Suiren Shibazeki

Suiren Shibazeki (柴石 すいれん; Shibazeki Suiren) is the protagonist of Hibi Chouchou. She is a first-year high school student at Shuusei High School who falls in love with Taichi Kawasumi and they eventually start dating.

Suiren is voiced by Kana Hanazawa.

Appearance
Suiren is a "nice pale-skinned" girl with long wavy pink hair that has a shorter curved layers where it touches her shoulders with bangs parted on both sides, green eyes, full pink lips and "very long eyelashes" as described by Koharu Shinkawa (Suiren's so-called rival) in Chapter 3.

Suiren is considered to be a very cute and beautiful girl that a guy comments that "she's like a doll?!" (Chapter 13). Because of her appearance, she has attracted the attention of all the boys and girls.

Personality
Suiren is very quiet girl who rarely speaks or smiles. Although this can also be seen as being shy, but this may not truly be the case as shown when she displays her feelings for Taichi Kawasumi, albeit with very simple actions like nodding her head or shaking. Whenever she does speak or smile, the people around her are immediately surprised. Suiren can also be very innocent or naive, but she is very honest with her feelings, such as when she noticed that she was in love with Kawasumi and immediately accepted it. Despite this acceptance, she is unable to tell him what she wants from him or how she feels because she has trouble communicating her thoughts to others.

Background
When Suiren was young, she was bullied by the boys who liked her, which made her want to go to an all-girls middle school. However, in middle school, even the girls kept on seeking her attention as well. Every time she smiled or spoke, they made a fuss over it, which causes Suiren to stop smiling and talking and she then decided to go to a co-ed high school.

Etymology

 * The name Suiren means "water lily" (すいれん) in Japanese. However, when written in kanji, it means "water" (水) (sui) and "lotus, water lily" (蓮) (ren).
 * Suiren's nickname Takane-chan comes from "Takane no Hana", which means "flower on a high peak" and it refers to something out of one's reach.
 * Suiren's surname Shibazeki means "brush, firewood" (柴) (shiba) and "stone, volume measure" (石) (zeki).
 * In the manga, Yuri Kudō says Shibaishi.

Trivia

 * Whenever Suiren goes out, she always wears a cap to hide her face.
 * In Chapter 1, Ryōsuke Takaya mentions that Suiren that "she's a flower in the kaolin!!!", but what he is trying to say is that Suiren's a rare beauty.
 * Kaolin is a rock that is rich in kaolinte, a clay material.