Even a series as nightmare-inducing as Mieruko-chan can provide some heartwarming moments. Although very rare, the series will occasionally throw Miko a bone and it's always welcomed.
As a Moments page, all spoilers will be unmarked!
- Chapter 4 is the first chapter to have a Happy Ending. Miko and Hana try giving away a stray cat. They have to choose between a kind-looking man and a man with the Face of a Thug. In the end, they give the cat away to the latter who had adorable cat spirits (given that the cat ghosts are nekomata, that means the cats are at least 10 years old before dying) instead of the former who had darker, decomposed, cat spirits stabbed with knives. They end up making the right choice as the scary-looking guy is revealed to be a Kindhearted Cat Lover whose scratches on his face came from the cats he takes care of. The last panel shows the guy taking care of the new stray while being watched over by the ghost of his deceased cats and wife.
- In Chapter 13, Miko encounters a senile old lady and helps her return to her home, where her daughter explains that the she had gone senile after the death of her husband, and is unable to even remember her family members. In the vicinity of the old lady's home, Miko and the old lady are persistently clung to by a ghost who keeps repeating the same series of numbers. When Miko shows the numbers to the old lady, she remembers that those numbers are the code for a safe in her house, filled with love letters and a comb bought by her husband. When she wears the comb, it's as though life has been breathed into her anew, regaining her sanity and properly addressing her daughter by name, which moves her to tears. The ghost then thanks Miko for helping him deliver his feelings. While there's a moment of Black Comedy when Miko later spots him getting devoured in a queue for ghosts she had previously seen, this loops back into heartwarming territory when Mitsue explains to her in Chapter 28 that she imagines the queue to be a way its ghosts can pass on, even if she can't see the devouring herself.
- In Chapter 16 Miko believes a ghost is haunting a pregnant teacher, but it turns out it´s actually the ghost of her first son who died before birth and is now taking care of his mother and his future brother. She even tells Miko and Hana that she feels everything is going to end well this time, and Miko is not only relieved but even smiles.
- Chapter 18 ends showing Miko truly happy for the first time in the manga (as shown in the page image). Her time in the haunted house attraction giving her the rare opportunity to actually scream at the ghosts terrifying her in the guise of reacting to the haunted house's scares. The manga even describes her expression as the "Beaming Face of Utter Satisfaction".
- Chapter 23 reveals the backstory of the aforementioned suspected cat-killer, Touno Zen. It turns out he didn't kill any cats. His Education Mama did. He grew up trying to save cats after his mother's death to overcompensate his failure to take care of his first cat. However, even after death, his mother's ghost still clings to him and jealously weighs him down; she's the one the angry cat ghosts Miko notices around Zen have beef with. So Miko deliberately provokes his mother's ghost so she would be exorcised by the guardian gods, spending her last safeguard against hostile ghosts in the process. After the mother's gone, the cat ghosts pass on peacefully, and his first cat's ghost licks his hand affectionately before disappearing.
- In Chapter 30, Hana thinks a boy standing by a bridge railing is about to commit suicide, and rushes to stop him. When the boy explains he had just lost his lucky charm in the river below, Hana selflessly wades into the river to get it for him, as if it wasn't already obvious enough how much of a Nice Girl she was.
- To make matters sweeter, Romm, who had been following her, reveals the boy really had intended to commit suicide by returning his suicide note, and gives him a pep talk, asking if he was going to give up. The boy, thinking back on his deceased friend who he had originally given the charm to and how he had lost it in the river to some bullies, resolves to continue living. And he's accompanied by the ghost of his friend to boot, who had just saved Hana from a river spirit while she got the charm back. He then returns home and tells his mother about what happened, who gives him a heartfelt hug in response. The chapter ends with him ordering some sweets from the bakery Hana frequents with a number she had given him, even if he did expect it to be her own number.
- In volume four's extra chapter, Zen meets Gozuka, the man who was given the kitten (now named Nyansuke) he was denied. They end up getting along very well due to their shared love of cats. Zen who has Name Amnesia even nearly gets Gozuka's name right calling him "Bozuka". To top it of, Gozuka's nekomata spirits take a quick liking to Zen, rubbing against his legs.
- Chapter 35 opens with a flashback to Mitsue's youth, throwing out a customer who only wants hints for gambling. What starts as a badass moment for Mitsue becomes her gently letting the man know that his late wife is worried about him and that she didn't mean what she last said to him.
- Shindou grabs the Shrine Kami's bell and intends to confront it on his lonesome. Defeating it on his own is probably unfeasible but he could at least buy Mitsue enough time to get Miko out of there. He tells them to go and leave him behind. Despite all the vitriol that has passed between them over the years, Mitsue instead drapes Towako's robe over his shoulders and declares that a Master will never abandon her apprentice. Mitsue is a much weaker exorcist than Shindou, long past her prime but damn her if she would leave her apprentice to die while she ran.
- Towards the end of Chapter 45, Miko sees the older man rooming with her at the hospital wandering the halls. When doctors and nurses rush through him, she realizes that the man has died. The man cries for his missing wife, Michiko, only for the little girl who noticed Miko's abilities earlier to grab his hand, revealing her and her mother to be ghosts. It's one of the few times a ghost realizes Miko's abilities without turning hostile. This is followed by the big ghost pushing a wheelchair around shows up to collect the man and his family, pushing them into the night sky.
- Interestingly the scary looking horse like ghost that seems to be shadowing Miko's family along with her dad's ghost appears to be friends with Miko's dad and it defended him from getting possibly killed and absorbed by Michiru's ghost. This was hinted at before when Miko's dad told it to not take his offered pudding in a friendly manner but the fact it managed to stop Michiru's ghost and stare it down into compliance shows that it is willing to protect Miko's family if they are threatened. An really big contrast to how creepy it looks. It also did Miko herself a big help as she was panicking once she realized her dad's ghost might actually be in serious trouble and she can't do anything to help him.
- Despite Michiru's failing grades and You's request for her sister to be transferred, Zen - thanks to his own history with family abuse - instantly recognizes that Michiru is going through some issues that she's not yet ready to reveal. Because of this, he decides to not press the issue, but also to not take any action against her. It's heavily implied that Michiru realized that Zen is trying to help her, and she appreciates that.
- This is punctuated by Zen having a flashback to how his own mother treated him when he notices how Michiru acts when it comes to the topic of her sister. After that moment he resolves to keep her in his class despite what her sister says and tells her that she can be selfish if she wants too. It's pretty obvious that Zen is trying to help her have a childhood that he couldn't quite have when he was a kid.
