Riria Konbaru

Riria Konbaru is a side character in Mai Ball. She is a third year student and is captain for Kijiyama South High School Girls' FC. She used to play as an attacking midfielder, however is now Kijinan's first-choice goalkeeper.

## Chronology

Riria is Kijinan's most talented player, and has often been scouted by professional clubs. Due to her leadership skills and calm nature, all of her teammates look up to her, calling her both "captain" and "coach." Jaina admires her approach as the leader of the team, while Shuna is so infatuated by her style of play that she decides to change position to match her idol. In response to this, Riria goes back to her old position, goalkeeper, so that Shuna is no longer benched.

Riria also plays for a futsal team, Kijiyama Unions, with four young boys. Her individual skills and leadership are so strong in this role that her team manage to beat Mirai, Amane and Reika. Riria's dream is to become an elementary school teacher, therefore she will be quitting football upon leaving high school. She and her teammates are committed to ensuring that they win in the tournament final against Kijikita to make sure that Riria goes out on a high note.

*Main Article:*Kijikita vs Kijinan II

Riria plays in the final versus Kijikita, which may end up being her final game. She starts in goal, which shocks Reika when she first spots her as she was not aware that Riria could also play in net.  When Mai Miyano controls the ball with her back to goal on the edge of the box, Riria swiftly charges out of her goal and steals it from under her opponent's feet. She then aims a low drop-kick to Chizuru Asakuji, and the ball ends up at the feet of Shuna, who scores her second goal of the game to give Kijinan a 2-0 lead.

Kijinan end up with a 3-0 lead and in control of the game, however a tactical change at half-time by Kijikita sees them growing more into the game. Following a long ball upfield, Mai has a chance to shoot at goal, however Riria, having previously rushed out to close Mai down on her last shot, elects to stay back instead. This surprises Mai for a split-second and allows for the ball to be cleared, without Riria having to move at all. After Mai later wins a penalty following a foul by Jaina, Riria denies Mitsu Kurodate from the spot and then stops the rebound from Kiiro Inukai. However, her save deflects off of Jaina's knee and into the back of the net to make it 3-1. This was the first goal that Riria had conceded throughout the entire tournament. Jaina ends up on the verge of tears due to her mistake, however Riria consoles her by saying that she is happy that it was someone she knew who ruined her clean sheet. Minutes later, Kiiro plays a ball through for Mai at the edge of the Kijinan box, presenting a 50-50 scenario for the two of them. Riria initially believes that she would get to the ball first, however Mai manages to shoot it beneath her to score her first tournament goal, making it 3-2. Riria concedes her third of the game shortly afterwards, when Reika sweetly connects with a pass from Mai, volleying into the top left corner of her goal. While Riria manages to get a hand to the effort, there is too much power behind it and Kijikita pull level.

Following the equaliser, Riria is called over to the touchline, where she is handed an outfield jersey sporting her number 1. Her coach decides to have her play outfield for the last minutes of what could be her final game, shocking teammates, opponents and spectators alike. At first it appears that Riria might be rusty, as even when under minimal pressure from Mai, following Reika's hesitation to close her down, Riria still hits the ball out of play and nowhere near any of her teammates. Within the next few minutes, Riria hits the ball clean out of play on two more occasions, prompting some spectators to believe that she had been subbed on to waste time. With successive passes, Mia seems to realise what kind of run she needs to make in order to connect with Riria's passes, managing to scrape a touch against one pass, while the second run ends with her reaching the ball, however Mia's shot is blocked by Mai. Riria's repeated attempts to find Mia finally pay off in the final seconds of the game, as she fires a long ball into the air, which both Mia and Mai attempt to overhead kick. Her teammate wins this battle, firing beyond Rinka Aomi to win the final with the last kick of the game. Immediately after the game, Riria approaches Mai to congratulate her on her performance and asking for her name. She also says that she would like to have further practice matches against Kijikita and would be asking her coach if they could do so.

After the one-year timeskip in the final chapter, a noticeboard in Kijiyama has a picture of Riria alongside her Kijinan teammates, showing that they ended up winning the national tournament. At the following season's final, also between Kijikita and her old team, Riria is seen in the crowd dressed in a suit jacket.

## Relationships

Jaina Airi-Mishiki: Jaina and Riria are considered the leaders of Kijinan's teams, however as her junior, Jaina also looks up to Riria. Riria is the good cop to Jaina's bad cop.

Shuna Sorimachi: Shuna looks up to Riria even more than Jaina does, so much so that she decided to change position from centre forward to play as a number 10, just like Riria. In response to this, Riria went back to playing in goal, sacrificing her position and jersey number for her junior. Shuna is determined to pay back her favour by ensuring that Kijinan win the tournament.