KENJI

(This photo was drawn in Procreate by me.)

Kenji Niyama is a 13-year-old boy from IWAII (Hawaii). His family moved to VEDANA CITY under orders of evacuation from IWAII three years ago. He is the younger brother of Hajime Niyama.

He has black eyes and black, overgrown hair. Growing up, he received haircuts from his mother, but she hasn’t had the motivation or courage to trim his hair for the past couple of months. His polo is always buttoned all the way up.

Ever since moving away from IWAII, the Niyama parents have remained secluded in their room almost constantly. Kenji believes himself to be the reason, also there is nothing he can use to support that claim. Extremely timid and paranoid, the only person he trusts is Hajime (and sometimes, he can’t even rely on her). In his eyes, it doesn’t seem like anybody else is truly on his side.

Likes:

• "I don't know."

Dislikes:

• Walking by himself
• Speaking to strangers
• Marcell, Stacey, and Aria

Originally, I had Kenji as a rough fighter who used to be Marcell’s childhood friend. A very gradual change has occurred over the last 10 months, and he has become rather shy. I still want him to have a dramatic moment where toughens up and saves the day, but not in the way I originally thought of it.

Although he tags along with Rosy and Hajime in fighting the Evil Kids, he doesn't actually strongly dislike his adversaries. Usually, if someone bullies him, then he feels fear and contempt towards that person, but with the Evil Kids, he can sense something deeper within them, so he can't bear any hatred for them. He swings on his rusty, old swingset in his backyard every evening. Although Hajime teases him for it, oftentimes, she comes out to join him.