Aya Ayano

"No, it's not supposed to be me! I don't wanna die!"

- Aya Ayano, after being saved by Kouichi Sakakibara

Aya Ayano is a student of 9th Grade Class 3 in 1998.

Plot
Aya first appeared in "Rough Sketch," talking with Kouichi Sakakibara. She, alongside Yukari, Tomohiko, Naoya, Yuuya, Makoto, Noboru, and Ikuo were among the students who enthusiastically welcomed their new classmate.

In "Put Flesh," Aya skipped class. Walking down the sidewalk, she met Kouichi and the two had a brief conversation. Suddenly, the wind picked up, and a large window pane almost fell on both students. Thinking quickly, Kouichi pushed her out of the way. Laying side by side on the sidewalk, a distraught Aya began to wail that she didn't want to die, much to Kouichi's confusion.

Aya went back to school. In "Build Limbs," Kouichi returns to the empty classroom to see that the class had elected a new female class representative. Aya had received 2 votes to Izumi Akazawa's 24 votes. Aya was in class at the end of "Face to Face," watching in horror with the rest of her classmates as Kubodera pulled a knife from his duffel bag and proceeded to stab himself. In "Sphere Joint," she and the others watched as he repeatedly stabbed himself with the knife and bleeding profusely across the classroom. She ran out of the classroom, screaming with the other students. Standing out in the hallway with her friends, Izumi tried to calm the traumatized Aya down.

In "Body Paint," Aya and Yumi went looking for Chibiki, when they met Kouichi and Naoya as the boys were looking for Matsunaga's tape. Declining an offer to join them, the girls left. The Ayanos had decided the only way to protect themselves was to escape Yomiyama City, packing up their car for an extended trip, and several cartons in the front hallways for movers. Aya said goodbye to Yumi, promising to call her once she and her family were safe. It was the last conversation the two had.

Driving along a mountain road, the Ayanos had almost escaped when several loose rocks fell off the mountain, one impacting their car's windshield. Aya's father was in the right front seat and presumably driving, and lost control of the vehicle and plunged over the side of a cliff. The student gossip at the beginning of "Glass Eye" stated there were no survivors.

Personality
She is a cheerful, sociable and kind student and she is a member of the drama club with Izumi Akazawa and Yumi Ogura. She comments to Kouichi that she's a lot more laid back than the dramatic Izumi, though she appears to be more emotional, screaming when her teacher killed himself and gibbering with fear when Kouichi saved her from the falling glass. Although she can be seen as laid back and free spirited through her ways of talking to people and not afraid to tease like she did to Kouichi and his taste of women, she freely skipped class and with not thinking on what could happen, and even with all the dramatic events, she still shows a positive attitude towards those she finds close like Yumi, Kouichi, and Teshigawara.

Appearance
She has short light brown hair that reaches to her neck, and slightly sticks out everywhere. She also has brown eyes. Aya usually wears the school female standard uniform. Her casuals consists of a black cap, purple T-shirt, black pants, necklaces, a small black backpack, and a turquiose jacket.

Trivia

 * Aya sits in class in the third column of desks, in the center of the room, third from the front. She sits behind Sachiko Nakajima, with Daisuke Wakui to her right and Yuuya Mochizuki behind her.
 * Aya was shown to be close with many of her classmates as she would nickname and call them by their first names like she called Kouichi by his first name (Kou-chan in the Japan version with 'chan' meaning endearment and reserved for close friends), Naoya was called "Teshy", she also called Izumi Akazawa by her first name as well.
 * Aya is also the only character besides Izumi to use Takako's first name, something normally reserved for close friends.
 * Aya is Yumi Ogura's best friend. Her death, along with that of Yumi's brother, caused Yumi to snap and resulted in her own death.
 * Her first name, Aya, means "coloring". Her last name, Ayano, means "designed field."
 * Her home address is 2-9 Furuikecho Yomiyama City.
 * She is ranked A in Another characters ranking.
 * Ayano is an anime original character. No characters in either the novel or manga die in a car accident. Suguru Yamada in the film is killed in a car accident, but under different circumstances, and the two characters are unrelated.
 * She also has a bigger role than most anime only characters. Her first line in the anime is present in the novel, though spoken by an unnamed character during one of the non-PoV scenes early on. Her character itself, however, is almost totally anime-exclusive.
 * It is possible that Aya might of had feelings for Kouichi as seen in their multiple onscreen appearances: They talk on the first day, she calls him by his first name on the spot, teases him on his choice of women, talks to him when she skips class, is saved by him from a falling window, talks to him and Teshigawara before they went to the old school building, is notably asking him what they're up to, and directly saying goodbye to him before leaving, the last time they'd ever see each other again.
 * In other scenes, it's shown that Aya may have had some thoughts on Naoya Teshigawara as she is seen with him as the first two students to welcome Kouichi on how Yomiyama is like, she was shown to be the only one interested in Naoya's explanation in why his apple had arms and legs, and there is a sketch from the show that was never used showing both Naoya and Aya wearing Yomiyama sports clothes showing that they had possible common ground.

Gallery
Main article: Aya Ayano/Image Gallery