Shinomiya, Ayase

篠宮綾瀬

Ayase is a determined and remarkable young girl who is paralyzed from the waist down and relies on a wheelchair. She serves as the sole Endlave combat pilot for Funeral Parlor. Unable to tolerate feeling dependent on others, she firmly rejects any assistance. Ayase dislikes two things above all else: being offered help due to her disability, and having people watch her while she attempts to crawl back into her wheelchair on her own, as she feels the process lacks elegance.
Despite her disability, Ayase is valued and respected by all members of Funeral Parlor for her Endlave piloting skills. This paralyzed girl maneuvers her Endlave, which consists of many tons of armor-grade steel alloy, with uncanny precision on the battlefield. As the only pilot of the Endlave mobile combat platform, Ayase is instrumental to all Funeral Parlor operations. Her primary duty is to draw enemy Endlaves away from Funeral Parlor's main objectives and provide support and cover for other Units. During combat, Ayase is most often outnumbered at least three to one, yet she still manages to hold her own against enemy Endlaves. Originally, she piloted an older Endlave Jumeau model until it was destroyed by Daryl, after which she later acquired Daryl's Endlave Steiner model.
Ayase harbors feelings for Gai and is very loyal to him. She was eager to accept full responsibility for losing her original Endlave in combat, having successfully held off multiple, newer, and more advanced enemy Endlave models with her older unit for 18 minutes. After hearing her report, Gai simply stated that the fault was his own and that he was unfit to be the Undertaker's Commander for giving her such a cruel order, causing her to blush furiously.
Initially, Ayase is apprehensive toward Shu due to his lack of firm character and indecisiveness. However, she later warms up to him as she begins to see him change as a person while remaining the same as a human being.