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The Protagonist
Player Character/Nao
"'My future?' Heh. It's hard to imagine what the future holds for me."
The featureless protagonist of the game entering their final year of highschool with their childhood friend, Haruka.
- Canon Name: Their official name is Nao, which will be given to them if the player decides not to choose a name.
- Character Customization: You are given the option to choose your pronouns at the start of the game and your height shortly after. You can also choose your eye color and weight, but these options come up in different character's routes so there's a chance not all players will see them.
- Characterization Marches On: They were more smug in the early demos than they are in the most recent demo. The creator decided to tone down this aspect to make them more customizable.
- Childhood Friends: With Haruka.
- Dude, Not Funny!: They call Haruka out after she jokes about Minami School burning down. She'll apologize later if you tell her to, but will do so in a backhanded manner.
- Height Angst: If you make the protagonist short, they will be displeased with how small they are compared to Haruka and everyone else (expect for Kana, who would be around the same height as them).
- Huge Schoolgirl: They can be this if you choose to be female and make them tall.
- Invisible Parents: The protagonist does have parents, but they're conveniently always at work and are never seen, not even at night.
- Late for School: Typical of an anime parody, the game starts with them and Haruka running late for school.
- Living Emotional Crutch: They function as one to Haruka. According to them, she's been clingy ever since they were both children. When they walks to school without Haruka, they feel worried for her, but also feel like it's good for them to have some time apart from eachother.
- No Biological Sex: This aspect, like everything else about them, is determined by the player.
- Purely Aesthetic Gender: Whatever gender you choose doesn't effect the plot besides a few minor dialogue changes. Same thing goes for height, weight, and eye color.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Haruka's red.
- Tiny Schoolboy: They can be this if you choose to be male and make them short.
The Four Girls
Tropes Relating to All Four
- Ambiguously Human: The official wiki page lists their species as "Human/AI". So they are considered human to some degree, but how human each of them are seems to vary. Both Aiko and Aila (despite Aila not being part of the main group) have the letters Ai in their names, whereas the other girls don't. There's also the mysterious person at the end of the demo (implied to be Talia) that tells the Player to pursue Aiko if they want to learn more and that she can "help" them. If this person is to be believed, Aiko may have a deeper understanding of or connection to the program than the other girls.
- Artificial Intelligence: Their species on the official wiki is listed as "Human/AI". Whether this means the girls are actually part-human or they're just so advanced that they're almost indistinguishable from a regular human isn't specified.
- Costume Porn: The uniform (the female one in particular) is very fancy and not one you'd typically see in a school. It's a vibrant shade of red, the skirt has soft-looking frills, and the buttons and necktie are a glimmering gold color. It looks more like an idol outfit, really.
- Custom Uniform: They share uniforms (barring Yumi, who wears the male uniform) but have unique accessories that fit their styles and make them distict from one another.
- Exotic Eye Designs: Each girl has card suits in place of their pupils. When asked about the reason for this, the
creator said they just thought it was cute.Haruka - DiamondsKana - ClubsYumi - SpadesAiko - Hearts
Haruka
"Open up, Player!"
The sporty childhood friend of the protagonist. Haruka is nervous about their last year of highschool together. Her getting yelled at by Mr. Saito on the first day put her in a bad mood, and having to be in a group with three new girls only made it worse.
- Abusive Parents: It's heavily implied that Haruka has an abusive father. If you do her route, you can get her to open up and she confirms that this is the case.
- Apathetic Student: Haruka doesn't care much about academics and things like math or science. She says the only reason she decided to take those classes was because the protagonist is and she wanted to be with them.
- Backhanded Apology: Haruka apologizes to Aiko, Kana, and Yumi in the group chat for how she acted...only to say she did nothing wrong immediately afterwards. She does the same thing again when "apologizing" at school the next day.
- Childhood Friend: Of the protagonist.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Highly. She will be quick to jump to the protagonists defense if she interprets something as an attack on them. The protagonist says she's been like this since they were children. However, this aspect of Haruka's character is deconstructed, as her clinginess stems from more than just jealously. She'd always run to the protagonist (her only friend) for comfort when dealing with her abusive father and she's afraid they'll drift apart from each other after highschool. So, while jealously is part of the reason why she acts so clingy, her clinginess stems more from a fear of loneliness and abandonment.
- Exotic Eye Designs: She has the diamonds suit for pupils.
- "Just Joking" Justification: Aiko says her and Kana were at the top of their classes at Minami School before it burned down, to which Haruka replies "I'm gonna bet the class wasn't on fire safety, hm?" After the protagonist calls Haruka out for it, she says it was just a joke.
- Late for School: The game begins with the protagonist and Haruka running late for school.
- leitmotif: "Haruka's Theme, Pt. 1
" and "Haruka's Theme, Pt. 2". - Never My Fault: In the two times Haruka tries to apologize to the other girls, she quickly takes it back and says she did nothing wrong.
- New Friend Envy: She displays a lot of jealousy when three new girls show up, believing the protagonist will abandon her.
- Missing Mom: Haruka's father is brought up a few times, but there's no mention of her mother.
- Morality Pet: The protagonist acts as one to her. They're pretty much the only person she'll be nice to or cares to listen to. She does warm up to the other girls as the week progresses, though.
- Passionate Sports Girl: She excels at and loves track and field.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to the MC's blue.
- Rhyming Names: Haruka Maeda.
- Tomboyish Ponytail: Downplayed. She's tomboyish and likes sports, but has her ponytail tied up with a big red bow.
- Verbal Tic: She tends to say "y'know" a lot.
- Your Door Was Open: She lets herself in the protagonists house often. Justified, as she has a spare key.
Kana
"Kana! That's me, hi!"
A short, perky goth girl with an interest in psychology. She is usually sweet, but can be a little snarky if she's messed with.
- Alliterative Name: Kana Koizumi.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Says she grew up seeing a lot of people hurt and had no way of helping them. She doesn't go into any specific details, though.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Kana has the most changes between her early design and her final design. As shown here◊, she used to have teal hair and a standard uniform with no accessories. Her finalized design had her hair color change from teal to platinum blonde and made her a perky goth complete with fishnets, spiked bracelets, and chains.
- Exotic Eye Designs: She has the clubs suit for pupils.
- Eldritch Abomination: Kana describes one of her alters as a black creature with lots of teeth and eyes.
- Girlish Pigtails: Has them to compliment her childish nature.
- leitmotif: "Kana's Theme, Pt. 1" and "Kana's Theme, Pt. 2".
- Lonely Rich Kid: Her dad is wealthy and works with Aiko's dad. Aiko was also her only friend at their previous school, Minami.
- New Transfer Student: She, along with Aiko and Yumi, transfers to the protagonists school at the start of the story.
- Noodle Incident: During a conversation at lunch, Kana will briefly mention that she was expelled from her old school before going to Minami. The reason for this is currently unknown.
- Perky Goth: Kana is a very bright and sweet goth girl.
- Playful Cat Smile: She naturally has one.
- Split Personality: If her affection level for you is high enough, Kana will tell you that she was diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder. She also says people at her old school called her weird and spread rumors about her because of it. This is why Kana is passionate about psychology and wants to help others overcome their trauma.
- Stocking Filler: She wears a pair of black fishnets.
- Straight Man and Wise Guy: Kana plays the wise guy to Aiko's straight man.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Kana's character profile above describes her as "a mixed bag of sweet and salty". She was initially nice to the protagonist on the first day, but closes herself off once she thinks they see her as weird.
- Tiny Tyrannical Girl: Kana is the shortest of the girls and can be bossy at times.
- Town Girls: She's the "neither" to Aiko's "femme" and Yumi's "butch". Kana is a perky goth girl, but she's a bit rough around the edges and not as traditionally feminine as Aiko.
Yumi
"You seem confused. I am a girl, I just prefer the boys uniform."
The silent snarker of the group. Yumi is a hard-to-read individual that enjoys teasing people. She has no interest in science and prefers sports, namely archery.
- Dark and Troubled Past: She can potentially reveal to the MC that moving away was hard for her, but no further details have come up yet.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: While her hair isn't long, Yumi still fits this mostly. She's dark-haired, tall, and rather mysterious.
- Bifauxnen: She could be mistaken for a Pretty Boy with her short haircut, pronounced eyelashes, and red suit.
- Boyish Short Hair: Yumi's short hair gives her a boyish look.
- Exotic Eye Designs: She has the spades suit for pupils.
- The Gadfly: She enjoys teasing people and writing strange things on her notebook to see their reactions.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: She clarifies that she is female but just prefers the boys uniform.
- leitmotif: "Yumi's Theme, Pt. 1" and "Yumi's Theme, Pt. 2".
- Meaningful Name: Yumi can mean "arrow" or "bow", and Yumi herself has a love for archery.
- Never Be Hurt Again: Yumi intentionally acts mean to the MC at times in an effort to drive them away. If the Player chooses her to be their lab partner and finds her sitting at the staircase the next day, she'll ask "What are you trying to get out of this?" and tells them she won't let herself be hurt again.
- New Transfer Student: She, along with Aiko and Kana, transfers to the protagonists school at the start of the story.
- Silent Snarker: Despite not speaking, she's very snarky with others, especially in the group chat.
- Smoking Is Glamorous: You can potentially find Yumi smoking alone at the bottom of the stairwell and looking quite glamorous in her red uniform. It's made funnier if you remember the protagonist discussed this trope a while back after they saw a few students smoking in front of the school. They flat-out say movies always make smoking look glamorous when in reality it smells bad, but Yumi looks exactly like someone smoking in a Hollywood movie.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Yumi can be flippant and snarky one moment, then serious and blunt the next.
- Signed Language: Yumi can speak with Aiko in this way.
- The Silent Bob: Yumi is actually a very loud person, just not with her voice.
- The Speechless: Yumi's speech impaired, so she can't speak.
- Talking with Signs: Not a literal sign, but a notepad. Since Yumi is speech impaired, she writes on a small notepad as her primary method of communication with others. The one exception to this is Aiko, whom Yumi uses sign language to communicate with.
- Town Girls: She's the "butch" to Aiko's "femme" and Kana's "neither". Yumi has the most masculine style out of the three, enjoys teasing others, and can be quite crass.
- Tsurime Eyes: She has these to highlight her snarky nature.
Aiko
"I'm Aiko! It's a pleasure to meet you. We're all from Minami School, as you're aware."
Perhaps the nicest of the four girls. Aiko plays the role of the Only Sane Woman in the group. She was at the top of her class at Minami School prior to the fire.
- Ambiguously Gay: Her and Yumi. They blush around each other, Yumi teases Aiko from time to time, Aiko's the only one Yumi opens up to, and she's also the only one who Yumi speaks sign language with. If you choose Yumi to be your lab partner, Aiko almost seems disappointed that they won't be with each other. Likewise, if you choose Aiko to be your lab partner, Yumi will have a similar disappointed expression.
- Class Representative: She was this at Minami before the fire. She laments having lost her title after transferring to a new school.
- Exotic Eye Designs: She has the hearts suit for pupils.
- Idiot Hair: Strangely, Aiko has an ahoge in addition to her Ojou Ringlets. She's the only one in the group to have it too, which is funny since she could be considered the least "quirky" of the four.
- leitmotif: "Aiko's Theme, Pt. 1" and "Aiko's Theme Pt. 2".
- Meaningful Name: Similar to Aila, Aiko has the letters Ai at the start of her name. However, unlike Aila, Aiko doesn't seem to be Ambiguously Evil and likes helping people, so she could potentially be a benevolent Ai.
- New Transfer Student: She, along with Kana and Yumi, transfers to the protagonists school at the start of the story.
- Nice Girl: Aiko is the nicest of the girls, by far.
- Ojou: Her father is rich and, unlike Kana, Aiko was very popular at Minami. Her profile above describes her as the "Minami Sweetheart".
- Ojou Ringlets: They're not as pronounced, but she has soft looking curls.
- Only Sane Woman: Aiko is the most level-headed of the girls and she tries her best to break up any conflict within the group.
- Profanity Police: She does not like swearing of any sort.
- Rhyming Names: Aiko Satou.
- Rose-Haired Sweetie: She's bubbly, sweet, and has bubblegum-pink hair to match.
- Straight Man and Wise Guy: Aiko plays the straight man to Kana's wise guy.
- Survivor Guilt: She feels guilty about not doing enough to help during the fire at Minami. If the Player tells her she can't save everyone, Aiko will say "but I should be able to save everyone".
- Team Mom: She gives off shades of this, especially when she brings Kana lunch. Aiko will scold someone in the group for things like swearing or goofing off, but is kind and gentle too. She even says she enjoys taking care of people. This gets deconstructed later on in her route, as it shows she may desire to take care of others too much. She has a really bad case of Survivor Guilt from the fire at Minami and genuinely thinks she should've been able to save everyone.
- Tareme Eyes: She has these to highlight her soft and gentle nature.
- The Meaning of Life: In one scene during her route, she'll ask the Player "why are you here?", to which they'll respond with confusion. She then says she means why do they think they exist. It's rather existential and not what you'd expect to hear from someone like Aiko.
- Town Girls: She's the "femme" to Yumi's "butch" and Kana's "neither". Aiko is a prim and proper ojou and behaves the most traditionally feminine out of the three.
- Uncanny Valley Girl: She seems perfect on the surface, but if you pay attention you'll start to notice little things that conflict with her "perfect girl" image. For one, she has intense Survivor Guilt that exceeds far beyond the usual. It's understandable for a person to feel guilt over not being able to save one or two people, but Aiko thinks she should be able to save everyone. Secondly, Aiko likes biochemistry and wants to use it to help people. However, when asked why, she says she feels it's what she's meant to like. Lastly, the dream she had is a bit strange. While it starts off relatively innocent, at the end of the dream she was grabbed by a woman that "looked like she was stuck between two worlds". Rather than being scared by this, Aiko described the woman's touch as "electric" and says she's never felt so "alive".
- Yamato Nadeshiko: She's very polite, formal, and pretty. However, she does not like needless conflict and will try to resolve it the best she can.
- Youthful Freckles: Aiko had freckles in her early design◊, but she no longer has them in her finalized design.
Minor Characters
Aila
The Student Council President and Class Representative. Aila is assertive, pushy, and even a bit mean at times. She and the protagonist are hinted to have been romantically involved with each other in the past, causing Haruka to dislike her.
- Amicable Exes: Her and the protagonist are implied to have dated in the past. A big reason for their falling out is because they were both competing for the position of top student. Despite that, they seem to be on good terms with each other. Aila even suggests they should go out for coffee next time they meet. The protagonist does get mildly annoyed with her at some points, though.
- Ambiguously Evil: In her introduction scene, Aila approaches the protagonist after school and tells them she needs to talk to them in private. After dragging them to the library, Aila says that she was told by the school to keep an eye on Kana because they think she might be the one responsible for the fire at Minami. However, Aila asks (or, more accurately, demands) the protagonist to switch their lab partner to Kana (if they weren't partnered with Kana already) and watch over her instead because they're in the same group and it'll be easier for them to get close to her. She gets more pushy about it later and it seems like she's trying to convince them that Kana is crazy, even going as far as to say Kana killed someone. It's currently unknown what Aila's motives are or if she's just making all this up.
- Brainy Brunette: She's a top student and has light-brown hair.
- Class Representative
- Hime Cut: She has long, neat hair and blunt bangs to signify her high status.
- Ironic Name: The name Aila can mean "bringer of light", "holy", or "noble". Her motives are ambiguous at best.
- Lady in a Power Suit: She wears a deep red uniform, is an assertive Student Council President, and doesn't take "no" for an answer.
- Leitmotif: "Broken".
- Meaningful Name: On top of being an Ironic Name, her name also functions as a Double Meaning: Aila. As in, Artificial Intelligence.
- Non-Specifically Foreign: Her name stands out as not being Japanese, but her nationality isn't specified.note
- Non-Standard Character Design: While the other characters are drawn in a typical anime style, Aila's portrait leans more into a realistic style, making her look rather off-putting if you were to place her next to the other characters.
- Odd Name Out: The other characters have fairly common Japanese names, while Aila is a name of European origin.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Well, "villain" has yet to be determined, but Aila cites Kana's history of mental health issues as a reason that she's dangerous and even claims Kana killed someone. The MC then protests by saying being mentally ill doesn't make you a killer, and that people with mental illnesses are often victims not killers.
- Proper Tights with a Skirt: She wears black tights to go with her skirt.
- Statuesque Stunner: Aila is described as tall and pretty.
- Student Council President
- The Stoic: Even when upset at the protagonist, Aila always has the expressionless sprite shown above. It's her only sprite, in fact.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Has this dynamic with the protagonist if you make them short and male.
- Title Drop: Does this during her conversation with the protagonist when she tells them to change their lab partner to Kana:Aila: Once they find out who the culprit was, you can change back, but for now...this is beyond me or you, and you need to understand that.
Mr. Saito
The teacher of the science class.
- Humans Are Bastards: He seems to think so. When lecturing the class about genetics, he says humans tend to be selfish and cause physical pain in the beings they create. During said lecture, a glitchy figure resembling a woman repeatedly flashes on screen. This implies someone else is watching and Mr. Saito's words here are possibly not his own.
- Meaningful Name: Another person with the letters AI in their name. However, this seems to be a subversion because his species on the official wiki page is listed as "human".
- Sadist Teacher: He takes a little too much joy in embarrassing Haruka in front of the class.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He dishes out a vicious one to Haruka.
- Mr. Saito: So good of you to show up. You're only fifteen minutes late. Given your disregard for punctuality, you've missed group assignment. You've been attending this school for years, and you can't even find your way to class. It's a miracle you found your way at all, Haruka. Given you couldn't even spell "map", let alone use one.Haruka: We didn't mean to be late.Mr. Saito: And we didn't mean to have nuclear weapons revolutionize man's relationship with war, and yet here we are.Haruka: ...I don't think being late to class is like inventing weapons.Mr. Saito: For once, you're correct. You don't think.
- The Voice: Since he's only a minor character he doesn't have a sprite. All that's said about his appearance is that he wears thick glasses and a suit.
- Tormented Teacher: It’s said that the students don't like him very much and rejoiced when he threatened to quit. Haruka went as far as to put a impolite note on his car as a "parting gift", which fueled his disdain towards her.
Mr. Tanaka
The Protagonists' homeroom teacher.
- Apathetic Teacher: In contrast to Mr. Saito, Tanaka doesn't care about the students lateness. The protagonist says Mr. Tanaka also tends to be hungover at the start of the school year.
- Flat Character: Tanaka doesn't have much to him aside from being the apathetic homeroom teacher. The game usually skips to science class where all the important stuff happens.
- The Ghost: Mr. Tanaka is never seen and has no lines of dialogue. He's only mentioned in passing as the Protagonist and Haruka make their way to science class.
Miscellaneous
Talia (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
- Ambiguously Evil: Near the end of the October 2021 demo, the Player finds themselves being spoken to in a glitched alleyway by a person heavily implied to be Talia. Talia mentions that she's been watching over the Player and their choices the entire time. During her evaluation of their choices, she expresses distate for the Player. Yet she says she has the same goal as them: to find love.
- Ambiguously Related: "Talia" is clearly an anagram of "Aila". However, the two share no similarities in appearance and it's not known how they're related aside from their names. At least for now.
- Ambiguous Situation: The nature of Talia's existence is not entirely clear. In the original demo, she replaces Haruka and says she set the other girls "free". It's unknown whether this means she actually freed them or if they're dead.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Talia is an omniscient figure that is aware of everything in the game. This is reflected in her design, where her hand is hovering over three browser tabs, which she presumably uses for keeping an eye on the different places seen in the game.
- Body Snatcher: She takes over Haruka's body in the original 2019 demo and is able to speak through her. It's implied at the end of the October 2021 demo that she plans to do this to the Player, which might be why she evaluates their height, weight, and eye color.
- Dream Walker: When Aiko describes her dream to the Player, she recalls being grabbed by a woman with short hair that "looked like she was stuck between two worlds". The woman is most likely Talia, as she definitely looks the part and is the only character in the game that fits such a description. This would mean Talia has the ability to enter the dreams of others.
- Height Insult: If you chose an average height for your character, she'll call you "boring". If you chose a shorter height, she'll say you're either pandering for "cuteness points" or "really are that unfortunate".
- Leitmotif: She shares one with Aila. The track titled "Broken".
- Significant Anagram: "Talia" is an anagram of "Aila".
- The Computer Shall Taunt You: If the Player responded "Yes" to the question "Do you believe you're smarter than Artificial Intelligence?", she will ask why you're playing the game in the first place.
- The Omniscient: Has been watching over everything (including the Player and their choices) from behind the scenes.
- Walking Spoiler: Talia's very existence is tied to the horror aspect of the game and that makes it hard to talk about her without giving spoilers.
