Basic information

• Name: Sakuyu Saya (砂丘 沙耶)
• Age: 13
• Gender: Female
• Nationality: Japanese
• Birthday: 01/01

Background

• Past: Born as the eldest daughter of a long line of shrine maidens, she was raised with a deep sense of responsibility and reverence for the customs her mother upheld. From a young age, she was taught the sacred rites, prayers, and rituals necessary to maintain the shrine,finding it quite interesting. School life was ordinary, filled with the usual friendships, teasing, and mild struggles with subjects she didn’t particularly enjoy.
• Family: Has a younger brother under her parents. Her mother's family inherited the shrine for centuries as the shrine maiden. Her father's occupation is more mundane, being a doctor in the town. Apart from mild disagreement between her parents about Saya's career, it's a happy family.
• Occupation: Middle school student and apprentice shrine maiden.
• Residence: Residential area of the shrine.
• Income: Just the pocket money from her parents. She's still young for work.
• Education: Not exactly a model student, but her grades are still decent in any sense.
• Desire: She hopes to be a proper shrine maiden like her mother one day.
• Goal: Nothing special. She's still just a kid, after all.
• Reputation: Just an average middle schooler, although some students tease for her status as apprentice shrine maiden.

Physical traits

• Appearance: Long black hair tied in a neat ponytail, hazel eyes, and soft, cute-looking face. Her height is bit short for her age, standing on 149cm.
• Aura: Youthful just like her age, yet oddly dry. Honestly bit sandy.
• Scent: Faint scent of salty sand naturally clings to her, leaving her bit insecure about it recently.
• Health: In perfect health, apart from few unnatural traits like her scent.

Mental traits

• Core Personality: Curious, dilligent, unusually calm, and bit dry for her age.
• Body image: Bit insecure at the moment, although just to a level that naturally happens during puberty.
• Intelligence: Just above average. Nothing special.
• Morality: Basically kind, although bit passive and complacent. Common enough attitude for modern people.
• Flaw: She tends to bit dry on most situations, sometimes causing misunderstandings.
• Weakness: She's bit lame in physical activities, her P.E. scores suffering slightly.
• Fear: Much to her shame, she's bit afraid of the dark.

Preferences and Tendencies

• Likes: Watching the dunes, sea, her family, and matsuri.
• Dislikes: Sweeping, studying, and disrespect to her family's shrine.
• Fashion style: School uniform for school, shrine maiden's dress while at home or shrine, traditional clothes when being comfortable. She doesn't wear modern clothes unless she has some business back in town.
• Decision-Making: She tends to be logical and pragmatic when making decisions, rarely allowing emotions to cloud her judgment. She weighs the pros and cons of each situation carefully but has a slight tendency to be passive, preferring to maintain the status quo unless a strong external force pushes her toward change.
• Emotional Patterns:
  • Commonly felt emotions: Childlike curiosity, calm detachment, amusement from time with others, and small fantasy of romance.
  • Ability to regulate emotions: She's remarkably composed for her age. Even when annoyed or upset, she rarely raises her voice or acts out impulsively. Instead, she tends to internalize her emotions and process them quietly.
  • Way of expressing emotions: While not overly expressive, Saya’s emotions can still be seen through subtle shifts in her demeanor. Her reactions tend to be understated, making it easy for those who do not know her well to misinterpret her feelings.
• Stress Responses: She turns more passive, avoiding others temporarily. She may tear up slightly upon severe stress.
• Speech Patterns: Bit dry and detached, although youthful energy is still there.
• Social Interaction:
  • In normal situations: She's reserved but polite, listening more than speaking herself. Still, her dry tone may make others see her less emotionally involved than she is.
  • In close relationships: Not much different from the usual, although there's underlying affection in it.
  • In conflict situations: She tends to stay neutral, although she may be avoidant in some cases. She dislikes direct confrontations.
• Routine: Wakes up early, sweeps the shrine yard, prepares for school, spend her day in school, hang out with her friends after school, returns to her family's shrine, learns rituals she needs to know as a shrine maiden, does her homework and study before sleeping.
• Habit: She often mutters short prayers to the kami in her family's shrine, out of both habit and reverence.

Extra Details

• Skills/Expertise: Typical skills for a middle school student, although with an addition of skills as the shrine maiden of Suna Shrine.
• Signature item: Her red hair ribbon that she often ties her hair with, a heirloom from her mother's family. Although it's centuries old, it's still pristine as new.
• Trivia:
  • Although there's no scientific proof, Saya's mother's bloodline always had their first child as daughter, who was believed to be the next shrine maiden of Suna Shrine. Saya is curious if her first child will be a daughter too.
  • Her skin never gets too oily, and her hair remains smooth no matter the weather, giving her an oddly dry presence. Something she finds a bit strange but convenient.
  • Her sleeping habit is bit nasty, tossing, turning, and kicking all around in her sleep. Not that she's aware of it.