Characters / Monark True Student Council

Monark Main Character Index
True Student Council | Pactbearers

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Shin Mikado "True" Student Council (TSC)

The protagonist and his party, a group of five students who take it upon themselves to end the Mist, the Monarks, and the Pactbearers that are warping reality and driving the students to madness.

Main Members

In General

• Absurdly Powerful Student Council: They're not the official governing student body, but they fulfill this role nonetheless since they're the only ones with the power and abilities necessary to deal with the anomalies surrounding the school.
• Adaptive Armor: The True Student Council's Imagigear evolves in form by acquiring certain skills. For example, the Vice-President's Imagigear starts off looking like a cape with a gauntlet, but develops a pair of boots and a halo with a spade-tipped bone-like tail floating behind the Vice-President's back.
• Breaking the Fellowship: In "Intermission: Dusk", Sora formally dissolves the TSC, with each member going their separate ways. It isn't until "Deepest Reaches" that they're reformed by Nozomi.
• Chess Motifs: Aside from them being predominantly white and their enemies being black, their combat equipment each resembles a piece on a chessboard.
  • The King: The Vice-President, being the most important piece on the board who command the Fiends and leads the rest of the TSC in battle. If he dies, its game over.
  • The Queen: Shinya Yuda
  • The Knight: Nozomi Hinata
  • The Bishop: Kokoro Surugadai
  • The Rook: Ryotaro Date
• Dysfunction Junction: All of the Pactbearers, in general, are suffering from personal demons and tragic pasts, but not even Nozomi and Shinya are spared from the psychological trauma and unresolved personal issues. See their individual folders for their respective problems.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: And holy shit do they have to work for it. Act 2 always ends with the Vice-President disappearing, leaving his partner a traumatized wreck after he's helped them overcome their traumas or problems. "Deepest Reaches" undoes this thanks to both the Vice-President's enhanced Animakinesis and Kakeru using the last of his powers to send the former back to when Sora just disbanded the TSC to find a solution.
• Fighting Your Friend: In Act 2, you will have to fight either Kokoro or Ryotaro depending on which chapter you're on, though the context and reason for fighting them will differ accordingly.
• Friendly Enemy: In Act 2, Kokoro and Ryotaro are both still amicable toward the Vice-President. They will fight them but they do leave helpful hints and notes for you about where they hid their portals to the Otherworld and the combinations of safes, though Ryotaro, fittingly enough with his grandfather being an architect, hides his behind the years that buildings of the academy were finished. Both also warn you to be careful about the Unsettled that happened to wander in against their planning.
• Light Is Good: Their combat attire is predominantly white, and they're formed with the purpose of figuring out what's causing the "mist" and how to dispel it, and in the process, return to the school to normal. This is contrasting the hostile forces, who all come in black.
• Limit Break: The "Enlightenment" state, natch. It requires you to reach 100% on both gauges, which is difficult to do but is otherwise very rewarding as the character's stats not only receive a massive boost, but all skills cost absolutely nothing to execute.
• Loophole Abuse: While he's not a proper Monark, the Vice-President is a Monark nonetheless. Furthermore, thanks to everyone's shared experiences in Act 2 and the Vice-President's Resonance harmonizing their souls, they all qualify to make a pact with him, not unlike the Tono twins with Luxuria. This allows them to prolong the Vice-President's life by a few days when he's about to disappear after Yugo's Ideals shatter and Yoru is defeated. Similarly, this pact is what also allows the True Student Council to accompany the Vice-President into the gate where Yog-Sothoth resides.
• Mutually Exclusive Party Members: At the start of each chapter in Act 1, you can only fight with your chosen partner unless you head back to the TSC clubroom where the others will gather after being recruited. This changes in Act 2 where you can only side with one character until you've completed their chapter.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: They're well aware that wishing for the Vice-President to continue existing even as a human may cause distortions. They're willing to take the risk because he's that important to them.
• Superpowered Evil Side: The MAD gauge serves as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, raising the gauge will boost their performance in battle, but on the other hand, if they let the gauge go unchecked, they'll promptly go on a rampage, which is reflected by their attire turning jet-black and more sinister.
• Putting the Band Back Together: After being disbanded in "Intermission: Dusk", and going through 4 separate Bad Futures broken and clashing against each other, "Deepest Reaches" involves the Vice-President reuniting the TSC and Nozomi happily declaring them reformed, especially since they now know Sora's true nature as the Monark of Woe and how they can save the Vice-President.
• Token Heroic Orc: Three of the five members of the TSC are Pactbearers, but like the Vice-President, who is the first heroic Pactbearer and a founding member of the TSC, they also work to restore Shin Mikado to normal. In "Deepest Reaches", virtually the entire True Student Council become heroic Pactbearers when they make a pact with the Vice-President, the false Monark of Vanity, so to prevent his Cessation of Existence.
• You Are Worth Hell: The consensus among the TSC regarding the Vice-President. He's helped them so much and helped them resolve their respective traumas and uncertainties that they're willing to make a wish to a god in the Otherworld, despite knowing that it may create distortions within the world.

Vice-President, Pactbearer of Vanity (Unmarked Spoilers)

Protagonist

Voiced by: Gakuto Kajiwara (JP)

Vice-President of the True Student Council

Monark of Vanity

"Harken to me! (summons Fiends) I have but one order: Devastate them!"

The hero of the story and Chiyo Aikawa's older brother. He is a second-year student at Shin Mikado who disappeared a week ago and was found by Kakeru, Nozomi, and Chiyo in the main building and is currently suffering from amnesia. Upon meeting the Monark of Vanity, Vanitas, the protagonist gains an Authority and is tasked by Sora Jingu to investigate and resolve the ongoing anomalies within the academy. He serves as the Vice-President of the True Student Council.

As the Pactbearer of Vanity, the Vice-President's Authority allows him to Resonate with others, be it friend or foe. He is also the only Pactbearer to command the Fiends; white-colored Legion Daemons who assist him and the TSC in battle.

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• Affectionate Nickname: He's called Mr. VP for short by a few people in the academy, including Ryotaro.
• Ambiguously Human: His status as a "Vanity project" marks him as an Artificial Human and byproduct of Yoru's Essokineses. However, he also has the powers of a Monark, which makes it uncertain as to whether he's like Yoru and Tristia, taking on a human guise or he's a human with Daemonic abilities. The ambiguity is rendered moot by the end of the game when the Vice-President becomes fully human.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • His status as the Pactbearer of Vanity is one of great confusion to Sora as his Authority is an aberrant and even Cromwell, who has extensive knowledge of almost everything pertaining to the Otherworld and Daemons, knows very little of it aside from it appearing in documents from Shin Mikado's early years. It is also not one of the seven deadly sins, further confusing things.^note It is worth noting that Vanity, also known as vainglory, is one of the seven sins and is in fact a contemporary for the deadly sin of Pride. Act 2 has Sora reveal that the Vice-President doesn't have a corresponding Mist associated with him, muddling things further. It isn't until "Deepest Reaches" that you learn the Vice-President received the Authority from Yoru when he was created, as Tristia was unable to use the Authority of Vanity even after absorbing its associated Monark.
  • Despite Sora recognizing him as a student of the academy, few second-year students actually know the Vice-President and express confusion when they first meet him. Even those who know Chiyo like her fan club in the main building are surprised to learn she even has a brother in the first place. This is because he isn't Chiyo's brother, being an Artificial Human who replaced her actual brother after Yoru wiped everyone's memories of him.
  • At the end of the game, the Vice-President becomes a full-fledged human, though it's never made clear whether he retains his Authority and the power to summon Fiends or if he lost his Daemonic powers.
• Amnesiac Hero: When Chiyo, Dr. Kakeru, and Nozomi find him, he's since lost all memories of his past and can't remember anything besides his name. As it turns out, he never lost his memories so much as had them, as Yoru created him and then dumped him in Shin Mikado after cultivating his Ego.
• Artificial Human: His true nature. He was created by Yoru and is but one of many, but unlike his "siblings" he was cultivated to possess an Ego. In addition to being a "Vanity project", he's also an artificial Monark since Yoru transferred the Authority of Vanity to him as neither she nor Tristia were able to use it.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The first heroic Pactbearer (actually an Monark, which is a significant step-up, artificial status aside) to appear, and has an army of Fiends at his beck and call.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: The Formal Attire costume has him wearing a spiffy-looking purple suit.
• Become a Real Boy: Due to his status as a "Vanity project", he'll disappear once either Yugo's Ideals are shattered or if Yoru is killed. The TSC's solution to this problem is for them to wish he become a full-fledged human by making their case to Yog-Sothoth.
• Blank Slate: Vanitas recognizes the Vice-President as this, calling him a "facade" with no sense of self. This likely has to do with him having zero memories except for his name. It's implied Vanitas knew right off the bat that he was an empty shell Yoru made to suit her purposes but managed to develop an Ego in spite of this.
• Cain and Abel: Downplayed. The Vice-President is the sole individual out of several clones to have managed to develop an Ego. Yoru's "pawns" have no Ego and therefore no free will, meaning if the Vice-President goes against her, she can easily sic them on him.
• Cessation of Existence: Undergoes this in Act 2, as his existence is derived from Yoru and Yugo's Ideals. If one and/or the other is eliminated, he'll disappear, which tends to be the case in three of the four chapters. The sole outlier is "Birth of a New World", where he shields Kokoro from a fatal attack, though Yoru states he would have vanished either way since he can only exist within the Barrier.
• Character Development: In a bit of Gameplay and Story Integration, the dialogue choices at the beginning of the game with some key exceptions (you have three dialogue choices which all consist of "No") to demonstrate the Vice-President's status as a blank slate for the player to mold. As the game goes on, however, their choices become more linear, the game giving you only a single choice or multiple choices with the same line of dialogue. This reflects not only the Vice-President's growth as a character but also their departure as Yoru's "puppet".
• Chess Motifs: The King. He is the most important person in the True Student Council, being the Vice-President of the group and the one who has authority over the Fiends, much like an actual monarch, his army. Also, if he dies, it's game over or back to the infirmary with you, as he's the conduit through which Vanitas lends his power and lets Nozomi fight.
• Cool Crown: What is a badass King without it?
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The very start of the game has him pitted against two Daemon Legions, and at this point in time, it's obvious he doesn't have access to his Authority yet. As a result, regardless of how much he struggles, the Legions will kill him with ease. It's later subverted in that it wasn't him who died, but rather one of his many clones who Yoru derides as a failure.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Like the rest of the students at Shin Mikado, his uniform consists of a black jacket. He's also working to resolve the anomalies and defeat the Pactbearers in the hopes it will return the school to normal. Taken up a notch in "Deepest Reaches" where he's revealed to be a Monark, albeit artificial in nature and considerably lesser in comparison to those like Superbia.
• Determinator: It doesn't matter to him how hopeless the situation seems or how many times he ends up being erased from existence, he will find a way to ensure his friends all survive. It ends up paying off since the accumulative experiences throughout Act 2 empower his Animakinesis to the point he can share memories with people.
• Devious Daggers: His weapon is a very large knife, fighting by slashing and stabbing his opponents, particularly effective when done from behind them. One of his earliest skills is also summoning and throwing a knife as a simple ranged attack, particularly useful when facing ranged enemies or triggering follow-up attacks without having to move as much.
• Difficult, but Awesome:
  • Resonance, as noted below in Super-Empowering, can be a double-edged sword depending on how it's used. If you Resonance with an ally and you get poisoned, both characters will be inflicted with poison. The same also goes if either character enters a Madness state. On the other hand, this can also be an excellent way to achieve Enlightenment by having one character raise their Resolve while the other increases their Madness Gauge.
  • Some of the Vice-President's skills encourage him to build up his MAD gauge, as some of his attacks grow in power the higher the gauge is. It's a high-risk, high-reward style, but if used correctly, it can be very deadly.
• 11th-Hour Superpower: Less of new power, and more of an upgrade. After completing Act 2, Kakeru notes that the repeated time loops have allowed the Vice-President's Authority to manifest its truest potential. The power of Resonance is merely one facet of "Animakinesis", and the true power of the Authority allows the Vice-President to manipulate souls. He uses this to great effect when Kakeru uses his own Authority one last time to send the Vice-President back to the events of "Intermission: Dusk" after Sora disbands the TSC and uses his empowered Resonance to share his memories with his friends.
• Empty Eyes: Subverted. His "brothers" all have these, as they're all Empty Shells. The Vice-President has red eyes and is much more expressive since Yoru helped cultivate his Ego.
• Face Death with Dignity: Downplayed. As he suffers from Cessation of Existence, he seems more or less accepting of his impending death in Act 2. The only regret he has is that he leaves his chosen partner behind in grief.
• Foil: To Yoru, his "mother" and creator. Yoru is an aberrant Monark who was created when Tristia and Kakeru started causing havoc within Shin Mikado through the repeated time loops and constant battles between the seven Pactbearers. The Vice-President is a byproduct of Essokinesis, cultivated to have an Ego and given the Authority of Vanity, making him an artificial Monark.
• Foreshadowing: There are some clever hints about the Vice-President's actual nature well before The Reveal.
  • The first of which is his red eyes. Aside from a few students, the only major characters in the game to have red eyes are Monarks, with the exception of Tristia, who has blue eyes (though this can be attributed to her impersonating Sora Jingu).
  • He is the only character to control Fiends, Daemons who answer solely to him. Neither Ryotaro nor Kokoro are shown leading Fiends of their own, instead commanding the common Daemonic Legions and Nobles encountered throughout the game. Hugo points this out in "Deepest Reaches", citing this as one of the reasons why is a Monark and not a Pactbearer.
  • The Authority of Vanity acts as a Power Nullifier, allowing the Vice-President to cancel out other Authorities that directly affect a person. Even Ryotaro notes this power is very unusual since it was only believed his Authority allowed him to Resonate with others. Resonance and the power to nullify other Authorities are just the tip of the iceberg. According to Kakeru, the Authority's true power is the ability to manipulate souls.
  • As stated by Sora, his use of his Authority never generates any Mist, which should be impossible since every other Pactbearers' use of their Authority has caused a build-up of Mist. When the Vice-President interacts with Vanitas about voiding his pact or asking the whereabouts of his Ideals, he laughs in amusement and wonders if he knows what's he asking. "Deepest Reaches" explains why Vanitas is amused and why he's not generating any Mist whenever he uses his Authority. The Vice-President never made a pact with Vanitas, and he doesn't have any Ideals because he's a Monark himself.
• Gameplay and Story Integration:
  • Downplayed. As with many JRPG silent protagonists, the Vice-President's dialogue options differ from choice to choice save for the rare times he only has a single dialogue option. As the game progresses, particularly towards the final chapter, the Vice-President's dialogue options will only have a single choice or have all answers be the same, showing his progression from being a blank slate at the start of the game to his own individual.
  • The Vice-President's Authority of Vanity gifts him the power of Resonance, which allows him to sync up with his allies and/or his enemies and allowing all those affected by Resonance to use the authorities of affected parties. In the endgame, Kakeru's repeated usage of his Authority to send the protagonist back in time in Act 2 amplifies his Resonance to the point he can now affect people's memories, allowing him to share his memories with the TSC when Kakeru sends him back to when Sora just disbanded the club.
• Good Counterpart:
  • To Kurama Hitotsubashi, the Pactbearer of Pride. The Vice-President is a fellow Pactbearer whose sin is a contemporary of pride, and his power involves connecting with others and affecting their souls. He also became a Pactbearer out of circumstance, with the alternative being death.
  • He also ends up becoming this to virtually every Monark. Although he's an artificial Monark, he works alongside humans to bring an end to the distortions in reality within Shin Mikado and comes to blows with the enemy Pactbearers, who are using their pacts and Authorities for their own selfish gains.
• Good Is Not Soft: Make no mistake, just because the Vice-President is The Hero doesn't mean he'll be nice when dealing with you. Some of his answers and responses in the personality tests can make him come off as a Jerkass, and when Vanitas pops up, he immediately demands the Monark give him the power to fight back against the Legion Daemons. When Vanitas is being especially entitled and haughty and you need to make a choice, the protagonist oftentimes has no polite ways of answering and will physically abuse Vanitas by grabbing and squeezing his ears to get him to stop playing around. In his third meeting with Yoru, the Vice-President can also express No Sympathy for the enemy Pactbearers he's defeated up to this point, stating they deserved it despite learning their motivations and reasons for making a pact with Monarks. This might have to do with the fact that he is a Monark himself, albeit artificial in nature.
• Heroic BSoD: "Intermission: Dusk" is one big Shoot the Dog for the Vice-President. Holding Chiyo's lifeless corpse in his arms reduces him to a screaming, sobbing wreck, and learning from Neiko that she had been dead well before he brought her to the infirmary causes him to collapse and faint from the shock.
• Humanoid Abomination: Hugo Cromwell reveals that the Vice-President isn't merely an Artificial Human, but a "pale imitation" of the Monark of Vanity; other than having an Ego cultivated by Yoru, the Vice-President carries within him the Monark of Vanity's "core", thus allowing him to wield its Authority.
• I'll Kill You!: Declares this to Yoru, and fully voiced to demonstrate how utterly pissed he is after the former admits to having killed Chiyo.
• Immune to Mind Control: Initially, Kurama's Authority of Pride manages to exert control over the Vice-President, only for his control to be broken when the Vice-President responds with his own Authority.
• Interface Spoiler: Though his Authority's power is assumed to just be Resonance and rejecting the effects of other Authorities, its true potential is Animakinesis, the ability to manipulate souls, like his artificial one. The Animakinesis skill is both one of the first skills you can buy early in the game and has several variations.
• Jack of All Stats: His stats are balanced to fit whatever playstyle you have in mind for him, as his Resonance skill can easily allow him to use the skills of his party and enemies. At max level, however, his stats are lower than even his allies in some respects, such as Nozomi who has significantly higher defense, or Shinya who has higher attack power.
• Light Is Good: He and his army of Fiends are colored white, in contrast to the dark-colored Daemons.
• Loophole Abuse: Twofold. Questionable as his Monark status is, he's still a Monark at the end of the day and can therefore make a pact with anyone who meets the requirements. Thanks to the Vice-President's empowered Animakinesis allowing him to share everyone's experiences in Act 2, the entire True Student Council is eligible to become his Pactbearers like the Tohno twins, even Ryotaro and Kokoro who already have pacts with Monarks of their own.
• Mystical White Hair: He has light-gray hair (snow-white in official artwork), and is a Monark commanding his own brand of Legion Daemons known as Fiends.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: An unintentional side-effect of the Vice-President's amplified Animakinesis. Upon using Resonance to give everyone in the TSC memories of what happened in Act 2, his power also affects others in the school. However, it also affects everyone in the school to varying degrees; the most egregious example being Yugo, who upon regaining his memories as Hugo Cromwell, brings Tristia to heel, separates and binds Yoru to him ahead of schedule, and then challenges the Vice-President and the rest of the TSC.
• No Ontological Inertia: The Vice-President's existence hinges on two factors: Yoru and Yugo's Ideals, the latter from which Yoru derives her power. If Yoru bites the dust and/or Yugo's Ideals are shattered, the Vice-President will die not long afterward.
• No-Sell: The Authority of Vanity allows the Vice-President to resist or outright reject Authorities whose powers directly affect a person, like Kurama and his Biokinesis or Ryotaro's Takeover. It doesn't do him much good against Essokinesis, however, as the Authority of Woe affects reality itself and can very easily wipe him from existence if he's not careful.
• Only Friend: It becomes clear in "Tower of Gluttony" and "Woeful Execution" that the Vice-President is the closest thing Ryotaro has to an actual friend, as everyone is either scared of him, knows him simply for being a thug, or tolerates him at best.
• Phlebotinum Rebel: Yoru created him as part of her plan to force Sora to use more of her power, therefore giving Yoru more power herself and eventually splitting away and increasing her chances of consuming Sora to become a proper Monark. However, since the Vice-President has an Ego unlike his "brothers", he has free will and can turn against her as seen in "Dark Abundance" and "Unhinged Darkness".
• Power Gives You Wings: He gains glowing wings on his back whenever he enters Enlightenment or Madness. If it's blue, it's a significant overall power boost and you can now use your abilities without cost. If it's red, hope he doesn't murder everyone on your team or get killed while you can't control him, because the Madness state drastically reduces his defense.
• The Power of the Void: The Authority of Vanity is this, as noted in the Cromwell Archives. From what little is known about the Authority, it allows the user to "control the very essence of emptiness and void". "Deepest Reaches" reveals its true power comes from the ability to manipulate a person's soul.
• Power Nullifier: One aspect of the Authority of Vanity is to nullify the effects of other Authorities. In "Cause and Infect", the Vice-President is able to remove the pain Ryotaro took upon himself to save another student's life using Hostile Takeover. It also allowed him to resist Kurama's Authority of Pride, albeit only after Kurama briefly managed to take control of his body. This only applies to Authorities that directly target a person, however; against the likes of Tristia's Essokinesis, which can alter reality itself, the Authority of Vanity is helpless as shown in Act 2 when Sora entraps the Vice-President on three separate occasions with little to no trouble at all.
• Protagonist Title: While they aid the antagonists and two of the game's Final Bosses are Monarks, the Vice-President is the titular Monark the game follows.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: He has crimson red eyes, and is one of the Pactbearers with an army of Fiends at his beck and call. This is what differentiates him from his clones since he was cultivated with an Ego. It's also one of the earliest hints that he's a Monark; with the exception of Tristia (who is posing as Sora Jingu), all other Monarks have red eyes.
• Replacement Goldfish: Albeit entirely unintentional. The Vice-President is not Chiyo's actual brother, having been made by Yoru and conveniently using the latter's recent death to have her "son" fill the gap and erase every memory pertaining to Takamori Suzuki, both from everyone's minds and every mention of him on any physical record. In "Deepest Reaches" where Chiyo is made aware, she says she doesn't care if he's not Takamori because she loves him all the same, and he cares about her as well.
• Seven Deadly Sins: He's the sole outlier among the Pactbearers in that his sin is regarded as an aberration, presiding over Vanity, also known as vainglory, a contemporary of the sin of pride. Specifically, the Vice-President is vain in that he refuses to bow to the "logical, rational" rules of the world and considers himself above them. Rather fitting for a Monark.
• Ship Tease: With Nozomi and Kokoro.
  • Nozomi's relationship with the Vice-President is mostly based on emotional dependence, with the latter helping her overcome her issues and deep-seated grief while serving as her Living Emotional Crutch. In Act 2, she's almost entirely absent outside of "Shield of Hope" and "Dark Abundance" because of her grief for not being able to save Chiyo. The aforementioned chapters sees the Vice-President encourage her to try and protect him so she can get back up on her feet, all while helping her accept and move on from the trauma of failing to save her childhood friend. In "Deepest Depths", Nozomi is understandably pissed at the Vice-President for not telling her about Sora's intent to kill or imprison him before reaffirming her desire to protect him, even going so far as to embrace him.
  • It's made blatantly obvious in Act of Wrath that Kokoro has some affection for the Vice-President, what with her asking if he would be happy if she stayed on board with the TSC and all, nevermind her attempting to ask him to wipe off some cream from her face during the celebration made by Shironeko. The Vice-President can reciprocate in some manner in Act of Greed, where he can claim to be a "Kokoro-mantic" when she asks why he picked her to accompany him in the Old Dorm building. The romantic tones become far more blatant in Kokoro's Act 2 chapters where the Vice-President decides to be trapped in the Otherworld with her.
• Silent Protagonist: Subverted. While otherwise silent in-game except during cutscenes or in battle, the Vice-President has two voiced segments; once in "Intermission: Dusk" where he breaks down while holding Chiyo's corpse, and again in "Unhinged Darkness" where he angrily declares his intent to kill Yoru.
• Spanner in the Works:
  • His presence throws a huge wrench in both Tristia and Kakeru's plans, as he never existed in the previous time-loops and his Authority is a huge unknown for all parties involved. This a rare case in which the spanner is actually enforced, as Yoru created him with the explicit purpose to put an end to the antagonistic Pactbearers and Sora, the latter of whom Yoru wishes to subsume.
  • In Act 2, the Vice-President becomes one for Yoru. She lampshades in "Deepest Reaches" that her plans end in failure because he gets involved, even "Birth of a New World" where she succeeds because Kakeru rewinded time before she could escape the academy.
• Super-Empowering: He has the unique ability of Resonance, allowing him to share his status conditions and buffs with his allies. This is extremely useful for buffing one character and having other members benefit, possibly the whole party at once. It should be noted this can easily backfire if your entire party ends up put to sleep because someone far away got hit. It can also be turned against your foes, by Resonating with enemies instead and making them regret poisoning the Vice-President.
• Villain Takes an Interest: While all Pactbearers have met Yoru and learned how to make pacts with the Monarks, the Vice-President is the only she actively engages in conversations with. The other Pactbearers sans Kurama all confirm that their meeting with Yoru was essentially a one-sided conversation. The reason for her interest is that the Vice-President is technically her "child", having created him using Essokineses and empowering him with the Authority of Vanity.
• We Cannot Go On Without You: If he's KO'd, the entire party goes with him. Justified as he's Vanitas's Pactbearer, without his acting as a conduit for a Monark's power, every party member except Kokoro and Ryotaro are disarmed and helpless and the Fiends cannot be controlled. His death also hits the TSC so hard in Act 2 that they're all implied to have stayed in the Otherworld out of grief.
• Yandere: Far from it if you take into account the apparent Ship Tease between him, Nozomi, and Kokoro, but the "Irreversible Fidelity" sees the Vice-President getting an admirer in the form of Toshiko Fujii, who in her profile is noted to be rather emotional at times. When she's caught in the Mist and made Unsettled, she instantly latches on to the protagonist when he shows her even a hint of kindness. Oh, and her favorite story is Rapunzel; as in the Brothers Grimm version, where the Prince falls out of the tower, lands in a patch of thorns and becomes blinded, then wanders around for years in the forest looking for his love till he finds her again.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: By both Sora and Yoru.
  • In all but one chapter of Act 2, Sora attempts to erase the Vice-President after all other Pactbearers have been neutralized as she learned he does not create any Mist when using his Authority, making it nearly impossible to find his Ideals. The only reason she does not succeed is because of Yoru taking over her body and distracting her long enough for Yugo to arrive, again distracting her long enough to finally separate from her.
  • In the TSC Holder chapters and "Birth of a New World", Yoru reveals that the Vice-President was created specifically to kill Sora. Once he did just that, he would disappear shortly afterward since he can only exist within the space created by the Barrier.
• Your Days Are Numbered: Although the True Student Council manages to prolong his existence without Yoru by becoming his Pactbearers, Vanitas states that, because the Ideal is so weak, he'll only last a few days at best. The problem is solved almost immediately by wishing him to become human by making their case to Yog-Sothoth.

Nozomi Hinata, President and Holder of Hope

Nozomi Hinata

Voiced by: Honoka Kuroki

True Student Council President

Holder of Hope

"Wouldn't you rather regret something you did instead of something you didn't?"

The former Student Council President before Kurama displaced her. During the ongoing crisis at Shin Mikado and discovering the existence of the Otherworld, she is named President of the True Student Council and elects to help the Vice-President in solving the mystery of the anomalies.

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• Action Girl: She's not a Pactbearer like the Vice-President or Kokoro, a fellow female member of the club, and she has to rely on him and Vanitas to use her Imagigear, but she's nonetheless just as capable as the rest of the True Student Council.
• Bittersweet Ending: "Dark Abundance" leans more toward being bitter than sweet and just barely scrapes past being a Downer Ending. Nozomi and the Vice-President defeat Yoru and shatter her last Ideal, thus dispelling the Mist and the Barrier surrounding Shin Mikado, meaning everyone is free. Unlike in "Unhinged Darkness" where there are also little to no casualties, Yugo and Sora are alive and well. On the other hand, Nozomi ends up losing the Vice-President because he can't exist without Yoru, and even if he could, Sora would erase him since he's an abnormal existence. In short, her Act 2 chapter has everyone but her getting a happy ending.
• Character Development: Nozomi starts the game by being indecisive and unsure of herself, constantly second-guessing her every action and asking if she's really worthy of her position. While she does gain some confidence at the end of the Pactbearer of Pride arc, what little confidence she built up gets smashed to hell and back in "Intermission: Dusk". Her story route in Act 2 revolves around the Vice-President trying to get her to believe in herself more and grow as her own person rather than act like a "faker" as she proclaims herself to be.
• Chess Motifs: The Knight. A silhouette of the piece is emblazoned on her shield to emphasize the point.
• Death Seeker: Implied. It's obvious that Nozomi's failure to save Hikari still haunts her in the present day, and honestly believes she should have died in Chiyo's place by being someone who lived for the sake of others. It takes the Vice-President's encouragements to break her from this mindset.
• Declaration of Protection: How the Vice-President "ties his fate" with her in Act 2. In a strange twist, he asks her to protect him so as to give her a reason to continue pushing forward in life. In "Deepest Reaches", she reaffirms her desire and states she will protect the Vice-President no matter what happens.
• Foil: To Shinya in terms of ability and gameplay. Nozomi is geared more towards crowd control and defending her allies while tanking damage whereas Shinya relies on power and speed while dishing out ludicrous damage. Nozomi needed Vanitas' help in manifesting her Imagigear whereas Shinya, thanks to his training with the Jingu family, was already capable of manifesting his (though it should be noted he never had the chance to actually is it in the Otherworld until "Irreversible Fidelity").
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Nozomi starts off the game riddled with doubts, having failed to assure and protect the students during her tenure as Student Council and constantly second-guessing herself. Part of her character development involves her growing to accept her faults and become more assertive and sure of herself. In gameplay, she starts off relatively weak, and like Shinya, she doesn't have any extra abilities to use outside of Arts unless engaged in Resonance with the Vice-President. Level her up and progress through her skill tree, however, and you'll find her to be a very effective tank.
• Has a Type: In a conversation in the TSC with Chiyo, the latter asks Nozomi what her type is. Nozomi admits she hasn't given romance any thought, but she would prefer someone who was open-minded and accepting, flaws and all.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Initially her Imagigear starts off with her only wearing the visor of a knight's helmet. Once her Awakened and Enlightened skills are acquired and her Imagigear evolves, she starts wearing the helmet, though the visor only comes down after she enters Madness.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: While Nozomi never quite put herself down at the start of the game, she did feel as though she failed as Student Council President, having been unable to help her fellow students and failing to follow the example set by her best friend and her predecessor. She gets worse in Act 2 after Chiyo's death where she blames herself for what happened since instead of staying with Chiyo and helping her all she did was mope in the Student Council room.
• Inadequate Inheritor: She feels this way in regard to her former position as Student Council President. When she was the president of the Student Council prior to Kurama taking over, she tried to emulate her closest friend and the last President, but couldn't handle the stress and was unable to help as much as she would have liked.
• It's All My Fault: She blames herself for Chiyo's death for having locked herself up in the Student Council room after Dr. Kakeru's death, believing that if she had stayed with Chiyo, she would still be alive or Nozomi could have sacrificed her life for Chiyo's. Part of this self-deprecation stems from the death of her childhood friend, which she similarly sees as her fault.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Her design motif, when in combat. She has the visor of a knight's helmet, a cape, and a sword and jousting lance combo which has a Chess Knight motif. Also, her role in combat is to serve as a tank, using her armor and defensive skills to take the blows for everyone else or to enhance their survivability.
• Jousting Lance: Her offensive weapon of choice.
• The Leader: She acts like this to the True Student Council, and previously served as the head of the Student Council before Kurama took over. That said, the Vice-President serves as The Lancer who helps get the plot moving after Act of Pride since she's busy dealing with the aftermath of the anomalies in the main building and any subsequent buildings cleared of Mist.
• Locked Out of the Loop: The Vice-President purposely keeps her in the dark about his confrontation with Sora prior to Yoru's appearance, since it would only worry her. She doesn't find out until the end of "Dark Abundance" and is rightfully pissed that the Vice-President kept something that important from her.
• My Greatest Failure: The death of her childhood friend, Hikari. Nozomi was being bullied and some of her tormentors decided to hide her bag in a supposedly haunted park, right when it was already sunset and the dead of winter, at that. Hikari volunteered to look for it while Nozomi waited for hours until she finally called for help. After a frantic search by the police, Hikari was found dead—the "ghost" haunting the park was a serial killer. Nozomi blamed herself for her best friend's death as did Hikari's parents, and her inability to protect others or be brave enough to put her life down for someone else haunts her to this day.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Upon learning Kurama's motivations after shattering his last Ideal, Nozomi mentions how they're not so different from each other. Like Kurama, her best friend was killed, but whereas Kurama was too shocked or scared to do anything, Nozomi acted too late for it to matter.
• The Paladin: Her kit is largely based on supporting her allies and protecting them, having several skills that boost her Assist attacks, healing and recovery spells that cannot be used on herself, and taking the blows for others, either by confidently putting herself up on the frontline or using the Aegis spells to instead transfer the damage to herself.
• Ship Tease: She becomes very close with the Vice-President over the course of her character arc in Acts 1 and 2. The Vice-President has her make a Declaration of Protection to pull her out of her depression and helps her get past her deep-seated issues regarding the death of her friend, becoming her Living Emotional Crutch. In "Deepest Depths", Nozomi is angry for him keeping her Locked Out of the Loop in "Dark Abundance" before reaffirming her Declaration of Protection while giving him a hug.
• Sole Survivor: In a temporal, technological sense. In a conversation in the TSC club room, the team discusses how many times they were defeated or died across the four timelines in Act 2. Nozomi implies she managed to survive being absorbed or killed by Sora in the TSC Pactbearer chapters and thus never died whereas everyone else has died at least once. Kokoro bluntly tells her it's because she chose to hide away in the Student Council club room.
• Taking the Bullet: Her Aegis skills allow her to take damage intended for someone else or for multiple characters at once. Buff her up with defensive statuses first and they'll barely even tickle her while it would have utterly devastated the intended recipient.
• Took a Level in Badass: Gameplay-wise, Nozomi is not one of the most durable characters and can go down in a couple of hits, not helped by the fact that she also does pitiful levels of damage as well even with criticals and backstabs. Progress through her skill tree and continue to level her up, however, and she'll be able to take whatever the enemy throws at her.
• The Workaholic: A conversation with Chiyo in the TSC room reveals that Nozomi is unhealthily obsessed with being of use to others. She did and still does "some" work for the original Student Council before the Mist came along, helps out the teachers with class prep till dark, and goes around her neighborhood looking for stray cats afterward, too. Like many addictions and extremely unhealthy habits, it takes someone else to point it out to her.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Outside of "Shield of Hope" and "Dark Abundance", Nozomi makes no appearance at all in the other Act 2 chapters. If you try to enter the Student Council room, you'll find it's locked up tight. Based on how she is in "Shield of Hope" when you first start the chapter, it's implied Nozomi is too entrenched in grief to do or react to anything going on at the academy until the Vice-President pulls her out of her funk, leaving for some unsettling implications for what happens to her in the TSC Pactbearer Chapters. A conversation in "Deepest Reaches" implies that Nozomi may have actually survived across the four possible Bad Futures shown in Act 2.
• What the Hell, Hero?: In "Dark Abundance", Nozomi wails at the Vice-President for not telling her he would disappear if they defeated Yoru or Sora locking him up if he could survive without Yoru and tearfully calls him a liar when he apologizes as he disappears.

Shinya Yuda, Holder of Faith

Shinya Yuda

Voiced by: Yuki Sakakihara

Jingu Family Successor

Holder of Faith

"Give it up already. I've got you all figured out."

A second-year middle school student at Shin Mikado Academy. Adopted by the Jingu family, he is officially their heir and was taught to know about the Otherworld, Daemons, and how to properly combat them. He carries a great distaste for Pactbearers and believes them all to be corrupt.

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• Abusive Parents: Not the Jingus, fortunately. His birth parents sure as hell were, though. On top of an unspecified mental disorder, Shinya is implied to be the result of an affair since he looked nothing like his birth father, severely straining their relationship and his father becoming physically abusive. It's implied that, like Kokoro's mother, Shinya's mother wasn't ready to be a parent yet. Unlike Kokoro's, she went so far as to try and hand Shinya a phone and tell him to call one of his relatives to take him in "if he cared about [her]".
• The Ace: He's only in middle school, but he's easily one of the most talented in Shin Mikado on account of his training with Yugo and striving to excel in his studies.
• Adoptive Name Change: Legally, his name is "Shinya Jingu", but he goes by the last name he was born with on account of not feeling like he deserves to be called a Jingu yet.
• The Baby of the Bunch: He's a middle schooler and tied with Chiyo as one of the youngest members of the cast. As much as he likes to project himself as being mature and reasonable like the rest, he's still very much a young kid as when he can't help petting Vanitas, says his hypothetical last meal would be mint ice cream, and being lost and confused after the Wham Episode that is "Intermission: Dusk", Chiyo's death, the TSC being disbanded by Sora, and the Pactbearers of the TSC forced to either break their pacts, be sealed away in the Otherworld, or be dealt with personally. He only gets better after he runs to either Sora, his adoptive mother, or the Vice-President, who acts like an older brother figure he can rely on.
• Barbarian Hero: His skills encourage running up to his enemies and devastating his targets before they have a chance to retaliate. Contrasting Nozomi, he has multiple high-damage, multi-target skills, debuffs for his enemies instead of buffs for his allies, and skills that trade defense for offense.
• Black-and-White Morality: Befitting his age, he sees morality and people in simple, contrasting terms: Pactbearers are evil, selfish, and should be hated, his family of Daemon hunters are good, selfless, and should be loved. Though it starts in the Pactbearer of Lust arc, his values are challenged and mature in Act 2, becoming more in line with reality's messy, complicated, and grey truths that no one is truly only good or evil.
• Big Brother Worship: After he warms up to the Vice-President, he starts looking up to them much in the same way Chiyo does.
• Break the Cutie: "Unhinged Darkness" puts him through the wringer. Not only are his adopted parents killed right in front of him, but the last person he wants any sort of validation and approval from disappears and he can't do a damned thing to stop it.
• Chess Motifs: The Queen. In the board game, it's the most offensive piece, being able to make dramatic, risky offenses with its wide range of movement; in the game, Shinya is heavily focused on causing large amounts of physical damage up close and is also the best combatant story-wise, having been formally trained in martial arts and fighting daemons specifically.
• Chick Magnet: A conversation with Chiyo in the TSC clubroom reveals that Shinya has a fair amount of female admirers, and some are implied to have even confessed to him.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Before he was adopted by the Jingus, Shinya grew up in an abusive household and was implied to be the result of an affair his mother had with another man as he looked nothing like his birth father. Despite his best attempts, Shinya's father physically abused him and his mother did very little to stop it. It got to the point where the neighbors called child services almost regularly.
• Declaration of Protection: Issues this to the Vice-President in Act 2 after the events of "Intermission: Dusk" as the anomalies have gotten so bad calls from the Otherworld are happening outside the Mist. Shinya doesn't want the Vice-President to fight anymore as he's afraid of what will happen to him if he pushes himself too hard after having just lost Chiyo. To "tie your fate" with Shinya, you have to convince him to let the Vice-President fight alongside him.
• Defrosting Ice King: He's somewhat cold to the Vice-President at first due to him being a Pactbearer and therefore one of the people responsible for the ongoing anomalies in the school. Act of Lust softens his attitude when he learns the motivations and circumstances driving Pactbearers to make their pacts, the Vice-President's competence in the Otherworld, and learning that the Vice-President became a Pactbearer to protect Chiyo and Nozomi. By the end of Act 1, he's come to see the Vice-President as an older brother figure.
• Empowered Badass Normal: His training from Yugo makes him physically strong enough to not only dodge a fireball from Akane, but even sneak up behind her in a split second and put a pen to her neck. His Imagigear helps him fight the Otherworld's more supernatural foes.
• Establishing Character Moment: Shinya's introduction has him corner Akane with nothing but amazing physical prowess, and makes no secret of his contempt for Pactbearers.
• Evil Knockoff: In the TSC Pactbearer chapters, Sora creates a facsimile of Shinya to defend her Ideals. Unlike Shinya himself, the facsimile displays no sense of agency or identity of its own beyond recognizing the Vice-President and getting angry when Ryotaro or Kokoro insults Sora.
• Family of Choice: Implied. In "Deepest Reaches", Shinya chooses to stand firmly with the Vice-President in spite of The Reveal and opposes Yugo, later revealed to be Hugo Cromwell, after the latter denounces his former identity.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: In "Deepest Reaches", Shinya is pressed by Yugo to return to his side after exposing the Vice-President as a failed Monark of Vanity. Shinya ultimately chooses to stay with the Vice-President than his adopted father, denouncing Hugo Cromwell as a stranger when he calls his life as "Yugo Jingu" a nightmare.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Bonus points for having green-ish eyes. In "Flagbearer of Faith", Shinya admits to Ryotaro after beating him that despite however much Ryotaro annoys him, he can't help but admire his unwavering ability to continue believing in himself while Shinya's experiences prior to being adopted made him give up on himself and strive for the opinions of others]].
  Shinya: You believed in yourself. While I gave up on myself. We're almost nothing alike. your Ego is strong and optimistic... I always envied you for it.
• Happily Adopted: Shinya was adopted by the Jingus, and he loves them dearly, wanting nothing more than to make them happy in return. This is also why he hasn't formally taken on the Jingu family name and goes by his original surname instead as he feels like he hasn't earned it yet.
• Heroic Lineage: While he's not biologically related to the Jingu family, he is their heir and has been trained in a variety of fields and is aware of the existence of Daemons, Monarks, and Pactbearers. As a result, he's one of the most effective combatants on the team.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: After Shinya breaks down when telling the Vice-President about his abusive birth parents, and how much he wanted to believe they loved them despite all the trauma they inflicted on him, even angrily and mournfully yelling this trope out nearly word for word as he questions if there was anything wrong about a child wanting to be loved.
• Jerkass Has a Point: As blunt and callous as he is at the start, Shinya isn't wrong when he points out that the Pactbearers are responsible for the anomalies and suffering of the students. Of the five antagonistic Pactbearers, three have an actual body count and only illustrate his point, no matter the justification for their actions.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's rather pretentious and blunt when you meet him, but he's looking out for the well-being of others and while he makes no secret he doesn't like the Vice-President (at least at first), he helps them out when needed.
• Leitmotif: "Dear". A somber, sad theme that has a burst of incredible emotion in the chorus, its lyrics sounding confused, scared, and regretful about the subject's terrible past. Quite fitting for someone like Shinya, abused by his birth parents, abandoned, and bearing the scars of such a traumatic childhood.
• Le Parkour: Thanks to his martial arts and military CQC training via his adoptive father, Yugo, he's capable of incredible athletic feats like running on walls, which he tried on Akane. Chiyo rightfully calls him a ninja though he downplays it by saying he's just like any other parkour practitioner.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Early on in "Irreversible Fidelity", Shinya informs Sumire about the Vice-President investigating the ongoing anomalies. Unbeknownst to him, she and Akane are working together to kill Haruka and him alerting them of the protagonist has the two trying to pull a bait-and-switch by having one twin confront them in the second Ideal while the other goes to kill Haruka.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: In "Shield of Hope", Shinya manages to take down Ryotaro by himself, without the protagonist or his army of Fiends backing him up. Admittedly, he did have help from Sora, who is very powerful in her own right.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: In Act 2 and "Deepest Reaches", he begs the Vice-President to live regardless of what sort of complications may arise because of him being a Monark.
  Shinya: I want you to stay alive. I want that so much, it defies all logic and reason.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The second half of his Act 2 chapter has him seeing red and wants Yoru's head on a platter for killing Sora and Yugo in front of him.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Shinya really wants to make his adopted parents happy and earn their approval, even though he's Happily Adopted. This largely stems from the lingering trauma of his abusive parents, who he kept trying to please and "earn" their love, which all ultimately turned out to be a futile attempt.

Kokoro Surugadai, Pactbearer of Sloth

Kokoro Surugadai

Voiced by: Kotori Koiwai

Residential Bookworm

Pactbearer of Sloth

"Do not worry. I am both safe and secure. I have no intention of hurting anyone."

A first-year high school student at Shin Mikado Academy. A gifted prodigy who attended college overseas before suddenly dropping out and enrolled at Shin Mikado. She wields the Authority of Sloth and has a Pact with the Monark Acedia.

As the Pactbearer of Sloth, Kokoro's Authority, dubbed precog-analysis, allows her to glimpse future events as well as the steps needed to achieve said future. In gameplay, this translates into increasing her allies' evasion rate.

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• Aborted Declaration of Love: At the start of "Deepest Reaches", Kokoro gives the Vice-President a confession similar to the one she gave him in Act 2, albeit without the tragedy and heartbreak involved. She backs out at the last second by saying it was merely "hypothetical", but in the post-game, it becomes very clear she really wasn't.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: In "Birth of a New World", the Vice-President takes the bullet is killed after Sora tries to kill Kokoro. In tears, she confesses that she wanted to live the rest of her life with the Vice-President, and the poor girl can't even finish the confession before he says "I'm sorry." and suffers from Cessation of Existence.
• BFG: The bottom of her chair conceals a wooden galleon's broadside cannon, which usually lowers and acts as a footrest when not in use. When firing, Kokoro pulls her legs to the side and the sheer recoil of the blast almost knocks her and the chair over. Gameplay-wise, it breaks the trend of them being high damage but impractical weapons, as Kokoro has some of the poorest direct damage in the game and is mostly suited for supporting your allies and hampering your enemies to ensure they are less of a threat to your party.
• Bookworm: To really emphasize the point, the protagonist first encounters Kokoro in the library, sitting on and around giant piles of books, reading a copy of Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy" in the original Italian. Should you "tie your fate" with her in Act 2, your new home base becomes the Library.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: As is to be expected from the Pactbearer of Sloth. She's described as a prodigy and went to college overseas, not to mention her introductory scene has her reading the Divine Comedy in its original language. She's also unwilling to do much of anything, which is reflected in combat where her Super Wheelchair does most of the fighting for her.
• Catchphrase: "Safe and secure" is her motto, and you'll hear it from her quite often. She abandons both the motto and the sentiment when she realizes she wants a friend who will accept her and not reject her, thus, she wants to interact with people and risk being misunderstood and rejected for the chance that she succeeds.
• Character Development: Kokoro's character arc revolves around coming to terms with her own laziness. She despises her inability to figure out how to socialize or deal with problems as they happen in front of her, and the events of the Pactbearer of Wrath arc has her not wanting to interact with her others out of fear of hurting herself. Learning about the extent of Subaru's bullying and the lengths he's gone to only worsens her feelings. The Vice-President's aid in the matter helps her strive to get past her laziness and become more forceful when dealing with other matters, which becomes exemplified in Act 2.
• Chess Motifs: The Bishop. Traditionally, people in these positions are highly educated and if not already nobles in the past before joining the church, then certainly given access to education beyond what the common man could hope to attain. Similarly, Kokoro is a child prodigy who had the rare privilege of studying at college overseas before deciding to drop back to high school.
• Esoteric Motifs: Eyes, seen on the straps of her hood. They're much less prominent than her Foil Subaru's, however. The pointed hood of her jacket also resembles either a witch's robe or a pointy hat.
• Flat Joy: During "Deepest Reaches" where she cheers on the Vice-President to find an ultimate solution to their problems, she can only manage a deadpan, quiet, "Rah-rah."
• Foil: To Subaru, a fellow Pactbearer. Subaru was bullied relentlessly due to his creepy demeanor and interest in the occult, and after meeting Ira, he proceeds to take revenge against his bullies. Kokoro is a loner who would rather be left alone so as to not be hurt by others or hurt anyone, and after becoming a Pactbearer herself, looks for a way to resolve the conflict in the first-year building.
• Foregone Conclusion: Thanks to her precog-analysis, Kokoro was well aware of how the events of "Wrath from Beyond" would end. Near the end of the arc, she informs the Vice-President that Hidefumi and Yasunori, two of Subaru's bullies, would die no matter what they did.
• Futureshadowing: Thanks to the precognitive abilities of her Authority, she can see part of the future and how to bring it about. This is how she's aware of the Vice-President's involvement in solving the anomalies and requests his assistance in dealing with Subaru.
• Gameplay and Story Integration:
  • "Sloth" describes laziness, often to the point of being harmful and a subject of scorn by other people. The manifestation of Kokoro's Authority is a moving throne that houses almost all of her weapons and abilities, and because of the mittens over her hands, she couldn't literally lift a finger to do anything even if she wanted to. When Chiyo asks her what she wants most, Kokoro gleefully says she wants to live a life where she doesn't need to work and can just read all day.
  • In terms of mechanics, almost all of Kokoro's abilities are Authorities and are best used defensively or supporting her allies to increase their probabilities of successful attacks. In short, she provides safety and security. She does have a handful of direct damage attacks, they do very little of it, she's incredibly fragile, and if you put her in enemy range, the Legions won't hesitate to target her first, so she's best off supporting and being behind everyone else.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: This was the essence of Kokoro's formative wish, seen in her last Ideal. She used to be happy being praised for being special and a gifted child, until her intelligence and how vastly different she was from everyone else began to alienate and isolate her from the rest of the world. Through no fault of her own, people began to put her on a pedestal or compare her one friend to her in a negative sense, bringing her to hate the word "special" and how everyone treated her so differently.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Ultimately, she realizes that she doesn't want complete isolation from the world but to have someone who understands her and wants to be with her. In her Ending Route, she gets it in the Vice-President who she falls in love with and wants to be in a committed, lifelong relationship. While this ends tragically in "Birth of a New World", she gets her wish in "Deepest Depths".
• Intelligence Equals Isolation: A tragically true-to-life example, especially when paired with her mental issues. Kokoro's extreme intelligence began to worry and stress out her mother as she did not have the means to give her a proper, expensive education befitting her extreme intelligence. Everyone around her was well aware that she was far too mentally advanced for her age, so no one wanted to make friends with her, and the one friend Kokoro did make, her peers ended up alienating her by comparing the two. It drives Kokoro to just want to be normal and have friends and when that fails, she makes the Pact with the Monark of Sloth, Acedia, to isolate herself from the world. Perhaps she won't be happy again but at least she won't hurt anyone else.
• In the Hood: Outside of her Imagigear, the hoodie of her uniform is always up.
• Ironic Echo: During Deepest Reaches, after much Character Development, Kokoro abandons the thought of "safety and security" and begins taking risks again.
  Kokoro: Safety and security are inconsequential!
• Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Her Imagigear transforms her simple hoodie into an elegant jacket that wouldn't look out of place at a high-end fashion show. This would be extremely difficult to fight in, normally, but Kokoro leaves most of that to her Super Wheelchair.
• Last Girl Wins: She's the last female party member you run into, and there's a lot of Ship Tease involved with her and Mr. VP. Her Act 2 chapters also have some rather blatant romantic undertones and given how the Vice-President wants to stay in the Otherworld with her because her disappearing hurts, there's at least some reciprocation going on. It isn't made apparent until "Birth of a New World" where she gives him an Anguished Declaration of Love as he's disappearing, as she's fully given up on her idea of "safety and security" to live out her life with him. In "Deepest Reaches", she gets these memories and tries to give him a proper confession, only to be so embarrassed she backtracks and says it was merely hypothetical. Though in the post-game "Addendum: Dawn", she says she still intends to be with the Vice-President, get to know him, and expects him to "take responsibility" for her "no longer being safe or secure".
• Love at First Sight: Implied to be why she takes such an interest in the Vice-President. Although he doesn't encounter Kokoro until "Wrath From Beyond", she knows who he is thanks to her precog analysis and has witnessed his struggles against the other antagonistic Pactbearers up to that point, as well as witnessing him helping her deal with Subaru.
• Leitmotif: "Hundreds of millions of light years of loneliness", just the name of the song alone describes Kokoro. And the song itself mentions becoming an empty cocoon waiting for the world to end.
• Magical Barefooter: While she already barely wears shoes in the first place, wearing sandals instead, her Imagigear removes them altogether. It could be indicative of the fact that even in combat, Kokoro is so lazy she's not getting up from her chair and walk around to fight.
• Missing Mom: Her mother is alive but explicitly stated to have left the family during elementary, unable to cope with her daughter being a genius and give the love and investment such an academically gifted but socially awkward child needs, and without a secure grasp of her own identity—in the game's terms, she had a weak Ego.
• Not So Above It All: Despite her usually serious demeanor, she's not above being intentionally silly and lighthearted by making puns with the Vice-President or unintentionally, through her usual flat, almost monotone speech coupled with the ridiculous words currently coming out of her mouth. A random conversation in the TSC club room even has her remark on how "cute" Shinya and the Vice-President look together and says she'll ask Chiyo to take a "couple photo" of them, much to Shinya's chagrin and dismay.
• Parents as People: Kokoro's mental disorders caused her family no shortage of strife, from her late language and speech development, her incredible intelligence, and her inability to pick up on social cues even to the current age along with her odd behavior. Her mother was not ready and unequipped to deal with the incredible amounts of time and investment such a gifted child needed. Alongside feeling that she had no identity to call her own, Kokoro's mother proceeded to leave the family because of all the stress.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: She delivers an absolutely brutal one to Subaru at the end of the Pactbearer of Wrath arc.
  "You said you fell in love with me because I was indifferent, but I don't think that's quite the case. You and I have had no previous interactions. All you did was selfishly project your ideal woman onto me. You don't love me. You are in love with a decision of your own making: the girl of your dreams. Have you even once considered what a conceited narcissist that makes you?"
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Her glasses gain a scary shine to them if her MAD gauge maxes out.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: In "Deepest Reaches", Kokoro breaks her self-imposed rule of never using her Authority in the school and uses her Precog-analysis to help them find a way to reach the Gate in the Otherworld.
• Seers: With her Authority of Sloth, she can see into the future. The visions aren't entirely clear or complete but they do give her a logical, thorough path to making them happen.
• Ship Tease: Far more blatant than Nozomi. "Slothful Philosophy" even implies there may be a hint of Official Couple since the Vice-President wants to stay in the Otherworld with her, something Sora amusingly picks up on. After the Pactbearer of Wrath arc is resolved, Kokoro wishes to extend her stay with the TSC, "jokingly" stating that she wants to stay with the Vice-President. And then there's her asking the Vice-President to wipe off some cream from her face during Neiko's party to celebrate the TSC's actions in helping the academy. While Kokoro's Act 2 chapter ends tragically, she tries to give the Vice-President an Anguished Declaration of Love. She even nearly succeeds in actually giving said confession in "Deepest Reaches", but says she was being 'hypothetical'...aaand then declares in "Addendum: Dawn" that she wants the Vice-President to "take responsibility" for not making her "safe or secure".^note It is worth noting that, in Japan, the phrase "take responsibility" is usually used by women who want their lover to support them by way of marriage or in a monogamous relationship.
• The Smart Girl: She's the most intelligent and well-read of the TSC, her knowledge in various fields scientific and not helps you decipher the Science Club's clues during "Wrath from Beyond".
• Super Wheelchair: It's a throne that moves on its own and conceals a ship's broadside cannon. Something about it also allows Kokoro to buff and support her allies.
• Story-Breaker Power: While her Authority doesn't give her the complete picture of the future, it does give her the ability to solve the necessary steps to achieving it. This power would easily make her one of the most broken characters ever, but Kokoro states she will not use her Authority anywhere other than the Otherworld, stating that when she did use it in school, the few times she used her Authority filled the library with the Mist.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: Her dour, serious personality gradually evolves to a very awkward but endearing cheerfulness, with Kokoro making humorous puns with the Vice-President, joking around with her newfound friends, and especially in "Deepest Reaches" where she reiterates her desire to spend the rest of her life with the Vice-President and expects him to "take responsibility" for her no longer being "safe or secure".
• Trademark Favorite Food: Yakisoba bread. In her fantasy, she explicitly states that she will always have a book in one hand and that in the other. The obsession is so great that when she learns Ryotaro is the Pactholder of Gluttony, she eagerly asks him if he can make yakisoba bread appear. Her disappointment is palpable when he explains his Authority is food-related but has no food powers itself.
• Wave-Motion Gun: Her Enlightenment Special Art, Death's Design, is a gigantic laser from her BFG. Contrasting her low damage for almost all of her abilities and follow-ups, this ability has a whopping 400% damage modifier and is outright stated to be able to kill a Legion in one hit and does astounding amounts of damage to everything else.
• Yaoi Fangirl: Of a sort. In a conversation with Shinya, Kokoro believes he and the Vice-President make "quite the pair" and insists that Chiyo take a "couple shot" of them, much to his chagrin.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: And how. "Birth of a New World" is easily one of the most bleakest chapters in Act 2 as she can do nothing but watch as the Vice-President , who she fell for, dies in front of her as she's giving him an Anguished Declaration of Love. Up to that point, he was a constant source of emotional support and helped her break out of her mindset of "safe and secure". The ending cutscene shows no one walking out of the school, meaning Kokoro stayed behind and her ultimate fate is entirely left ambiguous. Just ouch.

Ryotaro Date, Pactbearer of Gluttony

Ryotaro Date

Voiced by: Taito Ban

Date Group Heir

Pactbearer of Gluttony

"What's so wrong about sticking to my guns? You wanna get in my way, you better be ready!"

A rowdy second-year high school student at Shin Mikado Academy and heir to the Date Group conglomerate. A delinquent who's escapades are well-known throughout the school. He wields the Authority of Gluttony and is under a Pact with the Monark Gula.

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• All for Nothing: "Woeful Execution" is just as bad as Kokoro's Act 2 chapter "Birth of a New World", if not worse. Despite having stolen so much power and made a deal with a Monark, absolutely none of it allowed him to save the Vice-President when the latter undergoes Cessation of Existence after they kill Yoru and Tristia. The end of the chapter sees Ryotaro pounding his fist at the ground in frustration, screaming that everything's been taken from him again.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Ryotaro is known for many things among the student body and faculty of Shin Mikado, up to and including being the reason there are so many rules and regulations, somehow getting lost for a month during a school field trip, and most jarringly bringing an actual nude model to an art class.
• The Atoner: His character arc in Act 2. Chiyo's death hits him especially hard as its proof the distortions have gotten to the point where calls from the Otherworld are happening outside the Mist and he's helped contribute to it, putting the responsibility of her death on his shoulders. It's hard for him to admit as much, claiming he's gotten too far and that he is Beyond Redemption.
• Beyond Redemption: His feelings in Act 2. He knows Chiyo's death was partially his fault but feels he doesn't deserve the chance to atone, and he doesn't want to give up his own dream of usurping his father and brother from the Date Group without the use of his Authority.
• Big Eater: If he were to have a last meal, it's going to be lots of unhealthy, salty, savory fried foods like fried shrimp, fried potatoes, fried chicken, etc. Then again, what would you expect from the Pactbearer of Gluttony?
• Chess Motifs: Rooks. The crown on his head resembles the crenellations of a turret and his being a ranged character brings to mind archers shooting down at invaders below them.
• Cool Crown: A much smaller, less flashy version than that of the Vice-President or Shinya, as befitting his Chess Motif being a castle's defensive soldiers than royalty.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: What his father, current head of the Date Conglomerate, is, and what his older brother is also shaping up to become. Ryotaro utterly despises the sheer amount of corruption, scandal, and other illegal activities his father has signed off on in the span of less than a generation, all for the sake of making a quick and easy buck, and his driving motivation to gain power is to take the position of Conglomerate Head back from his father and kick his brother out of the succession line, then try and steer the organization back to his grandfather's ideals.
• Dual Wielding: He wields two pistols in combat.
• Empowered Badass Normal: His first appearance has him standing over a bunch of delinquents, one of whom is lying next to a bat and doesn't have a single scratch on him. Becoming a Pactbearer allows him to fight some of the more supernatural foes within the school.
• Establishing Character Moment: From what you hear about Ryotaro from the other students, he's something of a hellraiser and gets into plenty of fights, but has many admirers in the school who apparently looks after his own. The Vice-President's first meeting with Ryotaro involves the latter saving him from a group of Unsettled, mocking them for trying to attack the weak.
• Famed In-Story: As early as the first chapter when you are partnered up with Nozomi, many students can be found lamenting and wishing that Ryotaro were here to beat back the Unsettled and find a solution for the Mist. Others are glad Ryotaro is not around, considering his infamous reputation as a troublemaker who spurred new rules to be made specifically because of him.
• Face–Heel Turn: Heavily downplayed. In Act 2, Ryotaro becomes an antagonist as he refuses to void his pact with Gula. Unlike Kokoro, who similarly refuses to void her pact but willingly chooses to seal herself in the Otherworld, this puts him at odds with Sora. In "Flagbearer of Faith" and "Slothful Philosophy", she tasks the Vice-President and Shinya or Kokoro to deal with him. The reason this trope is downplayed is because Ryotaro is a Friendly Enemy with the TSC and realizes that he is partly responsible for Chiyo's death due to the increase of distortions, but he genuinely feels that he cannot or is unable to atone for indirectly getting someone killed. This is subverted in "Tower of Gluttony" where the Vice-President allies with him to find a way to undo Chiyo's death and remove the distortions without voiding the pacts.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: While he has plenty of admirers in the school, that's all they are. You would be very hard-pressed to find someone who is associated with Ryotaro and consider him a friend. Nozomi is incredibly wary around him and Shinya despises him. The only one who is semi-friendly with him is Kokoro, but she otherwise keeps her distance from him as she does with everyone else. Fittingly, the only person Ryotaro considers an actual friend and can reciprocate that feeling is the Vice-President.
• The Gunslinger: His archetype. Interestingly, though some of his skills rely on More Dakka, he uses two pistols rather than one large gun.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Yes, he's a delinquent. Yes, he admits that all his privileged upbringing and education have largely gone to waste now that he's doing whatever he likes. However, he is still the son of a rich conglomerate and has the education to match. In "Cause and Infect", Ryotaro is able to instantly recognize the portraits of famous composers, which happens to be the puzzle for finding the last Ideal of the Pactbearer of Envy. It's also worth noting that he's never once flaunted his status or abused his wealth, as he states he was flat broke and got by purely through hitchhiking and the kindness of strangers during his month-long "detour" during a school field trip.
  • Like his deceased grandfather, Taro Date, Ryotaro has a strong love for and respect for architecture, especially urban designs and cities built to last for generations. His home base and favorite place in Shin Mikado is the Archives, constructed with the participation of Taro.
  • A conversation in the TSC has Chiyo ask if he's ever been in a relationship or dated anyone. Ryotaro states he's never been in one, but not because he has terrible luck with girls. The only girl he intends to date is the girl he intends to marry and can support for the rest of his life. This shocks Chiyo to the point of calling him old-fashioned and wholesome.
• I Have No Son!: On the receiving end of this. According to Hayate, Ryotaro has been all but disowned by his father for failing to live up to his standards and being a delinquent. Ryotaro couldn't care less, and Act 2 reveals his disdain for his father and brother.
• Inadequate Inheritor: In two distinct ways, depending on who in the family you're comparing Ryotaro to.
  • To his father, the current Head of the Date Conglomerate, and his older brother, the current successor to the position. As far as his father's concerned, Ryotaro's brought no small amount of shame to him because of his delinquency, though Ryotaro is more than happy to cause his old man so much trouble because, in his view, he's damaged and tainted the Taro Conglomerate his grandfather worked so hard to build.
  • To his deceased grandfather, Taro. Ryotaro feels he's not nearly as strong, driven, and principled of a man as him, lacking the power to build a lasting legacy that steals people's hearts.
• Japanese Delinquent: He has many of the trappings: the dyed blonde hair, the jewelry, and the disrespectful attitude. During his first visit to the TSC, an awestruck Chio mentions his long, long, long rap list, which among other consequences meant that entire pages of the student handbook were written specifically because of what Ryotaro did.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's rough around the edges, but he does care about those he considers his friends. The other delinquents you meet all lament that Ryotaro isn't around to help keep the peace. "Tower of Gluttony" and "Woeful Execution" brings out the heart of gold in his interactions with the Vice-President.
• Leitmotif: "Gunpowder", as befitting both his weapons of choice and his explosive temper.
• Missing Mom: Ryotaro watched his mother die during an earthquake after the house they were in collapsed and crushed her. Considering the Date Conglomerate was founded by an architect and Ryotaro inherited his grandfather's love for buildings and urban design, it was a traumatizing experience that drives his desire to go his own way as his grandfather had with his ideals, earning the strength to beat down anyone who tries to stop him by whatever means necessary.
• More Dakka: One of his special moves is, quite simply, firing a very, very long barrage of bullets, putting down plenty of projectiles into his unfortunate target.
• Mundane Utility: Several times in the story, he uses his Power Parasite ability to just steal some energy from people and peacefully put them to sleep.
• Noodle Incident: The reason he's a second-year despite being the same age as Nozomi. He disappeared for an entire year and told no one where he was going or why.
• No Sense of Direction: It's extremely bad and basically non-existent, to the point his sense of direction is probably just as bad as Zoro from One Piece. Even when the doors to the 2nd Year Building are less than 10 paces away from him and well within his peripheral vision, Ryotaro ends up going the complete opposite direction immediately after he says he's going there. Other, off-screen incidents include his getting lost during the school camping trip and hitchhiking through all of Japan for a month before eventually coming back with a literal truckload of souvenirs, and going on an unplanned gap year abroad because he got lost on the way to the entrance ceremony.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: Ryotaro makes it clear his alliance with the TSC is one of convenience. He wants out of the school as much as everyone else, but he doesn't want to lose his Authority, so he's aware that he and the True Student Council will come to blows eventually. He still wants to, but Chiyo's death weighs heavily on his mind since he helped contribute to the distortions.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Before the Vice-President showed up, Ryotaro was originally in the main building around the time Kurama became a Pactbearer. The latter attempted to bring him to heel. Keyword "attempted". Ryotaro kicked his ass, being both a physically superior opponent and his Authority being a Power Parasite.
• Old Money: He's from a long-standing, very wealthy Japanese conglomerate but doesn't openly advertise that fact.
• Power Parasite: Hostile Takeover grants him the ability to steal others' powers and use them for his own, fitting Gluttony and its desire to consume anything and everything to appease itself. In gameplay, this mostly reflects with him being able to steal buffs from enemies or lower their stats while raising his in turn. He tries to use it on the protagonist to prevent him from going into the Mist-filled second-year building, only for it to be negated by the Authority of Vanity. He can also use it to take on the pain of others, as shown when he alleviates a student suffering from the Authority of Envy.
• Raised by Grandparents: His older brother and father were working and living overseas on behalf of the Date Conglomerate, so when Ryotaro's mother died in the wake of a massive earthquake that hit Japan, he was sent to live with his grandfather Taro instead.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Like Kokoro with Subaru, he gives these out like candy to the Pactbearer of Envy. By far his most poignant one is when he and the Vice-President confront Hayate in the Otherworld.
  "Cry me a river. Save me your self-centered excuses. You live in a world where all you do is make up bullshit that justifies your actions. Are you even trying to get me to feel sorry for you? The only thing I feel is skeeved out."
• Spotting the Thread:
  • How he deduces the Pactbearer of Envy's identity and Authority. After experiencing the pain another student was going through after using Hostile Takeover to remove the affliction, and noticing that Hayate was the only one that somehow wasn't being affected by the disease despite being in such close contact with the other victims, Ryotaro correctly guesses that Hayate is passing off the pain of his aging, sickly body onto the students.
  • In "Woeful Execution", Ryotaro (correctly) guesses the existence of a "god" in the Otherworld despite lacking crucial evidence, reasoning that if Daemons exist, there should also be a higher power. While Sora scoffs at this and claims Daemons are referred to as such because it was how they were named, Ryotaro points out that "Shin Mikado" and "Jingu" mean "Divine Gate" and "shrine" respectively, and Kokoro saw the existence of a gate that could potentially resolve the anomalies with her Precog-analysis. While he's lacking a lot of details, Ryotaro is right on the money in thinking there's a god somewhere in the Otherworld—specifically an Outer God, one that's been right under his nose the whole time in the form of a certain creepy-looking stuffed bunny rabbit doll.
• Start My Own: In the post-game chapter "Addendum: Dawn", Ryotaro says that while he does still plan on using his Authority to take back the Date Group from his father and brother, he's also entertaining the idea of starting up his own company, one that's closer to his grandfather's ideals.
• Take a Third Option: Ryotaro joins with the TSC to research a way to leave Shin Mikado without needing to destroy any of the Pactbearers' Ideals, or at least find an alternative solution to dealing with them. This even becomes the crux of his Act 2 chapter, which pays off toward the end of the game since he correctly hints at the existence of a power beyond that of the Monarks.
• The Unfavorite: To his older brother and his father. Ryotaro mentions that most of his trouble-making and attention-seeking behavior was because his brother got all of the attention as a "gifted" future successor of the Date Conglomerate. His grandfather, however, was rather fond of him, going so far as to drag Ryotaro on an almost nonstop series of international flights when he was 8, both to distract him from the grief of losing his mother in an earthquake and teaching him the beauty of architecture, and how a great man builds a legacy that steals people's hearts, not their riches.

Support Members

Vanitas (Unmarked Spoilers)

Vanitas/Yog-Sothoth

Voiced by: Shigeru Chiba

"Monark" of Vanity/God of the Otherworld

"Tremble...in delight."

The Monark of Vanity who takes on the appearance of a degraded bunny rabbit doll. Upon encountering the Vice-President in the Otherworld, he makes a pact with him and gives him the Authority of Vanity. In truth, Vanitas is no mere Monark—he is Yog-Sothoth, the God of the Otherworld that all Daemons derive their power and existence from.

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• Added Alliterative Appeal: In the English dub and translation, he's extremely enamored with excessive alliteration in his articulation. If he's not doing that, he's making Rhymes on a Dime.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: As he reveals in a conversation with Chiyo and Nozomi, his current form isn't his real one and chose the form because, as he puts it, he is the lord of all that is vain and "bunny" (sort of) rhymes with "vanity". This is because his real form is both sealed behind a supernatural gate, and is a gigantic, several meter tall humanoid Eldritch Abomination that has numerous tentacles, Barbie Doll Anatomy, and is assumed to still be a form he takes that humans can safely perceive without going insane.
• Ambiguously Evil: He's a Monark, i.e. one of the most powerful Daemons among his kind and capable of granting humans the power of an Authority. He's also an ally of the Vice-President, and when Sora questions his intentions, he merely says he wants to observe the protagonist, making his true motives unclear. The ambiguity is dropped in "Deepest Depths", where he admits he aided the Vice-President and the True Student Council out of boredom, but came to value their friendship and genuinely respect them.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He's a Monark, one of the highest forms of Daemons in existence, though he takes a backseat role compared to the others. As it turns out, he's actually more than just a simple Monark and is a Daemonic god, and he will happily show you how much stronger he is compared to those "pale imitations".
• Benevolent Genie: Ironically enough, for being a Daemonic God. Not only will Vanitas grant you your wish, he will also make sure to warn you about any potential consequences and walk you through the reality of the wish before you make it. This is why Hugo Cromwell decides to back down from using him to revive the real Sora Jingu and why, during the first battle with him, you can only wish for the Vice-President to become human.
• Blatant Lies: When Chiyo glomps him after he reveals himself to her for the first time, Kakeru tells her to ease off before he suffocates. Vanitas claims it's no issue since he doesn't actually breathe. Not ten seconds later does he ask the Vice-President for help, clearly straining to breathe all the while.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: He does not particularly care about the "Evil" designation that humans have assigned him and all of Daemonkind. The only thing he does respect and considers desirable is a strong Ego; with the Vice-President, he encourages him to defy his artificial existence, the irrationality and unfairness of the world, and gain what he desires most, without any other form of "morality" or "justice" to guide him.
• Body Horror: That zipper running around the underside of Vanitas's head? When it unzips, it reveals a bloody red mouth and a tongue that flaps gleefully about. In a conversation with Chiyo and Nozomi, both it and his overall appearance is merely cosmetic. His true form as Yog-Sototh is no less disturbing.
• Broken Pedestal: Downplayed. Shinya is initially taken in by Vanitas' appearance like Chiyo is, and for the most part doesn't comment on his existence beyond seeing him as an ally. In "Unhinged Darkness", however, Shinya gets pissed off when he learns Vanitas stood by and watched Yoru kill his adoptive parents while being reminded that, for as cute as he looks, Vanitas isn't here to assist them and only looks on for amusement.
  Shinya: Daemon bastard.
• Creepy Cute: invoked Despite his otherwise disturbing appearance, Chiyo promptly glomps him and says he's adorable, much to his chagrin and embarrassment. So does Shinya, for that matter! Vanitas is rather annoyed by this as he wants to be feared and looked upon in awe, not treated like a child's toy.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Albeit Ambiguously Evil. While his true motives are unclear, he's at least an ally in the TSC's mission to return the school to normal. Even more so in his true form, as while he is Yog-Sothoth of Lovecraft fame, he genuinely likes and respects the Vice-President by that point and happily grants your wish if you can beat him.
• Deus ex Machina: Yugo attempts to kill the Vice-President after the latter is left severely drained from their fight, only for Vanitas to intervene and block the attack.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: He's the sole reason that the TSC can fight against the Pactbearers and their Monarks yet he's constantly being physically abused (most often by having his ears yanked), disrespected, and ignored. One has to assume his bombastic, braggadocious diatribes don't endear him to others, and the game certainly doesn't sympathize with him. Several random conversations in the TSC Room also involve his feelings being hurt as the punchline. For example:
  • After Nozomi questions why he chooses to look as a bunny rabbit, of all things, one of Vanitas's claims is that it rhymes with "vanity". When Nozomi points out they barely do, Vanitas says she didn't need to be that strict.
  • After he's revealed to be Yog-Sothoth, God of the Otherworld, Ryotaro claims that he couldn't have possibly believed that Vanitas was a divine being. Vanitas boasts about how good his disguise must have been... until Ryotaro explains that he just never saw anything divine about Vanitas, even till now. Dismayed, Vanitas again chastises Ryotaro and says he didn't need to go that far.
• Eldritch Abomination: As Yog-Sothoth, and in fact one of the OG eldritch creatures alongside the likes of Cthulhu and Nyarlathotep. His claim of his bunny rabbit doll form being cosmetic is proven true as he reveals himself for what he actually is; a tall, white humanoid creature with tentacles dangling from his chin and back.
• Even Evil Has Standards: As annoying and haughty as he is, he starts announcing his presence before appearing suddenly on Nozomi's request after she has a minor Freak Out when he did so earlier in the first chapter.
• Exact Words:
  • When Vanitas appears before Sora, he calls her a "woeful overseer". At first, it sounds like he's calling her someone with troubles of her who looks after the students under her care...until you learn in Act 2 she's the Monark of Woe, meaning Vanitas knew she was from the get-go.
  • In Act 2, the Vice-President questions Vanitas how he can find his Ideals or null their pact. Vanitas is more amused than anything and tells him to quit dwelling on pointless matters. Recall his first meeting with the Vice-President, and revelations regarding the Vice-President in "Deepest Reaches". At one point did Vanitas ever say he was going to make a pact with the Vice-President? More importantly, why would he even consider making a pact with a Monark?
  • When Sora questions how the Vice-President and Nozomi managed to leave the Otherworld after their first visit and Vanitas appears, she immediately recognizes him as a Daemon and identifies him as a Monark. Vanitas replies he's merely "the being who helped them survive". As you later learn in "Deepest Reaches", Vanitas is far from being a Monark. Note how he says he's a "being" rather than calling himself a Monark.
• From a Certain Point of View: As he explains after the TSC's confrontation with Yugo, he did tell Yugo there would be consequences for reviving Sora Jingu. However, he also explains that Yugo interpreted the consequences as untold destruction to his world and the Otherworld, while Vanitas himself never explains what truly would have happened.
• God Was My Co-Pilot: He's the God of the Otherworld, Yog-Sothoth, from which all other Monarks derive their existences and powers.
• He Was Right There All Along: In "Deepest Reaches", he reveals that the Outer God the True Student Council seeks an audience with is none other than himself, explaining that while his true body lies sealed within the Gate, his current appearance is how he interacts with the outside world.
• Ironic Echo: When Vanitas shows up for the first time when the protagonist, Chiyo, Dr. Kakeru, and Nozomi are being attacked by Legions, he tells the protagonist to handle the situation on his own if he demands Vanitas lend his assistance. Later, when Chiyo takes an instant liking to Vanitas and glomps him, he asks the protagonist for help, to which the player can shoot his words during their first meeting right back at him.
  Vice-President: Pacify your predicament personally.
  Vanitas: You...flagitious...fiend...
• It Amused Me: His reason for helping the True Student Council and helping the Vice-President. Vanitas was hopelessly bored while his true form was stuck inside the Gate, so he decided to help the TSC to alleviate it, though he later grew impressed by the True Student Council's Ego to the point he tells them the steps to reach the Gate and make their wish to Yog-Sothoth.
• Large Ham: Whenever he's in the mood, he can be rather bombastic and dramatic. This is fitting because he's the God of the Otherworld, Yog-Sothoth, and all of the Daemons are derivatives and "pale imitations" of his power. His bragging is not boasting so much as objective truth.
  Vanitas: Tremble...in delight. I...am the abyss! I am one and I am all. The world and the self! Ephemeral! Eternal. Gehehe!
• Laughably Evil: He tries to come off as some evil creature, but his appearance and tendency to turn meek when someone grabs him by the ears shatters whatever image he tries to paint of himself. It becomes very hard to laugh at him when he reveals his true nature as Yog-Sothoth.
• Literal Split Personality: Downplayed. Vanitas explains that his current body is separate and disconnected from the Outer God Yog-Sothoth, stating "It is me, yet also not, as it were." In comparison to Vanitas' otherwise hammy and bombastic attitude and presentation, Yog-Sothoth is considerably more menacing and foreboding.
• Meaningful Echo: When Vanitas reveals his true self as Yog-Sothoth, he repeats his introduction to the True Student Council within the Gate, only this time the words hold much more meaning with the revelation that he is an Outer God.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Vanitas" refers to a still-painting style containing symbols of death or change as a reminder of their inevitability. He's closely associated with the Vice-President, who goes through four different deaths in Act 2 while looking for a way to save his friends.
  • In Latin, Vanitas is associated with emptiness, futility, and/or worthlessness. Doubles as an Ironic Name as Vanitas is associated with vanity and vainglory, i.e. the contemporary for Pride which focuses on self-worth or boasting. Fittingly, his "Pactbearer" is an Artificial Human who was supposed to be a puppet for Yoru, only for his Ego to put him against her.
• Rhymes on a Dime: Vanitas speaks in this manner and rarely talks normally. In the English dub, if he's not rhyming, he's putting in Added Alliterative Appeal.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Due to his nature as the Outer God of the Otherworld, he's unaffected by Kakeru's time-loops and therefore remembers everything that happened in all Act 2 routes without the Vice-President's Resonance.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: He's not exactly evil, it's just that his existence and actions bring forth distortions every time he grants a wish. A human named Carter (i.e. the Author Avatar of H.P. Lovecraft) helped the Jingu family lock him away within the Otherworld so he couldn't act freely. This doesn't stop Yog-Sothoth from using Vanitas as a medium for him to interact with others outside the Otherworld.
• Signature Laugh: "Gehe!" He retains this even in his god form, Yog-Sothoth.
• Slasher Smile: Some of his character portraits involve his zipper coming undone and letting his tongue flap about, making it look as if he's giving a lopsided smile.
• Superboss: In the post-game chapter "Addendum: Dawn". He's significantly tougher than when he was the Final Boss, and it's made worse by the fact that the Vice-President can only fight him with his Fiends.
• Super-Empowering: Subverted with the Vice-President. He is initially presumed to be the Monark of Vanity and made a pact with the Vice-President, allowing him to command Fiends in battle and use Resonance, though "Deepesr Reaches" reveals he's not a Monark and the Authority of Vanity always belonged to the Vice-President, who is a flawed replica of the original Monark of Vanity. Played straight with Nozomi as he helps unlock her Imagigear by using the Vice-President as a medium.
• Token Heroic Orc: Played with. When initially presumed to be a Monark, he willingly helps the TSC despite knowing that his pact with the Vice-President will have to be rendered null and void at some point. Then it's revealed he's not a Monark and therefore made no such pact with the Vice-President. On the other hand, he is the source from which all Daemons derive their power from, so he's nonetheless counted as an ally of the TSC.
• Worthy Opponent: What he sees the True Student Council as in "Deepest Depths", when they beat him and his army of Phantom Monarks to his satisfaction, proving the strength of their Egos. It gets even more so with the Vice-President where you can fight him twice, at a higher level, and without the other members, just your army of Fiends.

Chiyo Aikawa

Chiyo Aikawa

Voiced by: Madoka Asahina

Newspaper Club Journalist

A first-year middle school student at Shin Mikado Academy and member of the Newspaper Club who lovingly refers to the Vice-President as her older brother. She came to the high school to interview Nozomi Hinata, but was unlucky enough to end up trapped by the anomalies. Her respiratory system is weak and is only exacerbated by the Mist rapidly spreading through the academy.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: Downplayed. She thinks Vanitas, a Monark Daemon (actually a Daemonic god) in the form of a degraded stuffed bunny rabbit missing an eye and a zipper hiding a bloody mouth and tongue is adorable. Vanitas, on the other hand, does not appreciate being called cute, glomped, and especially being strangled by Chiyo's tight hugs. That said, he's very quick to bond with her as shown in some of the conversations in the TSC club room.
• Ambiguous Situation: When the Vice-President gives his name upon being prompted by Kakeru, Nozomi expresses confusion that his family name is different from Chiyo's, to which the girl nervously replies that their family isn't traditional. The ambiguity is cleared up when Shinya joins the True Student Council, where she off-handedly mentions her parents are divorced, hence why her brother has a different surname.^note Even if players type "Aikawa" as the protagonist's family name, Nozomi still acts as though he has a different surname than Chiyo's.This turns out to be the only thing that Yoru didn't alter when she created the Vice-President and replaced Takamori Suzuki's existence with his.
• Big Brother Worship: Chiyo makes no secret how much she adores her older brother, so she does what she can to help him in his activities as True Student Council Vice-President. This still applies even after he learns he's not her actual brother.
• Camera Fiend: Her first scene in the opening cutscenes of the game has her taking photos of Nozomi during a speech, much to her dismay.
• Family of Choice: Despite learning the Vice-President isn't actually Takamori Suzuki and her real older brother is dead, she still accepts him since he cares for her, and she cares about him in turn.
• Foreshadowing: Chiyo put a vase of flowers on a student's desk as they had recently died, with said flowers being Rosemary's, the student's favorite type of flowers, implying how close they were. She even leaves behind a memo, lamenting the student's passing. For the record, said desk can be found in the second-year building, but the student's name is written out. The desk belongs to Takamori Suzuki, Chiyo's real older brother who died in a traffic accident. Yoru overwrote every person's memory of Takamori and replaced him with the Vice-President.
• He Knows Too Much: The reason she's swiftly killed off by Yoru in "Intermission: Dusk". The Vice-President asking her about her letter and rosemary flowers on Takanori Suzuki's desk made her want to investigate and was growing dangerously close to realizing that the Vice-President wasn't her real brother. Deeming her a threat for getting too close to the truth, Yoru dragged her into the Otherworld and killed her.
• Intrepid Reporter: She's clearly got no issues putting herself in danger for a scoop and hangs around at the TSC room, the heart of most of the action. Though, one could excuse this as her wanting to be with her older brother, the protagonist. Her introductory cutscene even shows her rapidly taking pictures of her surroundings and of Nozomi during a meeting. You'll also find various notes around the school detailing her exploits and journalist findings. Something has in common with her older brother Takamori.
• Kill the Cutie: She's killed off in "Intermission: Dusk", which sets off the events of Act 2 and the disbanding of the True Student Council. Thankfully, her death is reversed in "Deepest Reaches" as Kakeru sends the Vice-President back to when Sora just disbanded the club where Chiyo is alive and well.
• The Load: How she sees herself, considering her weak lungs and her inability to protect herself against the Daemons and the distortions. If you listen to her post-mortem recorded message for the Vice-President, she breaks down in tears talking about how useless she feels she is and unworthy of her brother's love and care.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Due to her death in the Intermission, she is never made aware that the protagonist isn't her older brother Takamori, but an Artificial Human made by Yoru who replaced Takamori's existence. During "Deepest Depths", however, the Vice-President uses his newly awakened Animakinesis and the memories from Dr. Kakeru's vestigial Authority of Greed to grant her all the memories and knowledge he has. She ultimately decides that she still loves the Vice-President as he clearly loves her, too, despite the circumstances of his creation.
• Loved by All: She's well-beloved by almost everyone in Shin Mikado, and even has a devoted group of fanboys in the second-year high school division. As one might expect, news of her death shakes those who knew her in some capacity.
• My Sister Is Off-Limits: Brother in her case, though only when Kokoro is involved. When the latter is first introduced to the TSC proper, Chiyo panics and tells Nozomi to "sound the alarm", and is further distressed when Kokoro says she's partnering with the Vice-President and "borrowing" him (to deal with Subaru). After the Pactbearer of Wrath arc concludes, Kokoro requests to extend her partnership with the TSC and explains she wants to stay with the Vice-President. Chiyo's reaction?
  "Don't fall for it, [name]! This girl's not safe OR secure!"

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