Chiharu doesn't remember much from growing up. Sure, she remembers vague memories of family vacations to a beach house every summer and little things here and there but it's all largely a blur; especially if you asked her to put it on a timeline. Her parents getting divorced is what takes up the largest part of her memory reserves because of how taxing it ended up being on her.
The couple split around the time that she was 6; there was nothing terrible to catalyze it besides clashing differences that became more and more difficult to ignore as the years went on. As a result, Haru spent a large part of her childhood moving back and forth between Japan and the States after her mother made the decision to move back to her hometown in Georgia. Spending school season at a fancy tri-lingual school in Atlanta and summers in Nagoya. She was like Persephone, minus the controversial romance to the king of Hell. She hated it but she loved both of her parents and this was the only way to peacefully see both of them.
This continued all the way up until she graduated and was able to live comfortably on her own. Rather than going to college like she was sure both parents intended, Haru jumped ship and moved to New York. Things weren't going as planned in New York though and she was struggling to make a life for herself.
She was scouted by Sea Star very suddenly, but the female recruiter that approached her had essentially saved her life even if the audition was incredibly...inconventional. Truthfully, Haru inititally thought it was a scam. She refused to follow the woman to the supposed temporary recruitment headquarters but the woman was equally as persistant and they ended up meeting in the middle. The audition proceeded right in the middle of the shopping street they'd met in and Haru was asked to sing, dance, and give a few modeling poses just to see exactly where she'd fit best.
Ultimately, Haru ended up becoming the final member of the pre-debut Iris. She was trained individually in the language, in dancing, singing, and an added rapping, for a few months before being introduced formally to the girls in December while they were supposed to debut in January. She worked hard to catch up with the other girls but was ultimately left hanging when trying to get choreography help one day and found out later that she was the only member left. Turns out, the others decided to leave the company behind her back, not wanting to be in a group with her.
It wasn't the first outright racist thing she'd ever experienced in her life but it still hurt and she would have been left stranded in a foreign country if she'd been with a worse company. Haru was ultimately sattled with the role of leader while the company scrampled to put together a new line up, resulting in a group debut delay of six months. During the company hiatus, she signed with an additional label for modeling and started an active career in that field.
