Nao Arasaka

**Nao Arasaka** is a new character appears in the Conrad Bartholy's story route. He is Elena Gabe's best friend after the player from Viktor's route (who is not present in Conrad's route) and he works as both the owner of tea shop and as an Astromancer. He is also the cousin of Haku Kobayashi. He also made appearances within the Extra Event as well as in both Joe Kicks' mini series and Chad's mini series. Nao also became the second male character after Chad Williams to instruct the players to play both good and bad endings in Sarah's mini-series due to him playing a minor role within her mini-series.

## Appearance

Nao has an understated appearance with an androgynous physique as stated by the team from 1492 studios and his current physique is considered as mysterious. His appearance is a combination between Daryl Ortega and Mark Leviels. He has short black hair in a ragged style with a full fringe and brown eyes. He also has a single silver hoop earring on his right ear.

He wears two outfits in the game.

His first outfit was his casual outfit; a black short sleeved openly button shirt with white sun and stars designs, a white short sleeved loose undershirt, orange colored jeans and black loafers. He is also accessorized with a silver ring on his left middle finger. In Joe's route, Nao's main outfit has minor alterations as his colored jeans are now dark teal which is adorned in a loose dark orange belt and his loose undershirt is now being tucked in into his colored jeans.

In his first meeting with Elena at night, he wore a formal outfit; a black formal sweater jacket with a thin silver chain designs on the seams, a midnight blue long sleeved button shirt, black formal pants and a matching loafers. In Joe's route, he later wears this when he joins up with the player and Rosa at the Nightmareden Concert or to have a pleasant conversation with the player at his tea shop during his limited Christmas extra event.

## Personality

Nao is shown to be very overprotective and concerned about Elena who is currently on the run from Viktor Bartholy and The Arcane. He also predicts most of her current conditions, particularly her vampiric skills such as astral projection. As an astromancer, he is capable of using the astral magic as he is able to converse between the stars and the cosmos to find his predictions to that person who is currently in danger. It was demonstrated when he performs a ritual using astral magic which is a mixed between the shallow water from the bowl and his blood while looking at both the stars and the moon to consult it and it materializes Cassandre Osborne's spirit while glowing in red. In Chapter 2, he is revealed to have connections with fellow astromancers from all over the globe and he informs Elena to let her stay with them during her hiding.

In Chapter 3, his cousin Haku also mentions about him for being so reckless in using his astromancy magic after learning from Elena about the crystal he had handed to her. He and Haku also had a family dispute between the Kobayashi family and the Arasaka family where both are swearing in their native language Japanese and their arguments on the phone. He was also close to Haku's late sister, Nana Kobayashi after he learns that Haku had kept his sister's bracelet for the long time and he had believed that the bracelet was lost when he reluctantly gives the bracelet to the powerful necromancer, Chad Williams. He is also acquaintance to Chad when he decided to help Elena to meet him at his temple. He is also brave when he uses his astral magic to give boost to Chad's necromancy powers as seen in the final chapter which is enough to trap Viktor on Chad's crystal where Elena distracts him with her hand to hand combat techniques taught by Drogo before his death.

In Chad's story, he retains his behavior in Conrad's story but becoming aware and concern over a new threat which Chad and the player are gone after by his own older brother Aiden Williams whom he mistook them getting after by Viktor. Aside from his blood to perform the ritual using astral magic to converse with the stars, he instead using Chad's blood and was horrified that he had been conversing an evil star which happens to be Viktor who remains trapped inside Chad's purple crystal. He can also be serious as seen on the non-canonical bad ending where he rescues Conrad during the battle with Viktor and using the crystal to escape with him.

In the limited extra events that are shown, Nao is friends with the player and Sarah's cousin, Elijah Osborne. In Joe Kicks' story route, he is shown to be friends with the player's older sister, Rosa. Nao also reveals to not expose his prowess as an astromancer when it comes to many people, most notably at the Nightmareden concert. In his Christmas limited extra scene, he seems to show his romantic side while getting interested towards the player who visited late night at his tea shop. However in his cousin's limited extra event shows him getting mad over Haku whenever he teases him involving his utilization of his astromancy magic.

According to the team from 1492 studios, Nao is a very open and generous person as some people, including Elena, manage to earn his trust and he shows both generosity and hospitality when he gives them some tea that comes from his tea store.

## Allies

* Elena Gabe
* The Main Character (Joe)
* The Main Character (Sarah)
* The Main Character (Chad)
* Haku Kobayashi
* Rosa
* Chad Williams
* Elijah Osborne
* Sarah Osborne
* Samantha Gautier
* Conrad Bartholy (sometimes)

## Enemies

* Viktor Bartholy
* Conrad Bartholy (sometimes)
* Descendants of the Templars

## Trivia

* His appearance is based on the real-life Korean singer, songwriter and actor, Kim Tae-hyung also known as V, the main vocalist and one of the members of the Korean boyband, BTS.
	+ Nao's ragged hairstyle is also taken from V's former hairstyle from his group's official music video "Butter".
* He was given a fan following after the official trailer of Conrad's route was released.
* Nao is the fourth male Asian character introduced in Is it Love? franchise and the seventh overall across all universe of Is it Love?.
* Like Liang Shaw, Nao can be considered as the unofficial second love interest.
* He shares the same nationality with Haku as he is revealed to be Japanese.
* Earlier a lot of fans speculated that he was a warlock.
* Nao has been joked to be the spiritual son of the player and Mark Leviels and the player.
* The color scheme of his formal appearance bears the color scheme of Vergil's main appearance in *Devil May Cry 5*.
* His surname Arasaka is possibly based on the Arasaka family in the video game series of both *Cyberpunk 2020* and *Cyberpunk 2077*.
* Nao is stated by the team during their voice post that he's androgynous, this makes him first character to be labeled with that term.
* Nao will be the first Asian character in is it Love? to receive his story as the team has said they can expect him soon for the story.
* In Chapter 2, Nao reveals that it has two or three astromancers who lived all across the globe to let Elena stay during her hiding.
* Following his stint in Conrad's route, Nao is the second character to squint his eyes after Viktor Bartholy.
* Nao is the first male to take on the best friend role since Sarah Osborne is mostly absent. Matt Ortega does not count since Lisa Parker is considered as the Carter Corp best friend character.
	+ Nao technically replaced Elena as the mini-series best friend, just as Elena replaced Sarah as the best friend in a Mystery Spell story route.
* He is the only Mystery Spell character that lives in New York City.
* He will possibly receive his own mini-series one day.
* Conrad's route doesn't have a second love interest, but if it did, Nao would have most definitely been it and can be considered as the unofficial second love interest.
* He was the very first Mystery Spell character to appear in a Carter Corp story route, in this case it being Joe Kicks'.
* His romantic side to the player seen at his Christmas Extra Event, is similar to how romantic couples would fall in love in various Asianovelas most notably in Korean dramas. This is soon followed by his cousin Haku when he shows his romantic side to the player in the Spring Break extra event while in a tipsy state.