Kushida Kikyo

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Kushida Kikyo (栉田桔梗)
Alias(es)	“Little Angel”; the “angel” of Class D, referring to her public persona 34 174 197
Gender	Female
Affiliation	Class D initially; Class C in later chapters 35 598 657
Occupation/Role	High school student; a central figure in her class’s social network. A second-year student by the educational trip 673 657
First Appearance	Chapter 34, “A Deal with Kushida Kikyo,” in the supplied material 34

Appearance

• Hair: Meticulously styled short hair with bangs 149 197.
• Expression: Her characteristic warm smile curves her eyes into crescents; in private confrontations, that sweetness gives way to openly hostile expressions 149 598.
• Voice: Uses a deliberately sweet tone in public. Her natural voice is lower and less affected 149 174.
• Clothing: Wears a school uniform and a maid outfit for the school festival café; she later visits Kazehara Tetsu with the maid outfit 583 720 721.

Personality

Kushida cultivates the image of a cheerful, considerate girl who wants to be friends with everyone. Approval is more than a pleasant reward for her: she treats popularity as a source of influence. When offered the midterm past papers, she imagines becoming Class D’s irreplaceable center and surpassing Hirata Yosuke’s standing 34 35.

Her private hostility centers on people who know her past. She considers removing those people necessary to preserve her ideal social life, even when doing so means betraying classmates. Horikita Suzune’s knowledge of their middle school history makes her a particular target 149 174 197. Kushida also resents being controlled; although she submits to Kazehara’s blackmail, she initially does so while intending to retaliate 152.

Her attachment to Kazehara eventually complicates that hostility. She demands a relationship beyond coercion, becomes willing to treat Horikita kindly in private, and acknowledges that her feelings for him are genuine. Her concern for her public reputation nevertheless remains strong 506 671 673 722.

Abilities & Skills

Acting and Emotional Control

• Quickly changes her expression, voice, and manner to restore her friendly persona—even immediately after an angry outburst 149.
• Conceals surprise and disgust while listening to Kazehara’s staged confession about Karuizawa Kei 119.
• Maintains a peacemaker’s appearance while supporting a scheme against Horikita 164 165.
• Limit: Her performance cannot conceal a betrayal from someone who has directly witnessed it 149.

Social Networking and Information Gathering

• Follows forum gossip and memorizes the faces and names of nearly every somewhat prominent student in her year 34.
• Uses personal questions to steer conversations and uncover concealed feelings, including Ichinose Honami’s attachment to Kazehara 672.
• Knows about Kazehara’s involvement in Ichinose’s withdrawal from the Student Council presidential election 721.
• Limit: Her habit of constantly accompanying others makes unexplained solitary movements conspicuous, helping Kazehara track her secret activities 150.

Persuasion and Customer Service

• Rallies classmates around the midterm study materials and receives enthusiastic praise for obtaining them 35.
• Identifies café guests’ desire for attention and admiration, using tailored praise to achieve a commanding lead in the maid café’s individual earnings ranking 608.
• Limit: Her popularity does not guarantee authority during a crisis; she fails to resolve major disputes within Class D 50 101.

Skiing

• Can ski and volunteers to help teach others during the Hokkaido educational trip 660.

Equipment / Items

• Midterm past papers: Receives the previous year’s questions and answers from Kazehara before paying the agreed 50,000 Personal Points; distributes them to Class D 35 36.
• Sports Festival entry-list photograph: Sends Ryuen Kakeru the confirmed participant and event arrangements, giving Class C information for targeted attacks 149.
• “Free Ride” card: Surrenders it to Kazehara under blackmail rather than through a voluntary sale 398 425.
• Maid outfit: Used for café work and brought to a later private visit to Kazehara’s room 583 721.
• Printed photographs: Prints three pictures of herself with Kazehara following their café photo session 583.

Relationships

• Kazehara Tetsu — Initially a seller of study materials, later her blackmailer after recording her attempted frame-up. Their coercive relationship develops into a private romantic attachment that Kushida increasingly insists on choosing for herself 35 151 152 506 722.
• Horikita Suzune — Former middle school classmate and principal target of her expulsion schemes. Their private hostility later softens as Kushida tries to change for Kazehara’s sake 174 197 671.
• Ryuen Kakeru — Transactional accomplice against Horikita. Kushida dislikes his taunts, while Ryuen values her information rather than her personal goals 149 195.
• Karuizawa Kei — The supposed recipient of Kazehara’s confession scheme. Kushida later becomes jealous of the preferential treatment Kei receives from him 119 120 398.
• Yagami Takuya — Requests her partnership for a Special Exam. After his disclosure of her route ruins an expulsion plan, she seeks revenge against him 365 446.
• Ichinose Honami — Friendly acquaintance and romantic competitor. Kushida probes her feelings for Kazehara and later points out how his political requests may have hurt her 672 721.
• Sakayanagi Arisu — A desired addition to Kushida’s social network. Sakayanagi’s interest in meeting her is informed by knowledge of her hidden relationship with Kazehara 660.
• Ibuki Mio — Kushida notices and teases her embarrassment over having to work as a maid after losing a bet 598 599.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Midterm Past-Paper Deal

Kazehara selects Kushida as the intermediary most likely to persuade Class D to pool its remaining Personal Points. She accepts his offer partly because bringing back the papers could elevate her standing above Hirata’s. She obtains the file on credit, announces it to the class, and subsequently pays 50,000 points 34 35 36.

She does not know that Kazehara intends to exploit the class’s reliance on memorized answers. When students later argue over rescuing failing classmates, her appeal to solidarity is rejected; a subsequent dispute between Hirata’s and Yukimura Teruhiko’s supporters likewise overwhelms her mediation 36 50 101.

The Confession Pretext

Kazehara claims to like Karuizawa Kei and asks Kushida to help arrange a private confession location. Kushida keeps her accommodating expression despite her internal reaction, but Kazehara uses emotional pressure to secure her assistance 119 120.

Sports Festival Betrayal and Blackmail

Kushida leaks Class D’s confirmed Sports Festival arrangements to Ryuen because she wants Horikita disgraced. Kazehara overhears their meeting and confronts her. She then attempts to frame him for sexual harassment, only to discover that he has recorded their conversation. He uses the recording to demand her obedience 149 150 151 152.

During the festival, Kushida deliberately hinders Horikita in races, worsening an existing injury. She also presents herself as a concerned mediator in Ryuen and Kinoshita’s false injury claim 161 163 164 165. After Kazehara helps overturn that scheme, Kushida angrily confronts him over his interference; he responds by invoking his leverage and punishing her in a storage room 175 177.

Defeat in the Mathematics Bet

Kushida’s arrangement with Ryuen involves exchanging exam information. Kazehara proposes a countermeasure that would make Ryuen replace the mathematics paper supplied to her, removing her prepared-answer advantage 195.

After the exam, Horikita estimates a score of 98, and Kushida acknowledges losing their bet. She agrees not to obstruct Horikita, but initially qualifies that promise as applying only to open interference 196 197.

Island Exam and Revenge on Yagami

Kazehara forces Kushida to hand over her “Free Ride” card. During the same confrontation, her resentment becomes jealousy as she questions why Kei receives better treatment despite Kushida’s claimed usefulness as an information gatherer 398.

Later, Yagami’s disclosure of her route leaves her isolated and ruins an expulsion plan. She asks Kazehara to help make Yagami suffer, prioritizing revenge over a high exam score 446. A later conversation confirms that Kazehara’s intervention left Yagami seriously injured; Kushida rejects his description of it as a favor and tries to silence him when he discusses it publicly 484.

Renegotiating Her Relationship

Before another Special Exam, Kazehara offers to end their coercive arrangement afterward. Kushida refuses a simple separation and instead demands that he reconsider their relationship without coercion. She promises not to cause trouble, and he suggests becoming lovers 506.

Horikita subsequently notices that Kushida votes cooperatively rather than disrupting the exam. Her restraint preserves her favorable public standing, which later contributes to strong subjective-ranking votes for the educational trip 519 657.

School Festival and Educational Trip

At the maid café, Kushida takes photographs with Kazehara and engages in playful flirtation. Her customer-service skills also place her far ahead of the other staff in individual earnings 583 608.

On the Hokkaido trip, she tells Horikita that her unusually kind private behavior is an effort to change “for Tetsu-kun’s sake.” She then draws out Ichinose’s feelings for him and discusses romance with both girls. Although she publicly argues that student relationships can waste time, her private thoughts distinguish rejecting admirers from pursuing Kazehara herself 660 671 672 673.

A Voluntary Private Attachment

Kushida later initiates an evening visit to Kazehara’s room. Their teasing conversation reveals that she wanted to come, and they spend the night together 720 721.

The following morning, she says she does not regret their intimacy and trusts him to keep their relationship private. Before leaving unseen, she declares her debt repaid and suggests that a future visit would be a date rather than repayment 722.

Notable Quotes

“The premise of ‘everyone being good friends’ is... to eliminate everyone who knows about my past.” 197

“Not anymore. For Tetsu-kun’s sake.”
— Explaining why she no longer shows her usual private hostility toward Horikita 671

“I don’t regret it.”
— Answering Kazehara the morning after their night together 722