Sano, Izumi

佐野泉

The guy that Mizuki Ashiya likes and an excellent high jumper. He discovers early in the series that Mizuki is a girl, but keeps it to himself and becomes very protective of her secret. Before Mizuki arrived in Japan, Sano was involved in an accident—he had tried to save his team captain from being hit by a car, injuring his leg—which caused him to quit high jumping for a while because he felt he couldn't handle the pressure. However, thanks to Mizuki's deal with her brother (Sano had to jump while her brother was in Japan, or Mizuki would have to return home), he gets the chance to try again and is given a second opportunity at high jumping. Sano falls in love with Mizuki, but cannot tell her because Mizuki believes that if Sano found out her secret, she would have to leave.