Megumi Sakura is a Japanese language teacher at Megurigaoka Private High School and serves as the faculty adviser for the School Life Club. She is a young woman in her early twenties with pink hair and a warm, approachable demeanor that makes her a comforting presence to those around her. Students affectionately call her Megunee, a nickname that plays on the word for older sister, though she consistently and politely asks them to address her as Miss Sakura instead. This small request hints at her professional sense of responsibility, even as her gentle nature invites familiarity and closeness.

Her personality is defined by kindness, patience, and a deep-seated desire to put the well-being of her students above her own. She speaks with a soft tone and generally maintains a calm exterior, which helps provide a sense of stability in chaotic situations. According to the series creator, she can be a bit clueless or awkward at times, but her sincerity and dedication to her students make her deeply lovable. However, this gentle exterior hides a much more complex inner world. When alone, Megumi is shown breaking down under the immense pressure of being the sole surviving adult responsible for protecting young lives. She feels the weight of every decision and carries guilt, particularly regarding Yuki's psychological retreat from reality, which she incorrectly blames on herself. This hidden struggle reveals that her calm strength is not effortless but is a conscious choice made for the sake of the children in her care.

Megumis background as a teacher is central to her character. Before the zombie outbreak, she was a somewhat meek and overlooked faculty member, even receiving a scolding from the principal for treating students too much like friends rather than maintaining professional distance. Her own mother also worried that teaching might not suit her gentle personality. Despite these doubts, Megumi found her purpose in protecting others. Before the crisis began, the schools principal entrusted her with an Emergency Evacuation Manual, instructing her to use it only in a real emergency. She kept it hidden, a decision that would later haunt her when she finally opened it too late to make a significant difference for her students.

Her primary role in the story is that of a protector and guide. When the outbreak occurs, she leads Yuki Takeya, Kurumi Ebisuzawa, and Yuuri Wakasa to the relative safety of the school rooftop. As the only adult, she takes full responsibility for their survival, even forming the School Life Club as a way to give their existence purpose and to try to cheer up a deeply depressed Yuki. Megumis motivations are singular and clear: to see the children off safely, no matter the personal cost. She states this goal plainly, revealing that their survival is the only thing she is living for.

Key relationships define her journey, most notably with Yuki Takeya. Even before the outbreak, Megumi helped Yuki with her studies after school, showing the foundation of trust between them. Following Megumis death, Yuki is unable to accept the loss and hallucinates that her teacher is still alive, continuing to offer advice and comfort. This imagined Megumi becomes a crucial emotional support mechanism for Yuki, guiding her when she is confused or in danger. Notably, this hallucinated Megumi sometimes appears with a different hairstyle than in flashbacks, giving her an unreal, dreamlike quality that emphasizes Yulis fractured perception. Her relationships with Kurumi and Yuuri are also deep; they respect her deeply and, in Yuuris case, there are hints that she may have perceived Megumis presence beyond just Yukis imagination, suggesting that the teachers care transcends a simple hallucination.

Megumis character development is tragically cut short but powerfully resonant. Her ultimate act of heroism comes after she is bitten by zombies while protecting the girls. As she begins to turn, a scream from Yuki helps her temporarily regain her senses. In her final moments of consciousness, rather than seeking a place that was important to her, she forces herself to go to the basement, hiding behind shutters to minimize the chance of attacking the students she loves. Even after becoming fully infected, she retains a fragment of her responsibility as a teacher; in the anime, she scribbles the names of her students in a journal kept in the basement, showing that some memory of them persists within her infected state. Her story concludes when she is finally put to rest by Miki Naoki, but her influence does not end there. During a fire at the academy, her spirit or memory guides Yuki and a fading Yuuri to safety, and even after the group moves on to college, she continues to appear as a quiet, comforting presence for Yuki, acting as a mental and emotional anchor.

Her notable abilities are not physical but emotional and psychological. She possesses great emotional strength and the ability to make difficult, self-sacrificing decisions in the heat of a crisis. Her wisdom and courage lie in her composure and her capacity to offer guidance and comfort, even from beyond the grave. This lasting impact, where her memory provides the strength for others to continue surviving, is her greatest power.