Akihiro Tsukuba 筑波秋博

A boy who joins the Karuta Club at the start of Chihaya's second year. He is originally from Hokkaido and is a master at playing second verse karuta using two hands. He joins the club to learn how to play first verse karuta.

Tsukuba played the Hokkaido-style Karuta until his last year in middle school, therefore he came to the Karuta club very confident. Even though the rules are different than what he’s used to, he has a drive to become strong and becomes a Karuta club member.