OOC | Application
Character Name: Shiki Misaki
Fandom: The World Ends With You
Gender: Female
Age: 15
Sexuality (if applicable): Straight
Original or Anomaly?: Original
Personality
On the surface, Shiki is a cheerful and positive person. She’s generally kind, but typically doesn’t hesitate to tell people what’s on her mind-- she argues with Neku more than once during the game, telling him he should have more empathy and human feeling for others. The angriest she’s gotten is at Neku’s blase attitude towards another Player’s death; she called him cold and unfeeling because of his accusation that everyone is better off on their own, and partnerships only bring people down. She really doesn’t understand how people like him can be so careless regarding others; she herself is the type of person to give their all to help their friends, and even if someone she barely knows seems like they need help she’ll jump right in and offer a hand. She seems a little airheaded and shallow sometimes, as she tends to give the most obvious answers and solutions to things without giving most questions much thought. Deeper down, however, she’s prone to jealousy, especially of her best friend Eri, who she feels inferior to due to her best friend’s talent and winning personality. She cares a lot about how people see her, and carries deep insecurity within herself-- although she’s friendly and tries hard to be outgoing, always keeping on a positive face, she still believes she is useless in her heart of hearts. Much of her jealousy towards her friend Eri is gone by this point; although she’s still prone to envy, she’s realized that she should be trying to be the best she can be herself, rather than wishing she was someone else.
Shiki is a genius with a needle, and although her talent lies in sewing rather than designing, she made much of her wardrobe and loves staying on top of modern fashion trends. She hopes to be a designer when she grows up, even though that’s not where her main talent lies. She’s incredibly fashion-conscious and cares a lot about appearance; she won’t hesitate to demand her friends hand over a piece of clothing so she can fix a loose button or a small tear. In fact, it was her sewing partnership with Eri that allowed her to become cheerful and more outgoing; her abilities are what gives her confidence in herself.
History: Shiki grew up in the trendy and super-modern Shibuya. The most important event of her life was when she met her best friend Eri when she was working on sewing Mr. Mew, her favorite stuffed animal. Eri complimented her on how talented with a needle she was, and the two began to work together-- Eri designed clothes, and Shiki sewed them. Shiki was jealous of her best friend, however; Eri was beautiful and fashionable, with dozens of friends, and with Shiki’s plain looks she felt like she couldn’t compare to a girl who seemed like she could do anything. The day before Shiki was killed, she was having trouble putting together a pattern for a design. Her friend told her that she “wasn’t meant to be a designer”-- she meant that Shiki’s talents lay in sewing, not designing, but Shiki was absolutely crushed, believing that this meant even her best friend thought she was useless.
When Shiki was killed and brought to the UG-- the Game taking place in an alternate Shibuya-- her entrance fee, the thing she valued most, was her own appearance. She instead took on the body of her best friend. Although she was pleased at first-- even, in her own words, acting a little more outgoing and vivacious like her friend-- she didn’t have much time to think deeply about her situation before she was thrown into the Game. She took charge and demanded Neku make a pact with her, but was constantly frustrated by his refusal to work together; partnerships are important to her, and she tried her best to convince him that together they were stronger than they were alone. A reluctant Neku eventually started buying into her beliefs, and she continued on as her cheerful self until they ran into the Game Master. He spouted cryptic words about the darkness in her soul, and his accusations of jealousy and insecurity stung her. She realized that even being like Eri-- acting bubbly and happy like her, and trying to imitate her friend’s outgoing nature-- was just making her feel worse than she had before, because now she was lying to everyone around her. She became downcast and withdrawn for the next day, her thoughts in a downward spiral about her own uselessness.
Near the end of the week, Neku and Shiki saw an unusual sight-- a girl who looked exactly like Shiki. Shiki fled, unwilling to explain herself to Neku, but the boy caught up to her and made her reveal her entrance fee and tell him about her deep insecurities. She told him that she’d realized that her own appearance really was the most important thing to her; although she was jealous of Eri she had never wanted to be Eri, and she hated the jealous part of herself more than anything else. They found Eri again and, at Neku’s insistence, eavesdropped on a conversation with a classmate-- Eri was planning on giving up designing, because she was nothing without Shiki’s sewing talent. Upon seeing her friend and overhearing Eri’s conversation about her, she realized that it wasn’t Eri’s own talent that made her strong, but the partnership she had with Shiki-- her best friend valued her just as much as she valued her best friend. That helped her work to overcome her insecurity, and she was able to become her cheerful self again in time to win the first week’s Game. Upon meeting the Game Master again, he was shocked to find the jealousy in her heart gone; she had come to terms with her feelings about Eri.
After they won that week’s game, it was revealed that only one Player would be brought back to life; Shiki was selected as the winner, and although she protested, saying Neku was much better at fighting than she was, Neku believed that it was her own personal growth that allowed her to be the winner. She promised to wait for him every day at the Statue of Hachiko until he was able to escape the game himself; however, instead of being brought back to life, she was taken as Neku’s entry fee for the next week of the Game.
Strengths: In the Game Shiki uses a telekenetic Psych pin to control her stuffed cat, Mr. Mew, and fight enemies called noise. Those skills are useless without a partner and with no noise to fight, though, and outside of the Game she has no fighting skills to speak of. She’s an extremely talented seamstress who sews many of her own clothes. She has a positive attitude and an outgoing nature, and is always willing to help others and work together with them.
Weaknesses: Deep down Shiki is a very insecure person; although her main idol is her best friend, she’s likely to be intimidated and jealous of anyone who effortly accomplishes what she only wishes she could.
First Person Sample: H-hey! This isn’t right! I thought I was out of the Game! You told me I won, didn’t you? I should be back at home! I have to--
Wait, this... this definitely isn’t Shibuya. Where... stars? [ And she turns around to face the window, gaping ] ...Where am I?
And what am I wearing? Ugh! This thing is like a prison jumpsuit! I’d better still have my sewing kit on me, if there’s anyone else here there’s no way I’m letting them see me in this.
Third Person Sample:
Everyone dressed so strangely here. Sure, there were a few people wearing clothes that looked halfway normal-- if not that trendy-- but most everyone was in allover leather coats, or weird uniforms, or armor, of all things! This wasn’t some kind of medieval battlefield, so what’s up with that, anyway?
But everyone, no matter how freaky their clothes were, seemed like they were... meant for them somehow. People wore their costumes like they were the trendiest just-off-the-runway styles in Shibuya. No one seemed to care that they looked different from anyone else. They almost seemed proud of it, so secure in what they were doing that they didn’t care what other people thought.
That’s what it looked like to Shiki, anyway, pausing at the doorway to the dining area, half-behind the doorframe. Eri would already be sitting and laughing with a brand-new group of friends by now, she knew that. For one small blink of a moment she thought she saw her, waving in welcome, and she was about to lift her arm in reply-- but no, it was some other redhead, waving to someone else, and Shiki was alone again. In the back of her mind there was a little voice that wanted to turn around and run all the way back to her cabin, but...
No. I can’t. I’m me, I’m not anyone else, and I owe it to myself not to let any of this get to me! I can’t let myself down, and I definitely can’t let Eri down! And she squared her shoulders, adjusted her shirt, arranged her face into a friendly, cheerful smile, and set off to make some new friends.