Ryoka Yamauchi

**Ryoka Yamauchi** (山 (やま) 内 (うち) 良 (りょう) 佳 (か) , *Yamauchi Ryōka*?) is the daughter of Sakura Yamauchi's elder brother and a friend of Haruki Shiga due to their mutual relation to Sakura. She was introduced in the *I Want to Eat Your Pancreas* sequel novel, *To My Father and to Someone in My Memories*.

## Appearance

Ryoka's appearance is largely unknown due to her being a novel-only character, but she's described as looking rather young, as Fuyumi Shiga estimates that she's probably in her early twenties.

## Personality

Ryoka has been shown to be a polite girl, and perhaps one with a lot of sentimentality towards those who've passed; she visits Sakura Yamauchi's grave with Haruki Shiga on an apparently regular basis despite never having known Sakura personally. She's very thoughtful, telling Haruki that she thinks he should be more open with his daughter about what happened in his past, and also speaks in a respectful tone when she's introducing herself to Fuyu and Anzu.

## Synopsis

Ryoka and Haruki Shiga call each other at the start of the novel, agreeing to meet up at the station and take the train to visit Sakura Yamauchi's grave together.

They enjoy a leisurely conversation on the train journey, unaware that Haruki's daughter Fuyu and her friend Anzu are tailing them due to them having mistaken Ryoka for Haruki's mistress. Once they arrive at the graveyard and send their prayers to Sakura, Ryoka tells Haruki that it's probably about time he tells Fuyu about the "irreplaceable someone in his life": Sakura, since if it were her then she'd want to know. This prompts Fuyu and Anzu to emerge from where they were eavesdropping nearby and question Haruki about this someone, under the impression that Ryoka was referring to herself.

After some confusion, Haruki introduces Ryoka to his daughter and explains that she's the daughter of the older brother of the person in the grave they're visiting, then telling her the story of his time with Sakura.

## Relationships

### Haruki Shiga

Ryoka and Haruki are shown to be good friends who are comfortable around each other. They seem to have bonded over their mutual relation to Sakura, Haruki as her closest friend and Ryoka as her niece, and take the train together to visit her grave. They're apparently such close friends that they can be mistaken for lovers by someone with no knowledge of their actual relationship, and Haruki affectionately addresses Ryoka with the *-chan* honorific.

### Fuyumi Shiga

Fuyu initially seems to resent Ryoka due to her being under the impression that Ryoka is either her father's mistress or his illegitimate child. Ryoka doesn't seem to notice this during the time Fuyu spends tailing her or while she's introducing herself to her, and is always seen to treat Fuyu with respect since she's the daughter of Ryoka's friend. Later, Fuyu learns of Ryoka's true relationship with Haruki and afterwards seems also to see her in a better light.

## Trivia

* Ryoka's name contains the kanji for "mountain" (山 (やま) , *yama*?), "within" (内 (うち) , *uchi*?), "good, pleasing" (良 (りょう) , *ryō*?) and "beautiful, excellent" (佳 (か) , *ka*?).
	+ She shares the first kanji of her forename with Sakura Yamauchi.