Haru Yamada

Haru is a former baseball star that joined the UEF after the BETA attacked, and would go on to be a founding member of Aegis.

Appearance
She's relatively short by most people's standards, but especially short for people that still think she's a man. Her complexion is a little dark, as she's half Okinawan, and spends as much time as possible outside. Her brown hair is wild and unkempt. Despite her short stature, she's surprisingly strong and incredibly lithe. She may not have the muscles of some of the bigger men, but she's trained herself to snap her body forward like a whip to swing a bat hard enough to smash home runs.

She typically wears loose fitting clothing. Her usual outfits are jeans or athletic pants, and a hoodie. She tries to keep it secret, but she has developed a bit of a soft spot for girly, cute clothing. As of Act 2, she wears Vee's (fake) glasses.

Backstory
The Yamada twins Shunka and Shuuto were born on the Gemini colony. They were fraternal, but looked nearly identical. They grew up as good friends, and spent all their time together. Their parents were both busy with work.

As a child, the girl named Shunka became increasingly interested in rough play with the neighborhood boys. She loved to get dirty, get into trouble, and get hurt. And she loved baseball. Meanwhile, Shuuto was becoming more of a homebody, interested in computers and science. They remained close, but their interests diverged radically.

In high school, Shunka wanted to continue playing baseball on the boys-only team. She was smaller than the other boys by this point, but every bit as skilled as them. She may have had to work harder than anybody, but she was fiercely determined. Seeing how much she wanted it, Shuuto suggested they switch places and attend school as each other. She was valuable enough to the team that the coaches pulled strings to make it work, and the twins officially switched identities.

Shuuto, as she was now called, got better and better. She was an ace pitcher carrying her team to victory when she was involved in a car accident. Her shoulder was injured, ruining her pitching form. She could still throw, but she couldn't really pitch anymore. With advice from Shunka, as her twin was now called, she decided to switch to 1st Base and just become the best. She was scouted out of high school to play for Gemini Colony's pro team, the Twins.

The professional baseball player Shuuto Yamada had an air of mystery around him, as he seemed to not get close to anybody. In reality, she was terrified someone would discover her secret and everything would come crashing down around her. She never dated, and didn't even really have close friends aside from Shunka. She just devoted herself fully to baseball, and she did become the best. She was Rookie of the Year, and the following year she was league MVP.

In her third professional season, she was at an Away Game when the BETA appeared in the Earth Sphere. Shunka had gone along with her, but everyone else was back home, and Gemini Colony was one of the ones destroyed in that first onslaught. The Yamada twins lost their parents, as well as everyone else they knew. After this incident, the baseball league suspended the season. Shuuto was left without a purpose.

Shunka dragged her along to their grandparents' house down on Earth in Fukuoka. Shunka was going to transfer to the university there, and suggested Shuuto do something similar. But she couldn't stay still. She was restless. And she had so much money from playing in the pros; with the world falling apart around her, couldn't she do something to help? She volunteered for relief organizations and donated vast sums of her wealth, then began traveling around helping where she could.

Two years passed, and most of Shuuto's money was gone. She still wanted to help, but needed to think of a new way to do it. She got wind of the UEF starting a new taskforce, and despite having no military experience, she decided to join right away. She'd just climb her way to the top here too, as she'd done with baseball.

Haru
Because of the weird situation regarding Shuuto and Shunka's names, Haru had been thinking about a new name to use in the future when she could be herself. This chosen name is Haru, for the first character in her birth name. She told Vee the significance of this name fairly early in their relationship, and Vee began calling her Haru in private.

Eventually, Haru resolved herself to fully put her past behind her and in doing so, asked all the members of Aegis to call her Haru. Notably, when Sana Aluera Kaspra was particularly angry with her, she continued to call her Shuuto. In the Other World, everyone knows her as Haru. Back in the Home World, mostly only Aegis refers to her with this name. "Shuuto Yamada" is still a relatively well known athlete.