Name: Niki Shiina Canon:Ensemble Stars!! Canon point: Chapter 122: "Stains", at the beginning of Crazy:B's Idol Royale Dream Festival Age: 18
Summary: Niki is a part of the notorious idol unit Crazy:B, the initial antagonists of Ensemble Stars!!. Like ALKALOID, the members of Crazy:B were approached with an ultimatum—become successful idols or be fired from Ensemble Square... except their units were formed with basically no input from their members and there's blackmail involved. Unlike ALKALOID, their existence is far more chaotic—they show up wherever they want, do whatever they want, and aren't afraid to make enemies of everyone—because they have so much more to lose if they fail. This gives them the potential to push the idol industry toward the change it so desperately needs—they're often referred to as weapons.
Despite being forced to play the role of villains, however, they're actually pretty decent guys and Niki is no exception. Unlike everyone around him, he doesn't actually have much of an interest in being an idol (he'd much rather be a chef), but he wants to help Rinne achieve his dream, so he got dragged into being one anyway. Niki himself is a kind, carefree person, but he's awkward and completely lacking in self-esteem. He doesn't have any confidence in himself outside of his cooking, and his greatest fear is being a burden to others in literally any way. At the same time, though, he's a bright, optimistic, and selfless person who'd do anything to help people, and entirely without judgement. Due to the way he grew up, Niki is incredibly simple—his main motivation is food, and he's okay with having the absolute bare minimum—but this is also his greatest strength, because it means he appreciates things as they are, and he's able to live his life the way he wants to.
Powers/abilities: Niki is a normal person, so he doesn't have any extraordinary abilities. The most interesting things about him are the facts that he can recreate the flavor of anything he's tasted even just once (he just really loves food), his stomach is a bottomless pit (his body doesn't absorb nutrients very well), and he becomes completely delusional if he doesn't eat. (This last one is actually a problem. When it gets really bad, he's even been known to see people as food. He wouldn't actually eat anybody, but he might be tempted to have a little taste. Sorry he's like this.) tl;dr his body hates him, it's the main source of many of his complaints and it causes problems sometimes.
Aside from the fact that Niki is a weirdo, the other notable thing is that Niki is a lot more talented than he gives himself credit for. He doesn't think he's any good at anything besides cooking, but he's a completely different person when he's on stage—despite his whining, he's actually pretty good at the whole idol thing. This is mostly worth mentioning because it would likely extend to other things, too. Rinne says Niki is good at anything he sets his mind to—obviously not inhumanly so, but at least enough to be considered skilled. He just has no confidence and hates being hungry, so he doesn't really do anything. Oops.
Inventory: His phone and... some snacks... He'll probably eat through them in like, a day or two, though, so I don't think it's worth quantifying/specifying them, but if that's a problem, let me know, lol.
OTHER
Sentimental item:Rinne's silver necklace. Rinne is easily the most important person in his life. He's his first real friend (and only friend, for a long time), and meeting him changed literally everything for him. While Niki often complains that meeting Rinne is the worst thing that ever happened to him, he realizes that he really enjoys the chaos that he brought into his life and he's never been happier than he is right now. He would do literally anything for Rinne—he became an idol for him despite his family's awkward feelings about idols, and was even willing to drop everything and return to Rinne's hometown with him. Literally the only thing more important to Niki than food is Rinne. Gemstone: dark blue / yellow
Lost memory #1: His father's scandal. This is a pretty key moment in his life, as it's the basis for most of his fears and insecurities. Although he acknowledges that this happened a long time ago and probably isn't relevant anymore, he still worries about being associated with his father, and he still fears inconveniencing people the way his father did to him. Unfortunately, these things are so deeply-ingrained in him at this point that forgetting why he feels the way he does probably won't change anything. He'll just remember that his childhood wasn't great, but he won't be able to pinpoint the reason for it. Lost memory #2: Crazy:B hanging out at Cafe Cinnamon. Rather than having proper meetings and practices, they tend to congregate at Cinnamon and play whatever game Rinne feels like playing (whether they want to or not), among other things. Together, they are all very loud and embarrassing. It's chaotic and Niki fears losing his job everyday. Niki actually doesn't think of Kohaku and HiMERU as friends yet (this doesn't happen until an event later), but this will just further emphasize the idea that he doesn't know them very well and isn't close with them. It wouldn't change how he treats them, because he's still kind to everyone he meets, he's just even further from the idea that they're friends than he was before. Altered memory: Niki's main struggle with being an idol is that he feels like he can't be both an idol and a chef at the same time, so he leans toward the one he already knows, which is being a chef. In Austice, Niki will remember it the other way—he likes cooking, but he isn't super interested in it professionally. An idol is what he's really always wanted to be. This probably won't change a whole lot, since... ultimately, he still gets hungry very easily and that's a bigger problem for him than anything, so he's still going to complain. But he'll probably think his issue with his parents had to do with wanting to be an idol, and he'll probably lean a little more into idol things than he usually would.
Melya, Niki Shiina, Ensemble Stars!!
PLAYER
Preferred pronoun(s): She/Her
Contact: beepositive @ DW PM
CHARACTER
Canon: Ensemble Stars!!
Canon point: Chapter 122: "Stains", at the beginning of Crazy:B's Idol Royale Dream Festival
Age: 18
Summary: Niki is a part of the notorious idol unit Crazy:B, the initial antagonists of Ensemble Stars!!. Like ALKALOID, the members of Crazy:B were approached with an ultimatum—become successful idols or be fired from Ensemble Square... except their units were formed with basically no input from their members and there's blackmail involved. Unlike ALKALOID, their existence is far more chaotic—they show up wherever they want, do whatever they want, and aren't afraid to make enemies of everyone—because they have so much more to lose if they fail. This gives them the potential to push the idol industry toward the change it so desperately needs—they're often referred to as weapons.
Despite being forced to play the role of villains, however, they're actually pretty decent guys and Niki is no exception. Unlike everyone around him, he doesn't actually have much of an interest in being an idol (he'd much rather be a chef), but he wants to help Rinne achieve his dream, so he got dragged into being one anyway. Niki himself is a kind, carefree person, but he's awkward and completely lacking in self-esteem. He doesn't have any confidence in himself outside of his cooking, and his greatest fear is being a burden to others in literally any way. At the same time, though, he's a bright, optimistic, and selfless person who'd do anything to help people, and entirely without judgement. Due to the way he grew up, Niki is incredibly simple—his main motivation is food, and he's okay with having the absolute bare minimum—but this is also his greatest strength, because it means he appreciates things as they are, and he's able to live his life the way he wants to.
Powers/abilities: Niki is a normal person, so he doesn't have any extraordinary abilities. The most interesting things about him are the facts that he can recreate the flavor of anything he's tasted even just once (he just really loves food), his stomach is a bottomless pit (his body doesn't absorb nutrients very well), and he becomes completely delusional if he doesn't eat. (This last one is actually a problem. When it gets really bad, he's even been known to see people as food. He wouldn't actually eat anybody, but he might be tempted to have a little taste. Sorry he's like this.) tl;dr his body hates him, it's the main source of many of his complaints and it causes problems sometimes.
Aside from the fact that Niki is a weirdo, the other notable thing is that Niki is a lot more talented than he gives himself credit for. He doesn't think he's any good at anything besides cooking, but he's a completely different person when he's on stage—despite his whining, he's actually pretty good at the whole idol thing. This is mostly worth mentioning because it would likely extend to other things, too. Rinne says Niki is good at anything he sets his mind to—obviously not inhumanly so, but at least enough to be considered skilled. He just has no confidence and hates being hungry, so he doesn't really do anything. Oops.
Inventory: His phone and... some snacks... He'll probably eat through them in like, a day or two, though, so I don't think it's worth quantifying/specifying them, but if that's a problem, let me know, lol.
OTHER
Gemstone: dark blue / yellow
Lost memory #1: His father's scandal. This is a pretty key moment in his life, as it's the basis for most of his fears and insecurities. Although he acknowledges that this happened a long time ago and probably isn't relevant anymore, he still worries about being associated with his father, and he still fears inconveniencing people the way his father did to him. Unfortunately, these things are so deeply-ingrained in him at this point that forgetting why he feels the way he does probably won't change anything. He'll just remember that his childhood wasn't great, but he won't be able to pinpoint the reason for it.
Lost memory #2: Crazy:B hanging out at Cafe Cinnamon. Rather than having proper meetings and practices, they tend to congregate at Cinnamon and play whatever game Rinne feels like playing (whether they want to or not), among other things. Together, they are all very loud and embarrassing. It's chaotic and Niki fears losing his job everyday. Niki actually doesn't think of Kohaku and HiMERU as friends yet (this doesn't happen until an event later), but this will just further emphasize the idea that he doesn't know them very well and isn't close with them. It wouldn't change how he treats them, because he's still kind to everyone he meets, he's just even further from the idea that they're friends than he was before.
Altered memory: Niki's main struggle with being an idol is that he feels like he can't be both an idol and a chef at the same time, so he leans toward the one he already knows, which is being a chef. In Austice, Niki will remember it the other way—he likes cooking, but he isn't super interested in it professionally. An idol is what he's really always wanted to be. This probably won't change a whole lot, since... ultimately, he still gets hungry very easily and that's a bigger problem for him than anything, so he's still going to complain. But he'll probably think his issue with his parents had to do with wanting to be an idol, and he'll probably lean a little more into idol things than he usually would.
Sample: Here!