Nodoka Watatsumi (Noriko Watatsumi)

Noriko is an observant, methodical, and ambitious woman who believes in proving what she believes to be real with the power of science. While she is extremely logical in all her thought processes, Noriko, on the flipside, also believes in the supernatural and apparitions, and puts her whole heart and soul into proving that such oddities exist in the real world, and science can be applied to it. However, with her constant analytic and meticulous temperament, she often overthinks on many things, and tends to assume that people don't like her for being too complex, verbose, and hard to understand, so she tends to be quiet and distant around others. When in conversation with people, she is physically and mentally stiff, and will either blather on about the topic or be extremely quick and blunt as attempts to fit in with the crowd, which unfortunately...doesn't work. This was more prominent in her years as a student, and she is less like this as an employed adult and instead tends to be more dominating and leading in her words. This tendency still pops up and resurfaces nonetheless.

Her highly attentive nature comes from her side of the family, the Tendoujis, who are exceptionally strict and demanding, and only want perfection in their life. Though it comes from them, Noriko expresses that she doesn't like a lot of her family and they perpetually give her panic attack after panic attack, and is scared of them. She believes innovation is meant to be free, and not restrictive as her family makes it to be. Her aggressive ambition and belief in strange phenomena can be seen as an indirect act of rebellion. While her parents have astronomically high expectations of others around them, Noriko doesn't seem to be influenced by it in personality, and is actually quite loose in her expectations unless you bother her, though her quiet nature makes her appear as judgemental. Truthfully, she is just stiff and very poor at communicating with others, but wants to get better at being a people person. She desires a more casual life than the one her family tries to set out for her, hence why she is drawn to Jubei...in college. Not junior high, oh god that is a whole different thing. She is attracted to his supportive, charismatic, and free nature, and wants to be just as free with him, for herself and for Jubei. The thought of it makes her so, so very happy.

When it comes to everything but the fields she is experienced in, she tends to be pessimistic and massively anxious over her abilities, even if she does much research and preparation, mental and physical, beforehand. She is prone to self deprecation, and believes that she isn't good at anything except science, because it's the only thing she likes. She wants to feel like she is good at other things, but she states that she is likely just doomed to be a introverted geek, without realizing that is exactly why Jubei has always liked her from the very beginning. She also believes she doesn't deserve items of luxury, given her reaction whenever Jubei bought her anything, including but not limited to: a high quality microscope, glassware, a pocketbook imported from mainland Niigata, and their wedding rings. She also tended to hide her excitement, believing that she's being rude or too overenthusiastic. Of course, she let go some of these habits as she aged and spent time with Jubei. Her low self esteem reflected on how she took care of Nodoka, accidentally being overbearing and overcautious over her, attempting to always have her ahead of everything else, and being a tad distant when she felt like she didn't provide anything of value until Jubei just told her to calm down and that taking care of Nodoka is not as deep as she thinks it is. All she has to do is be there for her, to make sure Nodoka knows she cares, and to encourage all the great goals Nodoka wants to set. Noriko promised to always improve her care, and to become more open and honest with herself, for her family. She became...extremely smothering and more emotional at even the smallest things that make her happy in the process though, but Nodoka and Jubei like that side of her. Given how she did after Jubei passed, and how Nodoka's upbringing was, I'd say she did a pretty damn good job at it.

Noriko will always, always be excited and hyper for any supernatural encounterings, and attempts to pull Jubei along whenever she senses a phenomena about to happen. Her mood shifts drastically, being exceptionally outgoing, eager, and unapologetically passionate about the supernatural. Unfortunately, the Lab Committee made her fall into the system's trap of the ideology that all apparitions are evil, and must be dealt with and eliminated, especially with the death of Jubei not helping the cause. Nowadays, her passion for the supernatural no longer seems to be out of interest and a desire to study, but instead, out of ambition to suppress and destroy the Hollow Night's existence, to save the people and to avenge those close to her that have fallen to its whims. There seems to be no love for the bizzare in her heart anymore. How...tragic. At work, she is dominant and determined to do anything to get herself further to the answers she needs. well at least she doesn't show this outside of the workplace and it all stays there thank fucking god. she doesnt want nodoka to take the path she has