Rikka is Zen’s Shinigami partner who’s very calm, composed, and level-headed. He’s much more serious than Zen and absolutely loves alcohol too. He’s voiced by Shinnosuke Tachibana.
December 14th
—
Hotori comes home after being rejected by Shizuru. She hesitates to tell Rikka and Zen but Rikka notices that she’s holding back her tears. He straight up asks her if she was able to confess. She hesitates but Rikka comforts her and tells her to take her time. She finally manages to tell them she confessed but unfortunately she was rejected. She starts crying though because she’s relieved to see Zen and Rikka after such a long and nerve-racking day. Rikka tells her she did a good job and wipes her tears off with his finger. Zen tells her she did a good job too and honestly didn’t think she’d be able to confess. Though he thinks Shizuru’s an idiot for turning her down since she’s a great woman. He goes on about saying she’s cute, good at cooking, though has a bumbling personality. Rikka asks her if she lost her regret and she says she’s not sure. She doesn’t know if it’s completely gone yet. Anyways, Zen says they can worry about that later and says they should eat something. Hotori then goes to make something and Rikka tells her he’ll help. So Rikka helps Hotori make hamburger steak for dinner. Rikka notices that she doesn’t seem as depressed as he thought she’d be. Though she admits she actually is but isn’t showing it. Though she probably will be later in the night. After dinner’s done Zen gobbles it all up which makes Rikka annoyed. He didn’t make it for him to not savor the taste. Though this confuses Zen and Rikka tells him that he helped make it with Hotori. This surprises Zen and he asks if he got a fever or something which pisses off Rikka.
Afterwords, Hotori comes out from her bath. She finds Rikka alone because Zen went to bed after eating. Rikka finds this a good chance to talk to her about stuff so she agrees to. So they both prepare drinks together (Rikka obviously gets some sake) and sit on the sofa. Rikka mentions that he intended to talk about Shizuru but since she may have been upset about it, he decided he wanted to talk about something else to ease her mind. He then asks something he’d been wondering for a while. That is, what she liked about Shizuru in the first place. She tells him that she was attracted to his kindness, openheartedness, and how he’s always willing to help others. She goes on about how he helped her a lot in school. Even though she’s not able to go out with him, she doesn’t feel like it’s a huge loss. She was too conscious around him and wasn’t able to be herself a lot of the time. She feels like she just admired him. Though with Rikka and Zen she’s able to talk with the two normally. Nevertheless, she’s glad she was able to properly convey her feelings to the one she liked for the first time. Though finds it unfortunate she wasn’t able to find out what falling in love is truly like.
Rikka tells her she’s better not loving anyone since love only destroys you. He then touches her hand and tells her that she’s fine the way she is. Whether or not she finds love or yearns for it. Hotori asks if he had a bad experience with love and he gives a vague answer saying he doesn’t know whether it was happy or painful. Though he’s sure he was happy with it at one point. Hotori then tells him she doesn’t have any regrets but there is one thing she wants. And that’s to know more about Rikka. When he asks why she tells him it’s because he always looks sad and she wants to know why. He doesn’t see why she’d want to know something like that. But she’s happy that she could meet both Zen and Rikka, regardless of the fact they’re to take her life. She’s living a much more happier life than she had been before. And she wants to make Rikka smile since he made her feel better after talking with her. Since she probably would’ve cried in her room if she didn’t speak with him. After some silence he pushes her down (or kind of falls over on her since he’s drunk).
Rikka: Do you still want to learn more about me? Even after pushing you down like this?
Hotori: “Rikka-san…U-Um…could you get off please?”
Rikka: “No. That I cannot do.”
Hotori: “W-Why…?”
Rikka: “Why, you ask? You don’t understand?”
Hotori: I-I don’t…”
Rikka: “It’s because…”
Hotori: “Because…?”
Rikka: “It’s because I’m sleepy…”
So because he’s too drunk he just falls asleep on top of Hotori. She’s calls out his name but he doesn’t answer. So she has no choice but to slip her way out from under him. She puts a blanket over him and notices a tear in his eye. He then grabs her hand and mutters “I’ll always be by your side…” in his sleep. So instead of leaving she just falls asleep in the living room with him.
Zen then wakes up to find the two sleeping while embracing each other on the floor. Though he figures Rikka must of gotten drunk and clinging to Hotori while falling asleep. But he finds it strange to see Zen sleeping with someone other than just himself.
December 15th
—
The next morning Hotori wakes up with Rikka sleeping next to her while hugging her closely. She tries to escape but Zen’s grip is just too strong! It’s then Zen walks in to ask if she’s still enjoying herself form last night. She asks Zen to help her but he doesn’t like the idea of waking up Rikka. But he immediately changes his mind when Hotori tells him he won’t be able to make breakfast. So after calling Rikka’s numerous times, Zen is finally able to wake him up. He also tells him to let go of Hotori. Rikka doesn’t realize he’d been embracing her so they awkwardly greet each other “good morning”. He finally releases her from his grasp and apologizes since he got too drunk last night. He apologizes and hopes she doesn’t get a cold from sleeping on the floor. Though Hotori says it’s fine since Rikka was warm. He’s surprised to hear her say that and even Zen says that’s quite the bold remark. Rikka says it’s fine but tells Zen to not make fun of her. Zen’s is all “whatever” about it but then just presses on about breakfast. Rikka calls him a beast for always wanting to eat every second of the day.
On the way to school Hotori is worried about bumping into Shizuru since it’d probably be awkward after her confession. Zen and Rikka think it should be fine but right then and there…poof! Shizuru appears! Zen and Rikka greet him like normal though Hotori’s like there’s a sad atmosphere about him. Even so, he greets Hotori like normal with a smile. He walks with them to school together and though it’s a bit awkward, Shizuru acts the same. He even holds her hand so on the way there so to not be so close to the road. After school, Shizuru asks to return home with Hotori. But Shizuru asks both Zen and Rikka for only him and her to go home together since he wanted to personally talk to her about something. They arrive at the park and Shizuru asks if both Zen and Rikka are Shinigami. She asks how he knows but he’s hesitant to answer but says he’ll tell her someday. When he sends her home they find Rikka outside the house. He says she’s late and Shizuru says they talked a bit. Once Shizuru leaves, Hotori wonders if Rikka was concerned about her. Though he just says he was anxious about dinner since she still hasn’t gone to buy it. So just as she’s about to he offers to come with her. She thanks him and he just says Zen will fuss if there’s no food.
After dinner, Hotori cleans her room and finds a lot of mementos of her past memories. It’s then Rikka comes into the room since he heard a noise. Hotori tells him that she’s cleaning and he so he asks if he may join her and sits on her bed. He asks if there’s anything else she wants to do before she dies. He wants to make sure she has no more regrets and he and Zen will do their best to help. She says there’s a lot of things she wants to do, but one thing she’d like to do is visit the place where she grew up and visit her grandma and other places for nostalgic reasons. Rikka says he’ll come along since he’s interested and wants to help her relieve her regrets anyway. So they’ll be leaving to go tomorrow.
December 16th
—
The next morning on their way to school, Shizuru is overly protective of Hotori in regards to Zen and Rikka. So he pretty much drags her away from them. Hotori doesn’t understand why, but he tells her that they’re after her life so she souldn’t be around them. Though Hotori has already accepted her fate and has come to terms with it. And she knows she’ll be fine with those two. Shizuru can’t see why she can be so calm about it, and finds it strange. He then walks off somewhere.
Once Hotori gets to class both Zen and Rikka ask what’s going on with Shizuru. She tells them the whole situation and how he knows that they’re both Shinigami for some reason. They don’t understand how he could possibly know, so they decide to search for him in order to ask him directly. They search for him everywhere but can’t find him at all. So eventually they find ut his address from the faculity office. When they visit his house though, it’s a vacant area. Though the address was correct and his name playe “Hayasaka” was there. But it was just a vacant home. Hotori gets really anxious about this, though Rikka tells her not to worry and there must be certain circumstances for this. So Zen leaves to go talk to some Shinigami in the area. Rikka suggests that he and Hotori visit the places she wanted to go as planned.
So she visits her old elementary school. She goes on about how she grew up in the area with her and her mom and dad. She starts to remember “another” person but can’t recall who it is. Rikka notices she looks shaky and then suddenly her old elementary school teacher notices her and they catch up and then she suddenly mentions how it’s unfortunate what happened to her older brother, Akito. Hotori is surprised since she doesn’t remember having an older brother. Her old teacher begins to explain that she was in an accident and was unconscious for half a year. And Hotori had completely forgotten about it all after being hospitalized. Finally, Hotori starting to remember him. Her old teacher goes to find a year book and Hotori starts wondering why the heck this was hidden from her. Soon her old teacher comes back with the yearbook and shows her a picture of Akito. She doesn’t remember very well though she was pretty close to him even though they weren’t really brother and sister. As Hotori’s about to leave home with Rikka, her vision starts to fade and she falls unconscious and has a dream about her brother, Akito.
When Hotori wakes up, she finds Rikka next to her. She tells him about the dream she had with her brother. She clearly loved him so she finds it cold-hearted of her to forget about him. Though Rikka disagrees and suddenly hugs her (it’s…not really all that romantic though…) and tells her that she most likely wasn’t able to bear with the sadness and in order to protect her heart she forgot it all. So he doesn’t believe it’s her fault at all. Hotori then sobs for a bit in Rikka’s arms. After Zen and Rikka left for a bit, Hotori tries to call her parents. Unforutnately, they don’t answer. It’s then Zen came home full of scratches and with an unconscious blood stained Rikka. He’s carried to his room and Hotori and Zen explains about the Shinigami, Sora, who attacked them and that he’s killed other Shinigami. Apparently he died five years ago, and Hotori starts having some suspicious. Anyway, Zen goes to rest up in his room and leaves Rikka in Hotori’s care.
December 17th
—
When Hotori wakes up in the morning, Rikka is still in a unconscious state. So instead of going to school she decides to stay home and nurse him to good health. During breakfast, Hotori tells Zen about how she remembered her brother and all that. She then goes to check up on Rikka who finally wakes up. Hotori is really thankful he’s okay and hugs him. Rikka doesn’t really understand her concern but thanks her for worrying about him. Zen then barges in the room hearing all the commotion and flips out to see Hotori and Rikka hugging each other. Rikka assures him she’s just concerned to see him awake. Rikka then discusses the high possiblity of Sora being Hotori’s brother. He wants to research more about Sora in the Netherworld, but unfortunately he’s too injured to go and Zen says he’ll go in his place. And so Zen leaves Rikka in Hotori’s care. Rikka apologizes since Sora must be a sensitive subject for her, but she tells him it’s okay. Though in his case, he’d undergo a severe punishment for his crimes. His soul would cease to reincarnate so he’d more or less truly die. He kills other Shinigami and hunts souls he isn’t in charge of. As if to purposely lure them all out. Rikka suddenly questions as to how Shizuru knows they’re Shinigami. He believes he may have some sort of connection with Sora. So he asks Hotori to bring Shizuru at her house when she sees him at school. Rikka then goes back to resting since he’s tired from talking. Hotori falls asleep too and has a strange dream.
When she wakes up she goes to her room to go searching in her albums since she can’t get in contact with her mother. She spots a certain picture of her mother being hugged by her grandmother, and also her great-grandmother who died a year before she was born.
December 18th
—
Shizuru still hasn’t come to school the past couple days. Hotori comes home to inform Rikka, who’s in a better condition now thanks to her. Rikka insists to go look for Shizuru but Hotori forces him to stay and rest until Zen comes back. Just as their about to continue Hotori’s trip of nostalgia, her mother calls. She tells her everything about Sora. How she and her were caught in an accident and he died. Hotori was hospitalized for half a year, and when she woke up she completely forgot about him in order to erase the painful memories. Apparently his grave is nearby and frequently visited by her parents. All of the photographs of her brother were kept at her grandmother’s house. Hotori cried for a bit and Rikka comforted her.
Later, both Rikka and Hotori were on their way to the store to go shopping. Hotori asked Rikka to come along with her to her grandma’s house on Saturday. She wants to see the photographs of her brother and Rikka agrees to come with her. Rikka ask Hotori about the illuminations set up and she tells him about how they shine brightly like stars. This interests Rikka so he asks her to go see the illuminations together. Hotori happily agrees to go and they decide to go on Christmas eve.
Later that night Rikka is relaxing on the couch while drinking sake. Hotori told Rikka she feels at ease around him and coincidently Rikka feels the same way. She’s glad to hear it and he laughs and calls her strange since she always manages to say something he never expects. Finally Zen returns exhausted and even skips dinner to go straight to bed. Hotori manages to make Rikka stop drinking for the night though Rikka sulks over it a bit. He reminds her of a kid and thinks it’s cute though he tells her he thinks she’s much cuter. Just before he’s about to go to bed he to speak with Hotori more in his room. So she talks until late in his room. Just as she helps him get into bed she ends up laying with him.
Hotori: “Rikka-san…?”
Rikka: “You’re warm. Which is nice because I was cold…”
Hotori: “Am I supposed to be a hot water bottle!?”
Rikka: “Seems so…”
Hotori: “That’s not the answer I was looking for…”
So he sort of embraces her closely while falling asleep. Rikka and Hotori somehow end up having a similar dream too.
December 19th
—
When Hotori wakes up she’s still next to Rikka. He finally wakes up and he awkwardly greets her and wonders why he’s sleeping next to her. She explains what happened last night and he apologizes for it. She then mentions having a dream though she forgot what it was about.
Next morning Zen presents a report on Sora to Rikka which confirms that he’s Hotori’s brother. Rikka wonders if Aira knew the fact their target, Hotori, was indeed Sora’s sister since it’s seem like quite the coincidence for it to be just by chance. He feels like they should’ve be notified of this beforehand by Aira. At the very least they know Sora’s purpose to exterminate the Shinigami for Hotori. Sora doesn’t know about their actual reasoning for being around Hotori so he’s not targeting them in specific. And lastly, they know that Sora’s regret is most definitely Hotori. Anyways, Zen then leaves to go warn other Shinigami of Sora.
Hotori then decides that she wants to go meet with Sora so she can speak with him. Rikka won’t allow it though since he’s still dangerous and they don’t know when he may attack. He thinks it’s foolish of her to want to meet with him since it could change her time of death. This frustrates Hotori so she tells him she no longer wants to talk and goes to her room. She knows he’s right about not knowing anything about him, but even so. She ends up falling asleep and she wakes up Rikka is at her door. He asks to speak with her and apologizes for saying more than necessary. She also apologizes since she knows he was just looking out for her. She’s not really good at understanding other people’s feelings. And she’d like to know more about Rikka with the time she has left so she can become more familiar with him.
December 20th
—
Hotori visits her grandma’s house with Rikka. She lives alone after her husband died 10 years ago. When her grandma sees Rikka, she feels like she met him somewhere before. So her grandma showed her an album with pictures of Akito. She started to remember him and after Rikka sees them he feels like he understands his regret and says he’ll tell Hotori about it when they get home. Her grandma is then surprised when she finds a photo with a person that looks to be Rikka which is why she felt like she knew him at first. Apparently it’s a photo of her actual father (…so in otherwords…Hotori is…Rikka’s great-granddaughter) and her other father wasn’t actually related to her. Her mother had someone she loved before she got married. And they were the one to give birth to her. The person she loved was a servant, and love between her and him was forbidden. Her mother also had a younger brother who died of sickness. So after she got married that person died after a while. Rikka asks what her mother’s name was and apparently it was Shigusawa Akari. And her partner’s name was Minato Rikka. So after hearing her story they awkwardly return home.
That night Rikka is a bit distant but eventually comes to Hotori’s room to speak with her. Hotori asks what he thinks Sora’s regret is and he tells her he believes it’s to protect her and keep her happy. Apparently his photos before and after her parents got remarried are quite different. He seemed like a much happier person after her parents got remarried. He believes that she “saved” her older brother in a sense. Hotori then changes the subject to his past, which he says he doesn’t mind telling her but will wait until tomorrow.
December 21st
—
The next day Zen is still out checking out the state of the other Shinigami. And so Hotori heads to Rikka’s room to talk.
Rikka’s name in the past was Minato Rikka. He was born in a home in the Taisho. He was poor so he struggled living everyday. His father left and never came back. And while his mother tried to care for him, she ended up dying of a disease. So he ended up in a distant relative’s home. The conditions were awful though and he was constantly abused when he was 10 years old until he lost consciousness. He ran away weak, without having eaten a single thing. He was ready to die until he was picked up by a Shigusawa–a prestigious noble family. So he served their family as a servant. And he was given an opportunity to polish his studies and strengthen his education. Apparently the Shigusawa family had 2 children. One was a daughter by the name of Akari, and the other was a son by the name of Hotaru. Hotoru was confined to his room, and he was his steward. He’d spent a lot of time with Hotoru and cherished the time they had together. Though he hadn’t spoke much with Akari since their gender differences made it difficult in that day in age. Soon he was able to find opportunities to talk to her and eventually they fell in love. But it was forbidden since he’s just a nobody that his master picked up. Unfortunately, Akari had to succeed the family name because Hotaru died of sickness. So she was forced to be married to someone. Akari despised the idea of marrying someone she didn’t know so she convinced Rikka to run away with her. So they tried, but failed in doing so. And Rikka was puninshed and Akari was confined to her home until the day of the wedding. Somehow they managed to meet the night of the wedding and made the biggest mistake yet of making love. So she got pregnant and he was dismissed by his master. He eventually killed himself since he had no where else to go.
His regret was not being with Akari, so that’s how he ended up in the Netherworld. And he figured Akari would end up there too but she didn’t. So he became a Shinigami hoping someday that he’d disappear. And now when this mission is over, he’ll have that wish. Hotori then mentions that it makes him her great-grandfather.
That night when Rikka and Zen are out Hotori hears something from her room. When she enters the living room she finds Sora standing there. He asks her to come with him so he can protect her since he’s sure she’ll die as it is. She apologizes forgetting him but apparently he already knew about it. He hears Zen and Rikka come back so he dashes away saying he’ll be back. Zen and Rikka come in and Hotori tells them what happened and that Sora asked her to run away with him. So they’ll decide what to do the next day.
December 22nd
—
The next day, Hotori attends school along with Rikka and Zen. They find out that Shizuru was forgotten by everyone in their class. Apparently Shinigami have a sort of an ability that can manipulate memories. So Shizuru probably has relations with Sora. So Zen is going to go ask Aira about it tonight. After school they stop by a sweets shop and eat some crepes together.
That night Sora visits Hotori while she’s in her room. He asks her to run away with her again but Hotori says she wants to speak with him. And so she tells him she’ll speak with him tomorrow at school. It’s then Rikka appears and tells Hotori to get behind her. Sora assures him he won’t harm her, but Rikka tells him that she is her target. Sora asks why she’s protecting her in the first place then. And he tells him it’s because it’s for the achievement of his mission. Sora tells him that he can’t protect Hotori and only he can. Sora then leaves after Zen appears. Rikka sits down next to Hotori since she seems uneasy and tries to comfort her by patting her head. Apparently that was something he’d used to do with Akari. But it’s been so long he’s forgotten how to love more or less. Hotori wishes for his happiness and he tells her that he wishes for hers too, as short as her remaining life may be. This makes Hotori very happy to hear; and if there is a next life, and she’s reborn, she’d like to meet Rikka again. She’d like to meet him and fall in love with him. Rikka says that may not be a bad idea.
December 23rd
—
The next morning Hotori meets Sora in an empty classroom at school on a holiday. Apparently he left the Netherworld so he could be closer to her because he missed her. She wonders why he’d go so far for her, and he says it’s because she’s his “sun” and his world completely changed after meeting her. He wanted to protect her smile no matter what it took. As long as she could keep living. For she horrible for forgetting him, but he knows it was to protect her heart. She tells him that she’s accepted her fate to die on Christmas, but Sora yells that he can’t let that happen. But Hotori tells him that she doesn’t need to be protected anymore, and this is her own decision. She begs him to return to the way he was, and to stop attacking other Shinigami. Even though they’ll be the ones to take her life, both Zen and Rikka are important to her. Sora doesn’t get why she’d feel that way about those two. So she explains how she was really lonely and they saved her from that loneliness by spending a lot of time with her. She begins to approach him and tells him that she’s thankful she met him and she loves him. She finally hugs him and tells him to become her older brother again when she’s reborn. He starts to disappear and he tells her he wants to become family with her once again too. He thanks her and finally disappears.
Rikka appears just then since he followed her because he was worried. He then hugs her and tells says it’s okay for her to cry. After crying for a while, they returned home together. Rikka mentions how tomorrow is Christmas Eve, the day they promised to look at the illuminations together. He blushes and says “I suppose this is what you’d call a date?” and so they’ll have their date tomorrow.
December 24th
—
Finally today’s the day for Rikka and Hotori’s date to look at the illuminations. So once it gets late out they head out together while holding hands. Soon they visit a place with lots of pretty Christmas illuminations. She thanks Rikka for giving her this opportunity. While they may not be lovers, it feels exactly like it. And she knows she won’t have any regrets.
On their way back they pick up ingredients to make hamburger steak for dinner. Rikka keeps motioning back and forth as if to indicate he wants to say something. Hotori tells him that she’ll listen to whatever he has to say since she can tell he wants to say something. He says it feels wrong of him to ask such a thing but he wants to go visit his previous lover’s grave. Hotori says she’ll accompany him first thing in the morning. That night Zen didn’t come back so Hotori and Rikka spent the night together (in bed).
December 25th
—
Hotori wakes up next to Rikka since they slept together. Nothing naughty in particular happened though, she kissed him once apparently. Zen then comes home with some great news! Hotori isn’t going to die! Simply put, it was all a big plan to lure Sora out so he could realize his regrets and they could get this guy off their back. So Hotori was just a decoy more or less. So the both of them will have to return to the Netherworld. Though, Rikka says he wants a bit more time since there’s a place he wants to go to with Hotori. So Zen leaves without him and Hotori goes with him to the graveyard.
Rikka’s glad that she’s able to live and she is too, but just a bit confused about it all. Unfortunately, they can’t stay and this makes Hotori a bit sad. When they reach Akari’s grave, Rikka stands there silently while tears fall. Hotori then greets her great-grandmother’s grave and suddenly is hit by a wave of dizziness and falls unconscious.
She can spot two figures who are obviously Rikka and his former lover Akari. Apparently she was summoned there by Hotori since her soul has always been close to her. Apparently she wanted to meet him one last time before being reborn. He’s glad he could speak with her again since he’d never experienced much happiness. Though he had again, with…his great-grandaughter–I mean Hotori. She couldn’t choose him though as selfish of her as it may be. Her child could only be taken care of by her husband. And it was either him, or the both of them. Basically though, they weren’t destined to be together. But they DID love each other. He tells her that he always wished for her happiness, but until the very end he’d always bore a grudge against it. She tells him that she lived a very happy life and he says that he finally has too. And that there’s some he wants to meet in the next world. He hopes that both of them find happiness in the next world. And so they give thanks for meeting each other.
After Rikka and Hotori regain consciousness, Rikka thanks her and embraces her closely. He tells her that if he can, he wants to meet her in his reborn life. Hotori wants him to be able to meet him in this life but unfortunately that cannot happen. Rikka starts to fade since his regrets were cleared. Until the last moments of his death he’d wished unhappiness for Akari, but for Hotori he truly did want her to be happy. He’d thought he’d always have regrets and didn’t possibly think they’d be cleared up thanks to her. Hotori starts crying saying that she loves him and doesn’t want him to go. He apologizes since he wants to make her wish come true, but it seems he won’t be able to. He asks her to promise to find him when he’s reborn. And that’ll he’ll always be waiting for her. So he gives her one final kiss before he disappears completely.
ENDING 2
—
Rikka is finally gone and Zen appears before Hotori, noticing that he’s disappeared. Hotori asks if it’s possible for them to meet again. He says he doesn’t know but it’s not impossible. But she’ll wait for as long as it takes.
ENDING 1
—
several decades pass after their separation and Hotori was alone for quite some time. But she believed he’d find her someday. Now 35, she lived alone in that house. She became a piano teacher and is almost late for her class. She went to the gym and walked towards the piano. It’s then she noticed a boy in a uniform who was a little younger than her.
Hotori: “…It’s been a while.”
???: You’re right.
Hotori: You kept your promise.
???: “I didn’t want to keep you waiting too long.
???: “I am in your care.”
Hotori: “Same here…u-um…”
???: “What is it?”
???: “Please tell me your name…”
???: “I’m…”
And when he says his name she starts crying because she was finally able to meet him again.
—
Thoughts:
Where…do I begin. His route wasn’t necessarily awful (okay I did find it to be boring at times), and I don’t hate Rikka, but I can’t say I was a huge fan of how their relationship came to be. Rikka’s affection wasn’t really…romantic. It doesn’t help that he’s actually her great-grandfather. It just sort of made things a little more…awkward. I mean it honestly didn’t make a huge difference in their relationship, but it’s still kinda strange. And even putting that aside, I couldn’t find the “moment” they fell in love. I mean he didn’t even say “I love you” once. Like, there was no confession just…suddenly he loved her…? And his route certainly didn’t have a lot of romantic moments. It felt like it was more about Sora and Rikka’s past. Anyways, their romance was just very vague. Or maybe he just wasn’t good at showing it enough, eh…I’d blame the writers for that.
His CGs were so-so. I felt like 3 of them could’ve been something more…of interest. At least more affectionate. There was no hug CGs or anything. The kiss one was far away and wasn’t…that great. Now I love you Satoi, but what the heck is up with Hotori’s nose in this CG. TBH, this is why I’m so irked about only 7 CGs. And sometimes I just wonder why they don’t make use of better scenes for them. I guess it doesn’t help Rikka didn’t have a lot of intimate scenes. But that one where he fell on her drunk could’ve been a great CG. But, eh…whatever.
His ending felt even more half-assed though. It’s like Zen’s but worse. It was REALLY short considering it’s supposed to be TWO ENDINGS. And not only that but how the heck did Rikka manage to get reincarnated IN THE SAME TIME PERIOD AS HER? And he even remembered her…which is just strange. I figured she’d eventually die and then the both of them would be reincarnated like in Re:Birth but nope. 20 years later and she’s a teacher and comes along your new student, Rikka. So they basically made Rikka and Hotori a great-grandfather/granddaughter to a student/teacher relationship. It was one of the strangest outcome of a route I’ve ever experienced.
In the extra story Rikka’s personality was kind of more…mischievous than usual. And that very scene was literally the most romantic they ever felt IN THE ENTIRE ROUTE. I’m not even kidding. I think if he actually had that personality his route would’ve been much better developed. Heck, maybe even their relationship would be more interesting if Rikka was just a human in the present world (who didn’t have granddaddy relations with her). I don’t think I’d mind seeing him like that.
This is quite the disappointment considering there’s only 3 routes. Also…I kept thinking I’d learn something about his eyes in his route but nope. Nothing. Which was surprising cause he mentioned it in Zen’s route. WHAT THE HECK? Oh whatever it’s just more unexplained shit that’ll never get explained //sigh
Otome Adventures 
