Kyouko Mejiro

"I wanted to kill you. Of course, my father was wrong for falling in love with you with a family around... But that doesn't mean I was able to understand that. I've only been thinking about killing you for the past ten years. Now, I... 'Revenge or whatever, doesn't matter...'"

- Kyouko Mejiro to Kiku Hoshimi

Kyouko Mejiro (キョウコ) is a private detective who befriended Nazuna Nanakusa in high school, eventually discovering her true heritage as a vampire. On her eighteenth birthday, Kyouko's father, who had been transformed into a vampire, had murdered her mother and attacked her, so Kyouko was forced to kill him in self-defense. Her family tragedy drove her to despise vampires, setting out to become a highly skilled detective, under the new name Anko Uguisu (アンコ), who plotted to eradicate the entire vampire race as a means to kill Kiku Hoshimi, the true cause of the tragedy.

Ten years after her investigations began, Anko encountered Kou Yamori, a teenager who Anko was aware had been friends with Nazuna.

Appearance
Anko has brown hair, which she partially ties to a bun or ponytail, and brown, lusterless eyes, over which she wears round glasses that belonged to her father.

Her primary outfit consists of a beige raincoat, under which she wears a dark turtleneck t-shirt, a black skirt with a zipper, and light-brown boots with heels. She wears black gloves that cover half of one hand each. Later, she wears her coat less frequently and cuts her hair short, making it resemble the haircut she had in the past.

As a teenager, Anko wore a baggy blue seifuku while going to school. Her regular outfit was the same as her current one. In her youth, her pupils were more frequently visible and her eyes generally had more light in them as opposed to her vacant eyes in the present. Her facial expressions also tended to be more lively.

On Halloween, she wore two different costumes as a disguise, first dressed like a grim reaper and then like a sexy policewoman.

Personality
Anko is a very straightforward, observant, and sociable woman with a primarily casual attitude who likes to mess around with others. However, she can change her mood in the blink of an eye and quickly unsettle someone, either by becoming completely serious or displaying her unstable side. In the latter, it becomes apparent that she isn't fully sane.

Her profession aside, Anko isn't too strict when it comes to following the law, as evidenced by her owning a handgun and a butterfly knife and not reporting Kou for working illegally for Nazuna's snooze shop.

Anko has a goofy side that's shown on some occasions, like when she genuinely thinks that Kou wants to be in a relationship with her and subsequently feels awkward when she turns out to be wrong. When drunk, she occasionally makes dirty jokes and becomes a "sexually harassing geezer." Anko is serious about romance, is starved for a romantic relationship, and is attracted to both men and women, including middle schoolers. She has little to no self-control when staring at female bodies.

As a teenager, Kyouko Mejiro was a loner, though still well-adjusted. She was a member of the literature club and preferred spending time in the club's room, where she frequently read books, particularly detective stories. However, she was disillusioned with the profession and knew detectives such as those in crime novels were an exaggeration, thinking she would probably become an investigator for peeping Tom cases or infidelity in marriages. Kyouko had issues with men and rejected a boy who asked her out, with the boy leaving in tears, but she was very open about her attraction to girls. Underneath the surface, Kyouko was highly affected by her toxic household and liked to stay at school until late at night for that reason.

One of her most defining traits was her hatred for vampires. She was shown to be ruthless and determined to wipe them out, exhibiting sociopathic behavior. Her actions were sometimes noted to be reckless, with little regard for her own life, like when she attacked two vampires head-on. Anko usually showed no empathy when hurting them and was even shown to be highly sadistic and psychotic, like when she maniacally laughed while repeatedly stabbing Akkun in the gut.

In the end, Anko was a scarred woman who spent her youth on hatred and killing and wanted to die while taking all vampires with her. Her grudge gave her a purpose in life, which she could only keep by taking her anger against one vampire out on all vampires. Anko thought about killing herself more than once but was afraid of dying and used her anger to give herself a reason to live. After her plan failed, she described herself as "an empty shell" since she could no longer keep up her anger, calling herself a "boring woman who has gained nothing but age."



After getting a new chance in life, Anko gave up hunting vampires since she felt tired and regretted her actions for multiple reasons, sincerely apologizing to Nico Hirata for shooting her. Adjusting to a normal life felt difficult for Anko since she had never experienced anything an average adult would, like friends and romance. While she isn't interested in killing vampires anymore, Anko feels more at home in an abnormal life, determined to find Kiku Hoshimi and help Kou. Since the Halloween incident, Anko has become more of a calmed-down analyst who often makes blunt and sarcastic remarks. She still doesn't value her own life much, remarking that any vampire intending to kill her is "free to come."

Despite giving up on revenge, Anko still hadn't healed from her trauma and harbored pent-up frustrations, longing for some satisfaction she couldn't get. After confronting the person who caused her trauma, she spent some more time closing that chapter of her life for good. Eventually, Anko decided she had no purpose in her hometown anymore and decided to go to Vietnam with Susuki to learn more about the vampires there, saying that it was uncertain whether she would return home.

Family

 * Kyouichi Mejiro † - Father, Attempted Killer and Victim
 * Mrs. Mejiro † - Mother

Allies

 * Vampires - Former Enemies
 * Nico Hirata - Former Teacher
 * Nazuna Nanakusa - Best Friend, Temporary Enemy and Savior
 * Michihisa Kanou † - Consensual Victim
 * Azami - Former Kidnapper and Temporary Enemy
 * Susuki - Temporary Enemy
 * Haruka Nanakusa
 * Kiku Hoshimi † - Former Target and Former Attempted Victim
 * Akihito Akiyama - Former Attempted Victim and Former Attempted Killer
 * Seri Kikiyou - Former Attempted Victim
 * Kabura Honda
 * Midori Kohakobe
 * Hatsuka Suzushiro
 * Kou Yamori - Former Enemy, Savior and Friend
 * Akira Asai
 * Kei Yamori

Enemies

 * Mahiru Seki †

Nazuna Nanakusa
When Anko attended school at night as Kyouko Mejiro, Nazuna entered the literature club room, and Anko welcomed her in. One of her first interactions with Nazuna was almost kissing her while she was asleep. Despite spending most of her time alone, Anko was friendly and welcoming towards Nazuna, and they quickly became friends, with Anko even displaying sexual attraction towards Nazuna.

Anko would recommend books to her. She was often baffled by Nazuna's personality and lack of common knowledge, playing an essential role in shaping Nazuna into the person she became later. Soon, she would entrust very personal information to her, like her father having an affair, and they would investigate it together. Nazuna revealed to her that she was a vampire not long after. Anko eventually broke down in tears because of her pent-up frustrations regarding her family and begged Nazuna for help.

Nazuna tried to make Anko her first servant but couldn't because Anko wasn't in love with her. They wanted to meet again, but after Anko's father turned into a vampire and destroyed her family, she became resentful of Nazuna and left her after a short exchange.

They wouldn't see each other for the next ten years. When they met again, they engaged in small talk regarding their current lives, the conversation marked by an underlying sadness from both parties.

When she met her on Halloween, Anko attacked Nazuna and brutally injured her, including shooting her in the eye. She told Nazuna to stop meeting with Kou as she felt sorry for him and then intentionally tried to bait Nazuna into killing her by threatening to kill Kou. After her plan got exposed, she confessed to Nazuna that if anyone were to kill her, Anko hoped it would be her. Later, after Kou was hospitalized, the two met on the rooftop of the building. Anko told Nazuna that she genuinely wanted to love her but couldn't.

Afterward, they made up and became friends again. Their dynamic became very similar to the one they had in the past, and Anko still lusts over Nazuna.

Kou Yamori
Anko and Kou first met when he was scouting for potential customers for Nazuna's snooze shop and approached her. Anko teased him by saying he was hitting on her and expressed interest in Kou. She explained that she doesn't necessarily follow the law and, therefore, wouldn't report Kou to the authorities, despite the illegal nature of Kou's job. After talking more, Anko quickly noticed that Kou knew something about Akkun's case but left the place after initially scaring him. She would appear at Kou's school, where she killed a vampire in front of him. Anko knew Kou was dreaming of becoming a vampire, berating him for it since she believed all vampires cause suffering.

Anko explained that she didn't want to hurt him but would be forced to if he remained loyal to Nazuna and said she would protect him from other vampires, offering him to "use her however he wishes." She repeatedly teased him and is genuinely interested in a relationship with him.

Despite threatening to kill him, Anko cares a lot about Kou. She pretended to invite him to her location so she could kill him but actually sent him a message meant to be her last will. In the message, she told him not to look for her and to stay away from vampires. Anko believed that, just like her, he won't be able to turn into one and that he's still young, with a long life ahead of him, even if he remains human. After accidentally shooting Kou, Anko was distraught and started to cry.

After Kou woke up in a hospital and got discharged, Anko apologized for telling him he might be missing the emotion of love, reassuring him that his love for Nazuna was genuine. While drunk, she requested to sleep with Kou. They talked about what defines an adult, and Anko forced Kou to lie next to her. She told him how living a normal life was difficult and cried into his chest. After they returned from Hokkaido, she invited Kou to a sushi place to cheer him up, comforting him while they enjoyed their food. She then asked him to accompany her to Kiku's former hideout sice she felt scared going there alone. Upon discovering a fridge that contained her father's blood, the detective knew a vampire had to drink it to access its memories, but didn't consider Kou as an option and only accepted the latter's offer after he insisted on drinking it. Anko was stressed about Kou's well-being and was relieved when he came back from the memory trip.

Kiku Hoshimi
Kiku was the source of Anko's trauma and the person who ruined her life. Kiku was also the cause of Anko's hatred for vampires in general. She developed an obsession with Kiku, so much so that she lost track of her emotions, chasing her for ten years. She was unable to understand Kiku and wanted to know what she was thinking before killing her, but her investigation left more questions than answers. One night, Kiku confronted Anko in her own office, leaving her frightened.



After the Halloween incident, Anko wanted to give up on her chase but changed her mind after being persuaded by Kou and Nazuna. While unsure if she wanted to kill her anymore, Anko still wanted to confront Kiku. When meeting her, Anko revealed that her feelings hadn't changed and threw knives at Kiku, piercing her hand. She knew that she couldn't kill her but still did it because she felt annoyed. She proceeded to pour out her bottled-up emotions and tell Kiku everything she had wanted to say for the past decade, breaking down in front of her. Kiku started to remember her name and told her the location of her former hideout, a place related to her father, and apologized. Those words made Anko let go of Kiku and watch her walk away.

Abilities

 * Detective skills: As a detective, she is very skilled in finding information about specific people and even stalking them. Whether through deduction or investigation, she described Kou's life and personality with frightening accuracy, including small, trivial details.


 * Knowledge of vampires: Having spent 10 years hunting vampires, she has gained a decent amount of knowledge about them, though there are gaps; for example, she didn't know that vampires could faze through solid objects until Hatsuka Suzushiro demonstrated said ability. Because of her father's death, she knows of their weakness, which is touching something from their human pasts. Even without killing them, she knows of a few ways to survive an encounter with them.


 * Weapon proficiency: She knows how to use throwing knives effectively and used them to attack Kiku Hoshimi. She also knows how to wield a gun, owning a revolver.


 * Foul-tasting blood: Since she got her blood sucked by a vampire ten years before the story started and didn't turn into one, it's now impossible for her to become a servant, which makes her blood repulsive for any vampire who tries to suck it. She is aware of this and uses it to her advantage.

Trivia

 * Like many characters in Call of the Night, Anko resembles a character from Kotoyama's previous work Dagashi Kashi. Specifically, she resembles Hajime Owari.
 * Anko is currently the only known human who knows how to kill a vampire.
 * Her raincoat and smoking habit are likely inspired by the titular protagonist of the TV show Columbo.
 * Her half-gloves are inspired by gloves used for drawing on tablets, likely stemming from Kotoyama's background as an artist.
 * According to Anko, her feet are swollen because of her job.
 * Because of her smoking habit, she has very short stamina, quickly running out of breath.
 * In her youth, Anko had fights with the boys at school.
 * Her revolver can also serve as a lighter.
 * She doesn't like drinking alcohol since she gets drunk easily.
 * After Kou and Nazuna, Anko is the character who appears on most volume covers, being the main focus on 3 and featured on 2 more.
 * Anko has terrible eyesight and can't recognize a person without her glasses unless they are very close to her.

Quotes

 * (To Kou) "And hey, you might as well properly hit on me next time, okay? If you don't mind older women, that is."
 * (To herself) "Dad...had some shitty eye-sight..."
 * (To Kou) "Living normally is hard"