Ayano Hanesaki

Hanesaki Ayano is the protagonist of Hanebad! and a 3rd year member of the Kitakomachi badminton club. She is Hanesaki Uchika's daughter and Connie Christensen's adoptive sister. Ayano is a short girl with green eyes and long brown hair that she ties together with a handkerchief similar to her mother, though she originally used a hairband. At school, she wears the standard Kitakomachi High uniform with a red ribbon indicating that she is a first year. During practice, she wears a white shirt and dark shorts. In official matches, she wears the current Kitakomachi uniform consisting of a blue one piece with white and black details. Kitakomachi is written at the back in white kanji. In middle school, she was a bit shorter than Kaoruko. As a child, Ayano was happy due to being able to play badminton with her mother. However, once her mother left her in order to make her stronger, her attitude worsened, and at the same time gained a dislike for Kaoruko and herself, believing that her mother had disappeared because she lost. She became disinterested in things and was emotionless when defeating opponents such as Nagisa, but eventually stopped playing before the junior tournament the previous year. Due to Erena's constant babying, Ayano subsequently turned into a carefree and timid girl, nevertheless her suppressed personality returned once she began playing again, becoming prideful and looking down on opponents. During her match with Nagisa, she considers badminton to be fun again, but still struggles with relationships. She began to go all out in her matches, and tried to follow Kentarou's advice of respecting the sport, but didn't know what to do when she heard a spectator mention that they felt sorry for her opponent. During her practice match with Kaoruko, she was able to come to terms with herself and realized that she wanted to become a kind person. On the other hand, this also caused her to unconsciously start holding back during her matches and it was only during match with Rui that she realized it was okay for her to go all-out. Following this, she decides to win the Inter High tournament as a way of paying her mother back for raising her and begins to think about what her mother did for her rather than why.