As of 25 March 2022, Kihira is the twelfth highest ranked women's singles skater in the world by the International Skating Union.

[4] In December 2020, she announced that she had been accepted to Waseda University's School of Human Sciences and would start attending via correspondence course from spring 2021.

In early September, she won the silver medal in Ostrava, Czech Republic, with a total score 0.08 less than Anastasiia Gubanova of Russia.

In her next event at JGP Egna, she won the bronze medal behind Sofia Samodurova and Alena Kostornaia after placing second in the short program and third in the free skate.

[11] On the senior level, Kihira won the bronze medal at Japanese Nationals after placing fifth in the short program and second in the free skate.

[12] Making her senior debut, Kihira began the season with a gold medal at the 2018 Ondrej Nepela Trophy, an ISU Challenger Series event.

In the free skate, she underrotated her sole triple Axel attempt but still placed first and captured her second Grand Prix gold medal.

[14] The 2018–19 Grand Prix Final was regarded by many commentators as a contest between Kihira and reigning Olympic champion Alina Zagitova, who had been forced to withdraw from the Ondrej Nepela Trophy earlier due to visa issues.

She then placed first in the free skate with a score of 150.61 and won the gold medal, despite downgrading and falling on her opening triple Axel.

[16] Kihira entered the 2018 Japanese Championships as a favourite to take the national title, but she struggled with boot problems in the competition and made multiple errors in the short program that, left her in fifth place going into the free skate.

[17] At the 2019 Four Continents Championships, Kihira initially "hesitated" at including the triple Axel in the short program but chose to do so and singled it.

"[19] Kihira was one of three Japanese ladies assigned to the 2019 World Championships, held in Saitama, and based on her record that season was widely considered the favourite to win the title.

[22] Kihira began her season at 2019 CS Autumn Classic International, where she ranked first in both the short program and in the free, finishing in first place overall, and landing all three of her planned triple Axels, albeit with one called underrotated.

Kihira stated that she hoped to introduce a quad Salchow into competition later in the season but had declined to attempt it there as she felt her triple Axel was more stable.

[29] Kihira stated afterward that her ankle continued to be a problem after three months, with the possibility that it might be a tendon issue that would require time away from competition to heal.

[30] In the free skate, Kihira attempted the quad Salchow in competition for the first time, fully rotating the jump but falling.

"[31] Entering the 2019–20 Japanese Championships as the favourite for the title, Kihira placed first in the short program despite stepping out of her triple Axel and losing levels on one of her spins.

[32] She won the free skate commandingly, making only a single error when she under-rotated the triple toe loop in her opening jump combination, and took the Japanese national title for the first time ahead of Wakaba Higuchi and Tomoe Kawabata.

In the short program, she placed first ahead of Bradie Tennell of the United States and training mate You Young of South Korea.

[35][36] In the free skate, she popped her first triple Axel attempt to a single, the first time she had done so during that season, but performed the rest of the program cleanly and improvised an additional triple-triple combination.

[40] However, the persistence of travel restrictions through July required her to abandon plans to have programs choreographed by Lori Nichol in Toronto.

[46] She won the short program despite a minor error on the second part of her jump combination and a lost spin level, ending the segment with a lead of 7.48 points over second-place Kaori Sakamoto.

Of the quad, she said afterward that "I'd wanted to do it before, but this time I pushed any nerves and any extraneous thoughts out of my mind and just focused on an image of me nailing it.

"[48] Kihira was chosen to represent Japan at the 2021 World Championships, where she was rated as a contender for the title alongside the top Russian skaters.

[53] She did not plan to attempt the quad Salchow jump due to suffering from a lower-back strain and also returned to her previous free skate music for the competition.

[54] Kihira placed fourth in the short program and fifth in the free skate at the Trophy, while Team Japan won the bronze medal.

Continuing to rehabilitate her ankle, she withdrew from the 2021 Skate Canada International, her first Grand Prix assignment, and was again replaced by Mihara.

[62] Continuing to nurse an injury, Kihira accepted an invitation to participate in the Japan Open, saying that she was "not pushing it right now and saving myself in practice but decided to enter anyway.

She first attempted the quad Salchow in competition at the 2019–20 Grand Prix Final during her free skate, fully rotating but falling on the jump.

by Tom Dickson International Angel of Peace: Kihira has set three world record scores under the new +5 / -5 GOE (Grade of Execution) system.