Matsuri Kazamaki

Matsuri is serious about exorcism, protective toward Suzu, and comparatively carefree about most other aspects of life. He has been trained to respond quickly when supernatural danger appears and rarely hesitates to place himself between Suzu and an ayakashi. Outside missions, however, he can be socially awkward and surprisingly oblivious to the emotional implications of Suzu's behavior.

His hostility toward ayakashi is learned rather than innate. As a child, Matsuri is frightened of spirits until Suzu teaches him that many are harmless. Later, after learning that Suzu is an Ayakashi Medium whose haku attracts increasingly dangerous entities, he swings toward excessive suspicion and begins driving away even spirits they once considered friends.

This protective instinct can become overbearing. Matsuri often assumes that keeping Suzu safe requires making decisions for her and underestimates how seriously she wants to contribute to her own protection. Her growing supernatural competence gradually forces him to accept a more equal partnership.

Matsuri also has difficulty processing his changed body and how other people respond to it. He continues to identify himself as male and expects people who know the truth to treat him accordingly, but ordinary social situations repeatedly remind him that the world now perceives him differently. His discomfort is particularly strong around Suzu because their longstanding romantic attraction becomes more complicated rather than disappearing.

Matsuri is a highly talented exorcist ninja specializing in Wind Jutsu, the traditional art of the Kazamaki clan. His techniques manipulate air currents for movement, offense, defense, and supernatural purification. He combines these abilities with exceptional agility, reflexes, physical conditioning, and conventional ninja tools.

One of his most important weapons is a pinwheel, which functions as an exorcism tool rather than an ordinary toy. Matsuri can use it to separate an ayakashi possessing a human from its host, allowing him to defeat or seal the spirit without injuring the possessed person.

His wind techniques allow him to produce cutting currents, propel himself through the air, redirect incoming attacks, and enhance physical blows. Because many ayakashi are not fully material, Matsuri's training focuses as much on striking supernatural essence as on conventional physical damage.

He also knows sealing arts. During his battle with Shirogane, Matsuri uses a sealing scroll to remove most of the King of Ayakashi's power and imprison it. The technique is powerful enough to reduce Shirogane from an enormous supernatural beast to a comparatively harmless cat-like body.

After Garaku temporarily seals his ordinary techniques, Matsuri develops Inner Wind, a method of generating exorcistic force from within his own body. The technique allows him to strike ayakashi directly and even expel possession from himself, reducing his dependence on external tools and inherited techniques.

Matsuri's later heritage is revealed to connect him to the reincarnated King of Yamato. This identity grants significance to his extraordinary compatibility with supernatural power and becomes important to the final conflicts surrounding Suzu and the ayakashi world.

Matsuri is introduced while exorcising a dangerous spirit near his hometown. His work immediately establishes the difference between his current attitude and Suzu's: he sees potentially predatory ayakashi where she often sees possible friends. Their disagreement is rooted in his knowledge that her Ayakashi Medium haku places her in constant danger.

Shirogane brings that danger to its highest level when he decides to eat Suzu. Matsuri cannot defeat the King of Ayakashi outright, so he seals most of Shirogane's strength inside a scroll. Before losing his power, Shirogane casts a technique that changes Matsuri's biological sex, intending to prevent Matsuri and Suzu from becoming a couple.

Matsuri is subsequently forced to begin high school publicly as a girl. Suzu and members of his family know the truth, but ordinary classmates do not, requiring him to adapt to a social role he never expected. Yayoi Toba and Lucy Tsukioka, Suzu's friends, gradually become his friends as well.

The continuing struggle over Shirogane's sealed power draws Matsuri into battles with increasingly dangerous ayakashi, other exorcist ninja, and supernatural beings whose motives do not fit the simple categories of good and evil. His decision not to exorcise every ayakashi he encounters marks a gradual return to the more open attitude he possessed as a child.

Matsuri later confronts memories and supernatural beings connected to his childhood relationship with Suzu, eventually recognizing how much his obsessive protection had damaged the friendships they once shared with peaceful ayakashi. His development increasingly centers on protecting Suzu without isolating her from the supernatural world she loves.

The revelation that Matsuri is connected to the King of Yamato expands his role beyond that of a talented clan heir. His existence becomes part of the larger supernatural balance surrounding Suzu's rise among the ayakashi and the threats seeking to exploit that power.

Suzu Kanade is Matsuri's childhood friend, principal responsibility as an exorcist, and romantic interest. Suzu Kanade originally helps him overcome his fear of ayakashi, and Matsuri's decision to become an exorcist ninja is heavily influenced by the need to protect her after learning how valuable her haku makes her as prey.

[Suzu Kanade's continued attraction after Matsuri becomes female forces him to reconsider how much of their relationship depends on his original body. Matsuri initially focuses on reversing the transformation, but the emotional relationship between them gradually develops independently of that goal.](#spoiler)

Shirogane begins as Matsuri's enemy and the ayakashi he considers the greatest immediate threat to Suzu. Matsuri seals most of Shirogane's power, while Shirogane retaliates by transforming his body. Their hostility gradually shifts into an unwilling partnership because both repeatedly face enemies that threaten Suzu or the wider ayakashi community.

Seigen Kazamaki is Matsuri's grandfather, mentor, and current head of the Kazamaki clan. Seigen Kazamaki trains Matsuri in exorcist ninja techniques and teaches him the significance of Suzu's Ayakashi Medium status.

Soga Ninokuru is Matsuri's fellow exorcist ninja and rival. Soga Ninokuru initially comes to Hokusai High School intending to kill Shirogane but eventually respects Matsuri's decision to keep him alive. Soga's severe discomfort around women becomes especially awkward because he knows Matsuri was originally male yet still reacts physically to his female form.

Reo Korogi is an exorcist ninja artisan who builds, repairs, and modifies equipment used by Matsuri. Reo Korogi's enthusiasm for machinery makes her an important practical ally whenever conventional ninja equipment is damaged or needs improvement.

Yayoi Toba is one of Suzu's closest friends and gradually becomes Matsuri's classmate and friend. Yayoi Toba's physically affectionate behavior frequently makes Matsuri uncomfortable because she does not initially know his original identity.

Lucy Tsukioka becomes another close school friend. Lucy Tsukioka's obsession with extraterrestrials causes repeated misunderstandings when she encounters actual ayakashi phenomena around Matsuri.

Garaku Utagawa is an ancient ayakashi and follower of Shirogane who initially creates complications for Matsuri but later becomes an important source of supernatural knowledge. [By temporarily removing Matsuri's familiar techniques, Garaku Utagawa indirectly forces him to discover Inner Wind.](#spoiler)

Tanumaro is an ayakashi that Matsuri and Suzu befriended as children. [Matsuri later drove Tanumaro away because of his growing suspicion toward all ayakashi, and their eventual reunion forces Matsuri to confront how far his protectiveness had shifted into prejudice.](#spoiler)