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The Red Rose Family 紅薔薇 Rosa Chinensis

(Super) Rosa Chinensis. An extremely good judge of character. Informal leader of the Yamayurikai (Lillian student council). Youko is an excellent source of logic and counsel to Ogasawara Sachiko, but knows her limits and realizes that Fukuzawa Yumi is the better person for providing Sachiko with affection, and reaching her heart.

Youko is very fond of Satou Sei, although she doesn't openly admit it to Sei. Sei finds out just how much unrequited love Youko sent her way, but chooses not to reciprocate anyway.

After graduating from Lillian, Youko went to Law school.
 

Rosa Chinensis En Bouton, later Rosa Chinensis after Mizuno Youko. Rich and well-bred, but lacking in people skills. Has trouble expressing herself, because she was conditioned not to. Distrusts men due to the infidelity male members of her family displayed.

Although Sachiko made Fukuzawa Yumi her soeur after a few chance encounters, the pair ended up being mutually beneficial. Still, the two of them treasure their bond too much to risk anything that might weaken it. Thus they tiptoe cautiously in the each other's presence, and suffer from severe and spectacular cases of miscommunication from time to time. Sachiko later becomes very emotionally dependant on Yumi.

Sachiko is engaged with her cousin, Kashiwagi Suguru. Although she loves him, her love is unrequited. Her father is Ogasawara Touru (who used to study at Hanadera Academy), her mother is Ogasawara Sayako (maiden name is Kiku****), her paternal grandfather is head of the Ogasawara conglomerate, and her maternal grandmother (Kiku**** Ayako) used to be in a soeur relationship with Ikegami Yumiko (Katou Kei's landlady).

Unknown to Sachiko, she had a secret admirer by the name of Uzawa Mifuyu (鵜沢 美冬), whom she had briefly been in the same kindergarten with.
 

Fukuzawa Yuuki is Yumi's elder brother. Her father is Fukuzawa Yuichiro (who owns a small architectural design company), and her mother is Fukuzawa Miki, who has a younger sister named Houribe Taeko. Her mother's maiden name was Houribe, and used to worship Sachiko's mom while studying at Lillian. Kobayashi Masamune (小林　正念), the accountant from Hanadera's student council seems romantically interested in Yumi.

Yumi is a classmate of Takeshima Tsutako and Todou Shimako during her first year, and Shimazu Yoshino during her second. Being the first person to warm up to Yumi in the Yamayurikai, Satou Sei eventually becomes Yumi's primary confidante. Sei jokingly refers to Yumi as the "woman with a hundred faces", after her inability to keep a poker face. Yumi disparagingly refers to herself as having a "raccoon's face". She is often likened to a loyal and expressive little puppy.

Very much later in the novels, Yumi becomes more self-confident, and picks up some of Sei's flippant/lecherous character. (This doujin manga describes Yumi's later relationship with both Matsudaira Touko and Hosokawa Kanako).
 

Current favorite as candidate for the position of Rosa Chinensis En Bouton Petite Soeur after Fukuzawa Yumi, if she is chosen as Yumi's petite soeur. Drama club (演劇部) member. Good-natured, but proud, hates to lose, hogs the limelight, and sports a brattish attitude. A second cousin of Ogaswara Sachiko's, she initially vies with Yumi for Sachiko's attention. Later becomes enamored of Yumi, although she refuses to admit it. Touko eventually competes with Hosokawa Kanako for Yumi's affection.

Shimazu Yoshino thinks that Touko's character is too similar to her own to make a good petite soeur. Touko's personality also appears to be the complete opposite of Hosokawa Kanako's. Touko has a flair and love for the melodramatic.

Touko is a good friend of Nijou Noriko's, having enthusiastically helped the transfer student fit into the school. Satou Sei referred to Touko as the "Drill" after her distinctive hairstyle.
 

Although she never had any intention of becoming Fukuzawa Yumi's petite soeur, Kanako was previously a candidate for the position of Rosa Chinensis En Bouton Petite Soeur after Fukuzawa Yumi. She dropped out of the soeur candidacy after Lillian's cultural festival, although Yumi and her remain good friends. Extremely tall (178cm) transfer student who worships Yumi (or rather- her idealized image of her), and competes with Matsudaira Touko for Yumi's affections. Kanako is introverted, but openly despises all men because of an event where she felt her father betrayed her trust in him.

Her father used to be a big time basketball player/coach, until tragedy befell him and he lost his job. He stayed at home and did the housework while his wife supported the family. As Kanako’s mother started succeeding as an elite business woman, her family started to crumble. Kanako’s mother would come home, gets drunk, and start nagging and bitching about her day, and start yelling at her husband for all her problems at work. Kanako-chan still loved and was proud of her father, until Yuuko, a treasured friend and senpai from her previous school became pregnant with Kanako's father. Yuuko, a basketball player, had treated Kanako-chan like her own little sister.

Sachiko has a very low opinion of Kanako, both for her obsessive idolization of Yumi, and her self-centered past. However, Yumi does successfully aid in reconciling Kanako with her father. Kanako eventually realizes that she has associated Yumi with Yuuko in her own mind, and has been acting unreasonably to keep Yumi (and thus Yuuko) from becoming 'tainted'.

Kanako is nicknamed "Denpa" after her radio-wave shaped hairstyle, or "Dekai" for her extreme physical height.
 

The Yellow Rose Family 黄薔薇 Rosa Foetida

(Super) Rosa Foetida. Both sensible and loony at times, she has a capacity for making some very unusual choices. Eriko is bored with her life-  once she has set her heart on a strange new thing she likes, she will pursue it endlessly. Chose Hasekura Rei as soeur for her abnormal height, and fell in head over heels in love with poverty-stricken Yamanobe-sensei for his eccentricity.

Eriko is the youngest and only daughter in her family, and thus over-protected by her father and three elder brothers. She grew up unspoiled by their attentions- in fact, she is occasionally annoyed by their pampering.

Eriko believes in being light-handed in the instruction of her sisterhood, and tries to keep her intervene as little as possible in the personal affairs of the Yamayurikai (Lillian student council). She made the Rosa Foetida family comparatively more open, but less warm than the Chinensis'. Eriko can't get close to Shimazu Yoshino, probably due to Yoshino's possessiveness of Rei.

Eriko first met Satou Sei while attending kindergarten. Sei called her "Deko-chan" (baldy) after her large forehead, and the two had been at odds ever since. Eriko went to study in a prestigious liberal arts college after graduating from Lillian.
 

Rosa Foetida En Bouton, later Rosa Foetida after Torii Eriko. Rei is captain of the Kendo club. Despite her imposing and masculine appearance, Rei is very effeminate- she's very good at cooking, and loves romance stories. She does not appear to be as skilled as her peers at reading and manipulating others.

Rei is cousin to Shimazu Yoshino, and lives next door to her. Her life seems to revolve around Yoshino, and she treats Yoshino like a delicate flower, even after Yoshino had been largely cured of her heart disease. Her choice of Yoshino as soeur seems a foregone conclusion.

Rei has a fan named Tanuma Chisato a girl in Yoshino's year who finds Rei's card during the valentine competition and wins a date with her. Chisato later joins Rei's kendo club.

Rei won the informal "Mr. Lillian" contest because of her perceived masculinity.
 

Rosa Foetida En Bouton Petite Soeur, later Rosa Foetida En Bouton after Hasekura Rei. In spite of her demure appearance, Yoshino is very headstrong, independent and aggressive. She resents Rei's pampering, and longs for adventure denied by heart disease- she has a hole in her heart.

Yoshino has hinted several times that she is attracted to Fukuzawa Yuuki. Yoshino is a classmate of Fukuzawa Yumi's during her second year at Lillian.

Yoshino later joins the Kendo club during Rei's captaincy, and becomes something of a club junior to Tanuma Chisato, who joined a year earlier.

Yoshino is often likened to a sweet but finicky kitten.
 

Top contender for the position of Rosa Foetida En Bouton under Shimazu Yoshino, if she does not pick a soeur before Nana joins Lillian High School on Yoshino's third academic year. Nana is currently a third year student in Lillian Middle School, and Yoshino would very likely have made her petite soeur otherwise.

Nana has three elder sisters attending Oonaka Girls' High School, who are top rivals of Lillian in inter-school Kendo tournaments. Her sisters go by the surname Tanaka, while Nana herself has been adopted by her grandfather's family- and so goes by a different surname.
 

The White Rose Family 白薔薇 Rosa Gigantea

(Super) Rosa Gigantea. Sei was an anti-social rebel who gradually opened up to others during her time in the Yamayurikai (Lillian student council). Sei secretly feels that she can't 'fit in', and hides her tortured self behind a mask of devil-may-care playfulness. Sei is arguably the only Yamayurikai member with any real claim to homosexuality in the series.

Sei has a doting father who had lately (since Sei started high school) been too busy with work to see his family much. Sei's mother seems status-conscious and not particularly strong-willed or dependable.

Sei knew Torii Eriko since they were in kindergarten together, and the two had been at loggerheads since Eriko called her "American" because of her non-Asian looks, when they first met. Indeed, she is still rather touchy about the subject of her looks to this day. Sei became infatuated with Kubou Shiori the year before Fukuzawa Yumi entered Lillian, and did not choose a soeur until a year later, after she had recovered from her heartbreak. Sei found her soeur in Todou Shimako, who is two years her junior. Despite Shimako's obvious similarity to Shiori, Sei maintained a comfortably platonic relationship with her, where both knew precisely what each could expect from the other. Sei tries her best not to be over-protective of Shimako, as she was graduating barely a year after accepting her soeur. Sei has started to be less hostile to others meddling in her personal affairs, and even tries to kick-start Yumi and Ogasawara Sachiko's relationship with her endless teasing.

Sei later enters Lillian University next door to the High School, and takes up the first year American English studies (女子大学文学英米文学科一年). Sei drives like a maniac. She is often likened to a fox, due to her sly and amorous nature.
 

Rosa Gigantea En Bouton, later Rosa Gigantea after Satou Sei. Shimako was never Petite Soeur, having been inducted into the Rosa Gigantea family by Rosa Gigantea herself. Shimako is very quiet and reserved, and aspects of her personality closely resemble Sei's- which is part of the reason why Sei was advised to pick her as Soeur. Shimako was a classmate of Fukuzawa Yumi and Takeshima Tsutako during their first year at Lillian.

Shimako does not like to be a bother to anyone, over-complicates things in her mind, and tends to generate a lot of internal angst. After Sei graduates, level-headed Nijou Noriko proves to be an ideal companion- as she helps Shimako see the brighter and simpler side of things.

Shimako was informally affiliated as a helper with the Yamayurikai (Lillian student council) for a large part of her first year before Sei finally accepted her as Soeur. Shimako is daughter to the head priest of a well-known Buddhist temple, and fearful of being thrown out of the Catholic Lillian should the fact ever become known.

Shimako is nicknamed the "Ginko princess" for her love of the said trees. She is often likened to a cute little rabbit.
 

Rosa Gigantea En Bouton after Todou Shimako, Noriko skipped having to be Petite Soeur because Shimako was already Rosa Gigantea at the time of her induction, Noriko transferred into Lillian sometime after Satou Sei's graduation. She is a gentle and soft-spoken soul who will nevertheless stand up for her convictions and beliefs. Noriko is an avid admirer of Buddhist Statues (仏像).

As described by the author- Konno Oyuki, Noriko’s appearance is “similar to an ichimatsu-ningyo”, a traditional Japanese doll with an okappa hair (hair cut straight across the forehead). Noriko is a good friend of Matsudaira Touko's.

Noriko wanted to start her own school society, but eventually joined the Yamayurikai (Lillian student council) for Shimako's sake. Like Shimako before her, Noriko spent a long period of time nominally attached to the Yamayurikai before being accepted as a member. Shimako was afraid that if Noriko couldn't fit into the Yamayurikai, Noriko would leave her. Shimako didn't want to be made to choose between the Yamayurikai and Noriko, which is why Shimako tried too hard to make sure Noriko got along well with the other members.
 

Shiori's parents died in a car accident when she was in the third year of her primary school. She moved to Nagasaki under the care of her uncle, and returned to Tokyo on the year she met Satou Sei. Shiori aspired to be a nun since early childhood, and was about to leave Lillian to pursue her ambition when both Sei and her were thrown into confusion by their passion for each other, although Shiori was the first to realize that nothing good would come of it.

Sei wanted them to elope to some faraway place, and Shiori initially agreed to it. The nun-in-charge of Lillian (Sister Uemura Saori 上村 佐織) found out, and managed to convince Shiori to abandon their foolish plan. It was later discovered that the old nun had gone down the same path with the author Kasuga Seiko (春日 せい子), and had nearly committed suicide at its inevitably tragic conclusion.

Shiori never met up with Sei at the train station, and soon transferred away from Lillian for Sei's sake, as well as for her own dream of becoming a nun. During the time when they were together, Sei put her on a proverbial pedestal and unrealistically regarded her as an otherworldly and perfect being. In a way, Sei later chose Todou Shimako as her soeur partly because of the latter's resemblance to Shiori, although Shimako seems more accessible and easy to relate to.

Shiori was a classmate of Ogasawara Sachiko's during their first year at Lillian's.
 

Shizuka is a talented singer in the school choir, and a longtime secret admirer of Satou Sei. Shizuka's mother jokingly described Shizuka as the vindictive sort. She was initially jealous of Todou Shimako for being Sei's chosen soeur, but later grows to appreciate Shimako. Shizuka left Lillian to study in Italy after finally revealing her feelings to Sei, who did not share her sentiments.
 

Kei studies in the same American English studies course (女子大学文学英米文学科一年) with Satou Sei. The two became aware of each other when Sei absent-mindedly responded to Kei's phonetically-similar name for her own..

Kei lives in a girls' dorm managed by old Ikegami Yumiko, who was in a soeur relationship with Ogasawara Sachiko's maternal grandmother- Ogasawara Ayako, until a misunderstanding tore them apart almost until Ayako's dying day. Kei's mother died when she was about three years of age, and some conflict with her father and stepmother made Kei decide to live apart from them.
 

The Lillian School Newspaper Department

Editor-in-chief of Lillian's school newspaper. Cunning and persistent, Minako was the mastermind behind the letter-finding competition on Valentine's day.
 

Soeur and kouhai to Tsukiyama Minako in the Lillian school newspaper department, Mami is also reckless Minako's voice of reason. Later becomes (along with Todou Shimako and Nijou Noriko) romantically interested in Shimura Takuya (志村タクヤ)- a university student who is Noriko's Internet acquaintance, and a fellow admirer of buddhist statues. Mami is assigned to Fukuzawa Yumi's class during the second year, along with Takeshima Tsutako and Shimazu Yoshino. Mami is exceptionally sharp when it comes to finding new scoops for the school newspaper.

Mami later makes a junior in her club, Takachi Hidemi her petite soeur.
 

A very good friend and classmate of Fukuzawa Yumi's. Tsutako is a self-professed 'genius' and 'ace of the newspaper department', and believes that she would become soeur to no one, because she felt that her seniors had nothing to offer. Tsutako studies in the same class Yumi does, and chases after even the slightest chance of a scoop with the same dogged determination her department members share. Tsutako is primarily a photo-journalist, in contrast with Yamaguichi Mami's focus on interviewing and report-writing.

Satou Sei referred to Tsutako as "Camera-chan".
 

Almost certain to become Takeshima Tsutako's petite soeur and newspaper club photography apprentice in future. Now studies in Kiku-umi. Before she joined Lillian High School, Shouko was very impressed with the various photos taken of the Yamayurikai, and sought to join it just to be able to appear in those photos. Shouko snuck into Lillian to join the Valentine's Day letter hunt while she was still in her third year of Lillian Middle High.

Fukuzawa Yumi realizes that Shouko would be better off with the Yamayurikai photo-taker, and subtly manipulates events so that Shouko gets to meet Tsutako.
 

The Male Characters

President of the Student council at the Buddhist Hanadera (花寺) Boys' academy. Suguru appears to possess a personality diametrically opposed to Satou Sei's, although the two eventually share the same fondness for Fukuzawa Yumi, and also a lack of caution when it comes to driving. Suguru is very grateful to Yumi for bringing about many positive changes in his and his cousin Ogasawara Sachiko's family.

Suguru is engaged to Sachiko, although he does not appear to be romantically interested in her. Suguru is possibly homosexual, and finds Fukuzawa Yuuki exceedingly attractive. Suguru is nicknamed the "Gingko prince".
 

President of the Student council at the Buddhist Hanadera Boys' academy after Kashiwagi Suguru. Yuuki was elected as president due to his neutrality, for he was neither truly involved in the sports or arts societies. It is quite possible that Suguru had influenced the election. However, the position probably held more symbolic than actual authority, and he was surprised at the amount of influence his elder twin sister, Fukuzawa Yumi wielded in the Yamayurikai (Lillian student council).

Yuuki is a friend of Suguru's, although he is uncomfortable at some of his advances. Yuuki thinks that Matsudaira Touko is "rather cute".
 

Nicknamed "Kuma" (bear) by Torii Eriko, who proposed marriage to him even though she hardly knew him. Eriko met him at the zoo, and he barely noticed her half of the time. He is poor on account of spending most of his money on a fossil, and is a responsible, if eccentric educator.