Kunimitsu Hasuga

Kunimitsu Hasuga is a main character in Mai Ball. He is a first-year student at Kijiyama North High School. He is the coach of the girls' football team while also playing for the boys' team.

## Background

Kunimitsu and Mai Miyano have been friends since an early age. They are next-door neighbours and have trained with each other in the local park for many years to improve at football. Their training together eventually leads to Mai being able to copy his skills subconsciously. Kunimitsu has twice been named as the best player at the Japanese Under-15 National Tournament and is quite renowned considering his age. Mai loves Kunimitsu, however he is much too dense to realise this. He kisses Mai (they call it “conjuring” or a “charm) to remove her nerves before sporting events. His dream is to take Kijikita to the nationals.

## Appearance

Kunimitsu has medium-length dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. He sometimes wears a baseball cap when training and coaching, and wears black sweatbands while playing.

## Personality

Kunimitsu is generally quite calm, and has a very collected approach to coaching. Rather than being overly reactive or emotional following new developments, her remains cool and puts faith in his players. Some of the girls do like it, however, when he gets stricter, such as when he yells at the girls for trying to tell him their three sizes again. He can also get quite angry, as he did with Mai while Kijikita were trailing against Kuryuin.

## Chronology

After Mai fails Reika's initial trial, Kunimitsu pressures Reika to give her another chance. Mai passes and she becomes Kijikita's eleventh player. Unknown to Mai, Kunimitsu then persuades the girls to let him become their coach. Following this, he puts the girls through various different types of training to decide who shall play in each position for the upcoming game against Kijinan. Although the practice game gets held up due to the girls insisting on telling him their three sizes, he finally manages to pick a team, setting up in a variant of the 4-4-2 formation, making use of a defensive and attacking midfielder rather than a flat 4 in midfield. He names Reika as his captain, and eventually takes on Chako Kawami and Konori Shindou as assistant coaches. His decision to play Mai as a “target man” saves time on making further strategies and acts as an equaliser against the well-drilled Kijinan.

*Main Article:*Kijikita vs. Kijinan I

The Kijinan game becomes more important when Ryuzu Michio announces that he does not want his star player spending so much time focusing on another team. Therefore, it is decided that should Kijikita fail to beat Kijinan, Kunimitsu will have to resign as coach. His tactics lead Kijikita to a 3-0 lead, however they go 4-3 down after Mai goes off after fainting. After conjuring for Mai again, Kijikita manage to pull back to a 5-5 draw. While Kunimutsu should have then been forced to resign, Reika pressures the Principal and Mishio to allow him to stay, to which they agree.

Following a summer training camp, Kijikita enter a tournament to further test themselves, while also pursuing their first trophy. Kunimitsu threatens that even though Kijikita only have eleven players, anyone not pulling their weight will be dropped. At the same time as the girls tournament, there is also a tournament for boys teams taking place at the same time.

The girls all go to watch him take on Tamachi. He purposefully plays with similar styles to the girls so that they can mimic what he does in their own games. The game ends 5-0 to Kijikita, which Kunimitsu notching a hat-trick and two assists.

*Main Article:* Kijikita vs. Franklin

Due to his own team's game, Kunimitsu misses most of the girls match versus Franklin, returning with them 1-0 down. His return and calls from the sideline reinvigorates the girls and leads them to a 2-1 win.

*Main Article:* Kijikita vs. Seririn

Kunimitsu is able to oversee all of the game versus Seirin, and guides his team to a 5-0 lead. After Reika pulls up with cramp, he decides to take her off, lifting her via a princess carry. This has a negative impact on the team, as all of the other players become distracted and jealous. Seirin manage to pull it back to 4-5, and Kunimitsu and Kijikita are saved from the equaliser by Konori's quick thinking when she shouts that the carry “doesn't count.”  This allows the players to focus again and see out the win.

Following the Seirin game, Kunimitsu points out that the team's over-reliance on Reika is working against them, leading to another of Reika's trials beginning, which will decide who will become the new “ringleader” of the team. Although Reika loses and stays on as the ringleader, he agrees with her decision to step down as captain, handing over to Mai.

*Main Article:*Kijikita vs. Kuryuin

Kijikita struggle to deal with Kuryuin's style of play, especially with Amane Tatamaru  and Mirai Takenou**.**This leads to Kuryuin going 2-0 up, however his guidance from the sideline makes Mai more aware of her teammate's positions, allowing her to set up Kiiro to make it 2-1. Kijikita then pull level with Mitsu's curling shot, however their efforts look to be for naught after Amane dives for another penalty with seconds remaining. Despite some Kijikita seemingly having accepted defeat, Kunimitsu is still sharp, ordering Chidori to slip away in the drama to stand on the halfway line. Luckily for Kijikita, Amane slips while taking the kick, allowing Rinka to grab the ball and throw it out to Reika. She then picks out Chidori on halfway with a long pass, who then hands off to Mai. She and Mitsu just about manage to hold off Mirai. Mai then finds Kiiro, who scores with a flick to win the game with the final play.

*Main Article:*Kijikita vs. Kijinan II

Kijikita start the final against Kijinan terribly, falling 3-0 down to a Shuna Sorimachi hat-trick in the opening ten minutes. With his team faltering with ten minutes left in the first half, Kunimitsu shouts instructions to his players and helps them get to half-time without conceding any further goals. This taking of responsibility and example of leadership earns him the praise of onlookers and players alike, including the opposition captain Jaina-Airi Mishiki, and Seirin captain Aya Kurusu. Realising how thoroughly Kijinan had prepared for the game by analysing Kijikita's players and style, Kunimitsu recognises the need for a tactical change but laments that no ideas spring to mind. With no ideas coming to mind, Chako advises that he ask his team for any ideas, rather than taking on the responsibility alone. He eventually decides to have Mitsu, Mai and Reika mark Kijinan's three forwards in the second half, and counts on Shuna being substituted early as she has already scored a hat-trick and her coach will want to save her for the upcoming nationals games. After Mai suffers a nosebleed during the game, he helps to stop the bleeding and gets her fit to return to the game. While she is off the field, Mai finally confesses her love to Kunimitsu. With Kijikita getting a goal back and only ten minutes remaining in the game, it is revealed that Kunimitsu used to play against Shuna in their youth, where he would regularly best her. As Mai's style is a copy of his, Shuna steps her game up for the rest of the match so that she could get back at him for all of her past losses. After Shuna is subbed off with the score at 3-2, Kunimitsu bows to her in respect of her outstanding performance, which she responds to with a broad smile. Although Kijikita manage to equalise late on through Reika, Mia Momofuji scores with the final kick of the game to win the tournament for Kijinan. His players left exhausted and defeated, most of the Kijikita team breaks down in tears. The following morning, just like they always have done, Mai and Kunimitsu meet up to head to training. After the one-year timeskip in the final chapter, Kunimitsu is seen on the touchline as Kijikita take on Franklin once more.

## Trivia

* Seems to really like Italian football, especially Juventus, as he has two posters of Italian Juventus players on his bedroom wall. (It seems that both are of Roberto Baggio, or one each of Baggio and Alessandro del Piero). This trait is shared with author Sora Inoue, as he also has a love of Italian football, and Juventus is one of his favourite teams alongside Urawa Reds. Kunimitsu also sometimes wears a tracksuit with the slogan “Torino,” which is the name of another Italian team.
* He still owns the size four football that he and Mai used to play with as children.
* Kunimitsu is also quite competent as a goalkeeper, often playing in goal during training.
* He has a mole next to his belly button.
* Mai sometimes calls him “Kuni.”
* His sister really likes gossip and would love for him and Mai to get together, and she eavesdrops on them whenever possible.
* Although Mai is known for being quite fast, Kunimitsu is even faster.
* To the jealousy of the other girls, Kunimitsu can immediately tell if food has been cooked by Mai without any clues.
* He considers Shuna Sorimachi to be a better player than Reika and admires how Kijinan rely on her much less that Kijikita rely on their captain.
* Helps out at his family's yakisoba stand at local festivals.

## Relationships

Mai Miyano: Mai loves Kunimitsu, however he has failed to notice this. They have been friends for many years, having trained together and lived next door to each other for many years. Though in the manga after Mai states that she couldn't survive sports day without his magic, he is seen blushing as well as other notable scenes later on.

Hashimoto: Kunimitsu plays just behind Hashimoto on the field, and they form a deadly attacking partnership. He seems to be Kunimitsu's best male friend off the field too.

Rinka Aomi: She loves the fact that he can be strict.

Yuika Mishiro: Like Rinka, she appreciates when Kunimitsu becomes strict. He trusts her knowledge of muscles completely, using this when deciding to sub Reika.

Reika Hakurai: Reika is Mai's main rival in their pursuit of Kunimitsu's love. She admires Kunimitsu's determination to succeed, both as a player and a coach, and trusts his judgement, even if she does not agree with it at first.

Shuna Sorimachi: Kunimitsu admires Shuna's play, even judging her to be better than Reika. It is not known exactly why, but Shuna is very interested in Kunimitsu.

Mitsu Kurodate: Mitsu certainly has a full-on crush on Kunimitsu, and he is the only boy who can get her out of her usual cool mood.