Yoru is the serious one of the group. He’s strict, smart, and has a hobby of cooking and reading lots of books. He’s voiced by Tomoaki Maeno.
Ame and Syun, Kairi and Yuyu, and lastly Cocoro and Yoru are announced as pairs. Right after Yoru start berating Cocoro to answer questions about Shinigami and the factual aspects. So Yoru tells her that he’ll be helping her out and teaching her knowledgeable things.
The next morning Yoru makes breakfast for everyone. Cocoro eats so fast that she starts choking on her food and Yoru had to get her a drink. She’s all “I’m glad you’re my partner so you can help me in times like this!” and Yoru’s just like “omg this girl.” Though Cocoro starts to feel pretty inferior compared to him because of her past test score.
So Cocoro is having a hard time studying and isn’t understanding anything at all. She wants to get closer to Yoru by studying more since he’s so smart. And since she’s afraid she’ll disappoint Yoru, she get’s the great idea of studying in secret throughout the summer break. So when everyone offers to go out and have fun during the break Cocoro tells them she’ll be staying since she secretly wants to study. Unfortunately, she isn’t getting good progress and goes to Nami in order to have him give her special lessons. He’s not really for it though and tells her even he needs a break from his students once in a while. He suggests she just has Yoru study since he’s more or less the top guy in the entire class. Cocoro never realized he was that smart and asks him why he’s even in the special supplementary class. He falls silent and tells her to just ask him if she wants to know since it’s a private matter. Nami finally decides to give her special lessons in his free time. He then asks her…
Nami: “So what is it you don’t understand?”
Cocoro: “Everything!”
Nami: “…………”
Finally Cocoro is able to make progress after Nami having to explain things a million times. He then has a message from an owl that tells him he has a teacher’s meeting and leaves Cocoro to study herself. Soon Cocoro arrives back to the dorm late though and covers it up by saying she’d left something at school. She leaves to put her stuff in her room and Yoru knocks on her door to tell her that she left her notebook in the living room. He asks if she went to school to study and she tells him she didn’t but he’s just kinda like “Okay, whatever” and leaves. The next day Cocoro continues to study at school by herself. Suddenly Nami appears and scares her and tells her he’ll help her when he has the chance and so she continues to study throughout lunchtime. Yuyu offers to help her as well and when she get’s back to the dorms she ends up studying all night. The next morning Ame says they planned to go out together and Yuyu was supposed to tell Cocoro but totally forgot to. Cocoro wants to go out with them too but she wants to get more studying done so she declines.
The next day Cocoro is studying with Nami again but asks if there’s any other teaching methods to help her study better. Unfortunately, there’s not much else she can do but study the way she’s been studying. Nami’s curious as to why she can’t ask Yoru for help but she doesn’t want it to be known and wants to catch up to him on her own. The next day Cocoro ends up falling asleep too late in class while studying since she doesn’t have Nami there or Yuyu since he’s been busy too. Once she gets back to the dorm everyone is worried and glad to see her back. They hadn’t eaten dinner yet and were waiting for her to come back. During dinner Cocoro ends up falling asleep and her face almost falls into her food so Yoru has to catch her just in time (LOL). He wonders what he should do and Kairi suggests he takes her to her room and so he does. Downstairs Yoru confronts Yuyu and asks what exactly is going on. He tries to come up with excuses but they say they’ll tell Nami if he keeps lying like that.
The next morning when Cocoro goes downstairs she encounters Yuyu who apologizes to her. Cocoro doesn’t really understand but then Yoru appears and tells her that Nami is busy so she can study by herself (clearly indicating he knows what she’s been up to). Yoru tells her it’s good that she’s studying so wants to know why she’d hide it. He’s her partner and should know these things and she fell asleep while eating dinner yesterday. She wondered how she ended up in her bed though and Yoru blushes and tells her it doesn’t matter and tells her not to do it any more. He asks again why she studied in secret and she finally tells him she wanted him to accept her as his partner. She started hard in order to become a suitable partner for him since she does nothing but fail all the time. He never said he was disappointed in her though but even though he didn’t say it she felt that he’d become much more strict with her. He tells her he doesn’t hate being paired up with her and his attitude towards her wasn’t her fault. He understands why she’d misunderstand though and apologizes for it. He knows she has her weak and strong points and wouldn’t dislike her just because she’s not good at studying. Cocoro is so relieved that isn’t the case that she starts crying and Yoru starts freaking out and tells her not to cry. He pats her head to comfort her and tells her he really really doesn’t think she’s a bad person and doesn’t hate her at all.
Cocoro: “I’m so glad…thank goodness…”
Cocoro: I-I’m sorry…I-It’s just…!”
Yoru: “Ah! I-If you understand then stop crying…!”
Yoru: “It’ll be bad if some sees you crying here…! Sheesh you really…”
Cocoro: “Now Yoru’s mad…! I’m glad he’s back to his irritable self…!”
Yoru: “So why are you crying again…!?”
After Cocoro calms down and stops crying Yoru asks Cocoro for a progress update on her studying. Apparently she hadn’t progressed very far and still doesn’t really understand what she even learned. So Yoru offers to help her out and gets Yuyu to make breakfast for her so they can study after that. During their study session Cocoro makes a lot better progress with Yoru helping her and she praises him for it. He blushes a bit and thanks her. She suddenly asks him why he hasn’t graduated since he’s so smart and looks surprised when she asks. He tells her his other partner wasn’t suitable for it and him and his partner split up before the exam and he never took it. So anyway they continue studying for a while.
Cocoro finds herself woken up on the sofa with a blanket on her. Apparently she fell asleep while studying. She finds Yoru made some delicious pancakes and tea for her (gdi you’d make a fine house husband Yoru) and Yuyu. Apparently he was quite the cook in his past life and he wonders if that’s strange but Cocoro doesn’t think so and is really impressed. Afterwords they hear an explosion and Ame tells them to come outside. There they see beautiful fireworks that Kairi made thanks to materials he got from Zen. Cocoro and Yoru light some fireworks together and he apologizes again for how he acted before. He realized over time that she’s a terrible liar. Even so he wants her to be more direct and rely on him if she’s worried about something. She tries to ask him about the reason why he avoided her before since she wants him to rely on her too if he’s anxious about something, but he’s not able to speak about it. She doesn’t force him to talk about it but she does expect him to talk to her about anything else since she is his partner after all. He agrees to and she asks him to pinky swear; though Yoru thinks it’s quite childish to do but does it anyway of course. He smiles and Cocoro is surprised (because she realize he’s fucking cute as fuck) since all he ever does is scowl all the time. That night Cocoro has a very happy but sad dream about someone she loves. Who is it exactly? Who knows! (you fucking know)
The next day Nami lectures the class for using too much gunpowder for the fireworks on school premises. Nami expects Yoru to lecture the class about it but he stays silent. Kairi then whispers to Cocoro that it was Yoru’s idea for the fireworks in the first place since he wanted to cheer Cocoro up with them.
September 9th
—
Summer vacation ends and the supplementary class are back to doing their normal duties. Yoru offers to take Cocoro’s heavier box and give her a lighter one. She laughs and notices how nice he’s being nice and he blushes and tells her not to make reasons for him and he was just wanted to carry that particular one (yeah right). She’s all “yeah yeah whatever you say” while he pouts. Noticeably to everyone else though they’re getting along quite better than before. Everyone then notices that people have become more interested in the class after the whole Music Talent Festival. Suddenly, Yuyu shouts at Cocoro to look out and she bumps into Hiiro. He gets mad at at first then blushes when he notices its her. Then he lectures her for almost falling over and notices he was actually worried about her but he pulls a tsun and says nope. Kairi then greets him and Hiiro sarcastically thanks him for his “congratulation gift” knowing it was him that set off those fireworks. Suddenly Hiiro’s partner comes over and greets them all; apparently Hiiro’ll be going to the present world for Shinigami practice. He then boasts about the fact they aren’t able to do that yet and Cocoro surprisingly compliments him for his progress. He get’s annoyed but is still blushing in embarrassment regardless and leaves.
During class Cocoro suddenly asks Nami-sensei about going to the present world but he tells them they still have a long way to go before they can do that. And so, Kairi changes the subject and mentions how the cultural festival is coming up so they need to come up with something. Cocoro mentions how she’d love to eat Yoru’s pancakes again and he gets all embarrassed saying he just made it for her by chance. So they eventually come to an agreement of doing a cafe that sells sweets and pancakes. Yoru can’t be the only cook though and Ame suggests they have an audition for one of them to make sweets and whoever makes the best ones get to work in the kitchen with Yoru. So to start their auditions everyone makes a meal in the kitchen and has Nami and Yuyu be the judge to taste. Kairi’s is crackling shortcake that Yuyu eats and it’s like fireworks in the mouth (WTF KAIRI LOLOL). Next Yuyu tries Ame’s which is really salty instead of sweet. Next is Syun which is more or less store bought easy make tart because Syun was lazy and said it tastes the same anyway (LOL). But unfortunately it taste too normal and plain and doesn’t have enough love (or so Kairi says) so finally it’s Cocoro’s turn. Surprisingly it’s quite good, not amazing but certainly better than what everyone else cooked up. So that leaves Cocoro in charge of the kitchen along with Yoru for their cafe. Thankfully Yoru tells her he’ll help her make other stuff besides just pancakes of course.
The following day Cocoro is looking through a sweets cookbook in order to decide things she’d like to make. Yoru asks if she’s made any progress and she starts listing off so many things and is not sure what she should do. He tells her she needs to think carefully for what she wants to put on the menu since there’s various things she should consider like food expenses and such. He goes on a tangent about certain steps and such that must be taken in order to make certain dishes and Cocoro starts taking notes so she’ll remember all of it. She’s quite impressed he knows so much about it all but he doesn’t think it’s all that impressive since anyone can do it as long as they make an effort and learn.
Later that night Cocoro is practicing cooking and Yoru is strict as ever and lectures her for not cooking it properly and burning a million pancakes. Finally she’s able to make successful one and starts humming since she’s really glad. She notices Yoru looks a bit put off by her singing and she apologizes since she thought she was annoying but on the contrary Yoru likes her singing. Anyway everyone becomes a guinea pig to try out the various dishes and Cocoro makes. That night in Cocoro’s room Yuyu notices that Cocoro wrote a lot of recipe notes that Yoru taught her; not only that but she’s also been keeping up with her actual class notes too which impresses Yuyu since he thought she probably forgot about that all since the festival came up.
The next day Cocoro and Yoru finally came up with a suitable menu. So in order to practice more Cocoro bakes an apple pie herself for Yoru to try. She’s taking a while to cook it and Yoru checks up on her to find that she dropped the oven pan because she burned her finger. Yoru lectures her about how she could’ve called for help and Cocoro starts apologizes repetitively. He himself feels he was a bit too harsh and he was just worried about her getting hurt. Cocoro thanks him for worrying about her and he blushes telling her she’s way too optimistic all the time. Cocoro then asks what made Yoru so interested in cooking and he tells her about his past life. Apparently he made a cookie for someone before and they said it was really good so he wanted to make them happier by making them more things. So he studied hard and practice how to make sweets for that person. Cocoro realizes they must’ve been a very important person for him and asks if that’s who he was looking for. Apparently it is and they resemble Cocoro a lot.
Next day at school the supplementary class is handing out flyers for their cafe. Ame drew the illustration for it which looks fairly well done in comparison to Yoru who apparently can’t draw for the life of him. Cocoro laughs at that fact and Yoru bonks her on the head and tells her not to laugh. Yoru changes the subject by asking where Syun is and apparently he’s slacking off as usual though it’s probably better he isn’t handing out flyers since everyone would be afraid of him. Cocoro then gets the idea of handing out samples of cookies along with their flyers. Thankfully their samples became pretty popular and is sure to bring lots of customers to their cafe. Hiiro also notices whats going on and Cocoro offers him an apple pie she made. Just before he can answer though Yoru calls out to her and asks what she’s doing. Hiiro runs away and she tells him she was going to let him sample her apple pie. Yoru mutters it’s better that way and Cocoro’s all “???” A little later they notice a crowd of girls around Yoru cause apparently he’s Mr. Popular. They all tease about how he should be the main visual of the cafe to greet everyone in the hall but Cocoro yells out how he needs to stay in the kitchen. Everyone’s all “woah wtf you ok” and Cocoro just flips out and says they should head back to class. That night Cocoro can’t focus on studying that much since she keeps thinking about Yoru being surrounded by girls (the fucking woes of jealousy jfc) so she goes straight to sleep.
Finally it’s the day of the cultural festival. The cafe is bustling with customers and even Rikka and Zen make a visit. Cocoro and Yoru are very busy making things for the customers though and eventually Kairi suggests that Cocoro take a break. Yoru tells her he can handle it for now and Cocoro goes off with Yuyu to hang around the various shops. Yuyu feels like all Cocoro ever talks about is Yoru though she says it’s probably because she’s been making sweets with him for a while now. Yuyu then says she must really love him though he only means in the friendship sort of way (psshhh not for you). They find a macaroon shop and Cocoro screams out “Oh maybe I can buy one for Yoru!” and Yuyu’s like “Wow you really do love him”.
Once Cocoro returns to the classroom she walks into a pleasant surprise. There stands Yoru serving customers in a butler uniform. They managed to make Yoru wear it and serve all these female customers that came flocking to him. One of them asks to take a picture with him and he declines to say he’s very busy (whereas Cocoro gets jellyyy to see him so popular). Afterwords Yoru takes a break and Cocoro continues to work a bit. Cocoro asks Kairi why Yoru was wearing that outfit and he can tell she’s more or less jealous that these girls are fawning over him. Kairi thinks it’s a bit childish of her since even she’d been all over him during the break. Now that Yoru’s away from her for a moment she’s acting like he’s a toy that got taken away from her. And so Cocoro feels she’s been acting quite selfish.
Soon the cultural festival comes to an end and everyone wants to make something they like to eat. Kairi and the others leave Yoru and Cocoro themselves since they’ve been working in the kitchen the entire time. Once they’re alone Yoru asks Cocoro if she’s mad at him since she’d been making a slightly uneasy expression every time she looked at him. Yoru then reveals a macaroon he bought for her and she’d bought him one as well (LOL) which is quite the coincidence. Finally Cocoro reveals that when Yoru was surrounded by girls she felt lonely. Yoru tells her she’s just like a kid and Cocoro tells her that’s what Kairi said. He laughs and tells her he doesn’t really mind and it actually kind of makes him happy. He always felt comfortable around her since he was familiar with her and was actually relieved when they finished the cafe since it was overwhelming being around people he was unfamiliar with. She thanks him for all the things he’d taught her and he tells her he doesn’t mind still teaching her things here and there. For a while Yoru just gazes at Cocoro and then Yuyu suddenly appears and scares the crap out of him and Cocoro.
October 10th
—
Nami-sensei tells everyone they have an academic ability test coming up in order to ready themselves to go into the present world. So after class everyone starts tutoring each other so they can study for it. That night Cocoro finishes studying for the night and goes downstairs to get a drink of tea. There she finds Yoru who was apparently doing the same. He tells her not to push herself too hard since they’d already done a lot of studying together already. Cocoro thanks him for the tea and hopes he’ll make her more next time. And he promises he’ll make her tea and sweets if she does good on her exams. And so they wish each other a goodnight.
One day Cocoro spots Hiiro who looks really distraught. She tries to tell him that she’s starting her practice to leave the present world but he says none of it matters and runs away. When she comes back to class she tells everyone about her encounter with Hiiro. Nami-sensei comes in and tells them about what happened; Hiiro’s partner passed on because he was able to resolve his regrets. Apparently his target was his mother and he was able to resolve his regret of leaving her only relative behind. Cocoro then immediately leaves to go speak with Hiiro about it. She apologizes to him and asks what his partner was like and apparently he was loved by his parents unlike Hiiro. He then warns her to be careful and to never pass on without telling her partner beforehand. She tells him she doesn’t have her past memory and he’s surprised to hear it but all the more reason for her to be more careful in this world.
That night Cocoro is worrying about what Hiiro told her. Yoru comes in her room to have their study session and Cocoro asks him if he wants to go to the present world. He says he does and wants to try and search for the person he’s looking for. Cocoro asks if his regret will be cleared if he finds this person and Yoru tells her it most likely would be. But Yoru doesn’t plan on suddenly leaving without warning. He promises he’ll be there with her until they graduate to become a Shinigami. And so they make another pinky promise.
he next day Nami tells the class they all passed, though unsure of what exactly. Soon Zen and Rikka arrive and apparently they’re here to guide each group on their Shinigami practice run in the present world. Cocoro, Yoru, Kairi and Yuyu are with Zen; while Syun and Ame are with Rikka.
November 11th
—
Soon the day of practice arrives. Everyone is gathered by the gate that separates the “present world” and the “Netherworld”. Their training sites are in “Kaguya city”, which is where the gate is connected to since the city is the place where the most deaths occur. Zen’s target is an elementary school girl; while Rikka’s is an adult male who suffers from a heart disease. And so they begin their practice mission and head off into the present world. Once Cocoro arrives she feels a large nostalgia in the town they’re in. She glances at Yoru for a moment who looked a bit surprised and he looks away. Soon they reach a park where their target is located. Zen tells Kairi not to get too close since he could very well be seen by her. Cocoro asks the cause of the death of the little girl and Zen tells her it’s an accidental death. They watch the little girl play in the park carefully and soon she runs off into the road while a car approaches her quickly. Cocoro yells out and tries to stop it but Zen pulls her back and then the car crashes while everyone falls silent. They walk up to her body covered in blood as Zen is about to retrieve her soul. Cocoro asks if it really isn’t possible to extend her life’s longevity; though obviously it isn’t. Zen explains to her how it’s punishable to go against the longevity of the timed death since it’s all recorded in the Akashic records. Just as Zen is about to do it Cocoro tries to stop him once again but Kairi stops her. He begins singing and Cocoro yells out for him to stop until she actually does interrupt him and he stops singing. The girl’s soul returns to the body and Zen asks why the heck she did that. Cocoro doesn’t answer though and suddenly falls unconscious.
Cocoro soon awakes in her room with Yuyu beside her. Yuyu calls for the others and everyone appears in front of her bed to see if she’s okay. They then tell her about what happened; apparently since the Shinigami’s work was interrupted by her their practice was cancelled and the time for a next one is now in a pending state. They explain that no matter what the circumstances are, a Shinigami’s job is to hunt a person’s soul. Cocoro apologizes over and over but they tell her she doesn’t need to and should more importantly worry about herself. They then leave and she silently sobs in her sleep.
December 12th
—
Cocoro has a dream where she’s standing in the place where the practice exam took place. It has the stench of blood and her body can’t move. Suddenly a car comes towards her and she snaps out of her dream and wakes up. It’s then there’s a knock at her door and Yoru comes in surprised to see she’s awake. Nami allowed her to take a break from school because of what happened and Yoru was given a vacation too since he’s her partner. She starts crying since she feels bad he’d failed the practice exam because of her but he pats her back and tells her not to worry about that any more. The whole experience left her terrified but Yoru and the others already (except for Syun) took the exam before so weren’t all that shocked by it. Cocoro realizes that a Shinigami isn’t what she thought it’d be and so Yoru asks if she wants to quit trying to become one. She tells him she doesn’t know what she wants to do. He tells her that the choice is hers alone and no one is stopping her from doing so. He’ll just repeat a year since it doesn’t matter to him anyway. He tells her to try and eat so she’ll feel better and just before he can leave Cocoro tells him to wait. She wants him to stay with her until she falls asleep and so he does. When she wakes up she finds Yoru next to her and asks if she had a good sleep. She tells him she didn’t have a bad dream but a mysterious one instead. He tells her it could be related to her past memory of her precious life. He tells her not to worry so much about it and to focus on getting better. Thankfully Cocoro is feeling better than before and starts eating again.
That night everyone visits Cocoro in bed and go on about various things and Ame even gives her a picture book in case she’s feeling bored (LOL). Yoru gets mad that everyone’s overwhelming her when she’s just starting to get better though. They all say he’s just like a parent and he gets pissed again. Kairi then suggests they once she gets better she should visit the Shinigami Festival. Once he leaves Yoru stays in her room until she falls asleep. That night while Cocoro is having another dream she wakes up half asleep to feel Yoru’s lips on hers. He also whispers “I love you…” before parting. She wakes up right after in disbelief.
The next morning Cocoro greets everyone and is slightly awkward towards Yoru now. She planned on going to school that morning but everyone tells her it’d probably be best if she took another day off. So she stays home for the day while everyone else goes to school. Doesn’t rest much and starts thinking about Yoru and the kiss. Eventually she falls asleep though and wakes up with Nami and everyone glad to see she’s doing better. They mention the Shinigami festival is today and so they all go tonight. Everyone leaves her with Yoru though and he holds her hand through the busy crowds.
Cocoro starts thinking about why Yoru kissed her in the first place. Perhaps it was because she looked like this “person” he’s looking for. And his “I love you” was directed towards them not her. She stops walking and starts thinking about whether she should ask him. But she isn’t able to and realizes that she’s fallen in love with him.
The next day Cocoro is able to come back to class. Nami is concerened about her since the graduation exams are coming up and she tells Nami not to worry and she’ll do her best with Yoru to become a Shinigami. Once she leaves the classroom she finds Yoru there who’s curious about what business Nami had with her. She tells him that she’d promised to do her best on the exams. In other words she’s still aiming to become a Shinigami. Yoru promises he’ll do his best with her and they shake hands. In the classroom Nami says to himself “Now, I wonder how things’ll turn out?” (ohoohho spooky).
January 1st
—
Finally it’s a new year and Nami-sensei is discussing the provisions for their graduation exam. Usually their exam consists of hunting a soul like normal but they’re exam is a bit different. There’s a long explanation but basically every year in the Netherworld the population rapidly increases because of the souls that constantly leave regrets. At this rate the balance of the Netherworld will collapse; so they must take certain matters in their own hand to prevent this. It’s permitted to tell a target of their approaching death, since knowing it beforehand reduces the shock. But you should not tell how they die. For instance, someone’s death being a traffic accident would make them stay home. If a person’s life is postponed, it violates the Akashic record. Breaking Shinigami rules is strictly prohibited. There’s no one helping them through this exam so it’ll be just the two pairs working together. And so Nami gives the name of Cocoro and Yoru’s target. It’s a young woman who’s a college student named Misaki Mei that resides in Kaguya city. Yoru then asks Nami if there’s a way they can switch their target with another pair but he tells him they can’t and once it’s decided it’s final.
And so the day arrives and everyone prepares themselves to start their 30 day examination. So Cocoro and Yoru’s target, Misaki Mei, is a college student who has an accidental death. They see her at her college and Yoru asks strange the entire time but he tells her he’s fine. After she’s done talking to some friends, Yoru suggests that Cocoro speaks to her first since he wants to review her background and see what regrets she may have. Cocoro has no idea what to say to her when she does though and Mei ends up confronting her and asking if she’s okay. She asks if she’s around here and Cocoro calls her by her first name which surprises her. Cocoro says there’s something she wants to tell her and so they find another place to talk. So Cocoro tells it to her straight and says she’s a Shinigami that’s come for her soul. She’s surprisingly calm about it and asks her about how and when she dies. Cocoro tells her that she’ll die in 30 days and can’t tell her much more than that. She finds it hard to believe but since she already knows that much it doesn’t seem like she’d lie about it. Cocoro wonders why she doesn’t seem that sad though and Mei tells her that someone she loved died a year and a half ago. It was a guy in her class who was a books committee member like her. Apparently she told him her feelings but didn’t have the courage to hear his answer so she ran away. However, the next day he died in a traffic accident. And she regretted for a long time not being able to hear his answer to her confession. Cocoro tells her that she’ll be with her to help clear her regrets for 30 days and wishes her best regards. Afterwords, Cocoro tells the situation of Mei to Yoru and hopes to figure out more as time passes.
Next day Mei tells Cocoro about the person she liked. He apparently liked books and had a lot of the same common interests. Mei hopes she isn’t boring Cocoro while talking about him but she doesn’t think she is. She doesn’t have many people to talk about “love” with and actually finds it quite fun. Afterwords Cocoro confronts Yoru and asks where he was the entire time. And so he claims he was investigating the targets personal life again. She thinks he should talk to Mei in person but Yoru says she should be enough since they’re both girls and they can talk fairly easily.
With Cocoro’s next visit with Mei she invites Cocoro to her home. Cocoro tells her about her Shinigami school and tells her about a person who helped her a lot during her studies and is also her partner. She tells her he’s not here now but will most likely be able to meet them once they send her off to her death. Cocoro tells her that her friend is a lot like the person Mei liked (BECAUSE HE OBVIOUSLY IS) and is similar in personality. Though she’s quite sharp (no its obvious as fuck) and can tell based on how Cocoro talks about him that this person is someone she likes. Just then Mei goes to prepare some tea and Cocoro looks around and finds a photograph of Mei in her high school days. She’s surprised to find a picture of the guy Mei was talking about though. His name was Sawa Yaichi and he looks exactly like Yoru. It’s then Cocoro realizes that Yoru was making up excuses so he wouldn’t have to meet her. She confronts Yoru about it and he admits that in his past life he was indeed known as Sawa Yaichi and died last year in this same town.
That night Cocoro starts thinking about how Mei could be the person that Yoru had been searching for. And believes that once he answers her confession he’ll pass on.
The next day Cocoro meets Mei and she offers to go visit her old high school. So she gives Cocoro a tour of it and she gets some strange deja vu (hmmm I wonder why //sarcasm). Mei babbles on about her fondness for Yaichi and Cocoro gets a (jelly) pain in her chest. And so she says she’s feeling sick again and leaves. There she encounters Yoru and Cocoro tells him he should go see Mei and answer her confession. Yoru stays silent and she asks if Mei is the one who he was looking for all this time. Yoru isn’t able to answer and Cocoro tells him he should talk to her so they can pass on together and it’s for the best. Unexpectedly, Mei appears behind them and notices Yoru–or rather Sawa Yaichi. Just as she runs up to him Cocoro gets a flash of a memory. She starts running away and a car almost hits her. Yoru grabs her arm and yells at her not to leave like that. Cocoro recalls this happening before and before she can say any more she loses consciousness.
Cocoro awakes in her room with Nami beside her. She explains the situation to him and he tells her she must be regaining her lost memories. He tells her that she’s different from an ordinary resident of the Netherworld and has a special soul. Normally a dead soul is sent to either heaven or hell and is prepared for reincarnation. Normally reincarnation takes a considerable amount of time. But thanks to her special power that resides in her soul, she’s repeatedly been reincarnated over and over again in such a short amount of time. Now one of the memories of her repeated lives have resurfaced. He tells her it may be painful but she needs to remember and leaves. After Nami leaves the room Yoru rushes in and embraces Cocoro. He asks her if she remembers anything and she tells him she remembers falling unconscious. She then asks if he’ll tell her about her past and so he does.
Yoru grew up in Kaguya city as “Sawa Yaichi”. He had a childhood friend who was very energetic and bright but also very reckless at times. Before long they both entered Kaguya high school together. He was a third year and his childhood friend was a second year. It was his friend’s 17th birthday and he bought a present for her in secret. Along with handing her the present he wanted to confess to her on the same day. But he had to stay after school that day because he had duties as a committee member. During which Misaki Mei asked to talk to him after class and that’s when she confessed to him. He was surprised since he’d never been interested in her that way and before he could decline she ran out of the library. It’s then he saw his childhood friend and walked home with her. She asked him if he’s going out with Mei and he told her not to say such stupid things. And while not paying attention to the light on the road he’d pulled his friend’s arm but not in time. Next moment he woke up in the Netherworld and assumed he must’ve died. Normally when you die your memories and regrets aren’t clear but he remembered his quite clearly. The memories he’d spent her, the accident, everything. So he made it his priority to search for this person since it’s most likely they ended up here. So he decided to try to become a Shinigami in order to search for his childhood friend. But he failed his first year and entered the special supplementary class. He didn’t tell Mei anything yet and ran after Cocoro before he could. He asked what the name of his childhood friend was and he said it was “Kokoro.” The moment she hears the name memories come flowing back to her.
She remembers it being her 17th birthday and Yaichi telling her he’d be late to come home with her today since his committee has extra work for him. She apparently waited for him and heard his conversation with Mei in the classroom. She confessed to him and ran out of the classroom. There he encountered Kokoro and she asked him to walk home with her. She starts asking him questions like if he’s going out with Misaki Mei and says she’d be lonely if he started going out with her. He tells her he’s not her toy and to not say foolish things. They start bickering and Kokoro runs ahead, not seeing the car that hit her.
She comes back to her senses and starts apologizing to Yoru. And he realizes that she really is Kokoro. He tells her not to cry and says he’d been wanting to meet her again for a very long time. They cry silently together while embracing.
The next day both Cocoro and Yoru visit Mei. They explain the situation to her and that Yoru is Yaichi and he was the partner Cocoro was talking about. She even says having her lost long lover hunt her soul is kinda romantic (ok wtf girl). Cocoro leaves the two alone for a little while and walks around the town a bit. She starts singing and once she stops she finds Yoru there. He tells her to come with her and takes her to a park on the hill where the town can be seen. Apparently they both came there whenever they were feeling sad. He tells her that he answered Mei’s confession and told her that there’s already someone he likes. Cocoro then confesses to Yoru that she loves him. That day when she witnessed his confession to Mei she was really jealous and never got to properly tell him her feelings. He tells her that he can’t answer her feelings, because if he does, his regret will more than likely clear up and he’ll pass on. In the brief silence he kisses her.
A few days later it’s the day before Mei’s scheduled death. Mei asked to talk with Cocoro alone. She tells Cocoro that Yoru answered her confession and said he already had someone precious to him. She guesses it’s more than likely Cocoro who he’s referring to of course. Cocoro apologizes for not saying anything since she didn’t know but she says it’s okay and still considers each other friends.
It’s finally the day they reap Mei’s soul. Yoru asks what she talked about with Mei and Cocoro tells him it’s girl talk (lol). When they search around the area where Mei is she isn’t there. Her death is accidental so they try and search for her. Finally they hear a commotion and apparently a girl was hit by a car. They run up to Mei to find her covered in blood.
She had flowers she wanted to put on Yaichi’s grave and was unexpectedly hit by a car. Suddenly her soul becomes corrupt and she starts feeling hatred towards Cocoro because she took away what she loved most from her. Cocoro begs her to stop and apologizes for everything. She can hate her but she shouldn’t let her feelings for Yoru go to waste. Even if she can’t love someone in this life, surely she can pass on and find someone in the next one. They don’t have much time left and so Cocoro begins to sing. Everything returns to normal and Mei starts apologizing. Yoru tells her she only lost sight of herself in darkness and she has no reason to blame herself. They both apologize to her but she’s glad that they came. If they hadn’t she probably would’ve died while holding many grudges. And so she’s happy she could meet them until the very end. Finally, Cocoro sings and they reap her soul.
Febuary 2nd
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Back at the dorm everyone is celebrating since they completed their graduation exam. Yoru and Cocoro are outside by themselves. They talk for a bit about Mei and reach a pretty romantic atmosphere until Cocoro ruins it (lol). Just as it seems like Yoru is about to say something (obviously his reply to Cocoro’s confession) he stops.
Finally graduation arrives and Cocoro and Yoru receive their diploma from the principal. Everyone wants to take a picture in the classroom but Yoru seems kind of distant. So he and Cocoro talk privately in the courtyard. They congratulate each other for all their hard work and being able to graduate. Cocoro then suddenly tells Yoru she loves him and he blushes immediately. She tells him she’d like for him to answer knowing full well what will happen if he does. She wants to be able to pass on with him and be reborn with him. Yoru’s voice starts trembling and he tells her he wanted to be with her for so long. But Cocoro tells him that she wants to continue with their future properly because she loves him. She wants to correctly continue their cycle of death and believes that’s the way to be happiness. Yoru tells her he wants to choose the path that makes her happiest. So if that’s what she truly wants he’ll do what makes her happy. She’s glad he was able to meet her again but wants to find happiness for themselves the proper way when they’re reborn. And so finally after a long silence, Yoru confesses to her that he loves her. He reveals all of his feelings to her and that he loves both her and Kokoro. A bright light appears and Yoru begins to gradually disappear. She hugs him tightly and tells him to make sure he finds her in the next life. They share a kiss before he disappears and he promises he’ll find her. Once he disappears Cocoro is absorbed in a bright light. A voice asks if she wants to see Yoru and she tells it she does. For her to meet him again she’ll use the power of reincarnating and so she’s sent off to be reborn.
Re:Birth END
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It’s Kokoro’s 17th birthday and her childhood friend, Yaichi, plans to meet with her to give her a birthday present. He gives her a ring with all of his feelings in it. She asks what he means and then he confesses that he loves her. She’s all confused and bewildered at first but is really happy to hear it and starts crying. She then gives him her reply and tells him he loves her too. So instead of “childhood friends” they’ll now be “lovers” from now on. And so he kisses her and they live happily ever after (duh).
Death END
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Yoru isn’t able to tell Cocoro his feelings so they can both be reborn together. He embraces her and tells her he can’t endure being separated from her. Yoru starts crying in her arms and suddenly it turns bright. A man’s voice tells Cocoro to sing because her song has a special power. He tells her to sing to realize the wish of both her and Yoru. Cocoro confirms Yoru’s wish of wanting to stay with her in the Netherworld and begins to sing. She then tells Yoru to tell her his feelings for her and assures him it’ll be fine if he does.
Three months pass after Cocoro and Yoru become Shinigami. They enjoy themselves on a day off by having a picnic and eating apple pie. Cocoro says she’ll become a lovely wife for him and he gets all blushy about it. She starts praising him and saying he’s like a reliable older brother–Yoru makes her correct herself though as being her lover. They share a kiss and Cocoro says it tastes like apple pie (OH GOD) and they both tell each other how much they really love each other.
Thoughts: Where do I start…Yoru’s personality was exactly what I was expecting it to be. He was serious but also had a very genuine sweet side to him. All I could think of was Natsume when I heard him (cause of Maeno) and honestly he’s close in personality aside from the fact Yoru gets more blushy in romantic situations. The first half involved a cafe and Cocoro getting jealous the girls that surrounded Yoru. I was gonna rant about how annoying it was but it’s actually related to his back story and made sense after the second half. Their target Mei was part of this love triangle (and I usually hate that sort of stuff) but she surprisingly felt a little more realistic than I thought she would. Anyways Yoru is definitely my second favorite so far.
Yoru’s CGs did not disappoint either. He literally got two kiss CGs leaving Syun and Ame with none (thanks a lot Yoru). I really liked the way the endings ended up too. I actually didn’t really like Ame’s ReBirth END but I liked Yoru’s because it felt like it made the most sense. I don’t really have any complaints for this route. Yoru’s story was what it was and I don’t think there’s anything they could’ve changed to make it better than it was. Syun is still my favorite but I’d say Yoru is second best.
Otome Adventures 