Ayano Kannagi

Ayano Kannagi (神凪 綾乃 Kannagi Ayano) is the main female protagonist of the series. She is the future head of the Kannagi family, the inheritor of Enraiha and the daughter of the current head Jūgo Kannagi. She is also the second cousin of Kazuma Yagami (her love interest) and Ren Kannagi. She is also currently a high school student of Seiryō Academy, together with Yukari Shinomiya and Nanase Kudō (her best friends).

Appearance
Ayano is a beautiful young girl of average height with long red hair that is styled in a hime cut and red eyes.

She is normally always seen wearing her school uniform, though she is seen changing her outfit on occasion.

Personality
Ayano is a brash, short-tempered, impetuous and an easily arrogant girl who takes her role as the next head of the Kannagi family very seriously. She rarely thinks things through, preferring to charge in blindly to situations. Her pride for her family and heritage is often the fuel for her recklessness, as she believes her family name and force alone would allow her to beat anyone. This never ceases to annoy her father, Jūgo, who has to constantly remind her that not all problems can be solved with brute force.

In contrast to what would be expected from a woman of a prestigious Japanese family, Ayano is far from elegant and very rebellious, being more than willing to disobey her father's orders if they collide with her own personal sense of justice. This can be to her detriment, as she'll often go and do what she believes to be right without learning the entire picture beforehand and she is very prone to jumping to conclusions. Ayano is also shown to be very naive, especially when it comes to anything involving her family; whenever a problem arises for the family, Ayano is usually unable to see that it was the very policies of the Kannagi family that caused the problem in the first place, believing that there is nothing wrong with the way the Kannagis do things. She can also be very stubborn, sometimes refusing to admit when she's wrong even when all the evidence points against her. All in all, Ayano is not particularly bright, but Yukari Shinomiya and Nanase Kudō (Ayano's friends) claim being spaced out from reality is normal for her.

Initially, Ayano hates Kazuma Yagami, taking a great disliking to his bitter, selfish attitude and willingness to charge her father for saving his own kid brother. However, she later starts to develop a crush on him, though she gets annoyed whenever someone points it out (this "someone" usually being Yukari or Nanase) and flies into a jealous rage whenever she sees him with another woman, making her a textbook example of a tsundere. She later comes to realize that she is actually in love with him. Kazuma is also the only person she sees as stronger in power and presence than even her own father. Ayano also has something of a sweet tooth, spending a lot of time at cake shops after school and gorging herself on cakes and sweets, especially if she's in a bad mood.

Despite her undisciplined attitude and short temper, Ayano is a kind person who cares a great deal for those close to her; she is very affectionate towards Ren Kannagi (Ayano's youngest cousin) and while she sometimes gets annoyed with them, she considers Yukari and Nanase to be the best friends she could ever have, as they don't fear her despite her very lethal magic abilities. However, much like Kazuma, she can also be brutally honest at times, such as when she bluntly told Ren he abandoned Ayumi Tsuwabuki and that sitting around feeling sorry for himself wouldn't solve anything. Ayano also takes any insult against her family very seriously, which is especially shown in the anime with her fight against Catherine McDonald, saying she would sooner die than hand over the title of her clan to  'some random family'.

Later in the series, it is shown that, however arrogant she may act on the surface, the massive gap between her power and Kazuma's has left Ayano with serious self-esteem and confidence issues, causing her to doubt herself frequently and worry she might mess things up. During Kazuma's brief turn to the dark side, Ayano admits that she had in fact always looked up to him, wanting nothing more than to be as strong as him and have his approval, suggesting she values this more than even that of her father's. Her insecurities are especially shown when, after Kazuma declares that he'll protect her, she takes it completely the wrong way and asks if he sees her as a helpless little girl who can't take care of herself.

History
Four years before the events of the show, Ayano (at the time age 12) defeated Kazuma Yagami (at the time age 16) in the Right of Inheritance Ceremony. She was crowned the heir for the Kannagis and received Enraiha.

Enjutsu
Ayano is a very skilled Enjutsushi user and the named successor to the head of the Kannagi family. Ayano's power is the Crimson Flame (紅炎, Kōen), but she is not yet able to consciously control it. Her fire is often fueled by anger, especially anger towards Kazuma Yagami. During combat, Ayano tends to fight recklessly and her anger and pride usually get the better of her. However, her power has helped her get Kazuma out of trouble many times. She temporarily wielded the Azure Flames when Kazuma's Contractor magic combined with hers during their fight against Michael.

Other Abilities

 * Swordsmanship: (炎術師, Blaze Technique Master) She is the current inheritor of Enraiha, the Kannagi's sacred sword which she earned by defeating Kazuma in the Right of Inheritance successor ceremony four years before the start of the story. The sword has fire properties and Ayano can summon it at any time.

Relationships

 * Kazuma Yagami: Initially, Ayano was very hostile towards Kazuma, mainly because she believed him to be the Kannagi murderer. Afterwards, she began to see him as a jerk due to him charging Jūgo for saving Ren, greatly annoyed that he would demand money for saving his own younger brother. As the series progresses, she became less hostile but still remains rather cold towards him, though he treats her the same in return. However, she soon fell in love with him but often denies it. She easily becomes jealous when Kazuma is often with other women but denies caring about it. Because of this, Ayano is considered a textbook example of a Tsundere because of her outward hostility and inward softness towards Kazuma. Eventually, during their battle in Episode 23, Ayano admits that she in fact always looked up to him as a role model, wishing that one day she could be as strong as he is and have his approval.


 * Ren Kannagi: Ayano cares a great deal for her younger cousin, who look up to her in return, affectionately calling her 'Nee-sama'. She often teases him, much to his dismay. However, sometimes Ayano feels jealous of him when Ren demonstrates techniques that she can't use or had no prior knowledge of. Much like Jūgo, Ren is a big supporter of the growing feelings between Ayano and Kazuma and hopes the two will one day be honest with their feelings.


 * Jūgo Kannagi: Ayano both greatly respects and fears her father. She often willingly takes missions from him and always wants to make her father proud. She also wants to prove to her father that she is capable of leading the family, much to the dismay of Jūgo, as the ways she attempts to do so are often incredibly reckless.


 * Yukari Shinomiya & Nanase Kudō: While it's not known exactly how long the three girls have known each other, it's clear that they are very close. Yukari and Nanase are the only people at Ayano's school who know about her powers; in the anime, they know from the beginning but in the novels, they don't find out until the second volume. Much like Jūgo Kannagi and Ren Kannagi, Yukari and Nanase are huge supporters of Ayano's feelings for Kazuma Yagami and often tease her about them, which frustrates her to no end. Despite this, she cares for both of them a great deal, once even saying she couldn't have better friends due to the fact that they aren't afraid of her, in spite of her very lethal magic abilities.


 * Catherine McDonald: Ayano saw Catherine as her direct rival at first. After Catherine hired Kazuma Yagami to train her after she lost their first duel in Episode 14, Ayano saw her also as a romantic rival, but after their second battle in Episode 15 where she lost to Ayano, they dropped hostilities as direct rivals but continued to be romantic rivals throughout the remainder of the series. She is seen to be jealous and envious of Catherine's beauty and her breasts.

Etymology

 * The name Ayano means "color" (彩) or "design" (綾) (aya) and "from" (乃) (no).
 * Ayano's surname Kannagi means "god" (神) (kan) and "calm" (凪) (nagi).