Yukari Ishihara

(Bestie) Curator at the Shimane Art Museum

Her father works at a local advertising agency. Her mother works part-time at a diner. As a child, Yukari was always compared to her talented older sister and developed a complex. During high school, this was compounded by the fact that her sister attended a national university. Shiori was the first friend that she could confide in. Presently she has a promising career at the art museum curating successful exhibits, but dealing with staff who are older (sarcastic middle-aged men) is putting a strain on her. Her favourite saying is, "Let's do our best." - √Letter PREMIUM ARTBOOK

## Biography

Yukari Ishihara is the curator of the Shimane Art Museum in √Letter, as well as being one of the original seven classmates, her nickname being 'Bestie'. She is played by the fictional actress, YUKARI.

## Appearance

Yukari is a woman in her thirties during the present timeline of the game.

In the present, she is a slender woman with long black hair, which falls to her abdomen. She has purple eyes and is often seen wearing a white shirt and a black skirt and blazer, which has a black and white chequered pattern on the inside of the cuffs, which are upturned so they are visible.

15 years before the main events of the game, she had shorter hair which she wore in a ponytail, making the hair roughly shoulder length. She is also seen wearing the Matsue Oba High School uniform.

## Personality

Yukari is a mature woman who is described as being "flexible" and "quick" by Max. She has a sister who was always very successful, ending up in a prestigious university, and this had lead to her having an inferiority complex of sorts. She is also shown to be apt at manipulation, as she convincingly acted clueless about the truth surrounding Aya Fumino and attempted to make Max fall in love with her so he would not find out the truth. During the 'Cursed Letter' route Yukari is shown to be the least stable of the group, killing Masaya Watanabe, and attempting to kill Max. During the 'Bond of Marriage' route she is shown to be extremely career-minded, choosing to attend a meeting where she could be promoted over helping Kousuke Tanaka overcome his suicidal desires.

In her high school days, she is shown to be very close to Shiori Yoshioka, adaptable and a good liar as she hid her jealousy of Shiori due to Shouta's infatuation with her, making her envious as she had a crush on Shouta at the time, forming a love triangle.

## History

### Pre-High School:

Not much is known about Yukari before she went to Matsue Oba High School apart from that she was looked down upon by her sister, who was very capable and successful, going to a national university, and her mother, who constantly compared Yukari to her sister and criticised her when she fell short. Because of this Yukari developed something akin to an inferiority complex.

### Matsue Oba High School:

During high school, Yukari was the best friend of Shiori Yoshioka and for the first two years of high school, they got on very well. However, in the last year of high school, Yukari, along with her other classmates, became scared of Shiori's transformation into her Aya Fumino persona, especially after Yoko Fumino's Birthday Party. Although shocked, Yukari continued to be friends with Shiori without any major events, not like when Misaki Murakami calls Shiori a "monster".

Over time Shouta Nozu falls in love with Shiori, going so far as to attempt to sexually assault her. This causes Yukari to become jealous, and later envious. This envy was at its peak around the two's trip to the local hot springs and shrine, during December, where Yukari wishes that Shiori will fail her college entrance exams, but tells Shiori that she wished to be accepted into college, afterwards Shiori and Yukari buy red magatama pendants from the local gift shop. At the hot springs, Yukari says they should all have Christmas Party at the Fumino's house so that the group of friends can be friends again.

The Christmas party occurs on the 25th of December and was successful, with all the friends getting on well again. After the Christmas party, while Shiori rushes to post the 8th letter to Max (as she wants him to know as soon as possible that the group are all friends again), Yukari forgets to blow out the candles, which Shiori (as Aya) would normally have been there to blow out. Soon afterwards, the house catches fire, leading to Yoko's death. Yukari blames herself as she believes that it was her fault as she left the candles burning, but she tells no one and believes it even 15 years later. But Jun Omori had seen the candles burning and blew them out for her.

While the true cause of the fire was the one stated in the newspaper: a short circuit. After Yoko dies, Yukari blames Shiori for pretending to be Aya, saying that Yoko would have never died if she had refused to play Aya. This causes Yukari's relationship with Shiori to turn sour. The two are not seen talking until after the graduation ceremony, where Shiori calls her classmates into their classroom and fakes her suicide. But their relationship hardly improves and the two become estranged.

### During the game's main events:

Yukari is first seen when Max is outside the Shimane Art Museum, Yukari sees him there and offers to share her umbrella with him, calling their meeting an 'Enishizuku' (a type of fateful encounter while it is raining). This is part of her plot to make him fall in love with her, as she has heard from her other classmates that Max is trying to find out the truth about Aya. She invites him inside the museum and gives him a tour of the galleries, including the 'Unknown Artists of Matsue' which she put together herself as this gave her a reason to place Aya's painting of Yoko in a public space.

Later on, Max sees her by the Vacant Lot (where the Fumino residence used to be), where she is wearing a red magatama pendant. Without Max realising, Yukari places some white flowers on the lot. As Yukari has long black hair (like a traditional Japanese ghost) as well as the fact that she frequently visited the Vacant Lot, rumours started circulating that a ghost visited the Vacant Lot every Tuesday (Yukari's day-off), this rumour was quickly picked up by Sanpei Yoshida, who later tells Max about it.

During 'Chapter 8: Magatama Stationary', Max investigates 'Bestie'. Yukari responds to this by asking Max for help moving boxes in her new apartment so that she has an opportunity to prevent Max from learning any more about her.

## Relationships

### **Shiori Yoshioka:**

Yukari was Shiori's best friend in high school and they were very close, however, later in their relationship Yukari was jealous of her as Shota had a crush on her. In their final year of high school, Yukari, like the other 6 class members became scared of Shiori's transformation into Aya Fumino, therefore she distanced herself from her but still kept talking to her, even arranging a Christmas party on her behalf. After Shiori fakes her suicide, Yukari is not known to have talked to Shiori.

### **Takayuki:**

Yukari, like the other classmates, initially see him as a massive threat to their secret. On several occasions, she attempts to make Takayuki fall in love with her, utilising an 'Enishizuku', so that she can control how much he knows and hopes he gives up on his investigation.

Ultimately, she fails and during the investigation during 'Chapter 8: Magatama Stationary' she begins to open up to Takayuki and to trust him, agreeing to bring all 7 classmates together to reveal the truth. She believes that out of everyone, Shiori would want to see him the most. However, she dislikes how he was not always as empathetic as he should have been when he replied to Shiori's letters. These two factors cause her to attempt to kill him during the 'Cursed Letter' route.

### **The Class of 1999 as a whole:**

Yukari's classmates call Yukari their "hope" as she is the only one who is nearing her dream of becoming the director of the Shimane Art Museum, while the other classmates have suffered failures and setbacks.

Therefore, even though characters like Misaki disagree with how she treated Shiori, they protect her by hiding the truth from Takayuki, as they fear if the truth gets out she will be unable to fulfil her dreams, this is the true reason that the 7 classmates hide their former identities, revealed in the Bond of Marriage route.

### **Shouta Nozu:**

During her high school years, Yukari had a crush on Shota, her feelings were unrequited and in the future, there are hints that she still feels the same way, as she makes sure Takayuki is aware that she is not dating Shota at the end of Chapter 8: Magatama Stationary.

### **Kousuke Tanaka:**

Yukari, like all the other classmates, thinks Kousuke is pathetic, and as such, she does not give him much attention, even when he threatens to commit suicide in the Bond of Marriage route.

### **Family:**

Not much is known about Yukari's family, it's stated that her mother is a waitress at a diner, her father is an advertising executive and that her sister was very intelligent and successful, getting accepted into a national university.

The success of her sister and her mother constantly comparing Yukari to her sister in negative ways lead to Yukari feeling like she was living in the shadow of her sister and developing an inferiority complex.

## Etymology

* Yukari is Japanese girls first name, its meaning is Affinity. It was likely chosen as her name because she is the classmate that was best friend of Shiori, and the one the other classmates are trying to protect the career and dream of during the course of the game.
* Ishihara a fairly common Japanese surname, its meaning being Rocky Plain.

## Trivia

* Presuming her blood type is the same as YUKARI's she has blood type O
* Yukari shares a lot in common with YUKARI, for example, they both have a talented elder sibling they have been compared to, which led them both to become disinterested in certain fields.
* The √Letter PREMIUM ARTBOOK mistakenly lists her nickname as friend instead of bestie.
* During high school, she was part of a love triangle where she loved Shouta Nozu, but he loved Shiori Yoshioka instead.

## Gallery

* Yukari Ishihara.
* Promotional art of Shiori, Aya and Yukari.
* Art of Yukari outside the Shimane Art Museum.
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