Nodoka Haramura is a first-year student at Kiyosumi High School and a protagonist in the Saki series, appearing as a supporting character in Saki Achiga-hen Episode of Side-A. She developed a passion for mahjong through playing online from a young age, and her father, an attorney, disapproves of her interest but does not forbid it. Due to her mother's work assignments, her family moved frequently, settling in Nara Prefecture before her final year of elementary school. There she entered Achiga Girls’ Academy for middle school, befriended Shizuno Takakamo, and briefly joined the Achiga mahjong club. After one year, her family moved to Nagano, where she enrolled at Takatoobara Middle School and met Yuuki Kataoka. Together they joined the school’s mahjong club, later gaining younger teammates. Takatoobara failed to qualify for the national middle school team tournament, but Nodoka entered the individual competition and won the national championship, earning widespread media attention that often exaggerated her abilities as a genius. To remain with Yuuki, she convinced her father to let her stay in Nagano for high school, entering Kiyosumi with the goal of winning the national high school championship. Upon meeting Saki Miyanaga, she was initially devastated by Saki’s superior skill and felt contempt, but the two eventually grew close and made a shared promise to reach the national team tournament together.

Nodoka is pragmatic and logical, refusing to believe in supernatural factors or superstitions in mahjong, instead attributing outcomes entirely to skill. This rational mindset sometimes creates friction with players who rely on luck or instinct. She dislikes opponents who go easy on her and is extremely afraid of darkness and thunder, though she claims not to believe in ghosts. Her true strength lies in her online mahjong persona, Nodocchi, under which her winning record surpasses that of many professionals. She makes rapid, complex decisions with minimal errors, but her live-game efficiency drops due to environmental distractions. To counter this, her club president Hisa Takei advised her to play with a stuffed penguin named Etopen, which helps her maintain concentration. Her role in Episode of Side-A is that of a former classmate whose televised high school tournament appearance inspires Shizuno Takakamo to revive Achiga’s mahjong club in hopes of meeting her again. Key relationships include her close friendship with Yuuki Kataoka, her evolving bond with Saki Miyanaga, and her history with Shizuno Takakamo. She is the daughter of Kei Haramura and Kaho Haramura, and her birthday is October 4. Throughout the series, Nodoka develops from a serious, perfectionist player who values logical play into a more cooperative teammate, learning to adapt her skills to the live environment while remaining grounded in her belief in pure skill.