Aia Udagawa

About Aia Udagawa

Aia Udagawa was scouted as a model when he was young, and everyone assumes his path is set. What he actually wants is to be the person behind the makeup brush. Bless follows Aia as a school contest gives him his first real chance to do the work he loves, and as he learns to stop hiding the dream he cares about most.

Appearance

Aia is a slender first year high school boy with soft, shoulder length blond hair and striking amber eyes, the kind of face that got him scouted as a model as a child. In his official art he wears a cream sweater vest over a white shirt, neat and understated, and there is a new sharpness to his look when makeup is involved, his own or someone else's.

Personality

Aia is sensitive, kind and empathetic, and he has a habit of bottling his feelings up until they spill out awkwardly. He spent years assuming he had no talent for makeup and that wanting it was pointless, so his dream went quiet. Working on Jun brings it back at full volume. Underneath the self doubt he is diligent: he studies, he practises, and he cares about making other people feel like their truest selves.

Background & Story

Aia was scouted as a model at a young age, and the role stuck to him. By high school he still hides his real ambition, makeup artistry, afraid of stepping outside the pretty face role people assigned him. Being paired with his classmate Jun Sumisaki for their school's runway contest changes that. With Aia doing her makeup, the pair make an incredible team, and the experience leads him to Mirror, an exclusive school for aspiring makeup artists founded by working pros, where he is surrounded by peers and rivals for the first time.

Powers & Abilities

• Makeup artistry: Aia's gift is makeup as transformation and encouragement. He studies faces, imagines what a look could bring out, and does the careful practical work to get there. His proudest moments come when his makeup lets someone else stand taller.
• A model's training: Years in front of cameras taught Aia how shoots, styling and presentation work from the model's side. It is experience most beginners at Mirror do not have, and it shapes how he thinks about every look he creates.

Key Relationships

• Jun Sumisaki: His classmate and first real canvas. Aia persuades Jun to enter the school runway contest with him doing her makeup, and helping her shine is what brings his own dream back to life.
• Hikaru Oya: The famous model and makeup artist Aia idolises, and one of Mirror's founders. Oya has been watching Aia's potential closely, and his school is where Aia's real training begins.
• Akiharu Nakano: A fellow first year at Mirror, quiet, devoted to Oya, and the most skilled student there. Aia measures himself against Akiharu's speed and technique.

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