Kikyō Kushida

Appearance
Kikyō is a teenage girl who is considered highly attractive by the boys in her class and other boys in the school. Her trademark is her short beige-colored hair paired with gradient crimson eyes. She is also noted for having a well-endowed figure and an average height. When she is outside school, she wears a light blue dress with hints of white and has a teal-colored jacket covering it.

Personality
Kikyō boasts tremendous popularity among students as the D-Class' idol who aims to be friends with everyone not just in D-Class, as shown when she extended her hand to Honami Ichinose of B-Class. On the outside, she has a bubbly personality. She attempts to get along well with Suzune Horikita (Kikyō's classmate), but the latter coldly refuses her gestures of friendship numerous times.

It is revealed that she also has a rancorous side to her personality which she hides from everyone behind her bubbly façade. She is also very spoiled, as indicated by her tendency to resort to temper tantrums if she doesn't get what she truly wants the most: clout and recognition. Thus, she hates everyone who even minutely opposes that goal. She openly professed her hatred for Suzune and cursed her repeatedly, which Kiyotaka Ayanokōji unintentionally overheard. After she caught him watching her tantrum, she threatened him not to tell anyone about it, otherwise she would accuse him of sexual assault after purposely grabbing his hand and putting them on her chest to leave fingerprints as false evidence. She also felt no hesitation or uneasiness when she placed his hand on her own breast as evidence of her accusation. She returned to her bubbly self immediately after he promised he'd keep her secret, which left him to question over which personality she displayed was real. Despite her strong disdain for Suzune, she still attempts to befriend her so as to achieve her goal. Although she blackmailed Kiyotaka to keep her secret, she still interacts with him openly after the ordeal. Nevertheless, the latter now treats her with the upmost of caution and suspicion due to her two-faced personality.

In a private conversation with Kiyotaka, she revealed that her dislike for Suzune is due to the latter not having a hidden side unlike herself. During this interaction, she acted sincerely for once which was juxtaposed to her violent tendencies Kiyotaka was prepared for. Despite that, part of her other-self was seen later on when she called Kiyotaka mean for being vague in his respond to her question. Her façade is praiseworthy as she has been able to dupe the majority of her peers into thinking that she was a bubbling and solicitous individual, however, keen observers like Airi Sakura and Ichika Amasawa have been able to deduce that there was something more mysterious, perhaps even sinister, to her than she lets on.

She once told to Suzune and Kiyotaka that she loves when people around trust her to the point of telling her personal things, and if it's a secret that no one else knows expect herself even better, because that means she is in a special spot on each people's life and brings her thrill and an unexplained joy that turns her on. She is also cold and vindictive when she loses the attention and trust they had given to her previously. In middle-school, the incident that made a whole classroom fight each other was a response of Kikyo in which she revealed the most deep and personal secrets that she hadn't post on her blog. To fullfil her goal she is capable of double-crossing people, even selling her entire class as long as it benefits her. Sometimes she acts more out of resentment or spite instead of reaching her goal.

In the drama CD which shows the characters' daily life, her personality was clearly demonstrated. She always prepares a to-do-list even when hanging out with her group of 'friends'. After confirming the participants, she will prepare possible courses of action, conversation topics, phrasing, and a-must say sentence beforehand so as to not leave any weaknesses for them to exploit or hold against her. With this, she believes that no weaknesses will accidentally slip out. Additionally, she felt that others won’t have the chance to gossip behind her back and ruin her good girl image especially after she went to extensive lengths to preserve it.

Plot
Kikyō is first seen on the school bus when she tries to persuade Rokusuke Kōenji to give up his seat for an elderly woman. He refused to comply, as another woman gave up on the seat. In the manga, however, Rokusuke eventually moved. She was next seen in the class introducing herself to her classmates, stating that she hopes she could all be friends with them helping boost her popularity instantaneously. At some point, she befriended Honami, one of the most popular student in her cohort and attempts to use her to further her goal of making friends with everyone.

She later spoke to Kiyotaka asking for his help in befriending Suzune. When he asked for her reason, she stated that it was due to him being the only person she ever talks to in the class. Her plan goes awry as Suzune saw through it and rejected the thought of friendship as she considered it unnecessary. Despite this, inadvertently Kikyō made an acquaintance out of Kiyotaka who was more accepting of her offer of friendship. When they are walking, he sees and greets Honami Ichinose of Class 1-B. She reveals her motive that she did not just want to befriend their class but the whole school.

She later aided Kiyotaka in getting old test answers by using her feminine charms and sweet side to get an upperclassman to negotiate for the tests. The upperclassmen soon gave in and Kikyō thanked him for his help. Afterward, she was amazed by Kiyotaka's intelligence as he knew that it was plausible that this method of attaining results were allowed within the school rules. She also accepted his request to take all of the credit when by giving them to the class in his stead. He then revealed to her that he didn't like drawing attention to himself.

She attended a celebratory party at his room. While there, she asked Kiyotaka if he had anything to stop Ken's expulsion, which caused everyone to stop their activities and look at him questionably, but he gave Suzune the credit.

After the party, Kiyotaka noticed she left her phone and tried to return it to her, but she was already in the elevator and had left the dorm building. Outside, she was seen venting out in anger with a violent, completely different personality, cursing Suzune for being "prettier" and "better than her." She goes so far as to vehemently shout that she wants Suzune to die, and crudely insults her while kicking a steel barrier in rage.

Kiyotaka witnessed all of this, and was caught by Kikyō when a notification chime from his phone sounded, giving away his position. Kikyō immediately asked him whether he saw her, and coerced him into not revealing to anyone what he just saw by creating fake evidence of an attempted rape incident, which she did by placing Kiyotaka's hand on the breast area of her uniform. Kiyotaka agreed her condition, and she instantly reverted to her usual friendly, bubbly persona, dismissing in front of him that this was just another secret between them.

The next day, she meets Suzune and they enter the elevator together. Coincidentally, they also meet Kiyotaka who she talks to for a while, completely ignoring what happened the previous night. After the elevator opens, Suzune leaves the pair as Kikyō is disappointed as she attempted to walk to school with her together.

She is then happily greeted by Honami who she returns the greeting before Honami inquired if Kiyotaka was her boyfriend. However, her response was that is not the case. Honami then asked if they got their points but isn't given an answer as the two are confused by her question. Both of them then continued going to class and learnt that because of a recent incident they wouldn't get points until a solution comes up.

Eventually, it is revealed that the incident was fought between Ken and some students of C-Class. Kikyō then gathers the class into helping prove the latter's innocence by asking Kiyotaka if he'll help out to which he agrees and she tries the same for Suzune who brushes her off and leaves. After they searched for witnesses, she and her group were disappointed that nothing came up as the others began suggesting Ken was lying about his self-defense. When Honami showed up and says she will help Kikyō and her friends out in proving Sudō's innocence, Kikyō happily thanked Honami for her aid. Kiyotaka was dubious of the offer as Kikyō remain confused by his behavior before Honami assured him that her actions were well-meaning, as she stated that she had a debt owed to him that she wants to repay. Kikyō was then curious to know what exactly Honami owed Kiyotaka.

During the school cruise, she enjoys herself at the pool before being called upon by Kanji Ike who asks to speak with her. They meet and he appears nervous as he asks to call her by her first name which she allows. She then asked for permission on whether she can do the same for him. She was put off by his excitement but is shown smiling about it. Later on, she wanders the ship and found Kiyotaka with Airi who suddenly left as Kikyō is confused by this strange behavior as she spoke to Kiyotaka notices his uneasiness around her even shifting back to her other personality to make him talk with her. She inquired if he was nervous being alone with her which he confirms as she explains she had that guess before she goes back to her happy self-assured. She also appeared to want to tell him something but backs out at the last minute and simply leaves.

In the middle of the test, she noticed his and Suzune's close association once again as other students took note of it as well before joking with them. After Haruki Yamauchi threw mud on Suzune, it was Kikyō who told the latter to clean herself up.

After the survival island test, she and the class thank Suzune for her "help" in passing the test. She slips away to talk with Kiyotaka, she notes on how popular Suzune had become and she explained that she hates Suzune because of her not having a hidden side. She also asked if he had to choose between siding with her or Suzune as he remarked he didn't know as she jokingly calls him mean.

Academic Abilities
Kikyō is slightly above the average in the academic field and was able to manipulate many students in her school into believing she was a benevolent presence. She also exudes one of the highest social contribution scores, showing that despite her surreptitious spiteful personality, she was able to trick the school into believing that her contributions were from charitable desires and not self-centred ones.

Name Etymology

 * The name Kikyō consists of kanji that mean "bellflower" (桔梗) (kikyou).
 * Kikyō's surname Kushida consists of kanjis that mean "comb" (櫛) (kushi) and "field, rice paddy" (田) (ta/da).

Trivia

 * As D-Class is for those with defective traits, Kikyō's defect is a certain incident of her past.
 * For the 2nd Year arc, when asked about her aspirations for the next year, she answered  'To get along with all 1st years and 3rd years. And maybe to make the daily school life fun for everyone.'