Characters/Maya Makinami


Maya Makinami
Personal Information
Surname Name Makinami Maya
Birthday (Age) January 1st (n/a)
Type of Character Main
Additional Information
Hair Color Pale Black
Eye Color Green
Height 5′ 0′′ (152cm)
Job(s) Shrine Maiden
Hobby(s)
  • Violin
Like(s)
  • Philosophy
  • Watermelon
Dislike(s)
Family unknown
Affiliation
First Appearance
Notes unknown
'Maya is a strange girl who has never liked me and has always avoided me for seemingly no reason whatsoever. She’s been coming to the house for several years now but, despite that, I know nothing about her and can't imagine I'll be finding anything out anytime soon. All I know for sure is that she cares deeply for Ami and...is even more deeply troubled by my existence. I should avoid her at all costs as well.'
— Sensei's notes


Maya Makinami is part of the Main Cast of in Lessons In Love. She is part of the original ten girls in Sensei's class. She lives in Room 5 with Ami Arakawa

Background

Due to the nature of Sensei's 'blackouts', Maya has revealed little about her past and intentionally hides as much as she can about it. What is known, though, is that Maya's family originates from Gifu. At some point, she met Sensei when he'd started work as a personal tutor, becoming one of his students alongside Noriko. The two seemingly drifted apart after then and Maya came into contact with his niece, Ami, becoming one of the friends she'd bring over to play with.

Like Sensei, and later Ayane, Maya is one of the few people who can experience the end of the world, a cycle Kumon-mi regularly goes through where all other people disappear, requiring Maya to pray to restart an infinitely looping series of events. She has been doing this for longer than she can remember, or can count, being the only consistent through a series of infinite school years. It's once Sensei wakes up that this consistent pattern starts to break.

She's part of the Manga Club, along with Ami, Futaba Fukuyama, Molly MacCormack, and Rin Rokuhara.

Characteristics

Maya is a reserved person. She often spends class either talking exclusively to Ami or keeping to herself, usually scrolling on her phone. Even in groups, she doesn't often contribute more than a few words, and the little she does speak is often monotone or deadpan. As a result, she has few friends and is just as unwilling to make new ones, considering the idea exhausting. This quiet, introverted personality likely steps from her countless years stuck within Kumon-mi's loop. She admits that were she to be 'reset' like the other girls, she'd likely be much more chipper than the current version of her.

The years worth of repetition has also made Maya extremely resistant to change or deviation from what she knows. When Kumon-mi Academy sinks underground, she's shown to be in great shock, leaving the class's Christmas party altogether so she can be alone. She even confides in Sensei about this, fearing that the increasing amount of change will only lead to worse disasters. She has a similarly skeptical attitude towards Ayane's sudden arrival on the rooftop, seeing her as something akin to a glitch.

Relationships

Sensei

At the start of the game, Maya adamantly refuses to get close to Sensei, outright telling him to ignore her and dodging all of his attempts to deepen their relationship beyond simple acquaintances. She often berates him for his disgusting behavior and is, besides Yumi, the only one in his class to outright hate him. This malice comes from experience and caution, as Maya revealing too much about Sensei's past, or showing too much affection for him can result in his 'disappearing'. This has supposedly happened many times before.

Underneath this, she has a soft spot for him which slips through occasionally, such as when she invited him out for her birthday, and the fact she waits on the rooftop for him each time the world ends. This underlying affection becomes more apparent during the class' third beach trip, where she and Sensei have an intimate moment interrupted by Touka.

Ami

Ami and Maya have been friends since Middle School. The two are usually seen together in and out of school, and Maya often comes over to Sensei's place for sleepovers or other holiday events. The source of their friendship is never stated, but they're so close that Maya was Ami's first pick for dormmate. Maya cares deeply about Ami, lamenting how often she's been forced to see her disappear in front of her eyes.

Ayane

While sharing mutual friends, and often being a part of the same group during class events, Ayane and Maya don't have much of an established relationship before Empty Eyes. While friends, they aren't nearly as close as each of them is to Ami. Once Ayane joins Sensei and Maya's 'Rooftop Apocalypse Club', the relationship between the two becomes strained, due to their mutual suspicion of each other. Despite this, the two still deeply trust and care for each other, with Maya accepting Ayane's 'dare' to always protect Sensei and Ami.

Noriko

Maya and Noriko hate each other for reasons both unknown to Sensei and the player. What is known is that the two girls were previously Sensei's students back when he was a tutor, and that, due to Sensei's past, Maya purposefully hid him away from the Nakayama sisters to keep him from breaking further. Maya views Noriko as a "memento of those horrible times" for Sensei and that the two of them getting closer will cause him to disappear.

Memorable Quotes

  • "You're disgusting."
  • "I'm an entirely normal teenage girl."
  • "I’ll find you again. As many times as it takes."

Trivia

  • Maya was the winner of the sixth Lessons in Love Gravure Poll, for the month of October 2020.
  • Little is known about Maya's family. In Uninvited, Ami says that Maya doesn't have any family in Kumon-Mi, and that she would have to travel to Gifu to see her family members. Meanwhile, Makoto stays during I'm Not Here that all her family contact information is outdated or nonexistent.
  • A running joke throughout Lessons in Love is various characters referring to Maya as a 'nerd'. While she dismisses it at first, she slowly begins to hate the title over the course of the game.
  • Maya is currently the eighth youngest member of the cast.