Synopsis
Sanae Mizuno is the nurse who looks after Kouichi Sakakibara during his hospital stay before he even starts school in Yomiyama, recommending horror novels that spark a lasting friendship between them. Cheerful, easygoing, and generous with her time, she continues helping Kouichi track down information even after he is discharged.
She is also the older sister of Takeru Mizuno, one of Kouichi's classmates in Class 3-3, which quietly ties her into the same year's calamity even though she works outside the school itself.
Sanae's death, in a freak elevator accident that happens while she is on the phone with Kouichi discussing whether Mei Misaki truly exists, is one of the year's earliest and most abrupt losses, and it leaves Kouichi briefly a suspect in the eyes of the police before the incident is ruled an accident.
