Mio Natsume

**Mio Natsume** (夏目 美緒, *Natsume Mio*) has been the intermittent classmate of Eita Izumi and Haruto Sōma from middle school through high school who plans to enroll in college and studies hard to make that happen, sometimes seeming to hide in that activity to distract her from other more troubling things. Her unrequited feelings for a middle school crush still influence her, and feelings for someone she did not know she loved develop as the show goes on.

## Appearance

Mia is a naturally beautiful girl whose self-image has nothing to do with beauty, even though it clearly hasn't hurt her in her movement through the world. She has large, intelligent, vigilant, somewhat cautious eyes and dark hair.

## Personality

Like Eita Izumi, Mio is a sensitive and vulnerable person with an attractive and confident exterior that masks her emotional core. She successfully hides her emotional vulnerability behind the consistent academic performance that she has clearly established as her path to the future. She has a dearly loved sister, a year ahead of her in school and now in college, against whom she measures herself until a ways through the season when her sister says that is not good or necessary.

It is both funny and telling that Eita, when asked why he loves her, says "her awkwardness". Part of his love is that he understands Mio's secret misfit aspects, which has made her unlucky at crucial times and opened her up to mild exploitation by others who don't have her conscientious and secretly vulnerable personality.

By the end of the series, Mio's personality has crystallized enough to know that she and Eita were made for each other, when she reflects on the things they have in common and the fragile but precious time they spent together as children.

## Plot

### On your marks!

Mio fiddles with her eraser during a test.

Afterwards, Mio talks to another student when studying for her cram school. Her friend tells her about her guidance counseling, but doesn't go into full details when asked if the counselor told her anything. They hear the sound of a bat hitting a baseball and her friend comments on how that was probably Haruto Sōma and his group playing baseball. Mio fiddles with the same eraser again.

Later, Mio is seen buying and drinking a box of strawberry milk, and Ena Komiya bumps into her. Komiya, who had been notified about her Photography Club would have to disband, complains to Mio as she used to be the student council president. Ena then takes a picture of Mio, who immediately complains that she never gave permission to get her picture taken. Before Mio can finish, Ena cuts her off. Ena tells her that there is a new transfer student who "was a sleepy-looking boy wearing a gakuran uniform". Mio replies that the transfer student must be tired from moving. Ena leaves as Mio tells her to delete the photo.

Mio then walks through the hallway and stops at the window. She receives a message from Ena and it is a picture of the new transfer student. Immediately after looking at the photograph, she recognizes the student as "Izumi" with a surprised expression. She then watches Haruto and Izumi who are having fun through the window, and comments how she can't have fun with her entrance exams.

### Get set, go!

Mio reads her graduation speech as the valedictorian. As the third years will be graduating, everyone is saying their farewells and making their last memories. Eita Izumi did not respond to her message on LINE, which makes her worried. Mio then looks for him, but she finds Hazuki Morikawa and has a chat with her instead. They end up talking about Izumi and her mini-conflict with his wallpaper photo. She responds by saying that Mio might not be the one at fault, which makes her confused. Later, as she was leaving the school, she sends Izumi a final text message on LINE and leaves her high school. She walks to the top of the hill once again, and receives a phone call from her friends telling her to go to their karaoke party. After she takes a deep breath and looks over the city, she is seen turning around and walking away.

College starts and Eita is seen walking into Joei University where he sends Mio a message and she responds back. Mio tells him to turn around, and he does. There, he sees her. He confesses to her and Mio confesses too. They both give each other smiles, and the scene cuts after they are seen walking towards each other.

## Quotes

* *"Izumi...? I didn't hear anything about this!"*
	+ Episode 1, On your marks
* *"I wonder why he came back now...Izumi remembers that, doesn't he?"*
	+ Episode 2, Question

* *"I'm completely serious about him!"*
	+ Episode 10, Childhood's end
* *"I like you, too!"*
	+ Episode 12, Get set, go!

## Etymology

* The name **Mio** means "beautiful" (美) (**mi**) and "thread" (緒) (**o**).
* Mio's surname **Natsume** means "summer" (夏) (**natsu**) and "eye, ogle" (目) (**me**).