Kumiko Hanibuchi

Kumiko Hanibuchi (埴渕 久美子 Hanibuchi Kumiko) is a journalist at Weekly Mahjong Today who just recently joined and she is currently working with Junko Nishida.

Appearance
Kumiko has short dirty blonde hair and dark green eyes.

Final Eight Arc
Kumiko is at the nationals with Junko Nishida and served the Kiyosumi girls lunch when they visited the press box. After Nodoka Haramura informs Junko that her recording device is off, Kumiko says that Junko often makes this mistake. Nodoka then directs them to look at a blog from four years ago and say they should be a picture of them. After viewing the picture, she and Junko break down who's in the photo. They are both surprised to find out that a young Ako Atarashi looks just like Yuuki Kataoka.

When Junko rushes into the media room to get a word from Nodoka after Achiga's victory, Kumiko informs her that she is already gone and seemed to be in high spirits.

Later, she calls Junko and tells her that she has finished the Nodoka and Achiga article.

National Championship Arc
Junko Nishida inform Kumiko that she isn't coming back to cover the tournament just yet and wants to investigate further. Kumiko then gets jealous after hearing that she is now at a hot spring.

She gets a call from Junko saying she's coming back in the middle of the championship. Before she could say more, the Chief Editor cuts her off.

Etymology

 * The name Kumiko means "long time" (久) (ku), "beautiful" (美) (mi) and "child" (子) (ko).
 * Kumiko's surname Hanibuchi means "clay" (埴) (hani) and "abyss, edge, deep pool, the depths" (渕) (fuchi/buchi).