreign country and showed her a beautiful head - Celty's head. At first, Namie thought it was a doll until she touched it and felt that it was warm and realized it was alive. Around the time Seiji was born, their mother and father made a grave mistake with their clients and were laid off from their jobs. In their struggle to get their lives back on track, they ended up neglecting their two children. Namie then took the responsibility to look after her younger brother - the one she loved more than anything in the world - from then on. As Namie lacked any kind of love or attention from the rest of her family, she began to seek that love from Seiji, causing her to develop an unnatural attraction to her brother. Years later, Namie and Seiji were taken in by their uncle who only agreed to raise them as potential assets for the future. During their time with their uncle, Namie eventually decided to show Seiji the mysterious head he kept in his study. Unbeknownst to Namie at the time, Seiji began to grow steadily more obsessed with the head, asking more and more frequently to see it. Eventually, he admitted to his sister that he was in love with the head.

As the years went on, Namie would excel at her studies, particularly in science and medicine, to the point where her uncle made her the head of one of his research teams. Namie would eventually request to research the head, partly out of genuine curiosity but also out of a desire to keep it out of Seiji's reach. Seitarou agreed and allowed her to take custody of the head.

Dollars/Mika Harima Arc
While working, Namie receives an emergency call informing her that the head had been stolen. Namie quickly narrows down the list of suspects who would want to take the head and deduces that Seiji was the most likely culprit. Just as she reaches this conclusion, she receives a call from her brother, telling her he might have killed someone. Namie rushes to his apartment and has a few of her employees drag out the unconscious body of Mika Harima who had been stalking Seiji at the time. Namie also quickly locates the head which Seiji had stored in the corner of his apartment. Namie comforts Seiji, promising to take care of everything as she reclaims the head.

After Mika Harima had regained consciousness, Namie strikes a deal with her, offering to let her undergo plastic surgery to look like the head Seiji was in love with but in exchange, she had to take drugs and other modifications to erase her memories and alter her personality, effectively making her a doll for Namie to use to pacify her brother. While Mika initially cooperates for the surgery, she manages to escape before they can administer the drugs.

Namie has her men search the city and eventually tracks Mika to Mikado's apartment. However, by the time her men arrive, Mika had already fled due to Izaya's intervention. As Namie tries to figure out her next move, she receives a sudden call from Mikado, asking for a direct meeting on the street. Namie agrees and confronts Mikado on 60-Kai street, bringing a few of her men as insurance. Mikado attempts to convince Namie to turn herself into the police and admonishes her over her deplorable actions thus far. Namie simply laughs off his criticisms and signals for her men to take Mikado by force. Anticipating this, Mikado suddenly sends an email to all Dollars members who had gathered in the area, causing the entire street to erupt into a mass of ringtones going off at once. Namie and her henchmen suddenly find themselves trapped as the crowd turns all of their attention on her, giving Mikado the perfect opportunity to escape. As Namie looks on in confusion, Celty suddenly rides down the side of a nearby building with the intent of capturing her for information. Namie's men attack Celty, knocking her helmet off in the process and revealing her true nature as a Dullahan. As the crowd erupts into confusion, Namie makes a hasty retreat back to her office.

Namie retrieves the head from its case and goes to Izaya Orihara for help. Izaya agrees to take custody of the head, telling Namie of his plans to use it to ascend to Valhalla. Namie scoffs at his ideas with Izaya simply offering to take her with him. Afterwards, Namie agrees to become Izaya's secretary in exchange for protection for the police.

Saika Arc
Namie plays a minor role during this arc, appearing as Izaya's new secretary. She silently listens to him talk about the demon blade Saika and occasionally offers him spiteful comments.

Yellow Scarves Arc
When Namie comes in for work, she is held at gunpoint by Shingen Kishitani. She listens to Shingen and Izaya discuss the nature of Celty's head and how to awaken it. She is angry and embarrassed when she discovers that the gun Shingen has kept pointed at her is a toy. She threatens to sue him for harassment, but Shingen is quick to bring up Namie's own crimes and states that attempting to sue him would only land her in jail as well.

At some point, Namie goes behind Izaya's back and reveals Mikado's status as the Dollars leader to Horada, worsening the conflict between the gangs in the city. Afterward, she is shown laughing in amusement at the black eye Izaya received from Simon.

Hollywood Arc
She and Izaya simply serve the purpose of introducing Mairu and Kururi. They also discuss the consequence of having a dangerous assassin like Egor running amok through town. Shortly after everyone in the chatroom announces that they were all having a hotpot party. Izaya asked Namie if she wanted to have a hotpot party of their own. She simply brushes him off, telling Izaya not use her to heal his wounded ego because he didn't have any real friends to have a party with. In the end, however, it seems Namie caved in to Izaya's prodding and ended up cooking for the both of them. She also contemplates the idea of poisoning the food, but decides against it.

Akane Arc
Through a flashback from Akane, the details on how Izaya manipulated her were revealed. When Izaya agreed to meet Akane as "Nakura" he had Namie appear at the meeting in his place. Namie then introduced an impostor as Izaya and her colleague and they proceeded to gain Akane's trust over the next several days. Namie, the imposter, and Akane would usually spend these days at Manga Cafe's or at family restaurants (almost like actual parents) with Akane staying at Namie's place when she had to rest. Eventually, Izaya put his actual plan into motion and manipulated Akane into attacking Shizuo.

Dollars and Blue Squares Arc
After Izaya had been stabbed, Namie is seen, once again, cooking dinner for them and making a comment on how Izaya was later than he usually was.

Daily Life Arc
Upon seeing news of Izaya's stabbing, Namie simply takes it as a sign of having several days off. She hires Mairu and Kururi to spy on Seiji and Mika and report on their relationship, growing steadily more angry as the twins describe their findings. Namie decides to undo the plastic surgery on Mika and calls Shinra to ask if he could meet her at a specific warehouse and reverse it. When Shinra declines, she takes matters into her own hands.

Namie calls Mika and lures her into a nearby warehouse that used to be owned by her company. The meeting quickly turns violent as Namie hunts Mika throughout the warehouse. Namie gains the upper hand and pins Mika to the ground, using a special drug to paralyze her. Namie kisses Mika, taking it as an indirect kiss with Seiji. She then attempts to scar Mika's face using a special acidic chemical. However, Mika stops her as she reveals she had been spying on all of the people relevant to Seiji's live such as Mikado, Anri, and even Izaya himself. While impressed by her information gathering skills, Namie still attempts to open the bottle until Seiji intervenes directly, having gained their location from Shinra. Seiji then kisses Namie himself in an attempt to show her that doing so without another's permission is wrong but it appears to have the opposite effect. Flustered, Namie runs home to cool herself off, overjoyed at sharing her first kiss with Seiji, not realizing he had blocked their lips with his finger when he did so.

Adabashi Arc
Namie is seen along with several others at the hotpot party Izaya holds after he invites several new 'friends' that he has made.

Dragon Zombie Arc
Namie is seen at the end cooking dinner for Izaya once again. Unbeknownst to her, Izaya is sneaking up on her and about to shove a potato sack over her head.

Kadota's Coma Arc
Namie encounters the secretary and relative of Jinnai Yodogiri, Shachou Yodogiri. The two of them have a brief struggle which ultimately ends in Shachou's favor, but Namie is saved by Shingen's, Eijiro's and Egor's intervention. She is then taken to Celty's apartment.

Durarara!! SH
In Prologue B of Durarara!! SH, Mairu mentions that Namie has traveled to America for (as of yet) unknown reasons. It is revealed that she took Celty's head to America to study it. One year prior to the events of this novel, she got a call from Kuon Kotonami, who wanted to learn more about Izaya.

Seiji Yagiri
Due to their isolation as children, Namie developed a very close bond with her brother early on and soon began to harbor an incestuous love for him. Namie goes to great lengths to ensure Seiji's safety and happiness. Even when Seiji almost commits murder, she continues to treat him with the utmost kindness. Seiji does not return Namie's feelings, much to her frustration, but she still tries to have a role in her brother's life by supporting him financially. Her obsession for him goes to such a high level that she even kisses Mika in order to get an indirect kiss from her brother.

Trivia

 * The color illustrations rate the cooking skills of some of the girls and Namie is ranked at a 95, just barely below Mika (100).