Kasumi Nomura

* Anime
* Manga

**Kasumi Nomura** (野村 香純 *Nomura Kasumi*) is one of the main characters of *Asobi Asobase* series. She is the classmate of Olivia and Hanako Honda who is mostly depicted as a quiet and shy person, but she possesses a scary personality when she becomes serious and a member of the Pastimers Club.

## Appearance

Kasumi is a cute and slender pale-skinned girl with chin-length black hair, light brown eyes, she is most often seen wearing glasses that completes her shy bookworm appearance and a large bust that has earned her the jealousy of Hanako Honda.

Outside of school, she wears a white blouse and long skirt under a blue vest.

She is most often seen wearing her school uniform.

## Personality

Initially, Kasumi was a very anti-social person as she stays away from people in general. As a child, she often lost when playing games with her sister and had to carry out tasks as punishment. This led her to have a very strong aversion to all games. It wasn't until her encounter with Olivia and Hanako Honda that she began to change her outlook on games and people. She initially sought out Hanako and Olivia and created the Pastimers Club to learn English from Olivia, but as time passed she began to appreciate the companionship provided by the two so much that when Olivia revealed the truth that she couldn't speak English, Kasumi forgave her immediately because they were 'already in a club.' She treasures her friendship with Hanako and Olivia dearly, even if it does often lead her to disastrous events.

Kasumi is often seen as a shy and introverted girl. She often speaks in a timid and friendly manner and is often unwilling to impose on her friends. However, her shy demeanor deceptively hides her 'dark side'. When driven to be serious or angered, Kasumi displays another side of her that is cold, sadistic, and sometimes violent. This side of her can intimidate and strike fear into the people around her, even her own friends.

Kasumi is an avid fan of BL (Boys' Love) stories and often writes some herself. She considers this her secret hobby and is embarrassed when people find out, especially her friends. Her attraction to men ends in fictional ones as the sight of a real male is enough to drive her to extreme fear and nausea as seen whenever she is in the proximity of Maeda. Curiously, she does not exhibit this level of hysteria when near her male teacher, indicating that perhaps she at least trust the teachers enough or is at least okay around people she knows well. Kasumi does not see her revulsion to men as a problem though, as when confronted by the possibility of ending up alone in her adulthood like her Club counselor, she confidently declares that she can tolerate living that way. She has very warped views concerning men believing that they shoot lasers out of their nether regions when aroused which when stated was "corrected" by Hanako stating that they actually shoot lasers out their rear end.

## History

As a child, Kasumi often lost when playing games with her sister and had to carry out tasks as punishment.

Later in the manga, when she was kissed by Tsugumi Aozora, Kasumi becomes intensely flustered and obsessed with finding Tsugumi's true gender.

## Relationships

### Olivia

Even though Kasumi initially formed the club alongside Olivia and Hanako Honda in order to learn English from Olivia, Kasumi and Olivia gradually grew closer as the series went on. It can be seen that Kasumi values their friendship, as, Kasumi has kept Olivia’s lack of proficiency in English hidden, due to the chance that Olivia might leave their club to participate in other clubs (if the secret is revealed). She even goes out of her way and accepts a date from Fujisawa-san in order to prevent the information from getting spread to the rest of her classmates.

## Etymology

* The name **Kasumi** means "fragrance, fragrant" (香) (**ka**) and "pure, clean, simple" (純) (**sumi**).
* Kasumi's surname **Nomura** means "field, wilderness" (野) (**no**) and "town, village" (村) (**mura**).

## Trivia

* Kasumi possesses a near super-human elasticity able to inhumanly bend her thumb during a game of Thumb War and bend her back forming a right angle with her body while playing faux sumo.
* Kasumi's sexuality is questionable as she felt flustered when Tsugumi Aozora kissed her.
* In a gag, it is revealed that Kasumi's love for homoerotic stories and she seems to read what appears to be a parody of homoerotic Harry Potter fanfiction with what appears to be the titular Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom.
* Out of the three main characters, Kasumi is probably the strongest of the three main characters.
* Kasumi is revealed to have a fear of men which is displayed when she was introduced to Maeda (who unintentionally made it worst)