Shinji Oki

**Shinji Oki** (沖 進次, *Oki Shinji*) is a neighbor of Minare Koda who lives in the unit below her. He used to be the boyfriend of Ritsuko Azohara, but ever since she disappeared, he has been looking for her.

## Appearance

Oki is a young man with short black hair, blue eyes and square-framed glasses.

## Personality

Mostly he's a quiet person with common sense.

## Plot

Oki believes his girlfriend who has disappeared is haunting him. As such Oki goes as far as to place salt in the corners of his living space and conducts a warding ritual to cast away ghosts when a drop of blood drops into the glass, he placed in front of him.

Oki assaulted by Minare after Minare came in and passed out in his apartment every time she went out for drinks. Minare immediately called the police, after which they arrived, and a conversation with Oki and Minare, which Oki said that he carried her to her place every time she came home drunk and placed her shoes neatly at the front door. As well unable to lock the door to stop Minare from entering, as Minare would bang on the door and cry.

Minare stopped Oki as he was about to enter his apartment to give him a salmon with no questions asked, Oki accepted and Minare and Chuya left. After Minare and Chuya were walking away Chuya told Minare that something smelled fishy, as if there were a rotting corpse in Oki's apartment.

Oki sends a fax to the MRS studio addressed to Minare about concerning his dead girlfriend, the letter states:

> "I'm cursed. I think you'll understand. My girlfriend is dead but she hasn't forgiven me. I'll be dragged to the other side if this goes on... Signed Shinji, Oki"
>
>

As Minare and Mizuho arrive at Oki's apartment, Minare and Mizuho hear Oki crying out for help. After Minare rings the doorbell a couple of times Oki answers the intercom and shortly after opens the door. After Minare makes up something on the spot Oki lets Minare and Mizuho enter his apartment where Oki has put over a hundred wards on the ceiling and walls to prevent his dead girlfriend from coming back. Oki gives Mizuho permission to record but states that she will be coming back soon. After which a growling starts, with the stench of death fills the room, and the ceiling starts to bleed. Oki begins to panic and pleads out for forgiveness, while Mizuho tells Minare that the smell is rotten meat. Minare calls Chuya and tells him about the situation, but instead decides to text him to come over. Oki calms down enough to talk about Ritusko Azohara, his girlfriend, whom he met while he lived in Tokyo, during a Dogashima hot springs bus tour. Oki recounts about how Ritusko and he never crossed the line, that during a trip to an isolated co-ed hot spring in during wintertime he passed out and woke up in a house nearby Gaga hot spring. Oki was the only one found, naked, and Ritsuko's body never found even during springtime. Afterward, Minare confronts Oki about his fax stating that he had a preconceived notion that she was dead. Oki tells Minare that he was distraught, but did not know for sure. Minare proceeds to investigate the origins of the dripping blood appearance substance by looking into the crawl space above. Minare discovers that the sound and water was coming from the water pipes from upstairs and that the leaking water pipe mixed with body parts in plastic bags created a mixture that seeped through the ceiling's membrane.

After which Minare called the police and Oki arrested and taken off, Oki while being escorted by police repeatedly muttering "It wasn't me. I didn't kill anyone."

After Minare is called down to the police station, the detective tells Minare that the bags were rotting processed mutton meat and not human body parts, meat left by Minare in a storage bin age ago. Minare apologized over her next station with Oki present. After Minare apologizes and explains the situation in the live broadcast, Oki writes a note and shows it to Minare that he was dropping the charge.

## Etymology

* The name **Shinji** means "advance, make progress" (進) (**shin**) and "next" (次) (**ji**).
* Shinji's surname **Oki** means "offshore, open sea, ocean, high sea/high seas, blue water, main, mare liberum, mid-sea" (沖).