Shinobu Kamiya

Shinobu is a lower-class lout, a bit of a stain and an embarrassment to the prestigious Ouran Academy. "How did someone like THAT get into our school?"

Well lemme tell ya:

BACKSTORY

  Shinobu's mother never wanted a kid, but felt obligated to take care of her when she 'happened'. But she didn't wanna give up her lifestyle and was overall a neglectful mother. She was emotionally distant and a manipulative woman, who only really acknowledged her daughter when it was convenient for her. When Shinobu was very young, they were evicted from their apartment and slept at a neighborhood park. Well, Shinobu did. 

  That was where she met Haruhi Fujioka the first time. 

  They became fast friends as children often do, and Shinobu learned that Haruhi lived near there. She used the skills she learned from her mother to dominate Haruhi's time, to guilt her into coming to the park more often (or to invite her to her place for sleepovers) and isolate her from other kids.

  Haruhi's parents tolerated this, because it was so obvious this kid was going through some things, and if they could offer her a meal and a warm bath it might do her a world of good.

  Instead, Shinobu became obsessed with Haruhi and her "perfect" life (and was lowkey glad her mother died cuz it was an ample opportunity to fill the void her mom left behind and meant Ranka wouldn't interfere as much). She would stalk Haruhi, and enrolled in her middle school to stay closer to her. Around this time was when Shinobu's own mother just..stopped coming to check on her daughter, and disappeared seemingly forever.

  Untethered and with no one else, Shinobu clung harder to Haruhi, who remained oblivious to the malicious impact Shino had on her.

  Ranka finally put his foot down, and made it clear that not only was Shinobu never allowed near his daughter again, if she did then he'd call the police. To add salt to the wound, he told Shinobu that he'd also seen her mother recently (not only instilling fear in her, but shock as well since she could barely remember the last time the Fujioka's and her mother interacted)

  "I knew it was her the instant she walked into the bar. You're just like her."

 This absolutely shook her to her core, and forced her to really examine how she acts for the first time. Maybe not for the "right" reasons though; the main takeaway from Ranka's words were that how she currently acts is like her mom (who she hates), and if she keeps acting like that then she can't be near Haruhi. Haruhi had become her reason for living, without Haruhi, who was Shinobu? 

  (Shinobu hadn't bothered to do more than the bare minimum to stay in school, since she already assumed "obviously I'll be Haruhi's wife")

  She had no prospects, no future, and now no reason to live. So she had to make herself someone "worthy" of Fujioka. 

  So she started to work to get into the best school she could think of: Ouran Academy.

  Shinobu continued to be homeless throughout her life. It was difficult to make money as a child, esp since her pride refused to let her beg for 'handouts'. After 'losing' Haruhi and vowing to turn her life around, she was forced to actually try academically -- which is no easy feat when you've got no reliable house/electricity/etc etc. When staying at a shelter, she met Tetsuya Sendo. The two had a decent relationship, with Shinobu calling him senpai and occasionally asking for his advice.

  He was the one who suggested she try to turn her life around, "and if you can't do that, then at least fake being somewhat respectable". The young teen saw her life as hopeless, and Tetsuya lowkey feared for her life; so he suggested she come meet some friends of his.

  That's how she met Ritsu Kasanoda and the Kasanoda crime syndicate. The two became fast friends since they were closer in age to each other. Shinobu was unafraid of his appearance/family/personality, and even boasted that no matter how mean he could act she always had him beat in that (more on this later). She also managed to endear herself to his Old Man, who recognized her keen wit and sharp mind, and wasn't one to let an opportunity pass him by. While both are aware of there being an underlie of manipulative benefaction to their relationship (Shinobu is upfront in admitting part of the reason she got close to Ritsu was for the prestige) but the two genuinely care for each other. Ritsu even slips up on occasion and calls her Big Sis.

  The Old Man was the one who also suggested she try for Ouran, since even if it's for a short period, just saying that she attended their could open all sorts of opportunities both locally and internationally for her. The Old Man also gave a loan of sorts to help her get in when her scholarship (more on that later) didn't cover everything she needed.

  Shinobu knew the dangers of accepting too much money from the yakuza, but also knew that she couldn't conceivably make the money or the grades for a full-ride, and accepted. But she would not be staying at the Kasanoda residence any longer, wanting to be able to stand on her own two feet like she always had. The Old Man also gave her an allowance of $2000 a month, though she was expected to repay that back-- and an additional late fee for every month she doesn't pay back each allowance. Ritsu privately suspects this was intentionally unfair so Shinobu would be forced to come back home but Shinobu sees it as typical landshark behavior.

 "The Old Man is a businessman first and foremost. I'm an investment, not an actual family member."

 So Shinobu made she she used as little of the allowance as possible, remaining homeless and finding other ways to get food so she could return as much of it at the end of the month as she could to remain out of debt.

!!::Important::!!

  A major aspect of her personality and her character arc is the fact that she has incredibly poor eyesight, it is rapidly deteriorating, and will likely go blind.

  If she had gotten glasses as a kid, or regularly went to a doctor, or had money to spare for surgery, it would have been preventable. Unfortunately by the time the rest of the cast discovers it, it's far too late to be rectified. And even if it wasn't, she would still refuse their help. 

  But this has impacted large parts of who she is as a person and her desperation to keep it under wraps affects how she interacts with the rest of the cast.

  This, along with being homeless, makes her struggle academically. She is constantly on academic probation and teeters on the cusp of expulsion cuz woah having no accommodations for disabilities  and being homeless and not eating regularly makes life hard.

Personality

  Best described as a stray cat: mean 'n skittish who runs off if u approach too quickly or try to be friendly, but keeps coming back and wants someone to comfort them. Hunny-senpai also compares her to a hedgehog for those same reasons (and because Hunny associates cats more with Kyoya and no doubles in THIS friend group).

   She's abrasive and temperamental and isn't a good person, but does a 180 with workers. she will always be polite and kind to the doorman, the waiter, the janitor.  yeah a lot of it is selfish pragmatism-- if the lunchlady's like her they'll give her extra food or the janitor will let her in the gym before school so she can use the showers--
And yeah that's a selfish reason to be a nice, but if u look a lil closer she's way nicer than she needs to be.
  "ol' postman jones complained about his joints last time he gave me his mail so i found some joint warmers and sole supports"
  "miss glen down the road has some grandkids, and i totally don't need these toys so maybe they can play with them since money's been a bit tight lately."
  "yeah i'll share all this extra food with the whole staff, it's just so they like me more and i get favors not cuz i wanna be nice to them or anything"
shinobu's so convinced that she can't ever change from the bad person she was, that even her good moments she can only see thru the lens of manipulation. any alternative is unfathomable for a long time

 As mentioned previously, her deteriorating eyesight has had a negative impact on her relationships, and in an effort to keep it a secret from the rest of the student body, forces her to come across far more abrassive and rude than she actually is.

 Cuz when you can't see if a desk is already occupied, or if something's on the ground that could trip you up, or even see how many steps there are on the stairwell, it makes you come across as a spacecase and clumsy. And then people will laugh at her, and she absolutely refuses for that to be the case. She keeps picking fights with the teachers as well, just cuz her stupid tired teen brain will go "clearly the only away to avoid this is to do something like sit on the floor or at the teacher's desk and I absolutely CANNOT BACK DOWN".

  Over the course of the story discovers she’s bisexual and is pissed  about it. She was so PROUDLY open about being a lesbian that this  felt like a “downgrade” to her.  (She was also real anxious about ppl  saying she was ‘cured’ of her  lesbianism, or that it had been a phase  when it absolutely was not)

she is an extremely guarded person,  nearly bordering on paranoia. One of  my base thoughts for her was “I  want a tsundere character”, and how  that would manifest and others  response to such mercurial reactions.
  So she. Just constantly  assumes ppl are making fun of her, or there’s a  catch to their  kindness, or there’s some other thing going on to explain  why someone  is talking to her. Part of it is personality, part of it is  habits  she’s picked up on the wrong side of town, some of it is  justified from  her upper class classmates being condescending or looking  down at her.  She knows she’s bottom rung on every conceivable ladder, a stain society wants to forget
She reacts big and bad when ppl  (physically)  get too close to her, one part cuz she can’t always  differentiate  between ppl cuz of her eyes, but also cuz she’s homeless  and she’s  gotta be quick on the draw so nobody gets the jump on her

 Later in the story, her disability and living situation is revealed, it's an absolute shock to people how her personality almost did a 180. She becomes more open, more affectionate, more honest. Who ARE you and where's are volatile vitch?

(there was probably a subplot where that stupid teen brain was all "oh  no what if my friends don't like me now that i'm all chill and nice and  girly now?" not realizing that she's still p dang confrontational and  manipulative, and her friends are prepared for the growing pains of  friends changing)

School Life

  In class 2-B, but due to having a number of smaller scholarships, she takes a few classes with the 2-A class. Students there for musical scholarships are given the option of either joining a club or having a job, but are discouraged from doing both since that'll spread them too thin. A lot of scholarship students often get jobs on campus. There are also dorms available, but Shinobu couldn't afford to stay there. She somehow still has a student ID that gives her access to them, and will ocassionally stay there, but is careful not to get caught or to go too often & draw attention.

  girl is constantly SLEEPY. She does NOT get a full 8 hrs, she’s always on the move, and   it takes her twice as long to study half the material as her classmates. A lotta her school troubles and delinquent image comes from skipping or sleeping thru class (cuz of the aforementioned issues or  cuz  she doesn’t wanna give up a study room for third period’s test)

 But is should be reiterated: Shinobu is exceptional. Despite all these hardships, she manages to hold onto her scholarship for two years, and remains in the top 10 or even top 5 students in testing. It baffles the student body, with rumors that she might be sleeping with somebody on staff to stay in school. Cuz how could someone so uncouth, so uncultured manage otherwise? It's ambiguous if that's true or not.

 Shinobu is at Ouran primarily on a music scholarship, specifically for the violin. She had a 'memorable' audition (which fuels the above mentioned rumors but isn't the case this time). People note that her expression & way of playing is very intense, and almost scary. This is offputting for some, esp other violinists who are bitter at her cuz "she's good but she's not that good" and they're right! There are much better players in the orchestra! But she cannot read the music; she listens and re-listens to whatever piece they're assigned and practices and practices and practices until she's got it right.

 She's always been self-taught but can play complex pieces by ear and can carry a conversation while doing so, which is no small feat.

But it turns out going to an academically demanding school, needing to practice daily for several hours, AND working at a busy club wound up being too many things at once, and she does finally get expelled from school. But by this point in the story, she's in a much better place financially, has a strong support system, and her disability is more well-known and people are willing to accomodate their friend.

 Now that she ain't shouldering that immense burden, it turns out she's much happier now. When she eventually decides to go back to school (geared for the blind), it surprises a few people that she blew away the entrance exams, cuz yeah she IS that smart.

Oh and in case anyone (no one) is interested, her job for the club is primarily accounting and managerial skills. Usually she’s called for a ‘double date’ with a different host member, or features in their side materials (drama CDs, blogging, making up “storylines” or being a stand-in for the customers to imagine themselves as, etc)
On the rare occasions her service is called for, she’s either the seductive upperclassman for female customers or the G-rated dominatrix for boys.