Machi's Mother

She is the mother of Machi Kuragi, who forced her to compete for a role as heir of her father.

Appearance
She is a fair-skinned, relatively tall woman whose eyes are always hidden by a shadow. She has long, straight, light-colored with her bangs pulled back and a small piece of her hair tied into a ponytail at the back. She is also seen to dress rather professionally.

Personality
She appears as a very strict and cold woman, who forced Machi to become perfect, and would regularly punish her for anything short of perfection. Even when Machi became "perfect", she never earned a pat on the back from her mother. When her son was born, she brushed Machi aside and even convicted her of attempting to kill her younger brother.

History
She forced her daughter Machi into an inheritance battle regarding the family fortune against her older half-brother, Kakeru Manabe, who was born illegitimately to her husband's former lover. She always pressed Machi to have a perfect personality and a perfect academic record, because she convinced Machi that her father would reject her otherwise.

The bitter rivalry ended when Kakeru and his mother withdrew from the competition, and when Machi's mother bore a son. She explained to a friend that she was happy to finally have a son and a successor, since she thought that Machi was boring, had no personality, and wasn't very smart anyway. Machi later confronted her mother and argued that she had always done what her mother had told her to do, though Machi's mother became angry at her for apparently putting the blame on her.

One day, Machi saw her younger brother laying on the ground and, thinking that he might be cold, was covering him with a blanket. Her mother entered the room and convicted Machi of attempting to murder him, an accusation she did not contest even though it is false. Her parents, believing she resents her younger brother and is a danger to him, quickly threw her out of the house. Machi had no choice but to consent to this, and her parents claimed they did it for Machi, because they thought that it would be "better" for her to live apart from her family. She has since lived alone in an apartment.

Story Overview
After one of Machi's student council meetings, her mother calls her and asks if she has been enjoying school and if she and Kakeru are getting along well. When she mentions Kakeru, Machi remembers when her mother always used to tell her that she could never lose to Kakeru and also re-called her childhood trauma. When she fell silent because of it, her mother realized that Machi apparently hasn't changed much which is why people don't want to become her friend. Her youngest son suddenly calls out to her, in which she quickly hangs up before telling Machi that she will call again.

Her grandson, Mutsuki Sohma, mentions how Machi and her parents have never reconciled and that she and they still tediously calls each other off. Mutsuki deduces that it will continue until death.

Machi Kuragi
Machi's mother sees Machi as a danger for the family and holds little trust in her. This is evident by the fact that she immediately came to the conclusion that Machi tried to murder her younger brother even though she only wanted to put a blanket over him since she thought he was cold. Although she banished Machi from their home, she occasionally checks up on Machi and her school life, but ends up degrading Machi by saying that with the way she is, she will never make any friends, oblivious to the fact that her abuse scarred Machi emotionally and traumatized her, even leaving her to hate perfection in all forms. It is implied that they never reconciled.

Madre de Machi Mère de Machi