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Miki Kawai

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Miki Kawai (川井 みき, Kawai Miki?) is a supporting character in the Koe no Katachi series.

She is the class representative of Shōya Ishida's class and friends with several characters, particularly Satoshi Mashiba and Naoka Ueno.

Personality[]

On the surface, Miki presents herself as a kind and responsible person. Being the representative of her senior class, she likes to take the role of a leader, even during casual outings with friends. Despite her polite demeanor, Miki can act rather conceited, often judging others in a self-righteous manner. This can be seen in the way she treats her peers, tending to act nicely towards them while holding negative feelings that she won’t express until moments where she feels upset or threatened (examples being her various outbursts towards Shōya Ishida, Tomohiro Nagatsuka, and Naoka Ueno).

Miki’s self-image and how she is perceived by her peers is her greatest insecurity, causing her to put emphasis on her looks and the effort she makes as a student. This appears to have influenced how she behaved when Shōko Nishimiya was being bullied, remaining complicit while never directly getting involved.

Because of this, Miki lacks self-awareness, not understanding the flaws in her behavior and the harm it can cause. She often denies or ignores her own wrongdoings, though it's not a malicious act. Even when reflecting on the past and the events leading up to Shōya’s coma, Miki continues to view herself as a victim, primarily choosing to forgive Shōya because she believes he regrets hurting both Shōko and her. Her crush on Satoshi Mashiba also influences her thoughts and opinions to align with his, despite the contradictions they have with her own actions.

Despite her negative traits, Miki has the capacity for genuine kindness and sincerity, which she tries to embrace towards the end of the series. In particular, she treats her friends more supportively and compassionately than previously.

Physical appearance[]

Miki 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 implied love interest, she lets her hair down and removes her glasses.

She habitually wears her high school uniform, unless going out to a casual activity.

List of appearances[]

Volume 01[]

Volume 03[]

Volume 04[]

Volume 05[]

Volume 06[]

Volume 07[]

History[]

In primary school, Miki is the representative of her class. She is popular and is friends with most of her classmates, including Shōya Ishida, Naoka Ueno, and Miyoko Sahara. When Shōko joins their class, Miki is happy to have a new classmate. However, when Naoka complains that she can no longer follow the classes properly because she has to help Shōko and the bullying begins to be inflicted on Shōko, Miki ignores the bullying and just observes. When Shōya yells behind Shōko, she nevertheless asks him with a smile if he scared her or not.

Afterwards, when the bullying goes too far, she seems to worry about Shōko by coming to see her even though the bullying had made her laugh up until then. When the school's director intervenes about the harassment, she claims that none of the girls in her class hurt Shōko and forces herself to cry in order to drum up sympathy from the class when Shōya accuses her of also having a hand in making Shōko suffer. She grows to hate him and in the manga she later thinks what he did to her at that time amounted to harassment. Nevertheless, Miki and Shōya find themselves years later in the same class in their senior year of high school.

In high school, she is still the class representative, and she seems to have put aside what Shōya did years earlier. When he approaches her to find out if she has Miyoko's address, she tells him without questioning. Learning that her crush, Satoshi Mashiba, desires to become friends with Shōya, she passes it on to Shōya and the latter begins to trust her again. Miki joins Shōya and Shōko's new group of friends as Satoshi and harmony begins to reign in the group. However, Shōya still has doubts and wonders if Miki told Satoshi about what happened in elementary school.

She exclaims in front of the whole class and at that point the argument escalates, and everyone learns that Shōya bullied Shōko in elementary school. When the whole group meets again on the bridge, Miki argues with Naoka because they think they do not have the same degree of responsibility for the bullying that took place in elementary school. Shōya, who can't take it anymore, reveals his thoughts about the group. Miki, like the rest of the group, leaves.

When she learns that Shōya is in a coma after saving Shōko, she has the idea to design a present for Shōya with the help of the class; it consists of making a thousand paper cranes. However, it is revealed in the manga that the class is not very involved and is critical of Miki. Her feelings of being the most loved and the most intelligent crumble; she thinks she is being bullied and tells Satoshi that she is being harassed.

When she sees Shōko again, she gets angry and gives her a speech about how suicide is never the answer, and that she should appreciate life no matter its' hardships. Later, when she sees Shōya again, she feels embarrassed to give him an incomplete gift and begins crying. Shōya, however, appreciates her gift and thanks her. Afterwards, Miki still remains as close to Satoshi and wishes to go to the same university as him. During the coming-of-age ceremony, it seems that she and Satoshi are now two lovers.

Relationships[]

Love Interest[]

Satoshi Mashiba: Based on their interactions, it's clear that Miki has a crush on Satoshi. She tries to be around him as much as possible, during and outside of school. It’s implied that she primarily starts hanging around Shōya Ishida and Tomohiro Nagatsuka because Satoshi begins doing so, something Shōya quickly notices. Miki never hides her attraction to Satoshi, though she never clearly expresses her feelings until she chooses to attend the same university as him.

Luckily for Miki, Satoshi seems to enjoy her company and even has mutual feelings for her based on an interaction he has with Tomohiro. He’s even willing to defend her, something she takes advantage of. Due to her constantly trying to appeal to Satoshi, Miki often agrees with his opinions despite her contradictory actions, failing to recognize him attempting to point out her hypocrisy after trying to visit a comatose Shōya in the hospital. Whether they begin dating after graduating high school is unclear, however.

Friends[]

Naoka Ueno: Naoka and Miki were good friends during elementary school and seem to have somewhat drifted apart after enrolling into different high schools, though they still remained in contact. When Naoka begins pursuing Shōya again, Miki tries to help her in several ways, including giving Naoka's contact information to Shōya and even tricking him into meeting with her. Miki intervenes again by inviting Naoka to join Shōya’s friend group on a trip to the amusement park.

Despite their lasting friendship, both girls have issues with each other, clearly shown in the way they criticize each other while defending themselves during several arguments. Naoka believes that unlike Miki, she actually struggled after sixth grade and that what she went through meant more. Miki sees it differently, believing Naoka to be guilty of hurting people and not regretting her actions. Miki even calls her pathetic for being envious that Shōya shows interest in Shōko rather than Naoka. After the friend group reconciles, the two begin to accept each other's flaws and interact on much friendlier terms.

Shōya Ishida: Much like Shōya’s other peers, Miki never clearly expressed her disapproval of his behavior towards Shōko during sixth grade. Despite the validity of his claims, Shōya accusing her of badmouthing Shōko would be an event she internally held against him for years, even after she became his friend during their senior year of high school.

Through her own logic, Miki eventually chooses to forgive Shōya and even attempts to get their class to make one-thousand paper cranes to surprise him with after he wakes up from his coma. The two begin to act more sincerely towards each other despite their previous grievances.

Tomohiro Nagatsuka: Miki’s initial interactions with Tomohiro are generally polite and inoffensive. However, when he attempts to calm her down during the group’s fallout on the bridge, she expresses disgust towards him by calling him dirty. After everyone reconciles a few months later, Miki treats Tomohiro a lot more genuinely, even complimenting his persistence when it comes to his goals on a few occasions.

Shōko Nishimiya: In elementary school, Miki badmouthed Shōko behind her back, but still acted kindly toward her. Miki remained rather passive while Shōko was being bullied, with her behavior being best described as complicit. However, this didn't influence their interactions after reuniting during high school. They seem to get along well, though how close Miki and Shōko become isn't clear.

Miyoko Sahara: Miyoko and Miki were classmates back in elementary school and often hung out together before Miyoko befriended Shōko. Upon joining Shōya’s friend group, she befriends Miyoko 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).


Gallery[]

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