Honami Ichinose

Appearance
Honami is a young teenage girl, who is considered to be highly attractive by her own classmates and friends (she is even called beautiful by Kiyotaka Ayanokōji in the manga and light novels), with back-length strawberry-blonde hair and blue eyes. Honami was described in the books to have a long, light pinkish-type hair which travels down in length to her waist.

On the other hand, she also possesses an extremely well-endowed figure that is a source of jealousy to Suzune Horikita, and an average height. She is often seen wearing the school's standard uniform, but her clothing of choice varies depending on the context, as when outside of school, she was seen wearing a white frilly shirt and dark blue pants. At the swimming pool, she wore a bikini with her top tied in a ribbon knot. During the survival test, she wore a red tracksuit with a white shirt beneath it.

Personality
If there was one sentence to describe Honami, it would be that she is genuinely kind-hearted, benevolent, and a pacifist to the core who is against using underhanded means and violence. One of her main traits is her unselfish and supportive personality, combined with her excellent social skills and her being naturally people-oriented. Honami is also a charismatic and energetic person, and extends her sweet and benign personality even to those of the lower classes, unlike many other upper-class students. This was seen when she went to great length in trying to stop a possible brawl between three Class C students and one of Class D from breaking out, having a sharp-tongue to criticize others for trying to incite violence. Without badmouthing or mocking the offenders disrespectfully, the most she would do is be judgmental of their rude behavior in a public space, reminding them to be civil and tactful of where they're at. For that reason, she can also be seen as being a strict, upright individual who follows the code of conduct, acting according to whichever kind of environment she is in such as the library area, a quiet place that was supposed to be for reading and studying.

Additionally, her good-natured attitude is also what allowed her to become close friends with the likes of Kikyō Kushida and Kiyotaka Ayanokōji, despite them both being students of Class D which was looked down on by upper classes. Even though she politely rejected the romantic feelings of an admirer who was considered to be a close friend of hers, Honami refrained from using any harsh or hurtful words and still honestly hoped to remain friends with her classmate afterwards. She acts friendly to most of the students whether they're in the same class as her or not without showing bias from her tone of words when conversing with them. As she is popular among the boys and girls from all classes and grade levels, she is a person who has a way with words, pulling and tugging the heartstrings of many like Kiyotaka to feel a bit of emotions towards her without any ill intentions. She is a lively girl who appears brightly talkative to friends and adversaries no matter their affiliation or background. Even when the going gets tough, she stays absolutely calm and composed as long as victory is still within her class's reach. In the light novels, during a girls' talk even with her new friends she made along the way while faced with an exam, Honami could be genuinely viewed by others as an honest, truthful person to a fault without attempting to lie her way out or feign ignorance when being barrage with questions.

What's more, she is a person of principle and conviction who has her own moral values to stand by and follow accordingly as it is a matter of virtue to her. Honami is resolute and steadfast in keeping her word, as after Kiyotaka helped her, she acknowledged that she owed him a favor for his help and while offering him support, the former reminded him of this debt. When she fell in love with somebody for the first time in her life and sought to buy that person a gift, Honami would be in self-denial about her feelings for the latter, telling herself that the gift was her way of conveying gratitude and debt to her savior contrary to what the expression shown on her face is indicating to others. She continued to assist and cooperate with him by gathering evidence to prove Ken Sudō's innocence. Honami even assisted Kiyotaka in rescuing Airi Sakura though she was under no obligation to do so, showing her generosity. This generous nature can be seen further when she was willing to use up some of her own private points to aid in carrying out Class D's strategy secretly made by Kiyotaka in Horikita's name against Kakeru's class to corner Ken's provocateurs. When her classmates had to partner up with an enemy class, she appeared vocal and unyielding about getting everyone to cooperate in overcoming the exam without any intention of giving up until it ended. Additionally, this can be attributed to her outspoken nature of calling others out like Kakeru in the presence of many students for not willing to work with her classmates during an exam where the two classes have to cooperate.

More so, Honami is rather humble and modest to anyone be it her enemy or ally as in spite of her great talents and popular beauty known across school, she is not at all boastful about them but remains levelheaded and speaks respectfully to all her peers, even those in the lower classes. As a class leader who stands up and speaks on behalf of her whole class, that aspect of Honami is what attributes her to being a rational individual who can be reason with logically. She shows signs of being compassionate, caring and worrisome in nature about people even outside her class, apart from her classmates, voicing her meaningless worries for the others' well-being if they were in a dangerous situation. Nonetheless, she prioritizes the safety of her classmates first above all others, which matters to her the most in protecting, with a rare exception if it involves the chances of Kiyotaka being expelled in later volumes. On the other hand, she also appears to have a trusting side, considering the fact that she went as far as asking Kiyotaka, who she had just recently met, if he would pretend to be her boyfriend as a way to help her solve the relationship issue she had with her friend. This trust she has with anyone, like Kiyotaka regardless of their class affiliate, was seen again when she allowed him to borrow the use of her phone when he asked for it.

Meanwhile in the anime, Honami can come off as a bit playful in nature, teasing others to her own amusement as shown when she teasingly mentions of Airi's close relationship and her obvious romantic affections for Kiyotaka. Though it was shown to be all in good fun between the two girls, as after her own friendly relationship with Kiyotaka was mentioned by Kikyō, Honami simply give a happy smile in response about the growing friendship she made with him after the two met and befriended each other. Other than that however, Honami rarely gets annoyed, although when the situation calls for it, she adopts a serious side to herself which was shown when she reprimanded Kakeru Ryūen and students of Class C for their bullying of Ken and they complied without protest. This side of her was seen again when she helped Kiyotaka apprehend a man who was attempting to assault Airi and told the man to be silent after he protested and gave him a look of disgust for his actions. During the Sports Festival, she remains open and helpful to working with unreasonable people like Kakeru if they happen to pair up together, putting aside her feelings for now to achieve victory on an exam for the sake of her class. Honami is strong-willed enough to step in front of two powerful male students fearlessly without batting an eye, ready to make verbal threats like warning the school about them.

Usually, Honami is the type who goes with the flow or the mood whenever she talks with her friends. Yet, for situations that involves herself lacking in knowledge about topics that revolved around romance, confessions and so on, Honami is seemingly oblivious on what to do next and how to answer it while in front of her friends. Let alone that, Honami becomes somewhat shy and needy for advice as she went out of her way to ask for Kiyotaka's assistance involving a friend's confession to her. After getting a love letter from her friend Chihiro Shiranami, she is unsure on how to go about it, thinking of not being honest about her true feelings towards the girl and to lie and pretend that she is with Kiyotaka as his fake girlfriend as the best way to get out of such situation. Honami even admitted to Kiyotaka that she had no idea of what it meant to be a couple with someone or how to turn a person down without hurting them and her friendship. When taking into consideration Miyabi's deal of borrowing points by going out with him, it is revealed that Honami had no experience on love or any romantic relations whatsoever with the opposite gender before and does not know how to confront them properly until she later confesses to Kiyotaka during their second year in school. Her shyness was seen again when Honami hesitated in talking about the growth of her bust size to Suzune Horikita after she asked about her chest development. On the other hand, Honami seems rather secretive about herself and her class, as she was quick to take action in reclaiming her phone back without haste when Kiyotaka noticed the massive number of private points she possessed.

In that sense, she is protective of the class dealings between herself and her fellow classmates as these details are promisingly kept confidential among them. This was seen again as only in the anime that before Honami spoke to Ryūji Kanzaki about twenty million private points, she would make sure to hide her phone from him though she was very vague in her query. Due to this, she appears to understand why others hide their own secrets as shown where she recognized the true intelligence of Kiyotaka and saw that he was someone who shouldn't belong in Class D. Even so, Honami expressed enough consideration for his privacy that she didn't push the issue any further when he didn't seem to like talking about it. That being said, she still maintained a sense of curiosity about him, as seen in a conversation with her homeroom teacher on the cruise. Honami dislikes receiving praises from others like Kiyotaka and Suzune if it doesn't feel warranted or justified due to her own past mistakes. Honami doesn't seem to think very highly of either herself such as when being called a good person, thinking that she is not a wonderful human being as Suzune make her out to be. It was to the point where Honami uncomfortably refuses to look at Suzune in the face anymore in a conversation after getting called that, choosing to avoid locking direct eye contact with her altogether as she doesn't want to be given too much credit by the latter as a goody two shoes. Prior to her romantic feelings for Kiyotaka taking root, she was presumably thought to be overly idealistic and hopeful in achieving a future where all her classmates are saved, won't drop out of school and graduating with them from Class A as a whole, not looking to lose any one of them due to expulsion.

Background
Prior to the plot of her high school life, she had once happily lived a fun, comfortable lifestyle throughout both her elementary school and middle school years. She made plenty of friends, both boys and girls alike. Honami happens to hail from a fatherless family, living with her mom and her little sister who is two years younger than her. Honami's family isn't very well-off as her mother had it hard, working full-time as she alone raised two children all by herself without their father around to help. Ever since elementary school, Honami had made it her plan to get a job of her own after she finished middle school. Sincerely looking to increase her family's low-income and give them happiness, Honami thought that she could be of use to the two by seeking a job where she can work to earn money like her mother. Because it would cost a lot of money to get into high school, Honami's reason in searching for a job was so that she could help out not only herself but also her mother and sister financially as well. In the end, this idea she had in mind couldn't come to pass because her mother was opposed to it. Nonetheless, even without the money, Honami did in fact successfully put in a lot of effort and time to study and developed her skills as hard as possible. Although she found sports rather difficult, Honami does try to put in as much effort into it as she did with her studies. Thanks to that, she was able to make use of the student scholarship system and reach the top of her middle school. As an honors student and a member of the student council in middle school, she was offered a spot at a private high school on a scholarship.

By the time she became a 3rd year in middle school, Honami was even able to gain the title of student council president that she had longed sought after. During the summer of that year, she discovered her mother pushed herself too hard and collapsed while trying to support and raise their livelihood as a family. At some point in time later on, her mother would go through sudden hospitalization, leaving the former unable to buy her younger sister a birthday present. Seeing the anguish and ridicule her sister was showing to their mom for not getting her her first present, Honami figured the only way to restore her smile is that she the elder sister must be the one to do it in her mother's stead. So, after school on the day of her sister's birthday, Honami went to a department store and stole for the very first time a fashionable hair clip which was worth 10,000 yen without getting caught red-handed. Despite feeling guilty for having committed theft, she still went home and presented the hair clip to her sulking little sister which made the latter happy. Even though Honami had told her sister beforehand to keep the present a secret from their mom, she ends up wearing it anyways the next time they went to pay a visit to her in the hospital. Through that visit, her mother learned of the robbery she did in the store and became seriously angry with Honami to the point where she got slapped for it and took away the hair clip from her sister. Although her mother was supposed to stay hospitalized, Honami was forcibly dragged back to the store by the latter to return it. At the same time, Honami would prostrate on her hands and knees while begging for their forgiveness about the crime she had done to them. Whilst the store didn't hand her over to the police, the commotion about the theft she committed still did spread beyond her control. It is currently unclear as to what changes happened to Honami's relationship with her family members or about what it is like between them now that the incident has long been resolved.

Without Kiyotaka's intervention, Honami would have never forgiven herself for what she had done or come to terms with it. Driven by her guilty conscience and laying the blame on herself, she wasted almost half of the 3rd-year of middle school and became a shut-in for about half a year. She never once bothered to consult with anyone about issues that became detrimental to her mental well-being. In other words, Honami being absent from school had badly affected her class attendance for as long as six months. When she learned about Advanced Nurturing High School, Honami thought that it was her chance to think about moving forward at long last and start over again with a blank slate. It was all because of her homeroom teacher from middle school informing her about this high school that she picked this institution to be enrolled in. Swearing an oath to herself, she decided to attend school once again in the hopes that she could bring back the smiles of her mother and her little sister. Though, the shoplifting incident was resolved way back in middle school, it still affected her even when she went on to enter high school where this crime resurfaced as a rumor spread by Arisu. Not long after entering high school upon enrollment, Honami had made it her objective of wanting to apply for the Student Council and work with them like back in her middle school days. In turn, she proceeded to go out of her way and submit an application of joining the student body group led by the then President, Manabu Horikita during that time as a first-year freshman student. Not before long though, in the special one-on-one interview she had with Manabu, her application was soon turned down by him much to her disappointment. Following that event however, Honami was able to later successfully get on board with the Student Council thanks to the work of Vice-President, Miyabi who silently established contact with her behind President Manabu's back right after she had chosen to reveal her mistake to him. The reason how someone like Miyabi was able to somehow convince Honami to give away her own secret to him in the open is through putting himself in her shoes where she must confess the full truth behind her assignment to Class B without holding anything back like he had once done in the past with an unknown Student Council member.

Understanding what she must do in order to successfully applied for the Student Council, Honami was given the option by Miyabi of confessing her past to a powerful member of the student body so that he can then evaluate her worth as proof of having what it takes to be part of the organization. Although she tries to inquire what Miyabi's confession was, he refuses to answer her as Honami is the one who is being questioned by him. After checking her achievements and abilities for himself during this meeting, Honami was told by him that it wouldn't have been strange if she had been placed in Class A instead of Class B during the start of her first-year as a freshman but figure something must be amiss of why that is not the case. He demands Honami to disclose everything about her history prior to enrolling in high school, egging the girl to explain the reason for what put her into Class B and not Class A. Miyabi states that if the former deemed Honami as a student worthy enough of Class A then he'll take responsibility and accept her into the Student Council as she wanted. Seeing that she still holds a slim chance of getting into the student body due to the possibility of hope that his words had given her, Honami reflects on the causes of why someone as her was not place in Class A but Class B and whether to openly state the truth. Honami was informed by Miyabi that he is taking her application into consideration despite Manabu's refusal to let her enter the Student Council was due to the Vice-President needing to find and recruit a first-year freshman like herself to join the group and be train under him. As Vice-President Miyabi was set to be the future Student Council President after his predecessor Manabu steps down, it was why she got scouted out by him in the first place beforehand to first assess Honami's achievements and abilities before deciding to allow her entry as an official member of the student body. When Miyabi finally states that if she turns away this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to show her worth, Honami won't be able to secure a special place in the Student Council anymore. Upon hearing what he said to be her one and only chance to redeem herself, it became the last straw for Honami to finally make the decision in sharing her past with him while Miyabi promises not to say a single word about it outside their meeting room.

Abilities
Honami is skillfully great in many different kinds of fields be it academics, collaboration, or communication. This similarly coincides with her set of interpersonal and negotiation skills, where there were times when she once made fair deals and conditions with all sorts of people to beat an exam and prevent expulsion of students. In one instance, Honami successfully forces Arisu Sakayanagi to cough up even more private points than the latter necessarily suggested as part of the contract when arranging the formation of a class alliance. Through unknown means, she has acquired millions of private points which caused Kiyotaka Ayanokōji to question how she obtained that much. She has a very good and cordial relationship with her peers and friends, becoming well-trusted by them within a short matter of time after her enrollment as a freshman. During her first year in high school, she was capable of getting her class unified and cooperating in and out of school under her leadership without any trouble at all. Particularly, according to her homeroom teacher Chie, she quickly rallied Class 1-B when it was still in disarray. She is the type of person who faces her opponent head-on by normally following the rules and conditions of any exam without working her way around them.

Academic Abilities
Honami happened to be a very intelligent and smart person who is said to be on par with the students from Class A academically. Honami's mother went as far as strictly telling Honami to be a studious student who needs to prioritize studying while in school by having the girl focus on her studies foremost instead of finding a job to be employed in at an early age. Both in high school and even her time during middle school, she was highly regarded as an honors student, taking care of helping peers with troubles such as improving their academic performances before a test. Honami once formed a study group sessions with classmates and friends and they were able to make passing scores on a quiz after being tutored by her. It was mentioned by Suzune Horikita that Honami could have normally been in Class A for her abilities, but was forced to Class 1-B for reasons unknown. One of her classmates even states that had the school used only grades to determine Honami's placement among the classes, she would be undoubtedly put in Class A.

Physical Abilities
Not much is clearly known about Honami's physical capabilities, although it is mentioned in her short story at Year 1 Light Novel Volume 3 that she's not very skilled in athletics with the fact that her ability to maintain equilibrium is dull. Despite her weakness, she's still capable of handling sports with a bit of skills to some degree. She confidently claims that her running speed is fairly fast. She even acknowledge the extent of her speed is based on her own past experience with participating in the track and field club activities before. Not only that but a glimpse of her ability was also shown at the pool, where she played volleyball with her friends and students of Class D. In the following volumes, although she was not in anyway confident about her physical capabilities overall, Honami admits she was at least very proud of her own remarkable speed specifically while attempting to outrun someone. Nonetheless, despite how fast she push herself to run, Honami could still end up losing her footing along the way after accidentally slipping into tricky terrains that are hard and troublesome to get out of. For instance, when placed in a dangerous situation where it takes a heavy toll on her mental state like feeling delirious, this hampers Honami's ability to steadily maintain her physical movement. By then, Honami would lose complete control of her own equilibrium and balance, mindlessly taking steps without precautions to escape the environment before falling under the ground.

Intellectual Abilities
Honami has an insightful and intuitive side to her intellect, as she recognized the true intelligence of Kiyotaka Ayanokōji and saw that he is someone who shouldn't be in Class D. This inquisitive side was seen again as she keenly took note of the students in Class D who have the potential to ascend to upper classes based on their talents. She is able to read the mood and atmosphere of people, easily noticing that her presence is not positively welcome by the Ayanokōji Group after meeting Kiyotaka with his circle of new friends for the first time. More so, she carefully considers about the implications and possibilities behind why someone like she was placed in the Rabbit Group rather than be part of the Dragon Group which was composed of class leaders such as herself. Only from the anime, she appeared to have a great perception of reading people's feelings for someone as she easily catches onto Airi Sakura's obvious romantic attraction towards Kiyotaka. Let alone that, Kiyotaka in the light novels described her to have keen insight and sharp observation skills. During an exam which requires communication and cooperation, she also possesses the necessary skills of what a mediator is, carefully getting people from different classes to open up and start a conversation with one another. Striking a friendly conversation with a student outside her class can also be seen as Honami's way of trying to gather up pieces of information about someone. She is even able to intuitively catch onto Kiyotaka's phone-swapping strategy as a double-layered trap and how he had it setup without anyone in their group noticing except for her.

Quotes

 * (To Kakeru Ryūen): "I'm sorry, Ryuuen-kun. But you've hurt people in Class B with your actions. Even if it's possible for us to get more points, I can't ally with you on that reason alone."
 * (To Kiyotaka Ayanokōji): "I'm not lying. I think that lying might be necessary in competition, but I like to be honest as much as possible. I do want my class to win, fair and square. I thought the road to victory lay in narrowing down who the V.I.P. is. Ah, you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to, Ayanokōji-kun. I just wanted to explain my feelings. I thought if I told you, things might be easier."
 * (To Kiyotaka Ayanokōji): "My classmates...My friends in the other classes...Everyone’s been trying to convince me to return to school, telling me: If you have something troubling you, please come and talk to us about it. And yet, Ayanokōji-kun, you've never asked me anything like that, all while coming by to visit me every single day...Why?"
 * (To Kiyotaka Ayanokōji): "Anywho, the school is pretty terrible, isn't it? What with making someone drop out of school and all. Even if you manage to get praise votes from the kids in the other classes, someone still has to leave in the end."
 * (To Kiyotaka Ayanokōji): "That's not true at all! Rather, I honestly think it would be the most justified vote in the entire exam. It's meant to be for someone worthy of praise in another class. Yeah, I can't think of anyone more worthy than you, as the one who saved me."
 * (To Ryūji Kanzaki): "It's fine. Kanzaki-kun, you once told me that if somebody has the power to change things, they're nothing more than a fool if they don't make use of it, right? That's why I've been reflecting on what I could do for all of you."
 * (To Kiyotaka Ayanokōji): "We've lost our private points, but we can always make them back again. But, if we had lost even a single person, there would've been no way to get them back.
 * (To Arisu Sakayanagi): "Class B also came here with a strategy, ready to win. We won't lose easily, especially in an exam like this where unity and cooperation play such an important part."
 * (To Kakeru Ryūen): "'Then, are you saying you'll go easy on me?"
 * (To Kakeru Ryūen): "I wish you wouldn't. You don't have a protection point and you're fighting with your back up against the wall. Somehow I can't help but feel like this is a bad omen for Class B."
 * (To Kiyotaka Ayanokōji): "I've always been relying on you recently, Ayanokōji-kun. I've received more help than anyone else. If I say this audaciously… No, I can't say it, it's too unsightly."
 * (To Ryūji Kanzaki): "Kanzaki-kun, don’t say it like that. No matter what class it is, they'll have their own ideas, and of course, their own strategies."
 * (To Ryūji Kanzaki): "'Ayanokouji-kun is not our enemy."
 * (To Ryūji Kanzaki): "That's...but there's no point for us to engage in a pointless dispute!"
 * (To Arisu Sakayanagi): "What makes me sad is that this isn't a happy proposal. After all, it implies that our class is not worthy of your caution, an insignificant existence to you."
 * (To Arisu Sakayanagi): "Although it's nice to receive that evaluation from you, we're in a situation where we don't care anymore, right?"
 * (To Arisu Sakayanagi): "You said we were someone you could trust, and I think you meant that. However, the most important thing for you is to prevent Class B, Class C, and Class D from working together to catch up to Class A. Indeed, the amount of class points we can get if we win together will decrease, but there's no guarantee that such a development wouldn't appear in the future— That the three classes would continue to help each other."
 * (To Arisu Sakayanagi): "With that our contract is complete. Even if you hadn't offered to loan me the deposit points, I would have chosen to join forces with you. Our main goal is of course to reach Class A, but as you said, we fell to Class C and we can't afford to fall even more. Since, if we fall down to Class D, our class's motivation would surely be greatly reduced, and that is something we want to avoid."

Name Etymology

 * The name Honami consists of kanjis that mean "sail" (帆) (ho) and "wave" (波) (nami).
 * Honami's surname Ichinose consists of kanjis that mean "one" (一) (ichi), "this" (之) (no) and "swift current, rapids" (瀬) (se).

Trivia

 * The number of private points Honami acquired in her first year of high school is by far the largest a first-year student has ever obtained among those that have been recorded.
 * The reason Honami has been assigned to Class-B instead of Class-A is because of her long absences during middle school.
 * In the first-year story of You-Zitsu series, she was originally the only 1st-year known to have been able to join the Student Council. However, by the time the second-year story rolls around, Honami was no longer the only previous first-year student alone to be in that Student Council as Suzune was given permission by Miyabi to become part of the organization after her.
 * The main reason behind why Honami was even allowed to enter the Student Council by Miyabi in the first place is solely because she happened to meet his first criteria in working alongside him where the former qualifies as an extremely good-looking person, something which her upperclassman seeks in the opposite sex. The other two reasons as criteria are nothing more than a mere bonus to Miyabi, one is that she was placed in Class 1-B during freshman year, much like himself, rather than being from Class A while another is for her excellent academic ability.
 * Honami has a criminal history of shoplifting that is closely similar to Masumi Kamuro of Class A's own past experience.
 * Honami experienced five love confessions overall throughout the course of her lifetime that she happened to turn down all of them: one of which being from Chihiro in high school, one from her time in elementary school, and the remaining three are likely during her middle school days.
 * Honami ranks #7 in "Female Character" category in the 2020 edition of 's  guidebook.
 * In the 2021 edition, she is ranked #6.
 * In Year 1 Light Novel Volume 2, it was said that Honami happened to have a cute handkerchief with panda illustrations within her possession.
 * For the 2nd Year arc, when asked about her aspirations for the next year, she answered  'To properly redeem myself from my past and once again aim for class A without losing any one of my classmates.'