"Death isn't kind. It's dark and black and as far as you, as far as you can see, you're all alone, there's no one else."

- Mei Misaki

Mei Misaki (見崎 鳴, Misaki Mei) is the female protagonist of Another and a student of Class 3-3 at Yomiyama North Middle School in 1998. She was labeled by her classmates as "the one that does not exist."

She appears as a major supporting character in the 2020 novel, Another 2001.

Mei was born as the older of twin girls. She was originally conceived by Mitsuyo Fujioka along with her twin, Misaki Fujioka, until one day, Yukiyo Misaki, Mitsuyo's younger twin sister, also became pregnant but miscarried, leaving her devastated. At the same time, Mei's family was experiencing financial problems. Because of this, along with the fact that Yukiyo was still trying to cope with the loss of her unborn child, Mitsuyo gave Mei to her sister to raise her as her own daughter.

At some point in her elementary school years, Mei learns that Misaki was her twin after her grandmother accidentally revealed it, resulting in Kirika having another mental breakdown. One night, Mei found her "mother" crying and wanted to know the reason, to which Kirika tells her that night that she was not allowed to meet her biological family, originating from where Mei had a cellphone before the story began. Despite this, Mei secretly meets her twin sister, and they become close friends.

's death]] One and a half years before the calamity began, Mei witnessed an unknown assailant killing a young woman from across the river, which she still remembers prior to the story.

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Mei is a pale-skinned girl who is fairly small in size, being one of the smallest in her class. She has short black hair resembling a messy bob. Her eyes were originally both red; however, the reason behind her mismatched irises is that her left eye is prosthetic - a doll's eye which, as Mei describes it, can see things best left unseen. The eye was a gift from her mother, who made her the glass eye after Mei lost her real eye due to a disease when she was four; the eyes are a different color because Yukiyo felt matching eyes were boring.

She can be seen wearing the standard female uniform, but throughout the series, she has been seen wearing various outfits, especially during her time with her twin sister:

Mei is fascinated by a pair of conjoined dolls in her grandmother's shop, wondering how they can be so calm even though they are attached. When Kōichi Sakakibara suggests that it is the reason, Mei claims that that's impossible. She also claims that, in the end, everyone is alone, no matter how many bonds they may have. However, despite telling Kōichi to stay away from her, as time goes on, she becomes accustomed to his presence and doesn't seem to mind having him around. She even seems to develop feelings for him, as she was deeply touched by his standing up for her when Izumi Akazawa blamed her for the Curse, despite both Naoya Teshigawara and Yūya Mochizuki standing up for her as well. This is further implied when it's revealed that she had figured out who the Extra student was some time before the school trip, but kept it a secret because she didn't want Kōichi to be sad, a decision she ultimately comes to regret.

Mei's withdrawn and gloomy nature is later revealed to be the result of the death of her cousin Misaki Fujioka, who, as she discovered in the 5th grade, was actually her twin sister. When Misaki was alive, Mei was much happier, even wearing brighter clothes, though she was still notably shy compared to her sister. Mei and Misaki quickly became inseparable, and the two would often meet up in secret, as her adopted mother/aunt, Yukiyo Misaki, didn't like them meeting up for fear that Mei would return to her biological family. As a result, Mei was completely devastated by Misaki's death by leukemia (brought upon by the Curse), to the point that she initially didn't want to accept she was gone and even fulfilled her promise to give her a doll she wanted for her birthday. The sheer despair of losing her sister has apparently rendered Mei immune to any other trauma, as she doesn't even flinch at Shoji Kubodera killing himself in front of the entire class.

Mei dislikes cell phones, saying that it disturbs her to be connected to other people at all times by electromagnetic waves, most likely a by-product of her solitary nature. Nevertheless, she carries one at the request of her aunt. Her hobby is drawing, and she is a member of the school's art club, though she states that she doesn't enjoy creating art so much as she enjoys looking at it. Mei is also very insecure about her prosthetic eye, which is why she hides using her eyepatch. When she shows it to Kōichi for the second time, however, he says that it's beautiful and she doesn't need to hide it. Because of her eye, Mei knows that death is not a blessing, since when it happens, you are all alone.

Although she can be rather creepy at times, Mei is actually really kind; she quickly befriends Kōichi after he becomes a second "sacrifice" for Class 3-3 and willingly opens up to him about the Curse, her family, Class 3-3's history, and even the nature of her prosthetic eye. She is also very selfless, evident by the fact that she willingly "sacrificed" herself to prevent any more people from falling victim to the Curse, as she couldn't stand to see anyone else die after losing her sister, showing that she really does care despite her seemingly apathetic nature. When asked by Kōichi how she can stand being treated like she doesn't exist, Mei states that she thinks it's a better alternative than having to treat someone else like they don't exist, further showing how selfless she is.

In contrast to her typically taciturn behavior, Mei also has a surprisingly childish side; when the class are on their school trip, she spends time building a sandcastle and gets scared when an octopus sticks to her hand, believing that it was going to eat her. Another childish side of her is shown when she wore a flower headpiece she found in the box in the old Class 3-3 room and jokingly confirmed one of the seven mysteries of the school, namely that one can hear moaning in the auxiliary library. It should be noted that these traits only appear in the anime, not in the original novel.

Mei first meets Kōichi Sakakibara in the hospital's elevator and tells him that she's going to the morgue where her "other half" is waiting for her. She is later seen on the school roof sketching. Kōichi asks many questions, and Mei implies that she hates being questioned. She is seen talking with him many times.

In Episode 3, when Kōichi had finished his test, he went outside after seeing Mei leave the classroom. She tells him that she doesn't exist and that he may be the only one who can see her, leaving him shocked. At that time, Yukari Sakuragi runs out of the classroom, grabs her umbrella, and runs towards Kōichi's direction. However, after seeing Mei, she becomes frightened and runs in the other direction. She trips on the stairs and her neck is skewered by the aforementioned spear-like umbrella.

Kōichi meets her again in the doll store, where she warns him to be careful since "it" has started and disappears mysteriously soon after.

In Episode 5, it is revealed that Mei really exists when Kōichi finds the class roster along with a sheet of paper written "Ask Mei Misaki about it" in it. Kōichi visits the doll store once again, and Mei takes him up to her apartment through an elevator hidden behind a curtain. She asked Kōichi if he suspected her of being a ghost. She assures him she is alive and is positive she has not died. Since "it" has started again, Mei tells him everything about the class curse, the unknown reasons for the deaths, and the prevention measures of the class. Kōichi and Mei's relationship continues to develop to the point that he frequently comes to Mei's apartment, and on one such occasion, he meets Kirika, Mei's mom, who she says treats her like the other dolls in her house. Later on, she tells Kōichi that she will be going on a vacation to her beach house with her parents, so she won't be back for a week. When the others go to find information on the curse from a worker at a hotel by the beach named Katsumi Matsunaga, Kōichi meets Mei there, and they talk about her family. Mei tells him that her father doesn't come to Japan often and that they aren't really close, despite being a family. While they talk, their hands touch as they build a sand castle, a seemingly unimportant part of the story, but a detail that shows how Mei and Kōichi's relationship is progressing.

After it is decided that there should be a contest to see who can catch the most ingredients to make lunch. Mei shows Kōichi a starfish and a pufferfish, but he tells her that they aren't edible until she finds an octopus, which latches onto her. This scares her, and she tells Kōichi to get it off of her. They look at their findings and show them to Reiko, who, after a long deliberation, declares a draw. Matsunaga later finds them, but tells them that he can't remember anything except for someone possibly dying in the mountains on the class trip to the shrine. Suddenly, a strong breeze comes and blows Takako Sugiura's beach ball out far into the ocean. Junta Nakao says he will go get it, swimming out to retrieve the lost plastic item. But when the ball appears just to be within reach, he stops moving, just floating out in the ocean. Kōichi and Matsunaga swim out to save him, only to witness his body being sliced by an oncoming motorboat. Mei stands by Izumi Akazawa on the beach in shock. In Episode 9, Mei is walking along with Kōichi behind Tatsuji Chibiki, who asks them about the behavior of Junta the day he died. Kōichi and the others mention that he was suffering from car sickness and that he was unable to swim straight when retrieving the beach ball. After Chibiki clarifies to them that the reason why Junta died had originated in Yomiyama itself, they leave. Later on, when Kōichi, along with Naoya Teshigawara, enters the art club to search for a clue Matsunaga mentioned, they find Mei painting.

Yūya Mochizuki comes hurriedly into the club room, which prompts her to ask them why they were all there. Finally, the trio answers her, and she tags along with them. They reach the floor of the abandoned 9th-grade classrooms. They reach the class 3 section of the hall and search for the clue Matsunaga had left in 1983. While gossiping with each other, Mei tries to open a window to get fresh air. As a result, a big fragment of glass almost falls on her, but Kōichi pulls her back before she is impaled. Kōichi finds the tape, and the group goes to the AV room to find a tape recorder.

In Episode 10, Mei invites Kōichi into her room at the inn they are staying at during the school trip to the shrine in the mountains to see the graduation photo where Misaki Yomiyama appeared. Mei tells Kōichi the truth about her and her cousin, Misaki Fujioka, who is actually her twin, and Kirika, who is actually her aunt. She tells Kōichi about how she can see things that should remain unseen, stating that she can distinguish the color of death by uncovering her left eye and determining whether something is alive or dead. She also says that the color of death is different from any color that she has ever seen, stating that it does not belong with colors such as red or blue. Kōichi asks who the dead one is. But right when Mei is about to tell him, Naoya bursts into the room, interrupting them, saying that he has done something terrible.

In Episode 11, Naoya admits to Kōichi and Mei that he thinks he might have killed Tomohiko Kazami by accidentally pushing him off the balcony while they were fighting. Kōichi tells Mei and Naoya to go check and see if he is still alive. When they reach the hall, Kōichi notices something odd about the dining room door and walks toward it. He finds Manabu Maejima, who was badly injured, and discovers that the dining room is on fire with the manager dead inside. They hear Takako scream and go up to her room to rescue her. Takako was gone and later appears with a knife, trying to kill Mei. Kōichi protects her, and Takako flees the scene. She plays the tape over the intercom and tells the students that Mei Misaki is the dead one. This prompts everyone to go on a manhunt to find Mei, forcing Kōichi to protect her. They are pursued by the class, and they tried to escape through the window when Yumi Ogura finds them. Yumi follows Mei and Kōichi out the window. She slashes at Mei, but Kōichi pulls her out of the way; Yumi slips and falls off the windowsill to her death.

In the last episode, Takako appears again with her knife, ready to kill Mei, believing she will free her remaining classmates from the curse. Takako stabs Kōichi and charges towards Mei, attempting to kill her. Mei dodges Takako's attack, causing her to become entangled in loose wiring connected to the ceiling. Takako's violent struggle to free herself causes the wires to pull on a loose support beam, which rips through the wires and pulls Takako up, strangling her to death. Mei watches in shock as Takako hangs right in front of her. Izumi arrives, witnesses the scene, and assumes that Mei had killed Takako, since she was holding her knife. She then snaps and says she's going to kill Mei, prompting Mei to run up the steps as more of the ceiling collapses, separating her from Kōichi and Izumi.

In Episode 12, Kōichi and a few other survivors run out of the burning inn. However, he runs back into the building to search for Mei once he realizes she's missing. He runs up the stairs and discovers that Izumi has cornered Mei on the other side of the floor. As Izumi attempts to kill Mei, Kōichi manages to stop her in time. The entire platform collapses, causing them to fall to the bottom floor. When Izumi finally gets a hold of Mei, she attempts to kill her, but is stopped by Kōichi; right at that moment, lightning strikes. The lightning shatters the hall's giant window, and large glass shards are sent flying towards them. Izumi ends up being skewered against the wall by the glass shards. Shocked, Kōichi runs and removes her from the wall. Mei disappears as Izumi tells Kōichi about her memory of their meeting before she dies.

Kōichi then calls Mei's cell phone, trying to locate her amongst the rubble of the decimated building. She tells him that she is in the backyard and that he shouldn't come, saying that he'll regret it. Kōichi goes to her anyway, ignoring her warning. He finds her with a pickaxe next to a fallen tree and hears sounds coming from underneath. He tries to help the person underneath, only for Mei to stop him. The person struggles under the fallen pile of lumber, and it is revealed to be Ms. Mikami, Kōichi's aunt Reiko. Mei then reveals that Ms. Mikami is the Extra. Kōichi is in disbelief, but Mei explains that she remembers witnessing Ms. Mikami being assaulted and thrown in the river, resulting in her drowning, one and a half years ago. She also points out that their class was the only one to have an Assistant Homeroom teacher and that they actually had the correct number of seats this year, with the missing seat being in the faculty room. Mei's explanation causes him to finally believe her, and he decides to send Reiko back to death himself.

They are later seen at the Mikami family grave together on a sunny, warm day. The grave lists both Ritsuko, Kōichi's mother, and Reiko as deceased. Kōichi and Mei then talk about how they are the only ones to remember Ms. Mikami. They are also the only ones able to see her in the photo they took outside of the inn. Kōichi and Mei walk together, Kōichi asking why she doesn't answer her phone when he calls. Mei tells him that after the incident at the inn, she threw her phone into the river because she hates them. She also mentions that her mother will, without a doubt, get her a new cell phone soon. Kōichi then asks if he may call her sometimes when she gets her new phone. She smiles and replies, "Sure." Kōichi then asks if it is all over, and Mei responds with a reassuring smile.

Mei appears in Episode 0 and meets Misaki in secret. They often talked about their family situation and did several activities together (i.e., changing clothes, eating ice cream, or showering), and they even slept in the same bed. Without her eyepatch, Mei sees the color of death on Misaki; wondering why, when they go to the amusement park, she is overprotective. They ride the Ferris wheel and talk. A bird suddenly crashes into the glass, killing itself and shocking Misaki, who stumbles towards the door, which suddenly breaks open. Misaki falls, but Mei catches her and cannot pull her back up. Mei is devastated and is forced to watch as her sister falls. However, the drop wasn't far and Misaki landed on her feet, surprising them both; she later explains that despite almost dying today was a good day. After doing some more activities, the twins disband, but upon leaving, Mei watches Misaki collapse. They are later seen at a hospital, and Misaki appears to be fine; she explains that she has leukemia and that it is treatable. Mei says that if she needs an organ donor, she is there for her, but later on, Misaki unexpectedly dies. Mei is devastated and attempts to take out her artificial eye, but doesn't. She later goes to the hospital and meets Kōichi Sakakibara, leading to the events of Episode 1. Before Misaki died, she asked for a doll for her birthday, explaining why Mei had a doll and was going to the morgue.

In the sequel novel, Mei is a 3rd-year student at First Yomiyama High School. She serves as a confidant and advisor for Sou Hiratsuka throughout the year. Two years prior, when Mei entered high school, she used the allowance she saved up to buy a regular brown prosthetic eye to replace her blue doll's eye, and despite Kirika's previous objections to taking off the doll's eye, Kirika accepted the change, to Mei's surprise. As such, she doesn't use her eyepatch as often as before. Due to the curse's effects on people's memories, Mei cannot recall the solution for ending the curse nor even the context surrounding the 'color of death' that shows up in her blue doll's eye. Courtesy of a couple phone calls with Kouichi (who was in Mexico with his father at the time), Mei regains her knowledge of how to end the curse, quickly singles out Izumi Akazawa as the casualty with her doll's eye, and wastes no time going forward with attempting to kill her. Despite Sou, in his denial, coming to Izumi's defense and allowing her to escape from Mei, Mei eventually convinces Sou and Izumi to accept the truth, prompting Izumi to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge.

When the calamity starts up again in September, Mei is at a loss for why it had resumed after they took care of the extra one, but she soon remembers that three students (Sou, Yuika Hazumi, and Misaki Makise) were absent from the class photo Sou gave her, so Mei asks Sou to send her Yuika's address via email in order to check if she has the color of death on her. After Mei meets with Yuika at the entrance of Yuika's house and confirms that she isn't the second casualty, she shifts her focus onto Misaki Makise, who was in the hospital since the beginning of the school year. However, it took her two days to make up her mind on whether or not to check on her. On September 12th, Mei arrives at Yomiyama Hospital to check on Misaki and sees the color of death on her, but due to second-guessing herself about her memories of having a younger sister and even the idea that Misaki was a casualty at all, she hesitates on dealing with her. After the helicopter crash at the hospital later that day, Mei returns to Misaki's hospital room to find her sleeping and figures out courtesy of Sou that Misaki is in fact the resurrected version of her late twin sister. Mei thanks Sou for calling Kouichi and asking him about Misaki's name before taking a pairing knife from the table beside Misaki's bed and stabbing her in the chest, causing Misaki to wake up in surprise. Mei then followed it up by stabbing Misaki in the throat, spraying blood all over her bed as it kills her near instantly, ending the Class 3-3 curse for 2001.

Early in the series, she tells Kōichi to stay away from her, but as time goes on, she becomes more used to him because he always tries to speak to her. She tells him to be careful of the curse, indicating concern. Their relationship evolved when Kōichi became a non-existent student like her. She invited him to her house and even offered to walk him home. They spent a lot of time together, would walk home together, and often had lunch together. She grows to trust Kōichi to a greater extent and confides in him about her family, acknowledging her disdain for her mother and admitting Misaki was her twin sister, as well as her devastation at Misaki's death. Later in the series, Mei is also shown to smile the most often when Kōichi is around, adding that she sees him as a close individual to her. At the inn, she also holds his hand when they are escaping the pursuing group of students. At the end of the series, Kōichi asked if he could call Mei over the break, to which she replied yes, implying the two will remain friends.

In the live-action film, the two are much closer (as Kōichi isn't friends with Naoya, Yūya, Tomohiko, or Izumi in this adaptation). It is only Mei and Kōichi who find Matsunaga's tape, and later the two go speak to him directly to learn about the curse. When the class starts ignoring both of them, they often cut class together, running through the halls or wandering around town. Kōichi defends Mei at the inn from Izumi and Takako, which causes his bad lung to flare again, though Mei takes care of him. That night, Mei got a call from Kirika, who'd already discouraged her from hanging around "that boy" as she didn't need anyone else. Kirika insisted she was the only person who could protect Mei, but her niece refused to accept this, telling her she'd met someone else who cared for her and neither needed nor particularly wanted Kirika's protection anymore.

Later on, she protects him from Takeru Mizuno, who blamed Kōichi for his sister's death. However, when Mei attempted to kill Reiko, Kōichi at first was unwilling to accept this as necessary, accusing her of lying. At the climax of the film, Mei saw Death leeching out of Reiko and onto Kōichi. Realizing her best friend was about to die, Mei begged Kōichi to let his aunt fall, as it was the only way to break the curse. Reiko concurred, and the two escaped the inn. However, the trauma of this caused Kōichi's lung to collapse a second time just as they got outside, and he fell to the ground. Mei was horrified, kneeling beside her friend and screaming his name, fearing she'd been too late.

Kōichi, of course, survived, and Mei later went to see him at the hospital, explaining that no one remembered Reiko anymore. She later came to see Kōichi off when he and his grandmother left Yomiyama. Their goodbye is much sadder in the film, as although Kōichi got permission from Mei to call her, the two said "Sayonara," which is usually reserved for permanent farewells. The last thing Kōichi saw was his friend standing in the road, waving goodbye.

In the manga, Mei has a unique way of saying Kōichi's name, slowly and enunciating each syllable.

Mei and her twin sister were best friends. They met in secret and were often found together. They talked to each other a lot, told each other secrets, bathed together, dressed the same way, etc. Mei was very attached to Misaki, even if Yukiyo didn't allow Mei to see her. Mei was afraid of losing Misaki when she saw the color of death on her one night, and was overprotective of her until she died. After Misaki's death, Mei was angry, upset, and devastated as she simultaneously lost her best friend and other half.

Mei and Yukiyo have a cold relationship, as seen and claimed by Kōichi. Mei claims Yukiyo doesn't care about her or what she does, allowing her to freely skip class and often forgetting even basic things, such as packing her lunch. Mei felt Yukiyo treated her more like one of her dolls than her daughter.

In the film, their relationship is considerably worse, as Kirika constantly discourages Mei from socializing with her classmates, telling her she doesn't need friends, and she shouldn't explain about her eye, as people would judge her for it. During the climax at the Inn in the movie, Mei calls Kirika to finally tell her off and tell her she'd found someone else who cares about her.

Mei seemed indifferent to Akazawa and vice versa in the beginning. However, throughout the series, whenever Misaki is around Kōichi, Izumi glares at her in a spiteful manner, especially after many of the deaths. It all comes to a head in episode 10 when Izumi demands that Mei apologize for her perceived part in the calamity, despite Kōichi's, Naoya's, and Yūya's protests.

Though she wasn't one of the students who initially sought out Mei following Takako's broadcast, Izumi became actively hostile following Takako's death, as she thought Mei had deliberately killed her. Izumi became more bitter and violent following her friend's death, even attacking Kōichi when he attempted to protect Mei (something Takako had implied she wasn't capable of). However, Mei was still remorseful and surprised upon Izumi's death, watching sadly as her classmate bled out in front of her.

In the manga, Izumi is much more actively hostile toward Mei from the outset, jealous of her stoic acceptance of her role as the shunned student. Izumi was jealous of Mei's calm mien, especially given her own troubled home life and her inability to cope with it. She attempted to kill Mei in the kitchen at the inn, stabbing her in her glass eye. Mei, of course, survived this, but didn't retaliate, instead warning Izumi she'd better run, or risk being caught in the burning kitchen and killed.

In the film, Mei and Izumi don't have much screen time together (as Izumi is a minor character). Izumi knows where Mei lives; however, as she and Takako trail Kōichi to her mother's art studio, and are appalled when they realize where they are. Izumi singles Mei out for blame at the inn, demanding she apologize for all the deaths she's caused. Later on, Izumi learns how to break the curse from Tomohiko, which leads her to stab Takako in the throat, believing she was the extra. Mei and Naoya, who were trying to escape the inn, immediately find them, but are unable to help her as Izumi and Tomohiko confront them next. Tomohiko accuses Naoya of killing Yūya, which causes him to panic and flee out a window, only to become entangled in a loose wire and electrocuted. Seeing this, Izumi decides Mei is the extra and attacks her next, forcing her to flee the inn. Chasing her through the forest outside, Izumi is decapitated when she runs into a taut mooring cable. Mei sees this, and even though her death was her own fault, she is still visibly traumatized by it.

Though the two didn't interact very often, Takako thought she remembered Mei from when she was younger, not realizing it was her twin sister, Misaki, she'd known. As more and more of her classmates (especially Junta) are killed by the curse, Takako becomes increasingly unstable, bordering on psychosis. Upon listening to the tape with Izumi, Takako draws the wrong conclusion: Mei was the "other" but had come back incomplete, not realizing Mei had lost her eye when she was four. Takako confronted Mei and Izumi in the main hall, but was disarmed by Kōichi and forced to retreat. This she did, broadcasting the tape to the other students and telling them that killing Mei would break the curse.

Mei encountered Takako a second time in a partially collapsed stairwell. After stabbing Kōichi in the arm and immobilizing him, Takako, now completely over the edge, attempted to kill Mei a second time, only to become entangled in a spool of exposed electrical cables and strangle herself. Mei watched in shock as Takako gasped out her last breaths. Despite having nearly been killed less than five seconds before, Mei was horrified by the violence of her death.

Immediately thereafter, Izumi, who had been looking for Takako to try to calm her down, instead encountered Mei with her dead body. Misunderstanding the situation, Izumi vowed to kill Mei in revenge.

In the manga, Takako has a much smaller role and a vastly different personality. Though she ignored Mei with the rest of her class, once it became clear this hadn't worked, Takako was the first student to welcome Mei back into the fold, a fact which irritated Kōichi, who felt the class was pretending nothing had happened. When Izumi confronted Mei in front of the entire class at the inn, Takako was the only student who sided with her, though she was clearly embarrassed and stopped short of accusing Mei of being responsible for the deaths plaguing Class 3-3 to this point. Although the two didn't speak much, this suggests they were on much more friendly terms in that adaptation.

In the film, Takako was originally selected to be the extra, but she immediately broke down as she couldn't handle it. Mei volunteered to take her place, as she didn't mind being ignored. Takako confronted Mei and Kōichi at the inn with Izumi, saying she felt it was all their fault (even though moments before she'd been trying to sit by them, only to be told not to be Izumi). However, once the girls learned how to break the curse, Takako was against killing anyone, including the people she held responsible. Unfortunately for her, this angered Izumi, who stabbed her in the throat and left her to bleed to death on the floor. Mei encountered her again when she and Naoya were trying to escape the inn, but was unable to help her as Izumi attacked her first.

Mei hadn't known Reiko before the start of her tenure in Class 3-3, but had seen her death the previous year. While she forgot this due to the curse, it still probably severely impacted her own mental well-being. Due to Reiko being the class's assistant homeroom teacher, she ignored Mei alongside the rest of the class, though, because she kept her work and personal lives separate; she could acknowledge Mei outside of school, though the two only appeared together in this context in episode 8.

In "Makeup", Ms. Mikami attempted to protect Mei when Takako turned the rest of the class against her, getting knocked out in the process. Eventually, however, Mei realized Reiko was the extra and needed to be killed. Knowing this would devastate Kōichi, Mei abandoned him and a dying Izumi to do the deed herself, telling Kōichi not to follow her as it would only cause him more pain.

Kōichi ignored her and followed Mei outside, where they found Reiko pinned underneath some rubble. Mei explained the situation, but a confused and badly injured Reiko denied it, accusing Mei of lying. Heartbroken, Kōichi chose to believe Mei and, taking the pickaxe Mei had been carrying, performed the deed himself.

In the manga, the two meet at Kōichi's house, but don't talk much. Mei realized she was the dead person at the inn, but unlike in the anime, she hadn't seen her death. She was still able to persuade Kōichi to kill his aunt.

In the film, the two have a lot more screen time together. Reiko tried to talk Chibiki out of ignoring a student on the first day of school, seeing how much it had traumatized Takako, but Mei volunteered to take her place. After Mr. Kubodera's death, Reiko took over as head teacher and brought her nephew and Mei back into class, publicly acknowledging them and explaining that the countermeasures had failed. Later on, Mei commented to Kōichi that Ms. Mikami resembled Reiko in her determination and nature. Kōichi explained that she was his aunt, to which Mei replied she'd noticed he had a special way of looking at her, implying she realized he saw her as a surrogate mother.

Once Mei realized Reiko was the dead one, she attempted to kill her at the inn, only to be stopped by Chibiki, who wanted answers regarding the curse he believed he'd started. Mei saw Death leap from Reiko to Chibiki, causing him to fall off a ledge into the burning inn. She was horrified when it began to latch onto Kōichi, who was trying to save his aunt from falling, and begged him to trust her and let her fall. Reiko herself, at this point, had realized she was the extra, concurred, telling Kōichi he'd have to let her go. Devastated, Kōichi did so, allowing his aunt to die and breaking the curse for 1998.

Main article: Mei Misaki/Image Gallery

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