Yuichi. Akiko is very important to Nayuki since she does not have a father. Akiko is known to be very easy-going and is constantly smiling. She will not even resort to stern lectures, such as when Makoto spends money on herself that Akiko gave her to buy food. Akiko can be assertive, though she never has once raised her voice in anger or otherwise. She will often give responses to questions within one second of being asked, the answer almost always marking approval. Akiko has some indirect involvement with Makoto Sawatari's and Ayu Tsukimiya's arcs. After Yuichi brought Makoto home for the first time, Akiko shows no intentions of throwing her out or handing her over to the police. She decided to house Makoto for the time being until they could find her parents or until she remembered something. With Ayu, Akiko asked her to stay at their house upon discovering that both of Ayu's parents were out of town. Akiko's main involvement is with her daughter Nayuki's arc. From when Nayuki was very young, Akiko raised her daughter alone; no information is given about Nayuki's father or what happened to him after Nayuki's birth. As such, Akiko and Nayuki are very close and never get in fights with each other. In Nayuki's story, Akiko gets critically injured in an indirect car accident which causes her to go into intensive care in the hospital. Nayuki, blaming herself because Akiko was out buying a small strawberry cake for her, goes into depression and pushes Yuichi away from her. Akiko is miraculously healed near the end of the story. Kaori is mainly in Shiori's story, but is regularly seen due to her being Nayuki's best friend and Yuichi's and Nayuki's classmate, as well as the class representative. She is very smart and knows a lot about the schoolmates and townspeople, but doesn't appear to be aware of any of the supernatural things that happen, even after Yuichi's caring saves someone close to her. Her surname and appearance indicate that she is Shiori's sister, and Shiori affirms this, but Kaori vehemently denies it. Jun Kitagawa once commented how she started to act differently once they entered their second year in high school. Kaori's main involvement in the story is during her younger sister Shiori's arc. When Yuichi starts to spend more time with Shiori away from school, Kaori asks Yuichi to meet one