The following contains spoilers for Lycoris Recoil Episode 10, "Repay Evil with Evil," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Lycoris Recoil's Chisato Nishikigi is a skilled would-be assassin who uses her abilities to help rather than hurt people. At Café LycoReco, Chisato, her teacher Mika, operatives Takina Inoue and Mizuki Nakahara and resident hacker Kurumi take on various customer requests from bodyguard work to bomb disposal. This frustrates Mika's old business and romantic partner Shinji Yoshimatsu, who gave Chisato a life-saving artificial heart on the condition that she use her exceptional reflexes to kill people. Episode 9 saw Yoshimatsu's assistant Himegama deliberately damage Chisato's heart, giving her two months to live.
In Episode 10 of Lycoris Recoil, Mika gave Chisato a kimono, initiating a bittersweet coming-of-age ceremony in case she didn't live to adulthood. Mika finally admitted to Chisato that he promised Yoshimatsu she would be a great hitman in exchange for the heart, something he evidently changed his mind about as he encouraged her to use her skills her own way at LycoReco. Chisato didn't believe Mika at first, but ultimately forgave him and Yoshimatsu, saying both men were her "dads." It took this scene of revelation and forgiveness for the pair to admit what they've always known: Mika is more than a teacher, he's Chisato's true father.
Chisato's positive and forgiving personality resonates with her philosophy on the battlefield, one example being when she treated an enemy combatant's wounds in Episode 2. However, even she has limits: when Mika first told her the truth about Yoshimatsu's motivations, she desperately insisted it must be a lie. This was reminiscent of a scene in Episode 9 in which Chisato shot at some drivers who were harassing her and Mizuki, suggesting she was more upset by her diagnosis than she let on. Both scenes show that Chisato's forbearance doesn't come effortlessly; she gets as frustrated and agitated as anyone else, and it's not always easy to choose forgiveness.
Chisato talked herself into understanding Mika's motivation for hiding the truth from her, admitting she would have returned to work at Direct Attack as a Lycoris agent and resented him if she had known. Mika never went as far as to say that Yoshimatsu and Himegama were responsible for damaging Chisato's heart, but she may have deduced it, in which case forgiving Yoshimatsu is even more staggering. Chisato told Mika that she thinks of him and Yoshimatsu as her dads, and Mika tearfully called Chisato his daughter. The scene cut away to a crayon drawing made by a younger Chisato of all three of them holding hands, maybe to symbolize the same innocence they were now fighting over.
Much of Episode 10 focused on Takina and the other Lycoris trying to intercept the terrorist Majima at Enkuboku, the new radio tower. Majima's hacker Robota soon called Chisato with a photo of Yoshimatsu held hostage at Enkuboku, threatening her not to come -- just as DA's leader Kusunoki called the café asking her to return to action. Mika admitted in Episode 7 that he could never kill Yoshimatsu because of their relationship and was shocked to see him in peril. However, Mika didn't let Chisato see Yoshimatsu without one more warning, which shows how his love for her helps him look at Yoshimatsu more objectively.
Chisato spent her life refusing to do what DA wants, and the fact that she did so for Yoshimatsu shows how much she cares for her "savior" despite everything he's done. Even so, Chisato will probably insist on doing things her way as usual. Mika gave her access to all the ammo in LycoReco's armory, which surely contains plenty of Chisato's trademark non-lethal bullets. She may have been shaken by the revelation of Yoshimatsu's true motivations, but if Chisato wants to make an emotional appeal to him, she'll be more motivated than ever to prove the value of her methods.
Chisato thinks of both Yoshimatsu and Mika as her fathers; she is grateful not only for the artificial heart Yoshimatsu gave her, but the fact that that gesture ironically taught her to save lives instead of take them, describing the pistol she received from him as "a gun for helping people." Yoshimatsu did care for her somewhat, comforting her during her initial operation. Despite this, it's hard for Lycoris Recoil fans not to see Mika as Chisato's true father figure for all the reasons she listed: he gave Chisato her name, taught her to shoot and created LycoReco with her. He's raised her since she was a child and encouraged her to use her unique skills the way she wanted.
Iconic shows such as Evangelion and Fullmetal Alchemist have given anime a stereotypical reputation for bad dads, but Chisato's fathers are a little more complicated, especially Mika. Yoshimatsu saved her life but for selfish reasons, and jeopardized it when she didn't meet his expectations. Mika facilitated this to begin with, but was there for Chisato and allowed her to choose the life she wanted, finally being honest with her in the way Yoshimatsu never could. This makes Mika a fascinatingly flawed character -- and an imperfect but dependable dad.
Lycoris Recoil hits Crunchyroll in the West every Saturday.