Misaki Fujioka

Misaki Fujioka is the twin sister Mei Misaki grows up believing to be only a cousin, kept apart from her by their families for reasons neither girl fully understands as children. Cheerful and outgoing where Mei is quiet, Misaki is the one who eventually figures out on her own that the two of them are actually sisters.

The two meet in secret rather than openly, sharing interests like the dolls made in their grandmother's shop and growing close despite the distance their families try to keep between them. Misaki's fondness for Mei is genuine and uncomplicated, without any of the darker undercurrents that come to define much of Mei's later relationships.

Misaki's death from leukemia, worsened by the same calamity affecting Class 3-3, becomes the defining tragedy of Mei's life, one that leaves her all but immune to the horror that follows. A doll Misaki asked for before dying is the very gift Mei is carrying the day she first meets Kouichi Sakakibara.