Ayano Tateyama

"What do you think is the reason for my death?"

- Ayano

Ayano Tateyama was a classmate and close friend of Shintaro Kisaragi and the original founder of the Mekakushi Dan. She committed suicide by jumping off of the roof of her school.

Appearance
Ayano is a girl with long brown hair, with two red clips attached to her left fringe. Her eyes are colored in a dark brown, though they sometimes appear grey. In Toumei Answer, she is seen wearing a red scarf and a black school uniform with a white ribbon attached to it. Her stockings are black and her shoes are dark brown. As she grew up her school uniform changed into a lighter colored one with a bow attached at the chest area.

Personality
The daughter of a teacher, Kenjirou and an archaeologist, Ayaka, as well as the founder and first leader of the Mekakushi Dan. Her member number at the time was "0". She was a cheerful girl who was Shintaro's classmate during middle and high school. Although always staying at Shintaro's side, she did not believe in her abilities to put him out of his apathy. It is presumed that she got rather low grades, as she was seen with only a 56 as a test score once. Even though she called herself stupid, she was always smiling and seemed to be having fun.

Eye Ability

 * Favoring Eyes: Her eye ability allows her to see through the eyes of people outside the Heat Haze. However; this is only possible if the other person also possesses Red Eyes. In Route 1, after Shintaro meets her in the Heat Haze, she passes her eye ability to him and is assumed to have died permanently.

Trivia

 * Her favorite character is Noriaki Kakyoin.
 * She tended to fold little paper cranes out of Shintaro's tests to cheer him up. Paper cranes stand for happiness and a long life, whether Ayano knew of this symbolism is unknown.
 * She thinks the red jersey Shintaro wears suits him.
 * It was confirmed by Jin that Ayano was Mekakushi Dan member No.0, as she was the original founder.
 * In the Children Record Booklet it is stated that Ayano has black hair. However, she has never been shown with black, but instead always brown hair.
 * She used to wear her hair clips in a cross shape when she was younger, then wore them parallel as she got older.
 * The hoodies she gave to Kano, Kido, and Seto when they were little were to help keep their eye powers from showing.