Yaling Li

Yaling Li, sometimes known as Ryo-cchi, or Satsuki by Connor Nakamura, is one of the ten protagonists of Ata Hapara.

She is the cousin of Harper Chen and the niece of media mogul Yuanhong Li (better known as Zhihao Zhao). She is also the mother of a 20-week-old miscarried child "about the size of a hand" named Asahi.

Appearance
Yaling is a young adult with a caramel-olive complexion, bob cut black hair and dark brown eyes. Her height is 160cm and her weight is 60kg according to her Missing Persons Poster. She wears red and gold circular glasses, one lens of which is damaged in the fall.

Last year, she was wearing black leggings, a flowing red and gold tunic, a black and red chequered scarf, a white beanie and white flats. When Isabelle finds her in the forest, she gives her a grey puffer jacket.

When she is found a year later, she is incredibly frail and her hair has grown out. She has torn off the bottom half of the tunic to burn, and no longer has her scarf (it was used to bury Light). She also left her glasses at the bottom of the cliff, having shattered one of the lenses. She is still wearing her leggings, even though they are ripped, as well as Isabelle's shoes and puffer jacket.

At the observatory, she is given a pair of baggy jeans and a Guns N' Roses hoodie to wear. She also begins to carry an Anderson Wheeler 500 NE Double Rifle, which she wears across her back. She carries ammunition in the pockets of her puffer jacket.

She has a distinctive butterfly tattoo on her shoulder, which she shares with Harper Chen. She also wears a jade locket, engraved with the character '李 ' (Li), and contains a photo of her and Light's ultrasound.

Personality
Yaling is described as diligent, honest and adaptable. At the beginning of the book, Yaling was head over heels in love with Tobias and was carrying his child. As a very honest and sincere person herself, and based on her diary, she had a difficult time believing others could lie or be deceptive, and was thus very trusting towards others. Isabelle sister refers to her as being 'naive'.

Yaling's near-obsessive crush on Tobias and the lengths she goes to in an attempt to get him to notice her suggest she is rather insecure and tries her best to be appreciated by others.

Biography
Yaling is the only child of Jian and Yang Li, and is the favourite niece of movie mogul Zhihao Zhao. Quiet and reverent, Yaling endears herself to teachers and family alike by working hard at her goalsHannah is the second child of the Washington family, being the twin sister of Beth and the younger sister of Josh.

Appearing to be rather naive, Hannah hopelessly crushes on her friend Mike, whom she specifically hopes to see when she, Josh and Beth invite their friends over to the lodge for a weekend of fun. By then, it was revealed that she had finished her senior year of high school.

Yaling, along with her best friend Isabelle, disappeared in mid-July of last year. The police searched high and wide, but despite their best efforts, the friends are still missing, presumed dead.

One Year Ago
Around 2 AM in the middle of June, the HMC Prefects (with the exception of Anapela, who was unwilling, and Eric and Laila, who had passed out from exhaustion) staged a prank on an unsuspecting Yaling. As Anapela criticizes the cruelty of the prank, Tash brushes this off, claiming she deserves it for making moves on Mina's boyfriend, Tobias. Unbeknownst to Anapela, Yaling or Isabelle, the group was part of a cult who planned on sacrificing Yaling to the Taniwha in a ploy to ally with the creatures for their own ends. They leave a note behind for Yaling, convincing her to come to the guest room, signed by Tobias. The group then head up to the room and hide there.

As Yaling enters the guest room, she meets Tobias, who attempts to convince her to take off her top. However, Yaling instead wants to talk about her pregnancy, surprising Tobias and shocking the rest of the cultists. Mina accidentally reveals herself by exclaiming that Tobias had said he "only got a little friendly, just enough to get her trust". Out of embarrassment, Yaling flees into the mountainside. The group chases after her to the door, calling out to her. Isabelle, noticing a shadow outside, discovers what the group has done. After calling them jerks, she proceeds to chase after her best friend into the woods, where she will later find her crying in the snow.

After finding Yaling, they see the summoned Taniwha behind them, which then chase the two until they reach the edge of a cliff.

Yaling and Isabelle both fall off the cliff when backing up, but Isabelle manages to grab a hanging branch with one hand and Yaling's hand with the other. Russell reaches his hand out to Isabelle, while Yaling begs her to drop her and pull herself up, unable to live with the fear of carrying Tobias' child and the embarrasment and shame she will bring on her family. Not knowing about the child, and focusing on her loyalty to her friend, Isabelle lets go of the cliffside and they both fall into the mines.

Yaling's leg is broken in multiple places during the fall (Russell later finds 12 breaks, but notes that hairline cracks have mended during the year). She is also badly concussed, and the physical and emotional trauma of the event causes her to miscarry.

Time in the Mines

Together with Isabelle, Yaling attempts to escape but finds that the rock wall is impossible to climb, and that their attempts to send a smoke signal or move the collapsed rocks blocking them in are unsuccessful. They bury Asahi together, and at some point give up on keeping track of the days on the wall. Yaling initially keeps a diary on scraps of paper, using her own blood to write. She describes becoming increasingly hungry and thirsty, and that the cold nights are starting to get to her. The girls have apparently stopped making fires by this point, as they do not want to lose the insulation their clothes are providing.

After about a month, she and Isabelle dig up Asahi and eat her placenta raw. Isabelle also removed her right leg and takes a bite, but is unable to finish it and hides it away where Isabelle cannot find it. As the weather gets warmer, Isabelle is able to find insects and limited plant growth for them to eat. At one point, they ate a jewelled gecko and a karoro that had fallen down when it's wing broke.

At about the same time, Whaitiri fell into the mines. Initially thinking she was a threat, Isabelle tried to kill her before she was stopped by Yaling. Yaling identified her as a benevolent Taniwha, and encouraged Isabelle to keep her and use her to help find food. Whaitiri remained in the mines with Yaling and Isabelle for the duration of their entrapment, and apparently provided added body heat in the cold nights.

Around eleven months after they'd fallen, Russell realised they were trapped and was able to shift the rock fall from the other side, rescuing the girls and taking them to the observatory. Yaling was nearly catatonic by this point, and slept for a week. When she woke up, Russell had amputated her lower leg and replaced it with a prosthetic. She was still weak, unlike Isabelle who had recovered faster, and was given the responsibility of keeping Isabelle in the Observatory while Russell went on reconnisance missions. She began to be hopeful about seeing her family again, now that she understood Tobias and his crimes, and she and Isabelle often spoke about what they would do when they got home.

Chapter 2
While looking for Laila, Margarita visits the room Yaling and Isabelle stayed in while they were at the lodge. It is revealed that Yaling's crush on Tobias was even bigger than imaginable, as multiple clues relate to her wanting to prove herself to him. A note also refers to "an event" occurring five months back that Yaling wasn't sure how to feel about. The room is decorated with butterfly clippings and photos of her and her friends, including Laila.

Chapter 7
When Kyra is making her way through the mines, she finds clues describing what happened to Yaling. Finding her diary, along with Isabelle's watch and necklace, Kyra is able to discover that the girls survived their initial fall. She also finds Asahi's grave, and is able to identify her as a child of one of the girls, though she is not sure which one. She also doesn't recognise the Kanji, and thus is unaware of Asahi's name. She is disgusted, however, by the remains of a leg she finds, as well as the just-visible body of the fetus. Unable to find their bodies, Kyra assumes they either wandered deeper into the mines (unaware that the rock fall was recently cleared) or that they were killed and eaten by the Taniwha.

During this time, Yaling herself is with Russell in the mines, searching for Isabelle or any of the other prefects.

Chapter 8
After travelling with Russell, Yaling runs into Kyra, who is shocked by the revelation she is alive. Together, the two of them escape the mines and make it back to the lodge. When they run into Mina and Connor, she recognises Connor and pleads with him not to let her die. Connor appears protective and attacks Mina, giving them time to escape.

The others are overjoyed to see Yaling alive, and she will briefly explain what happened last year. She does not go into detail, however, merely identifying Tobias as a member of a cult, admitting that the fetus Kyra found was her son, and explaining that Isabelle is alive somewhere on the mountain, looking for them. She appears to still be in shock from being rescued, and is comforted by Margarita in lieu of Isabelle.

After his arrival, she helps Russell to explain the Taniwha and appears to regain some of her senses. She becomes increasingly frustrated that she cannot go out to help find Isabelle, cursing her amputated leg.

She is visibly distressed by the idea that Tobias and the cult are on the mountain, a feeling which is exacerbated when she learns that Jacob left Laila to watch him. She initially wants to go with Russell to help find her, but is reminded by him and Kyra that while her prosthetic is good for moving over rocky terrain, it is slow over snow. She anxiously waits in the living room for Noah and Russell to return.

Yaling is overjoyed when Isabelle returns, but is deeply saddened by Russell's death and the disappearance of Laila. She is also clearly happy to see Whaitiri again, petting and cooing at the small Taniwha. She sits silently while Isabelle recounts the story of last year, and is saddened to learn of Harper's apparent demise. She admits to Jacob that she wishes she knew her cousin better, and that her social anxiety always got in the way of them being better friends.

Chapter 9
While travelling through the tunnel, Yaling falls behind with Noah as they are both suffering from injuries. Isabelle walks with them, and Yaling makes a note of directing her to talk to Noah about their feelings for eachother.

She is the one who first hears Harper calling for help in the mines, and, along with Kiri, follows the path down towards her. However, upon reaching the trap door, she remembers the stories Russell used to tell about Taniwha's taking on human form, and leaves the room.

When they find Connor in the tunnel, she rushes to help him to his feet and immediately assures the group that he is trustworthy. Kyra backs her up, as does Isabelle, and she is seen supporting him on the walk back to the building.

She is reluctant to leave Isabelle when she goes into the mines to find Laila, but is reassurred by Isabelle's promise that she will return, and her reminder that Whaitiri will be with her. She is also smug when Isabelle kisses Noah, muttering that "it's about goddamn time". She also warns Noah that she will castrate him and force him to self-cannibalise if he hurts Isabelle, displaying more of her characteristic protectiver personality.

Chapter 10
It is Yaling who identifies the Taniwha in the lodge as Whaitiri's sibling and tells Isabelle to present the younger Taniwha. Upon recognising this, the elder Taniwha acknowledges them and begins to attack the two other Taniwha who broke in before them. Yaling also points at Tash and yells "hoariri!" an attempt at a translation of the Maori word for enemy. This results in the elder Taniwha attacking Tash and killing her, thereby earning Yaling her revenge for the prank. Though this draws the attention of the other Taniwha, Connor distracts them, giving Yaling time to escape. After Tash is killed, the elder Taniwha haphazardly throws one of their enemies across the room, causing it to land against the fireplace, creating a gas leak. At Isabelle's behest, Yaling is the next person to flee the lodge, helped by Noah, and waits for the others outside.

She is visibly saddened by the death of the kind Taniwha, murmuring a prayer Russell taught her as the lodge goes up in flames. She waits beside Noah and Isabelle as rescue helicopters arrive, but holds her arm out so that Connor can come join them.

Epilogue She is also mentioned by several characters:
 * She vouches for Connor, assuring the police that he was indoctrinated and didn't know what he was doing. When asked if she is in love with him and this is why she is defending him, she becomes confused and avoids answering.
 * She explains her history with Tobias and their dead child down in the mines, becoming angry when the policeman asks her how she could be so careless as to get pregnant, telling him "trust me, if women could just 'get pregnant', we would have eaten the men like you a long time ago"
 * She talks about how she never would have escaped without Isabelle, and how glad she is that she had her as a friend in the mines.
 * She defends her decision to set the Taniwha on Tash, framing it as the only way they could all have survived.
 * When asked about her amputation and if it was for a ritual purpose, she defends Russell and says he saved her life by giving her a prosthetic so that she could actually move, and that without him, she would have been dead.
 * Kyra mentions the fetus she found in the mines and that it was Yaling's child.
 * Isabelle talks about how getting Yaling out was the goal that kept her going while they were trapped.
 * Connor mentions her multiple times, first while explaining how he'd been tricked by the cult, second while talking about why he'd attacked Mina, and finally when recounting how he'd been found in the mines.
 * When Harper is informed she is alive and was asking about her, she appears confused, asking why Yaling cared. When it is explained that Yaling had missed her, Harper reluctantly admits that she'd missed her too. She also denies having cried out in the mines, despite Yaling having said she heard her.
 * When Ari is asked about what they found in the mines, they mention being afraid of finding Yaling and Isabelle's bodies.

Killed Victims

 * Natasha Prior (Indirect)

Isabelle
Isabelle was Yaling's best friend since childhood, and the two were incredibly close. They care very much for each other, as evident by Yaling's willingness to let Isabelle drop her in order to survive the fall, and her continuous concern for Isabelle's wellbeing while she is missing on the mountainside.

It is implied that both girls were equally protective of eachother, with Isabelle looking out for Yaling's naievite, and Yaling in turn helping Isabelle overcome her depression. However Isabelle suggests that Yaling was beginning to tire of being looked after.

When Isabelle finds Yaling in the woods, she immediately offers her her coat, before being pursued by the then unknown Taniwha. After reaching the end of a cliff, Yaling slips and drags Isabelle down before Isabelle manages to grab onto a protruding rock. Russell then extends his hand in an attempt to rescue them. Yaling pleads for Isabelle to drop her, which she refuses, and they both fall into the mines. In Yaling's journal, found by Margarita in the mines, she expresses sorrow for condemning Isabelle to this fate with her, and the extreme regret she feels in having put her in this situation where she cannot be with Noah, "the person she really cares about".

After being rescued, Yaling is very concerned for Isabelle's wellbeing and is extatic to see she has survived. She also begins to gain back some of her reciprocal protectiveness, warning Noah of the consequences of hurting Isabelle in the mines.

Laila
Josh was Hannah and Beth's older brother. He had a very close relationship with both twins. Hannah seemed to notice Josh's illness as referenced in her [Diary|diary]. One year into their disappearance, the twins' friends and local police presumed them dead. Josh, still mourning his sisters' presumed deaths, blamed himself for being unable to interfere and help the night of the prank. However, Josh has an alternate persona, revealed to be [Psycho|The Psycho], a masked maniac that mentally tortures the group a year after, as a form of revenge, in order for them to experience the same emotions his sisters a year prior felt.

Hannah seemed to care about Josh as much as he did for her. If Mike and Sam found Hannah's Journal in the mines, they will later reveal the truth to Josh. When Hannah is encountered soon after, Josh will recognize her in time by shouting her name, resulting in her recognizing him back. Instead of killing Josh, she will drag Josh away to her lair. If Mike and Sam did not find the Journal, Josh will recognize Hannah too late and be killed.

Kiri
Ashley and Hannah seem to be neutral friends. Regardless, Ashley still decided to participate in the prank. Ashley's relationship with Hannah, and her affiliation with the prank, becomes a difficult and painful topic for her a year after, where she will be confronted with Hannah's disappearance on multiple occasions. Believing Hannah may be contacting her through an [Board|Ouija board], Ashley soon becomes frantic and upset. She can claim she had no intention of hurting her, and be apologetic over what happened. During Josh's prank, Ashley believes in seeing the ghost of Hannah. In the old hotel, the player can choose whether Ashley can be repentant about her actions, or claim that Hannah overreacted. She has this same option when finding a film reel, playing a video of the prank.

Regardless of her possible regrets, Hannah will mimic Jessica's voice to lure Ashley away from the group. If she succeeds, she will swiftly decapitate Ashley and drag her body away. She may also kill Ashley by sadistically gouging out her eyes.

Noah
Yaling seems to be on good terms with Noah, largely because she was aware of Isabelle's crush on him. It was implied that she initially wasn't fond of him, because he was causing a rift in Isabelle and Kyra's relationship. However, in the lodge she apparently realises that he and Isabelle genuinely care for eachother, and begins to go out of her way to put them in situations where they are forced to interact. She can be quite aggressive in reminding Isabelle that it was her need to get back to Noah that got her through their time in the caves, and was what made her leave the safety of the Observatory to find him on the mountain. When Noah and Isabelle kiss in the tunnels, she is apparently relieved, stating that it was "about goddamn time,".

Kyra
Hannah is shown to have a negative relationship with Emily when she was alive, likely due to having a crush on her then-boyfriend, Mike. She was very compliant in the prank against her. Emily did not take Hannah seriously, as she brushed Hannah's humiliation off as "just a prank". However, a year later, Emily deeply regrets her actions, apologizing for her disappearance. As a Wendigo, Hannah uses cruel tactics when she chases Emily and kills her by slowly and deliberately gouging her eyes out.

Harper
Yaling has a complex relationship with Harper, being cousins with a complex family history. Yaling shows deep remorse when the group believes Harper has been killed and laments not getting to know her better. She admits that she always admired the younger girl, and wished she'd been able to tell her about her social anxiety.

In her interview tape, she is overjoyed to hear that Harper is alive, and begs to see her, accidentally lapsing into calling her by her Chinese name, Bao. She asks to see her, and is desperate to know if she is ok.

[|Matt]
Hannah isn't shown to have a positive relationship with Matt. He was compliant in the prank and filmed her taking her shirt off for Mike. She does, however, call his name out first, out of all five pranksters: possibly surprised by his participation, expecting him the least likely person to cooperate. As a Wendigo, Hannah aggressively pursues Matt in the mines, and can kill him by ramming a hook through his lower jaw or smashing his face in.

[|Mike]
Hannah evidently had an obesssive crush on Mike, making her an easy target for the prank, thinking he may have been interested in her. Her [Diary|diary], found by Ashley and Chris in the [|dollhouse], has his name multiple times in it, where she expresses excitement about spending time with him. She keeps a photo of Mike at the Senior Prom hidden underneath a stack of papers on her cork board in her room at the lodge. She takes a magazine test to determine if she and Mike are compatible, which may have been the main reason she got a tattoo, in order to impress him. Hannah cared so deeply about Mike that some of the affection appeared to have remained even after she became a Wendigo. Hannah may cause Mike's death, but she never immediately or directly kills him, even when having multiple opportunities to do so.

[|Sam]
Sam was Hannah's best friend and one of only three survivors that did not take part in the prank that caused her to flee into the woods. Sam expresses that she thinks the prank shouldn't happen in the start when she says "Don't you guys think this is a little bit cruel?" and persists to say that "It's not her fault" that she has a crush on [|someone] who [|is taken]. Sam is the only lodge survivor who attempts to stop the prank and warn Hannah. After discovering the prank went wrong, Sam sharply criticized her friends as "jerks". Despite the close friendship, as a Wendigo, Hannah shows no mercy and will kill Sam by brutally impaling her in the lower abdomen with her arm if given the chance. However, if or when Sam runs to the switch, Hannah is seen pouncing on another Wendigo that attempts to attack Sam, showing she may have recognized Sam (similarly to how she can recognize Josh if Sam found the Scrawled Journal earlier) and was allowing her to escape and blow up the lodge.

The Fallen
Hannah and Beth can appear in one of the end of the terrifying story based on the 50s, The Inpatient. They will meet in the frozen forest, fleeing the Makkapitew (in this case, us) and approaching the edge of their deaths.

Trivia

 * She was a passionate basketball player, playing Small Forward on a team with Margarita and Laila.
 * She also seemed to love playing League of Legends, indicated by the pictures of Kai’Sa, Jinx and Karma on the walls in her room, and the printoff of her ranking on the Rememberance Board.
 * She was ranked 27th worldwide at the time of her disappearance.
 * Her dream job is to be a videogame playtester.
 * She was voted most likely to break the internet.
 * She loves computers and hate people who take advantage of her.
 * In ten years, she saw herself married and with a family.
 * As this was likely in respect to Tobias, this aspiration has likely changed.
 * Yaling's favourite quote is by the League of Legends character Karma: "Never become a monster to defeat one."
 * She has an English name: Kiara Lee, but chooses not to use it.
 * This is in contrast to Harper's Chinese name, Chen Bao, which she hates and never uses.
 * She and Harper have identical butterfly tattoos to mourn the death of their aunt (Yuanhong's wife) Chuoko.
 * Interestingly, Chuoko is a Japanese name, indicating that Yuanhong married outside his social circle. This is unusual as it was Harper's mother's affair with a Singaporean man (and Harper's resulting birth) that led to her being estranged from the family.