Ao Manaka

Ao Manaka (真中 あお, Manaka Ao) is one of the main characters of Koisuru Asteroid. She aspired to join the Astronomy team from the Earth Sciences Club.

Appearance
Ao is a young girl with long violet hair that is tied in low twin tail and cyan-blue eyes. When she was younger she used to have a short hair which is one of the reasons she used to be mistaken as a boy along with her name.

Personality
Ao is a more silent type of a girl who used to be quite talkative and open, but her vocabulary was poor and she often made mistakes, for which she ashamed herself as people laughed at her as time went. Because of that, she became more composed and held herself from speaking too much. She speaks with Mira a lot more than she usually does, though. She has a great passion for astronomy.

It is hinted that she could harbor romantic feelings towards Mira Konohata, for example, when she blushed and crawled away from Mira when she came too close to her, but didn't react that way when Mira's sister, Misa, came closer to her than Mira did, almost even touching Ao's face with her own.

Background
During a town camp, Ao was looking at the sky when Mira Konohata approached her. Ao showed her Jupiter and told her some facts impressing her. They revealed their names and Ao told Mira that her name meant variable star and showed her a book about a star Mira that changed brightness, making Mira happy. Mira asked Ao if there was a star with her name, but Ao said there is no star with such weird name. Mira then decided they will discover an asteroid and name it Ao.

Years later, they both joined the Hoshizaki High School and same Earth Sciences Club as they were interested in Astronomy. And soon they realized they knew each other from before and made the promise to find an asteroid together.

Trivia

 * Ao's surname Manaka means "real, genuine" (真, ma) and "middle" (中, naka).
 * Ao is the only one in the geoscience club to not be given a nickname from Mira.

Ao Manaka