Kawano Azusa

**Azusa Kawano** (川野梓, *Kawano Azusa*) is a student of Seidō High School and a catcher of Seidō's softball team.

## Appearance

Kawano has a intimidating appearance. She is quite tall (tied with Tabata Reiko for the tallest on the team) and a serious face. She has straight brown hair that falls to her shoulders. She has narrow dark gray eyes that look right through people.

## Personality

To most people, Kawano is a cold and cruel person who doesn't care about other people. While she can seem that way, it isn't quite the case. She is quite harsh and short-tempered, and she tends to put things too bluntly. She is very strict, often asking people to do very difficult things in order to train them. She can be a bit bossy and mean. She isn't very sociable, but she truly does care about her teammates and tries to make them better. She has an incredible fighting spirit and mental fortitude. She works hard, and she is determined.

## History

When Kawano was in junior high, she was much better than her teammates. She would get very frustrated with them when they would make mistakes, and she would often yell. She tried to help them get better, but her point was not getting across because of her strict methods. She was bossy to them, and she seemed unsympathetic. Her team grew to hate her, and the spectators who saw this hated her, too. Everyone who came to the games didn't just want the other team to win, they wanted Kawano to lose. They would even boo at her when she would make plays. However, she continued to play and she didn't lose her determination.

After junior high, Kawano left her team behind to play on Seiō's team. She struggled through the tough training with her batchmates, but she stayed strong. Her strength and fortitude inspired them to stay strong like her. Even though she couldn't lead with words, she led by example. Horiuchi Noriyo, the current captain of the team, even called her the original captain of their year.

Kawano was a bit cruel to her batchmates, but it wasn't out of pure cold-heartedness. She says that she was testing their strength. She said that if they could stand her constant jabs, then they were strong. And if they couldn't yet, they would build a tolerance.

Shortly before the beginning of her senior year, Kawano began to feel a tightness in her forearm. When the pain was unbearable and kept her from playing, she went to a doctor. She had a sprain in her elbow, though nothing was torn. She wasn't allowed to play for two weeks, and after that, she had to ease back into playing. Luckily, a genius tenth grade catcher joined the team and took Kawano's place as the starting first-string catcher. Kawano only told the coach her batchmates, and her roommate about her injury.

## Trivia

* She will eat anything, and she eats a lot.
* Her favorite subject is math.
* She is roommates with Higashino Sayaka.
* She is good friends with Eguchi Mikako and Horiuchi Noriyo.
* She is afraid of fish.

### Name Etymology

* Kawano (川野) - River field
* Azusa (梓) - Japanese cherry birch

## Quotes

* *"You might not be able to tell, but Azu-chan has a lot of spirit. She may even have the most fighting spirit on this team.”"* (by Eguchi Mikako)
* *"I don’t care if you respect me or not, but you better listen to me."* (to Yamane Mitsuko)
* *"If she’s going to treat me like a villain, then I’ll act like a villain."* (about Yamane Mitsuko)
* *"When we tenth graders were struggling with the intensity of the training, she encouraged us with her strength. She kept us strong by staying strong. She was the original leader of our grade."* (by Horiuchi Noriyo)
* *"The position wasn’t mine. The position of starting catcher belongs to the player that Coach thinks will do the best."* (to Yamane Mitsuko)
* *"It’s my job to point out what you can improve on."* (to the pitchers)