Kaede Fuyou

Kaede Fuyou (芙蓉 楓) is a main character in the Shuffle! series. She is Rin Tsuchimi's childhood best friend who has been living under the same roof ever since Momiji Fuyou (Kaede's mother) passed away in the same accident that took the lives of Rin's parents.

Kaede makes a return in Princess x Princess as a side character.

Appearance
Kaede is a young woman who embodies the season of Autumn with shoulder-length bright orange just like autumn leaves, sky blue eyes, a slender/petite build, and delicate facial features that gives her a fairy-like appearance.

Kaede’s most commonly seen attire is her uniform, but she changes her wardrobe throughout the series.

Personality
Kaede is an attractive young lady who is very modest, polite, and clear-headed. She is also excellent at housework. Nevertheless, she frequently prioritizes Rin Tsuchimi to the point that she neglects herself.

In the anime adaptation, however, she shows classic signs of a yandere. Her eyes become soulless, and the usually gentle face becomes hostile and menacing whenever she is in that state. She is seen shown to have severe mental distress and acts violently when a great shock upsets her.

Background
Kaede is Rin's childhood friend who grew up with him in the same house after Momiji Fuyou (Kaede's mother) and Rin's parents died in an accident.

Eight years prior to the story, Kaede was in her second year at Koyo Academy, she resented Rin, blaming him for the death of her mother and Rin's parents in a car accident. In the anime adaption, Kaede went as far as to drop a sharp object in his eye from a stairwell.

However she soon realizes the truth that her mother and Rin's parents were due back from their trip earlier because she was sick. With this new-found knowledge, she was plagued by great remorse for years of mistreating him.

She begins to atone by joining the cooking club with Asa in middle school to be a better cook and starts taking care of him. She devotes her life to Rin and caring for everything around him. Because of this, Primula misunderstood her as a servant when they first met. When Rin tries to help her with housework, Kaede stubbornly refuses it, often becoming emotional.

Due to her beauty and personality, Kaede is incredibly popular at school. She also has an unofficial fan club, and 1/3 of the boys in the school are members. As a result, she is sometimes referred to as the "Princess of the Human World," following Sia and Nerine's footsteps, the princesses of the divine and demon worlds.

In the anime, she exhibits violent behavior when Rin continuously blew off, hanging out with her to get closer to Asa. After Asa and Rin returned from a date, Kaede lost it. She slammed Asa against a wall, which resulted in Asa having a heart attack and being hospitalized.

Kaede is shown to have romantic feelings for Rin but considers herself unworthy to be loved by Rin or to stay by Rin's side. Though not in a romantic way, Rin also cares deeply about her. Although she has come to terms with her own feelings, she still loves Rin and declares this in the last episode.

Character Relationships

 * Rin Tsuchimi: Her love interest and childhood friend who is also a classmate of his at Verbena Academy.


 * Mikio Fuyou: Her father and caregiver who is usually away on business. He plays a major part in ending the tense relationship between Rin and Kaede.


 * Momiji Fuyou: Her deceased mother, whom she loved very much. She wasn't the same after her mother's passing and took the aggression out on Rin.


 * Asa Shigure: Her senior friend. They met in a cooking club in middle school when Kaede joined to learn how to cook for Rin. The two appear to be close friends since, Asa walking to school with the two everyday. However, in the anime, Kaede snaps and attacks Asa when she spends too much time with Rin. Afterwards, she apologizes for her actions, feeling terrible about hospitalizing her and realizing she couldn't control Rin's actions, and Asa accepted her friend back.


 * Primula: Close friend and housemate. Their relationship resembles that of siblings. Primula wore Kaede's middle school clothes when she first arrived in the Human World, and the two are often seen spending time together. Primula saw firsthand how Kaede slowly began to change after Rin started hanging out with Asa.


 * Lisianthus: Her friend, the two share an accidental kiss in the ending credits of episode 25.

Trivia

 * The name Kaede means "maple" (楓).
 * Kaede's surname Fuyou means "lotus, Mt. Fuji" (芙) (fu) and "lotus" (蓉) (you).
 * Kaede is the only character in the Shuffle! series to show tropes of a Yandere, with a violent streak.
 * She is notable for being one of the first yandere in mainstream anime.
 * All the erogenous scenes inside Kaede's Memories world (Really? Really!) are driven by Kaede's insecurity about whether Rin Tsuchimi will fall in love with one of the other girls and abandon her. Asa seems to be her biggest worry, as evidenced by a proportionally larger amount of her erotic scenes than others.
 * Sakura Yae is the second contender.