Akiko

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Akiko Minase

Akiko is Nayuki Minase's mother and Yuichi Aizawa's aunt whose main role is in Nayuki's story. She works at an unspecified job and takes care of the house, cooking various types of food, most of which is good except for her infamous "special" homemade jam which she alone enjoys the taste of. She appears to not realize exactly what is going on around her, taking in strays such as Makoto Sawatari and assuming lame excuses for her behavior. She may just realize that Makoto is a good person and can be cured of her anger, which is true. Akiko certainly exhibits more knowledge of the situation than Yuichi as far as the origins of Ayu Tsukimiya and Makoto are concerned, hinting that she is familiar with the supernatural goings-on in the town and how they apply to 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.