Age: 13 at the beginning, 20-21 in the last chapters
Birthday: 20th February
Height: 155 cm
A talented young actress who spent her childhood working as a waitress in a Chinese restaurant with her mother after her father's death. Her mother, Haru, struggled with mental instability and for years dismissed Maya as useless—so much so that she refused to even attend one of Maya's school plays. That particular performance became a turning point: Maya played a character meant to be pitiful and laughable, but she delivered something far more complex and tragic, proving her natural gift for depth and nuance.
When Tsukikage, a former diva, discovered Maya and offered to train her, the decision became a real turning point. Tsukikage essentially cut Maya off from her mother to make her commitment to acting absolute. Maya's mother had worried her daughter would become a laughingstock, but that fear never stopped her from pursuing the stage.
What really sets Maya apart is how she practically becomes her characters rather than just performing them. Her training is brutal and she throws herself into roles with an intensity that borders on dangerous. Unlike the more technically precise Ayumi, Maya operates on instinct and raw emotional power. She's known for unconventional choices—literally laying on the floor to "sit on" a toppled chair during rehearsals. Offstage, she's almost unremarkable; onstage, she's magnetic. Even Ayumi, arguably the more obviously talented actress, has admitted that Maya knows how to captivate an audience without seeming to try. The nickname "The Stage Storm" came from this exact quality: her ability to dominate a scene even when she's not the lead. Tsukikage calls her "the girl with a thousand masks."
Despite her talent, Maya doesn't see it. She still thinks of herself as useless, the way her mother always made her feel. She's competitive with herself more than anyone else, though she holds no grudge against Ayumi—who, despite being beautiful, wealthy, and technically skilled, harbors secret jealousy toward Maya instead.
An anonymous admirer sends her purple roses regularly—a mystery that turns out to be Hayami Masumi, someone Maya initially despises. She believed he'd deliberately destroyed Tsukikage's acting school out of malice. Masumi calls her "Chibi-chan" (little child), a nickname born partly from their age gap and partly as gentle teasing, though it sometimes carries genuine affection.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
