Mio Takaishi

Media Mix Character Mio Takaishi "However hard you try to escape your destiny, everyone around you will seek sacrifices." Kanji/Kana 高石澪 Alias Actor Status Dead Occupation Student Appears in Fatal Frame: A Curse Affecting Only Girls Fatal Frame: The Movie

Mio Takaishi is a character in Fatal Frame: A Curse Affecting Only Girls and Fatal Frame: The Movie.

A Curse Affecting Only Girls

Around the turn of the century, Mio and the girl who would become the Headmistress of Saint Loudun's were lovers. She called the Headmistress her big sister, though it is not clear whether they were actually related or whether this was just a term of endearment. Because their love was taboo and they could not be together in life, in 1905 they made a pact that they would enter into a ghost marriage, and be together in the afterlife. As a gift for the Headmistress, Mio made a special photo album, in which she wrote out the first section of Ophelia's Song by Mori Ogai, and an answering section she had written herself. She placed their pictures side by side on the first page, and put the album in the shrine, where many ghost marriages had been forged in the past.

The two went down to the lake. Mio warned the Headmistress not to let go of her hand. "If you do, I can't die..." They entered the water together, and Mio drowned, but the Headmistress survived. In revenge, Mio placed a twofold curse upon her: she would be unable to die, just as Mio was unable to achieve true peace in death, and every three years, she would be required to sacrifice a young girl as an offering to Mio, by placing their photographs alongside Mio's in the Ophelia Album. In this way, she would atone for the three years of love that she betrayed.

Mio's vengeful spirit is the driving force behind the curse that affects Maya and Aya Tsukimori, and even after more than a hundred years have passed, she refuses to forgive the Headmistress. Even when Aya and Maya's curse is broken, it is implied the Headmistress is still unable to die, and must continue making sacrifices to Mio.

Fatal Frame: The Movie

Mio's role in the movie is simplified a good deal. As in the novel, she was the Headmistress's lover, but they could not be together. They decided to take their own lives together at the water tank near the lake where girls performed the ritual in the past. At the last second, the future Headmistress hesitated, but Mio fell and drowned. Her restless spirit has been haunting the Headmistress ever since, asking her to free her from her curse. In an attempt to appease her, the Headmistress offered Maya Tsukimori as a sacrifice, but this only caused another ghost to appear and haunt the school. Mio's curse remains, but it only affects the Headmistress, and the regular sacrifices and curse of immortality are removed as plot elements. Her photograph remains enshrined alongside the Headmistress's at Kusanagi Photo Studio.