Hatsumi Usuzumi

Hatsumi Usuzumi (薄墨 初美 Usuzumi Hatsumi) is a third year student at Eisui Girls' High School.

Appearance
Hatsumi has short purple hair tied into pigtails and light brown eyes. She has a childlike appearance despite being a third year student. She wears very skimpy miko clothes and has distinct tan lines showing. Her white haori has huge arm sleeves that reach down to her calves. Diamond shaped holes in the sleeves allow her to play mahjong. The weight of the sleeves and the narrowness of her shoulders sometimes causes her haori to slip. She wears matching thigh high white stockings. Her red hakama is very short and is open at the sides.

She has been seen breathing flames from her headdress, which is a Boze mask she may use when performing her duties as the Akuseki shrine maiden, 悪石の巫女 (Akuseki no Miko): Evil Stone's shirine maiden.

Akuseki is a small island of Kagoshima prefecture. The Boze mask is from there.

Personality
Hatsumi can be a quite stubborn girl who still believes that she can make a hand while in the north seat after she was repeatedly blocked by Sae Usuzawa and warned by her teammates.

She seems to care a lot about Komaki Jindai's well being as she doesn't want Komaki to overexert herself.

Combined Training Camp Arc
We first see Hatsumi when she wins her prefectural tournament with a direct hit yakuman. When she returns to the Eisui waiting room she asks about Komaki Jindai. When Kasumi Iwato says that she doesn't know whether to be happy or sad when she doesn't need to play, Hatsumi answers that it's better because they don't want Komaki to push herself like last year and that they want to win the championship easily.

National Tournament Arc
Hatsumi appears with the rest of Eisui watching the Kiyosumi match in the first tournament round where she notes that they are scary because they defeated Ryuumonbuchi, including Koromo Amae, and thus must be better. Tomoe Karijuku then says that it will be difficult for Kiyosumi and Haru Takimi wonders why. Hatsumi answers that it may be because they come from a prefecture that had few schools participating. After Komaki scolds them, Hatsumi and the rest are shocked when they hear Kiyosumi end their match in the lieutenant battle.

During the second round of the tournament, when Komaki awakens early during her battle, Hatsumi and the rest comment on how bad she is while she's awake. But with her saying that she would take care of it even if it's a 60,000 point difference when it's her turn. Later in the match she is surprised when Komaki again falls asleep. She is then seen during the lieutenant battle surprised when she sees Haru smiling (a rare occurrence).

She is next shown leaving for her vice-captain's battle. When she makes her way to the arena she gives Nodoka Haramura a big fright because of her mask and before the battle starts she greets her opponents.In the anime, she teleports into the playing hall and does a ritual dance before playing. At the start of the battle Hatsumi realizes that she can see feathers coming from Nodoka and that she has awakened. Before the second hand Hatsumi notices that on Nodoka's win she didn't feel anything and wonders if she is a robot or something. After Kinue Atago wins the second hand, Hatsumi sits north. As she is gathering her hand, she notices that she is being blocked by Sae Usuzawa and remembers her teammates giving her warnings of the girls abilities. However, she doesn't believe them and plays into Kinue's hand on purpose so she can sit north again. Later Hatsumi is again shown gathering her tiles but is blocked by Sae and then is ron'd by her. After halftime, Hatsumi is again shown gathering her tiles and wonders about Sae's abilites before being blocked by her yet again to her disbelief. In later rounds Hatsumi again came close to winning big but the hand ended in a draw. Another hand, Hatsumi pon's Kinue then makes a kan and when Sae chooses not to block her, she wins with a yakuman. After one last hand the match is over.

During Kasumi's match, she and Tomoe are surprised that players are starting to counter Iwato's abilities. After Kasumi's loss, she is with Komaki waiting for the purification to be complete. Komaki then apologizes for not doing more and Hatsumi tells her that it isn't her fault and their opponents really couldn't be underestimated. When Tomoe explains that Komaki had a weak spirit in preperation for the semi's and finals, Hatsumi comments that now she will have them for the individuals. Later when Kasumi proposed that everyone but Hatsumi and Komaki should go to the beach, she became pouty until Kasumi relented.

Final Eight Arc
While playing on the beach, Hastumi claims it in the name of her shrine. She also tells Komaki that she has brought inflatable boat to play with.

National Championship Arc
Hatsumi greets the visiting Miyamori girls and asks if they want a bath, meal, or her but they ignore her and choose to go to the baths. While in the bath, she asks Sae Usuzawa if it is okay not to watch the games tomorrow.

While in the hot spring, Hatsumi asks Kasumi why she hasn't came to the beach yet and asked if she is feeling dizzy. She then tells that Miyamori is watching the games in an air conditioned room.

Hatsumi is playing in the water with her friends and all of a sudden sneezes. She believes someone is talking about her.

Playing Style/Abilities
Hatsumi's ability is activated when in the North seat, making her somewhat similar to Yuuki Kataoka and Kazue Nanpo. When she is in the North seat, Usuzumi uses the Gates of Evil, 鬼門 Kimon, which refers to misfortune hailing from the northeast as demons and evil spirits can enter in the human world from there. When it's active, Hatsumi is able to easily call the North and East tiles. Afterwards, she draws in the South and West tiles, Ura-Kimon 裏鬼門, The Back Gates of Evil, thereby aiming to achieve either the Shousuushii or Daisuushii yakuman.

Etymology

 * The name Hatsumi means "first" (初) (hatsu) and "beautiful" (美) (mi).
 * Hatsumi's surname Usuzumi means "thin" (薄) (usu) and "ink" (墨) (zumi/sumi).

Trivia

 * Hatsumi loves to swim.
 * When it is Hatsumi's turn to play, she comes out in a ceremonial headdress and puts it back on afterwards.
 * Hatsumi is one of the six hermits.
 * In the anime, Hatsumi teleports into the playing hall where she does a ritual dance before playing.