- This is the version of Keiko Aizawa from Angel Knight. You may also be looking for the version from The Next Knight in the Area.
Keiko Aizawa is the eldest daughter, and child, of Kakeru and Nana.
Appearance
Physical
Keiko looks like a female version of Kakeru. While well-endowed, she has her mother's slender lithe body and her father's facial features. Her hair, which is the same color as her father's, is waist-length. She also has brown eyes like both her parents.
On her chest between her breasts, she has a large pale scar, a relic from the incident that destroyed her original heart and the heart transplant surgery that saved her life.
On her back is a pattern of mole-like birthmarks arranged almost exactly like the constellations Leo and Leo Minor. Yuki and Chiho have known about them since forever, but they briefly teased her about them when the trio learned that Saito was a Leo, jokingly saying that they represented Saito and their future child.
Clothing
Casual
Keiko's usual warm-weather outfits usually consist of either a shoulderless crop top, a blouse, a halterneck or a short tube top (above her midriff) along with jeans or a skirt (lengths vary). Keiko likes wearing low-rise wear, but does wear normal height pants and skirts. She also wears some dresses casually: including a loose strapless ankle-length tube dress, and a long-sleeve sweatshirt hoodie dress. And also, on special occasions (usually dates or the like), she also wears sundresses.
Moderate weather or winter clothes often consist of a hoodie or turtleneck sweater, or a cardigan over a wool t-shirt. She wears jeans mostly during this part of the year. Another thing she wears is a long-sleeve knee-length sweater dress with or without stockings.
Keiko hates wearing bras, so she usually goes without one or buys shirts that have them built in. Despite her hatred of them, she does wear them with her school uniform, if only to protect her nipples from irritation or to keep her breasts concealed if her shirt gets wet.
Uniform
Keiko's Enoshima High School uniform has two variations for both parts of the year.
Her spring-fall-winter uniform is a white long-sleeve sailor suit shirt with a dark-turquoise neckerchief and a black skirt. The sailor collar and the cuffs of the shirt have two thin blue stripes.
Her summer uniform is very different. It consists of a white short-sleeve sailor suit blouse with a red neckerchief and a blue skirt. The sailor collar is blue with thin white stripes near the edges.
Kits
High School
Keiko's high school soccer kit consists of the traditional Enoshima design:
The summer kit is a white shirt (which is either long or short-sleeved, depending on the weather or preference) with a blue stripe running down vertically from the left shoulder, with ENOSHIMA in white ISO Latin letters. Her number is over the right breast and on her back in black. The cuffs and collar have three stripes, red, white, and blue, in that order. Her pants are blue with a white stripe down the sides. Her socks, which she wears shin guards under, are also blue, with a pair of white stripes near the top.
The winter kit is the same, but the material of the kit is instead made of warmer season-appropriate material.
The away colors (when applicable) are switched. The shirt is instead blue, the stripe is white, the ENOSHIMA in the stripe is black, and the numbers are white. The pants colors are again switched from the summer version.
Nadeshiko Japan/U-16/17
Nightwear
Keiko's usual bed clothes is a button-up pajama top and a drawstring pajama bottom. Other times she wears a t-shirt with pajama shorts. Sometimes she wears an oversized shirt and nothing else.
She also sometimes wears a plain blue yukata with a darker blue hanhaba obi.
Since learning about and experiencing the naturist lifestyle of Saito's family for herself, Keiko has taken to sleeping nude occasionally.
Traditional Clothes
When Keiko got into high school, she bought a new yukata and kinchaku bag, both of which she saved up her allowance for months to afford.
The kimono, which goes down to just above her ankles, is blue with goldfish and yellow chrysanthemums, and the hem at the base has images of tidal waves in a complete circle around the base. The obi, a Nagoya obi, is solid orange with no other defining features.
The kinchaku is solid red and has no other defining features.
When she visits Myōhōkekyōzan Ankokuron-ji (妙法華経山安国論寺), she changes into a traditional Nichiren Buddhist novice attire and wears her hair up to keep it out of the way.
Footwear
When she decides not to wear her soccer shoes she will usually use a pair of open-toe wedges or sneakers. Not long after she started high school, she started wearing high heel sandals (mostly as a way to bond with Mai after they repaired their relationship), though she had considerable trouble walking in them until she got used to them.
During the cold seasons, outside of practice she'll switch to a pair of knee-high go-go boots. When there's snow on the ground, she wears snow boots.
Around the house, she normally goes barefoot.
Swimwear
When Keiko plays beach soccer or goes to a pool (even though she can't swim), she wears one of a few swimsuits. One is a light-orange bikini with a large tiger-lily (Keiko's favorite flower) on the left breast. Another is a purple bikini with green polka dots.
Personality
Keiko loves soccer as much as her parents do, but was not totally confident with her abilities early on. During middle school, because of the pressure to live up to her parents' legacies and the decline of her abilities, her confidence faded completely and she decided to quit soccer, finding the sport no fun anymore.
After the mother-to-daughter heart transplant after Nana died, she fell into a state of depression that left her unable to care much about anything while living her life aimlessly. She began to treat people with indifference and held no regard to their feelings, and she even entered into an unhealthy sexual relationship with her two best friends, and eventually Saito Shirayuki, as a way to cope. She was also irritable and prone to snapping at people for almost no reason, even her own friends and family. Eventually, with the love and care of everyone around her, and a further push via a posthumous letter from Nana, she came out of her depression and regained her confidence and hope to the point that she no longer worried about her performance.
She is usually calm and abrasive, but is not very good at hiding how she truly feels, making her a very terrible liar. She can also be extremely stubborn, and rarely changes her mind once it's made up.
When it comes to soccer, though Keiko loves the sport, she can be very serious and competitive about it, and can sometimes forget about having fun.
Keiko loves her siblings, and is really the "big sister type". As the eldest of the family, she's responsible and caring, not to mention protective. She always sticks up for them, and helps them when they need it. She's also willing to go to great lengths to protect them, even if it means jeopardizing her career as a soccer player.
Despite her career as a soccer player, Keiko hates being the center of attention.
While most girls would be embarrassed of a scar on their chest and try to hide it at any cost (which she did do during her depression), she has no qualms about showing it, even when she wears her bikini. Instead she wears it with pride. She views it as a reminder of the lowest point in her life, and as a deterrent against the unwanted attention of unwanted males who see her in her swimsuit. The only exception to this was Saito, to whom she was genuinely embarrassed to let see the scar at first.
While she is generally upbeat and seemingly fearless, Keiko does lose her courage from time to time.
Her natural fears are mainly about the public setting. She gets extremely nervous whenever she's about to take part in big competitions, to the point she feels like throwing up, and often hides herself in a bathroom to try and get it out of her system.
Aside from natural fears, Keiko also has ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) and arachnophobia (fear of spiders). She rarely comes into contact with snakes unless she's at a zoo, but her fear is so paramount that she can get freaked out by a rubber snake until someone points out that it isn't real, but even then she is generally too scared to touch it. On the rare occasion that she comes across a live snake outside a zoo, she's generally too scared to move. Her arachnophobia is less severe. When confronted with spiders, she generally has enough self-control that she can remove herself from their vicinity without freaking out.
As a result of the trauma from the incident that killed Nana, as well as getting shot herself, Keiko suffers from three additional phobias:
- Ballistophobia: fear of getting shot.
- Hoplophobia: fear of guns.
- Phonophobia: fear of loud noise; specifically, instantaneous gunshot-like noises, in Keiko's case.
Her new phobias don't normally effect her everyday life, but they can sometimes manifest in unexpected and/or awkward moments. I.e. even a pop of a balloon or the sound of something heavy dropped can set off her phonophobia. A toy gun, an arcade gun, a festival shooting gallery rifle or even a simple finger gun can set off her other two phobias as well. She generally has enough self-control that she can recover herself before anyone notices what's wrong; yet, in the event that she can't regain herself and she breaks down completely, her friends or siblings are normally nearby to calm her down.
When she first found out that Saito was from a family of nudists, Keiko felt a bit awkward and embarrassed, and even a little guilty that they were shelving their lifestyle for her convenience whenever she came over; i.e they would wear loose clothes (dresses in the women's case) in her presence. However, as Keiko got to know his family, she found herself curious about nudism and started taking her clothes off little by little until she could get fully naked with the Shirayukis. Keiko has grown comfortable enough about nudism that she's become something of a nudist in her own right. She still wears clothes at home like normal, but she's taken to occasionally sleeping nude. She's also gotten into the habit of undressing and going nude as soon as she walks into the Shirayuki home, where she's provided a basket to put her clothes in until she leaves. She even got comfortable enough to spend time in the backyard with them (which is closed off from the outside world with high walls, ensuring privacy) to enjoy a period of nature therapy (shinren-yoku (森林浴) as the Japanese call it).
Since converting to Nichiren Buddhism - at least partially, since she retains her Shinto beliefs - Keiko has found meditation soothing. Whenever she needs to calm down, she regularly visits Myōhōkekyōzan Ankokuron-ji to meditate. She also takes part in any religious events.
Abilities
Keiko is hardly a prodigy, and there are many players her age that are much better than her, but she is widely acknowledged as one of the best female players in Kantō, ranking in the top 50.
However, this wasn't always so. Up until the end of elementary school she was acknowledged as the best junior player in Kanagawa. When she entered middle school, while everybody knew she had natural talent, her performance on the field was mediocre at best and she was unable to really connect with anybody. The reason for this was that, with no real rivals her age, along with the sudden awareness of the pressure to live up to her parents' legacies, her abilities quickly deteriorated to the point she had fallen behind everyone else and quit soccer altogether for a short while. After the incident that killed Nana, and the mother-to-daughter heart transplant that saved Keiko's life, Keiko – after a prolonged period at a low point and in a dark place – eventually received a fresh outlook on life and soccer, and her abilities began to improve to the point they are now.
As a teammate, she is excellent at following orders and pulls off plays instructed by the play-maker and the coach to a tee; however, she's not above disobeying her superiors if she instinctively feels the play won't go through or she has a better one in mind.
As a striker, her natural instinct – the best weapon any forward needs to have – allows her to predict where the ball is going to be. Having inherited said natural instinct from her parents, she doesn't let it go to waste. Also, she is capable of receiving difficult passes from her teammates from great distances. Having been taught how to play soccer since she was little – along with her own natural talent – she is capable of scoring goals with almost apparent ease, but she's not immune to being shut-down by tougher opponents or being tricked by expert feinters. With that in mind, she turns to her teammates in the event that she's unable to advance forward.
She is also, thanks to her light build, very fast, and can blow right past an opponent if given a chance. She is also very agile, and with this can also pull off Nana's "Witch Turn," flawlessly. However, despite years of practice and instruction, she struggles to pull off Kakeru's "Phi Trick," and has yet to successfully pull it off even once. Every attempt she's made has resulted in either the ball getting stolen or rolling off-course.
Her footwork is almost dancer-like, yet she struggles with being able to feint with her feet; they're usually clumsy and are often easily read by her opponent. Feints aside, her dribbling is so excellent that most of the time it almost seems like the ball is glued to her feet. She also has a very strong left kick, another trait she inherited from her father. Additionally, while Kakeru struggled to stop looking at the ball while dribbling until high school, Keiko is already capable of dribbling without looking at the ball, having perfected that in elementary school.
Keiko is also capable of exceptionally long feeds, and is able to send the ball from one side of the field to the other when necessary. Most of the time her feeds are fairly accurate as well. This is especially useful when, after she runs back to defend her team's goal, she can send the ball to a fellow offensive player waiting on the other end of the field. The one drawback to this is that, while her long feeds are accurate, they're moderately slow, which often leads to opposing players predicting where her feeds are going to go. She can make her long feeds go faster but doing so costs her much accuracy, often resulting in the ball getting stolen before a teammate can connect with it.
Her short-distance shots are different. While Keiko's normal long feeds are slow, she can shoot the ball into the goal at very high speeds. While she struggles with feinting, her direct shots are so fast that most keepers have a hard time reacting. She is good with long-shots too, and can accurately shoot the ball in the goal from outside the penalty area if the way is clear (about halfway between center-field and the penalty area). However, shots from longer distances are a weakness for her.
In addition to attacking, Keiko is quite capable in defense. Her sprinter-like speed – though well below Olympic-level – allows her to traverse from one end of the field to the other in about in short time-spans – depending on the length of the pitch and where she was on it to begin with – allowing her to steal the ball back or clear it away from the goal. She also uses those moments to create chances at goals by disrupting the opponent's formation. She typically follows the principle of creating passways if she can't find an existing one.
Keiko also has excellent stamina, a bit more compared to the average female athlete her age, and she somehow manages to retain most of it when she sprints back and forth across the pitch (Ayaka Iwaki attributed this to being in part due to the heart transplant from Nana, alongside her own natural stamina). This allows her to play whole games when necessary. But, like any female athlete her age, she tends to wear herself out towards the end.
Keiko's play-style incorporates both standard techniques and ginga; her parents taught most of what she knows while Mai taught her ginga.
Athletically, Keiko's one true weakness is a lack of upper-body strength. As a soccer player, an athlete that normally plays with her feet, she gives little focus to her upper body, resulting in severely under-strengthened arms. Anything more than roughly 35lb (about 16kg) is beyond her ability to lift. This lack of strength typically doesn't hinder her ability to serve throw-ins when they happen – though her effective range is severely limited – but it does hinder her ability to up against physically stronger opponents. This lack of strength also hinders her ability to play with her brothers when she does their sports with them, as they play sports that use their hands more than their feet.
Even though she lack's upper-body strength, Keiko is quite dexterous with her hands and can use chopsticks without issues.
More athletic than studious, Keiko is an average student and gets mostly just-barely average grades – which is saying something since her younger siblings get far better grades than her. She struggles in English and just barely manages passing grades, usually with help. Regardless, she is desperately trying to improve her English since the professional team she hopes to join is an American one. She is even worse in mathematics and science, and most of the time she just barely avoids failing said subjects. Excusing basic math and science, the middle school and high school-levels are far beyond her abilities and she simply isn't capable of passing without assistance.
Embarrassingly for her, she failed the Enoshima High entrance exams despite her best efforts. The only reason she was able to enter Enoshima High was due to being granted enrollment by the principal after the results were announced. Some of her classmates, particularity Asuna Kirigaya, accused her of getting special treatment from the moment the school year began; accusations Keiko could not, in good conscience, deny.
Since entering high school, the only reason she's been able to avoid having to take make-up exams, and thus being forced to skip soccer practice at crucial times, is because of tutoring, usually by friends. That said, she has never stooped to cheating, though she takes great pains to resist temptation.
As for other things she can't do: she's a bad cook and can't make anything without burning it or messing up the recipe. Nana tried to teach her to cook for years, but Keiko was too embarrassed to let her. Failing to learn before Nana died is another one of her deepest regrets.
Keiko is also a bad singer. She's completely tone deaf and can't sing to save her life. Despite this she still goes to karaoke with her friends and teammates, though she refuses to sing – having been embarrassed more than enough.
Keiko can't swim either, and sinks like a rock no matter what she tries; Ryo and their parents have tried to teach her for years, without success. Regardless, she's not afraid of water, and her inability to swim doesn't stop her from getting in a pool, wading into shallow waters, or going to a water park.
Personal Belongings
| Technology | |
|---|---|
| Smartphone | Keiko owns a blue Zamzung Nebula S20+ smartphone, one of the latest models. She uses the pattern type lock for security. Attached to it is a soccer ball phone strap. |
| Laptop | Keiko owns a Zamzung laptop. |
| Tablet | Keiko has access to a Zamzung Nebula Tab S15e Tablet that she shares with the rest of the family. |
| Smartwatch | Keiko wears a Zamzung Nebula Action smartwatch, which she uses in companion with her phone. As an athlete, her main use of it, aside for timekeeping and the stopwatch function, is measuring her heart-rate and oxygen levels, which is crucial given the unpredictability of the post-surgical affects of her heart transplant. She also uses it in place of her phone when it runs out of power. |
| Smart ring | Keiko wears a smart ring, which performs much the same functions as her smartwatch. |
| Sports Equipment | |
| Keiko owns several pieces of sports equipment. She got her things from SAMFC, her favorite brand. | |
| Soccer ball | Keiko owns a soccer ball that she uses for practice and recreation. It's design is the typical truncated icosahedron pattern, but the pentagons are pink and the hexagons are dark blue. |
| Soccer cleats | She wears red and blue soccer shoes everyday. Like her father, she always wears them so that they're broken in, and only changes the studs for matches. |
| Toys | |
| Marinosuke | Keiko owns a plush toy of Marinosuke, the nephew of Marinos-kun, together the mascots of Yokohama F. Marinos. |
| Other | |
| Autographed soccer ball | One of Keiko's most prized possessions is a soccer ball autographed by Marta when she commentated for one of Kakeru's matches, which Keiko attended. |
| Bicycle | Keiko owns a roadster bicycle that she uses to get around. |
| Soccer Ball Coin Purse | Rather than a wallet, Keiko owns a coin purse resembling a soccer ball. It's roughly the size of a her fist and also has an internal pocket for banknotes. |
| Taisho Kanzashi | Keiko owns an antique kanzashi (簪/Japanese hair ornaments) set dating back to the Taisho era. It consists of a pair of kogai (笄/hair sticks) along with a kushi (櫛/hair comb). The set came from Nana's side of the family and she intended to pass it on to Keiko when she turned sixteen, but she died before that.
When Nana learned of her death sentence in the form of her cancer diagnosis, she made sure she could still give it to Keiko posthumously by leaving it with Teppei Iwaki, whom passed on to Keiko on her sixteenth birthday as Nana instructed. |
Relationships
| Name | Relation | Born |
|---|---|---|
Family | ||
| Kakeru Aizawa 駆 逢沢 |
Father | |
| Kakeru is Keiko's father, and she has a close relation to him. Keiko calls him Tō-chan.
Kakeru, along with Nana, taught Keiko and her siblings to play soccer when they were just children. A year after Nana died, Keiko's relationship with Kakeru was strained for a while for big reason: Keiko couldn't except early on that Kakeru was remarrying to Mai, but finally made peace with it after a heart-to-heart with Mai. Since then, Keiko and Kakeru's relationship has returned relatively to normal. | ||
| Nana Aizawa (née Mishima) 奈々 逢沢 (旧姓 美島) |
Mother | |
| Nana is Keiko's late-mother. They had a close, albeit strained, relationship before she died. Keiko called her Kā-chan.
They were both caught up in a diner robbery that resulting in Nana's death (whom was already dying from an aggressive form of liver cancer) and Keiko's heart was damaged beyond medical repair. Right after she died, Nana, a registered organ donor, donated her heart to Keiko. Before the incident, Keiko and Nana were fighting with each other because of Keiko's decision to quit soccer due to her abysmal performance in recent times. Nana's attempts to reason and instill some wisdom in her daughter were only met with insults and bad language from Keiko, whom was already frustrated beyond measure. Of the four Aizawa siblings, Keiko took Nana's death the hardest, in part because she could never apologize for the horrible things she said while they were fighting. Since Nana's death, Keiko at times could swear she could hear her mother's voice inside her and helping her on the field. | ||
| Mai Aizawa (née Murasaki) 舞衣 逢沢 (旧姓 群咲) |
Stepmother | |
| Mai is Keiko's stepmother. They had a decent aunt-niece relationship as Keiko grew up, but that relationship soured for awhile when Mai married Kakeru some time after Nana died. After more than a year of acting cold to Mai, following a heart-to-heart between Keiko, Mai, and her siblings, Keiko finally warmed up to her again, but to this day refuses to call her "mom". | ||
| Hiroki Aizawa 博希 逢沢 |
Younger brother | May 14, 2021 |
| Hiroki is Keiko's eldest younger brother, born two years after she was, and is Ryo's twin. He plays basketball. Hiroki often makes Keiko practice with him when she doesn't have team practice herself. She's doesn't lose against him footwork-wise, but Keiko's arms are so bad she can't do anything against him when it comes to shooting. Conversely, Keiko often makes Hiroki practice with her when he doesn't have team practice himself. Hiroki calls her Aneki. | ||
| Ryo Aizawa 龍 逢沢 |
Younger sister | May 14, 2021 |
| Ryo is Keiko's younger sister, born two years after she was, and is Hiroki's twin. She is a swimmer. Keiko often makes Ryo practice with her when she doesn't have team practice herself. Ryo calls her Kei-nee. | ||
| Koichi Aizawa 孝市 逢沢 |
Younger brother | July 20, 2023 |
| Koichi is Keiko's youngest brother and sibling via their mother, born four years after she was. He plays baseball. Koichi often makes Keiko practice with him when she doesn't have team practice herself, but Keiko's arms are so bad she can't do anything against him, whether it be pitching, batting, or fielding (much to her embarrassment). Conversely, Keiko often makes Koichi practice with her when he doesn't have team practice himself. Koichi calls her Keiko-nee. | ||
| Yusha Aizawa 勇者 逢沢 |
Younger half-brother | |
| Keiko's younger half-brother via Mai. He was born right around the time Keiko came home from the U-16 Women's Championship. | ||
| Mito Yoshikawa (née Aizawa) 美都 芳川 (旧姓 逢沢) |
Aunt | |
| Kakeru's younger sister, wife of Kiyoji, Keiko and her siblings' aunt and mother of her cousins. She regularly visits them. | ||
| Kiyoji Yoshikawa 喜代治 芳川 |
Uncle-in-law | June 20, 2021 |
| Husband of Mito, Keiko's uncle by marriage, and father of her cousins. He's a Junsa-buchō (Police Sergent) with the Kamakura PD. | ||
| Sosuke Yoshikawa 壮介 芳川 |
Cousin | June 20, 2021 |
| Only son of Mito and Kiyoji, and Keiko's oldest cousin. | ||
| Shiori Yoshikawa 栞 芳川 |
Cousin | September 2, 2022 |
| Second child and first daughter of Mito and Kiyoji, and Keiko's second oldest cousin. | ||
| Rui Yoshikawa 類 芳川 |
Cousin | May 11, 2025 |
| Youngest child and daughter of Mito and Kiyoji and Keiko's youngest cousin | ||
Friends & Peers | ||
| Yuki Nonomiya 雪 野々宮 |
Best Friend | December 15, 2018 |
| Keiko's best friend since she was born. Half Egyptian-half Japanese, born to an Egyptian father and a Japanese mother, but her mother has since passed. Yuki is always looking out for Keiko and provides her a source of comfort and a shoulder to cry on when she needs it. Though technically the same age, Yuki is a few months older than Keiko, so while Keiko is the eldest of her own siblings, she views and regards Yuki as the big sister she never had.
Yuki was actually Keiko's first kiss, the two having done so out of curiosity when they were in elementary school. Yuki knows a lot of things about Keiko that most people can't even guess, and is happy to keep Keiko's secrets and her silence. Yuki does have a bit of a big mouth, but will never betray Keiko's trust or confidence. When Nana died, Keiko entered into a non-romantic sexual relationship with Yuki as a way to cope with the pain of loss. Other than Chiho, Yuki is the only one who can calm Keiko when she having a panic attack induced by one of her three phobias of the memory of the incident. | ||
| Saito Shirayuki 斎藤 白雪 |
Boyfriend | August 11, 2018 |
| Keiko's boyfriend, and a 4th generation nudist. The two have known each other since their first year in middle school. Keiko loves Saito with all her heart, but was too stubborn to admit it for a long time. Before the officially got together, Keiko (yet to have actually fallen in love with him) engaged in a non-romantic sexual relationship with Saito (along with Yuki) to cope with Nana's passing.
After recovering from her depression, Keiko "broke up" with Saito, feeling guilty for how she used him. Upon entering high school Keiko became very shy and flustered around Saito, unable to look him in the face without stuttering or blushing profusely. Keiko soon realized (with Yuki and Chiho's help) that she had fallen in love with Saito, but refused to act on her feelings, feeling she didn't deserve Saito for what she did. Keiko eventually managed to actually talk to Saito again, but still refused to act on her feelings for a long time. Eventually, unable to bear to see Saito starting to drift into the arms of another girl, Keiko finally acted on her feelings, which Saito reciprocated, and they became a couple. Though head over heels in love, Keiko felt a bit awkward around Saito when she found out that he came from a nudist family, but eventually relaxed and got curious enough to try and experience his family's lifestyle for herself whenever she came over. It eventually evolved to a point that they started having "nude dates," just spending the afternoon in his room naked together, including watching movies, playing games, eating meals (among those a highly memorable shared pizza), and sometimes making out, without devolving into sex. Keiko has even posed for portraits on a number of occasions. She even let Saito take her to a naturist resort on one occasion. Saito is the middle of three children with two sisters; his older sister is named Sanae, who's blind and paraplegic, and his younger one is named Michiru. Both are also 4th generation nudists. | ||
| Chiho Mao 千歩 真奥 |
Best Friend | June 15, 2019 |
| A redheaded girl who's another childhood best friend of Keiko's since kindergarten as well as her one-time foster sister. She is a basketball player. Keiko affectionately calls her "Chi-chi".
Keiko's relationship with Chiho became a bit strained when she found out that Chiho was dating Jade Rodríguez, one of Keiko's teammates, without telling her. Out of apparent concern for Chiho, Keiko tried to break them up, but ceased and made up with Chiho when she realized she was just jealous, yet still genuinely concerned for Chiho. | ||
| Mayumi Takajo 真優美 鷹匠 |
Best Friend | |
| Daughter of Akira Takajo. Her parents divorced when she was ten and had been in custody of her father ever since. During middle school, she was Keiko's teammate, rival and partner, as well as one of her best friends (though, unlike Yuki and Chiho, who've known Keiko since kindergarten, Keiko and Mayumi met for the first time midway through elementary school), before they went to separate high schools.
She didn't get dragged into Keiko's sexual depression after Nana died. The reason being in part that she had been living in America with her father while he was on loan to the NY Red Bulls during the whole ordeal, and didn't come back to Japan until midway through their final year of middle school. She felt guilty for not being there to help Yuki and Chiho with Keiko, but they put it behind them. Even though they went to different high schools, Mayumi still hangs out with Keiko and co. as often as their schedules permit. They later became teammates again after being recruited for the youth team to play in the 2035 AFC U-16 WC and the U-17 Women's World Cup, and again later for the 2036 Summer Olympics. In all three competitions, they revived their signature "Kei-Mayu Combo". Keiko calls her "Mayu-chi" and Mayumi calls Keiko "Keikichi". | ||
| Suzuka Akitsuki 寿々歌 秋築 |
Senpai | |
| A third year, and Keiko's captain, on the Enoshima Girls Soccer Team. She is a Forward like Keiko. She often gives Keiko relationship advice in regards to Saito. | ||
| Asuna Kirigaya 明日奈 桐ヶ谷 |
Best Friend, Strike Partner, One-time rival | |
| A conglomerate heiress in the same year as Keiko, and Keiko's main strike partner.
Keiko and Asuna initially got off on the wrong foot on the very first day of high school, igniting a heated rivalry bordering on open hostility; but Sakurako saw potential in them as strikers and forced them to spend more time together by pairing them up. After scoring several goals together (in training and matches), along with some personal revelations while out on "dates", their rivalry turned into a healthy partnership built on respect and real friendship; "something real," as Sakurako put it. Through Keiko, Asuna also befriended Yuki, Chiho and Mayumi, thus turning their quartet into a quintet. Asuna is heiress to the Kirigaya Conglomerate. The Kirigaya Conglomerate [桐ヶ谷会社 Kirigaya Kaisha (lit. Kirigaya Company)] is a multinational (mostly pan-Pacific) corporation specializing in media and electronics, as well as, most prominently, game-making. The original company was a computer and console game-making firm known as Taniyugi [谷遊戯], and the games it made included some of Keiko's favorite sports-based video games growing up. Asuna also takes time to tutor Keiko in math when the latter is falling behind, though Keiko's sports-centered brain makes it difficult. | ||
| Jade Yaotl Rodríguez Hueytletl | Teammate | |
| Jade is one of Keiko's teammates, and the girlfriend of Chiho Mao, one of Keiko's best friends.
A defender on Keiko's team, at first she viewed Jade as a reliable teammate that can watch her and other attacking players' backs. Their trust became strained when Keiko found out that she and Chiho had been dating without telling her. Out of apparent concern for Chiho, Keiko tried to break them up, but ceased and when she realized she was just jealous, yet still genuinely concerned for Chiho. They later buried the hatchet and resumed paying together cooperatively, yet they still maintained a cold attitude toward each other. | ||
| Tsukune 築根 |
Pet Dog | |
| A male American Akita that Keiko has raised for several years. He sleeps at the foot of Keiko's bed.
His body coat is mostly black but his belly, underneck, legs and paws are all white, and he has a golden stripe running down his nose, between his eyes, over his head and down his back and tail. His collar is green and has two tags: one is rectangular-shaped made of brass with the address and contact info of the Aizawa family on it, along with information about the chip in his neck; the other is rhombus-shaped made of stainless steel with his name on the front, with the Aizawa name on top and his given name on the bottom. When Keiko was eleven years old, she first found him as an abandoned puppy on the streets, no more than a few weeks old at the time, saving him from a bunch of kids who were shooting BB pellets at him for fun. Keiko took him in, with her parents' approval, and they've been close ever since. Tsukune is loyally devoted to Keiko, and doesn't hesitate to step in if he feels she's in trouble. He even stood guard by her bedside during Keiko's hospitalization following the heart transplant, only letting the Aizawas and Keiko's friends near her. However, his devotion also leads him to be a bit possessive of her. When he got into Keiko's room during her hospitalization – yanking the leash out of Ryo's hand to run to Keiko the instant he smelled her scent – he wouldn't let the doctors near her at first, only doing so when they demonstrated that they were there to help, with the aide of the Aizawas. Despite being so obedient to Keiko, he still requires a leash when they go out – Akitas are powerful dogs from the era they were used for hunting, and are not the most trustworthy dogs to go off-leash since many still retain their instincts to hunt small animals or children. Regardless, he's mature and obedient enough to fight his genetic instincts to chase small animals and children and he doesn't fight Keiko to get off the leash. He gets along well with Ryo's cat, Isamu; though he wasn't enthusiastic about the "intruder" when Ryo brought the kitten home; Tsukune eventually warmed up to him. An exceedingly smart and athletic dog, Tsukune is a capable soccer player himself. Keiko takes him jogging every morning and often plays with Keiko when her siblings or friends are unavailable. He even managed to run circles around the entire Enoshima Girls' Team – to the frustration of the older members – the first time Keiko brought him to practice, which served to demonstrate to the team and coach that the team's training methods needed a major overhaul. Keiko often brings Tsukune to practice as a result of this. | ||
Adults | ||
| Ayaka Iwaki (née Mine) 綾花 岩城 (旧姓 峰) |
Doctor, Counselor | |
| Ayaka was at one point Kakeru's mental health counselor, and has since become Keiko's mental counselor the diner robbery that resulted in Nana's death. She's the only one outside of Keiko's family and closest friends that know about her phobias. Keiko often also consults her for advice on issues aside from her own health. | ||
| Mina Meier | ||
| A former pro player and model from Germany and and old friend of Nana's. Shortly before she died, Nana asked her to come to Japan to help Keiko get back in the game. She later attended Nana's funeral.
When Keiko started to come out of her depressed state, following a major reality check, Mina took her on a month-long tour of Europe to clear her head, and even pulled stings to allow Keiko to train with her old club during their stop in Germany. Mina later became Keiko's coach when she was called up for the youth team for the 2035 U-16 AFC and the U-17 Women's World Cup. | ||
| Sakurako Hashizume 櫻子 橋爪 |
Coach | |
| A down-and-out, semi-homeless, former Nadeshiko Japan player. Her career was a mostly pursuit of fame and a desperation to be the best, and her win-at-any-cost attitude and selfish playstyle cost her her relationship with her friends, family and fiancé. Following a severe knee, ankle and hip injury that finally ended her career in one go, she has since lost her passion for soccer and become cynical of the sport, even after fully recovering. Despite losing everything and falling into a depression, Sakurako still has a boyfriend who cares about her.
Keiko first met her via having a one-night-stand when Yuki and Saito were unavailable; since then they kept running into each other through a series of coincidences. Seeing Keiko pursue soccer so passionately in the wake of her mother's death, as well as some inspirational words from both Keiko and Mai, reawakens her own passion. She later becomes a mentor to Keiko, as well as to her team when she replaces their useless coach. | ||
| Hatsuo Rikugawa 初男 陸川 |
Spiritual guide | |
| Hatsuo Rukuyama is a Nichiren-shū Buddhist monk who, in part, helped Keiko back to her old self.
Keiko met Hatsuo by coincidence during her depression when, during a downpour, she stumbled into him while he was on his way back to Chōshō-ji. Hatsuo took her in out of the rain and, after a few words of comfort, managed to get Keiko to open up about her feelings. Keiko, at first, did not appreciate being apparently tricked into talking about herself and vowed to never come back, but found herself drawn back to the temple the very next day. Over time, Hatsuo realized that the reason Keiko was struggling to move on was because she couldn't forgive herself for the things she said to Nana during fight they had the day she died and taught her to forgive herself, and that her mother would never stop loving her even in death. Even after recovering from her depression, even after entering high school, Keiko still visits Chōshō-ji when she needs a quiet place to calm down and be at peace. | ||
Kamakura Falcons | ||
| The Kamakura Falcons (鎌倉隼/Kamakura Hayabusa) are a co-ed youth soccer team that Keiko coaches when she not busy with her own commitments. | ||
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Trivia
- The kanji her given name is built with means "lucky child".
- The kanji 恵 means "lucky," which when alone can also be read as "Megumi"; the kanji 子 means "child."
- Keiko's nickname (courtesy of Yui Vaughan) is based on the initials LC, which stands for "Lucky Child," the literal translation Keiko's given name.
- The food Keiko hates most is nattō.
- Keiko is a known WSW among her friends, but she isn't bisexual or lesbian. She is attracted to both boys and girls, yet she tends to favor boys more – even more so after she begins dating Saito.
- Keiko is an alvinolagniac, an individual who is sexually attracted to the belly and derives sexual arousal from someone caressing her belly or caressing her partner's belly.
- Keiko's preferred sports drink is Aquarian: a parody of Aquarius.
- Keiko is the only one of the Aizawa siblings who drinks any form of coffee; albeit she only drinks Café au lait and can't stand it black.
- Keiko's favorite pizza is BBQ Chicken.
- The models of the tech Keiko owns are parodies of Samsung and are partially made up.
- Out of all her siblings, Keiko was the only one to follow her parents into the world of soccer.
- Aside from her mother, Keiko's favorite female soccer player and idol is Marta, a Brazilian forward whom is widely acknowledged as the best female soccer player of all time. Keiko has a poster of her on the wall of her room.
- The professional team she hopes to join is Orlando Pride, an American professional team and the team her idol, Marta, used to play for.
- Keiko has no real qualms about her brothers seeing her naked, mostly because, since they're related, she doesn't completely see them as boys.
- Unlike her TNKitA counterpart, this version of Keiko uses Japanese honorifics properly when necessary.
- Like her TNKitA counterpart, this version of Keiko lost her virginity to Saito. But, unlike her TNKitA counterpart, it happened in middle school and was very unromantic. From then they were in a non-romantic sexual relationship until Keiko recovered from her depression.
- Upon entering high school, before and after they started dating, Keiko and Saito were constantly ending up in awkward situations where they were naked together.
- This version of Keiko was conceived right after Japan was eliminated from the knockout tournament of the 2018 FIFA Men's World Cup. Nana had given Kakeru some "comfort" that same night to cope with the frustration of losing out on the world cup.
- Additionally, Keiko was born three weeks before the end of the Heisei Era, when Emperor Akihito of Japan abdicated in favor of Naruhito. Thus, she is considered one of the last born of said era, and has lived her entire life in the Reiwa Era [令和時代 / Reiwa jidai].
- This version of Keiko didn't join Nadeshiko Japan as quickly as her TNKitA counterpart did. This version wasn't recruited until after the conclusion of the summer nationals.