Saeko Shijou was a graduate student at Tennozu College where Kurosu Ouma and Shuichiro Keido also attended. Saeko worked at the college's medical school and was apparently renowned around campus for her accomplishments. She had been pregnant with her first child, Mana, fathered by Kurosu, who she gets married to and moves to Oshima with him to be with her family. Five years after having Mana, she became pregnant with Shu. While she was with her 5-year-old daughter, Mana, she (speculatively) and Mana came in contact with the meteorite that Mana found, and speculatively, the virus within the meteorite infected Saeko. Despite her infliction, she managed to carry Shu to term and her life was sacrificed in order for him to be born.