Kaoruko Usami

Kaoruko Usami
Name	Kaoruko Usami
Kanji	宇佐見 薫子
Gender	Female
Age	19
Family	Akihiko Usami (Cousin)
Manga debut	Volume 9, Junjou Romantica Act 14
Anime debut	Season 2 episode 10
Voiced by	Mizuki Nana

Kaoruko Usami (宇佐見 薫子, Usami Kaoruko) is the cousin of Akihiko Usami from his mother's side.

After her initial appearance in Season 2 Episode 10, she is seen again in Season 3 Episode 2.

Appearance

Kaoruko's full body and facial view

Kaoruko has straight black hair that reaches a bit longer past her shoulders with square bangs, thin back eyebrows over her dark grey eyes and she is shorter than Misaki Takahashi.

Kaoruko is usually seen wearing something in her hair and she always wears a traditional Japanese kimono.

Personality

At first, Kaoruko comes off as a snobbish person when she orders Misaki Takahashi like a servant when she first arrives at Akihiko Usami's home.

Kaoruko is terribly a blunt (someone who speaks in a direct, often rude way or something with a dull edge or point) and hardheaded person who is said to have the same taste in men as Akihiko, which proves to be true when she inadvertently tells Misaki that she likes him. She'll do just about anything to get what she wants: from hiding, to bribing and to yelling someone's ear off.

Despite all this, she is put out by the idea that nobody cares about how she truly feels. She merely wants acceptance from her family and she is willing to go any length to achieve her dream.

She's very traditional in some areas (even though she's against arranged marriages, thinking it's outdated), so she reacts strongly against strange men touching her casually, although she likes the booty.

Plot

Upon discovering that Misaki Takahashi is in fact a resident, Kaoruko begins drilling him on his age and skills as she is not the least bit impressed by his manga hobby and blatantly calls him boring.

She reveals that she has been tricked by her father, being told that her parents had been in a fatal car accident, and rushed back to Japan from England only to find out that she was to be married to Haruhiko Usami (Akihiko's older half-brother). In order to prevent the marriage, she insists that Akihiko Usami marry her instead.

She is forward about what she wants, at one point griping about being tired of people always making decisions for her. She is much like Akihiko when it comes to getting her way, going so far as to bribe her cousin with several stuffed bears and even a rare robotic bear in order to get his permission to stay in his house. She doesn't truly want to marry Akihiko, only seeking his protection.

Kaoruko walking in on Akihiko Usami and Misaki Takahashi while they're busy

When she walks in on Akihiko and Misaki, she doesn't quite react to catching them in the act. Instead, she tells Akihiko to finish what he's doing so that they can finish talking. Being as blunt as she is, however, she blatantly asks Misaki if he's gay. As he struggles to answer her, she declares that she doesn't care and was only interested in Akihiko protecting her from the marriage.

While releasing her pent up frustration about her controlling parents and the arranged marriage to a relative she doesn't even like, she reveals to Misaki that her dream is to be a pastry chef. She's very defensive about her dream, yelling at Misaki not to laugh at it. Despite her otherwise brazen attitude on most things, she is very traditional and reserved about certain etiquette such as casual touching. When Misaki tries to show her a picture on his phone of a castle he made out of cake, their fingers barely brush and she cries out for him not touch her.

Kaoruko freaking out when her fingers accidentally touch Misaki Takahashi's finger

When Haruhiko shows up and looks for Kaoruko, she is stunned by Misaki's readiness to help her. She later asks Misaki to recreate the castle cake with her, telling him that he should be thankful because she didn't do things she liked without a guy she liked.

Etymology

• The name Kaoruko means "fragrance, fragrant" (薫) (kaoru) and "child" (子) (ko).
• Kaoruko's surname Usami means "eaves, roof, house, heaven" (宇) (u), "help, aid" (佐) (sa) and "see, hopes, chances, idea, opinion, look at, visible" (見) (mi).

Trivia

• Kaoruko has different ages in the anime and manga:
  • 19 years old (Manga)
  • 20 years old (Anime adaption)