Ayumi

was one of Kagome's three best friends in modern-day Japan.

History
Ayumi attended the same school with Kagome Higurashi. After Kagome started traveling to the feudal age, and thus missing more school, her grandfather would lie to her friends that she was sick in order to cover for her. Whenever Kagome did return home, she would frequently hang out with Ayumi and her other friends at Wacdnalds and talk about personal matters (mostly about Kagome's love life). Kagome would usual complain to them about Inuyasha due to his angry disposition, as well as him frequently two-timing her with her ex-girlfriend. The continuing drama got Kagome's friends immensely interested in Kagome's relationships, as a result, with Ayumi being the only one of them the supported Kagome and Inuyasha's relationship.

During a visit to Kagome's house after school, Ayume and her friends wanted to meet Inuyasha after finding out that he was there. Initially, they could not find them, but were suddenly surprised when Inuyasha suddenly approached them in Kagome' room through her window when Kagome left them for a moment. After covering with Inuyasha for a while, Ayumi and the others had a good impression of Inuyasha in spite of all of Kagome' past complaining of him.

Three years later after Kagome successfully destroyed the Shikon no Tama (and was thus cut off from traveling to the past due to having fulfilled her purpose), she continued going to high school with Ayumi and her friends until they graduated.

Personality
Ayumi was the most naive and gentle of the group of Kagome's friends. Unlike Eri and Yuka, who felt that Kagome's 'delinquent boyfriend' was bad news and were thus constantly encouraging Hōjō on his romantic pursuits of said time-traveling schoolgirl, Ayumi was almost always shown as supportive of the couple. Some of this was, of course, due to her innocent demeanor and optimism. However, she does believe that Kagome truly was in love, and that because of this any problems the couple might stumble upon may be overcome.

However, there have been times where she does side with Yuka and Eri about Kagome's relationship with Inuyasha where on a few occasions she does believe him to be a delinquent. But, after finally meeting Inuyasha for the first time she went back to fully supporting their relationship and in the process Yuka and Eri had completely changed their opinion of him and now start to support Kagome's relationship with him.

She was shown to have an interest in music, acting as the maestro to her school's choir performance during the cultural festival. She is also the only one of her friends who seems to enjoy school.

Physical description
Ayumi has wavy shoulder-length black hair and brown eyes.

Relationships
Eri, Yuka, and Kagome are her three best friends.
 * Eri, Yuka, and Kagome

Ayumi was shocked silently that Kagome used the fear mode on Inuyasha as Yuka was glad that she was not in Inuyasha's place, as Eri said, "No kidding. Look, she has the fear to control him."

She first sees him at the cultural festival while getting Kagome for the choir performance, but she believed him to be a cosplayer and didn't say anything to him. She and her friends would meet him again in Kagome's room and find him cool, believing him to be half-foreign. While they waited as Kagome takes another make up exam, they meet him again as he comes to pick up Kagome and see him carrying her on his back after making her fail her exam. On their way to the high school, as Kagome's backpack got stuck in the train because of the crowd, she sees Inuyasha again with his dog ears exposed and felt surprised that he can fly while carrying Kagome to get her backpack back with her entrance exam ticket in. They were surprised to hear his voice after the Bone-Eater's Well disappeared near the end.
 * Inuyasha

Manga vs. Anime

 * Ayumi is not present with the rest of Kagome's friends in the earlier chapters of the manga. It isn't until Chapter 287 that she starts appearing with the other girls more frequently. In the anime, the only time Ayumi is not seen with the rest of Kagome's friends is Episode 12.

Trivia

 * Ayumi, Eri, and Yuka were all names given to the girls by, the anime company who produced the series. Rumiko Takahashi never officially gave the 3 girls names in the manga. However, she did name Hōjō.
 * Despite her name not being mentioned in the manga, Eri's and Yuka's name are somehow shown in the InuYasha profile book.
 * After she graduated high school, Ayumi revealed that she would study to become an Interpreter.
 * Ayumi has the same Japanese and English voice actresses as Kokichi. She also has the same English voice actress as Ms. Higurashi.

Media appearances
{{Scroll box
 * content=

Manga

 * Chapter 23
 * Chapter 79
 * Chapter 287
 * Chapter 332
 * Chapter 392
 * Chapter 411
 * Chapter 512
 * Chapter 519
 * Chapter 530
 * Chapter 553
 * Chapter 554
 * Chapter 555
 * Chapter 558

Anime
}}
 * Episode 11
 * Episode 13
 * Episode 20
 * Episode 21
 * Episode 29
 * Episode 38
 * Episode 39
 * Episode 48
 * InuYasha the Movie: Affections Touching Across Time
 * Episode 57
 * Episode 60
 * Episode 62
 * Episode 69
 * Episode 75
 * Episode 82
 * Episode 89
 * Episode 90
 * InuYasha the Movie 2: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass
 * Episode 100
 * Episode 127
 * Episode 128
 * InuYasha the Movie 3: Swords of an Honorable Ruler
 * Episode 137
 * Episode 138
 * Episode 140
 * Episode 160
 * Episode 167
 * Episode 1 (FA)
 * Episode 3 (FA)
 * Episode 18 (FA)
 * Episode 21 (FA)
 * Episode 25 (FA)
 * Episode 26 (FA)
 * Episode 4 (Hanyō no Yashahime)