Nayuki Minase

"Do you still remember my name?"

- Nayuki Minase

Nayuki Minase (水瀬 名雪) is the daughter of Akiko Minase and the cousin of Yuichi Aizawa whom he hasn't seen for seven years prior to the events of Kanon.

Nayuki's theme is Yuki no Shōjo ("Girl in the Snow").

Appearance
Nayuki is a light-skinned girl of average height with long straight blue-purple tinted hair that has fringes completely covering her forehead (At the top of her head, she parts her hair in arcs to form two triangular tips in the middle. She lets the sides of her hair flow freely over her face, cutting it around her neck. The rest of Nayuki's hair goes down to her waist. Unlike her mother, she keeps her hair un-braided, although she wore a braid seven years ago before the events of Kanon), light blue eyes, a thin figure and she strongly resembles Akiko Minase.

She is often seen wearing her school uniform but is also seen in her residence wearing pyjamas featuring an array of animals, even giving names to the cats seen on one pair.

Personality
Nayuki is a kind and mostly calm individual who deeply cares about others, but she is also known to be very absentminded. However, she has proven to be very useful in critical situations.

She often overworks herself due to her being the captain of the track team at her school, which leads her to be extremely tired almost all the time.

Although she usually acts happy and positive around her cousin and everyone else, her history with Yuichi has greatly troubled her. Due to events of the past, she felt disliked and abandoned by Yuichi.

However, despite this, she still secretly holds feelings for him, but is also concerned because of their history. Knowing that he has feelings for Ayu hurts her greatly, but she managed to keep all of her real dark feelings hidden until her mom got into a car accident.

Since Yuichi wasn't around for a long time, Akiko was the only person who kept Nayuki from feeling completely alone. Nayuki blamed herself for the incident and claimed that she would no longer be able to smile.

However, thanks to Kaori, she saw things in a different light and managed to revert back to her hopeful and most positive self.

Role In the Story
Nayuki is the first girl to appear in Kanon's story. Nayuki's arc revolves around her mother falling victim to a traffic accident and being hospitalized as a result. This causes Nayuki to fall into depression, and Yuichi tries to console her during this time, though Nayuki tries to push him away as much as she can. In the original version of the visual novel, this was the point in her story where Nayuki's hidden scene could be viewed. Nayuki eventually comes out of her depression and makes up with Yuichi. If the player follows the correct choices in following Nayuki's arc, her "good ending" takes place while Nayuki is still depressed. Yuichi ends up confessing to Nayuki, saying that he does not see her as a cousin, but as a very important girl. However, Nayuki is deeply upset by the sudden confession as she questions him on why he did not come to meet her seven years ago. Later on, Nayuki is able to accept Yuichi's confession.

In the epilogue following this scene, it is revealed that Akiko has fully recovered and returned home from the hospital. Nayuki accidentally forgets to turn off her alarm clock and the player gets to hear the recorded message that Yuichi left for her: "Nayuki, I can't make a miracle happen, but I can be by your side. I promise if you're in despair I will comfort you. At happy times, I will laugh with you. Even in winter, filled with snow; even in spring, when the sakura tree blooms; even in the quiet summer; even in fall, when the color of leaves change; and even if the snow starts to fall again. I will stay here. I will not go anywhere. Because I...I really like you."

Trivia

 * The name Nayuki means "name" (名) (na) and "snow" (雪) (yuki), which reflects on how she is affiliated with winter, especially snow.
 * Nayuki's surname Minase means "water" (水) (mina) and "swift current, rapids" (瀬) (se).

Trivia

 * Nayuki is second to Ayu Tsukimiya as the most used character in the series' marketing.
 * In both anime adaptations, her story runs at the same time as Ayu's.
 * In both the anime and manga, Yuichi Aizawa is shown to have rejected Nayuki's confession seven years ago, not because of disliking her but because he was distraught after witnessing Ayu's accident.