Maya Tsukiko

"They'll be remembering us for centuries!"

- -Maya to her team before the B Rank Wars battle against Chano Squad and Kakizaki Squad.

Amaya "Maya" Tsukiko is one of the main protagonists of Our Journey. She is a Border agent, and is one of the attackers and the leader of her unit, the Tsukiko Squad.

Appearance
Maya is on the taller side, being taller than her teammates, and often the same height as people older than her. She has long red-brown hair often done up in some braid, as she likes to play with it. She has vibrant green eyes, and in battle, her teammates have said that they light up, especially when she's using her Side Effect.

In her Border outfit, Maya wears a short-sleeved red t-shirt with a black vest over it with black leggings and brown ankle boots. The Border emblem can be found on the left side of her vest.

Casually, Maya is usually found in a black patterned t-shirt with an unzipped red sweatshirt over it, jeans and a pair of black combat boots.

Personality
Maya is overall, a very happy person. She's friendly and outgoing, as Maya was the first to approach Shana when she moved to Japan. Maya can act childish and immature at times, and her teammate Eri Asano has called her an idiot on multiple occasions. Fitting with her idiot status, Maya is also not very good at school, and has said that she is failing English, despite having a natural English speaker (teammate Shana Lee) open for help.

But what Maya lacks in smarts she more than makes up for in spirit. Maya is a true-blooded optimist, and even when faced with defeat, she stays positive and hopeful, and keeps her team in high spirits. No matter how cheesy it is or how much her teammates hate it, Maya frequently cracks a joke, "Guess what my blood type is? Be positive!"

Maya also knows her way around a fight, and is arguably her team's ace, though that position is debatable between her and teammate Eri. She has been known to challenge multiple other Border agents to Solo Rank Wars. She is best in close-range combat, as she fights with dual Kogetsus similar to her idol Kei Tachikawa.

History
During the First-Large Scale Invasion, Maya, her mother and her younger brother Kaede were living in an area in very close proximity to the first Gate that opened. Their house was destroyed by Neighbors, and Maya and Kaede's mother was captured by Neighbors. Their father had died of a disease two years prior, and after the Invasion, Maya and Kaede stuck together and looked out for each other. Maya joined Border two years later in hopes of someday being able to rescue her mother, as well as to help protect Kaede. Maya also roped her friend and soon-to-be teammate Eri Asano in, and the two of them became C Ranks together, Maya as an attacker and Eri as a shooter. Later, when both were B Ranks and forming their squad, Maya met Shana Lee, an American attacker who had just moved to Japan, and had transferred to Mikado City. Maya, as squad leader, invited Shana to join, and she later accepted. A little after Shana joined, the three girls found an operator looking for a squad named Kuni Ayugai. Maya invited her to join, and Kuni said yes, completing the Tsukiko Squad.

Our Journey
In Our Journey, you find Maya leading her team, the Tsukiko Squad into battle in B Rank Wars. Tsukiko Squad won their first battle against Tadeshi Squad and Matano Squad. Later, when watching Round 2 battles, Maya and Shana run into Shohei Izumi and Yosuke Yoneya, both A Ranks. The weird encounters continue, as the squad is invited by Shiori Usami for dinner at Tamakoma. Their second battle occurs soon after, another win, this time against Kakizaki Squad and Chano Squad. Their next battle is a four-way against Tamakoma-2, Suzunari-1 and Nasu Squad. Our Journey is still ongoing, so the fate of Maya and her squad will be decided in later chapters.

"Our Past" Miniseries
In the Our Journey miniseries "Our Past," what happened to Maya and her family during the First Large Scale Invasion is revealed. When she and her younger brother Kaede were walking home from school, they were attacked by a Neighbor. As it drew closer, Maya was worried she and Kaede would die, and hugged her younger brother tight. But right before the Neighbor ate them, the siblings were saved by Kei Tachikawa. Shortly after, Maya and Kaede were found by Yuichi Jin, who walked them home, or as far as he could until another Neighbor appeared. Maya and Kaede ran on to their apartment building, a block away. There, they found their apartment building had been crushed, their mother inside. Jin came up on the two siblings, and revealed to them that their mother wasn't dead in the rubble, but had been captured by the Neighbors, to which Maya responded, "How can I get her back?" It was later said that Maya joined Border to protect Kaede and find her mother. Her optimism is the cause of "living like you're dying," as Maya felt like she was going to die when that Neighbor attacked.

Kaede Tsukiko
Kaede is Maya's younger brother. Even though Kaede is 12, and says he's old enough to take care of himself, Maya looks out for and protects her younger brother, and he was part of the reason she joined Border. After their father died, Maya became protective of Kaede, and these instincts heightened after their mother was captured. Kaede does bug Maya like a little brother would, but both of them do love each other in a caring, brother-sister way.

Eri Asano
Eri and Maya are old friends who have known each other since middle school. Eri had a dream of joining Border, and when Maya told her friend that she had joined Border, Eri jumped at the chance to join after Maya's offer. Eri was Maya's first teammate, and acts as the shooter and strategist.

Shana Lee
Maya was one of the first people to meet Shana when she came to Japan. After Shana registered, she accidentally ran into Maya, who invited the American to join her squad. Out of all the members of the squad, Shana is closest with Maya, probably having a lot to do with the leader's initial kindness towards her and their similar personalities.

Kuni Ayugai
Maya and Kuni aren't particularly close, as Maya is with Eri or Shana, but they're teammates, and friends. Maya and Kuni are both goofballs, and both will often joke around with each other and tease their teammates.

Quotes
"Guess what my blood type is? Be positive!" -Maya's frequent bad joke.

"They'll be remembering us for centuries!" -Before the Round 2 battle, using a line from a song on Shana's pre-battle playlist.

"How can I get her back?" -To Yuichi Jin, after he tells her that her mother is not dead, only captured by Neighbors, in the "Our Past" miniseries.

"Let's do this thing!" -One of Maya's frequent exclamations.

Trivia

 * A similar character, also named Amaya Tsukiko, was submitted as an OC to Border Adventure by Tigrun on fanfiction.net.

Author's Notes

 * I use "squad" and "rank" instead of "unit" and "class." This was used in the subtitles I happen to watch, so I use it as well. So Maya's team is the Tsukiko Squad, not the Tsukiko Unit, and she is B Rank, not B Class.
 * The picture of Maya at the top was drawn by the amazing Yujonokage!