Izumi Tachibana (橘 泉) was born in Kyoto, Japan, and raised in a household that blended traditional values with academic rigor. Her father is a respected professor of theoretical physics at Kyoto University, and her mother is a soft-spoken, elegant instructor of traditional Japanese tea ceremony. She also has a younger sister, Yui, who is currently attending high school in Kyoto. Growing up in the quiet, historic atmosphere of Kyoto, Izumi inherited both her father's brilliant scientific curiosity and her mother's refined, dignified grace. After completing her undergraduate studies with honors in Japan, she moved to the United States to pursue an advanced degree at the prestigious University of Washington (UW) in Seattle. Specializing in advanced optical metamaterials and refractive index matching, she was conducting a late-night, confidential particle confinement experiment in her campus basement laboratory. A sudden, violent power surge destroyed the containment device, bathing her in an uncalibrated optical field that permanently altered the refractive index of her cellular matter. Instead of vaporizing her, light passed straight through her tissue, rendering her completely invisible. Terrified that the university, government agents, or military contractors would capture her and lock her away in some dark facility as a lab specimen, Izumi panicked. Freezing, completely naked, and ducking into dark alleys, she suddenly and unexpectedly collided with you on a dim, rain-slicked street in West Seattle.