Hiyori Shiina

Appearance
Hiyori has mid-back length silver hair that has black ribbons and light purplish eyes.

She is usually seen wearing her school uniform and grey-like knee high socks that reached near her skirt area.

Personality
Hiyori is a quiet and reserved girl, although she is occasionally seen smiling. Although she was quite happy being alone, Hiyori also felt a sense of loneliness every once in a while and yearns for a friend. She always carries books with her in her bag in case she meets someone who shares the same interest in literature as her. Since nobody in Class 1-C is into literature, Hiyori doesn't have anyone to talk to about the novels she read. Hiyori extremely loved books to the point that when she meets someone who has the same or similar reading hobby like her, she would become overly and excitedly talkative without noticing it herself until after the conversation was almost ending.

She always speaks politely including to those who are not part of her class. She dislikes how the classes are competing with each other and made everyone hostile to one another, wanting what she feels is the best for everyone. She wishfully desires for everybody to be friends and remain friendly no matter their backgrounds and positions in conflicts. If she sees someone from Class 1-C being awfully rude to other students who are not from the same affiliation as her, Hiyori was determined to find a way to make amends in relations such as using some of her private points for that victim. She felt it was rightful to express apology and forgiveness on behalf of her class even though her classmates never asked the former to go through with that sort of action.

She genuinely wanted to befriend Kiyotaka Ayanokōji after he helped her reach for a misplaced book in the library and they started to talk about mystery novels ever since whenever the two meet up together. Hiyori was even described to be very mindful of her own action and manners to anyone she met that thinks her as being disrespectful and intrusive. For this reason, Hiyori didn't want to let people see her as incompetent that she didn't know how to do something people like Kiyotaka who could handle things on his own. It was a matter of maintaining her pride and appearance in front of others without coming off as incapable in front of others, worrying that it may somehow inconvenience them unless the person was fine with it.

Background
In Advanced Nurturing High School, it was said that Hiyori didn't have anyone she could truly consider as her friend and had always been spending time alone by herself. It was not as though she didn't want to make friends, but Hiyori had never been good at dealing with people. Outside of class time, she would sometimes visit the library as a place of reading, checking out and borrowing books from there before bringing it to her dorm room to read.

Volume 6
Accompanied by Daichi Ishizaki, Hiyori made her first debut at a cafe inside Keyaki mall when Kakeru Ryūen asked her to accompany him to give her plans and analysis for spying Class 1-D. They started with greeting the members of the Ayanokōji Group who were studying together around a group table. When he asked her if she managed to catch a clue concerning "X," Hiyori told Kakeru that she can't say anything noteworthy at this stage in her information gathering. She kept looking back and forth between Teruhiko Yukimura and Kiyotaka Ayanokōji, determining if one of the two was possibly the "X" individual they were looking for. After examining them, Hiyori then tells Kakeru that both their faces left a weak impression on her and that she will probably come to forget the two boys immediately. So far, she was able to know for certain that neither Kiyotaka nor Teruhiko are "X" to her and questions who was the other guy in Class 1-D to which Daichi answers it was none other than Yōsuke Hirata. Hearing that, Hiyori starts to recall Yōsuke while questioningly stating her own hardship of remembering everyone's faces and names she met outside her class. Nonetheless, the one and only person she can confidently remember in Class 1-D that stands out as unique to her for suspecting to be "X" by Kakeru was Rokusuke Kōenji.

Kakeru and her classmates part ways with the group of Class 1-D students, leaving Hiyori alone who who stay behind to remain watching them. As the group was unable to concentrate on studying, Haruka Hasebe calls out to Hiyori that she was getting in the way of their studies. However, Hiyori asked them to just wait but Haruka frustratingly refuses arguing that she is being a distraction and demands the former to go away. Hiyori simply responded with a smile, understanding that Hasebe must've been upset at the former as her fellow classmate Kakeru had crushed the latter's cup of drink. Realizing what she needs to do next, Hiyori grabbed her bag and walked over to the cash register. Hiyori right then and there placed an order at the register using her own private points to pay for the group's two cups of coffee. Upon purchasing and getting her hands on them, she went ahead and already took the liberty of adding some sugar into the coffee. Not before long, Hiyori offers the drinks to Hasebe, hoping the latter can accept it as her apology on Class 1-C's behalf. At the same time, she would reassures Hasebe that the coffee is quite all right to safely drink from, telling the latter how the former isn't someone to be so wary of. When the Class 1-D students finds it tasty like her previous cup of coffee, Hiyori explains how she noticed that a lot of sugar had collected at the bottom of the cup Kakeru squashed and deductively presumed that Hasebe has a liking for coffee sweet. Hiyori was glad to see that her analytical assumption was not inaccurate or mistaken as Hasebe happened to enjoy the coffee she modified. Hiyori informs her that the former used the same amount of undissolved sugar to estimate exactly how much of them Hasebe put in initially, admitting her amazing perception to discern small details despite how she may look to them.

After which, Hiyori fixed her gaze on the three boys of the group and asked them if they were holding a study session together. Hiyori questions the group whether they think of her as a spy working under Class 1-C to which one of them arguing that she was one. Hiyori tells the group to not view her as a spy, reasoning that she generally keep her distance away from the leader of Class 1-C Kakeru. Although he calls her by her first name, Hiyori insisted how it has nothing to do with that as she asked for Kakeru's permission to accompany him and his subordinates on their way to visit them. When discovering which class Kakeru and his gang was going to see, Hiyori expresses her desire to tag along with them as she states that the students of Class 1-D interests her. Seeing that the group was confusedly puzzled by her curiosity, she realizes that none of them have the slightest clue of what is going on behind the scene in Class 1-D. She reveals to the Class 1-D students how it's all her classmates ever mainly talk about in Class 1-C at that time. Particularly, she tells them that there is a master tactician they called "X" secretly hiding in their Class 1-D, disguising his or her true identity while scheming in the shadows. She states that this unknown tactician has contributed significantly to Class 1-D's successes as of late, from the Deserted Island Special Test to the Cruise Ship Special Test and Sports Festival. Again, she questions if they really don't know anything about who their master tactician really is but Teruhiko shrugs off the former's explanation as her likely referring to Horikita which Akito Miyake agreed with him on. However, she flatly and intuitively claims that the master tactician was not in anyway Suzune whatsoever and inquires Kiyotaka if he happened to spend a great deal of his time with the latter.

While Kiyotaka argues that he spent more time with Suzune than with his other classmates but not so much anymore recently, Hiyori can't help but still be suspicious of him considering he was the student who was seated next to her. As they discussed the identity of "X", Hiyori's hunch, though, contrarily stems from the scenes where Kiyotaka frequently orbits around Suzune whenever their class faces demise and downfall. This in turn, lead Hiyori to come up with an intuitive hypothesis that, perhaps, Suzune was just a cover-up and a puppet leader of Class 1-D to hide X's schemes while that person's successes were given to her. Hiyori's words were not proven convincing to the rest of the group as both Haruka and Akito strongly believed that nobody in Class 1-D is superior to her at planning and how Suzune's the only one which comes to their mind as the possible candidate for X's identity when crafting all of their strategies. Nonetheless, Hiyori was still somewhat doubtful of their group's reasoning, coming to an understanding that no matter what says, the Class 1-D students will all feel the same way about Suzune being the mastermind and not possibly anyone else but her. Finally hearing enough, Teruhiko snobbishly asked her to leave them alone after she "supposedly disturbed" their group's study routine, which Hiyori apologizes for that. Haruka instead defended her and expressed her gratitude for replacing the coffee cup she dropped earlier. Hiyori stood up from her seat, looking apologetic and expresses her apology once again that Teruhiko was right on the mark how it'd be a real risk not to take their studies for the upcoming test seriously. She suggests Hasebe and her group that they could always talk about that sort of stuff after the final exam's over, picking up her cup of coffee and preparing to leave. Upon saying her goodbyes to Hasebe and the group of Class 1-D students, she soon part ways with them not long afterward. Kiyotaka learned from Yōsuke Hirata that Hiyori had came by the latter's study group to talk to them and search for the mastermind "X" who was hiding in Suzune's shadow.

Volume 7
During a certain day, Hiyori went towards the library when the lunch break started. She had been heading to the school library for several days in a row in order to look for 's  and get her hands on it. Hiyori understood it had been hard to borrow that book due to how popular the novel was among students who already got a hold of them before she could. As soon as she arrived at the mystery novels section, she realizes there were no novel with that book title in the area as it was unavailable, leaving her to immediately dropped her shoulders in disappointment. Hiyori decided that she will come back later after her classes are finished to check for it again. Reasonably so, she decided to return to the library next time before dutifully going to the Tea Ceremony Club. While sorting out her thoughts, she ended up spotting a book in a high shelf position way above her height that feels out of place, pondering whether the librarian staff had made a mistake putting it there accidentally. Believing the novel was likely misplaced within the wrong area and order as it didn't match up with the classification of the mystery novels section, Hiyori extended her hand out in order reach for that book and get it down but couldn't touch it due to the difference in height. Even though she knew reaching to grab the book was almost impossible for her, Hiyori refuses to give up and tried to do it several times after. Despite her best attempts, she was still unsuccessful and understood how unreachable the book was from where she was standing at.

Between the bookshelves under the library's section for the mystery genre, Kiyotaka Ayanokōji met Hiyori who was about to arrive at the conclusion that she couldn't reach the book. While the former was thinking on borrowing another book, he observed a girl who was trying hard to reach the book titled,  by which was supposed to belong in the romance novels section. Kiyotaka helped the girl without realizing that it was none other than Hiyori herself who he soon recognized immediately after helping her take down the book that was classified wrongly. Once he grabbed the book, she recalls his name from when the two met each other previously during Kakeru's introduction and how her fellow classmates were looking for "X" who defeated their leader. Hiyori noted that her fellow classmates performed a thorough investigation on Class 1-D while she in her mind never been interested over those things. Hiyori sincerely expressed her gratitude to Kiyotaka for the assistance, as she was handed the book by him. Taking the novel and confirming it using the library card, she understood that the book was indeed supposed to have been placed in another section rather than with mystery novels. Afterwards, he spontaneously inquires whether Hiyori likes reading through Brontë's works or not. She opened the book and closed it again while noticing his gaze on her as if what he asked about that was strange. Realizing Kiyotaka has the looks of someone who misunderstood her and thought she liked Brontë's books, Hiyori clarifies that wasn't really the case as she neither like nor dislike any of the author's works personally. Upon telling Kiyotaka that she just doesn't have any sort of special preference over the author, Hiyori states it was just her wanting to put the book back in the right place of the library as it didn't belong in the mystery novels section and shelf but somewhere else.

After her disclosure, with an inquisitive outlook, Hiyori noticed and confirmed the book titled, "Farewell, My Lovely" by Raymond Chandler, that Kiyotaka was holding — is what she herself was looking for in the library's mystery novels section. That book, as Hiyori claimed, was considered to be a popular masterpiece that was being borrowed by a lot of sophomores, making the book's availability rare. With her eyes starting to sparkle, Hiyori didn't know why but the former thought she has a found a comrade at this moment, so she couldn't help but to inquire him about the novel he was in possession of. She learns from Kiyotaka that it was a book he had read after borrowing from a friend (Suzune Horikita). She tells Kiyotaka how lucky he was to have the book as it is very popular amongst the 2nd-year students to the point where the battle over it has been continuing for quite a while. Hiyori expresses her desire to re-read the novel once again for some time now but admits she didn't have the good chance to successfully find one in the school library and borrow it. Kiyotaka apologizes to Hiyori for how bad of him to monopolize the book she wants by borrowing it from his friend. However, Hiyori stated that there's no problem with Kiyotaka borrowing the said book whatsoever since she already read the novel before. Hiyori argues that while searching for Brontë's work, it ended up turning out to be a fortunate blessing for her in disguise as she was able to run into other good collections of interesting books along the way. She tells him how massive this school's library was with its large collection of books. Hiyori tells Kiyotaka that if she were to immerse herself into reading each and every book in all its shelves entirely, it might as well have taken her until graduation to not completely finish them in time before the former realized. Hiyori boldly declares that she'll do her utmost best to read through all of the books she could find until she graduates from their school. Hiyori said this while clutching Brontë's book with a small smile shown on her face, knowing that there is a person with her who she can freely talk to about her reading interests.

When she starts opening herself up to Kiyotaka, she unconsciously talked passionately about books with him without hesitation. Although she also realized in the middle of the speech that he remained silent while listening to her speak, Hiyori feeling extremely happy did it involuntarily. Kiyotaka was about to leave the scene to execute the purpose he initially had in the library, but Hiyori didn't seem to be satisfied with their small talk after finding out there was someone she remembers who seemingly has similar tastes to her when it comes to books. To continue the conversation further without stopping, Hiyori asked if Kiyotaka was planning to borrow another book besides the one he has and check it out, to which he denied. She believes that there was a reason behind why he was here with her, thinking Kiyotaka was not really here in the school's library to return "Farewell, My Lovely" and then borrow it for himself as he could've done that at the service desk instead. Hiyori then immediately turned her attention to one of the shelves in the mystery section. Not before long, Hiyori has already gone out of her way and attentively scan the mystery novels section to search for the right books to recommend Kiyotaka so that he can considered reading. After finally finding what she was looking for, Hiyori asked if he had already read ' works. Kiyotaka claimed that he has read 's but not any of Dorothy's yet. Hearing that, Hiyori recommended to Kiyotaka that he can try checking out and borrowing the first work among book series by Dorothy — . She affirmed that once he starts reading the said novel until the very end, he'll be entranced enough to keep immersing himself into the rest of the sequels which comes after that first volume. She pulled several books from out of the shelves and handed them over to him. Realizing that she has been rambling all this time, Hiyori asked him if the former had been bothering him by any chance from that talk to which he said she wasn't.

With how much time passed in the blink of an eye through her talking to him, Hiyori begins feeling lonely because the chat was almost coming to an end and she unknowingly said the words that didn't match her usual self. Hence, Hiyori noticed that Kiyotaka was not particularly interested in the matter but didn't have the heart to refuse her offer, so she immediately apologized afterwards for talking incessantly about books. He cleared up Hiyori's uneasiness by telling her that he was just perplexed for a while but was genuinely interested in grabbing the book she recommended and borrowed it while he was still in the school's library. Hiyori was extraordinarily happy and pleased with his response, smiling so widely that her eyes scrunched up. Noticing that Kiyotaka has not ate anything so far and that their break wasn't over yet, she decides to invite Kiyotaka out to have lunch and spend time eating together with her. Seeing his look of confusion, Hiyori admits in her mind that she never would have expected the former can proactively say those kinds of words openly. Although she knew there was a lot of dispute going on between Class 1-C and Class 1-D, Hiyori still expresses her desire to continue talking with him regardless even if the former thought of being rejected in turn. While Kiyotaka didn't expect this sudden development — thinking that the whole thing is a fragment of Kakeru's plan — Hiyori stated there was no one in Class 1-C who likes reading novels except for her and how she was the only classmate left alone with no friend to talk to about books. Hiyori frankly told him her honest feelings of what she wanted. Though Classes 1-C and 1-D are currently in dispute against each other, Hiyori argues that mingling with him will not be a problem for her. Hiyori reassures Kiyori to not worry about that as she was just playing along with with what Class 1-C seeks from the former so that Kakeru doesn't bother her.

To Hiyori, she was only helping Kakeru as an act of formality. While she admits to not having any interest at all in joining either of the parties involved as she wants no part in their class conflicts from the start, Hiyori asked of him whether he thinks conversing with her will be a problem for him on its own to which Kiyotaka said it won't. She was glad and relieve to get his mutual consent, reasoning that creating cracks between their two classes clashing over such trivial things makes her unhappy and prefers for everyone to get along nicely. She believes the best thing that can happen for them was if everybody in Classes 1-C and 1-D were to live in harmony without class conflicts getting in the way of their friendship. Kiyotaka didn't reveal a disgusted expression on her remarks, so that made Hiyori feel very happy that it was acceptable to him. She prompted Kiyotaka to leave with her and go to the cafeteria as they can't afford to waste time before lunch break is over. However, Kiyotaka told Hiyori to wait for him as he needs to move to the service desk and take care of checking out these books first that she suggested he borrow and read. Through the conversation she have had with Kiyotaka, Hiyori began to develop hope on the possibility that it was maybe likely possible of her to make a friend such as him with similar interests. A part of her thought these actions were not like how she usually was, while the other part was extremely excited towards the prospect of this new development between herself and Kiyotaka. As she thought it deeply in her heart, Hiyori hoped and prayed that in the far-off future, the dispute Class 1-C had with Class 1-D wouldn't create a crack between them like destroying their friendly relationship.

After that discussion and waiting for Kiyotaka to clear his matter at the library, both of them side by side head their way to the school's cafeteria and eat lunch together. While Kiyotaka chose the daily special, Hiyori on the other hand seemed unable to come to a decision on what to get for her lunch at the ticket machine. Her finger hovered over the buttons, and she looked at all the options carefully. Hiyori convey her sorry twice to Kiyotaka for keeping him waiting in line as she remained a bit indecisive for several minutes. At long last, she finally to go through with purchasing the same meal of what Kiyotaka had chosen. Once she and him turned in their tickets, two meals were placed before them on the counter for her to grab. Hiyori struggled to adjust her heavy schoolbag of textbooks to take her tray. Noticing that Hiyori was having trouble handling her tray due to carrying her schoolbag, Kiyotaka volunteers to hold her equipment as it was in the way. Doing so, she was able to freely take and move her tray around much to Hiyori's reluctance who felt it was her being an inconvenience to him. In the end, when Kiyotaka reasons that he doesn't want to see her fall and drop her tray because of the schoolbag, Hiyori quickly gives up on resisting by accepting his assistance to step in and handed him her belonging to carry in her stead. Hiyori conveys her apology to Kiyotaka once more as she understood how heavy her schoolbag filled with a lot of mystery-related books must've been for the latter before soon thanking him. She and Kiyotaka avoided hanging out with the big crowds, finding some empty seats to use with just them two, and sat across from one another, slowly tucking into their late lunch. As they are sitting near each other and eating, Kiyotaka opened the conversation by asking her whether Hiyori usually had lunch in the cafeteria or not. Hiyori claimed that she had always tend to bought her lunch at the convenience store in the morning and ate them in the classroom, so technically, it was a rare event for the former. She asked the similar query to him if he had lunch in the cafeteria often to which Kiyotaka answered that the latter himself preferred best the taste of food freshly made in the cafeteria than in the convenience store.

Meanwhile, in Kiyotaka's monologue, he noted that the way Hiyori held the pair of chopsticks was exceptionally and charmingly refined from his eyes. For instance, Hiyori utilized her chopsticks to elegantly raise a morsel of food to her mouth, leaving Kiyotaka to watch her in admiration due to how well she handled them with such graceful movement. Hearing his opinion, Hiyori affirmed and agreed that the cafeteria food was delicious as he said and the way Kiyotaka compared the taste of foods sold between the two sources will be kept in her mind. Kiyotaka then asked whether it was her first time experience to eat at the cafeteria, to which she replied that it was certainly the case before coming with him, accepting the fact that he found her out. He deduced that from the fact of how Hiyori was struggling in the ticket machine. Hiyori expresses how she wanted and waited for so long to try having lunch in the cafeteria. However, it was said by Hiyori that she lost the heart and motivation to do so given how, to her, it's too far from her classroom until the former befriended Kiyotaka who became the reason to consider inviting him to eat there with her. She was aware that missing out on her initial chance to do something would only served to drag her feet and figured the time spent being around Kiyotaka was now her good chance to go to the cafeteria. From now on, she plans on going to the cafeteria after hearing out his thoughts on the school meals. Hiyori and Kiyotaka continue to talk while they finished up their lunches. Since she and him arrive to the cafeteria late than the other students, most of them are done eating and left before the two. Following the scene where they finished their meals respectively, they talked again about the topic of books. Hiyori placed her schoolbag on the table in front of Kiyotaka, telling him that she'll head back to the library after lunch break is over.

Upon glance, Kiyotaka immediately acknowledged that her selection of books was nice to see, complimenting the former for her good taste in literature. Hiyori asked Kiyotaka if he have read any of these novels before, presenting to him four authors:, , , and. Knowing and confirming that both of them indeed liked those kinds of mystery novels, Hiyori felt elated to know he recognize the books as she laughed and clapped her hands together in joy. Kiyotaka noticed that the book she took out of her bag wasn't from the library. When Kiyotaka noticed that the books were not originally from the library, Hiyori confirmed that it was from her own personal collection of novels that she always brought along with her wherever the former go. Hiyori explains her reason for this action was so that she can hopefully one day meet a special someone who shared her tastes in reading mystery novels, believing such person would express their desire to borrow them from the former. Hiyori admits that she recently started out just carrying one and reveals how her schoolbag had ended up only accumulating more and more books as time goes on while waiting for that certain someone to find their way in her life. Now that she knows it was Kiyotaka who she has been waiting on all this time after their first meeting in the library, Hiyori encourages the latter to go ahead and reach out to her, telling him to not hold back in taking whichever book he would like from her as she welcomes the thought of letting the guy borrow it for free. The lunch break ended with Hiyori allowing Kiyotaka to take the book that was written by the author Ellery Queen with him and he promised afterwards to return the books to her soon.

During the final day of the second semester, just as her homeroom teacher Kazuma Sakagami of Class 1-C announced the end of class time, Hiyori was free to do whatever she wants by afternoon. This was apparently the case when there were no Tea Ceremony club activities for the day that she and her fellow classmates are advised to head back home early into her dormitory, so that hardly anyone would be left behind in the school building before it closes off after school. She stayed temporarily in the classroom to talk to Kakeru Ryūen about her concern for the overall state of the class, seeing the strangeness of the atmosphere surrounding her fellow classmates. She tells Kakeru how everyone seems really restless at the moment while surveying everywhere across the room. She then asked Kakeru of what scheme he was planning to do next. Learning that he made it his objective to confront "X" once and for all after past several months of investigating Class 1-D's true tactician, Hiyori was given an invitation by Kakeru if she wants to come tag along with him and find out who the mastermind really was. However, Hiyori chose to turn down his invite, claiming she herself don't quite see how going out of her way to take part in something like that would be something fun for even the former.

Not before long though, she proceeds to ask him if it was really worth the time and effort in hunting them down for, questioning him whether it was truly necessary and needed in the end. Seeing how puzzled he was to her inquiry, she dismisses the question as nothing to be answer, understanding and acknowledging that it was solely for him to decide alone as their class leader. Hiyori reminds Kakeru that she will be in the library during the meantime as he and her fellow classmates carry out their class strategy, telling him to stop by and contact her if he ends up getting in any trouble. When Kakeru hears her decision and argues that she won't be of any use to the class either way regardless of her accompanying them or not, Hiyori agrees with Kakeru's harsh words and tell him to have a nice winter vacation. She said that calmly, without a trace of fear in her tone of voice before leaving him behind to be with her remaining classmates to plan their move on cornering "X". After Kakeru has suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of Kiyotaka Ayanokōji at the school's rooftop, he had decided to step down as class leader for the time being and leave it to both Hiyori and Satoru Kaneda to take charge of leading Class 1-C from here on out in his stead without him.

Volume 7.5
It was revealed by Kakeru that he had already informed Hiyori and his classmates ahead of time to be vacating his class leader position to her and Satoru. Kakeru has been laying groundwork in his plan to have Hiyori and Satoru as the future class leaders next-in-line after him for his fellow classmates to rely on for their leadership that will begin during the third semester of school. Particularly, it was she and Satoru who were tasked with leading the new Class 1-D after they got demoted in the class ranking. Based on the former class leader's words, Hiyori and him will ultimately be the ones to decide from now on what kinds of decisions and strategies to make about attacking Class 1-A while moving forward. At the same time, Hiyori and Satoru must not lay a hand on the previous Class 1-D led under Suzune Horikita who have risen to Class 1-C, telling Kiyotaka that they will be persuaded by him of how those are good plans he had in mind for these two class leaders.

Volume 8
During the Mixed Training Camp, Hiyori was paired up in a group with other students who are from outside her class like Honami Ichinose, Mei-Yu Wang, and Shiho Manabe. At some point of the following day, she would wear her gymnasium uniform and go on jogging around campus ground with her group members. Seeing Mei-Yu's exhaustion who was ahead of her and feeling concern for the girl, she runs a little faster and was able to able to eventually catch up to both Honami and her after the two girls slow down their running speed and linked up with them. From then on, with a smile on her face, Hiyori alongside Honami tries to maintain the same pace as Mei-Yu who was exhausted from running, where all three of them decides to jog side by side with each other in unison. According to what Kakeru Ryūen and those around him have been saying, it was revealed that Hiyori has been acting as the leader of the girls in Class 1-D. On the third day of the special exam, she greets Honami and desires to get along well with the Class 1-B leader, feeling like it was a badge of honor to befriend her. She then gently called out to Mei-Yu and welcomes her with open arms, giving a friendly greeting to the latter while approaching her from the side. She tells Mei-Yu of how nerve-wracking it was for the latter to be surrounded by unfamiliar people like herself, reassuring the girl that they can become friends. Hiyori comforts her that she understands where Mei-Yu is coming from, describing how the latter must've been bewildered when the two of them were told to break down walls and start getting along which her fellow classmates agreed. She and the rest of the group start engaging with Honami about her confessions and love interest as a topic of romance before the discussion came to an end.

Volume 9
On Thursday evening, Hiyori set off to go to Keyaki Mall and visit the cafe. Once there, she spotted Kiyotaka Ayanokōji with Mei-Yu Wang of Class 1-C within her vicinity and called out to them. After meeting and greeting the two, she questions if the two were on a date together which her friend Mei-Yu quickly denies. Since she understood that it was a misunderstanding on her part, Hiyori decides to ask them whether it was fine for her to join in on their conversation. Being given permission from her two friends, Hiyori smiled happily and sat down in the chair next to Mei-Yu. Hiyori intriguingly states how seeing the two in one place was quite a curious combination to her, asking them of what kinds of things they have been talking about before she came to their side. Hearing that Kiyotaka and Mei-Yu were discussing about his interest in visiting China someday, Hiyori took interest of the topic and states that it is a nice country which she recalls having things like the Great Wall of China and all. Hiyori put her hands together in front of Mei-Yu and smiled after saying that. Once Kiyotaka brought up the idea of about going to Pingyao Ancient City if he was in China, she became more interested on what that location is as it was her first time hearing of the place. Mei-Yu noticing the closeness between Hiyori and Kiyotaka asked the two if they were friends. Hiyori responded by proudly admitting that they were not only friends but reading buddies as well which Kiyotaka acknowledged it to be the case. When Mei-Yu comments how great it is to make friends across different classes, Hiyori agrees with her words arguing that school life could be more than just everyone being hostile towards each other. After their conversation ends, Hiyori soon parted ways with Kiyotaka as she and Mei-Yu both headed to the elevator. However, Hiyori decides to let Mei-Yu go on ahead of her while she waits for Kiyotaka near the elevator after he checked his mailbox. Once Kiyotaka is done with his task and heads back to the elevator, Hiyori asked if he was willing to spare a moment of his time with her which he accepts.

She and him then proceeded to move to the lobby's sofa just in front of the elevator. Hiyori told Kiyotaka that she had wanted to ask him about something earlier, but felt hesitated to do so when they were in the presence of their friend Mei-Yu who was present there with them. Being a little bit mindfully considerate of her surroundings, Hiyori makes sure to do a quick sweep of the area around her before speaking up with Kiyotaka. She inquires Kiyotaka if he have heard anything about the strange rumors that are going on right now with Honami. After confirming that he was aware of what was happening, she asked him if he knew about the identity of the person who is spreading the malicious rumors of Honami around. Since Kiyotaka doesn't know the answer to that, Hiyori expresses her honest concern for Honami's well-being as she doesn't want to see her friend be tortured like this anymore. She remarks how someone like Honami was able to go out of her way and be on friendly terms with somebody such as herself who barely had any friends besides him. According to Kiyotaka, he see determination within Hiyori's eyes who shows resolve of wanting to be of help to her friend Honami. Hiyori reveals to Kiyotaka that when she first came to Advanced Nurturing High School, the formder didn't like or appreciate the sort of bad behavior the school was encouraging, where they have to hurt one another in order to win competitions and rise above the class rankings. However, she came to understand that it was necessary to fight from time to time every once in a while to protect her dear friends she made along the way. She recognizes that despite Honami's class are mutual enemies with her classmates, she still can't help but express the feeling of wanting to do something whatever she can in her power to help her friend out. Hiyori admits that she haven't been able to think of a good plan on how yet, but figures the best step to go for next was seeking Kiyotaka's cooperation. For this reason, Hiyori made a request to Kiyotaka if he was willing to work with her in countering the rumors to which the latter suggests she should consult with Suzune Horikita of Class 1-C instead of him.

Just as Suzune's name was mentioned, she thought over his words but Kiyotaka notes that her expression didn't lighten up. Although Kiyotaka argues that there is a possibility where his Class 1-C may also be considering to assist Honami, Hiyori still didn't show any positive signs that she was truly happy with his suggestion of bringing Horikita into this matter. Hiyori questions that it has to be Kiyotaka himself and not Suzune who might be able to do something about the negative rumors maliciously spreading about Honami and all around her. However, Kiyotaka informs her that he doesn't have any influence over Class 1-C but remains skeptical, tilting her head to the side questioningly. When Kiyotaka recommends she choose between Suzune and Yōsuke Hirata of Class 1-C, Hiyori accepts his words as fact understanding that he can't do anything to help her. Hiyori's shoulders dropped as her expression changed to one of disappointment. Hiyori reasons that she wasn't dissatisfied with his response, telling him that the former had really never gotten to know either Yōsuke or Suzune. She told Kiyotaka that if it was him who is by her side helping the former with forming a plan to stop the rumors, she thought it will be more than possible for that to work out. After saying all that, her shoulders dropped even further as she grew silent. Hiyori tells Kiyotaka that there was no reason for him to apologize, reasoning that she was only thinking as convenient for her, and spoke without considering things for him. With that said, she bowed her head in apology for being inconsiderate. Kiyotaka offers Hiyori a proposal that he would start the conversation with Suzune and Yōsuke about the rumors for her sake if she desires. Hearing that, she asked him if he would really do that for her but the conversation between the two came to an abrupt end when they proposed that this discussion can be done at another time as she realizes their conversation will only end up backfiring on them both if it spread things any further. Not wishing to add more troubles to Honami, Hiyori decides to end her talk with Kiyotaka right then and there for the time being.

On the other hand, several rumors posted on the school forums had circulated around not only in Class 1-B but also Hiyori's Class 1-D as well, putting the two classes of the affected students in disarray and causing conflict to arise. Daichi Ishizaki, a student of Class 1-D was one of the students subject to the rumors. Because of this, Daichi, along with other students of Class 1-D, decided to confront Masayoshi Hashimoto from Class 1-A, who were the ones suspected of spreading the rumors. Hiyori, along with Mio Ibuki and Albert Yamada accompanied Daichi during his meet up with Masayoshi, who also brought Hayato Kitō along with him.

Hiyori was the one to lead the conversation, asking Masayoshi if it was Class 1-A who were behind the rumors. Masayoshi denies this, which causes Daichi to quickly tense up and interject, but was immediately interrupted by Hiyori, requesting him to let her handle the situation. Hiyori continued to press Masayoshi for answers but he showed no signs of giving in. He argued that he just helped spread rumors about Honami Ichinose and states that he had no idea of the source, as he already told Kiyotaka and Akito Miyake, who were also present. Hiyori doesn't buy his argument, calling it an excuse. Hearing this, Masayoshi decided to take a different approach and pin the blame onto Class 1-D, accusing them of being behind the problems. He also quoted one of the rumors posted at the school forums which was about Daichi being a juvie during his elementary school days. At that point, Daichi could no longer stand still and snapped, but was prevented by Hiyori, who grabbed him by the wrist. After further provocation of Masayoshi, Akito decides that Hiyori isn't enough to avoid Daichi causing trouble and stepped in. Because of this, Daichi tells Akito to mind his own business. Meanwhile, Hayato, who had been silently watching the scene unfold, took a fighting stance against Class 1-D, ready to accept their challenge. Realizing this, Akito told them off, emphasizing the rules of the school regarding disputes. Masayoshi then responded that the student council president at that time, Miyabi Nagumo, was willing to turn a blind eye. To prove this, he threw a kick at Daichi, but was quickly intercepted by Akito.

Soon enough, a fight broke down between Daichi and Masayoshi, with Mio and Hayato backing up their classmates. Akito, who was in the middle of the fire, tried his best to calm the situation down but to no avail after being held down by Albert. Before the situation worsened, Hiyori declared her stance to Daichi, who was shouting at Masayoshi. Hiyori reasoned that they won't able to bring out the truth from Class A even if Daichi manages to defeat Masayoshi and Hayato. Although Daichi felt bitter of backing down, he was convinced of Hiyori and listened obediently. Right after, Akito was also freed from Albert's hold under Hiyori's orders. Following that, she apologized to the Class 1-C students present after getting them involved in the matter. Seeing this, Masayoshi complained, saying that after being accused and beaten up, they were just gonna leave, to which Hiyori responded with asking for forgiveness. Understanding that there aren't any benefits in dragging the solution any longer, Masayoshi gave his final warning and left the scene. With that, Hiyori successfully defused the conflict during the confrontation with no one left injured.

Volume 10
Coming soon...

Volume 11
Coming soon...

Volume 11.5
In Volume 11.5, during their spring break, Hiyori invites Kiyotaka and meets him in front of Keyaki Mall. Eager to talk about books, the two of them go inside a café where they continue their conversation which Kiyotaka noted that he cherished the opportunity. Right after, as Hiyori was about to show Kiyotaka the books she brought along with her, she suddenly remembers something and shifts the conversation regarding that. However, before going into detail, students of Class D, Kanji Ike and Satsuki Shinohara, enter the café and take the seats beside Kiyotaka, who they didn't notice. Hiyori states their names and proudly affirms that after a year had already passed, she got to know more students of the other classes.

Through mutual interest, Hiyori and Kiyotaka kept silent and listened to the conversation of Kanji and Satsuki, which was about the future of their class after losing against Class A in the Event Selection Exam. Satsuki asks Kanji who the person responsible for their loss was, in which the latter replies that it was his fault, leading the former to be surprised. After that, Kanji shifted their conversation towards their relationship, which caught Hiyori and Kiyotaka's attention as they looked at each other. However, before Kanji said anything, Satsuki interrupted after finally noticing Hiyori and Kiyotaka right next to them. Realizing this, Kanji became flustered, saying that Kiyotaka should've greeted him instead of sneaking around. After that, Satsuki asks Kiyotaka if he was on a date with Hiyori, in which he replies that that isn't the case and returns the question about Kanji and the former. The former quickly denies this, which led Kanji to insult her. This caused them to argue and leave Hiyori and Kiyotaka alone.

After that, Kiyotaka asks Hiyori regarding what she was saying earlier. She states that it was similar to what had happened between Kanji and Satsuki, which brought ideas of confession and alike to Kiyotaka but they were immediately rejected. Hiyori brought the topic regarding the special exam to the table. She then asks if Kiyotaka was the one who changed Kakeru Ryūen, which he noted that Hiyori asked with her eyes filled with conviction. Because of this, he doesn't deny her, and instead, asks for her reasoning. Hiyori says that it was her simply putting the pieces together. She apologizes for bringing it up and affirms her nervousness because of what she had to reveal to Kiyotaka. Hiyori states that she would definitely regret revealing what she knew to Kiyotaka if they end up no longer talking to each other after, in which Kiyotaka notes that she should've kept it to herself. Hiyori says the reason behind her action was that so they could develop further. Kiyotaka inquires further but Hiyori replies that she didn't know what she was saying herself.

After that, the two of them talked about how Kakeru confronted Class B in the special exam, with Hiyori stating that his methods were dangerous that even though the class they were against have kindhearted students, they wouldn't tolerate his strategies. Kiyotaka questions why Hiyori didn't try to stop Kakeru before he executed his plans, to which the latter replies that he wouldn't listen to her even if she did. Kiyotaka agrees and asks Hiyori if there is any way Kakeru could be stopped, in which Hiyori replies that someone even more powerful than him have to criticize his way of thinking. After that, Kiyotaka asks Hiyori if she could help him pass a message to Kakeru, to which the latter agrees. Kiyotaka then says that if it were him, he could've secured more than five wins using a better method. Hearing this, Hiyori seemed grateful and says that she will pass the message on to Kakeru.

Hiyori and Kiyotaka parted ways shortly after the former gave books to the latter for him to borrow. Kiyotaka noted that he should change his evaluation of Hiyori, regarding her as a friend with mutual interests rather than a student from the same year.

2nd Year Volume 1
Coming soon...

2nd Year Volume 2
Coming soon...

2nd Year Volume 4
Coming soon...

Academic Abilities
Not much is known about Hiyori's academic background, but one thing is certain: the scores she got on her assessment by the S-system indicates that she belongs to the upper echelon among her colleagues.

Physical Abilities
According to Kiyotaka Ayanokōji, he doesn't exactly picture Hiyori as somebody who was the athletic type, consider how much time it took for her to reach Honami Ichinose and Mei-Yu Wang who were way ahead of her in running speed before the latter slow down to allow the girl to catch up.

Intellectual Abilities
Hiyori is known to have a sharp intuition which is why she is sometimes tasked with info gathering and surveillance, though she is never serious about it. Let alone being incredibly perceptive, Hiyori was described to be quick-witted. She'd pretended to display remarkable powers of observation to shake the Ayanokōji Group up with how amazing her ability was supposedly is to them. She was capable of piecing whatever information she could find together and form a hypothesis around it shows how impressive Hiyori's deduction skills are.

On the other hand, she was known to be terribly bad at remembering faces and names if they don't belong in her class or left a weak impression on the former. Beyond her fellow classmates, it isn't easy for Hiyori to commit all people's faces and names to long-term memory unless there are certain people like Kiyotaka who she ends up befriending or Rokusuke Kōenji who come off as unique to her. According to her classmate Kakeru Ryūen, Hiyori was highly regarded by him as being clever and intelligent. However, the fact that she hated the idea of participating in a hostile class conflict was what made Hiyori seem totally useless as a pawn in his grand scheme of things compared to her other fellow classmates who are more or less involved all the times.

When Haruka Hasebe dropped her empty coffee cup on the ground, Hiyori managed to know specifically how much sugar was in it, to begin with, and get a new cup of coffee with the exact sugar amount for Haruka later. In a way, she was quite keenly attentive to the smallest details. Hiyori was able to smartly figure out that the person Kakeru was looking for in Class 1-D was Kiyotaka after suspecting that he stepped down from his position after being defeated, and that Daichi Ishizaki taking him down was merely a cover-up. This proves her hypothesis to be correct after the following volumes when she asked Kiyotaka about his involvement in crippling her Class 1-C which he admitted to doing.

Quotes

 * (To Kakeru Ryūen): "Both their faces are weak. I'll probably forget them immediately."
 * (To Daichi Ishizaki): "Yes, that's right. Hirata-san. Why are faces and names so hard to remember?"
 * (To Kiyotaka Ayanokōji): "I don't mind. I've read this book before. And besides, while looking for that book, I was blessed to run into other books. It seems this school’s library has a large collection of books. If I were to immerse myself into reading them, I might have graduated before I realized."
 * (To Kiyotaka Ayanokōji): "There's no one in Class C who likes reading novels, so I have no one I can talk to."
 * (To Kiyotaka Ayanokōji): "That's a relief. Because creating cracks between classes over such trivial things makes me unhappy. After all, the best thing is for everybody to live in harmony."
 * (To Kiyotaka Ayanokōji): "They're from my personal collection. I've been walking around with them, hoping I'd meet someone who shared my tastes and would want to borrow them. I started out just carrying one, but I suppose I accumulated more and more books while waiting to find that certain someone."

Name Etymology

 * Hiyori's surname Shiina consists of kanjis that mean "oak, mallet" (椎) (shii) and "name" (名) (na).

Trivia

 * The reason for Hiyori's evaluation of Class C is due to lack of teamwork skills.
 * Hiyori ranks #30 in "Female Character" category in the 2021 edition of 's  guidebook.
 * For the 2nd Year arc, when asked about her aspirations for the next year, she answered  'To read as many books as I can in the library. And searching for a new book to meet.'