Characters / Yuri is My Job!

This page contains the characters for Yuri Is My Job. Names are in Western order- first the given name, then the family name, with the assumed name for the salon in parentheses.

Café Liebe

Waitresses

General Tropes

• Five Temperament Ensemble:
  • Hime is Sanguine — Charming and empathetic social butterfly.
  • Mitsuki is Choleric — Headstrong and strict hard worker.
  • Sumika is Phlegmatic — Laidback and generous Nice Girl.
  • Kanoko is Melancholic — Introverted and obsessive Shrinking Violet.
  • Mai is Eclectic — Cheerful and sociable yet also a reliable manager, making her the most balanced of the five.
• Hired for Their Looks: Mai hires girls based on their looks, since the whole theme of the café is girls playing students of a high-class academy. Hime in particular doesn't know anything about being a waitress and needs others to clean up after her because she didn't receive formal training after Mai basically blackmailed her into working for her.

Hime Shiraki

Hime Shiraki (Shirasagi)

Voiced by: Yui Ogura (JP), Susana Moreno (LA)

"I have to be loved... by everyone! Especially people just like that onee-san."

An incredibly cute girl who makes full use of her charm to endear herself to others.

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• 10-Minute Retirement: At the end of Volume 6, she announces she's quitting the salon to distance herself from Mitsuki after the latter's Love Confession. It lasts until Mitsuki talks her out it by saying she's willing to accept Hime's rejection on Hime's last day at the salon in Volume 8.
• A-Cup Angst: She admits that she's jealous of Mitsuki's breasts, which have grown significantly since elementary school.
• Armor-Piercing Response: When Mitsuki asks her why she decided to quit the recital.
  Mitsuki: You just quit... because you wanted to, right...?
  Hime: I did it for you!
• Beautiful Dreamer: Kanoko loves to watch Hime as she sleeps, even taking pictures of her adorable sleeping face.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She's a talented liar who puts up the façade of a cute girl in order to be liked. She isn't necessarily a bad person, but she's not the person she presents herself as.
• Blatant Lies: In Volume 8, she claims that she has always hated Mitsuki, as part of her Break Her Heart to Save Her plan. No one believes her.
• Break Her Heart to Save Her: In Volume 8, in an attempt to cut ties with Mitsuki to prevent herself from hurting her any further, Hime acts colder than usual, claiming that her desire not to hurt Mitsuki was a lie and that she doesn't care about her at all. Sumika immediately notices that she's lying and calls her out on it, while Mitsuki doesn't believe Hime for a minute.
• Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: She can't help but stare at the naked bodies of Kanoko and Sumika in the bath, but she feels rather uncomfortable being around a naked Mitsuki because she thinks it's wrong to look at a "friend" with lustful eyes.
• Chaste Hero: Hime has not fallen in love with any of her admirers, just like she doesn't view anyone besides Kanoko or Mitsuki as her friends. She doesn't understand romantic love at all and this causes her to miss the obvious hints of Mitsuki and Kanoko being in love with her. Even after Mitsuki confesses to her, Hime can't bring herself to fall in love.
• Childhood Friend Romance: With Mitsuki. They were close friends in elementary school and after solving previous misunderstandings, the two manage to rekindle their friendship as teenagers. Then it gets complicated because Mitsuki is very much in love with Hime and Hime has a very strong attraction to Mitsuki despite not wanting to fall in love with anyone.
• Class Princess: Invoked. At school, Hime plays up her facade of a cute, sweet and innocent girl to make herself popular with her classmates.
• Closet Key: To Mitsuki. When she was a child, Mitsuki waited for the day she would meet the "prince" of her dreams, but she ended up falling in love with Hime instead.
• Comically Missing the Point: She wants to become Lady Blume so that everyone will like her. As the others point out, Lady Blume is elected through popular vote, so most people would already have to like her first.
• Consummate Liar: Hime is extremely good at lying, albeit partly because of the reputation she built up. She manages to convince her middle school classmates that Kanoko didn't destroy the sign, even after Kanoko had already confessed.
• Covert Pervert: Her "sweet and innocent girl" facade completely falls apart in the public bathhouse, where she keeps ogling at other girls' bodies and has no remind herself that she isn't supposed to be into that sort of thing.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Hime's only real talent is being able to play the part of a cutesy girl to win over other people. While this works well on her classmates, it's less than ideal for her character at the salon.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: Because she's still a beginner, she can be careless and make mistakes at her job. The customers actually find her clumsiness endearing, especially with Mitsuki playing the Onee-sama who cleans up after her.
• Desperately Craves Affection: Hime is nearly obsessed with making people pamper her and tell her they love her. Since Mitsuki is the only one who claims to hate her, Hime gets desperate to make Mitsuki say she likes her and becomes afraid whenever she thinks Mitsuki only pretends to like her because of their job at the salon.
• The Ditz: Sometimes gives off this impression as part of her façade. While it is Obfuscating Stupidity, she noticeably struggles with some aspects of her job.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: After her friendship with Mitsuki breaks up, resulting in the rest of the class seeing her as a liar and ostracizing her, Hime concludes that this is all the more reason why she has to keep up the façade and prevent anyone from seeing her true self, not realizing that this happened because she didn't tell Mitsuki why she quit the recital.
• Even the Girls Want Her: Hime is rather popular among her classmates, both male and female.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Starting from chapter 42, Hime starts braiding some of her hair for her Shirasagi persona, as a symbol of her fully embracing her job at the salon and wanting to be closer to her new friends, mainly Mitsuki.
• Extreme Doormat: Her crippling need to be loved by everyone causes her to act as somewhat of a pushover, as she can't bring herself to say no to people normally or admit to anything that might upset them. This was one of the problems that led to her fall out with Mitsuki in elementary school, since Hime didn't have the guts to admit she only wanted to hang out with Mitsuki and the other girls she pretended to be friends with spread rumors about Mitsuki bullying her. Instead of standing up for herself and Mitsuki, Hime just quit the piano and let her friendship with Mitsuki fall apart when the latter felt betrayed because of it.
• The Fake Cutie: She intentionally puts on the façade of a cute, sweet girl in order to be liked by everyone. While she's not a bad person, she still isn't as sweet and innocent as she likes to pretend.
• Fatal Flaw: Has a few to say the least.
  • Need for approval. Her desire to be liked by everyone leads to quite a few problems. At her job in the cafe, it often leads to her making impulsive actions to get attention that lead to her embarrassing herself, the others having to clean up after her, and Mitsuki scolding her. In addition, her and Mitsuki's falling out occurred in part because of the lies and fibs that she told so that everyone would like her as opposed to just being content to have a friend she can be honest with in Mitsuki.
  • Dishonesty. While her lies worked out well for her grade school before her falling out with Mitsuki and thereafter, the series certainly shows why honesty is the best policy; her tendency towards lying and putting on an act only serves to make people mistrust her if they ever see through her, such as with Mitsuki back in grade school, and whenever her lies backfire, she has a hard time learning from her mistakes because of how over reliant she's become on them.
  • She has a bad habit of taking drastic steps for others' sake unilaterally without consulting them. The first time is when she quits the recital without telling Mitsuki about her decision. The second time is when she decides to resign from the salon to spare Mitsuki's feelings, even though no one wants her to do that.
• First-Name Basis: Virtually everyone calls her "Hime" or "Hime-chan."
• First-Person Smartass: Her thoughts are a lot snarkier and more cynical than her dialogue is, at least while she's keeping up her façade.
• Foil:
  • To Mitsuki. She lies all the time, whether to stay popular with her peers or to help someone she cares about, whereas Mitsuki is brutally honest. Hime sees her façade as a means to an end, while Mitsuki's façade is the person she wants to be. Ironically, Hime's façade doesn't work well for her at the salon, whereas Mitsuki proves quite talented at playing the kind senpai.
  • To Yoko. Hime adopts a cute facade while Yoko uses her mature charms. Hime is not above gathering a retinue of admirers with shallow bonds with her but turns down anyone who does develop feelings for her as gently as possible. Yoko, however, treats Nene as a plaything and represents what Hime would likely be if she had no conscience whatsoever.
• Freudian Slip: She admires Mitsuki's voluptuous figure and tells her that she wants to have Mitsuki's body. When Mitsuki gets embarrassed by the comment, Hime takes it back and says she meant she wanted her body to be more mature like Mitsuki's.
• Gold Digger: Her goal is to become the Trophy Wife of a billionaire.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Downplayed. Hime has long blonde hair, but she isn't anywhere near as purehearted and innocent as she pretends to be. Despite her attention-seeking behavior, Hime is still a good person at heart.
• Hime Cut: She has blunt bangs, cheek-length sidelocks, and hip-length hair. Her cuteness and nice behavior makes Mitsuki compare her to a princess.
• Hypocrisy Nod: She chides Sumika for staring at Kanoko in the bath, prompting Sumika to apologize, but mentally admits that she's been staring at both Sumika and Kanoko the entire time.
• Hypocrite: She told Kanoko to stop acting like an Extreme Doormat towards her classmates and stand up for herself when they asked for favors that she hated doing for them. However, the problems that caused her failed friendship with Mitsuki started because Hime couldn't simply admit she disliked her other "friends" and she kept her people-pleaser behavior around them when she really wanted to only hang out with Mitsuki.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Deconstructed. Hime wants to get along with everyone and be friends with all her classmates, even those she dislikes. Back in elementary school, this caused several problems for herself and Mitsuki, since Hime only really liked Mitsuki, but still pretended to like the classmates who openly hated Mitsuki and got mad when Hime refused to hang out with them because she had piano practice with Mitsuki. Eventually, they spread bad rumors about Mitsuki. Hime quit the piano because she thought that would make the rumors stop and she could keep being friends with everyone, but this only made everything worse because Mitsuki felt so angry that she revealed to her other "friends" that she disliked them, leaving Hime friendless and ostracized until graduation.
• I Lied: Does this from time to time.
  • Shortly after meeting Mitsuki, Hime asks to play on the piano, and does so surprisingly well. Mitsuki remarks that Hime told her classmates that she couldn't play. Hime replies with "Oh! so you were listening. That was a lie," before explaining that she kept it secret so that her classmates wouldn't try to have Hime replace Mitsuki for the piano accompaniment.
  • Some time later, Hime offers to hang out with her classmates, but instead ditches them to spend time with Mitsuki. While in the room with Mitsuki, Hime then calls her classmates to let them know that has to look after the house, then tells Mitsuki that she lied to her classmates earlier.
  • In Volume 8, as Hime is about to leave the salon for good, Hime says that her earlier claim that she was quitting that she didn't want to hurt Mitsuki was a lie, and that in reality, she hates Mitsuki. In reality, this statement is a lie.
• Inconvenient Attraction: Hime doesn't want to fall in love because her life goal is becoming the Trophy Wife of a rich man. After she meets Mitsuki again, however, she gradually becomes romantically and sexually attracted to her, which becomes much harder to ignore after Mitsuki kisses her and she can't stop herself from reacting strongly to seeing Mitsuki naked at the public bath, making it impossible for her to not get extremely flustered around Mitsuki.
• Innocently Insensitive: Hime is normally very careful about not doing anything that might upset others, but her obliviousness to romantic feelings directed at her causes her to do things that hurt Mitsuki and Kanoko without even realizing it. For example, Hime gives Mitsuki and Kanoko matching accessories because she thinks of them as her two most important friends, but she doesn't understand why they don't like it when both of them get special treatment from Hime. She also doesn't realize how badly she makes Kanoko feel when she reveals Mitsuki kissed her.
• Just Friends: Hime thinks of Mitsuki and Kanoko as her only true friends to whom she can show her true self, but she's oblivious to the fact that both of them have romantic feelings for her. Kanoko gave up on pursuing a romantic relationship with Hime long ago because she fears being rejected, but Mitsuki eventually admits her love for Hime and even kisses her. Hime spends a while distressed because her rejecting Mitsuki is painful for both of them, but both Hime and Mitsuki decide to stay close friends and schwestern at the salon.
• The Klutz: She's fairly clumsy and prone to making mistakes at the salon, much to Mitsuki's displeasure.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Subverted in her relationship with Kanoko. Before Kanoko met Hime, she was extremely lonely and depressed due to her lack of social skills alienating her from her classmates. When Hime became her Only Friend, being together with Hime became the only joy in Kanoko's life. However, Kanoko can't be happy unless Hime stays the exact way she is, so Hime's "strange" behavior towards Mitsuki becomes a source of severe anxiety, jealousy and suppressed anger for Kanoko. The problem is made worse by the fact that Hime has no idea of what Kanoko is going through due to her obliviousness to Kanoko's romantic feelings. From then on, it becomes Sumika's job to help keep Kanoko stable.
• The Load: She's the least competent employee in Liebe by a fair margin and is quite slow at learning her job. When Nene gets sick, Sumika has to take over in the kitchen, and Mitsuki quickly becomes overextended while covering for Hime.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Kanoko avoids discussing with Hime anything related to romantic love, as she wants to keep her unrequited love for Hime a secret from her. After Sumika starts a conflict with Kanoko because she disapproves of Kanoko being in love with a coworker, Hime can tell something happened between them that made Kanoko feel hurt, but she has no idea what the problem is about because neither will tell her. Hime only starts to realize how much she doesn't know about Kanoko when Sumika admits Kanoko asked her to start dating, only for Sumika to break up the relationship for Kanoko's sake.
• Never My Fault: She initially believes that Mitsuki betrayed her and blames her for having outed her as a liar in front of her classmates, which led to Hime being ostracized. She doesn't seem to realize how her lying had left Mitsuki unable to believe her. Also, the circumstance that caused her to become ostracized would have been avoided if she had just been honest about only wanting to hang out with Mitsuki instead of clinging to her pathological need to get along with everyone, including those she hates.
• New Transfer Student: She transferred to Mitsuki's school in fifth grade.
• Nice Girl: Despite her self-serving reasons for putting up a façade to get everyone to love her, Hime is a remarkably caring person, at least when it comes to those she cares about. Despite being bitter about Mitsuki's betrayal, Hime is determined to quash the rumors of Mitsuki bullying her, and also helps Kanoko avoid getting into trouble even before they became friends.
• Non-Uniform Uniform: She wears a V-neck sweater instead of a blazer, as well as a sweater vest in the summer.
• Not Quite the Right Thing: She quits the recital in order to protect Mitsuki from being labeled the "bad guy." Unfortunately, her attempts to keep up her façade end up eroding Mitsuki's trust in her.
• Obfuscating Stupidity:
  • Hime tends to act a bit more ditzy than usual when putting on a facade.
  • Subverted when Mitsuki initially thinks Hime is playing dumb when she doesn't recognize her, but Hime really doesn't recognize Mitsuki.
• Oblivious to Love: She's clueless to the fact that Mitsuki and Kanoko are in love with her because they keep hiding their true feelings from her. She becomes aware of Mitsuki's feelings when the latter kisses her.
• Oh, Crap!: She panics after she accidentally lets slip information about her façade with Mitsuki listening, and is on edge for some time afterward.
• Older Than They Look: Her shortness and cuteness make her look a lot younger than she actually is. She even points out that her appearance hasn't changed much since middle school.
• Only Friend: On both sides of this. Not only was she Mitsuki's only friend in elementary school, but Mitsuki was the only friend Hime seemed to actually be close to. In high school, Kanoko appears to be Hime's only real friend.
• Opposites Attract: With Mitsuki. Hime is petite, blonde and a masterful liar who cares a lot about saving face, while Mitsuki is tall, dark-haired and always tells the truth even if it hurts.
• Pragmatic Pansexuality: Hime is very obviously attracted to women (although she doesn't want to admit it yet) and easily rejects all guys who confess to her. She says her dream is marrying a rich man, but she makes clear she will only do it for his money.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: In chapter 50, Hime calls Kanoko out after she realizes Kanoko has been lying about feeling sick to avoid hanging out with Mitsuki. However, Hime misinterprets Kanoko's dislike for Mitsuki as homophobia when the thing that really bothers Kanoko is that Hime is still getting along with Mitsuki despite the fact that Mitsuki is in love with her and even kissed her, since she's terribly afraid that Hime might be changing because of Mitsuki's confession.
• Seamless Spontaneous Lie: In middle school, Hime protects Kanoko from getting in trouble for destroying the sign by claiming that the two were together at the time, and Kanoko's confession was Taking the Heat to ensure that the class doesn't suspect one another.
• Shower Shy: She doesn't like to go to the public bath because she says it's hard to keep up her facade when she's naked with other girls and she feels way too exposed.
• Shrinking Violet: She acts shy in order to endear herself to others. That said, it doesn't work very well for her in her job at the salon.
• Significant Birthdate: Her birthday is February 14th, aka Valentine's Day. Fitting and ironic, since Hime wants to be loved by everyone yet refuses to ever have a real romantic relationship with anyone.
• Slave to PR: Preserving her good reputation is very important to Hime. When Mitsuki outed her as a liar in elementary school, her classmates ostracized until graduation and she won't stand for that happening ever again. When she accidentally reveals her façade to "Ayanokouji" (unaware that she's Mitsuki at the time), she nearly has a panic attack as she keeps being paranoid about her reputation getting ruined again.
• So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Her and Mitsuki's falling out occurred in part due to her popularity. She made friends with some girls in her class before bonding with Mitsuki over their love of piano and decided to do a joint piece for a music recital, but Mitsuki was naturally clingy with her Only Friend and monopolised her for piano practice. This ended up making the other girls jealous and led to them accusing Mitsuki of bullying Hime to a teacher, prompting her to quit the recital to make them stop and spare Mitsuki. This did not have the desired effect.
• Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond: Hime is unable to accept it whenever people dislike her, believing that such people are a threat to her, and can potentially ruin her façade. When she first meets, or rather reunites with Mitsuki, she seems to assume that her antagonism with her might be just annoyance with having to look out for a new worker, with it never occurring to her that she might dislike her. And even after she learns as such, she often ignores Kanoko's advice to just let it go since she's already popular at school, and goes to great lengths to get Mitsuki to like her.
• Stepford Smiler: Hime is used to using fake smiles to hide her true feelings. Even when she's feeling worried or depressed, she keeps smiling while denying that anything is wrong.
• Tragic Mistake: Her decision to quit the piano accompaniment to spare Mitsuki from ending up as "the bad guy." Since her previous lies had already eroded her credibility, and she didn't tell Mitsuki, Mitsuki loses trust in her.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Mitsuki. Hime and Mitsuki have an obvious attraction to each other. What's keeping them from getting together despite Mitsuki confessing is that Hime has convinced herself that she can't fall in love with anyone because she only ever wanted to marry for money.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: She casually mentions to Kanoko that Mitsuki kissed her. This causes Kanoko to become terribly emotionally unstable and since Sumika isn't willing to talk about Hime, Kanoko ends up seeking help from Yoko.
• Was It All a Lie?: When Mitsuki refuses to accept her birthday gift, Hime is distraught and asks Mitsuki if she was lying when she told her she loved her at the salon.
• What the Hell, Hero?: In Chapter 50, she calls out Kanoko on her avoiding Mitsuki. Although, Hime chides Kanoko for doing that because she thinks Kanoko dislikes Mitsuki for being a lesbian when Kanoko is really jealous and fearful that Hime is changing because of staying close to Mitsuki despite rejecting the latter's confession.
• With Friends Like These...: The rest of Hime's friends from elementary school don't come off as very good people or friends. They don't hesitate to badmouth or spread rumors about Mitsuki, and after Mitsuki exposes Hime as a liar, they're quick to abandon Hime.

Mitsuki Yano

Mitsuki Yano (Ayanokouji)

Voiced by: Sumire Uesaka (JP), Mariana Ortiz (LA)

"Somewhere out there is a person I could never forget. A lying, irresponsible suck-up... The girl who betrayed me. The girl who abandoned me in the cruelest possible way. But sometimes, when I think of her, I wonder if I was the one who was cruel. If maybe... I was the one who betrayed her. If only I had another chance."

A beautiful and graceful girl who plays the role of a kind senpai at the salon. She very quickly comes to dislike Hime, since unbeknownst to Hime, the two are old friends who parted on bad terms.

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• All of the Other Reindeer: It's indicated that few people like her because of her overly serious personality.
• All Take and No Give: Kanoko accuses Mitsuki of being a Taker to Hime, claiming that Mitsuki causes Hime trouble and does nothing for her in return. Kanoko is hardly unbiased, but Mitsuki has no rebuttal.
• Armor-Piercing Response: After Hime admits that she doesn't want to keep hurting Mitsuki, Mitsuki replies, "Then there's no reason for you to lie! It's because I've been hurt that I want to be with you! So just be honest with me about your feelings!" Hime is left at a loss for words.
• Becoming the Mask: While she plays a "kind senpai" at the salon, Sumika believes that is also part of her.
  "Mitsuki Ayanokouji is my kinder self. She would never hurt the people close to her. She would never ruin an important bond. I want to become that kinder self. For the sake of the day when I once again find something precious to me."
• Berserk Button: Early on in the series, being called "Onee-sama" causes Mitsuki to lose her temper, although she can usually hide how angry she is while in front of the staff. This is because it reminds her that Hime didn't actually remember her name.
• Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Kanoko's Betty. Mitsuki is the beautiful, alluring and buxom Tsundere opposing the shy and unassuming Kanoko for Hime's affection. Funnily enough, Mitsuki is also Hime's childhood friend, which is usually a Betty trait.
• Big Fancy House: In the past, she lived at a mansion that left Hime impressed with how big and luxurious it was. Hime is confused when she discovers Mitsuki's family currently lives in a condominium.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Played with. She acts like the "kind senpai" to Hime, but in reality, can't stand her. However, her "kind senpai" is a character she plays, whereas out of character, Mitsuki makes no secret of her dislike for Hime.
• Blunt "Yes": When Hime tries to claim that she doesn't care for Mitsuki, Mitsuki refuses to believe it.
  Hime: Do you still not get it?
  Mitsuki: I do not.
• Brutal Honesty: Mitsuki isn't one to mince words, so if someone does something wrong, she'll tell them.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: Mitsuki has the largest bust of all the workers at Café Liebe. When she puts on the summer uniform for the café, the clothes are too tight for her chest and it accentuates how big her breasts are. All the customers can't help to stare at Mitsuki's impressive rack and Hime admits she would like to have Mitsuki's beautiful figure for herself.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Mitsuki has had a crush on Hime since they were in elementary school.
• Coming Of Age Queer Romance: A younger example than most, at least as far as realizing she's gay. When she was a young child, she always dreamed about finding her prince, only to realize after hanging out with Hime that what she really wanted was a princess, making Hime her Closet Key. While they have not ended up in a relationship yet, it's definitely heading in that direction after they meet again in high school and she gives Hime a Love Confession.
• D-Cup Distress: Downplayed. Mitsuki doesn't mind her breast size, but she's very distressed when her coworkers force her to hide her large breasts under a scarf because the form-fitting summer uniform causes the customers to stare at her too much. She feels better when Hime tells her to not feel ashamed of her body.
• Dislikes the New Guy: She's the only one who takes an instant dislike to Hime, although in a variation on this trope, she's actually known Hime longer than anyone else at the salon has. By comparison, she gets along reasonably well with Mai, Sumika and Kanoko (the latter of whom joins after Hime), even if she isn't exactly friends with them.
• Dogged Nice Girl: Hime sadly turns down Mitsuki's confession, but Mitsuki convinces her to stay friends because having Hime avoid her hurts much more. She's still very open about her love for Hime, but won't force Hime to do anything that makes her uncomfortable and lets her be the one to decide where they stand with each other.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: This trope is part of the point she's trying to make in her speech to Hime in Volume 8. She doesn't want Hime to worry about hurting her by rejecting her Love Confession, since she chose to do it while being willing to accept the consequences.
• Duet Bonding: Mitsuki first bonded with Hime when they practiced a piano duet to play in the recital at elementary school. Mitsuki was heartbroken when she heard Hime quit the piano without even telling her the reason.
• Elegant Classical Musician: She plays the piano.
• Establishing Character Moment: Immediately after her shift ends, she harshly tells Hime not to act as though she knows her, showing how different Mitsuki Ayanokouji and Mitsuki Yano are.
• Fatal Flaw: Social Ineptitude. Her lack of social skills and inability to read the room result in Mitsuki alienating herself from her peers by being brutally honest and tactless. She makes a Love Confession without considering how Hime will take it, leading to Hime quitting the salon in Volume 7.
• Foil:
  • To Hime. As mentioned above, Mitsuki is brutally honest, in contrast to Hime being a liar.
  • To Kanoko. Both of them are loners and outcasts who become Hime's Only Friend, but while Mitsuki was disliked for being standoffish, people tended to walk all over Kanoko. The two contrast in their relations with Hime in the present day, since while Mitsuki wanted to start over with Hime despite having parted on bad terms, Kanoko fears losing the friendship she has with Hime. Kanoko has feelings for Hime but refuses to confess lest she lose her friendship with Hime, while Mitsuki confesses and drives a wedge between herself and Hime.
• Forceful Kiss: In Chapter 29, she steals Hime's first kiss when she confesses to her.
• Green-Eyed Monster: She's jealous of Kanoko's closeness to Hime and admits that it's painful for her to see Kanoko have a closer bond with Hime than she does.
• Hidden Buxom: Her Liebe summer uniform shows off her large chest, something that the rest of the cast takes notice of.
• Hidden Depths: For all of her hostility toward Hime early on in the series, she actually deeply regrets how things turned out and wants another chance.
• I Got Bigger: Back in elementary school, Mitsuki was only a few inches taller than Hime. When they meet again as teenagers, Mitsuki towers over Hime, to the point Hime didn't even recognize her.
• Inelegant Blubbering: Breaks down crying this way at the end of Volume 7, after realizing that Hime is going to quit Liebe because of Mitsuki's confession to her and Hime says there's no going back to the way things used to be now that Mitsuki has confessed.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl: She initially doesn't understand why it's a problem that the salon's customers keep staring at her large chest because the summer uniform is too tight for her. She also casually undresses in front of Hime several times and stays oblivious to why Hime gets so flustered about it.
• Innocently Insensitive: Her biggest struggle with social interaction is that she can't read the mood nor predict how people will react to her Brutal Honesty and she ends up making them upset unintentionally.
• Interclass Friendship: In the past, Hime was impressed with Mitsuki's wealthy family and really liked to go play at her mansion. Although, Hime made clear she liked being Mitsuki's friend for Mitsuki.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Mitsuki eventually confesses to Hime, but Hime doesn't believe she can ever fall in love with anyone and rejects her. Hime thinks she should end her friendship with Mitsuki because she knows her rejection hurt her, but Mitsuki realizes Hime is also hurting herself by trying to pushing away. Mitsuki promises to keep being Hime's friend without trying to push for a romantic relationship because she's happy with just being close to Hime even if she never returns her love.
• Jerkass Has a Point: As harsh as it is to say that Hime shouldn't get close to her friends, or lie to make them like her, she's ultimately proven right when they turn on Hime when they found out she didn't like them. Afterwards, Hime admits that she "shouldn't have relied on lies," and seems less bothered by her "friends" abandoning her than she is about Mitsuki exposing her out of spite.
• Jerkass Realization: After learning that Hime was lying for her sake, she realizes how cruel her decision to betray her best friend was.
• Jerkass to One: While she's at least civil to most people, Hime is the only target of her hostility, due to Mitsuki's bitterness over the incident that ended their friendship and Hime's failure to recognize her.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Apart from her harsh treatment of Hime, Mitsuki is not the friendliest person, but she nevertheless is a good person at heart.
• Last-Name Basis: Most of the cast calls her by her last name.
• Lonely Rich Kid: While she was in elementary school, her family had a Big Fancy House, employed a maid, and owned a piano, but Mitsuki is a social outcast without any friends.
• Marshmallow Hell: Because of their height difference, Mitsuki often hugs Hime to her boobs, much to Hime's embarrassment.
• Master Actor: Despite being as blunt as she was in her childhood, Mitsuki is a natural fit to her role in the salon. Even outside of the salon, she convinces one of her friends that she wasn't hurt by the latter deliberately excluding her. That said, she claims that Hime is better at certain kinds of acting than she is.
• Mutual Envy: Kanoko is very jealous of Mitsuki for being Hime's schwester at the salon and the way she can influence change in Hime without realizing it. Meanwhile, Mitsuki is jealous of Kanoko because she thinks Hime sees Kanoko as a more reliable friend.
• My Greatest Second Chance: Mitsuki always regretted letting her friendship with Hime fall apart when they were in elementary school, because she couldn't control her jealousy over Hime's other friends and outed her as a liar when she didn't understand why Hime didn't want to play the piano with her anymore. When she meets Hime again as teenagers and Hime proves that she never really wanted to stop being her friend, Mitsuki wants to do right by Hime this time and not let their relationship get ruined ever again.
• New Friend Envy: She's jealous of Kanoko for befriending Hime while Mitsuki and Hime were estranged.
• Nice Character, Mean Actor: While she plays the "kind senpai" to Hime's character, she can't stand her. That said, she seems to get along at least reasonably well with Mai and Sumika, even if neither of them are her friends. It turns out to be a bit more complicated than this, especially when Sumika claims that the Mitsuki seen in the salon is actually the real Mitsuki.
• Non-Uniform Uniform: When they wear their summer uniforms in the cafe, Mitsuki has a vest added to hers to downplay her rather large chest and keep the image of the cafe as wholesome as possible.
• No Social Skills: Somewhat downplayed, but Mitsuki has trouble reading between the lines in social interactions, and as a result of that, tends to unwittingly offend people.
• Not Quite the Right Thing: Mitsuki making a Love Confession to Hime drives a wedge between them just when they were starting to make progress bridging the gap.
• Not So Similar: Mitsuki realizes that she and Kanoko aren't so different as two people who value their close friendships with Hime, but believes that Kanoko inherently understands Hime in a way Mitsuki cannot.
• Oblivious to Hatred: Downplayed. She doesn't think she and Kanoko are friends but doesn't seem to be aware that Kanoko is jealous of her closeness to Hime. Kanoko only shows overt hostility toward Mitsuki after Mitsuki makes a Love Confession to Hime.
• One Head Taller: As a high schooler, she's noticeably taller than Hime.
• Onee-sama: She fulfills this role at the salon, playing the part of a kind and graceful senpai.
• Only Friend: Back in elementary school, Hime was the only one who wanted anything to do with her, and whom Mitsuki was willing to spend time with. In high school, Mitsuki has a few friends who she trusts enough to confide in, but isn't nearly as close to them as she is to Hime.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Mitsuki is usually someone who's quick to take others to task for slacking off. As such, when Hime ditches her "friends" to spend time with Mitsuki instead, Mitsuki's so touched that she doesn't mind that they spend the entire afternoon chatting instead of practicing for the recital.
• Opposites Attract: With Hime. Mitsuki is tall, dark-haired and always tells the truth even if it hurts, while Hime is petite, blonde and a masterful liar who cares a lot about saving face.
• Out of Focus:
  • For much of Volumes 3 and 4, Mitsuki fades into the background. She still has a significant presence as the runner-up in the Blume election, but doesn't play as active of a role as in the first two volumes, since the focus is mainly on Sumika and Kanoko.
  • In the arc that begins in Volume 9, Mitsuki once again falls out of the limelight as the arc focuses on Kanoko and Sumika. Her existence and relationship with Hime influence Kanoko's actions, but she's largely uninvolved in the events.
• Riches to Rags: Implied. Mitsuki lived in a Big Fancy House in elementary school but moved to a small apartment by high school. Hime notices the change but doesn't ask about it.
• Sailor Fuku: She wears one outside the salon, showing that she goes to a different high school from Hime, Kanoko and Sumika, who wear button-down shirts, plaid skirts and neckties, with blazers in the winter.
• She Is All Grown Up: Hime's amazed at how much Mitsuki has grown in height and breast size since elementary school.
• Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond: Before Hime realizes who Mitsuki is, Mitsuki's hostility disturbs her, since Hime can't stand to have anyone dislike her.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: She comes off as overly serious and aloof at first glance, but inwardly, she suffers from self-loathing over her ruining her most precious relationship.
• Stupid Sexy Friend: Hime keeps trying to convince herself that she only likes Mitsuki as a friend, but it gets harder as she can't help to recognize Mitsuki is very beautiful and she gets aroused when she sees Mitsuki's naked body.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She's cold and aloof at first glance, but actually cares for people once she opens up to them.
• Took a Level in Kindness: After realizing that she was the one who betrayed Hime, Mitsuki strives to become a better person, a process that is somewhat hampered by her difficulties socializing.
• Tragic Mistake: In a fit of anger, Mitsuki exposes Hime as a liar in front of the latter's friends, ending their friendship and causing Hime to become a pariah.
• Tsundere: Mitsuki settles into this personality once she stops hating Hime, often becoming very embarrassed and defensive when Hime shows affection for her or asks if she cares about Hime.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Hime. Mitsuki is in love with Hime and Hime shows obvious signs of feeling attracted to Mitsuki as well. However, Hime has never wanted a romatic relationship with anyone and after Mitsuki confesses and gets turned down, Mitsuki isn't going to pressure Hime to return her affections.
• Will Not Tell a Lie: She's a very honest person who only ever speaks the truth, but she often doesn't say enough and people end up misunderstanding her.
• Younger than She Looks: Mitsuki is the same age as Hime, but she had a massive growth spurt in her teenage years. Mai couldn't believe it when she learned Mitsuki is younger than her and Sumika despite towering over them.

Mai Koshiba

Mai Koshiba (Mikoshiba)

Voiced by: Yukari Tamura (JP), Lupita Leal (LA)

"I want to create a concept cafe based around a prestigious girls' school. Do you know what 'Class S' is?"

The founder and manager of the salon. After Hime accidentally injures Mai, she ends up having to work at the salon.

---

• Animal Motifs: Rabbits. A rabbit head emblem is often used for her, such as when she's speaking from off-panel, and her hair ribbon resembles a rabbit's ears.
• Benevolent Boss: While she often plays fast and loose with the truth, such as pretending that her arm recovering from the injury Hime caused took months longer than it actually did, she generally treats her employees fairly and is well-respected by her staff.
• Blah, Blah, Blah: In "Asking Questions is Shinooka-san's job!" Mai's explanation of the schwester system devolves into this, showing that Haruko stopped following the conversation.
• Hidden Depths: She's childlike, bubbly and completely obsessed with shojo novels, but she's a surprisingly hardworking, responsible and efficient worker at the salon.
• Manipulative Bastard: She's talented at manipulation, particularly in strong-arming Hime into working at the salon. It turns out that she actually was able to take off the cast at the end of April, and only kept up the deception to guilt-trip Hime into sticking around until she becomes good enough to enjoy herself enough to want to stay.
• Ms. Exposition: She's the one who explains the various traditions of the salon. That said, Hime doesn't find her exposition very easy to follow, and complains about her "confusing exposition crap."
• Not Quite the Right Thing: She was right that she didn't have any specific grounds to ban Yoko from the salon if the person in question hadn't violated any rules, but this allows the individual to make contact with Kanoko, with terrible consequences.
• Obfuscating Disability: She keeps her cast on even after her arm heals in order to manipulate Hime into continuing to work at the salon.
• Oh, Crap!: A subdued example. When she sees her former employee Yoko come into the salon, she stops in the middle of her standard greeting and stares slack-jawed for a moment.
• Older Than They Look: She looks like an elementary schooler, but she's older than Nene, who was 18 at the time of the salon's founding two years prior to the start of the story. Because of that, she plays a first-year in the salon, and Mitsuki is surprised to learn that she's the manager of the salon.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: While a lot calmer about Yoko's return than Sumika is, the normally unflappable Mai is temporarily rendered speechless upon seeing Yoko again, and is noticeably more serious in the immediate aftermath, clearly showing that she's troubled by this development.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: She has a knack for making somewhat passive-aggressive remarks.
  "Oh, it's just you, Hime-chan. I almost panicked and hid my cast... even though you're the reason I'm wearing it."
• Rose-Haired Sweetie: She's a cheerful and friendly girl with pink hair.
• Sailor Fuku: She wears one in the Whole Episode Flashback in Chapter 47 despite having been an adult at the time.
• Signature Headgear: Mai wears a distinctive rabbit ear-shaped hair bow. The bow's distinct shape is often used as a funny visual shorthand to identify her speech-bubbles when she's not on screen in the manga.
• Token Adult: She was the only adult at the time of Liebe's founding and is older than most of the newcomers.
• Vague Age: Her age is obscured with a bunny head symbol. She tells a lesbian bartender to be quiet when the latter points out that she's older than Nene(who was 18 at the time of Liebe's founding), but it's never clear how much older she is.

Sumika Chibana

Sumika Chibana (Tachibana)

Voiced by: Makoto Koichi (JP), Cecilia Guerrero (LA)

^{Click here to see her school uniform} 

"Here in the salon, we all get along in harmony. It's the friendly relationship we share that makes this place And yet... that friendly relationship is easily broken."

Mai's friend and a worker at the salon. She's a third-year at Hime and the others' school.

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• Above the Influence: In chapter 60, a distressed Kanoko tries to offer Sumika to have sex with her to make up for lying to her and letting Yoko manipulate her. Sumika turns down the offer because she would never have sex with Kanoko when she's only trying to do it because she feels guilty and Yoko told her that's what Sumika wanted.
• Ambiguously Bi: She only ever shows interest in Kanoko and is pretty aromantic in general, although for a long time she insists she is straight. Yoko and Nene claim she is really a lesbian and just doesn't realize it yet, but when Nene mentions it to her, Sumika gets angry and asks why she has to choose. Ultimately, even Sumika herself isn't clear on what exactly her orientation is.
• Armored Closet Gay: Sumika identifies as heterosexual and believes that romance has no place in her all-female workplace, but claims that her dislike of Yoko is not due to the latter being a lesbian. It isn't until she falls for Kanoko that she realizes that she can fall in love with other women.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Asks one of Kanoko after learning about her secret crush on Hime, as well as not telling Hime about her plan to support Sumika.
  "Can you really continue to love someone while always hiding things from them?"
• Armor-Piercing Response: After Kanoko insists that she's Hime's Only Friend, Sumika gives a reply that reduces Kanoko to tears.
  "Kanoko-chan. I know what it means to worry about a friend, but if you try to monopolize her like that, Hime-chan's just going to end up hating you."
• Bespectacled Cutie: Invoked. At the café, Sumika plays the role of a demure and book-loving girl with glasses. Outside the café, however, she's a Gyaru Girl and doesn't even need to wear real glasses.
• Bookworm: Her character is an avid reader, but the real Sumika has no interest in books whatsoever.
• Brutal Honesty: After hearing Kanoko say that she wants to abolish the schwestern system to make Hime go back to normal, Sumika bluntly tells Kanoko to "Give up on Hime-chan."
• The Confidant: Kanoko can't talk about her love woes with Hime because she can't let Hime know about her true feelings for her. Instead, she confides in Sumika to talk about all her concerns about Hime that she can't talk with Hime herself.
• Cool Big Sis: She serves as the role of a dependable and caring older sister figure to Kanoko after learning of her crush on Hime, eventually becoming Kanoko's schwester.
• Dislikes the New Guy: As one of the founding members of the salon, she takes an almost immediate dislike to Yoko, who was the first employee to be hired besides Sumika, Mai and Nene.
• Excellent Judge of Character: From the moment Yoko arrived at Café Liebe, Sumika was the only one who instantly knew she wasn't a nice person and she tried to keep Nene away from Yoko out of concern. From Nene's perspective, Sumika comes off as needlessly hostile to Yoko, but Sumika is absolutely right that Yoko is manipulative and untrustworthy. Nene ignores Sumika's advice not to involve herself with Yoko and only ends up suffering pain as a result.
• First-Name Basis: Outside of the salon, most people call her by her first name.
• Foil: To Kanoko. Kanoko is fine with her love for Hime being unrequited, but Sumika believes there's no point to having a love that will never be reciprocated. Kanoko is possessive of Hime and becomes jealous of Mitsuki for her closeness to Hime, while Sumika is willing to step aside and let her beloved get together with someone else as long as said relationship is healthy... at least before she starts realizing her feelings for Kanoko.
• Green-Eyed Epiphany: She starts to realize she has feelings for Kanoko when she becomes jealous that Kanoko only gives her most genuine smiles for Hime.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Played with. She hates Yoko with a passion after the latter broke up her schwestership with Saionji, but that's less due to jealousy and more due to Yoko being a callous and emotionally manipulative person who broke Nene's heart. Her being jealous of Hime is less evident than Kanoko and Mitsuki's jealousy of each other, and she seems convinced that she's only discouraging Kanoko's fixation on Hime because it's unhealthy, but then she realizes that Kanoko only gives her most genuine smiles to Hime, and not for her, and is overwhelmed with envy.
• Gyaru Girl: She comes off this way when at school, since she's fashionable and doesn't wear the uniform properly.
• Hate at First Sight: Sumika quickly developed a negative first impression of Yoko, and started avoiding her whenever possible, such as delegating the responsibility of training her to Nene.
• Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: Sumika repeatedly insists that she is straight. Eventually, these protests become more and more feeble until it just comes across as weak self-denial until eventually even she herself can no longer deny that she's not.
• Hypocrite Has a Point: Her insistence that Kanoko get along with Mitsuki comes off as hypocritical in retrospect, since Sumika had not only avoided Yoko, but was passive-aggressive to her at times, with little apparent provocation at first. However, she's right about how Kanoko's hostility toward Mitsuki is damaging her relationship with Hime.
• Inconvenient Attraction: Sumika hates romance because she thinks it makes people act selfishly and neglect their friends in favor of their lover. When she realizes she's falling for Kanoko, Sumika feels frustrated and disgusted at herself for feeling the jealousy and possessiveness that makes her see love as something ugly.
• Insecure Love Interest: She breaks up with Kanoko mainly because the latter still has feelings for Hime, but Sumika is also genuinely convinced that she can't support Kanoko as her girlfriend and will only be a burden to her if they stay together. This shows how much she undervalues herself and her role as Kanoko's new Living Emotional Crutch.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy:
  • A variant when it comes to schwestership. She was willing to accept the possibility that Yoko might be a better schwester to Nene than Sumika had been, until Yoko cruelly abandoned Nene. Although, Yoko believes Sumika did have romantic feelings for Nene, but suppressed them because she convinced herself that supporting her romance with someone else was what she was ought to do as a good friend.
  • She later realizes that she loves Kanoko, who loves Hime. Despite this, she doesn't care that Kanoko has feelings for Hime even after they start dating as long as she can see her smile. After she finds out Kanoko only asked her to be her girlfriend because of a setup planned by Yoko, Sumika gently breaks up with Kanoko and encourages her to confess her love to Hime because she knows Kanoko will continue suffering as long as she keeps suppressing her jealousy over Mitsuki's closeness to Hime. However, Kanoko doesn't want to break up since she has started to fall in love with Sumika as well, and she ultimately convinces Sumika to get back together.
• Jerkass Realization: She's horrified to realize how Secretly Selfish she is when Kanoko asks her if she invited her over just to have Kanoko to herself.
• Jerkass to One: She's far more hostile to Yoko than she is to anyone else, to the point of delegating the task of giving Yoko on-the-job training to Nene because Sumika couldn't stand to be around Yoko.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She comes off as a bit pushy, but she's nevertheless a kind person who cares about Nene and Kanoko.
• Living Emotional Crutch: To Kanoko. Sumika becomes her schwester and only confidant with whom she can discuss her long-suppressed feelings for Hime. As Kanoko becomes more anxious and jealous over how Hime and Mitsuki's relationship is evolving, Sumika helps her stay mostly stable and calms her down when her jealousy gets the better of her. However, after developing feelings for Kanoko, Sumika eventually starts getting fed up with hearing Kanoko talk about Hime and refuses to keep giving her emotional support in the matter. As a result, Kanoko becomes emotionally unstable again and ends up becoming prey to Yoko's manipulations. Realizing she shouldn't have left Kanoko to her own devices, Sumika reconciles with her and becomes willing to give her unconditional support again.
• Love Confessor: In Chapter 65, Sumika admits to Hime that she has fallen in love with Kanoko to give Hime an explanation about Kanoko's behavior after their break up without mentioning Kanoko's crush on Hime.
• Non-Uniform Uniform: She wears a cardigan instead of a blazer and a neck ribbon instead of a necktie, as part of her gyaru look.
• No Sympathy: Sumika is rather blunt about her insistence that Kanoko get over her crush on Hime, or at least learn how to tolerate Mitsuki despite being jealous of her.
• Not Quite the Right Thing: Her attempt at I Want My Beloved to Be Happy when Nene breaks up her schwestership with Sumika to be with Yoko only ends in tears when Yoko callously breaks up with Nene.
• Oblivious to Love: She had no idea that Nene used to have a crush on her until she's outright told about it.
• Only Sane Woman: While Sumika has her own flaws, such as her belief that love is selfish, out of the main cast, she's generally the least likely to do something irrational. While she's biased against Goeido, she's also the only one who fully comprehends how untrustworthy Goeido is.
• Precious Photo: After the trip to the hotel that's the model for Liebe Academy, Sumika keeps a photo she took of Kanoko smiling.
• Properly Paranoid: Sumika almost immediately becomes suspicious of Yoko, and is disturbed to realize that she visited the salon and asked for Nene. Sumika is obviously biased against Yoko due to her dislike of her, but she's completely right that Yoko is a dangerous Manipulative Bitch.
• Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: She considers the "Schwestern" partnership to be a very affectionate and intimate friendship between girls, without involving any romantic feelings. Although, this view is greatly influenced by her first Schwester ending their partnership to start one with an actual romantic partner, only for it to end badly when they broke up. When she becomes Schwestern with Kanoko, Sumika tries to convince herself her feelings of love aren't romantic despite how much she likes to show affection for Kanoko, though it's obvious that she's lying to herself and everyone else.
• Psychological Projection: After she discovers Kanoko is in love with Hime, Sumika comes to believe Kanoko is just like Yoko, the one who stole her first schwester Nene; someone who brings romantic drama to the salon and will eventually endanger the friendly dynamics among coworkers. What Sumika doesn't understand is that Kanoko doesn't intend to initiate a romantic relationship with Hime because she knows she'll be rejected and she becomes even more upset and stubborn after Sumika tries to force her to give up on her love for Hime. It's not until Nene tells Sumika that Kanoko is not like Yoko for her to get that the best course of action is lending an ear to Kanoko's suppressed feelings instead of trying to pressure her to get over them.
• Purely Aesthetic Glasses: She wears glasses in the salon to make herself seem like an intellectual.
• Rage Breaking Point: In Chapter 50, Kanoko asks Sumika about how Hime's behaving strangely. Sumika, having insisted they wouldn't talk about Hime anymore, flies into a rage and gives Kanoko a "The Reason You Suck" Speech about her selfish love before walking off.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In Chapter 50, she snaps after reaching her Rage Breaking Point and rants about how selfish love is.
  Sumika: Give it a rest! I hate it when this stuff happens! With Nene-san, and with you... "But I love her"... It's all about what you're feeling... you don't give a damn about anyone else around you! Don't ever speak about Hime-chan in my presence again. I don't want to hear it anymore.
• Sacred First Kiss: Kanoko takes her first kiss in the middle of an emotional breakdown. Kanoko tries to play it off in a desperate attempt to convince herself that Hime and Mitsuki kissing didn't mean anything, but it fails because Sumika tells her the kiss means a lot to her.
• Second Love: Kanoko thought she would never fall in love with anyone but Hime, having resigned herself to a love that was going to be forever unrequited. Later on, she starts confiding in Sumika about her unrequited love and they form a close friendship, eventually resulting in Kanoko and Sumika falling in love with each other.
• Secret-Keeper: She doesn't tell Hime about what she saw on Kanoko's phone, and eventually becomes the first person Kanoko tells about her love for Hime.
• Secretly Selfish: She's horrified to realize that her feelings for Kanoko are romantic in nature (since she views romantic relationships as selfish), and her attempting to discourage Kanoko's fixation on Hime may be as much due to wanting Kanoko for herself as it is about trying to help Kanoko get over what she sees as an unhealthy relationship with Hime.
• Selfless Wish: After winning the Blume election, she decides to make her decree that everyone at the salon get along and make sure no one gets excluded.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: Sumika has no concern at all about getting naked in front of the other girls, despite their objections or discomfort. In one scene, she follows Nene around until she can trick her to look at her. Hime outright calls her "shameless."
• Shipping Torpedo: Concerned about what implications Kanoko's unrequited love for Hime might have for the salon, especially considering that Kanoko is willing to go so far as to ask Sumika to abolish the schwester system to make Hime go back to her old self, Sumika tries to get Kanoko to give up on Hime. She eventually stops actively trying to discourage Kanoko's fixation on Hime, but still wishes Kanoko would get over Hime, as she thinks it'll only be painful for Kanoko to keep pining for an unrequited love for her entire life.
• Silly Rabbit, Romance Is for Kids!: After watching how badly the romance between Yoko and Nene affected the work relationship of everyone at the café, Sumika believes all romance does is ruin her coworkers' friendly bonds and bring needless drama to the workplace.
• The Slacker: She gives off this image while in character, often prompting Mitsuki to chide her for neglecting her duties.
• Transparent Closet: Nene, Yoko, and Kanoko all figure out Sumika is gay from how she behaves, despite her constant denials. A conversation with the former is what leads to her LGBT Awakening, when she returns home to think about it and realizes that she's right.
• Unknowingly in Love: She thinks Kanoko is cute, worries about her and wants to see her smile at her and not only at Hime. She tries to convince herself that her affection for Kanoko is just sisterly love because she's her Schwester, but Nene makes her start to realize that what she actually feels is romantic love.
• Wall Pin of Love: She does this twice to Hime- once in character and once outside of it- near the start of the series. Later on, she does this to Kanoko, once in character and once in an Imagine Spot.
• What the Hell, Hero?: She criticizes Kanoko's request to end the schwester system, saying that she'd jeopardize the salon's continued existence just because she's in love with Hime, and tells Kanoko to give up on Hime.
• Worrying for the Wrong Reason: She has a firm stance on romance having no place in the work place, causing her to get concerned when she discovers Kanoko has unrequited romantic feelings for Hime and she eventually resorts to Blackmail to try and force Kanoko to give up her feelings. Although she's wrong in that Kanoko has no intention of initiating a romantic relationship with Hime, she's not wrong to oppose Kanoko's feelings for Hime; not only is Kanoko's obsession extremely unhealthy, due to Hime effectively being a Living Emotional Crutch to Kanoko and a major cause for overreactions on her end, but the lengths she'll go to try and assert herself as Hime's Only Friend border on Yandereish, such as wanting to abolish the schwestern system simply because she doesn't like seeing Hime and Mitsuki getting along, with no regard on how it affect Hime or the state of the cafe. Nene has to tell Sumika that what Kanoko really needs is someone who helps her cope and potentially get over her unrequited love before she breaks down.

Kanoko Mamiya

Kanoko Mamiya (Amamiya)

Voiced by: Minami Tanaka (JP), Verania Ortiz (LA)

^{Click here to see her school uniform} 

"From that day forth, I was Hime-chan's only friend. Her only special person."

Hime's friend since middle school, who comes to work at the salon.

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• Adaptational Early Appearance: A minor case. She first appears in the second chapter of the manga, but the anime shows her in the first scene in her and Hime's classroom.
• All Take and No Give: She becomes the Taker in her relationship with Sumika. Kanoko needs Sumika to confide in her all her feelings of worry and jealousy over Hime and Mitsuki's relationship. Sumika is fine with being the Giver at first, but developing a crush on Kanoko causes her to become reluctant to keep giving unconditional support to Kanoko without getting anything in return. Following Yoko's advice, Kanoko asks Sumika to become her girlfriend because she thinks that'll be enough for Sumika to become willing to hear her problems again, but she realizes she's still taking from Sumika and only giving her a lie of a relationship in return.
• Armor-Piercing Question: After Sumika notices that Kanoko is uncomfortable about spending time with Hime if Mitsuki is around, then offers to have Kanoko come over, Kanoko asks this of Sumika.
  "Are you saying you did that to get me away from Hime-chan?"
• Armor-Piercing Response: After hearing that Mitsuki has always hated Hime, Kanoko responds as follows.
  "Well then, you don't have to worry about her liking you. She already knows about your facade, so you don't have to keep up the act to try to get her to like you, do you?"
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Hime was the first person to ever approach her and try to understand her, she lied to get her out of trouble with her classmates and became her Only Friend to save her from her loneliness. Ever since, Kanoko's only wish is to be by Hime's side forever, even if Hime won't ever return her romantic affections.
• Bespectacled Cutie: When not working, Kanoko wears a pair of thin, round glasses that make her look extremely cute and denote her socially anxious Shrinking Violet character.
• Betty and Veronica: The Betty to Mitsuki's Veronica. Kanoko is Hime's shy and unassuming friend who contrasts the assertive and well-endowed Tsundere Mitsuki. However, Kanoko has some Veronica traits, such as giving Yandere vibes due to her possessive jealousy of Hime's closeness to Mitsuki.
• Bitch Slap: She slaps Mitsuki when the latter reveals she confessed to Hime and Hime gave her a matching accessory like the one she gave Kanoko, as Kanoko can't stand to hear now she isn't the only one with the status of Hime's "special friend".
• Cannot Spit It Out: Whenever she tries to say that Hime is "cute," she becomes as tongue-tied as she is around other people.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: An interesting case. She doesn't mind her love for Hime remaining unrequited but is fiercely protective of her status as Hime's Only Friend, which is why she's jealous of Mitsuki. When she hears Mitsuki admit she confessed to Hime and shows the gift Hime gave her as proof of their special friendship, Kanoko flips out and hits Mitsuki.
• Closet Key: Ends up being this to Sumika, who only realizes that she can fall in love with other women after meeting Kanoko.
• Cry into Chest: In chapter 20, after hearing Kanoko's secret feelings for Hime, Sumika pulls Kanoko to her chest as she lets Kanoko cry her heart out.
• Dismotivation: Kanoko is very secure in her status as Hime's only close friend and in the idea that Hime won't truly fall in love with anyone else, so when Hime gets increasingly close to Mitsuki and as a result starts undergoing Character Development, she becomes deadset on driving a wedge between them, such as trying to abolish the schwestern system by supporting Sumika in becoming blume, reasoning that it'll make Hime "go back to normal".
• Dogged Nice Girl: Subverted. Kanoko acts as Hime's devoted friend because of her secret crush on her, but she doesn't expect Hime to ever return her romantic affections because Hime has no interest in romance. Instead, Kanoko intends to spend her entire life hiding her true feelings from Hime and watch her get married to a rich man while serving as Hime's maid, since she claims to not care whether Hime marries someone else as long as she doesn't really love them.
• Doublethink: After Hime tells her that Mitsuki kissed her and she doesn't look bothered by it, Kanoko tries to convince herself that physical intimacy means nothing. Despite what she tells herself, Kanoko can't hide her fear and abhorrence when Yoko threatens to force herself on her, which leads Yoko to point out that Kanoko does understand the importance of physical intimacy in love, but she desperately keeps trying to deny it because otherwise she'll be forced to admit that Hime didn't mind being kissed because she has romantic feelings for Mitsuki.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: When she follows Hime to the cafe and the latter plays dumb when serving her, it doesn't seem to occur to Kanoko that might be compromising for a classmate to have seen her working at a Yuri-themed café, which results in her having a minor breakdown and begging Hime to come to her senses.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Her eyes go blank whenever she fears Hime and Mitsuki are getting along too well.
• Easily Forgiven: After she finds out Hime and Mitsuki kissed, Kanoko goes to Yoko to ask her how to make Sumika willing to hear her romantic problems again. Following Yoko's advice, Kanoko asks Sumika to be her girlfriend for purely personal gain. After Yoko tricks her and threatens to assault her, Kanoko vents by forcing a kiss on Sumika and almost pressuring her to have sex with her. Despite this and Kanoko admitting her true reasons for dating her, Sumika immediately forgives her completely, as she loves Kanoko too much and only wants to help her become happy. Afterwards, Kanoko wonders if she deserves to be forgiven that easily when she has done nothing but take advantage of Sumika.
• Eating Lunch Alone: She ate lunch on the roof alone before meeting Hime.
• Extreme Doormat: Before she met Hime, Kanoko was a social recluse who hated being dragged into her classmates' activities, but she couldn't say no when they asked her to participate. After they became friends, Kanoko became dependent on Hime to stand up for her when other people make her uncomfortable. Her passive behavior is also a source of distress after Hime and Mitsuki reconcile, as she doesn't have the assertiveness to actively try to stop them from getting closer and can only watch Hime possibly falling for someone else. She finally breaks down when Yoko forces her to face that her passivity and lack of desires caused Mitsuki to get way ahead of her in relationship development with Hime.
• Fan Disservice: In Chapter 58, Yoko threatens to rape Kanoko and forcibly strips her down to her underwear, refusing to stop until Kanoko finally admits that kissing is important for love and Hime does feel something special about Mitsuki kissing her.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Obsession. For much of the story, Hime is the only person she values, and she makes no effort to get close to others. Her refusal to risk her status as Hime's only real friend causes her to not confess to Hime, lest Hime see her like everyone else.
  • Envy. Her jealousy of Mitsuki's closeness with Hime causes her to seek to separate the two, and when Hime notices Kanoko's hostility toward Mitsuki, her relationship with Kanoko is damaged.
• Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: As time goes on, she becomes more and more jealous of Mitsuki, to the point of being unwilling to spend time with Hime if Mitsuki is there. Her character profile in the manga notes that she's "Often perturbed by Mitsuki's very existence."
• Foil:
  • To Hime. Kanoko is also a people pleaser who can't say no to others or express her true feelings because she fears they'll get upset with her, but Hime has much better social skills and knows how to weasel her way out of situations that make her uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Kanoko has a hard time just talking to people, and her repressed anger and jealousy issues cause her to bottle everything up until she gets violent.
  • To Mitsuki. Like her, she was a social outcast who became Hime's Only Friend, but unlike Mitsuki, Kanoko is shy and reserved, as opposed to blunt and outspoken. While Mitsuki gradually repairs her relationship with Hime over the course of the second volume, Kanoko feels as though Hime's slipping away from her. Kanoko has romantic feelings for Hime but refuses to confess lest she lose her status as Hime's Only Friend, while Mitsuki decides to confess, thereby undoing virtually all of her hard-earned progress in repairing her relationship with Hime. However, Mitsuki does manage to reconcile with Hime and they agree to stay close despite Hime's rejection of Mitsuki's romantic feelings. Seeing this, Kanoko ends up wondering if she maybe made a mistake when she gave up on confessing to Hime out of fear of Hime coming to see her as "not special".
  • To Sumika. Kanoko is fine with her love for Hime being unrequited, but Sumika believes there's no point to having a love that will never be reciprocated. Kanoko is possessive of Hime and becomes jealous of Mitsuki for her closeness to Hime, while Sumika is willing to step aside and let her beloved get together with someone else as long as said relationship is healthy... at least before she starts realizing her feelings for Kanoko.
  • To Nene. While Kanoko has only ever had an unrequited love for Hime, Nene had been in love with at least three people prior to her ill-fated relationship with Yoko- a schoolmate, her coworker at the convenience store and Sumika. While Kanoko has an intense jealousy for Mitsuki, Nene doesn't seem to be jealous of her romantic rivals, possibly because she can blame Incompatible Orientation for her rejection.
• Forceful Kiss: In chapter 60, she forces a kiss on Sumika during their sleepover, in a desperate attempt to keep convincing herself that kissing means nothing after Yoko forced her to admit the kiss Mitsuki took from Hime was very important for the two girls.
• Gave Up Too Soon: In middle school, she sent a love letter for Hime, only chicken out when she was about to properly confess in person because Hime said she would reject anyone who confessed to her. Later on, Kanoko sees Mitsuki, who does confess to Hime, persist to keep Hime close to her despite Hime rejecting her. As she sees that Hime might be falling in love with Mitsuki, Kanoko is pained to realize she gave up on pursuing a romance with Hime too easily.
• Girlish Pigtails: Back in middle school, she tied her hair in two low pigtails.
• The Glasses Gotta Go: At work, she takes off her glasses and pulls up her hair to make herself more attractive for the customers (and Hime).
• Got Volunteered: While in middle school, she was chosen to make the sign for their teacher's wedding video, because she hasn't been assigned any tasks yet, and she isn't the type to say no.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Because Kanoko's in love with Hime, she's jealous of Hime and Mitsuki's bond as schwestern, and ultimately hopes that the system will be dissolved.
• Hey, You!: She rarely refers to Mitsuki by name when talking about her, evidently out of contempt, although she will occasionally refer to her as "Yano-san".
• Hidden Depths: Beneath Kanoko's crippling shyness is a girl who's in love with Hime, and, at least in the past, had disdain for people who acted like "good girls."
• Hopeless Suitor: She's in love with Hime, a feeling that Hime does not seem to know about or reciprocate. Surprisingly enough, Kanoko is fine with it, as long as she remains Hime's only "special" person.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Despite Sumika telling Kanoko about Yoko, Kanoko, while a bit guarded around Yoko when the latter visits the salon, decides Yoko may not be so bad.
• Hypocrite:
  • When Sumika tries Blackmailing her into dropping her romantic feelings for Hime, Kanoko is quick to accuse her of being someone who interferes before storming off. This is despite their argument kickstarting because of her attempts of interfering with Hime and Mitsuki's relationship and reconciliation out of envy.
  • She accuses Mitsuki of having an All Take and No Give relationship with Hime, even though the same can be said of her relationship with Sumika.
• I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship: Kanoko has had a crush on Hime since middle school, but Hime has never expressed interest in romance whatsoever. She became afraid that confessing her feelings to Hime would only ruin their friendship, so she gave up on becoming Hime's "special someone" in the romantic sense and comforted herself with being Hime's "special friend".
• I Just Want to Be Loved: In the past, Kanoko was completely isolated and she deeply yearned for someone to give her love and attention. When Hime befriended her, Kanoko become dependent on Hime to make her feel loved, but she gave up on seeking a romantic relationship because Hime has no interest in having one. Deep down, all Kanoko wants is to feel she's special to Hime and she takes it very badly when she sees Hime might be developing romantic feelings for Mitsuki, as she's terrified that she'll stop being special to Hime and Mitsuki will become the most important person to her.
• Jealous Romantic Witness: Whenever Hime and Mitsuki have an intimate moment for their schwestern act at the salon, Kanoko has to be there to watch them. She eventually becomes so jealous that she wants to have the schwestern act abolished just so she doesn't have to see Hime being close to Mitsuki.
• Jerkass Has a Point: She's hostile to Mitsuki out of jealousy toward her closeness with Hime, but she's not wrong when she says that Mitsuki should have considered how Hime would respond to her Love Confession. Mitsuki even admits as much herself.
• Jerkass to One: She holds a special contempt for Mitsuki, largely out of jealousy, and ends up slapping her during one conversation in Volume 7.
• Love Confessor: In chapter 20, Kanoko finally admits her secret love for Hime to Sumika.
• Love Epiphany: At first, Kanoko only asked Sumika to be her girlfriend because Yoko told her to. After Kanoko admits her real reasons, Sumika decides they should break up because both deserve better than a Fake Relationship. This leads to Kanoko realizing that she wants Sumika to still be her girlfriend, having fallen in love with her for real.
• Loving a Shadow: Played With. Kanoko is one of the few people who know Hime's true personality behind her "perfect angel" facade, but she idolizes Hime and insists she never needs to change. She settled for being Hime's best friend instead of her girlfriend because Hime claimed she would never fall in love with anyone, so she freaks out when she sees Hime has been acting "weird" because of Mitsuki, not being able to fathom the mere possibility that Hime can fall in love after all.
• Meido: She fantasizes about being Hime's maid after the latter gets a rich husband, wearing a French maid style uniform. When Sumika points out that Hime would be married in that scenario, Kanoko replies that she's fine with that, since there won't be any romance involved.
• New Friend Envy: She's jealous of Mitsuki getting closer with Hime, since Kanoko was Hime's Only Friend at the time Hime reunited with Mitsuki.
• No Social Skills: Kanoko is so terrible at social interaction that she can barely speak to people other than Hime and later, Sumika.
• Not So Similar: As the Foil entry points out, Mitsuki and Kanoko are social outcasts who are in love with Hime, but have little in common apart from that. In an anime-exclusive scene, Mitsuki politely greets Kanoko outside of the salon, only for Kanoko to bitterly muse to herself that they have nothing in common.
• Only Friend: Not only was Kanoko Hime's only friend since Mitsuki's friendship with Hime ended, but Hime is also Kanoko's only friend, at least until Kanoko befriends Sumika in Volume 4.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: While there has long been friction between her and Mitsuki, in Volume 9, it gets to the point at which Kanoko refuses to spend time with Hime knowing that Mitsuki will be there.
• Personal Effects Reveal: Her smartphone has many pictures of Hime on it, proof of her crush on Hime.
• Pet the Dog:
  • In chapter 34, despite still hating that Mitsuki confessed her love to Hime, Kanoko asks Mitsuki to go back to being Hime's special friend and apologizes to hitting her before, since she can tell Hime would be even more hurt if she keeps avoiding Mitsuki out of fear of hurting her when she rejects her.
  • In chapter 63, she finally feels guilty for taking advantage of Sumika's kindness until that point and makes the effort to repay her by lending an ear and reassuring her that she definitely isn't worse than Yoko for not noticing Nene's true feelings and unwittingly breaking her heart.
• Psychological Projection:
  • Back in middle school, Kanoko claimed she hated all of her classmates for pretending to be "good kids" for appearances, but she was actually the one who acted like an Extreme Doormat and did what her classmates asked of her to be "good" when she really hated it.
  • After she hears Mitsuki confessed to Hime, Kanoko demands her to take back her confession and accept that Hime is ought to reject her because confessing to Hime makes her "just like everyone else" while Kanoko is the only one who is still special for choosing to not confess to Hime. Turns out Kanoko did plan to confess to Hime once, but Hime dismissed her anonymous love letter and clearly stated she would reject the sender in a heartbeat. Kanoko then became afraid that Hime wouldn't think anything special of her anymore if she properly confessed, so she destroyed her own love letter and chose to pretend the whole thing never happened so Hime would keep treating her as special. However, she realizes Hime still cherishes and wants Mitsuki even after rejecting her confession, which forces Kanoko to wonder if she really needed to take back her confession to stay close to Hime.
• Rage Breaking Point: Back in middle school, her classmates asked her to make a poster prop for a video they were doing to celebrate their teacher's marriage. Kanoko hated it, but she still did what they asked of her. However, the day before the video shooting, Kanoko let out her pent-up anger and destroyed the poster.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: She gives a harsh, but accurate one to Mitsuki in chapter 38 when Mitsuki is hesitant to stop Hime from quitting Café Liebe:
  Kanoko: So you really weren't special... All you ever do is cause her trouble... You confessed to her without even thinking about it... And now that she rejected you, you're running... Hime-chan helped you out... But you've done nothing in return. You're the same as everyone else!!
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Despite knowing about Sumika's bad blood with Yoko, Kanoko ignores Sumika's warnings and betrays her trust by seeking advice from Yoko and follows her instructions to date Sumika to make the latter overcome her dislike for romance. Still thinking things aren't going well, Kanoko cancels her date with Sumika and goes with Yoko to a hotel, convincing herself it won't matter as long as Sumika doesn't find out. Then it turns out this was a setup from Yoko to make Sumika think Kanoko was assaulted and Yoko takes the opportunity to sexually harass Kanoko until she admits that she is upset about Hime and Mitsuki kissing.
• Romantic Fake–Real Turn: Kanoko asks Sumika out, having been influenced by Yoko. Turns out both Kanoko and Yoko want Sumika to get over her opposition to romance, even though Sumika knows Kanoko is still in love with Hime. After Kanoko admits to Sumika her real reasons for having asked her to date, Sumika is convinced that Kanoko will never love her and gently asks her to break up so Kanoko can face her real feelings for Hime. However, this causes Kanoko to realize she has really fallen in love with Sumika for always loving and supporting her, and she asks her to become a couple again, for real this time.
• Sacred First Kiss: Mitsuki takes Hime's first kiss on impulse when she decides to be honest about her love. Ironically, Kanoko is the one who makes a bigger deal out of it than either Hime or Mitsuki, as she can't fathom that they can be normal friends after that and desperately tries to cope by deluding herself into thinking kissing must mean nothing, as she can't accept that Hime and Mitsuki still can be so close if the kiss meant something to them. In the middle of an emotional breakdown, she forces a kiss on Sumika (and even offers her to have sex) to convince herself that it won't mean anything to either of them, but it fails because the kiss is important to Sumika.
• Satellite Character: Deconstructed. Kanoko's entire life is built around Hime, she obsessively clings on to her position as Hime's only true friend, and her single-minded goal is to be by Hime's side forever. This is recognized as not a good thing; Hime insists Kanoko needs to make more friends and Sumika also doesn't believe it's healthy for Kanoko to solely define herself as Hime's friend as she keeps hopelessly pining for her. As she realizes that she's no longer the person who is most "special" to Hime because of how strongly Hime feels about Mitsuki, her mental and emotional state suffer terribly.
• Secret-Keeper: She's the first person since Mitsuki to be aware that Hime's putting on a façade.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: She's normally plain-looking, so she takes off her glasses and pulls up her hair to make herself look cuter at the café. Although, she really does it because she wants Hime to call her cute.
• Shower of Angst: In chapter 59, Kanoko cries as she takes a bath after Yoko nearly forces herself on her.
• Shrinking Violet: She's so shy she apparently forgets how to talk when Hime isn't around.
• Shy Blue-Haired Girl: She's an incredibly shy girl with blue hair.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Same-sex example. Kanoko eventually develops feelings for Sumika, who is a very kindhearted, compassionate, and selfless girl always watching out for Kanoko's well-being.
• Sitting on the Roof: She ate lunch here before meeting Hime, and afterward, the two of them ate lunch there together. The fact that it's against the rules is acknowledged, since Kanoko worried that Hime would report her; the two weren't friends back then.
• Stalker with a Crush: Her smartphone's gallery is full of pictures of Hime, most of which were taken without Hime noticing. Kanoko's stalking is what leads her to find out about Hime's job at Café Liebe, since she followed Hime to know where she was going without her after school.
• Subordinate Excuse: She wants to serve as Hime's maid after she marries into money so they can stay close, since Kanoko knows Hime won't fall for anyone else.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In the early series, she's relatively tolerant of Mitsuki, although she discourages Hime from trying to get closer to her(mainly due to Mitsuki's hostility toward Hime) but as Mitsuki and Hime grow closer, Kanoko becomes more hostile to Mitsuki, jealous and emotionally unstable.
• Unknown Rival: She sees Mitsuki as a threat to her place as Hime's only "special person", but Mitsuki is oblivious to her jealousy because she doesn't know that Kanoko is also in love with Hime.
• Unrequited Love Lasts Forever: Kanoko believes a romantic relationship with Hime is impossible because Hime's dream is marrying into money. Kanoko still refuses to give up her feelings for Hime and swore to never fall in love with anyone else, even planning to become Hime's maid and forever stay by her side platonically after Hime gets married to a rich man.
• What the Hell, Hero?: She's furious with Mitsuki over Mitsuki's Love Confession to Hime to the point of slapping her, since Hime was apparently troubled enough by her confession to the point of quitting Liebe.
• When She Smiles: She can only smile genuinely when she's with Hime. Sumika thinks Kanoko's smile looks cute, but would also like for one of those smiles to be directed at her instead of only at Hime.
• X Must Not Win: She votes for Sumika even knowing that Sumika has no intention of abolishing the schwester system(and in fact initially wants to make schwester partnerships permanent), simply because she doesn't want Mitsuki to win.
• Yandere: Downplayed. Kanoko isn't murderous, but she's pathologically dependent on Hime and gets possessive whenever she thinks someone else might try to become closer to Hime than she is.
• You Remind Me of X: Hime tells Kanoko that she reminds her of Mitsuki, as relative outcasts who see through her façade.

Kitchen Staff

Nene Nishidera

Nene Nishidera (Saionji)

Voiced by: Asami Seto (JP), Marysol Cervantes (LA)

^{Click here to see her as "Saionji"} 

"The first time I liked a girl was in the first year of middle school. Instead of thinking 'why' or 'this can't be', I just thought 'so, I'm a lesbian' and accepted it."

Sumika's friend and a cook for the salon.

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• Adaptational Early Appearance: In the anime, Nene first appears in the first episode even though she doesn't play a significant role until the second arc.
• All There in the Manual: Her surname is only revealed in the Volume 7 omake featuring the main characters.
• Am I Just a Toy to You?: When she meets Yoko again, Nene tries to confront her about whether she was ever serious about their relationship or she was just in it for fun. After a one-night stand, Nene asks Yoko to be serious about loving her if they get back together, but then Yoko brings up Sumika and how she wants to see her reaction to them being a couple again. Nene then confirms that Yoko won't ever see her as anything more than a means to mess with Sumika emotionally. Afterwards, she refuses to go back to Yoko when the latter offers her to seek her if she wants comfort after being rejected by Sumika.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Asks a few of Sumika in Volume 9.
  Nene: Sumika, you really are in love with Amamiya-san, aren't you?
  Sumika: What? Come again? Do you mean romantically? No way. I'm just worried about her as her big sister.
  Nene: You're always fixated on Amamiya-san and she's all you ever talk about. All you ever worry about. You'd rather... she was in love with you instead of Shirasagi-san, right?
  Sumika: That's not it! I know it's gonna end so poorly for Kanoko-chan that I just... the words slipped out.
  Nene: But what if it did work out? What if Amamiya-san and Shirasagi-san started dating? Would you be able to support that?
• Chekhov's Gunman: Nene's first introduced in Volume 3, and the following volume reveals that she had her heart broken by Yoko
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Even after everything that happened to her, she says she doesn't need Sumika "micromanaging" her, since "Crying because you've been left behind is just another part of love."
• Expository Hairstyle Change: She has long hair in the flashbacks to the time the salon was started, but short hair in the present day. It's possible that she cut her hair short in order to work in the kitchen or as an Important Haircut after her breakup with Yoko.
• Foil: To Kanoko. While Kanoko has only ever had an unrequited love for Hime, Nene had been in love with at least three people prior to her ill-fated relationship with Yoko- a schoolmate, her coworker at the convenience store and Sumika. While Kanoko has an intense jealousy for Mitsuki, Nene doesn't seem to be jealous of her romantic rivals, possibly because she can blame Incompatible Orientation for her rejection.
• Gayngst: Zig-zagged. She's long known that she's a lesbian and has accepted her sexuality, but still finds it painful when the people she like don't return her feelings.
• Incompatible Orientation: She often falls in love with heterosexual girls who don't return her feelings, such as her coworker at her convenience store job. It's played with in Sumika's case, as Sumika is not heterosexual, but Nene and Sumika herself think otherwise.
• It Meant Something to Me: She did originally agree to date Yoko to make Sumika jealous, but she did grow to have some real feelings for Yoko. She's very disappointed when she sees Yoko again and confirms that Yoko has no interest in dating her for any reasons other than sex and making an emotional mess out of Sumika.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: She was in love with Sumika, but knows she handled her relationship with her very badly when she tried to make her jealous with Yoko instead of telling her how she really felt. Now that Sumika has fallen in love with someone else, she only wishes that Sumika's relationship with Kanoko works out in the end.
• Last-Name Basis: She refers to the newcomers to the salons by their assumed surnames.
• Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: Most of the girls she has fallen for have turned out to be straight. Then she dated Yoko, who easily dumped her when she quit the salon. After Yoko comes back, she tries to get back together with her, only to get a harsh reminder of the kind of person Yoko really is and end up regretting it all over again.
• Love Epiphany: In Chapter 47, her irritation over Sumika not understanding her feelings causes her to realize that she actually loves Sumika.
• Love Hurts: Every woman she has ever fallen for hasn't returned her feelings, leaving her alone and anguished. She also got dumped by her first girlfriend and she got so heartbroken about it that she couldn't keep working as a cast member at the salon. To make it worse, she actually was in love with Sumika and messed up their friendship because she wanted to make her jealous with Yoko, which she now regrets immensely.
• "Not So Different" Remark: When Sumika expresses worry over Kanoko's ongoing fixation on Hime, who is all Kanoko ever talks about, Nene remarks that Kanoko is all Sumika ever talks about.
• Odd Name Out: She's the last salon employee to be introduced and the only one whose assumed name doesn't sound anything like her real name.
• Operation: Jealousy: In the past, she used to hook up with Yoko, but the girl she really liked was Sumika. Since Sumika didn't seem interested in her, Nene tried to make her jealous by flirting with Yoko in front of her, even ending her schwestern partnership with Sumika to start one with Yoko. However, it didn't work out like she wanted because Sumika did nothing to interfere with her relationship with Yoko and Yoko ended up dumping her when she quit the salon.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: While Sumika often gets on Nene's nerves for various reasons, the two are quite close and willing to confide in one another.
• Walking Spoiler: The fact that a seemingly innocuous cook is actually a character from Sumika's backstory is a significant twist.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: After hearing Sumika rant about Kanoko's unrequited love for Hime and how she'd never let Kanoko be so sad, Nene lets off an incredulous "You're joking," before sharing that she's realized Sumika is in love with Kanoko.

Haruko Shinooka

Haruko Shinooka

A cook who joins the salon in Volume 9, working alongside Nene.

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• The Ditz: She's a bit slow on the uptake and initially doesn't understand the schwester system.
• Innocently Insensitive: She asks Nene about the schwester system, not knowing that Nene was rather cruelly dumped by her schwester Yoko.

Former Employees

Yoko Gouto (Unmarked spoilers)

Yoko Gouto (Goeido)

Voiced by: Shizuka Itō (JP), Erika Ugalde (LA)

"Wasn't it fun? The more the two of us got along, the more jealous and eccentric Sumika-chan became."

A former member of the salon, who'd been the first to join after the founding trio of Mai, Sumika and Nene. She'd been schwestern with Nene Saionji, which eventually developed into a romantic relationship. When she had to quit, she showed that she cared nothing for Nene.

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• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She puts on a nice façade and avoids doing anything that people could disapprove of. Despite being wary of her, Sumika doesn't learn her true nature until it's too late. When she comes back to the salon, Kanoko is initially fooled by her pleasant nature, but Sumika immediately concludes that Yoko is trying to start trouble and wants Mai to ban her.
• Black Bra and Panties: She's seen wearing black lingerie during her sex scene with Nene and when she threatens to force herself on Kanoko.
• Break Them by Talking:
  • In Chapter 49, she claims that Nene was using Yoko to make Sumika jealous, guilt-tripping Sumika and causing her to have a breakdown.
  • In Chapter 58, Yoko breaks Kanoko by pointing out that she refuses to admit that kissing and sex are important parts of love because doing so would mean having to face that Mitsuki kissing Hime sparked romantic feelings in the latter.
• The Bus Came Back: Returns in Chapter 45.
• Foil: To Hime. Hime adopts a cute façade while Yoko uses her mature charms. Hime is not above gathering a retinue of admirers with shallow bonds with her but turns down anyone who does develop feelings for her as gently as possible. Yoko, however, treats Nene as a plaything and represents what Hime would likely be if she had no conscience whatsoever.
• Gaslighting:
  • During her date with Nene in Chapter 49, Yoko repeatedly takes the opportunity to make Nene feel guilty, such as implying that she's been waiting for Nene to work up the nerve to say what she needs to even though Yoko's been distracting Nene and changing the subject.
  • In Chapter 59, after Nene tells Yoko that she and Sumika have made amends and are now friends again, Yoko tries to convince Nene that she will never be equal to Kanoko in Sumika's eyes and that she will never be satisfied of being just friends. This time Nene has had enough of Yoko and firmly rejects the suggestion.
• Hate Sink: She appears to have no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and is a selfish and callous manipulator.
• Hate at First Sight: She developed an immediate dislike of Sumika upon meeting her, which is why she decided to sabotage her relationships in hopes of inciting a reaction out of her.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Her treatment of Kanoko, especially the borderline sexual assault, is horrid, but she does have a point in that Kanoko keeps trying to delude herself into thinking that things like kisses and sex mean nothing because otherwise she can't cope with the fact that Mitsuki has kissed Hime and Hime didn't dislike it because she does have romantic feelings for Mitsuki. Even after everything Yoko put her through, Kanoko still wants to think a kiss is irrelevant, but even Sumika, who hates Yoko, does agree that Kanoko should acknowledge the importance of physical intimacy.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Yoko plays a stereotypical "bad" girl and likes getting under the skin of people, but Nene falls in love with her regardless due to being the only one who really understands her and thinks that she's really a good person inside. It turns out that Yoko is even worse than how she normally behaves.
• Lascivious Beauty Mark: She has a mole under her left eye, plays The Vamp inside and outside the salon, and seduces girls she's attracted to.
• Love Informant: When Kanoko comes to her for advice for the first time, Yoko informs her that Sumika is in love with her and her jealousy is the reason why she doesn't want to hear her talk about Hime anymore.
• Manipulative Bitch: She's talented at telling others what they want to hear and avoiding being seen as the "bad guy."
  • She takes advantage of Nene's unrequited love for Sumika and is able to charm her into falling in love with her. Years later, she's able to manipulate Nene into going on a "date" with her, despite the fact that Nene simply wanted to ask her whether she was serious about the relationship and uses her words to make it seem as though Nene is the one at fault.
  • Her status as this results in Sumika immediately becoming suspicious of Yoko when Yoko returns to Liebe, but Kanoko wonders if she's not that bad despite Sumika having warned her about Yoko.
• Ms. Fanservice: Yoko has one of the biggest breast sizes in the cast and has been shown in her underwear a few times.
• Never My Fault: She instigated the whole drama that led to Sumika and Nene breaking up their sisterhood by stealing Nene away from Sumika, yet she deflects the blame by pointing out that Nene was the one who agreed to date her just to make Sumika jealous and Sumika let it happen by deciding to not interfere with Nene's romance instead of admitting she wanted to have Nene to herself.
• Persona Non Grata: Subverted. Sumika tries to get Mai to ban Yoko from Liebe, but Mai refuses, saying Yoko hasn't broken any rules. However, Mai subtly expresses to Yoko that she doesn't want her in Liebe a second longer than necessary, "suggesting" that Yoko leave after Kanoko gives her the photo she won.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: She threatens to rape Kanoko, and comes frighteningly close to actually doing it, all to force her to admit that physical intimacy does matter in romance. Sumika gets pissed at Yoko for laying her hands on Kanoko.
• Really Gets Around: She claims she has lots of sex friends, although they haven't actually be shown in the manga itself.
• The Sociopath: She has a superficial charm that attracts others to her, manipulates people for no apparent reason other than pleasure, and has no remorse or guilt over her actions.
• Stocking Filler: She wears a garter belt with stockings.
• Troll: She tells Nene that she enjoys openly flaunting that she's a lesbian to strangers and serving staff just so she can watch them squirm.
• The Vamp: She plays a "wicked woman" in the salon who seduces other girls.
• Walking Spoiler: It's difficult to talk about her without spoiling Nene and Sumika's backstory or the fact that she returns in Volume 9.

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