Chika Tachibana

Chika's appearance is very similar to Marika Tachibana, but Chika sports short dark-colored hair that reaches around her neck, her eyes are bit narrow with her pupils showing no depth and she is rarely seen showing an expression other than her straight face. She wears a large traditional kimono, decorated with different colored and patterned fabrics, that cover most of body. Her looks make her seem very young for her age which causes Raku Ichijō to mistaken her as Marika's sister when they first meet. Chika is a very cold, cruel and emotionless young woman who is shown to not care about Marika Tachibana at all and only uses her to extend the family lineage. When Marika made a gift for her mother and gave it to her, Marika's mother ripped it the second Marika left. Chika's personality has caused Marika and Mikage Shinohara to hate her which is the reason why Marika calls her an immortal beast. After Marika returns home, Raku Ichijō tries persuading Chika to call off the wedding, in which she then asks several times why she should follow his request and why Marika's happiness or treatment is important. Before Raku is taken away by Honda, he asks what she thinks about Marika. She replies saying: "How disgusting. Do you want me to say I love her or something...?" Chika has no motherly affection for her daughter. She sees her as a tool to continue the family name and culture. Her indifference to her own progeny stems from her own mistreatment from her mother. She, like Marika, also attended school where she made friends but in the end had to give in to her own mother's demands and marry Gen not out of love but for his position as the police commissioner. Deep down, she empathizes with her daughter. But, due to restraints of society and culture, she cannot let her fly whimsically. When Gen finally makes her realize why her cruel attitude is not really her own, she is freed from the social stigma and allows her daughter to do as she wishes, so much as intending to end the tradition on her generation.