Kiriko

Kiriko is the temporary coach of the Johnan Public High School Boys' Volleyball Team.

Appearance
Kiriko is a tall, slim woman with long, dark hair and small eyes with long eyelashes. She wears a necklace and a ring on her left ring finger (it is possible that she is married) and, sometimes, a matching jacket-and-sweatpants athletic outfit.

Personality
Kiriko's personality appears to be, at first, cold and unconcerned, but she proves to actually be friendly and willing to support the volleyball team. She enjoys listening to and reading about horse races, which she considers more interesting than volleyball, but she becomes interested in volleyball once she watches the Johnan boys play. She is usually casual and gives off a tough aura, but she is quite kind underneath that.

Kanto Preliminaries Arc
Kiriko was called by the Johnan boys' official coach, Tooru Naruse, to take over as temporary coach for the day that Johnan played Nanyou in the Kanto Meet Preliminaries. She was not interested in the match at first, sitting on the banner the boys' coach made for them and choosing to listen to horse races instead of paying attention to the game. Nanyou's coach kept yelling, which irritated Kiriko and caused her to jump up, yell at him, and accidentally make the signal for a player substitution. After Sango made the substitution, Kiriko started to pay more attention to the match and became interested in watching the boys play.

At the Seiryoh match, she showed up in a "perfect coach outfit" (according to one of the team members) and with megaphones, since Sango had called her to come coach since she was more reliable than Naruse. She was fully invested in the game this time, calling time-outs and giving advice when needed. She cheered when they won, showing that she truly cared about the team.

Sango Sakuraba
Kiriko and Sango spoke briefly during the Nanyou match, but obviously grew closer after that, since Sango called her to come coach the team during their match against Seiryoh and they got along well.

Tooru Naruse
Kiriko's first appearance as coach was a result of being called by the team's official coach, Naruse, who was going to support the girls' basketball team at a match that day. She is also considered to be more reliable than Naruse.

Trivia

 * Her surname is unknown, but she is one of three named female characters in the series.
 * She is also a character in Nishiyama-sensei's more well-known work, a basketball manga called Harlem Beat.

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