Name: Aoi Nishikawa (meaning of first name: blueish; meaning of last name: western river)

Age: 15-16 (Free!); 16-17 (Free! Eternal Summer); 17-18 (Free! Dive to the Future)

Gender: male

Sexuality: closet gay

Nationality: Japanese

Height: 5'3

Personality: Aoi used to be such a bright and outgoing kid. He always was kind to others and always put their needs before his own. But that all changed after an incident that made his mom decide for them to move. After that happened, he was never the same. He wasn't his bright and outgoing self anymore. Now, he is more meek and shy, too scared to even open around anyone he meets. It takes time for him to even be able to talk to others. He gets scared of doing anything since he didn't want to be judged at all. He hates that this is him now, his confidence in himself feeling like it's nonexistent. He wants to be like his old self again, the one who is excited to be around others and hang out with them, having a good time.  

Likes: swimming and being in the water, listening to music, reading, calm rainy weather, his room since that's a safe space for him, animals especially cats, chocolate and sweets, walks along the beachside, sunrises and sunsets, flowers, anime, binge watching shows when he has the time, festivals and wearing a yukata, cherry blossom trees

Dislikes: bullies because of the incident, being alone even though it's hard for him to make friends right now, rollercoasters, seafood since it's not his favorite, when it's really cold out, his lack of confidence in himself, scary movies, bees, vegetables

Fears: being alone and not having friends, not able to be his old self again

Health: Overall, Aoi has good health but does tend to get bad anxiety at times. If a bad situation happens, it can lead to him having a panic attack.

Family: It's only him and his mom since his dad left them when he was younger. Being without a dad doesn't bother him at all but he wished he had met him at least.

Friends: he's scared to make friends after what happened when he was younger but of course he becomes friends with his swimming club members and the members of the Iwatobi swim club

Crush: Sousuke Yamazaki

School: Samezuka Academy

Year: 1st year (Free!); 2nd year (Free! Eternal Summer); 3rd year (Free! Dive to the Future)

Club: swimming club

Swimming style: freestyle

Background: When Aoi was at his old elementary school, some of the boys in his class decided to start bully him. Since he didn't have a dad, they all picked on him about it, saying he was the reason he left. He tries to ignore it all but the picking started to get worse and worse as time went on. He was on the smaller side so the guys decided to push him around, hitting him against the wall or chubby area of the classroom, anything to mess with him. One day, they took it too far when they pushed him down the stairs, Aoi getting terribly hurt after it. He luckily didn't break any bones but he was bruised up badly and had a concussion. His mom didn't know about the bullying at all until after this incident, upset by what all that happened. She was appalled that even the teachers didn't notice a thing or did anything to stop it. She decided for them to move to a different area so he could start new. Though, he just was never the same since then. He started to attend Iwatobi Elementary School and even though everyone seemed nice, he just couldn't interact with anyone at all. Nagisa was the one to notice this since they were in the same class so he decided to invite him to the swim club at the time. Aoi was a bit reluctant to it but Nagisa kept insisting on it. He finally gave in, there finding his love for swim and learning about the different styles. He gravitated towards freestyle since it made him feel like himself again. He couldn't explain it at all. It felt right to him. He slowly started to open up a little while being around Nagisa, Haruki, Makoto, and Rin at the time. He was comfortable since they had a nice calm atmosphere to them. He continued to keep up with swimming and was becoming really good at it, getting close to how good Haru was. He had no idea about what was going on with Haru and Rin, clueless when Haru had decided to quit swim club. It sadden him but made him continue to push himself to become better. Once high school came around for him, his mother thought it would be a good idea for him to attend Samezuka because of their excellent swim program. He was sad he wouldn't be going to Iwatobi High like the others but knew that this was a good opportunity for him. This would help him be with new people and maybe make some new friends in the swim club. He hoped that it would change him to how he was before.

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