Kaede Kayano

"Once I set my mind to do something, nothing distracts me until I'm done."

- Kayano's catchphrase

Kaede Kayano (茅野 カエデ), known previously as Akari Yukimura (雪村 あかり) is a student and the deuteragonist in Class 3-E of Kunugigaoka Junior High School, taught by Korosensei. She is one of Nagisa Shiota's best friends.

Appearance
Kayano is a short girl with light green hair that is always fashioned in unique cat ear-styled pigtails, hazel eyes and a running gag for her appearance is that she does not have noticeable breasts like the other female students in the class, giving her the nickname "Forever Flat".

In reality, her light green hair is dyed and is black, long, and wavy. When overwhelmed by the tentacles, her hazel eyes became red as a result of her bloodlust. Once her tentacles were removed, she went back to her cat ear-styled pigtails and her eyes returned to hazel.

After seven years since graduating from middle school, she went back to her original hairstyle before joining Class 3-E. She also grows taller, being just shy of Nagisa's height. Additionally, her chest has slightly grown.

Personality
Kayano is one of the most kind, cheerful and passive members of the class who frequently acts as support in assassination attempts with her ability to assess the situation and adapt herself to them.

Despite her apparent passive nature, Kayano is an empathic and strong-willed person who can be extremely determined to the things that interest her or cares about, such as her love for sweets, and more tragically, her sister's fate. She also experiences a severe complex when it comes to her sex appeal, loudly voicing her discomfort when being around large breasted women.

Before confronting Korosensei, the passive and cheerful personality was a facade to hide her true motives. Her only true attributes were her tenacity, adapting skill, and sex appeal complex, the rest being mere fabrications; her love for sweets may have resulted from the influence of the tentacles. However, after getting her tentacles removed, the happy personality she created became a true part of who she is.

History
Akari Yukimura is the younger sister of Aguri Yukimura, who before joining Kunugigaoka, was a famed prodigal actress who went by the stage name of Haruna Mase. At some point during her career, her manager suggested that she take some time off, which she did. Eventually, people stopped recognizing her altogether and she continued her time as a regular middle school student.

Akari's relationship with her elder sister was loving and positive, to the point that she would tease Aguri about who she was infatuated with as of late. She advised Aguri to end her relationship with her fiancé Kotaro Yanagisawa after deducing that he had a sinister personality underneath his charms, due to her experience with directors in her acting career. The two sisters agreed to catch up properly after Aguri mentioned getting some time off the next day, though Akari had the last word requesting to know everything about the man that Aguri was into.

One day, Akari was wandering outside the research facility her sister helped out at and witnessed an explosion take place. Because of her small stature, she was able to navigate her way through the rubble to get to Aguri. When she finally reached her sister, she saw her bleeding with a tentacled creature that would later become Korosensei leaning over her body. The creature sped off soon after leaving a note addressed to Aguri's relative telling them where to find him. Akari hurried to her now dead sister and while mourning for her, she came across the tentacle cell liquid.

She took her sister's research home and began researching the tentacles, studied what they were for and simultaneously planned her revenge as well as her ultimate act. She even transferred to Kunugigaoka under the fake alias of Kaede Kayano, which was the name of a one-shot character she once played and got herself put into Class E by destroying some of Chairman Asano's valuable possessions. Soon after, she injected herself with the cells and dyed her black hair green.

At some point not long after, she met Nagisa and decided that he was the perfect candidate to conceal her and place her as one of the background characters. She commented on his long hair and styled them into his signature pigtails. She introduced herself to him and their "friendship" began.

As a 3-E Student
In the first chapter, Kayano was the one who asked the target teacher what name they should refer to him as; he tells her that they can decide. After Terasaka's failed assassination attempt, she says the name she thought of for the teacher: Korosensei (meaning 'unkillable or invincible teacher). In spite of her main character status, she tends to remain in the background, being geared mainly towards logistical support. During the Kyoto school trip, Kayano and Yukiko Kanzaki were kidnapped by rogue high-school students. At that time, she learned about Kanzaki's secret before they were rescued by their group and Korosensei.

She devised an assassination attempt purely based on her love of pudding. Although the attempt was unsuccessful, her classmates were impressed with how straightforward and well thought out the plan was.

During the following arcs, she remains occupied on logistical and supportive roles, being Team A's only non-combat member during their fight with the Reaper. Furthermore, she helped the class during the School Festival and the Play.

Time for a Storm - Kayano's Time
Along with Nagisa, Kayano was tasked with storing away the props from the play Class E had recently made, with Korosensei quickly offering to help them. In the shack, after reminiscing her time spent with the class, she reveals two black tentacles sprouting from the nape of her neck. She suddenly attacks Korosensei, stunning him. She promptly states her love for him, along with her desire to kill him.

She then attempts to kill Korosensei with a pitfall trap, filled with anti-sensei material at the bottom of it, forcing him down with her tentacles. Her attempt is thwarted once he uses his energy beam to blow up a part of the wall to escape- Kayano being unable to stop him after instinctively recoiling in defense. The sound from the explosion alerts the class, who arrive and are shocked at the revelation of Kayano having tentacles (Itona in particular). She informs Korosensei of her current name being fake and gives him an obvious hint of her true identity and connection to him. After promising to kill him the next day, she exits the school ground, completely indifferent to her classmates and their reactions. She arranges for Korosensei to duel her at Kunigigaoka Park at night to fulfill her promise dressed in a skirt and ankle boots despite the cold weather. She reminisces how she managed to blend herself in with ease, using Nagisa as a cover to hide her bloodlust while he stands out more, and accuses Korosensei of murdering her sister. Kayano also explained how she discovered the research her sister was involved in and implanted herself with tentacles as part of her ultimate plan to kill him. Kayano also claimed that the persona she also had for most of the school year was a fabrication, the only real thing about her was her tenacity and sex appeal complex. She then starts fighting Korosensei, who was barely able to keep up with her speed.

As Kayano was quickly being consumed by her tentacles feeding off her blood-lust, Korosensei used what little energy he had to spare to inform the class to distract Kayano long enough for him to remove her tentacles. To do this, he would expose his ultimate weak spot (his heart hidden behind his crescent moon tie) while someone tries to stop her. Kayano's tentacles do manage to strike him in the heart though he survived the attempt. Simultaneously Nagisa intervenes and approaches his friend. Using Irina's seductive kissing technique as well as his bloodlust, Nagisa negates Kayano's bloodlust and kisses her in the mouth. The bloodlust from her eyes change to an expression of shock and surprise, and Kayano is rendered unconscious after 15 "hits". Korosensei then removes her tentacles. She soon wakes up returning to her normal self, explaining that as she got to know her teacher and classmates more, her initial will to kill him gradually dropped and began thinking that there was perhaps more to the story than she knew. The students forgive her and she cries that she no longer needs to put up the acting charade.

Realizing that the situation has changed and that Shiro was watching the fight the whole time, Korosensei began telling the true story of how he became to be what he is now, with the whole class including Kayano listening on. After hearing his side of the story, Kayano and the whole class realized that hearing his past plus the nine months they spent with him made the act of killing him all the more harder and frightening. Throughout the winter break, Kayano (with her hair grown back to its original length) spent her time recovering from her tentacle experiences in the hospital. On the day before the start of the final semester, she was visited by Nagisa, Sugino, Okuda, and Kanzaki, who updated her on the inactivity since hearing their teacher's past. Kayano brushes off Nagisa's apology for kissing her as simply that she was grateful to him for saving her life. However, when they leave, Kayano flails about at the thought of Nagisa kissing her and bemoans the fact that she has to continue acting as a friend.

A New Purpose
At the start of the third and final semester, Nagisa called the class together and proposed that instead of killing Korosensei, they try to find a way to save him. Kayano and several others agree with this, though Karma, Nakamura, and Terasaka were against this. Korosensei intervened following a fight between Nagisa and Karma and proposed the class to play a paintball match to settle the dispute.

Kayano joins the blue team (the team wanting to save Korosensei and to Nagisa's relief), stating that she wants to honor her sister's wish to save him, and privately thought to herself that falling for assassins seems to run in the family. Sometime after the match begins, Kayano witnesses Hinata Okano take out Hinano Kurahashi and pursues her. Her speed and ability to keep up with her quarry surprises Okano, which Kayano attributes to her physical training as part of her acting career. But Kayano is shot from behind by Kimura just before she could eliminate Okano. Okano helps the defeated Kayano up and part on good terms. When the war boiled down to between Nagisa and Karma, Kayano believed that for Nagisa to truly win and unite the class, he needed to meet Karma's melee challenge head on. She and the class eventually witnessed Karma surrendering and Nagisa winning the battle.

After painstaking research, the class discovers that there was a solution to save Korosensei, namely that Okuda's poison in the first semester would reduce the already small chances of their target blowing up by March.

Valentines' Time
She is discovered by Karma and Rio Nakamura hiding a piece of chocolate under her desk. Her attempt to pass it off as obligation chocolate fails when Karma shows her a picture of her and Nagisa kissing, completely flustering her. Karma and Nakamura decide to help Kayano out and begin spying on other classmates. To prevent Korosensei on spying on Kayano and Nagisa alone, she gives Karma a picture of Aguri Yukimura in a swimsuit and chocolate on her behalf (which works well enough to be used for an actual assassination). Kayano manages to get Nagisa alone but her nervousness makes her ask him what career path he might pursue. While Nagisa was evasive, she deduces him to become a teacher based on his admiration of Korosensei as a school teacher. When he sees Korosensei perched from afar, his straightforward focus reminded Kayano of why she fell in love with him, and why she did not feel empty and hollow after the loss of her sister and pursuit for vengeance. With this, she presents Nagisa her bar of chocolate, thanking him for always being by her side ever since she joined Class E, and walks away vowing to support him.

Assassination Time, 2nd Hour
One week before the March deadline arrived, Korosensei is trapped in the mountain classroom by the government's Earth Shield and would be destroyed by their satellite weapon on the final day. Kayano and the class were kidnapped by an elite mercenary group and held in confinement by the government for their "safety". On the final day, the students were able to escape with Irina's help, though how she did it made Kayano furious when she seemingly kissed Nagisa. Penetrating the army perimeter at the base of the mountain, the class efficiently took out the mercenaries that kidnapped them, who severely underestimated the students' abilities.

The class' reunion with Korosensei is interrupted by the arrival of Shiro and the second Reaper, the latter becoming a tentacled monster. Unlike Kayano and Itona as former tentacle users, No. 2 was completely compatible as he started attacking Korosensei in a ferocious matter. Shiro himself joins the fight, injecting himself with a tentacle seed after Kayano calls him out on always letting his pawns do the dirty work for him. Korosensei is then forced to protect the students after No. 2 is ordered to attack them. With their teacher unable to heal himself and counterattack, Kayano fires a shot at No. 2 and damaged one of No. 2's tentacles thanks to the kinetic vision she retained after losing her tentacles. Despite Korosensei's objections, she regrets having the class learn the truth and deny them the fun times they enjoyed. Her attempt to strike however is interrupted as she is impaled through the chest in the same manner as her deceased sister. Seeing this, Korosensei turns pitch black and re-engages his former apprentice, while Kayano is carried off by Nagisa.

After both Shiro and the second Reaper are defeated by Korosensei, he reveals to the class that he caught and preserved the majority of Kayano's spilled blood and damaged cells. He commences operating on her at a microscopic level, replacing the cells to their original position. He also gets blood donations from the class E students with AB blood type to help with blood transfusions, notably Karma and Itona. After this, he defibrillates her, successfully restarting her heart and bringing her back to life. Although upset that her ripped clothes had not been mended first, she was still grateful to Korosensei for saving her life. In his final moments before the execution, Kayano positioned Korosensei's head on her lap before Koro-sensei called for a final attendance and finally assassinated one minute before midnight. The whole class wailed in grief as their beloved teacher and target departed them forever.

Time After Time
After the graduation and assassination of Koro-sensei, Kayano returns to the acting profession as Haruna Mase. Her parkour skills gained from her time in Class 3-E have enabled her to perform her stunts during filming and become popular from starring in morning dramas in her own right. Seven years have passed until she paid a visit by sneaking out at the break of shooting session to the old Class E building to pray for Koro-sensei and her elder sister, where she was found by some of her former classmates. Kayano joins them to repair the class back to its former glory but as they wonder how they will be able to look after the premises when jobs and life, in general, begin to interfere, Kayano privately thinks to herself that she has one person in mind who can put the building to good use in the near future.

When Sumire Hara asks Kayano whether she has kept in contact with Nagisa, Kayano (although blushing) merely replied that he is probably more focused on his career path at present.

Nagisa Shiota
Kaede and Nagisa are regularly seen together and appear to be good friends. During the Assassination Test of Courage, Korosensei paired Nagisa with Kaede. In reality, her original reason for being around Nagisa was to merely disguise her massive bloodlust, but as she continued with the school year, she developed a genuine concern for him. She was also the one who gave him his current hairstyle, albeit to make him stand out more so she could blend into the background with ease. It has been implied that Kaede may have developed some degree of feelings for him during the year; according to the official character book, she was upset when Bitch-sensei kissed him.

In her hospital room, Kayano seemingly acted normally when her friends visited her. However, once Nagisa and the others left, she lost control of herself and flailed in a fashion much like that of a stereotypical teenage girl at the recollection of Nagisa kissing her. It is heavily implied that her feelings for Nagisa are more than just platonic, for she thought to herself about the fact that she'd have to continue acting as his friend. At the beginning of the Civil War, she had indeed developed romantic feelings for Nagisa, joking that both she and her sister Aguri fell for assassins. On Valentine's Day, she silently reminded herself she fell for Nagisa because of the focused, head-on gaze he makes when approaching his target. In the official Graduation Album, a post-graduation scene is depicted where they were supposed to spend time together, but she finds herself teased by Nagisa's pupils, much to the pair's chagrin.

Aguri Yukimura
Kayano shared a close relationship with her sister, so close that she would playfully tease her elder sister and also advised her to end the relationship with Yanagisawa. Despite each other's busy schedule with Kayano being an actress, and Aguri being a teacher in the day and a lab assistant in the night, they were still able to have their family time together. Her sister was very proud of Kayano and sought to watch over her gently from the shadows as she made her way to adulthood.

Aguri's death left a great impact on Kayano, to the point that she swore vengeance against Korosensei when she believed that he had killed her elder sister.

Korosensei
Korosensei is her target, and like most of the Class E students she quickly "warmed up" to him. She was the one who gave him his current name, something he was truly grateful for. They share the same passion for sweets, prompting her to devise her assassination attempt, which was based completely on their mutual interest in pudding. In Chapter 128, she proclaimed that she "loved" him, however, this is likely due to the influence of the tentacles.

Kayano accuses him of murdering her older sister and since obtaining tentacles, she considers him her nemesis. However, her initial will to kill him gradually dropped as she got to know him and she began thinking that there might be more to his side of the story than she knew. After hearing Korosensei's backstory, and learning that he did not kill her older sister, Kayano no longer blamed him, and as a result, regrets trying to kill Korosensei and opted instead to try to save him.

Toka Yada
Yada is somewhat aware of Kayano's condemnation for large chests and as a result, avoids it. At Okinawa, she was moved by Yada’s views on self-improvement. In Kayano’s mind, even when they stay silent, girls with huge chests will still have high levels of femininity, which is almost like cheating. But that view has begun to change. In a tankobon extra, Yada and Kayano are shown to be good friends, although the latter still harbors an aversion to her large bust.

Manami Okuda
Kayano and Okuda are shown to get along very well and are seen together at several points of the series. According to the official character booklet, Kayano is one of Okuda's closest friends.

Karma Akabane
Kayano was late when joined Class E, which was the reason why she asked Nagisa about Karma's reputation and violent fame. As time went, she eventually became friends with Karma as they are both close to Nagisa. During Valentine's Day, Karma and Nakamura helped Kayano pluck the courage to give Nagisa chocolate.

Rio Nakamura
Rio enjoys trolling and teasing Kayano, especially due to her hatred of big chests. She recently began teasing Kayano along with Karma due to her feelings for Nagisa. However, she was willing to give Kayano the courage to give Nagisa chocolate, regardless of her hidden feelings for the latter.

Like Karma, Rio refers to Kaede as "Kayano-chan".

Yukiko Kanzaki
Kayano and Kanzaki are shown to have a very good relationship. When they were kidnapped, Kanzaki told Kayano all her past and after that, they seem to trust each other a lot. We can see them together at several points of the series, normally with Okuda too.

Abilities
Perseverance: By far her greatest talent, as she was able to withstand the hellish pain from the tentacles, without any kind of treatment, for over a year. The average person wouldn't be able to function normally and would expire out of pure pain in three days without help. In spite of that, she keeps a completely normal front and can go through her entire school year without showing any kind of discomfort.

Assassination: Although hidden during most of the manga, Kayano clearly excels in the skills required for a talented assassin, being able to blend into the background very easily, keeping her true objectives and intentions hidden from friends and foes alike, regardless of their skill at discernment, and being able to strike without being noticed. Shiro states that, out of all of the Class E students, she is the most qualified one to be an assassin. However, Kayano herself states that Nagisa was the best assassin in the classroom after she was defeated by him through a French kiss.

Acting: As a professional and prodigal actress, Kayano is renowned for her skill to play any type of role flawlessly due to her remarkable adaption skills and empathy. Because of this, she was able to fool Class E's students and staff during the school year, and after graduation, she started to professionally act again in her way. All of them believed the fake identity she created. However, her acting abilities become unaffected or dulled to Karma, Nakamura, and Nagisa after her failed assassination attempt on Korosensei in the field.

Intelligence: Kayano has a very high level of intelligence, as she was noted for being the first one to pass the Kunugigaoka transfer student exam on her first try, and even could implant the tentacle cells into herself to control them in a very short time. Unlike Itona, and despite not receiving any kind of treatment, her intellect isn't impaired in the slightest by the tentacles. Perhaps her true level of intelligence was first hinted at during her first attempt to kill Korosensei, devising a plan based on her love of pudding, and although the plan failed, the simplicity and how well thought out the plan was immensely impressed her classmates. In the environment of Class 3-E, Kayano has great logistical skills to support the planning of assassinations.

Mobility: For most of the series, Kayano was shown to be among the least physically capable of the girls, though this was due to the intensity of the tentacles secretly implanted in her body. Unlike Itona, the tentacles did give her the ability to move and strike extremely fast. Once the tentacles were removed and no longer subduing the accompanying pain, Kayano was able to focus and move quickly to different spots, thanks to the physical training she had done as an actress before she injected the tentacle seed into her, to the point that her speed allowed her to easily kept track of Okano's movements and match them despite having to keep this a secret for most of the year.

Quotes

 * (To Nagisa Shiota) "The school trip was fun, we got to see different sides of everyone."
 * (To Korosensei) "I like you, Koro Sensei. Now die."
 * (To Korosensei) "I'm Aguri Yukimura's little sister. Does that ring a bell you murderer?"
 * (To Class 3-E) "In the beginning, I was full of murderous rage. But after getting to know Koro Sensei, I began to have doubts. 'Maybe this teacher has a good side I don't know about? Maybe I should learn more about him before I kill him?' But by that time, the murderous intent that had developed inside the tentacles was so great that they wouldn't allow me to turn back."
 * (About her tentacles) "The tentacles asked me what I wanted to be, and I answered... 'An assassin."
 * (Admitting defeat) "I always thought I was the best in the class. Maybe not in my ordinary human form but at least if I were to make full use of my tentacles to attack I wouldn't be a subpar assassin compared to the others. But... my heart was so easily breached. I was completely defeated. There is no better assassin than Nagisa."
 * (Her true feelings about love in real life) "But... But... I have tons of experience with... romantic roles. I've studied all about it. But... this is the first time I've actually fallen in love in real life... with a classmate."

Etymology

 * The name Kaede means "maple" (カエデ) in Katakana.
 * Kaede's surname Kayano means "miscanthus reed" (茅) (kaya) and "field, wilderness" (野) (no).

Birth Name

 * The name Akari means "light" (あかり) in Hiragana.
 * However, when written in kanji (明里, 朱里 or 朱莉), it could possibly mean:
 * 明里 - "bright, light, clear" (明) (aka) and "village" (里) (ri).
 * 朱里 - "vermilion red" (朱) (aka) and "village" (里) (ri).
 * 朱莉 - "vermilion red" (朱) (aka) and "white jasmine" (莉) (ri).
 * Akari's surname Yukimura means "snow" (雪) (yuki) and "town, village" (村) (mura).

Stage Name

 * The name Haruna means "hazelnut, filbert" (榛) (haru) and "name, noted, distinguished, reputation" (名) (na).
 * Haruna's surname Mase means "grind, polish/polishing, scour, improve, brush (teeth)" (磨) (ma) and "swift current, rapids" (瀬) (se).

Trivia

 * Kayano was called "Forever Flat" during Class 3-E training using code names. The one who wrote her code name was Muramatsu.
 * Before officially revealing her tentacles in Chapter 128, Kayano's tentacles make hidden appearances in earlier chapters:
 * A Rough Battle This Time, page 11, panel 1
 * Time for Kayano, page 19, panel 2
 * Time for a Teacher's Exam, page 9, panel 3
 * Kayano is represented as a bunny, although only once.
 * In the "Girls you're interested in" ranking made by the boys, Kayano was ranked 4th, with style listed as her best point. The comment next to her vote tally says "Small; cheers you up".
 * In the popularity poll of Volume 12, Kayano was the lowest ranked of the main trio, at 9th place.
 * In the art rankings of Volume 5, Kayano was placed 3rd among the female students.
 * Her best subject is Japanese, while her worst is P.E. In Volume 15, her best subjects before joining E Class were Japanese, Civics, Science, and P.E. and her worst was Mathematics.
 * Her dream is "to become a capable woman." Volume 15 shows that before joining Class E her dream was to be a famous actress or career professional.
 * Her hobby is karaoke-scoring.
 * Her favorite food is pudding and has shown she has extensive knowledge of it.
 * Her inability to swim, her fixation on breasts, and her love of sweets, are traits she shares with Korosensei and to a lesser extent, Itona, though she had her breast fixation even before the implantation. Her strong will, almost bordering on obsession, and drive once she decides to do something, however, is another key trait they share.
 * She dislikes people that have a large bust, except Tōka Yada, her sister Aguri Yukimura, and later Irina Jelavić.
 * Kayano is the one who gave Koro-sensei his current name, which he has used ever since.
 * While Nagisa is the main narrator of the series, Kayano acts as the narrator in Chapter 179.
 * In the tankobon extras, her statistics were listed as:
 * Stamina: 2
 * Mobility: 2
 * Close Combat: 2
 * Marksmanship: 3.5
 * Academics: 3
 * Personal Skill (Master Pastry Chef): 4
 * Her school rankings are:
 * First Term Midterms: 99th, 324 points
 * First Term Finals: 45th, 398 points
 * Second Term Midterms: 54th, 393 points
 * Second Term Finals: 24th, 356 points
 * Her statistics before joining Class E (and Before Tentacle) were listed as:
 * Stamina: 4
 * Mobility: 4.5
 * Close Combat: 0
 * Marksmanship: 0
 * Academics: 4.5
 * Personal Skill (Acting): 5
 * Along with her statistics After Tentacle at Full Power:
 * Stamina: 1
 * Mobility: 5
 * Close Combat: 5
 * Marksmanship: 5
 * Academics: 1.75
 * Personal Skill (Acting): 5
 * According to Koro Sensei:
 * In the Art Scores, she's ranked 3rd.
 * According to Mr. Karasuma:
 * In the Trap Making Scores, she's ranked:
 * Wire & Net Traps: 3rd
 * In the Miscellaneous Scores:, she's ranked:
 * Medical/Pharmaceutical Knowledge: 4th (tie with Hinano Kurahashi)
 * Negotiation: 4th (tie with Nagisa Shiota)