Saya Nishimura

Saya Nishimura is a supporting character from Yu-Gi-Oh! RED. She is an Osiris Red Dorm third-year student during the events of Red Days. Saya is an alchemist skilled in physical alchemy, as well as having minor oracle powers. She uses a Kaiju deck, and was the top ranked student at Duel Academia during her third year.

Appearance
Saya is of average height and weight, with fair skin and black hair. Her bangs are side swept to her right, and her hair goes past her shoulders and is held in a partial ponytail down towards the end of her hair, which is normally laying over her right shoulder like a side ponytail. She has dark gray eyes and wears rounded glasses. She wears the normal third-year Osiris Red uniform of a long red jacket, white pants, and black and white sneakers.

Post graduation, her hair is a longer and falls down her back rather than over her shoulder, though she still keeps it in a partial ponytail. She now wears a brightly colored neon jacket with fake neon paint splatters, a purple tank top, and baggy brown cargo pants with brown boots.

Personality
Saya is a cheerful person, enjoying practical jokes, teasing others, and generally facilitating good-natured mayhem. She is bright and exuberant and has a vast store of energy, especially towards annoying her underclassmen. Saya tends to take most things in stride, preferring to make jokes about the things that would normally be upsetting rather than let them get to her, and also to hide the level of emotional turmoil she actually feels from both others and herself. Saya thinks of herself as an eternal child, and is determined to spend her time having fun and enjoying her life rather than reaching for some abstract career goal. She enjoys ghost stories and a good prank, and isn't afraid to talk about things that would normally make others uncomfortable. Despite her seeming immaturity, Saya does take her role as an older student pretty seriously, and swears by the philosophy that nearly anything can be solved with a good duel.

Abilities
Saya is an alchemist skilled in physical alchemy, meaning that she has the ability to combine physical objects into something new. On one occasion, she created an interdimensional radio communicator with her abilities. Saya also has slight oracle abilities that allow her to see out of her sister Hinata's eyes, normally while she's asleep or when Hinata is under extreme stress. During these episodes, Saya can see, feel, and hear everything that Hinata does, and can also sense her emotional state. Hinata does not appear to be able to do this in reverse.

Etymology
Saya's first name is written in hiragana, which has no particular meaning. Her surname is written 西沼, from 西 (west) and 沼 (marsh).

History
When Saya was eight years old, her sister Hinata disappeared from the Duel Academia Honors Dorm. Her sister's disappearance created a rift in her family, causing her parents to separate. Saya, who continued to have dreams from her sister's perspective and knew she was still alive, was determined to find out what had happened to her. She decided to attend Duel Academia in order to track down more information about her disappearance. At Duel Academia, she was one of the very first students to be enrolled in the new Osiris Red Dorm for students with supernatural powers, where she met Judai Yuki and Johan Andersen. She learned the truth about other dimensions, and was able to secure Judai and Johan's help in searching for her missing sister. After her second year with no news, Saya began to give up, and tried to come to terms with her sister being gone, and to look forward to her own future instead.

Red Days
Saya spearheaded events to welcome the new first years by inviting them to a ghost story gathering at the abandoned dorm. She quickly became friends with Saki, whose skills impressed her and made her want to see how Saki would grow. She had no idea about the first-years' decision to look for Hinata, whom she'd already given up on and tried to move on from. She focused most of her attention on supporting Saki and creating her usual shenanigans while she enjoyed her final year at Duel Academia. She was one of the students kidnapped to another dimension by Armityle, and confronted him during a nightmare spell. After they were saved from the other dimension, she qualified as the top third-year at Duel Academia, and dueled Saki at their graduation duel, during which time Saki's powers released Hinata from the dimension she was trapped in. With her sister returned, Saya decided to stay at Duel Academia for a while longer to support her sister while she healed.

Osiris Blues
Saya stayed on at Duel Academia, living in an old house once belonging to the card shop owner with Hinata while Hinata recovered. Saya spent most of her time with Hinata, making sure she was doing all right and recovering from her years long ordeal. She continued to visit with the current Duel Academia students, and often invited them along to visit with Hinata. When Saki got into a rivalry with Haruka, Saya insisted that the two of them duel it out. Saya was one of the ones kidnapped into a bubble dimension by Armityle, and was subsequently released when Saki opened up the worlds with her sword. With Hinata now fully recovered, Saya decided to go traveling the world with her sister, planning on visiting their parents and telling them about Hinata's return as well.

Saki Yamaguchi
Saki is Saya's underclassman, and her friendly rival. Saya sees a lot of potential in Saki, and is interested in pushing her to help her reach her potential. While Saki's more straight-laced, nerdy personality doesn't always match with Saya's laid-back cheer, Saya still finds Saki to be a fun person to be around, and likes to help challenge her and get her out of slumps. Saya is extremely thankful to Saki for her part in rescuing Hinata, but really wants Saki to be able to enjoy herself without having to focus on being a hero.

Hinata Nishimura
Hinata is Saya's older sister. They're eight years apart in age, but they've been close since Saya was born. Hinata introduced Saya to Duel Monsters, and helped her pick out her deck. They have a good-natured bantering relationship, and Saya cares deeply for her sister, constantly but secretly worrying about her wellbeing.

Hibike Saito
Saito is Saya's roommate. Saya is somewhat put off by Saito, and annoyed about Saito's constant demon summoning that often makes Saya have to flee the room until Saito is done playing a shadow game. Despite this, Saya does find Saito amusing, and when not having to live with her, enjoys seeing her and hearing what she's been up to.

Judai Yuki
Judai is Saya's teacher. Saya approached him for help in finding her sister after she enrolled at Duel Academia, and after learning of Judai's potential involvement in Hinata's disappearance, was mostly impressed by his willingness to tell her the truth and to trust her with information most adults might keep from her. Saya thinks Judai is the most reliable adult she knows, and admires his strength and determination.

Johan Andersen
Johan is one of Saya's teachers. He also assisted in the search for Hinata after Saya first approached him during her first year of school. Saya doesn't spend as much time with Johan as she does Judai, but she finds him to be a calming and reassuring adult who she can trust.

Deck
Saya makes use of a Kaiju deck, focused on tributing her opponents monsters for her own to their side of the field in order to pit two kaiju against each other. Saya often duels in such a way that puts her at a disadvantage, hoping to make the duel more exciting. She and her monsters both get very excited the more powerful their opponent is, feeling as though they just can't help but want to fight and test themselves.

Trivia

 * Saya's design and personality were somewhat inspired by Asuka Tanaka from Hibike! Euphonium