Shouko Shiginuma

**Shouko Shiginuma** (四木沼 薔子 *Shīginuma Shōko*), née **Shouko Higashikouji** (東小路 薔子 *Higashikouji Shōko*), is the wife of Takashi Shiginuma and the biological mother of Rui Sagisawa.

## Appearance

Shouko is a beautiful woman with dusty grey hair that is tied up into a bun with bangs hanging on the right side, light brown eyes and a beauty mark just beneath the left side of her lips. According to Shizuru Migiwa, he comments on how Rui Sagisawa takes after Shouko.

Her everyday wear consists of a blue Western dress with purple and white decorations, accompanied with long white gloves. She is sometimes shown carrying a parasol to accompany her outfit.

## Personality

Shouko is a very calm, gentle and soft-spoken woman who can sometimes be serious and sometimes likes to tease, but she cares for other people's well-beings especially towards Takashi Shiginuma, Rui Sagisawa and Tsugumi Kuze.

## Biography

Shouko was born into the noble Higashiikouji family where her younger brother was friends with Shirou Mozuyama who secretly had eyes on her, but she wasn't interested in him. One night, he raped Shouko who pleaded for help but no-one came, resulting her becoming pregnant with Rui Sagisawa. While she loved Rui, her family felt embarrassed to have a child out of wedlock. Her father quickly snatched Rui away from her after he was born to prevent the family name from being tarnished despite her desperate pleas to not take him away. She was close friends with **Keiichi Sagisawa** (鷺澤 圭一 *Sagisawa Keiichi*) and **Miyako Sagisawa** (鷺澤 宮子 *Sagisawa Miyako*), who agreed to adopt Rui and they promised that they would take care of Rui in her place.

While Shouko suffered from having Rui taken from her, her father eventually arranged for her to be married to Takashi Shiginuma and Shouko never told Takashi about Rui in order to protect him, but she still remembers Rui even when he grew up.

## Relationships

### Family

#### Takashi Shiginuma

Takashi is Shouko's husband who has no knowledge of Rui Sagisawa (Shouko's illegitimate biological son) as it would tarnish Shouko's family name as well as his own. Takashi does care for Shouko, who in return, wants him to stop with his crimes that she travels with Takashi to Europe in the end.

#### Rui Sagisawa

Rui is Shouko's biological son whom she conceived twenty years ago after she was raped by Shirou Mozuyama. Shouko overcame the trauma when she became pregnant with Rui until he was snatched away by Shouko's father after he was born. However, she still loved him dearly from afar, even buying one of his handmade kaleidoscopes. Her love for Rui becomes clear when she refuses to acknowledge Mozuyama as Rui's biological father by declaring that Rui is her child and her's alone. In the aftermath, Rui cannot bring himself to acknowledge Shouko as his biological mother, but Shouko accepts this and wishes him happiness as they part ways.

### Other

#### Shirou Mozuyama

Shouko knew him through her younger brother who was a friend of Mozuyama twenty years ago. Mozuyama became attracted to Shouko, but she had no interest in him, thus leading him to rape her one night. The incident severely traumatised her, which led her to hate Mozuyama. Her hatred towards him is further shown when she refuses to acknowledge him as Rui's biological father, and insisting to Rui that she would be the one to kill him.

#### Tsugumi Kuze

Shouko first met Tsugumi at a party held in Takashi Shiginuma's headquarters, "Nachtigal". She immediately became fond of Tsugumi and met her again when Tsugumi was trying to help Hisui find clues regarding his mother. She even expresses concerns for Tsugumi as she quietly hopes that Tsugumi would not end up like her. They developed a friendly relationship until Tsugumi reluctantly broke one of the promises by bringing Hisui Hoshikawa to learn about his mother from Shouko. Although Shouko told Tsugumi that she could no longer come to visit her, she helps her avoid getting recaptured by Takashi's henchmen after learning that Tsugumi had been kidnapped by her husband.

They rekindled their friendship when Shouko hides Tsugumi in her room and serves her tea as an apology for what Takashi tried to do to her. When Tsugumi offers her the chance to escape, Shouko declines saying it is her choice to remain here so she could stop her husband from committing crimes. As they part ways, Shouko helps Tsugumi escape from "Nachtigal".

#### Hisui Hoshikawa

During Shouko's younger years, she was friends with Hiwako Hoshikawa (Hisui's mother) when they were still attending the girls school and they got separated due to some problems, but they remained in contact for a while until Hiwako suddenly disappeared.

## Etymology

* The name **Shouko** means "rose" (薔) (**shou**) and "child" (子) (**ko**).
	+ Shouko is called the "White Rose" because of her beauty and kindness.
* Shouko's surname **Shiginuma** means "four" (四) (**shi**), "tree, wood" (木) (**ki**/**gi**) and "swamp, pond, bog, lake" (沼) (**numa**).
	+ Her maiden name **Higashikouji** means "east" (東) (**higashi**) and "alley" (小路) (**kouji**).

## Trivia

* Shouko loves European confectioneries.
* As mentioned by Shizuru Migiwa, Rui Sagisawa bears a striking resemblance to Shouko.
* Shouko knows how to use a gun that she is a great marksmanship when she shoots Shirou Mozuyama with a single shot.

## Gallery

Shouko's full body and facial expressions (Top)