Name: Sakagami, Hitomi

Age: 16

Gender: Female

Appearance: Hitomi has a weak, petite build and she certainly weighs accordingly - namely, not much at all. Her hair is thick and silky, black in color and reaching up to her waist. Her bangs reach down just enough to cover her eyes, with some strands framing her face and falling neatly on her shoulders. She never keeps her hair tied, as she feels safer with it open and hugging her form as if to hide her from sight. Hitomi wears glasses, not because there’d be anything wrong with her vision but because they, too, act as a small barrier between her and whoever she’s talking to. The rims are dark red, but only partly visible from under her bangs.

Her eyes – on the off chance that you managed to get a glimpse of them – are dark brown, almost black, and slightly bigger than normal. She has long, thin eyebrows, and a very small nose and thin lips. Her face is somewhat round, and that, coupled with her height usually make people mistake her for someone a few years younger. She likes dark makeup but, out of fear of being judged for it, forgoes wearing any. Instead she likes to paint her nails, always decorating them with different shapes and colors (most often small, black stars). She always walks a bit hunched and her steps are silent, making her appear like a ghost stalking through the night.

Hitomi loves dark colors, and her favorite things to wear would most likely be something gothic, maybe a lace dress and a miniskirt, but since she doesn’t have the self-confidence to walk around in something like that (as she fears people might react negatively or assume she’s a gloomy person just because of that or something), she always goes with something more mundane instead. Most often she goes with a large hoodie, decorated with smilies and flowers and other things that make her appear happy, as she wants people to look at her and see someone joyful and easy to talk to. She wears a long skirt up to her knees, not daring to go with miniskirts like she’d like to. On her feet she wears white ballerinas and socks that reach up to her knees.

Overall, despite her eyes being hidden and her posture being rather bad and pathetic, Hitomi strives to look friendly and easily-approachable, always smiling and acting polite. Whether or not she succeeds appearing the way she wants to or just ends up scaring people away with her slightly strange antics is a different matter altogether however.

Personality: Considering Hitomi’s personality, the Strength appears to be a very ironic choice for her.

She’s extremely quiet and introverted, always hiding behind games, books, and anything she can get her hands on at the time. She doesn’t like talking to people, because she always fears she messes up somehow. And when she does talk, what she thinks and what comes out of her mouth are two entirely different things. See, Hitomi wants everyone to like her; she can’t handle the thought of someone hating her, and so she tries to appear as the perfect person for everyone. Due to that, she’s very careful about that she lets out of her mouth. She tries to always have something good to say about everyone, she tries to be very optimistic and nice - even among those she hates.

Some people think of her as spineless because of that, while some think she’s just the nicest thing around. While the first of the two is pretty true, the latter is not. She isn't all that nice, in all honesty; in fact, her uncensored thoughts can be surprisingly mean and snarky - after all, all the years she has spent suppressing any negative feeling have left her bitter. She has started to hate both herself and the world around her for being so unfair and demanding so much from her, not realizing that nobody expects her to be perfect but she, herself.

Hitomi absolutely loves books and games of all kinds. There is nothing quite as empowering as being able to kick ass in a video game the way she never could in real life. She plays everything, but has a particular fondness for visual novels, where she can feel like her choices matter and nobody judges her for them. She's a walking dictionary on all things gaming, and never leaves the house without hr trusted PSP.

It's really easy to embarrass her. She isn’t used to people being close or talking to her for extended periods of time for example, so someone doing that is bound to make her fidget and get flustered. Due to her lack of self-esteem, despite trying to appear otherwise, she actually tends to assume the worst about every situation. Someone glanced at her from the corner of their eye? Could it be they’re judging her? Is her hair messy?! Hitomi also doesn't like loud, obnoxious people, nor anyone she thinks is a bother to others. She says it’s because she believes everyone should put the needs of others before their own but in truth, it’s just because she’s jealous of someone being able to do what she isn’t; being themselves and not caring what others think.

But, despite all her shortcomings and bitterness, Hitomi really wants to help people and doesn’t like seeing anyone get hurt. Also, despite her cowardice when it comes to social interactions and showing her true colors, she can be surprisingly brave when the situation calls for it - such as when she's defending someone she views either as weaker than herself or a friend. Her Arcana being Strength and not Hermit might sound surprising at first - but when you get to know her, you see it isn't that odd a choice in the end. She might be frail physically, but she's very strong mentally, being able to comfort others even when her own self-image is what it is. She just needs a chance to show it, you could say.

History: Strength comes in many forms - sometimes pathetic ones.

Hitomi was born in Kyoto, Japan, as an only child of the family. Her mother was always home for her while the father of the house worked, and from an early age Hitomi was always instructed to be polite and proper no matter what. Her parents wanted their little girl to be perfect, and they said so many a time whenever they praised –or scolded – her. What they didn’t realize was that “being perfect” is a rather heavy burden to bear, and that Hitomi had to work really hard to try and live up to her parents’ expectations. She studied diligently and was always polite just like she was told to, though she quickly learned that she just wasn’t exceptionally smart. Try as she might, her grades were always solid C's and B's, never the A's her parents would have wanted. And while her parents never said a word about being disappointed, Hitomi couldn’t help but feel she had let them down anyway. It was a horrible feeling, and so she decided to try even harder. She didn't want to give up, and figured that if she just endured and bettered herself, she could eventually make them proud.

She was always a really introverted child, and although her parents tried, at one point, to see if travel helped her cure from it, it was in vain. The first trip she remembers was to an island whose name she has forgotten ten years ago. None of that helped though. She remained quiet and meek and due to that, she faced some bullying at school. It wasn’t anything major, but due to her shy nature, she suffered all the same. She never dared to utter a word to anyone, however; she didn’t say anything about it to the teachers or her parents, and she never spoke up for herself against the bullies, either. She didn’t want to cause trouble or inconvenience anyone. Yet, strangely enough, whenever one of her friends - few as they were - was in trouble, she never failed to go to their rescue. It wasn't like she hadn't been scared to death facing the bullies, but she didn't see a choice. Abandoning someone in need never even crossed her mind, even if it made her suffer even more abuse from the bullies as a result. Her friends tried to constantly bring her out of her shell and tell her to do stand up for herself the way she did for others, but to no avail. She couldn't. She was scared and felt weak, not quite realizing the strength she'd already showed when defending others.

Eventually, her friends figured they’d need to do something about the treatment she received themselves. They meant well when they went and yelled at the bullies, telling them they wanted them to die and such. And in the end, encouraged by her friends, Hitomi, too, said that she agreed. She said that she wanted them to die.

And a few days later, one of the bullies got into an accident and almost died. And Hitomi was convinced it was because of what she had said. She had always read about curses and the supernatural, and she very much believed in ghosts and demons and the like. Maybe one of them had heard what she had said and done this? It sounded stupid, but how could she be sure? What if her words did have the power to hurt someone? Weighed by quilt, Hitomi told what she had said to someone to her parents. And she swore, she saw that look of disappointment in their eyes again. They didn’t like her. She was sure they didn’t. And why should they? She might have indirectly hurt someone. Never again, never again did she want to be looked at with eyes like that again. She’d be more careful about what she said. She’d become perfect this time. She'd never let her negative feelings take over. Yes, she'd hide them.

Years passed and Hitomi really tried hard to be perfect. She hid everything about herself she figured others wouldn’t like, and no matter how hard things were, no matter how much people used her as their little errand girl due to her mellowness, and no matter how much she wanted to shout, she kept everything in and forced everything negative away. Except, well, humans don’t work like that. They can’t just suddenly drop half their feelings and only keep all the positive ones. And so, as years passed and Hitomi played nice, she started to slowly grow a tad bitter inside. She was being this nice, and yet people used her? Yet they bullied her still? She found herself hating quite a few people, but she never said anything, and just kept suffering alone.

Even when her parents suddenly decided to move cities and have her transfer shcools, she kept her mouth shut and obliged, thus leaving behind the few friends she had. She knew nobody in her new city, and that caused her to become even more secluded, spending more time playing her video games and clinging onto her books than socializing. But hey, as long as she has her books and games, she'll manage.

But for how long?

Weapon: A particularly thick book, titled "The Art of Gaming - How to Find Just the Game for YOU."

Arcana: Strength

Initial Persona: Valkyrie

Ultimate Persona: TBA