"Now don't you cry... Boys don't cry, do they?"
— Alkaid to Haseo, as she's becoming a Lost One
- Watching the End of the World documentaries amidst through playing the .hack//GU series after reading the Legend of Twilight manga sub/gaiden series, one heartbreaker will reverberate likely to long time fans of the series. Upon the incidents regarding Project GU, ultimately culminating in the destruction of 80% of The World's servers, CC Corp pulls the plug on the game entirely after realizing that a majority of the data was lost, but not without a final farewell event planned for all of their devoted players, luckily having the PC data intact, on the very day before the release of The World's replacement installment. Jun Banshouya, the lead commentator and host of End of the World, wandering about the streets of Mac Anu on the heart heavy, tear filled, and lamentious day, with players about saying their good byes and reminiscing about their fun filled adventures with their friends, or outright cursing their woes at CC Corp, he eventually comes in contact Zefie, the daughter of Aura. Explaining to him that Aura was satisfied with being a goddess, and went back to being a normal AI to avoid attention, the effects brought about the attention of being a deity, and out of the want to be a normal being, she then vanishes herself, stating she must return to the winds as well. Her own fate is ultimately known beyond that point, and is the last time in the series she is ever seen.
- In the context of Legend of Twilight, to such a happy story, giving light to an epilogue of the original trilogy, that would seem that The World would last in the hands of peace and happiness in the hands of Aura, who would have a family and seem to send off the .hack series on a good light, it appears that the world moves on, and happily ever afters never truly last forever.
- The setting of Volume 4... The very last days of The World... Yes, you are invited to that final farewell event IN-GAME.
- The scene in Vol.2 where Alkaid is turning into a Lost One and Haseo's reaction.
- Even worse in-universe when her last words before entering a coma are asking Haseo to find Endrance to take her position. It's effectively admitting in the face of what seems like imminent death that she'd never compare to the person she'd been trying to topple, like she had no place at the sides of the real Emperors.
- For extra ache, Alkaid's heart physically stopped according to online articles showing her real self having been hospitalized. Without emergency medical intervention, she wouldn't have simply been comatose— she would've died, a risk that turns out to be true for any Lost One victims but never got expanded on or emphasized beforehand.
- For anyone that grew to love Phyllo during Roots, Antares using Phyllo's character to impart the knowledge of the sealed weapons to Haseo, and Haseo's subsequent reaction to seeing Phyllo "alive" again.
- Gaspard and Silabus are blissfully unaware of the very real threat to the world for most of the game, but it's still heartbreaking to find out the entirety of Kestrel has been ganging up on Gaspard (IRL A 13 YEAR OLD) and scaring other players away from the Acorn Guild Shop with threats of PK. He's been miserable and refusing to mention it for fear of distracting Haseo and Silabus from the upcoming tournament. The worst thing is even though Haseo 'solves' the problem of the actual bullying, the whole thing has massively shaken Gaspard's enjoyment of the world.
- Having to fight an AIDA infected Atoli, after learning of her real-life circumstances (her parents harass her over her grades and "unladylike" behavior and she's borderline suicidal). Gets turned up to eleven during the fight, one of her attacks starts with her saying "I want you to look at me!" and should you escape the attack her Avatar seemingly wilts in on itself a bit while she practically howls "NOBODY EVER LOOKS AT ME!"
- At home, Bo is so horrifically abused by his mother that it's seen as a GOOD thing for him to keep having a split personality, Saku, because she's able to soak up the psychological damage.
- In the Last Recode, it's revealed that Saku is no longer around as much as she used to be. While this is sad, it also implies something more positive to both the audience and Haseo: if Saku is around less, Bo much be doing better in the real world, which implies his situation has improved.
- Haseo's reacton to Ovan's dissapearance (at the time, an apparent death) in the third volume, is heartbreaking.
- While her actions in harassing Haseo, even bullying Gaspard and later getting herself infected with AIDA and turning Alkaid into a Lost One, post-game Redemption shows that Bordeaux is really just a mess of her own kind, and even partial doing.
- In the news article reporting her brief time comatose after Skeith's awakening, we learn she's a biracial teenage girl, which, in the very homogenous Japan, would already invite some social pressure and baggage, whose parents' marriage are constantly rocky. Being Bordeaux is her only tangible means of venting out that frustration.
- And then, at some point, she met Haseo. She realized he was a kindred spirit (and out of universe, we learn she's very much correct on that assessment), and tried to reach out to him....with the only way she knew how to interact with people. Naturally, it didn't endear her at all to the equally-troubled teen, starting their feud. It got worse when she saw him building a stable base of friends out of Canard, Atoli, G.U., and the saner members of Moon Tree, and was filled with envy, causing her to lash out even further. Being one-shotted by him certainly made things worse, and so, she was prime for Sakaki to infect her with an AIDA, just causing her negativity to blaze out of control and lead to more disaster that certainly made Haseo hate her more.
- It takes her Enemy Mine during the Cubia crisis to make her start from scratch and approach Haseo the way she should have had in the first place: exchanging member addresses. Luckily for her, Haseo has gone through his own Character Development and realize he should also put their past behind them, thus accepting her. Party interactions show she's trying MUCH harder not to be someone Haseo would hate. Old habits die hard, and she still proclaims it's all so she can close enough to PK him, but it's very obvious by that point that she's putting up a facade to avoid not looking as tough as she's known to be. The one time she chooses to completely drop her guard and pretty much confess her side is if you choose her for the Promise ending.
- In short, Nina Kircheis is a tragedy of miscommunication, wanting friends to have outlets away from her crappy home life, but ends up often making more enemies than friends due to her antagonistic behavior. She's also a Shadow Archetype for Haseo, showing what would happen to him if he did not work harder to properly interact with people.
