Yashiro Nene

Yashiro Nene (八尋寧々) is the main protagonist of the series. She is a first-year high school student at Kamome Academy's High School Division.

Appearance
Nene has magenta eyes with yellow flecks. Her long hair is a light cream color, and gradually fades into a soft teal green at the tips. She wears two brown magatama hair accessories on the side of her head. These clips pull back some of her hair from the sides of her face. She sometimes wears other hairstyles such as braids, ponytails, and twin tails. She wears a skull brooch on her uniform above her bow.

Her uniform consists of a cream colored sailor dress, which reaches her knees and has a scalloped hemline. The lining of the skirt is deep magenta. Her collar, cuffs, and pockets are all a deep brown. Her collar bow is cream colored with brown stripes. She wears the regulation shoes, but her brown tights are not standard. Her tights also have a small half moon pattern near the ankles.

Nene's hair color matches her signature nickname, which is being called a radish for having radish-like fat legs. Her ankles are drawn more fat than the other characters in the series.

Due to a curse she received in chapter one, she will turn into a small fish when she is in water. In her fish form, she has light pink scales which fade into teal on her tail and fins. She has two small horns and retains her ribbon with the skull brooch. When not fully turned into a fish, simply getting wet can cause pink fish scales to appear. The scales go away after being dried.

Personality
Nene is a very outgoing and earnest girl, and seems to desire the approval of others. She is generally kind to others, sometimes to the point of naïveté. She genuinely wants to help those around her, and is even willing to risk the dangers of the supernatural in order to do so.

She is also rather insecure, particularly about her ankles and whether or not people actually like her.

In addition, she is a hopeless romantic who has bad taste in men. She easily falls for charming looks which have led her to bad experiences. Nene really hopes to have a boyfriend, even going through desperate measures like attempting to call Hanako-san of the Toilet to grant her wish and recklessly using a supernatural item she isn't actually familiar with.

Nene has expressed many times that her type is the 'charming prince' and that Hanako and Kou are totally not her type.

Nene is in the gardening club and is good at raising plants. She worries she is not lady-like enough to ever find a boyfriend, and is afraid of heartbreak.

She wants to find a way to protect Hanako and her other friends.

Hanako-san of the Toilet
Nene hears about the rumours of Hanako and tries to summon them. She is surprised when it works and even more surprised when she realises Hanako is a boy. She starts off accidentally insulting Hanako but soon wins him over by calling him cool. She explains that her wish is for "Minamoto-senpai" (Teru) to fall in love with her. Hanako then pulls out a love strategies book. Nene is annoyed at this although Hanako explains that if she uses magical items then she will have to pay a large price. She tells him that she wants her wish, no matter what the price is, he then tells her that he doesn't have any magical items on him so he can't anyway. Nene contempates for a bit then decides to go along with what she says as he apparently grants wishes. They decide to focus on Method 78 of the book: "capatilize on your special abilities".

Nene and Hanako then head to the garden as her "special ability" is agriculture. Hanako is disgusted at first. Nene reveals that she started agriculture, as well as cooking and sewing, because a guy she liked for three years said he liked "feminine girls." She confessed to him a month ago only to be rejected and insulted. Nene is clearly not over him and states that she wants Teru to date her to make him regret rejecting her. Hanako states that anyone would do for her and she denies the idea. He asks her what Teru's first name is only for Nene to avoid the question.

Hanako gives her a heart-shaped card and tells her to write a thank-you note to Teru for picking up her pencil case alongside stuff she grew. She ends up placing the note on Teru's desk alonside some vegetables, leaving him and his class confused. She gets annoyed at Hanako and shouts at him, only for everyone in the hallway to stare at her for "talking to herself". The next attempt they try is for Hanako to steal Teru's button and for Nene to sew it back on, however Teru gets surrounded by other people trying to give him their buttons. Nene then makes a character bento for him, only to go overboard and for it to turn out terrifying. Another attempt, although being in no way linked to her abilities, is for Nene to run around a corner and "accidentally" bump into Teru, this fails as she accidentally runs into Kou walking next to him.

As all these fail, Nene tries to ask Hanako for a quicker way. He suggests for her to just confess to Teru. When she reacts by telling him that that's impossible, he slips and reveals that he's new at this. Hanako tries to prove that he's not by trying to find "unpure items" and in the process accidentally drops a bag of mermaid scales. She asks him to explain what they are and Hanako replies that they're for matchmaking. He then panics and tries to get her to give them back only for Nene to put one in her mouth and threaten to swallow it. Hanako explains what they are and that when two people ingest scales from the same mermaid they will be cursed yet bound together. Nene proceeds to swallow it. He panics again and tries to explain that she'll be cursed. She states that she doesn't care if she's cursed if she'll be with Teru. She storms away, believing that Hanako lied to her.

Nene finds Teru being confessed to by another girl and him turning her down as he has liked someone for a while and doesn't want to be with anyone else. Nene thinks she's lost all hope until she remembers about the scales. She is about to run towards him when she becomes covered in scales and loses conciousness. She sees herself falling through a sea of thoughts about how much she had invested in the wrong things and how selfish she had been.

She regains conciousness to the sound of Hanako's voice. She is confused as to why she is surrounded by water until she looks in the mirror she is being held in front of and realises that she's become a fish. Hanako reveals that this is the Mermaid's curse and that having someone else swallow the scale only splits the fish between you and that it's only for "matchmaking" as people who share the same curse are bonded together. Nene reflects on how she really felt about Teru, she didn't like him, she just wanted romance, not caring who it's with.

She hears a voice coming from underneath the classroom when the floor opens up and reveals a fish with a human face (the mermaid) trying to make Nene her servant. She watches Hanako and the mermaid fight, Hanako pulls out a knife and easily defeats her.

Hanako offers to eat the other scale and humanise Nene as her true wish ( again with a consequence). Nene begs him to turn her human again. Hanako eats the scale saying that she'll have to pay him back with her body. He moves on top of her, implying something sexual, when he states that he'll just be taking her physical labour. He teases her for taking it dirtily only for her to push him away and being surprised when she realises she can touch him now. He flirts with her, saying that being bound to someone is the same as being with someone, and points out the newly appeared scales on her arms, saying that they'll go away if she dries them.

First meeting
Nene and Hanako have a trusting and caring relationship. After their fates were entwined due to the mermaid scale, Hanako made Nene into his assistant in return for granting her wish. She started cleaning the toilet after school. She complains about doing it and tells Hanako that she doesn't like it, but Hanako says he looks forward to it every day. He feels nostalgic, and it felt like having a friend. Nene then calls him Hanako-kun instead of Hanako-san for the first time, so that they're friends.

After seeing Hanako apologize to her while taking his hat off in the confession tree chapter, she thought he looked like any other normal boy and wanted to learn about him.

From then on, Hanako continues to save Nene from danger. Nene also wishes to learn more about him. Despite not being human anymore, Nene has called Hanako her friend many times, which surprised others who are not fond of supernaturals. She also called Kou her partner in wanting to know more about Hanako.

She learned about Amane from the memories recalled after destroying Tsuchigomori's yorishiro. This made her care about Hanako and his past even more. Nene then tells Hanako that he was "more trouble than it's worth" but she will stick around him anyway because she liked Hanako as a friend. In the next chapter, he thanked Nene, telling her that it was the first time a girl told him that she liked him, and opening up to her a bit more about his past. He finally told her a bit of his past. Nene thinks about how Hanako could have had a happy future, and Hanako also wishes for her to have a happier fate. They arguably have one of the most trusting relationships in the series.

Maybe due to fear of her finding out more or not being ready to tell her, he says that he will tell her more in the future and they made a pinky promise for her to stay as his assistant until that time comes. After the reveal of Nene's short lifespan, Hanako's actions towards Nene can be more clearly seen as his way of caring for her, despite him thinking there isn't anything he could do about it.

Amane meeting Nene
Nene later first met Hanako's past self, Amane, in volume 5 while going through the doors that goes to different dimensions and time.She was surprised, but immediately showed concern to Amane who is bruised and injured, dashing towards him and asking if he is hurt, asked if he was crying.

Although Nene first met Amane while time traveling to 1969, it is shown that Amane first met Nene in 1964, where she time travelled to during the festival she was attending with Hanako and Kou. Previously, Hanako showed to be a little jealous towards Kou, but failed to genuinely compliment Nene in her yukata. There, Nene met a younger Amane in the festival alone. Young Amane admitted to Nene that she was a bit of his type. Nene showed her concern about Amane's fate to the young Amane, telling him that she is always rooting for him.

In the end of the chapter, it was revealed that instead of wanting to be an astronaut, he wrote that he wishes to "meet Nene-oneechan again in the future". Aidairo later posted an image on twitter where they described the theme of volume 8 to be 'first love thief', implying that Nene was Hanako's first love.

After seeing hints of Hanako's past self, Nene began to wonder if there might be some way that she could protect Hanako in return for him protecting her.

Minamoto Kou
Nene and Kou are close friends, the two of them having met when Kou was still attempting to exorcise Hanako. After a rocky start, the two developed a strong friendship and often hang out together either alongside Hanako or, more rarely, just the two of them. They get along very well, and it seems that Kou has a bit of a crush on Nene, as evidenced by his frequent blushing and stuttering around her.

He is also very supportive of her and quick to defend her when she gets teased. Kou likes spending time with and helping Nene to the point that he pretended to be a bad cook so that they could bake together, and helped her make donuts to try and bring Hanako's spirits up.

When Kou became older due to a supernatural mishap, Nene said she would have to be careful not to fall in love with him, since he looked just like Nene's type.

Kou wants to protect Nene from danger, and wants to make sure that her fate is good. However, since he is, for the most part, a normal human boy he is unsure how to go about this wish.

Akane Aoi
Aoi is Nene's best friend, and the two seem to have a long standing friendship. They are together almost constantly at school when Nene is not with Hanako or Kou. They have similar interests, and Aoi is very supportive of and kind to Nene.

Through her, Nene learns about the school mysteries. Aoi is usually the one to tell Nene the mysteries' stories.

Minamoto Teru
Nene initially had a shallow crush on him despite not even knowing his name. As such, she did not realize his given name was Teru until chapter 9 or that Kou was his younger brother. He met once with Nene and returned her dropped pencil case, though Teru doesn't seem to remember, as when picking Kou up in the rooftop he reintroduced himself, thanking Nene for taking care of his brother.

Teru is kind towards her, like how he would towards anyone else. Nene herself seems to have witnessed a little of Teru's sadistic side, though she seems to still admire Teru as usual. It is unclear how Teru feels towards her as she is involved with Hanako, however, when Akane confronted Teru about how he knew about Nene's condition, he replies by saying that he has no obligation towards her.

Yugi Tsukasa
Nene does not like Tsukasa, but also seems unsure about him to some degree. Since he was responsible for her kidnapping at one point, and since she watched him tormenting Mitsuba in the Hell of Mirrors, she certainly has no positive feelings towards him. Tsukasa also nearly slammed Nene to the ground and hurt her after she told him to stop being cruel to Mitsuba, so it is likely that she is at least worried by him.

Yako
Yako has some dislike for Nene, although it doesn't seem like she hates her entirely. They were worse off initially, and Yako disliked Nene for destroying her Yorishiro and would constantly bite Nene. Even when Nene attempted to remake the perception of Yako's stairs, Yako was displeased. This was because Nene made it a romantic spot, and so couples would constantly visit the steps.

Later, it seems like Yako has begun to tolerate Nene more, despite their past disagreements. This is shown by Yako's willingness to help Nene get ready for the spirit festival.

Tsuchigomori
Being scared at first by Tsuchigomoris' initial behaviour when she learns of his identity as supernatural, she becomes wary of him. However, as she receives the opportunities to talk alone with him, the more she notices that he cares for his students as their teacher.

Mitsuba Sousuke
Nene and Mitsuba first met formally in the Mirror Hell arc, after the bodiless hands brought her to him.

She thought that he looked handsome and prince-like, but Mitsuba quickly shatters that impression by commenting on how fat Nene's ankles are, and with him calling her "radish senpai". When he explained that he was trapped in the boundary and had asked the hands to bring him someone that could help, he quickly won Nene over by acting cute in front of her so she would help.Later, he revealed that he does not remember anything about his former life or the cause of his death, and that's probably why the mirror boundary hadn't been able to attack him yet.

When the 3rd School Mystery's minions began attacking them and Nene was caught, he tried to save her by throwing items at her attackers, but he also ended up getting caught.

Nene has decided to take on the role of senpai towards Mitsuba because he is younger and less experienced, and is very nice to him. She also seems to think of him as a puppy, and is worried about his well-being, especially since he's involved with Tsukasa.

Nanamine Sakura
Initially, Nene planned to keep her guard up around Sakura, since she was kidnapped in order to talk to her. However, she ended up talking to Sakura extensively, and started to think of her in a friendly manner. This was until Sakura betrayed her, and it can be assumed since then that Nene is not fond of Sakura. She does, however, admire Sakura's looks and relates to her struggle of being bound to a supernatural. Sakura does not hate Nene, and might like to be friends, but is simply unable to befriend her since she is under Tsukasa's authority.

Hyuuga Natsuhiko
Nene and Natsuhiko meet multiple times throughout the series. Natsuhiko often flirts with Nene and has even tried to kiss her. Although Nene is shown to be flustered around him, she is also suspicious of him.

Seeing Supernaturals
Nene is able to see supernaturals, such as Hanako, without having any prior affiliation with them. Hanako later revealed that he can only be seen by exorcists and people close to the Far Shore. Nene is able to see supernaturals due to a special reason.

Transformation
After ingesting the Mermaid Scale, Nene's skin turns to scales in contact with water and she transforms into a fish if submerged. By being bound to Hanako in a contract, she can stay in her human form outside of water. According to other fish in the series, her fish form is very beautiful.

Trivia

 * Her favorite snack is strawberry-filled rice cakes
 * Her latest concern is that she has terrible luck with men.
 * Her preferred type is handsome guys.
 * She wishes for a more adult-like figure.
 * She plays idol-raising mobile games.