Kako Motoya

Kako Motoya (本谷歌子, Motoya Kako) is the main protagonist of My Boy in Blue.

Kako is a high school student, aged 16 at the start of the series, with a silly but kind-hearted personality and a fixed moral compass. Despite her protests, Kako got dragged into a mixer party intended for adults by her best friend, Mikado. There, Kako met a mysterious but kind adult man, whose demeneour quickly grew on her throughout the night. While their feelings initially seemed to be mutual, she was soon rejected by him for being a minor. With her heart broken, she decides to move on, but as fate would have it, keeps accidentally stumbling upon the man around town. As it turns out, her knack for unintentionally getting herself into trouble puts her right in his path, as the man, Kota Sagano, is actually a local police officer. Never one to give up easily, Kako begins her short conquest to try and charm him into becoming her boyfriend, which ends in moderate success- instead of the outcome she was hoping for, the two skip dating and go straight to marriage.

Appearance
Kako is noted to be very short, and she often refers to herself as a "midget". She has round, big, brown eyes and slightly longer than shoulder-length hair, which is a light shade of brown. She rarely lets her hair loose, as it is by nature very messy. Instead, she keeps it in pigtails, buns, braids or ponytails.

Her usual take on the Oto High School uniform consists of a brown skirt with a pink stripe in the hem, a white dress shirt with a pink cardigan on top, and a pair of knee-length black socks paired with brown shoes. Other variations include her wearing a blazer with the outfit, which she often pairs with a bowtie.

She wears her wedding ring as a necklace, for while she wants to keep it with her at all times, she does not want to risk having her classmates, or any other students at her school finding out that she is married. As an adult, she wears her hair short, and it appears more wavy than before. In the last chapter, she is shown wearing an oversized t-shirt paired with capri pants and a pair of sneakers.

Personality
In the first volume we are initially introduced to a kind, somewhat timid 16-year-old Kako, who was much calmer than her best friend. However, she quickly sheds away this shy persona, showing that she can be quite the silly ditz sometimes. She is naïve, easily excited and open about her feelings, almost to a fault. Despite everything, even this early on there were signs of her being somewhat mature beyond her years. She is shown to be protective of those she loves, and not afraid to sacrifice herself in the process of shielding others. As the story goes on, she shows that she has a bit of edge to her- she sometimes acts rashly, lets her emotions get the better of her and is not afraid of confrontation. She can even be seen being somewhat mean to others, coming off as spoiled and childish. Moreover, she is very bullheaded, but not unreasonably so- her mature side shines through in her capability at making and accepting compromises, putting others' needs in front of her own and being considerate of others' feelings.

It is with Mikado when she seems to be most free to express herself however she wants to. She is often seen joking around and acting silly with her, as the two often act like a typical comedy duo. Kota is another person whom Kako is not afraid to show this silly side to. Moreover, she is very affectionate with the two- often seeking physical contanct and showing loads of care for the two. She is shown taking baths with Mikado, and often not being afraid to seize the moment for a hug or a kiss with Kota, as long as there is no audience to see them. Once she properly befriends Yui, she also treats her in this affectionate way, though seemingly holding back a bit around her to respect her boundaries.

As Kako further matures throughout the series, we see her developing a more empathetic personality, as she tries her best to understand those she does not initially like and who have wronged her or her loved ones. She strives to see the best in everyone, and wants to treat everyone equally, with kindness and respect. As mentioned before, the maturity she shows throughout the series is quite impressive for someone her age, and often gets to shine around Kota: Time and time again she shows understanding for his trauma, his workschedules, his boundaries and needs. Furthermore, whenever the two cannot see eye-to-eye on something, she proves herself to be capable to work out solutions by communicating openly with him.

As an adult Kako has seemingly adapted an overall calmer and more motherly demeanour.

Background
Kako comes from a loving family of three, consisting of her, her Mother and her Father. She has a good relationship with both of them and is noted to resemble her mother quite a bit in her fussy, somewhat thoughtless but well-meaning nature, as well as her appearance. A funny coincidence between the two is that Kako's Mother's first love was also a local police officer, who worked in her home town. While Kako respects her parents, she has developed a habit of sometimes unintentionally treating them somewhat cruelly. She can be seen telling her Mother to leave or keep quiet whenever she embarrasses Kako in front of Kota, or hanging up on her worried Father mid-sentence if they cannot see eye-to-eye on how long she is allowed to stay at Kota's apartment. Out of the two, she gets especially annoyed with her Father's over-the-top, overprotective nature, that seems to always hinder her plans.

Kako has lived in Oto for all her life, and has grown attached to the way of living in her home town. She sometimes goes to and from school with Mikado, and visits the Nagakura family's bathhouse with her friends. After meeting Kota, she also becomes quickly aqcuinted with the local police officers, showing how down to earth and friendly her community truly is.

Relationships
An in-depth overview of all Kako's relationships can be found here.

Kako is married to Kota Sagano. The two met at a singles' mixer party intended for adults, where Kako had snuck as a minor.

With her at the mixer she had her best friend, Mikado. The two have been friends for a long time, and it was through Mikado that Kako met Jiro, Mikado's childhood friend and the two's classmate.

Kako is also friends with Heisuke Okami, who has a crush on her and considers Kota his rival. It is through Heisuke that Kako became friends with Yui. Her relationships with both of them started on the wrong foot, but developed into steady friendships.

Quotes
(To Kota) "That's awful... You shouldn't hold my hand while you're rejecting me."

(Kako's heartfelt haiku)  "Obliviousness: The weapon that wounds the heart Of many a girl"

(To Kota) "What would you do if Tsuu-chan says she wants to get married in high school?"

(Kako about Tsuu-chan) "Tsuu-chan... I'm sure you're going to meet all sorts of people going forward. People you've always loved... People you couldn't stand, but came to love... People who can be friends with anyone, regardless of gender... People who'll come to care for you... And people... ...You'll never see again... ...But you'll never stop wishing the best for."

Trivia

 * According to her second character page, Kako's birthday plants are cactus flowers, egret flowers, etcetera.
 * The meanings of these plants are "innocence", "thinking of you even in my dreams", etcetera.
 * One of her favourite anime franchises is Pretty Cure. She occasionally watches this magical girl show with Kota.
 * When Kota saw her for the first time in her wedding dress in chapter 62, she asked him if she looked like Cure Flora.
 * One of her favourite manga series is Great Teacher Onizuka. She shares her love for this manga with Jiro.
 * Kako has a thing for smells. She does not seem to be particularly proud of this quirk of hers.
 * She especially likes Kota's smell. She has mentioned that it calms her down.
 * She has also commented that she thinks Heisuke smells nice.