Tao Hanakai (sometimes spelled Hanaki) attends high school alongside Nanako Yukishiro and Eiji Busujima. She has a slender frame, long black twintails extending to her midriff, and blue eyes. Her signature look features blunt bangs framing her face, often obscuring the right side. Tao consistently wears the standard school uniform paired with a striped muffler scarf.

At school, she presents a carefully crafted persona of mystery and gloom, concealing her identity as a highly accurate fortune teller by parting her hair differently. She relies heavily on her infallible divinations for all decisions. Beneath this enigmatic facade, Tao is easily embarrassed, frequently scared, and prone to blunt honesty. She experiences jealousy towards girls with larger breasts and displays moments of typical high school behavior that clash with her mysterious image.

Tao enjoys ramen and maintains close friendships within her school circle, including a trip to Taiwan with counterparts of Nanako and Eiji. She has an older sister and refers to her mother informally as "mama." Her primary mode of communication is senryū poetry. Her surname "Hanakai" combines the Japanese characters for "flower" (花) and "buy" (買).