Linnai

Biodata

Personality

Linnai is an outgoing troublemaker with a reputation for placing first in combat and near the bottom in theory. She is easily bored by lectures, enthusiastic about games and outings, and quick to recruit reluctant friends into her plans. At the arcade, she rejects Chisaki's proposal to exploit the machines' algorithms because uncertainty is what makes games enjoyable 18 25 27.

Her appetite is a powerful motivator. She competes over shared food, races for the cafeteria counter, and accepts unpaid musical gatherings once Zhou Yu promises unlimited food. During her endurance test, the smell of his grilled meatballs turns her near-defeat into a first-place finish 23 64 79 90.

Linnai is intensely interested in romance and gossip, particularly Dania's relationship with Zhou Yu. Although her teasing and surveillance often disregard privacy, she also offers sincere encouragement: before Dania's stargazing invitation, she tells her to stop worrying about tricks and simply be herself. Her protectiveness becomes more serious when she notices Yeqi watching Dania and immediately alerts Zhou Yu 56 61.

She is a devoted Flying Snow Velvet fan, claiming to have waved at concerts for three years without receiving a glance. Her ideal partner would attend every concert with her, provide tissues when she cries, and cheer even louder than she does 30 37.

Abilities & Skills

Combat and Athletics

Linnai's combat reputation contrasts with her inconsistent performance in formal fitness testing 18 78.

• Combat standing: Described as consistently first in combat at the academy; no named combat technique is demonstrated in the supplied passages 18.
• Acceleration: Logistics Department records show forty-seven consecutive days of cafeteria sprints, with average acceleration exceeding the academy record holder's 64.
• Relay running: Recovers from an unsteady start and takes the lead on the bend. The neighboring runner also slips after Zhou Yu touches a loose ground spike in that lane 64.
• Endurance limitation: Falls to last place in the women's 5,000-meter test despite preparing a “turtle-breathing” technique. Food motivation prompts her to overtake more than a dozen runners and finish first 79.

Gaming and Rhythm

• Guides Dania through the Deep Dive Game Room and explains its arcade machines 25.
• Introduces Dania to Catch the Food, choosing its falling-food premise over Zhou Yu's proposed beginner game 26.
• Performs a two-player dance-machine track with Aimis at 200 BPM, earning perfect ratings throughout without becoming flushed or breathless 26.

Journalism and Observation

• Serves as school newspaper editor-in-chief and conducts interviews with new students 60 61.
• Publishes four issues by the time Zhou Yu reviews her work: three feature headlines glorifying war, while the fourth covers the academy's record midterm failure rate and receives the school's highest readership 60.
• Recognizes the danger in Yeqi's stated origin and attention toward Dania, then brings her interview notes directly to Zhou Yu 61.
• Helps Aimis gather a witness account of a limping, gray-clad laborer carrying a mask toward the west alley during the search for Lingyang's stolen charm 110.

Music

• Accompanies Aimis on guitar during a beach performance later saved by Chisaki as “Paper Plane” 90.
• Initially hesitates over newly received sheet music, then finds the chords and plays more steadily 90.
• Agrees to continue Friday-night barbecue-and-singing gatherings and keeps the guitar 90.

Equipment & Items

• Crimson Mane: Her flame-red motorcycle, decorated with a black roaring beast that she painted herself. She also enthusiastically explains its engine specifications to Dania 19.
• Personal terminal: Used for concert announcements, encrypted group messages, and covert photographs of Dania and Zhou Yu 29 38 40 42.
• Interview notebook: Records Yeqi's answers and serves as evidence when she reports him to Zhou Yu 61.
• Guitar and case: Used at the beach gathering and subsequently carried during the journey on Mt. Firmament 90 105.
• Optical camouflage netting: Shared with Aimis, Chisaki, and Sigelica while spying on the stargazing date 57 58.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Meeting Dania and Joining the Group

Linnai meets Dania on the preparatory class's first day. Her attempt to act intimidating gives way to a big-sister promise to protect the newcomer, and Dania offers her half a roasted sweet potato. During Moning's lecture, Linnai witnesses Zhou Yu squeeze through an impossibly narrow cabinet gap to deliver Dania a note, leaving her fascinated by his unexplained abilities 18.

She subsequently draws Dania into the group's recreational life, showing off Crimson Mane and organizing an arcade visit. Her excitement over Flying Snow Velvet's secret concert leads the group toward the auditorium, where Zhou Yu obtains access through a staff entrance. After discovering that Aimis is the singer, Linnai confronts her about concealing the identity from her friends 19 25 29 30 33.

Helping Dania Pursue Zhou Yu

After Dania begins recognizing her romantic feelings, Linnai declares a Slacking Squad mission to help her win over Zhou Yu. She photographs their interactions, coordinates updates through an encrypted group chat, and encourages Dania to create opportunities rather than wait passively 37 38 39.

At Starlight Amusement Park, Linnai helps choose Dania's outfit and takes the other friends away to leave the pair alone. She secretly photographs their joined hands and advances her Ferris Wheel Plan. Dania later recalls Linnai's advice to confess at the wheel's highest point; Linnai records the outcome as the operation's successful final phase 40 42.

Her next goal is public acknowledgment of the relationship. When three exchange students approach Zhou Yu, she photographs them for the group chat and proposes a public announcement. Dania instead expresses a preference for continuing their quiet breakfasts together 42 43.

Candy Mishap and Stargazing Fallout

After eating Sigelica's popping candy, Linnai suffers an involuntary reversal of her intended speech. Compliments to Aimis emerge as vicious insults, and attempts to explain only worsen the misunderstanding. She eventually keeps her mouth shut and communicates through the group chat 49 50 51.

Following the midterms, Linnai organizes a back-mountain stargazing date for Dania and Zhou Yu. She helps with Dania's clothes and advice, then accompanies the others in secretly observing the couple. Their discovery interrupts an almost-kiss 56 57 58.

Linnai presents an overnight apology letter, but Zhou Yu imposes a fifty-star-coin labor penalty on each observer, suspends their meal benefits for a week, and assigns warehouse cleaning. After receiving roasted sweet potatoes, Linnai rallies the group to clear warehouse three's cockroaches 60.

Protecting Dania and Facing Assessments

While interviewing transfer student Yeqi, Linnai learns that he comes from the Fractsidus-controlled Northern Territory and has arrived to find someone. His gaze toward Dania alarms her enough to seek Zhou Yu immediately. Her report prompts him to investigate the validity of Yeqi's transfer paperwork 61.

Academic assessments repeatedly expose Linnai's weak preparation. Before midterms, she has barely begun empathy theory and has not opened her history textbook; Chisaki estimates a seventy-three percent overall risk of her failing a course. A memory-palace exercise puts her to sleep, while Aimis's history rap leaves her remembering lyrics instead of useful answers 54 55 56.

Zhou Yu later finds a more effective approach by presenting history through sensational stories about military logistics and peace negotiations. Linnai becomes absorbed in annotating the material, applies the unconventional lessons during finals, and celebrates a summer vacation without failed courses 82 83.

Summer Travel and Later Activities

At the South Sea beach, Linnai accompanies Aimis on guitar during a performance that moves the gathered group. She then joins the seaside foraging excursion and the journey to Huanglong 90 92.

In Jinzhou, she helps Sigelica persuade Chisa to allow an exception to the ten o'clock curfew. Later, she assists the investigation into Lingyang's stolen protection charm by gathering information with Aimis 96 110.

When Zhou Yu's party leaves the Black Shores and sets its next destination as Honami City in Ashihara, Linnai and Aimis remain behind 124.

Relationships

• Dania — Close friend whom she calls “Yaya.” Linnai introduces her to games and concerts, encourages her romance, and explains the purpose of the hotel condoms Dania mistakes for strawberry candy 18 25 29 56 74.
• Zhou Yu — Friend and frequent provider of meals, tutoring, and recreational access. She addresses him as “Brother Zhou,” admires his unconventional methods, and repeatedly incurs his labor penalties for meddling 30 60 79 82.
• Aimis / Flying Snow Velvet — Friend, dance-game rival, musical partner, and the idol Linnai had unknowingly admired for years. Linnai is indignant when she discovers Aimis has hidden her singing identity 26 30 33 90.
• Sigelica — Close friend and frequent target of teasing, recruitment into outings, and newspaper coverage. Linnai also supplies an off-white floral dress for Sigelica's library outing with Lu Hesi 25 60 75 84.
• Chisaki — Collaborator in observing Dania and Zhou Yu. Linnai uses her data-gathering help but objects when analysis threatens the fun of games or overwhelms ordinary conversation 25 37 57.
• Moning — Preparatory-class professor whose lectures bore Linnai and whose examination announcements provoke panic 18 54 81.