Kouichi Sakakibara

Kouichi Sakakibara is one of the main protagonists of Another. He is the new transfer student to Yomiyama North Middle School's 9th grade class (in May, 1998). He is 15 years old and the only son in the Sakakibara family. His mother supposedly passed away 15 years ago after giving birth to him.

Appearance
He is a young boy with short brown hair and brown eyes.

Plot
Kouichi first appears in the hospital when he is sent there with Pneumothorax, looking sick and exhausted. His aunt and grandmother were there and Rei shows him where his new school will be. Soon after, Kouichi is visited by Izumi, Yukari and Kazami. They introduce themselves but soon after they pause, even making Kouichi ask what they were there for. They snap out of it and Kazami says that they're from the school he was supposed to attend Monday but he got sick. They then ask him strange questions, like if it's his first time living there or if he ever lived there but Kouichi replies saying that he never lived in Yomiyama but remembers visiting there once. Kazami then stutters as he tries to call Kouichi by his last name, so Izumi looks to call him by his last name as well, but stutters also. So she calls him Kouichi instead and shakes his hand. Suddenly, everyone gets quiet with nervous expresions on their faces and she asks him if he's sure he never lived there before, but he still denies it. Later, Kouichi goes into the elevator but doesn't notice Mei standing behind him but he eventually notices. He aplogizes and asks her if she has anything to do at the 2nd floor of the basement (where the morgue was) and she tells him that her poor "other self" is waiting for her and she walks out of it. He asks her what her name was and after a long pause, she tells him her name walking off right after. The next day, his father calls him, asking him how he was going, and recieves a positive answer. He talks about India and how it was so hot, saying that he even had a collapsed lung twice before hanging up. The parrot next to him tells him to cheer up and he thanks it. At school, he introduces himself to the class and he talks with everyone from the class. At P.E, he ends up sitting on the bench because of his lung condition and meets another boy who has a heart condtion. The boy tells Kouichi that he's lucky he felt what it fells like to run, since he has never experienced it. But Kouichi tells him that he'll be able to run someday, leaving the boy smiling. However, he ended up getting sick and went to the nurse. Kouichi meets Yukari, who said she had a sprained ankle and he asks her where "Misaki" is, earning a shocked reaction. He repeats, asking her where "Mei Misaki" was. However, Yukari doesn't appear to know who he's talking about. He then looks up and sees her on the roof and goes there asking her if she remembered him. She however denies this, warning him not to get close to her since their class thinks his name is associated with death. She tells him the whole class is closer to 'it' than the others and walks away saying, "Later, Sa-ka-ki-ba-ra-kun." While driving home with his grandmother, Kouichi sees Mei looking up at the sky in the rain but says nothing.