Parona

Parona (パロナ) is a girl from Ninannah and a close friend of March.

Appearance
Parona is a young girl around the age of 15. She has long black hair that is tied in a loose ponytail. She wears a dress with cloth wrapped around her arms and legs.

Personality
Parona is clever, observant, courageous, and selfless. She strongly disagrees with Ninannah tradition of sacrificial ceremonies.

Background
As a child, Parona often played with a young girl she referred to as "big sis.". One day, the girl took Parona into the forest and asked her to play a game - hide and try not to be found. She said the game would end when she came back and left Parona with food that would last for a couple days. After an unknown amount of time, Parona came out of hiding and asked an older woman where big sis went. The older woman told Parona that the girl was no longer here because she was chosen as a sacrifice for the Spirit Bear. Parona ran away, criticized by the villagers, and eventually found the girl's body lying in the forest.

Plot
(From chapter 2 onward)

March is seen playing house with her dolls and Parona surprises March with a new doll in the shape of a crab. She plays with March until dinner time.

The next day, Parona is practicing archery using a big, heavy bow instead of a lighter, smaller one. Each time she shoots, she misses. March arrives and asks Parona if she wants to play but Parona refuses, saying she would like to train today but that they can play tomorrow. Later that day, a sound is heard throughout the village. Parona asks March if she would like to play and tries to take her into the forest but is stopped by Hayase. Hayase asks if they heard the signal for the villagers to assemble and tells them to go to where everyone else is. Parona is then seen several days later at March's departure, staring at her with a pained expression.

As March and Hayase are making their way up the mountain, an arrow flies toward Hayase and March takes that opportunity to escape. As March runs away, Hayase chases after her but Parona appears and knocks Hayase down.

Relationships
March

Parona treats March almost like a little sister, playing house with her, protecting her and almost committing suicide after March is killed. She admires March's innocence and dream to become a mother, realizing what lengths her own older sister went to to keep her safe and vows to do the same for March. She finds the strength to keep going by Fushi telling her that March wouldn't have wanted her to despair over her death. In March's version of the afterlife, Parona is there smiling and playing with her.

Hayase

Parona dislikes how Hayase uses the people in the village for her own ends, and even goes to the lengths of sacrificing March. The two hate each other to the point that Parona holds no remorse in trying to kill her, even grimacing in distress when instead of shooting her head when aiming at Fushi, she instead shot her hand. Hayase hints to Fushi that not only did she try to take off Parona's face, she ended up beheading her in the process because she just wouldn't stay still.

When Hayase's descendant Kahak becomes infatuated with Fushi using Parona's form and wants to marry her, Parona is disgusted by this and causes Fushi to throw up. Even as a spirit, she refuses to want to have anything to do with Hayase, hating the woman who not only killed her adoptive sister, but also took her life.

Skills
Parona practices archery with a big, heavy bow. Because of the bow's weight, her aim is off and she ends up missing a lot, but if her bow is the correct weight, her aim is adequate. When not using her bow, Parona can be very adept at fighting with just her fists, hides a hidden blade on her person so she can saw through her bindings and even creative enough to fashion a spear out of a nearby mop when attacking her prison wardens. She's very lithe, easily able to climb structures and run quickly.
 * Archery
 * Combat
 * Agility