Bit of a tangent: a couple nights ago on Hazel's twitch stream I saw the 1992 Iranian film "The Mirror". It's about a little girl defying the helplessness you'd expect from a child, possibly even more from a little girl, to get home by herself after her mom doesn't show up to pick her up from school. It's a fucking excellent movie, and I'm bringing it up because Aya is reminding me of that little girl. Aya is still in many ways a child, but we tend to underestimate children. Perhaps her reduced experience doesn't just mean she might not know how to deal with things or predict certain outcomes, but she also hasn't had her confidence in her own feelings and perceptions over what an adult demands she think and feel instead squashed by negative experiences.
Aya, despite her depression and terrible family life, hasn't been beaten down and beaten into homogenous shape by larger society. She's a nail that sticks out and hasn't yet been hammered down. She's got the naive optimism of a child that if she works towards something she can achieve it, rather than the pessimism of Koto and Erika who assume their desires are very unlikely to be met unless they try to tip the scales rather than earnestly and openly pursue what they want.

PS: to Erika's credit she's taken Aya seriously and treated her with proper respect and care, unlike Koto. Of course, that's at least in part due to Erika's desire not being Aya, but she could have acted far worse than she has so far. Her unending internal negativity made sure she didn't lol. Erika is kind of on the opposite end of the maturity spectrum from Aya, experienced enough to be pessimistic, and mature enough to moderate her immediate feelings and take the long view. Koto is in the middle, experienced enough to be pessimistic and yet oh so immature in her refusal to listen to Aya and process any of the shit she's feeling.

Always a pleasure to see Iranian Cinema mentioned