Ushio Kugayama

is a student at San Marx Private Academy of Fine Arts and a personal acquaintance of Tatsuya Himekawa.

Appearance
Kugayama is a young woman with messy shoulder-length, light-colored hair, dark eyes and long, thick eyelashes. Her attire is her school's uniform for males, which is a light-colored shirt, with a dark tie over the collar, and matching light-colored jacket and pants.

She later reveals that she uses shoulder pads to broaden her shoulders and shoes with inside platforms to increase her height. She also uses cloth wrappings to bind her chest, though she cheerfully admits that they are not impressive enough to bother hiding.

Personality
The Kugayama family only accepts men as their heirs; since Kugayama was an only child and a woman, she was raised as a man. From the way of how she talked to even how she sneezed, she carefully conducted herself as a man and her true gender was a secret to all except for her family, servants and Tatsuya Himekawa. She enjoys living life as a man, but her feelings for Himekawa became too strong and she then wished to live as a woman, and the only way she could do that was if she married Himekawa.

Even though her appearance is a beautiful woman, Kugayama has a sadistic and brutal personality much like Hilda's. She acts very calm and mature most of the time, but also has seen to have a cruel side. When a man, angry about losing money due to a bet on Tatsumi Oga losing a fight, grabbed her roughly by the collar, she easily dislocated his wrist. Furthermore, she grabbed his wrist again and said with an evil smile, "It needs to be reset," and forcefully shoved the bones back in to place, increasing the pain. She can also be petty and cunning, such as the time she stole the Demon Lord's painting away from Himekawa by surprising him into turning around and then knocking him out from behind (this was a breaking point in their relationship, as Himekawa considered this action, and her confession of being a woman, to be a form of betrayal because she hid the truth from him for ten years).

Despite her initial condescending behavior towards Himekawa and his group, she is actually very deeply in love with him and wants to get married early. She had fallen in love with Himekawa since they were in first grade, but she did not want to tell him because she was afraid of ruining their friendship. She explained that she had felt tortured by her hidden feelings and her doting grandfather decided to arrange a marriage between them. She has the tendency to rant about her feelings, causing Oga and Himekawa to spit up blood in a comic reaction.

Plot
Kugayama was first seen at the San Marx Private Academy of Fine Arts in the Underground Fight Arena. She asks what he was even here for, as he had lost interest in San Marx a long time ago. Upon hearing that Tatsuya Himekawa wanted the Demon's Portrait, she insults Tatsumi Oga and the rest as "tasteless" people, adding that she was surprised that Himekawa would even discuss the portrait with them. She refuses to hand over the portrait unless Oga (whom she believed to be Himekawa's underling) won in a cage match against J.J. Elric, the undefeated champion of the day. Kugayama takes over as the MC and makes fun of Oga and sets the betting odds to the maximum (3776 to 1), causing most of the audience to bet against him. Himekawa confronts her, asking if she was really going to keep her word. He adds that he knows that she is scheming something, but she denies it.

She is surprised that Oga wins after only a single glancing kick to J.J.'s chin, but her bodyguard whispers something to her and she smiles, indicating that she is plotting something. She calmly accepts that she has lost the bet and takes Himekawa, Oga, Hilda and Takayuki Furuichi to the Demon's Portrait. Along the way, an angry man who had lost a lot of money because of Oga grabs her by the collar and he and his wife demand that she throw Oga back in to the ring to fight more. Kugayawa, with alarming composure, dislocates his wrist. She then gives him a dark smile and says, "It needs to be reset," before shoving the bones forcefully back in place. She then ignores the man and his screaming wife and asks Oga and the rest to follow her. She then leads them down further in to the earth to an underground subway. She explains that it is connected to the Parliament Building and it is used for emergencies. The Prime Minister of Japan suddenly wanders in on the track, saying that he was lost. He greets Kugayama very cheerfully when she helpfully points out the exit and calls her "Kuga" in a familiar manner. She and Himekawa then completely ignore the fact that the Prime Minister was there and walks on, comically shocking Furuichi.

They arrive at a vault guarded by two of Kugayama's bodyguards. Himekawa mentions that the portrait was too much for Kugayama to handle, to which she agrees and says that its not so much in storage as it is sealed away. She then asks if Himekawa believes in the existence of demons, catching the attention of Oga and company. One of the bodyguards explains how they had twice sent a group people to examine the painting but both times only one person from each group had come back. Curious, Kugayama had gone in alone only to find the aftermath of a massacre, including dead bodies and the insane still alive. She had dragged them out and then permanently shut the door. Himekawa asks, "Again, huh...?" and she agrees.

Furuichi questions them and Himekawa and Kugayama explain how they had obtained the painting by winning through an online game. However, after obtaining the painting, the rest of their twenty comrades had turned on each other and killed each other. Fortunately it only happened in the game. Because of that, Kugayama has only ever allowed only one person to be able to go and appreciate the painting at a time. Himekawa interrupts and says that he didn't believe in demons or weird things like that and had only come along to prove that it wasn't true. He then orders Oga to go in to the vault and burn the painting. Furuichi later realizes that since both Oga and Be'el went in, there were technically two of them.

After thirty minutes of Oga and Be'el went in to the vault, Kugayama says that the round trip doesn't even take fifteen minutes, then smirks and adds, "Well... that's if nothing were to happen." Hilda asks if Kugayama had ever seen the demon had had mentioned earlier, and Kugayama said that he had. It had merely looked at him quietly and laughed. Himekawa says that talking about demons was stupid and Kugayama smiles, saying that Himekawa was the same as ever and never believed in anything but money. Himekawa retorts that it was because money never betrayed him, indicating that Kugayama had (originally this was thought to be because Kugayama took the painting away. It was later revealed that Himekawa was including that she hid the fact that she was woman from him for ten years).

Furuichi asks if Himekawa had attended San Marx before and Kugayama said that he had, at least until secondary school. The female bodyguard explains that Himekawa and Kugayama had met "at a kindergarten in the middle of May." Himekawa had a pompadour even back then and Kugayama had at first been frightened of him, but then grew close to him and they became friends. Sometime during their third year of middle school, they were completely addicted to the online war game (the same one that Ishiyama had played against Prince En). They played "wager matches" where they bet on something in real life and, depending on whether they won or lost the battle, either kept or lost the item. They played in Himekawa's apartment suite. Kugayama was surprised to hear that Furuichi and company had also played there, and then was even more surprised to hear that it had been smashed to particles. Himekawa then diverts their attention back to the story of the past.

Because they had become so good at the game, fewer opponents challenged them and they were starting to bet bored. Just as they decided to play a different game, a challenge message came up reading, "You have been chosen. Welcome to a banquet of flesh and blood." The email was from a group called "Solomon Company" and they had wagered the Demon's Portrait. Intrigued, they accepted the challenge and won easily. They were challenged again by the same people and then everything went to hell.

They later learned that a photo had been sent of the portrait to all their comrades and suddenly they began killing each other, ending the game. Kugayama and Himekawa's game reputation shot down the tubes and then the real Demon's Portrait was sent to Himekawa's apartment. Kugayama tried to stop Himekawa from looking at the painting, but he refused to listen to her. She then tricked him in to looking in a different direction and then knocked him out from behind with a taser, later taking the painting with her.

Eventually Oga calls in the rest of the group, having subdued the guardian demon of the portrait, and Kugayama voices her surprise that he had actually made it. After a little accident with Furuichi and a lighter, Himekawa's hair was burnt and he was forced to drench his hair with water, turning him into "super pretty boy mode" or (as Furuichi put it) "Sexy-kawa." Furuichi then points out that it was impossible to take out the painting because the door was far too small. Kugayama smirks and tells Himekawa to take the painting wherever he liked, but only if he could.

She then refers to an earlier comment that Himekawa had made about her being at the top of the Academy. She says that she wasn't actually quite there yet and required the painting to do so. She then requests that Himekawa return to the Academy and team up with her in order to move countries and stand on top of the world. Himekawa refuses her and says that the only thing he's interested in is standing at the top of Ishiyama High School. Shocked, she asks if he considers Ishiyama to be more important than the world, and he retorts that money couldn't buy everything, shocking her into silence from this uncharacteristic remark. Himekawa makes to leave but she asks if he was really going to abandon the painting. She says that she could remove the painting and requests a match against Himekawa. Himekawa retorts that he had lost interest in the painting and that she could keep it. Oga interrupts and says that since the portrait was important to Be'el (it was a portrait of his biological mother, painted by his biological father), he was going to take it with him if Himekawa didn't want it. Kugayama thinks that he wants to fight for it and accepts, but Oga says that since he already won a fight, the painting was his. Oga then uses Super Milk Time to burst through the ceiling in the middle of the Underground Arena and easily carries the enormous portrait on his back.

Kugayama questions Himekawa on who Oga is and is comically shocked when Himekawa shakily answers, "Who knows?" Some of the fighters from the Arena confront Oga and ask for Kugayama's permission to take him down over the phone. Kugayama warns them not to use guns, at least not in front of the painting. Hilda easily wipes out the enemies and Kugayama arrives upon the scene, shocked to see all of his best fighters downed. Himekawa and Furuichi, who had long accepted Oga and Hilda's strength, merely walk past looking for the express elevator. Kugayama shouts at Himekawa, asking who on earth the other two were ("They can't be human!"). Himekawa says that there were a ton of others like them at Ishiyama and Kugayama realizes that that was the reason why Himekawa loved Ishiyama. She then adds that it was the expected caliber of the man that she was in love with (at this point of time, Oga and the rest were still unaware that Kugayama was female).

When Himekawa, Oga, Hilda and Furuichi safely make it to the elevator, Kugayama and her bodyguards come to make a final confrontation. She challenges Himekawa to a one-on-one battle, declaring that if she won, she would have Himekawa marry her on the spot, shocking Oga and Furuichi. One of Kugayama's bodyguards reveal to them the fact that Kugayama is a woman and Himekawa's fiancee.

Kugayama explains to them of how she was raised as a man because the heirs of her family are all supposed to be men. Her bodyguard asks them to keep it a secret as Kugayama's status would have been affected. Kugayama then declares that the only way she could live as a woman was if she married Himekawa. She admits that she enjoys living life as a man, but her feelings for Himekawa were undoubtedly that of a woman. She adds that Himekawa was the one who showed her the pleasures of being a woman, causing Furuichi to get the wrong idea and for Oga and Himekawa to cough up blood as a comic reaction. She continues to rant about how she feels as a woman until Furuichi screams at her to stop. She then explains how she fell in love with Himekawa in first grade and how painful it was for her to keep quiet about her feelings while still playing with him everyday. Her doting grandfather arranged a marriage between them to soothe her feelings and she was left with the decision to become either a man or a woman. She then admits that she was afraid of ruining their relationship and never told him. Upon Furuichi's question, Himekawa admits that he knew that he had a fiancee but didn't know who it was.

Kugayama says that her suspicions were correct, that their relationship had shattered after the business of the online game. Himekawa confirms this and adds that she had decieved him for over ten years, implying that he was more angry at the fact that she hid her true gender. He also adds that Kugayama was the one person who he could call a 'friend', forever and always. He then seems to accept her terms for a fight and they both assume a fighting pose. Kugayama quietly says that she had wanted to do this after she had officially reached the top of the Academy, when the elevator suddenly starts up.

Kugayama trips at the sudden movement and Himekawa's fist is suddenly very close to her face. He pulls it back, saying that he had only been kidding. As the elevator arrives at the top, they are greeted by Himekawa's personal servant Hasui. She cries out for him to wait and asks if he is going to run away from her without saying anything, if he hated her as a woman so much. It is not Himekawa who answers, but Hasui. He says that the reason for that was because Himekawa could have won the fight easily, but he is interrupted by Himekawa who warns him not to say anything unnecessary.

Furuichi and Oga tell her that they are also leaving. Oga says that Himekawa was a person who lied a lot, but Kugayama was the one person who Himekawa would probably never lie to. Oga advises her that if she was a woman, then she should go to him when she had really become a woman.

Powers & Abilities
Although Kugayama's fighting skills have yet to be shown, she has extreme confidence in herself, implying that she is very strong. However, Hasui mentioned that Tatsuya Himekawa could beat her in a fight.

Tatsuya Himekawa
Himekawa is Kugayama's arranged fiance ever since first grade. The two of them were childhood friends and remained close until Himekawa decided to go to Ishiyama High School instead. They often played online games together (in Himekawa's penthouse that the demons blew to smithereens) during middle school. Although Kugayama looked down on Himekawa's choice of school, she is deeply in love with Himekawa and wants to marry him. She challenges him to a fight; if she won, she would marry him, if she lost, he could take the painting and walk away. However, he refused her challenge and she feels rejected when he appears to scorn her, thinking that he does not accept her as a woman. However, Himekawa's personal butler Hasui says that Himekawa would have won the fight easily, implying that Himekawa had not wanted to hurt her.

Quotes

 * (To an unnamed bet placer concerning his right hand) "Please take care, sir. If you get too excited, you'll get hurt...Ah see? It seems to be broken. It needs to be reset."


 * (To herself) "To have people of that caliber serving under him. As expected of Himekawa... the man I fell in love with."


 * (To Tatsuya Himekawa) ''"If I lose, I'll respectfully give up on you and the painting. However, if I win, I'll have you marry me right now!"


 * (To Tatsumi Oga, Takayuki Furuichi, Hilda, and Tatsuya Himekawa) "The tradition of the Kugayama family is that only a man can be its successor. So I was raised as a man. It's a common story."


 * (To Takayuki Furuichi) "Is it about my breasts? I'm using cloth wrappings, of course. Well, they're not really grand enough for me to be going through all the trouble of hiding them, though."


 * (To Tatsuya Himekawa) "Wait, Himekawa! Are you going to run away from me without saying anything again!!? Do you hate me as a woman that much!!?"

Etymology

 * The name Ushio means "tide, ebb, opportunity" (潮).
 * Ushio's surname Kugayama means "long time" (久) (ku), "ego, I, selfish, our, oneself" (我) (ga) and "mountain, hill" (山) (yama).