Kae Yukiwari

is an exchange student to the Konohagakure Academy and the princess of the Land of Bamboo.

Background
As future heir to the throne, Kae had been required to act in a manner that befitted her status. Due to that, she did not get a chance to make friends and spend time with them and her younger stepbrother during her childhood. Kae was very close to her late mother. She would often attend parties hosted and prepared by the queen. As Kae voiced her admiration of her mother, she encouraged Kae to make sure she does things her own way, and looked forward to attending a party hosted by Kae.

Personality
Kae is a very cheerful and kind girl. While proper and dignified, she secretly prefers the more carefree life of the commoners, disliking having to meet the expectations people have for royalty. She enjoys reading romance novels and meeting new people. She idolised her mother, hoping to grow up to be like her.

Because of her royalty lifestyle, Kae pushed herself to remain graceful and elegant in front of her classmates, but after Kawaki convinced her to act as herself to not only make herself happier, but also allow her classmates to know the real her, Kae allowed herself to loosen up and become more relaxed around her friends. Because of this stifling, Kae felt a need to reclaim lost experiences, such as playing with friends her own age. She is very sharp, able to notice when people are acting out of character and from this deduce the nature of their actions.

Appearance
Kae is a fair-skinned girl of average height who is considered very pretty. She has blue eyes and grey-blond hair tied in a left-side ponytail with upward curves strands framing the sides of her face and short bangs splitting in the centre of the forehead. She wears white clothing lined with blue on the collars with grey pants and white sandles.

While appearing formally as a princess, she wears a blue, long-sleeved qípáo-like garment with dark blue and light blue linings, two grey necklaces, one of which has a pendant, and a simple necklace-like accessory across her forehead with a small pendant hanging over it.

Abilities
In her efforts to emulate her late mother, Kae is a talented party planner and host, including personally making tea and cake. After enrolling in the Academy in Konohagakure, Kae was able to learn skills like Tree Climbing Practice, but in her excitement, she was unable to keep her focus, almost falling from the tree.

Kawaki & Himawari Academy Arc
Giving her a chance to experience some freedom from her duties as a princess, Kae was sent to Konohagakure, attending their Ninja Academy. There, she quickly became popular for her beauty and the revelation of her nobility. She found Kawaki interesting, despite him being older than other students and more standoffish. When he tried to befriend her, many confused it with him trying to woo her. Kawaki later caught her acting naturally, and she told him about how people expected her to act. Eiki Fūma, who did have a crush on her and found Kawaki suspicious, attacked him with a summoning scroll, but was knocked out by the summon. Kawaki protected Kae from the summon. Kae asked him who he was, but he brushed it off, just saying he wanted to befriend her, and offered her a romance novel. She later told Batora Kuromori how she was enjoying her time in the Academy.

Later, eager to make friends, Kae invited her class to a tea party. Determined to succeed, Kae even baked a cake herself, trying to live up to her mother's memory. During the party, she and Himawari bonded over having leaders for fathers. When her cake was served, Kawaki caused a commotion by rushing to stop from eating it, believing it to be poisoned. She stopped him and Eiki from fighting and asked whey Kawaki did it. Unable to reveal his mission, he merely excused himself. Osuka teased her for her failed party, but Kawaki and Himawari exposed her as the culprit, having discovered she forced Neon into injecting mustard into the cake as a prank with her drone. When Osuka denied any involvement and tried to pin everything on Neon, Kae lost her composure and scolded her for abusing her friend. She tried to recompose herself, but her friends enjoyed her genuine attitude. At Kawaki's suggestion, she continued the party, and enjoyed the taiyaki he brought.

When Team 7 taught her class as special instructors, an exercise divided most of the class. Kae took neither side, and through the conflict attempted to help reconcile both sides. When their teacher was successful, Kae took part in the picnic and cherry blossom viewing party. Days later, when her class-mates decided to investigate the Academy's Seven Mysteries at night, Kae joined them, but secretly had Batora fake them mysteries so as to maintain her friends' sense of wonder, and convinced Kawaki to help Batora. When one of the mysteries was seemingly real, she felt guilty over faking them, but later discovered it was just Shino's insects cleaning the Academy. She was delighted that her involvement cemented a new story as part of the Seven Mysteries.

During a practical lesson day, Kae was placed in a team with Himawari and Sōsha, the two of them picking Kae as team leader. Because of his mission, Kawaki was distracted from the tests during the morning, despite Himawari taking care of Kae for him. Konashi left her a note to meet her away from everyone, so he could ask her opinion on his sweets, but he ran away when coming across a flame bear. Himawari found her, and Hana acted as a distraction, allowing them to escape. Kae later gave a positive critique on Konashi's sweets. Her team had the most points at the end of the day.

When Himawari failed to show up for a shopping trip with her, Kae grew concerned and went looking for her. After talking to Kawaki and finding her pendant on the floor, they checked on Osuka, who had been seen with Himawari, and discovered they had been kidnapped. After checking with Neon and learning more about her home life, Neon used a new sensing function in her drone, jointly developed by her mother and Osuka's, to find them. Kae and Batora looked after Osuka and Himawari as Kawaki defeated the kidnapper's leader. After their arrest, Osuka's mother Hibari arrived, and reconciled with her, after which Osuka apologised for her attitude and Hibari invited everyone for pudding.

Later, her class had to put on a play about the Sannin, and Kae was cast as Tsunade. She was shocked at how easily Orochimaru abandoned his friends and his home, holding hers very dearly. During a rehearsal, Eiki's struggle with Kawaki damaged the stage, so everyone joined in the repair efforts. She decided to sleep in the infirmary to rest, and was timely saved from an assassin by Kawaki. She awoke shortly after the assassin's escape, asking what Kawaki was doing. He insisted it was nothing, instead deciding to walk her home.

On the day of the festival, while Batora couldn't attend, she remained eager to have fun. Before the play began, an explosion went off, with the threat of more if anyone left or tried to contact the outside. While teachers and former students helped disarm the explosive tags around the Academy, Kawaki had to leave to help Eiki disarm a circuit he discovered. Several smoke bombs went off, and the assassin got very close to Kae, but was stopped by Himawari, who took her outside. The assassin made another attempt, but was stopped by Kawaki. The assassin escaped again, and Kae realised she was the target all along, having deduced Kawaki was assigned to guard her.

Following the attack, it was decided by the king to have Kae return home for her safety. As Kae was despondent over how her friendship with Kawaki was a facade, Batora doubted that conclusion. He revealed that Kawaki willingly withheld knowledge about a possible attack on her at the festival, removing him from the mission, believing it was to let Kae enjoy the festival. Later, the power to the mansion was cut. Batora went to protect Kae, injuring his arm as the assassin overpowered him. Kawaki then arrived to drive the assassin away. During which, Kae tended to Bataro. After the assassin committed suicide to prevent being captured, Kae asked Kawaki about his reasons for not reporting about the potential attack at the festival. While Kawaki refused to answer, it quickly became clear that he did indeed do it for Kae's chance to enjoy the festival. Later, thanks to Batoro's intel and evidence that the minister was the mastermind behind the assassination plot, Kae was allowed to continue attending the Academy.

Trivia

 * Her last name refers to the practice of breaking and removing frozen snow to expose the ground.