Kyouka Inamura

Kyouka Inamura (稲村 杏果 Inamura Kyōka) is an alumna of Asakumi Girls' High School and a friends of Shino Shiratsuki, Kanna Ishitobi, Hayari Mizuhara and Yue Hondou in the Shinohayu the Dawn of Age series.

Appearance
Kyouka has brown hair that is tied into a high bun with two long long strands in the front.

In middle school she wears the Yumachi Middle School uniform with a short skirt.

Kyouka was 149 cm tall in her 6th year in elementary school and became 156 cm tall in high school.

Personality
Kyouka is a kind, quiet and modest girl who is the only one who actively tried to reach out to Kanna Ishitobi to attempt to repair their friendship when Kanna pushed them all away out of all Kanna's friends and she seems to want the best for Kanna, but she is also not afraid to tell Kanna when she's wrong.

She shows a strong will, and similarly to Shino Shiratsuki, while she didn't care whether she won or lost she only wanted to play with her friends - specifically, with Kanna; but now, she sees that winning allows her to play more.

Defeat Arc
Along with the rest of Kanna Ishitobi's friends, Kyouka is recruited to help Kanna defeat Hayari Mizuhara. Kyouka asks if they are expected to win against Hayari, and finds Kanna's description of them as "sparring partners" tactless. Kyouka succeeds in winning against Kanna after getting a san-ankou, causing her to fly into a rage.

The next day, Kyouka is the only one to come to the multi-purpose room when Kanna comes to apologize. She asks to go home with Kanna, but Kanna declines. Kyouka and the others come back, apologize to Kanna and start playing together again. She then asks if Kanna is enjoying mahjong, but Kanna says no.

Children's Tournament Arc
Kyouka is then shown coming late to the 11th Matsue Children's Mahjong Tournament and watching the final match. She notices Kanna's happy expresion and leaves with a smile when the match is over. After the tournament ends, with Kanna in second place, Kyouka tells Kanna that Rena has started swimming, so they need a new player, prompting Kanna to invite Shino Shiratsuki on Kyouka's suggestion. Kyouka then says that she didn't watch the game, knowing that Kanna would not want Kyouka to see her defeated. Kyouka later comments that winning the nationals is quite a jump upward from where they are.

Idol Arc
Before the festival, Kyouka lends Shino and Kanna some yukata. She is then seen enjoying the festival with the others. After the concert, the girls decide to go swimming and Kyouka says that her mom will take them.

Yue's Arc
She and the others are walking on a road when they meet Yue Hondou. After the time skip, she is shown entering the children's tournament because she wanted to try what Kanna went through and makes it all the way to the finals. She does fairly well, even winning a hand or two, but ends in fourth place.

Girls of Yumachi Arc
Some time after the match, Shino spends the night with Kyouka because her uncle is in Tokyo. Having heard this the other girls decide to have a sleepover. That night Kyouka asks the others if they want to do anything besides mahjong, and the girls wish to go to the baths. Later on she sees Kanna sleeping wildly so she smiles and pulls the covers over her while the other girls tease her.

Kyouka and the others are playing mahjong in the club room until they notice Kanna sleeping. When the others say they are sleepy as well, Kyouka suggests a nap. The next day she arrives late because she was trying to get someone else to play with them but failed. Shino suggests calling Hayari to which Kyouka agrees because Kanna was always saying how they should practice against strong players.

Kyouka, Kanna, and Shino all head to Hayari's house to play. After doing pretty well, she helps Hayari with cooking. Later they go to the pool and afterwards the multipurpose room. She then talks with Shino about Tanabata. When the summer holidays role around the girls decide to head to the beach. While playing the meet Yue once again and go to her house to play some mahjong. The matches aren't shown but Rena says that with the final totals Aina Moriwaki wins.

Children's National Tournament Arc
When Shino and Kousuke arrive in Tokyo, Kana and Kyouka are there to greet them. Kana then says that they are there to support Shino and they are staying at Kyouka's grandparents house and wants Shino to stay there as well. Kousuke wonders if that is okay but Kyouka quickly makes sure that it is. Shino then departs with her friends and Kousuke goes to a work related meeting. The next morning Kyouka joins Shino in a jog before the tournament. When Kana complains about not seeing Shino's match, Kyouka informs her that she's in the last group and that in the first round only the matches with prominent players are shown on TV.

End of Summer Arc
After returning home, Shino felt down so the girls decided to take her to the beach. When Kanna explains that it was Rena's idea, Kyouka says it's too bad she got sick and couldn't come with them. Shino then tells them that Rena was perceptive and Kyouka asks if anything happened at the tournament. Shino then tells them how she searched for her mother but found nothing. She says that since her mom watched her play an official match, she'll win as many official matches as possible.

Back at Yue's house, the girls play mahjong and Shino says how much she wants to play as a team in middle school. Throughout the conversation, she tries to be the voice of reason when Kanna tells Yue and Hayari to just come to their school. The next day Shino, Kanna, and Kyouka are seen walking in yukata. Kanna says she didn't do her homework and wants summer extended by three months. Kyouka informs her that it wouldn't be summer then.

Later at school, Shino says that she is tired. Kyouka says it's because she's third in the country and even received a commendation in front of the whole school. She is then surprised when Kanna says that she is vexed by Shino and wonders if she is "back". The girls then play a round of mahjong.

During the school trip she hangs out Rena, Himari, Shino, and Kana. At night after the bath, Shino tells her that she wants to grow her hair longer to show that she is grown up. The next day they continue on their trip.

Entering of Middle School Arc
It is mentioned by Kanna that Kyouka gave all the boys in class cheap complementary chocolates for valentines day. On the last day of elementary school, she accompanies Kanna and Shino to thank the cooks in person for their meals.

After graduation, all the girls go to Shino's house to celebrate and discuss what they will do for spring break. We then time skip to the middle school entrance ceremonies. When it's over the girls greet Hayari and say how much they look forward to checking out the mahjong club presentation. Later the girls decide to check out the club and meet after classes. On they way to the club they are then excitedly yelled at by Shizuku Nozu to come inside. Shizuku then explains that she was at the children's tournament two years ago and how she was a student at Yumachi as well. Ayuko Yamamoto and Mirin Katsube finally show up and the girls begin to play a few rounds of mahjong. Kyouka is paired with Kanna, Mirin, and Rio Takuwa. At the end of the matches Kyouka placed fourth. She then notices how bad the seniors do and speculates with Rena if they lost on purpose.

Suddenly the advisor Chisa Sakane appears and greets them. Shino asks her to play but Chisa says it's a waste of time and to not expect anything from her because she doesn't want to be their advisor. She then shoos them out of the club room.

City Tournament Arc
Kyouka is seen cooking at school with Rio and Kanna. While everyone was admiring how Shino was able to eat popcorn with chopsticks while playing mahjong, Kyouka tells them that Shino is ambidextrous. With the city tournament coming up, the girls play mahjong to determine who will play and who will be a reserve player. Kyouka is able to make the starting captain position.

While walking to the tournament hall, Kyouka's mother calls out to her, much to Kyouka's embarrassment. She is then seen very worried when Kanna is defeated by Yue. Rena then asks if they should go to her but Kyouka says that if they do then Kanna will be even more depressed. However she is concerned that she collapsed. When Kanna comes back, she greets her. She then sees that Shino is up against Aina and informs everyone that nobody has a winning record against her.

After Shizuku's match, Kyouka leaves her peers and meets with Shizuku in the hallway. She congratulates and commends Shizuku for her win, but jokes that it puts much more pressure on her; Shizuku does her best to reassure Kyouka. After Shizuku heads back to the others, Kyouka slaps her face with both hands to help relieve the pressure, and begins her walk to the stage - only to be interrupted by her mother shouting good luck. While this breaks the focus that Kyouka had, she is relieved, and thinks that she's not as tense anymore.

The other Captains, Airi, Rio, and Yuzuki are already in the playing room when Kyouka arrives. The dice roll and Kyouka draws first blood, daring Manbara's Rio to take action - despite the point difference, Kyouka only needs to take first place in order to move on. Rio steps up and wins the next hand, but Kyouka swiftly takes away all those points from Rio, and begins her onslaught.

In the penultimate hand, Kyouka is leading by a wide margin, over 26,000 points above second place, and no one else positive. Dairoku's Airi calls a pung on the live chun tile, and Kyouka immediately becomes weary of a DaiSaGen from her. Onoze's Yuzuki discards the live hatsu, with no reaction, but soon declares riichi on an obvious chinitsu. Airi discards a haku tile, and Kyouka thinks it might be a bluff to throw people off of the DaiSanGen track. Kyouka soon reaches tenpai, but doesn't want to discard the 7-sou in order to reach tenpai, fearing Yuzuki's hand, and she decides to bail. She then wins the next hand, closing the match with Yumachi holding 3 wins, allowing them to go to the next round of the tournament.

After the match she tells Rio that their vanguard is stronger than she is then leaves to rejoin the team. They congratulate her and point to the match board. She then says that she is happy. Kanna then asks Kyouka if she had been holding back this whole time. She says no and that it wasn't just about her this time and that she might have been more eager to win this time. Kanna decides to go outside and sulk and Kyouka wonders if it was okay for her to win. However she quickly reminds herself that it would've been bad if she had lost.

That night, Kanna's mom calls and says that Kanna is missing and that she did not bring her phone. Kyouka immediately goes to find her on a hill. Kyouka reminisces about the first thing she remembers doing with Kanna. Kyouka, Kanna, and Rena were playing near the hill and find a boat. Kanna and Rena then jump in and try to convince Kyouka to join them and she reluctantly agrees. In the middle of the lake, the boat starts to take on water. During the panic, Kanna comes up with a plan to get them back to the shore. Kyouka and Kanna both jump into the lake and push the boat while Rena rows. When they make it to the shore, Kyouka realizes that she had lost her necklace that her grandmother got her. That night she caught a cold and couldn't go to school. She then awakens to find her necklace had been brought back to her by Kanna.

The flashback ends with Kyouka saying it's been five years since then and Kanna hasn't changed that much at all. She then worries about her preparedness for the individuals. Kyouka then says to herself that she hasn't completely forgiven Kanna for the necklace but she is so hopeless that she must always believe in her.

Individual Tournament Arc
Kyouka arrives early enough to begin playing a four player game before Shino was able to make it in the morning. That afternoon the practice was cut short due to Chisa. She then suggest to the girls they go home and play online. It begins to rain and when Rena says that she forgot her umbrella, Kyouka offers hers. Hayari tells Kyouka that she can head home with her. On the way home she asks Hayari what her motivation is for staying in the club. Hayari tells her that it's based on feelings and that she wants to stay together with everyone, especially Shino. That night, the girls then call each other up and decide to confront Chisa directly in the morning. They go to the staff room but Nakamura tells them that she is on vacation and he whines when they ask for his help.

After the Individual Tournament, the 1st years gather around to finally confront their adviser. Chisa tells them that elite athletes have one rest day for every two practise days, and also confronts the girls about having longer morning practices without informing her. After telling the girls her side of the story, Chisa waves them away, stating they already practiced one day so this is their rest day.

While discussing what they should do on their off day, Kanna and Shino suggest they follow Chisa to find out what she does after dismissing them. They follow her to a cafe, but decide to go home and study afterwards, as she would notice them following her into the cafe.

The next day, Shino confronts Chisa about what the waitress inside the cafe said, leading Chisa to come clean about her reasoning and way of advising the club. Kanna requests through all of that that Chisa leave the clubroom open even on break days in the event the players feel the need to practise, and Chisa yields, saying she'll try to stay later to close the room after the players leave.

Shimane Tournament Arc
The month leading up to the prefectural tournament is filled with practise. On the day of the tournament, Yumachi arrives at the tournament hall and talk about how nervous everyone is, even National competitors Hayari and Shino. In their team room, Chisa informs them of the roster change she made, placing Kyouka as the Lieutenant.

At the end of her match she is defeated, although it was a close call. Back in the room she says it hurts to lose and puts up with Kanna's bragging. At the beginning of Hayari's match, she apologizes to Kanna for losing but Kanna says that no one can blame her. Kyouka then says they have to move forward and take the lead.

Shimane Individual Tournament Arc
Watching Shino she is a bit worried.

Mixed Training Camp Arc
The next day Kanna asks Kyouka about the prize banner and she notices Kanna didn't sleep much the previous night. Kanna said she looked at score sheets and watched the previous matches to compare to what she would've done. They get to the club room and begin practice matches. Although Kanna wins, Shino makes her angry. Kyouka later asks about what the girl is worrying about.

Yumachi Middle was invited to a joint training camp with numerous schools. As the girls get settled in, they begin practice matches. Afterwards Kanna complains about it but Kyouka points out she won a lot of games. Kyouka also notes Shino lost a lot and it might be because their is no pressure involved. Shino Shiratsuki wonders into the kitchen during the second night of the training camp to see Rino Maniwa and Kyouka conversing. Kyouka gets her some tea and the girls have a chat before being interrupted by Yui. Kyouka bristles everytime the girl speaks to her and they all decide to go to bed leaving her behind.

On the third day, she informs Yue and Rena that Shino got sent home due to heatstroke. Shino was so out of it that she took a shower with her clothes on and she wouldn't let Kanna or Hayari touch her so Kyouka and Chisa had strip her.

2nd Children's National Tournament Arc
Kyouka and Kanna talk about Komosawa arriving for the national tournament late at night. Kanna mentions that it hurts more this year because they're team didn't get to go. The girls later meets up with Shino. They watch Kokoro Oroku on television while still keeping updated on Komosawa with a tablet. Shino gets excited and wishes to play mahjong some more. The girls move a table from the shed inside and begin to play.

While playing, Hayari and Shino make note of the match on television in great detail. Kanna is stunned by their ability to multitask. Kyouka sees this and says that having and idea of what is happening at several different tables and being strong at one are two different things. She tells Hayari that she doesn't want to lose at single table showdowns.

She tries checking the Komosawa match and then makes dinner. Later in the night she takes a bath with Kanna. She thanks Kyouka for always helping her and wants to repay her somehow.

The girls then watch the rest of the tournament and Komosawa win.

Playing Style/Abilities
According to Kanna Ishitobi, Kyouka builds her hand's "vertically" who often goes for chiitoi and toitoi and her hands are slow. Her hands tend to be closed with many pairs and pungs, although her only win in the 12th Matsue Children's Tournament was an open toi-toi. This makes it difficult to read her hand, and easier for Kyouka to make traps for her opponents to fall into. For example, while going for a chiitoi, she discarded the 8-pin and 6-pin, while her wait was the 9-pin.

Because of Kyouka's playing style, Aina Moriwaki now sometimes bails, this seemingly makes her the only player to have Aina learn from her; as the others approached Aina with the intent of learning from her, but Aina learned something from Kyouka.

As of her first year of middle school, it appears that her speed when building hands has increased, as her opponents thought that Kyouka was really fast at winning.

Etymology

 * The name Kyouka means "apricot" (杏果).
 * Kyouka's surname Inamura means "rice plant" (稲) (ina) and "town, village" (村) (mura).