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Main Characters
General
- All Love Is Unrequited: Ichinose falls for Kuze, who has a crush on Mita already. Mita is in love with Ichinose and Masumi is in love with Futaba. Later Futaba starts to fall for Ichinose. Most are unaware of this cycle.
- Animal Motifs: Stated by the author, who draws then as animals in side-material and sketches.
- Ichinose is a Fennec fox.
- Kuze is a hamster.
- Mita is a Big Friendly Dog.
- Itachi is an aloof dark cat.
- Big Guy, Little Guy: There's a considerable amount of height difference between Taichi and Futaba to their much taller and athletic friends Toma and Masumi.
- First-Name Basis: Toma insists on them to start using their first names in Chapter 7, with Masumi joining this later.
- Foil: All of them see themselves in the same situation romantically, and have very different ways of dealing with it.
- Taichi is in love with Futaba. He decides that he wants to help her be happy with someone else if he isn't what she wants, so he plays matchmaker between her and Toma to make sure that she finds happiness with him.
- Futaba is in love with Toma. She uses this to toughen herself up and drive herself to become more courageous and willing to take chances in order to charm the Big Man on Campus.
- Toma is in love with Taichi. He is not sure of what to do with this and desperately tries to keep it hidden, even reacting violently when Masumi figures it out. He is happy being close with his beloved but doesn't seem willing to keep it hidden forever.
- Masumi is in love with Futaba. She decides it's better to not deal with these feelings, keep them hidden, and look for someone else that might give her more stability. She seems to be the one holding the largest amount of emotional baggage due to this.
- Happily Married: In the distant finale, Kuze is the last one of the group to marry, and she seems really happy with her new husband. Masumi has married a man that seems to be just her type and, although he is insecure about it, she seems happy with him. Toma and Taichi appear to be having a very loving married life with each other.
- Love Triangle: More like a Love Square. Taichi has some feelings for Futaba, who's in love with Toma, who likes Taichi. Then Masumi enters the picture, who turns out to have feelings for Futaba as well.
- Oblivious to Love: Except for Masumi, everyone else either doesn't see or misunderstands the Love Triangle going on.
- Official Couple: As of Chapter 27, Taichi and Futaba are dating... but they break it off after two years and Futaba gets married to somebody else.
- Seven years after the end of high school, Toma and Taichi have become this.
- Token Trio: Kuze, Ichinose, and Mita are a variation; instead of ethnicity being the last factor of the second male/third person, it's sexuality. Ichinose is the plain male lead, Kuze is the token female, and Mita is the token gay guy.
Taichi Ichinose
"I can be such an idiot sometimes!"
"If you never do anything special... If you just cruise through life... you won't have any regrets. If you understand yourself and know your place... more than this, you won't have any reason to dislike yourself."
An Ordinary High-School Student, Ichinose used to be Mita's best friend, but they drifted apart during high school. They get closer again when they end up in the same classroom. He decides to help Kuze to conquer Mita, but ends up falling for her. He is usually shy and meek, but is known for being extremely nice.
- Age-Appropriate Angst: Ichinose never really gave much thought to what he wanted to do of his life, and this comes back to bite him now, as he faces his last year of high school and a wave of anxiety while attempting to decide whether to go to college or try something else. Starting a high school romance in a love triangle between him, his Childhood Friend, and the naive Kuze adds to the complications as well.
- Anime Hair: Besides his deliberately cartoony friends, his spiky bedhead is noticeably different from everyone else's more normal hairstyles.
- Big Guy, Little Guy: The little guy to Toma's Big guy.
- Childhood Friend: To Toma.
- Childhood Friend Romance: By the final chapter, he has married Toma.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Deconstructed, as he doesn't have the skill to actually do many heroic things, just the drive. This comes to a head when his attempt to save a small cat's life in Chapter 12 results in Toma pushing him away to save him from a speeding car and ends up hitting Toma in his stead.
- Classical Anti-Hero: He has no confidence in himself, and often feigns it in order to support his friend, hides a lot of self-loathing and self-doubt, tends to bottle up feelings that he thinks are unwelcome and he doesn't want to deal with. Chapter 16 shows that he has been feeling like this for a long time, especially in regards to Toma's uprise to popularity and excellence in sports.
- Crush Blush: Different than Futaba, who is prone to blushing at everything, Taichi's blushing tends to be reserved to when he feels particularly infatuated by her.
- Desperately Seeking A Purpose In Life: As he realizes it's his last year in high school, he also realizes that he needs to start deciding how to take his life from there onward. He regrets not going through these decisions before.
- Did Not Get the Girl: In the middle of the story, Taichi and Kuze start dating. However, the penultimate chapter reveals that, in the Distant Finale, they had broken up two years after finishing high school, when their goals became too different. Five years after that breakup, Taichi gets an invitation to Kuze's marriage to another man. The final chapter reveals that he did get the guy, though, and has married Toma.
- Dramatic Irony:
- In Chapter 15, he wonders how could Toma even consider someone like him as a friend. Chapter 16 expands by showing that he distanced himself from Toma over time based on this thought as well. Toma not only liked having Taichi as a friend, but also has been head over heels in love with him since they were kids.
- In Chapter 22, he desperately tries to get Toma to tell him who is the person he likes, assuming it's Akiko. He is completely oblivious that Toma is in love with him and can't say anything.
- Easily Forgiven: In Chapter 13, despite being the catalyst for Toma having his leg injured, only Yakihara and Einosuke (a junior in Toma's baseball team) show initial anger towards him, and even then they calmed down pretty quickly. Nobody blames him for it, but the fact they aren't mad at him actually makes him feel even worse about it.
- Endearingly Dorky: While trying to cheer Toma up and learn about what was bothering him, Taichi at one point stands up and shouts "Best Friends Power" while making a dramatic pose (a reference to a board game they made together when they were younger). Toma can only roll over in laughter at how silly Taichi looked. Taichi for his part is instantly embarrassed that he did it.
- First Love: To Toma.
- Height Angst: Implied in the first chapter, when he tries to grab a book on a high shelf for the already-short-for-a-girl Kuze, only to realize he himself is basically the same height as her.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Following Chapter 12 and Toma's accident, Taichi finds himself in a spiral of self-loathing, not being able to understand why no one is hitting him or hating him for being the one to cause Toma's injury and the fact that Futaba, Seiya, and even Toma don't hold anything against him actually makes him feel even worse.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: He decides to help Kuze conquer Toma, despite being in love with her, because that's after all that she wants. Deep down, however, he wonders and fears if he is actually rooting for her failure.
- Manly Tears: Finally breaks down in Chapter 17 over Toma's accident and how guilt-ridden he is about it as he begs forgiveness and desperately tries to think of a way to make it better, though he doesn't even know how to start compensating others for what he has done and yet again, no one blames him.Taichi: How do I even begin to make up for this?
- The Matchmaker/Matchmaker Crush: Both get deconstructed. Ichinose attempts to get Toma and Kuze together, however he slowly starts to fall for Kuze. It gets deconstructed when facing Masumi, he starts feeling like a shitty person for helping a girl with something he is also hoping that she'll fail in. As she also points out, his matchmaking isn't taking in consideration that both Toma and Kuze might come out of it with their feelings hurt, which Ichinose can't notice because he is in a position in which his feelings cannot be hurt directly, different than theirs.
- Moment Killer: Toma almost tells Taichi about his crush on him after Taichi finds out that Toma is not actually crushing on his sister-in-law. Taichi, in his earnestness to let Toma know that he has his back no matter what, is concerned that Toma might go a bit over the top and shouts "Best Friend Power" while doing a Sentai pose, referencing the board game he and Toma drew up as little kids. Toma is just shocked into laughter and lets the moment pass without telling Taichi the truth.
- My Greatest Failure: Deeply regrets to have refused to save a little cat when he was six, despite having all opportunity to, and beats himself up over how weak and pathetic he was at the time, instead of helping the cat out and wonders whether he'd save one if he had the chance now.
- Kind Hearted Cat Lover: Loves cats and confesses to Masumi that his greatest regret was not helping a cat that as run-over by a car when he was 6. Then, when he does save a cat, Toma is the one to get hit by a car.
- Oblivious to Love: He is completely ignorant of the fact that his childhood best friend has a deep crush on him. It helps that said friend once told him what his type was, and said description matched his sister-in-law. But he was just lying about everything besides hair color.
- Ordinary High-School Student: Which is the reason why he and Toma didn't connect as much during high school, as while Toma is The Ace, he is just a normal student. This gets discussed during Chapter 10, where while wanting to consult with Toma about Toma not wanting to go to university, he hesitated since he felt he doesn't have the right to.
- Positive Friend Influence: Taichi has been a huge source of support as Futaba attempts to grow more determined and assertive to get the man she wants. It's also implied that, by rebuilding their friendship, Toma has been happier for a while.
- Survivor Guilt: He develops this when Toma pushes him out of the way of a speeding car and gets hit in his stead. The fact that nobody blames him for it actually makes it worse, even though Toma survived the hit and went on to recover. Everyone states that it was Toma's decision and that Taichi shouldn't think of any way that he is at fault, but this just makes him feel bad.
- We Used to Be Friends: Taichi drifted apart from Toma as they grew and Toma started attracting people towards him, many of whom don't really seem to be interested in Taichi. Though played with in that Toma never stopped seeing Taichi as a friend, Taichi just felt out of place in the popular kids crowd that grew around Toma. Toma uses senior year as an excuse to continue their friendship.
Futaba Kuze
"I'll do my best!"
"I'll give up. I can't do it. I thought before doing this that I had no chance. But if I didn't do it, I would regret it. I won't like myself if I stay like this..."
An impossibly naive girl who fell for Toma. She ends up befriending Ichinose in an attempt to learn more about him, but they end up becoming close friends with each other and Toma as well. She is very sweet and tries her hardest, but her natural clumsiness and naivete make it hard for her to befriend others in her class.
- Animal Motifs: Hamsters. She's constantly referred to as small and cute like a hamster, and she has several panels where she makes hamster-like movements and faces.
- Base-Breaking Character: In-universe. There are people who think that she is adorable, sweet, and cute and her clumsiness adds to that, but to others, she is too helpless and annoying. To some, she is also using Taichi to get close to Toma, rather than befriending them. This carries on once Toma's secret is revealed and various versions of the story spread across the school, with some girls exclaiming that Kuze should let Taichi go because it's selfish to keep him and Toma apart.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: The reason she falls in love with Toma.
- Big Sister Bully: At least what little we've seen of her thus far doesn't paint a very nice picture. Her second brother doesn't seem much better. That said, they are willing to help prepare Kuze in wearing her yukata to attract Taichi and dating him.
- Boyish Short Hair: Downplayed. She cuts her long and fluffy hair in Chapter 1. Her new hairstyle is short and she still seems fairly feminine with it, but it shows she has become a Determinator and much more prone to take action towards her objectives.
- Character Development: She becomes braver and more willing to take chances upon finding herself in love with Mita. She cuts her hair and shows determination upon becoming part of the cheer team for her class.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: Deconstructed. While Kuze is indeed adorable, her cuteness helps with nothing in regards to her clumsiness, and with her constantly messing up tasks her classmates and family give her, they become understandably angry with her and don't care about how cute she looks.
- Determinator: Downplayed, as she lacks the usual attitude that comes with this trope, but she largely shows that her attempts to become stronger will not be hindered, no matter how many times she fails. Her quote above shows that she is really in it for change.
- Exact Eavesdropping: She is at a shop at the exact time some other girls show up and start talking about Toma, Ichinose, and her. Some make mean remarks about her, but others compliment her and confirm that Toma asked her and Taichi to join the cheer squad in order to get them together. In order to not make things awkward, however, she pretends to have only noticed the girls as she and Masumi leave the store.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: In the very first chapter, where after listening to Ichinose's advice, Kuze cut her hair short in order to attract Mita.
- Hopeless Suitor: Considering Chapter 5 reveals that Mita is gay and in love with Ichinose, Kuze and the other girls in their school have spent a long time barking up the wrong tree.
- Loving a Shadow: Futaba eventually realizes that she isn't really in love with Toma, she just loves who he is and wants to be like him. This is around the time that she realizes that she does like Taichi in a romantic way after all the time they've spent together.
- Luminescent Blush: Very prone to this, due to her general shyness.
- Moment Killer: Downplayed in Chapter 32, when during the heated conversation between Mami and Masumi, she suggested that Mami open her mouth to stop her from crying. But after that session, with Masumi's prodding, she brings out her own insecurity towards Mami and Taichi being close.
- Naïve Everygirl: Impossibly innocent about almost everything, down to not even knowing what an erotic game is and having to buy a book to understand how exactly baseball and dating works.
- Shrinking Violet: Stems from being told by her classmates that she would fail at doing things and living in a household that does not see her as dependable, which then causes issues when she panics during her cheer demonstration in the sports festival. Ichinose quickly snaps her out of it.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man:
- Falls for Toma due to him being one of the few people who's actually nice to her whenever she screws up.
- She later falls for Taichi due to him being supportive, kind, and helping her with whatever she wants.
- Stage Fright: In Chapter 9, she gets frozen when leading the cheer for Class A, but snaps out of it when Taichi helps her out.
Toma Mita
Toma Mita / Toma Ichinose
"We'll win. And then, with my team, I'll walk the grounds of Koshien Stadium."
"I want to live with freedom. I want to be able to say what I love. Be happy when I'm happy and sad when I'm sad. Not be told what to do. To not hurt anyone or be hurt by anyone."
Ichinose's childhood friend and the most popular boy on high school, loved by everyone for his niceness, looks and being the school's baseball team's ace and captain. He gets close to Ichinose and Kuze once they end up in the same class. He is very kind-hearted and loud and cares deeply for his new found friends. His dream is of playing in the grounds of Koshien Stadium and become a professional baseball player.
- Aborted Declaration of Love: He almost tells Taichi about his crush, before Taichi suddenly starts shouting about The Power of Friendship during a game they played as kids, prompting Toma to laugh and stop his confession.
- It happens again at the Cultural Festival after Taichi projects his insecurities onto Toma and downplays Toma's struggles. Toma seems to be on the verge of explaining how having a crush on Taichi means he can't live as freely or authentically as he would like and his future isn't garunteed success or happiness, but backs down when he sees how nervous he's making Taichi
- Bait-and-Switch: Mita describes his perfect girl using the same characteristics his tutor/sister-in-law has, which led to Ichinose thinking that he had a crush on her. He doesn't, he's lying because he's actually interested in Ichinose.
- Beware of the Nice Ones: After he confesses his crush to Mami and Kensuke overhears them, Kensuke starts a fight with him. When Kensuke insulted his sexuality, he reacted harshly towards him and even twisted Mami's words when she tried to stop the fight.
- Big Man on Campus: All the guys want to be close to him, all the girls want to date him, and he's an all-around good, athletic guy. He's practically the perfect man.
- Childhood Friend: With Ichinose, though it was hard to keep together with him through the years.
- Childhood Friend Romance: He is married to Ichinose in the distant finale.
- Closet Gay: Reacts fairly harshly when Masumi finds out about him being gay, out of fear she told anything to Ichinose.
- First Love: Taichi is his first love.
- Forced Out of the Closet: Kensuke overhears him stating that he's in love with Ichinose to Mami and promptly starts a fight. Subsequently, the story about the fight has spread and everyone knows about Toma's sexuality in school, though not everyone knows about his crush on Taichi (some think he's in love with Kensuke).
- Gay Guy Seeks Popular Jock: Completely inverted. The jock is gay, and he wants the average Ichinose.
- Gayngst: It's heavily implied Toma is going through this, though he already has accepted his own sexuality, his reaction when Masumi finds out is to be absolutely terrified.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Downplayed as his hair is a bit brown-ish, but he fits the bill otherwise.
- Has a Type: When Ichinose asked Mita about this, his reply was someone who is tall, sporty, and older than him. A colorful person who says what they're thinking, and has long, straight black hair and big boobs. According to Masumi, black hair is the only thing that he didn't lie about.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Gets hit by a car in Ichinose's place to save him. Though he survives, his leg gets broken, ending his last chance to reach nationals with his baseball team, which was his only real dream.
- I Just Want to Be Free: His reason for deciding not to attend college and leave his brother's house. In his eyes, he isn't truly free yet, and lacks any clear direction in life at this point, therefore deciding that he'd be happier just starting his own life where no one can interfere.
- From the way he talked about it, no doubt part of his desire to be free is his desire to be open with the world about his sexuality. Homosexuality is still frowned upon in much of Japan, so one can imagine how he might be chafing under that.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: His eyes may or may not actually be blue (since it's black and white), but his irises are noticeably brighter than just about any other character in the manga, and are very, very noticeable whenever we see him staring at Taichi. And he definitely fits the trope, as he doesn't seem to have a mean bone in his body, and is extremely affable.
- Innocently Insensitive: He gets a What the Hell, Hero? from one of his friends for basically stringing Mami along by never outright rejecting her advances, making her think she might have a chance with him and making her increasingly jealous and bitter towards Taichi, Futaba, and Masumi. It also results in her eventually not showing up to events because of said jealousy.
- Longing Look:
- Gives these to Taichi fairly often. This is the most blatant example.
- A lot of moments in Chapter 22 were him giving these to Taichi. Possibly wondering whether to say anything or not.
- Lovable Jock: A sweet and nice guy who is great at sports, a member of the baseball club, and basically the school's most desired guy.
- Mr. Fanservice: He gets a lot of Shirtless Scenes that show off his muscular physique, which doesn't go unnoticed by his hoard of admirers.
- "Not So Different" Remark: While Masumi stated that they are the same in Chapter 5, he refuses this comparison in a later chapter, probably referring to how they intend to deal with their same-sex crushes.
- Tragic Dropout: Zigzagged. While Mita is willing to complete high school, he plans not to attend college, even though it seems contradictory of his goals of being a professional baseball player.
- A few chapters later, it's revealed that he came to that decision on his own, and he intends to move out and start working after high school, despite his brother begging him to go to university. In his own words, it's because he yearns to be free.
- Trying Not to Cry: In Chapter 17, as he watches the game he couldn't participate on, his face starts contorting before he quickly attempts to smile to Taichi. As they watch it together, Taichi breaks down crying and apologizing, leading Toma to cry as well.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Rare male example. He falls for Ichinose and while talking with Kuze, he talks as if he is infatuated by Ichinose's kindness, caring nature, and love for cute things.
- Unlucky Childhood Friend: Mita is in love with his Childhood Friend Ichinose, who has fallen for Kuze at this point. Eventually turns into Victorious Childhood Friend, however.
- Unrequited Love Lasts Forever: It's heavily implied that his crush on Taichi has been there since they were kids and has only grown since then. Subverted in the final chapter, revealing that his love was eventually reciprocated, and he married Taichi.
Masumi Itachi
"You're the same as me"
"What's the difference between friendship and love? Love is wanting to keep them to yourself? Wanting to make everything about that person yours? Only being able to think about that person? Being able to see other people of the same sex around that person as enemies? I wonder if wanting to touch them is love. Touch them, kiss them and after that..."
Kuze's best friend. She is a dark and mysterious girl, who is very protective of her smaller best friend. She is in a separate class but is often seen hanging around with the rest of the main characters. She intends to become a veterinarian and implies she is dealing with a lot of emotional issues.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Masumi, the tall and mysterious girl who is also Kuze's best friend. Deconstructed when she reveals in Chapter 11 that she fears her aloofness makes her a person less capable of love and sees her unwillingness to meddle with problems that aren't hers or her friend's a thing that makes her cold and uncaring.
- Anger Born of Worry: She blows up on Ichinose over his matchmaking, since it doesn't take Kuze's schedule or feelings into consideration. She later apologizes, but asks him to be careful and wary of her feelings.
- Fake Guest Star: While she doesn't appear on the covers (though she did appear on the second volume backcover, photographing Taichi, Kuze, and Mita behind their backs), she had a major role as one of the three leads.
- First-Name Basis: When Taichi found her crying after breaking up with her boyfriend and they had a conversation about relationships and other things, she told Taichi that he should just call her by her first name since they had become friends.
- Gaydar: Apparently has a really good one, seeing as how she could tell Toma was gay without even holding much of a conversation with him. It's eventually revealed that it was because she began to watch him after learning that he was Kuze's crush, but she remains the only character ever confirmed to figure his sexuality out on her own.
- Gayngst: She is heartbroken over breaking up with her boyfriend because he is a good man and she just couldn't be in love with him due to her own sexuality and seems to wonder if life would be easier if she was straight.
- Has a Type: Both of her in-story interests, Kuze and her husband, are light-haired, shy, and easily flustered individuals who wear their hearts on their sleeve.
- "Just Joking" Justification: She explains about her own feelings for Kuze to Ichinose, but states it was just a joke before leaving Ichinose.
- Keeping Secrets Sucks: Her biggest problem regarding her sexuality isn't about being unable to confess to a person she likes, but more towards her keeping a secret and being unwilling to reveal it feels like she's deceiving everyone.
- Oblivious to Love: The only subversion of the group, all of whom need to have their current situation spelled out for them to understand. She is fully aware of who likes who in their little group and is distraught with their saddening situation.
- Odd Friendship: She and Kuze couldn't be more different, but they are good friends nonetheless.
- Second Episode Introduction: While she did appear in the first chapter, she had a bigger role in Chapter 3 onwards.
- Wham Line:
- To Toma in Chapter 5:
Masumi: Black hair is the only thing that fits the bill, right? Because the person you really like is [inaudible, but shocked Mita enough to react harshly towards her]... I didn't tell him. But it's true, isn't it? You're the same as me.- To Ichinose in Chapter 11:
Masumi: If I said that I like Futaba, what would you do?.- The receiving end of this from Akiko in Chapter 39:
Akiko: It's that you're keeping a secret and your inability to reveal it makes you feel as if you are deceiving them. - When She Smiles: In Chapter 11, she gives a kind and genuine smile to Taichi after he consoles her. It's beautiful.
- Younger Than They Look: Masumi looks like someone in her 20s. It's easy to forget that she's the same age as the more youthful looking Taichi and Futaba.
Other Students
Omega, Mon, and Yokki
"He may be human, but he is in a completely different playing field to us!"
"Something's been bugging me for a while. Why are you and Toma Mita such good friends?"
Ichinose's group of friends.
- Aerith and Bob: Other characters have fairly normal Japanese names. This trio has very weird ones that for the most part, don't even seen like names at all.
- Turns out these names are just nicknames, but nobody is seen using their real names.
- Alliterative Name: Yuuto Yoneki and Monji Murasame.
- Big, Thin, Short Trio: Omega is the short, Mon is the Thin, and Yokki is the Big.
- The Face: Yokki seems to compose 90% of the group's dialogue and is the first one to interact with other characters, while Omega and Mon seem to mostly interact with each other.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: A panel in Chapter 14 shows their real names, as written in Taichi's cellphone. it also shows they have a group chat called "Dead World Denizens". Their real names are (supposedly) Ryohei Okuda, Yuuto Yoneki, and Monji Murasame.
- Gonk: Their largely cartoony style and nearly caricaturist faces makes them look like this.
- Non-Standard Character Design: They share designs with some other gag characters in the background of some scenes, but they're the most prominent out of all of those characters. On a handful of more serious occasions, Yokki is drawn more realistically, but his design is still a bit outlandish.
- Hidden Depths: Omega apparently loves to cook, and even designs his own wedding cake. He's also the first of the trio to get married.
- Running Gag: Taichi likes to jokingly compare Yokki to a mushroom.
- Social Circle Filler: Subverted. You would think that Ichinose would drop them like a hot rock after reestablishing his friendship with Mita and becoming a trio with Kuze (and especially with the throwaway nature of their designs), but they're still in touch with him throughout their final year of school, and Ichinose doesn't show any signs of breaking off the friendship.
- Shout-Out:
- The Smart Guy: Yokki is the smartest of the group and he aspires to have a career in medicine.
- Those Two Guys: Rarely ever are the three seen separated. Yokki has a better time showing up separately, though.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Yokki found Taichi having thoughts of going to the same college as Kuze awful, since Taichi (who doesn't have an ambition of his own) is throwing away his future for a relationship that is probable to fail.
- Towards Mami's friends Hasudi and Mochizuki when they wanted Taichi to have a consultation with Shingo and Kensuke after the school culture fight, seeing that it takes time away from Taichi's entrance exams.
Mami Yagihara
"I made you some honey lemons too!"
Click here to see her after Chapter 28 note
"Toma, do you really... hate me?"
A girl that is within Toma's group of friends and grows upset with his newfound interest in hanging out with Futaba and Taichi instead of her. She is interested in Toma, but he does not reciprocate her affection.
- Ambiguously Evil: In the second semester, she suddenly decides to become close to Taichi, to the surprise of many. This has led to in-universe speculation over whether she is genuinely trying to become a better person and befriend people, and those who think she is just trying to manipulate Taichi to get closer to Toma, or even trying to get between Taichi and Kuze. It's later implied that she is just genuinely trying to become a better person.
- Abhorrent Admirer: Played with in the sense that Toma isn't the one abhorred by her, but rather, she antagonizes all of his friends. Toma is aware of her feelings for him, but he couldn't care less, being just generally very neutral about her, while she actively antagonizes everyone she notices to be outside of her social circle and close to Toma, which means Masumi, Taichi, and Futaba.
- Alpha Bitch: She fits the bill in character and is even the cheerleader in Chapter 8. While downplayed in Chapter 13, she is one of the few who openly blames (but thankfully didn't go further than giving him an ugly look) Taichi before leaving the hospital after visiting Toma, and usually acts slightly hostile towards Taichi and Futaba before the second semester, in which she cools down towards them (though her hostility towards Masumi continues).
- Ascended Extra: Early on she was little else than a nuisance that caused mild havoc and annoyance to Toma. Later on she tones down her advances, but ironically her screemtime skyrockets as she tries to genuinely befriend the main group and her backstory and philosophy are explored.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Is all but stated to be in love with Toma and is clearly uncomfortable with him wanting to spend time with Ichinose and Kuze over her and her friends. Turns out this made her wildly disliked among other women, who think she is hogging Toma for herself, despite having been clearly turned down and stopping them from spending time with him. Some girls think she is only allowed around because Toma's friend likes her.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: She cuts her hair in Chapter 28, and following that, she has become friendlier towards Taichi and his group of friends, and even starts playing video games and has been generally nicer to everyone.
- Hopeless Suitor: She is implied to be this. She is into Toma but he doesn't really seem into her, at least not as much as he is into hanging out with his friends and especially considering Toma is in love with Taichi, she is barking up the wrong tree.
- Like Brother and Sister: The sister to Shingo's brother. They hung out in middle school and helped each other during hard times (Mami sided with Shingo when he was assaulted by her admirer, Shingo sided with Mami even when one of his exes complained about her existence) and maintained their relationship at Mami's urging.
- No Indoor Voice: Masumi had to keep her consistently in check for shouting during the intervention of what's going on between Mami and Taichi.
- One of the Guys: She desperately would like to be one. She has more masculine interests in movies and video games, but whenever a guy she's friends with starts dating someone else, he cuts off his friendship with her because he doesn't want his girlfriend to get any ideas about them. And all of her girl "friends" think she is being a slut by hanging out with so many guys to the point that they have zero sympathy when she got unwillingly groped, thinking she was asking for it. Shingo is the only one who understands this and doesn't mind hanging out with her, even at the cost of losing his girlfriend who did think he was two-timing. Even Kensuke, who has a crush on Mami, finds it bizarre that they could be "just" friends. And as seen in Operation: Jealousy below, she really was trying to join Taichi's group of friends without any ulterior motives (well, none beyond seeing what it is about Taichi that makes Toma spend so much time with him.)
- Operation: Jealousy: Masumi assumes she is doing one of these when she suddenly starts hanging out with Taichi despite previously showing nothing but contempt for him, especially since she starts doing it right after he starts dating Futaba. It turns out her intentions are pure, if poorly timed. Depressed that all of her attempts to get Toma's attention have failed, and seeing that he has such a great friendship with Taichi — one that's different from his normal clique — she tries to befriend Taichi to see what's so different about him.
- So Beautiful, It's a Curse: A downplayed example. She has made so much of her public identity about putting a beautiful face forward that her friendship circles start falling apart whenever her friends start relationships. The guys are unable to see her as just a friend as a girl and her girl friends are afraid she is going to try to steal their boyfriends. Thus, in her flashback she tries to downplay her attractiveness, including having a tomboy look, which she didn't care about at all. When that fails (and hurts Shingo as well), she decided to not give a damn.
- Social Circle Filler: Played for Laughs. Mami is Toma's friend's friend, he doesn't really have any interest in her and when they hang out it's because they have that same friend going. As a result, Toma often simply forgets about her altogether, no matter how many times she attempts to become closer to him. In Chapter 21, he even forgot to invite her to a get together at his house.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: A boy attempts to get her to go out with him by breaking up with his girlfriend and asking her to go out with him if he wins the next game of the school festival. She is understandably grossed out that this guy would throw his girlfriend away for someone he doesn't even know and has no reason to believe that gesture was romantic nor that he wouldn't do the same to her. When Kenta does this, she is pissed again.
- Tsundere: Mami is a mostly very harsh and unpleasant girl that showcases a more cute and sweet side when around Toma.
- Unrequited Love: For Toma. She is also desperately trying to get him to notice her, but he has never done anything except turn her down, leading her to believe that he hates her. This comes to the point where even if she couldn't really be his girlfriend, she decided that trying to become one of his best friends is enough for her before he started dating someone else.
- Visual Development: As of Chapter 28, she has cut her hair to shoulder length and seems to have a more mature look to her. Her past also showed that she changes hairstyles a lot, which includes a tomboy look.
Shingo and Kensuke
Two of Toma's friends that he hangs out with when not with Taichi or baseball. Shingo is rather laidback while Kensuke is very serious.
- Brutal Honesty: When Kensuke is asked by Mami's friend about what he sees it her, he bluntly says it is all about her physical appearance.
- Hidden Depths:
- Shingo seems like a general slacker and, at times, prankster. However, he is one of the few people who understands Mami's plight. He is friends with her without any of the baggage of them being the opposite sex, and even when his girlfriend breaks up with him because she thinks he is two-timing with Mami, he doesn't mind and continues being friends with Mami, unlike every other pme of Mami's guy friends who distance themselves once they get girlfriends. This also leads him to give Toma a What the Hell, Hero? when Toma refuses to outright reject Mami despite clearly not being interested in dating her, which is stringing Mami along and making her depressed.
- Shingo is also more perceptive than what it seems and in Chapter 33, he calls Toma out for hiding something.
- I Got Bigger: Flashbacks show that during middle school Shingo was similar to Taichi and Futaba in appearance and demeanor, which in the present shows that he has grown up and become more attractive to girls.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Shingo is laid-back and calm, but at the same time, surprisingly perceptive of other people and in-tune with the atmosphere and their feelings. Kensuke is passionate, impulsive, and emotional. Which is why Taichi and the others are initially surprised when Shingo actively gets in a fight with Toma due to Mami.
- Those Two Guys: They are rarely ever seen apart even though they are almost polar opposites.
- Tragic Bigot: During the argument in Chapter 43, Kensuke reveals his homophobia was brought on as a product of being molested by a man when he was younger. He knows that not every gay guy is like that, and he does recognize Toma as one of those people, but he can't separate the incident from the group.
- Unrequited Love: Kensuke has a major crush on Mami, though it isn't seen as a great thing as he has broken up with two separate girls just to prove his love to Mami, who is disgusted that he would throw someone else away like that.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Despite Mami being angry about Kensuke's attitude towards girls and frequently arguing with him about it, Taichi noted that they are willing to reconcile and be friends again.
Shouko and Sayaka
Their full names are Shouko Hasuda and Sayaka Mochizuki. Mami's two closest friends who often hang with her as a group.
Family Members
Seiya Mita
"Well then, it isn't your fault, is it?"
"I went and put in my number as well as my line details. From now on, if you're worried or troubled, you can talk to your big bro, Seiya. Because I have a few things I want to talk about with you."
Toma's older brother. He has been taking care of him ever since their parents died. He is a down-to-earth guy who worries a lot about not only Toma but also Taichi. Currently married to Akiko.
- Aloof Big Brother: Following his parent's deaths, he immersed himself in law school, leaving Toma to fend for himself at home. See Parental Neglect below.
- Big Brother Instinct: Not only for Toma, but also to Taichi. As soon as he meets Taichi in the hospital, he gives him a talk about how not only Toma's accident wasn't his fault, but also that he has no reason to feel guilty about it. He even puts his number in Taichi's phone in case he wants to talk to someone about things.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Doesn't show up in-person until Chapter 13, but he can be seen in a picture at Toma's house back in Chapter 4.
- Establishing Character Moment: In his first major appearance in Chapter 14, he is level-headed, attempts to console Taichi over his guilt over Toma's accident, and offers his phone so they can talk.
- Men Can't Keep House: Chapter 48 shows he left the family home a pigsty, with mountains of unwashed clothes and papers everywhere. The house only got clean because Akiko came by to help out. This in particular is justified due to Seiya and Toma having a hard time adjusting to life after their parents died.
- Nice Guy: A very calm, level-headed man, who tries to console Taichi as he is guilt-ridden for what he did to Toma. When Taichi asks to be hit as a way to pay for what he has done to Toma, Seiya just gives him a knock on the head and states he is just happy that everyone is OK, even giving Taichi his cellphone so they can talk in case Taichi needs it.
- Parental Neglect: A downplayed version, also with a sibling instead of a parent. After their parents died, Seiya spent so much time studying for law school that he kind of neglected Toma and the house. We see that a young Toma accidentally overloaded the washing machine with tons of dirty clothing because he didn't know how to do it and Seiya was too busy. The rest of the house is equally filthy. Akiko takes it upon herself to clean up the house.
- Promotion to Parent: Following their parent's deaths, he became Toma's legal guardian. It seems that he still acts and considers himself a big brother rather than a parent.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Seems to be the more calm and cool counterpart to his wife's upbeat, eccentric, and cheerful wife.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Played with in the sense that he is extremely similar to Toma, not his parents. They have similar faces and even hairstyles. Despite never meeting him before, Futaba is able to instantly recognize him as Toma's brother.
- Troll: He enjoys embarrassing both Toma and Taichi. At one point, he threatens to tell Futaba a lot of shameful and funny stories from Taichi's childhood if he doesn't help him to get through to his brother.
Akiko Mita
"Toma! Tai! Just follow me!"
"What? You're being so hesitant. You used to come and play all the time, didn't you? It's fine, it's fine. I'm sure they've been waiting."
Toma's former tutor and current sister-in-law, married to Seiya. She is an eccentric but very nice and upbeat woman who presents herself as Toma's big sister. She knows Taichi from their past and appears happy that he and Toma are close again.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: While she isn't Toma's parent, she is married to his legal guardian and is capable of making him blush in embarrassment as she goes on to pinch Kuze's cheeks over how cute they are. When she takes Taichi and Toma to their house, she briefly mentions to Toma that he should hide his erotic books, embarrassing him in front of Taichi.
- The Confidant: For Masumi after Masumi indirectly came out to her, giving her a perspective regarding her issues.
- Establishing Character Moment: Showing up and telling Toma his brother is coming home early, so she is getting some shopping done for dinner and telling Taichi how much he grew up, and almost immediately guilt-tripping the two "young men" Toma and Taichi to take her groceries to the car.
- Foil: To Kuze. As Toma's ideal girl, she is the complete opposite of Kuze, both physically and in personality, showing the difference between who Kuze is and what kind of girl Toma likes.
- Subverted when later, she turns out to not really be Toma's ideal girl.
- Foreshadowing: Toma describes his ideal woman as having a mature vibe, but when Akiko first shows up, she is eccentric and upbeat, not really exhaling maturity, showing that this description wasn't about her, and he was using her as a Red Herring.
- The Gadfly: She appears to take some enjoyment in embarrassing Toma in front of his friends.
- Hot for Teacher: A tutor of Toma's and a very beautiful woman, to the point it was implied that Toma was in love with her when he was younger. Subverted when Toma turned out to have accidentally used her as a misdirection.
- Nice Girl: She is kind and amicable to Toma's friends as soon as she meets them.
- No Sense of Personal Space: As soon as she meets Itachi and Futaba, she jumps on Futaba to pinch her cheeks over how absolutely adorable she is. After seeing Taichi, she also starts poking him on the cheek to talk about how handsome he has become.
- Red Herring: When describing his type, Toma's description matches Akiko, with Taichi believing that he is in love with his older brother's at-the-time fiancée. He isn't, that was an accidental way for him to hide that he is in love with Ichinose.
- The Reveal: She's a few months pregnant with Seiya's child and they are getting ready to start a family.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Appears to have this dynamic with her more level-headed husband Seiya.
Toma's Parents
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: They died very early in Toma's life and they're implied to have been great parents to both him and his older brother.
Ichinose's Parents
- The Faceless: For whatever reason, any time either one of them is in panel, they are either seen from behind, or their face is partially obscured. Even in scenes where they are conversing with other characters normally.
Mitsuyuki (Spoiler)
Masumi's husband.
- Insecure Love Interest: He is very awkward and shy, and even though he realizes Masumi chose him over everyone else, he still thinks she is way out of his league, leaving him insecure.
