Saitou, Kaede

斉藤楓

Kaede, a high school sophomore, meets Aoi at a local hiking and camping equipment store, where she asks for advice on buying a sleeping bag. The two exchange phone numbers and email addresses, and Kaede eventually joins the circle of mountaineering friends. According to Aoi, she is tall, well-dressed, and cool. She is Aoi's first friend aside from Hinata and serves as a good mentor to her. Her hobby is mountain climbing, which she often does alone. However, she is not good at cooking. She covers her mountaineering and equipment expenses by working a part-time job. Not much interests her outside of the mountains. She is lazy and especially careless regarding fashion, evidenced by her usually being seen in a sports bra and shorts when in her room, and she doesn't put much effort into her appearance when going out. Aoi and her friend Yuuka tell her she's a 'waste of a good figure' and encourage her to pay more attention to her appearance. Even though she doesn't study hard, she can achieve the same score as Yuka if she works hard, and if she is intent on it, she can go as far as to be within the single digits in her class ranking. However, in the anime, she is portrayed as the type who won't put in any effort unless she's desperate. Originally, she went mountain climbing alone, but after starting to go with Aoi, she shared her knowledge and experience with her as her mentor and looked out for the other girls. Thus, her stance on mountain climbing is changing.