For the manga, please go to Kayoko Kotohiki (Manga). For the film, please go to Kayoko Kotohiki (Film).
Backstory[]
Kayoko Kotohiki (琴彈 加代子, Kotohiki Kayoko) was a member of the tea ceremony group at her school, but was described as being playful and energetic rather than elegant, which is what would be expected of someone performing in a tea ceremony. She had a huge crush on one of the masters of the tea ceremony, who was also the 19-year-old grandson of the school's headmaster, although she only had two encounters with him. The first was when he took charge at a tea ceremony being held for a government official, when the original master took sick. Afterwards, Kayoko asked if he was okay, and he seemed impressed by her maturity. The second was when he ran into her in the temple gardens, and had a chat with her about the tea ceremony. Kayoko had an older sister. Kayoko was very kind and compassionate but she was a bit of a dreamer.
Appearance[]
Kayoko had black shoulder-length hair, which she always held back with a dark blue hair clip when she was dressed in her kimono for tea ceremony, and she never wore makeup. She never viewed herself as glamourous but she thought that she was cute.
Friends and Enemies[]
Kayoko thought that Hiroki Sugimura was nice, though she didn't realize that he had a crush on her. She was on good terms with the female students in the class.
In the Program[]
After she was released, Kayoko got her weapon out which was a Smith & Wesson M59 Automatic and held onto it due to her fear of running into someone. She then traveled to the eastern side of the northern mountain peak, in sector C-8. She witnessed Yumiko Kusaka and Yukiko Kitano getting murdered and decided not to move from her location until night as she knew that their killer was near and she would be risking more by moving. Due to the forbidden zones, she moved twice. The second time she moved was immediately in the afternoon on the second day, because the southern side of the peak, sector D-7, was going to become forbidden at 1 p.m.
She managed to avoid any attacks and had, as yet, avoided confrontation until she ran into Hiroki Sugimura. Hiroki approached her, but Kayoko panicked, thinking he was trying to kill her because of his bloody wounds that made him seem so scary and his gun. She ran away, but when he followed, she turned around and shot him with her gun. She ran over to him so she could finish him off but stopped when he tossed his gun aside. As he was dying, Hiroki gave her instructions which were to burn some fresh wood, build two fires and wait for a bird call, which she was supposed to follow and meet up with Shuya Nanahara, Noriko Nakagawa, and Shogo Kawada. They would help her off the island.
Kayoko was still confused as Hiroki was telling her to run before it was too late as someone must have heard the gunshot. It was then that Kayoko figured out that Hiroki meant no harm. She tries to get him to get up and come along with her but he tells her to forget about him as he is just happy to see that she is still alive. Kayoko is confused again as Hiroki explains that he loves her, she tells him that she thought he was going out with Takako Chigusa but Hiroki tells her that she is the one he loves. Kayoko starts to feel horrible for what she has done as Hiroki tells her that he doesn't mind dying as she is still alive, he warns her to leave or else and then dies.
Kayoko realizes how foolish she was over everything and falls onto Hiroki's body as she decides to die with him. As she thinks about Hiroki, she hears a voice that asks her if she wants to die with him, Kayoko tells the voice, "Yes", and when the voice says, "Why don't you go ahead?" She realizes the voice isn't in her head but the voice of Mitsuko Souma, who shoots her twice in the right temple.
Etymology[]
- The name Kayoko means "add, increase" (加) (ka), "generation" (代) (yo) and "child" (子) (ko).
- Kayoko's surname Kotohiki means "Japanese harp" (琴) (koto) and "bullet, shot, shell" (弾) (hiki).
Trivia[]
- Kayoko is one of four girls to kill a boy in the program the other three being Mitsuko, Noriko Nakagawa and Takako Chigusa.
- This is the only version of Kayoko who is not the penultimate girl to die, in the film and manga versions she is the penultimate (with Mitsuko being the last in both versions).