Characters/Noriko Nakayama

Noriko Nakayama

Personal Information
Surname Name	Nakayama Noriko
Birthday (Age)	July 28th (n/a)
Type of Character	Main
Additional Information
Hair Color	Pink
Eye Color	Pink
Height	5′ 6′′ (166cm)
Job(s)	Clerk at Convenience Store PA for Niki
Hobby(s)	Pursuing Sensei Playing bass guitar
Like(s)	Sensei Social Justice Binge-eating Ice-Cream
Dislike(s)	Maya Makinami
Family	Niki Nakayama (Older Sister) Unnamed Parents
Affiliation	Light Music Club (Chap. 3)
First Appearance	Performance Review (First Appearance) What Could Have Been (Introduction)
Notes	unknown

An idealist with a heart of pink, Noriko loves justice, loud music, and Sensei. Her punk aesthetic hides both profound academic talent and tremendous kindness. That said, the passionate intensity she brings to the things she cares about can be intimidating.

— Official Lessons in Love website

Noriko Nakayama is part of the Main Cast of in Lessons In Love. Noriko is the 16th girl to join Sensei's class, doing so in v0.14.0. She lives in room 10 with Kirin Kanda.

Background

Noriko is the youngest daughter of two unnamed parents and is the younger sister of Niki Nakayama, a pop idol renowned across all of Kumon-mi. The two girls grew up together with a younger Sensei, often spending time at each other's houses, to the point where the Nakayamas considered Sensei part of the family. Despite him mostly hanging out with Niki, Noriko slowly grew a crush on Sensei, often spying on the two and constantly trying to get closer to him. She'd eventually become one of Sensei's few pupils after he became a tutor, being the only frequent customer aside from Maya.

Around three years before the start of the game, Sensei disappeared again, leaving Noriko devastated. While Niki slowly recovered from his disappearance, Noriko never stopped looking for him but was unsuccessful in all her attempts to track him down. Eventually, she began to attend Kumon-Mi Academy, where she met and became friends with Otoha, even starting a small musical duo between the two of them. Once the school sank into the ground, she was transferred to Kumon-Mi High, landing in Wakana's class. She eventually lands in Sensei's class after causing Wakana to lose her patience.

Characteristics

Noriko's obsession with Sensei and nostalgia for the life her family and he used to have has influenced her personality immensely. According to her she's spent a large amount of effort in turning herself into Sensei's dream girl, or at least what she thought his dream girl was. Even once they reunite, she's completely reinvent parts of herself entirely for him. This obsessive desire to please him also caused her to be very tolerant of bizarre ideas or hobbies, usually to an alarming degree.

Outside of her love for Sensei, Noriko's also got a deep passion for the alternative and free lifestyle. She keeps expressionist paintings in her room, hangs alt-rock posters on her walls, and mentions 'dismantling the patriarchy' as one of her interests in her introduction to the class. Her greatest desire in life is to make a difference be it through up-ending society or simply adopting a child. She likes to express herself through music, even writing Sensei a song to try and properly convey her feelings to him.

Relationships

Sensei

Noriko has known Sensei for most of her life. When the two were younger, she would follow him around whenever he came to visit his sister and try to stick as close as she could to him, even repeatedly trying to sit on his lap. While most of her family initially wrote this attached behavior off as Noriko viewing Sensei as a surrogate older brother, in reality, it was the beginning of a life-long crush. Noriko loves Sensei more than anything and is willing to do nearly anything for his sake. She has modeled her appearance and many of her interests to please him, remaining committed to this even after their reunion. Even after he explains that he doesn't remember her, she's confident his memories will return and has no qualms about displaying her affection openly in the meantime.

Kirin

Kirin is Noriko's roommate and Noriko is one of the few people in the class who tolerates Kirin's constant perviness. The two are good friends, having bonded over their mutual interest in Sensei and their shared status as 'calculated disasters'. While their opinions often clash and their values are antipodes, the two girls still work to take care of each other, with Kirin often providing emotional support whenever Noriko needs it.

Niki

Niki is Noriko's older sister and the two share a close bond as a result. Noriko often helps her sister out with her idol business, being her official PA and helping out during concerts or other press events. They mutually disapprove of the superficial details of each others' lives, with Noriko showing disdain for the saccharine nature of Niki's work and Niki looking down on the way Noriko dresses and the music she listens to; This seems to be a result of their sibling rivalry rather than any deeper disdain for each other. Though, Noriko is worried that, given enough time, Sensei will end up back together with Niki, constantly anxious about the possibility, even to the point of tears.

Maya

Maya and Noriko openly despise each other for reasons unclear to both Sensei and the player. Noriko seems to not know the source of Maya's hatred. Noriko herself believes Maya is the cause of Sensei's second disappearance, holding a grudge for stealing the most important person in her life away. Just like with her sister, Noriko is worried Maya will manage to 'steal Sensei' from her and often tries and pry the details of her and Sensei's relationship out of him.

Ami

Noriko exerts considerable effort to get Ami to like and accept her, despite the latter's resistance. She ingratiates herself to her through constant flattery and surprising respect for Ami's relationship with her uncle, claiming to want to share him rather than take him. Ami is reluctant to trust her given her open obsession with Sensei and Maya's considerable animosity towards her, but partially accepts her due to Noriko's abundant kindness.

Memorable Quotes

• "...I'm the 'childhood friend slash imouto type. So not only am I caring and adorable like a little sister, I have years worth of pent up sexual aggression and curiosity all aimed right at you!"
• "And, who knows? Maybe the next obstacle I put down will wind up knocking someone else over instead of me."
• "I’m still just a prototype. And prototypes are always a little bit worse than the final version"

Trivia

• Appropriate to her interests, the posters in her room imply that she listens to classic punk music from the '80's.
• Noriko keeps a pocket knife on her at all times, mostly for self-defense.
  • She also carries a good amount of other useful items with her, like pain killers and other pills.
  • During the second Dorm War she apparently stored a lot of 'essential stuff' around her thighs.
• Due to her and Niki's past with Sensei, both Noriko and Niki start off with 50 base affection rather than zero like the rest of the cast.

Gallery

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  Noriko's summer outfit

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  Noriko's winter outfit

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  Noriko's spring outfit

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  Noriko's school uniform

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  Noriko's work uniform

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  Noriko's swimsuit

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  Noriko's costume for the 2nd Halloween Party - One of Niki's outfits

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  Noriko's costume during the 3rd Halloween Party - Yor Forger

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  Noriko's costume during the 4th Halloween Party - Mitsuha Miyamizu

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  Noriko's costume during the 5th Halloween Party - Imani Imai

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  Noriko's pajamas

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  Ami's work uniform, which Noriko tries on during New Shoes

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  A uniform Noriko wears during Homes for the Homeless

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  Noriko when she was young

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  Noriko's gym uniform