Aoi Shinagawa

Aoi Shinagawa (品川葵, Shinagawa Aoi) is a student at Karasumori Middle School who attended the same elementary school as Yoshimori Sumimura and Yurina Kanda.

Appearance
Aoi has shoulder-length black hair that has a a light blue headband with bangs covering her forehead and big black eyes.

She's generally seen wearing the Karasumori Middle School uniform.

Personality
Aoi has a very kind and outgoing personality, which Yurina envies. She also has a fairly active imagination, and firmly believes that Gen is actually a noble ninja descendant, which she always uses to explain his solitary attitude. She has been shown to be a very talented artist, as seen in flashbacks of her attending art contests as a little girl and winning large trophies as a result, and has been shown to possess a sketchbook in which she was fully capable of drawing perfect sketches of Gen in, simply from admiring him in class.

Plot
Aoi and Yurina Kanda walk home from cram school one night where Yurina comments that she envies Aoi's decisiveness and Yurina is always hesitating to make choices. Suddenly, they see a mysterious figure leaping from rooftop to rooftop. As the person passes in front of the moon, Aoi recognizes him as her classmate Gen Shishio. Gen spots them and quickly moves on, but Aoi seems fascinated with him.

The next morning on her way to school, Aoi spots Gen in an alley, giving part of his sandwich to an abandoned puppy. At school, Aoi tries to convince Yurina how great a guy Gen is, but having been spooked by him in the past, Yurina is convinced he's dangerous, and tries to warn Aoi away from Gen, but fails. Ayano and Kyoko join the conversation, and to Yurina's horror, they're just as interested in Aoi's pursuit of Gen. Aoi firmly believes that Gen is a descendant of ninjas past, on a quest to protect the city.

Yurina visits Aoi at home, finding that Aoi decided to keep the puppy that Gen fed. Aoi is only further convinced of Gen's good heart from what she saw, and even starts to convince Yurina that he's a good guy.

At school the next day, Aoi presents Gen with her sketchbook that is full of drawings of him and Gen walks off without a word. Instead of being upset, Aoi simply theorizes that a ninja doesn't have time for love and she decides to name her new puppy after Gen.

Yurina Kanda
Aoi has known Yurina (and to a far lesser extent Yoshimori Sumimura) since elementary school, and the two are very good friends. After learning of Aoi's crush on Gen Shishio, Yurina does everything she can to keep them apart, knowing Gen is very dangerous, and fearing for her friend's safety. In the end, however, her efforts are unneeded: Gen has no interest in dating at all.

Gen Shishio
Aoi develops a crush on Gen after he transfers into her class and her friends try to help her get his attention. Aoi finally presents Gen with a book full of sketches of him that she drew. Gen rejects her, although he later admits to Yoshimori Sumimura that it had nothing to do with Aoi personally and he was more because normal people like her would eventually see him as a monster. Aoi seems to take the rejection in stride, deciding that Gen, who she firmly believes is a noble ninja descendant, is better off alone.

Etymology

 * The name Aoi means "hollyhock, althea" (葵).
 * Aoi's surname Shinagawa means "goods, refinement, dignity, article, counter for meal courses" (品) (shina) and "river, stream" (川) (kawa/gawa).

Trivia

 * During the incident involving Saki's Demon Illusion Butterflies endangering the school, a student named Shinagawa collapses, although this could either be referring to a girl who faints onto her desk or a boy who falls out of his desk to the floor.