Akari Hyoudou

Akari is diligent, reserved and somewhat clumsy. She can become lost in her own thoughts and does not have the confrontational personality one might expect from the younger sister of such a prominent badminton player.

She is serious about club activities and tries to improve rather than relying on her family name. Her quiet demeanor also makes her attentive to the people around her, even when she is not especially direct about what she is thinking.

Akari develops an admiration for Taiki after watching him practice and learning more about the work behind his improvement. Her interest initially grows from seeing him as an athlete worth respecting rather than simply as her brother's acquaintance.

Akari plays badminton at Eimei, although she is not introduced as a prodigy on the level of her older brother. She trains within the same competitive program as Taiki and the other members of Eimei's club.

Her strongest established characteristic as an athlete is diligence. She continues practicing despite mistakes and awkward moments, giving her a different developmental path from Shouta, whose exceptional ability had already made him a national champion by the time Taiki entered high school.

Being Shouta's sister also means Akari has grown up close to high-level badminton and is familiar with the expectations surrounding serious competition.

Akari enters the story when Taiki begins his second year and Eimei receives a new class of students. She is placed in Class 1-A and joins the badminton club alongside other newcomers, expanding the team just as Taiki himself moves into the role of an upperclassman.

Her introduction also reconnects Taiki's current Eimei life with Shouta, one of the elite players who defined the competitive level Taiki encountered during his first year.

Akari gradually becomes interested in Taiki and is disappointed when she learns that he already has a girlfriend. Her presence adds another perspective on Taiki's changing position at Eimei: he is no longer merely the inexperienced junior chasing stronger players, but someone younger athletes can admire for his own accomplishments and work ethic.

Shouta Hyoudou is Akari's older brother and an accomplished badminton player whose reputation precedes her when she enters Eimei.

Taiki Inomata is Akari's upperclassman in the badminton club. She comes to admire him and develops feelings for him before discovering that he is already in a relationship.

Chinatsu Kano is Taiki's girlfriend, a fact that becomes relevant once Akari realizes the nature of Taiki and Chinatsu's relationship.

Haruto Yusa enters Eimei in the same school year as Akari and, like her, has a close family connection to one of the prefecture's established badminton players.