Sugimura

Sugimura is the schoolmate of Shizuku Tsukishima as seen in Whisper of the Heart. He is goods friends with Shizuku and Yuko, the latter having romantic feelings for him. He helped his teammate to pass a love letter to Yuko. After Yuko learn the truth about the letter, she felt sad and disappointed as she has a crush on Sugimura and thought he felt the same for her. She then yelled at him and ran away.

Sugimura catches up with Shizuku and asks her about Yuko. They go to a shrine, and Sugimura wonders what he said to Yuko that upset her so much. Shizuku replies it is not the words he said, but that he was the one saying them to her, and if he understood what that meant. Sugimura says he does not and asks her to spell it out for him. Shizuku, angered at him for being dense at Yuko's feelings for him, reveals that Yuko is in love with him.

Sugimura felt shocked knowing this, as he didn't pick up Yuko's crush on him and he tells Shizuku that she is the one he's in love with, much to her shock, but she sadly rejects him and tells him that she only sees him as a friend and cannot betray Yuko as she is her best friend. Although upset at this confession, he reluctantly agrees to just be friends with her and never mentions it again.

Afterwards, Sugimura apologizes to Yuko and that he'll tell his friend she is not interested, while Yuko also apologizes for yelling at him, which he accepts. Later on, when Seiji Amasawa come and look for Shizuku in their classroom, Sugimura showed a sad and defended face, but keeps it to himself. He is not seen again for the rest of the film until the closing credits, where he meets up with Yuko, implying that they get together as a couple.

Etymology

 * The surname Sugimura means "cedar" (杉) (sugi) and "town, village" (村) (mura).

Trivia

 * Sugimura is inspired by Pazu in Castle in the Sky and Tombo in Kiki's Delivery Service.

Sugimura 耳をすませば