Natsuho Nekogazaki

**Natsuho Nekogazaki** (猫ヶ崎夏歩, *Nekogazaki Natsuho*) is a protagonist and one of the main characters in the series. She is also known as the **Hateful Cat**.

## Appearance

Natsuho manifesting her powersNatsuho's cat formNatsuho's Yokai form
Natsuho has dark slate gray hair worn with a long side-ponytail that has a red tie with two silver bells tying it and neck length forelocks. She has bangs that split from the left, covering most of her right side of her forehead. She is normally seen wearing a pale pink hooded-jacket with a white collared-shirt. Attached to the collar is a red ribbon. A black short skirt is worn along with the outfit. She is sometimes seen wearing a school uniform with a gray collar that has one white stripe with a red ribbon tied to it. The outfit includes a black jacket with gray cuffed sleeves that have a single white stripe, a white collared-shirt underneath the jacket, a short black skirt, and black socks with black shoes. In the past, she had a similar hairstyle to Fuyuho except that her bangs are parted to her left instead of the right, and it's been stated by several characters that she is the spitting image of Fuyuho. As an adult, she lets her hair down instead of tied into a side ponytail.

When using her powers, she gains cat ears.

## Personality

Natsuho has an extremely shy personality. In the beginning of the story, she would purposely only move through areas without people. In cases where she runs into strangers, she would often run into an alley in search for a cardboard box to hide under. In addition, she gets nervous when meeting new people. She gradually loses her nervousness when she befriends and hangs out with someone many times. She is generally nice.

It is seen later on that her shyness has been subdued somewhat to a degree that she can manage being near strangers as long as one of her friends stands between herself and the stranger in question.

She appears weak at heart, but when provoked her convictions are arguably stronger than any other character's.

Compared to most characters, Natsuho is very innocent.

## Etymology

**Natsuho** (夏歩): **Natsu** (夏)means "summer", and **ho** (歩) means "walk".

**Nekogazaki** (猫ヶ崎): **Neko** (猫) means "cat", while **ga** (ヶ) means "months", and **zaki** (崎) means "promontory" or "cape".

Presumably, **Nekogazaki** is the author's way of a pun on "**Neko ga suki"**(猫が好き) meaning "I like cats."

## Relationships

### Kyoichi Nekuni

When she and Kyoichi first met, Kyoichi made a deal with her which was to allow her to hate observe him. After spending time with him, she began developing feelings for him with the love being reciprocated; however they weren't open about their feelings for each other at the beginning. Towards the end of the series, Kyoichi confesses to Natsuho and asks her to marry him. Several years later, they have two kids, one named Akiho and the other Haruho.

### Ayaka Ushigura

At first, she was intimidated by Ayaka because Ayaka would always play and pet her in her cat form. After revealing her true form to Ayaka, Natsuho became scared because she doesn't want Ayaka to hate her. After fighting with each other in a match for Ayaka be around Kyouichu again, Ayaka reveals that she does not hate Natsuho. They started warming up to each other, and they now see each other as a good friend and love rival for Kyoichi.

### Fuyuho Nekogazaki

Natsuho is one of Fuyuho's nine souls. Natsuho was the weakest of Fuyuho's nine souls. Despite her friends getting hurt as well as herself, Natsuho refuses to abandon her because she knows the situation with Fuyuho. She also refers to her as her "other self".

### Sana Inuhara

One of the friends she made from being friends with Kyoichi.

### Miyako Nekuni

Because of Miyako's chumminess, Natsuho became a little intimidated by her, and as she is a shy person, Natsuho easily gets nervous around her.

### Toya Itachizuka

Toya often teased Natsuho, and much of their interactions were unfriendly ones. Natsuho bore a great hatred against Toya for killing Kyoichi right before her eyes, causing her to go out of control. However, she was unable to kill him because her sorrows were too strong for her to do anything.

## History

When Natsuho was younger, she did not remember much about her past other than having to live her life and go to school. It was revealed that Natsuho is one of Fuyuho's nine souls, and she was the weakest of Fuyuho's nine souls. She was separated for being a failure, weak, and underdeveloped, and she was also split for the purpose of lowering the Nekuni's guard down. When questioning Fuyuho why she had to go to school, it was to mature her mentality.

## Abilities

As a Yokai, Natsuho has certain abilities. First, she is able to manifest claws from various parts of her body, most commonly her hands. These claws are near impenetrable (they are seen to crack under pressure during the battle with Itachizuka.) In addition, she has superhuman agility. With the added identity of the Hateful Cat, she is able to transform into a huge black cat, which is her yokai form, or a regular black cat. In addition, as the Hateful Cat, she possesses a sixth sense which acts as a premonition of various incidents.

After the Land God gives his godship to Natsuho, she gains the powers of the Land God which adds on to her abilities.

## Trivia

* It was originally thought that Natsuho was the head of the Nekogazaki Family, however, it was revealed that Fuyuho is the current head.
* Her name is the opposite of Fuyuho's name.
	+ **Natsu** (夏) means "summer" while **Fuyu** (冬) means However, they both share the same kanji for "walk" (歩, ho).
* Natsuho is sometimes seen wearing a hoodie with 2.22 written on it. This is a reference to National Cat Day in Japan, which is celebrated on the 22nd of February.