"An arrow fired to the heavens will always fall back down. I am merely the messenger, who bears the bow of burden."

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Name: Yumiko Sayomi

School Attending: Spica

Age/ Year in School: (choose one below)

15/Fourth Year

~ Appearance ~

Hair Color: Her hair consists of a chocolate brown that flows right out from the crown of her head, neither darkening nor lightening. However, she has died the tips in a vibrant pink, but it melds in with the brown, reducing the shock factor, unless one looks closely.

Hairstyle: Normally kept in free-flowing strands that breeze down to her lower back, Yumiko's hair is fairly wild and yet smooth still, albeit mildly messy. She does on occasion wear it up, with the main portion in a short ponytail, with tips threaded in a circular fashion resting atop the bun, almost like a ceremonial crown.

Eye Color: Dulled for the most part, her eyes are a deep shade of blue, bordering on a murky grey-black. However, it is possible to see a very strong shade of blue if she becomes overtly emotional.

Height: 5'7"

What kind of clothes does you character wear when she's not in uniform?
Aside from her Spica uniform (a white miniskirt with a white-and-gold jacket), Yumiko will often be seen wearing one of two things; a multi-colored leather top that is actually reinforced along the chest area, as protective gear, accompanied by a short black skirt and violet leather stockings that cover the remainder of her legs - this is her archery outfit, which she uses to keep herself from harm, both self-inflicted by the constant motion of firing arrows, or in case of another misfiring in her direction.

Her other outfit is actually a shrine-maiden style robe, with some noticeable differences; her hakami is actually sky-blue, with floral patterns embroidered in gold along the sides, whilst her haori is white with faint silver linings, including a celestial moon embroidered on the back. Completing this is the usual white ribbons in her hair, and a small crown that sits in her hair when she wears it up, with threads of her own hair weaved through it to hold it in place. This is a tradition of her ancestors, who protected a private shrine for a small group of families.

What Sports/activities is you character involved in?

Archery: Yes

Is your character on the Student Council?
No, and she has no real inclination to do so, as she prefers doing quiet work of her own prerogative.

Please explain your character's personality in 200 words or more:
In front of her parents, and authority in general, she is the perfect daughter - obedient, intelligent and attractive. However, she is also dead on the inside when being ordered about, as she has been for her entire life - her eyes are always devoid of any real emotion whilst carrying out what she considers her duty to her family. In truth, she is a rather playful girl, albeit with a mild case of Haptephobia (Fear of being touched). When calmed and relaxed, and away from adults, she is actually somewhat witty and easy-going, even if her thoughts are almost always serious in nature.

But it is a rare sight - too often a teacher or her family would be nearby, and she would resume her obedience, becoming the 'perfect daughter' image once more, if only out of respect for her parents. A boarding school was the closest she could get to freedom - even with the constant pressures of school, she could still escape to the surrounding grounds and find her own little niche. Ironically, the archery club is one of her favorite places to relax, despite the competitive nature that both it, and academics in general, bring out in her.

What does you character think of the Etoile position as a whole?
Yumiko has no real opinion on the position - to her, it's just another representative for the school, and more or less a popularity contest. Like all other positions of student vocations, she merely regards it as a function of the schools and nothing more.

What does your character think of Sado Kagami and Kitsuki Sha, the current etoiles?
Her only real brush with the Etoile was as an observer to some of the drama that unfolded; in her eyes, they are simply other students of Astrea Hill, with the usual highschool drama that that entails. Except that one is very much adorable, and the other akin to a prince.

What does your character think of the other schools?
The archeress is rather intrigued by the rivalry of the schools, finding it somewhat ironic and more amusing to read about and watch, than to take part in. Besides, it doesn't really apply to her, being as the history between the schools was well before her time. That being said, Yumiko quite likes to uniforms of all three schools, as well as how each has different focuses; it creates a diverse atmosphere atop the Hill.

~History~

History before Astraea Hill:

Once a happy little child who always smiled and laughed, Yumiko did what she was told as soon as she was told, and was rewarded with kindness and love. That was, until her parents both died in a fateful car crash that left her with scars all over the left hand side of her torso. Having lived abroad for years, she was suddenly stranded and alone, whilst social services attempted to find her next of kin. Between her mother's Japanese family, and her father's adventurous Danish cousins, Yumiko wound up following in her mother's footsteps and being flown to Japan, to live with her aunt and uncle on her mother's side.

Being used to being schooled whilst travelling with her parents, her uncle decided to continue the trend and home-school her, at least for a year or two, whilst she acclimatized to her new home. Along with this, she began training in the familial duties that her mother had shirked herself, when she began her travels with her husband. This included archery practice, shrine maiden ceremonies and even advanced academics, mostly languages.

She took to the archery and academic training, studying intensely whenever she wasn't taking aim with her bow.

But after a year, she literally begged her aunt to allow her to go to the prestigious boarding school on Astrea Hill, saying it would go well to her name to graduate from one of the three schools there, and she could even continue her archery there, and if needs be, visit the nearby shrine.

Surprised at her eagerness, her aunt accepted, though her uncle seemed somewhat against it. But he couldn't go against both his niece and his wife, and caved in, agreeing to allow her to go to St. Spica's Institute for Girls.

It didn't take long for her to pack and head off as soon as possible, even though the new school year hadn't begun. As she left, Yumiko was shooting daggers with her eyes at the man, breathing in relief the moment she was past the gate of Astrea Hill.

Second Year: Her second year was heart warming and breaking. Being her somewhat isolated self, Yumiko did not socialize much at all with most other students, preferring to keep a vigilant onlooker approach, and focusing on her archery and studies, with a bit of volunteer shrine maiden work thrown in now and then. Until she bumped into the unusual Naomi Amaterasu of course; their encounter by the pond on her way back from the range was strange, awkward and enchanting all in one. Naomi was very much different, with her exuberant, dangerous and flirty nature - Yumiko found herself being somewhat swept up in experiencing at least a little of the blue-haired girl's party life, falling just a bit for her only real friend on campus, along the way, in turn offering a little of her archery expertise as a way of friendship and common ground, as she tutored the other in her passion.

Which was why she was crushed when Naomi suddenly disappeared without warning, without any form of goodbye. She knew there were underlying problems; being vigilant most of the time meant she saw the more subtle signs of stress and edginess, though she wasn't aware of what the cause was. The melancholy that ensued caused a drop in her grades, and her archery became a constant practice, sometimes even skipping classes. It meant trouble of course, but eventually, with enough warnings and even a visit or two to counselling, she went back to her initial state of solitude, but kept her grades up to avoid having to have any more confrontations with staff.

Third Year: Most of her third year was an unending blur of routine, to keep her mind off of the blue-haired girl as much as possible; in her absence, Yumiko found the longing even worse - she had no other friends to really talk to or work out some of the suppressed emotions she was dealing with. Emotions that became turbulent at times, and even caused her to strain herself far beyond her safe limits when it came to archery training. One particular incident of this led to her legs giving out whilst atop a hill....consequently resulting in her tumbling down the hillside and into the lake of winter-cold waters. A tumble that meant serious injuries - torn ligaments and sprains abound. Furthering her embarrassment, the onlookers had to help her back, one of whom a sensei - Nayuki Inoue.

The infirmary sentence lightened considerably, after a week of depression due to the severity of the injuries, when a familiar face popped in to visit one of the nurses - a face she had thought about many times in the past year. She'd heard Naomi had been back after a rehabilitation stint, which sadly, didn't surprise her when she put two and two together. Still, seeing her in person was awkward and painful, but quickly settled into a soothing visit when they cleared the air of the elephants in the room - a big one being the connection she had mistaken for romantic feelings towards Naomi. In truth, she was just attached strongly to the one friend she'd made, and made too much of a deal of it internally when that connection was broken.

Having sorted that out, their friendship is rocky but on the road back to recovery. Much like her legs, though one will still require the regular therapy she was given for the remainder of the year.

Fourth Year:

Fifth Year:

Sixth Year:

Sample Post: Thud. Another arrow lodged itself into the center of the target, closely knitted beside two others. Loading up another, she drew back the drawstring and focused, breathing in deeply and releasing with a sharp exhale. Craaaaaack! The fourth arrow sliced through the tail of the first, splitting the light wood shaft in half. With a small smile, she lowered her aim and stowed her bow back on the custom-built frame on her shoulders, wiping the sweat from her brow with the towel next to.

A sudden pang of pain surged through her chest and she doubled-over, wincing as the memory flashed past her eyes for the thousandth time.

He ran a hand down her cheek, rubbing his coarse palm across her skin. She shuddered, wishing it would be over soon, that her aunt would walk back in the front door and interrupt him. He'd never do it in front of her, never touch her this way if her aunt was around. But for now, all she could do was sit still and endure. "You're such a beautiful young girl. Just like your mother, my sweet sister...She would shiver in delight every time I even placed a finger on her." Yeah, she shivered alright, but in disgust, repulsion, not delight. His hand moved lower, down her neck, her shoulder, lower still. "For one so young, you are certainly quite grown-up~" Cursing silently at her quickly-maturing body, she tried not to lash out and beat the man's putrid face into a pulp - he'd merely return the favor tenfold. As it was, the bruises on her arms and legs were still healing; she had to tell her aunt that she'd taken a bad fall whilst training up at the shrine. C'mon, c'mon!

His hands paused, and his pasty, thin lips curled into a cruel smile. "Sensitive aren't you?" Biting her lip, she closed her eyes. Endure, must endure...But she was getting to the end of her rope. Soon enough he would continue south, and ravage her already beaten and broken body. 'Turning her into a full-grown woman he said'. He was full of such crap, but until she could get away, until she could escape, she had no choice but to dull her senses and endure.

"Now, shall we continue your womanly training?"

Shuddering as she snapped back to the present, Yumiko could feel the cool tears sliding from her eyes, forming wet, sticky trails down her cheeks. Thankfully, she was the only one still at the archery range, as night was beginning to fall. Soon enough, she would have to return as well, back to her bed, where the nightmares would continue. Gritting her teeth, she pulled her bow back out and loaded up three arrows at once, drawing back further and picturing the man's ugly visage in place of the target, before unloading the volley directly at it.

If only she could do this for real. Then he would pay...

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