Maria Sakanoshita

**Maria Sakanoshita** (Japanese: さかのした**・**マリア *Sakanoshita Maria*) is the extended cousin of Coach Ukai on his mother's side. She attends Nekoma High in Tokyo but frequently visits her family's business Sakanoshita Market in Miyagi. She was the libero of the Nekoma girls' volleyball club prior getting injured at the Interhigh Tournament. Halfway through her third year and following her leave from the girls volleyball team, she joins the boys volleyball club partway as their temporary manager until graduation.

As of 2018, she works in the office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Tokyo Division, and shares an apartment with Tetsurō Kuroo.

## Appearance

Maria is an above-average height girl with a slim waistline and olive skin tone. She has long, slightly wavy, jet-black hair and light-brown eyes. She usually keeps her hair tied up and rarely wears it down.

Maria typically wears wears multiple silver ear piercings which include a captive bead ring through each earlobe as well as two round studs in her right ear, three round studs in her left ear, and a barbell in an industrial piercing through her left ear. In middle school, she had shorter hair that resembled a boy (most likely due to the fact she played volleyball). Compared to other characters, she is exceptionally tall, standing approximately 180 cm. Maria has a lean, athletic, slender and very flexible physique with a modest bust size.

She is often seen wearing a light gloss on her lips with her nails painted light green. She has a tomboyish sense of style, and can be seen wearing baggy shorts and a blue baseball cap. At home, Maria either leaves her hair down or ties it up in a bun. She usually dresses in her school uniform: a white shirt, a tie, and a short skirt.  After she becomes manager, she wears her Nekoma jacket on top of her white shirt. Otherwise, she can be seen wearing a black shirt and red sweatpants.

## Personality

Maria has a vibrant and lively personality, much like her best friend Hanon. However, unlike Hanon who tends to keep her thoughts to herself at times, Maria is known for being frank and straightforward when it comes to important matters. She is an optimistic hard worker. As a leader type with a firm character, she has a strong will and doesn't hesitate to take action as captain; her notable character trait being her strong sense of belief in herself and others. She isn't afraid to speak up and voice her opinions, especially when she believes that it's the right thing to do.

Maria has a fiery personality and she loves competing, which is why she gets along very well with her classmate and fellow teammate, Hanon Shima. She is eager to challenge someone and respects those who are physically strong - even somehow able to correctly tell who would make a strong opponent even if they don't look like it. While she also loves athletic things such as climbing and running, she can actually be very lazy and unmotivated if she isn't allowed to do things her own way. She dislikes planning, training, and routines, but develops a fiery passion when competition is involved. In general, her mood can shift very quickly. She can bounce between bored, to happy, to angry, and to happy again. Despite her easygoing and aloof personality, she is loyal and protective towards her friends.

She can also be very gullible, often easily believing things people say. She dislikes complicated plans and has stated herself that she isn't very good at doing detailed work. She can be forgetful of people's names; for instance, she frequently forgets Lev's, calling him "Larry", "Levi", and "Leon". Maria claims that she never gets worried about anything and she is generally very carefree. In actuality, she believes that hesitation and worry is a sign of weakness and she hates being weak. She forces herself to be strong and believes that real strength is showing no weaknesses at all. She believes that she has to be strong alone and often times finds it difficult to rely on others, including her teammates.

Maria has high expectations of men and is quick to be abrasive towards them. She is much more tolerant and friendly to girls. An example of this occurred during a group date with Hanon. The guy she was paired with started badmouthing his ex-girlfriend, which immediately infuriated Maria. In a moment of impulse, she grabbed a slice of pizza and threw it at the man's cellphone in an act of defiance. Despite her impulsive behavior, Maria's actions were rooted in her strong sense of justice and fairness. She believed that the man's behavior was disrespectful and unacceptable, and she wasn't afraid to stand up for what she believed in. After throwing the pizza slice, Maria decided to leave the restaurant together with Hanon.

## Background

Maria was born in a small neighborhood in the Miyagi prefecture and is the extended cousin of Coach Ukai. Growing up, she assisted her family in running the Sakanoshita store until she left to Tokyo at the start of middle school, where she meets her good friend **Hanon Shima**. Because she spent most of her time at her family's shop, she often spent a lot of time with Ukai and would later begin to attend his games at Karasuno High. She was very attached to him to in her youth, and even followed his path when she joined the girls' volleyball club at Nekoma.
Sometime during her second year at Nekoma, she reinjures her ankle which results in a ruptured Achilles tendon and prohibiting her from entering the Spring Tournament. Although a mild tear, the doctor advises Maria to take it easy from now on. Moreover, the doctor tells Maria that if another injury happens to her ankle, it may have a detrimental effect on her volleyball career. This upsets Maria, and as she starts her rehabilitation, she thinks about everything that has happened and tries to get back to her former glory prior to entering her third and final year.

Finally healed, she returns to the Nekoma girls team in the spring of her last year. In her mind, Maria says that she is not afraid of another injury. Instead, she is scared to let go of and lose what makes her herself, playing volleyball. While she continues to give it her all with her team and attempt to qualify for her last Spring Tournament, she ultimately has another scare at a practice match with Shinzen High school, resulting in her getting into a fight with her best friend Hanon - who tells her she will not let her make the same mistake again and play through an injury. The two stop talking for some time as Maria tries to come to terms with the fact she may no longer be able to play volleyball.

## Plot

### **Tokyo Prefectural Qualifiers**

#### Nekoma vs Nohebi

   Nekoma faces off against Nohebi. The third-years are tense as the game's starting as this is their last chance at Nationals. As Kuroo and Suguru shake hands, they tease each other about knowing they would be playing against each other for the last representative spot. Kuroo doesn't play in the beginning and watches the match from the side with Maria, warily taking note of Nohebi's tactics. Maria warns Kuroo to maintain his focus, and to not let Suguru get to him.

The second set begins and Kuroo worries about Lev and wondering how to best guide him without discouraging him. He turns to Maria who does her best to lecture Lev - but ultimately fails when he instead refers to her as a rambling old Grandma. This helps to ease a bit of tension among the team and help Lev in maintaining his focus.

Kuroo and Kenma use their one-man time delay attack sometime after and Kuroo would earn his team a point when blocking one of Nohebi's less experienced players. Nekoma later suffers a blow when Kuroo later busts his nail when attempting to make an overhand receive and has to be switched out to stop the bleeding. He watches in amazement as Lev pulls off a magnificent block to direct a spike to go directly to Shibayama which would lead to Nekoma claiming victory.

### Stats

 Stamina
 Game Sense
 Technique
 Speed

Maria creates ideals plays and chance opportunities by using her spatial awareness to view the court as a whole and the players on it. Due to her relationships and previous experience playing volleyball, Maria is able to bring the best out of her teammates by either advising them to perform optimal plays or by them pushing themselves to exceed their evolving skill.

#### **Skills**

* **High-Quality Tosses:** Despite being a libero, her toss was described as being incredibly easy to hit, thus creating an impression that the spikers had improved. Maria is extremely dedicated to providing the best toss for her hitters.
* **Spatial Awareness:** Maria instinctually has a habit of analyzing the entire court, giving her a vast understanding of the game as manager, including her opponents and teammates’ weapons. Based on this understanding, Maria can make accurate predictions as to the flow of the game. These premonitions then allow her to envision an ideal play mid-game and execute it. Her spatial awareness is among the highest, often rivaling and sometimes surpassing other player's own visions, such as Kenma or Kuroo.
* **Jump Serve**: She is able to execute a jump-serve but can`t do so consistently due to the amount of energy she spends receiving the ball from the other team. Despite that, her jump-serves are nevertheless powerful but need to be refined in terms of technique.

## Relationships

### **Family**

> **Camilla Sakanoshita:** Camilla is Maria's older sister, and the two share a close bond due to their shared gender. As a result of their relationship, Camilla often turns to Maria for help with personal issues. However, when their mother was hospitalized due to her sudden collapse, Camilla experienced a traumatic event that left her struggling to move forward and forget what had happened.
> Maria recognized the severity of her sister's trauma and took it upon herself to help Camilla heal. She spent a considerable amount of time in their hometown, providing emotional support and care for her sister during this difficult period. Maria listened patiently as Camilla shared her feelings and fears about the incident, offering words of encouragement and comfort when needed. Through her unwavering dedication and love for her sister, Maria helped Camilla overcome her trauma and begin the healing process.
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### **Nekoma High**

> **Tetsurō Kuroo**: Maria initially did not think much of Kuroo - as the two rarely interacted. She often thought of him as an "unremarkable guy" and found him to be too much of the "unsettling type." Her relationship with him later becomes one of the more valued out of all her relationships at Nekoma. Because of the similarities in their personalities, the two spend a considerable amount of their free time bickering and share what can only be described as a cats and dogs relationship. With Maria being popular and outgoing, Kuroo describes her as being in a whole different world than him and always at the center of attention. The two become closer following an incident that involves Maria getting knocked in the head by Lev's spike, but things become awkward and silent when she comments that a scheming person like him could never land a girlfriend. Although Maria is blunt with him sometimes, she really does begin to cherish him and is always very supportive of him, which she expresses in her own way. Kuroo is also the one who helped Maria realize the importance of depending on friends, and not to place all the work of captain upon her shoulders. This was the first time someone had said that so calmly to Maria, which allowed her to eventually began to understand. Unlike others who turned annoyed at Maria's flighty behavior, Kuroo always took it calmly and always tried to help Maria in a good way since he noticed that she always worked so hard.
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> Kuroo enjoys teasing Maria and often has many creative methods to do so; many of which poke fun at her tall, lanky appearance. Because of this, she refers to him as a 'Super Sadist.' However as stated by Yaku, the two do actually get along quite well, and despite their ongoing rivalry towards each other, they seem to have a sense of camaraderie. When on the court or in practice, the two work well together as captains on their respective teams. When the two are simultaneously angry, Kuroo's red aura and Maria's blue aura combine to become purple. In a recurring gag (mostly in comedic effect) they are even shown to communicate without verbally saying anything to each other, showing their close bond and a great understanding of each other. Maria is very aware of Kuroo's advances toward her, yet she doesn't appear to give too much attention to them - possibly due to her reluctant to fall into the cliché of dating the captain of the boys volleyball team. The dynamic between the two starts to improve after the Inter High preliminaries; before partaking in their match on the second day, Maria attempts to give him confidence after he begins to appear nervous about the crucial match. During the game, she writes "number one captain" in Kuroo's hand to keep him focused; showing that she has faith in his potential as Nekoma's veteran middle blocker.
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> Their competitive natures leads them to assume that whoever confesses is the loser in a relationship thus leaving either of them unwilling to openly admit it. Due to this, Kuroo will often engage in mind games with Maria in order to corner her and make her confess. He finds Maria beautiful and has openly said it a few times. Later on, it is hinted that he was the first one to have fallen for her even before she agreed to become manager for the boys team. Kuroo becomes the only person capable of keeping her in balance, with his presence appearing to keep Maria's flaky habits in check. Her relationship with the Nekoma captain ends up becoming the most significant of her personal relationships. Even though Kuroo is content with only staying by her side without any reciprocal feelings, his admiration for her grows stronger, making him more physically - and emotionally intimate with her. At the same time, he sidelines his own love and even expresses that he would support Maria when she gets herself a boyfriend. However as time goes on, her feelings deepen further for him when he begins to address her on a much more personal level, criticizing some of her more troublesome habits (such as her tendency to be late or skip class), causing her to properly think about herself and her lifestyle for the first time. It causes her to feel vexed about the fact that she can no longer ignore the feelings she didn't understand, just like the way she always ignored feelings she doesn't understand. She begins feeling more self-conscious around him, and she doesn't want to hurt him in any way due to her inability of understanding feelings well.
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> Maria will often sarcastically remark, "that guy (Kuroo) definitely likes me," though this is never confirmed nor denied. When the two graduate from Nekoma, they attend the same university and remain together until their last year when Maria makes the decision to travel abroad for several months. Although the breakup is neutral, they remain good friends and are later seen together at the MSBY Black Jackals game.
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> **Hanon Shima:** Maria and Hanon share a close bond as best friends. When Maria went through a difficult time after her break up with her long distance boyfriend Isshiki, Hanon was there to console her and offer support. She knew how much the cheating had hurt Maria, and she made it her mission to be there for her friend during this tough period. Hanon's presence was especially important when Maria decided that it was time to move forward from the relationship. Together, they cleaned out Maria's room and got rid of all the old items that Isshiki had given her during their time together. This process helped Maria let go of the past and start fresh.
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> Throughout this entire experience, Hanon showed herself to be a loyal friend who would do anything for those she cares about. Her ability to provide comfort during tough times is just one of many reasons why she is such an important figure in Maria's life. Hanon is not only a loyal friend to Maria but also someone she trusts wholeheartedly. When Maria realized her feelings towards Kuroo, Hanon was the first person she confided in, along with her sister. She knew that they would listen to her without judgment and offer support during this confusing time.
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> Hanon's ability to be there for her friends during difficult moments was also evident when Maria had an argument with her teammate Yumi. As Maria tried to fix things with Yumi, Hanon was there by her side, offering silent support and cheering her up when needed.
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> **Kenma Kozume**: Maria and Kenma share a casual relationship that is really only linked through Kuroo. While Maria does find Kenma to be a bit timid, she isn't bothered by him and doesn't mind spending time with him. Maria genuinely seems to appreciate their friendship and presence, and he is one of the few people that Maria spends the most time at in school.
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> **Taketora Yamamoto**: When he first saw Maria, he was immediately attracted to her, to say the least. Yamamoto is often caught fawning over her, leading him to then be discretely punished by Kuroo, who forces him to run additional drills. Both find comradeship in the fact that they had both been unlucky in love, although Yamamoto, having only been rejected 10 times, still falls short of Kuroo's record who was rejected 50 times
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> **Lev Haiba**: Lev and Maria seem to have a casual but close relationship where she treats him as one would a younger brother, teasing him constantly but also offering support when needed. Lev sometimes refers to Maria as "grandma". Despite sometimes being annoyed by Maria, Lev is quite trusting of her and is willing to follow her guidance.
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> **Yumi Toyosaki:** Yumi is a friend and former rival of Maria, having once competed for the same love interest as Maria before ultimatel losing. Their relationship can be described as "awkward".
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#### **Karasuno High**

> **Keishin Ukai**: Despite being cousins, Ukai and Maria have a somewhat distant relationship. After moving to the countryside, Maria was hesitant to approach her elder cousin, which left her feeling disconnected from her. However, when Ukai made an effort to reach out to her by discussing topics that he could relate to, such as volleyball and other interests, Maria became more enthusiastic and engaged.
> Despite their initial relationship, Maria holds a deep respect for her elder cousin. In her youth, she would often play volleyball with him. He taught her the basic fundamentals of the sport and eventually inspired her to the point of wanting to become a libero when she entered Nekoma High. When they eventually reconnect, Ukai becomes extremely overprotective of her, defending her from bullies and any possible suitors - even being thrown into a comical rage when one of the Fukurōdani volleyball players began hitting on her during the Summer Training camp. It becomes somewhat of a running gag that Ukai develops a sixth sense whenever he feels his younger cousin to be in trouble. (ironically getting chills whenever someone is being flirtatious with her).
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## Quotes

* (To Kuroo Tetsurou) "*Other than strong guys, I guess I like a funny guy who can cook, how's that?""*

## Trivia

* Her ideal type is someone who is competitive and makes her laugh.
* Her zodiac sign is Gemini.
* Current Concern: How to make herself look shorter around guys.
* Her vision is 1.0.
* Her favorite food is fast food.
* She often overthinks things.
* She is capable of deception and bluffing, especially in games.
* She has messy handwriting.
* **Nomenclature**:
	+ Maria (真理恵) - *truth, blessing*
	+ Sakanoshita (坂 ) - *hill, slope*