Ayahina

Ayahina is the femslash ship between Aya Maruyama and Hina Hikawa from the BanG Dream! fandom.

Canon
Aya and Hina are first-year university students as well as members of the idol band Pastel✽Palettes where Aya is their vocalist and leader, and Hina plays the guitar. They attend different schools, as Aya majors in Literature at Yotsuba Women's University while Hina majors in Humanities at Keiho Women's University. Aya is an emotional and hardworking girl, while Hina is very peppy, blunt and a genius who tends to have trouble understanding others' struggles. Due to Aya's emotional nature, she can become easily sentimental and tears up, something Hina likes teasing her for. Out of all of their bandmates, Aya is the one Hina likes teasing the most, as she finds her very interesting.

Pastel✽Palettes, The Beginning
The two met for the first time in Pastel*Palettes' First Band Story, where the members (excluding Maya) are called in for a meeting in their talent agency. Upon hearing Hina speaking, Aya instantly thinks she's a strange girl. They introduce themselves and Aya is surprised to hear Hina passed a band audition and asks why she was assigned to an idol group then. When the staff reveal that the four of them are going to form an idol band with an added twist - none of them will actually play their instruments or sing - and while Aya is against the idea, Hina agrees to it saying it sounds fun. When the band has finally been formed, their very first concert fails completely due to an equipment failure, and the girls are forced to learn to play their instruments for real. Aya suggest they also train their basics and do some fitness training. When she lists what they should do, Hina calls it boring, and Aya tells her hard work will bring them results. Hina bluntly answers "hard work" doesn't belong in her vocabulary and when Aya strikes one of her signature poses, Hina makes fun of her. Later while Eve and Maya still practice poses together with Aya, Hina starts questioning Aya's ideals on idols, and after her explanation, she starts pondering Aya's words.

The next day, when the girls are practicing, Aya messes up and Hina curiously asks why Aya can't get it right despite the fact that she was a trainee for 3 years. Aya apologizes and Hina admits she isn't angry but rather trying to understand Aya. When Hina starts describing things in her own words and terms, Aya in frustration begs her to put it more simply. Maya then joins their conversation, mentioning that people experience things differently. Hina the mumbles how Aya isn't just like her, and then asks Aya if they can practice the part she messed up again.

After Chisato tells Aya the hard truth, everyone except Chisato go to the rehearsal studio. When Hina arrives, Aya thanks her for coming and then Hina starts talking about how she really doesn't understand concepts such as working hard for your dreams and why people struggle. She then takes Aya's hand as she proclaims how, thanks to Maya's words, Hina realized how interesting "other people" are and that Aya is the most interesting person to her. When the other girls join in to talk how Aya influenced and motivated them, she starts crying, and Hina asks why she's crying before saying no matter how hard she tries thinking, she can't understand what Aya is feeling. Hina suggests they start training, and Aya tells her to wait as she's "still got a little more crying to do." Hina, with her curiosity piqued, tries to get Aya to explain what it means to feel overwhelmed.

Quotes
"...I think Aya-chan's similar to the stars. So as a star, you shine and you shine, but it takes a whole buncha years for that light to finally be visible as "starlight." Not even just years. It could take hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of years. Some ridiculously long period of time. On the other hand, you have Aya-chan, who worked really hard for three straight years, and finally, she gets to shine as an idol... Since realizing that, I've come to think, more and more, that Aya-chan is really amazing. It's true that compared to the extremely long lifespan of a star, a human's life seems like a short moment. But thinking that difference in scale, both the stars and Aya-chan get to shine brightly after waiting for a long time. So basically, Aya-chan equals star, right?! Hmm, she really is incredible! That's why I hope I can continue to be by her side to admire her. I'm super excited to see where she goes from here!"

- Hina talking to the Player Character in "Closest Star"

Fanon
Ayahina is one of Aya and Hina's most popular ships in the fandom. It is mainly rivaled by Ayachisa, Chisahina and also SayoHina especially in the Eastern fandom. Due to the fact that Hina particularly enjoys teasing Aya, many shippers have headcanonned that she has a crush on Aya. However similarly to Misakoko, it has had its fair share of weird drama in the Western fandom, such as people claiming their gimmick and interactions are toxic due to many interpreting Hina's abundant teasing and blunt personality as actual bullying instead. It is currently Hina's most written, and Aya's 2nd most written ship on AO3.

Fandom

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Trivia

 * Hina and Aya are matching heights (156 cm).
 * Due to PAREO's most common hair colors being pink and blue, it used to be a frequent joke between the shippers that she is actually Ayahina's love child, or that she is a huge Ayahina shipper.