Shoko Nishimiya

Childhood
Shoko Nishimiya was a likable girl who was born with impaired hearing. Because of this, she was bullied in elementary school by Shoya Ishida and other classmates, to the point that she was physically assaulted and had to transfer to a different school. Her father left their family when Shoko was young because his parents pressured him to file for divorce and separated from his family when he found out that Shoko was deaf. From early childhood, Shoko seems to have been given the silent message from family and friends that she is somehow 'damaged goods'. This message of her supposedly being a less than desirable person was taught to her by the actions of her father, who divorced her mother when she was once again pregnant with Shoko's sister, Yuzuru. Mrs. Nishimiya even plays into the 'unworthy child syndrome' by determining that Shoko be remade into a 'boy', so as to cover her femininity and disability with seemingly superior masculinity. From early on, resolutely deciding to follow her own path in life, Shoko resists the two other life courses that were already laid out for her; being directed by a masculine infused outlook, or being directed by a fatalistic outlook dictated by her disability. Years later, Shoya, her bully, looks for her in order to apologize to her for his bullying her when they were in elementary school. Although Shoko has always held a bit of resentment towards him, she accepts his apology.

Appearance
With her small frame and delicate appearance, Shoko gives the impression of that of a very precious human porcelain doll. She has pale, evenly toned skin. Her hair color is that of a dusky, smoky pink, and she wears it in a attractive, longer length bob cut hairstyle with front bangs to her eyebrows, and side bangs falling just below her chin. Shoko has adorable 'big eyes' that are a light hazel color, set in a round face with a slightly pointed chin. She stands about 4 feet 8 inches tall, with a slim, almost lanky build of her body. Although Shoko's mother wanted her to dress and act as if she were a boy, Shoko refused to do so, and always dressed herself in the very feminine appearance of dresses and short skirts, typical of that of a little girl. She was always seen as neat and clean, thereby making her an easy target for other students to bully her by disheveling or soiling her clothes. Although somewhat plain and ordinary in fashion style, she always would wear a pretty dress, or a shirt and a mini-skirt to school, as well as at home and out in public. It became common for her to wear one or two hearing aids in her ears, usually made of red plastic. Because of her hearing impediment, Shoko would always be seen with a notebook and writing device, as that is how she would communicate with other people, by writing notes in the notebook.

Personality
Early on, Shoko seemed to accept the fact that she was forever hearing impaired. But she seemed to mistakenly think that the condition was the result of something in her early life that she did or did not do, something that she deserved as a supposed recompense. In childhood, she came to accept the mistreatment of herself socially, and would do so without apparent malice, as she was misguided into believing that she was destined to be treated as such for being the deficient outcast. However Shoko was determined to 'play with the cards that life and circumstances has dealt to her, and play to the best of her abilities', and such diamond-hard determination, deep personal conviction, and iron clad self-discipline carried her through the many difficult times she experienced when she was a young child.

Appearance
By the time Shoko had reached her seventeenth birthday, she had outgrown her 'little girl' appearance and developed into a pretty, extremely attractive teenage girl. By her fashion style, and appearance, Shoko Nishimiya has reached the remarkable achievement of the almost impossible fashion and social accomplishment of simultaneously presenting herself as stunningly cute, hardcore sweetness, and with a very noticeably surreal, innocent demure and appearance.

Shoko still has a small frame with a thin appearance, but has grown taller with long, lean legs. Her skin tone of pale beige is evenly distributed, with a soft, creamy texture. Her face is somewhat rounded out, with her big eyes dominating her appearance. A shy smile is always present. Her eye color is of a deeper hue now, almost a dark hazel or chestnut brown. Her hair is still a smoky pink, but now with light maroon highlights. It is much longer now, with her bangs reaching straight down to her shoulder blades. For special occasions, Shoko will wear her hair in a attractive ponytail, held in the back by a bow. Although being from a poor family, she is always kept herself neat and clean, and continues to dress in a plain and ordinary fashion style. She seems to prefer day-to-day mundane clothes rather than the latest, hottest teen fashion. She now attends a private school for the hearing impaired, and wears the female school uniform consisting of a shirt, a sweater vest, a business jacket, and a plaid, pleated mini-skirt. Shoko wears a pretty necklace now. Expected of her very feminine personality, she prefers to wear nice dresses that emphasize her female attributes. For the summer festival, Shoko decided to wear a traditional yukata, much to Shoya's delight. Due to some progress in her hearing abilities, she only wears one hearing aid now. Overall, Shoko gives the impression of a very confident and pleasurable person in plain fashion style and good personal grooming.

Personality
Shoko has matured and developed her overall personality, despite many roadblocks, opposition, and downfalls. However, a few undesirable traits still remain, which lead to her first considering, and then implementing suicide. Shoko continues to remain steadfast in trying to better herself emotionally as well as socially. Her loyalty to her family and friends continues to be displayed as an earmark of her devotion to them. This even for her mother who many times is misguided on how to handle her seemingly severely disabled daughter. Shoko begins to gradually develop her own independence so that she can function in society without needing someone to give her baby-sitting style assistance. Her diamond-hard determination is still intact, as evidenced by her progressing in learning sign language, as well as learning to speak out loud to the extent that she can given that she can not hear clearly the speech of others.

Family
When early on in Shoko's infancy and childhood, when it was discovered that she was born deaf and would become mute, her intimate contact with the members of her family began to gradually deteriorate. Later, it was speculated that mom had an adverse reaction to something that ended up affecting the fetus, such that the developing child was born deaf. The first outward reaction was that her father's parents began to advise and lean on her father to leave the family and file for divorce, which he eventually did while Yaeko was pregnant with their second child. Her father's supposed personal pride and status in life was stronger than his love for his special daughter and pregnant wife.

Shoya Ishida
On the day that Shoko introduced herself as a new twelve year old transfer student to the class of the public school, Shoya was in the same classroom, but Shoko took no note of him. He did not think much of her, the new transfer student, either. It wasn't until several weeks later that a couple of incidents brought Shoko's attention to Shoya. In class, Shoko tried to read from the lesson at the behest of the teacher, but her pronunciation was greatly slurred, since she can not hear the correct sounds of the words. When it is Shoya's turn, he mocks Shoko by deliberately slurring his reading, with the class laughing. After school that day, in the playground, Shoko has sand thrown in her face by Shoya, along with insults. Thus begins a soon to be day-to-day confrontation with Shoya and his cruel, morbid pranks and bullying on Shoko. All through this time, Shoko bears no animosity or ill will towards him, many times offering the olive branch of peace to him with the offer to be friends.

After months of this unbearably cruel and wicked treatment, the bullying now escalates to hardcore physical violence. Shoko endures Shoya drawing blood when he rips her hearing aid from her ear. One morning, Shoya picks a fight with Shoko, and she is forced to defend herself, finally wrestling Shoya to the floor and striking him in the face to get him to stop. Shoko is then transferred out of the public school, and has no further contact with Shoya for several years.

Miyoko Sahara
When Shoko was introduced as the new transfer student to the public school, it seems as if every other student either ignored her, or worse yet, was displeased with her presence. Later, when the Special Ed teacher, Kita, proposed that the class begin to gradually learn sign language to be able to effectively communicate with Shoko, only one student was willing to do so---Miyoko Sahara. Shoko noted that Miyoko was the only student that put her hand up when called upon to help learn sign language. Even at this young age, Miyoko already had strong empathy and compassion. She observed Shoko being ignored and mistreated, and wanted to help any way that she could. First off, learning sign language, so that she could talk to Shoko without the slow process of using her notebook. Miyoko was Shoko's first friend.

Naoka Ueno

From Day One, when Shoko was introduced to the public school class as the new transfer student, it seemed like Naoka was going to be an ally to Shoko, since Naoka would write down the class work assignments for Shoko in her notebook. However, soon enough, the relationship between Shoko and Naoka turned adversarial. However, the nastiness was just about all one-sided, with Naoka the genesis of the displeasure towards Shoko, and Shoko having a somewhat neutral attitude towards Naoka.

Years later, not much has changed with the uneasy relationship between Shoko and Naoka. But now Shoya has not only left off from bullying Shoko, he has, much to the consternation of Naoka, made peace with Shoko. This causes Naoka to go from covert to overt in her vendetta with Shoko. At an amusement park, wherein Shoko and Shoya are on a date together, along with several friends, including the obnoxious Naoka, she takes Shoko on a Ferris Wheel ride, and uses the opportunity to be alone with Shoko to promptly berate her for all of the 'trouble' that she supposedly caused her and Shoya. Naoka even physically assults Shoko while at the top of the Ferris Wheel with a forceful slap to her face.