Miracle Of Despair / Characters

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Students

Ava Alkaev.

Real name: Rada Orlov.

SHSL Statistician

Ava Alkaev is a rising star in the statistics world, able to work with incredibly large influxes of data at a single time. From assisting news companies with crime statistics to helping businesses pull themselves out of bankruptcy, Ms. Alkaev takes her talents wherever they are needed. She has recently garnered public attention by correctly predicting the complete series of evening lotto numbers before they were drawn.

Apologises a Lot: On average, Ava uses the word 'sorry' at least 5 times per conversation.
Awesomeness by Analysis: Given enough time and data, Ava is comfortable computing probabilities that she can use to improve her own skills. I.E. Watching someone pitch a baseball 100 times and then hit a guaranteed homerun from that next pitch.
Break the Cutie: Between threats against her family, threats against anyone she risks getting close to, and torture to boot, really is it any wonder that Rada acts the way she does?
Conspicuous Gloves: She's never without her long white gloves, even when cooking or cleaning!
Cooldown Hug: Sadly subverted by Aidan during his final moments.
Deep Cover Agent: Rada's been living a double life for the last several years in Japan, using her status as a student or perks afforded to her by different jobs to gather information or take out targets.
Deprogram: It took until after her death and some conversations in the afterlife in order to break down some of Rada's programming. Even then, it's not gone, just her long-standing orders are.
Emotion Suppression: When she knows she has to hurt someone, she reflexively shoves all of her emotions deep deep down so that she can still fulfill her orders. Rada calls it 'going cold'.
Encyclopaedic Knowledge: Ava's studied a little bit of everything.
Everybody Hates Mathematics: Subverted since she's a [expletive] math nerd.
Good with Numbers: SHSL Statistician. 'Nuff said.
Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Her most commonly worn dress is lavender.
Grief Song: If she feels they don't deserve death, Rada sings a final lullaby for her victims as they die in an attempt to comfort them. This habit is what earned her particular control word.
It Never Gets Any Easier: Rada does not enjoy being made to hurt anyone. She keeps a mental list of everyone she has ever wronged.
Little Miss Badass: Give her a gun, I dare you.
Manchurian Agent: Just say her control word and the switch is flipped.
Million to One Chance: Predicting a series of lottery numbers was a major claim to fame for her.
Mouthful of Pi: Don't give her an opportunity or she'll keep reciting digits of Pi until your ears fall off.
Secret Identity: Ava Alkaev's name is actually Rada Orlov.
Shrinking Violet: Ava is shy, quiet, and withdrawn. Can be taken even more literally when you consider her clothes are often purple.
Sorry I Fell on Your Fist: You could throw a book at her and she'd apologize for getting in the way of your perfect throw.
Tears of Fear: A normal occurrence for Ava.
Trigger Phrase: Rada's trigger phrase is the word 'Songbird.' Any direct order given within the next 30 seconds she's compelled to follow until completion, regardless of how long that might take.
Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Some of Ava's sprites.

Cyrille Beaumont

SHSL Tutu Maker

Making tutus is an art that is slowly dying out. Professional tutu makers are in increasingly short supply, as making the garment requires a degree of specialty that is outside the realm of typical garment making. Cyrille Beaumont, an ex-ballerino themself, is one of the youngest professionals in the tutu making industry, travelling from country to country making tutus for professional dance companies. Although the cost of one of their tutus can be thousands of dollars, they are known for donating many of their creations to young dancers that can’t afford to buy a professionally made tutu.

Crypt

SHSL Preservation Artist

The title of Preservation Artist isn’t all that clear to the general populace, especially when paired with a pseudonym like “Crypt.” However, those in the habit of filling curio cabinets or collecting gothic and horror antiques are almost guaranteed to have heard their name. The Reliquary: Oddities and Curiosities sells all across Japan, to private collectors, art curators, and museums alike! Most of the preservationists who work with wet specimens – that is, a preserved animal suspended in a solution – are just a display of the animal itself for either shock value or anatomy study, but not The Reliquary’s pieces! The shopowner and artist known publicly only as Crypt uses this unique medium to not only preserve organic specimens for the future, but to create art in the vein of rogue taxidermists.

Conspicuous Gloves: Crypt is always wearing plain black leather gloves.
Creepy Blue Eyes
Good Scars, Evil Scars
Kitsch Collection: Their entire talent revolves around this. Their oddity store pretty much only sells merchandise that fits this descriptor, and most of their customers are collectors of the strange.
Only One Name
Scars Are Forever
Skeletons in the Coat Closet: While not exactly a put-together skeleton, they wear a necklace that supposedly contains cremation ashes.
Skull for a Head: Somewhat. Crypt makes use of the Skeleton Motif by using makeup to draw a skull on their face.
Taxidermy Is Creepy: Similar. Crypt's store does sell taxidermy, but they specialize in wet specimens: the non-stuffed variety of putting dead things on display.
Unusual Eyebrows: They actually shave part of their eyebrows. Why? Fashion.
Unusual Pets for Unusual People: The rats, Biohazard and Cauldron.

Aidan Doppler

SHSL Air Traffic Controller

While he is known for leading winning teams in mathematics and robotics competitions, Aidan Doppler’s main claim to fame is actually through his uncle Abe Sorakubo, who single-handedly prevented a major crisis at his airport.

Youthful Freckles

Daniele Giacomelli

SHSL Pizza Cook

Pizza comes in many flavors and tastes, in many shapes and forms, with all sorts of toppings, be them normal like ham or monstrosities like pineapple. But you’ll never find a pizza quite like the one Daniele Giacomelli can cook! A talented pizza cook, born in Naples (and what better place than where pizza as we know it originated?), Daniele has been helping out his parents in their pizzeria, “La Pizza della Regina”, since the age of 14, first as a waiter but soon enough learning to cook pizzas- and making said pizzeria one of the most renowned in Naples, turning what had been a small family business into a very high-class pizzeria, even more impressive because the cook was (by then) 16!

Is it thus any wonder that he was invited to attend Hope’s Peak when he moved to Japan?

Scars Are Forever

Taichi Hayasaka

SHSL Good Luck

Taichi Hayasaka seems to be completely unremarkable. No matter where you look online, he has no presence whatsoever, outside of one newspaper article regarding his mother. Sachi Hayasaka apparently won the lottery around 10 years ago. She spoke of wanting to buy a proper house to raise her son, then 8 years old. The photo accompanying the article definitely reflects a young Taichi, at the very least.

Born Lucky: Averted. Taichi is completely and utterly unlucky.
I'm Okay!: Somewhat of a catchphrase.
Ordinary High-School Student: Surrounded by a group of high-talented students, he's a relatively normal guy.
Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Tends to hide this with his hoodie, though.
The Klutz

Takumi Ito

SHSL White Hat Hacker

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s… Takumi Ito? A young man who’s experience with computer security has yet to be matched, Takumi’s skills in what has come to be known as “white hat hacking” have proved more than just useful to corporations and organizations around the globe. While his work may be done from the shadows and left uncredited, it’s prevented many a security breach, effectively keeping thousands upon thousands of innocent bystanders’ sensitive information safe alongside deep company secrets. While his skills stand out on their own, what’s perhaps more impressive is the fact that he’s cultivated his talent for what’s been rumored to be close to nine years. With such dedication to his craft alongside apparent genuine talent, it’s no surprise Takumi’s been scouted by the prestigious Hope’s Peak Academy!

Eyes Always Shut

Johnny Kane

SHSL Outlaw

Who is Johnny Kane? What exactly does an SHSL Outlaw do? You can assume it’s nothing good, but trying to look him up online you get nothing but the information put out by HPA, which is sparse as is. There’s a lawyer in Illinois by that name, two or three social media profiles, but none of them seem even remotely connected to the person you’re looking for, and so after either minutes or hours of searching, you must finally admit defeat, none the wiser of just what it is he does, or even who he is. For all intents and purposes, Johnny Kane does not seem to exist.

Badass Longcoat: At least he'd call it that.
Cool Mask
I'm Not Here to Make Friends
[expletive]
The Napoleon
Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness

Zentaro Kai

Ballroom Dancer

During the 13th day of September, 20XX, the Sapphire King, known as Zentaro Kai has risen from sea foam! Also known as King of Ballroom Dancing, Zentaro has been praised for his excellency in dancing for years as he was taught under Hirohisa Yashiro, a renowned dancing teacher who tends to be very picky in terms of his students.

As paired up with Kotone Kamiya, the pair have grown inseparable throughout their training as they have entered numerous competitions together, with them being back-to-back champions of The National Championship of Dancesport being the most recognizable. However, aside from this, everything else has been hidden away about everyone’s favorite king. What secrets is he hiding, you now wonder….

Erika Kimoto

Sequential Artist

Erika Kimoto is an artist creating quiet the stir in the community. A talented girl across the board her biggest claim to fame is her current internship at the animation studio Strawberry Soda known for their plethora of magical girl series adaptations and originals. How such a young girl managed to snag an internship is unknown, speculations says she might know someone who works there. Other theories lead to her online webcomic Hikari★Light of Justice, and the sheer effort and skill behind it. The webcomic displays a “mixed media” nature, with its sound files, animations and incorporation of both traditional and digital art. The watercolour work and animations being the biggest draws for the comic. With it all centering around a magical girl protagonist of it’s own it wouldn’t be a stretch to say this may have drawn the studio’s attention.

Not much about Erika herself is known however, with bare traces of her presence on the internet past her webcomic felt. It’s almost as if she simply appeared one day. Although there is a rumour going around online about her previously being part of a notoriously bad fanimation and dōjinshi duo. None can confirm nor deny this however.

Huge Schoolgirl

Yoko Mikhaylov

Oil Panter

The inspiration to some and the envy of many, the young artist Yoko Mikhaylov has been taking the world up by a storm. Having won numerous art shows with her breathtaking oil paintings it’s no wonder artists and critics around Japan just can’t stop stop talking about the young artist. While Mikhaylov is most notably known for her landscape and abstract pieces especially and using her unique style and skill to produce vibrant and jaw dropping pieces. After holding her own art exhibit, with such an immense turnout numerous articles were written about the exhibit, it’s no surprise when it was reported that Mikhaylov got invited to Hope’s Peak Academy.

Hiroko Miyamoto

Babysitter

Hiroko Miyamoto, the daughter of renowned psychologists Shuji and Kamiko Miyamoto, is a cheerful Super Babysitter with extremely good reviews on many media platforms, and a small army of happy kids to back her up! Rising to fame upon the backs of young, talented individuals naming her as a personal inspiration, she has used every last bit of publicity to provide parents and children with quality babysitting services, as well as educating others on how to do the same.

Her motto, “the one being cared for often knows best" has challenged and influenced care methods in the industry for the years she has been part of it, and she is upheld as the ideal for babysitters all over Japan.

Alessandro Moretti

Ocularist

While there isn’t much personal information to be found on him, Alessandro “Sandro” Moretti’s professional career is easy to look up. Prior to his move to Japan to take on a teaching role, he was the youngest NEBO-certified ocularist in the United States, having successfully passed the examination at the age of seventeen after completing his apprenticeship with his grandmother. Although the creation of ocular prostheses isn’t a subject most people can claim familiarity with, looking at photos of his work online is enough for anyone to see how skilled Sandro is at his job. It’s virtually impossible to tell from just a photo which of his clients’ eyes are real and which are prosthetic.

Momoka Mori

Florist

A lovely bouquet of flowers can brighten anyone’s day. Who doesn’t love receiving an arrangement of beautiful flowers from somebody they love? Yeah, that’s not what Momoka Mori does. Her flowers are for a more somber occasion. The bouquets she makes are made specifically for funerals.

While some see death as a grim subject they’d rather avoid, Momoka embraces it. To her, death is beautiful, and hopes that her lovely bouquets will help others see that. Having to order one of her arrangements may not be the happiest occasion, but the flowers always tend to bring a smile to customers’ faces and seeing that will always bring her joy.

Meaningful Name: Her name translates as "Hundred Flower Forest", and is similar to Memento Mori, or "remember we'll die" - befitting of all aspects of her profession.

Benimaru Ōgyoku

Topiarist

Benimaru Ōgyoku (Ōgyoku Benimaru. Born in June 19th, 2022) is a Japanese topiarist of renown, responsible for the creation of new, eye-catching designs located in the Ishikawa prefecture, mainly in the city of Komatsu, and recently in the gardens of the University of Tokyo. Taking inspiration on the gardens of the Palace of Versailles, France, and the multiple ones that exist in the United Kingdom, the young man was able to offer a brand new perspective on the traditional japanese gardens.

It is said Benimaru has been taught how to create his marvelous designs thanks for the tutoring of Howard Middleton, former teacher from one of the most well-known Topiary courses in the UK. Recently, due to the notoriety he had gained all across the country and even in the international media, Benimaru has been granted the title of SHSL Topiarist by the New Hope’s Peak Academy.

Meaningful Name: Ōgyoku means "topaz".
Trademark Favorite Food: Takoyaki. Always takoyaki.

Reiko Okamura

Cultural Anthropologist

Sometimes, the attempt to quantify a field of study into one or two areas succeeds - whereas many other times it fails spectacularly. Such is the case for up-and-coming cultural anthropologist Reiko Okamura, bearing a talent that involves the study of human cultural variation at its most basic form. Comparative mythology? Cultural anthropology. The study of traditions? Also cultural anthropology. With Reiko, her focus has always been esoteric in nature - publishing papers on mysteries of the world and the cultural connotations and connections that appear in human society. Careful never to take a stance on the topics she researches as to the veracity of their existence, papers under the name Reiko Okamura have been published on everything from UFO sightings to earth mysteries to common trends in mythology. With a persona as eclectic as the topics she discusses, this young trailblazer has attracted attention since her first day in the field as she put forth a solid theory as to why the image of three hares linked by the ears arranged in a triangle appears in sacred sites from locations as far apart as China and England came to exist.

But even before this, Reiko’s starts in the field began when she discussed such occurrences on her own web show Yugen, the triple-threat of research, engrossing oratory style, and informativeness amassed her an audience that brought more widespread attention to the topics she covered, as well as greater awareness on misconceptions surrounding them. After her sudden return from an unannounced hiatus, the teenager dipped her toe into the scientific community amidst questions of her level of professionalism before quelling them with the publish of multiple scientific papers. Soon, she revealed to the world her self-proclaimed magnum opus - a paper on the nature of the variance of mysteries worldwide, and of how different cultural attitudes inform how mysteries come about. With a public persona as eclectic as the field she’s entrenched in and a wisdom beyond her years, it is no wonder that Hope’s Peak handpicked her to join their ranks.

Agent Mulder: Wastes no time believing the fantastical situation the characters have been placed in, and is described as having prepared for this sort of circumstance to happen.
Cheshire Cat Grin: She's nearly constantly smiling, and it's described as being akin to the Cheshire Cat even in-character.
Eye Motifs: Her blog theme, design, and aesthetic all make liberal usage of eye imagery.
The Gadfly: Enjoys doing or saying things just to make a situation interesting.
Secret-Keeper: She's certainly hiding... something.
Smug Snake: Reiko's very self-assured, proud of her talents, and has an ego to match.

Ryuuya Okamura

Swing Dancer

A jazzy cool cat with legs that just won’t quit, Ryuuya Okamura is a rising star in the world of dance. He’d gotten his humble beginnings on video sharing websites Nico Nico and Youtube, with views on each video he’s left on those sites well into the millions. Soon enough, the boy’d taken to competitions in dance across the country, of which he’d won an overwhelming majority of.

He’s light on his feet and incredibly quick, with an impressive energy about him that those who’ve seen him in action admire. His demeanor off camera and out of the dance hall is… hard to tell. Reports of him say he’s anywhere from “absolutely hilarious” to “an insufferable [expletive]” depending on who you ask. Either way, there’s no denying his talent - it’s no wonder Hope’s Peak has scooped up the boy.

Dancing Is Serious Business: For him it is, at least.

Yoshiki Shinohara

Virtual Pet Caretaker

As a child, playing virtual pet-care games was a fun pastime, whether it was a game like Nintendogs, a Tamagotchi, or any other cute pixelated pet, plenty of children had a nice time getting to experience having a furry friend, albeit through a screen. Furthermore, it didn’t require nearly as much responsibility as taking care of a real animal, and these games were often forgotten as many grew into their teenage years. However, there’s one dedicated teen who never gave up on his virtual companions: Yoshiki Shinohara, SHSL Virtual Pet Caretaker. Currently with over 30 living and healthy virtual pets across many different platforms, Yoshiki spends his days balancing online courses with caring for the many different virtual pets he has ‘adopted,’ his longest living virtual pet at a striking 8 years of age. Yoshiki even runs an informative blog about the care and keeping of virtual pets, and posts tips and tricks to help better the player’s experience within these games. Yoshiki Shinohara is definitely the one to go to for help with any different virtual pet on the market.

Cool Mask

Cody Swanson

B-Boy

Former leader of the hottest crew in the circuit TOXiC RAiN Cody Swanson was a plucky young man from the united states that has left a mark on the world of street dancing. Working his way up through the circuit in America his unique combination of style and power has garnered him invitations to such prestigious events such as Floor Wars, Battle of the Year, and the Red Bull Bc One with his crew. Their exceptional performances swept the competition for three years in a row made him a prominent name in the break dancing community. After a sudden change in location to japan Cody disappeared from the competition scene for about a year and a half. His focus went from crew competitions to soloing. Taking to the streets of Akiba with a camcorder He took to performing for people on the street and uploading video, It wasn’t long before he made his mark on the internet, bringing him back into the scene. Making a come back he was invited by many international competitions to compete as he once did, at first he refused but slowly he came back starting his second showing. His latest conquest was the world B-Boy classic, a competition where a partner is randomly assigned to him not an hour before the competition began, Hopes peak invited him to the school shortly after he dominated the competition.

Innocent Blue Eyes

Ranam Usahara

Physical Therapist

Ranam Usahara, it’s not a name you’ve likely heard before, she’s not famous, or well known by any means… Even the people who have been helped by her likely have forgotten her name, but not her appearance, capability, or kindness. Ranam volunteers at the local hospitals and clinics helping those who’ve been injured or fallen ill recuperate, and helps them get back on their feet quickly. Being a success story herself has brought many people hope for their futures as well.

Characters / Miracle Of Despair

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