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Drawn by a distant pearl, I rested my blade.

Distance awakes me. I draw my blade and run to you.

Rinmeikan Performance Association — Rui Akikaze! My life is on this stage!

Introduction

She is a first-year student from the Performance Department at Rinmeikan Girls School.

Rui's became inspired to act after being instantly smitten with Tamao Tomoe's performance skills in junior high. Thanks to Tamao's training, she's gradually gotten better about her stage fright and dealing with pressure. She has a strong admiration for Tamao as the person who inspired her to act.

Appearance

Rui has dark brown, wavy hair that goes below her waist, even in her usual style of a high ponytail. Her bangs are parted above her right eye, and two sections of her hair are left out of her ponytail to hang over her shoulders. She has cranberry colored eyes.

Personality

At her core, Rui is a very devoted person to the people and causes she cares about. Initially, her focus is mostly limited to Tamao, but she grows to be a firm champion of the Rinmeikan Performance Association as a whole. She puts in endless amounts of work to be able to support and honor what she loves, even if doing so means that she has to reject seemingly easier ways of doing things and take the harder route. It is noted that some of her charm as a performer comes from the earnestness of her effort. Her love for others is apparent in her actions off-stage as well; she asks them to open up to her about their troubles and is delighted by being able to listen to her friends' true feelings. The fervor of her dedication is a double-edged sword--while it pushes Rui to work her hardest and makes her willing to speak up when no one else will, it also has a tendency to make her myopic, causing her to annoy the people around her by forgetting they exist and to even neglect to think about her own desires and goals.

Rui starts out her time at Rinmeikan unsure of her goals as an individual performer, primarily focused on supporting Tamao and becoming like her. As such, she ends up reliant on Tamao for direction, feeling lost when without her guidance. However, with encouragement from fellow stage girls such as Fumi and Yuyuko, Rui more closely examines what kind of performer she wants to be and why she wants to stand on stage. These realizations make her assertive about her own artistic choices and further sharpens her determination to improve.

Earlier on, Rui is concerned with the aged-based social hierarchies present in school settings. She limits her estimation of her capabilities because of her status as a first-year, causing her to shy away from taking on too much before Yuyuko challenges her to think otherwise. Her determination to keep pursuing the stage in full and do what is necessary ends up outweighing her concerns about age, enabling her to take on more responsibility.

Rui has had lots of people-related anxiety since elementary school, hindering her ability to talk to strangers and inducing stage fright in her.

Background

Rui's grandmother was an actress, who specialized in fight scenes and won awards for playing Onikage in "Tales of Onikurenai.", and her grandfather was a kendo master. Rui's grandmother trained Rui in fight scenes, and she and Rui's father taught Rui kendo. Despite having trained for a long time, Rui has trouble getting promoted in kendo because the exams make her nervous, though she has won some competitions.

Rui attended the same junior high school as Tamao. In Rui's first year there, she saw Tamao perform on stage and was inspired to join their school's drama club, despite Rui's stage fright and shyness. During junior high school, Rui and Tamao became good friends. After Tamao graduated, Rui took over the club and eventually enrolled at Rinmeikan to keep following in Tamao's footsteps.

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Starira

Suzu Minase: Both are admired with a long straight black hair girl and Both are attending same Junior High School with that Girl.