Kana Arima/Relationships

## Family

### Mother

Her mother has always aspired to be an actress; however, being unable to accomplish it herself, she imparted all her wishes to Kana. As Kana's popularity grew as a prodigy actress, she was happy that her mother could meet her favorite entertainers. In those times, she was all smiles and showed affection to Kana. However, once her popularity dipped, she became extremely toxic to everyone around her. She became neglectful of their entire family, causing the young Kana to think that she had to survive in the industry for happiness to be restored.

## Ichigo Production, Inc

### Ruby Hoshino

Ruby is Aqua's twin sister and also her partner, Ruby misheard her nickname "A Genius Child who would Flick a Crying Switch" into "A Genius Child who would Lick a Flying Snitch", which made Kana mad. Their relationship did not improve until they later became partner idols. She dislikes Ruby's intense personality but also admires her for her bubbling personality and ability to live as she wants. After joining Ruby as an idol for B-Komachi, being her senior as well as being more experienced with the entertainment industry, Kana would guide Ruby as they navigate the industry together.

Over time, Kana becomes jealous over the attention Ruby receives. However she kept her felling bottled up as she knows expressing her feeling would jeopardies their friendship as well as the harmony within the group. However she ultimately reveals her frustration to Ruby in the midst of filming the *15 Year Lie*, partly to help Ruby understands her role.

### Mem-Cho

Mem-cho acts like Kana's mentor and big sister due to her age and experience. Therefore, she also knows how to make Kana act in certain ways. For instance, despite initially rejecting the idea of filming their room as content, Mem-cho convinced Kana after stating that everything inside would be considered business expenses.

Mem-cho would also be there to talk to Kana when she is having difficulties in life, such as the period when Aqua is deliberately avoiding Kana. At this point, Kana can no longer conceal her crush on Aqua and vent her frustration in Mem-cho's presence.

### Aqua Hoshino

She started acting with Aqua when she was about three years old. She was extremely pompous and arrogant during their first meeting, and he admits wanting to strangle her back then. After their first performance, she was absolutely amazed and humbled at the disparity of their individual abilities. It would be long before they meet again, though that incident made her subconsciously limit her acting abilities.

They finally reunite in high school and become friends, inviting him to take part in TV adaptation of Sweet Today. While contemplating how to cover for the bad actors on set, Kana is surprised by Aqua's ability to carry the scene and she responds by acting to her fullest ability. This interaction leaves a major impression on Kana and as a result, she starts developing romantic feelings for him.

When Akane and Aqua kiss on *LoveforReal*, she wept profusely in her room and called him a jerk. She attempts to move on from him and looked for other forms of escapism. On one occasion, she meets Pieyon, a mascot who, unbeknownst to her at the time, was actually Aqua in disguise, and begins to develop feelings for him. She eventually finds out that it is Aqua underneath the costume and vows to make him like her.

On Aqua's end, he has found her personality extremely distasteful and admits to Akane that Kana was always rude. He still appreciates her presence in his sister's life and greatly values her worth and skills as an actor. In many situations, he has gone out of his way to help her in different situations, further amplifying her crush on him.

After recognizing how Kana was intentionally suppressing her acting skills for others, he purposefully ensured the spotlight was on her so she couldn’t run away from it. Kana could then be herself truly and smiled widely that she no longer had to hold back. She internalizes that Aqua always drives her crazy by doing such things, and since he wants to see her perform, she wants him to look at her more.

After Aqua finds out his goal was finished before it even began, he becomes more warm and receptive to those around him. Kana saw his change and commented that she liked his new demeanor. Gradually, Kana refers to Aqua by his first name, while he still refers to her by her family name.

When B-Komachi is about to go on a trip to Miyazaki to shoot their new music video, Ruby invites Aqua to come with them, and Kana can be seen staring at the siblings anxiously. When Aqua agrees to go, her expression quickly changes into a happy one. Kana offers to help him prepare for the trip, but he declines because he has a date with Akane. Kana becomes unhappy and then suggests that they go tomorrow. Aqua agrees, and as he leaves, Kana gloomily asks why they are still keeping up appearances when *LoveforReal* has already ended. She then wonders when will Aqua and Akane break up.

On the day of their appointment, Kana arrives late due to her overthinking which clothes suits her best. Aqua waits for her in a cafe, and when she wants to pay for their drinks, Aqua ends up doing it. Kana tells him that it is a smooth move, making Aqua confused. When choosing suitcases, Kana tells him to pick his favorite color. Aqua picks the white one, and Kana realizes it is her lightstick color. Aqua then offers to carry Kana's handbag, but she declines.

When it's almost nighttime, Kana says she's hungry, and Aqua brings her to a famous meat restaurant. To her surprise, Aqua already reserved seats for them. Kana asks him why he seems so familiar with dates and how to treat women and suspects that he has played with girls, which Aqua denies. Aqua says he planned all that so Kana could enjoy herself. Kana then asks Aqua about his relationship with Akane, and Aqua says that he always believed he should never get into a relationship. Still, he starts to think about his relationship with Akane seriously. Kana encourages him, saying that the freedom to love is a human right. When Aqua calls a taxi to drive her home, Kana imagines he will bring her to a more romantic place when he sends her home.

After visiting his home in Miyazaki, Aqua and Akane go to the B-Komachi filming location. When Kana approaches Aqua and Akane, Aqua looks at her in awe. When Akane finishes fixing Kana's outfit, Kana asks Aqua for his opinion. He thinks for a second and answers that she gets a passing mark, to which Kana responds angrily that both Aqua and Akane should compliment her honestly. Later, Aqua and Akane observe Kana while she is filming a dance part of the music video. Akane asks him if he thinks Kana will become a great idol, and he says yes. Akane says that Aqua can no longer date Kana if that's the case because it would cause a scandal. Aqua agrees with Akane, saying he had been careless, and is reminded of how Ai died.

Aqua was seen to have told the still obstinate Kana that he was going out with Akane for real. Six months after being official, Kana still hasn’t gotten over her crush on him. She tells Mem that she supports their relationship, but is hurt because Aqua intentionally avoids her.

When Mem confronts Aqua about his treatment of Kana, he tells her that he deliberately avoids Kana because he is afraid of what will become of her if she, an idol, causes her fans to think she has a boyfriend. He is afraid of Ai's fate happening to another person, worse if he was the one that caused the fans to misinterpret the situation. Mem realizes that although Kana is fixated on Aqua, he, on the other hand, is more fixated on her than she is.

When Aqua picks up Akane after a job, she muses and realizes for a long time that Aqua is smitten with Kana, but has recently decided to avoid her in consideration of his relationship with Akane. She doesn't know why he chose to date her instead of Kana but decides not to care about it.

When Kana goes into Masanori Shima's workplace, he initiates sex with her, but she refuses, saying that she likes someone else. Kana then starts rambling about how bad Aqua's treatment of her for the last year is. When Mem expresses her worry that Kana might quit B-Komachi and asks Aqua to do something, Aqua refuses. Mem says that she understands that Aqua avoids Kana because he wants to protect her and that Kana became an idol for Aqua. Aqua is visibly surprised, and Mem encourages him to face Kana. Aqua then muses how he has already decided to 'descend to hell' and does not deserve Kana's gaze anymore while imagining Kana's smiling face.

However, everything changes when a paparazzi takes a potentially scandalous picture of her with Masanori at his place late at night. Aqua barters with the tabloid magazine reporter, and in exchange for dropping the story, he provides a bigger scandal by revealing that he and Ruby are Ai's children. Realizing what Aqua has done for her, she thanks him in person. Kana tries to sympathize with him by talking about how everyone has abandoned her, including Aqua. However, Aqua then reveals that he has been avoiding her up to that point because he worries that she would suffer Ai's fate if they are photographed together. Relieved that he has been trying to protect her, she starts shouting at him for how worried he made her. She then tells him not to worry as she will soon quit as an idol, and she sees him as a precious friend. However, she immediately panics when he says he has broken up with Akane.

### Miyako Saitou

As the person in charge of the talents of Ichigo Production, Inc, Miyako has been taking care of Kana's career as well as the other members of B-Komachi. It is implied that Miyako is one of the first to be aware of Kana's crush on Aqua as she deliberately asks Aqua about his relationship with Akane in the presence of Kana, which cheer Kana up as he mentions his relationship with Akane is only for work.

### Pieyon

Pieyon is introduced to Kana as a fellow talent at Ichigo-Pro with Kana mistaking him a pervert, not realizing that he is a bodybuilding youtuber. However she quickly apologizes upon realizing his popularity as well as how much he makes. She later think she might even fall for him when she considers moving on from Aqua but it turns out that it was Aqua disguising as Pieyon, which Kana later finds out.

## Friends

### Melt Narushima

Melt, one of Kana's closest male friends has worked with her on several performances. She was there for him during his first debut on Sweet Today, and they were chosen to be in Tokyo Blade together. They actively look out and genuinely care for one another. During their practice sessions, Melt would patiently listen to her complain about the ludicrous closeness between Akane and Aqua despite it being a business relationship. He also gave his own personal input defending them. Melt is highly grateful to Kana as he recognized how she limited herself to make him look good in Sweet Today. Thus, months afterward, he trained and resolved to prove himself worthy of her kindness.

When Taiki invited her to grab a bite, she immediately dragged Melt along, much to his surprise. Melt praised her for being smart as she taught him to read Kanji, while the latter brought books after he revealed he doesn’t read much.

When visiting the Mangaka's house, Kana went with Melt while Aqua brought Akane along despite her not being involved in Sweet today. After the script was rewritten, Melt became anxious and dreaded whether he could be up to standard. After being told that his failures would stand out amongst the talented casts, he refuses to let them weigh him down and instead asks Kana to rehearse with him. Kana immediately accepts, citing that she was about to ask him that herself.

During this time he also reexamines his old performance. He recognized his incompetence and how Kana had to adjust her acting for him. He was furious at himself for being a failure and wept while wondering if the production could have been better if he'd taken it seriously. When Melt and Kana were training their running, Kana was surprised he could keep up. He reveals that he’s been training since that day, causing Kana to blush slightly.

When Kana and Akane go into their usual quarrels, Melt is commonly seen by her side to rein her in while Aqua takes care of Akane. He was curious as to why she would often antagonize and pick a fight with Akane and advised her to get along with Akane since she was dating Aqua. She reiterates that it's just for business and that their personalities are too different, inevitably running into conflict. Additionally, she is against losing her and doesn’t find her talents inferior to Akane in any way.

During their performance, Kana was impressed and moved by his emotional acting. She then tells him she'll take it from here after he fulfilled his role. Melt then admits for the first time that, thanks to her, he finds acting to be extremely fun.

### Taiki Himekawa

As Taiki won the most impressive actor award and is relatively well-known in public, Kana has great respect and admiration for him. They were sorted into the same group in Tokyo Blade, and during one of their sessions, he told her not to hold back. This causes Kana to smile gleefully and let herself loose, immediately captivating those around her. Taiki then invites her to eat, which she quickly accepts as she has many questions to ask him.

Throughout their practice sessions, they started getting closer as she became something like a Kanji teacher to him and Melt. The three of them were labeled the Main clique. Akane and Aqua were determined to defeat the duo of Taiki and Kana, causing them to become their end goal and rival of Tokyo Blade. Kana then asks him about Akane's past, and he reveals that she was her fan when they were young. He immediately regretted telling her after Kana continuously started teasing Akane for it.

When asked by Melt who's the better actor between Akane and Kana, he didn’t pick a side but instead listed their talents. However, he proclaims that Kana will win this time since he's on her team in the play.

## Others

### Akane Kurokawa

As female actors of the same age, Kana and Akane share a fierce rivalry. They first met at an audition at a time when Kana's popularity begins to wane. Akane, who was a fan of Kana's at the time, cannot believe the audition was rigged. Kana in response started a fight, tarnishing image she had of Kana.

As the years go by, Akane would become an actor in her own right, which Kana acknowledges and respects as a rival. This rivalry would intensify after Akane's stint on *LoveforReal*, becoming Aqua's girlfriend, whom Kana has developed a crush on.

The rivalry comes to a head as they are both casted in the stage adaptation of *Tokyo Blade* alongside Aqua. She uses her knowledge of Aqua and show it off in front of Akane by pointing out that Aqua cannot perform emotional acting. However when her suggestion led to Aqua's collapse, she gets jealous over the fact that Akane is the one who gets to take care of him.

### Yoriko Kichijouji

Kichijouji is the author of "Sweet Today", the manga that was adapted into a TV series with Kana as the female lead. As a manga fan, Kana admires her and was sad about the disappointing adaptation she was part of. Yoriko holds Kana in high regard for being one of the two (the second being Aqua) that saved the adaptation in her eyes, and they are on friendly terms.

### Masaya Kaburagi

Early on, Kana believes Kaburagi has a soft spot for her as he continues to hire her for his projects despite her fading fame. The truth is he's been taking advantage of her past fame as well as the fact she is now cheap to employ because of her status as a freelancer. Nonetheless he sees potential in her and and upon finding out the she and Mem-Cho are part of the renewed B-Komachi, he would use his connections to set them up for the first concert at the Japan Idol Festival.

### Taishi Gotanda

Kana was cast in Gotanda's film, *That Was the Start‎‎*, when she was still a child actress. Unlike Aqua who was cast in the film by Gotanda, it is never stated who decided to cast Kana but Gotanda's negative opinion of her from the beginning suggests that it was not be his decision. Nonetheless he advised her to get along with people, which she took to heart and she learned to match the acting of those around her in order to survive in the industry.

## References

1. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapters 11-18.
2. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 30.
3. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapters 32-40.
4. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapters 61-63.
5. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 71.
6. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 73.
7. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 76.
8. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 82.
9. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 83.
10. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 87.
11. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 101.
12. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 102.
13. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapters 103-107.
14. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 22.
15. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapters 35-36.
16. ↑ *Oshi no Ko* Manga:
 Chapter 57.