Yuuko Kirishima (桐島 侑子, Kirishima Yūko) is a student in the Seikyou Academy who has been missing from school for an indefinite time. Several rumors about her have spread across the campus, one of which is based on her first name which is read as "Yuuko", a fact that has earned her some unwanted attention by being linked to the school's ghost stories and thanks to that and her constant involvement with the Paranormal Investigation Club she probably is the most developed side character in the series.
She purposely becomes the inspiration of the ghost story "Yuuko-san is back".
Appearance[]
Kirishima has been described as someone who is special and who one must hold special feelings for, whether they maybe hate or love. Her height is normal and she has long blond hair and has white skin with a beautiful face; fact which might actually produce that air of "similar yet different" than Yuuko Kanoe to the reader.
Personality[]
In a flashback, Kirishima is seen as a rather meek and timid by the time she transferred to Seikyou Academy, and she describes how she was easily hurt by the rumors and ostracism that she was a common victim of by the people who believed in Yuuko-san.
By the time she is introduced to the reader, she couldn't possibly be described as introverted and seems like a strong willed, radiant and beautiful girl who can muster a mature attitude towards improper behavior; however it's heavily implied that this is merely a façade that she was forced to develop in order to cope with the indirect harassment that she was being victim of ever since she entered the academy.
She has shown that she is good at manipulating people, knowing exactly what to say and what face to show in order to get the desired answers or course of actions of those who she is dealing with. However, this happens to work against her in one opportunity; as when she decided to stop lying and tell the truth her confession wasn't believed and she couldn't stop the situation from growing worse.
She seems to be quite revengeful and as made a personal vow of destroying all of the ghost stories in Seikyou Academy.
From the looks of it, it seems as Kirishima decides to make a clean cut after the events in the Akahito-san's arc, leaving behind the dark aspects of her personality, she expressed her inner change by an actual appearance change.
Plot[]
Yuuko-san is Back[]
After a long term of unjustified absence from school, rumors of Kirishima's death has spread through the school and point out that her ghost has came back to get revenge on the people who injured her. Eventually, she makes a "triumphant return" to school where she makes peace with Reiko Asou and Teiichi Niiya noted that while the ending to the whole situation could be called satisfactory, the means used to achieve it weren't fair to everyone.
Akahito-san[]
During the school festival, Kirishima becomes a victim of Akahito-san who slashed her hand. Kirishima pointed out that Akahito-san is probably hunting down Yuuko-san, and the attack on her stemmed from the similarity of their names. While the school is searching for Yuuko-san as a sacrifice to Akahito-san, Kirishima becomes more involved in the case than she would have liked to.
Etymology[]
- The name Yuuko means "urge to eat" (侑) (yuu) and "child" (子) (ko).
- Yuuko's surname Kirishima means "paulownia" (桐) (kiri) and "island" (島) (shima).
Trivia[]
- Yuuko Kanoe pointed out that Kirishima can't see ghosts even when using a catalyst such as "something scary is there", but Kirishima later revealed to the reader that what can actually scare her the most is people.
- Kirishima seemed to take some attention in Teiichi Niiya, not only because he believes in ghost stories, but also because she is certain that he will never treat her as Yuuko-san.
Gallery[]
