Amaya Kawahashi

If only the bird could be free To fly far from home She would sing a song of joy. Amaya Kawahashi SIXTEEN ·JAPANESE · CULINARY ARTS Hair: Amaya's hair is in a long black hime cut, in total length down to her shoulders.  It's a bit thick and full so she both has a lot to work with and a lot of maintenance to do.  She'll change up the styling depending on what she's doing - tying it back or to the side for cooking, straight down for normal activities, etc.  Eyes: Amaya's eyes are gray, and often have a sort of feline look to them.  They can be very expressive.. at least when she's trying to be expressive. Face: Amaya's face is feminine and somewhat rounded in shape.  It's a little long, but not in such a way as to make her look more masculine. Body: Physically she's a bit willowy and this can make her look a little younger than she is.  She claims that she is 5'6 and 1/2", but is actually closer to 5'8".  Clothing: Amaya's style is conciusly feminine - she doesn't own a single pair of trousers or jeans.  Everything is a skirt with girlish top or a dress, and most of it has some kind of feminine pattern or soft color to it.  She does this to stand out from her sisters' utilitarian attires. appearance General: The Amaya that people will meet day-to-day will depend a lot on when in that day they are meeting her.  Most of the time, and her truer nature, is a bit of a sheltered and shy girl who earnestly wants to be friendly with people.  While she can be a bit quiet, she is an attentive and active listener., as well as always polite.  She likes to think about a problem first before jumping in, so that her decision is the best one it can be.  This can mean that she is a little slow to take action unless an outside force encourages her to act more quickly. One thing that's clear is Amaya's strong sense of obligation to others.  When she says that she's going to do something, you can be assured that she will do it.  No matter how small the promise was, she will see it through.  She doesn't care for them being written off as inconsequential; often what she sees as absolutely necessary to follow through on is just a little thing that someone might forget about. Amaya can hold a conversation but is loathe to dominate it, even if the topic is one that she's passionate about.  Overall she's always hyper aware and afraid of stepping on toes and going against the grain.  She'd rather keep a concern to herself than let it rock the boat and ruin other people's time.  When a disagreement comes up she's the first one to suggest a compromise or to change the subject all together.  After things have been defused she may vent to a closely trusted friend, but never in the heat of the moment. To this end Amaya seems to always do things for her friends, but not often for herself.  She has things she wants to do, but often does them alone so that she's not intruding on other people's desires or needs.  This leads to the other Amaya people might encounter - the one doing things she'd rather not do, but feels obligated to do.  Chief among these is cooking, when she's unable to fully hide her feelings and has a chilling deadpan expression while she works.  This is a bit spooky and gives people the wrong impression, but she is so tired of doing things she doesn't care for that she doesn't realize she looks like a soulless robot. She can actually be physically affectionate with those close to her, and is closest to showing her full self when expressing such feelings.  Though she's prone to freezing up while overthinking a situation, a hug or someone taking her hand can shake her out of it.  It's the one fully spontaneous thing she does too, though she may apologize for her brashness afterward. Things Amaya Enjoys Karaoke Light Novels The mobile/gacha game Sparkling Stage! Re:View, which she plays for the story and certainly not for all the lovely yuri ships. Things Amaya Hates Cooking Bitter flavors - coffee, confections or whatever. Dark places. Amaya's Habits Suggesting an activity that she would like to do while making it sound like she's seeking consensus. Making a deadpan face while cooking or during any talk of things culinary. Humming her favorite songs randomly. Amaya's Positive Traits Very good listener. Adventurous - genuinely willing to explore new areas and things. Kind hearted Amaya's Negative Traits Not good at advocating for herself. Strong sense of obligation forces her into situations she doesn't enjoy. Avoids confrontation. Your Own Section Amaya has a collection of mascot keychains from places she's visited - mostly from Kyoto and the surrounding area.  She is deathly afraid of ghosts.  Amaya's convinced that they a) exist, b) infest spooky places and c) invariably will try to get her. Amaya is actually a capable dancer who learns dances from videos online in a rather quick amount of time. personality History: Amaya was born into a family which is a culinary institution in Kyoto.  Her parents are the fourth generation in this line and own a chain of restaurants in the city.  As for her, she's a part of the fifth generation that is expected by many to break into culinary arts themselves.  Both of her elder sisters would follow this path with enthusiasm, and Amaya too had a decent talent at it.  When she was young, it was a fascinating world full of exciting tastes and fun experiments conducted in the kitchen.  At that time, she wanted to follow in the family's footsteps and promised her sister Yuki that they'd have a cooking show together. School as a bit of a challenge as the naturally shy Amaya kept to herself for the post part.  When she was 8 she met a friend who changed things for her: Sora Nakai.  What began as just sitting next to each other led to the two becoming inseparable.  Still at a point where cooking was enjoyable, Amaya welcomed Sora into her family kitchen.  Her sister Yuki mentored both of them, and Sora took to cooking quite well.  Meanwhile the two would go on adventures in Kyoto, exploring new places during their time off from school. By middle school things were changing for Amaya regarding the family trade though.  The expectations of a Kawahashi were such that she felt she had to push herself to live up to every one.  Become a great cook, form a business venture with family and keep the traditions alive.  Except she found that she didn't enjoy it as much.  It was so much work, so frustrating and so generally unrewarding to her that she began wishing she could do something else.  But she'd made a promise.  And a promise had to be kept.  The tradition had to be followed.  So she forced herself to keep studying culinary arts despite her growing apathy for them.  Only her friend's presence in those classes helped her get through it, really.  Amaya truly treasured their time spent doing other things, like ducking into karaoke rooms after school or on weekends. As she went through middle school Amaya did her best to keep cooking in the kitchen.  She didn't want to talk about it when she didn't have to, it reminded her of her growing troubles too much.  At least she had Sora. While her friend fell in love with cooking, Amaya fell in love with singing. It brought her so much joy where cooking only brought all those negative feelings.  Often she'd make excuses about being busy just to go rent a karaoke room alone for an hour and sing her heart out.  But despite this realization, she knew there wasn't any future in singing; cooking at least would pay the bills. When Yuki announced she'd gotten into a fancy culinary school in Osaka, Amaya was actually kind of relieved.  Not having to hear how great her sister was at culinary arts all the time gave Amaya a bit of space to breathe.  She loved her sister, but it just reminded her of that promise too much.  Despite expectations of Amaya attending that school too, Amaya deliberately tanked on the Osaka school's test.  Instead she focused on applying to Fukui, which an acquaintance of her mother's had mentioned.  It hurt a bit when Sora applied to the Osaka school, but Amaya was overjoyed when it turned out both of them would be attending Fukui. Things were different than what she expected though.  Despite the strong hope and even assumption that they'd be roommates, that didn't happen.  Being enrolled in the culinary arts major meant that she'd have to deal with being in a kitchen often too.  More and more commonly she wore a stoic face while she prepared food, which began to spook the other girls in the class.  It was all she could do to avoid breaking down and throwing the ingredients in the trash bin.  Cooking was a job now, not a hobby.. and it always had been.  Amaya had no joy in it, her heart yearned for anything else to do instead.  But still she continued on as if nothing was wrong.  Now facing another year of the same tiresome major, Amaya is wondering if she even has a future in culinary arts.  The thought of letting her sister, best friend and so many others down propels her onward for now. Family/Relatives Nobu and Kei Kawahashi are her parents, both of whom are professional cooks who jointly own a successful restaurant chain in Kyoto prefecture. Two elder sisters: Aoi (23) and Yuki (20), who are both either studying culinary arts at school or involved in the culinary world at large. Face Claim: KINDRED SPIRITS ON THE ROOF TOP, Sachi Enoki claimed by <Maiko> (This will be taken from your profile once accepted and added to the FC list) background Grade Level: Second Major: Culinary Arts Future Plans: Deep down Amaya wants nothing to do with cooking or restaurants.  She wants to pursue something, anything else but feels trapped in following the path her family has set out.  Her closest friend is also doing it, so Amaya wonders if she just is stuck going that way herself.  Her true love is singing, and she'd love to make something of that if there were any way to actually make a living at it. Housing: Dorms -x- Alias: Maiko extra

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