Miki Kawai

Miki Kawai (川井 みき, Kawai Miki) is a supporting character in the Koe no Katachi series. She is the class representative in Shōya Ishida's class.

Personality
Kawai acts as a responsible girl, usually taking the role of a leader whether it be in class or on a small trip with friends. She also acts kind and polite when helping her classmates. However, at times when she is pushed, she can act rude and say mean comments about people. She is the only one who is able to tell Naoka Ueno off whenever she is going too far.

She may seem nice and polite to people but is actually quite conceited, evident in the fact that she acknowledged the fact that she was cute even from before and feels as if the class loves her. Kawai has a victim complex, usually trying to make herself seem innocent in situations- for example, when Shōya Ishida was confronted for bullying Shōko Nishimiya, she began to cry when she was accused of being a part of the bullying. However, there's a huge difference between the manga and the film: while these negative characteristics are all played up straight in the manga, in the film she's genuinely kind overall.

When Ishida was comatose she asked the class to make 1000 paper cranes to give to Ishida when he woke up. She found out right after that some people, in fact, know that she can be rude, and thinks the paper cranes is an absurd idea and that she can sometimes be creepy. It is sometimes hinted that she has a crush on Satoshi Mashiba, as she constantly agrees with the things he does, changing her opinions and thoughts to match his.

Physical appearance
Kawai is a self-described cute light-skinned girl with wavy chest-length ash-blonde hair that is tied in braided pigtails and hazel eyes. While trying to impress Satoshi Mashiba, her assumed love interest, she lets her hair down and removes her glasses.

She habitually wears her high school uniform, unless going to an activity.

Volume 01

 * Chapter 01 — "Shōya Ishida"
 * Chapter 02 — "Just One of Those Things"
 * Chapter 03 — "Hahahahaha"

Love Interests

 * Satoshi Mashiba: It is said that Kawai has a crush on Mashiba based on her interactions with him. She usually agrees with everything he has to say and usually takes part in conversations he is part of. That being said, she usually hangs out with him in and out of school and the two are often seen together.

Friends

 * Shōya Ishida: Despite being against Ishida during their time in elementary school and part of high school, Kawai and Ishida are able to work things out and become close friends.


 * Shōko Nishimiya: In elementary school, Kawai usually badmouthed Shōko behind her back, but still acted kindly around her. During high school, the two become friends after continuously hanging out with their other friends and getting to know each other.


 * Tomohiro Nagatsuka: Despite initially finding Nagatsuka a weirdo, as did the rest of her class, Kawai befriends Nagatsuka after joining Ishida’s friend group.


 * Naoka Ueno: Ueno and Kawai were friends in elementary school, but slowly drifted apart in high school after studying in different schools. However, it appeared that the two were still in contact. The two eventually drift back together upon reuniting with each other in the amusement park.


 * Miyoko Sahara: Sahara and Kawai were classmates back in elementary school and often hung out together before Sahara befriended Shōko. Upon joining Ishida’s friend group, she befriends Sahara again.

Etymology

 * The name Miki is written in hiragana (みき), which has no special meaning. However, when written in kanji (美紀), it could possibly mean "beautiful" (美) (mi) and "chronicle" (紀) (ki).
 * Miki's surname Kawai means "river, stream" (川) (kawa) and "well, mine shaft, pit" (井) (i).