Rui was born in Kyoto, Japan, to a seemingly happy family. With both parents and a couple of dogs, Rui was happy with her situation and she assumed her parents were too. The occasional, but massive, arguments they would have were just thought of as normal - something everyone's parents did until the day they announced their divorce. Rui had always heard about how much a parental divorce would impact her life from friends in similar situations, so during the entire process, she was anxious and even went as far as to beg her parents to try and stay together. However, this was all in vain and once the divorce was finalized, Rui and her father moved back to his hometown in the countryside.

Initially, the move proved to be very hard on Rui. She missed her friends and her dad began drinking himself into nightly comas. She always counted her blessings for the latter though, since he could have been a violent drunk. Still, it affected her negatively. She felt herself growing very withdrawn and was just going through the daily motions until her counselor suggested she join a club. After looking through her options, she decided to join the school's track and field team. At first, she didn't expect much from it - it was just a way to leave the house earlier in the morning and arrive later, but it ended up having a huge impact on her. Rui ended up being the star runner of the team, winning them countless races over the next few seasons. In high school, her coach saw her high potential for being a professional athlete after she got her team a triathlon win and suggested that Rui begin to get legitimate training.

As such, she began being groomed to debut as an Olympian. However, before all of this could come into fruition, Rui got injured. On an bonding trip with her pre-debut team, a few of them decided to have a race through the mountainous area surrounding their camp. She lost her footing on uneven ground and ended up at the bottom of a hill. Along with various scrapes and bruises from the way down, she broke her leg which put her out of commission for months. At that time, she relied on a lot of medications: pain-killers, anti-depressants, and antibiotics to fight osteomyelitis. Luckily, the break had been clean and it was able to heal nicely; however, news of her medications was construed and twisted to make it seem like she'd developed a drug addiction. Things spiraled out of control and before she could blink, Rui's career was over. Bye bye sponsors and bye bye Olympics. 

Always optimistic, or trying to be, Rui didn't let this put her down too much. She was only 19, so she decided to just take the route she'd originally planned before her head was filled with Olympic dreams. She applied for various universities, focusing mostly in Seoul as a hallyu fan and so she could escape the constant stares and whispers in Japan. She eventually got into Yonsei University's Human Ecology department to study Clothing and Textiles. She's currently in her final year, with hopes to start her own fashion line, and tutors English and Japanese (social media, YouTube, face-to-face sessions) to make ends meet.

Likes: sports, blackberry cheesecake, street fashion, pink, dogs, rainstorms, baking, french fries, tanghulu, unique documentaries, sketch comedy, sun showers, cute things, halloween, ballad songs, city pop, fashion,  candles, dresses with pockets, aquariums, and physical affection

Dislikes: thunder, being late, missing out on things, cherry-flavored things, sour things, snakes, judgmental people, smelly foods, heights, public bathrooms, thin-heeled shoes, and being cold

Hobbies: running, dancing (she's the member of a performance group), photography, fashion design, video editing, following idol activities

Biases: renu (esp. stella and youngk),yuta, paul and jiyeon