矢澤にこ

The first thing anyone will likely ever notice about Nico is that she is incredibly determined and stubborn. Whether it's pursuing her dreams of becoming a school idol or speaking her mind, she puts nothing less than 110% into everything. However, even as much as she's like a tiny freight train, Nico still comes with her fair share of insecurities. She is, after all, a teenager and therefore not only prone to comparing herself to her peers, but behaving in egregious ways to compensate for her perceived shortcomings. For example, Nico lied about her family's economic status to seem like she was used to the amount of wealth Maki is constantly surrounded by.

Nico's insecurity also almost got in the way of Nico joining μ's in the first place. Although it's true Nico has a tenacious streak, she gave up on her dreams of becoming a school idol when she was abandoned by other members during her first year. In addition to her strong opinions that μ's was not up to snuff, Nico found the thought of failing a second time on her dream to be unbearable. The combination of this fear and her later strong investment in μ's resulted in her lashing out at Honoka (almost physically in addition to verbally) when Honoka appeared ready to throw the towel in. Furthermore, Nico also tends to over-compensate emotions like sadness or fear by acting like she's cool, calm, and collected. Or, somewhat worse, Nico tends to behave fairly egotistically and acts like her own farts don't stink. Fortunately, other members tend to call her out when she engages in either behaviors, allowing Nico to either get some of her feelings out or come back down to earth. Nico gets a little huffy sometimes at the teasing, but she tolerates it because she knows her friends do it because they care. And after that long stretch of not really having many friends to speak of after her first school idol group bombed, she'll put up with the teasing with only performative complaints.

It would be unfair though to say some of Nico's arrogant behavior was completely unwarranted. As mentioned before, Nico doesn't do anything half-measure. She takes becoming and training as a school idol very seriously. Nico also doesn't really break character when she's in her persona as a cutesy school idol. Similarly, she takes the role of being a third year student very seriously by trying to encourage the younger members of the group by offering advice or trying to pass along her knowledge. It's likely this in particular stems from being the oldest sibling of four and her frequent caregiving role she takes on for her younger siblings.

But that maturity can often be somewhat fleeting. In addition to her displays of ego, Nico is often looking out for any and all opportunities for attention. This causes her to behave in ways that are a little less than mature, such as when she straight up lied to her siblings about the other members of the group being her backup rather than everyone being an equal member of the idol group. Another example is that although Nico is hellbent on becoming a school idol, she's not above whining if training gets particularly arduous. Nico also doesn't always have the best volume control when she wants the attention on her and becomes easily frustrated when others are not looking to her as a leader by default. In other words, Nico can quite easily and often get to be pretty obnoxious in her attempts to stand out.

But despite Nico's attention-seeking and her egotistical behavior, she does have a good heart deep down and cares a lot about the people around her. Nico is used to looking after others from having to care for her siblings and looks after the younger members of the group in similar ways. And when her behavior is getting a little much, she's got friends to take the piss out of her enough to get her back down to reality. In the end, Nico couldn't really ask for more than that since she'd been all alone after her first school idol group failed, but she's hellbent on making the most of a second chance and will stop at nothing to make her dreams come true.

She can sing! She can dance! But don't ask her what's the capital of France!

Seriously though, Nico is your typical teenage girl struggling academically and without any particularly special abilities. She is well-versed in all things to do with school idols, particularly the popular groups, everything to do with Love Lives, and what makes groups/group members appealing to the masses. She's able to sing and dance as mentioned above due to being a member of a school idol group herself. She's also a beast in the kitchen and can whip up whole meals by herself.