Emi

Emi (絵美) is a girl who lives in the countryside where Hidenori Tabata's grandparents stay where she is revealed to be Hidenori's cousin.

Appearance
Emi is slim and of a short stature, with tanned skin. She has dark brown eyes and dark brown hair styled in multiple bangs.

She is usually seen wearing casual clothes.

Personality
Emi is an outgoing and fun-loving sort. She is also rather impulsive, jumping at Hidenori Tabata without checking to see if she knew him or not. She is known for harassing her childhood friend Kiyohiko, which indicates a mean side to her.

High School Boys and Drop-Kicks
Emi first makes her appearance when Hidenori Tabata visits his grandparents in the summer. She kicks Hidenori into a stream, thinking he's Kiyohiko. After she notices that he's somebody else, an awkward silence ensues and Hidenori becomes enraged on realizing she kicked him without even knowing who he was. Just then, Kiyohiko pulls up on his cycle and sees that something's going on.

After clearing up the situation, Hidenori tells Emi he's not that mad about being kicked, but tells her to stand near the bank so that Kiyohiko can kick her in. When they protest, he tells Kiyohiko that he can understand she frequently mistreats him, and he should get her back for once. Losing his patience, he shoves them both into the water.

As Emi gathers herself, she notices Kiyohiko sobbing that it was the first time anyone truly understood him. Hidenori then helps him up, gives him a hug of solidarity and leads him by the hand out of the water. Completely stunned at the turn of events, Emi wonders if it's a 'boy-meets-boy' situation she's witnessing.

High School Boys and the End of Summer
After the events at the riverside, Emi and Kiyohiko spend time with Hidenori Tabata, enjoying the summer together. During this period, she develops feelings for Hidenori, and is saddened as his date of departure approaches. On their last day together, which is a festival day, she dresses up in a maroon kimono and decides to confess to him. She waits on a low bridge over the river for the others.

Hidenori and Kiyohiko show up late, which she chides them for. She then gives Kiyohiko some money and asks him to buy some juice for her. He says they're already late, but she is determined to get rid of him in order to be alone with Hidenori, and pushes him along. After he leaves, she tries making conversation with Hidenori, but is highly nervous. Eventually, she asks him if he had a girlfriend, to which he says no. He asks her in turn if there was something between her and Kiyohiko and she indignantly denies it.

As Emi tries to gather her courage, Hidenori says he forgot to tell her something important. He tells her that due to the ties between his mother and her family having been cut, he's never been to a family gathering. Hence, he only found out recently from his grandmother that he and Emi were in fact cousins.

Emi digests this in silence, although clearly distressed. The aftermath of this is shown in the manga, in which it looks like she jumps off the bridge in disappointment in front of an astonished Hidenori.

Other
In "High School Boys and Secrets", Hidenori Tabata tries to outdo his friends' secrets and claims he has a girlfriend. He tries to pass Emi off as his girlfriend by showing them a picture of her on his phone, but the others don't seem to care whether it's true or not.

Etymology

 * The name Emi means "picture, painting" (絵) (e) and "beautiful" (美) (mi).

Trivia

 * Emi placed 29th in the popularity poll, with 290 votes.
 * Emi mistaking Hidenori Tabata for Kiyohiko makes more sense in the manga than in the anime, since Hidenori and Kiyohiko share the same hairstyle in the manga.