History TearJerker / LoveNikkiDressUpQueen

** [[spoiler: Namely; the death of Lunar, and the reactions of Nikki, Bobo, and Momo.]]

From the beginning, Nikki is shown to be a much stronger person than one would think. Miraland appears at first like a fun dress-up world -- a fantasy escape from the droll reality of everyday life. But taken out of context the hardships Nikki faces would be terrifying for a normal young lady. These hardships include being taken from her happy family and TrappedInAnotherWorld (Prologue), attempted muggings and intellectual property theft by the Iron Rose Stylist legion (Chapters 1 & 5), the threat of [[spoiler: kidnap and imprisonment]] by agents of Bai Jinjin's father (Chapter 7), surviving [[spoiler: a failed coup in Lilith]] (Chapters 11 & 12), and seeing the desolation of [[spoiler: the Cloud Empire by it's own soldiers trying to resist the North Kingdom invasion]] (Chapter 15). Throughout all this, Nikki has maintained an optimistic disposition, always thinking of the needs of others before her own. She even ventures into an active war zone (Chapter 15) because she believes she can use her styling talents [[spoiler: to protect Lunar]]. These styling talents are perhaps the reason she's kept up her morale -- in the real world her styling is a fun hobby, but in Miraland her abilities are considered exceptional; her work is constantly praised, and her talents allow her to fight back against those who would oppress or harm her friends.\\

But just as she and her traveling companions reach the epicenter of the fighting in [[spoiler: Cloud City and spot Lunar at the Southern Gate]], Nikki is forced to watch helplessly as [[spoiler: Nidhogg fatally wounds Lunar in a duel, cementing his victory over Cloud City and disparaging Lunar as she bleeds out in Nikki's arms]]. It's in that moment that Nikki finally realizes that Miraland isn't all fun and dress-up games, and she breaks down in tears for the first time since her adventure started. Not only has she been ripped away from her home and her family, but now the foundations of Miraland as a violence-free fantasy realm where all disputes are solved by dressing up in pretty clothes (and where Nikki has the ability to protect her friends from harm by coordinating her accessories) are crumbling around her as [[spoiler: one of her first friends in this new world dies a painful, bloody death that Nikki was utterly powerless to stop]]. It only gets worse when players realize that all the denizens of Miraland at the scene is also in mourning, but less for [[spoiler: Lunar's death than for what her death heralds: the end of 600 years of peace between the nations of Miraland, and the return to open warfare]].

----> '''???''': It's just several days! You won't die!
----> '''Girl''': Several days? I believed in you. But now it's been a whole month! It's not your life or my brother's life, so you don't care at all!
----> '''???''': Aren't you alright now? Why all the drama? Ya, your little brother will need much more than you. Cannot you be more considerate? You are the elder sister!
----> '''Ya''': Considerate? Who would consider my life?!

----> '''Nikki''': Because I saw Mulberry's memory... Her beloved dog went lost. We searched everywhere in the town to find it...
----> '''Momo''': Nikki, you can actually join in their memory?! What happened later?
----> '''Nikki''': We found her dog. It's named Yoyo, a lovely yellow dog...
----> '''Momo''': That's great!
----> '''Nikki''': But... at that time, Yoyo was already... When Mulberry took Yoyo up from the sewer, she caressed its head and said, 'Yoyo, let's go home.' But she froze after taking several steps and said, 'I'm homeless now.'
----> '''Momo''': How could this happen... Mulberry lost her home and Yoyo at the same time?
----> '''Nikki''': No, they were wandering in the town when she was little. They are each other's 'home'...
----> '''Momo''': ...Poor little Mulberry! It's not fair!

----> '''Military Surgeon''': Dear, Mr. Qi... just left us last night.
----> '''Nikki''': Last night....
----> '''Military Surgeon''': He swore to guard the city with his life. He kept his word and took the city back. He's a real man, a real hero! I'm sorry for your loss...
----> '''Qi Yaozan''': Brother, it's been ten years, and I cannot be there for you even for a second... I don't want you to be a hero. I just want you to be safe...

----> '''Beka''': ...You saw it. My parents don't want me anymore.
----> '''Nikki''': Maybe they encountered... some kind of problem?
----> '''Beka''': No! They just don't want me! Why should I be with others? I'm not their family!
----> '''Nikki''': Maybe you should try to accept them. They could be very nice people.
----> '''Beka''': How can I know if they will not dump me again? Am I... that annoying?

----> '''Archpriest''': A saint doesn't need family, friends, lover. Saints should convey the ideas of God. Saint is destined to be lonely.
----> '''Archpriest''': Fatumah cannot hear any sound! So how can she deliver God's messages?!
----> '''Archrpriest''': Perhaps... God made a mistake this time.
----> '''Archrpriest''': Send her to fight for King Sayet's relics! This is the only way to save our tribe!
----> '''Chief''': But it's warring everywhere. It's too dangerous for her to go alone...
----> '''Archpriest''': She is a saint! If she dies saving our tribe, it would be the idea of God.

----> '''Larisa''': Why! Why do I have to go through all this! I've always tried to be a nice person! Why must all of my hopes be crushed? Why am I living...

----> '''Nikki''': I'm wrong...
----> '''Momo''': Nikki?
----> '''Nikki''': I'm wrong... Though we can try to feel for others, everyone has a unique life, you can never know how they feel... All the painful memories have a reason. Temporary help can never solve the problem... It's not wrong for them to choose to forget, and nobody should blame them for being weak... I wanted to be the light for others who are in the darkness. It's too hard. I thought too highly of myself...

* The descriptions for the items that form the North Kingdom-themed ''[[https://www.reddit.com/r/LoveNikki/comments/7rl0jb/story_in_song_of_blaze/ Song of Blaze]]'' set, which feature the inner thoughts of a North Kingdom's ActionGirl as she grows up in the closest to a CrapsackWorld that Miraland has... [[spoiler: and can be easily seen as what she thinks when she's about to die in an all-out open war.]]

* The description for the suit "War on Ruins." The suit is a futuristic, Ruin Island-themed robot outfit, and it has two colors: the original is light blue, and the recolor is neon red. If the player looks closely, they can see that the items in the red recolor are more glitchy, and the makeup looks angrier. This is explained in the descriptions of each color variant: the suit is based on the story of a pair of siblings from Ruin Island, an engineer brother and his IllGirl little sister. The engineer devotes his life to curing his sister by replacing her diseased organs with cybernetic parts, eventually turning her into a full {{Cyborg}}, and in return, the sister supports him and his career. The description for the original variant ends here, with the sister apparently improving. But the description for the red variant reveals that she was eventually infected with a dangerous (computer) virus, and she was forced to take her own life to prevent it from spreading. The last item, the makeup "Wounds of War," says "Self destruction system activated, 30, 29, 28... Farewell, my dear brother." So, in summary, the brother devoted his life to saving his sister, succeeded at turning her into a cyborg, and then watched her die anyway because her transformation just made her vulnerable to a different kind of infection.

* The story behind the Cloud suit ''[[https://lovenikki.fandom.com/wiki/Red_Flower/ Red Flower]]'' is a tragic one of a girl named Hanying. Her mother was very ill with a rare, seemingly incurable disease, and Hanying would do anything to make her mother well again, and afternoon cording to someone, the only hope she has to heal her mother is to [[FindTheCure retrieve a collection of red flowers]] from the thorny woods. However, the woods in question is haunted by the fact that [[DontGoInTheWoods the woods are so dangerous to go]] through due to its abundance of thorns that no mortal can even cross it to the land on the other side. Hanying ended up being no exception to the tale- she perished from the thorns of the woods, not even knowing if the red flower ever even existed. [[ItWasWithYouAllAlong The death of Hanying would then bloom red flowers from the drops of blood she left.]] The story end with no closure for Hanying’s mother either.

** Nikki finds herself trapped in a time-loop dream where she can experience a happy, carefree day with Momo and her friends. Bobo, Kimi, Ace are all there, and even Lunar, whose tragic, horrible death still haunts Nikki, appears alive and well. But then Nikki finds herself drowning in her dream, and "wakes up" in her room remembering that she's trapped in a time-loop. She's unable to escape, and her friends either don't notice or don't care when she brings up her concerns. That's because they aren't actually her friends: they're dream constructs made out of her memories, programmed by an external force that's trying to keep Nikki trapped in the dream loop. Only the dream-Bobo acknowledges that anything is weird, but she refuses to help Nikki try to end the dream loop.

*** Kimi is trapped in memories of her happy childhood with her parents, before her mother died and her father was kidnapped. Kimi is tired of pretending to be strong and pretending that everything is alright, of trying to keep her father from despairing over her mother's death, and of the incredible pressure of helping to run the Apple Federal Design Group. She wants to stay in her dreams where she doesn't have to pretend anymore, where it doesn't matter if she cries or isn't perfect. Kimi hides away in her dreams, but Nikki breaks the cycle by telling Kimi that she has friends who will support her. Nikki tells her that she can always be weak around Nikki, and that Nikki will protect her. Kimi sobs into Nikki's arms, and finally awakens in the real world.

*** Ya was bedridden during an illness in her childhood, with led to a violent confrontation with her caregiver. When Nikki saw Ya's memories, the fight between Ya and her caregiver caused the memory to collapse around her.

*** Qi Yaozan's father and brothers all serve in Cloud Empire's military. She had already lost one brother to violence at the border when her other brother, who had been serving in the military for a decade, falls out of contact the family. As Nikki enters Yaozan's memory and helps her search for her brother, she injures her leg. After stopping to visit a doctor, they arrive at the Cloud Empire front a day too late to find Yaozan's brother.

*** Beka was given up for adoption by her parents, causing Beka to wonder if there's something wrong with herself tha caused her parents to abandon her. When Nikki steps into Beka's memories, she encourages Beka to give her foster family a chance to prove that they love her -- only to see another memory that reveals Beka's new peers are bullying her for being given up and foster family treat her cruelly.

*** Fatumah was born deaf. Her Republic of Wastelands tribe expected her to carry out the duties of a "Saint" in service to the tribe's god, regardless of her disability. She was sent to compete for the relics, despite the dangers she would face. (She was also abandoned by a boy who promised to take her away from her lonely life in the tribe.)

** During the styling contests, the event venue in Rolterdan is attacked by unknown assailants, trapping contestants and spectators inside while the attackers are dealt with. Fatumah's memories reveal that the conflicts are widespread, with fighting making travel between the nations life-threateningly dangerous.

* In Chapter 15, [[spoiler: the death of Lunar, and the reactions of Nikki, Bobo, and Momo.]]