Kenichi Saruyama is the perverted best friend and school mate of Rito. He has known him since junior high and is more open and obvious of his obsession with girls and is one of the few male characters Rito can talk to about his situations involving Haruna or Lala. He is aware of Rito's feelings for Haruna and consistently advises he get together with her. Saruyama reveals that he has a crush on a girl named Riko Yuusaki, but does not realize she is actually Rito, who is accidentally transformed into a girl by one of Lala's bizarre inventions.