NAME: Ebina Hoshiko
AGE: 15
GENDER: Female
ARCANA: Strength
APPEARANCE DETAILS: There's a saying that good things come in small packages but Hoshiko might as well be the antithesis of that; she's not small but she's also not going to be playing basketball anytime soon. Well, not professionally anyway. Really it's a roundabout way of saying that Hoshiko is of above average height, but often appears to be taller thanks in no small part to the fact that she has long, runner's legs and frequently wears shorts or athletic spats when not donning the mandatory school uniform. Her ash blonde hair is almost always unkempt but in such a way that it makes people wonder if she intentionally does it to make it look like she doesn't or if it's just naturally that way. The jury's still out on which one would be more impressive.
Though her hair is short, most of the time she has it covered by a variety of baseball caps. She has a standing collection of them and tries never to wear the same one twice in a row. From her favorite NPB teams (she's a fan of the Chunichi Dragons and the ORIX Buffalos) and MLB teams to just touristy hats or plain colored ones, the only question is which cap Hoshiko is going to wear on any particular day. Her eyes are a cloudy steel blue but nevertheless come with her piercing gaze; Hoshiko has a way of looking at someone with an intense focus that it's like she's reading their mind. Of course she can't read minds and it's mostly just because she thinks long and hard when doing it, but there can't help but feel like a bit of an intimidation behind her otherwise expressive, bright eyed wonder.
It's partly because of her leg benefit that her figure has a clear feminine slant to it. She's slender, but athletic, not quite a typical tomboy but not exactly the kind of
nadeshiko type that some find to be ideal. She exists in a comfortably medium. The muscles she does have are confined to her arms, though she's much, much too lenient with hamburgers to have full tone on them. But don't let that fool you.
PERSONALITY: One of the great mysteries of Fujihama is how Hoshiko has even managed to get into high school let alone advance in the years. To put it plainly: Hoshiko is an idiot. Not in an insulting way, of course, but in a very publicly defined sort of way. Hoshiko's name is consistently near the bottom of the class during exams and on tests it's considered a good result for her if she scores above thirty points. Some say she only gets a pass because of her brother, others say it's because of her club activities having the staff look the other way. In truth, it's not like Hoshiko is some secretly brilliant kid, far from it. When she should be studying she's instead at the game center or the burger shop or at the batting cages (where she bats for free thanks to a deal she brokered with the owner). But her own personal motto is: "No struggle is worth freaking out about!"
To put it another way, yes Hoshiko is considerably worried about her academics and only barely scrapes by due to finding tutors who teach her the material in a way she understands (often with baseball terminology or hanging burgers over her head like a carrot on a stick) and because when the chips are down and she focuses, she is capable of more than she gives herself credit for. Whatever worry she has in life is not written on her face. She's always the loud kid in class, the confidently wrong kid, not quite the class clown but close enough to it that she'll take the title and wear it with pride. It is her boisterous and unflappable personality that has led her to having a decently sized social circle. Sure, there are those who find her brand of energy annoying and idiotic and they have let her know that but anytime someone insults her, Hoshiko just smiles, pats them on the shoulder, and invites them to hang out sometime.
But having a large social circle doesn't translate to having a core group of friends. Hoshiko at school surrounds herself with her peers, joking, laughing, playing sports, but at home her phone doesn't buzz with messages or chats. She might not show it, but Hoshiko is rather lonely; but she'd rather be the anchor of good vibes among her peers than drown herself in negative thoughts and loneliness. Hoshiko will be the first person to try and cheer someone up who is crying even if that means going to find the person who made them cry and yelling in their face without having the full information - like when she got in the middle of a girl crying from a 'break up' and yelled at the boyfriend despite the story being more that the boy rejected her love letter proposal.
Whether or not they have Hoshiko's back is irrelevant as far as she's concerned. People might think negatively of her loud, foolish, unambitious self, but they at least know her name. And that's more than can be said for many students.
SHORT BIOGRAPHY: Sometimes it sucks having a famous brother.
Plenty of people in Japan know about Ebina Habiki. He is, after all, one of the hot new rising stars in the tv-drama scene, having gotten his big break on a
tokusatsu program and has since transitioned to romantic drama shows winning the hearts of middle aged housewives and young adults the country over. All focus went towards Habiki which is why Hoshiko lives with her aunt in Fujihama while her brother and parents live in Tokyo managing and being her brother's public relations expert. It wasn't that Hoshiko was unloved as a child, far from it, but her aptitude for traditionally male pursuits did her no favors.
After all, it wasn't as if there was room in professional baseball for a female player.
From a young age Hoshino loved baseball, starting from simply throwing a ball at a pitching wall in the park and working her way to a little league team where she was the pitcher. Her early days on the mound were met with bully boys saying the usual things. At first her response was to sniffle and cry which only made it worse. Her coach, the first person in her life who believed in her, told her the best way to show people up was to prove them wrong. The next time they bullied her she struck them out with a fastball down the middle. Once her little league days were done she had her most disappointing moment of her life, even moreso when her parents said they were moving to Tokyo without her because a girl like her wasn't 'meant' for Tokyo living. It was the day she was told that girls weren't allowed to play on the school baseball team. They could be managers, glorified equipment handlers, but not play. Hoshiko just smiled and said it was okay. She sat under a tree until the sun went down that day.
Her love of the sport never died, though, and if she couldn't play for the school she could at least play in her own time and support them in their efforts. It was the least she could do. Literally. At least until she found out that the school had a softball club. It was enough for her and it was a godsend because she was not cut out for cultural clubs after asking if the cooking club could cook burgers.
Some people do ask about her brother though she is never the one to bring up the fact that her brother is an actor, but her family name makes it a common enough occurrence. She doesn't exactly live in her brother's shadow (he was, naturally, top of the class when he went to school AND was president of his drama club) but it does cast a wide, wide surface which at times feels inescapable. Part of her feels as if people are expecting her to be as successful as young and more than one teacher has mentioned something similar when handing back a low graded test. Still, she doesn't let it bother her. She has other things to worry about. Like setting the high school at the game center or trying to throw a perfect game or, yes, cramming for a test because she needs at least a 50 to not have to take mandatory lessons. There's a lot on her plate and none of it is a burger but she'll take care of it in her own way.
No struggle is worth freaking out about, after all.
TRIVIA: -If it wasn't quite obvious, Hoshiko
loves hamburgers. And baseball. But mostly hamburgers.
-One of the lowest ranked in her class but, naturally, excels at physical activities and classes. Absolutely vital for her class when they do sports fests.
-Secretly likes to draw but doesn't feel like she's good enough to do anything other than scribble. This is why her notebook has drawings instead of notes and might be why she is so low ranked academically.
-Secondary to burgers she loves yakiniku.
-Absolutely hates mice and rodents to the point where her normally unflappable façade crumbles in their presence.
OTHER: 
