Itsuki Kikunobe

Media Mix Character Itsuki Kikunobe "Kissing is something people do with other people, not photos." Kanji/Kana 菊之辺イツキ Alias N/A Actor Karen Miyama Status Dead Occupation Student Appears in Fatal Frame: A Curse Affecting Only Girls Fatal Frame: The Movie

Itsuki Kikunobe is a character in Fatal Frame: A Curse Affecting Only Girls and Fatal Frame: The Movie. She is Risa's friend, and quite self-assured, though is jealous of Risa's admiration of their classmate Aya Tsukimori. She dreams of opening a nail salon in the future. She suspects that Aya is involved with the series of disappearances when students start going missing.

A Curse Affecting Only Girls

Itsuki is a student in her final year at Saint Loudun's Academy for Girls. She spends most of her time with Risa, but although she supposes that makes them "best friends", her feelings about Risa are complicated. She is more mature than the others in her class, and doesn't understand why Aya gets so much attention. Like the other girls, she finds Waka irritating, but whereas the others limit themselves to laughing at Waka behind her back, Itsuki is not afraid to be sharp with Waka to her face, which causes tension between them. When Michi refuses to take a photo of Aya for Kasumi, Itsuki offers to sell Kasumi one instead, not realising that the girl in the photo is not really Aya.

In Chapter 2, Itsuki and Risa sneak out of school together. Itsuki stops Risa from shoplifting nail polish at the convenience store, and since Itsuki has the money Kasumi gave her, they go to the restaurant together instead. Itsuki paints Risa's nails, but feels annoyed when Risa will only talk about Aya. In the end, she gives Risa a picture of Aya in the hope that it something will change and their conversations will become less repetitive.

While they are in the restaurant, a woman named Mary, who has a strange and slightly sinister reputation around the town, comes to sit at their table and starts talking to them. Itsuki is initially concerned, but when Mary starts telling Risa about how to perform the curse, she decides Mary is only desperate for attention.

Unbeknownst to Itsuki, Risa decides to curse her, hanging their photos up side by side in the confessional. However, when Takashi Saginomiya arrives, he only takes Itsuki's photo to put in the Ophelia Album, and leaves Risa's behind.

Later, an incident in class leads Itsuki to believe that Risa has cursed Aya. Risa is sent to her room as punishment for her sinful thoughts. Itsuki brings her food, but is overcome with jealousy at the thought of Risa and Aya together. She kisses the photo of Aya to show that it is meaningless, then kisses Risa, but is too jealous to accept Risa's confession of love. She rushes from the room, leaving Risa in tears.

The next day, Itsuki vanishes. She wakes to find herself floating in the river, but before she can make sense of what's happening to her, somebody comes up behind and cuts her head off.

When Aya, Michi and Risa visit the shrine, Itsuki's ghost appears to them, and Risa, trying to follow her, is spirited away. After being rescued by Kuro Karatsu, Risa says that she tried to follow Itsuki into the other world, but Itsuki sent her back. The curse is intended to unite people in the afterlife, but its present form has become twisted. Risa says that wherever she was, she couldn't be with Itsuki, and none of the people there can be with the girl who looks like Aya, either.

After the curse is lifted, Itsuki's spirit moves on, and Risa decides to go to nail college and become as mature and confident as Itsuki.

Fatal Frame: The Movie

Itsuki and her best friend Risa decide to skip class and run down to the town together. Itsuki helps Risa to paint her nails, and they talk about their plans for the future: Itsuki wants to open a nail salon, and Risa is going into an arranged marriage with a rich man chosen by her parents, although she would prefer to marry someone she likes. The conversation turns to Aya, who has been hiding in her room for a month; Itsuki seems irritated and tells Risa to forget about her, but Risa starts talking about a way to curse someone into returning romantic feelings by kissing their photo at midnight.

Before Itsuki can respond, they are interrupted by Mary, who has overheard their conversation and starts telling them about the origins of the curse. Risa is interested, but Itsuki drags her away.

After Kasumi's disappearance, Risa and Itsuki are passing Michi in the hallway when she suddenly collapses. They help her back to her room, where Risa sees the photo of Aya that Michi found in Kasumi's room. Since it was something Kasumi treasured, Itsuki suggests they put it in an attic room where it will be safe until Kasumi's return.

In the following days, Itsuki, Risa and Michi all see hallucinations of "Aya" all over the school. They gather in Michi's room to discuss it, and Itsuki blames Aya for putting a curse on them through her photograph. At that moment the ghost appears, and Itsuki temporarily loses her grip on reality, first finding herself in the hall with a singing choir around her, then in the lily pond in the school grounds. The ghost comes towards her across the water, asking her to break the curse. When she comes back to her senses, she and Risa are both in the attic again. Rather than let Risa kiss the photo, Itsuki snatches it away and kisses it herself.

The next day, Itsuki is missing, and as the curse spreads through the school, more and more girls disappear. Itsuki wanders through the forest in a trance, thinking only of being able to meet the girl who is calling to her. Suddenly something strikes her from behind, and she falls. Later, Susumu Kusanagi, who is taking photographs by the river, sees her body floating downstream, and soon after the bodies of all the other missing girls are found too.

Finally, it comes to light that Mayumi Asou has been killing the students, to stop them reaching the place where the ghost's body is concealed. After graduation, Michi tries to take a picture of Aya on the hilltop overlooking the town, but the spirits of Itsuki and the other dead girls appear behind her, and Michi decides not to take the photo after all.