For the manga, please go to Takako Chigusa (Manga). For the film, please go to Takako Chigusa (Film).
Backstory[]
Takako Chigusa (千草 貴子, Chigusa Takako) was an extremely gifted sprinter on the girls' track team; her record time on the 200 Meter Sprint was second best in the school's history. She managed to get away with her unusual hairstyles and excessive jewelry at school because of her good grades and profile as a top athlete. She had a younger sister, Ayako, and a pet dog, Hanako. She resented having to dress unattractively for school and was quite vain. When she was angered, she would break into a grin.
Takako was a proud and fearless girl who modeled her personality after her crush, an older boy. She was a bit shy, which led to her not making many close friends. However, she was clever, strategic and had a good judge of distance because of her experience running track.
Appearance[]
Takako was known for being the prettiest girl in her class. She had upward-curving eyes, a sharp chin, a well-formed mouth and a nicely defined nose that gave her a fierce but aristocratic look. Takako's hair was long and had orange streaks running through it, but this was considered assertive and made her seem all the more attractive. Her beauty was once compared to a war goddess.
She enjoyed wearing jewelery, which included two earrings in her left ear, one in her right, five bracelets, designer rings on the middle and ring fingers of her left hand and a pendant made from a foreign coin. She always kept her fingernails long.
Friends and Enemies[]
Takako was best friends with a girl named Kahoru Kitazawa for seven years. Besides that, her closest friend in her own class was Hiroki Sugimura, whom she had been friends with since primary school and developed a trust for. Although she loved Hiroki as more than a friend, an older student caught her eye, for he was also an athlete and struck her as being fearless.
Although she didn't have any real enemies, there was a rumor floating around that she was dating Kazushi Niida. He would try to encourage her to accept the rumors, but she only ever found him immature and rude. Takako feared Mitsuko Souma, but never realized this until they were face to face in the Program.
In the Program[]
Takako stayed close to the wall as she left the school, fearing other students might have come back to hunt people as they exited the building. Once she felt she was safe, she made a run for it as fast as her legs could carry her away from the school. She ran towards the border of H-4 and H-5 where she found an abandoned house obscured by trees.
When breakfast rolled around, Takako ate her supplied bread and water, which she did not enjoy at all. She witnessed the deaths of Yumiko Kusaka and Yukiko Kitano, making her increasingly paranoid. She waited a while before leaving her location, beginning to wonder if she should search for a group of people, as that would be safer than being alone. Takako picked up some pebbles along the way to a grove, and after throwing some into the shrubs, mistakenly believed that she was alone. However, Kazushi Niida appeared shortly after, to her left. She held her breath and took several steps backward, but before she could disappear, their eyes met. She turned and went to run, but Kazushi pursued her, raising his voice and shouting at her to wait. Fearing for her life, Takako stopped, if only to shut him up. She saw the crossbow in his hand and contemplated her chances of escaping him should she need to, also taking into consideration that he was a football jock and stood a chance of catching up to her.
Takako is very direct in refusing Kazushi's pleas to team up. Then, believing that he was done, she went to walk away, but noticed he had since pointed his weapon at her. She slid her day pack off her shoulder, hoping she could use it to shield herself from incoming arrows. Kazushi was now demanding that she stay with him, and commenting on her appearance, which only aggravated Takako further, a grin forming on her face. When he finally asks if she's a virgin and if she wants to have sex before she dies, Takako realizes that he will resort to rape if he has to. She informs him that he best be more worried about his life than having sex. He finally reveals he was the one who killed Yoshio Akamatsu, causing Takako to throw her remaining pebbles in his face, and make a run for it, ice pick in hand. Before she could get far, an arrow pierces her leg, causing her to fall and scrape her face on a root.
After an extended fight, Takako is seriously injured but manages to gouge out his eyes with her fingernails and stomp on his testicles, destroying one. Surprising herself, she enjoys finishing him off, stabbing her ice pick into his mouth and digging it deeper until his motions ceased. After yanking it out, Takako notices she is still not alone. Mitsuko is standing nearby, having watched the scene unfold. Takako regards Mitsuko coldly, acting disinterested until Mitsuko begins talking about her in past tense. Realizing Mitsuko's intentions, Takako once more tries to run, but is stopped when Mitsuko shoots her thrice in the back and walks off, believing her to be dead.
Takako survives for at least another half-hour before she is found by Hiroki, her crush, in the midst of saying goodbye to Kahoru and her family. She asks Hiroki if he has a crush on her, but he informs her that he does not. She warns him of Mitsuko, and believing her time to be short, asks God if she can say one more thing. “You've become quite a stud, Hiroki...” is how she chooses to spend her last breath. She is alive to hear Hiroki tell her she is the most “stylin' girl in the world” before she dies, trying to mouth out “Thank you.” She dies two minutes later in Hiroki's arms and he cries.
Etymology[]
- The name Takako means "valuable" (貴) (taka) and "child" (子) (ko).
- Takako's surname Chigusa means "thousand" (千) (chi) and "grass, herb, weed" (草) (kusa/gusa).
Notes and Trivia[]
- Takako is one of the four girls in the program to kill a boy, the others being Mitsuko Souma, Noriko Nakagawa and Kayoko Kotohiki.
- Takako had blood type B.