I don’t usually write out one post summaries/reviews but this game was very scattered. Even if you did one route, there would be CGs and scenes in a separate short story. So in the end, I decided I’d just write up a review/summary in one post. So, obvious spoilers under the cut.
[Basically, everyone’s route is scattered in different points of the story. Most CGs, heck, most scenes are all jumbled together, creating a true story and who’s route you go for doesn’t necessarily change how the story progresses. Everyone has a sort of ‘bad’ end and then some have ‘true’ ends.]
First I’ll summerize the story as the ‘true route’ and ‘true prologue’, then from there, I’ll go on about character routes and individual stories.
The story starts out with the heroine waking up in a mysterious mansion not knowing who she is, where she is, or what she was doing before. Suddenly a girl, or rather a monster, appears and starts chasing her. She encounters a boy who’s in the same situation as her and helps her out. They try and investigate their surroundings and find out they’re locked in the mansion of the outside. After that, they get surrounded by the monster that was chasing them before. But thankfully someone with a fox mask saves them by shooting down the beast and then runs off.
They then encounter a guy with green hair who’s in the same predicament as them. He leads them to a room where there’s white butterflies which seemingly keep the monster away. As the heroine treats the red hair boy’s injury, they hear a scream in the distance. The heroine dashes out to help and finds a yellow and blue haired boy surrounded by the beast. The heroine thinks of a gun, like the strange boy in the mask had, and suddenly it appears in her hand. He does the same, and they both shoot the beast to defeat it.
They all meet up back at the hideout and soon realize they’re all in the same predicament. Each and every one of them ended up in the mansion with no memory of who they were or why they were there. They receive messages on a phone they have though which says things like “find the pieces of a kaleidoscope” or “weapons are in the hands”. So, they all decide to cooperate in order to find a way out. Meanwhile, they decide to rest up in rooms upstairs and agree to use names based on the nameplates on the doors of the rooms they use. So red hair is Hikage, green hair is Kagiha, yellow hair is Karasuba, blue hair is Yamato, and lastly, the heroine is Beniyuri.
So after resting the next day they decide to investigate outside of the room (where they deem the safe zone) in order to see if they can find more people or find an exit. One room they search has the lid of a kaleidoscope. A little girl with a bunny mask appears and points out its a part of the kaleidoscope they’re looking for. She claims their goal is to complete the kaleidoscope by gathering the pieces. They hold some sort of power and that’s why some monsters have obtained some pieces of it. So they meet up again and put the kaleidoscope pieces they found together, making a sort of kaleidoscope projector that reflects off the light.
After that, they each get a text that says “reward” and an attached picture. Beniyuri gets a photo with her, her sister, dad, and dog all together. She has a flashback and regains the memory of her family. The rest regain a part of their memories too, but don’t share with the others. So when Beniyuri goes back to her room, she starts crying after longing for her family. Kagiha then knocks on her door and brings her hot chocolate. He notices that she’d been crying and tells her to just let it out and that its better she get the tears out so she can start smiling again. So she just sobs away and she feels better afterwords.
The next day, everyone starts practicing trying to summon weapons since apparently to trick to summoning a weapon is using “the power of thought”. Benyuri is still struggling though and one night while she’s trying to practice, Yamato appears. He asks if she’s afraid of him but Beniyuri admits she is scared, but moreso of him hurting himself because he’s so rash. So he tells her if she wants to protect her comrades, she needs to be able to summon her weapon. He holds her body from behind to help her focus and tells her to picture the gun. She gets nervous with him so close, but finally manages to do it. She’s so happy and thanks him for helping her and he is all tsun about it, saying he didn’t do much. They realize how close they are though and back away from each other in embarrassment. 😙
The next day they all go out to find some monsters to fight and collect more pieces of the kaleidoscope. Once they regroup back at the hideout, they put the piece in the kaleidoscope and it shimmers like before. As a reward, Usagi appears and gives them food. They’re all sketched out, but Yamato eats it saying if they wanted to poison them, they would’ve done it already. So by collecting pieces of the kaleidoscope, they are compensated with rewards beneficial to them. So they all eat a nice meal together and Beniyuri invites Usagi to eat as well. Hikage tells her to keep her distance though since he still deems her suspicious.
One day Beniyuri notices he’s all anxious and pissed off so she visits his room to talk with him. He tells her that he remembered about his brother that he has, thanks to the attached photo sent to his phone. They were twins, but not a whole lot alike. Yamato was also involved in an accident with him that put his brother in a vegetable state for 10 years apparently. So, he visited him everyday (since their parents were too busy to do so) in order to keep an eye on him in hopes of him waking up. Yamato feels like he’s had this same conversation before, and as he inches closes to Beniyuri she instinctively jumps away. He apologizes but then thanks her for listening.
When she goes back to her room, she’s just about to fall asleep before getting a text on her phone saying “Do you want to know more about Yamato?”. Before she can respond though, she’s sent a picture of a young Yamato and another boy who appears to look like Hikage. She suspects Hikage is his brother (also due to the fact he explained they had opposite personalities) but Yamato told her that her brother was hospitalized. Just then, she hears a loud scream from outside her room. She gathers up with everyone and finds out it was Yamato. He starts wailing in despair over something then turns into a sort of monster-like form and runs off. Usagi appears and says that Yamato’s soul was overcome by despair.
So they ask Usagi to explain the situation. Apparently the place they are in is the place between life and death, or so she calls it. So basically, they’re all on the brink of death, but have a chance of revival. Normally when someone dies their soul is cleaned off completely with memories, etc. However, if someone has a strong attachment to this world, they are able to recollect their memories and given a chance to live. But if a soul starts to lose hope and will (basically go into despair) it turns into a monster and sent into an abyss of darkness or hell more or less. The butterflies are also soul particles and while the white ones lead to they’re current world, the black ones lead them to the deep dark abyss. The person who created the place they’re in, (who rabbit girl calls the Master) wants them to recollect the pieces of the kaleidoscope and then will use it to fulfil their wishes. But in order to regain fragments, they must kill the monsters that were once originally human. She says once they’ve turned into a monster, they can’t be saved. So after she leaves, Beniyuri decides to show them the picture of Yamato that was sent to her phone. Immediately after Hikage sees it, he says he remembers that he’s Yamato’s twin brother. He can’t remember any more than that, so they decided to think about what they should do later and rest.
So from then on they continue to destroy the monsters and collect the fragments while Yamato is still nowhere to be find. One day, Beniyuri spots a white butterfly and decides to follow it. There, she finds the mysterious silver haired boy with the fox mask. He tells her to follow him and that Yamato’s waiting. So since she’s eager to know Yamato’s whereabouts, she follows him and he shows her an underground passage. He tells her that Yamato is there and to remember his “original self” before leaving. So when she goes in she finds a beautiful greenhouse where Yamato, in his monster form, resides. He starts attacking but Beniyuri doesn’t hold back and calls out his name.
He tells her to stay away in a hoarse, monster-like voice and that he’s no longer human. She tells him he’s still kind and himself and then embraces him. He turns back into his human-like form, and embraces her strongly. He starts crying and telling her he wants to hold her more or he feels like he’ll turn into a monster again if he doesn’t 😢. After that, Beniyuri explains how she found him and he says he was running away to hide from everyone. He wants to stay there though and tells her not to mention to the others she saw him. But she says she”ll come back to visits and he tells her he’s glad he met her and thanks her. She’s guided out by the boy in the fox mask.
Beniyuri continues to visit Yamato but also wants to know his relationship with the guy with the fox mask (since it was thanks to him she found Yamato). So one day she visits Yamato, he’s there again. Beniyuri brought a lunch he notices and when they offer it to him, it chows it down. They decide tp give him a name since he doesn’t seem to know his own. They remember a name on one of the doors, and call him “Monshiro”. After visiting Yamato, Monshiro gives Beniyuri a ribbon as a symbol of their friendship.
The next day Monshiro visits during the day and everyone is suspicious of him since he’d appeared out of the blue. Benyuri defends him saying he’s just like them. Karasuba chimes in saying he’s an acquaintance of his as well, in order to get everyone to stop suspecting him. Later, Beniyuri thanks him for helping her, but he can tell she’s definitely hiding something. Nevertheless, Monshiro and Karasuba both have a strong attachment to Benyuri.
One day while visiting Yamato, he tells her about a library that he noticed before. She hadn’t visited yet, so when she’s on patrol with Hikage one day, she ends up finding it with him. There, Beniyuri spots a book with a photo before a monster appears and attacks them. After that, she and Hikage put together the pieces of the kaleidoscope which is reaching completion. She then shows the photo she found to everyone and it’s a picture of them all as kids, during a elementary school trip. It’s then they all remember that they knew each other and were childhood friends. However, while they remember what happened during the trip, Beniyuri doesn’t.
One day Usagi comes to tell them that they’re almost finished retrieving the pieces of the kaleidoscope. Everyone is excited about it, except Karasuba. Not long after he goes missing. Everyone splits up to find him and even Bemiyuri goes to Yamato for help. Eventually Beniyuri and Hikage find him injured in a room and immediately go to his aid. They head back right after but Beniyuri then witnesses Monshiro aiming a gun at Kagiha. Beniyuri immediately intervenes but then suddenly Karasuba gets up and shoots Monshiro’s mask off to reveal his concealed face and… Apparently Monshiro was “Kazuya”, Yamato’s twin brother, all along.
So the real betrayer of them all was, Hikage! He reveals himself as the master of the mansion. He starts laughing and says he’s impressed Karasuba figured it out. He licks his hand saying despair tastes delicious. Apparently he has a sort of tailsman that sucks up despair from the black butterflies. Beniyuri begs him to tell him why he’s betrayed them but he was lying the whole time even when they first met. He tries to shoot her and get the last piece of the kaleidoscope but Kagiha intervenes and gets shot instead . Hikage laughs saying he’s always protecting her but Kagiha begs him to say no more. Just as Hikage is about to shoot Beniyuri again, Yamato appears and throws him off. He then captures Kagiha and uses him as a hostage to escape.
In a flashback, after playing together until evening, everyone talks about attending the summer camp coming up. Takuya (Yamato) gets jelly when he finds out Ai (Benyuri) will be sharing the same tent as Natsuki (Kagiha) and Aki (Karasuba) lol. So on the day of the trip, they ride the bus to their camp. They all walk along the road together and discuss what to do. On the way, Kazuya (Monshiro) trips and scrapes his knee. With no bandage to put around it, Beniyuri decides to use her ribbon that her deceased mom gave her. Eventually they explore around a lake and find a haunted looking mansion there. They decide to explore although Natsuki is very skeptical about it. When they reach the mansion, they find pretty shards and start to collect them while Takuya continously fusses over it.
So Yamato, Karasuba, Monshiro and Beniyuri decide to hideout in the greenhouse while Karasuba heals up. Beniyuri starts to lose her patience as everyone talks about what happened during the trip, but she still doesn’t remember. She feels isolated from eveyone else, but decides she’ll just put on a front for now and pretend its okay. Eventually, Usagi appears and tells them to meet with Hikage since Beniyuri has the last piece of the kaleidoscope in her hairpin. Everyone else had a sort of tailsman that absorbed despair but hers is pure and not easily obtainable. After Usagi leaves, they all agree to seeing Hikage but think of a plan of having Beniyuri distracting him while they take care of the rest.
So that night, Beniyuri can’t sleep and sees a light and follows it. There, she finds Kagiha. She runs up to him and huga him, saying she wanted to see him so badly. After hugging him, he asks for the thing precious to her aka her ribbon. He tells her that with it, she can’t return to the original world because having an attachment to things in this world prevents it. And so she gives him he ribbon. He tells her he came to meet her in secret so she can’t tell anyone he came. After he leaves, her hairpin turns worryingly dark.
The next day they all head to where Hikage is. It’s a room with bright lights similar to a giant kaleidoscope. They also find out Kagiha was working with Hikage for the sake of retrieving the pieces and Hikage promising to return them to their world of the living. Beniyuri continues to question Hikage and his motives but he refuses to answer. He then shows her what happened 10 years ago when they were kids, reviving a memory she wanted to remember and yet did not.
While they were searching the mansion as kids, it started to pour down rain so they needed to leave. As they did the river was already flooded. However, Kazuya realized the ribbon that Ai tied to his knee was gone. He promised he’d return it to Ai so he heads back to the mansion to go look for it. Ai and Natsuki follow after him since it’s already dangerous with it flooding. Thankfully they manage to find it, but when heading back, the river is already too deep. As Ai, Kazyua, and Natsuki walk across, Ai and Kazuya fall in the water. Natsuki helps them but in the process, drowns himself and dies. After Natsuki’s death, Aki and Takuya move away and Kazuya is in coma.
As Beniyuri remembers the past events, Hikage makes her believe that Natsuki’s death, the crumbling of their friendship, and Kazuya being in a coma was all her fault for wanting to explore the mansion in the first place. She starts to despair and a giant black butterfly appears out from her. This causes her hairpin to shatter and drops the last piece of the kaleidoscope, which Hikage obtains after having a laughing fit. He also used Kagiha to obtain Beniyuri’s ribbon from her which was a protective charm hence why Monshiro gave it to her. But deep down, Hikage knows Natsuki followed his orders with the hope of going back to the real world with Beniyuri. While Beniyuri is in her despaired butterfly-like form, Natsuki drags himself over to her to tell her that he loved spending time with her and if he had one wish, it would be to live with her and stay by her side. He says he loves her and then gives her ribbon back to her as it returns her to her original form.
Hikage finally takes the last piece of the kaleidoscope and completes it as he goes into maniacal laughter. But, Natsuki takes this chance to grab Hikage and have Beniyuri shoot him. She hesitates, but he begs her to since she’s the only one who can and he wants to protect the one he loves so she can continue to live. So she finally does and Hikage is killed along with Natsuki who bursts into a bunch of white butterflies. His spirit tells Beniyuri to find happiness as his soul is sent to heaven. It’s then the kaleidoscope starts to glow, and they’re all sent back to the real world.
True Prologue
—
In the real world, Ai and Aki are still attending the same school together. They never bring up the past event that happened or Natsuki’s death. But, Aki continuously teases Ai to go out with her but she never takes it seriously. One day, Takuya encounters Ai who he manages to recognize. They exchange numbers and the next day, Ai decides to invite the both of them to hang out. Aki and Takuya bicker the whole time (as usual). They go to the arcade, eat at a cafe, and buy a few souvenirs. Afterwords, Takuya leaves and Ai and Aki are left alone.
Aki walks with Ai to the park they used to play at and reminiscence a bit. He then tells Ai he’s serious about going out with her but she tells him to stop joking around. This annoys Aki since she’s always looking at the past him and running away from the present. He tells her Natsuki is already dead, so she can’t continue to have feelings for him. Shocked by his words, he immediately apologizes for saying something so insensitive. Even so, he’s tired of her disregarding him because she’s so stuck in the past and can’t move on. He leaves on a bad note and then Ai decides to call Yamato. She asks to see Kazuya and so he tells her the location of the hospital he resides at.
She goes there, and finds Yamato. Apparently he visits the hospital every day since the doctors said it’s possible for him to wake up if Kazuya can receive stimulation. He goes on about how he wanted to be a professional athlete but he gave up on it to keep visiting him (also cause his parents are too busy to visit) So day after day she continues to visit Kazuya in the hospital. Takuya still has the ribbon that she gave him when he was a kid, and decides to leave it with him until the day he wakes up.
One day when walking home with Yamato from visiting Kazuya, they start to reminiscence about Natsuki even though it’s usually a forbidden topic. From there they begin to blame themselves for what happened and when Ai starts crying, he wipes her tears and says it’s not her fault. Aki spots them and gets pissed off seeing them self-pity each other and thinks they’re pathetic. Unable to move on, they’re both trapped in the past.
With no other way to reconcile, Aki suggests that they visit the place where it all went down, the lake where Natsuki died, to settle things there. So one day, they all ride a bus to the lake where Natsuki drowned and where they took the field trip as kids. On the way, Aki and Yamato start arguing with each other after Yamato changes his mind and says he wants to go back. Aki starts to point out that he’s well-aware that Takuya was jealous of Kazuya’s relationship with Ai, so he purposely loosened the ribbon that was tied to Kazuya’s leg so that if it got lost, Ai would get mad at Kazuya. It was for that reason the ribbon was lost, they headed back to the mansion as kids. Yamato tells Aki to stop, but right after, the bus starts to shake and it falls off a cliff, leaving them all unconscious and putting them in a coma (how they ended up in the psychedelica world in the first place).
Best End
—
They used the kaleidoscope to send themselves back to the real world. Ai wakes up in a hospital and finds out that she, Aki, and Takuya, and even Kazuya had all woken up. Apparently she, Takuya and Aki were going to where Natsuki died, but the bus heading there headed off a cliff and so they were all in comas. The doctors thought it was a miracle of some kind but they all knew the real reason 😏.
Time passes after that. Ai, Takuya, Aki and Kazuya all go on a skirmish to visit the lake with the mansion once again. When they finally reach it, they see it’s no longer there. Apparently it was demolished since a lot of accidents happened around it and to protect visiting children or bystanders. Nevertheless, they bring flowers to put on the lake for Natsuki. They’ve finally moved on from their past and continue to move forward.
—
Yamato/Takuya (CV: Hosoya Yoshimasa) is the short-tempered brute of the group. He often argues with Karasuba since he talks shit about him all the time and also hates the sound of the rain. He’s the only one to lose his mind to despair and changes form. He’s saved by Beniyuri in a greenhouse as she helps heal his blackened heart. From then on, she often visits Yamato without telling the others (since he tells her not to) and brings him sweets and things to entertain himself with. When they were all kids in the real world, he was basically a bully and always teased Ai. Although in reality, he liked Ai and just bullied her cause he didn’t know how to express his feelings very well. He often played soccer and wanted to be a pro athlete. During the school trip as kids, he was jealous of Kazuya getting along so well with Ai, so he loosened the ribbon on his leg (after he hurt himself) so Ai would get mad at him. Because of this, the ribbon fell off when they explored the mansion, so Kazuya went to go find it when the storm flooded the river. He blamed himself for this and because of it, visited Kazuya everyday trying to ease his guilt since he believed it was his fault that he ended up in that state and how Natsuki ended up dying. This is always why he despised the sound of the rain because it unconsciously reminded him of that night. ENDED UP BEING MY FAVE ROUTE. He’s just so tsundere and adorable.
Yamato End
—
Beniyuri visits Yamato in secret and brings him things to entertain himself with lol. He notices the soccer ball though and starts to kick it around (obvs a real soccer player) and starts happily playing with it. Benyuri asks if he’ll come back to see everyone but he’s still hesitant. So she says she’ll keep coming to visit him so he isn’t lonely. The next day Benyuri makes sandwiches to eat and when Karasuba spots her, he notices she made one too many. It’s actually for Yamato, but she lies saying it’s for her cause she’s hungry. He tells her she’s gonna get fat if she keeps that up but she tells him he’s an idiot lol. That night, she tries to sneak out but Hikage catches her at the last second. He asks what she’s doing so late at night and she can’t think of anything until she finally says she’s been looking for something she lost. Hikage is annoyed by her carelessness and tells her to never look at night, rather in the afternoon when its more safe. So instead of seeing Yamato, she has no choice but to go to her room.
After that, Hikage keeps Beniyuri on strict surveillance so she isn’t able to get an opportunity to see Yamato. Meanwhile, Yamato waits hopelessly in the greenhouse for her to come and misses her. The rain starts to feel louder to him and it’s all he can hear as he yells out saying “It’s all his fault”. That moment he left like he heard Beniyuri’s voice and tells he to talk with him so he doesn’t have to hear the rain. That night, she decides to tell Hikage Yamato’s whereabouts and what she’s been doing these past couple days since she feels bad she’s unable to see him. She apologizing for lying, but begs him to let her see Yamato. After much hesitation and surprise, he says if she really wants to go he’ll go with her as well. When he goes with her, he stays at the entrance since she promised to only visit Yamato alone. But when she goes down to the greenhouse entrance, it doesn’t appear he’s there. She calls out to him but gets no response. Not only that, but when she calls out to Hikage to tell him he’s gone, Hikage is MIA as well. She starts to run in hopes of finding them, she then appears in front of a door with black butterflies surrounding it.
When she goes inside, she finds Yamato there. He laughs and says she came again. However, she hadn’t seen him in a while and she tells him he was acting exceptionally strange. He repeats her words and goes on saying it’s all his fault. The rain, Kazuya, why they can’t leave the mansion, all of it. He says they would’ve all probably been better without him existing. He starts sobbing saying the rain continues to beat down on him without him properly being judged. Beniyuri is confused and he goes on stating he killed his brother. She asks if he means, Hikage, but he says his brother is “Kazuya”. She continues to agree and comfort him. Realizing she felt her own self-guilt for not being there for him when he needed her most. She then embraces him and he holds her so tightly, that his claws seep into her skin. Nevertheless, she doesn’t let go as he continues to sob and beg for the pain to end. He calls her “Ai” and tells her not to leave him, and she calls him “Takuya” saying she’ll always be with him.
Takuya End
—
Time passes after they wake up in the real world and Takuya decides to meet up with Ai. The both of them had been recovering after being in a coma for a while, but are now going back to school. When they meet up at the park they used to play at, he reveals to her that when they were kids, he loosened the ribbon Ai put on Kazuya’s leg as a prank. He felt guilty about it all this time, feels like he only visited Kazuya as repentance of what he’d done. Ai tells him he’s wrong though, and that he wouldn’t have wanted to leave so badly, nor would he have had the memory of him back when they were in the other world.
So, they end up visiting Kazuya in the hospital. There, he’s still bedridden because he’s been in a coma for so long, but is also awake. He goes there to apologize and reveals what he’d done during the trip. However, Kazuya reveals he knew Takuya liked Ai and purposely showed off how close he was with her. Kazuya was actually jealous of Takuya as well and thought the same way he did. The both of them come reconcile and apologize to each other after so much suffering. Kazuya also thanks him for watching over him all this time. He then takes this opportunity to finally give back Ai’s ribbon that he promised to return to her.
On their way back from the hospital, Ai remembers she always wanted to wear the ribbon her mom gave her, but wanted to waited until she was more mature. Takuya then suggests she try it on and puts it up for her. He says it suits her, but also thinks he should’ve said that when they were kids lol. He then reveals he liked Ai since long ago and wants to hear how she feels about him. She basically gives him a long speech about as long as they’re together, change is possible and they can finally move on together. He then kisses her under the moonlight and both decide to try this new relationship of theirs one step at a time.
Aaaaaaaah, YAMATO IS THE BEST MAN!!! Okay, yes I have a bias for tsuns and hosoyan but Yamato was soooooo cute. Even his short stories were adorable and I’m so glad Hosoyan played him cause hosoyan + tsun = happy theresa ((don’t get me started on my yusuke obsession)). But holy shit he was such a fucking shithead as a kid BUT BOY DID I LOVE HIM ANYWAY. I think it was realistic how he bullied Ai cause he liked her and didn’t know how to express his feelings. I really have nothing to complain about his route cause it had an evenly nice mixture of despair and happiness. Plus he got one of the best ends ever + kiss CG and I’m just ecstatic that my fave gets a all in one bundle deal.
—
Karasuba/Aki (CV: Kakihara Tetsuya) the insensible flirt who constantly teases Beniyuri. He constantly argues with Yamato and tends to be very perceptive of everyone’s personality. When he was a kid, he was very weak and often bullied for looking like a girl (also called a princess often). Ai was the one who stood up for him when he was bullied, which is how they met. Ever since then, he’s looked up to her and strived to change as a better man who can protect rather than be protected cause no way is he gonna be seen as kawaii, he’s an otoko for god’s sake. So, when he grew up, he completely changed and became more popular. This is a proactive theme in his route because he wanted Ai to notice him even after Natsuki’s death. Ai never took him seriously though, so their relationship never progressed more than that even when they bluntly asked on multiple occasions for them to go out. IMO I think he tried way too hard at times. I think he could’ve been cute even if he stayed timid, nothing wrong with being shy and weak, even if you are a guy but… yea.
Karasuba End
—
Karasuba ends up telling Beniyuri he thinks it’d be better to just forget everything and live a happy dream. So, they live together in a fabricated life day in and day out. She entrusts her body to Karasuba’s sweet words and live happily ever… after…? Nah, not really. Ngl, I didn’t really understand this end. I mean, I guess it’s self-explanatory but I just didn’t get why Karasuba would suddenly decide to pull a Kagiha… either way, this end felt pretty short. Nothing really happened except Karasuba just said fuck it and I’ll get my childhood friend in a more yandere way!! Wtf is this anyway!!
Aki End
—
Ai and friends are back in the real world and recovering. Ai decides to wear the hairpin that Aki bought for the day they were in that bus accident. She goes to meet up with him to head to school but he suggests they skip class instead and have a date. So they both split an ice-cream and reminiscence about playing in the park together. Aki then goes on about how frustrated he was being protected by a girl, so he strived to become stronger and be a better man for her. He also hated how weak he was on the day of the accident, and admits all he could do was watch ((albeit there was nothing he could do anyway so no point in feeling guilty over it imo)). He apologizes for the crude things he said before the accident and that he himself was pathetic and only pitting blame because he was bound by the past. After all this, Ai finally decides to tell Aki she’s going to move on and look at the new him. She won’t run away any more, and will face him head-on. She essentially confesses to him but wants to start of slow. Aki is so happy not being friendzoned anymore and tells her he’ll wait for her feelings to catch up to his so she can finally see him for the way he is now. He hugs her saying he loves her but will love her even more day after day.
I liked Karasuba, like, he was a fun and humorous character but omggggggggggg you tried too hard, man. HE WAS SO CUTE WHEN HE WAS YOUNG. I love precious innocent babies that need to be protected. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH BEING PROTECTED. So honestly, I’d probably be like Beniyuri in terms of ignoring his advances. She obviously wasn’t interested in his flirty ways hence why she friend zoned him to the max. Either way, his route was actually quite short and in terms of scenes. Unfortunately, he pretty much had the least relevance in the story. Everyone else had a more tragic end or thing to overcome, but Karasuba kinda didn’t… I mean yeah he was obvs in the same boat as everyone but the only thing he did really was change his personality. That being said, if a flirty, spunky banana is you’re type then he’s the one for you!!
—
Kagiha/Natsuki (CV: Toriumi Kousuke) The kind-hearted, mother-hen of the group. He’s particularly fond of Beniyuri and always mediates the fights that start up between the group ((ACTUAL CAUSE OF ALL EVENTS CAUSE IF HE DIDNT DIE, NONE OF THIS STUFF WOULD BE RELEVANT. But that ties into the other alternate end)) Although, while acting like he doesn’t remember anything about the past events, he actually does!! Natsuki ended up in world between life and death before everyone else because… he’s actually dead. He died saving Ai and Kazuya from drowning in the river. When he arrived in he mansion, he worked alongside Hikage because he wanted to gather the kaleidoscope pieces and return to the real world. All in order to see Ai again ((this makes me question though why they’d even grow up though when you take into consideration Hikage has been there for years but idk)) As kids, both him and Ai made a promise while searching for a four-leaf clover, that they would marry each other when they were older. You’d think it’s just a silly thing kids do, right? WRONG. Kagiha ain’t gonna just let that go, nope. He was quite serious and even mentions it to Beniyuri at one point when they regain some of their memories. He ends up getting tricked by Hikage (who wants Beniyuri’s last kaleidoscope piece) by taking her ribbon. He was promised by Hikage that he’d return her and him the real world, but he was deceived!! In the end, Kagiha ends up sacrificing himself to kill Hikage and save everyone like a real messiah.
Kagiha End
—
Beniyuri ends up hearing voices while in the greenhouse. She leaves and finds Kagiha, who tries calming her down after seeing her in her state. He tells her to remember their promise and that he’ll protect her since her wishes are his wishes. He ends up putting her in some dream-like trance or something cause it shows them living together as a married couple. YEP, THAT’S IT. HE WAS ALREADY MY LEAST FAVORITE ROUTE IN TERMS OF PERSONALITY BUT THIS END TOOK THE CAKE FOR ME. The best part is, there’s no other end for him aside from him sacrificing himself in the main story. I guess in this end, he says fuck it and decides since he’s dead anyway, he’ll just put Beniyuri in a fake world where they’re together forever and ever and ever….. gotta love those yandere-type ends. Sometimes he just struck me as yandere cause some of the shit he said was pretty damn creepy. Also, Kagiha’s personality in general was way too generic for me to overlook. I also don’t like the idea of Beniyuri becoming a common housewife while he goes to work cause Kagiha just has to put her in that ‘woman stays in the kitchen’ category. Trust me, if you payed attention to some of the things he said, it could really make you flip a lid. I did feel bad for him though, cause he was clearly the more ‘canon’ route in terms of Beniyuri’s feelings towards him.
[[I’LL MAKE YOU MY VERY OWN BARBIE DOLL PRINCESS FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER………..]]
—
Monshiro/Kazuya (CV: Matsuoka Yoshitsugu) The mysterious white hair who appears randomly and saves Beniyuri. He barely speaks and half the time it’s only short words. He hates being alone since he was isolated for years in the mansion and even started forgetting who he was. It was thanks to Beniyuri’s ribbon that Monshiro was protected for so long and was able to avoid the many monsters he encountered. He was the most suspicious of their group especially when they all thought Hikage was Kazuya. In reality, Kazuya was actually Monshiro and Takuya’s twin brother. When he was a kid as Kazuya, he was picked on and always alone, but Beniyuri always tried to play with him regardless. During the school trip, Beniyuri tied her mom’s ribbon to his leg and when they explored the mansion, it came undone (thanks to Takuya). So they headed back towards the mansion to look for it. On their way back through the flooding river, Kazuya fell into the water and almost drowned. Thankfully, he was saved but it left him in a coma for 10 years. Tbh, I didn’t feel the ‘romance’ in this route as much as I wish I could’ve mainly cause I kept seeing him more as a kid at times with the way he acted.
Monshiro End
—
Beniyuri, Yamato, Karasuba, and Monshiro all meet up in the greenhouse to discuss their plans against Hikage. Monshiro acts suspicious though and hugs Beniyuri, promising he’ll get her back to her world no matter what. That night, Monshiro sneaks out of the greenhouse to go to where Hikage is. His plan was to sacrifice himself to obtain the kaleidoscope from Hikage, so they could all return to the real world. But Hikage tries to manipulate his thoughts and make him believe he’s better off alone cause no one wants him. He shows him a scene of the past with Yamato saying that he gave up his dreams and aspirations all to take care of Kazuya, who he was bound to. He believed this was his punishment for what he’d initially caused. And at times, he’d wished he hadn’t existed. This shocks Monshiro, because he didn’t realize he was still in a coma, he thought he was dead. He starts believing the words Hikage tells him. That he was better off not existing at all. The sound of a trigger being pulled is heard, but then it turns black.
When Monshiro wakes up, he’s at the entrance of the mansion with Kagiha. He tells him he went against Hikage, but couldn’t watch his childhood friend being shot like that. Monshiro starts to question why he tried to save him in the first place. If he hadn’t, he’d still be alive today. So he starts saying it’d be better off if he hadn’t existed. Not long after, Kagiha admits he does want to live. He would’ve preferred if their situations were reversed and actually does want to take his place. Monshiro starts to believe that everyone is rejecting him, that he’s hated and everyone would truly be better off had he not existed. Beniyuri and co. wake up and realize someone in the mansion is gone. It’s then they noticed Monshiro had disappeared and most likely went to go see Hikage. They tell Beniyuri to stay and keep watch for him to come back, while Yamato and Karasuba go out to look for him. Beniyuri can’t wait for them any longer though and ends up looking for him herself.
When Beniyuri reaches the entrance of the mansion, she finds a gaping hole in the ground and Kagiha standing next to it. He tells her that Monshiro’s soul was blackened by despair so he fell into the hole which leads to hell. But no matter how many times he tells her it’s useless and that she shouldn’t approach the hole, she decides she wants to try and help him anyway. He’d always been alone so she can’t leave him in a such a dark place. And for some reason Kagiha thinks now is the time to ask “OH SO YOU LIKE KAZUYA??” Uh……. she wants to save her friend who’s been alone forever dipshit jfc. He protests but she tells him she’s not going to sacrifice anyone else’s happiness for her own. She entrusts him with her hairpin that has the last kaleidoscope, and hopes he’ll make the right decision in getting everyone home. Anyway, she jumps into the hole with her ribbon to protect her.
As she falls into the hole, wet droplets fall onto her and makes her see Kazuya’s memories. When Kazuya first arrived in the mansion, he saw Natsuki there too who had already died. There, they met Hikage who used people who fell into that world to find the pieces of the kaleidoscope. Natsuki decided to stay with Hikage and trust him because he was so damn thirsty to be brought back to life. Kazuya didn’t trust him and decided he’d leave and live by himself. His memories started to disappear (which is the only thing that can keep you in that world since it’s your lingering attachment to the real world that keeps you there) but the ribbon reminded him that he needed to return it to ‘someone’ aka Ai. So, year after year, he was alone and defended himself against the monsters that tried to attack him. He decided to wear a mask since he no longer had a face.
After the flashbacks, Beniyuri finally finds Monshiro huddled up in darkness. He doesn’t remember her at first, but she reminds him who he and she is by showing him the ribbon. They find a sort of flight of stairs among the darkness and continue to walk up it. As they try to keep going, the ribbon starts to break and Monshiro is pulled in by the darkness. Unfortunately, the ribbon can’t save them both and he kisses her, saying that this is his good luck charm. She calls out to him over and over but he’s already fallen into the darkness. Ai wakes up in the real world and Kazuya is still unconscious. As time passes, she visits him frequently but he’s still not waking up. Aki and Yamato are still in comas as well. So she visits him every day in hopes that he’ll awake someday.
Kazuya End
—
She stretches out her hand to the falling Kazuya and screams out to him desperately. She finally manages to reach him along with the ribbon. Suddenly, she wakes up as Minato Ai in her hospital room. Kazuya is awake as well so they finally managed to escape that world. As time passes, Kazuya has rehabilitation to walk since he’s been in a coma for so long. They continue to visit Aki and Yamato who are both still in comas, and talk to them about how their lives are going so far. Beniyuri gets embarrassed thinking about their kiss and Kazuya admits he likes her and always liked that kind side of hers. He wants to be together with her, but doesn’t want to tell her he loves her until Yamato and Aki wake up though, so he’ll wait until then. Suddenly, Aki and Yamato start to move and they realize that wish had already come true. Don’t actually get to see them wake up though, which was a disappointment.
Ngl, his route felt kinda unfinished like that… eh… I mean there was barely any romance between these two as it was ((it mostly felt like Kazuya clinged to her like a little kid)) but even if they’re not the most ‘canon’ route, Kazuya is still really cute. I’m so happy to see him get a good ending. Especially after Kagiha…….. ohh kagiha…….
—
Hikage (CV: Kaito Ishikawa) The ‘leader’ of the group who comes off as very serious, but reliable. He’s the first person Beniyuri encounters and helps her escape a monster that was chasing her. He’s the more rational of the group and tends to be more skeptical At one point Beniyuri decides that she wants to meet with Usagi to learn more about the master of the house and the world they are in. So she writes notes to Usagi in hopes she’ll answer and let her talk with her. Eventually, she replies back and invites her to her room to talk. At first, Beniyuri asks why she can’t remove her mask. She explains with losing your memories, you lose your face too. But there are special circumstances as to why she keeps on her mask. Beniyuri asks her a multitude of questions as to why she obeys the master and what his true goal is with the kaleidoscope. She gets anxious and doesn’t answer and Beniyuri apologizes for prying. She eventually decides to remove her mask and says she can show her face, only to her. They then talk and enjoy eating biscuits and drinking tea together. So from then on, Beniyuri continued to visit Usagi and they gradually got closer.
One day, Beniyuri witnessed Hikage show a sort of older brother kindness to a young girl who lost her way. Seeing his kindness, makes her curious about him since he’s always so serious and gets weird when she points it out. She starts to rant on about Hikage to Usagi when they meet up together, and she believes that this new found interest of him is… love!! Beniyuri doesn’t know if that’s really the case, but she does want to know more about him. Usagi ends up cheering her on and even gives her love advice for her to try out. So, after this, Beniyuri tries on multiple occasions to try and get closer to Hikage. She asks him a million questions like what his favorite food is or what his type is. Hikage catches on quickly, and asks what it’s all about. She admits that she wants to get closer to him and know more about him. So he plays along and starts to flirt with her, but Beniyuri doesn’t believe he’d do anything forcefully. Hikage tells her though that she doesn’t really know him, which makes Beniyuri tell him that’s why she wants to know more about him. Nevertheless, he says he was just teasing her and leaves.
After that, Beniyuri finds a foreign picture book. She decides to read it and it’s a story about two butterflies who were in love. One of the butterflies died after a storm and the other one was left alone. It cried until a traveller told it about a world called Psychedelica where the dead live happily. However, the road to Psychedelica is a treacherous one, and it soon turned black from the mud and dirt. Eventually it found the entrance of Psychedelica. The pages are removed after that so it’s then Hikage appears and notices Beniyuri reading the book. He apparently knows the story, so she asks what the ending is. He tells her in the end, even after that treacherous path, the black butterfly turns it’s back from Psychedelica and ends up turning to dust after seeing a mirage of the white butterfly. Hikage explains that because the butterfly was now black and tattered, it was too afraid to show how ugly it became to the white one, so it was too afraid to go to Psychedelica. But Beniyuri believes that if the white butterfly’s feeling were written it wouldn’t have cared what the black butterfly looked like. It would’ve wanted to see it no matter what. Her answer surprises Hikage, and he believes she’s stronger than he intially realized. He then tells her the story of that book is called ‘Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly’ [[yep title of the game]].
A few days later Beniyuri spots Hikage sleeping on the couch downstairs after wanting to get a glass of water. He starts groaning in pain and she calls out to him numerous times in hopes of waking him up from what looks like a bad dream. He finally does and asks why he’s having that memory now. He starts to get worked up and asks why she came here and why she’s trying to get close to him. She tries to calm him down, but instead, he kisses her intensely. He asks if she’s really satisfied with wanting to know more about him. Because if she is, then he’ll tell her, but he won’t allow her to get any closer to him. This confuses her and she slaps him saying she wants to get to know him better because he is who he is. She calls him cruel, but he says she’s the cruel one for leading him astray.
After that, Hikage and Beniyuri don’t interact much. When Beniyuri visits Usagi again, she starts crying and tells her about how Hikage rejected her. Usagi takes this time to reveal a story about her and her brother, who is the master of the mansion. Usagi used to live in a mansion around a lake with her mother. But her father turned the mansion into a sort of place to entertain guests after he made a fortune from his trading of goods industry. She was lonely, but soon his father brought a boy in to live with them, who was her older brother. He was very smart and often read books to Usagi before bed. One night, Usagi heard her parents arguing. The boy was taken in from their father, but was born from a mistress. Their father wanted his son to be the heir to their family since Usagi was too sick and they never knew when she would pass. Usagi’s mother was appualed by this also because she never wanted to marry him anyway, and she hated seeing the son of her husband’s mistress. Usagi didn’t understand their conversation and just cried when she heard them fighting. The boy comforted her and told her it’d be okay. Unfortunately, she started to get weaker and get sick more frequently. Her brother tried to scavenge money for medicine but it wasn’t enough. So he begged one of his relatives to order medicine for her so as long as he gave him proper payment. After much reluctance, he says he will.
The brother makes a promise that he’ll save her and it’ll all be okay. But on the day when the medicine is supposed to come, it never does and she ends up dying. Then one night, the boy murders the man who promised to give him the medicine. After that, he starts to lose sight of himself. He starts buying books on sorcery and magic tools. All in order to find a place between life and death called ‘Psychedelica’. He eventually heard of a ‘kaleidoscope’ from a traveller that could connect to the world between life and death. He trades it for his entire fortune after finding it. After assembling it, he reflects it on the lake and then shoots himself in the head. He falls into the lake and into the world between life and death. When he arrives in the distorted mansion, he sees his sister there. She had no face and hid it with a mask so he doesn’t remember who she is. They end up living there together, alone all this time.
Usagi reveals that the master of the mansion is… Hikage. That is her brother, who’s going by a different name. He essentially created this world (the reason they use guns is cause he killed himself with one too) and since his regret and lingering attachment is strongest, he has the most influence on that world. He’s also able to read other people’s memories, which is how he was able to disguise as Kazuya, Yamato’s brother. Anyway, the reason Usagi told her all this is because she has hopes that she can save her brother. Beniyuri then decides that she wants Usagi to confront Hikage and tell her that she’s his little sister. Usagi is afraid to tell him, but Beniyuri believes this is the way to save him. So, they decide to confront him. Beniyuri tells him she knows he’s the master of the mansion. Beniyuri asks what he wants with the kaleidoscope and he says he wants destruction aka he wants to destroy the world between life and death. He’s tasted despair for so long he’s wanted to die and pass on but couldn’t. So he wants others to get a taste of what he’s endured and let despair overflow ((with all this 絶望 he’d make for a good danganronpa character lmao)).
Beniyuri then tries to remind him of his little sister and that she still thinks of him as a companion. Hikage tells her to shut up and that he has no little sister, nor does he have any companions. Beniyuri insists though and suddenly a gun shot is heard. When Beniyuri realizes what happened, Usagi was shot protecting Beniyuri. However, Usagi is grateful to Beniyuri for letting her meet her brother again. Hikage finally realizes who she is and is speechless as she’s dying right in front of him. She says she’ll always love him no matter what form he’s in before finally disappearing. Hikage starts to despair saying he let her die again and screams in agony as Beniyuri tries her best to comfort him. After this, Hikage reveals to Beniyuri he had always been living a lie. He was intially born from a poor woman that never wanted him. So he was then invited by a man claiming to be his father into a rich household. There, he was often bullied by his step-mother since he was the child born from a mistress. It was his sister that made him a better person. But after she died, he lost everything. When he obtained the kaleidoscope, he was afraid of being rejected and actually smashed it into pieces before killing himself. Not realizing he’d used it incompletely.
Hikage reveals that this is the ‘real him’. But Beniyuri believes that the real him is still the person who cared for his sister and did everything in his power to see her again. She also believes his ‘lie’ that she would be okay, was actually his wish. Hikage then smiles and tells her that he would’ve liked to have met her in the real world. He believes if he met her then, he wouldn’t have lived a life of lies. He then gives her the last piece of the kaleidoscope that was in her hairpin. He starts to walk up the staircase and tells her he wants her to complete the kaleidoscope and return to the real world. His soul is already too blackened to go back to the real world. She tries to stop him, but he puts the gun to his head and tells her, “Goodbye Beniyuri, you’re my–” then it cuts off as a gun resounds.
When Ai wakes up, she’s in the hospital bed. She’s escaped that world and returned to the real world. She still remembers everything that happened though and wakes up crying. Months after that, she visits the lake. The mansion had been destroyed since a while ago since there were many accidents that occured there. She thinks about how she couldn’t tell him how she loved him and passed on without hearing her feelings. She wonders if they were reborn, they’d be living happily together. And before leaving, she heads back the way she came. During which, she hears a little girl notice a pretty butterfly and telling her big brother about it and the boy agrees and says they are.
FIRST OF ALL, WHAT THE FUck????? THATS TOO OPEN ENDED!! I CAN’T TELL IF THAT WAS REALLY HIM OR SHE WAS JUST SEEING THINGS. But if that was really his reincarnation then pls go hug Beniyuri rn…. I’m not gonna lie, I thought Hikage was one of the most dynamic characters I’ve come across in a while. I like deceitfulness and this really takes the cake with a ‘traitor’ type lmao. I honestly would’ve liked to see a bad end for him, like… an end where Beniyuri joins Hikage in his goal of destruction and despair. Or she sympathizes with him so she decides she’ll follow him like Usagi does & betray her friends idk. I mean, of course I wanted his heart to be healed by her, and it more or less was, but that was not a ‘happy end’….. GIVE ME A HAPPY END OTOMATE!!
Grand Finale End
—
At one point, Ai, Takuya, Natsuki, Aki and Kazuya try to leave while it’s pouring rain. In the decision of not trying to cross the flooded path, they wait in the mansion instead. When it finally stops raining, they’re able to leave and head back to the group after a scolding for leaving unattended. Time skip to years later, Ai leaves for school and meets up with Aki and Takuya and head to school. They promised to study after school together so after school, they all meet up and Kazuya also tags along with Takuya. On their way to Beniyuri’s place, Natsuki also appears and Beniyuri is happy to see him since she received a text from him. He starts teasing her about their childhood marriage and everyone gets jelly cause god knows if this guy was alive, he’d have the biggest advantage lmao. I was kind of confused by this end at first but then I realized it’s more of an alternate end. Basically a ‘what-if’ end, and a much happier one at that. Although this end is also sad in a way cause Hikage is literally non-existent in a sense… ah well, it’s more of a childhood friend end I guess.
STORY/CHARACTERS – I’ve played quite a few VNs and not one of the stories really hit me like this one did. I mean, in terms of emotional ones, Steins;Gate would top it, but this was actually one of the best otome ones I’ve come across. My biggest gripe is probably that it could’ve been longer, but I don’t think it was a bad length. I honestly wouldn’t want an overly stretched out story. Sometimes, a story at this length is just right, but perhaps it could’ve been a bit longer. Besides that, I loved how the characters were written and their relationships with each other was so realistic (especially after their tragedy).
SYSTEM – The minigame you play is fairly easy, really its just aiming and shooting. Although I’ll admit it threw me off at first because I didn’t realize it’s about getting combos and not shooting every butterfly lol. Aside from that, the flowchart system was definitely kind of confusing at first. It branched off into a lot of different scenes so I was kind of confused how to get each end. It wasn’t too complicated though and I managed to figure it out in the end anyway. I was disappointed that Beniyuri didn’t have a sprite though, but having a voice did make up for that.
MUSIC – I CANNOT EMPHASIZE ENOUGH HOW MUCH I LOVE THE MUSIC. I keep listening to the ending song on repeat, Eiko Shimamiya is a goddess and her music is lovely. I’ve listened to the ending song on repeat because it’s just a beautiful song. It’s not just the vocal tracks though, the BGM was really nice and it fit the atmosphere nicely.
ART/VOICES – I had never heard of Yuita Satoru until now, but I think her art is lovely. I love how the colors were really emphasized. It really contrasts with the dark backgrounds they used. I also noticed in the real world, it was a much more pale color. But in the other world, it was very flashy with colors as if to represent the various colors of a kaleidoscope. Anyway, basically what I’m trying to say is the art really meshed well with the theme of the game.
OVERALL THOUGHTS: I knew this game wasn’t fluff and I also knew it wasn’t focused on romance. It took me two years to play it, but actually managed to not spoil myself with it and played it knowing next to nothing (funnily enough I bought it about a year ago but it was sitting in my room untouched). So, thankfully the plot twists did surprise me. I regret not playing it sooner though because I really loved this game. It’s not your typical generic romance VN, so it was so refreshing from the norm. I ALSO BEST TSUN AWARD GOES TO YAMATO. Definitely my favorite hands down, if I were to give a ranking on character routes I would do… Yamato > Hikage > Monshiro > Karasuba > Kagiha.
I haven’t played Haitaka yet so I’m really looking forward to seeing the connections of this game to the next.
Otome Adventures 
Reblogged this on kit2000andanna.