Sawako Kuronuma (黒沼 爽子 Kuronuma Sawako) is the main protagonist of the series Kimi ni Todoke. Sawako is a shy yet honest girl who is in search of friendship, but her resemblance to a certain horror film character (that led to her being nicknamed as Sadako) and Sawako's tendency to shy away from correcting people of misconceptions prevent her from doing so. Thanks to Shota's kind and open nature, she is able to gradually make friends, open up to her classmates, and talk to different people. She is grateful (and at first, worships) Shota for giving her the opportunities to make close friends, which come to include Ayane, Chizuru, Shota and Ryu. Ayane and Chizuru admits that Sawako's 'like' to Shota might be even more than Ayane and Chizuru themselves. Sawako is incredibly fast (to the point where people believe she is teleporting) which is revealed during a soccer match at the school's sports festival. A running gag is that she seems to take what people say seriously as well as over-analyze a situation, which tends to scare the people around her when she is deep in thought.