height & weight officially 171cm & 49kg, 170cm & 52kg in reality.

first impression there's a reason the name "hayashi kotone" is synonymous with "goddess."

 

though her mother and both of her siblings are involved in fashion (some to a larger degree than others), kotone isn't as stylish as most would think. like, she knows what works, what's in, she just doesn't care. she would be perfectly content walking out in jeans or sweatpants and a tee shirt or sweater—usually of a dark color—or better yet in her pajamas, every day. but being an idol requires her to at least appear in fashion, so pledis stylists have to work hard to make sure kotone looks okay, especially onstage. for anything offstage, they give her "recommendations," which she always wears because she's given a stern talking to if she doesn't. these outfits are casually elegant in order to further the "yeoshin" concept. so, lots of maxi dresses, skirts and blouses, hats. of course, if valiant's comeback theme doesn't fit her look, she'll be put in something to match it, if not just a bit more dressed up than the others.

there's a saying that goes "let sleeping dogs lie," and this applies to hayashi kotone very well; she wants people to just leave her be, and if they do, she'll let them be themselves too. and if she wants to interact with them, she will. when that happens, kotone is as pleasant as can be, a ray of sunshine. for that reason, she can be seen as quiet, introverted, shy even. watching her from a distance, one can see her deep interest in philosophy and poetry and classical literature, how gentle she is with her plants, how gentle she probably is with others. when people see a pretty girl like kotone who likes keeping to herself, curiosity gets the best of them, and her solitude is gone. and so emerges the state kotone is almost always seen in, the reason people call a behind her back.

 

for starters, she has that glare. not the comical kind from a drama, but a true icy stare that she gives those that disturb her peace. to get them to leave, she will be as abrasive and blunt as possible, and if she has the energy to say more (which, thankfully, she usually doesn't), she will likely start to pick at every flaw she can see on the other person until they leave her alone again. she often thinks the worst of people. this impression of her quickly spreads, and soon everyone sees her as some sort of villain, seeing her every fault, no matter how small, as a complete failure. for this reason, she has very few friends (almost none, really). but rather than "rude," or "cold," kotone likes to call herself decisive. she knows what she wants, whether she wants to talk to someone or not, et cetera. there's nothing wrong with that, right?

 

on-stage, kotone is much more likeable. gone is blank stare, the girl without energy, and cold demeanor, and in her place stands what fans have come to describe as a "beagle." she smiles so much it leaves her sore at the end of the day, laughs so loud her ears ring. "haetnim," as she would eventually be named, is everything hayashi kotone is not.

 

background kotone's life, until she joined pledis and debuted with valiant, was never particularly exciting. she is the youngest daughter and final child of akihara megumi, a fashion designer and icon better known by her mononym fumiko, and hayashi daisuke, an accountant. the family of five moved to bucheon for what her mother called a "fresh start," and kotone was turning five at the time. throughout their lives, kotone and her siblings were complimented for their natural beauty, and so all of them were expected to go into the entertainment industry in one way or another. her sister kaori went into modeling in her mid-teens and became a relatively famous model in east asia by the time she hit twenty, while her brother kousei was set on studying acting and film in college. kotone, on the other hand, wasn't sure what she wanted to do, because from an early age, she loved plants. loved them. she loved them so much that she wanted to be a gardener. or a botanist. or anything that would involve her being surrounded by beautiful flowers and trees. but both of her parents shot down this idea, telling her that she could have a lot of plants regardless of which occupation she chose. so, she fell back on singing, which was something else she had been complimented for since she was young. even though she didn't like crowds, she thought that maybe, just maybe, her passion would outweigh that and her desire to be alone. her parents wholeheartedly supported her.

 

upon turning twenty on march 26, 2015, kotone officially became a naturalized south korean citizen, thus causing her to lose her japanese citizenship.

 

the only person kotone calls a friend sincerely. the only person she considers to be her friend, really. being born in the same year, growing up in the same neighborhood, and attending to the same schools, it was inevitable that seolhyun and kotone would meet eventually. kotone has always appreciated seolhyun's sensitivity to others preferences, including her own for peace and quiet. both ended up becoming idols, but seolhyun, who debuted first, actually did not influence kotone's decision to become one, although it certainly brought the idea to her attention. it was then that she auditioned.

anyway, because they are both idols, and by extension very busy, they don't get to see much of each other in person anymore. however, they still keep in contact through text and the occasional videochat, even meeting in person once in a blue moon. the type of friends to be really ghei with each other.

 

a close friend of kotone's sister, since they both model. jinah and kotone had never spoken to one another until some circumstances (coughlookattheinterviewcough) came up. now, every so often, they are seen in public—with or without kaori—hanging out. jinah, not being a trainee back when kotone was, had never heard the gossip circulating about her behavior, and therefore never thought that kotone was so bad. kotone legitimately thinks jinah is cool, and lowkey looks up to her. sees her as a sister, even. or at least more so than kaori, who she's always felt envy toward.

 

kotone met the boys through minhyun. some would admit that they sided with the many people who thought kotone was a , while others didn't have much of an opinion on her; they might have just thought she was attractive. but after getting to know her, those opinions changed... somewhat. they still feel as if they tread on thin ice with her, but as long as they keep the volume down, she's pleasant to be around. kotone probably gets along best and most naturally with jonghyun, but hangs around aron a bit more because he and minhyun are bros 4 lyfe

 

nayoung, on the other hand, kotone simply heard about when the girl first joined pledis from a fellow, friendlier member of valiant. someone who keeps in touch with everybody, even the new trainees. like kotone, nayoung is tall and modelesque, and has the nickname "stone buddha," much like the fact that kotone doesn't show many facial expressions off-stage. heck, kotone's (korean) surname is the same as nayoung's. so, inevitably, these similarities lead to comparisons; who's prettier, who's more talented, et cetera. they became a bit closer after participating in a photoshoot together, and now neither of them have any ill feelings for the other, though constantly pitting the two against one another has really gotten old. 

 

their first encounter was after a particularly grueling day of dance practice. the other girls had left, leaving only liqin and kotone. they were having a nice, pleasant chat, draining their respective water bottles, when one of kotone's old vocal coaches (the one she was arguably closest to) walked in with a boy kotone had never seen before.

when the valianteen tutoring began, that he was too scared to talk to her. she was really, really intimidating. and pretty. that was alright for kotone; it made giving him suggestions a lot easier, since he would just smile and nod. they became a bit more familiar with one another later on, but never to the point where their teacher-student relationship was shattered. nowadays, he's still pretty formal with her, calling her "(hayashi) seonsaeng-nim" even though she isn't teaching him anymore, despite being closer than they were before. why? he still seeks her (verbal) approval.

 

kotone isn't a fan of noise. living with eleven other girls doesn't exactly fall into the quiet category. so, she's pretty grumpy off-camera, especially when the girls approach her to ask if she wants to join them in some activity. on-camera, however, she's initiating skinship with all of them, being friendly and such. it's what her persona requires. she likes some of them more than others, and clearly has her favorites (see below).

 

kotone's favorite in the whole group. in her eyes, she and liqin are two sides of the same coin, sharing many interests and personality traits. of all the girls, she's naturally nicest to liqin, and it's plain to see that she considers the girl to be like the adopted younger sister she never expected to find.

 

in the eyes of fans, kotone and youngae are both "beagles," and thus would get along well. and they do.... just onstage. as we know, kotone is nothing like the girl people see on tv in reality, so the fact that youngae is means that kotone can't stand to be around her for long. so, kotone plays nice on camera, but mostly ignores the other girl off. not in a mean way necessarily, but because her introvert instincts start to kick in.

 

her relationship with mai is an enigma. it formed in the first place solely because they both speak japanese, and she felt badly for mai, who was struggling with korean at the time. so, she talked to her. she soon found that mai was far too loud for her taste, but by that time, it was too late. mai had latched herself onto kotone and didn't seem intent on letting go any time soon. so, she continues to let mai cling onto her, operating under the thought that she's doing it because she pities the other girl. but really, deep down, she sees mai as a dear friend... even if she can't tell.

 

･ besides being part of the crystal unit, kotone known for being an honorary member of emerald unit and part of the fanmade "beagle line."
･ kotone's onstage persona is much ditzier and bubbly than she actually is. pledis basically told her that if she didn't have this persona and just went on as she normally did, netizens wouldn't just think think she was an ice princess, they'd think far worse. she doesn't like the clear fallacy that comes with the persona, but channeling it still comes easily to her.
･ (since i'm a dumb and deleted the section) her persona, the "goddess of sound," is a reference to how loud and outgoing she is on-stage, especially on variety shows.
･ her fanclub color is officially called "pearl lavender."
･ although she has a stage name, she's one of those idols fans will refer to by their real one instead.
･ she isn't sure where her personality manifested from. her best guess is a combination of being a high-level introvert (and by extension a rarer mbti type, thus not being able to relate to others as easily), preferring peace and quiet, feeling overshadowed by her siblings (especially her sister), an upbringing in a rich household, and having distant parents that forced her to often fend for herself, along with any other number of factors.

･ much like liqin, kotone loves plants. flowers, herbs, succulents… you name it, she loves it to death. she keeps several potted plants around the dorm, mostly in her room.

･ typically keeps to herself in the dorm. she stays in her room and reads, practices choreography, texts, or sleeps. sometimes, she'll even eat in there just to be left alone.
･ has a habit of looking at her nails. not to check for chips or anything, but just because. this gesture unfortunately makes her look bored with whatever she's doing at the time.
･ not particularly close to any of her immediate family members except for her brother. when valiant has time off, she'll typically bring mai along. it was actually mai's idea to stay with kotone's family for breaks, and kotone went along with it because she doesn't want to spend time with her parents by herself.
･ she's pretty darn flexible. not on the level of, say, victoria, but flexible nonetheless. she already had the genes, but because she hardly exercised growing up, she never knew her potential. so, nearly three years of daily, hardcore dance practice paid off in more ways than one.
･ her all-time favorite groups are: after school, snsd, boyfriend, and exo.
･ although she has several nicknames derived from pokémon, she actually prefers digimon.
･ may or may not have met byun baekhyun in passing a couple of times, as they grew up in the same area.

･ for her contacts, kotone used to just use the person's name. it was simple and professional. but one member of valiant pestered her into give all the other members nicknames, so she did just that, eventually expanding into the rest of the people in her phone. each nickname is based on what she associates with the person, usually an object, but occasionally based on a feeling the person evokes in her, or even a concept. some names include: "swings" for seolhyun (because they used to spend a lot of time playing on the swings), "family" for jinah (again, she sees jinah as a sister), "beagle" for youngae (pretty self-explanatory), "garden" for liqin (she likes flowers, so), "badger" for mai (because she pesters her so much), and "bridge" for minhyun.

･ her username on any given social media outlet is always a variation of aerangis (whether it be adding an underscore, hyphen, or an extra letter or two) if she can't get the whole word. it comes from the genus of her favorite kind of orchid, which she likes for their simple shape and color.

･ more to come!

few people expected seokmin of all the svt members to end up being tutored by hayashi kotone. why wouldn't she tutor woozi, her equivalent in the group? joshua, with his unique vocals? jeonghan, who wasn't trained in dance specifically but could follow a beat well? or even seungkwan, who could learn a thing or two about dance from a fellow vocalist? but instead, someone among pledis' higher-ups decided that kotone's difficult personality was best matched by the adorkable lee seokmin.

 

seokmin was a diligent student, following kotone's instructions to the best of his ability, but in the beginning, kotone was, from his perspective, a teacher with impossible expectations. nothing ever seemed to be good enough for her. she never yelled (although let's be honest, she never does), never said anything directly mean, but sometimes seokmin would lay awake at night, think about her constructive criticism and come to the conclusion that she was disappointed in him, disappointed she hadn't been paired up with another member of seventeen's vocal unit. someone more talented than him. he expressed this concern to the vocal coach who had paired them up, asking that she "please, please, please don't tell her i talked to you about this." the vocal coach promised not to mention it, and added that she had planned to talk to kotone about it soon anyway. seokmin was relieved.

being a trusted mentor, kotone decided to listen to her old vocal trainer and use more positive reinforcement. seokmin noticed the change in their sessions together. it was subtle, probably not noticeable for most, but he could see it. she started bringing snacks and giving him some at the end of their sessions. she still never praised him, really, but she no longer made so many negative comments either. seokmin started to enjoy his tutoring instead of dread it, and was, admittedly, a little sad when it ended.

 

position main vocalist, main dancer (main vocalist, dancer)

vocal twin 이소정 (ladies' code) / 김예림 (togeworl)

dance twin 이미주, (lovelyz) / 박정화 (exid)

speaking / english twin 오승희, clc (이소정, ladies' code)

 

trainee years two years, eight months (august 2010–may 2013)

training experience much like any other trainee, kotone was worked to her limits and beyond. training is difficult no matter how you look at it, after all. to kotone, though, she was under a lot more pressure. "why?" you ask? because even though she entered pledis for her voice, most of the classes she took were for dance. kotone was not very active as a child, and thus not very athletic, so her voice, while good in and of itself, lacked control once she started moving. to compensate, pledis assigned her to many dance classes in hopes of increasing her stamina, and by extension improve her ability to sing and dance at the same time. and it worked.

 

socially, kotone was popular for her looks and appearance on a talent show, but not so much for her attitude. she was never around long enough to be considered a veteran trainee who demanded respect, so instead, she came across as arrogant, acting like she would debut as a soloist (which, to be fair, was a thought that crossed her mind for some time). this didn't gain her friends, but certainly made her a name known throughout the pledis building.