Sayaka Sasayama

Sayaka Sasayama (サヤカ Sasayama Sayaka) is a character in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime. She is a friend of Ruri Kurosaki and Allen Kozuki and is a surviving resident of the Xyz Dimension as well as one of few remaining members of Resistance.

Appearance
Sayaka is a bespectacled young girl with blue eyes and short light-purple and lilac hair that is restrained by light green and orange hair clips that resemble bicycle helmets. Sayaka wears a light blue dress with a teal turtleneck under a tan dress held up with brown shoulder straps and a blue belt that has a golden symbol resembling twin birds back to-back and green and orange punches at both hips. She also wears brown tights, blue boots, and white gloves.

Personality
Sayaka has shown herself to be kind and caring; handing out soup rations to people despite not being on shift at the time. Allen claims that Sayaka is quite shy, but she seems to be more cheerful and open with her close friend Ruri.

Past
Before Academia's invasion, Sayaka, together with Allen and Kaito Tenjō, were students of Heartland Duel School's Clover Branch who studied under Yūshō's guidance, who was the teacher of their branch, and the three of them were close friends. She also befriended a student from Spade Branch, Ruri Kurosaki, despite the rivalry of their Branch, often having a friendly Duel and hanging out together. She was the one who told Ruri about Yūshō's philosophy to bring smiles with Duels. One day, Academia attacked and nearly annihilated the entire population of Heartland City. During this invasion, Yūshō suddenly disappeared, leading them to believe that Yūshō had abandoned them. One night after the first Academia attack, Sayaka witnessed Ruri Dueling against Yūri, but was too afraid to help her and could only watched Ruri got kidnapped. Since then, she blamed herself for unable to do anything to save Ruri.

While Shun and Yūto went to Standard Dimension to look for Reiji, the Resistance continued to fight. Despite their best efforts, both Spade and Clover branches were nearly wiped out, forcing them to into hiding.

Yūya vs. Kaito
Sayaka and Allen were reunited with Shun, who separated himself to find the Resistance after he got transported back to Heartland along with Yūya, Gongenzaka, and Shingo. The three of them then looked for Yūya and the others, arriving just in time to stop the Duel between Kaito and Yūya after the refugees that Yūya and the others had saved earlier revealed their location. Together with Shun and Allen, she assured Kaito that Yūya and the others are a few allies that Shun brought with him to help them. Sayaka asked Kaito to return and fight together with them again, but Kaito refused and left the scene.

Resistance Hideout
Back at their hideout, Sayaka helped in distributing foods for the refugees even though it's not her shift. Allen, who was talking with Shun and Lancers, told her not to overwork herself and told her to rest, something that Sayaka reluctantly relented. Sayaka then listened to their discussion and revealed that Kaito's entire family had been carded by Academia while Shun and Yūto were away. While Yūya was lamenting over this, she remembered Yūya's last name and asked does he has any connection with Yūshō, explaining that Yūshō was their teacher and disappeared during the invasion, and Allen believed that Yūshō has abandoned them.

Shun vs. Kaito
Sayaka and Allen arrived just as Kaito defeated and turned another group of Academia Duelists into cards. She and Allen tried to convince Kaito to stop fighting alone and return to them, but Kaito remained adamant on his decision to fight alone as he now believed that allies and such are nothing but a burden. Shun decided to Duel Kaito, hoping to open his heart once more. As the Duel went on, Shun's speech about his newfound comrades reminded Sayaka of her happy times with Yūshō and Ruri and she started to cry, concerning Allen. When Shun lost the Duel and was about to be turned into card by Kaito, Sayaka cried out to Kaito to spare Shun as she broke down into tears and revealed that she had witnessed Ruri's abduction and blamed herself since then for being a coward, prompting Kaito to leave.