Arhoshi

3/13 — Nicole Emilia Josten-Minyard (Nick)

Nick is the adopted daughter of Andrew and Neil. She came into their family at a year and a half old, together with her twin brother Caleb.

Her personality takes after Andrew the most — the same quietness, the same coldness on the surface. Emotions rarely show through. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Nick and Andrew share a special kind of bond. They understand each other without words, can sit in silence for hours and still feel heard. Her relationship with Neil is more complicated — she admires him as a coach and as a father, but never shows it openly. At the same time, she’s jealous of the way he gives himself to the team, though she’d never admit it — not even to herself.

Nick has a quiet hobby: she collects dinosaur figurines. Only her closest people know about it.

She gets irritated by noise, loud people, and especially Caleb — though that’s probably just her own twisted version of sibling love.

2/13 — Ida Lys

Ida’s parents were never really interested in her. They treated her more like an object that simply existed in the same space. The first person who actually showed her any real attention was her coach. You could say he became something like a parent or guardian to her. She never waited for her parents in the stands during her games — what mattered was whether the coach showed up.

Because of her parents, she grew up as a closed-off child. Things got worse when she started getting bullied at school because of her skin condition (vitiligo). She went out of her way to hide the patches just to avoid the constant mockery.

In her final year before graduation, during a training session, Ida scored a goal and turned to look at the spot where her coach always sat. There were medics around him. He was lying on the ground, unconscious. Too late — cardiac arrest.

Ida got into a serious argument with the coach who replaced him, and it took her six months to come to her senses. After she was kicked out, she finally realized what she had lost and decided to start over on her own.

At university, Neil noticed her and invited her to join the team. Ida felt awkward — she admitted she’d barely played in a long time. But she couldn’t pass up the chance to get back on the field, so she agreed.

After her first trial game, it became obvious that her teamwork was severely lacking — she could barely adapt to playing with others. A year of hard work made a huge difference. Ida improved drastically and caught up on what she had lost. By the middle of her sophomore year, Neil named her captain.

At first, Ida struggled with the role. She became too attached to it. The problem was this: even though she was ready to take responsibility on the field, every time the team lost and needed her as captain the most, she would shut down and withdraw.

AU! AFTG!! 20 years later Karaline Davis (Kara)

Kara is my favorite main character.

As I mentioned earlier, her mother, Cynthia, works as a prostitute. From early childhood, Kara was subjected to abuse from adults. She grew up emotionally closed off. Constant moves and never having a stable home left deep scars. Kara loved her mother — until she realized that her mother was no better than her own clients. From that point on, Kara threw herself into her studies with one goal: to escape that "home" as far as possible.

At some point, she fell for a guy who saved her from a group of men who were harassing her.

She struggles with the team — social issues from childhood make themselves known. Kara feels awkward around guys and keeps her distance at first, though she never holds back when it comes to sharp comebacks and biting remarks.