Tsugumi Kuze

Tsugumi Kuze (久世 ツグミ, Kuze Tsugumi) is the main character of Nil Admirari no Tenbin: Teito Genwaku Kitan. She is the daughter of the noble Kuze family that has begun to fall and the older sister of Hitaki Kuze whom she blames herself for the suicide attempt of his death, in which Tsugumi’s arranged marriage seemed to have been the reason behind. Because she was like a mother to her younger brother, sometimes, she just can’t leave people alone and she will try to help them.

Appearance
Tsugumi is a beautiful young woman with shoulder-length (when it is let down) brunette hair (she once had butt-length hair before she cut it off after she has decided to join Fukurou) that is tied in a small side ponytail with bangs swept to the left side while she has chin-length hair strands that is cut into straight tips and bright green eyes.

Her uniform wear for Fukurou consists of a tan-colored shirt with navy striped cuffs beneath a navy short puffed-sleeve top with a chest cutout and a striped ribbon around the collar. She wears it with a navy short skirt above her knees, paired with black tights and ankle-length navy boots. She is also equipped with a dagger for self-defense which she wears beneath her skirt. She wears her hair up on the left in a side-tail with a black ribbon.

Her main casual wear consists of a tan-colored blouse decorated with black frills along the button line, paired with a yellow knee-length skirt with white frills accompanied with white stockings and red shoes. She wears a black, yellow and white ribbon around her blouse collar fastened with a flower brooch. Her hair is let down with the same black ribbon tied up on the left side.

Personality
Tsugumi is a very kind-hearted, cheerful, intelligent, serious, warm and selfless girl who is also the type of person who cannot leave someone alone and believes that she must help them, which is mainly due to the fact that she had always been like a mother towards Hitaki Kuze and she is also oblivious to the feelings of the main male characters as she prioritizes work before romance.

Biography
Tsugumi is the eldest daughter of the noble Kuze family where her father's business suffered an economic decline after the great imperial city earthquake. Prior to the start of the series, Tsugumi was arranged to be married into another noble family in order to save her family from financial ruin, which made Hitaki Kuze upset, and he came in contact with a "cursed tome", resulting him to attempt suicide. The shock of witnessing Hitaki's suicide attempt caused Tsugumi to gain the ability of seeing "auras", a dark light emitted from a "cursed tome". This led her to agree to work at the search department of the Imperial Book Information Asset Management Office, also known as "Fukurou".

Viscount Masatake Kuze
Masatake is the father of Tsugumi. Although he never makes an official appearance, he has been mentioned by Tsugumi on several occasions. Prior to the start of the series, he arranged for Tsugumi to marry into the Yashiro family, as he would receive a loan in return. Tsugumi hesitantly went along with it, as she was aware of the family situation.

However, it is shown that he does care for both his children despite his absence. He agrees to call off the engagement for the time being after learning of Hitaki's attempted suicide, while expressing his relief that his son hadn't lost his life.

Hitaki Kuze
Hitaki is the younger brother of Tsugumi whom she loves dearly and she has been like a mother figure to him due to the absence of their parents; their father is always at work while their mother returned to her family home to recover from her frail health. When Hitaki attempted suicide after coming in contact with a "cursed tome", she becomes quite disturbed and constantly blames herself for his suicide attempt. She also mentions that she gets quite lonely without Hitaki around.

Hayato Ozaki
Tsugumi is kind to Hayato and she respects him as her eldest. She seems oblivious to Hayato's advances in her direction and is irritated when he teases her a few times. Unbeknownst to Tsugumi, Hayato first met in a park when she was still at the girls' school. He fell in love with her at first sight and started passing through the park just to see her. However, Tsugumi soon graduated from the girls' school and Hayato did not meet again until the Hitaki incident. He can relate to Tsugumi since his younger sister was also the victim of a "cursed tome" several years ago. But unlike Hitaki, Hayato's sister committed suicide due to the severe burns scars she suffered after the "cursed tome" incident.

It is later revealed that Hayato is actually 'Hayato Yashiro', the man whom Tsugumi was arranged to marry prior to the start of the series. He accepts Tsugumi's decision to call off the engagement for now, but vows to not give up on her.

Akira Kougami
Tsugumi began a friendly relationship with Akira, after they ended up having to sit in the couple's seat in the cinema. When the other members became suspicious of him, she and Hisui Hoshikawa defends Akira. She was initially hurt when Akira revealed that he was the traitor in Fukurou, but he vowed to protect her no matter what. When Akira was kidnapped and imprisoned by his half-brother Takashi Shiginuma, she becomes worried for him. He soon develops feelings for her and buys tickets to be with her alone in the cinema.

Hisui Hoshikawa
Hisui is kind, polite, quite shy and friendly with Tsugumi. He begins to have feelings for her after she helps him find clues regarding his mother. Hisui also blushes when he sees Tsugumi. He also begins to get jealous when Tsugumi is with other boys, especially Hayato Ozaki. In the end he says that he won't lose to the others and won't give up on her.

Shizuru Migiwa
Shizuru is quickly interested in Tsugumi and tends to flirt with her a lot, even asking her out on a date. At first Tsugumi thinks that he just flirting with her but later her opinion changes when she sees his kind and warm side and becomes a fan his novels. He seems to have develop strong feelings for Tsugumi after she helps him clear his name. In the end, he says that he won't give up on Tsugumi and will tell her about his master who taught him to write novels. When Tsugumi decided to continue working for Fukurou, he changed his mind about leaving and decided to stay as well.

Shougo Ukai
Shougo was rude to Tsugumi when he first met her. He initially had a misogynistic view of a girl working at Fukurou, leaving Tsugumi with a bad first impression of him. She also becomes upset when he verbally insulted her. However, his attitude towards her changes after he accidentally walks in on her undressing for a bath, and when Tsugumi reveals why she agreed to join Fukurou despite coming from a prestigious family. Their relationship improves when he agrees to let her be his escort to a ball at "Nachtigal", mainly in order for her to infiltrate. He then learns about her brother's incident, enabling him to relate to Tsugumi, since he was also affected by a "cursed tome", and he apologises for being rude to her. Shougo eventually develops feelings for Tsugumi and he blushes when he sees her. When Tsugumi decided to continue working for Fukurou, he changed his mind about leaving and decided to stay as well.

Yutaka Nabari
Yutaka is an old acquaintance of Tsugumi and Hitaki Kuze. He also works at Fukurou, to guard the "cursed tomes". He first met the Kuze siblings when he freeloaded at their mansion while studying. Yutaka cares for the siblings and considers them his second family, since he had lost his parents at a young age. After the "Nachtigal" incident, he accompanies Tsugumi back to her mansion, with intentions of killing himself and the Kuze siblings using the "cursed tomes" in order to remain family. Even after his plan was foiled, Tsugumi forgave Yutaka and still cared for him. She also encouraged him to turn over a new leaf and start again after he served his term in prison.

Rui Sagisawa
Rui encounters Tsugumi by chance and he immediately becomes smitten with her. During their time together, they became close friends. Tsugumi often blushes around Rui, but she remains oblivious to his feelings for her. Tsugumi was initially hurt when she found out that Rui was the leader of "Kagutsuchi", a group of University students who destroyed books, believing them to be "cursed tomes" even if they weren't. He tries to convince her to join his group, claiming that he needs her, but Tsugumi refused because she couldn't accept his way of thinking and dealing with the "cursed tomes".

They eventually met again at the "Flamant Rose" cafe where Rui firmly tells Tsugumi that he has no intentions of giving up on her. He also gets jealous when he sees her with other boys. They encounter each other again at "Nachtigal". After Rui defeats Professor Shirou Mozuyama, he promises Tsugumi that he will stop burning books. When Rui encounters Tsugumi at a library, he asks her to be with him when he reopens his father's clinic and she shyly agrees.

Shiori Tokinomiya
Shiori is Tsugumi's boss at Fukurou who have a friendly relationship and they can relate to each other, since Shiori lost her husband due to a "cursed tome". Though it was Hayato Ozaki who initially scouted Tsugumi to join Fukurou, Shiori hired her after formally discussing the job to her. Shiori is also very supportive of Tsugumi and expresses concern for her safety, even almost firing her after learning that she had gone to "Nachtigal" with Shouko Shiginuma. When Tsugumi asked to continue working at Fukurou, Shiori was overjoyed.

Koruri Masaki
Karuri is Tsugumi's best friend and former senior at the girl's school they used to attend. She likes to tease Tsugumi and encourages her to not be embarrassed to do things such as going to see a movie by herself. When Tsugumi learns that she has a crush on Takuma Yoshikiri, she does her best to help Koruri confess her feelings to him.

Takashi Shiginuma
Takashi first met Tsugumi when she attended a party he hosted at "Nachtigal" with Shougo Ukai. Takashi soon developed an interest in Tsugumi after learning about her ability of seeing "auras", and because of her beauty. He attempted to convince her to join his organisation "Karasu" to make use of her abilities, but she refused. Takashi started threatening Tsugumi by harming her loved ones unless she joined "Karasu", causing her to become paranoid. He eventually kidnapped Tsugumi back to "Nachtigal" where he reveals to her that he also has the ability to see "auras". Takashi also attempts to rape her with intentions of having her impregnated with his child who would have both their abilities to see "auras" and move to Europe as part of his plan. However, his plan was foiled when the members of Fukurou came to save her and he was arrested in the end.

Shouko Shiginuma
Shouko first met Tsugumi when she attended a party at "Nachtigal" with Shougo Ukai. They met again when Tsugumi was trying to help Hisui Hoshikawa find clues regarding his mother. Shouko became fond of Tsugumi and invited her to "Nachtigal" to become more acquainted with each other. They developed a friendly relationship until Tsugumi reluctantly broke her promise by bringing Hisui along with her since Shouko knew Hisui's mother, Hiwako. Although Shouko told Tsugumi that they are to never see each other again, she helps her avoid getting recaptured by Takashi's henchmen after learning that Tsugumi was kidnapped by her husband. They rekindled their friendship when Shouko hid Tsugumi in her room and served her tea as an apology for what Takashi tried to do to her.

When Tsugumi offered Shouko the chance to escape with her, Shouko declined saying that it is her choice to remain here in order to stop her husband from committing crimes. As they part ways, Shouko helps Tsugumi escape from "Nachtigal".

Etymology

 * The name Tsugumi, if written, means "dusky thrush" (鶫).
 * Tsugumi's surname Kuze means "long time" (久) (ku) and "world" (世) (se/ze).

Trivia

 * Tsugumi loves singing.
 * In the third episode of the anime adaption, Tsugumi was singing "The Blue-Eyed Doll" (Aoi me no ningyo; 青い眼の人形) at the beginning of the episode.
 * She was in the Chorus Club at the girl's school she used to attend.


 * Tsugumi grew up taking care of Hitaki Kuze since their mother had frail health and had to return to her family home to recover.
 * While Tsugumi was still attending the girl's school, she had a string of admirers whom she flat-out rejected.
 * Tsugumi enjoys cooking.
 * Tsugumi's favorite food is hot cakes, which she often makes with Hitaki and her steward.
 * Tsugumi's favorite drink at the "Flamant Rose" cafe is milkshake.