Misaki Sakimiya

* Manga
* Anime

**Misaki Sakimiya** (崎宮 ミサキ *Sakimiya Misaki*), known professionally as **Zaki** (ザキ *Zaki*), is the deuteragonist of *Dead Mount Death Play*, the former heiress to Sakimiya Steel, and an assassin who kills assassins. After her murder of Polka Shinoyama leads to her own premature murder, she is subsequently resurrected as a Zombie by her accidental murderer Corpse God; later, she evolves into a Vampire Larva. She presently assists Corpse God in his Terran endeavors and works as his assistant in his fortunetelling business.

At the start of the series, those with the Evil Eye would have seen the spirits of her victims haunt her.

## Appearance

Misaki usually keeps her brown hair tied back in two medium-length micro braids, with the shorter, chin-length locks left to frame her face. Three alternating locks of her bangs are red, and she wears red semi-rimmed glasses over her brown eyes. Her chest size is uncommonly large. Upon becoming a Vampire Larva, she acquires an upper set of fangs and a pair of bat wings that grant her flight capabilities; the length of each wing appears greater than her height.

Misaki's typical outfit includes a traditional schoolgirl sailor shirt, a short black skirt, black thigh-high stockings, and platform shoes that give her an extra nine centimeters of height. The chain that dangles from the back of her red choker is not for show, for its hooks and supports the weight of her black-sleeved shawl. The shawl itself appears to be cobweb-themed: its looped fringes resemble a web's threading; its back sports a white spider-web graphic overlaid by a small cartoon heart; and under its spider-web print are the words, "get hook'd."

When attending a formal meal at the Shinoyama manor, Misaki wears a simple summer dress and thin belt and arranges her hair in a half-up half-down style via a flower knot. The simple elegance of her outfit is a marked departure from her everyday attire.

## Personality

*After witnessing the death of her parents, Misaki's mind has become highly distorted. She is stunned emotionally in a very childish mindset and is pleased with being close to everything connected with death. As a result, she enjoys killing people and putting herself in a nearly suicidal level of danger. However, her childish mindset still gives natural innocence; as a result, she is very caring towards her friends like Polka.*

## Chronology

### Childhood

Misaki is a delight in her early childhood, cheerful and quick to smile under the watch of her loving parents. As her parents head the wealthy company Sakimiya Steel, she can enjoy a comfortable life with the expectation that she will inherit the family business. Her present and future are shattered when a serial killer breaks into their home and murders her parents in her presence. The sight of the killer laughing while stabbing her mother's corpse leaves her questioning whether killing can be that fun—a question that follows her all the way to the orphanage where she is placed.

One day at the orphanage, Misaki is drawing smiling faces on a sketchpad when a visiting teenager—Lisa "Clarissa" Kuraki—asks if there is anything she can help Misaki with. As other children laugh nearby, Misaki replies she has forgotten how to smile and wants to learn how to smile again; she wants to smile "a lot more." When Clarissa suggests she try copying what others "seem to enjoy," Misaki recalls the serial killer's laughter and concludes, "killing people."

During her teenage years, Misaki becomes an assassin; having decided that killing assassins could be "kinda funny," she earns a reputation as **Zaki**, a killer of killers. Having been taken under Clarissa's wing, she also enters Clarissa's employ, accepting contract jobs through Clarissa's freelance agency Youtoukorou. One such job is to assassinate the same serial killer who killed Misaki's parents—a personal request from Clarissa, who explains the man has been killing too many innocents as of late.

When Misaki confronts the killer with a nail gun, she straddles him, nails his left hand to the floor, and asks if he remembers her. He realizes she is Zaki and warns her that being Clarissa's favorite will not keep her from getting away with his murder, but she reveals Clarissa personally requested the hit; then, she remarks that he seems to enjoy killing and asks if she looks as happy as he did "back then."

Finally recognizing her from their shared past, the killer asks if this is her idea of "revenge and justice" and, nettled, accuses her of hypocrisy. Misaki immediately denies the accusation, shoots a few nails through his other hand, and credits him for inspiring her to follow in his footsteps. She then asks if he thinks she kills 'good' people—if *he* is a 'good person; the man hesitates before deciding to say he is good, but Misaki slams a pipe into his mouth before finishing. Clarissa's request goes fulfilled.

### Present

Polka Shinoyama Contract
On a particular day at Youtoukorou, Clarissa presents Misaki with a profile on the latest person a client wants dead: sixteen-year-old Polka Shinoyama. Despite being only a year older, Misaki accepts the job to test whether she can kill an innocent "kid." Whether her additional reason—that she has "already achieved [her] life's goal"—is referring to killing her parents' killer is not entirely clear.

With Takumi Kuruya providing technical support, Misaki murders Polka via a prybar to his neck on the streets of Shinjuku in broad daylight and abandons Polka's corpse in an alleyway. She retreats to a building's rooftop to reflect on her success, concludes that she should not be allowed to live, and jumps off the edge to conduct her final test: whether or not she can kill herself. Seconds later, she aborts her suicide midair to answer an incoming call from Takumi, who informs her that she failed to complete the assignment. The kid, he says, has walked off the gouge in his throat.

Upon locating Polka again, Misaki tows him away from the police officers he is speaking with and down a secluded side street. There, she frisks him, confirms his body temperature is warm, and declares that she will kill him again upon concluding he *is* alive.

Polka bolts and Misaki gives chase, following him into an Abandoned Building. Polka deflects her prybar in its corridors with his pipe, but not the two metal projectiles pierce his right leg; he stumbles away and into a large room filled with hooks, ropes, and other unsavory equipment. Misaki spins a ghoulish yarn of the building's past as a gang execution site as she advances on Polka, whose respect for human life she finds amusing. Polka—rather, the Corpse God—is conversely unamused by her *disregard* for human life, hers of which he brings to an abrupt, unintentional end via impaling her stomach with the finger of a monstrously large, skeletal hand.

The room is filled with Youtoukorou personnel when Misaki rises from the dead, Urai, Koruto Ichinose, and Lisa herself among them. Closest to Misaki are Corpse God and one of Takumi's drones; the former high-fives the latter as if in celebration. Lisa checks Misaki's pulse and temperature before two Youtoukorou employees frisk Misaki just as she had done to Corpse God. Misaki is left asking for an explanation while Clarissa offers to be the Corpse God's intermediary and assigns Misaki and Takumi to help acclimatize the Corpse God to life on Earth.

Human Knots Incident
Misaki and Takumi dutifully aid Corpse God in moving into the Abandoned Building, which Lisa owns and is in reasonable proximity to both Misaki's and Takumi's residences. However, with Corpse God's skeletons handling most of the manual labor, Misaki can learn about Corpse God's existence and the Shakuzawa Building fire. In contrast, Corpse God learns about Earth's biodiversity and other subjects. Conversation topics shift from the real Polka's family to Corpse God's theory that his world and this world used to be joined, and then to the fact that someone wants Polka Shinoyama dead.

When a visitor for Misaki is spotted at the building's front entrance, and Misaki heads down to speak with him, the man begs her to dispatch the yakuza who hunt him. He claims that Lisa told him where to find her. While Misaki is demuring, Corpse God joins her, crouches beside her, and tells invisible entities that he 'accepts the job'; Misaki immediately agrees to do the same.

That night, Misaki follows her client to the abandoned factory where "the killer" is allegedly lurking. The client prattles about the whys of the killer's actions until several men ambush Misaki, at which point he shoots her in the torso. She collapses. The job was a setup; her client and his allies, it seems, are attempting to save face and take revenge for the death of their boss. Misaki recovers and uses preternatural strength to counterattack, effortlessly battling multiple men until Corpse God ties the men into intertwined knots via two monstrously large skeletal hands. This incident is hereafter known as the "human knots" incident. Though Misaki is unaware of the footprint she leaves behind at the (crime) scene, it is documented during the subsequent police investigation.

Upon returning to the Abandoned Building, Misaki inspects her torso for evidence of the bullet wound and finds none. One hour and a pizza delivery later, find the three discussing Misaki's body over pizza: Corpse God explains Misaki's body can self-repair, that Misaki possesses enhanced strength at the expense of muted senses and that her saliva should contain a powerful paralyzing agent. Misaki bites Corpse God's collarbone through curious demonstration, rendering Corpse God collapsed and immobile within seconds. After he recovers, he reveals that the men with knotted limbs are still alive.

Police Encounters
Misaki and Takumi return to the Abandoned Building the next day. Takumi witnesses Corpse God transfer Polka's soul from Takumi's drone to a shark plush; Misaki joins them a second later and hugs the plush for its sheer adorableness. Corpse God tells Takumi that he 'merely' needs a 'bucketload' of gems—i.e., magic-storing stones—to replenish his magic, which he could use to turn Misaki into a vampire. Takumi sends Misaki and Corpse God to an upscale jewelry store for a reality check about the accessibility of jewels. Corpse God, once suitably aghast at Terran gemstones' cost, exits the store without purchasing.

As Misaki and Corpse God walk down a side street, they encounter Kōzaburō Arase: a man who snatches Takumi's drone out of the air and addresses Takumi directly through it. Corpse God, ignoring Misaki's advice to be careful, asks that Arase leave his friend's drone alone. When Arase refuses and warns him against rubbing elbows with Takumi, Corpse God reclaims Takumi's drone in support.

Takumi calls Arase to negotiate with him; meanwhile, Misaki's phone vibrates. Arase becomes so focused on convincing Corpse God that Takumi is a disloyal loudmouth who sells out his friends that he is surprised when Arase kicks him in the abdomen. Her force is such that she sends Arase crashing into an opposite shuttered storefront and leaves an imprint of her shoe on his skin as a souvenir. Later on, Arase will confirm that this is the same footprint as the one Misaki left at the "Human Knots" crime scene.

Misaki grabs Corpse God's hand and takes off running, though once they are out of sight, Corpse God uses a skeletal hand to carry them away faster. Once they are a safe distance away, the hand lowers them to the pavement. The duo walks the rest of the way to Youtoukorou, where Misaki loudly informs Clarissa that she and her friend have come to "hang out."

A blond man named Tsubaki pointedly comments that Misaki is underage and offers to treat her to juice in exchange for information on what is hip with the youth. Soon enough, Corpse God and Misaki have joined Iwanome at his table—Misaki proving the life of the conversation, Iwanome laughing along, and Corpse God quietly having a revelation over the miraculous deliciousness of Earth drinks. When Arase and several men in suits enter the bar, Iwanome waves Arase over; Misaki yelps that Arase is a "bad guy" who pushed and hit her, which Arase denies. Iwanome introduces himself and Arase as government officials who would like to ask Misaki some questions.

The electricity shuts off without explanation, offering Misaki and Corpse God an opportunity to abscond the situation. Corpse God takes the lead on account of his Evil Eye, but Lemmings drops onto a table as soon as the teenagers crawl out of the booth and bows to Misaki; then, he snatches her up.

*Click 'Edit' to contribute content from Volume 2 onward.*

## Etymology

* The name **Misaki** is written in katakana (ミサキ), which has no special meaning. However, when written in kanji (美咲), it could mean "beautiful" (美) (**mi**) and "blossom" (咲) (**saki**).
* Misaki's surname **Sakimiya** means "cape, peninsula" (崎) (**saki**) and "temple, shrine, palace" (宮) (**miya**).

## References

1. ↑ *Dead Mount Death Play* (Manga): Volume 5, Chapter 43.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 shint424. (2020, June). デッドマウント・デスプレイ キャラ表② #DMDP よろしければ投票よろしくお願いします！
http://tsugimanga.jp #次にくるマンガ大賞. [Tweet]. https://twitter.com/shint424/status/1274643879032020993. Accessed on June 21, 2020.
3. ↑ *Dead Mount Death Play* (Manga): Chapter 44.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 *Dead Mount Death Play* (Manga): Volume 1, Chapter 2.
5. ↑ *Dead Mount Death Play* (Manga): Volume 1, Chapter 1.
6. ↑ *Dead Mount Death Play* (Manga): Volume 1, Chapter 3.
7. ↑ *Dead Mount Death Play* (Manga): Volume 1, Chapter 5.
8. ↑ *Dead Mount Death Play* (Manga): Volume 1, Chapter 6.
9. ↑ *Dead Mount Death Play* (Manga): Volume 1, Chapter 7.
10. ↑ *Dead Mount Death Play* (Manga): Volume 1, Chapter 8.