Рицуко Кунихиро

A nurse at the Ozaki clinic has a dog named Taro. Toru is in love with her. Ritsuko also has a boyfriend who dislikes the isolated village of Sotoba and proposed to her to get married and move to the city. Ritsuko refused, as she did not want to leave the place where she grew up. Later, she dies and is reborn as Shiki. Nevertheless, she refuses to drink human blood. As a result, she begins to slowly die when Tatsumi locks Ritsuko in a cage with her best friend. Toru asks her to bite her friend in order to survive. However, understanding that Ritsuko will not kill her friend, preferring to die, he begins to threaten her.