Yuuko Shirakawa

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"Yuuko has serious problems with managing her life, which makes her the perfect person to ask for help to manage one's own. She funds her university studies by working part time at a popular cafe. The lengths she goes to avoid being fired for her natural clumsiness bewilder other people, along with her neurotic attention to detail and frequent streaks of depression."

— Official Description

Yuuko Shirakawa (白川 優子, Shirakawa Yūko) is one of the librarians at Yamaku Academy. One of her duties includes stocking the library, which includes books with foreign texts and those in an alternative format (such as Braille or Audio). She also works part-time at a semi-popular tea house in town called the Shanghai, so as to fund her university studies in European history.

Personality

Yuuko is timid and a little ditzy; a notable refrain is her banging her head whenever someone startles her in the library, either from books being returned or from Lilly Satou calling for her. Being socially awkward, she will sometimes jump to irrational conclusions or speak her inner thoughts without realizing, such as her views on the board's book budget versus her salary. In spite of her eccentricities and admitted difficulty managing her love life, she listens to Hisao Nakai and often advises him on how to interact with and adjust to his peers and lovers in his new environment.

In the Shanghai, a more professional side of her emerges; despite her underlying timidness, she seems to relax and enjoys providing good service to customers, albeit with the occasional verbal slip-up.

Yuuko will occasionally mention in passing that she was recently out of a relationship that ended quite abruptly. She also mentions having plans to study European History at a university, which is why she works multiple jobs at Yamaku Academy and the Shanghai so that she can earn enough to pay for her tuition.

The Missing Ex

Many times throughout the course of the game, Yuuko talks about how she was once in a relationship with someone who was a bit younger than herself. Conversations regarding this topic have led her to mentioning that this boyfriend was a fan of cryptology, and he caused her to become interested in it. Another revealed tidbit about her past relationship is that, after they broke up, this mysterious unnamed boyfriend seemed to vanish off the face of the earth. Given the similarities between their stories, many fans speculate this past boyfriend to be Kenji Setou, as after his "experiences" with his own ex, he became sheltered. Kenji also once stole a book on cryptology, among other topics, from the school library, causing Yuuko to begin an investigation on the missing texts.

In the leaked Katawa Shoujo beta, this was proven to be true.

Etymology

• The name Yuuko means "excellence, superiority, gentleness" (優) (yuu) and "child" (子) (ko).
• Her surname Shirakawa means "white" (白) (shira) and "river, stream" (川) (kawa).

Notes

es:Yuuko Shirakawa