teheperinko | BEAT DOWN, RISE UP

Player Information

Player Name: Taka
Pronouns: They
Age: 31
Preferred Means of Contact:

AliaShepard, Discord, etc.
Invitation: Link
Other Characters In Game: N/A
Do you have any plans for this character in the game? CHAOS. Unbridled chaos. Ruka might be a good girl that loves helping people, but she is also very, very unhinged. She’s also the nosiest little nose to nose into other people’s business, so it’s safe to say she’s going to be quite the social butterfingers.
…Butterfly.

Character Information

Character's Full Name: Kayamori Ruka
Character's Pronouns: She/Her
Character's Canon: Heaven Burns Red
Character's Canon Point: Chapter 4.1 — as such, SPOILERS WILL ABOUND.
Character's Age: ??? This one’s a bit complicated to tackle, but at the very least she’s no older than a teenager.

Spoilers for the end of Chapter 3

It really doesn’t help that this isn’t even the real Kayamori Ruka — rather, it’s a Narby (a creature that can best be described as a black, slime-like entity) that took all of her personality, memories and physical traits.

Did your character willingly come to Iyashikei? If yes, why? Yes; Ruka is, again, a very good girl at heart, and would like to help people! There’s no getting around that, even if she’s probably the weirdest nest egg in a whole squad full of them.

Spoilers for Chapter 3

Ruka’s other motivation is closely tied to a documentary she got to take part in; having seen others suffer on the edge, having lost their spark for life, she wants to bring that back however she can. In her own words,
“People should be living for their own happiness, not just living like they’re already an empty husk.”

Will they need any special accommodations upon arrival? Nope!
Character's History:

Spoilers for up to Chapter 4.1

Ruka is first shown as a rather sleepy newcomer to the Seraph Squadron, thrown straight into the fight against the Cancers, an invading force that has driven humanity into hiding in shelters known as domes.
She eventually gets named as the leader of Squad 31-A, placed in charge of five other girls - Izumi Yuki, Kunimi Tama, Aikawa Megumi, Tojo Tsukasa and Asakura Karen - and spends much of her early days as a Seraph Squadron member having the most important things drilled into her.
Inbetween the rush of training and adapting to life as part of the Seraph Squadron, Ruka reforms She Is Legend, with her squadmates also becoming her bandmates in the process.
For the majority of Chapter 1, her squad gets into a disagreement with fellow squad 31-C and ends up having a competition with 31-’A’ on the line. On the day of the operation that serves as their competition’s final stretch, 31-A shows their potential with the elimination of the Death Slug, a high threat Cancer. Ruka also ends up clinching it for them by showing her willingness to put her life on the line for others.
Squad 31-B becomes their accompanying squad throughout Chapter 2, and they train together for Operation Pleiades. She grows close to Erika Aoi, her fellow squad leader, and gives her a home when it seems like she’s being bullied by her own squad — only to step back at the request of Aoi’s squadmates. In between training sessions, 31-A is asked to contend with an unusual Cancer that runs away on sight. With Aoi’s assistance, they’re able to destroy it.
The inability to bond with Squad 31-B’s leader later comes back to haunt Ruka, as during Operation Pleiades, Aoi dies in battle protecting her peers from another high-threat Cancer. Though they stop it in the end, the inherent nature of war is laid bare to Ruka.
Ruka contends with survivor’s guilt throughout Chapter 3 and is forced to confront the reality of their situation.
Military secrets quickly become a priority interest for 31-A. They end up getting in touch with Tsukishiro Monaka, member of senior squad 30-G, and circumstances unfold in a way that she gets into an argument with Yuki over her selflessness. (Not helped by how these events were a means to help Tsukasa, who has significant military ties, restore her memories and ‘awaken’.) They put in extra training on top of training meant to confront the third high-threat Cancer, the Flat Hand, but as the day of the operation draws closer, she makes up with Yuki and gets everyone in her squad to join in on an unauthorized mission: the infiltration of a tower that was abandoned ever since the Cancers attacked a key base in Yokohama.
31-A succeeds in infiltrating this tower with the assistance of Monaka and a surprise addition to their party, Satomi Kura; thinking they have the time to go in, find what’s inside and get out, they scour it and eventually uncover what is needed for Tsukasa’s awakening. The situation becomes complicated as they make their escape from the tower, however, as a second Flat Hand emerges and makes itself the group’s problem. It’s not until Monaka reveals her true value as a frontline soldier that this Flat Hand is defeated — but the price of victory proves too great. Kura sacrifices herself so they can all return home alongside Monaka, and it’s here that the reality of their situation sinks in: they are all Human Narbies.
Ruka begins Chapter 4.1 by returning the Narby that was once Kura to her rice paddy. Now burdened with the knowledge that she isn’t the actual Kayamori Ruka, she wanders off to her studio to sing, and finds Yuki has followed her there. It is here that she becomes the other girl’s lifeline, saying that she can’t truly describe how she feels about Yuki in words. Yuki asks her to keep moving forward, wanting to be by her side the whole way, and Ruka commits herself to that.
Most relevant to Ruka is that her squad is asked to place important equipment meant to aid them in stopping the remaining Flat Hand; in-between missions to deal with that, Ruka tries to help Megumi find her motivation to keep going, and uncovers her past in the process. In times where she isn’t able to contend with this directly, she asks Tama to speak with Megumi.
As the hour of the operation approaches, the squad is told why Megumi has been distant: her powers as a psychic have the exact same wave pattern given off by the Flat Hand’s unusual ability. The knowledge that their success hinges entirely on them drives them to push forward.
When the mission to destroy the remaining Flat Hand begins, things seem to go fairly smoothly as every squad puts in the effort; however, the situation is complicated at the very end by the Flat Hand itself, as it starts breaking free from not just restraints meant to hold it down, but Megumi’s attempts to hold it back. One last ditch effort to stop it proves more than fruitful, as they eliminate the Flat Hand before it can break free from all its chains.
In the aftermath of the mission, as the high of successfully destroying another high threat Cancer winds down, the group discovers that Megumi is missing. Ruka and Tama discover that Megumi is leaving the squad, and rush to catch up with her. They’re only able to watch as Megumi leaves the base on one of the available helicopters.

Character's Personality:
Questions:

1. Tell us about who your character is and what someone’s first impression would be upon meeting them. How would your character act once someone got to know them?
On the surface, Ruka looks like a typical quiet teenage girl. She might even come off as fairly cool, even, with how she has that muted, too cool for school stare to her. But when one gets to know her and has her open up… whoo boy. Kayamori Ruka in her natural habitat is the sort of girl that tends to drive those she interacts with a little nuts with her nonsense. She mangles sayings, has wild out-of-nowhere presumptions for how a given interaction will go (her interactions with Nanami in Chapter 3 being a stand-out example), and can be fairly book dumb even when she gets things right. One need only ask Yuki for proof of her being an absolute menace. Or Kura and Chie, two of her seniors.
2. What is something unique and interesting about them, or what is a fun little tidbit that sets them apart from the crowd?
She’s a musician, and has gone through two iterations of her band, She Is Legend! The first one was disbanded prior to her involvement as a Seraph Squadron representative. The second, she formed out of her squadmates in 31-A. Also, on that topic, she’s stupidly good at music, so good that she can essentially come up with songs on the spot.
3. What does your character think their flaws are? What do they think their strengths are? What are their actual flaws and strengths?
Kayamori Ruka doesn't particularly sell herself as anything special; if anything, she'd consider herself a fairly normal girl. The most she would say about herself is that she’s a girl that’s deeply passionate about music, never really bringing up her history as a rockstar unless it’d be funny. She’s also painfully awkward around other people, though as of her canon point, she’s managed to work on that, helped by how closely knit she is with 31-A and even the other squads. But when it’s time to get down to grass tracks—er, brass tacks, Ruka is decisive. She learns skills quickly, reads the room well, and is the sort of person that does not know when to actually quit. She also happens to be among the quickest to adjust to fighting the battle with the Cancers, joined by her teammates in 31-A as one of the fastest rising stars in the war effort. So notable is their quick rise that they took out a very dangerous threat on their first proper mission — a marker of their potential and why they were slotted into Squad 31-A.
4. What is a common misconception other characters have about your character?
It’s a perception fueled by Ruka being… well, Ruka, but the consensus on her is that Ruka is, in no uncertain terms, a moron — so much of one, that Yuki was once convinced that she didn’t really have the biggest driving forces for what she does. It’s one that’s particularly hard to break, as even early on, her squadmates were surprised that she could get out of bed and march to roll call without missing a beat.

Character Abilities:
Seraph:
“My legend begins now!”
Ruka is capable of summoning a pair of swords using the above key phrase (a weapon she finds super lame compared to what her peers got); with these, she’s able to fight against the Cancers, and is often shown quickly dispatching them in scenes without player input. More notably, she can do what she sets her mind to; Ruka is capable of fulfilling whatever role is needed of her in a formation, be it to eliminate Cancers quickly, destroy their deflectors, or even work as a secondary ‘healer’ that restores her teammates’ Deflectors.
mePad + Functions:
The mePad is a utility all Seraph Squadron members possess; this gadget is their primary means of communicating with others, but it also serves as the focal point for some of their other functions, as it allows them to monitor each others’ status. The most relevant information is the current output for their Deflectors, shields that protect Seraph Squadron members from harm. It’s often the one line between them and facing certain death in battle against the Cancers. Energy meant for it can be used for teleportation, but the deflector itself has multiple purposes, even serving as a platform, giving them considerable freedom of movement.
Ex-Rockstar
As previously mentioned, Ruka is the ex-lead singer of She is Legend, and has been noted to be able to create songs on a dime. She has used this talent for silly, on-the-spot songs and songs meant to reach for a person’s heart alike. In fact, one could argue that it’s her talent for this that helps bring 31-A together as a group, as her freewheeling decision to remake She is Legend with them has had a considerable ripple effect on their bond.
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