計仕掛けのアポカリプス

Completion date: December 27, 2025

I am really going down my bucket list of games this year. From Nil Ado to Diabolik Lovers to this game that was announced along with Olympia Soiree but got me a lot more hyped than OlySoi. That was before I even picked up a Japanese textbook and said, I’m going to learn because what else am I going to do in this pandemic. Well here I am 6 years later.

Before I played, I read ahead the plot and the few existing reviews. After deliberation, mainly due to the bad art I didn’t feel strongly about being a completionist this game. I confess that I only played the good endings, truth ending, and the after stories for each LI because that allowed me to get the main storyline, aka the meat of this game, down. I didn’t particularly care about the 101 ways that Lachia died in side routes.

I am also going to use my own phonetic translations for the characters in this game as opposed to the ones on VNDB/official trailer. I’m sorry I can’t sit through LIs called “Latchia”, “Zir”, “Quat”, and “Unka” with a straight face: what? Latch? Squat? Uncle?? Why is Leon translated to Liam? Why is the pet thingy called “Cue”?

Quick links below. I followed a recommended play order and recommend you use this order as well.

Rudel > Leon > Kuat > Gil > Yunaka > Truth

Please see final thoughts for my comments on this game and character ranking.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

COMMON ROUTE

This is a story that starts from the bad ending.

In the very beginning of the game, Lachia/MC is mortally wounded by… herself? The other Lachia says, “I will kill this ignorance. You must change. If you don’t change, the future will not either.” Lachia then wakes up terrified: it was a nightmare. She logs the contents of this dream into her dream diary. The date is February 26th.

We know from the game’s introduction (and obviously at some point in the game) that the story takes place in an underground town “Gimrey”. This is a dwindling town where people have short average lifespans, though not revealed why. Lachia’s birth parents, who were herbalists, died when she was nine from a certain “incident”. Since then, she has been living with her adoptive brother, Yunaka, and adoptive mother, Kurino, who operates a bakery. Ten years has passed; Lachia is now 19. She enjoys reading various mythology books. Her favourite is where there are three goddess sisters respectively governing the past, present, and future; she is most fascinated with the youngest sister who governs the future. (Likely a reference to the Moirai in Greek mythology class. Hey, who knew this undergrad course would come in handy!)

Lachia and Yunaka have a childhood friend, Rudel, who is one of the two adoptive sons of the leader of their town. Rudel looks up to his brother, Amber, who has been selected out of the two to become the next mayor. We get a bland introduction to the remaining characters: Kuat, the son of the town doctor, who is also a doctor himself and treats Lachia coldly; Leon, an older flirty pianist; Gil, Lachia’s eccentric and always daydreaming friend who calls her “flower-chan”.

First timeline: Lachia runs into a wounded mystical creature who only says “kyuu~” so she names it Kyuu as well, adopting and nursing it back to health. The same night, Lachia dreams of a person in a red suit gifting her a blue rose. Dream Lachia replies she won’t say thank you; however, she will decide the future. Lachia wakes up and finds Kyuu jumping out of her room window. She gives chase in the middle of the night, finding Kyuu briefly with a mysterious hooded figure. She then meets the red-suited person, Garnet, in real life, who gifts her the blue rose like in the dreams. Lachia thanks them. They tell her that from this moment, she will experience lots of regret and sorrow. However, they believe she has the talent to make a “miracle” happen.

[On VNDB, Garnet is called a young man. However, in the official website they are only referred to as a “young person”. 青年 does not necessarily mean young man. I believe the authors wanted to keep their gender identity ambiguous, especially with having Ogata Megumi voice them. I am not convinced that Garnet is a man.]

The next day, Lachia’s friends throw a birthday party for her. Her birthday is actually at the end of March. However during that time, the 3-day succession ceremony will commence. Lachia is tasked to be the flame-bearer. Each year, a young woman of age is chosen to carry the magical flame that keeps this underground city alight and bring it to the town’s centrepiece – the clocktower. Lachia and co. will be too busy planning and attending the event to celebrate her birthday.

Lachia has a nightmare that Yunaka dies. She rushes to his room in the middle of the night and finds him safe and sound. It is revealed here that since a young age, Lachia/Yunaka/Rudel always wanted to venture above ground. However, this is forbidden. The townspeople today came from the “upper level” which is closer to, but still below the ground, 171 years ago following a tragic incident.

Lachia has another dream where she makes it above the ground. However, there is no living being there. She suffocates to death as there is no air. She wakes up in a sweat again and documents her dream. The date is March 22nd. Lachia has the option to go explore the upper level with Yunaka/Rudel vs. declining and staying behind the next day.

The ceremonial period begins. We see Gil and Garnet talking to each other but not much is revealed other than they are “old friends”. People gather for the mayor/Rudel and Amber’s adoptive father Olivin to give his speech where he talks about Gimrey’s history and invites Amber to come forth onto the balcony and unsheathe the familial sword.

All is boring and good until it isn’t. After Amber draws the sword, the balcony collapses, crushing Amber underneath the rubble. Amber lives but is crippled. As tradition dictates that Gimrey must be led by someone who is healthy without a disability, Rudel surprisedly finds himself the successor, even though he does not want this.

The celebration must continue. Rudel becomes busy planning and ensuring the rest of the ceremony runs smoothly. Lachia changes into her dress as the flame-bearer. She passes by the hooded figure who was seen with Kyuu many nights ago. She also sees Leon sneaking into the clocktower which is usually closed off to all townspeople. Lachia thinks to herself that she better find Yunaka and discuss next steps.

She feels a strong supernatural urge to go to the flower field instead. She hears a loud explosion some distance from her. The entire town is in flames. This is not a dream, is it…? Before Lachia can collect her thoughts, s finds Yunaka, but not the way she expected.

Yunaka is dead.

A smiling Garnet is seen beside Yunaka’s body. They ask if Lachia wants to find the rest of the people at the square, though Yunaka here also seems important to her. Garnet tells Lachia if she lingers here then it will be “too late” for the rest of them.

Lachia has no choice but to run to the square. She hears someone playing the organ. She is greeted by Gil, who is pierced to death by one of the hands from the huge clock on the tower right after. Garnet appears again and asks if Lachia has found her “most important thing”. Lachia tearfully replies that she is in the process of losing everything and everyone, and is puzzled by their question.

Garnet gives Lachia a beautiful small box. They tell her that she has the power to open the box, and see “what colour the rose is” inside. Lachia replies she sees no rose, but only lots and lots of strings. Garnet replies if that’s the case, should Lachia choose to hold onto these strings, then she will turn back time.

Second timeline: February 26th again. Based on the choices (running into the LI we want) we have already entered their individual route. There is a little bit of exposition with Garnet, whom Lachia meets at the bar and angrily asks them what all this is about. Garnet corrects Lachia that she has not turned back time but rather, “erased the future”. They warn her if she continues to make the same choices, then the future will be the same. Garnet remarks they are glad they chose Lachia as the owner of the time-warping clockwork box. A frustrated Lachia starts her attempt of rewriting the future by refusing to attend her early birthday party and moves out of Kurino’s household, but cannot explain the reason as to why to anyone. It is her burden to bear.

Lachia starts investigating the large explosion. She meets Amber who tells her that the clocktower is locked off to everyone in town until the ceremony. He tells her that it houses an organ that is fuelled by the magical flames – the same one Lachia carried in the first timeline. He tells her the organ is not playable and only for show. She meets Garnet briefly, who tells her there is no limit on number of times she can erase the future (effectively going back in time) and that they are “merely an observer of history”.

She also finds her deceased parents’ diary, with an entry saying “We don’t want Lachia to be involved with the clocktower. We only want her to live a peaceful life.” We don’t know why or what her parents went through before their deaths, though.

The second timeline will also result in the bad ending. Based on the character choices you’ve made, you will see different perspectives of the same event. Third and fourth timelines are in individual routes.

RUDEL KRUEZ (CV: Terashima Junta)

In the common route, choosing Rudel’s options will give you two mini events and CGs where they hold hands and walk, and another one of Lachia landing on top of Rudel after a fall. The CGs were atrocious so I’m not going to post them here. Onto the main plot.

Second timeline continued:

Rudel asks Lachia why she called off the birthday party, moved out, and is seemingly having an argument with Yunaka. Lachia cannot tell him the real reason but asks if he is angry at her for doing so. He pulls Lachia into a big hug and tells her to call him whenever she is feeling sad and needs a listening ear. He knows Lachia is struggling with something that she doesn’t feel comfortable sharing right now, but he will wait until the day she does.

Lachia tries to warn Amber about the events that transpired in the last timeline. However, he thinks she is being paranoid and doesn’t believe her. She tells Rudel the same concerns, who is a lot more receptive.

During the ceremony, Lachia tells Yunaka to stay with her at all times. The balcony falls again despite the precautions. Rudel becomes the successor. On the third day, the explosion takes place again, but Yunaka and Kurino live. However, Rudel is found dead from a gunshot wound to the chest.

Garnet appears and asks if Lachia is satisfied. She is not and is ready to go back again.

Third timeline: Lachia concludes the key to her investigation is “handgun”, as those are rare commodities in Gimrey. Naturally, she goes to Rudel and his home library hoping for some wisdom. Rudel tells her that only three people in this town have access to a handgun: The guard (one out of the five guards), the Heltling (Kuat’s family), and the Kruezs – currently under possession by Olivin. None of these people have a motive to shoot Rudel.

Rudel helps Lachia get a book that is too high for her. He again tells Lachia that she can confide in him. Lachia’s eyes water but she maintains that she has to persevere through this alone. Rudel says he gathers that he cannot truly help her at this juncture.

Lachia decides to try her luck with Amber again by getting closer to him. Amber reiterates to Lachia that it is common knowledge that the land above ground is uninhabitable. Lachia isn’t convinced and attempts to sneak to the upper level to see for herself. She is followed and discovered by a concerned Rudel. Rudel tells Lachia that he’s had numerous conversations about the world above ground with Amber. He does not believe there is any future to staying in the lower level forever. The population is dwindling, mostly due to the incurable Hydra disease (more on this in future routes), there is pollution, eventually people will have no choice but to procreate with their relatives, and meet their end. Rudel believes the future lies in the area above ground. Hence, he also wants to venture above.

Lachia asks if Rudel believes in this so much to the point he will go against Amber. Rudel becomes flustered and says of course he will never disobey Amber; he only wants to show him the possibility and potential of exploring above. Lachia teases Rudel that he finally lost his cool, to which Rudel says he wanted to appear cool in front of Lachia by acting calm and collected, but that didn’t work. It gets too dark so the two return.

Lachia and Rudel go to Amber, who tells them that it was actually Olivin’s orders to not venture outside of Gimrey. He dismisses the two, saying he will dispatch a professional team to explore; what he needs from them is to stay out of this business. Lachia and Amber start talking to the point others think they have romantic interest in each other. Rudel jokes that Yunaka is “heartbroken”. While he understands Lachia for keeping her thoughts to herself, he is disappointed that she isn’t confiding in him. Lachia also thinks to herself that while Amber is looked up upon by the people and Rudel, personally she would choose Rudel as the next mayor; she also personally likes him more.

Amber grows close to Lachia and even asks her out for drinks. He brings up the way he and Rudel, who are not related to each other or Olivin by blood, were brought up. They are taught to maintain beast-like instincts and to not be “soft” for feelings such as brotherly love. They are competitors for the successor spot. Only one can survive. Amber feels the reverence Rudel has for him. He says this is likely why Olivin chose him not Rudel as the next mayor because Olivin thinks such sentiments are unnecessary and will only hinder one’s ability to lead the town. Amber also adds that Olivin strictly forbids anyone explore above Gimrey. Lachia fills in the blank for us readers that 45 years ago there was another accident where most of the upper level inhabitants died. People like Olivin and Kuat’s dad are the few survivors. [However, originally in Olivin’s speech, the history of Gimrey goes back to 171 years ago. I suppose we will have to wait until future routes.]

Rudel grows suspicious of how Lachia seemingly has a crystal ball and can see into the future and calls her out on her bluff. Lachia chooses to “tell him a part of it” in this timeline. She and Yunaka are not granted access near or on the balcony due to the guards. The ceremony commences. The balcony collapses. Before collapsing, Lachia is close enough to it to see part of the material melted as the sword was drawn. As the rubble falls down, she makes a dash to save Amber, but was stopped by Rudel who is more concerned for Lachia’s safety. It is too late anyway.

Amber is crippled. Rudel is the new successor. Given how close Lachia and Amber are in this timeline, and how awkward it is that Rudel won the competition in this way, Rudel suggests Lachia go meet Amber alone. He gifts her a brooch where the jewel matches the colour of her eyes. However, just like Lachia, he only confesses part of his feelings, saying he wants to see her safe.

Now Rudel is the mayor, he has access to intel previously only available to Amber. He finds out that Amber bluffed when he promised to send a search team above Gimrey; that never happened. Similarly, he never took any precaution to prevent the fire or balcony falling.

The good thing is that Rudel now holds the key to the clocktower. They enter at night secretly. Lachia finally sees the organ. Rudel and Lachia agree to set off an explosion at the clocktower in a controlled manner, so Rudel can minimize casualties and force Olivin’s hand to explore above ground (as Gimrey would no longer be inhabitable). He tells Lachia of a secret passageway to make her escape after the explosion. He finally tells Lachia that he knows she has somehow seen the future, even though she has been denying it with him. He asks Lachia to overcome the difficult future that she has already seen with him together, and once again to not hide anything from him, and to trust him.

Yunaka arrives and tells Lachia to be with Rudel, who he realizes is more important to her. He will set off the explosion here instead. Lachia arrives at the square looking for Rudel. Instead, she arrives to see Rudel after being shot again. Rudel struggles to tell Lachia in his last words that unfortunately he didn’t see who fired the shot. He can’t even exclude the possibility it was Amber. He asks Lachia to rewind time and to tell the Rudel in the next timeline to:

• Talk to Amber until “they understand each other”
• To prevent the balcony incident
• To check the sword
• That he died in another timeline

He reassures Lachia that he believes the Rudel in another timeline will believe her no matter what, so she doesn’t need to worry. He wants her to tell Rudel about everything, including her time-travel ability. Lachia hears a loud explosion behind them and knows it’s time to go. Before rewinding, she sees a white object that appears like a bird’s feather flying through the smoke.

Fourth timeline: Lachia wastes no time this round and tells Rudel everything, fulfilling her promise. While uneasy about what reaction he will have, Rudel indeed accepts and believes it all. Lachia is like Rudel you need to believe me and trust me. Rudel is like sure no problem, you’re a time-traveller and I just died “a few hours ago”; let’s start investigating. Lachia: that’s it…? Isn’t this all too easy?

Lachia starts crying because she has been carrying this burden now for three timelines. Rudel pats her head and tells her she no longer has to suffer through this alone. He will do everything to support her. They will not die this time.

Lachia tells Rudel that in the past timelines, Amber never believed them nor did he have any intention of cooperating with them. Rudel concludes the key this time will be to get Amber on their side. He then shares a story from the myths with Lachia. Once upon a time, there were two brothers fighting for the throne. The older brother was smart and benevolent, and the younger a tyrant. However, the older brother lost his arm from an accident and had no choice but to concede the race to his younger brother. The younger brother became king and caused massive suffering to his people. Seeing this, the older brother made a silver prosthetic arm and regained the throne.

Lachia also asks Rudel for the brooch. With Gil’s help, she makes Rudel a bookmark and gives it to him as a gift.

Lachia talks to Leon, who gets a bit emo and shares about there was a period where he only played sad songs but doesn’t tell Lachia why. He, Kuat, and Amber often get drinks together. He tells Lachia that despite the way Olivin raises his sons, Rudel and Amber are closer than people think. He believes Amber views Rudel as someone special and not just a competitor.

Rudel gets his hands on the sword and draws it. The balcony collapses at the same time. Rudel explains drawing the sword unleashes a magical flame that is capable of melting the materials in the balcony. He then asks Lachia about how close she was with Rudels from past timelines and Amber, and got a little jealous at their progress lol. Meanwhile Yunaka is like guys I’m still here btw.

Lachia visits Leon at night with a knife in her hands. She threatens Leon that no matter what she is going to ensure the safety of Amber and Rudel. Leon is like I think you’re barking up the wrong tree because it isn’t me plotting against them. He says Amber has a hard time trusting anyone besides himself. However, Lachia already holds the key to opening Amber’s heart; not her knife, but her words.

Rudel secretly replicates Amber’s key to the clocktower. They agree to set off the controlled explosion on the last day of the festivities. They also secretly substituted the materials for the balcony so it wouldn’t met as Amber draws the sword. Rudel makes Lachia promise him that no matter what happens at Amber’s succession ceremony, even if things go awry she is not to risk herself and to stay with Yunaka.

They still don’t know who murdered Rudel in the last timeline. However, Rudel continues to place his faith in Amber. Even though they never experienced fatherly or familial love from Olivin, Amber has told Rudel that he views him as a true brother and his only family. Amber taught Rudel to have faith in people, and in love. So did Lachia. Therefore, he asks Lachia to place faith in his and Amber’s bond. Lachia agrees.

The succession ceremony starts. The balcony does not collapse. However, Olivin moves Amber to a different spot and insists he draw his sword. He wanted Amber to be injured, but why? Rudel pushes Amber out of the way, and gets his legs injured as a result.

Lachia visits Rudel. It is clear Olivin has something to do behind the accidents. Rudel says he isn’t sure why he expected more as Olivin never treated them as children or family. However, he thanks Lachia for being by his side, and sharing his emotions, being sad, angry, and frustrated on his behalf. Lachia is like but this is natural, of course I would care?!

Rudel asks Lachia to follow through with whatever happens in this timeline and to not time-travel again. He is worried with repetitive time traveling, even if there is no physical penalty, this is taking a toll on Lachia’s psyche. As they were walking in the street, several street lights come crashing down on Rudel. Clearly, someone wants him dead. Olivin is sending a message.

Perhaps it’s because Rudel made an effort to connect with Amber this time around, Amber actually dispatched people to explore above Gimrey. They’ve already reached the upper level but not yet prepared well enough to go above ground. He shares that Leon also gave him a stern talking to and encouraged him to trust that Rudel has his back.

The brothers have a heart to heart. As the chosen successor, Amber reveals that every generation of Gimrey mayor has a final task: to kill their competitor. This is a tradition that goes back to the first fathers of Gimrey. There were two brothers related by blood. The older brother became mayor but the younger wanted to seize power, so he set the town on fire. That was the first and last fire in Gimrey. Since then, people have converted to using the safer, magical fire. However, this has changed the tradition to the point that each mayor will not sire their own children, but adopt two unrelated orphan boys, so that in the end only one remains standing. However, this tradition ends here. Amber reassures Rudel that he will not betray his trust.

The next day, Rudel shares his plan of setting off the clocktower with Amber. He then asks in front of Lachia, for Amber to kill Rudel to honour the tradition, as they cannot go against Olivin. Lachia loses it. Rudel goes emo and says because I love you so much Lachia I want to see you happy and live with the town forever yadiyada. He thinks it’s too cruel to force Lachia to choose between him vs. everyone else. However, Lachia is wiling to make her choice.

OKAYYY THEY CONFESS AND KISS

The night of the third day comes. Rudel and Lachia meet in the clocktower ready to bring their plan to fruition. However, Olivin and Amber appear and catch them redhanded. It appears that Amber sided with Olivin after all and will obey him. Lachia knocks over the fuel can and sets the clocktower on fire. Olivin tells Amber to clean up the scene and join him in evacuating the public. Amber holds the pistol to Rudel’s chest and says, “Goodbye, my only family in this world.”

Only it was an empty bullet. Rudel and Lachia make their way towards the upper level and eventually ground through the secret passageway that even Olivin does not know of. Rudel doesn’t even suffer a scratch because the bullet was fired at where he put Lachia’s wooden bookmark, so it absorbed the shot.

Yunaka and Kyuu visit Lachia and Rudel on the upper level secretly, telling them that everyone is alright in the town. They bring a letter from Amber, who wish the lovers the best and call them “his only two family members in this world.”

After story: The two live above ground, traveling to new places. Rudel often worries about the people underground. However, Lachia cheers him up and encourages him to look ahead. It is also implied the two already did the deed (duh) with Rudel teasing Lachia a little bit.

LEON JEBRAM (CV: Hosoya Yoshimasa)

Leon is my most 苦手 type of person in otome games. He is the older, mature, daddy flirt. The writers give him a little twist in that he’s not going out of his way to get women, but says ambiguous, easily-misunderstood comments, and doesn’t say no to anyone’s advances, and certainly doesn’t want to commit with how much emotional baggage he has. This was apparently supposed to add to his emo sad daddy appeal. He is also artsy to boot because he is a skilled pianist. In other words, he’s a massive fuckboy. I was fast forwarding the romance bits in order to get through the plot, of which there was quite a bit.

In the common route, Lachia decides to pass by “the pit” which acts as a graveyard for the dead. Nobody knows how deep the pit is. People throw down flowers or other commemorative items down the pit as a way to mourn the deceased. Lachia mourns for her parents and sees Leon also mourning someone. When asked, he mysteriously answers “a friend.”

This scene is from the flame bearing ceremony where Lachia changes into her goddess costume. She finds some shiny rock by the lake where Leon is sitting at and being emo I guess. She then wants to make some kind of jewelry with this rock instead of an actual fine jewel because she is so not like the other girls and “seeing this rock will remind me and Leon-san’s meeting at the lake today”. Girl you barely know him. All he did was sit there and be sad beside the lake. Of course Leon also suggests making her a ring with this stone instead of a bracelet or necklace. You two met like once or twice jeez you two move fast and i’m like ??? Maybe you two are meant for each other.

In another instance when Leon, Kuat, and Amber are getting drinks at the bar, Lachia praises Leon’s dedication towards perfecting his pianist skills. Leon replies that his father, who is dead now, used to tell him the myth of Icarus: flying too close to the sun will cause your wings to melt, as a warning to not focus entirely on one entity. Lachia replies she thinks Icarus is cool for being so dedicated towards reaching the sun regardless, in a way validating Leon’s efforts.

Anyway, at the end of the second timeline when everything goes to shit, Lachia decides to enter the clocktower to see who is play the organ. Of course it is Leon. He is covered by blood and about to die, but continues to play nonetheless. He tells Lachia that all hope is lost; there is no need to run because there is no bright future for him to escape to. Lachia is forced to use the box to enter the next timeline.

Third timeline: Lachia becomes curious about Leon’s past and why he acted that way in the clocktower. She goes to the bar and joins him and Kuat for drinks. This turns into a drinking competition between the two and a relationship talk. Kuat reveals he’s never had a girlfriend or even talked to girls romantically, because he doesn’t feel the need to do that, so he turns everyone down. Leon says while he doesn’t go out of his way to rizz women up (the writers seem to really want to emphasize this as a way to make him less of a fuckboy?), it’s cowardly to not positively respond to women’s compliments.

Kuat gets so drunk that Leon and Lachia have to carry him back to his place. They run into Yunaka who scolds Lachia for being MIA and hanging outside with drunk people in the middle of the night. He also asks why she is no longer interested in going above ground, which is a taboo subject at Gimrey. Leon is there and hears this so he is like whaaat. Like Kuat, Leon gives Yunaka and Lachia a stern warning that the ground is dangerous and to cut this childish idea out.

Lachia visits the clocktower the next day but finds it locked. However, the lock is old and rusty, so she breaks it and forces entry anyway. She sees the organ but one of the C keys is missing. She turns around and finds Kuat, who seems to have shaken himself out of his drunken stupor. Kuat appears different than usual, and cold. He tells Lachia to never come back again and shares the organ is cursed; however, precautions are taken so it cannot be played (by removing one key). When played, it will bring disaster to Gimrey.

The next day, Kyuu creates an opportunity for the two to spend time together… by biting Leon’s finger. Those are pianist hands, Kyuu!! Lachia brings Leon home and dresses his wound. She asks if Leon has or is interested in playing the organ in the clocktower. Leon replies he is not interested. Lachia thinks to herself that he is lying. Leon tells Lachia that there used to be one guy who was way better at playing the piano than he was. Unfortunately, he is no longer around anymore. He also shares that he also had a younger sister. However, his parents and sister all died years ago. His parents were the instrument makers of this town, though he never had intention of continuing in their footsteps.

At the end of the conversation, Leon suggests they go to the pit to mourn their loved ones. He wants to buy some flowers and asks Lachia what her favourite flower is. She replies roses, so Leon gifts her red roses and say they represent the “pure, fiery love” that Lachia has shown by always being direct and honest with him, and emphasizes he has nothing but pure feelings for her from the bottom of his heart. Another strike for the fuckboy. I hate the romance in this route…

At night, broken piano sounds are heard at the bar. Turns out Kuat is getting some lessons from Leon. Leon talks to Lachia more about his parents, who died of the Hydra disease along with his sister. During his mourning period, his pianist friend Rito supported him and gave him the strength to continue. Rito’s family collected sheet music for generations. Leon learned piano from Rito and promised to one day play with him. However, Rito died before he could fulfill his “one day” promises, leaving Leon with hollow regret. Leon thinks the Hydra disease is from the ground. Rito also contracted Hydra disease when he was found near the entrance to upper level/the ground, and died shortly after. Therefore, he tells Lachia to not entertain the idea of going above again.

Lachia sneaks into Rito’s house, who is locked to the public. She finds burnt sheets of music. Unfortunately, her snooping gets caught by Kuat again. Kuat tells her that Rito came from a prominent family that lost power eventually, but didn’t say why. He also tells Lachia that the organ is missing a key because someone is trying to prevent it from being played. The sheets of music that were burnt were written for the organ. Which begs the question… Where is the missing key?

Lachia leaves the house and finds Leon who apologizes for making Lachia concerned to the point she trespasses his dead friend’s house. He then thanks Lachia sincerely for lending a listening ear to his troubles and being there for him. Lachia feels really bad because all this time she’s been approaching Leon with an ulterior motive. She tears up and tells Leon this. However, Leon says “regardless of if you were sincere or not, you made me happy… therefore, I do not hold it against you.”

Lachia asks Leon to teach her to play the keyboard. They share some cozy lessons together. Leon likes spending time with her, so he doesn’t charge her anything. Leon knows Lachia only said she wants to learn piano with him in order to talk to him and gain information. However, like he said – he doesn’t mind.

Lachia’s goal is to play Chopin’s “Raindrop”. As a Chopin enjoyer, good choice….

The date is March 10, still over two weeks away from the ceremony. However, news spread that Amber had his legs injured regardless. Leon runs into Lachia and Rudel, having come out of a private meeting with the now-injured Amber. However, he suddenly acts cold and nonchalant towards Lachia, even cancelling their piano lessons. He was seen carrying “some white object”.

Lachia sneaks into Rito’s house again. However, she hears Kuat’s voice behind him. He isn’t even mad at Lachia for trespassing again because he is preoccupied with something far bigger on his mind: Leon is missing. Kuat is injured. He yells at Lachia that they need to find Leon now or the whole town is going to be destroyed. Before they can start the search, a huge explosion is heard.

Lachia dashes to the clocktower, finds it on fire, and Leon playing in it once again. Leon tells her that he once made a promise to Rito to play this organ with him. He also says he knows that this organ was made to “bestow punishment for this town’s sins”. He then says the organ isn’t cursed; what’s cursed is this town. He tells Lachia to run away while she can. Similar to the second timeline, he tells Lachia there is no use for him to run because “the future will be the same no matter what”. He takes out a pistol and shoots himself, knowing that he has taken people’s lives by playing the organ, and is beyond salvation.

Leon pulls the trigger and dies. Leon appears and asks Lachia if she’s found what’s important to her. Lachia rewinds time.

Fourth timeline: Lachia goes back to end of February – when she and Leon can barely be called acquaintances. She comes onto Leon very strong because even though Leon barely knows her, she has experienced three timelines with him. She basically confesses her love for Leon, asking to date him as “lovers”, and take piano lessons from him? Leon is shocked but just kind of accepts it? Anyways this route is a clusterfuck when it comes to romance. He notes Lachia is a quick learner, to which Lachia replies that she used to have a “good piano teacher”.

Lachia wastes no time in telling Leon that she learned from Rito the clocktower organ is cursed, so she does not want him to play it. Leon acts surprised to learn this fact. Lachia tells him that she also knows the organ is missing a key, and presses Leon on whether he knows where it is. He denies it, but gives it away from his body language that he does know.

The night comes when Leon, Kuat, and Lachia go to the pub again. Lachia proposes them have a drinking competition with whiskey, to the point Leon is drunk as well. She takes Leon home and starts BODY SEARCHING him for the key lmao. Of course homeboy wakes up and finds himself in an extremely compromising and misleading position.

That he turns around very quickly. Dw nothing happens. Leon is like Lachia you better come clean. Lachia confesses she is looking for the key and reiterates that she doesn’t want Leon to do something he regrets.

Leon says he really doesn’t have the key but he has an idea where it would be. However, he cannot tell her because this is considered one of the top secrets in Gimrey. Sharing this knowledge with Lachia will place her in danger. Lachia then asks Leon if he views her as a little sister or a romantic partner. Leon goes into his famous fuckboy theory where “I dislike relationships, but I won’t say no if someone proposes to me or wants to keep me company. Just keep them coming I guess.” He straight up tells Lachia that he cannot return her feelings in equal vigour, and finds this unfair to her. Then proceeds to lead her on anyway?? Yeah, I’d rather play a platonic route than whatever this is..?

If the key isn’t on Leon… Lachia turns her attention to Kuat, who clearly knew something was up at the end of the third timeline. She intentionally spills a drink on Kuat’s shirt then attempts to help him change to search it. Kuat sees through this quickly but is shocked at how much Lachia knows about the organ’s curse and missing key, and the fact that someone wants to play it. He tells Lachia if it were up to him to decide, he would have just disposed of the organ key (in a way admitting he has it). However, because of some cursed “tradition” the Heltling family has to guard it. Kuat concludes that one day this town will lead itself to destruction; this is the only reason why the Heltling family is to hold onto this key to doom as one day the organ will need to be played.

Lachia returns to Leon next, who tells her that he and Rito both knew the organ was cursed, but Rito still wants to play the organ (which is the only one in town btw), because it’s his “dream” along to go above ground. At first, I was like ??? so because of some stupid dead friend’s dream you two are like “fuck this town and its people”?

However, when we learn what happened to Leon and Rito’s families it kind of is more understandable. Leon tells Lachia that near to the exit to the upper level, he has seen people getting murdered because they dared venture above. Rito, and Leon’s parents were all murdered by the rulers of Gimrey (Rito for wanting to go above ground, Leon’s parents for wanting to quit building the destructive organ), who confine the people in this desperate town where the hydra disease spreads, without anywhere to run.

Somewhere in this conversation Lachia shares with Leon that she’s looped Kuat in this issue. Hearing Kuat’s name, Leon becomes alarmed and tells Lachia to stay at his place tonight. She cannot go home alone. Kuat Heltling belongs to the “secret keepers” of this town. The fact Lachia was foolish enough to go to him and reveal that she knows way too many things that she’s not supposed to know, means she will be silenced very soon.

I mean, there kind of is a confession scene, where Lachia recounts with Leon on all the times he treated her “gently” with Leon saying “I also like you and want to be with you” but there is literally no reason for him to warm up to Lachia like that, given how much of a creepy stalker she has been this entire route. I just completely missed the appeal of this route’s romance.

In the early morning the two hear a creak in their slumber. Kuat is coming for them. They run outside to escape him. Leon tells Lachia on the run that even though the organ musical scores were burnt, it is no use because he’s remembered the songs by heart. The three people run to the pit where Kuat gives some exposition on how the Heltling family (aka his father) killed Leon’s family and Rito. Rito burnt the music scores before embarking for the ground in an attempt to threaten the Heltings with “if you kill me then nobody will remember or pass on the songs anymore” – he was killed anyway. Kuat then tosses the missing key down the pit, saying he’s tired of being the Heltings’ puppet and he wish he’d done this a long time ago. Finally, he tells the two that if they want to live, they should make a run for the upper level, now.

Lachia and Leon make it to the upper level and see the Relunia flowers. Kyuu arrives with Rito’s feather figure (that was the white stuff Leon was carrying, symbolizing Rito’s desire to travel freely on the ground) and a letter from Kuat, instructing them to exit the upper level in three days when the flames guarding the exist to ground will dim. Kuat also thanks the two for helping him “finally gaining the determination to do what is right”.

We get a variation of the CG earlier. Basically they confess but I’m too tired to even transcribe what happened because I don’t buy it.

Before the three days are up, the two have a visitor: Carlsed Heltling “Karusedo” (man the names are so hard to translate this game) aka Kuat’s father. Carlsed pleads with Leon and Lachia to go back to Gimrey with him, saying that Kuat has been wrongfully convicted of the murders of Leon’s family and Rito. He mentions the burnt musical scores of Rito, to which Leon replies that it’s not an issue that the score is lost because he remembers the songs. Carlsed is overjoyed saying no wonder! You’re a pianist, so you “and him” both remember the scores then! This gives away he was the killer (with Kuat as witness, see more in Kuat’s route) because Rito only told his murderers this detail.

Carlsed and Leon fight. The fight persists until Rudel appears with many townspeople. Despite the key being thrown away, and the only person who is capable of playing the song not in town, the explosion still happened as this was planned by Rudel to force the rulers to allow the town to evacuate above. With no secret left to guard, Carlsed loses interest in pursuing the two. Instead, he runs back to the town being engulfed in flames because Kuat is still there.

Leon and Lachia continue making their way above ground as the pioneers for what’s remaining of the inhabitants of Gimrey. The end.

After story: Above ground, Leon and Lachia build a piano together and play Chopin under the rain.

KUAT HELTLING (CV: Eguchi Takuya)

I AM BIASED TOWARDS THIS BOY SO I WILL POST ALL THE CGS EVEN THOUGH THE ART IS BAD IN SOME OF THEM AND DISSECT THROUGH THE ROUTE SO BUCKLE UP. This is the first route where I go like, ah this is more like an Otomate game. This hits especially hard with Kuat being an adorable little tsundere and voiced by Eguchi, reminds me of Yori from Uchronia for sure.

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In the common route, Kuat is revealed to be a doctor and the heir of the influential Heltling family in town. He is cold, like really cold, to the point he’s mean to Lachia. It turns out he’s just a super duper tsundere, but he hid it so well that I didn’t realize it until entering his route. I truly thought homeboy had something against Lachia or simply didn’t like her face, lol. In Leon’s route when the two started having the drinking conversation, we learn that Kuat has little experience talking to women. He says he doesn’t need to have that skill, presumably because he is a doctor and such a workaholic, but he also lives a double life as the agent of Heltling family – who does the dirty job of Rudel’s family, silencing (read: killing) those who step out of line by attempting to leave Gimrey to go to above ground.

They have some lighthearted moments in the common route, namely the two being foodies and him being won over by Lachia’s pancakes. He also gets a little possessive when Lachia brings up other guys. Initially, this seems silly and extra, but as we see from the future timelines he’s liked Lachia for a long time and because of the job nature of the Heltlings, he’s decided to keep his feelings to himself and that it’s better to not start anything at all between him and Lachia. Plus, she’s already got Yunaka/Rudel/Gil orbiting her.

The same tragedies happen again in first two timelines. This time, Garnet tells Lachia to head towards the entrance to exit above Gimrey as she may find something important to her there. She arrives there and finds the hooded woman being stabbed and lying in a pool of blood, near the entrance. Lachia does not get a good view of her face, but as she ascends the steps she suddenly feels a piercing pain through her abdomen… and Kuat behind her with a dagger.

We as the audience at this point (if we followed the recommended play order) know it’s because Lachia ventured too close to the exit. However, Kuat tries to convince himself and Lachia that he’s a cold killing machine, even telling Lachia that he’s detested her all his life (lol copium), therefore, doesn’t care that she dies by his hand. Lachia uses her last breath to rewind time, hearing Kuat cry and say “I’m sorry” as she advances to the next timeline.

Third timeline: Recovering from the thrill of what happened at the tail of the ceremony, Lachia collects her thoughts and visits the entrance at the middle of the night. She gets noticed by Kuat, who claims he is also out at this hour to “gather medicinal herbs”. Kuat doesn’t grow suspicious of Lachia and offers to walk her home.

Both intrigued and afraid, Lachia wants to learn Kuat’s secrets. She starts cornering him at the cafe, at work, wanting to talk to him, almost stalkerish. This irritates Kuat but Lachia says for her birthday present she wants to talk to him for five minutes. Kuat agrees to stay. Lachia acts innocent but starts raising alarm bells in Kuat, because she wants to know why the people of Gimrey are forbidden to travel above ground, what kind of dangers are actually outside. Kuat brushes it aside and tells Lachia because “tradition” demands it and that “curiosity will kill the cat”. He suddenly covers her mouth before she can follow-up with more questions because Carlsed (his dad) also just enters the cafe. Carlsed, seemingly not cognizant of the conversation, teases that his son might not be a woman-repellant after all, and even sets them up by unilaterally appointing Lachia as Kuat’s paid doctor’s assistant, starting tomorrow morning.

At work, Kuat is actually quite professional towards Lachia and ditches all the bickering and (feigned) meanness. Lachia sees the myth of the Norse goddess Hel on the bookshelf. She recalls that Hel is the queen of the realm of the dead. She hunts down those who break vows and betray others, carries them to a cursed river, and rules over them for eternity. Lachia is a bit clumsy at her new job, as she didn’t receive much teaching from her herbalist parents when they were still alive. However, she keeps up a good attitude to learn and keep up, and takes proper accountability.

At one of her home visits, she encounters a man with end stage hydra disease. They have difficulty breathing. Their skin becomes discoloured. They appear to be immense pain. Kuat, who only runs a clinic, tells Lachia to advise the man to be admitted to Carlsed’s hospital. He tells Lachia that there is no cure for hydra disease, and that prolonging these patients’ suffering is not mercy but torture.

Lachia meets with Rudel who concludes the popular opinion that the air above ground is not breathable and poisonous is baseless. Rudel says that there is no future staying underground and he believes the people will need to eventually evacuate above to survive as a town.

Lachia decides to “read books” at the flower field on the way to the exit to attract Kuat’s attention and talk to him more. Kuat again tries to shut her up with “it’s tradition, you can’t go above ground”. Lachia asks if someone as intellectual as Kuat is satisfied with an answer “because some old dudes 171 years ago said so”. Kuat doesn’t have a good answer and mutters “this is why I hate talking to you…” Of course he’s given it thought. However, what can thinking change? Why would he try to live in dissonance instead of “accepting” the status quo?

In perhaps a forced transition of topic [yeah it’s a big problem with the writing of this game] Lachia asks if Kuat is dating anyone. We know his experience is 0 so of course he blushes and gets defensive and says Lachia must be experienced since she has so many orbiters. Lachia is like noo they’re all my friends. She then pouts and say “but Kuat, you said you hated me!” before realizing Kuat actually never said it in this timeline, and her heart begins to ache a little.

The same night, Lachia has a nightmare where she contracted hydra disease. She starts coughing blood. Her extremities turn black and necrotic. She stands at the flower field, with an emotionless Kuat holding a dagger coming to take her life.

At work, Kuat notices that Lachia has been studying hard on her own time and missing out on sleep. He tells her as a treat, he will take her out for dinner this weekend. He’s… nice to her?! Even Lachia goes like is this a trap??

Anyway, they have dinner at the pub with Leon, who tells Lachia that Kuat definitely likes her but wouldn’t admit it. He teases Kuat that if he really doesn’t care about Lachia like he says, then it wouldn’t matter if she worked for Carlsed instead starting next week? And Kuat goes like ABSOLUTELY NOT I HATE THIS IDEA. hahaha

Kuat gets a little drunk as always. Lachia walks him home. He enters a hidden room in front of Lachia and takes some pills in front of her. He tells Lachia that he has some kind of chronic illness. He turns to Lachia and says he’s noticed that she never smiles in front of him. He wonders if it’s his fault. Lachia thinks well yes, but not you from this timeline’s fault… it’s complicated… While still inebriated, he tells Lachia that he meant all the praise he’s given her today. Having her around helps him a lot. He apologizes to Lachia for treating her coldly earlier, but maintains he has a reason.

He then pulls Lachia into his lap and teases her (!) for blushing. He tells her that he doesn’t need to be close to any woman as long as he has her… that she belongs to him, and he isn’t going to let anyone else take her away…

Kuat then falls asleep. Lachia, still recovering from whatever that heart attack was, isn’t going to let this opportunity go to waste and decides to explore the entrance. She runs into Yunaka on the way, who seems to know about Kuat’s illness, but said it’s best she get the details from him directly. Lachia becomes concerned about Kuat, but stops herself as isn’t her task to stop Kuat’s killing spree, not care about him?

However, Lachia is stunned when she arrives at the entrance. Kuat, who was supposed to be drunkenly asleep, is there covered in blood, with the corpse of the hooded woman beneath his feet. He is emotionless and says he is merely carrying out his task, that because he is “Hel” he knows what to do. He concludes that Lachia knew about his identity all along. Hence, tried to get close to him and learn his secrets. However, because of their past interactions, deep down he has too much feeling for Lachia to kill her. He tells Lachia to turn back and never say a word to anyone about what she saw here tonight.

The next day, Lachia tries to show up for work but is told she is fired. Determined, she yells at his door that she will come back every day until he talks to her again. What is he going to do, kill her in broad daylight? At home, Lachia reviews her parents’ notes and noted a line “beware of the scent from Relunia flowers”. She also concludes that Kuat’s “chronic disease” symptoms are consistent with what her parents’ documented about hydra disease.

While Leon’s route sucked major ass he really is a wingman (aka a real one) in both Rudel and Kuat’s route. Leon has had enough of Kuat being “childish” and refusing to talk to a lady, so he brings Lachia to his home and says you better talk it out with her or else. Kuat says fine but I’m talking to her alone. Lachia asks why are you hiding from me, and why did you not kill me that night? Kuat, sober this time, breaks down and says:

Kuat gets an attack of the hydra disease and collapses. Lachia ties him to a chair or something so he doesn’t go berserk when she wakes up, and investigates the hidden room. On the stoney walls she sees many names inscribed, including her parents’? She starts to realize that maybe her parents didn’t die of some natural accident as she was always led to believe. The Heltlings had something to do with their demise.

Lachia comes out of the room and finds Kuat awake in restraints. She tells Kuat that she wants to know about all the truths without any bullshit then will untie him. Kuat laughs and easily overcomes the restraints holding a knife to her throat. Lachia remains fearless and asks Kuat to tell her everything. Kuat basically tells her how for 171 years, the Heltlings did the Kruezs’ dirty work by silencing those who step out of the line. The town of Gimrey was built upon two absolute rules that the Heltlings used any means to uphold:

1. No one is above to venture above.
2. The magical flame that Gimrey runs on, cannot be extinguished.

Growing up, Kuat was told that this is the way of the Heltlings, that the law is the most important thing, and lives need to be taken as necessary to ensure peace and order. As such, he received systematic training in addition to his training as a doctor, which is his “surface” job. Lachia again asks him why he didn’t “silence” her then and says “wait a minute… you don’t have a thing for me, do you?” Kuat becomes flustered but does not acknowledge his feelings fully, instead saying he is curious about Lachia hence, keeping her alive.

However, Kuat has no intention of changing his ways. He says if Heltlings don’t make sure a few heads fall, then the entire town will be destroyed. He then goes on to say this is the “curse” of Gimrey when the founding fathers decided to move further down away from the sun. The Heltlings also secretly killed people who had terminal hydra disease to avoid spread in the town. However, more and more people are contracting it. Eventually, when everyone is afflicted, then it is time for the Heltlings to carry out the final “killing” of the entire town… (something something organ in the clocktower hmm)

Kuat suddenly stands up and lunges towards Lachia who reflexively braces herself. Lachia tells Kuat she wouldn’t give up no matter how little hope she has but also bargains with him for her life, saying what if she can find the way to cure the hydra disease. She points out that she knows Kuat has it.

He lets her go. He is intrigued about this girl who seems to surprise him time after time. However, he is skeptical because what does she know about medicine. She barely knows how to read medical documentation a week ago. Kuat deep down cares about the people of Gimrey. He tells Lachia that even though as a Heltling, he is beyond salvation. However, there are patients who will need her work. He tells her to stop being associated wth him and confirms that the names on the wall are people that Heltlings (aka his father) have killed. Trained to take on his family’s secret role, unbeknownst to his mother and older sister, Kuat had to witness his father’s murders. This was his way of keeping score. Lachia tells him that he can stop the family’s killing spree if he wished to.

Kuat is torn between the role he was given since birth and what he believes is right. He tells Lachia that he wished she would kill him before he takes more lives, but also laughs that she physically cannot possibly stop him. He finally tells her:

The next day, Kuat leaves his house door open but he is nowhere to be found. Lachia has the option to search for him with Yunaka at the entrance towards above ground. Yunaka and Lachia split ways with Yunaka going head first. When Lachia catches up, Yunaka has already been stabbed in the stomach by Kuat, who coldly asks why she is here. She smells a strange fragrance from some kind of flower. Kuat tells her to not come forward anymore because she will get the hydra disease. However, the disease is not from the fragrance, but the same flame that fuels Gimrey. This flame guards the entrance above. This is the curse of Gimrey: People cannot live without this flame, but will die from this fire.

Yunaka uses his last breath to fight Kuat, worried he is going to harm Lachia. The two fall into the abyss below. From where Yunaka was, Lachia sees the same box that she always gets from Garnet to rewind time…?! How does Yunaka have this box…? With these questions, Lachia rewinds time.

Fourth timeline: Lachia goes straight to Garnet and asks why Yunaka would also have the box. Garnet of course never gives her a straight answer but promises that he will help Lachia only once when she finds herself in life danger, to demonstrate that he doesn’t gain anything from her dying. Lachia runs to the entrance where she found the dead hooded woman last time, but the figure is not there.

She meets Kuat who is patrolling and confronts him that she knows his double life. She asks Kuat to teach her how to kill others. She forces Kuat to come after her by running towards the entrance. As she almost receives a blow, Garnet appears fulfilling his promise then disappears in front of the two. Lachia uses this opportunity to bluff to Kuat saying she has “God” on her side so it’s not use to try to kill her. However, she also says before Kuat actually kills anyone in this timeline, she will kill him first.

Lachia also confronts Yunaka about his box and the fact she also has the same box to rewind time. Yunaka kind of brushes Lachia off, and says his box is passed down generations in his family, and doesn’t know who Garnet is. Believing that being too close to Yunaka will lead to the bad end, Lachia pushes him away again.

Similarly to last time, she starts working for Kuat at his clinic while going on patrol with him, because she knows all his secrets. Kuat tells Lachia that even though he is a doctor by day saving lives, he is a reaper at night, and he no longer knows whether he is born to save lives or kill. He teaches Lachia on the techniques to kill. Lachia tells Kuat that she knows for a fact he wishes to be relieved from this suffering, by dying from her hands. Kuat is conflicted because he knows his father will just find a replacement if he chooses to die, so he decides to carry all the sins of the Heltlings. Lachia retorts that Kuat is not mentally strong enough to live with the consequences of killing someone else.

The two return to his clinic. Lachia reveals that she knows he has hydra disease and shares with him her deceased parents’ notes (that she knows Carlsed killed her parents), with hope that they can find a cure together. This will allow people to go above ground because they will no longer fear the side effect from the magical blue flame. This way, the Heltlings will no longer need to guard the entrance and murder and trespassers.

Kuat can’t turn Lachia down because of her blackmail, but asks why she is so intent on stopping him from carrying out his duty to kill, to the point she will kill him before he takes any lives. She smiles and said Kuat in another timeline begged her to. Kuat laughs at how crazy this idea is (even though Lachia knows all those deepest secrets about him…) and says it’s almost like he’s in love with her.

There are some fluff scenes such as Kuat treating Lachia to a meal because this is her second rodeo and she’s so darn good at being his assistant. During one of the assassin training sessions, Lachia’s leg gets slashed accidentally. Kuat continues to try to scare Lachia off, but she replies she will not give up, because she saw how desperate, sad, and helpless Kuat was from last timeline… and she wants to devote herself to helping him find his happy future. Kuat becomes moved by Lachia and asks her to give him some time to think about whether he wants to betray his family name and duty. He also gives Lachia a spare key to his house.

The two start to become close. Kuat goes from distrustful and fearful of Lachia, to slowly not used to things if she’s not around. He takes her out to get crepes and starts calling her by her first name. He starts being upfront about complimenting Lachia, making her flustered because he’s never done this before…

On their way back they run into Yunaka. Lachia wants to continue staying away for Yunaka for his sake, and lies to him that she and Kuat are dating. Kuat becomes upset about this when the two are alone because he doesn’t want to be used as a tool by Lachia to make Yunaka jealous.

Lachia teases Kuat if he’d be jealous if she got close to Yunaka (girl.. please…). Kuat admits he is. The straightforwardness catches Lachia off guard because she still doesn’t realize that Kuat is attached to her. In the meantime, Kuat makes his decision by proposing without running by his father at the town hall to venture above ground to look for a cure for the hydra disease, which was shot down and attracted Carlsed’s suspicion.

While the two are studying the Relunia flower that Lachia’s parents mentioned, Kuat confesses that seeing her so devoted to finding a cure for the people makes him want her all to himself. How he wished she was doing all of this just for him and nobody else (boy she kind of is). He then confesses that he can’t live without Lachia anymore.

He tells Lachia that the medicine he has been telling her to drink is called “Relunia’s Blessing”, made from the poisonous roots of Relunia flowers. Medicines are poisons in smaller doses. However, Lachia senses something afoot and quickly blocks a deadly blow to her neck. Kuat has been ordered to kill Lachia by Carlsed. Kuat breaks down and says he cannot bring himself to kill Lachia, because he loves her.

Lachia also confesses to Kuat that she knows he loves this town more than anyone else, hence his guilt and conflict. She asks him to consider betraying Carlsed and not let her down again.

March 27 rolls around. Yunaka, Rudel, and Kuat plan on detonating the clock tower to force evacuation upwards. Unfortunately, they have to sacrifice Amber’s legs again so Rudel can become the new leader and obtain the key to the clocktower. Lachia is overwhelmed by guilt for knowingly letting Amber become crippled. Kuat tells her that they are partners in crime in this now, and that she unfortunately cannot save anyone, that she is the strongest person he has ever met.

Kuat’s task in this mission is to put out/weaken the blue flames around the entrance. However, he gives a lot of ominous flags before parting with Lachia.

A stronger, unplanned explosion happens. Yunaka gives Lachia his box without saying much and left. Leon seems to know something about this, and tries to stop Lachia from going to the tower, but she convinces him that she is willing to do anything for Kuat.

Lachia rushes to the burning clocktower and finds Kuat facing off Carlsed. Together, Lachia and Kuat defeat Carlsed. Kuat spares Carlsed’s life.

Kuat tells Lachia that he needs to extinguish the magical flames guarding the entrance. He tells Lachia that he’s been planning for this “best ending” for a long time. The medication that he has been forcing Lachia to drink will grant them temporary immunity through the flame to delay the onset of hydra disease.

The two go back to save Carlsed from the crumbling town getting destroyed by flames, with Carlsed yelling at Kuat that he will never forget what he did to “ruin” the town”.

Everyone arrives above ground. Lachia starts coughing. She was prepared for this. She knows to extinguish the flames she would likely contract the disease. Here we have an option to rewind time again, but Lachia chooses to continue with this current timeline.

Lachia replies that this is the future she chose with Kuat in it, hence will do everything she can to lead to a happy ending, and has no regrets. The two live on ground together with the rest of Gimrey (unlike previous endings where only MC/LI make it out), finding a cure for hydra disease, as best friends and lovers.

After story: Kuat has nightmares of Carlsed cursing them that they will not find a cure or happy ending. Lachia calms him down. He tells Lachia to not dare die before him and that he will always be by her side.

GIL HANISCH (CV: Ono Kenshou)

Ono Kenshou rarely voices otome characters, at least the games I play. Gil seems to be this airhead childhood friend in the game that is always daydreaming and acts like a child chasing Lachia around calling her “flower-chan”. I will be honest that at this point of the game I’m getting tired of the game’s pacing (that I will discuss in final thoughts) and Gil’s art was horrendous and I really couldn’t care about the romance, so I’m going to save myself some time screenshotting CGs/quotes and get to the good stuff. The UI was also so awful (iykyk) that you can’t read what Gil said because the grey text on purple background is illegible.

Gil takes Lachia to his home. He shows her the crafts he makes and teaches her how to make a good luck charm. Someone taught him to make these charms and that these items harbour good wishes; but he couldn’t remember who. The ceremony starts, Amber gets crippled. Lachia chooses to escape from her flame-bearing duties this time but that doesn’t change anything because for such important roles like this there’s always a backup girl. The city is set in flames. Before Gil dies in the first timeline, he implies to Lachia that he knows about her special ability to turn back time and that he trusts she will find the best future, that they will meet again.

Time rewinds to Feb 26. In similar fashion to previous routes, Lachia immediately confronts Gil who admits he knows about her box. Gil has known Garnet for a long time. He introduces himself as a “doll” living in the box, which harbours a world of its own. Together with Garnet, they serve as recorders of history of the world within the box. The box is created by a God that wanted to give humans powerful substances such as fire. To prove to their fellow gods that this is safe, this simulation of a world was created. One day, someone accidentally opened the box (which has obvious parallels to Pandora’s box) and let out everything except Gil, including conflict and war and the bad side of human nature. That someone was Garnet. Garnet is more of a pessimist and tells Gil that humans would only lead to their world to ruin and wanted to destroy them, but Gil had hope and begged Garnet who agreed to seal this world back inside the box. Because of how special of a being Gil is, people within the box’s world (aka Gimrey) technically cannot see or hear Gil, who cannot directly affect the future of Gimrey. As such, he needed someone to be the box’s owner to choose “the happy ending”. Gil has been waiting for this person for over a thousand years. There have been many past owners of the box. As the recorder, Gil is supposed to remember every single timeline or ending, as opening/closing the box resets time and writes a different future. Normally people are not able to see Gil, Lachia is different because she was chosen to be the box owner. Gil is able to modify other people (such as Yunaka and Rudel)’s memory and perception so that they believe someone like Gil existed in their childhood and grew up with them.

In this timeline, Gil takes Lachia to the birthday party where they celebrate together. The two spend time beside the lake after the party, with Gil telling Lachia what the world above is really like. He continues to act like a child with his memory conveniently being blank at everywhere that matters. He regards Lachia as someone very important, but at this point we and Lachia are all wondering why he chose her out of all people. Lachia goes home and has the same nightmare where she makes it above ground and suffocates. She wakes up and finds Gil somehow in her room telling her that her dreams are premonitions of the future. He then tells what Lachia has done in previous routes hinting that he knows the endings she had with Rudel, Leon, and Kuat, yet he has been waiting all this time for “the timeline where you choose me out of everyone”. Because Lachia received the blue rose from Garnet on February 26th, she is unable to rewind time before this date. However, it seems that no matter what she does, the ending is far from perfect, likely because she cannot rewind much time beyond one month prior to the ceremony.

Gil tells Lachia that if she really wants to change the future, she needs to make a big sacrifice. That sacrifice is also becoming like him, a being that is no longer an inhabitant of Gimrey, an observer that her friends can no longer see and interact with. This is called “coming out of the box”. This will allow her to go back in time for several years before this ceremony. Gil cannot guarantee that this will work out, but Lachia will make more progress that what she has made in the past three routes and be closer to truly saving Gimrey. The price is that she will no longer experience time the same way as people of Gimrey, and become immortal and timeless, and alone like Gil.

Lachia accepts Gil’s offer and travels two years back in time. She sees a younger Rudel, Yunaka, and a younger version of Lachia. She hides herself in a hood – the hooded woman Lachia saw in other routes were versions of herself outside the box. Gil introduces the concept of “centralization” which is that multiple copies of Gil or Lachia cannot exist. Because Gil travelled back to two years ago, the two-year-ago version of him got forcibly erased and there is only one Gil. This sets up the main conflict where there are currently two Lachia’s that are two years apart, which is not allowed per the laws of time.

The two return back to Gil’s place where he does some very sus and unconsented stuff towards Lachia all the while acting like a pouting child, such as lying beside her and hugging her and later even kissing her… Lachia clearly wasn’t ready at all I was so grossed out and fast skipped this part?? Just who finds this attractive???? Obviously Gil probably has been waiting for Lachia for a long time, but that doesn’t mean Lachia has to just accept his unprimed advances without knowing his full backstory?? There are so many ways to reframe this route in a more attractive way. Now you know why I hate this route.

Lachia meets Garnet as someone outside of the box for the first time. Garnet confirms the history he has with Gil, but comments that Gil always does the unpredictable and is more humanlike than him. For example, he didn’t expect him to pull Lachia into their realm, or that he somehow lost his memories despite being the bookkeeper for the box world. He then tells Lachia something that Gil didn’t tell her: Once you step outside of the box, you can no longer return. He asks Lachia to forget about returning to her old life as a human girl. He also warns her that her time travel powers are not unlimited, as this goes against the natural laws of time that the original God has set. For example, if she tries to go back 10 years in time, this effort may be noticed and as a result she will be erased from existence. Gil just wanted to be with Lachia so badly he basically lied to Lachia by omission and pulled her past a point of no return. She goes home to Gil who confesses to her again, but then says he forgets what he loves about her – all we kind of can imply at this point is that the two has history, but Gil somehow lost his memory. Again I’m just sitting here like ???? I am not sure what the author is trying to achieve.

Lachia is able to see from the shadows what the stakeholders have done and said behind her back when she was a human. For example, she sees Amber wanting to explore above ground, similar to Rudel, and that their father disagrees – this likely explains why Amber later gets crippled in every timeline; his defiance. She also sees Kuat talking to Carlsed at the exit of Gimrey about the role of Heltlings and how Carlsed murdered Rito.

The unexpected happens from the two’s interference. At the ceremony two years ago from the original timeline, the bad luck comes early and Amber gets crippled. Lachia becomes desperate because despite her sacrifice, she is not saving the people of Gimrey. Gil and Garnet give Lachia an option to change the future: to kill the human Lachia two years younger. Lachia is shaken by this saying why is the only good ending the one where she doesn’t exist (inside the box)? The two say it’s not her fault, but that the future would not change greatly with her in it, which really stings.

Lachia is unable to kill her old self. Fortunately, the clocktower doesn’t explode and the ceremony merely ends with Amber being crippled (again) and people moving on with their lives. Gil cheers Lachia up by manipulating people’s perceptions so they “see” and “play” with a sad Lachia by the lake. Lachia is all happy and aww thanks Gil but I’m just like you got her into this shit and this is such a cheap trick why is she even thanking you ugh. Gil also mentions that he received a good luck charm a long time ago, but forgot from whom, when, and how. Garnet also lets in on the fact that Gil at the very beginning was human, not a doll/special being. He tells Lachia that Gil really loves her, and that if she wants more answers from him, she should continue to appeal to his human nature within.

I literally am not even abridging the route but basically here goes. Gil confesses and kisses Lachia again, who pushes him away and is understandably shocked, confused and disgusted. She still cannot resolve to killing her own self, so throws the knife down the cemetery pit and vows that she will find a happy ending where she saves everyone including returning herself and Gil to humans. (Girl, if that route existed you wouldn’t need to come out of the box, this is so delulu). She goes home and cuts her hair as a show of her resolve and says the same things that we hear the other Lachia say to ourselves in the very beginning. OK, so you literally don’t do anything that can actually change the future and you just cut your hair? Lachia then turns around and has Stockholm syndrome for Gil or something and says she will accept Gil’s love because “if I’m so depressed after this bit of time, you have been through way more so you must be more depressed so I must be with you” I guess all they have is each other???

The two sneak into the clocktower, find the hidden route behind the organ to the upper level, with Lachia noting the building style is very similar to Gil’s home in Gimrey. They make it as far to the gate to above ground guarded by the flames with Gil providing exposition about the truth that the flame is the root of hydra disease. Gil reminisces about a time when he spent time with “someone” with Lachia realizing that Gil is a lonely boi after all this time and is just after companionship. She asks why Garnet didn’t become Gil’s friend. Garnet said initially they were close, but because he is so nihilistic and “non human like” Gil decided to not be as close to him. Garnet basically looks at Lachia like she is crazy when she tells him that she wants to liberate Gil and herself from the box and become humans. He tells Lachia that the very first ruler of Gimrey got to escape the apocalypse that almost wiped out all of humanity above ground 170 years ago, because of the box.

After a childish pillow talk scene where Gil declares that he and Lachia are officially “lovers” (…), he proceeds to tell Lachia a sob story about how he became the box’s doll. He was an ordinary boy who lived in a village with his parents, and a fluffy pet that was likely Kyuu. It was his birthday. However, his parents did not return home. When he went outside his house, he realized the world has been erased and all there was left was himself. He was not released until Garnet opened the box.

Things seem to get into a stalemate position where no progress is made but they have “unlimited” amount of time. That is until Garnet tells Lachia of the big loophole and existence of two Lachias. The Lachia outside of the box is not immortal like him and Gil. She is only allowed to exist because the other Lachia is the owner of the box. Theoretically, when the inside-the-box Lachia returns the box to Garnet, the Lachia outside of the box has a chance to return to her human form inside the box. However, even if outside-of-box Lachia becomes human, because the inside-box Lachia’s existence is not erased, she is not allowed to live in the streets, nor does she have an immortal life like Gil. Garnet then goes on about some convoluted statements about the “rules” he set for the box world, and how he wouldn’t allow Lachia to become another doll of the box like Gil.

Lachia is told that she cannot rewind time to the moment before Gil became a doll. However, theoretically she is allowed to rewind time to 170 years ago when the first mayor of Gimrey inherited the box. Garnet tells Lachia to quit the idea because spending time with Gil for 170 years will rewrite too much history and lead to the God’s wrath (and herself getting killed). At this point, Lachia royally got fucked over by Gil pulling her outside the box, because she is not truly immortal, nor did she solve any of the Gimrey’s problems. She wonders if she is able to seek for a solution to save Gimrey in secret, starting from 170 years ago, without meeting Gil to invoke the God’s wrath. Lachia decides to go ahead with this solution and endure 170 years of loneliness. Hopefully, she would find a solution by the end, and meet Gil in the end. Garnet allows her to do this, but says she can’t time travel until in the present world, the box owner is the other Lachia – aka after the explosion of the clocktower.

This day comes soon enough. The clocktower explodes, and the inside-the-box Lachia walks to where Gil was standing in previous timelines and struck to death by the hands of the clock. Gil yells at Garnet for not stopping this Lachia from walking to her death. Garnet replies this is the price that he and Lachia must pay for twisting time and allowing her to come outside the box. With the inside-box Lachia dead, outside-box Lachia becomes the new box owner and turns back time.

Gil tells Lachia to rewind to a time slightly earlier than what Garnet intended, so that she could meet 170-year-ago Gil above ground, before this present timeline is erased and memories return to the 170-year-ago Gil (“centralization”). During her rewind, Lachia also sees glimpses of her parents planning to travel above ground to find cure for the hydra disease and expressing love for their daughter. Before Lachia leaves, she gives Gil a good luck charm she’s made. Here, some time loopy stuff happens in that remember originally Gil taught Lachia in first timeline to make these charms but cannot remember who made them. He realizes that 170 years ago he met Lachia who gave him this charm, but somehow lost memory of it for 170 years. Or in other words, this is the second time that Lachia has to travel back 170 years, meaning she somehow failed the first time. Garnet tells Gil that his conclusion is correct, the first Lachia fell into the pit after the accident of the upper level and was unable to meet Gil or save Gimrey. Gil reset his memory and forgot about this first 170 years. Garnet promised to remember this on his behalf, and to not tell Gil until he’s figured it out.

Lachia finally makes it above ground 170 years ago, and meets Gil before he became an airhead. We learn why Gil nicknames Lachia “flower-chan” because they met in a flower field. Shortly, he becomes centralized and gains the memories of Gil before Lachia’s time travel. He tells Lachia that he had to erase his memory/records as the record-keeper to “wipe her existence” after she was reborn after the upper-level incident orchestrated by God. (However, it is not explained here how Lachia just got rebirthed like that.) He bids Lachia good luck a second time then wipes his memory out. When Garnet meets Gil below ground, he already doesn’t remember meeting Lachia, and this Lachia continues her life of solitude for the next 170 years.

THOUGHTS: Overall, we do not get a “happy” ending between Gil and Lachia. I am never a fan of those “I loved you for 1000 years, through so many timelines” trope, especially with all the red-flaggy things (no-consent, no chemistry, acting like a 5-year-old pouty child, Stockholm) Gil did to Lachia this route and the messy writing with unexplained plotholes (e.g. how did Lachia get reborn after she fell down the pit?), this route nearly made me quit the game. The main conflict for 2/3 of the route was Lachia unable to kill her other self, yet in the end Garnet kind of decides this for her anyway by having the other Lachia die under the clocktower (meanwhile Lachia is just cutting her hair and being delusional lol), so we’ve really been running around in circles doing nothing and felt like a massive waste of time.

YUNAKA GIESBERT (CV: Nogami Shou)

Since Lachia’s parents died ten years ago, she has been staying with Kurino and Yunaka and their bakery. Yunaka clearly has feelings beyond siblings for Lachia but has been to shy to confess to her in the other routes.

He and Lachia met many years ago as children. When playing in the field, they both discovered a blue rose, which was exceedingly rare, almost impossible to find, in Gimrey. Yunaka was a shy tsundere boy who struggled to make friends, but he made space for Lachia who wanted to become his friend. At the time, Lachia’s parents were still alive. Yunaka’s father died of hydra disease when he was little, so Kurino is a single mother for those two children (eventually after Lachia’s parents were murdered by Carlsed).

In the first timeline, the town burns. Lachia is able to make it to the field where Yunaka was found stabbed before he actually got killed. She sees Garnet who tells Yunaka to give away his box (that we know of the existence of since Kuat route). Yunaka refuses, so Garnet ruthlessly kills him saying he needs to return the box to its rightful owner – Lachia. Yunaka smiles and tells Lachia to live on.

Garnet and Gil appear. They tell Lachia that she is living in this timeline because Yunaka died so she can have the box, and that there was no way to prevent Yunaka’s death. Garnet talks about Schrodinger’s cat, where the “cat” is both alive and dead until the box is opened, and as record keepers they see both possibilities. Lachia pleas with the two that this will be the last time she uses the box to rewind time. She will never use the box again. In return, the two will spare Yunaka’s life. Her puppy eyes move Gil (who has history with her from previous routes, that we know), who breaks the rule for her and lets Lachia see the timelines that Yunaka has been through when he had the box.

Before we go to Yunaka’s timelines, Lachia is shown the memory she was missing. How she got the box from Garnet as a child for finding the blue rose first. Lachia gave the box to her parents. Her father (Jet) started having the same nightmares that Lachia did. He felt the box was cursed, but kept it because Lachia treated it as a good luck charm. Jet and Selena travel above ground as planned to find the cure for hydra disease, but were both murdered by Carlsed. When Kurino arrived, all she saw was a gravely injured Jet, who entrusted her with the box and begged her to not get help – this was Carlsed’s deal with him to spare Lachia.

Yunaka’s POV:

The date is February 12th. Yunaka wakes up from a nightmare. However, he’s got more important plans during the day. He needs to plan a surprise early birthday party for Lachia along with Rudel. The two plan to catch fresh fish and bake a giant cake. Yunaka also plans to confess his feelings for Lachia and give her a present she will never forget – a glass decoration of a blue flower (as blue roses are impossible to find).

Lachia receives the present from Yunaka, who feels too shy to confess. Blue roses mean “impossible” in Gimrey. He and Lachia also practice swimming together to surprise Rudel – just some mild fanservice.

The ceremony takes place uneventfully with Lachia being the flame bearer. Yunaka formally confesses to Lachia after the last day of the ceremony. However, Lachia runs away because she doesn’t think of Yunaka that way and is overwhelmed by this confession. The two spend an awkward three months under the same roof, until Lachia is ready and asks Yunaka out as well. The two formally become lovers.

Time passes to the next year’s ceremony. The clocktower catches fire. Lachia dies by a falling clock hand similarly to Gil’s route. Garnet appears and greets Yunaka for the first time, telling him that if he wants to rewind time, there is a box in his home that he can open.

Thus begins the multiple timelines of Yunaka unsuccessfully trying to keep Lachia alive. In attempt to change the future, he keeps his feelings for her to himself, and does not gift her the decoration or confess to her. He starts investigating the several factions of Gimrey, and learns the different families’ secrets and the pipe organ.

In Yunaka’s final timeline, he confides in Rudel about his ability to time travel, and earns Rudel’s unwavering trust and support. He also pleads with Lachia to refuse to bear the flame. Unfortunately, none of his efforts resulted in the town’s safety. He pushes Lachia out of falling debris and becomes killed as a result. Before he dies, he tells Lachia to go home and find the box to use it herself. He tells Lachia that it is impossible to stop the explosion of Gimrey, and that the townspeople need to go above ground.

Lachia’s final time travel: We return to Lachia POV with the date Feb 26th. She gets some exposition from Gil and Garnet at the pub, but an unexpected visitor appears: the short-haired Lachia, who calls her “angel-Lachia”. From now on we will call short-haired Lachia “angel Lachia” and current Lachia “flower Lachia”. Angel Lachia claims to be originally from Yunaka’s first timeline where she is thought to have been struck by the clock hand, but did not die, and came outside the box. (Going to save y’all some confusion and say that she is capping to inspire Lachia to work hard towards finding the good ending, she is basically from Gil’s route)

Angel Lachia is a huge tsundere who threatens Flower Lachia with a knife, telling her to go die so she can replace Flower Lachia, but really has been dropping clues left and right to help Flower Lachia succeed with Yunaka in this current and final timeline.

Lachia moves out of Kurino’s bakery and goes to the birthday party with now everyone in attendance for the first time. Yunaka continues to tell Lachia he did not prepare a gift for her. Lachia tells Yunaka that she knows about his timelines and that they will now work together. The two meet with Rudel and plan to force Gimrey to move above ground.

Angel Lachia visits Flower Lachia and “attacks” her. Yunaka defends. The two try to finalize the plot to force people to move, but Yunaka just says his head hurts so Lachia says “teach me swimming”??? And then we get this CG, and then she asks Yunaka to gift her the blue flower decoration in this timeline. Yep, that’s how jumpy the writing is, I’m used to it at this point, I don’t even have anger left in me… Oh yea, Lachia also gets all pouty and upset at some point in the middle because she’s conflicted between whether Yunaka loves Flower Lachia or Angel Lachia… Woman this is not the time… I kind of want Angel Lachia to just kill and replace you at this point…

To activate the organ, they need the score and the key. To get the score, Lachia pretends to be close to Leon and asks for piano lessons. However, her motive gets realized and she gets thrown out of Leon’s house. On the way home, she trips and falls in front of Kuat, who takes her back to his clinic. His hydra disease flares and is forced to take the medication made of Relunia flowers in front of Lachia.

After Lachia goes home, Kurino delivers the box to her, and comes clean with what she saw that day when Jet died. Angel Lachia appears again and shows the two where Lachia’s deceased parents’ lab was (underground of their house), so that Flower Lachia can recover their notes to show Kuat.

Yunaka gifts the flower decoration to Flower Lachia. Here you have the option to hear Yunaka’s confession or “wait until it’s all over”. Hearing it now enters Yunaka’s personal route, where the two end up spending the night together and Flower Lachia kisses him in his sleep.

Lachia convinces Kuat to join with her parents’ notes saying the cure to hydra disease involves Relunia flowers that have been showered in sunlight. Kuat says it’s impossible to go above ground because the organ needs to be played in order to extinguish the final flame guarding the entrance. At this time, Leon enters and apologizes to Lachia with the music score ready (it is not clear why he did though…). Kuat then takes out the missing key to the organ. Rudel has a replica of the key to enter the clocktower. He has also planted explosives around the clocktower to cause an explosion.

As a distraction tactic, Rudel was supposed to go against Olivin during the town hall allowing Lachia/Yunaka to sneak into the clocktower. However, Olivin tied Rudel up witch of Salem style and wants to execute him. Yunaka jumps out and yells that the higher ups of Gimrey would rather keep people underground, getting poisoned by flames, getting hydra disease, than letting them venture above, all for their rule. Lachia runs to the clocktower, but is warned by Angel Lachia that Olivin has a gun, and sure enough he tries to shoot at Yunaka. Lachia had to run back to stop Olivin (I have no idea how she stops a man with a gun…). Olivin accidentally fires at a bystander causing chaos. Carlsed stands out and wants to shoot Yunaka, who runs into the clocktower. Carlsed gives chase. Rudel has no choice but to detonate the explosives, blocking Carlsed out of the clocktower.

Unfortunately, Leon’s music score is still on Lachia. Garnet appears and gives Lachia the final choice of staying here or going above ground. She chooses to go above ground (duh), so Garnet grants her the ability to walk through the flames.

The two play the organ together allowing everyone to leave Gimrey and exit above ground.

Yunaka and Flower Lachia also make it above ground. They look at the beautiful sky, and feel they should thank someone, but somehow forgot about Angel Lachia’s existence.

TRUTH ENDINGS

Choosing to hear Yunaka’s confession after it’s all over would pivot towards the truth route. Flower Lachia adopts Angel Lachia who has no home, and tells everyone this is her “long lost twin sister” lol. The strategy this time isn’t to use the organ, but rather to “recycle the flames” from each and every family by trusted figures in the community: Rudel, Kuat, and Leon. When the town enters darkness, people will have no choice but to go above ground.

ENDING 1: YUNAKA HAPPY END

In a way this is a redundant ending to the good ending that we had in Yunaka’s route, but we get to see the truth from Angel Lachia’s side and where she went.

In short, a big showdown happens among Rudel/Amber/Olivin, and Kuat/Carlsed. Olivin and Carlsed are defeated in this coup. Olivin’s reason for keeping people underground, knowing they are poisoned to death is also kind of silly: 45 years ago the rockslide event truly happened to the upper level. Someone opened the door in the wrong way leading to a big fire. OK so just open the door the correct way, don’t you and Carlsed know how? Even Yunaka is like “you guys are just cowards and afraid to open the door”… I don’t even…

Angel Lachia tells Flower Lachia and Yunaka to check the spot where they found the blue rose together. They finally discover the secret entrance to above ground without needing to extinguish any flame or play the organ. (OK awesome why didn’t you tell Flower Lachia in Yunaka route or earlier) Yunaka and Flower Lachia lead the way, and everyone arrives above ground, inhaling the fresh air.

Just when we think we have our happy ending, Garnet and Gil tell the two Lachias that the moment anytime someone uses the box to rewind time, they will disappear in history eventually, having become “one” with Garnet. This is to prevent them from “being lost in time” and having their existence wiped from everyone, by being one with Garnet their existence is only wiped from the memory of people of Gimrey. This happened to the first ruler to Gimrey, and every single previous box holder. In this way, I cannot help but think that the Lachias in Rudel/Leon/Kuat did not truly have their happy endings because she had to be absorbed by Garnet eventually?! This is so depressing.

However, because there are two Lachias right now, Garnet says he only needs to absorb one. Angel Lachia looks at Flower Lachia and Yunaka, and takes Garnet’s hand, allowing Angel Lachia to have her happily ever after. The same thing likely happened in Yunaka happy ending, but we didn’t see this side.

ENDING 2: GIL/GARNET HAPPY END

Flower Lachia suddenly remembers all the other endings she had with other characters. None of them to her were happy endings. She feels bad for Angel Lachia having suffered for over 170 years and wants to make her happy this time. Angel Lachia tries to stop Flower Lachia, but Gil suddenly hugs her from behind despite not having memory of their time together.

Flower Lachia flies into the sky with Garnet, becoming translucent and finally not visible. Garnet tells her that Angel Lachia and Gil will forever live on as dolls of the box. People of Gimrey will forget about her existence, so there is nothing to be sad about. Garnet then proposes to Flower Lachia to become a record keeper like him to keep him company. Flower Lachia agrees with the condition that she can see and protect everyone she loved from above.

In the end, we see a Yunaka stopping in the flower field as if trying to remember someone he used to know.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This was a very, very long game. I’m glad I finally got to play a game I’ve been thinking about for 5-6 years and checked this off my bucket list. The premise is interesting and certainly outside the box (no pun intended) especially for an Otomate game. However, overall I do not recommend this game to be played for the following reasons:

1. Atrocious art and UI
2. Too many plot holes and convenient details that get brought up when the plot needs to progress. E.g. what do you mean Angel Lachia knows there is another entrance above ground without needing to extinguish the flame all this time but doesn’t tell them until the truth end?
3. Draggy writing. This story probably could have been told in half the words and time, but the author chose the most annoying and roundabout way to tell it.
4. Bad romance (not the Lady Gaga song). I cringed at Leon and Gil routes. Either fix the delivery or just make them platonic routes, idk. Just who is buying the fuckboy and dating a boy who acts he is less than 12 trope?
5. Game tries way too hard to be edgy by listing different mythological references or even “Schrodinger’s cat”… when the writing doesn’t match up.
6. The game ends on a depressing note. Basically from the truth end we know none of the Lachias got happy endings and became wiped from their loved ones’ existence except for Yunaka ending. Gil’s “ending” wasn’t even a good ending, if anything the “bad truth end” was his happy ending. I know some people are into this, but this really left a sour taste in my mouth especially completing it during Christmas break -_-

Character ranking: Yunaka > Kuat > Rudel >>>>>>>>>> normal human being > Leon >>>>>>>>> Gil (what the fuck was that)

Rating: 3/10