榊原 恒一
from Another
Height
168.00 cm
Age
15
Kouichi is a 15-year-old boy who is a transfer student from Tokyo. In Yomiyama, he lives with his grandparents and his aunt, Reiko, as his father works in India. He no longer has a mother as she died shortly after giving birth to Kouichi. Kouichi has a great curiosity to the events 26 years ago that made the class such as beset the fear of death. Kouichi is shown frequently to have a very curious personality, being determined to find out what happened 26 years before the main storyline, despite repeated warnings from Izumi and the other students of Class 3-3 to not go "looking for things that don't exist". He also initially believes Mei to be a ghost due to nobody acknowledging her presence, Ultimately, his curiosity proves to be his undoing when the students decide to treat him like he doesn't exist as well. His feelings about this are ultimately mixed; while he doesn't particularly like "not existing", it is also a weight off his chest, as he now knows for sure that Mei exists, and the two bond over their mutual situation. Generally, Kouichi is very calm, friendly and sociable, making new friends since his first day at Yomiyama North Middle School and getting along fairly well with everyone. However, he can also be a bit of a blockhead, being unaware of the feelings some girls have for him like Izumi and Yukari or not responding to conversations in ways people want like him describing Izumi in her perspective as "macho". Kouichi can also be rather naive, as he can't understand why Mei and her mother (actually her aunt) treat one another like they are complete strangers, almost as though he can't comprehend family members not getting along with each other. In his spare time, Kouichi enjoys reading, which is what causes him to form a friendship with the nurse Sanae Mizuno. He seems to favour American horror works, including Stephen King, Howard Philip Lovecraft, and John Saul. Because of this, Sanae nicknames him Mr. Horror Lover. He has also been given other nicknames such as Sakaki by Naoya Teshigawara and Kou-chan by Aya Ayano. Although sociable, Kouichi is also a rather timid boy for the most part (in the novel, this is revealed to be the result of him being bullied in his previous school, due to sharing his last name with a serial killer) and easily horrified by the actions of the Curse. Overtime, however, he gains a significant resolve to put an end to the Curse and protect Mei; the latter is proven when he willingly stands against the entirety of Class 3-3 in order to protect her, due to them believing she is the Extra student. Even after learning that Reiko is the Extra student, he insists on killing her himself instead of letting Mei do it, albeit not without great hesitation and remorse. Kouichi also has a rather cold side to his personality; when Izumi ends up fatally wounded by the Curse and asks him if he remembers the first time they met, he tells her honestly that he doesn't instead of lying to let her die happy, though the fact that she had just tried to kill Mei likely influenced this to some degree. The sheer bluntness of this statement is noted by Izumi as she dies, who tells Kouichi that he should have at least pretended to remember her.
Another
In 1972, a popular student in Yomiyama North Middle School's class 3-3 named Misaki passed away during the school year. Since then, the town of Yomiyama has been shrouded by a fearful atmosphere, from the dark secrets hidden deep within. Twenty-six years later, 15-year-old Kouichi Sakakibara transfers into class 3-3 of Yomiyama North and soon after discovers that a strange, gloomy mood seems to hang over all the students. He also finds himself drawn to the mysterious, eyepatch-wearing student Mei Misaki; however, the rest of the class and the teachers seem to treat her like she doesn't exist. Paying no heed to warnings from everyone including Mei herself, Kouichi begins to get closer not only to her, but also to the truth behind the gruesome phenomenon plaguing class 3-3 of Yomiyama North. Another follows Kouichi, Mei, and their classmates as they are pulled into the enigma surrounding a series of inevitable, tragic events—but unraveling the horror of Yomiyama may just cost them the ultimate price.
