Rinka Aomi

Rinka Aomi is a main character in Mai Ball. She is a first-year student at Kijiyama North High School and plays as a goalkeeper for the girls' football team.

## Background

Rinka becomes the girls' teams goalkeeper as she is the only candidate who did not give up during Reika's trial.

## Appearance

Rinka has purple hair that reaches down to her shoulders, held back by a white headband. She has dark purple eyes. Rinka wears headphones most of the time she is not playing football, even if she is not actually listening to music. Her goalkeeper's jersey and shorts are padded, however she is always looking for thinner shirts so she can feel the impact of the ball even more to satisfy her masochistic tendencies. She unexpectedly has a large range of clothes for many different styles and moods.

## Personality

Rinka has a very masochistic personality and gets excited when being hit, or anticipating being hit, with hard shots. She is not shy about letting other people know this, and frequently shouts out her love for the ball when making saves. She is also rather perverted, having admitted to Kunimitsu that she is “sensitive” and she makes perverted comments when bathing with her teammates.

## Chronology

Rinka's masochism ties in well with her height and determination, so Kunimitsu decides that she would be well-suited to being a goalkeeper. She is also really good at predicting where her opponents are likely to shoot. After realising how many times she will be hit with the ball and how often she will be able to bathe with her teammates, she becomes very thankful to Reika for letting her join the team.

*Main Article:*Kijikita vs. Kijinan I

Although Reika concedes five goals against Kijinan, she is not to blame for any of them, also making a crucial one-handed save to her right from Chizuru Asakuji with Kijikita 4-5 down. This allows Kijikita to counter-attack and score the equaliser.

*Main Article:*Kijikita vs. Franklin

Dute Serbanov  scores with a powerful shot after taking down a long ball from the air, firing quickly past Rinka before she can react to put Franklin 1-0 up at half time. After the girls decide that everyone should change position to confuse their opponents, Rinka plays the rest of the game as an attacking midfielder, replacing Mitsu. Saki replaces her in goal and ends up making a few saves from Dute's powerful shots, which Rinka gets jealous about. Reika gets the equaliser for Kijikita, and after Mai forces Akira Tahara  to tip her looping shot onto the crossbar, Rinka charges in to score the winner on the rebound. Despite a last minute solo charge by Dute, Kijikita manage to see out the win and progress to the quarter-finals.

*Main Article:*Kijikita vs. Seirin

Despite Kijikita taking a 5-0 lead, their players are distracted when Kunimitsu carries an injured Reika off the field in his arms, allowing to take adavantage of their lapse in concentration, pulling back four goals. Luckily for the team, Rinka makes a sprawling one-handed save shortly after the fourth goal against Aya Kurusu to deny an equaliser, at the cost of a corner. The team come back to life thanks to Konori shouting from the touchline and desperately try to clear the corner. Saki makes a good headed block against Aya, which Rinka then stops on the goalline with a desperate stretch. Although Aya charges in to force the ball over the line, knocking Rinka into the net, Kiiro is well-placed to make a second block, seeing Kijikita through to the semi-finals.

*Main Article:* Kijikita vs. Kuryuin

After seeing Mirai Takenou send Mitsu flying before Kijikita's game against Kuryuin, Rinka predicts that it will be “chaotic,” which turns out to be true. Mitsu is blinded with rage in her battles against Mirai, and Mai ends up becoming so deflated that she temporarily stops playing. Amane Tatamaru dives over Rinka's arm when she punches the ball away low to the ground, which the referee deems a foul, awarding a penalty to Kuryuin. Amane lures Rinka into diving early and chips the ball down the middle for a 1-0 lead. Mirai then doubles the lead after forcing the ball and Chidori over the line with a hard challenge. Rinka later makes a save against Mahiru Hayami, however spills the ball due to the wet conditions. She quickly pounces on the ball to recover possession, however takes a heavy hit from Amane in the process. She initially does not feel any pain, however winces a few seconds later, doubling over in pain. Amane proceeds to taunt her out of earshot of anyone else, but she doesn't get the reaction she wanted as Rinka ends up getting very excited instead of downheartened. Rinka later comes up against Amane again after the Kuryuin winger dives for another penalty, however she slips during her run-up. Rinka quickly collects the ball and throws it upfield, where Kiiro then scores the winner at the death.

*Main Article*: Kijikita vs Kijinan II

Despite her best efforts to stop Shuna Sorimachi's shot at the start of the final versus Kijinan, a sudden swerve takes it out of her reach to give Kijinan the lead. Despite Rinka's best efforts, Shuna manages to outfox both her and Saki after taking the ball into the box, giving them both the eyes and slipping the ball into the other corner for her second goal of the game. Rinka is then beaten again by Shuna after she lobs her from inside her own half, which seals her hat-trick.

With Kijikita 3-0 down at the break, the team meet to discuss tactical changes to try and influence the second half. Rinka yells out that she wants to play up front so she can score again, and clashes with Saki, who desperately does not want to go back in goal again in her place. Rinka remains in goal for the second half, and produces a smart save to deny a Ruu Honjou volley. Rinka makes another save minutes later from Shuna, taking a shot in the midriff that causes her to moan in masochistic pleasure. After Kijikita score to make it 3-1, Kijinan go on the attack straight from kickoff, leading to a shot by Shuna. This shot takes a deflection off Yuika Mishiro, initially wrong-footing Rinka, who manages to recover, change direction, and tip the ball over the bar. She celebrates her miraculous save with a roar akin to a forward scoring a goal, and her teammates “reward” her efforts by slapping her body, which excites her to no end. The resulting corner leads to Jaina forcing a strong header on goal, which Rinka also tips away. Minutes later, Shuna forces another save from Rinka, before Chizuru is denied again by Reika. A shot from Shuna is deflected onto the post, with Rinka pouncing on the loose ball just before Chizuru was due to tap in. Kijikita manage to equalise late on, however Rinka can do nothing to stop Mia's late overhead kick, which flies past her to win the tournament with the final kick of the game. She is later seen sat on her own in her goalmouth, crying having been overcome with emotion following the late defeat.

Following the one-year timeskip in the final chapter, Rinka takes part in Kijikita's game against Franklin, resulting in a Kijikita win. Kijikita are shown to have reached the final again this year, once again facing Kijinan in the final. Rinka starts for one more showdown with the old enemy.

## Trivia

* She likes to listen to audio dramas.
* In the moment, she cannot deal with cockroaches, however when she looks back at how scared she was, she always gets a little excited.
* At karaoke, she always sings a song called “Ball, I Love You,” which she now knows by heart and always get a 100% score on.

## Relationships

Saki Benio: She and Saki get on well, both having played in goal. Saki is the straight man to her perverted personality. After saying that Saki's taste in t-shirts with strange slogans is weird, Saki buys Rinka a shirt that says “yakitori with salt.” They hang out at the weekend.

Mai Miyano: Rinka adores training with Mai due to her very powerful shots, and as such loves seeing her pick up the ball with the intention to shoot at her.