Tsubaki Kasugano

Tsubaki Kasugano (春日野 椿, Kasugano Tsubaki) is the Sixth diary owner. Tsubaki is the High Priestess and Oracle of the Omekata Religion. Her followers know her as the "Sacred Eye" because of her supposed powers of clairvoyance, although this was a lie until she gained her Future Diary, the "Clairvoyance Diary".

Appearance & Personality
Tsubaki is a slender, attractive girl with red eyes; her irises have a dull luster to represent her poor vision. She has long dark blue hair; some of it is pinned up with a red butterfly-shaped hairpiece or ribbon, while the rest hangs loose, partly covering the right side of her face and reaching her hips in the back. She wears a red-orange kimono tied at the waist by a thick white ribbon.

In the anime adaptation, Tsubaki's eyes are purple instead of red; her right eye is shown to be constantly closed in the present, implying that it was damaged or lost at some point. Her hair is also longer, going down to her ankles in the back.

Tsubaki is introduced as a polite, considerate and friendly girl who has no desire to play the Survival Game; instead, she simply wishes to survive the Dead End predicted by her diary. She is quite intelligent and relies on her own intuition, believing Yuno Gasai will be Yukiteru Amano's undoing. She forms a friendship with Yukiteru, describing him as cute and harmless. However, she forms a tense rivalry with Yuno, both trying to pull Yukiteru from one direction to another.

Tsubaki's true colors are revealed along with her backstory; bitter, angry and emotional, she despises the world, the Omekata religion and her life. She deeply desires the power of God in order to destroy the world and recreate it in the way she sees fit. She is quite manipulative, having tricked Yuki, Yuno, Keigo Kurusu, Minene Uryu, and Yomotsu Hirasaka into coming to the temple in order to eliminate all of them easily. She plays the false role of a damsel in distress in order to easily lure in Yuki, mocking his habit to quickly trust people against him.

Upon revealing her true self, Tsubaki attempts to quell her own pain by tormenting others, primarily Yuno. She kisses Yukiteru just to watch Yuno squirm, and later suggests that several of her male followers gang-rape Yuno to lure out Yukiteru. This contributes to her ultimate demise, as she fails to consider how her actions could galvanize her victims or their allies; kissing Yukiteru prompts Yuno to attack her and nearly murder her on the spot, while her rape attempt gives Yukiteru the resolve to confront and kill her.

Tsubaki's most valued possession is a handball that her mother gave her in her childhood; her descent to madness was expedited when she lost it during a "cleansing ritual" in the temple. She would only be reunited with her treasure after the destruction of her Diary; in her last moment of existence, Tsubaki could only shed tears of anger (in the manga) or sadness (in the anime) at the fact that the ball returned to her too late for it to matter.

Diary & Abilities
Tsubaki uses the Clairvoyance Diary, one of the few Future Diaries that doesn't take the form of an electronic device. It is a long paper scroll with a green scale design on the back; Tsubaki often carries it in the sleeves of her kimono until she needs it.

The Clairvoyance Diary records events through the eyes of the Omekata cultists, giving Tsubaki great control of her surroundings and any area her followers are in. Each follower's observations appears on the scroll with a label indicating their name and location; by reading all of the entries, Tsubaki can consider multiple elements of the imminent future across a wider area than most other diaries.

However, given its reliance on her followers, the Clairvoyance Diary can be disrupted via internal sabotage, which can confuse Tsubaki or limit what information she can glean from the scroll. Examples include when Yomotsu Hirasaka hypnotizes most of her followers, leading to all the diary's entries to reveal the same thing despite the followers being at different locations, or when Yukiteru Amano throws a ball into the air, making all of Tsubaki's followers look at it for a split second. The Clairvoyance Diary also cannot directly predict the future aside from Tsubaki's own Dead End, forcing her to guess the immediate future based on her followers' observations.

Additionally, the Clairvoyance Diary is extremely vulnerable to damage compared to other Future Diaries. Being a long paper scroll that must be unrolled in order to read its entries, using it presents a large and extremely delicate target for Tsubaki's enemies - it is treated as "destroyed" even if it's only pierced by the point of a hand dart. As a result of this, Tsubaki often has to prioritize protecting her diary over defending herself in a fight, leaving her open to attack; against Yuno, this forced her to sacrifice one of her hands, leaving her even less capable of quickly handling her diary.

Tsubaki is a skilled manipulator, being able to lure three Survival Game participants and manipulate them into protecting her from the Twelfth with minimal suspicion to her true nature. Despite her partial blindness, she seems to be able to discern things rather well and act accordingly. Also, despite her crude past, her followers obey her every word, implying she is a respected leader despite her open desire to destroy the world.

History
Tsubaki was born and raised within the walls of the Omekata Temple by her loving parents who founded the religion. Because of Tsubaki's poor eyesight, they kept her in the temple for her own safety. She became known as the Sacred Eye, the oracle and figurehead of the religion, with her parents telling their followers that Tsubaki possessed clairvoyant powers. Although worried that this lie would have an effect on their daughter, Tsubaki's parents kept up the act for many years. Tsubaki's mother gave her daughter a handball, which became Tsubaki's most treasured possession.

Approximately two years before the events of the Survival Game, Tsubaki's parents decided to dismantle the Omekata religion and remove Tsubaki from the temple. However, Funatsu, the second-in-command of the religion, secretly attached a makeshift bomb to the underside of the car belonging to Tsubaki's parents. Obsessed with keeping up the act, Funatsu took Tsubaki's parents for a drive, only to abandon the car as exploded, killing Tsubaki's parents and leaving her as the figurehead and high priestess of the Omekata Religion.

Unfortunately, Funatsu altered the purpose of the religion; instead of helping troubled people, he imprisoned Tsubaki in a confinement room along with the scroll which would become her Future Diary. He then declared the room would be used for people to cleanse themselves of their sins, using Tsubaki as a sponge. Tsubaki endured two nightmarish years as a sex slave, slowly going insane with her handball as her one source of comfort. Eventually, Tsubaki's handball rolled out of the confinement room and disappeared, pushing Tsubaki over the edge; concluding that everything in the "Outside World" beyond her sight and reach was evil, she gained an intense desire to see it all destroyed.

One day, Tsubaki was visited by Muru Muru while she was transcribing the reports of her followers on her scroll. She was confused and alarmed by the interloper's presence, especially when she began pulling objects out of nowhere and making herself at home. When she finally attempted to question Muru Muru, she was told that she had been chosen as a participant in the upcoming Survival Game; a bemused Tsubaki wondered why Muru Muru couldn't have just explained that instead of messing with her first. Shortly afterwards, her scroll was transformed into the Clairvoyant Diary, allowing it to automatically describe her followers' observations.

It is unknown if Muru Muru or Deus were aware of Tsubaki's true intentions for becoming God; if they were, they presumably found her interesting enough to take the risk of the universe being destroyed if she won.

The Cult of the Sixth
Tsubaki is introduced with the rest of the diary owners during Deus Ex Machina's first meeting of the Survival Game. She specifically asks how the owners are meant to kill each other when they do not know what they look like. As the owners depart from the meeting with Yukiteru as their primary target, Tsubaki notes how she can see Yukiteru's fear.

During the initial days of the Survival Game, Tsubaki's cult was infiltrated by several diary owners. Orin Miyashiro was present on behalf of Kamado Ueshita, and Ai Mikami joined the cult to observe them from within. Her diary reported a drastic shift in the future following Yukiteru's opening a certain door in Yuno's house.

On May 4th, Tsubaki's followers capture Minene Uryu after Yomotsu Hirasaka hypnotizes several members of the religion to do his bidding. Yomotsu sneaks into the temple and keeps watch over Minene. Yukiteru, Yuno and Kurusu arrive at the temple the next day following a prediction on Kurusu's diary. Tsubaki acts normally, as if her time as a sex slave had never happened, remaining in her confinement room with her scroll. She quickly reveals she is a diary owner, claiming to have no interest in becoming God since she is already his messenger. She unrolls her scroll, revealing she has a Dead End flag which will occur later that night. Tsubaki makes a deal with Kurusu to hand over Minene if the others protect her until the time of her Dead End passes.

Despite Yuno's objections, Kurusu agrees to the proposal, with Yukiteru remaining in the isolation room to guard Tsubaki for the night. As Orin and Ai delivered some futons for them to use, Tsubaki informed Yukiteru that her diary is not completely omnipotent, since it focuses on the views of her followers. She also warns Yukiteri that Yuno will become his undoing, intensifying Yukiteru's suspicions of Yuno after he found the corpses in her house the night before. Yuno eavesdrops on Tsubaki through her diary, planning to kill her at some point for threatening her relationship with Yukiteru.

The futons suddenly ignite and burst into flames, trapping Tsubaki in her chamber. Kurusu runs off to turn on the sprinkler systems, whilst Funatsu rallies the followers to put out the flames. However, one of the hypnotized followers kills Funatsu while the rest pour gasoline on the fire to make it worse. Using a fire axe, Yukiteru manages to enter Tsubaki's chamber just as Kurusu activates the sprinklers and puts out the fire. Tsubaki angrily berates the followers after they kill some of their own and banishes them from her chamber. She then thanks Yukiteru, suspecting Yomotsu's hypnosis powers were responsible for her followers' actions. However, she discovers her diary has been compromised; Yomotsu has hypnotized all of her followers to feed her diary misinformation, effectively rendering it useless.

Yukiteru decides to remove Tsubaki from the Omekata Temple for her own safety, although Yuno objects, accusing Tsubaki of deceiving Yukiteru, to which Tsubaki objects in turn. After Yuno kills several followers who were only faking death, she leads Yukiteru and Tsubaki out of the room in a race for the entrance - along the way, Tsubaki ends up bumping her face into a wall and accuses Yuno of doing that intentionally. Once outside, Yomotsu releases most of the hypnotized followers so he can personally confront the trio. With four thralls dressed in similar outfits to his, the Twelfth appears before Yukiteru to warn him that Tsubaki has indeed been fooling him. Revealing the true intentions of the Omekata cult, Yomotsu tries to kill Tsubaki with a bomb he stole from Minene, only for Yuno to swiftly kill him after identifying him from his followers.

With Yomotsu dead, Tsubaki reveals her true colors, directing her freed followers to close the entrance doors to the temple and capture Yukiteru and Yuno. Revealing that she does plan to become God after all, she mocks Yukiteru's naivety before giving him a deep, crude kiss to see Yuno's reaction. Concluding her Dead End should be gone, Tsubaki discovers it hasn't, moments before an enraged Yuno attacks her. Unable to withdraw safely, Tsubaki protects her diary with her own body, losing her right hand to Yuno's axe and collapsing in agony. Fortunately for the Sixth, Yuno's fatigue finally caught up with her after her initial assault, using the last of her strength to help Yukiteru flee with both of their diaries before passing out.

After having her arm wrapped by Ai, Tsubaki angrily reveals her backstory and challenges Yukiteru's devotion to Yuno. Deciding to make the Second suffer like she did, Tsubaki allows her followers to gang-rape Yuno as they did to her, calling Yukiteru through a microphone to face her and rescue Yuno. To Tsubaki's surprise, Yukiteru charges in, protecting Yuno and fending off the followers before declaring his choice of Yuno over her, reflecting on how Yuno had demanded that he choose Yuno or Tsubaki to live or die, respectively. Tsubaki becomes infuriated by his choice, but waits to see what Yukiteru will do, believing herself impervious due to having so many followers in the room for her diary to use.

Unfortunately for Tsubaki, Yukiteru had previously found her long-lost handball whilst hiding and promptly throws it into the air. While momentarily awestruck upon seeing the ball, the Sixth quickly realizes the First's intent; with all of her followers looking at the ball, her diary can't tell her how to stop his attack. She desperately tries to roll up her diary, but realizes that she can't due to the loss of her hand; an instant later, Yukiteru's dart pierces the scroll and her handball lands nearby. Knowing that her fate is sealed, Tsubaki tearfully wonders why her beloved handball returned to her at that moment, concluding it arrived too late as she is erased from existence.

The Final Battle
When Yuno, Muru Muru, Yuki and Minene performed a time leap to the third world, Tsubaki is alerted to their battle at Sakurami Elementary School. As an aide enters with the news that Funatsu is taking her parents for a drive, Tsubaki tells them to wait, as it seems dangerous outside. The aide later discovers a bomb planted by Funatsu under the car, exposing him as a criminal. Funatsu is taken away by the followers, while Tsubaki declares that the religion will help those in need instead of giving in to sin. This changes Tsubaki's future, avoiding the original future of losing her parents and enduring years of sexual abuse.



In the final chapter of the manga, Tsubaki is shown walking out on the streets of Sakurami City with her parents. She appears to be eyeing Akise with interest, possibly hinting that some elements of Future Diary: Paradox had survived in the third world. In the anime, with the dissolution of the Omekata religion, Tsubaki is shown sleeping peacefully under the loving care of her parents.

Future Diary: Paradox
In the spin-off manga Future Diary: Paradox, where Aru Akise and Muru Muru replace Yuki and Yuno after the former is wounded by Takao Hiyama and Yuno is accidentally killed, the same events at the temple are followed at first.

Akise learns of Funatsu's presence and that the only way to join the religion is to have sex with Tsubaki. Deciding to alter reality against Muru Muru's wishes, Akise turns to Ai and Orin for help. Orin reveals her own objections to harming Tsubaki, aware of her tragic past; Ai shares her feelings but knows one day she may become her enemy. Akise decides to help Tsubaki by showing her the world outside of the temple; he personally approaches Tsubaki and asks to "elope" with her to get her out of the temple.

Tsubaki objects, but Akise launches the next stage of his plan; having Tsubaki and Ai swap clothes to fool Funatsu's surveillance cameras. Akise causes a blackout to disable the cameras before escaping with Tsubaki disguised as Ai. Tsubaki objects to going outside, but Akise sweet-talks her into agreeing. However, their plan falls apart when Ai is found out, and Akise runs past Muru Muru as she has lunch with Kurusu. Funatsu confronts Akise and Tsubaki, challenging Tsubaki to choose between her life or those of her followers. Akise steps in and chooses Tsubaki's life. Akise manages to escape with Tsubaki when Yomotsu starts hypnotizing the followers.



When Muru Muru appears, angry at Akise for altering the future, Akise vaults over a wall, out of the temple and lands in a convertible where Reisuke Houjou happens to be sitting. Akise takes Tsubaki to admire a view of Sakurami City, where she admits she cannot trust Funatsu and believes he killed her parents. Muru Muru calls Akise, revealing that she has captured Funatsu with help from Yomotsu; she orders him to return Tsubaki to the temple so she can have a chance to avenge her parents.

Akise, Tsubaki and Reisuke return to the temple, Akise planning a two-pronged attack to get a confession out of Funatsu. Whilst Akise and Tsubaki act as distractions, Reisuke goes off to convince Yomotsu to end his hypnotism. Orin and Ai aid Tsubaki, but they run into Muru Muru and Funatsu. Tsubaki demands Funatsu to confess. Believing all of the followers to still be brainwashed, Funatsu freely admits that he killed Tsubaki's parents, only to realize that Yomotsu has released his control over the followers, who had heard everything. Reisuke and Yomotsu arrive on the scene, Yomotsu having turned against Muru Muru to aid Akise. A member of the cult angrily punches Funatsu, knocking him out, while Muru Muru flees.

Afterwards the incident, Akise, Tsubaki, Kurusu, Reisuke, Yomotsu, Ai and Orin make peace with each other. Tsubaki kisses Akise to thank him, much to his surprise. Later, as Akise tries to stop Muru Muru from rewinding time to erase his efforts in creating a better future, Tsubaki, Reisuke, Orin, Ai and Marco Ikusaba arrive to help him fend off Muru Muru and a brainwashed Yukiteru. Tsubaki escorts the injured Akise to the memory bank of the Mecha Muru Muru in order to discover Muru Muru's secret. Before departing, Akise thanks her for everything, then promptly jumps into the memory bank. However, Muru Muru succeeds in rewinding time and Paradox's events are erased.

Etymology

 * The name Tsubaki means "camellia flower" (椿), a type of flower.
 * Tsubaki is inspired by the Roman goddess Proserpina, who is the goddess of springtime and flowers. Proserpina is imprisoned in the Underworld every few months, similar to how Tsubaki is confined to the isolation room of the Omekata Temple.
 * Discounting the potential reference below, Tsubaki is one of three Diary Holders whose god inspiration is not part of the Dii Consentes. Additionally, she is the only Diary Holder whose representative god is not mentioned in the first anime opening.
 * Tsubaki may also be named after Apollo, the god of the sun and prophecy; her name contains the kanji for sun (日), and her followers believed her to be clairvoyant. Unlike Proserpina, Apollo is a member of the Dii Consentes.
 * Tsubaki's surname Kasugano means "spring" (春) (ka), "sun, day" (日) (suka/suga) and "field, wilderness" (野) (no).

Trivia

 * Tsubaki's character theme song is "Cries From Avici" by Aki Hata. Avici is the lowest level of Buddhism's version of Hell, fitting Tsubaki's view of her situation.
 * In the third world, Tsubaki has a crush on Aru Akise (possibly influenced by their interactions in the erased timeline of Future Diary: Paradox), appearing to stalk him rather like Yuno stalked Yukiteru in the second world.