Ayumi Shinozaki

**Ayumi Shinozaki** is a major character in *Corpse Party (2021).*

Ayumi is a student and the class representative of Kisaragi Academy Senior High School's classroom 2-9 and one of the five original survivors of Heavenly Host.

## Design

In *Corpse Party (2021)*, Ayumi is a teenage girl of shorter height and below average build with blue eyes and long blue hair styled into two pigtails, held with red hair ties.

She wears the standard Kisaragi Academy Senior High female uniform consisting of a tan colored sailor outfit with a blue collar, light blue cuffs, yellow ribbon held by a blue brooch, blue pleated skirt, white knee-high socks and white uwabaki slippers with blue stripes near the soles. Her student ID is pinned on the left side of her shirt.

## Personality

In *Corpse Party*, Ayumi is a tough girl with great interest about the occult, and likes to scare her friends with ghost stories. However, this is her way to hide her easily frightened personality, even rivaling that of her classmate, Satoshi Mochida. However, she can be brave when it's needed, as demonstrated when she returned to Heavenly Host to rescue the survivors, despite the possible consequences. She is also insecure about her ambitions to become an illustrator, having been discouraged by more experienced ones. As a result, she often goes to her sister, Hinoe Shinozaki, or sometimes her teacher, Yui Shishido, for advice. She was a fan of Naho Saenoki and her works until the recent events in Heavenly Host.

But despite her occasional selfish or jealous actions, Ayumi really does care about her friends, even more than herself, and hates it when people go out of their way for her.

## Plot

#### *CHAPTER 1*

Ayumi, along with several classmates, stayed late at night at their school after the Kisaragi Academy's cultural festival and told scary stories. Before they all left for the night, Ayumi decided to perform a charm, as one of their classmates, Mayu Suzumoto, is transferring. This charm, which she calls Sachiko Ever After, would allow them to remain friends, no matter how far apart they were. After they performed the ceremony, a large earthquake shook the school, and created a massive hole, which everyone in the classroom fell through.

  *CHAPTER 2*
After she regained her senses, Ayumi found that only Yoshiki and their teacher, Yui, were there with her. They learn of their whereabouts, the very Heavenly Host Elementary School that Ayumi mentioned earlier during one of her stories. They remained in the classroom for a while, until hearing the scream of Naomi Nakashima. Upon hearing the pained cry of her friend, Ayumi began to panic, causing her to hyperventilate. Yui decided to go search for Naomi, leaving Yoshiki to calm her down. Some time later, a calmed down Ayumi senses that something may have happened to Yui, and goes to search for her with Yoshiki.
At one point, Ayumi pushes Yoshiki aside before running off, causing Yoshiki to become concerned and go after her. Yoshiki finds Ayumi standing in the corner of the room with an unusually large grin on her face along with her speaking nonsense. Yoshiki calls her name and Ayumi comes back to her senses with no recollection of the event.
Ayumi and Yoshiki are then stalked by one of the ghost children for a short period, but they manage to avoid him.
While exploring the lavatories later, Yoshiki again finds Ayumi staring down at the floor grinning wildly, before returning to normal. As they further examine the stalls, Ayumi notices a shadow on the floor and begins to hear a voice before screaming, as the toilet stall creaks open to reveal a stained interior. Ayumi falls to her knees and begins to hyperventilate before screaming from hearing Naomi's voice, as she runs out of the room soon after.

   Outside the lavatory, she again slips into her delirious state. Ayumi returns to normal briefly, which causes Yoshiki to encourage her to fight it, but she slips away again and hits him. Ayumi laughs maniacally and wanders aimlessly as Yoshiki walks away, disturbed. Yoshiki enters the bathroom and has a flashback in which he realizes that Ayumi's friendship is one of the only reasons he stayed in school. He remembers that he forgot to thank her and that he promised to protect her when they entered the school.
When Yoshiki comes to, Ayumi storms into the lavatory screaming at him and asking why he is doing this to her. Yoshiki holds her in an effort to bring her back, which works, but causes Ayumi to knock him to the ground in embarrassment. Outside the lavatory, Ayumi explains that, although all of the corpses thus far were not people they knew, someone close to them had died in the girls' lavatory. She also notes that she has no recollection of time between opening the stall and Yoshiki "squeezing the life out of her." Yoshiki hopes she is wrong, but Ayumi relates that she couldn't breathe and felt ice cold, except for a burning heat around her neck, implying that she felt the same sensation that Seiko Shinohara had when she died. Ayumi begins to cry and Yoshiki tells her to calm down before lamenting on the fact they still haven't found Yui.
On the way back to the classroom they encounter a ghost heading into the infirmary. They follow it and can hear a conversation coming from the room. They investigate and find Mayu standing between two girl ghosts. Mayu is apparently friendly with them, but it becomes apparent that she is under their influence when they don't let her leave with Ayumi and Yoshiki. Mayu shows them a newspaper article which explains some of what happened to the ghosts, although the bottom of the article is torn off.
After Ayumi's attempts to "free" Mayu of the ghosts, the spirits lift her into the air, pushing Ayumi and Yoshiki back when they try to approach. Not being able to do anything, they leave the room in an attempt to find help. Outside, Ayumi mentions that she feels cold and Yoshiki points out that her nose is bleeding, causing Ayumi to turn around and tell him to not be so blunt about things like that.
Suddenly a girl appears and greets them, as Yoshiki comments that she has "eyes like a dead fish," and the girl admits that she died in the school quite a while ago and is searching for someone important to her. Ayumi recognizes her as Naho, the author of Ayumi's favorite blog, Naho's Nods to the Netherworld. Yoshiki asks who the important person is and wonders why anyone would come to Heavenly Host willingly, as Naho did. Naho switches the discussion to Mayu and explains that if the spirits are given closure, the closed spaces would break down, as they are only held together by the children's suffering. Naho also mentions that the one who murdered the children is in the school, scaring Yoshiki. She urges Yoshiki and Ayumi to hurry before the spirits hurt Mayu, and leaves.
Back at the infirmary, Yoshiki attempts to threaten the spirits, but is interrupted by Ayumi, who believes that their cause is lost if the spirits become angry with them. Ayumi shows the spirits the repentant doll in an attempt to fulfill the children's need for closure. However, this doesn't work and the spirits drag Mayu into the hallway and slam her into the wall, killing her.
Ayumi discards the doll in frustration and runs away, trembling in fear at seeing Mayu's remains. Yoshiki tries to get her away from the sight, but she shouts, "I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!" and runs up the corridor alone, leaving Yoshiki behind.

 *CHAPTER 4*
After wandering alone for a while, she returns to the infirmary and picks up the doll. The doll begins to weep, which disturbs Ayumi. She also meets with Naho again, and starts calling her a liar and demanding that she brings Mayu back.
Yoshiki then appears with a head wound causing Ayumi to be concerned. Naho explains that the cursed doll belongs to the murderer and therefore must be looking for it. When Yoshiki cuts in and asks who Naho's mentor was, she snaps at him, saying her "personal affairs" are not his concern, and she causes the room to shake, Naho is clearly upset and states that Mayu's death was Ayumi and Yoshiki's fault before disappearing.
Following one of Naho's leads the two of them begin to search the ground floor for clues. When they reach the ground floor, the doll gives a cryptic hint. They decipher it and Yoshiki finds a loose floorboard which hides a bag soaked in blood with a name tag reading "Ryou Yoshizawa". The bag contains a human tongue. The doll whispers that they need to return the tongue and the two decide that it must belong to the boy spirit. They are able to successfully return it, putting the boy to rest and causing another earthquake.
After following more of the doll's hints, they come to a locker room where Ayumi begins to hear ghostly voices and has another nosebleed. Yoshiki tells Ayumi to stay in the locker room, rather than risk getting sick outside. She agrees and Yoshiki explores the pool area. After a while of exploring, Yoshiki hears a splash. After realizing that Ayumi is missing, he jumps into the pool to find her, despite the fact that he cannot swim. He is able to save her and, after questioning, realizes that one of the ghosts tricked Ayumi into thinking that Yoshiki needed her.
Together, they are able to find another tongue bag labeled "Tokiko Tsuji". Back inside, they encounter two ghost girls. They return the tongue to the headless spirit, who is put to rest.
Next, the doll explains that the next tongue is located underneath Mayu's remains, causing Ayumi to throw the doll onto the floor in anger. Suddenly Sakutaro Morishige appears with bloody hands holding a tongue bag. He gives the bag to Yoshiki, explaining that he has no need for "charms." He leaves and two discuss why he would have been touching the remains at all.
The name on the bag is "Yuki Kanno", the girl missing an eye. She thanks them before leaving and Yoshiki mentions that there is only one ghost left. Ayumi throws a fit and states that she feels closer to death herself with each spirit they save. Yoshiki agrees to take the next one when suddenly the school shakes violently.
Yoshiki and Ayumi regain consciousness back at Kisaragi Academy and notice that they are the only ones there. Ayumi screams as the floor in the room becomes darkened with shadows and Yuki appears. Yuki explains what happened the day that she died and thanks Yoshiki and Ayumi for returning her tongue. However, she also explains that the spirits were not fully appeased, which caused Yoshiki to lash out, but Ayumi tells him to hear Yuki out.
Yuki explains that the closed spaces have taken so many lives that they are too powerful for the children to control. When Ayumi asks why their efforts didn't appease the spirits, Yuki shows her exactly how she and the others died by putting Ayumi into her body. The experience proves extremely traumatic for Ayumi, as she was made to feel the same pain and terror as Yuki did when Sachiko Shinozaki stabbed her eye out.

*CHAPTER 5*
After some arguing, Ayumi and Yoshiki return to Heavenly Host.
Upon returning to the space, Yuki warns Ayumi that she is being overcome by the darkening and will not be able to help them. She hands Ayumi and Yoshiki a to give to Satoshi and explains that they will need to find another one like it. When leaving the classroom, Ayumi and Yoshiki realize that the school has changed and decide to look for Satoshi and the others.
At the main hallway on the first floor, Yoshiki questions Ayumi about the red stain on the back of her skirt, causing Ayumi to become annoyed and embarrassed before she runs on ahead complaining about how she doesn't have a change of clothes.
The two rejoin the rest of the group and discuss different ways to get out. Ayumi states that she wants to try appeasing the spirits in order to ensure that no one else is ever trapped in Heavenly Host again, while the others argue that they just want to get out as quickly and easily as possible. The groups split up again, as the school is now split into two sections by holes.
After finding three of Naho's notes Ayumi and Yoshiki walk past the science lab only for the windows to become sprayed with blood. While distracted, Sachiko unlocks the door and opens it. Inside an anatomical model stands near the door as Ayumi and Yoshiki ignore it and receive the note at the back of the class and leave the room.
Ayumi and Yoshiki find the final note in classroom 1-A, and it appears blank. However, upon inspection it begins to write itself causing concern and explains a bit about Naho's darkening, then both Yoshiki and Ayumi leave the classroom to explore the third floor.
In the reference room, Ayumi and Yoshiki encounter Naho and Ayumi begins to reveal what she has uncovered to Naho. However Naho, while impressed that they found out that Sachiko was the killer all along, states they only solved half the mystery and still needed to determine what Sachiko is before she departs but before she can Ayumi stops her. Naho seems to sense a connection between Ayumi and the boy she encountered in the staff room, but before she can continue Ayumi changes the subject and shows Naho her note on the Sachiko ever after charm while criticizing her for putting the wrong instructions on her blog to which Naho begins to act strangely towards.
Ayumi continues to question Naho, even asking if she ever thought of knowing the consequences of her own actions with Naho reacting claiming she did right for Kou and would do anything for him, even protecting his job. It turns out that Naho can't remember her final thoughts before death and at that point Ayumi tells her that she had succumbed to the darkening before dying, before showing her the evidence that she in fact killed Kou, causing the darkening within her to be purged, disappearing in the process. Yoshiki questions if they are in some kind of horror movie before checking on Ayumi as the two of them pick up the Baby Statue and meet up with the others just outside the room.
During their conversation, Ayumi and Yoshiki were horrified that Sakutaro had died and Ayumi wished people would stop dying so easily before handing back Naomi's Student ID to Naomi, along with the Baby Statue, and telling her not to lose the scrap of charm paper again.
Upon departing from the others, Ayumi and Yoshiki head back into the reference room only to find the principal standing there before disappearing, leaving a scrapbook full of information of the murder case behind which Ayumi and Yoshiki begin to read. They find out that Sachiko is older than previously thought as the two leave the room and proceed down the stairwell.
At the bottom of the stairs Sachiko approaches them and they both flee back up the stairwell, only to be stopped and paralyzed as they are forced to watch the event that causes both Yoshie Shinozaki and Sachiko to lose their lives. However, at the end of the event, the principal suddenly returns and sets his eyes on Ayumi saying, "You saw, didn't you?" Struggling to move, Ayumi and Yoshiki do their best to force themselves out of paralysis with Yoshiki eventually breaking free, taking Ayumi with him, and fleeing down the corridor until they are safe.
Ayumi and Yoshiki soon enter a room with strange markings on the floor resembling a summoning circle, as Ayumi mentions the room looked like it was used for black magic when Yoshiki mentions the incinerator. Ayumi asks him to go on ahead and he proceeds out the room, but Ayumi realizes she didn't say anything and that the door has locked behind Yoshiki when suddenly Yui appears and tries to speak to Ayumi. Initially, Ayumi dismisses her voice, claiming it to be false, however after some evidence, she realizes Yui is real and begins to worry about her wounds. Suddenly the floor gives way and Ayumi luckily is able to grab onto her teacher's leg and climb up her body as Yoshiki breaks the door down. As Ayumi and Yoshiki attempt to help her, Yui demands they get out the room while they can. Ayumi begins to cry as Yoshiki and Yui encourage her to go on with her chosen path before leaving the room.
Ayumi begins to cry outside, exclaiming she "doesn't care anymore," when Yoshiki explains to her that she needs to be strong like Yui said before noticing the principal standing outside of the incinerator. He then enters and Yoshiki attempts to follow but Ayumi stops him briefly worried about someone lighting up the incinerator while they're inside. When told to wait behind by Yoshiki as he enters the incinerator, Ayumi immediately follows as they dive deeper into the machine. Eventually they are warned by Sachiko to turn back but they ignore her warning before being knocked out and falling into the waste pit.
Ayumi awakens in the abandoned bomb shelter's waste room only to find lots of dead students and a missing Yoshiki. Ayumi calls his name without response, at first causing her to become upset, when suddenly Yoshiki calls out to Ayumi, jumps out of the ash, and is able to cheer her up before the two of them leave the room.
Outside, they run into Satoshi and Yuka Mochida and explain that Naomi has ran off chasing Yoshikazu Yanagihori and Ayumi and Yoshiki detail Yui's fate while Ayumi cries with Yoshiki telling her to stay strong again. Further up the corridor, they encounter Yuki who tells Ayumi that she has been stricken with darkening and if they hurry she can stop it, Yuki also explains that Sachiko is just ahead of the party and to go quickly. Before leaving, she tells the others that Naomi is fighting her own demons and hopes everyone is ready to fight.
Beyond the main basement room was a smaller room where the group finds Yoshikazu's remains before proceeding on. In the main basement room a ringing sounds hurts Ayumi's and Yuka's ears and not before long Sachiko's body along with the three children spirits appear, as Sachiko tells the group to stay away and not to look at her, however, Satoshi demands that she listens as they mean her no harm but Sachiko continues to threaten them.
Sachiko's red form appears before the group, paralyzing them before walking over to Yuka and proceeding to stab her with scissors, with the others being powerless to move. Then Sachiko's white form appears before the group, now with Ayumi telling Satoshi to begin appeasing her. Satoshi begins by handing back her tongue which restores a little of her humanity before handing over the Black Cat Plushie, causing the group to break free of their paralysis and causing Sachiko to scream uncontrollably.
Naomi returns suddenly just in time to take part in the reversal charm which Ayumi starts and everyone follows chanting correctly in order to weaken Sachiko enough to escape. When completed, Sachiko's body and the child spirits disappear while Ayumi tends to Yuka's wound, however Yuki suddenly appears before the party and tells them to escape as it's their only chance as once the school closes they will be trapped there forever. When Ayumi asks why she still hasn't escaped Yuki explains she and the other child spirits have become part of the space and can't be saved and that the school is already making another Sachiko and tells them to go. The school then begins to shake suddenly and a red dress begins to take shape on Yuki.
The party runs as fast as they can to the exit while listening to the bell toll in the background as the air got thicker with each toll, outside they all climb over the fence of the walkway and are successfully whisked back to their own school.
Upon their return home the group is overjoyed and happy, however the loss of their friends and teacher quickly hit them hard. Ayumi tells everyone to be careful on their way home and also not to stay home the next day but to come to school before everyone left for home.
However, Ayumi and the others find out that their friends were not only killed but also erased from the minds and memories of everyone else except them, making them the only ones who remember that they actually existed as human beings.

## Relationships

Ayumi is shown on the outside to be one that can make friends and fit in, this suits for a way to hide her real feelings of being one who doubts herself and never going forward, making sure everyone else is happy and not let her hold them back.

### Hinoe Shinozaki

Hinoe is Ayumi's big sister. Ayumi really loves her sister, seeing her as a mentor and protector at the same time. It always irritated her how their parents talk about Hinoe's choice in life. She is the one Ayumi trusts the most, knowing she can always rely on her support, comfort, and guidance. The two often sit side by side on Hinoe’s bed, and talk about regular and paranormal things for long periods of time. The loss of her sister scars Ayumi for life, blaming herself for her death.

### Satoshi Mochida

Ayumi Shinozaki has a crush on Satoshi, believing him to be the only boy who would remain faithful (this due to her distrust of men and, to a lesser extent, Yoshiki Kishinuma). Because of this, Satoshi is her greatest weakness. She is insecure about how she appears to Satoshi.

### Yoshiki Kishinuma

During the series, Ayumi is shown to look at Yoshiki as the delinquent most others see him as she has shown time and time again that she would prefer Satoshi over him any day. Ayumi is also shown to be very oblivious to the feelings Yoshiki has for her, always with Satoshi on her mind, even when others like Azusa Takai notice and she always sees his actions as self-gains and not always as savings or sacrifices he makes for her. She only saved him from the gym teacher for she was just doing a kind action, while Yoshiki saw it as a sign that kept him on the right path. Throughout the series, Yoshiki is also shown not to act on opportunities that can show that he cares for Ayumi and she just moves on from when he does little things.

### Naomi Nakashima

Her relationship with Naomi prior to entering Heavenly Host was friendly, with a small amount of jealousy and rivalry. Beneath the surface she always considered Naomi as her rival, knowing her affection for Satoshi, without Naomi knowing about Ayumi's feelings. She was jealous of Naomi's figure, especially to her breast size, fearing Satoshi doesn't like flat chested girls. Inside Heavenly Host, her jealousy takes a toll on her, seeing how close Satoshi and Naomi really are. This causes her to show the sign of darkening. In one ending, Ayumi ends up killing Naomi in attempts to escape alone with Satoshi.

## Trivia

* Ayumi has anemia and as a result she hyperventilates easily when frightened.
* Ayumi is much like Naho when it comes to being able to sense and feel ghosts. In *Corpse Party*, she is possessed in chapters 2 and 4.