Naoka Ueno’s motivations intertwine jealousy, insecurity, and unresolved emotions, driving her turbulent interactions. A classmate of Shōya Ishida in elementary school, she formed a crush on him after a sports festival encounter, seeking his approval by joining the bullying of Shōko Nishimiya, a deaf transfer student. Resentment festered when tasked solely with assisting Shōko, deepening her frustration and sense of injustice.

Initially tentative toward Shōko, Ueno shifted to active harassment after misinterpreting Shōko’s act of cleaning offensive messages from Ishida’s desk as manipulation to win his affection. Consumed by envy, she escalated cruelty—pouring dirt into Shōko’s shoes, then ostracizing Ishida once he was blamed as the primary bully.

Years later, encountering Ishida and Shōko in high school reignited Ueno’s hostility. She mocked Ishida’s attempts at redemption, clashing over his bond with Shōko until their conflict erupted into a ferris wheel altercation with Shōko. On a bridge, Ishida confronted her hypocrisy, mirroring others evading accountability—a confrontation underscoring her destructive emotional patterns.

Fleeting self-awareness surfaced as Ueno acknowledged her role in Ishida’s isolation, voicing remorse yet doubting genuine change. After Ishida’s suicide attempt left him comatose, her daily hospital visits revealed lingering guilt and attachment. By the story’s end, subtle changes emerged: collaborating with Shōko and Miyoko Sahara on hairstyling, attending a class reunion—small steps hinting at tentative growth.

Her relationships mirror contradictions. She dismissed Miyoko as a hypocrite for learning sign language, only to later partner with her. Lingering romantic feelings for Ishida persisted, unspoken but fueling sporadic attempts to reconnect or antagonize Shōko. Physically, she sported mid-length black hair and practical work attire, embodying her struggle to compartmentalize identity fragments.