Visual Novel / BUSTAFELLOWS

In the city of New Sieg, Teuta Bridges is a young journalist with an unusual ability: She can go back in time to a brief period, but when she does, she finds herself in the body of a random stranger. When she witnesses the murder of a well-known crooked lawyer, she resolves to save him. This, in turn, leads to her becoming acquainted with not just the lawyer himself, but his associates. Soon, Teuta and her new friends find themselves stepping foot into the dark underbelly of New Sieg, and Teuta may soon find answers as to what happened to her murdered brother.

Bustafellows is an otome game by the company Extend. It was first released in 2019. It got an English release in July 2021. A sequel titled BUSTAFELLOWS SEASON 2 was released in Japan on May 25, 2023.

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This visual novel contains the following tropes:

• Addiction Displacement: In Shu's route, when he's attempting to quit smoking, he switches to having lollipops instead. Teuta remarks how cute he looks with a lollipop.
• Aerith and Bob: We have normal names like Luka, Shu and Adam, and then we have Teuta, Limbo and Helvetica. Helvetica's name, at least, is an alias, with his real name being Nicola Ritz.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Both Adam and some of the love interests, such as Limbo and Shu, does this to Teuta at least once to convey their affection for her. In Crow's route, Teuta pats Crow's head, leaving him flustered.
• Alone with the Psycho: Downplayed. When Teuta first starts interviewing Irina Krakowski, a suspected murderer, Teuta was naturally uncomfortable at first, but Irina was nothing but polite and cordial with her. Even after it's revealed Irina actually did murder her roommate, Teuta was left alone in a room with Irina but she was not concerned for her safety at all by that point
• Anger Born of Worry: Luka and Adam sometimes get frustrated with Teuta who tends to place herself in dangerous situations.
  • Luka was all but yelling at Teuta when she heard about Teuta's apartment collapsing and Teuta was not answering her phone (Shu had taken her phone at that time). While hugging Teuta out of relief that she was fine.
  • Adam becomes quietly furious when he hears second-hand that Teuta was potentially in contact with an unknown virus. He calms down a bit once he sees Teuta in-person and realizes she is fine.
• Animal Jingoism: Played for Laughs that out of the love interests, the cat likes Crow the least and has scratched his face a few times. Meanwhile, Crow is terrified of the cat and easily the most antagonistic with it.
• Animal Motifs: Teuta is mentioned being similar to the stray cat who follows her around. Teuta herself adores cats and both she and the cat are without a home but are determined to keep living.
• Apathetic Citizens: When Limbo was attacked in public in Chapter 1, no one but Teuta runs to help him. Even when Teuta looks and calls for someone to help her stop the bleeding, no one moves and she notes how some even take out their phones to video the scene.
• Artistic License – Medicine: Frequently. Particularly notable was plastic surgery leaving no scars in Helvetica's route and a defibrillator being used to resuscitate Limbo from tetrodotoxin poisoning in his route.
• Asshole Victim: Discussed with regard to Teuta’s brother, Zora. Because he’d fallen into drugs and violence, no one was all that surprised when he ended up dead, which bothers Teuta. Auld Lang Syne plays it straight with the reveal that he’d attacked Luka, resulting in Adam killing him in self-defense.
• Barely-There Swimwear: The swimsuits that Valerie and Carmen wear are extremely revealing, to the point they hardly conceal anything.
• Beach Episode: In Chapter 4, when Valerie and Carmen drop by, they managed to get Teuta to wear a swimsuit as they relaxed by the pool. Depending on which love interest has the highest value, Teuta's swimsuit can change.
  • Crow chooses a simple but cute swimsuit with shorts.
  • Shu suggests a black bikini that highlights Teuta's mature, sexier side.
• Big Brother Instinct: Limbo, and Shu to some degree, looks out for Eddie, a young but troubled boy.
• Big Fancy House: Crow's house is practically a mansion with multiple rooms where six people can live comfortably.
• Big Rotten Apple: New Sieg is New York in everything but name, down to the metro having the same chime as it does in NY. And New Sieg is a city full of corruption, illegal immigrants, drug trafficking and prostitution.
• Blood from the Mouth: When Limbo is attacked in the streets in Chapter 1, he starts coughing up blood which is a sign of how severe his injuries are and how he won't survive for much longer.
• Butt-Monkey: If one of the guys is going to end up making a fool of himself, it’s usually going to be Crow.
• Cain and Abel: The brothers who founded Ruy Lopez ultimately came into conflict that ended with the younger brother killing the elder in self-defence. Full Circle reveals the truth to be more complicated.
• Caper Crew: The Fixer team can fall into these roles. Can also double as a Five-Man Band
  • Limbo is the Mastermind, who tends to take the lead and typically plans out their jobs.
  • Shu is his Lancer and the Muscle who is the most physically active of the group.
  • Crow is the Hacker and Mission Control who is able to hack into any electronic device and provides backup and support to the team from afar.
  • Helvetica, especially with his female disguise, is the Distraction and the Conman.
  • Mozu can act as the Fixer, finding or manipulating autopsy results for the group's benefit.
  • Teuta is the New Kid and can double as the Searcher as she is good with infiltrating due to her journalist job and finding key information.
• Childhood Friends: Teuta, Luka and Adam are childhood friends.
• Closet Shuffle: When Shu and Teuta are trying to download information from a target's bedroom, they are forced to hide in the closet when the target returns back to his room sooner than expected.
• Dead Man Writing: Hilda's girlfriend left him audio clips when she realized she was dying of a virus that her company was developing.
  "If I die, be it now or tomorrow, I'll spend every moment thinking about you."
• Died in Your Arms Tonight:
  • Limbo died in Teuta's arms when he was murdered in the streets, prompting Teuta to go back in time to stop his murder and kickstarting the story.
  • Luka is found shot in the police station by a visiting Teuta and expires not too long after in Teuta's arms. Teuta is quick to travel back in time to save Luka.
• Engineered Public Confession: Limbo's would-be killer is caught via one of these. Full Circle has Vonda being caught similarly.
• Debating Names: Upon acquiring a stray cat, Limbo's group throws out several possible names. The cat's name changes depending on which route you end up on.
• Faking the Dead: How the gang ends up smoking out Limbo’s would-be killer. Shu’s route has them doing the same with Shu to get him out of jail.
• Fictional Social Network: Full Circle is a fictional social site that many people can post anything and chat with each other. While noted it's not entirely reliable as a source of information, the group often utilizes it to their advantage, such as livestreaming their confrontation with Ortega and later posting that fashion company Georgina was taking advantage of immigrant workers to spread enough rumors to make a case to help Irina.
• First Girl Wins: Mozu is the first love interest that Teuta can meet and if choosing his route, it would make him the First Guy to win.
• Friend on the Force: Luka is this to Teuta.
• From Roommates to Romance: After Teuta's apartment collapses, she ends up living with the love interests in Crow's mansion. At the time, they make it clear that Teuta didn't have much choice as they were initially distrustful of her. It is up to the player which love interest to have a Relationship Upgrade with.
  • It's lampshaded by other characters. Crow absently mutters to himself that if he wonders if things may happen between him and Teuta while living together (while on speaker phone so everyone could hear him). Valerie wonders why Teuta hasn't gotten together with one of them yet since she had been living with them for some time.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: In Crow's route, after waking up from a life-threatening situation, Crow reverts to his other personality and mindlessly attacks Teuta and starts strangling her. While the others pull Teuta out of harm's way, Mozu slaps Crow at least twice, saying it would be the quickest way to snap him out of it. Sure enough, it works and Crow is completely confused as to what just happened.
• Happily Adopted: Shu still thinks fondly of his late mentor, who was like a mother to him. The end of his route reveals him to be a subversion: Yang was the adopted child, while Shu was Tyra’s biological child.
• He Knows Too Much: Downplayed but the original reason why Limbo and the others invite Teuta to stay with them after she loses her home wasn't out of kindness but because she knew too much about them and their activities.
• Hope Spot: The climax of Mozu’s route has Troy reveal that Mozu’s missing sister, Yuzu, is still alive and confined. When the police break into the place he claims she is, it becomes clear that she is long dead.
• Implausible Hair Color: While most of the cast have normal hair colors, many of them have two shades that could have been dyed or highlighted, such as Teuta's dirty blonde hair with a reddish-orange tinge or Mozu's dark hair with yellow ends. No one comments on Shu's white-grey hair or Carmen's purple hair.
• Indirect Kiss:
  • Crow ends up drinking from the same drink as Teuta. While Teuta doesn't notice, Crow becomes flustered because of it.
  • Shu steals the spoon from the ice cream bucket Teuta was eating from and later on, Teuta freely offers him the last bite.
• In-Series Nickname: Scarecrow's handle name is often shorten to Crow by the others.
• Interface Screw: In Auld Lang Syne, the scenes from Adam’s POV start out as somewhat blurry and get worse as the story progresses. It’s likely because of his brain tumor.
• Intrepid Reporter: Teuta takes her job as a journalist seriously, so when there's a potential scoop in front of her, she immediately gives chase. Her penchant for snooping around and getting involved more often than not is what gets her wrapped up in the plot in the first place.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: There are several points that strongly suggest that Adam: Sc (and possibly Luka) has feelings for Teuta. Nevertheless, he's happy when she finds happiness with someone in Limbo's gang. When Teuta starts connecting the dots as to what happened when her brother died, Adam lies about the circumstances to make himself look worse in order to protect Teuta's image of Zora.
• Kill the Ones You Love: Irina reveals that she did in fact kill her roommate/friend Lisa. When prompted why, Irina admitted she hated that Lisa was able to escape from their hellish circumstances as immigrated workers for herself but Irina wasn't able to. She does express genuine regret for her actions however.
• Last Girl Wins: If choosing Crow's route, he is the last of the love interests to meet Teuta in person.
• Long List: Shu reveals to Teuta he kept a notebook from of his teacher of a list of hitman and people that commit horrible crimes and Shu has been crossing out names for some time.
• Lying to Protect Your Feelings: In Crow's route, after Crow's Split Personality attacked and strangled Teuta, Crow was horrified by his actions but Teuta reassured him that she wasn't scared of him at all. Later, Helvetica talked to her in private and she admited she was actually terrified.
• Love Confessor: Late in Crow's route, he explicitly reveals his feelings for Teuta to his father.
• Money to Throw Away: Justified. When exposing Ortega for his crimes, Limbo deliberately opens a suitcase full of dirty money, sending all the bills flying into the ocean, to Ortega's horror. Limbo later reveals to Teuta that the money was swapped with fake bills, so they could split the real money between themselves.
• Older Than They Look: Alex is supposedly 15, but Full Circle reveals that he's the younger brother who helped found Ruy Lopez. Something happened that resulted in him having to change his body so that he appeared younger. According to Vonda, he's around Limbo's age, which would put him in his mid-to-late 20's.
• Omnidisciplinary Lawyer: Limbo is ostensibly a criminal trial lawyer, but people still come to him for legal counsel on things like real estate contracts, business charters, patent law, and so forth.
• Open Heart Dentistry: Mozu and Helvetica, who serve as the team's medics, are a coroner and plastic surgeon respectively. It doesn't stop them from temporarily poisoning Limbo to death.
• Parental Abandonment: Quite a few of the characters are orphans.
  • Shu was raised by his adoptive mentor who was actually his biological mother.
  • Mozu’s parents died in an accident when he was 11.
  • Crow’s mother died when he was young, and his father died when he was 16. His route reveals that his father’s death was faked, and he’d been forced to work for Constantine in exchange for them sparing his son.
• Parrot Pet Position: The stray cat that followed Teuta often ends up sitting on Shu or Mozu's shoulder.
• Planning for the Future Before the End: When Mozu is suspected to be infected by an newly developed virus, he asked the group if something were to happen to him, they would continue looking for his missing sister. Teuta is quick to interrupt and tells Mozu that while she promised she'd help him look for his sister, she would not do it for him. The others agreed with Teuta and also decline Mozu's request.
• Real Men Cook:
  • Mozu is the group's main cook who prepares majority of the meals.
  • Helvetica is also able to cook delicious food when the occasion calls for it but Teuta notes that he spends more time making the food look beautiful.
• Revenge Before Reason: Eddie becomes obsessed with killing Roscoe, the man who had murdered his father. When he gets an opportunity to shoot Roscoe, Eddie soon becomes horrified when he finds out Roscoe died from his injuries. It takes Teuta jumping back in time and getting help from Shu to stop Eddie.
• Sexiness Score: One of the first things Helvetica says to Teuta was to rate her a 63, offending her. Shu comments that Helvetica rarely rates anyone higher than 60. If the player chooses to say that Teuta's first impression of Helvetica is that she felt he was annoying, Helvetica is amused and says Teuta gained a few more points due to her honesty.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: During the plan to infiltrate the Fashion Week venue, Shu dresses in a nice suit, much to his annoyance. Both Teuta and Helvetica compliments him about it.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Due to Teuta and Adam's closeness, other characters notice and wonder if they are dating, despite Teuta's attempts to explain they are only childhood friends.
• Shipper on Deck: Valerie in the common route points out to Teuta about how handsome her brother is. During the pool party, depending which swimsuit Teuta wears, Valerie would tease whichever love interest that she had phoned for the swimsuit suggestion.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: Helvetica is aware of this trope and wears non-prescription glasses to appear intelligent and dignified.
• Something Only They Would Say: Teuta frequently has to rely on this to convince others to believe her when she time-travels and transports herself into someone else's body.
  • What convinced Limbo and Shu that Teuta was telling the truth about going back in time to prevent his murder was when she mentioned the name Navid, someone that only Limbo was familiar with.
  • When trying to save Luka who was found shot and murdered in the police station, Teuta tells them about a spy movie they saw once and how Luka already saw it but lied so they and Teuta could watch it together, a detail that a dying Luka reveals to Teuta.
• Someone's Touching My Butt: When sneaking around the Georgina's owner's bedroom to find information, Shu and Teuta are forced to hide in the closet when the man unexpectedly returned. Due to the cramped space, Shu apologies and says he has to move his hand because it was getting numb. Teuta then realizes that his hand is on her - where exactly is left ambiguous. Crow, who had been listening in, was horrified.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Limbo and his sister Valerie have the same dark brown hair, blue eyes and good looks. Even their clothing scheme is familiar, both wearing shades of red and a yellow tie.
• The Swear Jar: A variation where Scarecrow fines the others if they disrespect or talk ill of him. Naturally, they drop money in advance much to Crow's mortification. Even Nice Girl Teuta couldn't resist adding a dollar bill in as well.
• Terrible Pick-Up Lines: When trying to invite Teuta to come live at his place after she lost her home, Crow attempted to sound suave and cool but fell flat.
  Crow: " I've got an offer for you. Wanna come over to my place, toots?"
  Everyone: "..."
  Hevetica: "...I think you could find a slightly more eloquent way of inviting a lady to your house."
• Two Girls and a Guy: Teuta and her childhood friends, Luka and Adam.
• Underwater Kiss: In Crow's route, when Crow gets trapped underwater and Teuta isn't unable to free him, Teuta makes several trips above the surface to transfer oxygen to him to buy enough time for Shu to call for help.
• Vengeance Feels Empty:
  • After Eddie shoots Roscoe to avenge his father's death, he soon realizes the extent of his actions when Luka reveals Roscoe died of his injuries and now Eddie would be trialed for murder. The entire time he had a Thousand-Yard Stare and was barely reacting even as Limbo was trying to coach him to say it was in self-defense. It takes Teuta to jump back in time to prevent him from shooting Roscoe in the first place to undo this.
  • Hilda worked tirelessly to expose the corrupted pharmaceutical company that his girlfriend lost her life to. But after he did so with the help of the group, he admitted he has no idea what to do now. Helvetica encouraged him to continue to live and meet new people. Hilda seemed to take it to heart. Unfortunately, Hilda wouldn't get a chance to since he was murdered later that night.
• We Named the Monkey "Jack": Teuta ends up on the receiving end of this in Helvetica's route, where the cat ends up being named "Teuta" at his suggestion.
• We Need a Distraction: Helvetica in his Attractive Bent-Gender guise is often used to distract the target while the others carry out the plan.
• You Are Not Alone: When it appears Mozu was infected by a potentially dangerous unknown virus, he decides to stay in the morgue to protect anyone else from getting infected. Teuta refuses to leave him alone and later on, the rest of the group join them in the morgue to spend the night until it was confirmed Mozu was not infected.
• You Killed My Father: Carmen holds a grudge against her lover’s younger brother, since he was responsible for his current condition. When she discovers that the younger brother is her pseudo-adopted son Alex, she’s enraged to the point where she has to be persuaded to go to the hospital to be with her lover in his last moments… where his last words are calling out to Alex rather than her. By the end, she still wants to adopt Alex, but she isn’t ready to see him yet.