Nijiyo Okamura

Nijiyo Okamura (岡邨 虹夜 Okamura Nijiyo) is a character from Umi Monogatari Rai. She is a former friend of Leyko Kishimoto who left her for Hanaya Masui after believing lies that were spread about Leyko.

Appearance
Nijiyo is a girl of average height with medium-length black hair that is always tied in two low braids. She wears her street clothes because PS328 is a public school.

Personality
Nijiyo is a level-headed, down-to-earth person who will face people head-on if necessary. Nijiyo is very serious and is rarely seen smiling. She is stern, straightforward and frank with people, even her own friends.

Nijiyo was never quick to believe things unless she saw it firsthand. But after hearing about Hanaya Masui’s experience with Leyko Kishimoto, Nijiyo began to become more and more easy to trick into believing anything. While Nijiyo’s gullibility was increasing with the more lies that were spread about Leyko, Nijiyo did have her doubts and recognized her being too quick to believe. However, Nijiyo believed that it was too late to go back and that she didn’t deserve a second chance to be friends with Leyko again.

Year 1 - Middle School
Nijiyo had entered middle school with her friends. These friends were Leyko Kishimoto, Hiromasa Naito, and Imari Imai. The three were Nijiyo’s only friends from the beginning of elementary school because Nijiyo was so serious that people didn’t really like her for it. But in middle school, people began to appreciate Nijiyo for her seriousness, and whenever Nijiyo spoke everyone listened to her and took her seriously.

Hiromasa was a friend from a different elementary school. Leyko and Hiromasa were not initially friends, but they began to get to know each other better and Nijiyo could sense the chemistry between them. About 3 months into the school year, Leyko and Hiromasa started dating. Nijiyo was very happy for them.

Nijiyo started having problems with her mother, Kiyomi, because Kiyomi was always talking about Nijiyo and courtship. Nijiyo did not like the idea of getting married at such a young age, but all the women in the family persisted and kept on talking about Nijiyo getting married in middle school. The fights with Kiyomi started becoming all too much for Nijiyo, so every time they got into a fight, Nijiyo would book a hotel for the night. Nijiyo’s father, Hisashi, showed sympathy for Nijiyo and disagreed with the idea of her getting married as a student.

Year 2 - Middle School
The beginning of the school year was a bit uneventful for Nijiyo. A student transferred to PS328. Her name was Hanaya Masui. Hanaya was like any other student at school. Nijiyo became a friend of Hanaya because Hanaya was very relatable.

One day, however, Hanaya came up to Nijiyo and started asking questions about Leyko. Nijiyo answered all of them, and then Hanaya burst into tears and said that Leyko had been harassing her because Leyko thought that she’d steal Naito from Leyko. Nijiyo couldn’t believe her ears. At first, Nijiyo thought that this had to be a joke because she knew that Leyko would never do something so terrible. But when Nijiyo saw how hard Hanaya was crying, Nijiyo hugged her and said that she would tell a teacher. Other girls noticed Hanaya crying and came to her and comforted her. When Leyko came around the hallway and asked what was wrong, Nijiyo said that Leyko knew exactly why Hanaya was crying. All the girls started calling Leyko out, saying that Leyko had been harassing her to keep Hanaya away from her boyfriend.

Leyko was shocked and said that she never did such things, but Nijiyo kept on telling Leyko that she was in the wrong this time. Leyko didn’t know what to say to that. Nijiyo and the girls walked off with Hanaya and ignored Leyko.

Nijiyo hated Leyko for her mistreatment of Hanaya and they quit being friends. After Naito broke up with Kishimoto, Hanaya started dating Naito. Nijiyo was very happy for them, but began to have doubts about if Hanaya was telling the truth that Leyko had been harassing her. It was because Naito and Masui had started dating so quickly after Naito’s breakup that something felt wrong. Nijiyo talked to Masui about it. Masui said that she and Naito just shared the same interests and ideas with each other. When Hanaya and Hiromasa began dating, Leyko was gone from school for a little while. Nijiyo suspected that it was because Leyko felt jealous that her ex was now dating the person she harassed.

In that time, Hanaya came to Nijiyo and said that Leyko had been sending her death threats in her absence. Nijiyo now believed she knew the reason why Leyko had been away from school. Leyko was trying to avoid getting in trouble. As soon as Leyko came back to school, Nijiyo confronted Leyko for her sending death threats to Hanaya. Leyko said that she never sent any death threats. Nijiyo said that the entire school knew of the threats. Once Leyko heard that, she ran to the bathroom while everyone chased her. Leyko got into a stall and began sobbing. Nijiyo stood outside of the stall and said that everyone would wait or her outside of it until she came out. Leyko called Nijiyo cruel. Nijiyo scoffed at that. Hanaya’s cries because of the death threats filled the hallways.

Leyko was late to class and the teacher called her out for it. Nijiyo scowled at Leyko and barely paid attention to the lesson at all because she kept thinking about how horrible of a person Leyko was. At some point during the lesson, Leyko was called to the principal’s office. Nijiyo believed that everything was over for sure, but she was very wrong.

Lies kept on going around about Leyko. The school year ended, and the rumors had not ended there.

Trivia

 * Nijiyo (虹夜) means, “rainbow (虹) (niji), night (夜) (yo)”.
 * Okamura (岡邨) means, “ridge (岡) (oka), village, hamlet, rustic (邨) (mura)”.