Hiroko Azuma

**Hiroko Azuma** (Japanese: 東寛子 *Azuma Hiroko*) was previously a second-year student at Rakūnbara Academy, serving as a middle blocker for the girl's volleyball team.

As of June 2021, she is currently plays professionally in Canada.

## Appearance

Hiroko has dirty blonde hair with bangs covering her forehead. She also wears her hair in French braids that reach down to her shoulders. Her eyes are quite wide in shape and dark brown in colour. She wears her school uniform improperly during school hours, only wearing a white dress shirt, brown skirt, a beige sweater and thigh-high dark socks. On the court, she wears a grey sleeveless jersey along with grey shorts that have black details.

## Personality

Hiroko has an eccentric, lively and bubbly personality. Throughout her childhood, she would often get in trouble at school for being so loud. This was something she struggled with until she was in middle school and was diagnosed with ADHD, which she was then medicated for. This allowed her to have a calmer atmosphere about her and better focus on her studies. Due to her personality, Hiroko always had an easy time making friends, something her twin sister, Sachiko, struggled with. Hiroko always made sure that the people she hung out with would also hang out with her sister, not liking that the other children didn’t like Sachiko just because she was a little different than they were. Despite her exciting nature, Hiroko is very serious when it comes to volleyball, always playing her hardest and making sure her team is as well. As she wants the best for her team, she can sometimes be a little harsh towards them when things don’t go the way she wishes them to go. Her team luckily understands this and won’t hold it against her as they know it’s just the adrenaline and stress overruling her.

## Background

Hiroko got into volleyball when she was in middle school. She joined the team after she watched a high school game with some of her friends. Hiroko loved volleyball from the very beginning, she loved the rush of the game and that it gave her something to put her energy into. Sachiko also joined the team along with Hiroko but had a very different reaction and hated volleyball. This caused a rift between the two sisters as Hiroko couldn’t understand why her sister didn’t love the game as much as she did. Hiroko and Sachiko were surprised with a trip to a professional volleyball trip by their parents for their fifteenth birthday, and Hiroko was ecstatic. She loved watching the players work and play together. After the game, she declared to her parents and sister that she was going to become just like them when she grew up. This trip also helped show Sachiko her liking for volleyball to which the sisters made up.

## Trivia

* Pre-Timeskip Concern: She has already been given an offer to go pro, but it’s from Canada and she doesn't know how she feels about being so far away from home.
* Post-Timeskip Concern: It’s hard being across the world from her parents but at least her sister is with her.
* Star Sign: Sagittarius.
* Favourite Food: Cheesecake
* She was diagnosed with ADHD when she was thirteen years old.
* Hiroko is the younger twin, though she is often mistaken as being the oldest.
* **Nomenclature**:
	+ Hiroko (寛子): contains the kanji for "tolerant, generous" (寛, hiro) and “child” (子, ko)
	+ Azuma (東): contains the kanji for “east” (東, azuma)