Fuyu Fuiba is a supporting character from the manga series "Is the Order a Rabbit?" who is the same age as Chino Kafu and becomes both her classmate and friendly rival after moving from a large city to the wood-framed town.
Name: Fuyu Fuiba
Gender: Female
Birthday: January 24 (Aquarius)
Blood type: B
Age: Same age as Chino Kafu
Height: 149 cm
First appearance: 2019 issue of Manga Time Kirara MAX (volume 8, chapter 7 of the collected edition)
Voice actress: Manaka Iwami (revealed via the character song "Fuyu Character Song")
Fuyu has short, navy-colored hair in a forward-angled bob style that is longer toward the front.
Her bangs are cut straight and parted to the left, and she wears a white hairpin on the left side of her head.
Her eyes are blue, with the outer corners slightly slanted upward like a cat’s, giving her a sharp-eyed look.
This makes a strong contrast with Chino Kafu, who has long, light-blue hair and gently drooping eyes.
Her height and build are almost the same as Chino Kafu’s, and she gives off a slightly childlike impression for her age.
Fuyu grew up in a large, modern city often referred to as the "City of a Hundred Bridges and Shimmering Lights."
There, she spent most of her time with cats rather than people, and it is implied that she had no close friends and very little connection even with her family before moving away for school.
She discovered the wood-framed town through a magazine feature.
The warmth and atmosphere of the town greatly appealed to her, inspiring her to leave her hometown and enroll in a high school there.
She ends up attending the same high school as Cocoa Hoto and her friends and becomes a first-year student in the same class as Chino Kafu.
Through a school introduction, she takes a live-in job at the city branch of a major urban coffee chain called "Bright Bunny," which has expanded into the wood-framed town.
Because of this, Fuyu becomes both a friend and a sort of rival to Chino Kafu, whose family runs the café Rabbit House.
Her life in the wood-framed town represents her first real step into making human friends and building a new daily life.
Fuyu is quiet, reserved, and somewhat shy, especially in group situations.
She herself says that conversations with more than two people feel a little scary, and she struggles with group talk despite being capable of normal one-on-one communication.
At the same time, she has a surprising core of decisiveness and bravery.
She admired the warmth of the wood-framed town so much that she chose to leave her familiar city life behind and attend school far away, a major leap for someone as introverted as she is.
Cocoa Hoto remarks that Fuyu feels similar to how Chino Kafu used to be in the past.
Fuyu sees herself as having "bad-looking eyes" and appearing unsociable, which makes her self-conscious about her expression and friendliness.
In order to change this, she actively studies smiles, using Cocoa Hoto and the others as reference for an ideal "customer-service smile."
However, her first attempt results in a rather intimidating, dominantly sharp smile that resembles a certain café’s extremely strict, teasing kind of employee.
Despite that, Fuyu has a naturally kind side that shows through when she relaxes.
There is a scene where, after Chino Kafu manages to make Fuyu smile, Fuyu responds with, "This time I’ll be the one to make you laugh," and gives Chino Kafu a heartfelt, emotion-filled smile.
Rize Tedeza comments that Fuyu’s quiet, discreet nature would make her suitable for spy work.
From Fuyu’s point of view, Rize Tedeza is "a café employee who talks about strange things," since Rize often mixes military or spy-like ideas into otherwise normal conversation.
Fuyu is notably skilled at chess.
She can confidently play against adults and even defeat them, which is how she first stands out in the spa resort where she meets Chino Kafu and Cocoa Hoto.
She is also good at ventriloquism.
She uses this skill in a playful yet sly way, such as "borrowing" a cat’s face and voice to speak to someone who has dropped something, making it seem as though the cat is "talking" to them.
In the city, she preferred spending time with cats rather than humans, and this strong connection with cats is a defining quirk of her character.
Compared with many other characters in "Is the Order a Rabbit?" who are closely associated with rabbits, Fuyu stands out as someone whose imagery and habits are tied primarily to cats.
She is also interested in studying expressions and smiling.
To improve her hospitality skills at Bright Bunny, she sometimes goes to other cafés and literally "orders a smile" from the waitstaff, asking them to show her their best service smile so she can learn from it.
Chino Kafu
Fuyu is the same age as Chino Kafu and eventually becomes her classmate in high school.
They first meet at an urban spa resort pool where Chino Kafu, whose hotel shower has broken, is visiting with Cocoa Hoto.
At the spa, Fuyu is seen calmly playing chess with adults and defeating them.
Through Cocoa Hoto’s encouragement, Chino Kafu ends up challenging Fuyu to a match and loses, making Fuyu the first opponent of the same generation to beat Chino Kafu at chess.
Later, Fuyu spots Chino Kafu alone at the train station after Chino has become separated from the others during their trip.
When Chino Kafu drops her Tippy plush, Fuyu uses ventriloquism, "borrows" a cat’s face, and speaks to her through the cat, leading to their second encounter and a short, one-hour search together for the lost plush.
Although they part without finding it, this is when they properly exchange names and recognize each other.
They only fully realize their new connection when they unexpectedly reunite as classmates in the wood-framed town’s high school.
From then on, Fuyu quickly becomes good friends with Chino Kafu.
At the same time, because Fuyu boards and works at the big coffee chain Bright Bunny, she also becomes a rival to Chino Kafu’s family café in a friendly, light-hearted sense.
Cocoa Hoto
Cocoa Hoto is a pivotal figure for Fuyu.
On the last night of the trip, after Cocoa Hoto gets separated from the group, she runs into Fuyu again.
That night, Fuyu confides that she is about to leave her city to attend school in another town and will be apart from the cats she considered her closest companions.
She admits feeling lonely about losing that familiar comfort and worried about stepping into a world of people she is not used to.
Cocoa Hoto encourages her by telling her how amazing it is to take that first step into the outside world.
This conversation gives Fuyu the courage she needs to move to the wood-framed town.
Because of this, Fuyu sees Cocoa Hoto as a benefactor who gave her the push to change her life.
She affectionately calls her "Coco-sis," treating Cocoa Hoto as an older-sister figure whom she deeply admires.
Rize Tedeza and Others
Fuyu meets Rize Tedeza and the other café workers after coming to the wood-framed town.
Rize Tedeza, noticing Fuyu’s calm and sparse speech, suggests she would be excellent at spy missions, which Fuyu finds peculiar coming from a café employee.
Fuyu also uses Cocoa Hoto and her friends as models for studying good smiles and social behavior.
She learns how to soften her expression and make her sharp eyes less intimidating by watching how they interact warmly with customers and each other.
Fuyu lives in the wood-framed town as a live-in worker at the local branch of the famous city coffee chain Bright Bunny.
The shop owner was looking for a live-in employee, and Fuyu received the introduction through her high school.
At Bright Bunny, she aims to become a better café employee by practicing her smile, sharpening her service skills, and learning how to talk to customers.
Her contrast with the cozier, more traditional atmosphere of Rabbit House makes her role as a "rival café girl" stand out, even if the rivalry is gentle and friendly.
At school, she attends the same high school as Cocoa Hoto and the others and is in the same class as Chino Kafu.
Class life is a big step for someone who used to be alone with cats, and it gradually helps her grow more comfortable with people and group conversations.
In volume 12, chapter 1, she mentions that in her city days she always watched fireworks alone.
Combined with the note that she preferred cats to people, it is strongly implied she had no real friends before moving to the wood-framed town and beginning this new life.
The name "Fuyu" is believed to be derived from "feverfew," an herb also known by its English name "feverfew" for tansy-like plants.
This keeps with the series’ tendency to use plant and herb-inspired names.
Within a story full of rabbit motifs, rabbit cafés, and rabbit imagery, Fuyu’s strongest thematic link is with cats.
From her city life spent mostly with cats to her cat-like eyes and ventriloquism with cat "voices," she adds a unique feline flavor to a largely rabbit-themed cast.
Fuyu first appears in the April 2019 issue of Manga Time Kirara MAX, which corresponds to volume 8, chapter 7 of the collected volumes of "Is the Order a Rabbit?".
Her subsequent important early appearances include the chapters where she reunites with Chino Kafu at the station, searches for the Tippy plush, and has the crucial nighttime talk with Cocoa Hoto about leaving her city.
Her storyline progresses when the seasons change and Chino Kafu enters high school, where Fuyu turns out to be her classmate.
From there, she becomes part of the extended cast of the wood-framed town, appearing in later chapters and stories involving school life and café work.
In 2021, she appears in the ending of the official "Is the Order a Rabbit?" April Fools exploration game "Seven Rabbits Sins" on the series’ website.
There, it is revealed that the scenario portrayed is actually a dream she had the day before leaving for the wood-framed town.
Although Fuyu herself did not appear in the anime adaptation, as her debut comes after the animated material, she received a character song that officially established her voice actress, Manaka Iwami.
She has since appeared with voice lines in later official online events and content.
On February 23, 2023, at the "Is the Order a Rabbit? Exhibition: Tokyo Return," a life-sized figure of Fuyu wearing the Rabbit House uniform was displayed, drawn and supervised by the series’ creator Koi.
This special exhibit highlighted her growing popularity and solidified her place among the main extended cast of the series.
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