Aoi Tsubaki (津場木 葵) is the main protagonist of Kakuriyo -Bed & Breakfast for Spirits-. She is a college student who has the ability to see ayakashi, also known as yokai, a trait she inherited from her deceased grandfather.
She is voiced by Nao Tōyama in Japanese (who voices Mika Misono in Blue Archive) and Emily Neves in English, the latter of whom also voiced Eri from My Hero Academia and Chloe Aubert from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.
What Makes Her Pure Good?[]
- Even before being brought to the Hidden Realm, she regularly fed a group of kappa ayakashi on her way back home out of kindness. This led her to developing an especially close, mother-like relationship with one particular kappa named Chibi that she frequently fed cucumbers to.
- She nurses Matsuba, the elder and leader of the tengu ayakashi, back to health and feeds him a good meal after he falls off his airship and lands near the Moonflower building due to being drunk. This salvages the relationship between the tengu and Tenjin’ya since the Chief Chef and some of the tengu got into a big fight earlier on.
- Additionally, to thank her for her kindness, Matsuba offers to cover her debt, let her live on Mt. Shumon with the tengu and marry one of her sons, but she declines since she’s determined to pay off the debt herself.
- She nurses Oryo, a snow woman who works at Tenjin-ya as the young hostess, back to health after she collapses with a fever and is brought to her by Kasuga by treating her and then feeding her ice cream. She also empathizes with her backstory and desperation for Odanna’s approval, all of this despite her initially treating her poorly and even trying to get her killed while she was in the capital city by exposing her to ayakashi who tried to eat her. This incident leads to Oryo starting to warm up to her and consider her a friend before long.
- She similarly nurses Akatsuki, an earth spider ayakashi who works as Tenjin-ya’s front desk manager, back to health after a fight with his younger sister Suzuran despite him being similarly rude to her due to his general dislike of humans. She then convinces him to reconcile with Suzuran before she heads back to the human world to live there, which is the topic they were having a dispute about in the first place, by convincing him to help her cook the same dumplings for her that her grandfather, Shiro, used to make for him and Suzuran when he took care of them. She then serves them to Suzuran, and by eating them, she’s reminded of how much he loves her, allowing the two to be on good terms when she departs.
- Despite being back in the “Apparent Realm”, AKA the human world due to accompanying Suzuran to Shiro’s grave where she wants to remain, and therefore, having a perfect opportunity to get out of her obligation to settle her grandfather’s debt, she quickly decides to go back with Odanna to the Hidden Realm since she feels obliged to honor her promise to properly pay it off.
- After finding out Byakuya discreetly takes care of tube kittens outside of the inn, she keeps his secret and even occasionally helps him feed them.
- Despite being locked in an underground storage room by the Chief Chef’s trio of daruma assistants so that she wouldn’t be able to cook for a royal couple’s anniversary in the hopes the Chief Chef would be able to do it instead, she’s very forgiving towards the Chief Chef since she knows he didn’t mean for it to happen and only gets mad at him for trying to resign when she hasn’t gotten to taste his full course meal yet. Additionally, she only reprimands the daruma assistants and demands they do something to help her get the meal ready for the royal couple despite them unintentionally putting her in grave danger due to the room flooding as a result of rain from outside leaking into the room and her almost drowning before being saved by Odanna.
- Despite being left with only four hours to prepare the meal for the royal couple’s anniversary, she still works diligently to make something within that time, which results in the event being a great success and her passing out right after it’s done from the strain it puts on her.
- She helps Shizuna, a shy ayakashi who helps run the bath houses at Tenjin-ya, and Tokihiko, another ayakashi who works as the bath house manager at Orio-ya, a rival inn, and who happens to be her former boss, reconcile after years of estrangement by arranging for them to make meatballs together at Moonflower.
- After a trio of one-eyed ayakashi children staying at Tenjin-ya go missing, she helps Akatsuki track them down in the basement, and when the youngest of the three falls of a cliff, she dives after her to save her without a second thought even though she would have fallen to certain death herself if not for Akatsuki saving both of them with his webbing.
- She helps Ginji when he’s suffering from an illness by cooking a meal for him that allows him to quickly recover upon consuming it.
- Shortly after being taken to Orio-ya along with Ginji, she calms down Matsuba when he witnesses her being mistreated by their staff, loses his temper, and goes on a rampage by offering to cook him a special breakfast.
- Despite her initial poor treatment at the hands of Ranmaru and some of the other staff at Orio-ya, she quickly agrees to help Kai and Mei, a pair of crane twins who work as chefs there, appease a rain woman named Yodoko by making monjayaki with her in her room, with her greatly enjoying both getting to make and eat it. This ends up being very important, because she’s in possession of a rainbow umbrella, one of five national treasures that are needed for a very important fireworks event that’s actually part of a ceremony held once every century that needs to be performed successfully so that the Southern Lands won’t be ravaged by natural disasters like typhoons, and thanks to her positive experience, she gives Orio-ya the umbrella afterwards.
- She helps Matsuba and Hatori, his third son whom he disowned a long time ago and works as Orio-ya’s front desk manager, reconcile by clearing up the incident that led to it involving a dish called game-ni where Matsuba got upset over his late wife, Sasara, making it differently from the way his own mother used to make it. When she then faints from exhaustion and Odanna explains to the two that she wanted the two to make up so much because she had a non-existent relationship with her own mother, who abandoned her when she was very young, the two finally swallow their pride and apologize to each other, which results in Matsuba lifting Hatori’s banishment and accepting his request to give him some of the tengu’s secret liquor, which is another treasure needed for the ceremony.
- She heals injuries that Ginji and Ranmaru suffered from miasma in the Dragon’s Palace, a place they need to go to get a mermaid scale, another item needed for the ceremony, by feeding them food that’s imbued with spiritual energy.
- To ensure Ginji no longer has to suffer trying to get it, Aoi agrees with Ranmaru to go to the Dragon Palace to get the mermaid scale in his place since the miasma doesn’t affect humans, despite it being very dangerous in other ways. With some help from Odanna, who accompanies her and destroys an ogre infected by the miasma that tries to kill her, she’s successful in retrieving it.
- Due to being instructed to by a memory imprint of the late Princess Iso she encounters and talks to while at the Dragon Palace, she takes on the incredibly important task of preparing the “foods made of ocean treasure” for the Umi-bouzu at the upcoming ceremony, which Ranmaru agrees to.
- Despite previously being bullied by her, she cheers up Nene, the young mistress of Orio-ya, after she’s left in a depressed state due to an encounter with Oryo that leaves her feeling inadequate by taking her out shopping and assuring her that she’s an incredible person for being honest about the jealousy she feels towards her. This also leads Nene to apologizing for her previous behavior and admitting she was taking out her insecurities and frustrations on her.
- She agrees to go with Ranmaru and Ginji into a magical painting to retrieve a Hourai gem branch, the last main item needed for the ceremony, so that she can provide them with food that will restore their spiritual energy since for ayakashi, even being in the painting consumes a lot of it. Thanks to her contributions, they’re ultimately able to get it.
- Along the way, due to what she shares about what she learned from Princess Iso, or rather, her projection at the Dragon Palace, Ranmaru and Ginji finally take some major steps to reconciling like Iso wanted them to after growing apart from each other for hundreds of years, which only got worse after her death.
- After getting set up on Jouno Island, making the preparations for serving the food of ocean treasure along with Kai and Mei to the Umi-bouzu and giving it the main course it requests on a menu she gives to it, Aoi makes a very important discovery thanks to Chibi; in contrast to the Umi-bouzu being a feared being that no one can even lay eyes on during the ceremony, lest they be cursed with misfortune, he’s actually a lonely child who is depressed that no one ever interacts with him even on the one occasion every 100 years he’s able to leave his usual prison of miasma. Upon having a vision of this, Aoi strongly sympathizes with the Umi-bouzu since she had a similar experience as a child, hugs him and refuses to let him be lonely anymore. She then makes the ceremony more inviting and interactive by making a quiche for him, and invites Kai, Mei, and even Ginji and Ranmaru to share it with him before the latter two resume their dance while the rest spectate. This makes the Umi-bouzu so happy that his dark miasma turns pink before he departs back to the ocean, with the ceremony being declared a big success.
- Thanks to Aoi’s discovery, Ranmaru and Ginji realize an important truth they nor anyone else had known for the past several centuries; while everyone believed the Umi-bouzu was the one causing disasters and that the ceremonies were needed to appease him and prevent it, the natural disasters were actually being caused by impurities released from the dark place the Umi-bouzu is trapped in and opens up every 100 years, and the Umi-bouzu is actually the one who pushes them back by using the power he’s imbued with from a successful ceremony. Because of this, Ranmaru resolves to change following ceremonies so that they’re warm receptions where they express their gratitude to the Umi-bouzu and credits Aoi for this.
External Links[]
- Aoi Tsubaki on the Heroes Wiki
- Aoi Tsubaki on the Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi Wiki