Minerva Aone

**"Insignificant being be gone!"**

**Minerva Aone** (Japanese: 青根 ミネルバ *Aone Mineruba*) was previously a second-year at Shiratorizawa Academy, playing as their main libero. In her third year of High School, she transferred to Aobajohsai High School.

## Appearance

Minerva is a well-endowed female with long, flowing, wavy scarlet hair with an elegant, loosely tied knot at the back, but it was later reduced into a short bob haircut in an attempt to fit in with the rest of the boys at Shiratorizawa Academy (her old school) and Aobajohsai High (her new school). To make herself appear as a boy, she used a chest-binder making herself appear more flat-chested. While attending Shiratorizawa Academy, she wore the boy`s uniform consisting of a white jacket, light blue dress shirt, purple tie, purple pants, and brown loafers. Her volleyball club uniform consisted of a white tracksuit with maroon accents. During practice matches, she wears a black t-shirt and white shorts with maroon detailing. During official matches, she wore a white jersey with maroon sleeves, a bold vertical stripe on her shorts and her number, 17 on the jersey top in a maroon color. In the manga, her volleyball uniform is the same, only it is purple instead of maroon. She has a brace on her right leg due to injuring it previously while still attending Shiratorizawa Academy. While on the court, Minerva wears a standard aqua and white Aobajohsai High uniform emblazoned with the number 9. He also wears dark gray athletic shoes with blue details. At other times, Minerva dresses in the Aobajohsai uniform, which consists of khakis with dark brown detailing, a cream-colored vest, a dark red tie, a lavender button-down shirt, and a white blazer. She has a dark and sharp glare that is said to terrify even Oikawa who steers away from her.

## Personality

After Kyōtani, Minerva is said to have the second-best ability among the second-years at Aobajohsai High, but her cold nature is cause for poor relationships with other members of the volleyball team and the added factor that she was once part of Shiratorizawa`s Volleyball Team as one of their libero`s. However, that seems to be a facade as she is kind-hearted, loving and cheerful around her brothers; treating them with kindness that her teammates on Aobajohsai High never experience from her. It is said that she does not know how to interact with other people, like for instance her teammates other than in a professional manner as she treats them like they are employee`s of her company. She is seen to be hot-tempered and always has a frown on her face. She seems to show a great deal of respect for the third years (especially Iwaizumi and Oikawa), irritating Kyōtani and shocking the first years upon Kyōtani's return to the team. She is extremely strong and at experiences breakdowns when seeing her parents, getting yelled at, or seeing Iwaizumi yell at Oikawa. Due to this Kyōtani and Yahaba are usually the ones in charge of managing her, as they know just how to keep her calm. Due to that, she is very close to them and is often seen baking them sweets; as a result of her parents` abusive nature she has developed panic disorder. This type of disorder results in unexpected panic attacks, characterized by many factors such as trembling and a increased heartrate. After transferring, she displays a detached nature.

## History

Before high school, Minerva played volleyball at Shiratorizawa Junior High (#5). Unlike Kyōtani, Minerva is one of the frequent attenders of the team practices, practice matches, and it is revealed that she has played with the Aobajohsai team frequently, even being subbed in as a libero at one point after Shinji injured himself due to spraining his ankle in a previous practice match. As she developed anxiety attacks in her childhood, Minerva often relied on her teammates to support her whenever she experienced them. Due to this, she was often a substitute and often had to take medicine for her sudden panic attacks. After transferring to Aobajohsai, Minerva joined the Volleyball Team but refused to trust Oikawa due to feeling like it would be replacing Semi as a Setter. After confronting her, Minerva began to trust Oikawa and soon felt confident enough to ask him for a toss. She was originally a second-year who attended Shiratorizawa Academy on a sport`s scholarship considered to be the second-best libero in the entire prefecture and had to transfer to Aobajohsai High School after her parents moved jobs.

#### Statistics

 Stamina
 Game Sense
 Technique
 Speed

According to the Coach, Minerva is a dangerous and calculating libero who requires a little encouragement to get going. She is highly intelligent, calculating, overly blunt, and cold-hearted; even her teammates fear her when she gets going, as according to them she is a libero with pin-point accuracy. She has incredible ball control and is able to stop the momentum of a spiked ball with ease, specifically if Kyōtani spikes them.

**Height and reach, as of mid-November**:

* Fingertip Height: 208 cm
* Jumping Reach: 302 cm (spike) / 290 cm (block)

#### **Skills**

* **Pin-Point Accuracy**: Minerva's most prominent and praised skill is her ability to accurately determine a ball's trajectory and sending it to the exact point above a setter`s head. She is able to accurately predict what spiker will need the ball, and sends the ball above their head. Due to this, her opponents fear her abilities.

* **Libero Toss**: Minerva distinguishes herself from other liberos with her participation in the offense. She is capable of jumping behind the attack line and performing a libero toss either to Iwaizumi or her other teammates in a synchronized attack. This is especially helpful under the circumstances where Yahaba or Oikawa are forced to make the first touch. However, the move is not without drawbacks: given that it is effectively an all-out synchronized attack, there won't be anyone to defend again if it was blocked.
* **Overhand Receives**: She is especially proficient at them, with many of her teammates considering them to be her forte. Very skilled in receiving jump floaters, she is considered one of the best people to receive them, as she can calculate the speed at which she needs to stop the momentum of the ball.
* **Digs/Receives**: Minerva was considered the strongest receiver on her team back when she still attended Shiratorizawa as a student. Many of her former teammates even comment that "Aone-san was a powerful receiver back then,", a testament to her powerful receives. Combined with her pin-point accuracy, Minerva can place the ball above the setter`s head allowing for more swift movement.

## Relationships

#### **Shiratorizawa Academy**

* **Shiratorizawa Academy**: Minerva gets along with almost everyone on the team due to her level-headed nature. After she transferred to Aobajohsai, they still considered Minerva to be one of their teammates and are considerably harder on her than her other teammates, due to her being one of them at one time.

* **Wakatoshi Ushijima**: Her former captain, Minerva and Ushijima share a friendly relationship as childhood best friends. While Minerva still attended Shiratorizawa, the two were very close with Minerva usually seen commenting to Ushijima on how weak the other teams were compared to their outstanding strength. After he encountered Minerva as she had transferred to Aobajohsai by then; their once friendly relationship turned into a two-sided rivalry as he still considered her to be his teammate even though she had transferred to Aobajohsai.
* **Eita Semi**: Minerva and Semi seem to have a friendly relationship. Minerva occasionally calls Semi by his nickname "Semisemi," much to the latter's dismay. He was often the one to calm Minerva down whenever she developed a panic attack out of the blue and usually shielded her from the media if she ever got filmed.

#### **Aobajohsahi High**

* **Shinji Watari**: Shinji is usually the one who keeps Minerva in line whenever she gets too worked-up. He acknowledges her strengths as a libero and is usually the one who knows when she is going to get a sudden anxiety attack, having memorized her body language. The two are stated to be rather close and trust each other so much that Minerva will send a receive to Shinji that he can place above the setter`s head.
* **Kentarō Kyōtani**: The two are stated to be rather close, with Minerva encouraging Kyōtani whenever he needs it and Kyōtani acknowledging her strength as a powerful receiver. He trusts Minerva the most and willingly asks for her to set for him. Minerva willingly sets for him whenever he wants them and sets to him from the back-row whenever he calls out her name. Many of the people in her grade are impressed with the level of trust the two hold towards each other.

* **Shigeru Yahaba**: Although they are in different grades, Minerva respects Yahaba and acknowledges his abilities calling him skilled. Besides Iwaizumi and themselves, they are the only people who can get Kyōtani to settle down. They trust each other and Minerva willingly sets the ball above Yahaba`s head whenever he calls for it.

## Quotes

* "*I never had a wonderful childhood to begin with, it was only filled with pain, abuse and yelling. So I developed a panic disorder due to her abusive ways."* (To Ushijima, Season 1 Extra Episode)
* "*Anya I will protect you from anybody who attempts to harm you. I wish you`d would have grown up with loving parents, not in our broken household. So please never forget that we love you."* (To Anya, Season 1 Episode 19)
* "*Biologically I am a female, but I disguised myself as a male. I wanted to feel strong for once because my past self was so weak. I never needed emotions to begin with, so why do I feel this emptiness in my heart?"* (To herself, Season 1 Episode 19)
* "*Kyōtani! That`s enough! Stop being rude or else I won`t send anymore received balls to you!"* (To Kyōtani, Season 1 Episode 20)
* "*He may be a hot-head but I trust him with all of my heart, that is the reason why a lot of the balls I receive go to Kyōtani because I can trust him to spike them."* (To Kindaichi and Kunumi, Season 1 Episode 20)
* "*Ushijima-sama is challenging me! I was his former libero so I must accept his challenge! I cannot lose! I promised him a challenge and thus you cannot stop me. Yell at me if you wish but I have pride. I will not be a coward and flee from this fight."* (To Aobajohsai Coaches, Season 1 Episode 25)

## Trivia

* Favorite Food: Tempura
* Current Concern: Kyōtani being rude to the upperclassmen
* She has a habit of kicking Kyōtani in the stomach much to her underclassmen`s shock.
* She is stated to have a hot temper where Kyōtani is concerned and actively curses at him, whenever Yahaba is around.
* Though she yells at Kyōtani a lot, she is actually showing concern for him and openly worries about him most of the time.
* She and Yahaba are stated to be like the parents of Kyōtani due to their similar violent natures and ways of speaking to Kyōtani.
* Minerva has two brothers, one who attends Date Tech High and one who attends Chidoriyama Junior High.
* Much to the surprise of her teammates, Minerva is a soft-hearted person usually only around her brothers.
* She refers to Wakatoshi Ushijima as Ushijima-sama due to the huge respect that she holds for him.
* **Nomenclature**
	+ Minerva (ミネルバ) - *Intellect*
	+ Aone (青根) - *Deep Blue*