Sakurako Jackson

Name: Sakurako Adina Jackson

Gender: Female

Age: 18

Grade: 12th

School: George Hunter High School

Hobbies and Interests: Weightlifting, Legos, comedy, theater, fashion

Appearance: Sakurako is 5'8" and 141 pounds, with a figure that would be entirely gangling if not for her wide-set shoulders and muscularity from exercise. Even so, she tends to move rather gracelessly, letting her long limbs go where they will. Her parents are Japanese-American and African-American, and that mixed heritage is reflected in her honey skin tone, diamond face shape, and other features like her button nose. She has wide set eyes which are nearly black, mono-lidded, and upward-turned. She wears a pair of sliver butterfly glasses for her astigmatism, preferring them to contact lenses. Her lips are rather large, and she feels slightly self-conscious about that and her teeth, which are still a few more molds away from being done with the Invisalign process. Her hair is naturally rather fluffy, and she tends to keep it in a large afro blow out just to keep it out of her way, though it's quite well-taken care of.

She does put effort into acquiring her clothes, which tend to be from various overseas brands. Her style tends to be rather eclectic, though whatever she's wearing tends to be bright and attention-grabbing in one way or another, and she's gotten in trouble a few times for the edgier logos on a few of her t-shirts. These too are worn in a rather haphazard way, as if she got dressed at the last minute, and hang loosely off her frame most days. She only ever wears sneakers, and exclusive ones at that, the only particularly expensive thing you'd spot on her. Her nails are plain and bitten down, and she wears a black analogue sports watch, her only jewelry besides her silver "Return to Tiffany" necklace. It has her name engraved on the back. She doesn't wear makeup, only Carmex on her lips, though her skin has a rather dewy quality despite that.

On the day of the abduction, Sakurako was wearing a pair of Lebron 10 Elite Peach Jam PE sneakers, black and pink socks, leopard-print cargo shorts, a beige t-shirt with a Mickey Mouse shaped doughnut logo, and an oversized fringe denim jacket.

Biography: Sakurako was born on July 8th, 1999 to relative newlyweds Akane and Orlando Jackson in Princeton, New Jersey. Both were recent graduates of Princeton University, having met on campus during their sophomore year and falling in love hard and fast. Despite Akane's mother protesting the union on the basis of him not wanting to mention his family background, the two were married the summer before their senior year. While Orlando had a job lined up in New York City as a junior-level civil engineer, Akane had trouble finding work related to her linguistics degree, and to ease the financial burden they moved into Akane's family brownstone with her parents and younger sister. Akane networked during the day, and waited tables at night, hoping to help save enough money to move out with her husband and child quickly.

With both parents hard at work, Sakurako spent most of her time with her extended family, her grandmother in particular. While the woman was never outright cruel to her, she was a strict person, and Sakurako quickly learned to be quiet and demure in her presence. Playtime was a privilege, while getting to watch television was a rarity. This was a thread that would continue throughout her early childhood. Her grandfather traveled frequently for work, but things were always less tense when he was home, even though he generally kept to himself.

Akane's sister Minako was a junior in high school, and treated Sakurako like a younger sibling. Even when the younger girl would break perfume bottles accidentally, she would laugh it off good-naturedly. Minako enjoyed following fashion trends, and would sometimes take Sakurako on trips to various boutiques in NYC on weekends. While Sakurako loved when her parents came home, it was never quite as exciting as when she'd see her aunt.

Still, Orlando and Akane doted on their daughter when they could, giving her all the affection they could muster at the end of a long day. Her toybox grew slowly, but massively, though she wasn't interested in much of anything in there except the building blocks she seemed to have trouble with. Akane's mother worried about the girl growing spoiled, and made sure any toy time was balanced with lessons in Japanese, both written and spoken. While Orlando disagreed with how much the older woman's will seemed to dominate the household, out of respect for Akane he kept his opinions to himself.

Once school began, she was an average student, though she tended to have quite a bit of trouble reading and got easily frustrated in class. Eventually, it was discovered that she had astigmatism, which was corrected with glasses half-way through the first grade. Once that was improved, her grades did too. She had an aptitude for math due to its straightforward nature, but other that she wasn't the most driven in school, which disappointed her grandmother. Sakurako grew to dread report cards, knowing there would always be something the woman didn't approve of.

More importantly to her, she could really see the instructions to her building blocks. While her family encouraged her to make what she wanted, Sakurako preferred to follow guides, paying the utmost attention to how things were to be done. Once she got old enough where swallowing the pieces wasn't a risk, she moved on to Lego sets. She had to be pulled away from them frequently, and would occasionally sneak the smaller sets to school.

While her looks were a bit of a curiosity to her, living in NYC made it much less of a big deal than it could have been, and Orlando took care to instill pride in her African-American side. The first negative occurrence about her race occurred on a family trip to Japan when she was ten, when she got into an argument with a distant family member her age. He called her a hafu, saying that's what her grandmother told his father. It turned out to be true, which widened the gulf Sakurako felt between them. Still, she did her best to please her. This brought her parents into conflict about how the woman treated her, but as Akane had grown up much the same way minus the racial issue, she couldn't see how big the issue was.

During the same trip, she discovered the syndicated show Takeshi's Castle, which made her laugh the same way American cartoons of the day did. Her mother explained the concept of manzai comedy to her, and she eagerly looked up more. The only thing that came close to delighting her as much was seeing the various fashions in certain districts, and she would frequently beg her parents to buy her those kinds of clothes. Luckily for her, she could see and be given just as unique clothes in the US, especially considering the city she lived in. Minako, who had moved into a loft in Soho by this time, would playfully rank her outfits and give her suggestions. While her aunt was a busy woman, they still had a strong bond, and fashion was one of the ways they connected the most.

While she wasn't a complete loner in school, she struggled to get close to people due to trying to be a polite young lady. Her forced quiet demeanor was mistaken for being stuck up in middle school, and she was talked about by a few of the more popular students. In the seventh grade, she fell asleep during class, and woke up to her ponytail being cut off. She was inconsolable, not only for the loss of her long hair, but for the fact she couldn't understand why anyone would dislike her that much. The students responsible were punished, but she remained despondent for a few weeks, only brightening up at the news that her mother had finally found a job as a forensic linguist, if she was willing to move.

Having to move to Chattanooga, Tennessee brought mixed feelings. She'd be leaving the city she grew up in and her beloved aunt behind, but getting to live away from her grandmother's watchful eye would be wonderful. There wasn't any friend she'd be leaving that she'd miss, but that fact in itself made her sad. She would have to do better at her next school, but she wasn't quite sure how.

Asking her family gave her various answers, and none of them were quite what she was looking for. "Be yourself" was a nice enough thought, but she wasn't sure what that meant in practice. Research was easier than ever, though. By the time they arrived in Chattanooga, Sakurako had the gist of what her plan would be. The summer before the eighth grade was spent researching various comedian's ways of making people laugh. While manzai was still her preferred style of comedy, she grew to have an deep appreciation for others as well. The classic Greek comedy gave her a bit more of an interest in English as a whole, the playful violence of slapstick always gave her a laugh, and all of it seemed so expressive to her. These were people that didn't have to conform to any one role, and she admired them for that.

While she didn't have the courage to come up with her own material yet, she practiced telling jokes to her parents when they were around, and they'd give her their honest impressions. They both were passionate about their jobs, and were away from home much more than they were there. They did set aside some time for her every Saturday, which she would frequently spend setting up various movies to watch. It was nice to share her hobby with them, and she never wanted to interrupt the time together they had with her worries about not being accepted by her peers. Furthermore, she took it upon herself to keep the house cleaned up so they wouldn't have to waste time doing chores when they could be doing something together instead. Since she had, they opted to give her an allowance rather than have her get a job and leave the house unkempt.

Eighth grade seemed to fly by, and upon her arrival at George Hunter High School she had a plan. She would make people laugh, either with her or at her. All that really mattered was their eventual smiles, so she shied away from funny insults or edgier material. Forcing herself to crack the occasional joke and get attention was nerve-wracking, but by the time the talent show came around that year she had it down pat. She'd hyped up her singing talent and dolled herself up, only to belt out a terrible yet heartfelt rendition of "My Heart Will Go On".

It was a watershed moment, knowing that she could play the fool in front of so many people and not crack. It motivated her to join theater, and even to try out for parts in less serious roles. She was happier backstage helping build sets, working with her hands calmed her immensely. Between the two activities she found herself surrounded by people she was comfortable around. While she never stopped her joking entirely, she naturally toned it down while hanging out with them. Otherwise, she would always have a joke ready, even when attempting to defuse arguments between her newfound friends. Sakurako didn't really like conflicts, but it wasn't nearly as stressful as cold, quiet disapproval. Sometimes she succeeded, sometimes they'd tell her to mind her own business and shoo her away. Either was fine with her.

Clothing proved to be another way to express herself, without the stress of having to perform. Sakurako has never been able to commit to one style, preferring to embrace whatever she felt like wearing. She didn't really take much effort with how her appearance otherwise, preferring to let the outfits speak for themselves. She didn't mind mixing and matching either, and on any given week she could be perceived as both fashionable and tacky. Jokes about her outfits were met with a laugh and a joke of her own. Fashion really did feel like playing dress up to her, and she looked forward to being free of the school's dress code on weekends.

She still had lingering sentiments that she was doing something worthy of her grandmother's chastising. To cope with it, she took up using her dad's weights, finding it oddly comforting. After a few months of working out, Minako complemented during one of their weekly calls. It became a part of her lifestyle, and going to the gym to do it in public wasn't a hard adjustment. Most people there were in their own worlds, and there was a quiet sense of camaraderie in that. Her mind always seemed to be racing, but after she'd been exercising for a few minutes it would clear her mind in a way that few things did. The more she could lift, the more pride she had in herself. She'd heard running had a similar effect, but didn't really want to ruin her shoes trying, opting for casual jogging instead when the mood struck her. While she isn't vain about it, she did like that clothes seemed to look better on her than they did before she started being active.

Legos were still important to her, and she made a instagram to document her various endeavors. While she didn't have a problem buying them, there was only so much room for her to store them. She countered this by giving finished sets away, though she kept her favorites. While she's done a few custom sets in her high school career, she's kept them to herself, feeling like they weren't good enough for public consumption. Still, she's causally been a member of the online community for a long time, and they've always encouraged her.

Through the years, her social life blossomed, though she wasn't much of a party girl. Occasionally she'd swing by one, but crowds of raucous people weren't her thing. Hanging by the river with a few friends made her happier. Her romantic life wasn't much to mention, though she'd dated someone else in the theater department for a bit. She considered herself bisexual, but didn't dissect it much, casually accepting the commonly held view that sexuality was fluid. Her views on her race are a bit more complicated. She knew her grandmother were prefer if she was just Japanese, and that most of her knowledge on being Black was from her father's stories and pop culture's depictions. For now, she just says she's both and doesn't want to discuss it any further, avoiding the various politics concerning either race.

Her closest familial relationship is still with her aunt, and she's excited to be a bridesmaid in Minako's wedding in the winter. If Sakurako had a confidant, she would be it. Her relationship with her parents is fine for the most part, though she's expressed some level of disappointment to them about missing her plays for work. While her grandparents on her mother's side have visited many times over the years, at some point Sakurako spent the night with friends when they came over, only talking to them when she was forced to. While her mother asks her to stay, she doesn't insist, and her father's privately given her his approval of not wanting to see them. That approval makes her feel a bit guilty given that she's started communicating with her cousins on his side through Facebook, but she doesn't want to open up conflict by mentioning it to him.

Sakurako is still good at math, and has gotten a lot better in English classes due to theater increasing her interest in the subject. History and science get much less attention, but she puts just enough into them to maintain a B average, not wanting to hear anything about her underachieving. Taking language classes are okay, but she's happy to be done with it considering she's still working on her written Japanese. Shop was her favorite course, and she still stops by the classroom to chat with the instructor about various techniques with set design. She has gotten in trouble a few times for joking too much in class, and violating the dress code a few times, but other than that high school has gone pretty smoothly for her.

While her grades are slightly above average and she's been accepted into UCLA, she doesn't know what she plans on getting a degree in. Her parents believe she should go into engineering, but she doesn't feel very strongly about it. Sakurako's just happy to discover herself more in college, not feeling particularly attached to anything besides her hobbies, and not wanting to make those something she depends on to make a living.

Advantages: Sakurako is used to making herself interact with people despite her nerves, making the possibility of alliances an easier prospect. She is in good shape due to regular gym sessions. She finds following directions to be easy, which could help if she draws a weapon that requires assembly.

Disadvantages: Deep down, Sakurako has the nature of a people-pleaser, making it a possibility that she could be manipulated by a savvier student. Her attempts to amuse someone might end up raising hostilities accidentally. She is rather tall for a girl, and has a penchant for bright clothes, making her a target that would be easy to find.

Designated Number: Female student No. 071

---

Designated Weapon: Prop knife set (plastic knife w/ collapsible blade + 2 fake blood capsules)

Conclusion: Play to your strengths, and you have a straight shot to at least the midpoint of the game, G071. Get bogged down by your weakness, and you're little more than an excessively cheerful moving target. Don't get eliminated. - Christina Stockton

'The above biography is as written by Sunnybunny. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: Sunnybunny

Kills: 

Killed By: 

Collected Weapons: Prop knife set (plastic knife w/ collapsible blade + 2 fake blood capsules) (assigned weapon)

Allies: 

Enemies: 

Mid-game Evaluation: 

Post-Game Evaluation: 

Memorable Quotes:

Threads
Below is a list of threads containing Sakurako, in chronological order.

V7:
 * The Hunger Artist

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Sakurako Jackson. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''