Shouko

"If you think we're friends, tell me anything and everything! If you don't tell me, I can't help you!"

- Shouko

Shouko (翔子) is a character in .hack//Another Birth. She is a friend of Akira Hayami and attends the same high school as her. Shouko, like the rest of Akira's friends, plays The World and often talks about rumors she heard on the BBS. She comes from a single parent family, and was raised by her mother. Because of this, her family frequently has trouble with money, so Shouko works several part-time jobs to help pay the bills. She has a boyfriend named Yuuji who also plays The World.

Story
Shouko's role is fairly minimal; at first, she is merely one of Akira's friends that talks about The World.

When Shouko notices that Akira and Risa, normally the best of friends, have distanced themselves from each other after Akira makes first string in tennis, she decides to walk home with Akira to cheer her up and ask if anything happened between the two, which Akira denies. Shouko is relieved when Risa and Akira make up after Akira's tennis match.

When Akira reads Kazu's journal, she learns that Shouko's character Syua and Yuuji's character Mac met with Kazu in The World and helped him out.

Shouko begins to sense that something serious might be going in in The World after the fire in Minato Mirai. She approaches Akira and tells her that she is considering quitting The World, but feels that her connection with Yuuji might be severed if she does so. After hearing Akira tell her to quit and recalling rumors about players going into comas, she begins to suspect that Kazu was one of those players, which Akira denies. It's suggested that Shouko understands Akira's situation and doesn't believe her lies.

Shouko also conspires with Akira's other friends in setting her up with Hagiya; she tries to persuade Akira to watch a live show that Hagiya is performing in, and she later plays a part in a plot to get Akira to spend her entire lunch period talking to Hagiya.

Trivia

 * Shouko once worked as a waitress. She didn't tell Akira, and surprised her once when Akira visited the restaurant she was working at.