sins of KALEIDO 塔巡りし因果の魔女

Completion date: July 20, 2026

Trigger warnings: Self harm; suicide; cannibalism; gore; psychological torture

For someone who doesn’t mind spoilers, I strongly ask you to think very carefully before reading ahead. This game is best experienced without any spoiler & having played EIT first. Please for the love of God play EIT first. You don’t have to play the FD.

You have been advised.

Kanoa > Tilkett > Heath > Eugene > Orsem > Epilogues

Final Thoughts

Sad love ends are cleared but not included in the review. I apologize if certain translations are not the same as the EN version as I played in Japanese & translated phonetically. You can start on either Kanoa or Tilkett. I recommend playing in the same order as I did given Tilkett’s story is much darker than Kanoa’s. Similarly Eugene’s than Heath’s. Orsem must be done as the final route (will auto start once you clear route 4).

Common Route

In a flashback, a young Yolca Yulewood writes about her dream when she grows up, while Liam Knott, her childhood friend watches. The time switches to present, where a grownup Liam says he has always been there for Yolca and wants her to never leave his side.

The camera pans to Tilkett who talks about dreaming about a girl he always worshipped, before torturing some thug with Kanoa and Eugene. They post an obscure ad about opening 24/7 and being able to help with anything people have trouble with on the board and return.

In this world, Witches still exist to make devilish deals with humans, turning them into Grimnals. The Witch will grant grimnals one superhuman power/wish [termed “Gift”] at the expense of a “Malode” or curse that the grimnal has to pay. Grimnals are outlawed with the exception of “Vy-xens” or the five LIs in our game, who work for the government to hunt down outlawed grimnals – fighting fire with fire. Despite the Vy-xens risking their lives to protect to people, they are discriminated against & have no human rights; they are not viewed as human at all. In the common route we learn that:

• Tilkett has the Gift to control his blood, which requires him to cut himself to let it, but his blood can form threads or heal others.
• Kanoa has the Gift to turn into wind and holds a license to kill the outlawed grimnals.
• Heath doesn’t have an active Gift but is immune to other grimnals’ abilities. He is also very good at telling whether people are lying.
• Orsem has the Gift to see into the future and orders the group based on his visions.
• Eugene’s Gift remains unmentioned.

The Vy-xens receive three quests from different visitors:

• Cecil Glover, an affluent young man who claims he recently returned from studies abroad and is looking for his childhood friend. He provides a photo of her. He also tells them that she suffers from a mental illness that makes it challenging for her to get her thoughts across & communicate.
• Mommy A beautiful woman seen in Orsem’s visions, who is looking for her missing “rabbit”.
• Detective Drake who storms in accusing Kanoa of being the killer of Liam Knott, who was stabbed in the abdomen and pronounced dead last night. Only two people can enter a closed room without notice: Kanoa with his Gift & an unnamed female thief. Drake demands the group find the perpetrator in order to prove Kanoa’s innocence.

The Vy-xens divide and work on different tasks. Eventually, the group concludes that all three quests lead to the same girl. The rabbit is not an actual rabbit but a white-haired girl. Talking to a child, he reveals that the girl they are looking for has gone to the shut-down Kaleidotower.

Tilkett and co. find the voiceless girl in front of the tower which is closed off to visitors. Frustrated at her inability to gain entry, she starts kicking the door and even throws a literal bomb at it. Kanoa knocks out the girl before she can do more damage and brings her to the headquarters. They search her belongings and find a jewel-decorated dagger with blood on it.

Cecil visits the Vy-xens again and sees the dagger. He immediately recognizes it belonging to his friend & asks to keep it, saying that he believes her no matter what & that she wouldn’t hurt a soul. Tilkett grows suspicious and denies the request. After Cecil leaves, Heath states he was lying. Cecil wants to meet his childhood friend. However, when the Vy-xens go to her room, she has run away. Cecil leaves in disappointment.

After Cecil leaves, Tilkett finds the hiding girl & despite her being mute, he deduces that she doesn’t actually want to see Cecil. Through a series of yes/no questions, the girl says Cecil is not actually her childhood friend. Before Kanoa could get whether she actually killed Liam, she conveniently passes out from a high fever.

Tonight is a “Red Night” which is where the people need to close their doors & monsters called “Eaters” roam the land. Eugene is told to stay behind. The girl seduces Eugene, who is a womanizer, thinking he has a chance to do the sexy with her, but actually injects anesthetic into him and escapes the Vy-xens.

The girl runs to Kaleidotower and finds Cecil there, cheerily announcing that he has been waiting for her. Cecil then tells the girl that he is actually Liam using Cecil’s body. [We then get a literal jumpscare sprite of Liam, lmao.] Liam is clearly obsessed with the girl and says the night when she stabbed him, it hurt him so much but he still loves her. Kanoa arrives to save the girl & kills Liam who was clearly provoking him to do so. Kanoa then turns to the girl, but talks in Liam’s voice. Liam seems to have the Gift to possess the body of whoever kills him.

I got spoiled here badly because I recognized Horie Shun’s voice right away. To confirm, I looked up VNDB cast but saw Cecil was cast by another VA. Then, I saw Liam’s VA being Horie and found out unintentionally that Liam = Cecil in the very first chapter…

The girl desperately make a run to the top of a building. Tilkett follows but is revealed to be Liam. Desperately, the girl threatens to jump off the building. Liam acts scared but doesn’t mind that at all, saying after she dies, he can bury her body in the back of his garden and love her forever.

Orsem arrives and kills Tilkett/Liam with the same jewelled dagger that the girl came with. He states that this dagger is the only way to kill Liam without being possessed by him. Orsem then turns to the girl, saying her choices has killed Kanoa, Heath, and Tilkett. She suffers from a mental breakdown. Orsem then says “even though you made these choices. I will be the reason. Hence, I will kill you.” He fires a shot and we get a “DEAD END” screen.

How did Heath die? He is immune to Liam’s Gift. Eugene not dying makes sense given his.

Followed by the following unvoiced monologue: This is not the end. Death is only a transition. Hope is the prelude to despair. Death is just a new “beginning”.

I

Liam gets stabbed by the girl revealed to be Yolca Yulewood as revenge for cursing her only friend, Eira into an incurable illness. Yolca is able to speak and accuses Liam of becoming a grimnal by making a deal with Witches. Liam admits to his actions but says this is because Eira tried to poison him first. He also says nobody will believe Yolca for being the true Yulewood heiress anyway. He then splashes a blue liquid on Yolca, cursing her to be unable to talk or communicate via writing.

The real Cecil walks into this crime scene. Liam possesses him and gives chase to Yolca who flees. While running, Yolca thinks of a month-old letter that’s somehow written in her handwriting (but has no recollection of) that says Liam is a grimnal, talks about the method of killing Liam (the dagger), and telling Yolca to go to the Kaleidotower on September 29th for refuge.

We get exposition on this world, where people believe in a benevolent goddess. The Yulewoods invented “Re: Command Core” that can convert between different types of matter, revolutionizing the world and making them insanely rich and powerful. There is only one child in the family set to inherit the empire – Yolca, who grew up in a beautiful Kaleidotower free of any worry in the world.

Weaponing a combination of her beauty & brains, taught by the beautiful woman that is revealed to be her teacher Shannon, Yolca learns of “Haven” and seeks refuge there for the night. She sees Eugene’s ad in the beginning & finds the hideout of the Vy-xens. However, because it is nighttime & Eugene was lying about the 24/7, no one is awake so she takes the liberty of falling asleep in the living room couch. In her dreams, Yolca sees memories of her being ridiculed by her classmates for claiming she was “Yolca Yulewood” because the whole family died a long time ago.

She wakes up to Tilkett, Eugene, and Heath. The three introduce themselves & tells her about “Cecil’s” request which makes her very flustered and afraid. “Cecil” comes again and gets sent away by the Vy-xens because he is acting sus. Yolca then falls into a slumber from a high fever. When she wakes up, it was already October 2, while Tilkett deduces the contents of her letters by “talking” to Yolca and tells her he will help her regain her voice.

II

The group goes to the Kaleidotower. However, no one can enter except Kanoa, who says he can’t stay inside for long because there’s something off about the building that makes him feel physically and mentally awful (瘴気/shouki; think of it as corrupt aura/air). The interiors are also covered with thorns & not visible. Kanoa has entered the tower in the past but only says because he has business there. [Rereading this section, Yolca recovers her ability to talk at some point but I forgot how & I’ve already deleted all screenshots with plot. Sorry T_T]

Kanoa acts mean to Yolca but allows her to stay in his room while Eugene renovates hers. He reads her diary and learns about Yolca’s self-loathing for being weak & powerless to change her situation, that her only skill is to “smile and appeal to other people with my looks and weakness”. He tells Yolca that all the books on his shelves are his diaries & thanks her for being worried about him when he entered Kaleidotower for prolonged time. He asks Yolca to smile for him. When she does, he gifts Yolca the lamp that he carries with at all times & tells her that she too has her own strength.

Yolca wakes up the next day to a furious Kanoa demanding to know why she has his lamp. It turns out that Kanoa’s Malode is periodically losing his memory; hence, he tries to record everything that may be useful to him in his shelves of diaries.

Because Yolca has information on Liam and connection to Kaleidotower which allows them to hunt down Witches & grimnals, Orsem wants to keep her around. By creating an employment contract where she poses as “bait” for the Eaters to attract them to a centralized area on red nights for them to be extinguished, she becomes part of Vy-xens.

This chapter has a lot of information that fills in gaps of the lore including but not limited to:

• Tilkett being from an orphanage where Yolca & her parents visited & supported. Hence, he is a big fan of Yolca and remembers her till this day.
• Yolca’s teacher (the one who called her “rabbit”) is the infamous female thief who stole the jewelled dagger & adopted Yolca 6 years ago after her parents died from a conspiracy and murder.
• Heath’s immunity to grimnals also extends to items he makes – such as uniforms for Vy-xens. He makes Yolca a new uniform.

Before the next red night, Orsem summons Yolca and asks her to make her first major choice: who she wants to select as her protector while she acts as bait. Initially, we only have the option to start on Kanoa vs. Tilkett route.

III

Regardless of if you choose Kanoa vs. Tilkett chapter III of common route is similar. You pose as bait and see the Vy-xens, but mainly Tilkett vs. Kanoa in battle action versus the Eaters. After the Eaters are killed a little girl Sophie is seen wandering outside crying and looking for her father. When her father appears, Tilkett susses out that he is actually Liam in disguise. Heath subdues Liam. Orsem gives Yolca the dagger and tells her to make a choice between killing Sophie’s father & Liam versus leaving Sophie’s father alive but in a way killing her friend (because Eira’s curse can only be lifted if Liam dies).

The correct option is to choose “I cannot choose” twice where Yolca demands to find a third option that defeats Liam and spares Sophie’s father. The solution lies in Kaleidotower. Liam escapes, for now.

Yolca arrives at the tower with Tilkett & Kanoa. However, both immediately start feeling nauseous and seeing hallucinations. Ambrose, the legendary artist and creator of Kaleidotower who supposedly should have died 600 years ago, appears telling Yolca that he is her ally, and that only her physical touch can suppress the sensation others are going through while in the tower. He tells Yolca that all his creations serve as “jails” for Witches which are beyond the realm of humans and can take on abstract form. However, some Witches escape captivity by striking deals with desperate humans, cursing them in the process.

He tells Yolca that to defeat Liam, she must end him once and for all. He says “there are many ways you can take one’s life. However, the only way to stop one’s heart and spirit is to make him feel true despair.”

Ambrose sounds awfully familiar to an old friend in EIT… His VNDB VA is listed as ??? I wonder who he actually is?

Yolca, Kanoa, and Tilkett are transported to a mind palace where they enter the mind of Liam and see his memories, understanding his motive. Liam & Yolca are actually full brother and sister. Liam suffered from a fatal congenital heart condition. In order to win the Yulewoods’ favour and gain leverage, Liam’s “parents” sacrificed their own son and transplanted his heart into Liam at the price of taking over Liam’s guardianship. This is why Liam’s “mother” was always extremely cold and cruel to Liam because every time she sees him, he reminds her of her dead son. She tells him that no one will ever love him. [Jeez, instead of standing up to your husband who made the decision, let’s take it out on a poor child… talk about kicking the cat] The Yulewoods later gave birth to Yolca, his younger sister, and are not as desperate to have Liam as their heir anymore.

I wonder who else had a cruel mother growing up in EIT?

Liam feeling that no one loves him in this world, as well as jealousy towards Yolca, becomes obsessed with her & wants to prove his worth by gaining Yolca’s love not as brother and sister, but as the highest form of love possible: one between life partners. Because marrying Yolca in her biological’s body is not acceptable, he makes a deal with a Witch to take over Cecil’s body. He later took over Sophie’s dad’s body because he wants Yolca to feel despair by killing an innocent man, and then swooping in to save her & tell her that he still accepts and loves her. Remembering what Ambrose said, Yolca pretends to play along and even empathize with Liam, only to kill all the hope he has in the end by saying she doesn’t care to understand and mocks him for thinking she will ever love him. Realizing all hope is lost, Liam takes the dagger and stabs himself, lifting Eira’s curse allowing her to fully recover.

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I should also mention that regardless of which route you choose, Yolca will hear Ambrose calling out to her one night, revealing a picture of Kaleidotower in her own room. Touching the picture allows her to teleport into Kaleidotower on any day, as opposed to red nights only when the tower is unlocked. However, Ambrose tells her that she must enter with one “companion” which is the LI of the route. He also asks Yolca to defeat all the Witches in his works in the tower and tells her that each Vy-xens has their own Witch that may or may not require extermination.

Kanoa Fortis (CV: Amasaki Kohei)

Kanoa is the youngest of the Vy-xens at 16 years old with the most powerful combat Gift to turn into wind at the expense of his memory that periodically disappears. He is the obvious tsundere of the group, acting mean to Yolca when he gets flustered at her caring for him. He often gets teased by the group including Yolca for being the baby to which he gets defensive immediately and starts yelling which owes not help at all.

Ambrose tells Yolca that the shiny stones that power Kanoa’s lantern to combat his malode are actually glass shards made by him scattered in the tower. However, the number is finite. Without killing the Witch in Kanoa, he will eventually lose all his memories one day.

Kanoa finds out that Yolca went to the tower alone without his protection and gets very worried for her. He also asks why Yolca is concerned for him when he treats her so meanly. Despite Kanoa’s Gift and protecting the public from Eaters, he is often discriminated against and ridiculed. Hence, he feels undeserving of affection and care. Yolca tells Kanoa about how her parents were philanthropists & her dream of restoring the Yulewood legacy while helping others like her parents did. Kanoa teases her “do you have a crush on me?” before self-deprecating saying no one would want to be loved by a monster like him. Yolca stops Kanoa and says it would be very sad if no one would ever like Kanoa & disagrees. The kitchen sink malfunctions and covers Yolca in tap water. Kanoa finds a towel and dries her hair.

Yolca gets yet another fever from the cold tap water and has to stay in bed. Kanoa leaves some ice cream for her in the common area but refuses to admit he bought them until Yolca pushes then says “don’t think anything of it, I might have gotten your least favourite flavour!” He then tells Yolca he can go to the tower alone and suffer from the shouki because deep down he is worried about her health. He tells her that he’s killed 30 Witches/grimnal already & the tower is a dangerous place that a “weak girl” like her shouldn’t be close to.

In fact, Kanoa even goes to Orsem and makes an ultimatum “only one of me or Yolca can stay” in the hopes of sending her away from danger. From Orsem, Yolca learns that Kanoa has the same “black wind” Gift that terrorized this country 50 years ago. Because of this, he was tortured by the military until Orsem got him to join the Vy-xens to help defend humans against Eaters.

Orsem orders Yolca to convince Kanoa to accept her to stay because he doesn’t want to lose either of them. He even orders them to go to a cafe together. Kanoa acts like a high schooler around his crush, ordering Yolca to stay 5 meters away from him at all times. On the way, Kanoa gets called “monster” by the humans but tells Yolca to stop defending him and keep walking. He also explains that out of the 30 grimnals he killed, none of them were innocent.

In the cafe, they encounter one of Ambrose’s works which was a miniature doll house. Because Kanoa says disrespectful things about it, it turns him into Thumbelina lol. Even his Gift is now at most a little breeze. Back at the headquarters, he gets laughed at by Tilkett and Eugene. Kanoa’s protests are now moot because he is powerless without Yolca. The two are forced to team up again in Kaleidotower to find a way to restore his normal sized body. Kanoa tells Yolca that she doesn’t need to worry about getting him those stones so much because he can’t lose memories that he never wanted to hold onto.

We also get a funny interlude where Yolca thought she trampled Kanoa to death. The scene had the red screen and everything. Got me in the first half not gonna lie:

Kanoa asks why Yolca is intent on doing Orsem’s bidding in the tower if he said he doesn’t need the stones. Yolca tells him about her resolve to restore her family’s legacy. Realizing that this is Kanoa’s way of caring for her, she asks him for a pinky promise to work together towards her goal. We then have the cutest pinky promise ever with the two friends making up & Kanoa apologizing for acting like a little brat and hurting Yolca’s feelings.

Yolca also promises to kill Kanoa’s Witch, to which he replies he would very much like to keep his badass Gift despite the Malode. He tells her while she is trying to uphold her deceased parents’ values & legacy, what he is doing right now is “cleanup” for what his family did. Meanwhile, we are introduced to the conflict between “pro-grimnals” and “anti-grimnals” amongst the people. Orsem also tells Yolca that while the government wants to exterminate Witches & grimnals, they said Vy-xens are off-limits because they do the government’s dirty work for them.

The two go to the tower & find the Witch residing in the dollhouse, restoring Kanoa to his original size. However, Kanoa is overtaken by a gust of shouki & another corrupted artwork appears. The two are teleported into Kanoa’s psyche. Kanoa is heard talking to someone in a flashback. However, because he literally has no memory, the two have no idea who he was talking to or what this is about. Kanoa once again gets defensive when Yolca offers to find him more stones or to investigate his past, saying “I hate placing my trust & hope in someone, only for them to betray me in the end!” Despite this, deep down he appreciates Yolca & wishes her well in his own way.

Yolca does some sleuthing including recalling her own parents’ death 6 years ago. She recalls her father’s blood turning the snow red, and a pair of eyes she saw in hiding of the killer. Kanoa continues to be a tsundere towards Yolca but leans on her & lets her feed him apple. The two watch an idol duo that Kanoa is a fan of.

A high-ranking military official by the name of Inley storms the Vy-xen headquarters and starts beating up Kanoa as “routine inspection”. He reminds Kanoa to not forget what his choker does.

The next day, Yolca befriends Loa from the idol duo in the street, who introduces Yolca to a reporter & saying that she supports the rights of grimnals. In exchange of writing opinion pieces that will hopefully influence the public to view grimnals and Vy-xens more favourable, Yolca asks for payment not in gold but for dirt on Inley.

Kanoa tells Yolca that the choker on his neck is put on by the military and contains blades that can kill him instantly if he doesn’t do their bidding or fight back. He reveals that this is his sentence for being the son of the previous “black wind” who killed many innocent people. Kanoa says all he is suffering is atonement for his father’s sins. Yolca does not understand why Kanoa takes it upon himself to pay for something he didn’t even do – he simply inherited the Gift. She tells him that his wind, unlike his father’s, exists to protect people.

Kanoa opens up to Yolca telling her that he has siblings but doesn’t remember them. There is also a page torn out of his diary from 6 years ago – the same night that Yolca’s parents died. Someone wants to keep him from finding the truth. For the first time, Kanoa wonders if a life without his Gift actually isn’t so bad after all.

He agrees to go back to the tower with Yolca, who can’t hold in her curiosity any longer and asks why his father killed people. His parents were both renowned biologists who are extreme Darwinists. His father believed that the human genetic makeup was too homogenous that one day some virus will come by and wipe out humankind. His solution is to allow grimnals to integrate into society, and form at least half the population to increase genetic diversity & increase the population bottleneck. However, instead of allowing more humans to be grimnals, his father wanted to kill off the humans to increase the grimnal makeup which is insane but okay… They come across a very pure piece of glass that they add to Kanoa’s collection. However, they still get sucked into Kanoa’s psyche once again.

This time, they see a 10-year-old Kanoa playing with a camera that makes a particular shutter noise. They then see another flashback of Kanoa talking to Heath 2 years ago. However, Kanoa still looked 16 not 14 in that flashback. Kanoa also makes some interesting comments that seem to suggest Tilkett (who is almost 21) is younger than him…?

Yolca’s first opinion piece is received well. In fact, the cafe owner even sends Kanoa some sweets as thank you to his service. For the first time, Kanoa is acknowledged and applauded for the hard work he’s done. Kanoa finally starts looking beyond his past and thinks about the future.

He asks what Yolca would do when all of this is over and she becomes the rightful leader of House Yulewood, whether she would even respond to a commoner like him if he calls her name in the street. Yolca replies of course she will and gets shy that she doesn’t want to leave Kanoa at all, even saying he can stay on her estate if she wished. Kanoa gets “jealous” about Inley kissing her when they first met, to which Yolca replies he kissed her on the hand as a courtesy to a lady. Kanoa pulls her close and asks, then where should I kiss to make it special? Onee-san.

Kanoa is a little too smooth for someone who is supposed to 16 years old, to the point even Yolca wonders if he’s actually younger than her?

After a PDA scene in front of Tilkett, Yolca & Kanoa meet the duo of Loa & Maulo. To Yolca’s surprise, they say Kanoa is actually their little brother. Maulo’s eyes matches the man who was seen on the night of Yolca’s parents’ death. Could he be…

Another red night arrives. Yolca gets sick and sleeps for two days. When she wakes up, her reporter boss tells her that someone “higher up” ordered him to write about her being the true Yulewood heir, despite not really believing it. She asks her boss how old Maulo is, getting the reply he is 22. However, the man she saw was already in early 20s six years ago so it couldn’t have been him.

At the same time, Loa/Maulo announce their sudden retirement on live TV, shocking the world even Kanoa, who has an argument with Loa/Maulo. Interesting, Loa/Maulo call him their “oniichan” instead of otouto & says he doesn’t understand what they have been doing for him.

Meanwhile, Yolca confronts Heath who says he cannot reveal what he talked with Kanoa in the memory. He also reminds Yolca that the stones are replica glass pieces that Ambrose makes. A well-made piece of glass (that they have) can fully stop Kanoa’s Malode. In fact, Heath is the one who tells Yolca and Kanoa about this in the first place, saying he’s seen one of Ambrose’s dolls have these glass pieces for eyes. Yolca wonders if that’s the same doll she had as a child.

Yolca returns to her room and finds a grown man who looks like Maulo standing in a hood. Upon a closer look and Orsem’s hints, she realizes this is Kanoa, who restored to his actual age after touching the glass piece they found last time at the tower. Maulo wasn’t the man she saw on that night; it was his older brother Kanoa. Before Kanoa can explain, Yolca runs out of the house unable to process what just happened. At the same time, Eugene uncovers a wiretapping device on Yolca that was set by Loa. However, why would she do that…?

Kanoa decides to hide no more secrets from Yolca and tells her that he actually made two deals with Witches. As such, he has not one but two Malodes. The other Malode being that he would revert in age, eventually becoming a baby if not for the glass pieces. If anything, his memory loss is a good protection mechanisms against the abuse he’s received at the military – he would have been driven insane long ago. Yolca’s father Matthew was also the one who gave a young Kanoa his camera. Yolca tells Kanoa that the man she saw that night had the same eyes as him. However, if Kanoa tells her that he didn’t do it, she will believe him unconditionally. Kanoa says he cannot tell her with certainly because he doesn’t remember. However, he is willing to go to the tower once again to recover these memories. He kisses Yolca and says if his innocence is proven at the tower, then he never wants to leave her side again.

The two re-enter the tower and meet a caricature of Eugene (a replica exaggerating the person’s traits) of which Kanoa immediately slices his head off and we get a very graphic scene lol. Kanoa tells Yolca that while he got the second Malode of reverse aging, he never actually inherited any gift…? They kill another Witch hiding in an hourglass that can freeze time before using Kanoa’s camera as the catalyst to re-enter his psyche.

In the memory, a young Kanoa meets up with Matthew as an escape from his own batshit crazy parents. Matthew offers him the choice between a doll and the camera. Wanting to meet Matthew again, Kanoa chooses the camera and makes Matthew promise that he will teach him how to take pictures.

They are then taken to the memory of the night Matthew & his wife are killed. They mention that Yolca’s doll was named “Lune” which was dropped somewhere while they were running outside from the unseen killer.

I got tripped up so bad here because the kana for Lune was ルネ which translates to “Rune”. However, Rune was ルーン in EIT. Those two are not the same name at all!

Matthew told Yolca to hide then got stabbed by the unseen killer. An older Kanoa rushed out but Matthew already suffered critical wounds. Matthew tells Kanoa to not call for help and to deal the final blow, saying he wanted to repay with his death for being “unable to save” Kanoa. In his dying breath, he begged Kanoa to “protect my daughter”. A desperate Kanoa prayed to his Witch to make a second pledge to protect no one other than Yolca herself.

Learning the truth & herself being the reason why Kanoa has been suffering, Yolca cries for Kanoa, who responds with a gentle kiss.

The pair return to the headquarters. Another red night arrives with witnesses saying there’s a “red-haired witch” calling on the Eaters. Yolca stays behind while the Vy-xens go out to fight the Eaters. Loa comes and kidnaps Yolca, revealing herself to be the orchestrator behind the red nights & the “red-haired witch” with a wig. Before Yolca is abducted, she manages to text Kanoa to find her.

Loa takes Yolca to a large cocoon full of butterflies – which are what Witches take the shape of – saying this was their father’s research before he died. The eggs are placed in Maulo’s body & he releases the red butterflies to the world every 10 days. The red powder from their wings make the sky red & when they hit the ground, Eaters are born. The siblings willingly do this because they want to make Kanoa a “hero” & irreplaceable to the military so he will not be tortured anymore. The Eaters will also kill off some defenceless humans and further thin the herd which is what their father would have wanted. Loa also recalls the night their father died & Kanoa ate some “meat” which was actually their father’s heart. This is the only way one can reliably inherit someone else’s Witch, Gift and Malode. Young & horrified Maulo & Loa rushed to apologize to Kanoa for what he went through, while their crazy mother ordered them to live solely for the purpose “to serve Kanoa” at any cost.

Loa starts a fire and wants to burn everything including Maulo in the cocoon to the ground. Kanoa rushes in, stopping the fire, saving Maulo, then yelled at his younger siblings that he never wanted any of this “sacrifice” that they made on his behalf.

The skies are forever clear once again with the source of the manmade red skies controlled. Just when the lovers think they have met their happy ending, Inley arrives and smugly announces that Kanoa is needed at the battlefront as a killing machine. He has been pulling the strings of public opinion so that Vy-xens are allowed to keep their abilities to serve his military ambitions.

Yolca takes out the hourglass that they found earlier and stops time in the entire world. She proposes to travel a paused world with Kanoa, who rejects the offer and says he wants to live in a future with Yolca instead, not in a frozen world like this. Unable to accept that Kanoa will leave her and possibly die in the war, Yolca freezes Kanoa in time too and tells him that he is going nowhere. He will stay here with her, forever. In game, we are take back to the scene where Orsem tells Yolca to choose Kanoa vs. Tilkett as her bodyguard once again.

Thoughts: I ranked Kanoa last in my pre-game impressions because I thought he was going to be “yet another” tsundere 年下 who acts cute and blushy. Which ended up being true but only for 20%. I did NOT see the reverse aging plot twist or his history with Matthew & Yolca. Because of his true age, Kanoa is a lot more mature than he looks which sets up some gap moe moments where he looks young but talks like a smooth criminal lol… I was also not expecting that ending where Yolca went yandere on Kanoa “if I can’t have him no one can, not this world” and realized that this game is going to adopt the EIT format where Yolca will have to experience bad endings with each LI before arriving at her final happily ever after (?)

I would recommend playing his route first over Tilkett because even though his route is also dark and angsty, he eases you into the game and introduces tidbits about other characters. His past is also the farther from the central plot compared to Tilkett’s.

I don’t have complaints about this route. It was well-written and got me immediately hooked to this game (as if I wasn’t already from the common route) and looking forward what was coming next…

Tilkett Halmshaw (CV: Okamoto Nobuhiko)

From initial glance, Tilkett is the most attracted to Yolca & always tries to get close to her no matter whose route we are in. However, when Yolca asks what’s been on our mind and if he has a crush on us or something, Tilkett backtracks and says it’s because he was an orphan & remember a little Yolca visiting his orphanage with Matthew. To him, she is like the light of his life: an idol, a goddess, but not a lover.

Tilkett is sweet, easygoing, enjoys cars/bikes like many male nerds, and has the Gift to control blood either by forming threads with it to attack enemies or track those he loves, or to cure people directly by letting them drink it. He also holds a physician’s license (the red card he carries with all the time) and is the second respected member (to Orsem) of Vy-xens because of him tending to the community’s medical needs.

However, all of these actions require him to cut himself to let blood. From very early on we see that the humans manipulate him into giving his blood (sometimes beyond his body’s capacity) by acting helpless and sad in front of him, refusing to drink medicine and recovering slower. Tilkett allows himself to be used as such and clearly has low esteem of himself.

As the poster boy who says stuff like “we’ve met a long time ago” and “please use me as a tool to achieve your goals”, we know Tilkett clearly has a deep and possibly dark backstory (unlike Kanoa who got us by surprise). We just don’t know what it is yet.

Tilkett is extremely overprotective of Yolca. He tracks her movements & health with his invisible blood threads. Upon finding out she went to Kaleidotower without him through the painting, he corners her and declares that not only is she forbidden from going there without his protection, she is also not allowed to sleep in her own room anymore. He happily tells Yolca to move in with him and sleep in his bed.

He shows Yolca his interests, from cars/trains/bikes to his love for keeping jellyfish (because they don’t have a brain). Yolca also catches a glimpse of an old photo of a girl who shares his hair colour but he doesn’t elaborate.

In the common route, Eugene gives Yolca a cryptic talk about butterflies then uses the excuse that he mentions because Witches take the form of butterflies. Yolca asks about his “gift” to which he says he had one, but cannot use it anymore. While outside, Yolca gifts Tilkett an album of skies in different countries [the setting is that the skies look different depending on which country you are in] because he mentions he likes looking at the sky.

An invisible grimnal breaks loose in the shopping district, slashing innocent humans but cannot be tracked down. Yolca cries for help [choosing to throw books at the air gets you killed lmao]. Tilkett lets his blood and forms a net revealing the grimnal. However, he passes out from blood loss & the grimnal escapes. Detective Drake arrives and blames Kanoa who arrived to help at the scene yet again for the crime. When Yolca turns to the witnesses expecting them speak up for Kanoa, nobody steps forward. Tilkett disregards his own condition and lets more blood to heal the wounded the moment he wakes up, saying “I have a special gift (and want to use it).”

Yolca attempts to tell Tilkett to take care of himself more and not use his gift so recklessly. She also asks him what his Malode is. Tilkett instead deflects her serious questions and requests with flirting. Oh you are so cute! Wanna be my girlfriend? … but he will not actually answer her.

Eugene tells the two that by going to Kaleidotower and finding the painting where the Witch emerged from, they can track down the grimnal. Tilkett recalls the perpetrator smelling like a certain type of sea plant. Using this plant as a hint, the two find a painting of the plant, but before that they run into a caricature of PINK Kanoa who is straightforward with his feelings & just cute without the tsundere part.

They find the suspicious painting. By identifying it, the grimnal shows herself & exposes her Witch, which Tilkett kills. However, another painting appears and the two are sucked into Tilkett’s own psyche, starting with the question: What does Tilkett wish for?

Tilkett initially uses some BS answers such as what he wants as a birthday present which obviously doesn’t release them from this realm. He is also against the idea of facing his Witch because he wants to keep his gift. A locked door appears. For someone with an impeccable memory like Tilkett (to the point he could recall what Yolca wore when she met him as children), he says he doesn’t remember the memory behind the door. However, in order to leave the realm and not get consumed by shouki he admits that he had always wanted family, to be with someone. He tells Yolca that he had an older sister and that his biggest is to avenge her death.

Tilkett gets his 20th birthday. Because they identified and dealt with the real grimnal, Kanoa is released from the police. Yolca attempts to learn more about Tilkett’s past and asks about his sister, yet he begs her to not prod further saying this is his own battle. He also basically tells Yolca that “we are not the same” because he notices while she wants to uncover the truth, she has channeled her energy more into restoring her parents’ legacy instead of making the murders pay i.e. revenge.

The next morning, Tilkett gets his first hangover from excessive drinking. Yolca walks into his room & sees burn marks on his back. He continues to avoid her questions by flirting with her. Yolca gets fed up and says okay I know you don’t want to tell me the truth because I am useless. Tilkett apologizes saying it has never crossed his mind that Yolca is useless to him, that he has always looked up to her since youth. However, again, this is his own battle. Yolca says regardless of if Tilkett tells her, she will find out what happened whether he likes it or not.

She does some investigations & wakes up the next morning with massive eye bags. Moved by her determination, Tilkett agrees to return to the Kaleidotower. However, at this time Orsem walks in and announces that the government has banned hunting Vy-xens’ Witches. He announces that he will replace Tilkett today as Yolca’s partner to explore Kaleidotower. Tilkett gets irritated and says that’s not supposed to happen – he and Yolca are partners. The two get aggressive before Eugene steps in and separates them, saying they need to prepare for the red night.

Tilkett remarks that he is in this position because he is not strong enough. His Gift is not enough. If only he could bring the dead back to life… Hilariously, Kanoa speaks up saying Tilkett is crazy and that having two Gifts is impossible. 😂 Eugene tells Yolca that Tilkett is regarded as the “loved child by the Witch” because while he has a pretty powerful Gift, he doesn’t have a Malode.

Yolca combs all the events that has happened. When the painting was first found in her bedroom, Tilkett did not suspect any outsider but immediately suspected his fellow Vy-xens. She confronts Tilkett, who admits that one of the Vy-xens killed his sister and that when he finds out who did, he will kill that person. Yolca talks to Kanoa & Eugene, who say they didn’t do it. Kanoa adds that Tilkett’s sister died a gruesome death and had numerous gunshot wounds to her body. There is only one person who uses guns here…

Tilkett is intent on making a second deal with a Witch so he brings his sister back. Yolca says she will do everything to stop him. Tilkett is intent on making his sister’s last wish, which is for Tilkett to help as many people as possible, come true. After all, Morphia said he is blessed the Witch to the point he doesn’t even have a Malode. Yolca disagrees with this, saying she doesn’t think he’s “blessed” by the Witch at all, because isn’t the requirement of constantly cutting and hurting himself enough of a Malode?

The two enter the tower. Ambrose is not here. Tilkett confesses to Yolca that he doesn’t want to see her at Orsem’s side. Yolca asks when he’s going to finally call her by name only. Tilkett remains too shy to do that.

The floor suddenly goes dark & Yolca runs into a HORRIFYING caricature of Tilkett with six eyes. Yolca calls Orsem for help. Orsem tells her to bring the phone to “Tilkett” and says “I killed your sister Morphia”. The caricature doesn’t react to this at all, allowing Yolca to realize that he is a fake & blows his brains out with a bomb. This allows Yolca to come across a chalice made by Ambrose. She feels a strong pull to drink out of it so follows her inner voice. She suddenly loses memory of what she was doing up till now including the horrifying caricature.

Continuing on her search for Tilkett, she comes across another caricature of Dalen Yulewood, Matthew’s brother and current leader of House Yulewood. He says he’s surprised that Ambrose chose her when even Matthew didn’t meet his standards, then asked her to hand over the necklace that Ambrose gave her because “this never ending cycle of death is just a burden to you”. When Yolca refuses, he takes out a gun and prepares to shoot her before Tilkett arrives and tanks a shot for her.

Despite his injury, Tilkett smiles and says it’s no big deal. He says that Yolca is his “religion” & that he will always be her “number one follower”. We and Yolca are confused why he suddenly brings religion into the topic, but I promise this will be relevant soon.

The two are teleported into Tilkett’s mind palace. This time the keyword is “Morphia”. Tilkett says Morphia is his older sister who worked as a lawyer under Orsem. Both of them worked on forming the Vy-xens. They then relive Tilkett’s memory of when he discovered his sister’s dead body covered in gunshots in his own room. There was a small time gap between when Tilkett first found the body and the first responders arrived. Some papers were burnt on the desk. The document talks about the theories of how grimnals are formed:

• Meeting one of Ambrose’s works (where the Witch resides)
• Having an event where the subject’s life is threatened
• Severe psychological trauma

It also talks about Malodes and how many people could not bear their Malodes and went insane or died. The only known five successful cases were the five people in today’s Vy-xen. It concludes with “further research is needed to elucidate how Gifts can be passed onto other humans.”

A door appears in the mind palace. Yolca approaches it. However, Tilkett suddenly flies into a fit of rage and screams at her to not approach nor open the door. The two are then teleported back to the Vy-xen headquarters.

Yolca talks to Tilkett about the memory. He offers some details that do not add up such as:

• Morphia was a lawyer but never lived with Tilkett – who lived in the orphanage – because Tilkett said she had no money, but lawyers are well-paid
• Morphia was supposedly a lower-ranking lawyer, yet somehow had access to confidential top-secret information such as the one found on Tilkett’s desk that she brought in
• He continues to be extremely defensive about what was behind the door and yelled at Yolca again before profusely apologizing.

Another grimnal is on the loose so the Vy-xens are out dealing with the issue. Finding Yolca alone, Orsem comes in and casually mentions that he also remembered and was there when those documents were left on Tilkett’s desk, effectively confessing to be her murderer. He asks if Yolca loves Tilkett, and how she will choose in letting Tilkett get his revenge, or getting to the bottom of the truth.

Luc (the little kid that grew up with Tilkett in the orphanage) somehow manages to kidnap an unsuspecting Yolca. He says Yolca needs to remain in hostage until he can negotiate with a cult called “Jorr Hyde Church”. While being locked in the trunk, she hears people talking about Tilkett being selected as the next “living god” [生き神 or the idea that a god exists in the world in the form of a living human, often with some superhuman powers]. Eugene out of all people arrive & kills the lackeys. He frees Yolca & tells her that a long time ago, Tilkett made a promise to Jorr Hyde to “give up his entire life”.

Yolca returns to the headquarters. Tilkett wants to tend to her wounds with his blood. Yolca stops him and asks if what Eugene said was true. Tilkett downplays it as usual, saying this will allow him to help as many people as possible. He will stay in the cult’s hospital & they will extract all his blood while feeding him stimulants to produce as much blood as possible (EPO?? lmao). However, this will harm his body in other ways to the point eventually he will lose the ability to talk, walk, see, or feel… He will be a giant blood supply for all the sick people in this world. He also tells Yolca that he has one year left before he goes to the cult, before biting his tongue and forcing Yolca to taste his blood. Yolca cannot accept this or understand why Tilkett is so intent on sacrificing his entire being, saying she will become the leader of Yulewood House before that and use all means necessary to nullify this agreement.

Yolca visits Ambrose, who says Dalen visited Kaleidotower a lot but was not immune to the shouki – only Yolca is. She also runs into Luc in the street who realizes his plan has been foiled. Luc apologizes but says Tilkett is extremely important to him & he ran out of ideas to rescue him from fulfilling his promise with Jorr Hyde. Yolca accepts his apology and asks Luc to hold no detail back so she can help Tilkett too. Luc goes silent then says Morphia was the one who sold him to Jorr Hyde and manipulated Tilkett to become a martyr “for the good of others”.

Yolca & Luc go to Orsem who remarks judging the look on Yolca’s face, she must know the truth by now that Morphia probably did shady things. He adds that Morphia wasn’t actually Tilkett’s sister. She was the youngest daughter of a local wealthy family who mysteriously inherited her family estate despite having two older sisters before her in line of succession. However, Tilkett believed Morphia was his own sister because the latter was a grimnal who had the ability to rewrite people’s memory. Orsem saw a future where he talked to Tilkett about this, but he would not believe it and chose to trust Morphia. Orsem was also a victim of Morphia for 3 years, until one day he recovered his real memory. He also adds that Morphia sold Tilkett to Jorr Hyde solely for a large sum of money. Anyhow, Orsem decided to take matters into his own hands and kill her. However, even after he blew her guts out, Tilkett’s memory remained altered. Morphia’s Gift was so strong that the effects persisted after her death. Orsem tells Yolca that at this stage, the only way out is to get Tilkett to willingly give up his own Gift so that he is useless to the cult.

Luc suddenly interrupts saying Morphia is still alive. Tilkett has been keeping her alive in secret all this time and periodically moves her to different secret places. Orsem laments his mistake & says he will send Kanoa after her. Yolca says this move is too dangerous because if Morphia also manages to control Kanoa then Vy-xens are doomed. She offers to find where Morphia is hiding & kill the Witch within her.

Tilkett confesses and apologizes to Yolca saying that he has been flirty with her all this time because he knew he only had one year left, and that he though someone as important and rich as Yolca would never consider an orphan like him. He wanted one last relationship with someone he’s always looked up to before giving up his life. However, by getting to know Yolca and seeing her resolve, he really has fallen in love with her. Yolca replies that she isn’t angry but “if you are truly sorry then make it up to me.” Unfortunately, she also notices that even when Tilkett confesses his true love for her, he does not even mention changing his mind about Jorr Hyde and going to their hospital. She surprises Tilkett by saying “Let’s go to the tower. The three, not two of us” signalling that she knows Morphia is still alive.

Tilkett brings “Morphia” or more accurately, Morphia’s brain that he has been preserving all this time since her death. Tilkett wasn’t able to bring her back to life but managed to preserve her memories and thoughts.

Yolca confronts Tilkett about the fact that Morphia was a grimnal who rewrote his memories and manipulated him for a sum of money. She points out many logical inconsistencies and hazy parts of his “memory”. Two paintings appear. The one on the right is Tilkett’s Witch, while the left belonged to Morphia. Before Yolca attempted to touch Morphia’s painting, Ambrose stops her saying her “light is not bright enough” and she isn’t strong enough to face Morphia’s Witch, who is extremely strong. This news disappoints Yolca but she is determined to free Tilkett one way or other. She tells Tilkett that he probably said to use him as her tool of gaining back her family name because that’s the only way he’s been treated by Morphia. However, Yolca wants to get through all of this with him not as her tool, but as her friend.

The two return to Tilkett’s psyche. Tilkett tries to recall his motive for being a doctor. He says it’s because he wanted to be rich & help people. Yolca asks why he didn’t become a lawyer like Morphia – wouldn’t that be the more natural choice? Tilkett suddenly reacts strongly and says he HATES lawyers. But didn’t he love Morphia?… He then said it’s because Morphia was so busy studying in law school & neglected spending time with him. [Something is not making sense here, but this is a plot device that will be solved in Orsem route.]

By confronting the inconsistencies in Tilkett’s memory, he recalls that a fire happened before and was the catalyst of how he gained his Gift. He also recalled that he never actually passed the doctor’s exam but was given the license by Morphia one day. Tilkett seems to start to understand that Morphia did change his memory but continues to believe in her saying maybe she did this to protect him, and for his own good. Yolca tries to push further. However, a voice tells her to not dig deeper because bad things will happen. The entire screen is then scribbled with “go back”. Tilkett gives Yolca a charm from Jorr Hyde saying that a long time ago, he was helped by the previous living god of the cult.

Tilkett recalls details of the fire. He was coerced by some rich kids to start it. However, this scene was titled “the sinful truth”. Yolca chooses to believe him and say that she doesn’t think this is what happened. This takes them to the next scene “the good truth”. Tilkett was present when Morphia killed her father and set fire to his estate before telling Tilkett that he will be framed for setting the fire and that she has grown tired of him and needs to search for her next “toy”. After all, her Gift is strong but only works on five people at a time.

Morphia appears in Tilkett’s psyche. She laughs and says even when Tilkett knows the truth, her Gift is so strong that she will forever be remembered as his beloved older sister. She orders Tilkett to kill Yolca. Yolca gets ready to shoot Morphia, who laughs and says if she shoots her, then Tilkett will hate her for the rest of his life. Yolca says even if that happens, she will do it. Tilkett says instead of hating Yolca, he’d rather hate himself and will kill Morphia himself. Suddenly, Tilkett’s butterflies/Witches emerge everywhere protecting Morphia. Morphia explains that her Gift not only works on humans but also Witches. She has rewritten the Witch’s memory so that even though they are Tilkett’s gift, they only serve her. Morphia also tells Tilkett that Orsem shot her and asks him to avenge her like he always promised to, but kill Yolca first because she is trying to strip him of his own Gift & kill his beloved sister.

Tilkett chooses Yolca & says as her fan, believer, and boyfriend, her life is the most important to him. Yolca throws the Jorr Hyde charm at Morphia, killing Tilkett’s Witches and Morphia.

The two exit Kaleidotower as the sun begins to rise. We are supposed to arrive at the happy ending, right?

Tilkett cuts his hand. The blood continues to form threads. His Gift is intact. Tilkett suddenly talks in two different personalities. One says that the Witch they “killed” in the tower was just an illusion by Morphia, and that he still wants to fulfill his promise to her and go to Jorr Hyde. The other personality starts crying and begs Yolca to release him of the torment from Morphia’s fake memories. The first personality wins out with Tilkett making up his mind and cheerfully telling Yolca “bye-bye”.

Yolca wants to re-enter Kaleidotower to help Tilkett. However, they have spent too long in there that Tilkett can never enter the tower this life again. The shouki have taken an effect on his body and psyche. If he enters again he will go insane, die, or both.

In the end, Yolca tells that if Tilkett decides to go to the hospital, then she will follow him as well. Yolca lies in a hospital bed next to Tilkett, living on injected sedatives and antipsychotics, telling herself that Tilkett will return to normal one day, while Tilkett prays to god that his death arrives sooner so Yolca can finally be free.

Thoughts: As the poster boy, Tilkett’s route is the darkest out of all five routes in my opinion. It explores themes of sacrifice and altruistic love. Tilkett is a victim through and through by the hands of Morphia. Even after being faced with the cold hard truth, he has difficulty fully accepting it & continues to make excuses for her because his entire life and values depended on the perfect image of Morphia & her teaching to him to sacrifice himself for the sake of others (so that she could sell him to Jorr Hyde for money). It is easier to numb himself with sweet nothings – just like how Orsem said he was full of – than be as brave as Yolca to always seek the truth & make things actually right again.

Heavy symbolism was used throughout this route. From Orsem’s candy analogy (saying Tilkett was full of sweet nothings) to Eugene’s butterfly analogy (he knew about Tilkett’s deal with Jorr Hyde and hence, Tilkett was a “short-lived butterfly” who can live his free life to the fullest for a very short time), to Tilkett’s caricature of the pixelated yet still horrifying head with six eyes. Aside from the shock value, I believe Ushio was trying to convey that by agreeing to become Jorr Hyde’s living god, Tilkett has metamorphosed into the a hideous monster instead of an actual beautiful and holy deity. The caricature of Tilkett had six eyes, yet he still failed to see the truth because deep down he didn’t want and was afraid to.

This route told a compelling and chilling story. However, the romance has taken a back seat because while Yolca seemed to care for Tilkett, the latter truly was too broken and preoccupied of a man to love her back. He has viewed Yolca as “the Yulewood princess”, his goddess, someone so selfless and associated with every good quality possible that he feels his “lowly” self will never reach the level of. Even though we get many “sweet” scenes with Okamoto’s adorable voice & blushing sprites, barely any of or I dare even say none of those were sincere. Like Tilkett said, he had one year left in his life to do what he wanted & to me he really chose to throw his “bachelor’s party” with Yolca, have some wild memories with her, before being married to his duty at Jorr Hyde. Ironically, even Tilkett’s route centred on the theme of helping others & self-sacrifice, I don’t think he was capable of loving Yolca or anyone given how psychologically damaged and unwell he was. Alas, this was the story & certainly not something we see in mainstream otome ever.

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Clearing the first two routes takes you to a mysterious house by the sea, where you see a young boy introducing himself as the “Warden”. He tells Yolca that she was so close to reaching her happy ending, yet fell short in the end. Alas, “the world is yearning for a new fate” & Yolca should see to the end with him.

Yolca is teleported back to early on in the common route. Orsem comes in and smiles at Yolca asking if she’s also “seen the future” as she awakens memories with Kanoa/Tilkett through flashbacks upon seeing them alive and well.

Orsem adds that the Eaters will no longer be a threat nor will there be red nights anymore, yet refuses to elaborate. Eugene chimes in and also wants to join the candidate list to be Yolca’s protector, earning annoyance and disapproval from Heath. Orsem points out that Heath’s Gift is a passive while Eugene can’t even use his ability. Eugene admits that he’s lost the ability to use his Gift, but his Gift can achieve what others cannot. Orsem gets tired of their bickering and says whatever pick who you want.

We get some scenes to know Heath & Eugene better [I’ve decided to include the relevant information into their individual routes.] Detective Drake storms in again wanting to frame Kanoa for yet another murder. This time, “Cecil” is murdered with the jewelled dagger! Orsem & Yolca tell Drake to get lost because what he is doing is not according to legal process, while Yolca remarks to herself that she “feels great” knowing Liam is now burning in hell.

Yolca gets led to the painting in her room and enters Kaleidotower once again. She finds Kanoa/Tilkett passed out on the ground after they entered the tower without Orsem’s permission, from the shouki. Liam appears saying he is here as an illusion only as he really has been killed by the dagger. He instead of Ambrose gives her the necklace and tells her only two people can exit at a time. Yolca offers to stay while Kanoa/Tilkett leaves. Liam starts strangling Yolca before Heath & Eugene appear in the tower. Heath appears shocked seeing Liam.

Everyone returns to the tower safely. Orsem gets angry at Kanoa/Tilkett and thus strips them from chance to be Yolca’s protector. This leaves Heath/Eugene/Orsem. However, Orsem cannot be selected until the final route so really you choose between Heath & Eugene as your exploration partner in the tower.

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Heath Crescent (CV: Midorikawa Hikaru)

Warning: lots and lots and lots of screenshots of the best man in the game 🩵

The muscle mommy (?) of the group, Heath works as a housekeeper for rich people but keeps getting fired because of his black & white morals and the inability to keep his thoughts to himself. Someone gave him a maid outfit as a joke to make fun of him, only for him to actually wear it and continue his job search, and surprisingly landing more offers. He is also described to be extremely beautiful to the point he looks like a statue and artistic creation. He carries a “stun gun” or electroshock weapon around and whips it out whenever Yolca is in danger. He has a strong sense of protection towards Kanoa & Yolca because he sees them as “little children”. He dislikes Eugene, viewing him as corrupt and lacking good qualities of man.

Choosing Heath will make him surprised and happy. He immediately vows to Yolca that he will defend her with his life. He then forbids Yolca from doing any housework from now on because she deserves to “return” to her princess life. Yes, he talks about her past at the Kaleidotower quite fondly. This shocks the group because Heath is usually politely distant towards everyone, yet he acts so warmly to Yolca.

Heath sees Yolca watching TV. The program is brought by Jorr Hyde and talks about lucky items based on horoscope. For Yolca who is revealed to be a Capricorn, the lucky item is “golden handkerchief”. Heath is unimpressed and shuts off the TV, but not before hearing the sound of sea waves played. This inspires both their nostalgia, as Yolca often went to seaside to play as a child, and Heath was born near the sea. Heath also tells her that he quit all his housekeeper positions to focus on being her protector.

They enter the Kaleidotower. Heath immediately hugs Yolca tightly and doesn’t want to let go, saying she is nice, fluffy, and warm, and protects him against the negative aura in the tower.

They meet Ambrose, who tasks Yolca with exterminating the Witches. He also starts to break character and says “I’m getting sick of saying these lines over and over again” and starts yawning like a cat saying he needs to nap soon. Ambrose takes an interest in Heath and comes closer to look at his heterochromic eyes. However, Heath immediately tells him to back off because he has dust on his costume & threatens him to not deceive Yolca or put her in harm.

Back at the headquarters, Yolca tells Heath about her love for her parents & wish to restore their legacy and uphold their values. Heath tells her this is an amazing idea & he will follow her to it till she achieves her goals. He then also says the infamous line in his character introduction “use my whole being as your possession”. Yolca is surprised at this request, saying she can’t do that. Heath is a person and partner, not someone or something to be disposed of. Heath gets upset and takes the tower painting out of her room, saying when she promises to use him in any means necessary for her own dreams and not hesitate, that is when she will get her painting back.

Heath continues not allowing Yolca to go to Kaleidotower while he goes himself. He claims that he feels fine from the shouki. However, seeing how he acted at their first visit, Yolca obviously thinks he is lying.

Eugene brings Eira – Yolca’s best and only friend – to the headquarters. We see some flashbacks of Eira running away from her animal farmer parents & crashing with Yolca/Shanon. Despite their differences in personality and lifestyle, the three manage to get along while bickering. Eira asks Yolca to return to her home together. Yolca replies she has to stay to explore Kaleidotower. Heath & Yolca also get into an argument because Heath thinks Yolca should get more proper friends. Kanoa remarks that Heath is acting like a “parent” to Yolca as his love seems to ask for nothing in return.

The next day, Heath walks by Yolca without acknowledging her. Eugene offers some “ideas” to make Heath notice and talk to her again, one of them being saying mean things to get a reaction out of him. After deliberation, Yolca refuses because she respects Heath too much to say fake things to him to get a reaction. [If you choose to do that, Heath actually locks you up in the tower forever, lmao.]

Heath returns from Kaleidotower injured severely with a 20+cm laceration on his arm. While exploring one of the floors, he saw a grimnal but after a struggle, the grimnal got away by turning into a bird.

While tending to his wounds, Heath apologizes to Yolca for being overprotective & limiting her movements. Yolca also apologizes, saying she understands where he is coming from given she is literally physically powerless & that she will rely on Heath more in the future. After Yolca leaves, Eira enters without knocking, asking Heath why he is here at Vy-xens as a “criminal”.

Detective Drake calls Vy-xens in a panic because the same grimnal that escaped from Heath is able to transform into different characters in appearance (Helvetica is that you?) & baited him to hand over important police records. Orsem says Vy-xens are busy so he will only entrust this case to Heath/Yolca.

Remembering what Shanon taught her about exploiting people, especially men with an ego’s weakness, Yolca flatters Drake & gets him to hand over the case files for this grimnal, which is against his official policy. Heath is unimpressed at how Yolca resorted to a “low” method such as flattery and using her looks to trick Drake. He tells Yolca that he wants to talk in ten minutes about what just happened.

Before leaving, Yolca chats with Tilkett and says Heath reminds her of the doll she had when she was a girl.

Yolca & Heath discuss the grimnal case. He has posed as three people so far: the police chief, jeweller, and CEO of a security company. He asks what Yolca thinks they have in common. Initially, she replies “they’re all shady professions!” which makes Heath smile and say this was a childish and adorable answer, and that he loves it. They make some progress in the case.

Yolca tells Heath to stop treating her like a child and look at her as a grown-up woman and stop forbidding her from going to the tower. Heath’s attitude becomes more tolerating. He says that while he is usually good at telling whether people are lying, he cannot see through Yolca’s intentions. However, he shares the sentiment that they need to find this grimnal before Kanoa is framed.

Heath tells Yolca that a big reason behind him being afraid of “losing” her is that – he can see everyone, but not Yolca. He can only hear her voice and feel her touch, but not see her unless they are in Kaleidotower. He says this must be his Malode. Yolca apologizes and asks whether being her protector without being able to see her has caused him trouble. Heath says he’s never been happier than when he was chosen by Yolca, but doubts himself for actually being adequate enough to protect her.

Yolca reaches first for Heath’s apron, then his face, asking if he feels her beside him. She tells Heath that even if he can’t see her, he has the most beautiful eyes: one sharing the same colour as her doll, and one with her.

Following the lead that the grimnal is a believer of Jorr Hyde, they visit their hospital and find Tilkett there. While Yolca was in the washroom, the grimnal disguises as her and approaches Heath but is seen through and brought to the ground. The grimnal tries to change into a bird to escape once again. Yolca returns from the washroom and takes out a machine that plays at frequencies only heard by birds, and brings the grimnal to the ground. After resolving this case, Heath’s first conclusion is that he should never leave Yolca unattended at any time, even if she’s in the washroom! Yolca is like thanks, but no thanks, lol.

The next trip to the tower they come across some more works from Ambrose. Heath recognizes many of Ambrose’s works. He tells Yolca that the diary wasn’t the only work from Ambrose that she had in her possession. Ambrose also made a doll in the past and told it to protect the children. That doll was him.

Yolca enters a flashback of her own memory when she was back in her old room in Kaleidotower. Matthew gives her a male doll saying his name is “The Knight of Anfantaria” (アンファンテリアの騎士). He was a knight that came from the moon to protect the children.

The next moment when Yolca wakes up, she finds herself back at the headquarters. Heath explains that she fainted when this memory started to play. He also asks her to stop being so formal with him, as she was so close with “Lune” – the name she chose for the doll and wore it dresses, despite him being a male doll. In the memory, Yolca tells Lune, “You are the prettiest doll in the entire world. You are my best friend! I will never let you be alone.”

Eira comes to hang out with Yolca again. She and Heath clearly have bad blood. Eira becomes abusive to Heath, pouring hot tea on him while Heath doesn’t fight back and says it’s his bad for standing in her way… Eira shouts “I did nothing wrong!” while storming off – the same line she shouted at her parents before running away from home. Yolca enters Heath’s room and sees him applying some white stuff to his burn marks. He tells her that because he was born as a doll, even after he became human, he can cure his wounds instantly by applying putty on his body. Yolca asks why Heath withheld his true identity from her for this long. Heath is hesitant to respond so Yolca offers to find answers in the tower.

Heath mentions that he returned Liam to the “best world” and says some obscure stuff about Kaleidotower being a place where “different worlds transect”. He tells Yolca to not worry about it. [We do not worry about this until Orsem route.] He takes Yolca to a floor that is not numbered but rather “E” which is her old room.

Sitting on their old bed, Heath tells Yolca as one of Ambrose’s finest creations, he had a heart and the ability to feel. However, none of this stopped him from actually protecting Yolca or her parents from the assassination that happened six years ago. When Matthew was murdered, he wished in his heart to pay any price if a Witch could help Yolca. This allowed him to turn human – which is his actual Gift – at the price of never being able to physically see Yolca again. The immunity is a property that all of Ambrose’s artworks have and not a Gift. Heath cries and apologizes to Yolca for not being able to protect her six years ago, to which Yolca replies, “but you literally became human for my sake.”

Heath, or Lune, reminisces about the good old times. No one else in Vy-xens knows his secret. The sky outside is getting dark so he proposes to stay here for the night. This floor does not contain any shouki. Heath still never viewed himself as human. He extends his arms out to Yolca and asks to hug her in bed like she always did as a girl. He recalls Yolca being really rough with his hair in the beginning to the point he even lost some of it, before saying よしよし and pulling in for a kiss. Yolca jumps out of the bed and says kissing is off limits. Heath appears sad because Yolca always gave him the bedtime kisses as a child… 😦 I died at this scene from bliss T__T

Heath gets a literal identity crisis and tells Yolca he doesn’t know what to do with his newfound intense emotions for Yolca. When she returned to his arms, he realized that he never wanted to let go again… However, respecting Yolca’s feelings, he leaves & says will return in the morning. He tells Yolca that he is grateful enough to be able to see her, hear her; he will always love her. Yolca realizes his “love” is not romantic but familial love, loyalty, and sense of protection towards children. However, she views “Heath” differently. She begins crying.

The camera pans to Eira receiving a call from her father asking her to go home to take over the family business. Eira appears irritated that Heath is so close with Yolca. Again, she is saying, “I did nothing wrong. The WORLD did me wrong.”

The camera pans to Ambrose again after he learns that Heath was actually his doll. He becomes excited then sad saying this is why Heath doesn’t want to act close to him. Returning to the headquarters, emergent news becomes broadcasted. Some grimnal is on the loose with large nails being hammered into buildings and structures. The nails resemble the pieces on Eira’s necklace. Eira becomes arrested. Heath says that because Eira has caused significant damage to property and killed a man in the process, if she gets arrested as a grimnal she will almost certainly be executed. If they can find her Witch first, then she can at least be sent back to her home country and be trialled as a human. Unfortunately, Eira’s execution at this time is scheduled for the next few days. Yolca asks Heath what their history is, Heath replies that at some point, he was Eira’s family’s “property” before we start the final chapter. Talking to Orsem in private, Heath demands to know when the “Witch’s Trial” will reopen. The rest of the conversation is unknown. However, when Heath left the room, he says he’s had a very “friendly and productive” discussion while Orsem just storms out and starts abusing the fridge.

Before going to the tower, Heath tells Yolca that he gave himself the name Heath Crescent. Crescent means an incomplete moon just like how he did not fulfill his duty; heath stands for flowers that bloom in the wild, just like Yolca’s eyes. Yolca remembers that Ambrose said initially, both of Lune’s eyes were blue and wonders if the purple eye is a prosthesis. Heath & Ambrose reunite but Heath continues to push his maker away, calling him “childish”, haha. Ambrose is sad but says he gets called childish a lot. When Yolca asks by whom, he replies “Ish”.

Yolca’s necklace transports them both to a drawing of a jail cell. She deduces that this is Eira’s psyche. Eira comes from a country that is loosely based after NK where criminals are viewed as less than human and abused until they die. Eira’s father was the head of jail. The criminals are called “farm animals” and hence, Eira told Yolca her family ran a “farm”. From a young age, Eira also abused the “animals”, whipping them and saying cruel things, before selling them to the black market with her father. Eventually, Eira comes across a criminal who was stealing to feed his father. She begins whipping him in public but the other people rushed to defend the criminal, saying he is a good son & Eira is being unnecessarily cruel. Eira, realizing deep down that what she and her father had been doing was wrong, justifies it by loudly screaming that she did nothing wrong; the world wronged her and that this criminal is “worthless trash”. At this part in the memory, the Witch appears and forms a pact with Eira. Yolca realizes that there is no good fate awaiting her best friend. Either she gets executed as a grimnal here, or gets sent back home as a slave and probably whipped to death or trafficked.

Yolca has many questions for Eira, including why she poisoned Liam and why so many attempts. There were far more subtle ways. It was almost like she wanted to be caught as a criminal… Eira shares her history with Heath, who was sent to the “farm” as a criminal who supposedly committed all those heinous crimes. Upon investigation, he was framed and never did anything wrong. However, Heath never fought back against his abuse and was beaten every day by Eira, eventually being sold at the black market for his beautiful eyes. Heath felt so much guilt for losing Yolca he felt he needed to repent.

Yolca calls out Eira for still having hope for her parents to change. That’s why she wanted to be caught and tried as a criminal so that her parents would maybe show mercy to their own daughter & change their ways. Eira breaks down crying and says she can’t standing being a tormentor at her parents’ “farm” and continuing their legacy; that what they did was horrible. Heath kills Eira’s Witch. But the problem remains. Remembering that Drake inappropriately leaked case files to Vy-xens early on in the route, Yolca successfully blackmails him into not executing or deporting Eira.

Heath asks Eugene what “unrequited love” is and tells him that this is what Yolca said when Eira asked about their relationship. Eugene gets angry at Heath and said this is why he’s been telling Heath to touch grass and talk to women all these years lmao but tells him anyway. The next day, Heath starts acting all blushy and weird in front of Yolca, now that he’s realized his romantic love for her like a teenager. Yolca wonders if he’s having a fever and touches his forehead. Heath gets so flustered he lands on his butt & runs back to his room telling Yolca that Eugene will cook for her today instead. XD

Eugene enters Yolca’s room and tells her that Heath is finally seeing his feelings for her. He pranks on Heath when he comes in by covering her body saying she is naked right now. Heath punches Eugene in the face before realizing Yolca wasn’t naked or doing anything indecent whatsoever and is super confused and in love.

Tilkett rushes in and says Kanoa is being conscripted for the war. Realizing there’s no time to lose, the pair rush to Kaleidotower again to kill his Witch. Yolca takes out her necklace but instantly an explosion happens and blows Heath’s body into pieces. His heart is exposed and beating. Yolca has to put his adult body back together piece by piece while Heath can still talk to her and say he wasn’t bluffing when he said all he needed was his heart to survive. For each body part Yolca finds a piece of his memories as a doll is revealed:

• How Ambrose created him. He always wanted Ambrose to take him to the sea.
• Matthew finds him & brings him to a young Kanoa, who rejected him in favour of the camera
• Young Yolca holding him and telling him that he’s the prettiest doll in the world and her best friend, that she loves him and will stay with him forever
• The night when Matthew was killed and Kanoa made his deal with the Witch for the Gift of him becoming human. Kanoa gets stabbed by the killer too. [Didn’t Kanoa already have his Gift, what is he doing lmao] In the heat of the moment, Heath chose to rush Kanoa to the hospital and Yolca was kidnapped as a result.
• In his journey to find Yolca, he was deceived by some human traffickers to Eira’s country and later sold as a human toy of some aristocrat who discovered his secret of healing wounds with putty. They gouged one of his eyes out as a past-time.

Heath is back in one piece again thanks to Yolca. He tells her that because Kanoa made the second deal with the Witch about him, Kanoa’s Witch actually resides in Heath’s heart. To kill Kanoa’s Witch, Yolca needs to stab and stop Heath’s heart. He tells Yolca to hurry up and restore Kanoa. Trembling, Yolca asks what will become of Heath if his heart is irreparably damaged. He smiles and says, “I will return to what I used to be as well. Your favourite doll.”

Yolca cries, saying she cannot accept this and there must be another way. However, Heath replies that he loves her the same way she loves him. If she truly loves him, then he wishes for her happiness & to forget about him. Heath’s body levitates in the air & the Witch appears before disappearing. Yolca screams but Heath is nowhere to be seen anymore.

Thoughts:

I know I am not the only one who started having the “crack” theory that Heath was the doll after our first route. The writer drops many hints including the focus on his blue eyes described by Ambrose, how he was explicitly written to have a “beautiful, doll-like face”, and how attached he is to Yolca & Yolca fondly recalling her moments with her doll. We all felt so relieved after this route and patted ourselves on the back, whew we are not crazy. The moment I learned about Heath’s Gift I knew his ending was going to be him turning back to a doll. Even “knowing” the ending didn’t prepare me for the sadness of the final scene & that gorgeous CG which led to me bawling my eyes out.

I never realized how many events transpired in Heath’s route until I started writing the synopsis out because his route left such a warm, fuzzy feeling & is the lightest route out of all five. Heath’s route is what I wish Tilkett’s route would have been – that’s not entirely accurate as I still enjoyed Tilkett’s, but is what Tilkett’s route would have been if he was less broken & had the ability to love people. True unconditional love born from a childhood promise. He just loves Yolca so, so much. In the beginning just as a doll without realizing what romantic love was. Through his experiences with Yolca, even Pinocchio became a man, and they finally confirm their feelings in the end – only for it to be all taken away in the finale, for now.

The fact Heath viewed himself still as a doll made for many funny interactions. Can you imagine a 6+’ guy extending his arms to Yolca for a hug because that’s what they did as children? 😂 The gap-moe between his doll-like actions and thought pattern vs. him being the muscle mommy of the group was utilized thoroughly.

This is the one route where I felt secure and safe. Thank you, Ushio-san, for creating this character so we could all meet him. Thank you, Midorikawa-san & Tana-san for bringing him to life with your voice acting & art. No detail in this route is truly trivial – they all serve as set-up for the future – from the TV show Yolca was watching in the beginning, to Eira’s “farm” job. So far, I’ve often had to go back and add in details that I took out of the review for being trivial to save length. Nope, it’s all setup. And that’s what makes it so enjoyable for lore-diggers like me.

Eugene (CV: Satou Takuya)

Eugene is the one with the most secrets in Vy-xens. His Gift is unknown. He wears a mask around at all times for some reason. He appears playful but just turns around and does some pretty dark stuff. When Yolca asked more about his past, he brushes it off with flirting as well. Oh I can’t take the mask off or I’d want to kiss you~ What’s my last name? Well if I become your husband then it will be Yulewood~ In the common chapter, he tempts Yolca to choose him “so that I can rewrite your destiny”. Is this his Gift…?

As a merchant, Eugene surprisingly has a strong hold over influential politicians and businesspeople. He takes Yolca to meet all those people, who immediately agree to acknowledge her as the Yulewood heir, even if they don’t believe it, because Eugene seems to have some kind of leverage over them. As repayment, Eugene asks Yolca to sleep with him. Yolca calls Shanon on whether she should just sleep with him. Shanon replies that she wouldn’t and asks Yolca to find another way to pay Eugene back.

Eugene, Heath, and Yolca go to Kaleidotower. Eugene seems to have unusually good luck, finding Kanoa’s stones/glass while the other two couldn’t. Yolca touches his head. Eugene says he hasn’t felt anyone touching his head for a long time and asks her to do it more.

At night, Yolca is about to fall asleep. She feels someone on top of her in bed. It turns out Eugene has come to collect his “payment”. Yolca desperately begs him to think of another way where she can pay him back such as when she becomes Yulewood heir again. Eugene instead talks about how much he detests and cannot empathize with Yolca’s dream of “serving the people”. He asks why Yolca is restricting herself to this sole possibility and path of being a Yulewood again, when she could throw everything away and start a completely new life. Even if she could be the heiress, how nice would it be to control her before she is even there…?

In a panic, Yolca blurts out “if you let me go, I will pray for your happiness.” This is an excuse that even Yolca finds ridiculous but she has nothing to lose. To her shock, Eugene backs off and says “prayer is more powerful than bliss” and tells Yolca to pray for his happiness every night.

The next morning, Shanon storms the headquarters after the phone call last night and checks to see if Yolca was actually… violated. Yet she still denies it. Okay we know you’re a tsundere mommy Shanon~

Eugene then takes Yolca on another shopping trips, literally buys every single dress she likes. When Yolca tells Eugene that she actually prayed for his happiness & picks a cafe for Eugene since he’s been caring about her enjoyment so much, he feeds her some cake and says Ahn~ [However, we just know that this is setup for whatever unhinged things were about to happen..]

In the cafe, Eugene casually mentions that he really dislikes Tilkett for his selfless nature. He and Yolca talk about her parents & brother. Yolca later mentions that she wants to donate to the people affected by pollution in this world, because that’s what her parents would have done if they were still alive. Somehow, this triggers Eugene & the indicator shows he descends into darkness.

He tells Yolca that he is only loyal to his god which is “desire”. Whatever he likes and wants, he will make it happen. Whatever he hates, he will make disappear or change. He tempts Yolca basically saying if she understands and accepts this, then he will take her to “heights far beyond House Yulewood once achieved”. Yolca comments she sees something “not human” within Eugene.

The next day, they watch TV which played some touching scenes. Yolca becomes moved and starts crying. Meanwhile, Eugene sleeps through the movies. He says Yolca and the common people are too easily manipulated by “cheap tricks” such as cute animals, or depictions of death to cry, while he traces the tear marks on her face with his fingers.

Eugene takes Yolca to his own room and asks her to pick one of the three merchandises – whatever money they make will be donated. [I am not sure what the point of this scene or choice is.] He then tells Yolca that the government has officially announced that they are looking for the killer of “Cecil”. He challenges Yolca to find the killer & bring them to justice.

In Liam’s mind palace, he tells Yolca that the killer blindfolded him and didn’t make a sound. Seemingly, there are no clues. They also meet Ambrose. However, Yolca says she does not trust him because he only talks about the benefits of killing Witches but not the risk at all – something that Eugene has taught her, “you should only trust proposals from people who tell you both the benefit and risks because everything comes with a price.” Ambrose continues his exposition. However, Eugene tells him that they are not interested and are just here for Liam’s killer. [Now my screenshots are incomplete here but either Yolca or Ambrose brings up that it’s their duty to eliminate Witches] which again sets off Eugene who coldly says it’s his least favourite word.

While taking the elevator, Eugene tells Yolca that Witches are not one-dimensionally bad as people think because otherwise, the country they are in would have been invaded by others already. However, because her countries (skyless nation) has such a high rate of grimnal appearances, the other countries are wary. Yolca replies she still can’t accept this, especially after knowing how grimnals are formed. Everyone who is a grimnal has their Gift because of some kind of psychological trauma. Eugene remarks that she thinks the same way like Heath, but that some people “are able to stay alive in this world because of their Witch.”

They go through the caricature of Kanoa then arrive at a door behind which is a potions shop. Eugene drinks a love potion that makes the person in front fall in love with him but only for 3 minutes. Yolca ends up flirting with him but also making Eugene flustered in the process.

After the three minutes Yolca is like I wanna kms. Eugene teases her telling her to drink from the same bottle, saying now it’s his turn to fall in love with her. However, if he falls in love with her, then “there is no going back anymore.” Yolca braces herself as he shoves the bottle in her face before he laughs and said he drank everything already. Before they leave, Yolca wants to check if Eugene has brought any suspicious items out of the shop. Eugene starts getting lewd and excited that he’s going to get stripped by Yolca and she stops after finding one potion “knowing what dolls think” in his outer pocket. After they return, it is revealed that Eugene did bring something out with him in his inner clothes.

We have a few scenes for Yolca to deduce who the killer of Liam was. Truthfully, the process didn’t matter because Yolca gathers from Liam directly (after fake tears that he’s weak to) that the person who killed him from behind wore black nail polish. AKA Eugene. Eugene is delighted that Yolca found out the truth. He suddenly pulls her in for a kiss and tells her it’s time for her to “stop being human” and slaps some cursed paper on her back. He then asks Yolca if he has finally become her “number one” and surpassed her beloved brother.

Yolca wakes in her room with Tilkett telling her she had another high fever. She is immediately preoccupied with an immense amount of hunger. She eats the entire kitchen yet is still hungry. Before falling asleep, she contemplates whether she wants to still pray for Eugene’s happiness after what he did to her. She decides she will still then finds her teleported to Eugene’s bedroom. She sees Eugene and feels a strong “desire” for him. She demands to know if Eugene fed her an aphrodisiac. Eugene laughs and says he didn’t know Yolca couldn’t tell the difference between “lust” and “gluttony”.

Eugene cast a curse on Yolca so that she literally has hunger for his flesh and blood. He tells Yolca that this desire for cannibalising him will accompany her for the rest of her life until she finally decides to physically devour his body but more importantly his heart. He then bites his tongue and kisses Yolca so she tastes his blood. He tells Yolca that she is no longer human but a cannibal and demon, just like him (“descend the depths and join me”).

Yolca runs outside and is found by a concerned Heath. Choosing “run away” and talking to Heath gives you a bad ending lmao, so we have no choice but to face this dilemma head on. Eugene continues to taunt and torment Yolca. He says Yolca is too selfless to kill someone for her own behalf. This is not explicitly said but killing Liam also gives her an “excuse” to kill him – even if she hated Liam but he was the only direct family she had left.

Eugene tells Yolca that he wants to die by her hands so that he can pass on his Gift to her. His Gift is to grant people’s wishes & thus, happiness. However, he is unable to activate that Gift now. Yet Yolca is so he wants to transfer it to her. [Let’s recall how Kanoa inherited his father’s ability..] The Malode that comes with the Gift is that the owner could not die, unless by the hand of the person they loved. He says he hates Yolca being trapped by her parents’ shadows and values. By making her a cannibal, he will liberate her from those morals.. and she will be free to live life for herself instead of her parents with arguably the most powerful Gift in the world.

The next day, Yolca meets Willow, who is an employee of Eugene’s shop, and a big fan of legends of “the knight of Anfantaria” aka Heath/Lune. Eugene also plays with a stray dog in the street, despite him claiming that he hates dogs.

Willow offers his card to Yolca. However, Eugene intercepts it and says she has no use for his contact information. Back home, he tongue kisses Yolca and punishes her for “looking at other men”.

Yolca & Eugene go to Kaleidotower, this time in Eugene’s own psyche. Two keywords appear. “Living God” & “Pico”. Pico is greyed out nor does Eugene want to explain who he is – says Yolca can ask Willow later. To exit the mind palace, we have to figure out who the “living god” played in the memory is.

From a young age, Eugene was taken from his parents & selected as the next successor of Jorr Hyde’s living god (what Tilkett was going to be in his ending). They’re always children and fed the hearts of their predecessors. They have the Gift of granting their followers’ any wish, if they shed tears – which grant the wishes – out of empathy for their subjects. At the age of 10-11, little Eugene was confined in a room without friends or family. Every day all he heard was sad experiences of his followers and cried all day for them to grant wishes. His last name was Jorr Hyde hence was never made known. He likely also wore a mask at all times so people from the church would not recognize him.

After they return to the real world, Yolca tracks down Willow and asks him who Pico is. Willow explains that Pico wasn’t a person, but the name of Eugene’s dog. Willow was also one of the candidates for the next living god, but ultimate the church chose Eugene. When Eugene was tired or too mentally tormented to cry, the church would beat Willow & Pico in front of him to make him keep crying the tears of miracle. Willow explains the Malode of only being able to die by their loved one’s hands helps the living gods – who are usually completely mentally broken by age 10 – to be killed by their parents to pass on the Gift to the next successor. However, for some reason Eugene was still kept alive at age 11 and he became disillusioned about the fucked up situation was and started making demands with the church, declining to see followers. The church finally called in his parents to kill him. Because Eugene doesn’t love his parents for sending him in anymore, they were unable to kill him.

Desperate, the church drugged Pico and shut Pico in a room with Eugene. Eugene closed his eyes and said if he had to die then he would accept being killed by Pico, his only friend. In the last moment, Pico started ramming his head in the wall with the last bit of conscience he had and killed himself. From that day, Eugene felt true despair and stopped shedding a single tear. Eugene was going to live forever, not allowed to go to heaven or hell. He was cursed to wander around on this earth forever.

Eugene tells Yolca that the church says “our living god has been corrupted” however, he has never changed from the boy who always wanted an ordinary life without the requirement to live for the purpose of others. Yolca asks if Eugene truly loves her or he’s just trying to convince himself of that so he could finally die. Eugene says she is the only person who knows him best in this world. Yolca examines her own feelings and realizes that despite all that’s happened, she still wants Eugene’s happiness – something that only she understands and can grant in this world. She tells Eugene that next week, she will follow through and grant his wish. “Your heart will become my flesh. I will make you forever part of me. Even after your death, you will never be alone. Please love me, Eugene; for I love you more than anyone else in this world.”

Tilkett announces that he is going to leave for Jorr Hyde to be their new living god. Eugene privately tells Yolca that he got Tilkett in this mess because he was also a victim of the fire and healed by Tilkett’s blood – which was seen by people from the church, attracting their attention.

The two spend a night together but the next morning Yolca wakes up to an empty bed. Eugene has simply disappeared.

He went to Jorr Hyde so Tilkett doesn’t have to. He tells Yolca that he struck a deal with the church. He believes this is the best outcome for everyone. “Maybe I will warm up to people again and one day regain the ability to cry. When I am with you, I regain faith that I can change for the better.”

Things seem to go towards a hopeful direction. Eugene even gets rid of Yolca’s curse. However, something unexpected happens – Yolca is shot through the chest by an unknown sniper. Despite being rushed to the hospital, Tilkett is somewhere far away & Yolca is pronounced dead. In the meantime, a follower of the Jorr Hyde church exclaims that the tears of miracle have returned to this earth.

Yolca teleports to the Warden again, who smiles and says she has a little visitor. An 11-year-old Eugene cries and begs Yolca to not leave him alone in the world.

Yolca wakes up in the real world with Tilkett next to her saying she’s made a miraculous recovery. However, Willow comes in and says Eugene has transformed into a large monster in the skies permanently and raining poison onto the ground. She is given a rifle and told with the press of one button, she is the only one who can kill Eugene.

Yolca goes outdoors, her skin bruising from the poison that the monster/Eugene is raining. She looks up at the monster and tells him she loves him, and pulls the trigger.

In the aftermath, Yolca eats the entire monster’s heart & becomes the new living god of Jorr Hyde. In her dreams, she hears Eugene’s voice telling her he will forever be by her side and part of her.

Thoughts: Even when I went in this route expecting a heavy, angsty backstory, no amount of priming could have prepared me for THIS dark of a story. Just, wow… I went from scared, to despair, to sad just like Yolca in game. Again, I know Ushio is amazing at doing this, but plenty of setup and what initially sounded almost 中二 actually ended up being true and much darker, such as when he said “if I love you there is no going back”. What seemed like a silly comment of “I can pray for your happiness Eugene-sama so please don’t rape me” actually struck the right chord within his heart and made Eugene look at Yolca not as a toy but something more amusing and possibly worthy of his love and salvation – to him, that is death.

I wonder which was the bigger driver for Eugene to want to pass on his ability to Yolca: his desire for death, or deep down he doesn’t want his Gift to go to waste. After all, he could stay immortal on this world and enjoy things the way he is right now – in fact that is the sad love ending – with no end in sight. Despite him claiming not having a single care for the welfare of others, I think that is just Eugene acting tough. He and Yolca both wanted the world to be a better place and were willing to sacrifice, but the world simply takes everything from them, as we will learn what they have taken from Yolca and her bloodline in Orsem route…

Orsem Helhand (CV: Maeno Tomoaki)

Yolca wakes up to Warden talking that so far, four Witches have been defeated. There are 10000 Witches in this world, with 113 or over 1% defeated now. Warden gives Yolca another necklace and teleports her to the next world. So far the routes all start with “O-Core” and have different “axes”. This time we go to “unassigned axis’.

Yolca talks to Orsem about her experience talking to Warden. Orsem isn’t surprised at all and says that is simply the afterworld. He tells Yolca that everyone has died for her. Feeling guilty and overwhelmed, Yolca attempts to change the development this time and says she’s not going to stay at Vy-xen at all. Orsem tells Yolca that she still has unfinished business, to which she says Liam is dead, she doesn’t care about succeeding the Yulewood estate right now and just wants to go back to Shanon. However, Shanon also tells her not to come back and gives a clear lie that she has a “boyfriend” so doesn’t have time with Yolca anymore.

Desperate, Yolca hops on a train out of the country to Shanon with her favourite sweets. She finds Orsem waiting for her at the destination in a forest. He tells Yolca that this is not who she is as “running away from your problems isn’t you.” Yolca replies “I bring misfortune to everyone… I cannot make anyone happy.” [familiar?] Thinking about the four men that died for her in four different timelines, she feels despair and wants to give up.

Orsem kneels before Yolca and says, “then bring misfortune to me this time.” He wants to follow Yolca and do everything to support her until she becomes the Yulewood heiress again.

Yolca replies but I don’t have anything. I am no one. He says she has one thing. She could have chosen to give up on proving she’s a Yulewood and live an easy life, yet she continues to fight for her parents’ values and to earn to be called a Yulewood again. Isn’t this faith and determination something that only she has? Orsem tells Yolca that they can benefit from each other and won’t allow her turning her back on him again. With Yolca taking his offered hand, we enter the O-axis. In the background, Orsem tells Shanon who appears to know about the world plot that “even after she dies, the world doesn’t change.”

On the surface, Orsem is Yolca’s lawyer. They start a formal lawsuit to acknowledge her rightful inheritance to the Yulewood name and property. Orsem makes some comment about Yolca showing up at a bad timing because now he has to “watch his methods” and make it so that they are acceptable to her.

Yolca runs into some tough situations ranging from the reporters asking a very tough question to receiving an unknown package that explodes in her face and disfigures her. However, time seems to rewind back but Yolca does not retain any memory. This time, Orsem walks in and “predicts” the tough questions & suspicious package, helping Yolca avoid these situations. Being used to deception, he thought Yolca was faking kindness to Yolca. She points out that she genuinely meant to be kind and that it’s hurtful to view this as her exploiting Kanoa for gain. Orsem then apologizes?!

Meanwhile, Ambrose panics in Kaleidotower because Yolca hasn’t come yet. Warden explains that with repetitive deaths and timelines, she’s starting to retain memory for other worlds. We then see a shot of Ish.

Based on what he “saw in the future”, Orsem becomes protective of Yolca, who starts teasing him and he actually blushes. Yolca then tells Orsem that she prefers it if he’s more “straightforward”. They also talk about Tilkett with Orsem saying Tilkett is not human but just a tool – even he views himself as so.

Yolca falls asleep and comes across a hazy imagery of Orsem strangling her. However, the next day, there were no marks around her neck. The red night is still present in this timeline. Heath gets busy protecting others and accidentally let Yolca be trampled by the escaping people, yet due to his Malode he cannot see Yolca lying in front of him.

Humans really are a weak species. They become disturbed by chaos and quickly let go of their logic, exposing their filthy true nature. Hey, you, until when will you find your “happiness”? Are you just into this kind of SM play? As someone so “wholesome” I don’t understand.

It turns out Ish is talking to Orsem, who says it’s forbidden for Ish to influence this world. Ish says he simply froze time in this world to observe; he did and will not interfere. Ish says out of everyone, why did you entrust her to the one who couldn’t see her? Orsem says he felt it was necessary – to give him a chance to finally protect his beloved master again and liberate him from the shackles around his heart. He then says Yolca is really the best “live bait”, all he needs to do is hook, line, sinker… but what is she attracting?

Ish shouts that Orsem needs to stop doing this because he will come to a limit. Orsem once again holds a gun to his head and says he has used his friends as chess pieces on a board, and witnessed loss of his loved ones over and over again… all thanks to his ability to “rewind with death”. “After all, I … ” the last part of the sentence is greyed out.

Orsem kills himself to rewind time. This time he instructs Heath to stay with Yolca at all times, allowing him to successfully keep her safe. However, Yolca remembers from the last rewind the final scene where Orsem pulled the trigger against his own temple. Yolca tells Orsem that she’s seen what he’s done and asks why he strangled her that night. Orsem is clearly mentally unwell at this point, says some stuff about not being able to tell between dream and reality anymore, and attempts to kill himself again to “make things right” but stopped by Yolca.

In her room, Yolca meets Ish who tells her that Orsem has gone insane, but “just knowing you are not alone gives you the hope to turn around despair”. He then shows her the painting of Kaleidotower and says the answer she seeks is within. We are then replayed the monologue at the very beginning when Yolca met her first “dead end” – but narrated by Ish this time.

Orsem wakes up to Ish telling him that Yolca has gone to the tower. He tells her the story will not be complete with her. Orsem gives chases saying he will kill her once again. In the tower, Ambrose, Warden, and Ish await. Warden asks why Orsem wants to kill her when so far things have been going well. Ish says it’s because he doesn’t want to take orders from a little girl anymore. Yolca remembers in his introduction, Orsem says “if you want to overpower me, then I only answer to absolute strength.” She asks Warden what she will need to do in order to have that strength.

Yolca rides the elevator when a voice asks her if she has the courage to “see through the illusions”. I’m not 100% sure here but all those scenes of Orsem killing her or pulling the trigger at her were actually not true, and Orsem was killing himself all along…? She sees a caricature of Orsem who tells her she has to say if he’s real or not, or die. She says he is a fake, but the real Orsem appears saying nobody said she would live if she got it right. As he aims the rifle at Yolca, Heath appears and saves her. Yolca deduces Heath is real because he is immune to the Kaleidotower’s magic and effects. Heath demands Orsem to explain what is going on and what he means by “worlds”.

Orsem says the current Heath in front of Yolca is from another world trajectory – kind of like parallel world. Kaleidotower allows the meeting of all parallel worlds and for the characters to coexist at the same time. Heath once again asks if “the Witches’ vote” is real but Orsem deflects the question. Heath disappears with Orsem once again holding the gun to Yolca saying no matter what he does, she always ends up poking her nose into his business. Whenever there’s a man in the picture, then she just falls hopelessly in love with them. However, this time it’s different; she’s finally focused on her task about the Yulewoods. He tells Yolca that she should stay ignorant and live a blissfully unaware life. In the last second, he turns the gun to himself before Tilkett screams “big bro”.

Orsem doesn’t get to go through with his rewind and is instead locked into an SM-implied device unable to move. After solving a riddle, Yolca finds the key to unlock it and release Orsem, despite knowing his intentions. Once Orsem is released, Ish tells him that he has lost because she chose to save him out of her own will, so the key will protect his life.

Warden speaks up about how 600 years ago, the current planet ran out of resources and humankind is at the brink of extinction. It was the first Yulewood who made the deal with a Witch to grant humankind Re:Command Core to sustain it, at the price of over half of the lifespan of every Yulewood person until eternity. That was the first Gift humans ever received. Orsem tells them that this is enough and leaves the tower with Yolca.

Yolca starts vomiting upon returning, learning about the truth of her frequent illnesses. She has always looked up to her parents, and took pride in helping others even at her own expense, but to learn she was offered to a “god” before she was born without any agency in her life, she feels disgusted and disillusioned. Orsem tells her if she gives up the key to the lockup device, he can rewind time and she will not remember any of this and never learn of the truth. He borrowed this ability from the Warden. He is not a grimnal and disguises his actual experiences of seeing deaths as “precognition”. He reassures Yolca that pulling the trigger takes less than one second. Yolca asks him, “does it hurt?” He doesn’t answer and chides Yolca to stop asking questions.

Yolca picks up on the fact that Orsem always tries to rewind in front of her. Orsem replies that’s because the rewind ability comes with the condition that he has to die within Yolca’s vicinity. He once again asks Yolca where the key is, to which she replies “it’s in my bra” LMAOOO

Yolca enters a period of self-destruction, starting from drinking alcohol and doing rebellious things, to thinking about murder. After all, all that she’s believed in was an illusion that is the reason of her short lifespan. Orsem cannot bear it anymore and tells her that if she wants to destroy herself so badly, she doesn’t need to take the roundabout way when he can descend into darkness with her. If she doesn’t like being with him, then give him the key and accept his death which is temporary, instead of living on with this permanent torment. Yolca asks how many times Orsem has died. Too many to count? Orsem says don’t be so full of yourself. I rewind because I dislike losing not because of you.

Yolca tells Orsem she doesn’t want his death or her ignorance, she wants love. All this time, she believed her parents loved her until they died but that is not true. No matter he admits it or not, Orsem has died for her many times. To her, that is gentleness, and love. Orsem replies that there were timelines where he got irritated and killed her as well before rewinding. Yolca replies, “Orsem. Please stop carrying this burden forward all alone.”

Yolca stops being a bad girl – after one day. She learns from Orsem that if she becomes involved with everyone, then no one will live. As a such, she’s isolated herself somewhat. She confronts Orsem about whether he is actually Tilkett’s older brother. Orsem replies yes, they have the same father making them half brothers, but Tilkett doesn’t remember him anymore because his memory has been changed even after he killed Morphia, in another world. He tells Yolca that there are six parallel worlds. Recalling their time together last night, Yolca asks if there was a world where she fell in love with him. He replies he’s seen four worlds so far where she falls in love with the four other guys but

Yolca talks to Eugene who tells her Orsem’s “not bad” is the highest compliment he can give. Orsem = Asian dad confirmed

All the grimnals in the country break loose. Yolca successfully acts as the operator for Vy-xens and directs the personnel to the places needed to minimize casualties, earning a “not bad” from Orsem. In the aftermath, she meets Warden and Ish disguised as the “inquisitor” & his bodyguard. Warden says the Witches are telling all the grimnals to assemble for the “Witches’ Vote” where the fate of humankind will be decided: even Re: Command Core is not infinitely sustainable and the world will end. Either all humans break their contract with Witches and accept their demise, or allow all humans to become grimnals and slaves of Witches for a fighting chance. The vote will take place in six days on Halloween.

The Vy-xens start debating. Some like Kanoa & Tilkett want to keep their Gift. Orsem, though not a grimnal and hence cannot vote, says humans should never become grimnals because then they become puppets of Witches. Eugene disappears for a while but then pops up and says there’s actually a third option: to forfeit. If more than 13 people forfeit in the vote, then the world will continue as is – some humans and other grimnals.

Orsem once again asks Yolca to allow him to rewind, saying he will not stop until he finds the perfect solution to free humans from the control of Witches & not meet their end. He also says, in all of those timelines I’ve never been able to make you happy… that was the greyed out line in the gun scene.

Tilkett loses too much blood helping the injured from the grimnal rampage. Orsem recalls he and Tilkett’s past, where they grew up at the orphanage but Orsem focused too much on his lawyer studies (to get them both out of poverty) and neglected Tilkett’s feelings and well-being. As a result, Tilkett became corrupt and eventually leaned into Morphia as his psychological support. Before he knew it, it is too late to repair their relationship even after he shoots Morphia dead.

Orsem hugs Yolca tightly, saying the more he spends time with her and learns that he loves her, the more afraid he is to rewind time and lose what they have right now.

Orsem tells Yolca that in all worlds but one, Kanoa becomes killed by the anti-grimnal groups. The only group where he survives is K-axis/Kanoa’s own route where Yolca managed to change the public opinion with Kanoa’s siblings. Orsem takes Yolca to the Kaleidotower elevator. He can select the time in the current world. Depending on if Yolca leaves from the front or back door, she could either become a bystander in the world (hence two Yolcas) or overwrite the current world with the other route’s reality (e.g. connect what’s happened so far in Orsem’s route with Kanoa route’s ending, and only one Yolca remains). She travels to Kanoa’s world and takes the time-stopping hourglass before returning.

Orsem shows Yolca the four necklaces she’s had in the four different worlds. He tells Yolca to present all four at the Witches’ Vote and rid the world of their influence once and for all.

Before the final vote, Yolca has to make the difficult choice of killing Orsem after he is mortally injured (but not allowed to die unless he is near her as per the setting of the ability) because he is literally trial and error-ing events that can happen to Yolca and Vy-xen that may stop the Witches’ Vote for taking place.

Orsem tells the group about the truth of his ability. He also mentions that all those hundreds to thousands of deaths, he has never been able to reach the hand behind the puppets – Dalen Yulewood, Yolca’s uncle who has wanted all humans to become grimnals as revenge for what his bloodline had to pay for them to survive. Yolca travels to Eugene’s parallel word in the finale where Eugene’s Yolca cries some tears of miracle and tells her to take it to the Eugene in the O-axis and never come back again.

With those tears, Yolca convinces Eugene to rejoin the crew. Eugene gives the tears to Heath, who uses to exchange his eyes to blue instead of to keep Yolca for himself because he is the purest best boy ever. We see Kanoa, Tilkett fight against their antagonists and coming to terms and moving on from their past.

At night, Orsem tells Yolca that he has always been the “sidekick” in her stories and to actually become the main character and to create all those memories with her… he has never imagined. Yolca caresses his hair and says he is no longer fighting this battle alone. All his friends & her are with him to the very end.

Yolca confronts Dalen who attempted to shoot her dead. He tells her that he is sick of seeing Yulewood paying the price for all of humanity so killed her parents. With only he and Yolca left as Yulewoods, the power of Re:Command Core became weak & the Witches needed new toys and people to form bonds with – hence the exponential increase of grimnals. He wants all of humanity to become grimnals – after all, it was due to the weakness of the human race that his ancestor had to make the deal with the Witch – and Yolca is getting in the way. Orsem appears and defends Yolca who tells her uncle that even after all that’s happened, she wants to live as a human.

Yolca arrives at the vote where the grimnals vote for Witches to leave them. However, only then does she learn in order for all six worlds to merge into one big happy ending, five of the Yolca’s will have to permanently disappear. Orsem begs Yolca to use Tilkett’s ending because even to the end he’s still thinking about his little brother. If she merges the timelines, the curse on her lifespan will also be solved.

Yolca is then taken back to the present. She is holding only one of the four necklaces. One commands time. It allowed her to see into the future. At the same time, Ish tells Yolca that if the vote is allowed to go through, then the grimnals will vote in favour of all of humanity becoming grimnals instead.

Yolca takes all four necklaces which has the power of changing the world and demands to negotiate with the Witches. She says if they don’t leave humans alone, then she will use the necklace’s power and kill them all.

After deliberation, the Witches acquiesce and leave. However, because Yolca didn’t merge the world lines her lifespan remains unchanged. Orsem loses his temper and tells Yolca he’s gone through all of this for her to live a long, happy life, yet she threw it all away and made him work for nothing. Yolca replies she knows he wants her to be in Tilkett’s world. However, she asks why Orsem wouldn’t choose her instead? In this timeline, he is her fate, and the one she wants to spend the short remainder of her life with. Why can’t he accept that?

She feels a warmth on her chest. Her necklace shines bright red. The five necklaces become one and…

Re:Command Core has disappeared from the world as have Witches/grimnals. Just as the group wonder where Heath has gone to, he returns after five days saying his “maker” has done something parent-like. It turns out Ambrose Rune asked Ish and Warden for permission to make it a happy ending and allow Heath to become human and stay with his friends.

Thoughts: I read Orsem route three times before writing the synopsis because it is very dense & much longer than the previous routes. There was a lot of development with everyone and everything coming together into one big finale. The emotional feeling I felt when I saw Ish again… This is what EIT fans have been waiting for.

Orsem’s motives are not the clearest in this route. My understanding is that he was from the 6th world where the bad end happens (very beginning) but wants to keep everyone alive (at least Tilkett) due to the bond he has – he gains the ability to rewind – he keeps changing the variables to keep Vy-xens alive but Yolca keeps falling in love with one of them and inadvertently killing one of them… this explains his frustration with Yolca, strangling her, and killing her in some endings before he uses his rewind. He hates Witches because of seeing what Tilkett has to go through and what Morphia did to him.

I guess somewhere in the process he became attracted to Yolca’s resolve & kindness and fell in love with her and started working towards not only Vy-xens’ but also her happiness? This is the best explanation I have. The game did not explicitly explain. A common question me and my moots had was “we know the HOW but WHY does he do all this for Yolca?”

Certainly a very angsty and lore-heavy route. Orsem is a hard-boiled character that has some gap moe moments but overall this was too heavy of a route with a splash of true route syndrome… not for me.

Epilogues

Kanoa: Orsem convinces Inley to come collect Kanoa in November instead, after merging the timelines Kanoa no longer is a grimnal so Inley has no use for him. Kanoa talks about buying Yolca a ring.

Tilkett: Morphia’s influence on him is completely lifted due to all Witches disappearing from this world. Orsem kicks some sense into his little brother to not let Yolca get away. The two go on a motorcycle date in the mountains where Tilkett plans his future with Yolca, saying he will turn in his doctor’s license and study & earn it this time.

Heath:

Heath gets super lovey dovey with Yolca & makes up with Rune and calls him father.

It’s so sweet. He holds Yolca in his arms in Kaleidotower – where everything started and the two start debating about how many kisses a day Heath is allowed to give her. I played this epilogue last and recommend you to as well! Truly a fairy tale feel.

Eugene: Yolca’s fate of being sniped is prevented while the entire group overheard his confession to her. She and Eugene switch positions in the relationships where Yolca gets a little sassy and bosses him around lol.

Realizing that the happiness he wished for finally came true, Eugene sheds true tears of joy.

Orsem: This continues from the timeline where Yolca’s lifespan is still short. Orsem leaves Vy-xen quietly. However, Yolca “stalks” him to a forest just like the beginning of his own route and confesses her love for him.

Tilkett also follows and makes up with Orsem. He is no longer alone anymore.

Final Thoughts

This is definitely the longest game & review I’ve ever played and written! Congrats to myself for reaching the end 🎉🎉🎉

If you loved EIT, you will love this game even more. This game preserves what EIT did right (compelling story and plot) and fixes what it did wrong – lack of romance – this time with longer gameplay time. Every character is truly unique with a crazy backstory that you would not have guessed without spoilers. I played the moment the game came out without a walkthrough & thoroughly enjoyed solving the puzzles on my own. This forced me to put myself in Yolca’s shoes & pay attention to details – heaven for a lore-digger like me!

Yolca as a main character is different from Anastasia but same at the core: they both believe that their fates can be changed by themselves. However, Yolca focuses more on brainpower instead of brute force. She is extremely intelligent, knows to play up her looks and vulnerability to manipulate people, even sometimes cunning – she is not your typical “pure flower” MC who wouldn’t harm a fly. Some of the things she had to do in Eugene and Orsem routes would never be thought possible to appear in an otome game. This doesn’t mean she is incapable of empathy, but the very opposite: because she understands these characters, she brings what they really need, even if it is death.

I haven’t seen this been discussed elsewhere but I truly believe Ushio Ayane based the five LI from five beloved characters from EIT. This game is a love letter to EIT’s style, universe, and atmosphere so much that it’s almost a crime to play this game before the EIT base game itself.

• Kanoa/Tyril: This one’s easy. Tsundere, and loneliness as theme – Kanoa hiding his secrets and repenting for his father’s sins, while Tyril was the last one from his clan remaining.
• Tilkett/Lucien: The yellow haired little ray of sunshine that is so selfless they disregard their own wellbeing to an extreme.
• Heath/Maya: Apron, caring, been with MC from the start
• Eugene/Crius: Both are the flirty/popular with women type. Crius has a physical illness that strips him of his senses, while Eugene’s experiences strips him of the feelings of the heart and unable to cry for others anymore.
• Orsem/Zenn: Again, fairly obvious. Both can see what happens in others’ worlds. Orsem just added on Anastasia’s mechanic.

Route ranking: Heath > Kanoa > Eugene > Orsem > Tilkett

Rating: 10/10