Chidori Kakiha

Chidori Kakiha is a main character in Mai Ball. She attends  Kijiyama North High School  and plays as the right midfielder for the girls' football team.

Background
Chidori has played football since she was four years old and lived in the Netherlands between seventh and ninth grade, where she also worked on her footballing skills. She and Reika are cousins. Chidori is initially quite anti-social, however she begins to talk more to her teammates the more she plays with them.

Appearance
Chidori has very long light brown hair, which she styles in a ponytail most of the time. She wears a flower-shaped bobble to tie it in place. She also styles her hair into braids while at home. Her eyes are the same colour as her hair. Chidori likes to wear frilly clothing.

Personality
Chidori is usually very reserved and is initially extremely shy, refusing to talk to her teammates. She is also unable to pass to anyone but Reika. The more she plays alongside her teammates, the more she opens up to them and finds it easier to approach them. Despite this shyness, she really loves her teammates and would go to any length to help them out. When she and Reika are alone, she is actually very talkative and bubbly.

Chronology
When Chidori first starts playing for Kijikita, she is only able to pass to and talk to Reika due to nerves.

Main Article: Kijikita vs. Kijinan I

 After Reika gives Kijikita a 2-0 lead against Kijinan, Chidori makes it 3-0 after tapping in at the back post just short of half time. With the scores tied at 5-5 near the end of the game, Chidori finds Reika with a header, which she volleys in, however the goal is ruled out due to offside. After this game, she begins to open up more to her teammates.

Main Article: Kijikita vs. Franklin

 In the game against Franklin, Chidori makes her first pass to someone other than Reika when she passes to Aoi , however Kijikita end the half 1-0 down. After Chidori volunteers to go up front, the girls decide to change positions for the second half. Tsubame Makishi had managed to contain  Mai in the first half by taking a physical approach, however she struggles to deal with Chidori and her “stealth mode.” When in stealth mode, while Chidori gets even shier and reverts to being unable to talk to her teammates, Franklin's players struggle to keep an eye on her. Her play allows Kijikita to score twice without reply and progress to the next round. Her teammates name her the MVP, and manage to get her out of her stealth mode in the bath-house after the game.

Main Article: Kijikita vs. Seirin

 Chidori notches an assist when she finds Reika after she makes a stretching leap to keep the ball in play, flying into Seirin's coach in the process. Reika latches onto the ball to make it 5-0. Despite a late Seirin fight back, Kijikita go through as 5-4 victors.

Main Article: Kijikita vs. Kuryuin

 Once Mitsu becomes more focused on fighting Mirai Takenou than actually playing in the game against Kuryuin, Chidori steps up to the plate and becomes the team's focal point going forward, while also making a big contribution defensively. Mirai eventually realises that Chidori is Kijikita's new key player, and uses her strength to boss her off the ball whenever possible. Mirai throws her aside and begins to tire out Chidori, however she is still able to chase back later in the game after her and Mitsu, pulling back her teammate after she realised that she was about to chop Mirai down, probably earning a red card in the process. She also makes a goalline block to stop Mirai's shot from the edge of the box, however Mirai follows up with a heavy challenge, kicking both her and the ball over the line to put Kuryuin 2-0 up. Despite requiring oxygen at half time, she continues to run hard during the second half, covering both her wing and the centre of the field. With around ten minutes left, she asks Mitsu where she is best at shooting from and walks off once Mitsu tells her, with no explanation as to why she asked. A few minutes later, Chidori wins a freekick around midway inside the Kuryuin half, just too far away to shoot. She purposefully stays down for long enough to lull the Kuryuin defenders into a false sense of security, however short enough so that the referee does not stop the game. After timing this perfectly, she quickly gets up and fires the ball towards Mitsu's favoured shooting position: the left corner of the 18-yard box. Mitsu realises that this was Chidori's plan all along and obliges by controlling the ball and curling the ball into the opposite top corner, tying the game at 2-2. This effort, however, takes all of the energy out of her, and she struggles to move out of her position due to exhaustion. After Amane dives for another penalty with only seconds remaining, Chidori has somewhat recovered, as she is able to follow Kunimitsu's order to stand on the halfway line. She manages to slip away undetected by any Kuryuin defenders, and after Amane slips while taking the kick, Rinka and Reika quickly get the ball up to an unmarked Chidori. She controls the ball for Mai to run on to, and after Mai and Mitsu hold off Mirai, she finds Kiiro to score with a flick to win the game with the final play. After the match, Mirai tracks down Chidori in order to give her her shirt as a sign of respect. Upon leaving the changing room, Mirai finds Chidori's shirt left for her outside the door.

Main Article: Kijikita vs. Kijinan II

Kijikita end the first half 3-0 down thanks to a Shuna Sorimachi hat-trick, warranting a change in tactic for the second half. The Kijikita forwards are moved back to man-mark Kijinan's attackers, leaving the centre of the field open for Chidori and Yoko Esui. Chidori largely struggles to get into the game as the ball is often intercepted before her teammates passes can reach her. With Kijikita 3-1 down later in the game, Chidori plays an important part in creating their second goal. She beats Jaina-Airi Mishiki to a header to knock the ball away from her, allowing her teammates to pressure Koyuzu Sugita into passing the ball back to Jaina, who Chidori then beats to the ball for a second time. Reika then steals the ball and drives towards goal, passing to Kiiro who then finds Mai. Mai then fires the ball under Riria Konbaru to make it a one-goal lead. While Kijikita manage to pull it back to 3-3, Kijinan steal the victory with the last kick of the game. Chidori is later seen consoling Akane, overcome with the emotion of losing the game so late.

After the one-year timeskip in the final chapter, Chidori takes part in Kijikita's game against Franklin and visits the Miyano bathhouse with her teammates. She is also later seen on her own caring for flowers. Kijikita are shown to have reached the final again this year, once again facing Kijinan in the final. Chidori starts for one more showdown with the old enemy.

Trivia

 * Chidori loves flowers and previously covered the dressing room in flowers and decorations.
 * She doesn't like getting her hair wet when bathing and wears a flower-shaped cap to stop this happening.
 * Due to her small size, she has to buy her boots from the grade schoolers' section of the footwear shop.
 * She sometimes refers to herself in the third person.
 * Chidori had previously used her stealth mode before, as she utilised this when she struggled to fit in when she was in Holland, and found it easier to simply disappear.
 * She considers her hair to be her main charm point.
 * When at karaoke, she sings Beethoven's 9th symphony.
 * Chidori likes to take instant hot spring baths and is quite a good cook.
 * Her favourite team is Bayern Munich, and she enjoys watching football on television with Reika.

Relationships
Reika Hakurai: Chidori and Reika are cousins, and they really enjoy each other's company. Reika is the only person who can get Chidori out of her shell. They live with each other and like watching football together.

Kunimitsu Hasuga: While Chidori has never admitted that she likes Kunimitsu, she certainly seems interested, as shown when she asked Reika how it felt to be carried by him.