Name: Ayako Yamamura
School: Mahoutokoro
Year: 1
Status: Muggleborn

Appearance:



Year 1



Ayako has dark eyes and light brown hair, which is usually in a messy ponytail or bun, because she sees tending to her hair as a waste of time. She is almost always wearing either school robes or some form of sports uniform. She rarely ever smiles, preferring a serious expression because of her view that whimsy is a waste of time. She is of average height for her age, but her serious expression often makes her appear to be taller and more intimidating than she is.

Personality:

Ayako has little patience for goofing off, tomfoolery, or chicanery. She focuses on her studies and self-improvement above all else, wasting no time in any frivolous way whatsoever. If the most direct path to her destination is through a massive crowd, she will walk unapologetically through the crowd, bumping shoulders with anyone in her way, yet not slowing.

She is not very social. She sees most social interactions as a waste of time she could spend elsewhere studying or otherwise improving herself. When she must speak with someone, she speaks frankly, wasting no words. Despite this, her words are very formal, and she is respectful to the letter.

History:

It was very rare to find Ayako Yamamura without a smile on her face. She was a very happy little girl, laughing and playing more loudly than most. She loved her parents, and, as far as she knew, the feeling was mutual. Thought she didn’t see her parents much because they were both gone from the early morning until late at night, she knew how hard they worked, and she appreciated them for it.

This all changed when, unaware of the severity of what was happening, a seven-year-old Ayako woke in the middle of the night and stumbled upon her father, Issei, drunk and sleeping peacefully in the floor of the hallway just outside her parents’ bedroom. Thinking he was ill, she covered her father with a spare blanket from the nearby closet and spent the rest of the night rubbing his back as he ‘slept.’

When her mother, Hide, discovered the scene in the morning, she was furious, but she kept a calm face for her daughter, instead suggesting that the girl return to her bed and sleep properly. All Ayako knew was that she was allowed the day off from school, but behind the scenes, her mother and father argued more heatedly than they ever had, though they tried to keep this from Ayako.
As the days and weeks turned into months and years, however, Ayako began to realize just how different things were between her parents. She didn’t often see them at the same time anyway because they both worked long hours, but when she did, they not longer kissed or shared any sign of affection at all. Something was definitely up.

Then the arguments became more common. Words were more heated, though the arguments were never physical. Despite the relative lack of harm of these fights, they had a profound effect on Ayako. She hated hearing her parents argue late at night, when they thought she was asleep. One night in particular, when she was nine years old, Ayako had had enough.

Storming into her parents’ bedroom during a particularly loud – unbeknownst to them – argument, and seeing the alcohol in her father’s hands, she demanded that he step away from her mother. Without any form of physical contact whatsoever, Issei was thrown from Hide, slamming into the wall of the small room. As the man landed on the futon and rose with a grunt, he pointed at Ayako, calling her a ‘demon child’ and leaving in fear. The incident was never again discussed between her and her mother.

Ayako didn’t see her father again, but after much coaxing, she learned from her mother that her father was a horrible drunk, refusing to support his family and refusing to even come home at a reasonable hour, let alone sober. Hide, wanting to protect her daughter’s opinion of her father, had covered this up by working two jobs to support them. This revelation only made Ayako appreciate and love her mother even more. She made a vow in that moment that, no matter what or how, she would work hard and help her mother to escape this horrible situation.

Her wish was granted, soon after. A strange man in outdated, traditional clothing arrived on their doorstep, giving her mother a small potted tree and speaking with her in private. While they spoke, Ayako tended to the chores around the house, having taken more responsibility upon herself to lessen the burden on her mother. As she finished with the laundry and made her way back inside, however, Ayako was surprised to see her mother sitting silently alone, with a complex expression on her face.

Apparently, Ayako was to study to become a ‘mahoutsukai’, a ‘wizard.’ Her mother had agreed to allow her to study in a school specifically for those who could perform such magic, but only if she wanted to. She fervently agreed, seeing this as her opportunity to achieve greatness and free her mother from the burden of supporting them both.

Something changed in Ayako from that moment. No longer did she play, or waste time. She focused all of her efforts on her studies, eager to improve herself until she could one day fully support her mother, the woman who’d done so much for her.

Ayako never wasted a single moment. If she was eating a meal, she also had a book open at the same time. If she was granted free time outside of class, she was studying or improving herself through sports or meditation. If she was sleeping, it was never for more than six hours. Anything more was superfluous for the girl who wanted nothing more than to reach her peak potential.
Upon finally reaching her first year officially, and receiving her wand and set of school robes, Ayako was involved in many sports and extracurriculars, and she was excelling at her studies. She played quidditch, she practiced aikido and archery, and she even studied foreign languages beyond those required for her classes. As for magic itself, while she was muggleborn, she proved to be thirsty for any knowledge she could gain, studying as far ahead as she could without making class time a waste of her time.

By the end of her first year, Ayako was proud to admit that she wore a set of purple school robes, and she was confident that soon they would be dark blue. Between her academic performance, and her self-improvement from her various sports, she was getting closer and closer to her goal of freeing her mother from the burden of working herself into an early grave. But still…
It was very rare to find Ayako Yamamura with a smile on her face.

Ayako Yamamura


Is your character a Broom Racer? No.
Is your character a Quidditch Player? Yes.
Is your character a Duelist? No.

Stats:
STA 9 | EVA 10 | STR 6 | WIS 5 | ARC 1 | ACC 10

Abilities:

Chaser's Interception

Reducio

When Ayako became an official live-in student at Mahoutokoro, she buried herself in her studies. She studied months ahead in every class, practiced her wand work and broom work religiously, and made every waking moment productive in some manner.

Unfortunately, she could only study so far ahead of her class before class time itself would become a waste of time for her, and she despised wasted time, so she had to find other ways to occupy her time. She dedicated this time instead to Quidditch, Aikido, Archery, and various other sports and activities. In other words, if it was an activity offered at Mahoutokoro, and it could help her to improve herself, Ayako accepted the challenge eagerly.

Archery allowed Ayako to hone her mind, learning to calm herself and ignore even the worst distractions. This proved invaluable, allowing her to focus and recognize threats and opportunities before they could possibly reach her.

Aikido allowed Ayako to hone her body, training her to respond to the events she noticed in her focused state. If a small object was coming for her, she might not always be able to catch it, but she could at least avoid it. If an opponent charged her, she might not always be able to counter it, but she could sidestep it, trapping them into a self-inflicted fall of their own creation.

Quidditch allowed her to put these skills together, sharpening her reflexes to a point she’d never reached before. She used her strong mind to focus on everything around her. If the bludger was heading for her, she could hear it surging through the air before it hit her. If other players were approaching her, she was aware of them before they could force a collision. Most importantly, however, she could focus on the quaffle, regardless of distance, and make a snap decision without any wasted time.

This was the same efficiency she used in her daily life, but she also applied it to quidditch. As she didn’t like to waste time in her studies, neither did she waste it in her Quidditch playing. If she wasn’t actively pursuing some goal in the game, then she was a burden, bringing dishonor to her entire team and school. If the quaffle was free, she was chasing it. If the quaffle was not free, she was still making some attempt to retrieve it.
Ayako’s application of her philosophy to never hesitate or be inefficient made her a very effective Chaser, and she would hone her skills every day either in the quidditch pitch, or in other self-made challenges. It wasn’t uncommon to find her running drills with her friend Hiro, taking turns tossing small rocks at each other on broomback, dodging and catching them with the goal of hitting each other with the rocks.

All in all, these sports and exercises helped Ayako to develop better reflexes than most, especially when on a broom.

Evasive Maneuvers

Reducio

After hours of grueling practice and training in various sports and classes, Ayako’s body has been honed into a finely sharpened blade of efficiency, but she owes her quick reflexes and survival instincts to a few sports in particular: Aikido and Quidditch.

Aikido is a martial arts discipline with an emphasis on the harmonious spirit and the unification of life energy. It isn’t as aggressive, or dangerous for that matter, as many other similar disciplines. It has more of an emphasis on neutralizing danger while protecting the defender and the attacker.

On the physical level, it is about using an opponent’s energy - and weight - against them, utilizing quick sidesteps and dodges as opposed to taking the brunt of an opponent’s force head-on. It is very similar to quidditch, in that regard, and that is why it resonated so well with Ayako.

If a bludger was headed straight for her, she couldn’t simply take the hit and carry on about her day and more than she could take an attack from a sparring opponent twice her size, so she began to rely on strategic dodging of blows that would otherwise be quite painful. It was often said that her movements were almost dance like, but she would deny it. Such dancelike grace was wasteful, and her movements were far more efficient than dances.

A sidestep here, a well-timed crouch there. These were the types of tactics she employed in Aikido, and they translated well into her career as a chaser. She could time a barrel roll down to the very second she needed to initiate to avoid a head-on collision with another player. She could swoop low at the last second to avoid a flying bludger. She could even fly upside down, if need be, to avoid any other potential obstacle.

This was a skill she worked hard at honing through hours of sparring and flying while narrowly avoiding the obstacles along the rocky coastline of Minami Iwo Jima.

Sure, she’d sustained many injuries early on - a few concussions, a great many bruises, and even a broken wrist early in her first year - but after all this pain and discipline, she had developed reflexes beyond what she’d been previously capable of. She was quick to recognize danger, and even quicker to react to it.

She could almost hear the sound of a distant bludger pushing against the wind resistance in her direction. She could almost hear the footsteps of an approaching opponent before they got close enough to strike. She could even feel the tingle of magic in the air as oncoming spells closed in on her.

In other words, she had learned to effectively use the blade that she had honed her body into, avoiding incoming danger and striking when the opportunity came.

Items:
Comet 180