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Quite a few colorful characters populate Kamome Academy.


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Main Characters

    In General 
  • Betty and Veronica: Both Hanako and Kou have obvious feelings for Nene. Hanako is the Veronica because he's a ghost who loves teasing Nene and intrigues her with his mysterious past. Kou is the Betty because he's a living human like Nene and has a much nicer personality that makes Nene think of him as a good friend.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: The three become good friends and build trust as they deal with supernatural incidents caused by the Seven Mysteries.
  • Two Guys and a Girl: Hanako and Kou are the guys, Nene is the girl often acting as their mediator.

    Nene Yashiro 

Nene Yashiro (八尋寧々)

Voiced by: Akari Kitou (Japanese), Tia Ballard (English), María José Moreno (Latin American Spanish)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/neneyashiro_4.png
The heroine of the series. She is a first-year high school student at Kamome Academy's High School Division.
  • Accidental Declaration of Love: In Chapter 109, while defending her innocence in front of the Clock Keepers, Nene whispers her plans to give a Love Confession to Hanako into a mechanical owl, which proceeds to repeat what she said for everyone in the room to hear, including Hanako, leaving Nene mortified.
  • A-Cup Angst: Besides her ankles, her small chest size is another body part that she's insecure about.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: In the Picture Perfect arc, Nene asks Hanako to grant her wish of extending her short lifespan and find a way to let her live up to when she's an old woman. The next arc, Hanako tells Nene her wish was granted... because her friend Aoi was thrown into the Far Shore and "died" in her stead. Nene is horrified at this because she never wanted a longer lifespan if someone else needed to die for it.
  • Book Dumb: She's rather worried when final exams come up, though she does manage to pass.
  • Brutal Honesty: She tells Hanako that she has doubts about staying friends with him because he's more trouble than he's worth, making him collapse from the Harsh Word Impact.
  • Caring Gardener: She got into gardening because a guy she liked said he liked feminine girls. She grows flowers and vegetables in the school's farm.
  • Changing Yourself for Love: She taught herself cooking, sewing, and gardening to get the attention of the guy she liked in middle school. It failed since she never tried getting to know him before confessing.
  • Defiant Captive: In the School Festival arc, Nene gets kidnapped by Tsukasa, who plans to force her to destroy the Clock Keepers' Yorishiro. As Tsukasa drags her to the Clock Keepers' barrier, Nene tries to fight off her captor, punching him and biting him, and refuses to do as he says because she now knows that she'll die after all the Yorishiro are destroyed.
  • Elegant Gothic Lolita: Temporarily during Tsukasa's tea party, her uniform is changed into a black dress with spiky collars. The skull adds to the style, though she always had it on her.
  • Embarrassing Nickname: Mitsuba knows her only as Radish-senpai, to mock her "radish legs".
  • Failed a Spot Check:
    • When she gets Trapped in the Past during the Summer Light arc, she couldn't recognize young Amane until he told her his name despite seeing him before after taking Tsuchigomori's Yorishiro and him looking exactly like Hanako.
    • During the Picture Perfect arc, it never occurred to her she's not in the same world, despite already experiencing stuff like that many times, present Hanako clearly being human despite her many attempts to prove otherwise, everyone knowing him, similar situation happening with Kou and Mitsuba, and there being a Bizarrchitecture tower next to the school that she doesn't recognize.
  • Fake Boobs: She tries putting on an ultra padded bra she finds in the Boundary of the Misaki Stairs. She only embarrasses herself in front of Hanako and Kou when the bra falls off.
  • First-Name Basis: She does this once she gets to know people better, from addressing Hanako as "Hanako-san" to "Hanako-kun", and Kou as "Minamoto-kun" to "Kou-kun".
  • Fountain of Youth: In the School Festival arc, Nene gets dragged to the Clock Keepers' barrier, where mechanical owls deage her into a preschooler.
  • Girl in the Tower: During the Picture Perfect arc Hanako imprisons Nene at the top Shijima's tower so she wouldn't escape the painting.
  • Giver of Lame Names: She has had hamsters named Black Canyon and White Inferno. When asked for dog names in a Volume 19 bonus, she suggests "Charcoal Heaven" and "Velvet Statue".
  • Has a Type: She prefers Prince Charming-like good-looking guys.
  • He Is Not My Boyfriend: When Sumire asks her if Hanako is her boyfriend, Nene denies it. Not that she's being convincing.
  • Heroic BSoD: Nene was absolutely horrified to see her best friend, Aoi, turned into a doll in the Misaki Stairs. She can only pull herself together because Hanako lets her know they can still save Aoi if they destroy Mystery No.2's Yorishiro.
  • I Just Want to Be Special: More than a boyfriend, Nene wants to be popular. She almost accepted to be transformed into a fish forever just because her fellow fish servants promised her they would pamper her like a princess.
  • Iconic Item: Nene has a skull brooch attached above the front bow of her school uniform. She admits to not feeling like herself unless she's wearing it and the skull stays in place even when she's transformed into a fish or Mokke.
  • Informed Deformity: She's frequently called ugly, even though her design is just as cute as everyone else's. The Hell of Mirror's Mystery even gives her an attractiveness rating of four, compared to the Pretty Boy Mitsuba who's rated an eight.
  • In Love with Love: As Hanako points out in the first chapter, Nene really wishes for a relationship with anyone, no matter who. She often crushes on guys she barely knows because of this. This is not the case with Hanako as he's the first boy she has become interested in for his personality instead of his looks.
  • Instant Costume Change: On the receiving end by both Tsukasa and Hanako.
  • It's All My Fault: After Sakura shows Nene what Hakubo did to Sumire, Nene blames herself for Sumire meeting such a gruesome end since that wouldn't have happened if she had made Sumire disappear as other Yorishiro.
  • Like Brother and Sister: With Kou. They're good friends who care about each other, but their bond is purely platonic once Kou grows out of his crush on Nene.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: For quite a while after the Clock Keepers arc, Nene is the only one in the main cast who doesn't know she's fated to die within a year. She finds out in the Picture Perfect arc when Hanako speaks the truth in front of her, not knowing she was awake at the time.
  • Love Hungry: Early-manga Nene is so desperate for a boyfriend that she willingly cursed herself and was almost willing to make Teru ingest the mermaid scale.
  • Magic Contract Romance: With Hanako. At the start of the story, Nene accidentally gets herself cursed when she eats a mermaid's scale. In return for Hanako turning her back into a human, she promises to become his assistant and they share a supernatural bond because both of them ate mermaid's scales. As they spend time together, the two fall in love with each other.
  • Mermanity Ensues: She swallows a mermaid's scale, inflicting a curse on herself which turns her into a fish. Hanako swallows the other half of the scale to lessen the curse's effects, so from that point on she only develops scales or turns into a fish when coming into contact with water.
  • Misery Trigger: She gets easily depressed or shocked when anyone mentions her "radish legs".
  • Naïve Everygirl: Nene starts off as the typical high school girl who has a crush on the most popular guy, wants a hot boyfriend, and is insecure about her fat ankles.
  • Naïve Newcomer: She needs Hanako to tell her everything she should know about the world of the supernatural because she just found out everything she hears in rumors about ghosts and fairies is real.
  • Nice Girl: Nene is a sweet and gentle girl.
  • Nightmare Fetishist: Subverted. Aoi tells her about the scary rumors around the school because she knows Nene likes them, and she did... before she discovered that they're all real.
  • Non-Action Protagonist: Nene deals with dangerous supernaturals regularly, but she doesn't have any combat abilities or superpowers of her own. Her main use is destroying the Mysteries' Yorishiro while the knife-wielding ghost Hanako and the exorcist Kou protect her and handle the fighting.
  • Oblivious to Love: For a long time, it didn't even cross Nene's mind that Hanako is so desperate to protect her and extend her lifespan because he's in love with her. It's also somewhat justified; Nene did suspect Hanako might like her early on, but was disappointed at finding out it was a misunderstanding. She didn't want to get her hopes up again until Hanako gave her a clear hint that he does like her.
  • Ordinary High-School Student: She was a first-year high school student like any other until she ate the scale of a mermaid and was forced to become the assistant of the ghost boy in the girls' restroom.
  • Please, Don't Leave Me: She says this to Hanako in the Study Camp arc as he slowly shatters in front of her.
  • Plucky Girl: Nothing can keep this girl down for long. Especially apparent in the Picture Perfect arc. Though learning about her limited lifespan briefly crushes her, Nene returns to being optimistic soon after, believing that she can convince Hanako to let them return to the real world just by talking to him.
  • Prone to Tears: It's not hard to get her to tear up, partly due to her sensitivity and partly due to the terrifying spooks she fights every week.
  • Proper Tights with a Skirt: She wears tights with her regular uniform, and even gym uniform. It makes her different from other female students who wears knee-high socks (or Zettai Ryouiki in Sakura's case), and to make her ankles appear smaller, as she is insecure about them.
  • Rage Breaking Point: She really gets angry for the first time during Picture Perfect arc after Hanako stops her from getting out of the painting and lying to her about her limited lifespan, and even attacks Shijima with her own tools.
  • Rescue Romance: Hanako always coming to her rescue is the main reason behind her developing feelings for him.
  • Running Gag: Almost every character she meets comments on her fat ankles, some repeatedly after that, much to her misery.
  • Samaritan Relationship Starter: At first, she only thinks of Hanako as a friend since he isn't even the type of guy she'd normally be interested in. That's until the Kodama Tree incident where Hanako unintentionally makes her cry because of his fake love confession. Hanako gives Nene a heartfelt apology for hurting her feelings and comforts her until she stops crying. This moment is the first time Nene wants to learn more about Hanako and the two start to fall in love.
  • Sexy Flaw: Nene's thick ankles are frequently compared to radishes. She's very insecure about this part of herself and wishes she had slender legs, but there's quite a few hints that Hanako finds her "radish legs" attractive despite him teasing her about them.
  • Signature Headgear: She wears two dark brown magatama hair accessories on the side of her head. They stay even when she's transformed into a fish and a Mokke.
  • Single Girl Seeks Most Popular Guy: At the beginning of the series, Nene wants to get Teru, the most handsome, smart, and popular guy at Kamome Academy. After she hears Teru has someone he likes, however, Nene realizes Hanako was right and she only thought she wanted Teru to get back at the guy who rejected her before.
  • Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She feels attracted to Hanako's protective and sensitive side.
  • Smitten Teenage Girl: She thinks Teru is dreamy and likes to pretend they're a secret couple in her mind. Although, she admits her feelings for Teru are closer to a fangirl-like admiration for a celebrity.
  • Thinks Like a Romance Novel: She dreams of a fairy tale-esque romance, but her romantic scenarios with Hanako rarely turn out as in her fantasies.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: She becomes less self-centered and attention-seeking as time goes on, mainly thanks to her relationship with Hanako teaching her to be more empathetic and caring.
  • Touch the Intangible: She gains the ability to touch the ghost Hanako after both of them eat a mermaid scale, creating a supernatural bond between them.
  • True Love is Exceptional: Nene always wanted a dreamy Pretty Boy for a boyfriend. She states several times that Hanako isn't her type, yet she does end up falling in love with him as they become closer.
  • Tsundere: Sweet type. She's a sweetie and a hopeless romantic. Hanako being The Gadfly is what makes her annoyed. She also has to remind herself that Hanako isn't her type whenever he's being cute.
  • Water-Triggered Change: Nene ate the scale of a mermaid. As a result, she's cursed to transform into a fish whenever she's submerged in water. An omake confirms she has to take baths as a fish. If she only gets a little wet, however, she just grows scales.
  • Your Days Are Numbered: The reason why Nene was able to summon Hanako in the first place is because she has approximately only one year left to live. Hanako and everyone else in the know believes nothing can be done to save Nene, but Kou is the only one who won't give up on find a way to prevent her death.

    Hanako 

No. 7: Hanako-san of the Girls' Toilet (トイレの花子さん) / Amane Yugi (柚木普)

Voiced by: Megumi Ogata (Japanese), Justin Briner (English), José Luis Piedra (Latin American Spanish)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hanako_3.png
A ghost haunting Kamome Academy's old building's third-floor female toilet, third stall. He is also the 7th of the Seven School Wonders.
  • Always Save the Girl: As the series progresses, it becomes clear Hanako's top priority is Nene and he'll do whatever it takes to keep her safe. He has done morally questionable things more than once while claiming it's all for Nene's sake since he doesn't know what else he can do to prevent her death. In the Study Camp arc, he deliberately lets Nene's best friend Aoi be sacrificed in her place.
  • Anti-Hero: He frequently makes inappropriate jokes at Nene's expense and isn't above using her or Aoi as baits to lure out the supernaturals. He's also quick to jump to Murder Is the Best Solution to solve school's problems until someone has another suggestion.
  • Anti-Magic: Hanako's Tsueshiro dispels all anti-spirit magic according to him.
  • Arc Villain: Instead of Shijima, Hanako plays the role of main antagonist in the Picture Perfect arc as he tries stopping Nene and Kou from escaping to the real world where Nene is going to die within a year.
  • The Atoner: His main motivation for protecting the balance between the Near and Far Shores is atoning for his past crime of killing his twin brother.
  • Attractive Bent-Gender: He looks cute when transformed into a girl for a day.
  • Badass Adorable: He looks like a little kid, but is also a powerful supernatural.
  • Badass Cape: When Hanako is wearing his cape made from his hakujoudai, he's not playing around anymore.
  • Bait-and-Switch Character Intro: Nene's expectation for Hanako in the first chapter; Hanako is typically a young girl with a bob cut and red dress. Here, Hanako is a young boy wearing a black gakuran.
  • Bait-and-Switch Sentiment: In the Confession Tree chapter, Nene thinks that Hanako is going to confess to her and he does... But it's all an act to lure out the apparition that's forcing students to fall in love. Afterwards, realizing that he hurt Nene's feelings, Hanako genuinely apologizes to Nene for leading her on.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: As a child, he developed a crush on a time-traveling Nene because she hung out with him at the Tanabata festival and kept him from feeling lonely when his brother left him alone. He was so thankful that he wanted to give her the paper slip that he wanted to use to make his wish to become an astronaut and when Nene gave him all her paper slips instead, he made the wish to see her again someday.
  • Becoming the Mask: Chapters 27 and 57 imply this towards Nene, as in spite of his Stepford Smiler status, he grew to care for her so much that he couldn't bear the idea of her dying when early-manga Hanako wouldn't have cared.
  • Big Good: Seven School Wonders have natural authority over other Kamome Academy's supernaturals, and Mystery Number 7 has the authority to punish even other Numbers for threatening the living.
  • Book Smart: When he was alive, he was known for having excellent grades in science subjects.
  • Break Her Heart to Save Her: At the Severance, Hanako tries to make his disappearance less painful for Nene by callously telling her Aoi has died in her place, but she won't have to worry because she'll eventually forget everything about supernaturals. Nene is shocked, but can't bring herself to hit Hanako and instead begs him to not go in tears. This makes the separation even more painful for both of them.
  • Broken Tears: He cries these in the Picture Perfect arc after he reveals his deepest wish to Nene –- for her to keep on living.
  • Byronic Hero: He's a charismatic, yet clever, cunning and mysterious Anti-Hero. Behind his cheerful facade, he's tormented by guilt and self-loathing because of his Dark and Troubled Past where he killed his own brother. Despite being good at heart, he doesn't personally care much for anyone aside of his love interest Nene and in order to protect her, he'll resort to amoral methods.
  • Cain and Abel: He is Abel to Tsukasa's Cain, though Tsukasa is the younger twin.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: He has a hard time spelling out his feelings for Nene, often trying to change the subject or tease her when having a romantic moment with her. It's justified because he sees no point in confessing his love when a ghost logically can't have a fulfilling relationship with a living human. In Chapter 86, however, Hanako can't hold back his feelings anymore no matter how hard he tried and indirectly admits his feelings before kissing Nene.
  • Commissar Cap: He wears a military cap as part of his old-fashioned school uniform.
  • Crazy Jealous Guy: While he tries to be subtle about it, Hanako gets especially clingy with Nene whenever she's paying more attention to Kou than him. He really hates the mere idea of another guy kissing Nene, so much so that he has an emotional breakdown when Tsukasa steals a kiss from Nene.
  • Cuddle Bug: He can often be seen hugging or otherwise clinging on to Nene even in the background.
  • Cuteness Proximity: He nearly passes out from Cuteness Overload when a magically de-aged Nene tells him she loves him.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: He is still deeply affected by his murder of his younger brother. We still don't know the full details, but it's clear that it's a major part of his motivation to stay as a supernatural. It's also implied that he was abused in his childhood, most likely by Tsukasa, which is a feasible motive for why he might have killed him.
  • Dark Secret: Him murdering his younger twin brother, Tsukasa
  • Death Is the Only Option: Hanako says in his flashback that he has made up his mind "not to go anywhere ever again", meaning the school. This implies that he has accepted his death.
  • Demonic Possession: "Owning her body" part of the contract is literal, as Hanako can take Nene's soul out of her body and use it himself whenever he wants.
  • Desperately Craves Affection: Hanako hasn't had a real friend in 50+ years, so he's a bit clingy with Nene.
  • Dirty Business: Him letting the fake world form and keeping Yashiro in it. With the intention of preventing her from dying.
  • Dirty Kid: Hanako often makes inappropriate comments, and turns innocent comments into perverted ones. He tells Nene she can "pay him back with her body" in chapter 1. Much to Nene's relief, he meant labor. First thing he asked the Clock Keepers when he found out their power is if they did perverted things with it. It left a bad first impression...
  • Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Most of the time, when Hanako does something questionably moral, his pupils become dilated and centered, mimicking his brother Tsukasa.
  • Faking Amnesia: For the first half of the Perfect Picture arc, Hanako goes along with the act of the fake world where he's Nene's classmate and pretends to not remember his true identity. He does this because he wants Nene live inside the fake world as she's fated to die in the real world.
  • Friendless Background: It is implied to be part of his backstory from his time as a human. It is another reason why he became so attached to Yashiro, as it's implied her calling him "Hanako-kun" was one of the first acts of friendship he ever experienced.
  • Friendly Ghost: While he's prone to making dirty jokes, can occasionally be threatening and had killed his own twin brother in the past, he's otherwise very friendly and playful.
  • The Gadfly: Hanako really likes messing with people. A lot of his interactions with Nene tend to boil down to either making fun of her legs or teasing her romantically.
  • Gender Bender: In the spin-off manga of Chapter 7, he turns into a young girl after defeating a summer demon, but thankfully, it only lasts for a day.
  • Gender-Blender Name: Nene is rather surprised to find out that the rumored "Hanako-san" (which is a very feminine name) is actually a boy. His real name, Amane, is more gender-neutral.
  • Gender Flip: He's based on the real life Japanese urban legend of Hanako-san, who's typically portrayed as a young girl. However, this Hanako is actually male.
  • Goal in Life: Emphasis on "in life", as he dreamed of becoming an astronaut before dying.
  • Hero Antagonist: Hanako becomes this when he traps Nene in the fake world to extend her lifespan. Luckily, Nene persuades him otherwise.
  • Hitodama Light: His hakujoudais that float around him, which are a clear indication that he's a ghost. They're sometimes referred to as hitodama by Nene.
  • Identical Twin ID Tag: He and his twin brother Tsukasa Yugi look almost exactly alike. However, Hanako has a white talisman on his left cheek, wears a gakuran, lacks fangs, and the hakujoudais that follow him are white.
  • Innocently Insensitive: He pretends to confess his love to Nene as a ruse to expose the Kodama Tree that was forcing students to become couples. He jokingly asks Nene if she was disappointed that it wasn't a real confession, but then is shocked when he sees she's so sad that she's crying. Hanako immediately realizes he crossed a line and gives a heartfelt apology to Nene, hugging her until she stops crying.
  • Insecure Love Interest: He doesn't believe he deserves Nene's love because he's a ghost and a murderer. He knows he can't have a future with Nene as much as he wishes for it so he tries to content himself with spending time with her and trying to expand her lifespan in order for her to have a long, happy life without him.
  • Invisible to Normals: Aoi thinks Yashiro's going insane when she interacts with Hanako in class. This extends to everyone without ties to the supernatural as most of them aren't close enough to the Far Shore. Discussed by Hanako when he reveals the truth about Yashiro's lifespan - only she could summon him because her ties to the living world were exceptionally weak.
  • Love Makes You Evil: Played with. Hanako is not exactly evil but more of a Well-Intentioned Extremist, as his desire for Nene to keep on living drives him to become the ultimate antagonist in the Picture Perfect arc, refusing to let Nene and the others return to the real world until Nene persuades him otherwise.
  • Love Martyr: Despite how cruel and abusive Tsukasa is to him and others, Hanako does care about his younger brother deep down. The fact that Tsukasa is his Yorishiro is proof of it. In fact, Hanako is trying to stop Tsukasa from destroying all the Yorishiro, himself included, because he doesn't want to lose him forever and he's very hurt by Tsukasa's indifference to his conflicted fraternal love.
  • Magic Contract Romance: With Nene. Their relationship begins with Hanako eating a mermaid's scale to fix the curse that turned Nene into a fish, making them magically bonded. In return for helping her, Hanako makes Nene into his assistant. They slowly fall in love with each other as they spend time together.
  • Master of the Mixed Message: In the beginning, Hanako often flirts and makes suggestive comments towards Nene, even kissing her on the cheek as a "reward" for destroying a Yorishiro. He tones it down as he starts to really fall in love with Nene, but for a long while, Nene still can't tell when Hanako really has serious feelings for her or is just joking around.
  • Matchmaker Crush: His relationship with Nene starts when she asks his help in confessing to Teru. After he and Nene end up bound to each other, they start falling in love.
  • My God, What Have I Done?:
    • Hanako looks shocked and guilty when he realizes he pinned Nene down during his Heroic BSoD after his unpleasant reunion with Tsukasa.
    • When Nene cries on him for keeping her in the false world during the Picture Perfect arc. It's enough for him to break the cold mask he kept until the moment.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He takes No.2's, 4's, and 5's Yorishiros to stop them from being affected by their rumors, but by doing so he makes them unable to protect the school from ghosts from outside the Academy.
  • No Sense of Personal Space: Hanako is frequently seen clinging to Nene.
  • Older Than He Looks: He's over 60 years old, but looks like an eternal 13-year-old because he died at that age.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: The School Mysteries only address him as Honourable Number Seven, and rarely No.7 by itself, which is his seat number within the school mysteries. Mitsuba calls him Crazy Knife. Everyone else except his brother calls him Hanako. His real name from when he was alive is Amane Yugi. Interestingly, this seems to be simply a title, alike to how the rest of the mysteries have names separate from their title (Yako and Tsuchigomori, for example, aren't mentioned in the Misaki Stairs or The 4 PM Bookstacks. Kako and Mirai subvert this, as they were named by Akane) but unlike Shijima, the only other mystery other than Hanako who has a name in her title, as that is in fact her given name. Also, Sumire calls him Gon because he doesn't give her a name when she asks.
  • Power Nullifier: He seals off Kou's staff to prevent the latter from harming him.
  • Pragmatic Hero: Hanako is a good boy at heart and his job is keeping the balance between the human side and supernatural side of the school. However, he's all too willing to do morally questionable things to accomplish his goals. Also, since he's already dead, he doesn't personally care much for anyone other than his love interest Nene.
  • Precocious Crush: As a 7-year-old, he already had a crush on Nene who he met briefly at the Tanabata festival when she accidentally traveled to the past. He even told her she was his type and made a wish to see her again.
  • Ridiculously Alive Undead: Hanako is a ghost, yet he can eat human food and catch a cold.
  • Screw Destiny: He defies the future written in Tsuchigomori's books. It wasn't a good thing. Tsuchigomori stated he was supposed to have grown up to be an astronomy teacher who would work in the same school, but instead he died as a teenager.
  • Secretly Selfish: Hanako genuinely wants to help Nene and give her a longer lifespan because he loves her. However, after his attempt to sacrifice Aoi in Nene's place only results in Nene getting mad at him and crying, Hanako finally admits that he let himself be blinded by his own selfish desire to save Nene without anyone's help. Hanako knows that he can't ever be truly together with Nene because he's dead so he wanted to at least make sure she lived with the lifespan he gave her in order for Nene to be grateful to him for life.
  • Sibling Murder: He murdered his own twin brother.
  • Sickly Child Grew Up Strong: He was very ill when he was a little child and wasn't expected to live past three years old, having only survived thanks to a "miracle". In actuality, his brother made a deal with the Red House to save Amane's life. Now, he's one of the most powerful supernaturals.
  • Single-Target Sexuality: It's very obvious that he doesn't have attraction to anyone other than Nene. It's later revealed she was his only love both in life and death due to Time Travel.
  • Smarter Than You Look: He puts up a cheeky and carefree act around people, but he's really clever and cunning. He's also an astronomy buff.
  • Stepford Smiler: His cheerful and playful persona is more than implied to be a mask hiding his extreme guilt and self-loathing over killing his brother in the past. It seems to be a coping mechanism to not let others worry or see him vulnerable. Further lampshaded in chapter 27 when Kou asks him how he can keep on smiling despite having known the Awful Truth about Nene's lifespan the whole time, Hanako says this:
    Hanako: What? Okay, then. How am I supposed to act?
  • Supernatural Gold Eyes: He's a quite powerful ghost boy with amber eyes.
  • Sympathetic Murder Backstory: His actions in murdering Tsukasa have burdened him with a lot of guilt.
  • The Tease: He enjoys flirting with Nene early on. He quits it after he realizes Nene does take his teasing seriously and he starts growing feelings for her, becoming clingy and possessive instead.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Hanako loves donuts.
  • Tragic Dream: As a human, his dream was becoming an astronaut and going to space. Sadly, he gave up on that dream after deciding "he wasn't going anywhere". Now that he's a ghost, he really can't ever leave the school.
  • Trauma Button: His twin brother Tsukasa appearing before him turns Hanako into a defenseless crying mess since he regrets killing him.
  • Two First Names: His full name as a human was Amane Yugi. It's more common to find people with Yugi as a given name instead of a surname.
  • Undead Child: Hanako died and became a ghost at 13 years old. He doesn't look a day older than the day he died 50 years later.
  • The Unfettered: As Nene's lifespan nears its end, Hanako gets increasingly desperate to find a way to keep her alive, eventually resorting to ruthless methods without taking Nene's own feelings into consideration. First, he tries to force Nene to stay trapped inside Shijima's painting where she live safely in a fake world. After Nene tells him she wants to live out her life in the real world, Hanako lets Nene's best friend Aoi be sacrificed to the Far Shore as Aoi's death will expand Nene's lifespan in exchange. Nene is horrified at this as she doesn't want someone else to die in her stead, but Hanako doesn't care what happens to anyone else as long as Nene lives.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: He was once a young student of Tsuchigomori and dreamed of flying to the moon in the past, but ever since the incident involving his brother Tsukasa and becoming the 7th Wonder, he's drastically changed his personality.
  • Your Days Are Numbered: He had an unknown terminal illness as a child, and was proclaimed to only have a month to live. He was only saved from this due to Tsukasa's Deal with the Devil.

    Kou Minamoto 

Kou Minamoto (源光)

Voiced by: Shoya Chiba (Japanese), Tyson Rinehart (English), Ricardo Mendoza Jr. (Latin American Spanish)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kouminamoto.png
A student at Kamome Academy's Middle School Division, and a member of a renowned family of exorcists, the Minamoto Clan.
  • Ambiguously Bi: He has an obvious crush on Nene, but his interactions with Mitsuba repeatedly show Kou has some very strong feelings for him — although it's ambiguous whether those feelings can be viewed as romantic. It's notable that in an omake, Kou states his type is someone with a cute smile, without specifying preference in either gender.
  • Anger Born of Worry: After he learns Mitsuba's supernatural body will fall apart if he doesn't keep eating other supernaturals, Kou angrily tries to force feed him a monster fish's heart. Mitsuba resists and is confused about why Kou is so angry, not realizing that Kou is terrified of having to watch Mitsuba die for a third time.
  • Anti-Magic: Having blood of an exorcist, when Mirai touched him hoping to turn him old, he instead ages only a couple of years, looking just like his older brother.
  • Bash Brothers: With Mitsuba in Chapter 100. They team up to destroy fish monsters together.
  • Being Good Sucks: He's supposed to be an exorcist, but after befriending the ghost Hanako, he decides to not be prejudiced against supernaturals, much to the dismay of his big brother.
  • Big Brother Worship: He has always looked up to his older brother Teru and wants to become an exorcist as great as him.
  • Book Dumb: Like Nene, he admits to being in danger when exams come along.
  • Broken Tears: In Chapter 99, Kou breaks down crying as he can't handle to see Mitsuba's body decomposing and not be able to do anything to really help him other than forcing him to eat other supernaturals.
  • Brutal Honesty: He tells the real Tsukasa, right to his face, the terribly sad truth that him sacrificing himself to the Red House in order to save his twin brother's life was basically for nothing because Amane died at thirteen years old anyway.
  • Children Do the Housework: Kou does all the housework at the Minamoto household because his mother died when he was very young, his father and older brother work as exorcists 24/7 and his little sister is only five years old.
  • Crazy Jealous Guy: He gets pissed off with Mitsuba when the latter claims to have gone out on a date with Nene. It's deliberately left vague if Kou is angry because he's still attracted to Nene or because he doesn't like Mitsuba is hanging out with someone else.
  • Cute Little Fangs: Kou is drawn with little fangs.
  • Determinator: He vows on separate occasions to save Nene from her short lifespan and to save the supernatural Mitsuba. Others call him out on this, pointing out that he has nothing in the way of a plan, but he doesn't let it bring him down.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: He's briefly seen in Chapter 1 when he's walking with Teru and Nene accidentally pushes him down the stairs off-panel by crashing into him. His proper introduction is in Chapter 3.
  • Elemental Hair Colors: Kou has blond hair and he uses his raiteijou to turn his spirit energy into lightning.
  • First Friend: Mitsuba's biggest regret is that he couldn't make a single friend when alive. Kou then becomes his first friend to give him some happiness in death, but Tsukasa screws it up.
  • Forgotten First Meeting: He doesn't remember his first meeting with Mitsuba when he was in first year of middle schooler until one of his friends remind him.
  • Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: He has light blonde hair, a trait he shares with Teru, and is one of the most goodhearted people in the cast.
  • He Is All Grown Up: When he's temporarily aged up thanks to Mirai, Nene is thrown off the realization that in a few years, Kou is hot (i.e. a mirror image of Teru).
  • Heel–Face Turn: Kou starts out trying to exorcise Hanako right off the bat upon his introduction in Chapter 3. By Chapter 9, he's actively looking for evidence to convince Teru that Hanako is a good supernatural, and finally takes a stand to defend Hanako against Teru in Chapter 10. However, he still hasn’t ruled out the eventual possibility of needing to exorcise Hanako.
  • Hero-Worshipper: He starts calling Natsuhiko "Master" after hearing about his amazing "heroic tales". Of course, all Natsuhiko told him were just lies.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Nearly happened when Kou resolved to die for Mitsuba in the Picture Perfect arc.
  • Hopeless Suitor: He has a crush on Nene, but she doesn't feel the same way and she only sees him as a friend. Kou appears to eventually understand Nene and Hanako belong together, but isn't bothered by it because Mitsuba is becoming someone more special to him.
  • Iconic Item: He always wears a red traffic-safety omamori as an earring on his right ear.
  • Interrupted Suicide: When Mitsuba tells him he can never understand the hopelessness of being a ghost, Kou grabs Mitsuba and throws both of them off a building so they can be friends as ghosts and be together forever. Mitsuba saves him since he doesn't want Kou to throw his life away for him.
  • Kid Hero: He's only fourteen, but he's already striving to be a heroic exorcist.
  • Like Brother and Sister: Kou's relationship with Nene grows into a platonic sibling-like friendship as he slowly grows out of his initial crush on her and Mitsuba becomes his priority.
  • Living Emotional Crutch: To Mitsuba. Mitsuba hates being a supernatural and comes to think he would be better off dead than living as a "monster", but he still clings on to the Near Shore because he wants to be close to Kou. After Mitsuba is overcome by the urge to devour supernaturals and humans to survive, Mitsuba can stay sane thanks to Kou.
  • Love at First Sight: He had a Crush Blush the first time he saw Nene's face.
  • Loves the Sound of Screaming: When Akane asks him what he likes about Nene besides her cuteness, Kou says he thinks her screams are adorable.
  • Malicious Misnaming: Calls Tsuchigomori "Spiderface" and Yako "Fox" despite knowing their names since he doesn't like them.
  • Morality Chain: Kou is pretty much the main reason why his brother Teru doesn't go around exorcising every single supernatural at the school. If it wasn't for Kou, Hanako would have been exorcised by Teru very early on.
  • My Greatest Failure: Kou's guilt over letting Mitsuba be manipulated by Tsukasa.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Kou tells the younger Tsukasa at the Red House about how Hanako/Amane from the future died at 13 years old after killing his younger brother. Assuming that the past can be changed, Kou convinces Tsukasa to go back to his own time so Hanako can live a happier and longer life. However, Kou doing this ends up creating a Stable Time Loop as the child Tsukasa was already possessed by the "God" of the Red House and the boy is so disturbed that he's thrilled to know that his brother will kill him, now being determined to make it happen.
  • Real Men Cook: He's in charge of many house chores, including cooking. Played with when he pretends to be bad at making donuts to help Nene with Hanako.
  • Second Episode Introduction: Although mentioned in the first episode, he's properly introduced in the second episode of the anime.
  • Shock and Awe: His anti-spirit attacks are electric. This is shared with his brother Teru and might be characteristic of the Minamoto clan.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: Kou and his older brother Teru look almost exactly alike with a small height difference.
  • Super Gullible: He falls for all the lies Natsuhiko tells him about his "heroic tales".
  • Tragic Keepsake: He kept Mitsuba's camera and his photo he had taken as a memento of him after he was killed by Hanako.
  • Tsundere: Sweet type. Kou is a very nice and friendly guy, but Mitsuba's obnoxious personality gets on his bad side often. However, no matter how annoyed he gets at Mitsuba, Kou still cares very deeply for him.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With Mitsuba. Even though they bicker and make fun of each other all the time, they do care a lot about each other.

Broadcasting Club

    In General 
  • Bond Villain Stupidity: They leave Nene sinking into the Portal Crossroad World to make her disappear and leave her be. Natsuhiko happens to get trapped as well and tries to help her out, and Hanako has no difficulty giving her instructions to find the exit through a radio. Tsukasa isn't really bothered seeing that Nene has escaped though.
  • Evil Is One Big, Happy Family: They are villains who create most problems in the series. But when they aren't causing trouble, they get along perfectly fine. They even make a welcome party for Mitsuba so he'd feel more comfortable with them.
  • Malicious Slander: Their M.O. is spreading rumors about Kamome Academy's supernaturals being more aggressive or dangerous than they really are by the school's radio. Because a supernatural's being is linked to their reputation, school's ghosts get hit with an Identity Amnesia and really do become dangerous, until purified and calmed down with a new counter-rumor.
  • My Master, Right or Wrong: Tsukasa's minions aren't really interested in his motives and find him rather bothersome. They just follow along since they can't disobey him.
  • No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: They kidnap Nene and feed her sweets and tea to make her talk. She drops her guard in just 30 minutes to vent about Hanako's abuses.
  • Villains Out Shopping: The After-school spin-off often shows them in their free time when they aren't causing trouble for Hanako's group.

    Tsukasa Yugi (Unmarked Spoilers) 
This folder contains major unmarked spoilers!

Tsukasa Yugi (柚木つかさ)

Voiced by: Megumi Ogata (Japanese), Austin Tindle (English), José Luis Piedra (Latin American Spanish)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tsukasas_anime_design.png
A ghost haunting Kamome Academy. He is the younger twin brother of Amane Yugi, currently known as Hanako. He currently resides in the school's broadcasting club room, with its members Sakura and Natsuhiko.
  • Animal Motifs: Sakura compares him to a cat.
  • Bad People Abuse Animals: He slices open a living and sentient fish just to see how its insides look.
  • Big Bad: The one behind the corruption of most Kamome Academy's supernaturals and personally killed some of them.
  • Big Brother Bully: Inverted. It's very implied Tsukasa was the one who beat Hanako up every day when they were alive.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Inverted and Subverted. When he was a young child, Tsukasa cared so much for his sickly older twin brother that he was ready to sacrifice his life to let Amane live longer. That changed after he merged with an evil god and decided to make sure the future where Amane killed him and became Hanako would happen.
  • Boyish Shorts: The Red House arc has a four-year-old Tsukasa wearing a pair of shorts.
  • Cain and Abel: Cain to Hanako's Abel. Tsukasa is the evil and sadistic brother who is the main enemy of his heroic brother.
  • Came Back Wrong: In his fourth birthday, he sacrificed himself to the Red House and suddenly was found half a year later. But his mother could sense something evil inside him and by that point, he was already a Jackass Genie.
  • Changeling Tale: Subverted. Tsukasa disappeared on his fourth birthday after he threw himself into the hole that transported him to the Red House's supernatural dimension. Six months after his disappearance in the real world, the police found Tsukasa, but his mother sensed something evil in him. However, contrary to what Nene and Kou thought, the Tsukasa that returned was indeed the real one, but he became corrupted after being possessed by the "god" of the Red House and learning from Kou that Amane will kill him.
  • Cheerful Child: His four-year-old self is almost always happy and smiling. But after jumping into the hole below his house, he became a Creepy Child.
  • Commissar Cap: Like his brother, Tsukasa wears a military cap.
  • Creepy Child: He looks like a child, but also has no concern for other people's emotions or souls.
  • Cute and Psycho: One moment, he's playful and fun-loving in a way not too dissimilar from Hanako, but he can turn psychotic and murderous at the drop of a hat.
  • Deal with the Devil: He made a deal with the entity sealed at the Red House in order to save his brother from his terminal illness when he was four years old. Amane was indeed cured, but in exchange, Tsukasa became the vessel of the evil entity.
  • Demonic Possession: To cure Amane of his illness, Tsukasa made a Deal with the Devil with an evil godlike entity, who possessed his body. Some of Tsukasa's original personality seems intact, but it's heavily implied that the influence of the demonic god inside him is what turned him evil.
  • Dramatically Missing the Point: Tsukasa naively thought that by sacrificing himself to save Amane from his illness, his twin brother and parents would live happily without him as he thought Amane hated him and wouldn't even miss him after he was gone. Kou, who knows the pain the losing a family member due to his mother's death, calls Tsukasa out on thinking that he would be making anyone in his family happy with his sacrifice.
  • Enfant Terrible: He appears as a kid because he died at a young age. As a ghost, he's the main villain as he's corrupting and killing supernaturals.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Hanako. They're both ghosts granting wishes to the school’s population, but for opposite reasons. Hanako wishes to atone for his sins, while Tsukasa wants nothing more then to make everyone's life a living hell for his own amusement.
  • Evil Twin: He's Hanako's twin brother, and considerably lacking in morals.
  • Evil Wears Black: He's the main villain and wears a black haori.
  • Failure Is the Only Option: Nene and Kou try to get him outside the House and also tell him about his and Amane's fate hoping it would change the past. Tsukasa then returns to his time as soon as they get out, now very interested in Amane.
  • Fangs Are Evil: He has two small fangs, but unlike Kou and Tiara's fangs which are meant to make them look cuter, his fangs signify how he's the Evil Counterpart to Hanako.
  • Force Feeding: He forces Mitsuba to eat the heart of the No.3 Mystery.
  • Foreshadowing: The seal on Tsukasa's cheek looks exactly like a Yorishiro's seal and Amane has the deepest emotional connection to him. Mystery No.6's Yorishiro being Sumire proves that a person can be a Yorishiro. It's later confirmed that Tsukasa is Hanako's Yorishiro.
  • For the Evulz:
    • Corrupting and killing supernaturals is fun and games to him.
    • He created a Mix-and-Match Man from different spirits, including Mystery No.3 and whatever was left from Mitsuba, simply to see if it's even possible.
  • Friendly Enemy: He has a very childish personality and likes to play with people even if he has other plans for them.
  • The Gadfly: Even a bigger Troll than Hanako, as Tsukasa likes to make people uncomfortable or angry because they make amusing reactions.
  • Go Mad from the Revelation: In a Stable Time Loop created by the Red House, Kou tells a younger Tsukasa that his brother will murder him and then die himself at thirteen years old. Now knowing that Amane will throw away the longer lifespan he gave him, Tsukasa realizes that he wants to be with Amane again to see how he will kill him. Tsukasa then decides to "not hold back anymore" and immediately transforms into the destructive Creepy Child he is in the present.
  • Hitodama Light: Like Hanako, he has a pair of floating, ghostly kokujoudais. His, though, are black instead of white.
  • Identical Twin ID Tag: He and Hanako look almost exactly alike. However, Tsukasa has fangs, has a black talisman on his right cheek, wears traditional Japanese clothing, and his kokujoudais are black.
  • Immortal Breaker: Normally, you can't really "kill" one of the Mysteries, you have to unseal their Yorishiro and let their rumors be forgotten. Even minor supernaturals have Resurrective Immortality to some extent. But when Tsukasa kills a supernatural, they are Killed Off for Real.
  • It Was a Gift: During the Red House arc, younger Tsukasa carries around a teddy bear that his parents gave him for his and Amane's fourth birthday together.
  • Jackass Genie: Just as Hanako grants the wishes of the living, Tsukasa grants the wishes of the dead - in the cruelest and most horrific ways imaginable.
  • Karmic Death: It's implied Tsukasa was always an evil kid who beat up his brother all the time until Amane finally broke down and killed him.
  • Kick the Dog: When Tsukasa cuts open a fish for no reason aside from being curious about its insides.
  • No-Sell: At the end of the Clock Keepers' trial, Mirai tries to use her Rapid Aging magic to turn Tsukasa into dust, but it has no effect on him and only his shackles disintegrate.
  • No Sense of Personal Space: He has a habit of getting close to either his brother or Sakura's personal space.
  • Not Himself: After four-year-old Tsukasa suddenly reappeared after being missing for months, his mother and twin brother Amane almost immediately noticed there was something wrong with him because of the malevolent aura they sensed from him. They even convinced themselves that Tsukasa had been swapped with a demon child, unaware that Tsukasa was still himself but corrupted by an evil entity that possessed his body.
  • Pity the Kidnapper: In the School Festival arc, Tsukasa kidnaps Nene and forcefully brings her to the Clock Keepers' barrier, where she gets deaged into a little child by mechanical owls. While Tsukasa needs to force Nene to destroy the Yorishiro, he quickly gets annoyed as hell by the little Nene's temper tantrums and he has no idea of how to make her shut up.
  • Sane Boss, Psycho Henchmen: Inverted. Tsukasa is the only one in his group who is unquestionably evil and willing to kill for fun. His minions act like neutral and sane people who just happen to work for a psycho.
  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Combined with Stable Time Loop. At the time displaced Red House, Kou tells a younger Tsukasa that Amane kills him when they will be 13 years old and later dies as well, hoping Tsukasa would somehow prevent it from happening. Tsukasa after hearing this instead decides to make it happen.
  • The Sociopath: Shows several of the classic symptoms: Lack of Empathy towards both humans and animals, a knack for manipulation, and a tendency towards sadism.
  • Stepford Smiler: The insane type. His childish smile is a mask for his completely psychotic personality.
  • Supernatural Gold Eyes: He shares his brother's amber eyes and is also a ghost.
  • Tagalong Kid: For the Red House arc, the younger Tsukasa is just a normal child who's mostly there to provide a flashback about the Yugi family, but the House traps Nene and Kou in a maze tries to crush them when they try to get him out.
  • Terrible Artist: He isn't very good at drawing if the elephant he draws in Shijima's sketchbook is an indication.
  • Thanatos Gambit: Turns out that his real goal is destroying all the School Mysteries' yorishiro to grant Sakura's wish to be free and let Hanako ask a wish from a god. Since Tsukasa is Hanako's yorishiro, his plan requires himself to be destroyed at the end, but he doesn't care about giving up his own life if it makes things interesting.
  • Time-Freeze Trolling Spree: In Chapter 105, Tsukasa takes advantage of Hanako and Nene being frozen in time to force a kiss on Nene right in front of Hanako. To make it even worse, Hanako and Nene are fully conscious in their frozen state, and not being able to stop Tsukasa from kissing Nene leaves poor Hanako in tears.
  • Two First Names: His surname Yugi is more commonly used as a given name in Japan.
  • Undead Child: Same as his twin brother, Tsukasa died at 13 years old and appears the age he died as a ghost.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Tsukasa used to be a sweet-natured and caring child who only wanted to cure his twin brother of his illness. To have his wish granted, he made a Deal with the Devil and became the host of an evil godlike entity, turning him into the malevolent Creepy Child of today.
  • Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: The center of the story is the high school girl Nene's Paranormal Romance with the ghost boy Hanako. Most supernaturals are harmless unless their rumors are corrupted and many are actually friendly. Tsukasa, however, is Hanako's Evil Twin who grants wishes to supernaturals in the worst possible way just for the sake of causing chaos and suffering for his own amusement. Soon after he's introduced, he triggers Hanako's Trauma Button by reminding him that he's his murderer, tries to get rid of Nene by abandoning her in the Boundary, and turns Kou's ghost friend Mitsuba into a monster by corrupting his rumor. His actions throughout the rest of the series just keep showing how evil and sadistic he is.
  • Villains Love Entertainment: He's a massive and violent Sadist who grants wishes to the dead in the most utterly horrific ways imaginable, just because he finds it fun. He turns Mitsuba into a grotesque monster, forcing Kou to kill his friend, for really no reason other than to amuse himself.
  • Walking Spoiler: Not only is he very obviously related to Hanako just by looking at him, it's also hard to talk about him without mentioning that he is the person Hanako killed.
  • Wouldn't Hit a Girl: He's a violent psycho, but he does remember guys mustn't hit girls, so he knocks Nene out using Pressure Point instead.

    Sakura Nanamine 

Sakura Nanamine (七峰桜)

Voiced by: Chika Anzai (Japanese), Kara Edwards (English), Lupita Leal (Latin American Spanish)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sakuras_anime_design.png
A 3rd-year student at Kamome Academy's High School division. She made a contract with Tsukasa and is now bound to him. She is a member of the school's broadcasting club.
  • Compulsory School Age: She seems to go to school normally, but is way older than any other student.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Her hair and eyes are lime green.
  • Elegant Gothic Lolita: She wears a lacy headdress and a puffy-skirted black dress in the Ghost Hotel extras.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Nene. Both are bound by a contract to one of the Yugi twins, but while Nene assists the relatively moral Hanako in keeping peace in the school, Sakura assists Tsukasa in stirring up trouble.
  • Gender Bender: In the spin-off manga of Chapter 8, she is turned into an attractive guy for a day by a summer demon.
  • Iconic Item: As a contrast to Nene's skull brooch, Sakura wears a red gem brooch above the front bow of her school uniform.
  • Leg Focus: Nene admires Sakura's long and slender legs.
  • My Master, Right or Wrong: Because she's bound to Tsukasa, Sakura must do whatever he wants whether she likes it or not.
  • "Not So Different" Remark: She discusses with Nene how they both have made Deal with the Devil with the childish Yugi twins and have to do their bidding.
  • Only Sane Woman: She's the only completely rational and levelheaded person in Tsukasa's group. She was the only one who could have a nice talk with Nene until Tsukasa forced her to abandon her in the Boundary.
  • The Stoic: She rarely shows any emotions outside of vague disappointment.
  • Vague Age: Sakura is supposedly still in high school, and while it's revealed in Chapter 93 that she's more than a hundred years old, her age is never explicitly stated.
  • The Woman Behind the Man: She's revealed to be the one who made Hakubo the School Mystery No.6 and he had been acting according to her orders during his arc.
  • Women Are Wiser: As the only female in the group, she's much more intellectual and reserved compared to the three eccentric males in her group and can beat them up if they annoy her too much.

    Natsuhiko Hyuuga 

Natsuhiko Hyuuga (日向夏彦)

Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima (Japanese), Aaron Dismuke (English), Arturo Castañeda (Latin American Spanish)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/natsuhikos_anime_design.png
A 2nd year at Kamome Academy's High School division. He is a member of the school's broadcasting club.
  • Abhorrent Admirer: He has the hots for Sakura who only ignores him and finds him annoying.
  • Beware the Silly Ones: He seems like a carefree guy who constantly is playing the Butt-Monkey and is a Hopeless Suitor to Sakura. Later on, it's revealed that he's a really dangerous immortal supernatural who can poison other supernaturals with his blood.
  • Blatant Lies: Makes Kou listen to all of his "achievements" while waiting for No.6 to arrive. Kou completely buys them.
  • Bloody Murder: His blood is poisonous to supernaturals.
  • Butt-Monkey: Regularly gets himself hurt in comedic ways.
  • Casanova Wannabe: He flirts with Sakura at any opportunity, which only frustrates her. He's also very cheery with Nene, who doesn't have a good opinion about him since he abducted her.
  • Hopeless Suitor: He has a major crush on Sakura, but she's not into him.
  • If It's You, It's Okay: Subverted. In the spin-off manga of Chapter 8, he wasn't okay with Sakura after she was turned into a guy by a summer demon.
  • Iron Butt-Monkey: He gets exposed to slapstick and lethal situations several times, but he always comes out unharmed. This is meant to foreshadow the revelation that he's immortal.
  • Mad Love: He's in a lot of denial about Sakura not liking him, no matter how much she makes clear she doesn't want him around.
  • Oblivious to Hatred: Natsuhiko is oblivious that Sakura doesn't care about his wellbeing and doesn't find it strange that she tried to get rid of him along with Nene. He says she does that often and considers it a love trial.
  • Playful Cat Smile: His default expression is a cat-like smile, as suits his laidback personality.
  • Single-Target Sexuality: He does flirt with Nene when they first meet face to face, but he only has eyes for Sakura. According to the Volume 5 bonus, his "type" is Sakura. In the spin-off manga of Chapter 8, he has a hard time accepting Sakura as a man. He tries to make their relationship work by cross-dressing as a woman.

    New School Mystery No. 3 (Unmarked Spoilers) 

Mitsuba (ミツバ)

Voiced by: Daiki Kobayashi (Japanese), Kyle Igneczi (English), Enzo Fortuny (Latin American Spanish)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mitsuba2.png
Click here to see him as a School Mystery
A supernatural that was created from the piece of Sousuke Mitsuba's soul that Tsukasa stole and mixed with several lesser supernaturals. His personality and behavior are basically the same as that of Sousuke, but it's clearly stated he should be considered a separate existence. Tsukasa forces him to eat the remains of the School Mystery No.3, thus turning him into the new representative of the 3rd School Mystery.
  • Agent Peacock: He has a girly face, has pink hair and eyes, and wears a pink sweater and shoes. Despite looking so weak and feminine, he's quite strong after devouring No.3 and stealing the Mystery's powers.
  • Anti-Villain: From Mitsuba's point of view, he just came to be and has desires of his own, while Hanako is trying to erase him for reasons he doesn't understand. But Mitsuba doesn't want to hurt anyone despite the power he has, even if Tsukasa tells him to.
  • Artificial Human: Or artificial supernatural, rather. Mitsuba is a new supernatural being Tsukasa created from mixing Sousuke's Soul Fragment with other minor supernaturals.
  • Badass Adorable: He's cute, slender, has pink hair and wears pink clothes, but he also has the power of a School Mystery and is decently powerful when he does have the courage to fight.
  • Bash Brothers: With Kou in Chapter 100. They team up to destroy fish monsters together.
  • Become a Real Boy: Becoming human is his greatest dream. To the point that he'll accept living in Shijima's fake world so he can pretend to live as a normal human.
  • Boisterous Weakling: He likes to talk lots of trash, but shrinks at even the slightest physical threat. Subverted after he eats No.3 and steals its powers.
  • Brought Down to Badass: Due to the aftereffects of the Severance, Mitsuba is left in a weakened state, but this does not mean he's defenseless because he still has access to his powers as School Mystery No. 3. However, he can only fight for five minutes before he runs out of energy and his form gets unstable again.
  • Cannibalism Superpower: After Tsukasa forces Mitsuba to eat Number 3's heart, he gains his powers and takes over his spot as School Mystery. Even he has to admit that the cloak and the weaponized bone-tentacles are pretty cool.
  • Clone Angst: He's essentially a supernatural clone of Sousuke and is jealous of his deceased original, wishing he could have the kind of normal life Sousuke had before death.
  • Competing with a Corpse: Ironically, he feels jealous of Sousuke, the ghost that Tsukasa killed and based Mitsuba on, because he believes Kou cared more about Sousuke than about him. He changes his mind when Kou proves he does care for Mitsuba enough to try to join him in death, something he never did for Sousuke.
  • Copied the Morals, Too: Using a piece of Sousuke Mitsuba's soul, Tsukasa made Mitsuba to force him into devouring and supplanting Mystery No. 3. What Tsukasa didn't foresee is this Mitsuba doesn't only have the original's soul and appearance, but his personality too. Mitsuba hates hurting people and avoids fighting Hanako and Kou whenever he can. He also shares Sousuke's attachment to Kou, which motivates him to go against Tsukasa's orders to help Kou several times.
  • Cowardly Lion: After devouring the Hell of Mirrors and stealing his place in the Seven Mysteries, Mitsuba is pretty much unbeatable in his boundary, but he's still the same coward who doesn't dare to risk being stabbed by Hanako's knife.
  • Cute Monster Boy: After he becomes a School Mystery, he develops birdlike features and has long, bony appendages that he can use as weapons. Fortunately, he gets to keep the cute face.
  • Cute Oversized Sleeves: Like Sousuke, he's a cute, pink-haired boy wearing a pink sweater that covers his right hand with its overly long sleeve.
  • Death Seeker: After the Severance, Mitsuba can't maintain his form for long unless he keeps devouring other supernaturals. Fearing that he'll turn into a monster if this goes on, Mitsuba becomes so desperate that he begs Kou to put him out of his misery, but Kou refuses very strongly.
  • Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Since he Really Was Born Yesterday and has no memories, everything is new to him and he's trying to find his place as a supernatural.
  • Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment: He's basically a new supernatural being based on Sousuke Mitsuba's image. However, Kou still treats him as if he was the same Sousuke he knew and wants to help him after failing to save him once. Mitsuba is conflicted about this because he does want to be friends with Kou, but he's afraid Kou only really cares about Sousuke and would have been happier if Tsukasa had never made him. After Kou meets Sousuke's mother, he accepts that Sousuke is gone and Mitsuba isn't a Replacement Goldfish of Sousuke even though he looks just like him, but Kou realizes he cares for Mitsuba all the same.
  • Dude Looks Like a Lady: Kou calls out him for having a woman's face, much like he did with Sousuke.
  • Effeminate Voice: He has Sousuke's girly face and high-pitched voice.
  • Establishing Character Moment: His first appearance has him insulting Yashiro, reflecting Sousuke's first appearance in which he insults Kou.
    Mitsuba: You have pretty fat ankles, huh?
  • Faking Amnesia: In the Perfect Picture arc, like Hanako, Mitsuba knows who he is and that the world where he's alive is fake, but he pretends otherwise because he wants to enjoy a world where he can be a normal student with friends even if it's an illusion.
  • The Gadfly: One of the traits he keeps from his previous self is taking joy out of annoying people, especially Kou.
  • Grew a Spine: When he uses his new powers for the first time, he's still scared of Hanako and Kou and just lets them leave. In the Perfect Picture arc, he is more willing to attack Kou, though he wants to prevent him from getting out and not hurt him.
  • Hates Being Alone: More than anything, Mitsuba hates being lonely. He desperately wants a place where to belong and have friends by his side.
  • Hope Spot: It's presented like Sousuke has managed to come back after being Deader than Dead, he has the same personality and is only missing his memories, and Kou is already on his way to No.3's Boundary where he's at. Then Tsukasa confirms that no, Mitsuba is an amalgamation he made from minor supernaturals using Sousuke's fragment as a base, and Mitsuba is technically unrelated to Sousuke.
  • Horror Hunger: Due to the Severance causing his body to destabilize, Mitsuba needs to constantly eat the hearts of other supernaturals to keep his body from falling apart. While he's still in control of his hunger, he's terrified that he'll eventually lose himself and try to devour humans as well.
  • Identical Twin ID Tag: While a supernatural clone rather than a twin, what sets him apart from Sousuke is that his scarf is red instead of yellow.
  • Loss of Identity: He's the small fragment left of Sousuke's soul merged with several lesser supernaturals. Even after he witnesses Sousuke's memories, Mitsuba can't see himself as the same person, but he's so desperate to be someone that he tries taking up Sousuke's identity as Kou's classmate in the Picture Perfect arc. However, he realizes he can't be satisfied with that because he wants Kou to care about him for being himself and not just Sousuke's replacement.
  • Lovable Coward: Though he talks big, he tends to immediately cower at any physical threat.
  • Magic Mirror: As Mystery No.3, he can use mirrors to go through them, spy the entire school and even see past versions of it. This is how he learns the life and both deaths of the original Mitsuba.
  • Master of Threads: After becoming the Mystery No.3, Mitsuba wears an exoskeleton-like scarf that resembles an extra pair of arms. He uses said scarf as an extension of himself and a weapon in battle.
  • Minion with an F in Evil: He's technically Tsukasa's minion, but isn't evil nor brave enough to do anything villainous without Tsukasa threatening him into it.
  • Mix-and-Match Critter: He's composed of various other supernaturals, with Sousuke's soul implanted.
  • The Nicknamer: He calls people by rude nicknames, like "Hella-Lame, Traffic-Safety-Earring Boy" for Kou, "Radish-senpai" for Nene, and "Crazy Knife" for Hanako.
  • Nightmare Face: Complete with dark, blown eyes and a dissonant smile. First pulled off by an illusion of him in Chapter 77, then the real one in Chapter 98.
  • Only One Name: Officially, his only name is Mitsuba.
  • The Prankster: He likes to play childish pranks on Kou and Nene, much to their annoyance. While he clearly gets a kick out of it, Nene thinks Mitsuba might be trying to make them dislike him intentionally, so they give up on being friends with a supernatural.
  • Prefers the Illusion: During the Picture Perfect arc, he slips that he's not Shijima's illusion and was Faking Amnesia since in this world he's a normal human just like he wanted. Kou convinces him to help him and Nene escape.
  • Pretty Boy: He looks the same as Sousuke, who was known for having a very girly face.
  • Really Was Born Yesterday: Since he was created in the image of Sousuke Mitsuba, he looks and acts like a teenager, but he's at most a few weeks old when he first appears.
  • Reincarnation: Invoked. Tsukasa takes a part of Sousuke Mitsuba's soul and makes a new supernatural with it, which is the present Mitsuba.
  • Scarf of Asskicking: He wears a scarf like Sousuke, but this Mitsuba steals the power of a school mystery and becomes more powerful as a result. The scarf can transform into two spines with ribs, giving Mitsuba an extra pair of arms.
  • Shipper on Deck: Despite believing a relationship between a ghost and a human can't work out, Mitsuba is genuinely curious about Nene's relationship progress with Hanako and encourages her to go for a Relationship Upgrade. Oddly enough, he also tries to push Kou towards Nene even though Nene is in love with Hanako and Kou seems to have moved on from his initial crush on Nene.
  • Soul Fragment: He was created from the small essence of Sousuke Mitsuba's soul that Tsukasa stole. As a result, he has Sousuke's appearance and personality, despite technically being a different person.
  • Stepford Smiler: When he meets Kou again after the Severance, Mitsuba keeps smiling as he pretends nothing is wrong with him and merely asks Kou to hang out with him to have fun together. When his body starts decomposing, however, Mitsuba reveals that he's desperate and suicidal as he can't stand to keep living like a "monster" any longer. Even when begging Kou to exorcise him, Mitsuba laughs and tries to brush it off as a joke.
  • Token Good Teammate: Mitsuba is by far the best person in Tsukasa's team. Even though he's too scared of Tsukasa to oppose him, he never really antagonizes the main characters and is quite friendly to them, especially to Kou. The only reason why Hanako considers him a problem is because Mitsuba wishes to become human, which would break the laws of the natural order.
  • Took a Level in Badass: He's introduced as a weak and cowardly supernatural, but after stealing the powers of Mystery No.3, he's as powerful as any other School Mystery.
  • Tsundere: Harsh type. He never gets tired of insulting and teasing Kou. Deep down, he knows Kou is the only person he can call a true friend and he does enjoy Kou's company when they hang out.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With Kou. Even though they bicker and make fun of each other all the time, they do care a lot about each other.
  • Walking Spoiler: The fact that another Mitsuba appears in the series after Sousuke Mitsuba dies is an spoiler by itself.
  • When He Smiles: In Chapter 98, Kou looks dazed and somewhat flustered when Mitsuba shows him a true happy smile, instead of the usual smug and annoying one, because both are having fun together.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: When Tsukasa gets his hands on the Clock Keepers' yorishiro, Natsuhiko is sent to poison Mitsuba with his blood because Tsukasa's plan needs all the School Mysteries to be removed from their positions and Mitsuba is the only one without a yorishiro, meaning that the only way to make him lose his status as a School Mystery is killing him.

Secondary Characters

    Aoi Akane 

Aoi Akane (赤根葵)

Voiced by: Minako Sato (Japanese), Emily Neves (English), Monserrat Mendoza (Latin American Spanish)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aoiakane.png
A first year student at Kamome Academy's High School Division and Nene's friend.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Ao-chan, from Nene and Akane.
  • Beautiful Tears: Aoi normally doesn't cry no matter what happens to her, but Akane claiming to hate her causes her to burst into tears. It happened for the first time during a heated argument when they were kids and Akane thought Aoi's crying face was the cutest he had ever seen from her.
  • Beta Couple: With Akane. Their relationship doesn't start as very functional because of their personality flaws, but they work through it. In contrast, Hanako and Nene's romance is nearly impossible to end well, since Hanako is a ghost while Nene is alive and fated to die young.
  • Book Smart: Aoi is shown to be rather diligent academically and scored the highest of the first years in their end of term exams.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: As the result of No.6's potion twisting her mind and personality, she is willing to let her best friend, Nene and Hanako get disposed of in No.6's garbage pit without any regrets. She didn't even care when Akane gets gravely wounded by a centipede demon. Though No.6 minions told him the potion wasn't in full effect and she later tells that she always resented everyone for being dishonest and wouldn't mind dying.
  • Broken Ace: She's beautiful, popular, and the top student in her grade. Chapter 69 reveals she's hiding quite low self-esteem behind that mask of perfection, doesn't like the special treatment she gets from others, and is scared that Nene and Akane tell her nothing but lies as she notices they keep secrets from her.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: She does return Akane's romantic feelings, but is afraid of telling him because she thinks he doesn't know her real self. When she's left trapped in the Far Shore, Aoi's biggest regret is that she never said "I like you too" to Akane up to the end.
  • Caring Gardener: She takes care of the plants in her classroom and the gardening club.
  • Childhood Friend Romance: She has known Akane since they were little kids. Even though she always declines when he asks her to be his girlfriend, she does have feelings for him.
  • Class Princess: Aoi is part of a respected family, gets good grades, and is loved by everyone at school. She's also a very charming girl who is always polite even when turning her childhood friend down and is a good friend to Nene who admires her for her beauty and popularity. However, it's deconstructed later on when Aoi admits that she isn't really happy with people at school treating her like she's some perfect idol and finds all the praise they give her to be shallow because they never try to get to know her.
  • Couple Theme Naming: Although the kanji are different, Aoi's and Akane's full names are read as Aoi Akane and Akane Aoi respectively. While Aoi clearly likes Akane back, she's worried about becoming "Aoi Aoi" if they ever get married.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Her hair and eyes are violet.
  • Damsel in Distress:
    • She gets abducted by Yako and turned into a doll, requiring Nene and the others to save her and the other captured victims in the Misaki Stair arc.
    • She later gets kidnapped by the 6th School Mystery to be a sacrifice for being a woman of the Akane bloodline. She tried to escape No.6's boundary on her own, but failed and had her memories and personality erased completely to become a obedient vessel for No.6.
  • Dude Magnet: Chapter 24 shows she's very popular with the boy population of Kamome.
  • Equivalent Exchange: Akane throws himself and Aoi into the Far Shore. Teru appears to guide them back to the human world, but Aoi can't go with them because when a normal human being goes to the Far Shore, they're already considered "dead". Aoi's lifespan ends up being transferred to Nene, effectively saving Nene at cost of Aoi.
  • Expository Hairstyle Change: Starts wearing her hair down after returning from the Far Shore.
  • The Fake Cutie: She reveals to Akane that she has severe trust issues, so she has been nice to everyone only to test if others would be able to see her for who she really is. Akane knew the entire time and calls her out that she's never been open to everyone yet hates others for keeping secrets from her.
  • Hiding the Handicap: After nearly dying in the Far Shore, Aoi loses her sensation in her right hand. Only Akane notices it since Aoi doesn't want to worry her friends, especially Nene, about her not being able to move her hand anymore.
  • Identical Granddaughter: She resembles her ancestor Sumire in both looks and personality.
  • Insecure Love Interest: It's revealed later on that Aoi keeps rejecting Akane because she doesn't have a high opinion of herself and she's afraid Akane will be disappointed when he learns she isn't perfect. Akane eventually reveals he does know Aoi is a flawed person, but still wants her for who she is. After they start being more honest with each other, Aoi starts reciprocating Akane's advances.
  • I See Dead People: After spending some time trapped in the Far Shore, Aoi gains the ability to see supernaturals.
  • Just Friends: Akane is in love with Aoi, but Aoi insists they're just childhood friends and turns him down whenever he asks her to date him. However, she doesn't want Akane to fall in love with anyone else either. She does love him back, but doesn't believe he can keep loving her if he were to know her true self. That is until Akane reveals he has always loved Aoi for who she really is instead of who she pretends to be.
  • Kiss of Distraction: She kissed Akane in order to distract him from the centipede demon's attack.
  • Letting Her Hair Down: After the Mystery No. 6 arc, Aoi starts wearing her hair down as she can finally loosen up around her friends and be more honest with Akane.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: She has no idea that the school mysteries are real nor that Nene and Akane are involved with the supernaturals. She learns of the world of supernaturals after No.6 kidnaps her.
  • The Maiden Name Debate: One of the excuses she uses for rejecting Akane Aoi is that if she were to marry him, she would become "Aoi Aoi".
  • Nice Girl: Aoi is polite, sweet, and gentle. It's later Played With; Aoi isn't a bad person, but her kindness is very influenced by her pretending to be perfect so others don't notice her flaws and reject her. Her interactions with Akane as she starts being more honest show her not so nice side.
  • Nightmare Fetishist: Subverted. Nene always hears the rumors about the school mysteries and other supernaturals from Aoi. However, Aoi says she doesn't like scary stories, but she still tells Nene the rumors she hears around school because she knows Nene likes to hear them.
  • "Not So Different" Remark: In chapter 84, Aoi admits to Hanako that they're alike because they can't bring themselves to tell their love interests how they truly feel about them and now they probably never will after getting trapped in the Far Shore.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
    • After having her memories and personality erased, the first thing Aoi does is set the No.6's paperwork on fire with a candle just for fun.
    • According to Akane, she's fairly cool-headed most of the time but once when they were kids she had burst into tears when he inadvertently yelled out that he hated her. He does it again and proves to her that while she claims to not reciprocate his feelings, she definitely feels something for him to react so viscerally.
  • Playing Hard to Get: She always says no when Akane asks her to date him and/or marry him, but she told him she'll give him a chance if he keeps trying until his confession makes her heart flutter. Chapter 69 makes this a little bit more dramatic; Aoi keeps rejecting Akane because she believes he's only chasing after her fake perfect persona like every other guy who confesses to her. When Akane reveals he does know Aoi has unpleasant flaws and wants her nonetheless, Aoi finally starts giving into his advances.
  • Protectorate: Akane made it his personal mission to protect Aoi, mainly from the guys who make unwanted advances at her. He even became a Clock Keeper with the sole purpose of protecting Aoi.
  • Red Herring: Hanako believed her to be the Clock Keeper of the Present as she's the only one not affected by the aging curse. It's because Akane, the actual Clock Keeper, protected her.
  • Ret-Gone: Both times she gets kidnapped by a School Mystery and taken into their boundary, Aoi is forgotten by every human with no connection to the supernatural side.
  • School Idol: As Nene says, if Teru is the king of the Kamome Academy, then Aoi is its queen.
  • Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Even though she keeps rejecting him, Aoi does harbor feelings for her childhood friend Akane who has always been there to protect her from pushy guys who wouldn't take "no" for an answer. Aoi later admits to Hanako that Akane is a good person who is hardworking and dedicated, which are the qualities that made her fall in love with him.
  • So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Aoi is considered the most beautiful girl at the school, but she actually hates how guys keep giving her shallow love confessions based only on how pretty she is since they don't even care to learn about her personality. Akane is the only guy who likes her while also knowing both her good and bad sides.
  • Stepford Smiler: Aoi's seemingly perfect smile hides a lot of insecurities. She feels alienated by everyone who treats her as a "special" person and doesn't think she's anywhere as great as everyone makes her out to be.
  • Supernaturally Delicious and Nutritious: According to Hanako, the souls of a Kannagi are irresistible to supernaturals. Due to descending from a long line of Kannagi, Aoi is almost torn into pieces and eaten by supernaturals at the Afterlife Express.
  • Targeted Human Sacrifice: The 6th School Mystery plans to throw Aoi into the Far Shore as a sacrifice to stop the supernaturals from attacking humans. He chose Aoi because the women of the Akane family were killed in similar rituals long ago.
  • Trapped in Another World: She's left trapped in the Far Shore because Aoi can't escape alongside Akane and Teru since unlike them, she's a human with no supernatural abilities and being dragged into the Far Shore is the same as "dying" for her.
  • Two First Names: Aoi's surname can be a given name as seen with her childhood friend Akane.
  • Unwitting Muggle Friend: To Nene and Akane. Aoi is a normal high school student who doesn't know about supernaturals and tells Nene about the school mysteries thinking they're just amusing stories, not knowing Nene and Akane have to deal with the supernaturals of the rumors all the time. This gets Played for Drama later; Nene and Akane hiding things from Aoi feeds into her trust issues and suspicions that Akane must not be serious about liking her if he keeps lying to her.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Aoi loves discussing any rumors without knowing that she makes it very easy for the Broadcasting Club to influence the supernaturals throughout the school. Conversely, Nene can use her to make the supernaturals harmless again with a rumor of her own.

    Akane Aoi (Unmarked Spoilers) 

Akane Aoi (蒼井茜)

Voiced by: Shun'ichi Toki (Japanese), Alex Mai (English), Jaime Alberto Carrillo (Latin American Spanish)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/akane_aoi_chap69.jpg
Click here to see him as a Clock Keeper

A first year student at Kamome Academy's High School division as one of Nene's classmates, and the student council's vice president.

Akane's true identity is the Clock Keeper who represents the present and has the power to stop time. Unlike Kako and Mirai, he's human, but the other Clock Keepers set up a trap that put his childhood crush in mortal danger and left him no choice but to enter a magic contract to save her life. His contract will last until he graduates from high school.
  • Academic Athlete: He excels both academically and in terms of athletics, as Aoi expressed at different points that these were attractive qualities.
  • Badass Bookworm: Akane is usually the model class president and top student, but is secretly one of the Clock Keepers and capable of holding his own in a fight.
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: When transformed, his school uniform changes into a suit that makes him look way cooler.
  • Beta Couple: With Aoi. Their relationship doesn't start as very functional because of their personality flaws, but they work through it. In contrast, Hanako and Nene's romance is nearly impossible to end well, since Hanako is a ghost while Nene is alive and fated to die young.
  • Book Smart: He studies hard to get high scores in the school exams because Aoi said she liked studious guys. In fact, he scored the second highest of his year, only surpassed by Aoi.
  • Boomerang Bigot: Despite being effectively part-supernatural while his contract with the Clock Keepers is in effect, Akane vocally detests supernaturals, believing that they don’t know the value of human lives, and questions why Nene is alright with them.
  • Brutal Honesty: He doesn't hold back when expressing what he doesn't like about people. He harshly calls out Hanako on being a murderer who won't ever truly atone for his sin. Later on, he's just as harsh when pointing out the big flaws in Aoi's personality to show her that he doesn't put her on a pedestal like she thinks.
  • Butt-Monkey: Teru lashes his frustrations out by punishing Akane in different ways.
  • The Champion: He will do anything to protect his childhood friend and crush, Aoi. He made the contract with the Clock Keepers to save Aoi's life and he rarely gets involved in the supernatural incidents unless Aoi's safety is at risk.
  • Changing Yourself for Love: When Aoi had a crush on a smart guy, Akane studied like mad until he became one of the best students at their school. When Aoi admired the school council, Akane became the student council vice-president. When Aoi was attracted to athletes, Akane trained himself in sports until he vomited blood. Despite Akane constantly remodeling himself to impress her, Aoi still refuses to be his girlfriend.
  • Childhood Friend Romance: He has been trying to make Aoi agree to marry him since they were little kids.
  • Couple Theme Naming: Akane's full name becomes Aoi's full name when their first and last names switch. A gag points out that if Aoi were to marry him, her name would become "Aoi Aoi".
  • Crazy Jealous Guy: He doesn't want Aoi dating other guys and whenever someone tries flirting with her or catches her interest, he sends them flying with a baseball bat.
  • Curtains Match the Window: His hair and eyes are reddish-brown.
  • Deal with the Devil: When Aoi was about to die in an accident, the Clock Keepers offered Akane the ability to stop time and save her, turning him into one of them. He was rather peeved afterwards to realize that they set the entire thing up to begin with.
  • Determinator: When it comes to Aoi, Akane will never give up for her sake. Be it winning her heart or protecting her.
  • Dogged Nice Guy: He confesses his love to Aoi every day and doesn't give up no matter how many times she turns him down. It later gets deconstructed as Aoi keeps rejecting Akane in part because he's too nice, showering her with praise like any other guy who only focuses on her looks. Aoi starts to reciprocate when Akane finally stops playing nice and gives Aoi a harsh speech about why she's just as flawed as anyone else.
  • Five-Second Foreshadowing: He walks out of the class cursed by Mirai with Aoi completely unaffected and later he manages to unwittingly exorcise Hanako from Nene's body with a slap. This clues Hanako in that he must be another Clock Keeper and sets a trap to prove it.
  • Gender-Blender Name: Both Akane and Aoi are feminine names, which he ironically shares with his love interest.
  • The Glasses Come Off: Akane is first seen without his glasses at the same time that he's revealed to be part of school mystery No.1. Prior to this, he had been presented as a studious and scholarly, if unstable class president. Justified in universe when it's revealed that his glasses aren't prescription, and in fact prevent him from seeing or hearing the supernatural so he can live like a normal human.
  • The Glasses Gotta Go: He suddenly becomes handsome after supernatural transformation, where he takes off his glasses.
  • Henshin Hero: He can switch into his form as a Clock Keeper, complete with an outfit change.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: In Chapter 64, a Brainwashed and Crazy Aoi distracts him with a kiss so a centipede demon impales him from behind.
  • Literally Loving Thy Neighbor: He has a big crush on Aoi who is his childhood friend and next-door neighbor.
  • Loving a Shadow: Discussed during his argument with Aoi in Chapter 69. Aoi tells Akane that she has never once believed he ever loved her for real because all he has ever done is praise how cute and kind she is, making her think he has the same shallow mental image of her as everyone else. This is subverted when Akane makes it clear this isn't the case and that he sees Aoi for who she is, including all the flaws that she tries to hide, and that doesn't change the fact that he loves her.
  • Mistaken for Gay: A running gag in the series is Akane failing to confess to Aoi, and ending up making it sound like he's in love with Lemon instead.
  • Muggle in Mage Custody: He's a normal human who got tricked into forming a 6-year-long contract with the Clock Keepers, but his job mainly seems to be acting like their servant by cleaning their clock and other chores. While he gets a few powers from the contract like using a clock to stop time, Akane is still a human who can be affected by spells.
  • Mundane Utility: He sometimes stops time just so he can stare at Aoi for 15 minutes straight.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He thought falling into No.6's garbage pit with Aoi would prevent her from becoming a sacrifice, without realizing the pit breaks down living bodies and leaves only souls behind. He unintentionally helps No.6's plan to make Aoi a sacrifice.
  • Please, Don't Leave Me: When he and Aoi are lost in the Far Shore, Aoi tries to leave him, but Akane grabs her hand and the look in his eyes appeals her to stay.
  • Power Limiter: His glasses are a magic tool given to him by Teru to seal his spiritual power and keep him from seeing supernaturals.
  • Power Makes Your Hair Grow: As a Clock Keeper, Akane gains a long and thin ponytail near the nape of his neck.
  • Rejection Affection: Aoi has turned him down over 3,000 times and he's still trying to win her heart.
  • Scary Shiny Glasses: His glasses shine in a menacing way whenever he's protecting Aoi from someone dangerous.
  • Significant Birth Date: His and Amane's 4th birthday happened on November 25, 1960, and according to the visible calendar it falls on Butsumetsu, which in Rokuyo's 6-day-week calendar is considered unluckies.
  • Single-Target Sexuality: He's not into anyone who isn't Aoi and has wanted to marry her since they were kids, never even considering other options.
  • Stalker with a Crush: He has been closely observing Aoi since childhood, in order to drive away any other guys who want to ask her out.
  • Stopping the Blame Game: In Chapter 69, Aoi goes on a rant about how she can't trust people because everyone treats her like "a different species" and now even Nene and Akane, who are supposed to be her closest friends, are lying to her. Just as Aoi tries to leave him, Akane pins her down and retorts everything she just said by criticizing how Aoi has no right to complain about people not being honest with her and not knowing her true self when she's always hiding herself behind a mask of perfection in fear of being rejected.
  • Taking You with Me: After failing to reason with Aoi and getting impaled from behind, he decides to take her with him by throwing themselves into No.6's garbage pit to die together. This comes back to bite him because Teru can bring him back from the Far Shore, but Aoi stays trapped there because she doesn't have supernatural powers unlike them.
  • Tears of Joy: He can't hold back the tears when he finally finds Aoi on her way to the Far Shore and tightly hugs her.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Chapter 69 has him giving a harsh, but spot-on one to Aoi.
    Akane: You can't trust anyone unless you think you have the advantage. You're smart, but you're always looking down on people in some way or another. The reason why nobody cares to be involved with you is because you have never tried to be involved with others either, right? Aren't you also putting on an act with Yashiro-san? You not having anyone that you're able to confide with on your real thoughts is your own fault. You're a people pleaser, a self-righteous coward, and despite all of that, you're highly prideful. That's why you wanna disappear before anyone can get the chance to know and come to hate the real you.
  • Time Stands Still: He has the ability to stop time, but it only lasts for five minutes and he can only use it three times a day. He can alternatively use all charges at once to get 15 minutes.
  • Token Human: While all the other Seven Mysteries are supernaturals, Akane is a normal human who got tricked into making a magic contract with the Clock Keepers and gained a magic clock that causes a Time Stands Still effect. Lampshaded in universe when he says that aside from his stopwatch, all that he gets from being a mystery is a change in appearance.
  • Two First Names: Akane's surname can be a given name as seen with his crush Aoi.
  • Weak to Magic: Though Akane is technically a powerful supernatural through his contract with the Clock Keepers, the glasses Teru made for him essentially make him a normal human most of the time and he's also vulnerable to the supernaturals' effects (as with the Confession Tree causing him to fall in love with Lemon for a while).
  • Would Hit a Girl: He has no qualms with slapping Nene (who is possessed by Hanako at the moment) when he thinks she was hitting on Aoi.

    Lemon Yamabuki 

Lemon Yamabuki (山吹檸檬)

Voiced by: Genki Okawa (Japanese), Aaron Campbell (English), Alan Bravo (Latin American Spanish)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yamabuki_lemon_anime.jpg
A first year student at Kamome Academy's High School division and Nene and Akane's classmate.
  • Book Dumb: He's in the bottom percentage of his year, though he's not particularly worried about it either.
  • Delinquent Hair: He has spiky, bleach-blonde hair.
  • Edible Theme Naming: His name is Lemon and his shirt is decorated with lemon patterns and "LEMON" writing. Even his hair is yellow.
  • Face of a Thug: Pointed out by Akane in one of the spin-offs.
  • Flat Character: He appears only in a couple of chapters and besides being friends with Akane nothing is known about him.
  • Meaningful Name: "Yamabuki" and "Lemon" are different shades of yellow color.
  • Phoneaholic Teenager: He is often seen playing with his phone and not caring too much about his surroundings. He takes pictures of interesting things with his phone.

    Teru Minamoto 

Teru Minamoto (源輝)

Voiced by: Yūma Uchida (Japanese), David Matranga (English), Brandon Santini (Latin American Spanish)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/teruminamoto.png
A 2nd year student at Kamome Academy's High School Division and the school's Student Council President. He is also a member of a renowned family of exorcists, the Minamoto Clan and is Kou's older brother.
  • Big Brother Instinct: He would do anything for the sake of his two younger siblings.
  • Book Smart: He's at the top of his year in grades.
  • Broken Ace: He's a honors student and a powerful exorcist, loved by girls and boys alike, and generally charming as long as the supernatural isn't involved. Eventually, however, it becomes apparent that his lifestyle as an exorcist gives him little to no time to rest and constantly fighting supernaturals has left him with a deep-rooted case of Fantastic Racism. At one point, he admits to Kou that he would like to be weak if that took some pressure off his shoulders.
  • Broken Pedestal: Kou idolized Teru and wanted to be an exorcist like him. After he sees how ruthless Teru is when trying to exorcise Hanako, Kou starts to question if he really wants to do things like Teru and seeks less violent ways to deal with supernaturals.
  • Chick Magnet: He's the most popular guy at school. In the first chapter alone, both Nene and another unnamed girl try to confess to him.
  • Dissonant Serenity: He doesn't break his gentle smile as he brutally insults supernaturals in front of Akane.
  • The Dreaded: To the supernaturals. Hanako might not take Kou seriously, but Teru is another story. When Natsuhiko finds a newly turned No.3 Mitsuba by him, he immediately pulls him out of the scene.
  • Elemental Hair Colors: Same as Kou, Teru has blond hair and can generate spirit lightning.
  • Even the Guys Want Him: During Nene's attempts to secretly woo him, boys are revealed to be among his suitors, and he's noted to be adored by both genders.
  • Fantastic Racism: He clearly hates the supernaturals and treats them coldly. In the spin-off manga of Chapter 6, he thinks of them as cockroaches. This explains why he treats Akane so poorly — Akane's one of the Seven School Mysteries, and a "half-cockroach" since he’s still human.
  • Forgotten First Meeting: He doesn't remember his first meeting with Nene when he returned her dropped pencil case to her.
  • Katanas Are Better: Teru wields a katana to signify his experience as an exorcist. He's very powerful with it too.
  • Lethal Chef: He's good at everything, except cooking. Teru leaves a mess in the kitchen whenever he tries to help Kou. One time, he nearly sets the house on fire while making rice balls.
  • Murder Is the Best Solution: He makes his point very clear that ghosts have no place among the living and threatens to exorcise every supernatural at school whenever there's a new incident, which he doesn't do since he wants to give Kou a chance.
  • Not So Above It All: Despite his usual collected and serious personality, he practically turns into an excitable kid when he can finally go to play at the arcade and karaoke after the supernaturals disappear.
  • Princely Young Man: Typically polite and charming, hence why Nene has a massive crush on him.
  • School Idol: While Aoi is the most popular girl in the school, Teru is the most popular boy.
  • Shock and Awe: His anti-spirit attacks are all electric-based: electric cage, electrocution etc. This is shared with Kou and might be characteristic of the Minamoto clan.
  • Stay in the Kitchen: Even though Kou is a guy, Teru has always insisted that fighting supernaturals is too dangerous for him and he should stay looking after the house while he and their father are out. Kou doesn't hate doing the house chores, but he's frustrated at Teru treating him in such belittling way.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: Kou and Teru look almost exactly alike with minor height differences.
  • Student Council President: He holds the position of the head of the student council.
  • Trigger-Happy: Whenever he comes across a supernatural, his first reaction is trying to exorcise them.
  • Triple Shifter: His duties as the Student Council President and an exorcist take up all of his time. He never had a day off until all the supernaturals disappear with Aoi's sacrifice, so he takes the opportunity to go to the arcade and karaoke for the first time.

    The Mokke 

Mokke (勿怪, usually written もっけ)

Voiced by: Yuuri Yoshida, Chitose Morinaga, and Mai Kanazawa (Japanese)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cv236_0usaazk4h_7.jpg
A species of supernaturals haunting Kamome Academy.
  • Affably Evil: They dream of murdering Hanako and destroying the school, but they're very nice and friendly otherwise.
  • Black Bead Eyes: They have a pair of black dots for eyes.
  • Bunnies for Cuteness: They're small pink creatures that resemble rabbits, which only adds to their cuteness.
  • Cute and Psycho: They're pink, cute, and obsessed with murdering Hanako to take his place.
  • Cute Is Evil: They're adorable bunny-like creatures who dream of becoming a school mystery so they can destroy the school and enslave humans at a field of candy.
  • The Fair Folk: They're normally harmless fairy creatures, but they can turn into a malicious monster if their rumor is corrupted.
  • Fairy Trickster: They're called fairies and cause mischief around the school by stealing from the students.
  • Funny Background Event: Occasionally, the Mokke like to mess around or play games in the back while the main characters are having a discussion.
  • Hive Mind: They act as a collective supernatural and appear to share a consciousness.
  • Killer Rabbit: They are little rabbit blobs and the weakest of the supernaturals at school, but when they start causing trouble even Hanako can have trouble with them.
  • No Biological Sex: They don't have a gender and are referred to with gender-neutral pronouns.
  • No Mouth: They don't have a visible mouth, but they can still eat candy somehow.
  • Our Fairies Are Different: Their rumor refers to them as fairies, but they look nothing like the traditional depiction of small humans with wings. Instead, the Mokke are pink blobs with rabbit ears.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: The Mokke are small pink creatures that have rabbit-like ears and beady eyes. Of course they are adorable!
  • The Runt at the End: Most of the Mokke are pink creatures are idential to each other, but there's one is dark purple with one eye.
  • Slave Race: Pretty much every other supernatural or human who can see them treats them like props, assistants, test subjects, food, or the delivery service.
  • Sticky Fingers: Even after Nene changes their rumor, they continue stealing the students' things because they have so much fun doing it.
  • Sweet Tooth: The Mokke love to eat candies and sweets, thanks to Nene updating their rumor with a Weaksauce Weakness that would make them less aggressive.
  • Terse Talker: They usually speak in short, simple sentences.

    Tiara Minamoto 

Tiara Minamoto (源てぃあら)

Voiced by: Misaki Kuno (Japanese), Macy Anne Johnson (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tiara_minamoto.png
The younger sister of Teru and Kou Minamoto, and the only daughter of the Minamoto clan.
  • Badass Adorable: She's an incredibly cute five-year-old little girl and also the most powerful of the Minamoto siblings, despite being much younger than her brothers.
  • Big Brother Worship: She adores her older brother, Teru.
  • Bunnies for Cuteness: She adopts a Mokke as her pet because hanging out with a little bunny-like blob makes her even more of a cutie.
  • Cheerful Child: She's a very cheerful little girl, and isn't even fazed by supernatural beings due to her family's line of work.
  • Cute Little Fangs: Like her brother Kou, she has two small fangs.
  • The Cutie: She's the adorable little sister of the Minamoto brothers who both care for her as if she was the princess of the house.
  • Damsel out of Distress: Played for Laughs. Teru and Kou pull out their weapons as they step in to protect Tiara from bullies during her first errand, only for Tiara to tell off the bullies and show her brothers that she can perfectly defend herself.
  • Elemental Hair Colors: Like her brothers, she has blonde hair and can summon lightning.
  • Father, I Want to Marry My Brother: She says she wants to marry Teru someday, but since she's only five years old, it's really just a case of extreme Big Brother Worship.
  • Girlish Pigtails: She has some of her hair tied into two twin tail tuffs, making her look even more adorable.
  • Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She's a happy, innocent little girl and a blonde like her brothers.
  • Innocent Blue Eyes: She has light blue eyes like her brothers and is the most innocent of the siblings due to her young age.
  • Little Miss Badass: At five years old, her spiritual power far surpasses that of her older brothers and she's able to destroy a big supernatural monsters with ease.
  • Picky Eater: She doesn't like bell peppers, which is a Stock "Yuck!" for Japanese children. After beating a supernatural made from the anger of the bell peppers that children refuse to eat, she starts eating them.
  • Practically Different Generations: She's only five years old and has two older brothers, one in high school and the other in middle school.
  • Shock and Awe: Like her older brothers, Tiara can produce lightning that purifies supernaturals. She stands out by being able to fire lightning with her bare hands at her young age.
  • Token Mini-Moe: She's the youngest member of the cast by far, being only five years old.

    Sousuke Mitsuba 

Sousuke Mitsuba (三葉惣助)

Voiced by: Daiki Kobayashi (Japanese), Kyle Igneczi (English), Enzo Fortuny (Latin American Spanish)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mitsubas_anime_design.png
A ghost haunting Kamome Academy Middle School's lockers. He was a student at Kamome Academy's Middle School division and a member of the photography club before his death.
  • Ambiguously Gay: Mitsuba claims he was never interested in girls because he's cuter than them. He becomes very fond of Kou after the latter agrees to become friends with him, but this can still be interpreted as platonic since Mitsuba was happy to finally have a friend.
  • Animal Motifs: Often surrounded by pigeons. This trait is inherited by his copy.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: Due to him barely being remembered by anyone, he wished for others to notice him. Unfortunately for him, Tsukasa grants his wish by altering his rumor, which turns him into a monster.
  • Bully Magnet: He was bullied in elementary school, which is why he craves friendship even after becoming a ghost.
  • Camera Fiend: When he was alive, he was a member of the camera club and enjoyed taking pictures of nature and animals.
  • Cute Ghost Girl: Male example. While he's a ghost, he looks like a very pretty boy with a girly face.
  • Cute Oversized Sleeves: He wears a pink sweater, with the right sleeve always covering his right hand. This adds to his cute looks.
  • Deader than Dead: The ghost Mitsuba who Kou initially befriended and who Hanako mercy-killed is effectively gone. Though Tsukasa creates a new Mitsuba using the piece of his soul he took, this Mitsuba acknowledges himself as a "fake", treats the memories of his former self as something separate from him, and doesn't see himself as the same person.
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight: After he's turned into a monster because of Tsukasa corrupting his rumor, Hanako delivers the final blow to Mitsuba while Kou holds him in his arms.
  • Dude Looks Like a Lady: He's repeatedly stated to look like a girl and he's even proud of his feminine face.
  • Effeminate Voice: Mitsuba has a girl's face and a high-pitched voice for a guy.
  • Establishing Character Moment: Upon being ungagged, Mitsuba immediately yells ridiculous insults at Kou while praising his own appearance.
    Mitsuba: Shut it, you hella-lame, traffic-safety earring boy.
  • Face–Monster Turn: Tsukasa makes Sakura corrupt Mitsuba's rumor, causing him to transform into a monster.
  • Forgotten First Meeting: Kou couldn't remember that Mitsuba was his classmate at first because he was wearing a different uniform and didn't stand out much when he was alive.
  • Friendless Background: He could never make friends when alive, no matter what he tried. It was a combination of his classmates bullying him or disliking his arrogant attitude.
  • Friendly Ghost: Despite his rude attitute, Mitsuba doesn't want to scare anyone; he only would like other students to remember him. All he really wants is making a friend because he never had that in his life.
  • His Quirk Lives On: According to his mother, photography was a hobby he picked up from his deceased father.
  • I Just Want to Have Friends: Even though he died, he just wanted to have friends. Unfortunately for him, Tsukasa took his wish a little too far.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's very smug and harsh to Kou, but Kou doesn't mind his cocky attitude because he can tell Mitsuba isn't a bad guy at heart.
  • Kill the Cutie: He's just a cute ghost boy who feels joy in starting to make friends with Kou. Then Tsukasa comes and turns him into a monster, forcing Hanako to eliminate him.
  • Last-Name Basis: He's only referred to by his last name and never his first name.
  • The Nicknamer: He nicknames Kou "Hella-Lame, Traffic-Safety-Earring Boy".
  • The Nondescript: He acted mild-mannered at middle school to avoid being bullied, but this only made him fade into the background and his classmates barely noticed him. It took Kou a while to recognize Mitsuba as his former classmate, even though Mitsuba sat right in front of him.
  • Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: He scares the hell out of students by grabbing their arms when they're at the shoe lockers. The truth is that he's merely trying to make other students remember him because he hates that everyone seems to have forgotten him after his death.
  • Painful Persona: When he was younger, others found his personality annoying. To try and get along with his classmates, he took on the persona of a Nice Guy, but it didn't work out because his classmates just ignored him and he ended up friendless anyway.
  • Posthumous Character: He's killed off early on. Most information about him and how was his life before death comes from flashbacks of his mother and Kou.
  • Pretty Boy: He has a very androgynous face and big eyes, making him way more girly-looking compared to other guys in the cast.
  • Proud Beauty: He takes pride in how cute he is.
  • Scars Are Forever: He has a scar on the back of his neck. It's presumably a mark from the accident that caused his death.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: Mitsuba technically only appears in three chapters of the manga, but his tragic fate after being turned into a monster by Tsukasa and killed by Hanako has a very big impact on Kou for the rest of the series and heavily influences his interactions with the copy of Mitsuba created by Tsukasa.
  • Sour Outside, Sad Inside: He's very rude and annoying when interacting with Kou, but inside he's really sad and lonely from dying at a young age without making a single friend.
  • Stepford Snarker: He may act snarky and insensitive, but he's also quite sad and lonely, having died as a young teenager without any friends.
  • Tragic One-Shot Character: Mitsuba is a lonely ghost boy and Hanako asks Kou for his help in clearing Mitsuba's regrets so he can pass on. Over the course of three chapters (episode and a half in the anime), Kou and Mitsuba start becoming friends only for Tsukasa to ruin it by corrupting Mitsuba's rumor and transforming him into a monster. Hanako then needs to kill Mitsuba and Kou can only watch as he regrets not being able to do anything for his new friend.
  • Tsundere: Harsh type. He starts as abrasive and hostile to Kou, but opens up to him once Kou is willing to grant his wish of becoming his friend.
  • Two First Names: Mitsuba can be a Japanese given name for girls.
  • Unprovoked Pervert Payback: Kou merely tells Mitsuba he's going to help him clear his regrets so Mitsuba can go to the afterlife. In response, Mitsuba freaks out at him and starts calling him a disgusting pervert who must want to do dirty stuff to him "like in a porn video".

    Mei Shijima (Unmarked Spoilers) 

Mei Shijima

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mei_colored.png

A student from the art club who died some time ago. The rumors about her death are what gave birth to a school mystery.


    Sumire (Unmarked Spoilers) 

Sumire Akane (赤根スミレ)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sumire_color.jpg

A member of the Akane family who lived very long ago.


  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Hakubo is cold, ruthless and dangerous, but Sumire still loves him because he was the only one who kept her company during her life. It's ultimately deconstructed when Hakubo admits he does have strong feelings for Sumire... And then eats her alive to free himself from his attachment to her.
  • All of the Other Reindeer: The villagers shunned her and blamed her for the attacks of the supernaturals since they didn't feel safe until she was sacrificed to the Far Shore.
  • Animal Lover: In her life, she frequently adopted injured animals and nursed them even though most of them died. There's a dark and depressing reason behind it; Sumire wished someone would be sad and suffer because of her inevitable death.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: Sumire always wished Hakubo would "take her as his (bride)". When they reunite after a hundred years, Hakubo says he'll finally grant her wish to make her his... But he means meal instead of bride.
  • Bodyguard Crush: Hakubo was assigned the job to guard and watch over Sumire until she was old enough to be sacrificed. Since no one else in her village got close to her, Sumire fell in love with Hakubo.
  • Children Do the Housework: From the time she was six years old, Sumire already knew how to cook, do laundry and clean the house. She had to be self-sufficient because her caretaker was a supernatural who knew nothing about housework.
  • Death Seeker: She has spent over a hundred years trapped inside a barrier where she has to repeat her own death endlessly. When Nene is sent to destroy Sumire as a Yorishiro, Sumire is alright with it. Hakubo then decides to take up the job of killing her himself and Sumire has no complaints.
  • The Defroster: Hakubo was originally emotionless and apathetic, only acting to follow orders. Sumire's love and influence gave him emotions and a will of his own.
  • Dissonant Serenity: She smiled serenely as she told Hakubo she wished her death would cause people to become mad with grief and go to hell.
  • Dying Curse: Just as she's being Eaten Alive by Hakubo, Sumire says he has fallen to the bottom of his own hell because of her.
  • Eaten Alive: Not wanting someone else to kill her again, Hakubo eats Sumire alive.
  • Face Death with Dignity: She calmly accepted her fate to be her village's Human Sacrifice and at the time of her death, she just sadly smiled as she wished Hakubo would at least pretend to be sad. Tragically, if Sumire haven't been resigned to her own death, Hakubo would have tried to save her.
  • Floral Theme Naming: Combined with Family Theme Naming. Sumire's name is the Japanese word for "violet". Similarly, her descendant Aoi (meaning "hollyhock") is also named after a flower.
  • Friendless Background: The villagers forced her into nearly complete isolation because they never saw her as anything but a Human Sacrifice. Hakubo was the only one who would speak to her.
  • Human Sacrifice: The people of her village made her jump from a cliff that lead to the Far Shore to prevent the supernaturals from coming out and devouring the villagers.
  • I Just Want to Be Loved: All she has ever wanted is to be loved back by Hakubo. Even though he didn't look saddened during the ritual that killed her, she has hope that he does feel something special for her because she became his Yorishiro after death.
  • In Love with Love: A very sad case. Sumire was chosen as a Human Sacrifice at six years old, her parents abandoned her, and all the villagers wanted her dead as soon as possible. Starved for affection, she pretended her guard Hakubo was her husband even though he was completely unfamiliar with emotions and human relationships. Having seen Sumire's memories, Nene is appalled at Hakubo's cold treatment of Sumire and points out Sumire only likes him because she spent her entire life in a village where everyone else hated her.
  • Interspecies Romance: She's been in love with the supernatural who became Hakubo since childhood and wants to marry him someday.
  • Living MacGuffin: She's a human who became a School Mystery's Yorishiro after her death.
  • Marriage to a God: The village she lived in turned her into a bride for a God who would become Hakubo for their protection. She's actually already in love with him, but the villagers assumed she has to be killed as an offering.
  • Mayfly–December Romance: She's a human girl who has been in love with an immortal supernatural since she was a child.
  • Morality Pet: While their past together is complicated, she's the only person Hakubo became attached to and her death is the only one that has pained him even after a hundred years.
  • Must Not Die a Virgin: Subverted. On the night before she was sacrificed, Sumire asked Hakubo to sleep with her. Unfortunately for her, he didn't get what she meant so all she got from him was an innocent headbutt and she died a virgin.
  • Parental Abandonment: Her parents gave her away to the Minamoto clan because they didn't want to raise the next Human Sacrifice after all of previous ones tried to escape.
  • Poor Communication Kills: Turns out Hakubo did want to save Sumire, but didn't because she never asked for his help or said she wanted to live with him.
  • Precocious Crush: She has wanted to be Hakubo's bride since she was only six years old. By the time they first met, Hakubo was already several decades older than her.
  • Resurrection/Death Loop: She's stuck in one of these within Hakubo's Boundary, forced to relive over and over the day of her death, as it resets as soon as she hits the water.
  • Self-Proclaimed Love Interest: From childhood, Sumire has called herself Hakubo's wife. Actually, he was just her guard and caretaker.
  • Single-Target Sexuality: Hakubo is the only man she has ever loved. It's justified because the people of her village shunned her as a sacrifice and Hakubo is the only one who talked to her.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: With Hakubo. She loves him and he has feelings for her too, but her fate as a sacrifice didn't allow them to stay together when she was alive. She later became his Yorishiro, but he has never come to see her even though she resides in his barrier. When they finally reunite after a hundred years, Hakubo has to devour her so that no one else can kill her again.
  • Uncanny Family Resemblance: She's a distant relative of Aoi and looks like an older version of her.
  • What Does She See in Him?: Nene doesn't understand why Sumire is in love with Hakubo, having seen how distant he was to her in her memories.

    Mrs. Mitsuba 

Mrs. Mitsuba

Sousuke Mitsuba's mother.


  • A Birthday, Not a Break: Her son died at the night of her birthday.
  • Good Parents: Flashbacks show she and her son got along very well and she loved him very much.
  • Ms. Exposition: She gives Nene and Kou information about how Mitsuba's life was before his untimely death.
  • Nice Girl: She's a very sweet and gentle woman.
  • Outliving One's Offspring: She lost her teenage son in a tragic accident, on her birthday no less.

    Mrs. Minamoto 

The deceased mother of the Minamoto siblings.


  • Missing Mom: She became ill and passed away when Kou was 9 years old.

The Seven Mysteries of Kamome Academy

    No. 1: The Clock Keepers 
The first of the 7 mysteries. Unlike the other school mysteries, they are composed of three members who represent the three aspects of time: past, present, and future.

In General

  • Clockwork Creature: In Chapters 109 and 110, Kako and Mirai are revealed to be Mechanical Lifeforms made of metallic parts and gears like a clock when Tsukasa punches a hole through his chest.
  • Deal with the Devil: Kako and Mirai endangered Aoi to force Akane into a magic contract with them because the Clock Keeper of the present needs to be a human.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: The Clock Keepers of the past and future haven't given their names. Akane calls them "Kako" (Past) and "Mirai" (Future) respectively for convenience.
  • Time Master: The Clock Keepers are able to control time. Kako and Mirai have the ability to turn back and move time forward respectively. As a contractor, Akane can stop time for five minutes up to three times a day.

Kako

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kako_hanako_kun.png

The supernatural who controls the past.


  • A Dog Named "Dog": His name literally means "past" in Japanese. Because Akane doesn't know if he has a name of his own.
  • Domino Mask: The upper half of his face is covered by an asymmetrical owl-like mask with a long hooked nose, without which he is never seen.
  • Elderly Immortal: He's the only known supernatural who looks like an old man.
  • Eyes Out of Sight: He always wears a owl-like mask that covers his eyes.
  • Father Time: He's the Clock Keeper with the power to turn back time and appears as a bearded, elderly man dressed in a robe.
  • Good Thing You Can Heal: Thanks to his Time Rewind Mechanic, he can repair himself after being pierced through the chest by Tsukasa.
  • Large and in Charge: He's the tallest of the Clock Keepers and acts as their leader.
  • The Leader: By being the eldest of the three and being able to cancel the abilities of the other two. He can also call other Numbers for an emergency meeting, though he acknowledges No.7 as the leader of the Numbers.
  • Masking the Deformity: Underneath his mask, the skin around his eyes looks like it has been carved out and he's missing his left eye.
  • Mr. Fixit: He repairs Mirai after Tsukasa breaks her mechanical body.
  • Time Rewind Mechanic: Kako is able to turn back time on both small and large scales, reversing the entire school's time by almost an entire day.

Mirai

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mirai_hanako_kun_color.png
The supernatural who controls the future. She has the ability to turn time forward for anything (or anyone) she touches.
  • Arc Villainess: Of the Three Clock Keepers arc, as she ages everyone in school because she Likes Older Men and has to be caught.
  • Big Eater: According to Akane, she likes to eat a lot.
  • Cheerful Child: She has the appearance of a small child and can be mischievous, cheerful, and energetic.
  • Cool Crown: She wears a crown-like ornament atop her head.
  • A Dog Named "Dog": Her name literally means "future" in Japanese. Because Akane doesn't know if she has a name of her own.
  • Eyes Always Shut: Mirai's eyes are only ever open when she gets serious.
  • Fun Size: She's a Cheerful Child of height smaller than someone's head.
  • Girlish Pigtails: She appears as a little girl with long brown hair tied in twin tails, which are each as long as she is tall and tied with hair ornaments (resembling the hands of a clock) at the ends.
  • Immortal Immaturity: She's by far the most childish of the Mysteries, but as a supernatural, she's likely a lot older than she appears.
  • Person of Holding: The Clock Keepers' yorishiro is hidden inside her body.
  • Pint-Sized Kid: She looks like a cute girl so small that she could be carried in the palm of a hand.
  • Power Limiter: Kako and Akane normally force her to wear gloves to stop her from moving the time forward for everything she touches.
  • Rapid Aging: She can turn students into elderly and decay objects by touching them or cursing the room they are in.
  • The Smurfette Principle: She's the only female Clock Keeper.
  • Super-Speed: She's very quick and hard to catch.
  • Sweet Tooth: She enjoys eating sweets and candies.
  • Taking the Bullet: In Chapter 110, she protects Akane from Tsukasa, who punches a hole through Mirai to get the yorishiro out of her body.
  • Token Mini-Moe: She's the only Mystery to look like a small child.
  • The Transmogrifier: She has the ability to make the humans she touches become older.

The Clock Keeper of the Present

For the third Clock Keeper, please refer to Akane Aoi's section above.

    No. 2: The Misaki Stairs 

Yako

Voiced by: Yukana (Japanese), Alexis Tipton (English), Isabel Martiñón (Latin American Spanish)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yako.png
Click here to see her fox form
A supernatural haunting a set of stairs at Kamome Academy. She is the current representative of the 2nd School Mystery, The Misaki Stairs.
  • Arc Villainess: She's the villain of The Misaki Stairs arc where the twisted rumors about the stairs made her go berserk and start kidnapping students.
  • Asian Fox Spirit: Her true form is a small white fox, which alludes to the fact that she was originally a fox statue that guarded a shrine gate.
  • Bait-and-Switch: And not just once, too. When the Second School Mystery is first introduced, Nene and Kou assume that Misaki is the supernatural's name. It is later revealed, however, that Misaki was actually the name of a teacher that the supernatural deeply admired. Later on, Nene finds a journal written by a student who she assumes to be No.2. At the very end of the Misaki Stairs arc, it is revealed that No.2 was neither a teacher nor a student - instead, she was the Inari stone statuette at the shrine atop of the stairs.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Because the rumor about the Misaki Stairs got corrupted, she forgot her responsibility as one of the Seven Mysteries until Nene unsealed her Yorishiro.
  • Hellish Pupils: She has slitted pupils like a feline.
  • Interspecies Romance: She's a Kitsune who was in love with a human teacher.
  • Loving a Shadow: In the spin-off manga of Chapter 14, she fell in love with Nagisa, who looks exactly like Misaki, and thought that Nagisa might be his reincarnation.
  • Meaningful Appearance: The red and white ribbon she wears in her human form greatly resembles her ears in her fox form.
  • The Mourning After: She still loves Misaki even though it's been so long since he died in an accident.
  • Necromantic: When the rumors made her go evil for a while, Yako kidnapped students so she could force them to make a new body for Misaki, the human teacher she loved. The students who failed got turned into dolls by her.
  • Pet the Dog: She gives Kou some comfort when she learns he's dealing with the loss of Mitsuba.
  • Portal Crossroad World: No.2's Boundary has space-related properties, meaning that from the inside of it if you go far enough, you can get to the Boundaries of other Mysteries if they become inaccessible otherwise.
  • Shear Menace: She wields a giant pair of scissors that can turn humans into dolls.
  • Signature Headgear: Her human form wears a hair ornament that looks like the ears of her fox form.
  • Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: She and Tsuchigomori don't get along very well and they often bicker with each other.
  • Tragic Keepsake:
    • Yako's Yorishiro is a pair of scissors given by Misaki before his death.
    • Misaki included her in his last class photo, which she kept in a box near her scissors.
  • The Transmogrifier: She has the power to turn the humans she traps inside her domain into dolls.
  • You Are a Credit to Your Race: Misaki was the only human being worth anything to her. Every other human is the same as an insect for all she cares.

    No. 3: Hell of Mirrors 

Unnamed

Voiced by: Mitsuaki Madono (Japanese), David Wald (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mystery_no3_mirror.png

An unnamed supernatural who represented Kamome Gakuen's 3rd School Mystery, the Hell of Mirrors.


  • Ambiguous Gender: Due to their limited appearance as a crow Beast Man and the ability to appear themselves as Aoi, it's unclear if they're supposed to be male.
  • Beat Still, My Heart: Tsukasa rips their heart open and force-feeds it to Mitsuba. He comments about supernaturals even having one.
  • Feathered Fiend: They look like a giant crow and acted as a malicious supernatural for what little we knew them.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: They have a visible scar on their right eye.
  • I Know What You Fear: The mirrors make the person see and hear something they would want the least.
  • Jerkass: No.3 has a lot of fun insulting Nene as Aoi even without using the mirrors, before attacking her directly "for being ugly".
  • Magic Mirror: The power of the Hell of Mirrors is to make people see their worst fears come true in their reflection.
  • The Minion Master: He attacks Nene with a lot of glass puppets with Tsukasa performing a Villainous Rescue.
  • No Name Given: Their real name was never revealed as they were killed by Tsukasa.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: Right after No.3's introduction, they're brutally killed by Tsukasa and fed to Mitsuba.

    No. 4: Shijima-san of the Art Room 

Mei Shijima

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shijima_color.jpg

The supernatural who is currently representative of the 4th School Mystery, herself.


  • Art Attacker: She uses paint to bind Kou, though he breaks out from it.
  • Art Initiates Life: Anything she draws becomes real. She's even able to create a fake reality from her painting.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: She traps Nene and Kou during the Picture Perfect arc, but it is shown earlier that Tsukasa dragged her into the Broadcasting room for some reason, and in the painting, it's the real Tsukasa and not his copy, who Nene rightfully suspects to be behind the incident. Then it turns out the Hanako in the painting is the real Hanako who later also conspired with Shijima to keep Nene trapped forever because she would die soon if she returns to the real world. After No.4 does a Heel–Face Turn, Nene has to deal with Hanako.
  • Clone by Conversion: She can remotely turn any of her painted humans into versions of herself.
  • Four Is Death: She's the 4th Mystery and her name contains "四". She's also suicidal as a Mystery, while her human self is falsely rumored to be Driven to Suicide.
  • Girlish Pigtails: She wears her hair in a pair of low braids. This sets her apart from the real Shijima.
  • I Cannot Self-Terminate: Because of the rumors, she can't stop drawing paintings and grew to hate it. She also can't release her victims herself since it contradicts her rumor. Which is why the painting version of her accepts Tsukasa's offer to be able to perform Murder-Suicide on her human self.
  • Killing Your Alternate Self: She wishes to kill the original Shijima who created her, as becoming a school mystery because of the rumors about Shijima's suicide has caused Shijima to see her own existence as a disrespect to her creator. Considering she can't actually Time Travel, it's likely her wishes went into a clone who tries to kill another clone of her.
  • Literal Split Personality: Each Shijima in the painting represents different aspects of the original No.4, who is outside the painting. The one that looks like the current one is used by No.4 as her proxy. Then there's a Shijima that is a copy of her creator while she was still alive. And one paintbrush is another version of her that wants to help Nene to get out.
  • Lotus-Eater Machine: Her ability creates a happier alternative reality inside the painting where Amane and Mitsuba have never died and have befriended everyone. Nene and Kou still have their original memories, but they'll gradually lose them if they don't get out.
  • Reality Bleed: As Nene and Amane attempt to leave the fake world by running faster than Shijima can (presumably) paint, she begins to manifest everywhere around them to stop them from leaving.
  • Tragic Keepsake: Her Yorishiro is the sketchbook of the original Shijima.
  • Tulpa: The supernatural Shijima was originally an Imaginary Friend to the real Shijima who wished for another her to paint at the tower of her last picture even after she died. The rumors that spread after Shijima's death turned the imaginary Shijima into a school mystery.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: She doesn't see the paintings she brings to life as people, to the point where other paintings already got used to their friends being killed and recreated for adjustments. She also doesn't see why Nene and Kou would have a problem killing Hanako and Mitsuba to get out considering in the real world they are already ghosts.
  • Your Heart's Desire: She can grant deepest wishes by trapping people inside her paintings, and the only way to escape is by destroying their materialized wishes. According to her, Nene has to kill Hanako and Kou has to kill Mitsuba, who also turned up not being her creations. Or alternatively, finding the door out will get you outside.

    No. 5: The 4 PM Bookstacks 

Ryūjirou Tsuchigomori

Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda (Japanese), Ian Sinclair (English), Luis Fernando Orozco (Latin American Spanish)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tsuchigomori_3.png

The supernatural who curates the 4PM Bookstacks, a supernatural collection of books that contain everyone's past, present, and future. Also spends most of his time pretending to be a human teacher. He is currently the representative of the 5th School Mystery, the aforementioned 4PM Bookstacks.


  • Child Hater: He openly admits this in his first appearance.
  • Cool Teacher:
    • Tsuchigomori was Hanako's teacher back when the former was still alive and tried to support him in any way he could despite not being human. Even 50 years later they are still on good terms, though Hanako doesn't have a good memory of their first meeting.
    • In the present he still lives up to his role as a teacher and helps Nene and Kou with their investigation.
  • It Was a Gift: His Yorishiro is the "moon rock" that Hanako gave him when he was still alive.
  • Know When to Fold 'Em: He pretty much gives up his Yorishiro since he's no match to Hanako.
  • Living a Double Life: Besides being a supernatural with a seat in the Seven Mysteries, he has a human identity to work as a teacher in Kamome Academy.
  • A Lizard Named "Liz": His name is Tsuchigomori and he's a supernatural inspired by the spider youkai Tsuchigumo.
  • Magic Librarian: He's a supernatural who serves as the curator of a Magical Library that keeps books revealing the entire lives of the students at the school.
  • Mistaken for Gay: When he told Nene his Yorishiro was a rock given by a guy, she thought he was interested in men.
  • Multi-Armed and Dangerous: He can sprout extra arms to suit his spider motif.
  • Non-Action Guy: He admits to not being good at fighting.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: He normally disguises himself a bumbling, meek human teacher.
  • Opaque Lenses: When he first appears. Subverted when his true identity is revealed in the 4PM Bookstacks arc.
  • Pointy Ears: He has noticeably long, pointed ears in his true appearance.
  • Sacrificial Revival Spell: A variation. Tsuchigomori is capable of changing the future written in the books, but doing so will kill him, and the primary reason anyone would want him to change the future is to prevent someone's death.
  • Scary Teeth: He has razor sharp teeth.
  • Secret-Keeper: One of few beings to know Hanako's human origins, which he shares with Nene.
  • Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Towards Yako. He and Yako don't get along that much and they often bicker with each other most of the time.
  • Tsuchigumo and Jorogumo: While not explicitly stated, he is entirely based off of the youkai Tsuchigumo, extra spider limbs and all.
  • The Unfought: He's the only Mystery who the main characters don't need to fight to destroy his Yorishiro because Tsuchigomori knew he would lose even if he tried, though he still asks the gang for any personal info that isn't already in his books as a price.

    No. 6: God of Death 

Click here to see his name (spoiler warning)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/n6_shinigami.jpg
The supernatural who is currently representative of the 6th School Mystery and the last one to be introduced in the series. He is also known as "The God of Death".
  • Arc Villain: Of the Study Camp, as he kidnaps Aoi for Human Sacrifice and brainwashes her to be his assistant.
  • The Bad Guy Wins: He's not so evil as trying to do his job without consulting with anyone, but trying to escape No.6's Boundary Aoi and Akane went through the Far Shore, which killed Aoi for being a normal human Kannagi without Akane realizing and completed the Severance ritual.
  • Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Nene refuses to make Sumire vanish because she's still a person despite having been turned into a Yorishiro after death. Since Hakubo wished for some closure regarding his regrets with Sumire, he kills her himself as he didn't want to let someone else do it again.
  • Become a Real Boy: He wishes he was born as a human so he could have grown up with Sumire and fallen in love with her normally. Since he's an Oni, he can't understand and express emotions like humans do.
  • Belated Love Epiphany: He only realized that he had feelings for Sumire until after she was sacrificed.
  • Bloodbath Villain Origin: His origin story has him massacring the adults of Sumire's village, enraged at seeing them celebrating her death as if it was something to rejoice about.
  • Brutal Honesty: Sumire calls him out on him never mincing his words, which often ruins her attempts at having a sweet conversation with him.
  • Defrosting Ice King: He wasn't good at expressing his emotions and cared little about the humans until he spent time with Sumire and he developed feelings for her.
  • Emotionally Tongue-Tied: Due to his inexperience with emotion, he can't put his feelings for Sumire into words. On their last night together, he didn't say anything to her and just wondered why Sumire wouldn't ask him to help her. Since then, his biggest regret is never telling Sumire how he felt about her.
  • Emotionless Boy: Ever since he was a kid, he lacked any kind of emotional reaction to whatever happened around him. Even when the Minamoto exorcists killed his oni master and Sumire was sacrificed, he showed no emotion.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": In most of his appearances, he's only identified as "Mystery No.6" or "Shinigami/God of Death". When Sumire finally reunites with him, his name is revealed to be Hakubo.
  • Extreme Doormat: In his backstory, he never had a will or desires of his own. For a long time, he only did whatever his human masters asked of him without question.
  • Fauns and Satyrs: He has fur hands and goat horns. He also wears a goat mask.
  • Hellgate: His Boundary is directly connected to the Far Shore, as the village, the Kamome Academy is built upon had to regularly perform Human Sacrifice to appeal to the dead.
  • Horned Humanoid: He has a pair of horns attached to his head.
  • Human Sacrifice: He kidnaps Aoi to restore the barrier between two Shores by using her bloodline connections.
  • I'm a Humanitarian: He ate humans until he was made the shikigami servant of the Minamoto clan. He ends up eating Sumire alive.
  • Interspecies Romance: He's a supernatural who has feelings for Sumire, a human woman.
  • Kick the Morality Pet: He grew attached to Sumire in the time they lived together and was driven mad by grief after her death, but it's the same fact that he can't let go of his feelings for her what leads to him eating her alive.
  • Kill the Ones You Love: With Sakura having given him the final order to have his Yorishiro destroyed, Hakubo chooses to kill and eat Sumire himself rather than letting someone else kill her in front of him again.
  • Kiss of Death: He declares he will finally take Sumire as his and kisses her... Right before he starts devouring her alive.
  • Made a Slave: After the Minamoto exorcists killed his fellow oni, one of them turned him into a slave shikigami because of his lack of murderous instincts. He continued to be a slave to the Minamoto for generations.
  • Master of the Mixed Message: At first, it's hard to tell how he felt about Sumire because of his cold personality. In one flashback, he easily says he would take Sumire as his wife only to immediately tell her it was a lie. Once his point of view is finally revealed, it's confirmed he does have feelings for Sumire.
  • Mayfly–December Romance: Being a supernatural, he has a longer lifespan than humans. When he met the six-year-old Sumire, he was already several times her age, yet didn't physically age in all the years they lived together.
  • My Greatest Failure: He regrets not doing anything to save Sumire from her tragic fate as a sacrifice and never expressing his feelings for her before her death.
  • Mysterious Stranger: Despite living in the school for over 50 years, Hanako doesn't know much about him and isn't sure what is he planning, since he appears only once a year at Urabon and didn't do much until the present.
  • Necromancer: According to Hyuuga, he has the power to bring the dead back to life.
  • Oni: He's an oni who looks like a man with goat horns.
  • Pointy Ears: He has long and pointed ears.
  • Poor Communication Kills: Unlike other Numbers who went Brainwashed and Crazy because of the Broadcasting Club, he's just The Stoic who treats his job as Necessarily Evil and doesn't bother explaining himself to other Mysteries when No.1's everyone.
  • Predator Turned Protector: As an Oni, he originally ate humans. After he became a servant for the Minamoto exorcists, he eventually was ordered to act as the human girl Sumire's guardian until she was sacrificed by her village. Although he couldn't bring himself to save her from her fate, Sumire did become the only person he ever defended willingly and she became his Yorishiro because she was the one he wanted to protect the most. However, this ends up subverted when Hakubo decides to get closure by eating Sumire alive before someone else can kill her again.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After the villagers sacrificed Sumire, he brutally killed all the adults in the village, only sparing the children.
  • Shinigami: It's in his name and also his job description.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: He grew to have feelings for Sumire over the years they lived together. Tragically, he couldn't change Sumire's fate of being sacrificed by the villagers. After her death, he slaughtered the villagers and the Minamoto clan punished him.
  • The Stoic: His facial expression is permanently cold and distant.
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome: When he removes his cattle skull mask, he appears be a good-looking, dark-skinned, and very tall young man.
  • Touch of Death: When he touches living things, he kills them instantly.
  • Tranquil Fury: He kept his usual emotionless expression as he slaughtered the villagers that killed Sumire.
  • What Is This Feeling?: He's unable to recognize his feelings of grief and regret over Sumire's death. Even when Sumire herself realizes Hakubo does lament not saving her, he's still confused by his own feelings.
  • Wife Husbandry: A tragic example. Sumire was placed in his care when she was six years old, in order for him to keep her from escaping the village that selected her as a Human Sacrifice. Since Sumire was told she would become the "bride of a god", she decided he was her husband and basically groomed herself to be his wife. After she grew older, he would have married Sumire for real if she had asked him to save her, but since she didn't, she was sacrificed and he has regretted her death ever since.
  • Would Hit a Girl: When the Akane family's maidens tried to escape from being sacrificed, he would break their legs or crush their eyes before capturing them. He also punched a woman in the face for throwing a rock at Sumire.
  • Wouldn't Hurt a Child: After Sumire's death, he killed all the adults in a room, but spared the children.

The Red House

    Katakuri 

Katakuri

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/katakuri_color.jpg

An older guy Nene finds after being swallowed by the Red House. Once an apprentice pharmacist, he was sacrificed by his village in a time when there were no more girls left.


  • Dragged into Drag: The villagers put him in ceremonial women's clothing, right down to the make up, when they sacrificed him. The sacrifice was traditionally a young woman from the Akane bloodline, but Katakuri was the only one from the bloodline available for the sacrifice at the time.
  • Fate Worse than Death: After being made a Human Sacrifice by his fellow villagers, Katakuri is now forever stuck in some sort of limbo dimension where all the Kannagi end up in. There, he watches how the Kannagi before him decay, lose their human mind, and become zombies. All while knowing the same is going to happen to him sooner or later.
  • Please, Don't Leave Me: When Nene asks him if she can do something for him, Katakuri practically begs her to stay with him as long he's still himself because he's terrified that he's going to become a mindless undead like the Kannagi before him. Once he sees he's scaring Nene, Katakuri passes it off as a joke and lets Nene leave the cave.
  • Targeted Human Sacrifice: An odd example — despite being picked out of desperation, he was still the only viable choice due to his family's history of producing sacrifices.

Alternative Title(s): Jibaku Shounen Hanako Kun

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