Characters/Niki Nakayama
Personal Information | |
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Surname Name | Nakayama Niki |
Birthday (Age) | March 3Rd (29) |
Type of Character | Side |
Additional Information | |
Hair Color | Pink |
Eye Color | Pinkish |
Height | 5′ 7′′ (170cm) |
Job(s) | Idol |
Like(s) |
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Dislike(s) | |
Family |
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Affiliation |
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First Appearance |
Niki Nakayama is part of the Side Cast of in Lessons In Love. Niki is a famous idol and pop singer. She’s also Noriko’s older sister and Sensei’s ex-girlfriend.
Background
Niki is the first daughter of unnamed parents and the older sister of Noriko. In her youth, Niki lived next to Sensei’s house, which was a mayor reason why they spend a lot of time together in their early years. Since they were always together and very close with each other, they became a couple later on.
A few years later, Sensei suddenly disappeared and Niki fell into a deep depression. She basically did nothing, suffered from hallucinations and thoughts of suicide, both gained and lost a good amount of weight and even wrote Sensei letters on a regular basis, knowing that she can’t send them to him. At some point, she got over her depression and decided to become an idol in an attempt to make him jealous and force him out of hiding, while in reality she hoped that becoming an idol would give her the possibility to get his attention and, ultimately, be reunited with him.
While she became well-known and successful in Kumon-mi, she failed in her end goal due to Sensei’s disinterest in pop music and his mind and personality being constantly wiped out and replaced, leaving him with no memories to identify her despite her popularity. She was only able to see him again when Noriko brought Sensei to her during an advertisement shoot.
Characteristics
Due to her idol position, Niki presents herself as approachable, kind and sweet. Behind the scenes, though, she’s short-tempered and uses vulgar language, something that comes up often when she talks about or with Sensei as his unexplained disappearance still leaves her with bitter feelings towards him. Her success also makes her a bit arrogant.
While she’s harsh in her interactions with Sensei and Noriko, Niki shows that she can be caring towards people close to her and supportive of girls with potential. She cares deeply about Ami’s well-being, is shown to support Otoha’s development as a musician to the point where she offered to do her vocal lessons without any compensation on Otoha’s part and even considered to make Kaori one of her students, thinking she has huge potential.
Relationships
Sensei
Sensei and Niki were a couple before his sudden disappearance. After their first meeting in What Was, she shows resentment towards him for leaving her and doesn’t believe him having memory problems. Despite this, she still spends time with him, but treats him harshly during most of their interactions.
Despite her behavior towards him, she still loves him and wants him back in her life. While she tries to hide her true feelings behind harsh words, it still manages to break through over time. She stayed in his hotel room during the second beach trip, had a passionate night like in the old days with him in her hotel room and was noticeably happier after this. During the second Christmas party, she confessed her feelings to him and accepted that she has to wait before she can have his response.
Noriko
Noriko is Niki’s little sister and personal assistant. Despite their jealous attitude towards each other, which is mostly caused by each of them being in love with Sensei, both share a close bond and even follow their Nakayama Sisters’ Rules when the other enforces them.
Ami
Ami cares deeply for Ami after what she went through, even though they only met once when Ami was very young. Niki still likes her a lot and wants to have a close bond with her. She even considers her to be an unofficial sister of her and Noriko so she has more people she can lean on, which she accepts on the condition that they won’t separate her and Sensei if Niki gets close with him.
Otoha
Niki is Otoha’s voice coach. Both have a very good student-teacher-relationship as Otoha respects and appreciates her while Niki is willing to give her all the support she can offer.
Memorable Quotes
- “But now I’m famous and cute and you’re a loser so HA.”
- “You ripped my heart and my mind to shreds and becoming … this? This is just the glue I used to put it all back together.”
- "It doesn’t look the same. It doesn’t feel the same. Literally nothing about it is the same and it’s because I know now that I can never be me without you."
Trivia
- Niki and Sensei never went all the way in their relationship, something that was confirmed in Thousands, If Not Millions.
- The same event also confirms that Niki is bisexual, apparently having done something with another girl which caused a fight during their relationship,