Characters/Niki Nakayama

Niki Nakayama

Personal Information
Surname Name	Nakayama Niki
Birthday (Age)	March 3rd (29)
Type of Character	Side
Additional Information
Hair Color	Pink
Eye Color	Pink
Height	5′ 7′′ (170cm)
Job(s)	Pop Idol
Hobby(s)	unknown
Like(s)	Sensei Supporting Girls with potential Video Games
Dislike(s)	Sensei
Family	Unnamed Parents Noriko Nakayama (Little Sister)
Affiliation	567 Productions
First Appearance	What Was
Notes	unknown

Niki Nakayama is part of the Side Cast of in Lessons In Love. She is a famous pop idol in Kumon-Mi. She’s also Noriko’s older sister and Sensei’s ex-girlfriend.

Background

Niki is the first daughter of unnamed parents and the older sister of Noriko. The two girls grew up together with a younger Sensei, spending so much time together that the Nakayama's considered Sensei part of the family. The time Sensei and Niki spent together slowly grow more and more, and the two eventually began to date in their teenage years.

Around eight years before the game, Sensei suddenly disappeared, causing Niki to fall into a deep depression. She basically did nothing, suffered from hallucinations, thoughts of suicide, both gained and lost a good amount of weight, and even wrote Sensei letters on a regular basis, knowing that she can’t send them to him. At the behest of her parents, she began to see a therapist, and started to practice singing and dancing, eventually being scouted to become an idol. While she'd later tell Sensei that her decision was to be an idol was so she could make him jealous, in actuality, it was to hopefully reunite with him eventually.

While she became well-known and successful in Kumon-mi, she failed in her end goal due to Sensei’s disinterest in pop music and his mind and personality being constantly wiped out and replaced, leaving him with no memories to identify her despite her popularity. She was only able to see him again when Noriko brought Sensei to her during an advertisement shoot.

Characteristics

Due to her idol position, Niki presents herself as approachable, kind and sweet. Behind the scenes, though, she’s short-tempered, vulgar, and arrogant, all traits that come up often whenever she talks about or with Sensei. His unexplained disappearance has also left her with a deep grudge towards him, one that she's often happy to express.

While she’s harsh in her interactions with Sensei and Noriko, Niki shows that she can be caring towards people close to her and supportive of girls with potential. She cares deeply about Ami’s well-being, is shown to support Otoha’s development as a musician to the point where she offered to do her vocal lessons without any compensation on Otoha’s part, and even offered to make Kaori one of her students, thinking she has huge potential.

Relationships

Sensei

Sensei and Niki were a couple before his sudden disappearance, an event which caused her to spiral into a deep depression that she spent years clawing out of. This has left her with a deep resentment towards him, first seen in their reunion in What Was. Despite this, she still spends time with him, although treats him harshly in their interactions.

Underneath this cold shoulder, though, she still loves him and wants him back in her life. While she tries to hide her true feelings behind harsh words, her true feelings manage to break through over time. She stayed in his hotel room during the second beach trip, had a passionate night like in the old days with him in her hotel room and was noticeably happier after this. During the second Christmas party, she confessed her feelings to him and accepted that she has to wait before she can have his response.

Kaori

Niki initially Kaori on a date with Sensei. In stark contrast to the praise and attention she's normally lauded with, Kaori has absolute no knowledge of Niki's stardom. Niki seems to appreciate this oblivious aspect of her, although does initially show annoyance at Kaori's similarly oblivious yet prying questions into her and Sensei's relationship. As Niki continues to eat at this diner though, she quickly makes friends with Kaori, adapting to her unusual speaking patterns and child-like energy.

Nao-chan

While Sensei's class celebrates their 4th Halloween Party, Niki and Otoha hold a livestream concert in one of Kaori's workplaces. It's after this stream finishes that Niki first meets Nao-chan, as she tagged along with Kaori for the night. Niki doesn't seem to think much of Nao-chan at first, barely paying her any attention. Later that night, though, Nao ends up falling asleep on her shoulder, prompting Niki to reflect over her thoughts on motherhood.

While Niki remains against becoming a mother, she becomes quickly charmed by Nao's cuteness.

Noriko

Noriko is Niki’s little sister and personal assistant. Despite their jealous attitude towards each other, which is mostly caused by each of them being in love with Sensei, both share a close bond and even follow their own set of "Nakayama Sisters’ Rules".

Ami

Niki cares deeply for Ami after what she went through, even though they only met once when Ami was very young. Niki still likes her a lot and wants to have a close bond with her. She even considers her to be an unofficial sister of her and Noriko so she has more people she can lean on, which she accepts on the condition that they won’t separate her and Sensei if Niki gets close with him.

Otoha

Niki is Otoha’s voice coach. Both have a very good student-teacher-relationship as Otoha respects and appreciates her while Niki is willing to give her all the support she can offer.

Memorable Quotes

• “But now I’m famous and cute and you’re a loser so HA.”
• “You ripped my heart and my mind to shreds and becoming … this? This is just the glue I used to put it all back together.”
  • "It doesn’t look the same. It doesn’t feel the same. Literally nothing about it is the same and it’s because I know now that I can never be me without you."

Trivia

• Niki and Sensei never went all the way in their relationship, something that was confirmed in Thousands, If Not Millions.
  • The same event also confirms that Niki is bisexual, apparently having done something with another girl which caused a fight during their relationship.
• Despite being 29, Niki's agency spreads the information that she's 22 in order to compete with the younger stars in the pop industry.
• Due to her and Noriko's past with Sensei, both girls start off with 50 base affection rather than zero like the rest of the cast.

Gallery

• 

  Niki's summer outfit

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  Niki's winter outfit

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  Niki's official idol outfit

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  Niki's pajamas, which include one of Sensei's shirts

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  An outfit Niki wears during To the Future With a Smile for a Christmas concert

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  Niki's clothes for lounging around

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  Niki when she was young

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  Niki's spring pajamas

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  Niki's costume for the 5th Halloween Party