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Description

aaAAA this group looks so cut e //crosses my fingers intensely for getting in

▌ P R O F I L E

「Did you need some posters made for the sale on Friday? I can have the designs done by tomorrow if you're too busy!」
[ B A S I C · I N F O R M A T I O N ]
Name: Asakura Chiyo
Age: 19
Birthday: April 3
Height: 5'4 // 163 cm
Weight: 119 lbs // 54 kg
Sexuality: Heterosexual panromantic
Relationship Status: Single pringle

[ W O R K ]
Job Position: Promoter (in-person promoting)
Full Time or Part Time: Part Time

▌ P E R S O N A L I T Y

[ Caring | Bright | Imaginative | Organized | Modest | Tactful | Meticulous | Persnickety | Self-indulgent | Impatient | Moody | Nonstop | Fatalistic ]

  | Caring  ·  Bright |

The trait that takes the forefront in Chiyo's outward expression is her sweet-natured and cheerful disposition; she deeply cherishes her friendships, however minor they may be, and would do almost anything to help even just a friendly acquaintance. She enjoys seeing people happy, and would never even think of intentionally (intentionally being the key word here) hurting another person emotionally or physically. She's very open and honest in the advice she gives, although 'tough love' isn't a concept she's great with yet.

Chiyo is a very bright person in multiple senses of the word, in that she's not only outgoing and upbeat with others but also quick-minded and intelligent. Especially when it comes to her work, she'll strike up a conversation with just about anyone (within reason; obviously rushing or upset people she'll leave alone, more for their sake than hers), and can virtually always be counted on for lively and friendly conversation. She keeps up very good grades as a full-time university student along with her part-time job, and she has high ambitions for her future. Extroverted she may be, but ditzy she is not.

Under the surface, Chiyo's temperament isn't always as sunny as it seems, but there's more on that to come later.

  | Imaginative · Organized |

As is often the case with intelligent people, Chiyo's sharp mind comes with a healthy dose of creativity as well. Her creativity serves her equally well in artistic mediums and thinking her way around problems, although it's not unusual for her to become so wrapped up in possible solutions that she walks right past an obvious one.

This frustrating tendency is at least somewhat offset by her neat and systematic way of going about her business. She has a schedule for everything and is absolutely one of those people whose notes are color-coded by subject matter and whether something is a definition, formula, and/or whether or not it was stated to be on the midterm test. She uses this skill to keep her ideas, time, and general life in order, and will gladly offer her help to anyone who needs assistance getting all their ducks in a line.

  | Modest · Tactful |
Chiyo is, in general, far more likely to brush off her achievements or pass them off to someone else than to acknowledge them; it's not that she doesn't recognize her own accomplishments, but the last thing she wants is to be seen as a narcissist. She'll gladly accept compliments if she receives them, but she's not one to deliberately highlight her own good points. There are exceptions, of course -- a resumé or other sort of application, naturally, is not a place to sell herself short. For her, it's all about knowing when and where humility would be most advantageous and when it wouldn't.

This discretion of hers is a strong overarching pillar of her interactions with others; she's very much fine-tuned the art of knowing how to phrase and time her compliments and criticisms. This is also what leads her to keep her aforementioned less-than-stellar attitudes very, very tightly under wraps around others; she knows what other people do and don't like to see in a person, and has tailored her exterior to fit that model. It isn't that her kindness and friendly nature are fake, necessarily; to her, it's just a matter of what she does and does not choose to express. However, when you're as much of a bundle of internal negativity as Chiyo can be, it's nearly impossible to hide entirely.

  | Meticulous · Persnickety |
Going along with her neat and orderly tendencies are Chiyo's very exacting and thorough standards for both her work and the work of others, when it affects her. She isn't satisfied until she's sure something is the best she can possibly make it, and while this means that what she does gets done very well, her idea of what her 'best' is and the reality of what her 'best' is don't always measure up to each other. Still, she is working on learning to understand her limits, and her attention to detail can be useful as well.

On the other hand -- while it's considered a bad idea to list your 'biggest weakness' in a job interview as perfectionism, pickiness really does pose a serious problem for Chiyo. She feels she has to be in control of every aspect of a project or other type of collaboration to ensure that it's done exactly the way she thinks it should be, and although her intentions are good, sometimes it's necessary to let pieces of a project go and trust other people to do their jobs well. Luckily, the Promoter job has slightly less of a focus on teamwork than some of the other positions, but relaxing a bit about team work (and even her own individual work) is something Chiyo definitely still needs work on.

  | Self-Indulgent |
In Chiyo there exists an example of the fact that caring does not always mean entirely selfless. While she certainly is altruistic in how she expends her energy, Chiyo has a habit of doing whatever she wants for herself, whether that's buying things she doesn't need, using her snooze button a little more than she should because she 'deserves it, come on,' or just allowing herself to sulk about something rather than just getting over it. Even when her budget is telling her 'no, you really shouldn't buy that,' if she wants the thing she will buy it anyway. She takes the "treat yourself" school of thought just a little too seriously, although when she starts to see her actions having a negative impact on others she will generally draw the line there. The conflict this trait tends to create with her sense of order can stress her out to no end.

  | Impatient · Moody |
Although this isn't always immediately obvious because of the front Chiyo puts on for herself, she's actually rather irritable in private -- leftover tendencies from the time before she learned to control her temper. She doesn't get impatient with other people so quickly, but repetitive tasks, long waits, especially inconvenient or uncooperative objects, or failure in general are all things that can frustrate her very easily. When something makes her angry in this way she tends to lose sight of the fact that other people might be around; this leads to situations in which she has an outburst but then walks away as if nothing at all happened once the problem is resolved.

Similarly, seeing her alone (while not actively working on something) is like seeing a switch flipped from her normal disposition. When she's alone and inactive, she drops any pretense of cheerfulness and becomes low-affect and almost apathetic, generally as a result of the mental strain of suppressing this side of her the rest of the time. Think 'kid in a 90's TV show lying on his bed staring at the ceiling and listlessly tossing a baseball up and down' sort of feeling. Seeing Chiyo like this is a lot like seeing a unicorn.

  | Nonstop · Fatalistic |

The thing about Chiyo's tendency to lose her positive exterior when she's not keeping herself busy is that she absolutely hates that it happens, so she's contantly trying to find more and more things to do so she doesn't fall into the 'gloom pit', as she refers to it. Although some of the things she chooses to undertake (college and the café job itself, for instance) she does out of a genuine desire for success and a sense of accomplishment, a lot of the reason she throws herself so hard into doing well is to fight off what she perceives as stagnation. She moves through her life at a quick, relentless pace, and while certainly she does get things done, it's much too easy for her to get swept away and overwhelmed.

The other issue that stems from this is that she's very aware of the flaws and pitfalls in her own reasoning and personality, and yet can't seem to bring herself to stop. As such she has started to see the worst possible outcome as the inevitable, and this pessimism seeps to her viewpoint on other things as well -- relationships, work and school projects, even the general trajectory she sees for her life all seem doomed to failure if she stops to think. She still works to do her best and succeed, but she has problems seeing the bright side for herself sometimes.

But, well, she keeps all that Negative Nancy nonsense shoved very very deep down if she can help it.

[ H O B B I E S ]
Art and Design
Weaving
Jewelry making

[ S T R E N G T H S ]

✔ Speaks English very well, so she can talk about the café at length with tourists from English-speaking countries, not just locals

  ✔ Exceptionally creative and has a good aesthetic sense for designs

  ✔ No issues whatsoever talking to people she doesn't know

  ✔ Neat and organized

[ W E A K N E S S E S ]

  ✘ Picky to the point of possibly missing deadlines if a flyer isn't coming together the way she wants; may get discouraged and/or sulky

  ✘ May take on too many projects at once, leading her to not put her best work into any of them

  ✘ Reluctant to ask others for help (they're busy too, she reasons, and she tends to think she can always do things on her own anyway)

  ✘ When working in a group, may tend to compromise on what she needs to avoid confrontation; has issues with being assertive for fear of being bossy

▌ H I S T O R Y

Chiyo was born into a moderately rich family in the Miyagi prefecture; the main source of income for the household was her father's highly successful advertising agency. Her father was frequently away at work, which left her mother to care for Chiyo -- as it turned out, this was no easy task. Right from the start Chiyo displayed the boundless enthusiasm and energy that marks her disposition today, supplemented (to her parents' initial delight) by a strong curiosity and quick wit; however, what Chiyo didn't always have was the tact and control to moderate her behavior and frequent low mood swings. She was constantly making a nuisance of herself, throwing tantrums or getting into some sort of mischief, often regarding dishes or making art in places art was never meant to go.

This could normally be brushed off as typical childhood behavior, but the extent to which Chiyo caused trouble was a source of some concern to her parents, who were highly conscious of the reflection this would have on their reputation if it didn't improve as Chiyo aged. Their worries multiplied when Chiyo's mother learned she was pregnant with another child -- who knew what influence seven-year-old Chiyo might have on her younger sister? Another holy terror around the house would only make things less manageable.
However, to the pleasant surprise of the Asakura family, the introduction of a younger sister actually led to a moderation of Chiyo's attitude. Chiyo adored her younger sister from the moment she saw her in her mother's arms, and upon frequent admonishments of how fragile babies were, Chiyo at last began to settle down. Almost every free moment was spent helping to care for her baby sibling, and that didn't change as Chiyo and her sister grew up; even today Chiyo is massively protective of her sister, and to an extent this experience with nurturing is what set her down the path of supportiveness and kindness.

These tendencies didn't form in Chiyo's character overnight, though. Even after she started to improve with the influence of her baby sister, she was known around her school for being moody, bossy, and impatient; she still had a fairly large number of friends, in no small part due to the fact that she had known most of the people in her class since early childhood and they were all simply used to each other. Her more negative impulses went unchecked for a good long while; even if at home her mother was careful not to coddle her, the same could not always be said of her teachers, who were rather starstruck by the presence of a member of her father's bloodline in their classroom. So Chiyo went on being bossy, rude, and generally annoying, and it was all let slide because of her parentage and obvious intellect ('even at such a young age!' gushed her teachers).

But Chiyo would soon learn that this couldn't go on forever; when she was around thirteen years old, her father's business ventures required the family to move to Tokyo. There Chiyo was enrolled in a far more advanced middle school for other upper-class children, one 'more suited to her station' than the neighborhood school she had attended in Miyagi.
Beyond the most immediate effect of losing most contact with her old friends, numerous repercussions sprang from this change for Chiyo. The more advanced curriculum of the school posed no issue for her, but she learned very quickly that what remained of her former imperious and generally bratty habits absolutely would not fly with the new school staff or students she hadn't been friends with for the majority of her life. The people here, accustomed to being around families of presitge similar to or even greater than her own, did not tolerate her poor impulse control or bouts of snappishness; after a brief period of confusion, Chiyo determined that she would have to adapt to this or be shunned.

And so, through a great deal of practice and effort over a number of months, Chiyo manufactured the perpetually glowing, friendly, sweet veneer that she values so highly by shoving her less appealing traits far, far down; luckily for her, she was generally positive and friendly enough in the first place that it wasn't difficult for her to simply bring that to the forefront all the time rather than letting despondency or rudeness control her behavior. She pushed everything she could conceive might hurt her relationships with others so far away that sometimes even she sometimes forgot the persona she put forth wasn't always real ('fake it through until you make it true,' as the saying goes). Her parents rejoiced at their reformed, perfectly acceptable daughter, her new school acquaintances were able to write off her previous snottiness as new-kid nerves, and lo and behold, her social life was saved. Wasn't this so much better?

Unfortunately, this new way of living did come with a price. Chiyo could no longer afford to be careless, and constantly suppressing such a large part of her personality only magnified its effects when she did falter; a new sort of pessimism sprang up within her that simply wasn't there before, a far more sardonic and bitter one than the simple childlike irrtiability she had displayed before. Not only that, but as she grew older, a) she began hearing more and more about her father's accomplishments and b) receiving harder and harder material in her classes. This was the point at which her perfectionism became something that dragged her down, rather than simply driving her to succeed. She felt she was, as the eldest child, expected to follow in her father's footsteps, which was a massive pressure she could feel deep in her bones when she was alone.

She went through high school in this way, pushing herself harder and harder to succeed while simultaneously working keep up her friendships and be as supportive and caring as she felt she needed to be. In some ways, although she hated to admit it to herself, graduating and distancing herself somewhat from her old relationships came almost as a relief -- a fresh start in college, she felt, would be very good for her. She settled on the University of Tokyo and was accepted nearly effortlessly; while her family could easily have paid the full tuition, she insisted on only letting her parents pay what she couldn't cover herself with a part-time job.

It was on a small shopping trip in Aoyama that she went on with her younger sister, shortly before the beginning of the school year, that her eye was caught by a sign near a café stating that they were hiring. Figuring it looked like a nice enough café, she looked into the place after dropping her sister off at home and instantly fell in love with the Promoter job position. It seemed like a perfect fit to practice advertising techniques, not to mention she could use the arts and crafts skills that she had been practicing as a hobby for years as a break from the analytical aspects of her schooling.

Chiyo is now in her second year at Tokyo University and is aiming to study in the department of business administration, specifically for a degree in economics. College is allowing her to study the technical aspects of running a business, while her job at Ai Honey Tea Café lets her hone her creativity and work hands-on with advertising techniques and marketing. It's a perfect setup, as far as she's concerned, to allow her to live up to her family name and support herself the way her father supported their family.
She currently lives in an apartment a short distance off-campus from the university, conveniently in the direction of Aoyama.

▌ M I S C E L L A N E O U S

[ L I K E S ]

  ✔ High heels, although she generally chooses to wear more comfortable shoes day-to-day

  ✔ Soft, smooth textures, whether in food, yarn, or clothes

  ✔ Strawberries and raspberries

  ✔ Candles

  ✔ Stained-glass anything

  ✔ Vanilla or honey scents

  ✔ Fiddling around with different hairstyles

[ D I S L I K E S ]

  ✘ Early-morning classes

  ✘ Avocado and all its derivatives

  ✘ Running and jogging as activities

  ✘ Lotions (she keeps her skin from getting dry by drinking lots and lots of water instead)

  ✘ Coffee, unless there's lots of cream and/or sugar

  ✘ Bugs of any type, butterflies and fireflies being the exceptions

  ✘ Running out of things to keep her busy

[ A D D I T I O N A L ]
Voice: Normal Speaking , When Upset , Singing
Chiyo's Casual Wear Reference
Her normal hair color is the darker pink at the top of her head; she dyes the ends slightly lighter just because she likes the way it looks.
Even though she's outgoing and friendly, Chiyo is actually an introvert; too much social interaction does drain her eventually, and she needs time to 'recharge' afterwards.
She has an unusually low average body temperature, and as such gets cold very easily.
Although her shoulders are usually covered re: the previous bit of trivia, she has freckles on them as well.
Her favorite color is not pink; she only wears that the most because it coordinates with her hair. She actually prefers shades of yellow and green.
She started taking private lessons in English when she was about six years old, an early effort on her parents' part to prepare her for the business world. Her private lessons continued alongside her class ones more or less until her graduation from high school, and at this point she speaks it as naturally as she does Japanese. Occasionally she'll get stuck on a difficult pronunciation or nuanced word, but her fluency is at the level of a native speaker's and she practices often.

▌ R P · M E T H O D S
In order of preference:

Skype | Notes | Docs | Comments | Chat

Lit is strongly preferred over Script! <3

Description

aaAAA this group looks so cut e //crosses my fingers intensely for getting in

▌ P R O F I L E

「Did you need some posters made for the sale on Friday? I can have the designs done by tomorrow if you're too busy!」
[ B A S I C · I N F O R M A T I O N ]
Name: Asakura Chiyo
Age: 19
Birthday: April 3
Height: 5'4 // 163 cm
Weight: 119 lbs // 54 kg
Sexuality: Heterosexual panromantic
Relationship Status: Single pringle

[ W O R K ]
Job Position: Promoter (in-person promoting)
Full Time or Part Time: Part Time

▌ P E R S O N A L I T Y

[ Caring | Bright | Imaginative | Organized | Modest | Tactful | Meticulous | Persnickety | Self-indulgent | Impatient | Moody | Nonstop | Fatalistic ]

  | Caring  ·  Bright |

The trait that takes the forefront in Chiyo's outward expression is her sweet-natured and cheerful disposition; she deeply cherishes her friendships, however minor they may be, and would do almost anything to help even just a friendly acquaintance. She enjoys seeing people happy, and would never even think of intentionally (intentionally being the key word here) hurting another person emotionally or physically. She's very open and honest in the advice she gives, although 'tough love' isn't a concept she's great with yet.

Chiyo is a very bright person in multiple senses of the word, in that she's not only outgoing and upbeat with others but also quick-minded and intelligent. Especially when it comes to her work, she'll strike up a conversation with just about anyone (within reason; obviously rushing or upset people she'll leave alone, more for their sake than hers), and can virtually always be counted on for lively and friendly conversation. She keeps up very good grades as a full-time university student along with her part-time job, and she has high ambitions for her future. Extroverted she may be, but ditzy she is not.

Under the surface, Chiyo's temperament isn't always as sunny as it seems, but there's more on that to come later.

  | Imaginative · Organized |

As is often the case with intelligent people, Chiyo's sharp mind comes with a healthy dose of creativity as well. Her creativity serves her equally well in artistic mediums and thinking her way around problems, although it's not unusual for her to become so wrapped up in possible solutions that she walks right past an obvious one.

This frustrating tendency is at least somewhat offset by her neat and systematic way of going about her business. She has a schedule for everything and is absolutely one of those people whose notes are color-coded by subject matter and whether something is a definition, formula, and/or whether or not it was stated to be on the midterm test. She uses this skill to keep her ideas, time, and general life in order, and will gladly offer her help to anyone who needs assistance getting all their ducks in a line.

  | Modest · Tactful |
Chiyo is, in general, far more likely to brush off her achievements or pass them off to someone else than to acknowledge them; it's not that she doesn't recognize her own accomplishments, but the last thing she wants is to be seen as a narcissist. She'll gladly accept compliments if she receives them, but she's not one to deliberately highlight her own good points. There are exceptions, of course -- a resumé or other sort of application, naturally, is not a place to sell herself short. For her, it's all about knowing when and where humility would be most advantageous and when it wouldn't.

This discretion of hers is a strong overarching pillar of her interactions with others; she's very much fine-tuned the art of knowing how to phrase and time her compliments and criticisms. This is also what leads her to keep her aforementioned less-than-stellar attitudes very, very tightly under wraps around others; she knows what other people do and don't like to see in a person, and has tailored her exterior to fit that model. It isn't that her kindness and friendly nature are fake, necessarily; to her, it's just a matter of what she does and does not choose to express. However, when you're as much of a bundle of internal negativity as Chiyo can be, it's nearly impossible to hide entirely.

  | Meticulous · Persnickety |
Going along with her neat and orderly tendencies are Chiyo's very exacting and thorough standards for both her work and the work of others, when it affects her. She isn't satisfied until she's sure something is the best she can possibly make it, and while this means that what she does gets done very well, her idea of what her 'best' is and the reality of what her 'best' is don't always measure up to each other. Still, she is working on learning to understand her limits, and her attention to detail can be useful as well.

On the other hand -- while it's considered a bad idea to list your 'biggest weakness' in a job interview as perfectionism, pickiness really does pose a serious problem for Chiyo. She feels she has to be in control of every aspect of a project or other type of collaboration to ensure that it's done exactly the way she thinks it should be, and although her intentions are good, sometimes it's necessary to let pieces of a project go and trust other people to do their jobs well. Luckily, the Promoter job has slightly less of a focus on teamwork than some of the other positions, but relaxing a bit about team work (and even her own individual work) is something Chiyo definitely still needs work on.

  | Self-Indulgent |
In Chiyo there exists an example of the fact that caring does not always mean entirely selfless. While she certainly is altruistic in how she expends her energy, Chiyo has a habit of doing whatever she wants for herself, whether that's buying things she doesn't need, using her snooze button a little more than she should because she 'deserves it, come on,' or just allowing herself to sulk about something rather than just getting over it. Even when her budget is telling her 'no, you really shouldn't buy that,' if she wants the thing she will buy it anyway. She takes the "treat yourself" school of thought just a little too seriously, although when she starts to see her actions having a negative impact on others she will generally draw the line there. The conflict this trait tends to create with her sense of order can stress her out to no end.

  | Impatient · Moody |
Although this isn't always immediately obvious because of the front Chiyo puts on for herself, she's actually rather irritable in private -- leftover tendencies from the time before she learned to control her temper. She doesn't get impatient with other people so quickly, but repetitive tasks, long waits, especially inconvenient or uncooperative objects, or failure in general are all things that can frustrate her very easily. When something makes her angry in this way she tends to lose sight of the fact that other people might be around; this leads to situations in which she has an outburst but then walks away as if nothing at all happened once the problem is resolved.

Similarly, seeing her alone (while not actively working on something) is like seeing a switch flipped from her normal disposition. When she's alone and inactive, she drops any pretense of cheerfulness and becomes low-affect and almost apathetic, generally as a result of the mental strain of suppressing this side of her the rest of the time. Think 'kid in a 90's TV show lying on his bed staring at the ceiling and listlessly tossing a baseball up and down' sort of feeling. Seeing Chiyo like this is a lot like seeing a unicorn.

  | Nonstop · Fatalistic |

The thing about Chiyo's tendency to lose her positive exterior when she's not keeping herself busy is that she absolutely hates that it happens, so she's contantly trying to find more and more things to do so she doesn't fall into the 'gloom pit', as she refers to it. Although some of the things she chooses to undertake (college and the café job itself, for instance) she does out of a genuine desire for success and a sense of accomplishment, a lot of the reason she throws herself so hard into doing well is to fight off what she perceives as stagnation. She moves through her life at a quick, relentless pace, and while certainly she does get things done, it's much too easy for her to get swept away and overwhelmed.

The other issue that stems from this is that she's very aware of the flaws and pitfalls in her own reasoning and personality, and yet can't seem to bring herself to stop. As such she has started to see the worst possible outcome as the inevitable, and this pessimism seeps to her viewpoint on other things as well -- relationships, work and school projects, even the general trajectory she sees for her life all seem doomed to failure if she stops to think. She still works to do her best and succeed, but she has problems seeing the bright side for herself sometimes.

But, well, she keeps all that Negative Nancy nonsense shoved very very deep down if she can help it.

[ H O B B I E S ]
Art and Design
Weaving
Jewelry making

[ S T R E N G T H S ]

✔ Speaks English very well, so she can talk about the café at length with tourists from English-speaking countries, not just locals

  ✔ Exceptionally creative and has a good aesthetic sense for designs

  ✔ No issues whatsoever talking to people she doesn't know

  ✔ Neat and organized

[ W E A K N E S S E S ]

  ✘ Picky to the point of possibly missing deadlines if a flyer isn't coming together the way she wants; may get discouraged and/or sulky

  ✘ May take on too many projects at once, leading her to not put her best work into any of them

  ✘ Reluctant to ask others for help (they're busy too, she reasons, and she tends to think she can always do things on her own anyway)

  ✘ When working in a group, may tend to compromise on what she needs to avoid confrontation; has issues with being assertive for fear of being bossy

▌ H I S T O R Y

Chiyo was born into a moderately rich family in the Miyagi prefecture; the main source of income for the household was her father's highly successful advertising agency. Her father was frequently away at work, which left her mother to care for Chiyo -- as it turned out, this was no easy task. Right from the start Chiyo displayed the boundless enthusiasm and energy that marks her disposition today, supplemented (to her parents' initial delight) by a strong curiosity and quick wit; however, what Chiyo didn't always have was the tact and control to moderate her behavior and frequent low mood swings. She was constantly making a nuisance of herself, throwing tantrums or getting into some sort of mischief, often regarding dishes or making art in places art was never meant to go.

This could normally be brushed off as typical childhood behavior, but the extent to which Chiyo caused trouble was a source of some concern to her parents, who were highly conscious of the reflection this would have on their reputation if it didn't improve as Chiyo aged. Their worries multiplied when Chiyo's mother learned she was pregnant with another child -- who knew what influence seven-year-old Chiyo might have on her younger sister? Another holy terror around the house would only make things less manageable.
However, to the pleasant surprise of the Asakura family, the introduction of a younger sister actually led to a moderation of Chiyo's attitude. Chiyo adored her younger sister from the moment she saw her in her mother's arms, and upon frequent admonishments of how fragile babies were, Chiyo at last began to settle down. Almost every free moment was spent helping to care for her baby sibling, and that didn't change as Chiyo and her sister grew up; even today Chiyo is massively protective of her sister, and to an extent this experience with nurturing is what set her down the path of supportiveness and kindness.

These tendencies didn't form in Chiyo's character overnight, though. Even after she started to improve with the influence of her baby sister, she was known around her school for being moody, bossy, and impatient; she still had a fairly large number of friends, in no small part due to the fact that she had known most of the people in her class since early childhood and they were all simply used to each other. Her more negative impulses went unchecked for a good long while; even if at home her mother was careful not to coddle her, the same could not always be said of her teachers, who were rather starstruck by the presence of a member of her father's bloodline in their classroom. So Chiyo went on being bossy, rude, and generally annoying, and it was all let slide because of her parentage and obvious intellect ('even at such a young age!' gushed her teachers).

But Chiyo would soon learn that this couldn't go on forever; when she was around thirteen years old, her father's business ventures required the family to move to Tokyo. There Chiyo was enrolled in a far more advanced middle school for other upper-class children, one 'more suited to her station' than the neighborhood school she had attended in Miyagi.
Beyond the most immediate effect of losing most contact with her old friends, numerous repercussions sprang from this change for Chiyo. The more advanced curriculum of the school posed no issue for her, but she learned very quickly that what remained of her former imperious and generally bratty habits absolutely would not fly with the new school staff or students she hadn't been friends with for the majority of her life. The people here, accustomed to being around families of presitge similar to or even greater than her own, did not tolerate her poor impulse control or bouts of snappishness; after a brief period of confusion, Chiyo determined that she would have to adapt to this or be shunned.

And so, through a great deal of practice and effort over a number of months, Chiyo manufactured the perpetually glowing, friendly, sweet veneer that she values so highly by shoving her less appealing traits far, far down; luckily for her, she was generally positive and friendly enough in the first place that it wasn't difficult for her to simply bring that to the forefront all the time rather than letting despondency or rudeness control her behavior. She pushed everything she could conceive might hurt her relationships with others so far away that sometimes even she sometimes forgot the persona she put forth wasn't always real ('fake it through until you make it true,' as the saying goes). Her parents rejoiced at their reformed, perfectly acceptable daughter, her new school acquaintances were able to write off her previous snottiness as new-kid nerves, and lo and behold, her social life was saved. Wasn't this so much better?

Unfortunately, this new way of living did come with a price. Chiyo could no longer afford to be careless, and constantly suppressing such a large part of her personality only magnified its effects when she did falter; a new sort of pessimism sprang up within her that simply wasn't there before, a far more sardonic and bitter one than the simple childlike irrtiability she had displayed before. Not only that, but as she grew older, a) she began hearing more and more about her father's accomplishments and b) receiving harder and harder material in her classes. This was the point at which her perfectionism became something that dragged her down, rather than simply driving her to succeed. She felt she was, as the eldest child, expected to follow in her father's footsteps, which was a massive pressure she could feel deep in her bones when she was alone.

She went through high school in this way, pushing herself harder and harder to succeed while simultaneously working keep up her friendships and be as supportive and caring as she felt she needed to be. In some ways, although she hated to admit it to herself, graduating and distancing herself somewhat from her old relationships came almost as a relief -- a fresh start in college, she felt, would be very good for her. She settled on the University of Tokyo and was accepted nearly effortlessly; while her family could easily have paid the full tuition, she insisted on only letting her parents pay what she couldn't cover herself with a part-time job.

It was on a small shopping trip in Aoyama that she went on with her younger sister, shortly before the beginning of the school year, that her eye was caught by a sign near a café stating that they were hiring. Figuring it looked like a nice enough café, she looked into the place after dropping her sister off at home and instantly fell in love with the Promoter job position. It seemed like a perfect fit to practice advertising techniques, not to mention she could use the arts and crafts skills that she had been practicing as a hobby for years as a break from the analytical aspects of her schooling.

Chiyo is now in her second year at Tokyo University and is aiming to study in the department of business administration, specifically for a degree in economics. College is allowing her to study the technical aspects of running a business, while her job at Ai Honey Tea Café lets her hone her creativity and work hands-on with advertising techniques and marketing. It's a perfect setup, as far as she's concerned, to allow her to live up to her family name and support herself the way her father supported their family.
She currently lives in an apartment a short distance off-campus from the university, conveniently in the direction of Aoyama.

▌ M I S C E L L A N E O U S

[ L I K E S ]

  ✔ High heels, although she generally chooses to wear more comfortable shoes day-to-day

  ✔ Soft, smooth textures, whether in food, yarn, or clothes

  ✔ Strawberries and raspberries

  ✔ Candles

  ✔ Stained-glass anything

  ✔ Vanilla or honey scents

  ✔ Fiddling around with different hairstyles

[ D I S L I K E S ]

  ✘ Early-morning classes

  ✘ Avocado and all its derivatives

  ✘ Running and jogging as activities

  ✘ Lotions (she keeps her skin from getting dry by drinking lots and lots of water instead)

  ✘ Coffee, unless there's lots of cream and/or sugar

  ✘ Bugs of any type, butterflies and fireflies being the exceptions

  ✘ Running out of things to keep her busy

[ A D D I T I O N A L ]
Voice: Normal Speaking , When Upset , Singing
Chiyo's Casual Wear Reference
Her normal hair color is the darker pink at the top of her head; she dyes the ends slightly lighter just because she likes the way it looks.
Even though she's outgoing and friendly, Chiyo is actually an introvert; too much social interaction does drain her eventually, and she needs time to 'recharge' afterwards.
She has an unusually low average body temperature, and as such gets cold very easily.
Although her shoulders are usually covered re: the previous bit of trivia, she has freckles on them as well.
Her favorite color is not pink; she only wears that the most because it coordinates with her hair. She actually prefers shades of yellow and green.
She started taking private lessons in English when she was about six years old, an early effort on her parents' part to prepare her for the business world. Her private lessons continued alongside her class ones more or less until her graduation from high school, and at this point she speaks it as naturally as she does Japanese. Occasionally she'll get stuck on a difficult pronunciation or nuanced word, but her fluency is at the level of a native speaker's and she practices often.

▌ R P · M E T H O D S
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