Yagami Ibuki

Japanese name:	八神 いぶき
Nickname:	Kyokos friend

As a part of his studies, Yusaku was a student-teacher briefly in the high school Ibuki was attending (which was the same school Kyoko attended, where she met Soichiro). Ibuki was at first unimpressed with "that mope" (1st edition of English manga) or "that dork" (2nd edition), even ridiculing one of her classmates for her short-lived crush on Yusaku. But Ibuki developed her own crush after misinterpreting him as a sort of tragic romantic hero. Even after she spends more time around Yusaku (and possibly learns that her first impression was more accurate), her feelings for him persist even after his tenure at her school ends. Ibuki tends to hatch devious plots that put her together with Yusaku, usually putting him into a compromising situation. Yusaku is not interested in her, but is a pushover about it as always, and Ibuki refuses to be denied.

Kyōko at first lets Ibuki play out what Kyoko sees as a simple schoolgirl crush, even acting on occasion to "protect Ibuki from Yusaku," but eventually sides with him when it becomes clear that he is the one that needs protection. After getting to know Ibuki, Kyoko realizes that Ibuki is much more brazen about her feelings than she ever was with Soichiro. But Kyoko is continually frustrated with what she perceives as Yūsaku's unwillingness to assert himself, as with Kozue. Also, she cannot help but feel jealous, but then feels mortified for being jealous of a high school girl.

Ibuki, on the other hand, initially sees Kyoko as a role model for getting married to her own high school teacher, but later comes to recognize "that widow" as a rival for Yusaku's affections and often confronts her, she even pushes Kyoko to admit her love for Yūsaku, and calls her a coward when she refuses to do so.

It can be difficult to determine whether Ibuki is more interested in Yusaku himself or in what she perceives as the tragic romance of their situation. In some ways, Ibuki's affection for Yusaku is similar to Shun's affection for Kyoko -- Ibuki, like Shun, hails from a wealthy, elite family, and seems motivated in part by a romantic notion of rescuing Yusaku from a lower-class life. At the end of the series Ibuki goes to an all girl's college still hanging into the dream that she can be with Yusaku Godai. Ibuki's family name means "eight gods". She was born in 1967.

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