Santou (さんと, Santo) is a simple-minded youkai, who simply wished to make peace with his best friend Mikuri. Due to some misunderstandings, this is not easy for him so he asks for Natsume's help since Reiko had passed on. With Takashi Natsume's help, he finally made up with Mikuri and thanked Reiko's grandchild for returning his name to him.
Appearance[]
Santou is a large bear-like youkai with green fur and small eyes. Whenever he's happy, he wears a big goofy small and blushes.
Personality[]
He is very loyal to his best friend, Mikuri, even after got beaten up by him. He's also a patient youkai as he waited for Reiko for about half a century. He doesn't have a very good memory as proven when he couldn't tell Reiko why Mikuri was mad at him.
He's very kind-hearted and compassionate as shown when he refused to give the cursed Mikuri the Book of Friends, as it was Reiko's precious thing.
History[]
Santou and Mikuri are two best friends that live on the mountain. One day, he met Reiko Natsume and she challenge him into a playful fight and lost. So, Santou willingly gave his false name to Reiko who added it her overflowing Book of Friends. His best friend, Mikuri, then got angry at him because of his stupidity in easily accepting her challenge and losing to a mere human regardless of how truly strong her innate spiritual powers were.
Santou was upset his good friend left him to return to Kuriganuma (the Fog Swamp), and begged the teenage Reiko to help him in getting Mikuri back. She agreed and told him to wait at the train station tomorrow for her as it was late and she needed to go home. However, she had totally forgotten about her promise and Santou was left waiting at the train station for her about half a century, unaware that she had passed on as a young adult before she could ever remember him.
Upon encountering Reiko's only grandchild and descendant, Santou was overjoyed under the impression that Reiko had finally come to him. He then expressed how sad he was upon learning that the Reiko he knew had passed away in the fifty years he had restlessly waited for her to fulfill their promise. As he was mainly unintelligible, Natsume returned his false name to him, so that seeing into the aged book's memories of Reiko's first meeting with Santou in order to fully understand what was going on with him.
Plot[]
One day, Takashi Natsume was going through his grandmother, Reiko's belonging and found an old train ticket. His "bodyguard" Nyanko-sensei, said Reiko probably made a promise to meet someone at the train station and forgot all about it. Curious, he decided to check out the places his grandmother used to visit.
When he reached the train station, he saw Santou who mistaken him for Reiko. After explaining how Reiko had made him wait for half a century for her return, Natsume decided to go along with him in his grandmother's stead, as Santou was reluctant to leave the train station without him.
They finally reach their destination and discovered that Mikuri has been possessed by evil spirit which has transformed him into a gigantic fish-like youkai. Santou tried pleading with his friend to come to his senses and begged for his forgiveness. Mikuri was not able to hear him and continued attacking Takashi and Santou. Nyanko-sensei transformed into his youkai form and defeated Mikuri.
The evil spirit left Mikuri and he is transformed back to his usual self. Santou and Mikuri finally made up and returned to the mountains.
Relationships[]
Mikuri[]
Santou loves his best friend very much and will do anything for him. He apologized for making him angry and begged that they become best friends again.
Reiko Natsume[]
When he first meet one of the very few human beings who could actually perceive and hear yokai, he turned to her for help in getting his best friend back in his homeland of Kiriganuma. Being a simpleton and gullible creature, he waited eagerly for the next fifty years for her to return and make do on the deal they had made.
Takashi Natsume[]
Trivia[]
- His name was included in the Book of Friends, which was why Mikuri had abruptly ended their close friendship.