The shrine maiden at the Fuurin shrine (the kanji for Fuurin literally means 'wind bell'). As the eldest of the ancient Kurosawa family, she upholds her family teachings and does her best to preserve traditions. Hence, she often gets into arguments with Ruby, who has a more open view on the spiritual matters and welcomes unconventional concepts and foreign ideas. Deep down, she is proud of her little sister all grown up and independent, though that does make her feel a bit lonely sometimes. She finds solace in the cats that often surround Kanan and Chika, and greatly appreciates it whenever Chika comes by with a few cats that are left in her care.
During the time Ruby was away traveling abroad, she grew close to her student Hanamaru. In a way, the young calligrapher filled the void that her little sister left behind, but she certainly didn’t consider her a mere replacement. Hanamaru has become a true friend and Dia values her opinions. As per her family's instructions, Dia was to give the blessed katana, the Kochou, to someone worthy of wielding it as well as using it to its greatest potential. She was told that she would know who the right person was when the time was right. Eventually, Dia determined Kanan was the one, though she didn’t explain to Kanan why she chose her. Dia considers You to be a good assistant in tasks like locating mischievous spirits that play harmless pranks on civilians, and since Kanan has complete trust in You, Dia also does the same.
The Kurosawa Family specializes in cleansing vengeful spirits or vanquishing youkais, and there haven't been any prolonged supernatural cases for generations. Therefore, Dia takes the recent events seriously and vows to get to the bottom of this. She is highly suspicious of the foreigners, especially the airy self-proclaimed blonde chemist, even more so after finding out her precious little sister's closeness to Mari. Yohane’s tricks confuses Dia to no end and even rather irritating sometimes. At least, Riko seems like a reasonable person, seemingly aloof but actually warm-hearted.
For most of the supernatural cases, her direct intervention wasn’t needed. The ofuda/talisman imbued with her powers is more than enough. She would dress in her ceremonial robes to perform miko dance; there has yet to be any youkai that could defy this purifying power. Additionally, the winds would answer her call and heed her commands. However, this also causes great strain on the spellcaster’s body, so Dia would only resort to this if necessary.
Matsuura Hanamaru
A calligrapher learning the Art of Sealing - using the fudepen, she is able to create wards to keep off the lesser malevolent spirits, or confine the stronger ones on parchments until those with spiritual powers (such as Dia and Ruby) can purify them. She is proud to be Dia's student and both Kurosawa sisters' friends. She tries to be understanding and supportive of each sister's viewpoints, and thus encouraged Ruby's desire to travel abroad while remaining by Dia's side to provide companionship. When Ruby left on her trip, she missed her dearly and worried for her constantly, and most of that worry was transferred to her adopted sister Kanan. Kanan sometimes (fondly) remarks that she nags like Dia does. The similarity makes her happy, as she's always admired Dia and wanted to be like her. Even then, she continued to wear her hair in a ponytail like Kanan does.
She grew up with her grandparents in a secluded temple, but they passed away when she was just a little girl. Lost and scared, she remained in the temple and lived off of what remaining food the pantry had. Before things became dire, an older girl came by the temple in hopes of finding food and water. Kanan had lived off of the streets as long as she remembered, and she wanted to settle down at a place close to the sea. After Kanan invited Hanamaru to come along with her, the little girl decided to leave the temple behind and they traveled to many places until they reached Uchiura. It was by luck that they inadvertently helped out the aging Chief Inspector Matsuura in one of his errands, and he decided to adopt them after hearing their story. Kanan underwent intensive training to succeed him, while Hanamaru decided to learn more of the spiritual world at the Fuurin Shrine. A part of her still feels guilt for leaving the temple, but she does not regret her decision.
Since she is petite, her unusual strength always surprises people who don’t know her. Perhaps it’s due to being Kanan’s adopted sister or something, but she is able to carry her giant fudepen and utilize it fluidly, no problem (sometimes even uses it like a club…). She is quite protective of her family-like friends, so she is also skeptical of the trio from Ohara Apothecary. Riko seems an okay person, and Ruby always talks highly of Mari, so that just leaves the incomprehensible errand girl Yohane. At least, her magic tricks are entertaining zura.
Kurosawa Ruby
Apprentice alchemist. As a Kurosawa, she is naturally intuitive to spiritual matters, and she does take great pride in her family name. However, she also worries for her older sister Dia, who abides by rules and traditions and is practically confined to the family shrine. The heiress has to remain on shrine grounds and its perimeter in order to conserve the shrine’s full power. Ruby doesn’t believe in sacrificing one’s happiness, least of all not her sister’s, just because tradition demands it. She wants to learn and see more of the world, and surely there is a way for mikos to retain and utilize their powers regardless of location. In spite of Dia’s disapproval, Ruby left Uchiura and traveled abroad.
The journey was exciting albeit a little frightening. She grew to be so much more independent and confident throughout her trip, but she truly found her calling when she met a quirky scholar named Mari. Mari, however, is actually an alchemist searching for an item that can make the impossible the possible, a concept that enticed Ruby. Mari was intrigued by the spiritual ways, which acted like a catalyst for many chemical reactions, and so she took Ruby under her wing for a while as an apprentice. Before they parted ways, Mari promised to come by Uchiura one day and they could reconvene.
After Ruby returned to her hometown, she continues to study alchemy and attempts to hybridize the two very different disciplines, much to Dia’s displeasure. She sometimes shares her discoveries with Hanamaru, as well as You, Chika and Kanan whenever they visit. When Mari finally comes to Uchiura as promised, Ruby is happy but also conflicted by Riko and Yohane’s involvement in Mari’s quest. While it is good to have more members to their cause, it also presents the issue of fairly distributing their discovery, whenever that may be. Ruby doesn’t like such thoughts and hopes that she never has to choose between her sister or her teacher-friend. Sometimes she has the urge to exorcise Yohane even though she’s pretty sure Yohane is a human...
im really tryin not to be upset bc i know im my best friend’s best friend and she can be close with other people, she can live her life but i get so scared bc when i was small i literally had ‘friends’ who would purposely exclude me from things and i just felt so invisble and sometimes i get sad that that could happen again
