HOTD_Saeko

Saeko Busujima (毒島冴子, Busujima Saeko) is a student at Fujimi High School, a member of the survivor group led by Takashi Komuro and the daughter of Master Busujima. Before the apocalypse, she was in her Third year and was also captain of the Kendo Club at Fujimi High School. In the group, Saeko is considered the most reliable of all fighters, and everyone can count on her combat skills to pull them through a tough spot if need be. Like Rei, Saeko is an athletic fighter and talented combat specialist whose forte is in melee attacks. She is one of the reasons why the protagonists have managed to survive as far as they have. At the beginning of the series, she uses a bokken wooden sword that she used to fight "Them" with, but she was later given a sword by Souichiro Takagi to fight "Them".

Throughout the series, Saeko is shown to be a very kind, caring, strong and reliable person, which is pointed out by other characters. She is also calm and collected as she almost never freaks out or loses her cool in combat, which is an almost frightening degree. As the second oldest of the group after Shizuka Marikawa, Saeko acts as something of a big sister to the group, often considering the feelings of other members of the group and ensuring their well being.

Saeko, following her familial samurai lineage, strictly follows what can be interpreted as Bushido code; her character, behavioral patterns, and frequent sayings (e.g "it's a man's decision after all") provides evidence of her strict following of Bushido code. She is the opposite of Rei Miyamoto in many ways; while Rei gets very jealous whenever Takashi gets close to another girl, Saeko is more mature and doesn't have a problem with it, even telling Takashi that girls can be weak sometimes.

However, later on, Saeko reveals sadistic tendencies while fighting "them", often smiling whenever she's in combat. It can be assumed that Saeko's existential conflict manifests itself by cloaking her troubled. sadistic, malevolent, and violent nature with the facade of a well-mannered and cultured young woman. Her sadistic tendencies manifested four years before the story when she fought off a would-be molester. At first, it was self-defense, but soon she realized that she enjoyed causing pain and having control over somebody's life. Ever since then, Saeko has grown to see herself as someone unworthy of love and even becomes something of a "death seeker" until Takashi snaps her out of it. After this, Saeko learns to embrace her violent nature, having realized that it's essential for the group's survival.

Despite her sadistic tendencies, Saeko does still have morals, as shown when she couldn't bring herself to kill a pair of zombie children, something Takashi was able to do without any hesitation. Additionally, even after accepting who she is, she still shows a certain degree of self-hatred; when Rei states that she hopes she never gets used to killing "them", Saeko states that she's at least better off than her.