A character sheet for the visual novel, Shigatsu Youka (死月妖花～四月八日～).All spoilers will be left unmarked as this page would look like an SCP article otherwise. Opening any folder can and will ruin the twists of the story, especially any under ”Historical characters”, "Meta characters" or "Major antagonists". You Have Been Warned.
The Motoki cast
Haruka Niimura (新村春香)
A 3rd year high schooler. She dresses and speaks in a boyish manner, however, underneath that facade lies a normal schoolgirl that often gets roped into wacky antics by her dear friends.She's the adopted daughter of Mifuyu Niimura and Eiichirou Niimura, but her biological parents are actually Akane and Ryouji Kogoori, and Natsumi is her younger sister, a fact neither of them knows at the beginning of the story.
Her mother taught her a killing charm consisting of writing the names of the people she wanted to kill in a paper figure and vomiting over it, a fact which led directly to the Megasawa murders in Curse Killing Arc and Justification Arc after she used it on her bullies. This made her think of herself as an accursed witch, which made a number on her sanity.
After the events of Final Voice Arc, where she involuntarily killed her own sister, she took on the name of Mika Tachiki and she mentally retreated into the empty world that we see when we boot up the game, kickstarting the events of the story.
- First Period Panic: Apparently she got her first period unusually late. It is implied this is the reason why she didn't feel the urge to kill Natsumi until May of 2020 even though she got infected at the start of April, as third-generation carriers need to bleed frequently for their symptoms to manifest.
- Living Emotional Crutch: She acts as this for her adoptive mother, Mifuyu, as she's the only living family that she has left in the world. Depending on the route, this sense of dependence can lead to catastrophic results for everyone involved.
- Pun: The name Tachiki Mika (立木三日) is formed from the components of the kanji composing the name Niimura Haruka (新村春香).
Natsumi Kogoori (古郡なつみ)
A 2nd year high schooler. She is afflicted with a disease she calls "April's sickness" (四月病), which makes develop vertigo, nausea and in the worst cases vomit whenever she remains for too long in an open space that has Cherry blossoms close to her. When she is in this state, she is also able to predict incoming danger for herself or other people as long as they're in her line of sight or speaking to her.Unfortunately that is a decoy power bestowed to her by Shigatsu Youka, using its powers of prediction to relay to her critical information. And it goes both ways, everything she sees or hears gets relayed back to the fungus, a danger the group needs to learn how to circumvent in the latter routes.
Although at first glance she might seem like a timid girl, her mental and emotional resilience proves invaluable at maintaining the cohesion of the group.
- Like Mother, Like Daughter: She likes to take her friends and acquaintances for a round of Russian Takoyaki at a nearby Family Restaurant. Russian Takoyaki are named like that because there is always at least a single takoyaki that is covered in extremely hot sauce, which makes it a risky food. It seems she gets her love of gambling from Akane, although thankfully it manifests in a relatively benign way.
Erina Gotou (五島絵里奈)
A 1st year high schooler. She's (as she'll waste no time to tell you) a "widely renowned teen genius", to the point her cram school lets her enroll for free due to the free publicity she brings into the place.Contrary to what might be expected, she's also a really upbeat girl although beneath her friendly attitude lies an serious attitude, a deep desire for the truth and a strong sense of justice.
- Pint-Sized Kid: At 140 cm, she's rather short, even for her age, to the point that she gets mistaken by a middle schooler quite frequently.
Mifuyu Niimura (新村美冬)
A 42 year old woman. Single mother of Haruka, after her husband died in a horrific accident. Despite being a middle aged lady, she still dresses like a 20-year old, which has the paradoxical effect of accentuating her age. She and Akane have been childhood friends since they were children, a bond they have continued to share to the present day.In Curse Killing and Justification timelines, her blackmail towards the Kogoori family after the Megasawa murders has soured her relationship with them to the point she brutally flayed alive Ryouji Kogoori, after he tried to take Haruka away from her. This is the real truth of the Motoki murder case.
Apology Arc deals with her past, and the choices that could be made to make her avoid her current doomed path.
In Month of Death and Eden's Sakura timelines, she successfully avoided walking the path of murder and destroying the Kogoori family after a crucial intervention by Natsumi, a condition necessary to bring down the mastermind.
- Lightning Bruiser: On top of having spent a year training her mind and body living isolated on a mountain as per Arata's customs, her use of Droga means that trying to confront her directly is usually a one way ticket to the afterlife. In latter routes, however, this is not the case, as she does not use Droga in those.
- Love at First Sight: With Eiichirou. Even though she was by all accounts an incredibly attractive lady while he was, well, a bit less so, it was his demure attitude, his sense of honesty and feelings of inferiority that won her over, as she had a very similar personality herself. The very next day they met each other they already were engaged for marriage.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: You might think the quirky old lady next door with overly girly mannerisms is not the brightest bulb in the room. You'd be dead wrong. She was able to manipulate her daughter into giving away the identities of her tormentors by making up a curse she knows she would use. She then was able to successfully manipulate and blackmail the Kogoori couple into committing the Megasawa murders, and keep an iron grip on their lives for a good ten years, culminating in her improvising a murder plan in mere minutes. In Month of Death and Eden's Sakura timelines, she uses her planning abilities to create a security camera company, which made her independently wealthy.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She really doesn't care about physical attributes. The events of her childhood made her starved for familial love, and the main thing she wanted was a good person with which she could build a family.
- Yandere: A non romantic example towards her adoptive daughter, Haruka, to the point of insanity.
Akane Kogoori (古郡茜)
A 42 year old woman. Mother of Natsumi, wife of Ryouji. She works a part-time job by day and takes care of the house by night. She and Mifuyu were childhood friends practically from the moment they were born, and share a deep bond that continues to this day, to the point she actually gave her first-born child to Mifuyu in adoption after she became unable to bear children following her miscarriage.In Curse Killing and Justification timelines, she committed the Megasawa murders, a series of 3 murder incidents in 2010, 2014 and 2017, alongside her husband Ryouji, partly to help her biological daughter Haruka, and partly out of a sense of guilt due to the miserable life Mifuyu led in Megasawa as well as the part her daughter Natsumi had in the accident that killed her husband Eiichirou.
She is the POV character for the Parasite Prison scenario of True Curse Killing Arc, detailing her life after she was sent to prison for the Megasawa incidents after the fifth route of Curse Killing Arc. This scenario is mostly set in 2035 after giant Cherry blossom trees take over Motoki and kill every living mammal in the city, and it proves to be crucial in understanding the true nature of the threat that looms over the cast.
- The Gambling Addict: Downplayed example. She had to quit Pachinko a bit after her wedding with Ryouji in fear he would divorce her. Guess that's where Natsumi got it from. Interestingly, Haruka is the exact opposite.
- To the Pain: Welp. The first Megasawa murders were done by decapitation and cutting the torso of the victim in half. By the time the third incident came up, the victim had most bones of their body broken while still alive and conscious. Considering her normal personality, it is implied that this brutality was due to the high that Droga gave her, as well as it serving as a warning for everyone to not hurt Haruka lest they meet a similarly brutal end.
Ryouji Kogoori (古郡良治)
Father of Natsumi and husband to Akane. He is the victim of the Motoki murder case after failing to bargain with Mifuyu to recover her biological daughter Haruka. He's a mobile technician and friend of Eiichirou.In Curse Killing and Justification timelines, he rigs Haruka's phone under duress so that Mifuyu can know her location and listen to her surroundings at all times. This is the straw that broke the camel's back, and forced him to confront Mifuyu.
In Apology Arc, he's the POV of the second part of the story, and his decisions end up determining whether Natsumi can convince Mifuyu to stop her plan or not.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Even though the modifications he made to Haruka's phone were done at the software level, he still snuck a thin sheet of metal inside the case in hope Gotou could see through the ruse and discover the truth. Unfortunately for him, that gambit only pays off after he's dead.
Momoko Gotou (後藤桃子)
Sister of Erina. At the beginning of the story they are estranged from each other due to her fear of being discarded by her sister and a traumatic experience in the funeral of her first boyfriend. However, she cares deeply for Erina. In most timelines they manage to make up.She's the main POV character for the first route of True Curse Killing Arc, in which Erina got killed before they could make up. What follows is one of the most brutal routes as Momoko ends up going to Arata with a single purpose: kill everyone and burn the village to the ground in revenge.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In the sixth route of Curse Killing Arc she ends up gunning Akane down. Likewise, the entirety of the first route of True Curse Killing Arc could have been avoided if she just stayed home.
Daijirou Ise (伊勢大二郎)
Detective of Motoki village. Despite his, ahem, unusual tastes, he's still a stalwart ally of the trio and aids them in their quest for the truth.- Comedic Lolicon: Oh man. Practically every female character comments on how he'd just be the perfect guy considering his looks and his position of authority if it wasn't just because the dude is a weirdo.
- Cowboy Cop: A downplayed example, but he does bend the rules here and there as long as it can help solve the case.
- Out of Focus: He more or less disappears from the novel after the first few acts as the focus shifts away from Motoki, although he comes back in the extra scenario of True Curse Killing Arc with Kana.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: No matter the route, he does his absolute best to help the Motoki trio against whatever threat they face as soon as they make contact.
The Arata cast
Eiichirou Niimura (新村栄一郎)
Adoptive father of Haruka, husband of Mifuyu, twin brother of Koutarou, and a first-generation carrier. His death by falling off the Motoki Sakura tree was one of the more important events of the entire story, turning Natsumi into a second-generation carrier, leading Mifuyu to leave Motoki after convincing herself that Natsumi was at fault for the death of her husband, and turning him into an undead slave of Shigatsu Youka.He consumed Droga to try and defend Sakura from the brutal bullying she received at school, only to end up losing his leg in a cave and spilling his blood into her, turning her into a second-generation carrier. It was this event, as well as his natural inferiority complex, that led him to leave Arata and end up in Motoki.
After he died and got taken over by Shigatsu Youka, he was responsible for cutting off Sakura's head after she fell off, to "protect" Erika while posing as Koutarou, sowing distrust among the villagers and kickstarting the curse killing incidents in Arata in 2010.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: He compared himself to his brother Koutarou, who by contrast had a brihter personality and was incredibly smart.
- Nice Guy: By all accounts. It was this trait that made Sakura and Mifuyu interested in him. Hell, even his death was caused by Shigatsu Youka exploiting a moment of weakness after he climbed up a tree to pick up a balloon for Natsumi.
Erika Niimura (新村エリカ)
Mother of Koutarou and Eiichirou, and grandmother of Haruka, Chigaya and Kana. She also holds the position of "great witch" in Arata, which mostly means she's in charge of conducting the religious ceremonies of the village. She also acts as the settlement's mayor.She also enjoys cosplaying and imitating other people, a fact the Motoki group discovers to their chagrin as soon as they set foot in the Niimura household.
- Internal Reformist: She's been trying to open Arata to the external world, bringing outside commodities such as electricity and internet. Unfortunately, that's the exact opposite of what Shigatsu Youka wants, as it would much rather there were no surviving humans in its ecosystem. The way Sakura died and her own suspicions regarding Koutarou meant that she couldn't call the police to try and solve the incidents that were going on, which greatly limited her efforts in this regard.
Koutarou Niimura (新村幸太郎)
Father of Chigaya and Kana, husband of Sakura, twin brother of Eiichirou. He added some Droga and Falsificaçao to the package Sakura sent to Mifuyu to test if it would be safe to distribute the fix to Chigaya.In Curse Killing and Justification timelines, he mostly stays out of focus. In Month of Death Arc, he acts as the primary antagonist, turning attention back to him to act as a decoy for Shigatsu Youka and its Angels.
- Manipulative Bastard: He's on the giving and the receiving end of this trope. On the one hand he is an expert at social manipulation and can mostly control the actions of the villagers (although not completely, as seen in the first route when the villagers tear Natsumi apart instead of capturing her alive.) On the other, he himself is being manipulated by Shigatsu Youka, who uses the reanimated corpse of his dear wife as a way to make him do its bidding.
- The Mole: Despite being a villager, he acts as a force of subversion in Arata, trying to destroy it from within. In Mika's timeline he tries to rebel too late, and gets exposed to the mummy of Verde, turning him into a fourth-generation carrier. In the Eden's Sakura timeline he sees the error of his ways and cooperates with the group to destroy Shigatsu Youka.
Chigaya Niimura (新村茅萱)
Daughter of Sakura and Koutarou. Currently studying in Tokyo. She's physically one of the strongest members of the cast due to having been trained into the customs and environment of Arata from an early age. She also loves drinking and partying to an excessive degree, which scares the men around her such that she is still single.Since she's a third-generation carrier she's susceptible to the manipulation of her senses by Shigatsu Youka, which is used to great effect in all Month of death timelines, as she's led to believe it was her who started the curse killing incidents in Arata to protect her father. Breaking this illusion in Eden's Sakura is the point of divergence that allows the cast to finally defeat the fungus.
Kana Niimura (新村夏菜)
Daughter of Sakura and Koutarou. Currently studying in Tokyo. She's physically one of the strongest members of the cast due to having been trained into the customs and environment of Arata from an early age, to an even larger degree than Chigaya.At the beginning of Month of Death she starts fiercely loyal to her father, but eventually her friendship to Gotou as well as the seeds of doubt that Chigaya managed to plant into her mind cause her to switch sides and help the Motoki group against Koutarou.
Sakura Niimura (新村サクラ)
Mother of Chigaya and Kana, wife of Koutarou. A naturally kind woman who is well respected in Arata due to her powers of precognition, to the point she's informally called "Goddess".Her demure attitude and exotic (by Japanese standards) appearance meant she did become the subject of bullying in her formative years. Eiichirou, trying to find a solution, managed to rediscover how to make Droga in a cave nearby Arata, but his ignorance of the effects it had on the body meant he ended up destroying his leg and splashing her with blood, which turned her into a second-generation carrier. This was the event that caused Eiichirou to move away from Arata.
In Month of Death timelines, she kills herself after falling from a cliffside. This is due to the fact that Mifuyu confessed that she brought Arata's clothing and tools (which Sakura gave to her) to try to commit murder, breaking a taboo. Erika forgave her for that, but Sakura overheard the conversation and, since she was a second-generation carrier, Shigatsu Youka made her think Erika wanted to punish her. After she died, the dead Koutarou manipulated Erika to keep the circumstances of her death a secret, and cut her head off to spread paranoia between the villagers, kickstarting the curse killing incidents in Arata. Her corpse was used as an Angel of Shigatsu Youka.
By contrast, in Curse Killing timelines, she's alive in 2020, since Mifuyu never confessed to Erika.
Kengo Shirozaki (城崎健吾)
Blacksmith of Arata, and husband of the first victim of the curse killing incident. His singular purpose after her death has been to find the truth, which has often put him at odds with Koutarou.Historical characters
Prince Mochihito (以仁王)
Third heir of Emperor Go-Shirakawa, he led a failed uprising against Taira-no-Kiyomori at the early stages of the Genpei war. In the game, he was able to escape from the battle of Uji and shake off his pursuers, eventually becoming the founder of the Arata settlement.- Pun: The name Arata (荒田) was chosen after the rich ecology of the place led the settlers to choose the name Amata at first (天田). However they settled for Arata as Amata (heavenly field) would be too fancy and might attract outside attention. Arata is also the word for "new" in Japanese (新), leading the prince to discard his old identity and call himself Niimura (新村), which means "new village". Incidentally this makes all members of the Niimura family descendants of an Imperial heir, if only by name and not by blood.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: By all accounts he was a just ruler and tried to do his best to ease the suffering of his people. Unfortunately a lot of his actions ended up having the opposite effect. After his failed rebellion against the Taira, he ended up settling in Arata, which would bring an untold amount of suffering for future generations. He also promised Itohime they would meet again, and set off in a journey to help the poor of Japan using the agricultural techniques he had learned. Unfortunately he got killed just before finishing his journey by remnant Taira forces, which served as motivation for Itohime to move to Motoki, a series of events that influenced the entire story.
Minamoto-no-Munetsuna (源宗綱)
A loyal servant of prince Mochihito, his name faded from history after his failed uprising against Taira-no-Kiyomori. In this game, however, he was able to escape the battle of Uji alongside Mochihito and become one of the first settlers of Arata.Hideyoshi Toyotomi (豊臣秀吉)
The great unifier of Japan. In this game, he was able to obtain Droga after making contact with Ginosuke Niimura in Arata, which he used to great effect against the Imagawa clan in Okehazama. This first contact is why the government of Japan knows about the Arata Sakura trees.Ginosuke Niimura (新村儀之助)
A portuguese priest who ran away from the Japanese daimyo and ended up as an outcast in the village of Arata. His notions of biology and botanics led him to successfully extract Droga from the Arata trees, which, in retrospect, was about the worst thing he could've possibly done.- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His discovery of Droga meant that humans could become carriers, which led to a horrific series of events in Arata that culminated in the present story.
Ieyasu Tokugawa(徳川家康)
The first leader of the Tokugawa shogunate. In this game he was tasked with retrieving some Arata Sakura trees for Hideyoshi Toyotomi to help with his invasion of Korea. Unfortunately for him, what was expecting him at Arata is not what he expected...Kikyou (桔梗)
A young and brilliant lady from the late Edo era. She ended up falling in love with Akira Niimura and becoming a great witch, leading the Arata settlement until the 1940s. Unfortunately for her, her natural curiosity meant she and her family ended up getting the attention of Shigatsu Youka.Hajime Shinozaki (篠崎ハジメ)
A soldier from Unit 731, tasked with investigating the Arata Sakura trees to examine their potential as weapons of war at the early stages of World War II. But what he found out was a lot worse than that...Verde
A third-generation carrier named Tomi who lived in Arata in the 18th century. As she was young when she had her first period, she was able to contain her killing impulse enough that she managed to kill herself by gouging out her eye and stabbing her brain. The villagers, who were impressed by her will, mummified her corpse and started worshiping her as a goddess... Which was the absolute worst thing they could've done.- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: As a mummified third-generation carrier corpse, she's this for the villagers of Arata. Every carrier that enters the mummy's general vicinity is doomed to become a slave to the fungus before turning its body into nutrients. Thankfully her corpse was sealed away by Kikyou's order, so Shigatsu Youka cannot use her in most timelines as it does not know where she is. If her corpse gets found Arata gets invariably wiped out except in the Golden Ending.
Meta characters
Mika Tachiki (立木三日)
Haruka Niimura. After the events of the Green Eyes Curse Killing (翠眼呪殺) chapter, where she brutally killed Natsumi, she retreated mentally into the world we see in the story as the players.You
The player. Although first you act as a witness to the story, your actions eventually manage to lead Haruka to save the Final Voice timeline.Major antagonists
Mifuyu Niimura (新村美冬)
Mifuyu acts as the main antagonist for the Curse Killing and Justification arcs. For more information, check the Mifuyu Niimura folder.Koutarou Niimura (新村幸太郎)
Koutarou acts as the main antagonist for the Month of Death arc. For more information, check the Koutarou Niimura folder.Yuuko Stella (ステラ優子)
A famous and renowned soothsayer in 2020. But there might be more to her than meets the eye...She makes only a couple of appearances in the game and does not have a portrait. However, her actions end up being instrumental in dooming Natsumi, as she convinced Chigaya to mistrust the people around her (when in Eden's Sakura, it is Chigaya opening up to Mifuyu that allowed Erina to see through the fake perception Shigatsu Youka planted on her) and she told Natsumi to not pursue the truth (which led to Haruka murdering her in Arata). And, in the epilogue, the author of the novel tells us that the person who removed the Falsificaçao from Sakura's package to Mifuyu was "a character with no portrait."
All circumstantial evidence seems to point to this character being one of the masterminds. However, it's not confirmed by the game itself, setting this thread up for a possible sequel.
Shinji Tomobe (友部信二)
An elderly biologist, a self proclaimed disciple of Shinozaki Hajime.He gets referenced in the game exactly once, in reference no. 178. In the first route of True Curse Killing Arc, he led Momoko into Arata, with disastrous results for everybody involved. Because Momoko never learned the full truth, she mistakenly blamed the entire village of Arata for the death of her sister. Ironically her search for revenge ended up playing into the mastermind's plan. One of her lines late into the first scenario concludes that "the person who led me here must've been the mastermind."
All circumstantial evidence seems to point to this character possibly being one of the masterminds. However, it's not confirmed by the game itself, setting this thread up for a possible sequel.
Angels (御使い)
Corpses revived by Shigatsu Youka, acting as its slaves. In the story, we mainly see the angels of Sakura and Eiichirou acting as the main enforcers for the will of the fungus.Shigatsu Youka (死月妖花)
The main antagonist of the novel. An underground fungus that used the intelect of Ito (and later Ayaka) as a base to plot against the villagers of Arata and, later, Motoki.Ito (糸)
A courtesan of Prince Mochihito, and one of the original settlers of Arata. After falling off a cliff while she was being assaulted by mountain bandits, she was healed by Shigatsu Youka and made to act as its intellect, imprinting into it the will to move to Motoki, as it was the final resting place of Prince Mochihito.She also has a single green eye, same as all third-generation carriers. Whether this is simple coincidence or there is a deeper significance to that fact is not confirmed in the game itself.
- Tragic Villain: For all her cruelty when she acted as Shigatsu Youka's goddess, in the end she was also a victim. After 800 years there wasn't enough left of Prince Mochihito's corpse for Shigatsu Youka to resurrect, so all she did was for nothing. What's worse, it's implied the fungus knew about this all along.
Ayaka Niimura (新村あやか)
The unborn child of Mifuyu. Her main motivation, apart from helping with the reproductive cycle of Shigatsu Youka, is to make her sister Haruka suffer as revenge for the life she could never lead, a role which she unfortunately carries with terrifying efficiency.She became the "goddess" of Shigatsu Youka after Itohime, likely because as she never experienced a normal life, her mind could be more malleable and her sense of morality could be suppressed easily.
Her identity is heavily hinted to in the "back routes" of game but never explicitly confirmed, suggesting she might be the main antagonist for a possible sequel for the game.
- 100% Completion: To access the back routes that hint to her existence, the player must have reached a 100% in the progress bar after finishing all arcs and all reference materials. Luckily this does not include dictionary entries, other back routes, or stream mode, but still, it'll take quite a while.
