Nezumi Okubyō

Nezumi's profile card.

Nezumi is a rival in *Heartbreaker: The Visual Novel*, and the antagonist of Episode 8.

Nezumi guides Kouhai when she needs a mentor, giving her a sense of stability.

## Appearance

Nezumi is a Japanese woman of above-average height. She appears fond of light, pastel colours. She has large round glasses, and wears her hair up in two large buns like stereotypical mouse ears, with a few bangs at the front loosely resembling rodent teeth. She has two triangular earrings with dots that resemble slices of cheese.

At Kareji, she wears a tight-fitting teal business suit with a skirt just shorter than halfway down her thighs. She often cannot be bothered to button her shirt. She wears her wedding ring on her left hand, and a locket around her neck. Her staff number is written on a label on the left breast of her suit. Nezumi's thigh-high socks are a creamy yellow colour, with orange circle designs that create a cheese-like pattern. She wears black shoes with thin heels.

Nezumi is not seen in casual clothes during summer.

For her casual winter outfit, Nezumi wears a thick orange turtleneck shirt with a baggy collar, under a dark teal coat with creamy-yellow faux-fur trims. The coat has six light stripes in the shape of whiskers. She wears black trousers & shoes, and plain off-white socks.

## Personality

Nezumi is a single mother of two, who works as a substitute teacher at Kareji.

She is timid and easily-shaken, often nervous while carrying out her duties. Despite this, she toughs it out for her pupils, going above & beyond to guide them to success.

She manages this by channeling her love for her sons, having had to force herself to be strong for them ever since her husband passed away.

At the end of the day, nothing calms her like a stiff drink, and Kouhai is the only pupil to have ever seen her drunk.

When drunk, Nezumi's personality changes completely.

## Trivia

* Nezumi's given name in romaji is pronounced like the Japanese word for "mouse" and the surname is pronounced like the Japanese word for "cowardice", suggesting Nezumi's timid, cowardly nature.
* The kanji for the Okubyō family name comes from 生 meaning "life", 功 meaning "achievement", 弥 meaning "complete", and 遥 meaning "long ago", as in "an achievement that completed one's life a long time ago".
* The kanji for Nezumi's given name comes from 値 meaning "price", 津 meaning "haven / harbour", and 海 meaning "sea", as in "the cost of a harbour", suggesting risk for safety.
* Nezumi's hair was intended as a reference to a certain cartoon mascot for her rat / rodent motif.
* Due to a translation error, Nezumi's given name was originally "Sozoku". This was changed shortly before the early-access alpha release.

## Notes

* As with many parts of *Heartbreaker*, several "Japanese" names in this project were chosen using not only literal or phonetic puns, but also a variety & mixture of *-on,* *-yomi,* *nanori* etc. readings for kanji that would not be typically used for names in reality, a common technique in Japanese fiction; It is important to remember that *Heartbreaker* takes place in an alternate timeline that - while closely mirroring our own - contains several differences in its fictional history. Good-faith attempts have been made to create semi-believable names (with some artistic licence for fiction & entertainment's sake), but any suggestions for better names and / or kana & kanji should be sent to: AbyzouDev@gmail.com