Ayame Nureba

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Ayame Nureba/Gallery

**Ayame Nureba** (濡羽 綾女) is a deuteragonist in the spin-off series *Kakegurui Midari*. Though shy and insecure at first, she later experiences the thrilled side of gambling and becomes a member of the Beautification Council at the encouragement of Midari Ikishima.

## Appearance

Ayame has collarbone-length hair with two streaks on the sides of her head, where a small ponytail is tied by a white bow on the back. She has bangs hanging over her forehead. She wears semi-rimless glasses and a normal Hyakkaou uniform.

Yuuichi Hiiragi, the mangaka of *Kakegurui Midari*, replied to a fan on Twitter, saying that while there are no official colored artworks (at the time), he draws Ayame imagining her hair as brown and her eyes as red.

For the release of Volume 4, a colored illustration of Ayame has been released.

## Personality

Ayame seems to be a generally friendly girl who seems to be shy and honest, stating she doesn't want to make love to a stranger, but she gets into trouble easily and she also shows admiration for Yuriko Nishinotouin, thinking she's beautiful and elegant.

    However, when she was forced into such a situation, she planned to take her own life, unable to find any other way to deal with her issues. She is very conflicted and insecure at times.

Later during the Hand Knife Trick game, she was almost driven to insanity and developed somewhat of a sadistic side, which she wants to pretend never happened. During the series, she often shows this trait, although as soon as a gamble is over she goes back to her usual reserved self. It seems to be almost like an alternate personality. She isn't particularly happy with Midari Ikishima's touchy-feel approaches and feels embarrassed when she hugs or touches her in some way.

## Profile

### *Kakegurui Midari*

Ayame is first seen losing a gamble and falling into debt against Nana Ootori. She plays again hoping to regain her money, but only ends up losing even more. Ootori states that her only option was to make money as a sort of prostitute for executives of a certain company. Horrified by that, Nureba sees no other way and goes on the school rooftop to commit suicide. She is confronted by Midari Ikishima who was apparently hanging out on the roof as well. She tells her not to do it, reminding her that it would make a mess and she'd cause troubles. Because Ayame is not listening, she proposes to gamble about her life. If Midari wins, Nureba can't kill herself. The challenge is for Midari to keep her from falling. So she pushes Ayame with her foot. Ayame gets scares and sees her life flash before her eyes. But in the last second, Midari sticks her hand out and Nureba reaches for it. Finally safe on the rooftop again, Midari screams at her for having no guts and still grabbing onto her hand out of human reflex. She leaves Ayame behind, who has to process what just happened.

Later, Ayame goes back to Ootori for one last game, since she doesn't want to sleep with some shady businessmen. Nana is cheating, however. Nureba realizes that she is about to lose, but luckily Midari steps in. Midari immediately realizes the game is not fair and proposes a hand knife trick game for the two to play. They need to stab in between Midari's finger as much as they can within a minute. Ootori starts and is fairly quick. Then it's Ayame's turn. Because she is so nervous and scared, she accidentally stabs Midari's finger. Nana is glad, thinking she just got into trouble for injuring the leader of the Beautification Council, but Midari screams at her to continue and stop being such a coward or finally kill herself. Ayame gets angry at her and decides she now wants to kill her. She proceeds to furiously stab between her fingers. Although she pierces Midari's hand a lot, she still continues. Ayame does this with death in her mind: since she knows what she would have to do if she lost, she basically fights for her life. Through all the pain, Midari gets infatuated.

     Ayame gets faster and faster, with a smile on her face, as she loses her grip on sanity. One minute is over and she won by a large margin. Her debt is now erased and Midari asks her to join the Beautification Council, since she looked like she had fun. Ayame is embarrassed and doesn't know what to do, all the while Nana is totally freaked out.

Ayame keeps telling Midari to be more patient, since she can't make her decision yet on whether she should join the Council. Eventually, she agrees and they go there. They are greeted by Naoe Habakiri, the Vice-Beautification-President. Midari enthusiastically introduces her, while Ayame still doesn't like the idea of having actually enjoyed hurting Midari. Naoe is not pleased and declines Ayame as a new member. Midari proposes that they should gamble about that. Naoe agrees, but only if Midari leaves the Beautification Council in case of Ayame's loss. Nureba is confused since she hasn't got any money, but Midari pays her entrance fee. Now, Ayame has to gamble against Naoe if she wants to join. Quickly she ends up losing, but she has an idea and suggests to gamble more, betting Midari's social status. Unsurprisingly, Midari is quite happy and declares she will become the housepet of the Beautification Council, letting Naoe do anything she wants to her. Ironically, closing her eyes allows Ayame to see through Naoe's trick and win.

The following day, Ayame has received the money she won against Naoe. She enters the Beautification Council room and is greeted by Midari and Naoe, who have prepared a small party for her. Ayame is nervous and is still unsure if she wants to join the Council, but Naoe begs her to because the other members quit on the spot and the Council needs more people. Reluctantly, Ayame joins, which makes both Naoe and Midari happy. After a while, Midari announces she has to work (which surprises Naoe) and asks Ayame to join her as her first task in the Beautification Council. She explains her duties, saying her job is to deal with the trash in the school and make it pretty again. On that day, she was asked to collect money from the leader of a gang that is causing issues around the school, Kurimu Terasumi.

    The two meet her in a classroom where she's hanging with her friends. Kurimu politely introduces herself, but Midari has no time for her games and immediately ask her to take out the money. The girl is, however, reluctant to pay. Midari tries to reason with her, suggesting to gamble for it, and even says she will leave her alone in case of defeat, but Kurimu keeps refusing. It's only when Ayame is pushed and accidentally reveals the content of her suitcase that they manage to catch Kurimu's interest. Ayame is scared of becoming a target of violence from the delinquents and quickly says she will give up on her money; Midari proposes to gamble with it - their 300 million against Kurimu's 17 million. Kurimu happily accepts and proposes a dangerous game.

Midari wants Ayame to play since it's her first job. Ayame immediately starts reflecting on the best choice; she calculates that choosing five would make her win, but Kurimu finishes her turn safely. Because Ayame has no knowledge about revolvers, she didn't know that removing the safety makes the cylinder rotate by one. When Midari questions if she actually loaded a bullet, Kurimu almost shoots them, narrowly missing them. Ayame is extremely scared and falls on the floor, shaking. Since she vehemently refuses to keep playing, Midari tells her to shoot her instead, excited by the possibility of dying. Ayame protests, but Midari grabs her wrist and makes her point the gun at her head. While she still doesn't want to risk murdering her, she notices Kurimu's unusually angry expression. This small detail makes her realize there is something wrong with the game. Thus, Ayame coldly presses the trigger over and over, turning Midari on more and more. She is totally expressionless as she plays, which shocks Kurimu.

When the game is over, Midari realizes what happened and exposes Kurimu for pulling a trick on them, explaining her use of the "magician's choice" to make them believe the game was controlled by chance, while in reality she was the one deciding. Soon the two girls leave. While they're walking, Midari asks Ayame if she was actually ready to kill her. Ayame replies that she wasn't; she's still a student and could not live the rest of her life bearing such a horrible sin. She says she knew something was off when she noticed Kurimu looked angry during their turn, which is not the appropriate emotion for someone who may be about to witness someone's death. Midari smiles and praises her, pleased with Ayame's crazy side; then she affectionately hugs her and says she loves her, which makes her a little uncomfortable.

Later, there's a tense atmosphere in the room of the Beautification committee. The cause of it is Midari's new toy: her trademark gun. Apparently, she received it from the President. Ayame nervously asks if it's real, but when Midari suggests to find out through a gamble she has to decline. Ayame is also present when Yuriko Nishinotouin is invited over to appraise a tea bowl Midari has obtained from a student during her work. She notices Yuriko's beauty and elegance and is very courteous around her, unlike Midari. She helps Yuriko stopping Midari when she tries to smash the bowl and then witnesses their gamble next to Naoe.

When Midari wants to increase the number of members in the Beautification Council, she invites her friends over, which makes Ayame nervous. She can't wait to get out of there, but Naoe asks her to play with her against them. Ayame is not on board with this idea, but she eventually agrees. Ayame is surprised Naoe considers her a friend and reflects on the fact she was never close to anyone, as nobody did anything to help her when she was getting bullied by Nana. During the game, she feels very anxious and keeps playing only because Naoe told her she has a sure way to win. When it turns out it was a lie, Naoe apologizes.

## List of Gambles

* Ayame vs Nana
* Ayame vs Nana
* Naoe vs Ayame
* Midari & Ayame vs Kurimu
* Naoe & Ayame vs Tooame, Shagatake & Kururudo

* Blackjack 1:1
* Hand Knife Trick
* Guess the Card
* Passive Russian Roulette
* Chicken Circle

## Etymology

* The name **Ayame** means "design" (綾) (**aya**) and "woman, girl, daughter" (女) (**me**).
	+ The name may be a wordplay on the verb "ayameru" (殺める), "to wound, to kill", making her "the woman who wounds/kill" and this could be a reference to the type of relationship she has with Midari Ikishima.
* Ayame's surname **Nureba** means "wet/get wet, damp, make love" (濡) (**nure**) and "feather" (羽) (**ha**/**ba**).
	+ With different kanji (濡れ場), it may also refer to a love scene in Japanese movies or dramas, a term originally used in kabuki theater.  Midari Ikishima calls it out as an erotic name, which is ironic considering that Ayame was supposed to have sex with strangers.

## References

1. ↑ Hiiragi's Twitter
2. ↑ 濡れ場