Hello, I'm finally back.
I deeply apologize for disappearing for a long time and not giving updates on the current state of YunokiRoom as a doujinshi circle and series since December 14th, 2024.
For those who had no idea what happened to me on that day, my home island of Mayotte has been destroyed by Cyclone Chido, which in turn left me without electricity, water and internet services for several weeks, and had also affected the nearby countries of Mozambique and Madagascar as well as in Malawi.
However, since I actually survived the cyclone, I’ll explain to you all the whole story.
On that day, we all woke up to our smartphones displaying an alert informing us that a purple alert has been put in place in our area, before the electricity was cut off everywhere, as our water and internet services have been taken down a few days prior to Chido’s arrival.
Throughout that time, I spent the next few days drawing some of the characters that I still enjoy to this day, every single day, all the way up to December 26th (the day after our electricity has been restored) and wrote several novels that I plan on posting online, which included "One Night in Norway", "Araba" and "Welcome to Mayotte", and 3 days after I drew my characters Araba and Rouwaïda (who were both introduced last month), we got our cellular data back.
Not long after, another cyclone, this time called Dikeledi, came to attack my home island again, this time with the heavy rain and floods before heading south of us within the next few days and disappearing.
As a result, with Chido and Dikeledi now gone, I have several characters to introduce and most of them are made between December 2024 and January 2025, so without further ado, let’s introduce them right away.
1) Araba (December 24th, 2024)
"Welcome to my bazaar!"
A well-known merchant and painter, who hails from the small town of Aldous in northern Sunset Beach, which has a community of both Arabic and Swahili speakers and where everyone knew each other.
Despite his generous personality, he has a dark past surrounding his parents’ criminal past.
He is said to be close friends with Hiram and Yousra from a nearby village, now known as Araba, and was at one point exiled to a small island due to his friend Chido's ex-fiancée, who ended up being executed for bringing dishonor to the village.
2) Rouwaïda (December 25th, 2024)
"Never underestimate me."
A patissière-turned-handywoman in her late 20s, who is of mixed Mahoran and Dutch ancestry, currently living in a village located south of Yara’s hometown.
She is the oldest daughter out of two siblings, which consisted of her and her younger brother Kabili 2 years her junior.
After their parents got divorced due to her father Willem’s alcohol and gambling addiction, her mother Hamida took the two of them with her back to her home island, where they settled in her home village and lived a decent life.
That is, until one day, Kabili was kidnapped, which led to her going on a quest to save her brother until she rescued him from their father.
7 years after the incident, she parted ways with her own family to prepare for the grand opening of the Omakase Cafeteria along with Hiram, Emiri and Araba.
3) Bruno (January 8th, 2025)
An ordinary male student who goes to the same high school as Yara.
Coming from a mixed Danish-German and Malawian background, he spent most of his early years in Mozambique, until his parents moved to Switzerland, taking him with them so that he can attend elementary and middle school, until they settled in Mayotte for his last two years of high school.
Despite being in the same grade as her and 2 months younger than her, he coincidentally happens to have a crush on her while having the same interests and hobbies as her, which included art, English, anime, manga and video games.
Outside of school, he is close friends with Lael and Niels, who are 2 and 3 years older than him respectively, not to mention, being very active in sports and working a side job as an influencer on social media.
One day, he was invited as a special guest by Emiri to come join her, Hiram, Araba and Rouwaïda to prepare for the grand opening of the Omakase Cafeteria.
4) Hagiwara Kahori (萩原かほり) (January 9th, 2025)
A café owner 6 years Emiri’s senior, living in the middle of a busy downtown city.
Prior to opening her café, she had many turns in her life, as she grew up in a broken home and worked multiple part-time jobs in different places, including convenience stores, cafés, grocery stores, TV and online commercials, and many more to make ends meet.
One day, while she was heading to her house after work, she became friends with Emiri, who had just fled from her narcissistic family and was homeless at the time, to the point she fed her some of her homemade bento and offered a place for her to stay in for the night, until she went to a homeless shelter the next day.
Since the latter’s escape from the homeless shelter and eventual rehabilitation, they would often meet each other from time to time, on occasions like going to karaoke, hanging out at a bar etc.
2 years later, they would both create a café called Omakase Cafeteria and hire different employees to prepare for the grand opening of said café.
5) Lorian (January 10th, 2025)
A legendary swordsman, originally from the small village of Balthazar, located in the southernmost part of Sunset Beach, near the border with Al-Thalj.
Growing up, he was showered with love by the people of the village, who were all way older than him, since he happened to be the first child born in the village in a century and at the same time, the descendant of the legendary hero Kiefer, who saved the entire village from being destroyed by a selfish king of a faraway kingdom over the king’s greediness for gold, through his father’s side.
By the time he came of age, he left Balthazar, parting ways with the people who he grew up with and starting a life on his own.
One day, while in the grasslands, he saw a sword and began training with it, to the point he started to pursue swordsmanship in hopes of becoming a knight.
Later, he headed to the village of Araba in search of Kiefer’s whereabouts.
6) Furushiro Yatomi (古城やとみ) (January 12th, 2025)
A transfer student, who goes to the same high school as her upperclassmen Yara and Bruno.
Born in Kagoshima to a Japanese father and a mother of Zanzibari descent, she spent most of her early years there with her younger brother Kensuke, until they moved from their hometown to live in a village north of Yara’s hometown, located somewhere in Mayotte, during the March vacations.
At first, she was considered an outcast until she went to the same middle school as Yara after the vacations had concluded and went to high school, where everyone was stunned by her appearance that she became popular among the students at school due to her interests and hobbies in anime and manga.
One day, upon finding out that Bruno was invited as a special guest to the Omakase Cafeteria, she decided to follow him to the café, where she would join him, Hiram, Emiri, Araba, Kahori and Lorian in preparing for the grand opening of the café itself.
7) Nadim (January 13th, 2025)
A young and hardworking illustrator in his mid-20s, who currently lives in Austria.
Born to a Malagasy father of mixed Hindi and Sakalava ancestry and a Mahoran mother, he was very talented, when it comes to things like art and sports, especially in football and basketball, at a very young age.
Growing up, he used to go to the same high school as Yara, Bruno and Yatomi back in 2015 and graduated in 2018, until he moved out of the island to pursue his studies in Strasbourg.
Upon graduating from university in 2023, with a master’s degree in German, he applied for multiple jobs in the area, only to be rejected several times despite having a decent job experience.
That is, until one day, he decided to pursue his dreams of becoming an illustrator, after he began posting some of his drawings online from his apartment, which instantly went viral on social media.
1 year later, he would receive his first job offer from Kahori, this time to draw promotional art and a mascot for her café, and the next year, she invited him to the café to prepare for its grand opening along with Hiram, Emiri, Araba, Rouwaïda, herself, Lorian and Yatomi.
8) Tatiana (January 14th, 2025)
A mysterious game developer from a nonexistent European country.
After her father lost his wife and parents in the war, he had no choice but to take her and her younger sister with him to live in his home country of Latvia, where they lived a normal and simple life, although traumatized by the war.
Several years later, she would start an indie game studio with her colleagues from her former company, who were as also passionate about video games as her, where they made a popular mobile game, which has been the talk of the town due to its visually appealing story and cute character designs.
One day, while on a day off from work, she received a call from Kahori, who loved the game her company made that she wanted to hire them to promote her café, and she agreed on her offer, before joining others like Hiram, Emiri, Araba, Rouwaïda, Yatomi and Nadim in preparing for the grand opening of the café.
9) Amaris (January 18th, 2025)
"Let’s grow our garden together!"
A wandering gardener, who comes from a family of peasants in a mountainous village located north of Lorian's hometown of Balthazar, in southern Sunset Beach.
Prior to becoming a gardener, she was known to be the legendary magician, who specialized in otherworldly magic, and had always dreamt of having a garden of her own, surrounded by butterflies.
One day, she met Hiram by chance at his farm and offered to help him out in harvesting some of the crops, when to her surprise, he instantly fell in love with her at first sight.
After becoming a gardener, she still wanders around the world beyond her home region of Sunset Beach, even to this day.
That’s all I have to say about these 9 new characters for today.
Stay tuned for the next post from us, as I’ll continue to update you all regarding the current state of YunokiRoom and our home island as it evolves.
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