Kotegawa Yui.
Born to a lawyer mother who advocated for following every rule, no matter how small, at all times, she grew up as a very serious child.
As a result, many of her classmates disliked her, often isolating and avoiding her.
But Yui, who had grown up following her mother's example, was never bothered by this. She assumed it was natural, since her mother was also usually serious and alone most of the time.
However, Yui's personality would undergo a drastic change when she turned ten years old.
Returning home from school, she found her mother crying in the living room. For the first time in her life, her face did not show a serious expression or confidence in all her decisions.
Instead, it showed a mixture of emotions, fear, guilt, sadness, regret.
As she cried, she held a crumpled letter in her hand. Yui managed to read part of it before her mother noticed and threw it into the fire, getting rid of it forever, and of the memories it carried.
It was a letter from her father addressed to her mother, talking about how strict she was and how he could not endure it any longer.
From that day on, Yui never saw her father again, and her time with her mother decreased to the point where she barely saw her at home.
She started spending all her time at work. On the few occasions she was at home, she wore an absolutely serious expression with traces of sadness, refusing to show any hint of emotion as if she were a robot.
This created an environment where Yui hated her own house. She hated seeing her mother there without even speaking to her, but she hated being alone even more.
At twelve years old, not wanting to return home early just to find an empty house, Yui joined a club. She did not even care which one, she simply joined the one she was told was the busiest.
To her surprise, she did not join just any club but the middle school's Public Morals Committee.
Which turned out to be extremely easy. In Yui's own words, it was about acting the way her mother always did, something she had plenty of experience with.
Thanks to this, her life improved. Yui no longer had to spend all day in an empty house, and she had fun doing something that felt natural and simple to her.
Thus passed her first year as a member of the Public Morals Committee and, when it ended, all the students' parents were invited, as usual, to discuss their children's progress and behavior.
That was when her mother learned what Yui had been doing. She had never asked about Yui's activities before, and Yui assumed she would not care anyway.
To her surprise, instead of her usual indifference, after learning about it her mother crouched down, patted her head, and smiled.
After that, she simply looked sick and returned to her usual expression before walking back home.
Even so, that was undoubtedly the happiest moment of Yui's life in the last three years. Not only had her mother shown a different expression, she had even seemed happy because of her actions.
What had once been something she did for fun now became an absolute duty for her, something she had to do not only because she enjoyed it, but because it made her mother happy.
Curiously, this caused Yui's quiet, cold, and isolated personality to disappear, transforming instead into a responsible seriousness that allowed her to speak with her classmates easily, ignoring everything from fear to status, all in order to uphold morality and keep everyone from straying from the rules.
Of course, this only made most people dislike her even more, but once again, Yui did not care. There was only one person she wanted to please. As long as her mother smiled, that was enough.
Fifteen years old.
Yui entered Sainan High School and quickly became part of the Public Morals Committee once again.
However, the atmosphere here was different. Compared to children, teenagers were much harder to control.
At least one good thing was that this more open-minded mentality made it so people did not isolate her or anything like that. While some found her annoying, most simply saw her as someone excessively responsible.
It was also here that she met the person she considered for a long time to be the greatest rule-breaker in the entire school, Yuuki Rito.
No matter how much Yui tried to stop Yuuki and lecture him, she never managed to make him stop his immoral activities. It reached the point where Yui wondered if Yuuki Rito might actually have no control over his own body. This was because every time he apologized, he seemed remorseful enough for her to forgive him.
But if the situation in high school was already chaotic, it would become even worse. One day, completely out of nowhere, a strange girl transferred into her class.
And not strange in the normal sense. In fact, in that sense she became the most popular person in the entire school in less than a week. It was no surprise since she was cute, sexy, kind, and fun. We are talking about strange in the sense that she built or brought futuristic technological inventions every single day, and also seemed completely unfamiliar with any customs or rules of... well, Earth in general.
Yui could only sigh and continue her work, hoping the situation would not get worse.
...
She is an alien.
Some time has passed since they met Lala, and Yui has just discovered that Lala is apparently an alien.
And for some reason nobody seems to act as though that is strange?
Although Yui found it odd for a moment, she decided to ignore it. It did not matter. She liked Lala enough to overlook whether she was a human or an alien.
After all, with Yui constantly chasing after Lala and Rito, her former fiancé, it was only natural that they would eventually become friends, especially considering Lala's cheerful personality.
And Yui did not regret it. Despite the trouble she caused, Lala was extremely kind and fun, probably a better person than anyone Yui had met in her entire life.
Also, regarding Yuuki Rito, after a certain incident Yui decided to observe him in order to better determine what kind of person he was.
What she saw surprised her. From watering simple flowers, helping a lost child, helping an elderly woman cross the street, among many other actions, Rito completely broke away from the common Japanese mindset of not involving yourself in other people's affairs and proved to be an extremely kind and warm person.
For that reason, after removing the punishment she had given him and apologizing, Yui decided to observe people more carefully in order to understand them better before making any judgments.
And while Yui does not regret this, she cannot exactly say it was the best experience.
After all, by observing other people and their lives, experiences, friends, and relationships, she finally realized just how lonely her childhood had truly been and how little other people actually liked her.
On the other hand, it also made her realize that she now had genuine friends who liked her and, more importantly, whom she liked as well.
From the cheerful and enthusiastic Lala who, despite her impulsiveness, always thinks about others.
To Yuuki Rito who, honestly, thinks about others far too much for his own good.
Yuuji Rito, who usually spends more time resting than talking to them and always seems to want to stay out of troublesome situations only to somehow end up involved anyway, yet still always helps when necessary or makes sure to support others.
Haruna, a girl so kind she seems like a female version of Yuuki Rito with less bad luck.
Risa, Mío, Run, and many more.
Because of these two realizations, Yui decided to become a better friend, participating more and always observing carefully before making a decision.
But as if Yui's life were a fictional story, this only caused her situation to drift even further.
First of all, despite knowing what she should do, fifteen years of absolute seriousness made it difficult for her to reveal her true feelings. Every time someone showed her even a little affection, she became embarrassed and denied it completely.
On the other hand, paying more attention to others finally awakened her inner curiosity. Between Lala's exciting adventures and the eccentric personalities of her friends, Yui found herself increasingly drawn into their fun.
One of her newest pleasures is even manga, something Mío introduced to her because she thought Yui would enjoy it.
And she was absolutely right. From the very first page, Yui became captivated by the stories within. More than the fantasy and unrealistic things she already saw daily, she preferred reading about the ordinary lives and romantic dramas of normal people.
Perhaps by coincidence, perhaps by the decree of fate, this made her notice the complex relationships developing within her circle of friends much more clearly.
And, of course, enjoy them as if they were stories and want to actively participate while watching them unfold.
Thus, although anyone who had known her for years and saw her now would simply think she was the same serious and responsible Yui as always, the truth is that her personality has changed a great deal.
She no longer looks at others searching for flaws to correct, instead simply enjoying their lives and trying to get to know them better.
She is no longer silent because she has nothing to say or because she does not care about socializing, she is silent simply because she does not know what to say.
However, there is one final line, something that separates Yui from her friends. Although she sees every person as a complex individual with their own story, each one part of the much larger story that is life itself, she herself, unconsciously, does not consider herself part of that story.
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
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80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)