the process. They are played by Yuko Takeuchi and Hitomi Sato, respectively. Okazaki is a journalist who works alongside Reiko Asakawa. He only appears in the film series. Okazaki has a brief role in the first film, but reappears in Ring 2 investigating Reiko's disappearance and helps Mai for a part of the film. He gets a copy of the tape from a girl named Kanae Sawaguchi who he promises to save after she watches the tape, but lies and allows her to die. This comes back to literally haunt him as Kanae's ghost stalks him until he ends up in hospital. He is played by Yūrei Yanagi. Reiko Sugiura is Kaoru Futami's girlfriend. Reiko is a carrier of the Metastatic Human Cancer Virus; although she does not contract the virus itself, she passed it to , her only son by her deceased husband, who commits suicide upon learning that his mother slept with Kaoru and became pregnant by him. Kaoru's motivation to find a cure in the Loop world is to be able to liberate Reiko of the virus; as he dies in the artificial world; his last thoughts are of Reiko. Reiko is the protagonist of the short story Happy Birthday, which chronicles her life after the cure for the MHC is found. She gives birth to a healthy boy and witnesses Kaoru's spirit caressing the boy and wishing him a happy birthday. Mai Takano is Ryuji Takayama's student and possibly girlfriend. Mai has a minor role in the first novel, finding his body after he dies of the ring virus. Mai has a larger role in Spiral. In it, she helps Ando to solve Ryuji's case and makes plans to date him. When she accidentally stumbles upon the cursed tape in Ryuji's bedroom, she feels the urge to watch it, after which she experiences morning sickness. In the week after, Mai disappears until her body is discovered cramped inside a shaft in a building. As later revealed, because Mai was ovulating when she watched the tape, the virus infected her ovum, causing it to develop rapidly into a Sadako clone. The virus then enchanted Mai to seek an isolated place so the clone could be delivered without catching anyone's attention. Ryuji had deliberately placed the tape so Mai would stumble on it, as he has been working with Sadako to come back to life. In S, Ryuji