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 where her trademark is her short beige-colored hair paired with gradient crimson eyes and she is 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.

In the light novel, more of her violent tendencies are shown as she reveals that she hated Kiyotaka from the moment she met him for reasons yet to be revealed.

Her behavior hints that she merely sees everyone as a way to boost her reputation and chooses to hide it to avoid losing support. This is somewhat seen as it was revealed that she and Suzune went to the same middle school and her reason for trying to befriend her was to see if Suzune had discovered her secret. In the end, she sees everyone as a means to an end and doesn’t see them as anything more.

It is further revealed that the reason behind her actions is because of jealousy, especially when it comes to studies and sports. Due to this overly competitive spirit, she is considered a hard worker by Suzune. There is nothing too low that she wouldn’t do in order to be the best.

After Kiyotaka displayed her true nature for their classmates to see, Kushida attempted to destroy the whole class by exposing everyone's' secrets that was once entrusted upon her, just like she did in her previous school.

She did not mince her words and insulted all those naive enough to trust her, believing that it was already the end of the journey for herself. Thus, knowing that there was nothing left for her to lose, she wanted to entertain herself one last time through witnessing their despair at having their darkest secrets laid bare.

After her true personality was exposed then saved from expulsion by Suzune, she cried in frustration. After that incident, she remain absent in class by staying in her dorm thinking their is no place for her to return in class considering all the reputation she built came crashing down when her true nature was revealed to the entire class and telling their dark secrets.

When she returns to class, she apologizes to Wang, Shinohara, and Matsushita for revealing their secrets but lacking sincerity of her words. She decided to contribute the class although she did it for herself in order to avoid expulsion by owing debt to her for her contribution in order to survive until graduation. Despite her overall personality, she has shown genuine fear towards Kiyotaka and Ichika as she has come to view them abnormal. Afterwards, she adopted a neutral attitude towards him before it seemingly evolved into a romantic fixation towards Kiyotaka. Her reaction to this is that of blushing and hitting her head to process the new feeling.

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 Ichinose, 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.

In Volume 4, Kikyō began to cooperate with Kakeru in the VIP guessing game. Each group consists of students from all classes. Their group, the Dragon group, consisted of aces from all classes except Honami from B-Class. Suzune planned with Hirata believing that the VIP which is in D-Class would not be correctly guessed. However, Kushida secretly gave a signal to the other classes just before the final session ended, allowing all the participants to correctly guessed the VIP. Even though the result did not cause a negative effect on the class points, this utterly humiliated Suzune's confidence and pride, which was also the main goal of Kakeru.

In Volume 5, Kikyō continued to give Kakeru support to further embarrass Suzune during the sports festival. She gave the line-up of all D-class participants in every competition so that Kakeru can perfectly crush Suzune. Her action leads to deteriorating result of all competition of D-Class. She, however, did not care about losing class points but solely focused on how to destroy Suzune. After the festival, Suzune deduced that the recent losses were due to Kikyō's betrayal and confronted her. Suzune presumed the reason might be that they both came from the same middle school. She knew there was an incident caused by someone named Kikyō Kushida but claimed she personally did not know any details more than that. Kikyō answered that she will eliminate even the smallest bit of risk factor regardless of what Suzune knew or said and she will surely expel her.

It is later revealed in Volume 6 by Suzune that a certain schoolgirl in her middle school had caused a class breakdown due to which the class did not return to its original condition until after she had already graduated from middle school and that girl was rumored to be Kikyō. It is then revealed to Kiyotaka and Suzune by Kikyō the full truth of the incident as compensation required by Kiyotaka for pulling him into a secret bet between her and Suzune. She described how she vented out her frustration by badmouthing her classmates in a blog anonymously, which was later found by one of her classmates. Kikyō's angel mask got shredded off and everyone became her enemy. She countered by revealing the truth - secrets of every single person in the class - gaining from her close relationship with everyone which resulted in a brawl where the boys fought each other and the girls knocked each other out turning the classroom into a mess.

After revealing the truth behind her middle school incident, Kikyō accepted the bet Suzune suggested. The stakes are that if Kikyō wins, both Suzune and Kiyotaka will leave the school. However, after Kiyotaka's interference, she eventually lost after Kakeru decided to change the test questions instead of using the same ones he gave to Kikyō.

In Volume 9, Kiyotaka asked for her help in spreading the rumors, in order to save Honami Ichinose. As recompense for this favor, she asked him to expel Suzune Horikita, but he refused. Upon his refusal, she asked him to drop out instead, but he said that would be even more unacceptable. He then proposed a contract by which he would transfer half of his gained private points to her every month. Kikyō was surprised at this offer and was suspicious of him as according to her it gave no benefit to him, but eventually agreed. She revealed some secrets about the students of the first year, which he then used to spread from Ikuto Kiriyama's mobile phone.

In volume 10, she had a plan to make Kiyotaka expelled, but Arisu actually made her think that and it was Haruki that was expelled.

In 2nd year volume 1, she saw Suzune had cut her hair and she seems to be angry because now Suzune's hair is the same as her.

In 2nd year volume 3, Takuya made a plan to expell Kiyotaka and wanted that Kikyo help him but it did not work. She was also attacked by Ichika and called her freak saying she is not normal.

In 2nd year volume 5, Takuya told her about exam that it has a question that can help to expell, Kikyo tried but her plan gone bad and Kiyotaka exposed her true personality to whole class, since Kikyo know she was going to get expelled, she wanted to reveal people's darkest secrets like she did in middle school, she told some but Suzune stopped her and Suzune said she is going to keep Kikyo in class which angered Kikyo.

In 2nd year volume 6, Kikyo had stayed in her room and did not come to school, Suzune and Mio went to talk with her to get her to come. After some talking she was convinced but there was funny moment that Kikyo and Suzune pulled each others cheeks. She returned to class but since her true personality was revealed she was now going to act like that.

In 2nd year volume 7, Kikyo helped with festival as a maid. She was called to talk with Ichika, Ichika wanted to hurt her and it would have been bad if Kiyotaka had not arrived. Kikyo watched in shock as Kiyotaka defeated Ichika and saw his strength. This caused her to think that Kiyotaka is not a person to make enemy. Kikyo later helped convince Haruka to take part in festival as maid since Airi was doing her best outside of school.

In 2nd year volume 8, KIkyo asked Kiyotaka if he knows anything about Takuya and Ichika, Kiyotaka told her something that was not true since he couldn't reveal the whiteroom existence. Kikyo went to Onsen with some other girls, when she was alone with Suzune she showed her true personality but when others were there she hid it. Later Kikyo called Kakeru to talk with him and said that she want to stop the cooperation between two. Kakeru did not agree but Kiyotaka stopped Kakeru. After the talk that Kiyotaka said to Kikyo some people like her true personality Kikyo blushed turned to the wall and hit it with her hands showing she is falling in love with Kiyotaka.

In 2nd year volume 9, when Suzune become president of Student council she asked Kikyo to join her, but Kikyo was too stubborn. Ichika appeared and played with her a little. Kikyo said go on your knees and I will join.

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 "Chinese bellflower" (桔梗).
 * 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, Kikyō answere d  'To get along with all 1st years and 3rd years. And maybe to make the daily school life fun for everyone.'
 * Light Novel 2nd Year Volume 8 is a one-of-a-kind book where it so happened to be the first within the You-Zitsu series to have all three official color illustrations featured the same character with Kikyō Kushida altogether repeatedly in each picture as it was never the case during previous novels up until now.