Kuwahara, Sayako

桑原鞘子

Sayako Kuwahara is a second-year high school student characterized as random and spontaneous, frequently shifting her interests and goals. During her first year, she joined the Kendo Club, though she would occasionally vanish for short intervals, claiming to have quit. She has known Kirino since elementary school, and Kirino often refers to her as "Saya." Being one of the tallest members on the team, she is the target of jokes where others "mistakenly" call her a boy. In the storyline, her footwork improves significantly following a brief training session with Tamaki. Like Kirino, Sayako finds Tamaki cute; consequently, she and Kirino sometimes engage in silly behavior toward Tamaki, such as playing with her hair, ignoring her kendo lectures, or forcing her into fights simply to watch. She is quite pessimistic and constantly claims to seek death immediately upon failing at something. In the anime, her hobby of writing is displayed when she tells stories, such as dramatically explaining why Asuma quit kendo (though her friends awarded her three points because they found her "story" uninteresting).
She plays the position of Center (Chuken) in competitions.