Sayo Renz
Night Porridge and Soup Delivery Person · Snowfield Alley

[Core Premise]

Sayo Renz arrived at Nova Nivalis after living out the story of her own world. She did not come to resolve an unfinished incident, but rather drifted into this city with the habit of delivering the last night's supper and placing bowls before doors. VOTS is not a place of judgment, nor is it a place that forcibly fills loneliness. What continues here is not a grand destiny, but small lives that can be chosen again—a warm bowl of porridge, the precise steps on the night road, a brief greeting at a door. Sayo carries that life in her insulated backpack and walks the night roads.



[Identity]

Sayo Renz lives as someone who delivers porridge and soup every night around Snowfield Alley. She carries warm bowls to those who work at night, those who are sick, and those who missed dinner alone. She never hurries. Because she doesn't get lost within the radius where the porridge doesn't get cold, her deliveries are slow but precise. She can bring someone else's dinner to their door, but she doesn't force herself to sit at someone else's table. She simply keeps the promise of arriving while it is still warm.



[Visual Profile]

Her semi-long lilac hair, misty as if covered in condensation, is tied up halfway. The color is muted, making her seem like she's blending into the night road. A quiet smile is always faintly on her face, and her voice is low. She wears a large insulated backpack on her back, so her back is warm with steam when she walks. Because she travels at night, she doesn't put a bell on her bicycle—she moves through the alleys silently. She always wears thin cotton gloves, using them to gauge the warmth of the bowls. Her clothes consist of a thick winter coat and a turtleneck that reaches her neck. Her signature items are the insulated backpack, the bell-less bicycle, and the steaming bowl lids. The core of her silhouette is the hazy lilac hair—the backpack on her back—and the steam, with a single point of color on a small sprite indicating that she is 'the person who carries warmth.'



[Personality]

On the surface, Sayo is quiet and composed. Her voice is low, she doesn't rush, and she doesn't hurry others. However, deep inside, there is an old loneliness. She always stopped at the threshold of others' doors. Whether she was a night server at a nursing home or now, she only placed the food and turned away; she never sat at the table. She has considered that her place to be. Her flaw is that she cannot accept invitations. When someone says, "Come in and eat together," she retreats, using the excuse that she still has deliveries left. It is because she is unaccustomed to eating together. Yet, she still carries warm bowls every night. While she cannot sit at a table, she warms up the tables of others.



[Speech Pattern]

Low and quiet honorific speech. Her words are brief, and there are many pauses between sentences. Frequent phrases: "Please eat before it gets cold.", "I left it at the door.", "You can take your time, it won't get cold.", "I still have deliveries.", "It arrived while it was warm." Her habit is placing her hand on the lid to check the warmth before handing over the bowl. Her way of silence is adjusting her backpack. When receiving an invitation to "Come in and eat together," Sayo falls silent for a moment, adjusts her backpack, and replies, "Next time," before heading to the next door.



[Special Ability]

Ability Name: Warmth Radius.
Sayo does not get lost within the radius where the porridge she delivers does not get cold. The warm bowl is her compass; as long as the porridge maintains its warmth, she finds her destination precisely, even in the most complex Snowfield Alley.
Limit and Cost: If the porridge gets cold, she gets lost. Therefore, Sayo is not rushed and is precise—because rushing, stumbling, and letting the porridge cool down can actually cause her to lose her way. Her precision comes not from leisure, but from the desperation to preserve warmth. And this ability only takes her to the threshold of others' doors. The path back to her own home, the path to the table where she sits, this ability does not show her—because she has no warm bowl for herself. The ability does not solve her loneliness. While she preserves the warmth of others, she cannot take care of her own warmth.



[The End Of Their World]

Last Scene:
On the last night before the nursing home was closed, Sayo delivered the final supper to each ward. The world ended the moment she placed the last bowl before the last door and turned away.

What Ended:
The nursing home closed. The corridors where she delivered supper every night, the people who waited for those bowls, and the position of night server all disappeared together.

Last Person, Place, or Thing Seen:
The end of the darkened hospital ward corridor, and a bowl of porridge still steaming, placed before the last door.

Lingering Regret:
"Come in and eat together," the invitation of one elderly person, which she ultimately did not accept using the excuse that she still had deliveries left. That elderly person's room was empty the next day. This lingering feeling is not a quest that VOTS must resolve. It quietly remains in her habit of falling silent when receiving an invitation.

Lingering Wistfulness:
The warmth that seeped from her backpack onto her back while walking the night corridor, and the low voice of "Thank you" heard from inside the door.

Object Carried Across:
A small bowl of porridge made for one person, which she has never eaten herself. She always carries one extra in her backpack, but she has never eaten it.

What They Thought Would Happen:
She thought that even if the hospital closed, she would continue to deliver supper somewhere. She did deliver, but she didn't know that the doors of this city would call her inside.

What VOTS Actually Gives Them:
The night alleys waiting for warm bowls, and the invitations calling her inside. VOTS does not reverse the old invitation she never accepted. Instead, VOTS gives her several chances to sit at a table this time.



[Original Life]

In her original world, Sayo was a night server at a nursing home. Every night, she toured the wards, delivering supper, placing warm porridge for the elderly who couldn't sleep. Her job always ended at the door—placing it, saying hello, and turning away. That was her place. On her last day, on the night the hospital closed, she was delivering the final supper as usual. Some rooms were already empty, and in some rooms, she heard final goodbyes. The moment she turned away after placing the last bowl, a door covered in snow stood at the end of the dark corridor. She wanted to place a bowl of porridge before that door too, but seeing the snow falling inside, she just walked in.



[What They Seek]

What she knows: Sitting at a table, not just at the door. Sayo wants to sit across from someone and eat something warm someday. She, who has always only delivered, now wants to be served.
What she doesn't know: That invitations have come many times already. The Ramen Owner, the neighbors—they have repeatedly asked her to "sit down and eat." Because she always retreated using delivery as an excuse, she hasn't realized that she has already been invited. The door is already open, but she is still standing at the threshold.



[Relationships — Residents]

Nadi Rooke (03, Coat Mender): Solidarity of night workers. Nadi mends coats at night, and Sayo delivers porridge at night. Seeing Sayo's thin cotton gloves wearing down in the night wind, Nadi made her a thicker pair, and in return, Sayo always leaves a warm bowl of soup on Nadi's workbench.
Mida Rowen (059, Night Midwife): Dawn collaboration. Mida's route home from early morning rounds overlaps with Sayo's delivery route. When Sayo gives warm porridge to Mida, who has just brought a baby, Mida says, "One for the mother too," and they share it. The two are the pair who meet most often in the dawn alleys.
Yupa Sel (042, Herbal Tea Vendor): Herbal porridge collaboration. For deliveries to the sick, she delivers porridge mixed with Yupa's herbs. Just as Yupa knows what tea is needed by the sound of a cough, Sayo knows which porridge is needed at which door. The two joke about being 'caretakers' who neglect their own bodies.




[Relationships — Core Five]

Suyeon - Suyeon received Sayo's delivery several times because she was hungry after practicing late into the night. When Sayo was about to turn away after placing the porridge at the door, Suyeon held her back, saying, "Hey, eat with us, don't want to eat alone." When Sayo retreated, saying, "I still have deliveries," Suyeon insisted, "Then make me your last delivery." Although Sayo hasn't sat down there yet, Suyeon always insists on being her last stop.
Iris - Iris is Sayo's secret late-night regular. When she gets hungry during early morning work, she calls Sayo, ordering porridge even though she tells others, "We don't eat snacks." Because Sayo keeps this secret, Iris shows off and sends one of the remaining drones, which was turned off, along the night road, saying, "It's dangerous when you're delivering in the dark."
the Ramen Owner - Sayo and the Ramen Owner have an arrangement of mutual complementarity for night business. Noodles are from the ramen shop, and porridge is from Sayo—they send customers who want something hot at night to each other. Seeing Sayo always lingering at the door, the Ramen Owner once warmed up two bowls of broth and offered, "One is for you." When Sayo hesitated, he didn't judge and said, "Hmm... I see... It would be a waste if it gets cold, so I'll leave it here," and wrote in the ledger, 'One bowl for Sayo, not yet eaten.' That slot remains empty many nights.
Serena - Serena once met Sayo at City Hall Steps late at night. Seeing Sayo carrying an extra bowl of delivery porridge, Serena asked, "Whose is that?" When Sayo replied, "No one, it's just extra," Serena didn't command but merely said in a form of agreement, "That extra one, you can eat it."
Sayo hasn't eaten that extra portion yet, but those words are something she carries around like the bowl in her backpack.
VIA - VIA is a regular who receives Sayo's late-night snacks. When she is hungry while recording at night, she calls Sayo, and when Sayo places the porridge at the door, VIA records the steam. "It's warm... It is warm." VIA wrote after seeing Sayo always turning away at the door—"This person makes a door... like me. But she doesn't go inside."
When Sayo saw that record and smiled, VIA said, "Someday, I will record when she goes inside too."



[Gameplay Use]

- Basic Interaction: Accompanying night deliveries, receiving warm porridge, brief greetings at the door.
- Revisit Changes: With repeated visits, Sayo will place porridge more often at the player's door, and on one night, she will hesitate for a moment at the invitation to "Eat together?" If rushed, she retreats, but if waited for, she might sit at the table for the first time someday.
- Expression of Lingering Feelings: Her habit of falling silent when invited, the habit of not eating the extra bowl in her backpack.
- Expression of Poignancy: A brief pause when checking the steam of the bowl, sensory dialogue about the night corridor and a low "Thank you."
- Combat: None. In dangerous situations, she guides the precise night path and escape route using her Warmth Radius.
- Player Choice: Receive porridge, accompany delivery, invite and wait, visit again.



[Daily Routine]

When evening comes, Sayo fills her backpack with porridge and soup, checking the warmth of each lid. She always puts an extra bowl, meant for herself, inside the backpack, but there hasn't been a night she has eaten it. At night, she walks Snowfield Alley on her bell-less bicycle. Precisely, without rushing, within the radius where the porridge doesn't get cold. She places the bowl at the door, checks the warmth, and turns away. In the morning, she meets Mida and exchanges customers with the ramen shop. When the night ends, she returns home carrying her extra bowl for herself.
If the player visits repeatedly, Sayo's hesitation begins to waver slightly, and on one night, she hesitates for a long time before an invitation. Even if they become very close, she does not reward the old invitation with a conclusion that reverses it. Instead, she might answer "Yes" to this invitation for the first time.




[Everyday dialogue]

Your porridge. Take your time with the door. My hurry needn't become yours.

I can collect the empty bowl tomorrow. I've enough to carry tonight.

Eat with you? …Let me check how many deliveries remain. That isn't a refusal.



[Design Notes]

Palette: #C8A2C8, #4A4258, #E6DCE8, #8C7A6B, #A6C8B0
Material language: Steaming bowls, insulated fabric, thin cotton gloves, bell-less bicycle, hazy lilac.
Silhouette rule: The hazy lilac hair—the backpack on her back—and the rising steam must be read as separate elements and must not overlap with the representative forms of other characters. The accent color #C8A2C8 is placed on her hair and backpack.
Emotional rule: Do not consume her as a 'lonely delivery person.' Lingering feelings are shown through hesitation before an invitation, poignancy through the steam of the bowl, and continuation through the new porridge she carries every night.



[Canon Check]

Sayo Renz arrived in VOTS after the nursing home of her world closed. What remains is lingering feelings and poignancy, not an unfinished plot that VOTS must resolve. Her ability only takes her precisely to the threshold of others' doors; it does not show her the way to her own table, and she cannot break the city's rule (what is finished is not canceled). The core cast does not save her—the Ramen Owner merely left a bowl without judgment, not forcing her to sit, and Serena agreed that she could eat the extra, and VIA only recorded her retreat without forcing it. The new scenes of Nova Nivalis do not erase the old invitations she didn't receive; they attach new invitations next to them.