Kirino Chiba

Kirino Chiba is a second year high school student, and the captain of the kendo club. Energetic and enthusiastic, she dreams of leading the team to the nationals. Her family owns a deli named "Chiba Deli". Kirino is very happy that Kojirō has finally begun to put more effort into training his kendo team, but she is oblivious to the real reason why her teacher has suddenly begun to train the team so enthusiastically. She is proud that she is the captain of the kendo club and is more responsible than she appears (i.e., picking up the shinai when the other members leave them lying around on the floor, chiding the other members for not picking up after themselves, etc.). Kirino seems to find Tamaki quite adorable, as she and Sayako will often treat Tamaki as a "little sister" type (i.e., playing with Tamaki's hair, not listening to her kendo lectures, making Tamaki fight merely because she wants to see her fight, etc.). Despite that, however, she has great confidence in Tamaki. She is described as being the heart of the group by Kojirō. She plays the position of Second-in-Command (fukusho) in the competition.