Akae Aji

Akae is a blush red inkling girl that can come off as brash, leisurely and stubborn at first, but is composed when she needs to be, and rather active when given the opportunity. 

She was previously enrolled at a fairly conservative school, where she often skipped class and hung out on top of the large concrete walls surrounding the school grounds. She felt as though all her classmates thought less of her for performing poorly in school, and she didn't really trust any of them, leaving her feeling ostracized from the other kids, and on top of the teachers giving her hell, that was the push she needed to stop attending any classes all together, opting to bum around on campus where they couldn't easily find her. School never felt like the right fit for her. One day, while she was cloudgazing on top of the wall, she heard sniffling below her, and saw an Octoling crying. Without hesitation, Akae offered her tissues, a place to calm down, and a can of tart-flavored soda, which became the nickname of her new friend, Poptart. 

Akae taught Poptart things that their school wouldn't dream of, like how to learn from failure, how to slow down and enjoy life, and Poptart managed to get Akae to come to school more often than she had been, such as days where Akae had both PE and Music class on the same day. They formed a close knit friendship, which was contagious, and lightened the spirits of their adjacent classmates. It took many weeks before Akae realized how her carefree attitude had a positive impact on the kids around her, making them laugh and entertaining them when she sassed a teacher, and Poptart realized that there's so much more to Akae than being a delinquent, implying she was unintelligent and a bad influence, when in reality, she made an effort to make others laugh, she was cool and kind, and excelled in sports and enthusiastically enjoyed making music with the drums and the guitars from her class. Learning that her peers didn't judge her, and in fact enjoyed her company in the classroom, Akae didn't mind so much showing up at school every now and then. 

One peculiar day after school, the two went to their favorite diner, where they saw a commercial advertising the hot new sport, Turf Wars, taking place in the nearby, fast-rising hub, the Splatlands. They made a promise that, together, they'd move to the Splatlands and start a team.