![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Canon History!
While the manga hasn't gone into the exact specifics about Mikoto's back story, it has been stated by the manga author that he's always been a wallflower. His personality from when he was little hasn't changed, he's been shy since day one. He's never been good at dealing with people and has always been especially terrible at talking to girls. On top of this, his grades were quite terrible. At some point in his life, he became frustrated with his own timid nature and his inability to hold a conversation with a girl. Thus, he decided to change himself for the better. One day while he was out, he found out about dating simulation video games. Realizing that they featured girls with various types of personalities, he thought that this would be the best way to practice talking to girls. Originally, he picked them up so he could "study" on how to interact with girls but in the end, he became quite hooked on them and it ended up being becoming a hobby of his. He was fascinated by the stories and how women are much more complex than what he imagined, so Mikoto made it his goal to try and conquer every single one of them! Playing these games gave him some confidence, so he was slowly able to move up to 3D girls... in the form of collecting bishoujo figurines.
Dating Simulation games are also the reason for his cheesy, flirtatious pickup lines. He learned them from watching the protagonists say those lines in video games. With his good looks and smooth dialogue, he became a very popular guy at his school and gained many admirers. The only problem is that in the end, he's still a shy person and he becomes embarrassed with his own flirty lines. In fear of being judged, Mikoto is quick to hide his hobbies from other people. There are only
During his first year of high school, Mikoto found himself in the same class as the "Prince" of the School — Yuu Kashima. Despite the title, Kashima is actually a very handsome girl that usually gets confused as being a boy. Like Mikoto, she's a smooth talker who knows just what to say to cause the girls to swoon over her, but unlike Mikoto, she shows no embarrassment by her worlds. Because of this, and due to how popular both of them were among the girls, Mikoto immediately thought of Kashima as his rival. He made it a mission to challenge her in everything. Grades, picking up girls, sports and even courage tests but in the end, he lost to her every single time. In the end, they (or more like Mikoto. It's more than likely that Kashima didn't pay much mind to their rivalry.) found out that they actually got along pretty well and became the best friends. Whenever Kashima isn't busy with the drama club, she's usually seen hanging out with Mikoto. It has been noted by the protagonist of the manga — Chiyo Sakura that Mikoto didn't really have a choice but to become friends with her because of how one-sided their competitions were. However, the one thing that Mikoto was able to best her in was fighting video games.
It's not exactly stated when he became friends with aspiring shoujo manga author and title character of the series — Umetarou Nozaki. More than likely during their first year of high school since Mikoto ended up being the inspiration for Nozaki's main heroine of his manga series "Let's Fall in Love". They had to have been friends for at least good while. Nozaki needed ideas on characters for his manga, so he decided to do some people watching at his school. He happened to come across Mikoto, saw him flirting with some girls and then, later on, noticing how he immediately gets embarrassed right afterward. Finding these traits intriguing, he started trying to get to know him better and along with those traits, he also noticed that Mikoto craves attention but also tries his hardest in everything that he does. Nozaki thought these traits were adorable and thus, he became the model for the heroine — Mamiko, in Nozaki's manga. However, Mikoto himself is unaware that he is the inspiration for Mamiko. The only people that know about this are Nozaki, Chiyo and later on in the series, Hori who is Kashima's senpai in the drama club.
It's also during their friendship, Nozaki finds out about Mikoto's talent at drawing details like flowers, embellishments, and effects. Seeing as these were perfect for a shoujo manga, Nozaki enlisted Mikoto's aid in helping him draw his manga. The details about him teaming up with Nozaki aren't clear, but he ended up agreeing to help him but only on the basis that no one were to find out he was helping out with the manga. In his mind, he was feared that he would be seen as lame by others for working with the manga. Nozaki is also the person who came up with the nickname "Mikorin" for him. Seeing his cute, feminine traits, he thought that the nickname was perfect for him but of course, he doesn't ever say it out loud since he doesn't want to embarrass him.
When Mikoto moves onto his second year of high school, he meets Chiyo Sakura through Nozaki. Normally, he would have been shy around her since she's a girl, but his immediate impression of her was that she looked like a slow-witted person and thus, he didn't pay much mind to her. He came across as being aloof and arrogant towards Chiyo at first, telling her that he was her senpai since he had been working with Nozaki much longer than she did. The first time they worked together was a bit bumpy, Chiyo thought of him as annoying since he was practically hovering around her the whole time and was expecting for her to ask him for help. When she offered to go buy drinks for them, he told her that he wanted coffee but despite this, he went as far as to follow her all the way to the vending machine. Even though all this, Chiyo ends up learning more about him through Nozaki, she even finds out that he's the inspiration for Mamiko; the heroine of the manga. It's also through Mikoto that Chiyo was able to meet Kashima and befriend her. She brags to him about how Nozaki used her friend — Yuzuki Seo as a model for one of his new characters. Wanting to brag about his best friend, Mikoto shows no hesitation in introducing both Nozaki and Chiyo to Kashima.
Throughout the story, he becomes more comfortable around Chiyo and starts to show his true nature around her. She learns about the nickname "Mikorin" from Nozaki and begins to call him that. At first, Mikoto was embarrassed about it and didn't approve of the new nickname. Eventually, he gives up and stops correcting her, letting her call him "Mikorin" because he was so used to her presence. In turn, Chiyo also becomes more comfortable around Mikoto when she gets to see what his real personality is like. She slowly starts to find him endearing, and even hangs out with him on occasion. He even picks up on the fact that she has a huge crush on Nozaki and the reason why she helps out with manga is so that she could get closer to him. This intrigues him and he's quite curious to see if things will be able to work out between the two.
He knew about the drama club president — Masayuki Hori through Kashima. At first, he had only thought of him as the guy that came to "escort" Kashima to drama club. (Definition of "escorting" is actually Hori literally dragging Kashima to drama club practice.) His first actual meeting with him was a bit awkward. One day, he happened to walk in on Hori and Chiyo acting out a script that Nozaki had written for Hori. Mikoto was about ready to walk away until he got dragged into their script reading. At first, he was very hesitant and had trouble saying his lines, but because Hori takes acting very seriously, he wouldn't let Mikoto get away with half-assed acting and shouted at him the whole time until he got it right. After several tries, he does end up impressing the drama club president. He is also unaware of the fact that Hori is another one of Nozaki's manga assistants.
One day, Mikoto, Hori and the newest assistant to Nozaki — Hirotaka Wakamatsu all end up having a sleepover at Nozaki's house due to terrible weather conditions. It's here that he meets Wakamatsu for the first time. He notices Wakamatsu's muscles and finds out that he plays basketball. Mikoto himself is not athletic by any means and is quite terrible at physical activities. At first, he blew Wakamatsu off as being some dumb jock and didn't think they would be able to get along. It's only after Wakamatsu compliments on how cool Mikoto is, that he ends up taking an instant liking to him. It's later revealed that Mikoto gets along best with males younger than him because he likes to be seen as a "Big Brother". Wakamatsu and later on, Nozaki's younger brother — Mayu both fit this description and he ends up being close with the both of them.
When the drama club announces that they will be doing a musical production, Hori finds out that Kashima is terrible at singing and thus she wouldn't be able to participate in the play because of this. Mikoto once again ends up getting dragged into acting. At first, he refused, but after being told how cool he looked, he ended up giving in. While watching Mikoto and taking notice of his personality is when it clicks in Hori's mind that he was used as the basis for Mamiko. Because of this, Hori starts calling Mikoto; Mamikoshiba. All the while Mikoto continues to remain oblivious to the fact that he was used as the model for the heroine.
Later on when on his way from school, Mikoto notices Mayu waiting on his older brother by the school gates. It's here he meets Mayu for the first time and learns that the younger brother is a part of the judo club and is very lazy. He also learns about the struggles Nozaki had to face when convincing his parents to let him live by himself in an apartment. The chemistry between them really starts to click when Mikoto happens to stop by Nozaki's apartment and sees that Mayu had been waiting on his older brother. Nozaki wasn't home at the time, but Mayu found it too troublesome to go back home so he decided just to sit by the door and wait. Feeling sorry for him, Mikoto decided to wait with him, until Nozaki's neighbor and fellow shoujo manga author — Yukari Miyako lets the two boys stay at her place until Nozaki comes home. They chat over the realization that all shoujo manga plots are basically the same, and both of them even end up posing as models for Yukari to draw.
Needing to inspire his judo team, Mayu decides to take up drawing to try and motivate the members. He ends up going to Mikoto's house, wanting to practice drawing by looking at his figurines and dating simulation game covers. His drawings become very popular among the team, and one of his friends even starts an art blog for him, using the pseudonym "Mayumayu". Mikoto happens to stumble upon the art blog and becomes a fan of his work. Of course, he's under the impression that the owner of the blog is a girl and doesn't realize that it's Mayu's work. Not wanting to seem like he has ulterior motives for texting a junior high school girl, Mikoto uses the name "Mamiko", pretends to be a girl and sends Mayu an e-mail filled with feedback for his drawings. Mayu's friends encourage him to text "Mamiko" back, in order for him to get better at texting since he's so lazy. Through this, Mikoto and Mayu start a texting relationship, thinking that the person that they are texting is a girl. They end up texting each other all night, to the point their phone's batteries ended up dying. Neither one of them knows about the other's true identity. Mayumayu is so far, the only person that Mikorin has shown any sort of romantic interest in. In a later chapter, it's revealed they still text and he receives a message encouraging him to do his best on his finals. He comments that "her" messages always makes his heart flutter.
Mikoto's popularity gets the better of him and he ends up getting asked out by an unnamed girl. Due to how socially awkward he is, he finds the idea of going out with someone to be awkward, so he declines. He ends up lying to the girl, telling her that he already has a girlfriend. Since the other girl has never seen him with a girlfriend, she doesn't believe him and tells him to introduce his girlfriend to her. At first, he asks Kashima, but then when they try acted it out, it dawned on Mikoto that it felt more like he got a boyfriend than a girlfriend. He doesn't want to ask Chiyo on the basis that he sees her as a little sister. Eventually, Chiyo convinces her friend; Yuzuki Seo to act as his fake girlfriend. Seo gets a makeover and Mikoto introduces her to the girl that asked him out. Despite that she takes notice of Seo throwing Mikoto's bag on the ground, she does end up believing him and leaves him alone.
Due to his popularity, he continues to find himself in shenanigans that he doesn't want to be a part of. Some boys from his class ask him to go to a mixer with them. Not wanting to seem like he was running away, Mikoto reluctantly ends up agreeing. He didn't want to go alone, so at first, he asks Nozaki to go with him. Chiyo didn't take too kindly to the idea of Nozaki getting along with another girl, so she ends up volunteering Mayu to go with Mikoto instead. The entire time, Mikoto ends up sticking to Mayu like glue and doesn't leave his side for a moment. After the mixer is over, two girls approach Mikoto, wanting to spend some more time with him. Earlier in the day, Nozaki told Mayu about this being a typical scenario in a shoujo manga and that the guy has to protect the heroine from danger. In an instant, Mayu steps in front of Mikoto and declares in front of everyone that "He is mine." Which causes an awkward silence among the group.
In the recent chapters of the manga, Mikoto assists Chiyo in trying to get closer to Nozaki. Needing more inspiration for his manga, Nozaki ends up pretending to Chiyo's boyfriend with Mikoto getting the role of the guardian spirit that's supposed to aid her. Throughout this, he's able to convince them to call each other by their first names on this fake date. There's also an instance where Chiyo was at a sleepover with Kashima and Seo. The boys were also having a sleepover at Nozaki's house, and Mikoto even offers to take pictures of Nozaki out of the shower and send it to Chiyo... even if it didn't work due to technical issues.
Later on, Wakamatsu learning about dating simulation games from Mikoto. At first, he was too embarrassed to admit that he played them and even lies and says that they are Mayu's games. When Wakamatsu and Mayu start to actually play them, he sees how terrible they are at playing and it causes him to finally snap and show them how to properly play the game. Through this Wakamatsu is one of the few that is aware of Mikoto's otaku hobbies (The others being the two Nozaki brothers.)
Chapters 92-94 focus on the second years field trip. In preparation for the trip, he notices that Chiyo and Nozaki have gotten closer and is even impressed when he thinks that she has sneakily made plans to spend time with her crush. Of course in typical Nozaki fashion, he's proven wrong when sees Nozaki suggesting they go to spots that will give him inspiration for his manga. Throughout the entire trip, Mikorin constantly reminds himself to buy Mayu a souvenir. It's strangely made apparent when after he "flirts" with Seo, he's pinned down by a wrestling move from her and the first thing he says is "That reminds me, I haven't bought a souvenir for Mayu yet. I must buy one!" To which Chiyo finds very strange.
Dating Simulation games are also the reason for his cheesy, flirtatious pickup lines. He learned them from watching the protagonists say those lines in video games. With his good looks and smooth dialogue, he became a very popular guy at his school and gained many admirers. The only problem is that in the end, he's still a shy person and he becomes embarrassed with his own flirty lines. In fear of being judged, Mikoto is quick to hide his hobbies from other people. There are only
During his first year of high school, Mikoto found himself in the same class as the "Prince" of the School — Yuu Kashima. Despite the title, Kashima is actually a very handsome girl that usually gets confused as being a boy. Like Mikoto, she's a smooth talker who knows just what to say to cause the girls to swoon over her, but unlike Mikoto, she shows no embarrassment by her worlds. Because of this, and due to how popular both of them were among the girls, Mikoto immediately thought of Kashima as his rival. He made it a mission to challenge her in everything. Grades, picking up girls, sports and even courage tests but in the end, he lost to her every single time. In the end, they (or more like Mikoto. It's more than likely that Kashima didn't pay much mind to their rivalry.) found out that they actually got along pretty well and became the best friends. Whenever Kashima isn't busy with the drama club, she's usually seen hanging out with Mikoto. It has been noted by the protagonist of the manga — Chiyo Sakura that Mikoto didn't really have a choice but to become friends with her because of how one-sided their competitions were. However, the one thing that Mikoto was able to best her in was fighting video games.
It's not exactly stated when he became friends with aspiring shoujo manga author and title character of the series — Umetarou Nozaki. More than likely during their first year of high school since Mikoto ended up being the inspiration for Nozaki's main heroine of his manga series "Let's Fall in Love". They had to have been friends for at least good while. Nozaki needed ideas on characters for his manga, so he decided to do some people watching at his school. He happened to come across Mikoto, saw him flirting with some girls and then, later on, noticing how he immediately gets embarrassed right afterward. Finding these traits intriguing, he started trying to get to know him better and along with those traits, he also noticed that Mikoto craves attention but also tries his hardest in everything that he does. Nozaki thought these traits were adorable and thus, he became the model for the heroine — Mamiko, in Nozaki's manga. However, Mikoto himself is unaware that he is the inspiration for Mamiko. The only people that know about this are Nozaki, Chiyo and later on in the series, Hori who is Kashima's senpai in the drama club.
It's also during their friendship, Nozaki finds out about Mikoto's talent at drawing details like flowers, embellishments, and effects. Seeing as these were perfect for a shoujo manga, Nozaki enlisted Mikoto's aid in helping him draw his manga. The details about him teaming up with Nozaki aren't clear, but he ended up agreeing to help him but only on the basis that no one were to find out he was helping out with the manga. In his mind, he was feared that he would be seen as lame by others for working with the manga. Nozaki is also the person who came up with the nickname "Mikorin" for him. Seeing his cute, feminine traits, he thought that the nickname was perfect for him but of course, he doesn't ever say it out loud since he doesn't want to embarrass him.
When Mikoto moves onto his second year of high school, he meets Chiyo Sakura through Nozaki. Normally, he would have been shy around her since she's a girl, but his immediate impression of her was that she looked like a slow-witted person and thus, he didn't pay much mind to her. He came across as being aloof and arrogant towards Chiyo at first, telling her that he was her senpai since he had been working with Nozaki much longer than she did. The first time they worked together was a bit bumpy, Chiyo thought of him as annoying since he was practically hovering around her the whole time and was expecting for her to ask him for help. When she offered to go buy drinks for them, he told her that he wanted coffee but despite this, he went as far as to follow her all the way to the vending machine. Even though all this, Chiyo ends up learning more about him through Nozaki, she even finds out that he's the inspiration for Mamiko; the heroine of the manga. It's also through Mikoto that Chiyo was able to meet Kashima and befriend her. She brags to him about how Nozaki used her friend — Yuzuki Seo as a model for one of his new characters. Wanting to brag about his best friend, Mikoto shows no hesitation in introducing both Nozaki and Chiyo to Kashima.
Throughout the story, he becomes more comfortable around Chiyo and starts to show his true nature around her. She learns about the nickname "Mikorin" from Nozaki and begins to call him that. At first, Mikoto was embarrassed about it and didn't approve of the new nickname. Eventually, he gives up and stops correcting her, letting her call him "Mikorin" because he was so used to her presence. In turn, Chiyo also becomes more comfortable around Mikoto when she gets to see what his real personality is like. She slowly starts to find him endearing, and even hangs out with him on occasion. He even picks up on the fact that she has a huge crush on Nozaki and the reason why she helps out with manga is so that she could get closer to him. This intrigues him and he's quite curious to see if things will be able to work out between the two.
He knew about the drama club president — Masayuki Hori through Kashima. At first, he had only thought of him as the guy that came to "escort" Kashima to drama club. (Definition of "escorting" is actually Hori literally dragging Kashima to drama club practice.) His first actual meeting with him was a bit awkward. One day, he happened to walk in on Hori and Chiyo acting out a script that Nozaki had written for Hori. Mikoto was about ready to walk away until he got dragged into their script reading. At first, he was very hesitant and had trouble saying his lines, but because Hori takes acting very seriously, he wouldn't let Mikoto get away with half-assed acting and shouted at him the whole time until he got it right. After several tries, he does end up impressing the drama club president. He is also unaware of the fact that Hori is another one of Nozaki's manga assistants.
One day, Mikoto, Hori and the newest assistant to Nozaki — Hirotaka Wakamatsu all end up having a sleepover at Nozaki's house due to terrible weather conditions. It's here that he meets Wakamatsu for the first time. He notices Wakamatsu's muscles and finds out that he plays basketball. Mikoto himself is not athletic by any means and is quite terrible at physical activities. At first, he blew Wakamatsu off as being some dumb jock and didn't think they would be able to get along. It's only after Wakamatsu compliments on how cool Mikoto is, that he ends up taking an instant liking to him. It's later revealed that Mikoto gets along best with males younger than him because he likes to be seen as a "Big Brother". Wakamatsu and later on, Nozaki's younger brother — Mayu both fit this description and he ends up being close with the both of them.
When the drama club announces that they will be doing a musical production, Hori finds out that Kashima is terrible at singing and thus she wouldn't be able to participate in the play because of this. Mikoto once again ends up getting dragged into acting. At first, he refused, but after being told how cool he looked, he ended up giving in. While watching Mikoto and taking notice of his personality is when it clicks in Hori's mind that he was used as the basis for Mamiko. Because of this, Hori starts calling Mikoto; Mamikoshiba. All the while Mikoto continues to remain oblivious to the fact that he was used as the model for the heroine.
Later on when on his way from school, Mikoto notices Mayu waiting on his older brother by the school gates. It's here he meets Mayu for the first time and learns that the younger brother is a part of the judo club and is very lazy. He also learns about the struggles Nozaki had to face when convincing his parents to let him live by himself in an apartment. The chemistry between them really starts to click when Mikoto happens to stop by Nozaki's apartment and sees that Mayu had been waiting on his older brother. Nozaki wasn't home at the time, but Mayu found it too troublesome to go back home so he decided just to sit by the door and wait. Feeling sorry for him, Mikoto decided to wait with him, until Nozaki's neighbor and fellow shoujo manga author — Yukari Miyako lets the two boys stay at her place until Nozaki comes home. They chat over the realization that all shoujo manga plots are basically the same, and both of them even end up posing as models for Yukari to draw.
Needing to inspire his judo team, Mayu decides to take up drawing to try and motivate the members. He ends up going to Mikoto's house, wanting to practice drawing by looking at his figurines and dating simulation game covers. His drawings become very popular among the team, and one of his friends even starts an art blog for him, using the pseudonym "Mayumayu". Mikoto happens to stumble upon the art blog and becomes a fan of his work. Of course, he's under the impression that the owner of the blog is a girl and doesn't realize that it's Mayu's work. Not wanting to seem like he has ulterior motives for texting a junior high school girl, Mikoto uses the name "Mamiko", pretends to be a girl and sends Mayu an e-mail filled with feedback for his drawings. Mayu's friends encourage him to text "Mamiko" back, in order for him to get better at texting since he's so lazy. Through this, Mikoto and Mayu start a texting relationship, thinking that the person that they are texting is a girl. They end up texting each other all night, to the point their phone's batteries ended up dying. Neither one of them knows about the other's true identity. Mayumayu is so far, the only person that Mikorin has shown any sort of romantic interest in. In a later chapter, it's revealed they still text and he receives a message encouraging him to do his best on his finals. He comments that "her" messages always makes his heart flutter.
Mikoto's popularity gets the better of him and he ends up getting asked out by an unnamed girl. Due to how socially awkward he is, he finds the idea of going out with someone to be awkward, so he declines. He ends up lying to the girl, telling her that he already has a girlfriend. Since the other girl has never seen him with a girlfriend, she doesn't believe him and tells him to introduce his girlfriend to her. At first, he asks Kashima, but then when they try acted it out, it dawned on Mikoto that it felt more like he got a boyfriend than a girlfriend. He doesn't want to ask Chiyo on the basis that he sees her as a little sister. Eventually, Chiyo convinces her friend; Yuzuki Seo to act as his fake girlfriend. Seo gets a makeover and Mikoto introduces her to the girl that asked him out. Despite that she takes notice of Seo throwing Mikoto's bag on the ground, she does end up believing him and leaves him alone.
Due to his popularity, he continues to find himself in shenanigans that he doesn't want to be a part of. Some boys from his class ask him to go to a mixer with them. Not wanting to seem like he was running away, Mikoto reluctantly ends up agreeing. He didn't want to go alone, so at first, he asks Nozaki to go with him. Chiyo didn't take too kindly to the idea of Nozaki getting along with another girl, so she ends up volunteering Mayu to go with Mikoto instead. The entire time, Mikoto ends up sticking to Mayu like glue and doesn't leave his side for a moment. After the mixer is over, two girls approach Mikoto, wanting to spend some more time with him. Earlier in the day, Nozaki told Mayu about this being a typical scenario in a shoujo manga and that the guy has to protect the heroine from danger. In an instant, Mayu steps in front of Mikoto and declares in front of everyone that "He is mine." Which causes an awkward silence among the group.
In the recent chapters of the manga, Mikoto assists Chiyo in trying to get closer to Nozaki. Needing more inspiration for his manga, Nozaki ends up pretending to Chiyo's boyfriend with Mikoto getting the role of the guardian spirit that's supposed to aid her. Throughout this, he's able to convince them to call each other by their first names on this fake date. There's also an instance where Chiyo was at a sleepover with Kashima and Seo. The boys were also having a sleepover at Nozaki's house, and Mikoto even offers to take pictures of Nozaki out of the shower and send it to Chiyo... even if it didn't work due to technical issues.
Later on, Wakamatsu learning about dating simulation games from Mikoto. At first, he was too embarrassed to admit that he played them and even lies and says that they are Mayu's games. When Wakamatsu and Mayu start to actually play them, he sees how terrible they are at playing and it causes him to finally snap and show them how to properly play the game. Through this Wakamatsu is one of the few that is aware of Mikoto's otaku hobbies (The others being the two Nozaki brothers.)
Chapters 92-94 focus on the second years field trip. In preparation for the trip, he notices that Chiyo and Nozaki have gotten closer and is even impressed when he thinks that she has sneakily made plans to spend time with her crush. Of course in typical Nozaki fashion, he's proven wrong when sees Nozaki suggesting they go to spots that will give him inspiration for his manga. Throughout the entire trip, Mikorin constantly reminds himself to buy Mayu a souvenir. It's strangely made apparent when after he "flirts" with Seo, he's pinned down by a wrestling move from her and the first thing he says is "That reminds me, I haven't bought a souvenir for Mayu yet. I must buy one!" To which Chiyo finds very strange.