Chihiro Mukunoki

Chihiro Mukunoki
Personal info
Japanese name:	椋 千尋
Rōmaji name:	Mukunoki Chihiro
Nickname:	Chihi (ちひ)
Birthday:	March 2
Location:	Goutsu, Shimane prefecture
School:	Komosawa Middle School Senriyama Girls' High School
Grade:	1st year middle school (Shinohayu)
Media
Debut:	Shinohayu, Chapter 36
Mahjong
Position:	Captain

Chihiro Mukunoki (椋 千尋 Mukunoki Chihiro) is a first year student at Komosawa Middle School and the ace of their mahjong team during the Shinohayu the Dawn of Age events who will later enter Senriyama Girls' High School.

Appearance

Chihiro is 140 cm tall. She has long light brown hair with the sides tied with a ribbon and reddish eyes.

She wears the Komosawa uniform.

Personality

Chihiro is a little flighty and comes up with interesting anecdotes to dodge questions she doesn't want to answer (such as mentioning her phone at 11:11 was at 11%). She is confident in her playing abilities, and thinks that East Shimane is weak compared to West Shimane, despite the fact that in the children's tournament, only the east participates.

It is revealed that when she gets nervous she just wants to run away, and ends up being late to the meeting times with her team, prompting them to want to put her on a leash to keep her on time.

Playing Style / Abilities

As the first year ace of Komosawa, the 7 year representative of the Shimane prefecture, she is really strong. It is mentioned that as an elementary schooler she beat the interhigh champion Kanon Yaji who had recently gone pro.

In the finals of the prefectural middle school tournament, Chihiro dominated the game, going on a winning spree, achieving a perfect game. She often picked waits that had smaller odds of winning compared to other waits, seemingly giving her the appearance of being able to look into the wall to see which tiles she'd win with. It appears that she also has the ability to slow the other players' hands, preventing them from achieving tenpai. When other players attempt to disrupt her, all they do is disrupt the other players, allowing Chihiro to win instead. Mio claims the power she showed in the prefecture finals was only a fraction of her ability.

Plot

City Tournament Arc

Chihiro skips the tournament and is asked why by Tomoko Nagami. She then dodges the question by talking about her phone battery. She then jokingly asks if they lost without her today. Tomoko then proceeds to inform her of Yumachi's victory but Chihiro isn't too interested. However, she says that there are much stronger kids where she is from and wishes to show everyone this.

Individual Tournament Arc

While browsing through the records, she believes the east is weak.

Shimane Tournament Arc

She arrives late and tells the others that despite being motivated to win, she is really nervous. When Yuzuha leaves, she pats Chihiro on the head and says she will be counting on her. During the vanguard match, she asks the manager about the lineup and says that she won't be able to get to play otherwise. The manager tells everyone to go all out. When Tomoko arrives back in the waiting room, Chihiro says that she is proud of her.

Chihiro is the captain of the team and plays against Shizuku Nozu from Yumachi Middle School, Fuuka Kawakami from Hirefuri Middle School, and Sana Kamoto from Himebara Middle School. During their game, Chihiro achieves a perfect game, not allowing anyone else to win, and she herself exceeding a 10-hand winning streak.

On their way to play a practice match, Chihiro asks who they are playing. Yui tells her that they are playing Tonomi High and asks her not to be rude. Yui Kajino also tells her that she can only go all out on the last hanchan. Chihiro then wonders if they will ever be an opponent that she can use all her power without breaking.

Shimane Individual Tournament Arc

She does extremely well heading into her match with Yuzu, Shino Shiratsuki, and Aina Moriwaki. The match goes back and forth for a while until Shino manages to bust Yuzu and overtake Aina and Chihiro. After the match, Yuzu apologizes to Chihiro for not helping her win but Chihiro tells her it is not her fault and that the opponents were interesting.

Mixed Training Camp Arc

Back at Komosawa, Akiko announces she is including other schools to their training camp where the others complain but Chihiro calls them scared. Akiko then says it's mostly to study Shino and Chihiro likes the idea and says she won't lose to her again. Once Shino's group arrives, Chihiro is among those that greet them. Once everyone settles in, the practice matches begin. Later in the night, Chihiro is with Yuzu after taking a bath.

On the third night, she overhears Shizuku yelling that she will defeat Komosawa in the bath. Chihiro tells Yui that she was a bit tough that day and to not let her guard down. She then says it's a shame that Shino was sent home because she wanted to play with her more.

2nd Children's National Tournament Arc

She arrives with her team to the hotel. She notices that Tomoko is loving her pillow a lot and wonders if she should feel relieved or sorry for her. When the elders start stripping for the bath, Chihiro says that she wanted to eat first but relented when she found out the meeting place was in a restaurant.

During the semifinals of the tournament, she is switched to vanguard and plays against Chiyoko Takahashi and handily defeats the girl. In the sergeant match she thinks to herself that Tomoko should be very careful against Naoko Tanba. Komosawa ends up winning the tournament.

Etymology

• The name Chihiro means "thousand" (千) (chi) and "search, seek" (尋) (hiro).
• Chihiro's surname Mukunoki means "type of deciduous tree, grey starling" (椋).

Trivia

• Ritz Kobayashi mentioned that Chihiro's character design posted on her blog resembles a little Ako Atarashi.