Student Number 29:

Ayaka Yukihiro (Yukihiro Ayaka?) Birthday: 5 July 1988. She is the rich iinchō (class representative) as she is mostly called. She is the second daughter of the Yukihiro family. More often than not, she winds up being the only thing keeping the class in order, due to Negi’s inexperience with handling large groups. She is currently the 3-A class president and is among the highest scorers on school exams, where she was last seen as ranked 4th in her whole grade.

She and Asuna seem to hate each other, with the two often getting into fights, but it eventually becomes clear that they merely have an odd, but surprisingly close friendship that neither is willing to admit to. She is the girl most overtly fond of Negi, though she stands by the position that she is only interested in Negi because he “needs a mother figure”. A Botched Pactio Card is made, when she kissed a paper double of Negi during the trip to Kyoto. An interesting thing is that while she likes Negi, she frequently gets into arguments with Kotaro, who is also of Negi’s age (This is because in the manga he head butts her trying to escape from Chizuru, then calls her old).

The reason being Negi in her mind is the perfect boy (smart, polite & nice), while Kotaro is just the opposite (rude, mean, and more street smarts than intelligence). She tends to be aggressive in pretty much everything she does, which tends to wind up with her being misunderstood. However, she is very good at hiding her own past (such as the story about her younger brother who died at childbirth, which may explain her fixation on Negi). She is roommates with Chizuru, Natsumi, and later Kotarō (whom Chizuru introduced to her as Natsumi’s little brother), and is in the equestrian and flower-arranging clubs.

Even though Ayaka is a rich man’s daughter (her family owns a zaibatsu/konzern), that did not stop her from being well-versed in several unnamed martial arts, culminating in having a “ryuha” of her own (Yukihiro Ayaka-ryū). Her affection toward Negi increases substantially after witnessing his performance during the Mahora Fighting Tournament and learning about his missing father.

While on the outside, she may appear to be a typical spoiled brat; she is really a kind and caring person who wants to help Negi as much as she can. She even helped him speak with Asuna when the two were briefly avoiding each other. She and several of the girls in the class have vowed to aid Negi in his quest to find his father, though Ayaka has proven to be the most sincere in this case.

Though she is highly intelligent, she can often be clueless in relation to the events surrounding her. Thus, many of her classmates incorrectly think of her as a fool (even if they won’t say so out loud).

After Chao succeeds in her plan to reveal magic to the world, Ayaka remains devoted to Negi. When Negi and his group returns to the third day of the Mahora Festival, she is asked to make some changes to the big event being planned, as a favor for Negi. In the initial stages, the participants are armed with magic guns and engage in combat with Chao’s robots, under the pretense that it is part of a game.

After accidentally being sucked into cyberspace with the activation of Chisame’s Pactio, she and Makie assist in the protection of the barrier while Chisame fights against Chachamaru. After the battle ends, she appears to celebrate with the rest of the class… only to magically reappear when she finds out Chao has a book revealing whom Negi marries.

During the start of the summer break, Ayaka returns with a folder that contained some information concerning Negi’s father and his whereabouts. When she learns that Asuna will go with Negi to England, she immediately tried to get the folder back, but was unsuccessful in the attempt as Asuna demonstrates her new evasion skills.

She is now currently involved in the Badge Collection game that Evangeline set up, in order to win the right to accompany Negi and his group to Wales. She tries for Asuna’s badge but gets defeated easily after a few attempts even with her new moves, (though she does manages to score one hit on Asuna). In the end, Ayaka reluctantly accepts defeat and admits that Asuna and the others are more prepared than her to go with Negi, though she still wants a thorough explanation for when they return.

As for whether or not she and the other girls will stay behind or try to go England, (either with Negi’s group or by any other means), remains to be seen.

Trivia:

  • Ayaka means “fleur-de-lis”, the emblem of Mahora Gakuen.
  • A fun tidbit about Ayaka is that nearly every time she appears in a scene, flowers appear from behind her. (Manga Only)
  • Early in the manga, she is referred to as a “half-breed,” as one of her parents (her mother, apparently) is from Europe.
  • Negima!: Her Pactio ability ends up having her throw flowers at her opponent, which ultimately do nothing, (though this could be due to her innate personality and not her actual Pactio power). In one episode of the anime, it’s also shown that she plays violin, however it’s unknown how well she can play (it was shown when Sayo was trying to pass the time)
  • Negima!?: Ayaka retains most of her character traits from the manga: her bossiness, her love/hate feelings towards Asuna (and at one point her Chupacabra/magic club) and her amorous affections towards Negi (seen through a collection of Negi-themed merchandise she has all over her room). Similar love/hate feelings are also directed towards roommate Makie, who she keeps belittling for having no drive. Although she gains Pactio abilities during the mass contract, she is one of the few students to have all three forms invoked. Negi ends up invoking her Armor form at one point to save Asuna, turning her into a whip-wielding female warrior. During the “Suka incident”, she turns into a cheetah. Finally, during the “Final Pactio invocation”, she reveals her Cosplay form: a perfumer who can trace things by their scents.

(Seiyū: Junko Minagawa, English VA: Laura Bailey, Spanish VA: Maria Fernanda Morales)