Ibuki Ueoka

Ibuki Ueoka (上丘 伊吹 Ueoka Ibuki) is a character in number24. He plays the position of Stand-off (also known as Fly-half) on the Doshisha University Team.

Appearance
Ibuki is a well-built young man with medium length bright blond hair and purple eyes. His hair worn in top knot hairstyle with his bangs parted in the middle and swept up piss

. He is frequently referred to as handsome and desired by the ladies.

Personality
After he was involved in an accident with Natsusa Yuzuki, Ibuki felt responsible for what happened to him. Since Natsusa loved rugby, but was no longer able to play, Ibuki decided to quit rugby, so that he can feel a bit like Natsusa. He never stopped loving rugby, but was willing to sacrifice it, as an apology to Natsusa, but after Natsusa's intervention he got convinced to start playing again.

Ibuki is known to have a playful personality, he is also described as someone who does not get angry easily. This is later explained by Ibuki that he doesnt get angry because Natsusa would get angry in his place- only in this way is the primary reason in which that way he is able to remain calm.

Background
Six months ago, Natsusa had forgotten his mouthpiece at the university and asked Ibuki to take him there. They went with his bike, but on a turn, a car came in front of them and they crashed. Ibuki didn't suffer big injuries, but Natsusa received heavy injuries that would prevent him from continuing to play rugby for the rest of his life. Feeling responsible, Ibuki quit the team and stopped responding to any messages from the team and stopped playing rugby.

When Natsusa returned to school, he decided to make Ibuki play again and went to a bar where he was with some girls. Ibuki was surprised to see him, but refused to join the team. Natsusa then kept bugging him, going to his apartment and leaving him sign-up forms everywhere. As that didn't help, Natsusa went to a church that Ibuki goes and they talked for a while, where Natsusa explained he can keep living the rugby life, if Ibuki plays for him, as he loved seeing him play and that's the reason he even started to play rugby. In the end Ibuki agreed to join the team back.

It is revealed at the end of episode 12 that the promise which Ibuki made to Natsusa was that he would keep playing rugby for Natsusa until he is satisfied.

Etymology

 * The name Ibuki means "that one" (伊) (i) and "blow, breathe, puff, emit, smoke" (吹) (fuki/uki).
 * Ibuki's surname Ueoka means "above, top, upper" (上) (ue) and "hill, height, knoll" (丘) (oka).

Trivia

 * Ibuki lives in his apartment with his two pets cats: Mikan and Toriten.