Kiley Okayasu

Kairi turns a lie to truth.
Kairi turns a lie to truth.

Kairi Okayasu is a popular boy in Peach Girl. He has a ‘fanclub’ of girls who always follow him around and defend him, but he’s never dated a girl seriously. He was rescued from drowning by Momo, and for a while he believes she’d given him mouth-to-mouth, but it was actually a lifeguard who did that part. However, while he still believes it was Momo, he brags that he and Momo have kissed, causing his fangirls to harass Momo and tell her to keep her hands off Kairi (even though Momo has no interest in Kairi to begin with). Angry at the kissing rumor, Momo punches Kairi and tells him to “be a man” and help her fix things. Kairi’s only solution is to turn the false rumor to truth– and kisses Momo.

Now that Kairi has kissed Momo FOR REAL, rumors fly that Momo is a slut and that she tried to steal Toji from Sae (when really it’s Sae who keeps trying to steal Toji). Kairi is a good friend to Momo, even though he keeps harassing her and trying to get her to date him instead of Toji.

Kairi helps Toji see the truth.
Kairi helps Toji see the truth.

Even though Kairi would like Momo to forget about Toji and date him, he wants Momo to be happy even more. He promises Momo he will fix the mess he made. He arranges for Toji to hide and has him overhear a conversation between him and Sae. By appealing to her ego, Kairi asks Sae to tell him how she always gets people to believe her no matter what. Sae boastfully admits that all she has to do is cry and she is immediately assumed to be the victim. Toji realizes how stupid he has been and apologizes to Momo.

Kairi remains loyal to Momo throughout the twists and turns of her relationship with Toji, and helps them scheme to get revenge on Sae. When the plan goes awry and Sae is almost raped, the three of them rescue her, and Kairi takes responsibility for the event.

He is the only one there for Momo when Toji dumps her for Sae, and he takes Momo shopping, gives her lots of attention, and helps heal her heart. The two eventually start dating.

In Peach Girl: Change of Heart, it is revealed that Kairi has an older brother, Ryo, who he tells Momo is just like Sae; a lying master manipulator who just wants to take what other people have. But Ryo is so charming and understanding with Momo, that she doesn’t believe Kairi (until Ryo attempts to rape her). Sae meets Ryo and becomes completely obsessed with him, to the point that she doesn’t even care about controlling Toji anymore. Kairi tries to get Momo to forget about them both, as he figures Sae and Ryo are perfect for each other.

It is soon revealed that Kairi isn’t as in love with Momo as he is with the school nurse, Misao. He has been in love with Misao since junior high when she was his tutor. He says it’s because Misao was the only girl who didn’t pay more attention to Ryo than to him (as opposed to all of Kairi’s previous girlfriends). But he knows that Misao is actually in love with Ryo (Misao doesn’t yet know what a horrible person Ryo actually is).

Over the summer, Momo and Kairi work at a convenience store together to earn money for a trip they plan to take. During this time, Momo confesses to Sae that Kairi loves someone else before her, and Sae (in a weird display of concern for Momo’s happiness) confronts Kairi and tells him that if he wants to move forward in life and his relationship, he has to tell this other woman how he feels. Kairi confesses to Misao, but she says she can only see him as a little brother.

Kairi then goes on a soul-searching mission, and ends up working at a soba shop for an old couple, who help him realize that without having dated Misao, there’s no way he could truly be “in love” with her– he’s only infatuated with an idea of her. Momo is the one he truly loves, and Kairi makes up his mind to go back and tell Momo that he loves only her. They make a promise to meet at the train station at a specific time, and the agreement is that if Kairi doesn’t show up after five minutes, Momo will take that as a breakup.

Kairi plans to meet at the designated time, but runs into Ryo and Misao on the street, and suddenly Ryo is attacked by a man with a sword and needs to go to the hospital. Because of this, Kairi doesn’t meet Momo on time, and she is heartbroken.

Realizing what a stupid thing he has done, Kairi chases after Momo to Shiranami, walking 13 miles in a typhoon to make it to the hotel, only to find that she went there with Toji instead. Not wanting Momo to feel guilty, he doesn’t reveal what he went through to get there, and just lets Momo and Toji be. But he can’t get over Momo, and begs her to take him back.

It isn’t until the final issue, when Momo is about to take a short trip with Toji, that Sae tells her that Kairi walked 13 miles to get to her. Now Momo doesn’t know which boy she loves more. Sae steals Kairi’s phone and sends an email to Momo saying that Kairi is going to kill himself. Momo, thinking that the message is FROM KAIRI, abandons Toji and rushes to Shiranami, just in time to once again save Kairi from drowning (Kairi wasn’t trying to kill himself, he was swimming out into the ocean to retrieve the hand-knitted phone case Momo had given him). Momo tells Kairi she loves him and they get back together.

Sae admits she was the one who sent the email.

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