Episode List:
Prologue
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Extra Episode
Episode 4
Extra Episode
Episode 5
Episode 6
   Ending
Epilogue
   Bonus Scene 1
   Bonus Scene 2

Executions:

Execution 1: Hiro Mishiba
Execution 2: Mikoto Shinomiya
Execution 3: Junpei Tanaka
Execution 4: Sayaka Sanobashi
Execution 5: Kyosuke Matsumoto
Execution 6: Zero Mishiba
Execution 7: Halo Ishihara

Miscellaneous:

Awakenings
Mechanics
Unused Stuff 

Episode 0: School Days
OP
Our cast attended their first day of the new school year after their morning routines to find that their homeroom class consists of ice queen Shinomiya Mikoto (Ryan), mystical chuunibyou Ishimara Maria Halo (Produce); delinquent Matsumoto Kyosuke (R.C.); the fiercely normal Ota Hiroyuki (Reynaldo); and the human golden retriever pure hearted athlete Yamamoto Takeo (Nathan). They were introduced to their new classmate, Sayaka by their mischievous but reasonable teacher, Yukari-sensei. 
Classes went well, although there was a bit of trouble whenever the group crossed paths throughout the day. Hiroyuki made unwitting ‘friends’ with school loser Mishiba Hiro after defending him from bullies, much to the delight of Takeo and the three had an extremely conspicuous lunch together – news of which reaching the ears of even Mikoto who was having lunch within the safety of a classroom (though not as safe as Halo, who ate hers in the library). But not before Hiroyuki was able to tell Matsu and his best friend Mondo about the sale going on at the infamous Yakisoba Pan food truck near the arcade. Much to Matsu’s disgust, Mondo, vice Principal McDichael, and Sayaka all ate yakisoba pan drenched in every condiment imaginable. 
After a little bit of homeroom silliness, things wound down as everyone attended their school clubs except Matsumoto, who loitered outside while Mondo cooka da pizza in baking club – which left him vulnerable to the arrival of a crying child. Much to his chagrin, Hiroyuki had to intervene once again as the distressed child still managed to intentionally pester the grouchy delinquent and Hiroyuki escorted the boy to the fencing club to find his sister, Mikoto. Halo, meanwhile, gained at least two new followers for the occult club in Hiro (who was impressed by her talisman craftsmanship in homeroom) and Sayaka. Even Mikoto took a flyer on the way out…just before catching a glimpse of an unknown figure.

Episode 1: Sentimental Death Loop
OP
ED

The cast awoke, with no memory of passing out to begin with, to find themselves in the school’s courtyard with ominous collar devices secured around their necks. Each device had a counter, which all currently displayed 00. The only exception was Yukari, who had no such device, and when she reached for the nearest student to try to remove it, their captor spoke up via the intercom system and the speakers in the collar to tell the students that they must each kill exactly one person before 5:00 AM if they wanted to survive – otherwise (or if they tried to remove the devices), they would be injected with a deadly poison. They were also informed that they were not the only participants in the school, and that one of them was in on this ‘game’. Additionally, they were offered a 2-for-1 deal if they killed Yukari, who would be worth 1 point for her killer and a person of their choosing. 
Matsu instantly ran upstairs to find the operator of the intercom system, and after some deliberation the others followed (and earned Yukari’s admiration when the deal on her life wasn’t even considered aloud). Running past a distressed Sayaka, he broke into Principal Pryce’s office to find nothing, the AV room to find a terrified Shinji, and the traditional arts room to find fencing equipment for another interrupted attempt to break the collar devices. Simultaneously, the group reconvened with Sayaka, and then Shinji, the former claiming to be a version of her from other ‘incidents’ like this one. She also validated Halo’s belief in shinimigami shimigani shinigami when she told the group that one was overseeing this horrible loop of events they were stuck in. However, she did at least explain that they had previously come to an agreement that it was most beneficial to them to ensure there were as many survivors as possible, and that there were usually smaller objectives from the shinigami (and she speculated that Shinji’s survival was one such requirement).
Yukari rejoined the group after collecting supplies and the group stewed in distrust (particularly, mutually, between Mikoto and Hiroyuki), and after Matsu’s attempt to destroy the collars and another argument with their captor, a deranged young man with red hair and red yellow eyes lumbered over to the group – 01 flashing on his device – claiming that he wanted to kill more people despite the rules of the game. After being attacked by Matsu, he claimed to have killed Mondo (which, due to a hazy memory from last year. Matsu seemed to find credible), resulting in a more brutal fight that ended with the creepy red haired boy’s death and a 01 display number for Matsu – much to everyone’s shock. Mishiba’s body was searched after Takeo covered his face with the jacket he’d leant him during homeroom, though he only held perfectly normal effects (with the terrible exception of a bloody knife, discovered by Hiroyuki). Shaken by the incident, Mikoto split from the group to find something to defend herself, many of the others begrudgingly understanding and some even resolving to do the same. She unwittingly discovered the scene of Hiro Mishiba’s crime, but it was too gruesome to investigate. 
To the devastated Matsu’s surprised, the group was soon joined by Mondo – alive and well, having just awakened in what appeared to be the teacher’s lounge (which, Halo informed the group, held the best snacks in the school). Takeo, unsure of what else to do, hid Mishiba’s body in the nearby woodshop classroom. The group (well, really the hot headed and stubborn Matsu) decided to search other rooms that could have possibly been used to manipulate the intercom system and broke into the computer lab and were rejoined by Mikoto and Shinji. While Yukari pointed out the security room, they were met with an as-of-yet dead end as the incredibly thick metal doors could only be opened with a password that even Yukari didn’t have. The group deliberated how to open it, and Matsu wanted to find something to pry it open with without leaving the room completely unattended. Mikoto saw a flash of another figure...but she may have imagined it.
The group did in fact decide to briefly split up to find a way into the security room,  trying to allocate their body, mind, and sense brawn, brains, and heart between the two resulting groups to debatable success. Matsu and Hiroyuki took Mondo and Sayaka down to the basement, and on their way Hiroyuki noticed something strange gleaming in a vending machine. After buying six bags of pork rinds and having Matsu punch (and dent) the machine, the totally-normal-why-would-you-even-ask student was rewarded with a shiny, new security card key of some kind. Matsu took his payment in pork rinds. 
In the basement, Matsu found a rusty axe while looking for a crowbar; which he gave to a reluctant Mondo. The group then very specifically asked Hiroyuki to look for a crowbar, which he found easily. Sayaka found a flashlight and a small, dark breaker room - requesting Hiroyuki’s talent of observation as she proposed cutting the power to the security room to deactivate the electronic lock on the door. On edge as ever, Hiroyuki obliged but had Mondo and Matsu squeeze into the room as well - causing Sayaka to get claustrophobic and step out (embarrassing Matsu as she used him to pull herself from the back of the room). Unfortunately for all of them, the language of the breaker’s label was known only to the almighty, likely ancient janitor who was not present.
Hiroyuki attempted to update Halo via PDA, who was distracted by Shinji’s increasingly useless and incessant suggestions as to how to get into the security room, followed by complaints to distract himself and get attention. She did, however note that Takeo (their heart and brawn twofer) must have gotten confused and gone down to the basement with the others. Mikoto was still distracted by all she’d seen that night, not the least of which the figure she kept spotting, but did notice when Hiroyuki updated her instead. Between the two of them and with an uneasy Yukari trying to look after all of them at the same time, they were able to figure out a rough pattern to the switches - and Mikoto yet again found herself stalked by the figure as she retrieved a snack for Shinji (very specifically NOT six bags of pork rinds) from a different machine; the ghostly figure appearing over her shoulder in the reflection in true haunting fashion. She kept her cool, but worried their teacher when she called out ‘hello’ to the presence (and was answered by a confused but obliging Shinji). 
With only a little sternness from Hiroyuki needed, Halo was quick enough to hold the door open while the power was briefly cut - and through sheer force of will, her and Mikoto managed to navigate the security console enough to fiddle with the cameras. Unfortunately, they were scolded by their presumed captor who was even more unfortunately interrupted by an obnoxious, unknown hacker. Mikoto ignored all of the ‘noise’ and studied the camera feeds - noting, inexplicably, that the corpse in the home ec room and the one placed in the wood shop class were nearly identical save for causes of death. Shortly after, the group reconvened only to find that Takeo was with neither group. Mikoto pointed out the identical corpses. They split up to look for him as well as investigate for clues, an escape, etc. - Sayaka claimed she’d investigate the more gruesome crime scene. Matsu stayed behind as Mondo tried to find a recording of the start of the night’s events to little avail as their unseen, online harasser…harassed them.
Mikoto discovered that Sayaka was not honest about her whereabouts, as she went to the home ec room despite having been the one to discover the corpse to begin with. In a show of great trust, she left Shinji in Halo’s care. And though uncertain, the pair seemed to get along exceedingly well; Shinji admiring Halo’s otherworldly knowledge and Halo impressed by Shinji’s ingenuity in using playdoh to make amulets under her tutelage. Meanwhile, Matsu was alarmed to see a blood covered classroom on the cameras - and though he tried to encroach earlier, there was a disturbing force stopping him! However, he quickly recovered and rushed to confront Hiroyuki who was similarly bloodstained but seemingly unharmed. Matsu was angry and suspicious and had the group reconvene in the security room with Hiroyuki’s help, though Sayaka was missing and an alarmed Yukari and Mondo left to get more medical supplies seeing Hiroyuki’s state (Yukari took Shinji with her, not wanting him to see the blood and having just been brushing granola bar crumbs off of him). 
Hiroyuki started to explain that something has awakened in him, giving him abilities he didn’t have before. While skeptical, he explained he was responsible for the sudden exit of the three ‘normal people’ and some parts of his explanation rang true for the things the others had experienced that night. Still, some had reservations and when Mikoto volunteered to go through what Hiroyuki did, Matsu protested - but it was too late as the ice queen stabbed herself with a knife hidden on her person out of seemingly nowhere. But this worked, Mikoto rising as an Overed. Matsu seemed like he was going to strike Hiroyuki but was suddenly stabbed through the heart from behind by none other than Sayaka, whose collar counter ticked up to two. 
Matsu too, rose, however angry but he quickly realized his powers had manifested too. With Halo the only one left, Sayaka faltered - telling her she didn’t have to do this. Ultimately, Halo wanted her powers and they devised a plan to trick Shinji into administering something fatal to her to ensure his safety in killing one person. Unfortunately, none of their friends could be found and in a panic they searched the school. Hiroyuki started to ‘awaken’ Halo but Mikoto finished her off to gain her one; though after being taunted by their captor via the collar speakers who told them the deal was off regarding Yukari, and Mikoto was spurred into attacking Sayaka whose knowledge of past fights proved to be too much…in more ways than one, the despairing idol stabbing herself after felling Mikoto. However, both were urged to get up by an angry Matsu, who Sayaka remarked was so loud she could hear him when she was dead.
Having no choice but to work together they went to the roof to survey the enemy - seeing hundreds of soldiers, and far in the back some executive types including Principal Takeshiro Pryce. Sayaka explained that he was likely an Overed and her guess at their motives- that their poison wasn’t strong enough to kill a healthy Overed. Predicting in Mikoto’s state she was the most in danger. Matsu called her out; saying the poison couldn’t hurt them if she hadn’t awakened them. She relented that she needed revenge and thought they would too - to which Matsu whole heartedly agreed. They were able to locate a pair in an armored car who were likely Shinji and Mondo, both alive. 
Still, Takeo was missing; and the group split up for one last investigation to figure out their best escape route and the whereabouts of their friend. 
Takeo found himself in a cold, black void – overcome with a feeling like meeting the end of a road. But it wasn’t the end for Takeo as his renegade virus revived him in a rush of whispers, wild voices, and a cacophony of insectoid sounds. He awakened, gradually, to overhear a nonsensical conversation and was met with the sight of two armed goons messing around in the now-doorless sports equipment room and a passed out Yukari-sensei.
With no other choice (and no explanation), Takeo’s syndrome helped drive his actions as he fought the mooks – and while they got a few terrifying shots in, he quickly knocked them out. Despite the influence of the renegade virus, his benevolent nature won out and they were left alive. More importantly, he was able to get to Yukari, who stirred just long enough to apologize for something the judo jock had already forgotten about. Takeo realized he had missed a PDA message from just about everyone, and desperately replied with his situation – only to end up bursting from the room himself, just as the others were approaching the door.
Now able to catch each other up as best they could (poor Takeo), Hiroyuki subtly neutralized the threat that the gunmen would have posed. With a little more information on the poison than they had before, they realized they were in more danger than Sayaka previously theorized. After some healing and strategizing, they decided to have Matsu and Takeo charge the surrounding enemies from the front door as Halo and Mikoto stealth-escort-missioned Yukari over to the car that Shinji and Mondo were held hostage in. Sayaka and Hiroyuki were to provide ranged support. Their escape was facilitated by Halo, who recreated the security card after Hiroyuki’s failed. Thankfully, they were spared from a more destructive ‘Plan C’ as the surrounding walls and the door itself were secretly loaded with explosives.
Halo started off with a show of theatrics, an image of Pryce confessing his sins (as far as she knew, at least) onto the sky itself. Hiroyuki provided a ward, which drastically reduced the crowd to a manageable number as more than 80% of the troops (possibly inspired by their boss’s fake confession in the sky) had a moral realization of some kind or another and left, and also thankfully leaving the combat vehicles unmanned. Takeo and Matsu quickly dispatched the first group (thankfully, the bug and fire type had synergy here) while Sayaka took shots at Principal Pyrce. The first group of mooks was bowled over like literal bowling pins and the asphalt below all but crumbled into magma as Matsu charged them and Takeo dashed past them by contorting his legs into an insectoid nightmare. All the while, Mikoto, disguised as one of the goons that Hiroyuki murdered Takeo knocked out, was able to walk over to the car though she did draw *some* suspicion as the snipers nearby knew ‘he’ was supposed to have a partner. Thankfully, Halo also had a disguise power and was able to mimic the appearance of the other one and also made sure to keep her mouth shut (as her syndrome cannot mask her voice) which allowed Mikoto to communicate with Shinji. Mondo helped her get into the car and get Yukari situated, and was even elected to drive despite being far from Mikoto’s priority (lol).  Pryce grew tired of being shot and hit Sayaka with some kind of painful, psychic strike, prompting Hiroyuki to shrink the earth between himself and her, warping to her side.
After an explosive and chitinous battle (and some very offensive language shot Pryce’s way), the principal weaponized gravity itself against his two most urgent threats – downing Takeo. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t enough, as a halo of guns, dripping with primordial sand, opened fire on him. In a last ditch effort to regain control, Pryce willed the entire school to be lifted a hundred feet into the air. He threatened the young man left standing with the deaths of his friends, but Hiroyuki and Sayaka urged Matsu on. Pryce was disintegrated where he stood and the school came crashing down. There was a somber moment and Matsu let his bitter disappointment in himself show for a moment; but unbeknownst to them, just as Sayaka resigned herself to not leaving Hiroyuki, he made a miraculous charge with her in tow to the security room. They emerged safely just as the sun began to rise and they inexplicably heard the deafening ring of the destroyed school’s bell.
[LIMINUS]
They appeared in a strange realm that had taken the form of a completely black-and-white, modern hotel lobby. While they maintained their coloration, the NPCs from the loops before did not save for Sayaka (Pryce was missing). While there were some possible points of investigation, they were interrupted by the appearance of a bizarre, inhuman girl – the Shinigami – who was more unhelpful and obnoxious than anything, shedding only a little light on their situation but was largely needled by Halo and Hiroyuki, leaving the rest of the group mostly mystified by her bizarre, rude manner of speech. Eventually, she led them through the process of quelling their viruses for now (rollback) and introduced them to the use of their accumulated ‘karma’: the ability to manipulate the cycle they’re in to some extent. However, her explanations were interrupted when Mikoto took her up on her most expensive offering – the ability to safely allow Shinji’s escape from the cycles, at the cost of one of her self-reflective ‘tituses’ she’d earned from the round prior. 
The little boy, frozen as a prop in the scene of the lobby, regained his coloration, retrieving a snack from the machine that he’d been staring at – innocently oblivious to the people around him and his sister’s sacrifice for his safety, as the carefree boy happily excited the lobby doors and peacefully left the liminal space to return to the real world, where time flowed naturally. Mikoto felt their bond severed and, while it was an expression tinged with sadness, smiled for the first time that any of the group had seen, before stepping away to be alone. 

Episode 2: From the Darkness
OP
ED

The main characters found themselves in Kyotimore, recently and thoroughly abandoned somehow. Matsu was first; finding himself on a city sidewalk late at night, his bike nearby. It would have looked like a crash if not for the fact that both bike and rider were unscathed. Hiroyuki was nearby, his wits about him, and he approached Matsu and attempted to reason with him in order to get him to stick with him – interrupted (but aided) by the encroachment of Halo, who exited a nearby convenience store with an armful of chip bags. Unfortunately, even though Matsu was the one who had everyone share their eastern zodiac sign in Liminus, he didn’t care in the slightest when offered the information that was his idea, but Hiroyuki and Halo still successfully joined Matsu’s party by stubbornly hopping onto his bike. All the while, Halo’s brother tried to contact her but much like Hiroyuki last ‘arc’, to little success.

Meanwhile, Mikoto awakened in her home – which was completely devoid of family and staff alike. While she did have her worried brother and personal attendant trying to contact her (it seemed like all of them somehow ‘missed out’ on the entire day), she learned the city had been all but forcibly abandoned by the powers-that-be, though the rich had been calmly evacuated first. She wasn’t the sole exception, however, the stern, stoic Yamamoto patriarch was making his way down the street. Mikoto did manage to impress him with her decorum and they began investigating, only to hear Matsu’s bike (and see it not long after – to the old man’s chagrin). Hiroyuki and Halo insisted they stop for the pair and the party was mostly complete. Unfortunately, the old man went from coldly judgmental to loudly cantankerous when confronted with Matsu…in general. Even worse, the crew quickly became aware that the noise from Matsumoto’s bike was drawing the attention of something within the city, something capable of a ground-shaking rumble in response to the roar of the engine. 

Even so, Halo slipped off to a nearby intersection as she accidentally gave her brother slightly inaccurate directions…only to shockingly murder him in cold blood when he approached her. She quickly stashed the evidence, and when Matsu split from the party to retrieve her, she attacked him too – very nearly killing him (he was down to 1 HP!) and showing off supernatural feats of strength and speed when he escaped, only thanks to never having gotten off the bike. When he rejoined the group and tried to tell them, they were suddenly attacked by Mishiba, and Halo appeared at a distance shortly thereafter. Hiroyuki relayed the circumstances of their last syndrome activation, and they repeated the cycle of death (though this time, without a full heal) through various means – unfortunately leaving time for Halo to kill the Yamamoto patriarch. Mishiba was disintegrated by Matsumoto and, heeding his last words, Halo escaped.

The group was left reeling, trying to decide what to do next. They were rejoined by an already blood-soaked Sayaka, and soon after Mikoto spotted the ghost of Mondo Owari who gave her some insight into Halo’s prior rampage. He agreed to try to help Mikoto locate the killer and disappeared for now.

Meanwhile, Halo somehow took on the complete disguise of Yamamoto-san, who made a show of limping towards a hospital where a gruff but kind doctor tended to the apparent old man’s wounds (though she laid it on a little thick, the distracted and troubled doctor didn’t seem to notice). Of course, right after he was finishing treating the disguised killer, the doctor met the same gruesome fate as Mondo, Pryce, Yukari, Gregory, and Yamamoto.

The group deliberated what to do as they waited for Mikoto to hear back from her ghostly informant. He never showed up; but in his place arrived the ghost of ‘Zero’ Mishiba, staring at the ashes that were once his physical body. Unlike Mondo, he was an incredibly unhelpful ghost – but the group still arrived at the decision to check out the hospital, assuming the injured villainous Halo would recuperate there. Additionally, Matsu said there was someone he wanted to check up on.

Of course, the only way to get to the hospital was via a street race – Matsu on his bike versus Sayaka in a random, hotwired car. Neither passenger (Hiroyuki on the bike and Mikoto in the car) appreciated this, nor the fact that Matsu won – though Sayaka gave him a surprising challenge.

Simultaneously, Takeo awakened in the hospital; between himself and the false doctor (Halo having leveled up enough to retain some of her victim’s memories) it was evident he’d been attacked by the UGN who in turn were attacked by Doctor Kiryu, who saved Takeo and treated him here. Thankfully for him, the group found him first and explained to the best of their ability what happened. He was slightly incredulous but wanted nothing more than to help them and even Halo. The disguised Halo met back up with them after a brief search (unbeknownst to them, she was hiding Yamamoto senior’s body in the morgue) and while she did a great job at imitating the doctor, she drew suspicion after hearing their story and administering treatment that included sedatives – Hiroyuki noticing due to his experience with them the timeline prior. Halo failed to enchant him and instead a fight broke out – Takeo holding his own despite not having his syndrome – ending in the loss of Sayaka as she detonated herself to attack Halo and Zero, who took Matsu’s incendiary attack to save the injured villain (but not before grossly imparting a kiss on the cheek to Mikoto). 

The doppelgänger retreated further into the hospital, consuming the infirm along the way to the security room where she began projecting various illusions to gain the attention of the distant monster. It did not work, but Hiroyuki was determined to rid the city of the monster (and still hoped to have Halo work with them to achieve this) and had a similar idea. Matsumoto was sent out to rev his motorcycle to draw the monster near – and it worked! But Halo wasn’t feeling cooperative; another gruesome fight ensued and Mikoto suffered a shot to the head and…survived as her Exile virus willed her brain matter back into her skull. Takeo was less incredulous.

Once the dust settled slightly, Hiroyuki injected Halo with an arsenal of UGN-issued drugs, a gambit that would make her incredibly strong but should have brought her encroachment rate up to the point of no return. Instead, when she arose again she was on the very threshold of that point – and the monster was here, already dismantling the hospital and no doubt killing any abandoned patients much to the despair of Takeo. However, normal as he was, he still successfully escaped and had enough prowess to help Mikoto do the same. Thinking quickly, Matsu threw the reeling doppelgänger into the grasp of the monster and escaped as well. Hiroyuki used his Shrinking Earth ability to bring himself to a nearby phone, where he attempted to call for help; but just as he did so the doppelgänger inflicted a final act of spite: at the cost of the last of her HP she used Sayaka’s powerful, three-fold ability to strike down Matsu, Mikoto, and Takeo – leaving Hiroyuki the only survivor of the round.

[LIMINUS]

This time, it looked like a large, Japanese botanical garden – kind of a waste given there were so many plants and flowers but no color. That item shelf was still there, just incorporated into the fencing of the garden. Just about everyone they’d met so far was there, albeit once again in black and white. The Shinigami encouraged them to spend some Karma; and the group obliged to varying extents; electing to keep Hiroyuki as the memory bearer as this time it would have costed 10 Karma to create a new one. Additionally, Mikoto bought them an extra day before the onset of the tragedy as well as her syndrome to start with – setting up a bet that the Shinigami was unable to refuse due to some innate impulse. A gamble with her own life in exchange for at least 100 karma! Mikoto declared she would not die during the upcoming cycle. 

This time, thanks to spending some of their karma and thus empowering the Shinigami, they were able to spend time with a Lois of their choice.  Takeo spent time with his grandfather; it was a tense, but relatively normal exchange. Similarly, Halo spent time with her brother – who didn’t seem to carry any ill effect of the cycle before, much to Halo’s relief (though she still felt bad, she ‘helped’ him as he was working there). Mikoto simply took some time to reflect on the decision she’d made, as Shinji was freed from the tragedy loop. Matsu spent time with Mondo (he knew the ‘old man’ - his other option - was tough) and had a pleasant time. Lastly, Hiroyuki chose Sayaka – though he did consider the distraught Hiro. Sayaka confided in him that she’d lied a little about the goals of each cycle, that they could pretty much be decided by any of them (sometimes unconsciously), but she wanted to give them direction while she was fully informed as she’d seen it end disastrously before. Hiroyuki forgave her deception, not only that but understood her motivations, and she was touched.

Just when they were seemingly ready to go, the Shinigami announced that someone had reached ‘the Big Goose Egg’ and the group was made to watch a theatrical and elaborate execution of Hiro that ended with him being electrocuted by a polygraph machine. It should have been the end of that…but Zero returned, announcing he’d show them the selection that the Shinigami was hiding from them all. He bought back Hiro’s life for 50 karma (which would double the next one to 100) and was too excited to give much other information, even after being punched into a nearby wall by Matsu – even Hiroyuki couldn’t hide his disgust with the creepy red haired boy. However, this time they were sent into the next cycle with the knowledge that, at least in theory, it was quite possible for them to die permanently; even if Mikoto had already suspected as much.

Hiro Mishiba's Execution
[The shinigami cheerfully announces that someone reached the Big Goose Egg; Mishiba is confused. He was hardly there! He didn't do anything! But his protests are in vain and the shinigami snaps her fingers and the group find themselves in a dark theater.

On the screen they see that Mishiba finds himself in a diorama city, being chased by copies of the shinigami dressed like cops. Eventually one lassos him and the title of the ‘movie’ appears: 

The Big Liebowski

The projection screen is suddenly rolled up; revealing an interrogation room window that Hiro is dropped into. A massive polygraph machine reaches out and ensnares his neck, wrists, and ankles and a lettered sign with a chibi shinigami dressed like a detective lights up with the question:

Do you know why this is happening?

They can’t hear his answer but he’s clearly terrified as he speaks too fast and too much, interrupted by a violent shock.

Do you regret lying?

He sweats, desperately blurting out a silent answer only to be shocked again.

Lastly, he is asked:

Do you still want the others to escape, even if it's without you?

He doesn’t answer, shaking and terrified, sweating bullets, when the machine suddenly shocks him again, and doesn’t stop until the lights short out in the whole room - but the others can see his lifeless, sparking silhouette in the interrogation room.]

Episode 3: The Flowers of Evil
OP
ED
Before [1 Day]
The setting was almost identical to the one they seemingly began in – from Hiroyuki’s perspective, and the subconscious recollections of the others as well. Hiroyuki was determined to bring the group more-or-less together in hopes of a better outcome once disaster struck. Lucky for him, everyone was there and established in the school and there was an upcoming field trip that required them to work in groups: a special trip to a historical village that included a fancy, automated train ride. While this was a massive red flag for Hiroyuki he was at least able to use it as a convenient excuse.
He found the group as chaotic as one might expect, but mostly in a way that he was surprised to find lifted his spirits. Speaking of spirits, the occult club was at the crux of this day – somehow luring just about everyone in between Halo’s advertising, Sayaka’s creepy metal performance, and Hiroko’s (a gender swapped version of Hiro Mishiba) insistence on bringing the people she ‘shipped’ together – mostly Hiroyuki and Matsu. Surprisingly, Hiroko seemed somewhat interested in Takeo, but he was  too concerned with Mikoto’s safety to notice. This drew Hiroyuki’s attention, as Takeo was uncharacteristically assertive about Mikoto’s safety, and he and Matsu became seemingly at odds.
However, a very asymmetrical agreement to meet up and work together tomorrow was made; along with an equally asymmetrical feeling of camaraderie. The group even texted a bit together and Hiroyuki even fulfilled his promise to review Hiroko’s fanfiction (albeit, his fair, objective response that was still mostly complimentary was not met kindly). 
Mikoto arrived first the next morning, given her morning ritual had become so much shorter since Shinji’s departure from the group. She was greeted by Sayaka, who did not yet receive her full memories, but seemed to want to work with Mikoto to sabotage a member of the Shinomiya family for both of their gain…
…But when the cycle began, Sayaka seemingly regretted this would-be pact and tried to take back the blackmail material, but Mikoto insisted on holding onto it for the time being. As Mikoto’s maid approached, having not taken her eyes off the interaction and with the gravity of the situation looming over her, Sayaka reluctantly let it go and ran over to reconvene with Hiroyuki. Though she apologized for the chaos he had to deal with without her memories, he assured her she was one of the nicest parts of the day before, lifting her spirits. They decided to try to get a less occupied train – Sayaka seeing the opportunity when she spotted a fan of hers working at the station who she recognized from a different cycle. 
 As he watched her walk away, her gait changing as she slipped into her idol persona, Hiroyuki was overcome with a feeling of dread.

The others began to file in and Mondo arrived with a ‘quiche board’, having misunderstood the discussion about an Ouija board the day prior. Despite the inaccuracy, the group happily accepted this gift (though Mondo insisted that a particular quiche was for Matsu). Said delinquent was so late, the group began to worry until they heard the roar of his bike, amusing Yukari – and when Matsu arrived, they found that the special quiche was pizza flavored and Matsu had a moment to reflect on the deliciousness of the food. They were also joined by a surprise guest…not the fabled Harris Teeter, but an old friend of Takeo’s: Chiyoda Saya, a former gymnast who suffered the same accident Takeo did. While she did not make a full recovery, she found another talent in piano playing which made quite the impression on Takeo. In turn, she cheers on his continuing career in athleticism. She is a kind, well-liked girl despite her boisterous personality (sometimes even inelegant when she’s excited), who still looks cool and tough; the only evidence of her vulnerability the leg brace she still wears. 
They boarded the train, and while there was occasional unrest when the lights flickered (particularly on Takeo’s side, tensions continuing to mount as it seemed nearly everyone felt uneasy and two thirds of the occult club had a lot to say about Mikoto), Hiroyuki still tried to impress upon the others the situation. Very few were willing to take him entirely seriously, made worse by the Shinigami’s divisive tactics of…blaring an annoying song from Matsu’s PDA, prompting him to stash it.
Harris Teeter arrived, forewarning the group of ill omens but he was taken even less seriously than Hiroyuki (except by Halo and Hiroko, who were ecstatic to see him). Yukari chided him for sneaking on as he'd graduated last year. Takeo confronted him too and Harris cast 'Spirit Tomb' on him - which would allegedly make him a ghost after death and reliant on Halo to pass on. He also insisted on calling Matsu 'Ryujin' and estimated that, if trained properly, he could manipulate fire. Hiroyuki was diplomatic with him, but did use his real name on him - causing him to freeze up for a few minutes. Meanwhile, Ryoko attempted to advise Halo. Halo pretended to know everything she was telling her already. She did note, that they could get their syndrome without dying - but it was lost on Halo who was already 'powerful'.
Everything fell apart when Yukari, Mikoto, and Takeo discovered the emergency conductor of the train murdered in his seat. Blood covered the room and in that same gore, the words ‘KILL THE WITCH’ were traced upon the window. Despite Yukari’s best efforts, it seemed that half the student body investigating the crime scene, Hiroyuki finding that the cause of death were two horribly deep stab wounds to the neck, and Matsu discovering the emergency break sabotaged (which caused Yukari to faint, prompting Mondo to carry her back to the main train). It was there Hiroyuki was able to reveal the full extent of the situation, but was met with discordant responses even from those who believed him. Distrust ran rampant even as some of the group were able to verify their abilities, and it was made worse when Mikoto offered to use hers to look into the memories of either Hiroyuki or Sayaka. Takeo bristled at both possibilities, but was marginally more comfortable with Sayaka – though Mikoto was overloaded by information and collapsed. Sayaka tried to catch her but was met with Takeo’s protests, who thankfully allowed Mikoto’s maid to tend to the girl instead.
Mondo tried to defuse things but Takeo lashed out even at him, causing a full on brawl between the athlete and the delinquent, whilst Jumpy Junpei Harris (who was surprisingly tough), Mondo, Yukari, and Chiyoda tried desperately to break it up. Worse, Hiroyuki began receiving messages from ‘Zero’ Mishiba after Hiroko had excused herself for only a short time – and he and Sayaka discovered she was killed in the bathroom. Halo received some texts too, but while they were ‘weird’ and ‘gross’, they didn’t set off any alarm bells since Hiroko was already such a freak. Hiroyuki did confer indirectly with Ryoko when Halo shared her presence with him, but there wasn't much she could do at this point. Most everyone else scattered as well, eventually de-escalating the fight.
Sayaka left to find Mikoto, filling Hiroyuki with dread once more.
Mikoto gathered herself in private for the first time since the train left the station, communing with an eerie presence as various members of the group looked for her. Sayaka was the unfortunate one to find her. She mistook the scene in front of her for Mikoto being in danger and sprung to her defense, revealing the black-clad parts of her body to be robotic as she made a heroic stand against the demon. She burned a Lois to strike it, almost effecting it, but in the end met a horrific and gruesome fate – despair sinking in when she realized the person she was trying to save wasn’t doing anything as she struggled until the very end. Mikoto resolved to end this, as her patron deity commended her for the excellent sacrifice.
Mikoto cleverly disguised the scene of her crime to paint herself a victim of the snake monster and was discovered by Takeo, who deeply trusted her even as she presented him with a bizarre, otherworldly treat crafted from her own blood. He ate it, and it imbued him with his syndrome.
After regrouping Hiroyuki, Matsu, and Halo decided (to varying degrees of cooperation) to look for just about everyone they could wrangle – safety in numbers. They did manage to find just about everyone easily given the linear nature of the train – unfortunately they found the ‘Wendy’ version of Zero first. They were offered ‘help’ and were desperate enough to take it, to perhaps equal measures of help and harm though Zero was surprisingly honest about her intentions. Second to last they found Maki and Chiyoda who were trying to reason with a ‘Harris Teeter’ who was treating them with suspicion AND whose demeanor had changed. Suddenly taking the situation quite seriously (though perhaps still not seriously enough), he gave the group some helpful information – though not without ruffling some feathers when he pointed out why various members of the group could be a suspect.
Still, they pressed on, and when they found the strange scene before them distrust arose on all sides. Tensions mounted yet again as all eyes were on Mikoto, which Takeo eventually couldn’t endure any longer. An exhausting and ominous battle ensued as Mikoto held her own against everyone, all while several bystanders were left in danger of the crossfire. Matsu awakened his powers when Takeo charged at Harris who was more than ready for him. Triaging the situation by attacking Mikoto cost Takeo his life as Junpei was temporarily enraged thanks to Mikoto’s ambient power briefly bursting out of control, awakening Matsu’s syndrome. Halo asked Zeroko to kill her so she could assist and she all too happily obliged. Having realized what really happened to Sayaka in combination with that, Hiroyuki unleashed his ire on Mikoto, Takeo, and Zero with his Offensive Language, causing at least one kill. Zeroko rose immediately but while ecstatically distracted by her own viscera, the demon flashed before some of the group’s eyes as it ate her up, further empowering Mikoto. 
Hiroyuki somehow figured out the demon’s name and shared it with Harris (fine, Junpei). While he was able to attack the demon, it was far too strong for him to handle on his own and he told Hiroyuki to prioritize killing ‘the witch’ it contracted with. The snake attempted to recruit Matsu, who reacted violently – but this was evidently foreseen as his attack was in reality directed at Halo, killing her just as she rose from Zeroko’s attack. Mondo rushed to her side and healed her but Takeo managed a killing blow on Matsu, enraging Mondo and causing him to forsake his own safety by fruitlessly attacking Takeo. Junpei having gleaned something, took the opportunity to take Maki hostage. Halo was finally able to act again and she made perhaps the best decision of the entire fight – warding the innocent bystanders.
Mikoto, perhaps under duress at seeing her only loved one present, or maybe in a bad position at last, called a ceasefire.
In the most fateful session yet, the cast managed a shaky alliance when the demon offered Mikoto a way out of her conundrum in exchange for a sacrifice in the form of Maki. This was Mikoto’s morality horizon, and she instead conspired with the others to defeat Aziel – causing the demon to change the game, including the board. The train was now barreling through some otherworld and had changed to an eerie, overgrown and flooded reflection of itself teeming with monsters. It was to be a gauntlet, but Hiroyuki bypassed it by making an offering to, presumably, Aziel: a knife stained with the sins of another world. 
Finding this acceptable, Aziel’s new champion was chosen and the party was pitted against a possessed Gjuam version of Junpei. All stops were pulled out and loyalties zigged and zagged, exhausting our heroes – especially Halo, who’d lost her closest friends - to their very souls. Once things looked hopeless, Mikoto turned her ire towards Hiroyuki and described Sayaka’s final harrowing moments with contempt, reigniting a fallen Matsu from the dead who promptly sent Mikoto flying through the ceiling of the train and into the unknown.
The survivors returned to reality to a scene of worry and chaos that likely only became worse when the train boarded the station. Halo was despondent and violent and Matsu was now a Gjuam. Mercifully, we were spared the full aftermath as Hiroyuki cursed the demon one last time.
[LIMINUS]
In Liminus, they were presented with a wildly inappropriate amusement park – several characters seemingly marked for death. Everyone tried to make the best of it, Matsu trying to exchange every part of his existence for the safety of his Loises. Though only Mondo even qualified to be saved – he elected to spend his final free action with him and bequeathed his knife and leadership of his gang to a bewildered Mondo. Halo tried to be alone, but was comforted by Sayaka with a deep affection she likely wasn’t even aware of when Sayaka, who was certain she was going to die too, told her how she truly felt about their friendship. Takeo and Hiroyuki shared Mikoto’s last moments, though there was no comfort to be found despite Takeo’s efforts, and Mikoto imparted some chilling advice to Hiroyuki before offering up a possession: perhaps final evidence that she had ever existed.
When everyone was finished saying their goodbyes, the Shinigami revealed a new sadistic ploy: only one person could be executed in each Liminus, and thus she was forcing the cast to vote for who – between Matsu, Mikoto, and Sayaka it would be. After pleading, impassioned arguments, desperate attempts to find any other answer, Mikoto resigned herself to her fate – and to everyone’s surprise, Halo agreed, setting her fate all but in stone. Mikoto accepted this with a bitter grace, and Takeo accepted her decision – as did Hiroyuki, who knew Halo would eventually come to blame herself even worse if she was the only one who condemned Mikoto to death. Mikoto did her best to hold it together for the sake of the survivors, but ultimately her icy persona cracked and her despair was painfully evident.
The Shinigami executed Mikoto in her gaudy and gruesome signature fashion, leaving the rest of the group more desolate and uncertain than ever – but also cementing beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Shinigami’s treatment of them was, in fact, personal somehow. After a makeshift funeral, Junpei told Hiroyuki that they needed to research the virus as much as possible and told Takeo he suspected he'd need to be the one to throw his family name around with Mikoto gone, before they were launched into a new cycle.
Mikoto Shinomiya's Execution
[The group finds themselves transported into the pitch black big top tent in the middle of the park; though the inside resembles a fancy theater more than anything. They’re perched in the balcony seats and far below, they see a massive stage with a curtain, a sign lit up on a marquee far above:
SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DORKS
The curtain raises and the room is completely dark, even the stage, except for a strange glow that seems to be coming from a massive clock face on the floor of the stage, including the singular, long hand. It glows, apparently made of ice, along with a fence around it and a podium in the middle like the ones they had their debate on. The ‘hand’ ticks and lands on a dot as Mikoto’s eyes adjust, and along the clock face she can see seven figures frozen in ice and seeming cold puffs of mist being sprayed intermittently from the ground. One is reached: what looks to be an ice sculpture of her sister. But when the hand reaches it and it shatters, the gruesome pieces make it clear there was a person frozen in there. Mikoto realizes she is frozen to the floor and begins pulling at the integrity of her legs to free herself and intervene. The next is her mother, than her father. Two of the girls in her friend group. The next is Maki, all shattered one by one as the clock picks up speed. Mikoto has time to see that the last is Shinji! At last, breaking free with a horrible snap, she runs to save him but the mist drifting up from the floor suddenly freezes her on the spot, frozen like a tragic sculpture as she's reaching towards her brother one last time just as the clock hand mercilessly shatters them both. The shards glow dimly in the pitch black; intermingled...only for the pieces of Mikoto to wriggle around, trying to reform – prompting the Shinigami in a fire suit to take a flamethrower to the entire scene, gleefully melting it into water colored black from ash.]

Extra Episode ★☆☆: [The Demon of Misuterii High]
The cast had a perfectly normal school day with their friend Sakuya who was totally always been here. They all remember it, even Sakuya! Although he remembers things a little differently…just a different school entirely, a contrasting color scheme of their uniform, no biggie.
There was some canon-compliant chaos (including Matsu getting to school almost halfway through the day, Takeo’s enthusiastic attempts to get to know Sakuya better that, somehow, involved a bird making its way into the school to nest in his hair; Hiroko fumigating the nurse’s office with Knife body spray; and general unhelpful nonsense). Finally, Mai Nozumi approached the Occult Club Hiroyuki with a plea for help – her older sister, a survivor of the Misuterii incident, went missing after investigating the rumor of the Misuterii demon. He was entrusted with said older sister’s diary, which closer to the end were the mad ramblings of a woman haunted by her past and the incident. After some corralling, the group agreed to investigate but were quickly intercepted by the Principal himself.
Thus, the group collected themselves at Big Bancho Burger and decided that they would investigate as such:
Matsu and Sakuya went to track down the Stream Town Tyrants, particularly ‘Mace X’ – the younger brother of a missing person also connected to the Misuterii incident. After sending his boys to scout ahead and some annoyed dithering, the pair found the gang in question. Despite this being a rare diplomatic mission, the Tyrants were not amenable to negotiation and initiated what turned out to be a curb stomp battle even though Matsu battled the Tyrants three toughest guys (saving Sakuya from a 1v1 versus their ‘little guy’). Thoroughly defeated, they had their ‘nerd’ relay the address of Mason Xavier’s Mace X’s home, though he advised him the delinquent was likely trying to win back his honor by beating up the guy who knocked him out at a farmer’s market.
Takeo and Sayaka investigated Harker manor…after an extremely cute photo op involving a wild fox, the neighborhood’s stray cat population, and much to Sayaka’s dismay, a small herd of deer. And an idol-obsessed stalker. They managed to get into the home anyway (thanks to a boost from Sayaka to Takeo) but found the atmosphere in the home almost otherworldly…in a harmful way. They couldn’t stay for long, but even more alarmingly, Takeo recognized not only the residence but he remembered some of the former residents – children about his age that he used to play with. They found a diary, but as they were leaving the stalker broke in (and, despite Sayaka’s memory of his always having a knife or a gun, he had an axe this time) but didn’t prove much trouble to Takeo…who told him he needed help. As they left in relative peace, Takeo tried to discard the axe but was hit by a haunting, psychic strike, prompting him to keep the axe. He asked Sayaka to look in the diary, not wanting to violate the privacy of someone who may have been a friend, and after relaying what he remembered to her the situation only got more confusing as Sayaka told Takeo the earliest dates were from nearly two decades ago.
Halo and Hiroko (and Ryoko) called Gregory, who gave them a ride (as this was normal Friday night behavior for the pair – though he did express concern that Sayaka wasn’t with them, he gave them Capri-Suns and string cheese, except for Ryoko who is a ghost) to the graveyard. They found it to be fancy and planned a picnic/séance at a later date. It was so fancy, in fact, they found plots for the Shinomiya, Yamamoto, and Harker families. Halo looked for Mikoto’s grave and didn’t find one, and then claimed to Hiroko that she was looking at the dozens of ghosts populating the place (lie). They were soon confronted by a mysterious and alluring Miko who very nearly convinced Halo to go with her ‘somewhere’ but she happened to remember what Harris Teeter Junpei warned her about. Hiroyuki encroached and the pair managed to fight off the Miko and kept Hiroko safe. Halo told Hiroyuki to leave, but she did in fact spot a pair of faint, solemn ghosts on two of the empty Harker plots but they were not strong enough to communicate with her. Hiroko asked about gay things and was disappointed at the lack thereof.
Hiroyuki decided to use his newfound junior detective outfit skills try to get information out of Vice Principal McDichael, the former principal of Misuterii High. It was simple to track him down, having a dinner break at the Yakisoba Pan Stand. While a little hesitant to tell Hiroyuki anything that could lead him into trouble or put him on Pryce’s radar, he did share a helpful amount of info but not without an obvious amount of sentimentality. He even sang the old Misuterii anthem and wished he could hear it sang by a graduating class one last time; a sentiment he was certain the spirit of the school itself shared – a comment not lost on Hiroyuki. As Sakuya and Matsu incidentally rejoined, they were confronted with another unwelcome guest – ‘Zero Mishiba’, albeit looking awful reality warped. Even so, his personality was the same so it wasn’t long before Matsu punched him and a gruesome fight broke out. The rest of the group joined bit by bit and once more, Halo of all people did the smart thing and warded the area to keep her brother from intervening. Just as Takeo and Sayaka arrived, Sakuya resolved to help his friends (dissatisfied with his perceived helplessness) and his renegade virus awakened – an unnervingly artistic servant forming at his will in front of everyone’s eyes.
The battle continued with Zero Mishiba, who seemed rather satisfied with himself already. He showed off a few tricks including nullifications of warding and even syndromes, and at one point took control of Halo’s limbs and willed her over to him. However, the group was able to subdue him anyway and Matsu incinerated what was left of him.
They decided to pursue one more lead – ‘Mace X’s whereabouts and were eventually led to the Tanaka property, spacious farmland with what appeared to be a scenic manor with a large, red maple shading almost the entire building (accidentally foreshadowing of the place going up in flames, lol). Mace X was found running away, screaming and Matsu attempted to (meanly) chat with the clearly terrified young man to little avail. He was sent to their PC companions who’d stayed behind to teach Sayaka the school anthem. Hiroyuki approached, Matsu staying slightly behind in case he needed to go in blazing though Halo encroached on Hiroyuki. There was a group of young women in traditional clothing doing domestic tasks and an older woman took notice of their ‘guests’, ushering them inside with very little resistance. 
Before Hiroyuki could stop her (but not before he had the chance to note the signs of a recent battle along with blood staining the water that ran throughout the building), Halo happily partook of the host’s hospitality and ended up drugged – thus, a battle started with some small security forces including the girls’ attacker from the cemetery, who this time was stricken by Hiroyuki’s words – fatally. As a ‘reward’, the trio found Junpei’s gruesome remains still simmering in a cauldron and Matsu gave the entire compound the same treatment that Zero got. That is, after Hiroyuki evacuated the dozen or so children on the property. Though traumatic for Matsu, his father figure, Dr. Kiryu was contacted even if he was engaging in other plans but he and his date stepped up for the group and the Tanaka kids when the police wouldn’t. Though exhausted and demoralized, the three reconvened with the group.
Another innocent person was spared despite his insistence on joining Matsu’s gang, Mace X was meanly-but-kindly chased off by the gang leader in question who convinced him how good he had it and to leave his delinquent lifestyle behind to help his loving mother. With that, the group who knew the song and had stayed behind to practice, recited the Misuterii anthem at the right hour and with the right conviction, and were granted access to the ghostly structure despite one last attempt by Pryce to stop them as the ghostly school bell chimed so hauntingly it parted the veils between the living world and that of the dead.
Inside, the place was almost familiar; but in reverse, and in an older design than the familiar halls of Higurashi…and filled to the brim with bizarre particles and ghostly figures that all threatened their safety to some extent – some aware and twisted by grief, monstrously deformed as a result and other blissfully ignorant of their status (and happy to partake in school-grade bullying and rudeness). One ghostly presence shouted at them upon their encroachment, but it was too late - Matsu and Takeo found themselves in the judo room with Pryce, who was angry but not shaken. While he admonished the two, he grew impatient with Matsu’s sass and left them. Not particularly unhappy about that, the two ventured down the hallway and were verbally assaulted by two mean girls and while Takeo was apologetic, that only made Matsu angry on his behalf and he offended them, causing them to leave. They soon found their way blocked by a twisted, gnarled spirit who’d died in the incident due to an injured leg – but they only found that out because of an encroaching Halo, whose mediumship was blossoming under just a little encouragement from Junpei who seemed alive and well here much to Halo’s confused relief. Likewise, Sakuya and Hiroyuki encounter a perfectly corporeal Ryoko in the school library who would, throughout their excursion, help shed light on the perspective of the ghosts and the experience of being one. Unfortunately, Sayaka was nowhere to be found – though Sakuya was able to briefly track her with his totally-not-weird ability to detect her scent. 
A surprisingly dangerous point and click adventure game commenced and the group split off in various ways to investigate, vandalize the school, and gather clues and witness testimony after picking fights with them. They even found the missing people from the living world; still alive, and still in their late twenties: ‘Jace X’ and Wakiko Nozumi. Between them all, a little more about the Misuterii incident was uncovered; supposedly an explosion of sudden Overed awakenings and ensuing violence that ended up with the school in flames and almost the entire senior class dead. Most people pointed the blame at Lucy Harker who’d behaved erratically in the days leading up to the incident. It was unfortunate they didn’t have much time as they also made the startling discovery of a Misuterii yearbook with various temporal inconsistencies in it; most significantly, the inclusion of them in the suspiciously small senior class. A few other anomalies were noted in the book but they didn’t have the luxury to investigate with the phantasmal danger around every corner and even in the air. Thanks to all of the gathered info and Takeo’s memories of his childhood friends and Halo’s ability to communicate with one of them, Storm (who was barely manifest due to his lack of wrath, scorn, or general malice), they were able to piece together that Lucy had been unjustly blamed and that a malevolent Overed had taken her place in the school. The repeated and sometimes fatal psychic attacks whenever they said something her angry spirit didn’t appreciate probably helped too.
On a positive note, Halo was able to quell at least one restless spirit. Upon an independent investigation as an aside, she found graffiti in the girl’s bathroom irreverently announcing the death of a man who appeared to match the description of the hallway-blocker’s assailant. Halo pried the mirror from the wall and showed him, and though he felt guilty for laughing at someone else’s death and the ‘artist’s irreverence, he found peace, returned to his human form, and disappeared in a sparkling white dust with an appreciative bow. She also embarrassed some boy ghosts in their own locker room while investigating on behalf of Storm and Hiroyuki managed to turn the mean girls on one another. 
They also discovered that Storm had intended to meet with Lucy at an appointed date and time – even enlisting the help of the doki doki literature club to help him write a confession to her; a meeting that never got to happen due to their tragic circumstances. Junpei suggested that while dangerous under even the best circumstances, they should reenact the planned meeting ritualistically to get Lucy’s spirit to manifest, cautioning that while spirits could be (sometimes had to be) destroyed, it was his belief that it was better to placate them to help them pass on instead – citing that while he’d had to destroy about 6 spirits in his ‘career’, it was something he felt should only be done as a last resort. That said, they didn’t really have a suitable decoy for Storm (not a cooperative one anyway) but eventually fashioned one out of Hiroyuki by dressing him up in Storm’s old uniform and equipping him with various keepsakes from their investigations. Sakuya gave Hiroyuki a surprisingly insightful piece of relevant advice, and the group went to the courtyard for the destined meeting under the supernaturally pink ‘sakura’ tree. 
The clock struck again as Hiroyuki waited under the tree – the others nearby, watching with bated breath. On the fourth chime, Lucy’s gnarled spirit appeared: The Forgotten Girl. Hanging limp, her head and limbs were drooping and crooked, suspended by some unseen strings like a puppet. Her limbs continuously drip with ashes, a constant and infinite loop of disintegration that never progresses. She released an angered and heartbroken wail that seemed to tear through reality; the ritual/combat commenced; Hiroyuki showing off his character development switching gears and using his normally lethal powers of negotiation to soothe Lucy Harker’s troubled, upside-down-faced spirit who continued to lash out with her horrible yurei hairs that sprouted from every surface of the environment. Takeo (not wanting to hurt his friend) and Junpei focused on protecting the group (the civilians and Halo, respectively) though Takeo went down for his trouble (we should start a drinking game). While Matsu did protect Sakuya…he ALSO retaliated against the spirit as Hiroyuki was making some progress. He knocked her out of the air where she was hovering creepily – but thankfully, this did not sabotage the ritual. Halo was kind enough to lend Storm her corporealness and between him, Halo, and Hiroyuki, the three were able to bring peace to The Forgotten Girl, releasing her curse on the ghostly school and the spirits trapped within. Storm and Lucy passed on, at peace, and Wakiko and Jace X thanked the group for saving them; the ghostly bell rang one last time before the school’s image dissolved; the world along with it as the group was sent back to Liminus.

LIMINUS
This time, their spooky place of rest was a long-defunct train station that they all had vague memories of. They were reunited with Sayaka, who looked worse for wear – along with Pryce and Zero in similar condition. Before much of an explanation could be had (or anything else), the Shinigami forced the group onto the train with a vague, nonsensical threat towards Junpei. He understood (though poor Halo didn’t, at first) and said his goodbyes on the ride – giving Halo his scarf, and Matsu a ceremonial knife of some kind – imparting advice to the rest of the group before his irreverent but thematic execution. 
Junpei Tanaka's Execution
[Once Junpei says his goodbyes, he comments that he hopes he can apologize to Mikoto for the shoddy funeral. The train ride continues in solemn silence until they see something flickering through the darkness of the subway trains' massive windows:
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dumbass.
The scene opens in black-and-white in the Tanaka family courtyard though it stretches out even further than in reality; the Shinigami dressed like a Shogun sitting haughtily at the far end. Junpei walks towards her and kicks over the massive cauldron on his way out of spite, but it’s empty and he has more pressing concerns; he’s surrounded by six otherworldly figures in unrecognizably twisted forms, differentiated only by the color of their glowing eyes. Nonplussed, he flicks out a katana with a skillful motion and cuts one down in that same motion; then four others in short order as they rush him – but the last and most amorphous one appears to fuse into him and his eyes glow its color. He fights with it as it compels him to bring the sword towards himself, aiming to disembowel him and he breaks out in a slight sweat – but with some kind of shout and gesture manages to exorcise it and slices through it too. He finally makes his way to the Shinigami, irreverently cutting through a Zen Garden of sorts and speaks, his words outlined in a following intertitle:
“Just one more wayward spirit to exorcise.”
The Shinigami smiles and points down at him with the reply.
“That’s exactly right.”
He looks down to find that his legs slowly fade into transparency, that he didn’t leave any footprints in the sand - and he mouths one last word, illuminated by the title card:
“Fuck.”
As a group of figures dressed in the same ceremonial clothing as the Tanaka clan spring out from the shadows, Junpei lowers his sugegasa ruefully as they throw salt at him uttering the same shouts and gestures he used on the last spirit, causing his image to melt and dissolve into the air.]
After that, and with a total lack of regard for the overall mood, the Shinigami kept announcing that everyone had two actions now, but no one really cared. Zero was punched in the face, Pryce was treated with open contempt, and the group did their best to comfort themselves and one another but it wasn’t very effective overall. The Shinigami, irritated that no one was going along with her excitement, began narcing on Sayaka for being a part of the UGN. No one cared as they pretty much already knew. She revealed that Sayaka wasn’t even human. No one cared; because again, they pretty much already knew. Annoyed, she utilized her second action and executed Sayaka in her usual garish, ironic fashion – undoing what small comfort the group had managed to scrounge up for themselves.
Sayaka Sanobashi's Execution
[Sayaka will tell them that she never really knew who she truly was, but that if she ever started to piece it together it was because of them. She thanks them and tells them they need to survive to bring the memory of ‘the real Sayaka’ into the real world, and passionately tells them that deserve to exist exactly as they are no matter what anyone else says. The liminal space transforms into a large concert hall; though still as muted in color as ever, the lights of the stage and the ones carried by the audience (who resemble thousands of Shinigami clones) glow in all neon colors – as does the sign above the stage: 
PERFECT RED
Sayaka is spotlighted on the stage in her classic idol outfit, turning to face the audience in confusion but with a steely look on her face though she’s trembling. A meter is at the side of the stage, the top showing a smiling and cheering chibi Sayaka, and at the bottom a ghostly angel chibi Sayaka. Above the stage is a suspended, spiked ‘ceiling’. Music begins and Sayaka performs along with it with determination though she is sweating, steadily increasing the gauge towards the victorious chibi. A mirror behind her shows her reflection; but it is clearly an almost entirely cybernetic version of her. Matsu and Hioroyuki try to interfere, and buff security guard versions of the Shinigami dressed as security guards restrain them. There’s a panel of three judges – all the shinigami; two happily holding up placards with a rating of ‘10’ though the last one mimes a yawn. Sayaka begins to scan the three and notices an anomaly in the third one and her skin erupts in a glowing digital pattern as she electrifies the floor and sends the third ‘judge’ flying with a strike of lighting. She splats against the far wall though weakly holds up a placard that says ‘10’; causing the meter to burst through the top, triggering the failure state and the spiked ceiling drops on her, spattering the concert hall in bright red. Along with the gore, a blood spattered solo CD for Sayaka drops at the feet of the group.]

Episode 4: Sunday Without God
OP
ED
Takeo used his last gift from Mikoto to choose the setting of their next obstacle: his own home. Though to call it a mansion would be an understatement. The group found themselves in the Yamamoto estate, an incredible and very traditional home with several auxiliary buildings that were less stately but still likely nicer than what the other characters live in. That meant that there was a lot of ground to cover for the separated group: Matsu, Sakuya, and Sakuya’s genki art club kohai Chihaya started on a balcony over a magnificent waterfall. Chihaya was unnerved but quickly accepted that she was dreaming and found herself inspired by the view. Sakuya was too worried about the situation, especially his friend’s presence here, to share her enthusiasm, and Matsu was grouchy and understandably brooding. To make matters worse for him, they ran into Hiro Mishiba who made Nathan uncomfortable with the second-hand embarrassment of his interactions with Sakuya.
Takeo began with his former-fellow-athlete but still-friend Chiyoda, who was easygoing and brave enough not to be too spooked though she did acknowledge the strangeness of the situation she was mostly happy to see Takeo and excited by the lavish surroundings (especially the tea set in front of them, ready to drink, which she did). The lights were out, and Takeo – now armed with his memories – knew he needed to find his friends and hopefully get those lights back on. Because he rarely had to do such practical minutia he had only a vague idea of what to do, but thankfully he would meet up with some of his friends without much effort as Matsu’s group was noisy and so was Chiyoda. Matsu commented that he was surprised that Takeo was so rich since he was a good person.
Halo was outdoors; at an immaculately kept shrine where none other than Crystal Waters was praying. She noticed her quickly, however, and while she mused about the irony she told Halo she’d need her alive for the foreseeable future. Halo wasn’t in the mood for her cryptic words and made her explain that the aforementioned ‘Kakuya-sama’ was a deity formed from powerful evil spirits that couldn’t be destroyed or banished, that required a particular sacrifice every decade or so. This didn’t make Halo feel much better but she still accepted Crystal’s hand as she used her lantern to guide them towards the main building. 
Hiroyuki was alone. He sat in the darkness for a few moments, before seeing a jarringly familiar silhouette – but the girl just past the shoji window was not Sayaka; but rather, the girl from the yearbook who bore an uncanny resemblance to her. She recognized Hiroyuki but was very shaken; and despite her existence no doubt being uncomfortable for him, Hiroyuki offered her a gentle pat on the shoulder and assured her that there were others here they could work with, and graciously accompanied her to them – but not before Halo encroached on the pair, joining them and giving Hiroyuki some attitude (and abandoning Crystal Waters somewhere) before meeting up with the others.
As they decided what they should be doing, Takeo saw…something. He investigated as he saw the figure drift down the hall and was frozen with alarm as he perceived the entity that probably shouldn’t ever be perceived; a sort of pillar of black fog that slowly came into focus to appear more like galaxies concentrated into its void-like presence. It was surprised, as it was very aware that it shouldn’t be perceived, but tried to be gentle in demeanor as Takeo tried to put his jumbled thoughts in order. It assured him it would come back, and took its leave. Chiyoda followed Takeo and grew concerned for him though he tried to assure her that all was well.
Hiroyuki was also clearly making an effort to keep calm and collected – no doubt because of the executions that just took place – and offered some leader-ly focus to the group; reassuring Takeo similarly to how he had Shizuru so he could help him refocus on finding the breaker. He had a similar interaction with Matsu, but his shoulder clap was more resigned.
Eventually, the group made their way to another smaller building where Takeo was pretty sure the breaker was. Shizuru collapsed on the way but quickly insisted that she was fine and could keep going. Once they were inside, Halo miraculously “found” a bunch of flashlights so they could search. The presence returned, in the form of Storm Lionsoul though it assured Takeo that it had borrowed his friend’s image, not his identity, and with permission at that – offering him a warm greeting by proxy. The entity explained that the anomaly had encroached upon its own territory; that of death, and it was here to find the source and resolve the issue. Though It asked if it should join the group in this form to help explain a little better and Takeo graciously accepted, but first Takeo asked if he was supposed to feel like the world was ending when he looked upon the being earlier and it assured him that that was normal. It went on to explain that while it was concerned that the entire group had the haze of an untimely death about them, there were a few it was currently concentrated on. 
Just as the others flicked the lights on, it gestured to the person in the most danger – Shizuru; who was trying to hide her worsening condition. However, Halo, Hiroyuki, and Matsu were able to see that she was covering her mouth and noise and that blood was seeping between her fingers.
The group sprung into action fairly quickly – Halo utilizing her healing powers to try to help Shizuru. Surprisingly...she did seem to buy her some time. As they rushed back into the building proper to find somewhere she could rest (even though she insisted that she was fine), Takeo tried to warn Halo that ‘Storm’ would be showing up soon and attempted to explain that it wouldn’t exactly be Storm. How effective the explanation was remained to be seen – and as Shizuru continued to insist she wanted to help keep looking for clues about their situation, ‘Storm’ did show up. While not trying to fool his fellow Overeds, Takeo did use his friendship with Storm to provide a plausible explanation for the remaining ‘normies’: Hiro, Chiyoda, Chihaya (Chi-chan, as she insisted until Hiroyuki used it), and Shizuru). This drew some minimal but good-natured suspicion from Chiyoda – who really was Takeo’s longtime friend.
Matsumoto’s impatience grew and the group split up to look around – Hiroyuki heading towards the kitchen with most of the ‘normal’ people. Halo was appointed to go with him, but she said no. ‘Storm’ informed Takeo that they needed to be careful since there were other people here, which he noted, and which Matsu took a bit more seriously as he led the way in searching through the rooms on one side of the house. Takeo got a glimpse of an unwelcome guest...the Shinigami! Who quickly (and angrily) realized that he could see her and chose to disappear as quickly as she arrived.
Hiroyuki took a more subtle approach. As he supervised the others in the kitchen (Chiyoda mostly taking the lead in tending to Shizuru and cheering everyone up), he overheard a conversation in a neighboring room. He managed to strain his senses enough to hear ‘Crystal Waters’ conversing with what sounded like an old man; one callous to her reservations as he appointed her a new fiancé: Takeo! Though she protested, insisting she was fine to take on a matronly role in the family he shot her down – noting they’d need to recover the Tanaka children from ‘that stubborn doctor’s custody first and that at any rate, right now she should be focused on taking care of the strange occurrences in the home. This surprised Hiroyuki; this being one of the first times their actions carried over into another ‘instance’. Unfortunately he didn’t have time to do very much with this information as Shizuru’s condition quickly worsened. The group rushed to lay her down on a chaise outside. Chiyoda realized she was also feeling poorly but she brushed it off given the stress of the situation until she started coughing, and she insisted to Hiroyuki that they needed to find Takeo. That if someone as tough as her could be affected by whatever this was, that it could happen to anyone. 
Simultaneously, as Matsumoto brutishly made his way through the rooms, Takeo and Halo got a little more time to converse with ‘Storm’, who showed him a bit of his own perception – namely, the strange, black substance that had seemed to weave its way around the very makeup of their surroundings, coagulating on the edges of the boundaries of the area they were allowed to inhabit. To their surprise, he likened it to their warding ability. The two surmised that it was being used in a strange, almost reverse way – keeping them here, affecting their thoughts in certain ways.  They brought up more of their situation to ‘Storm’ which concerned him deeply – but perhaps most alarmingly, he informed them that there was no possible way that the being that held them so temporally captive could be a Shinigami. That ’he’ was a Shinigami. Matsumoto had returned just in time to call bullshit, which the reaper was very understanding about. Takeo and Halo had a couple of theories as a result of this Shinigami’s esoteric explanations of its nature, and they decided they needed to regroup with Hiroyuki.
However...the reaper had one more pressing concern – Takeo’s aura had worsened. And they soon found out why: when they met back up with the others, Shizuru had died and wasn’t getting back up. Hiroyuki was doing his best to comfort the others, and they all grimly exchanged information. Hearing that his grandfather was here, Takeo sought to confront him. His grandfather brushed him off, completely indifferent to the news of the girl who had died and the others that were in danger – and admonished Takeo for looking for guidance. He told him to prove himself a worthy heir by taking care of ‘his own problems’, all while Halo used her psychometry to glean even more insight into the events that had taken place here just prior. Disillusioned but strangely galvanized, Takeo stepped into the neighboring courtyard with Halo who informed him of the conversation between ‘Crystal’ and his grandfather – the former just so happening to be nearby. Despite her being distant from them, she agreed to help...even though Takeo, this whole time, had been worsening and feeling a terrible, foreboding pain in his chest he was resilient enough to somehow hide this from the rest of the group.
Per her request, a completely dark room was procured for Crystal, who went in without an explanation and the group reconvened outside  – until she seemingly summoned the disoriented spirit of Shizuru, who sadly relayed her final moments and dropped a tiny clue but it just wasn’t enough. Matsumoto also began to feel the pain in his chest (though it was noted by Alice that R.C. said ‘no I don’t’) who also hid it well. He was able to share his mysterious ‘Mystic Eyes of Depth Death Perception’ ability with the group at last – an ability to see certain auras and almost mathematical points in reality and to fight effectively because of it – and was even able to use it along with the knife Junpei gave him to meditate and sort of dowse (even though the way I described the strange lines in his vision and reality were apparently a HUGE point of contention for R.C.).  With a new direction thanks to these visions, he decided to search the remaining rooms and all the red flags lead to old man Yamamoto, who did not seem too intimidated by the brash young man despite the accusations thrown his way. He told him to get out of his sight lest he show him ‘how someone gets to be this old’. Matsu did explore further despite trampling all over etiquette to do so, found the old man’s personal quarters and a strange collection of masks, and doubled back awkwardly through the patriarch’s meeting room...which, surprisingly, seemed to amuse the old man.
With little other choice, Takeo began to lead the group upstairs and though he fell to the mysterious infliction...he did get back up. Just in time for the Shinigami (the mean one) to re-manifest and taunt him – but it became pretty obvious that she wasn’t directly talking to Takeo – loudly proclaiming for the group to (not) hear that she was glad they had their memories now, because in order to fulfill her end of the ‘bargain’ she needed at least one of them dead-dead, as in eligible for execution, before she disappeared again. Strangely, even the reaper could not see her, but Takeo could. On top of that he was left with the knowledge that someone else probably could too. Worst still, Chi-chan and Hiro were feeling badly, and Chiyoda wasn’t able to go on – so the Overeds found somewhere safe for them to rest while they resolved to save them.
Upstairs, they were met with their favorite NPC – Zero, who was happily splashing around in a massive, ornamental indoor pond. Matsu didn’t want to deal with him at all and instantly initiated combat – compromising his fiery ideals and stepping into the water where Hiroyuki made a chilling demand to Zero:
Make sure he drowns.
Zero complied way too happily and combat broke out. The Shinigami took her place by Hiroyuki’s side, encouraging him and as the horrible fight raged on (though Matsu rose from the dead with a vengeance – burning much of the water away and causing damage to Zero with it alone with his strike) it became clear that Hiroyuki was working with the Shinigami under the promise of bringing Sayaka back. Hiroyuki was killed during the fight but rose ominously – and now, with him outed as the culprit, the reaper seemed to cast some sort of judgement on him. He manifested in his true form before the killer and Takeo, before depriving him of his cursed power and disappearing once more. The others plead with Hiroyuki (and Takeo got to chop up Zero again, we should start a drinking game) that the Shinigami couldn’t be trusted, Matsumoto insisted she was breaking her own rules now, and Halo reminded him that Sayaka wouldn’t want this and though his resolve to bring her back was strong, he realized he was unable to permanently sacrifice one of his friends. That Sayaka would never forgive him.
Instead, he decided he would be the one to die to bring her back after confirming with the Shinigami that she would accept that – which, of course, she would. In an ironic twist, he would kill himself to bring her back. After all, they’d never been able to escape a time loop without a resolution that usually ended with most of them, including the killer, dead. It seemed like a branching path was formed as his friends called to him, however – and instead, Hiroyuki chose to reveal to the Shinigami that they knew she was lying about what she was, putting a frighteningly abrupt end to the cycle.
[LIMINUS]
During the transition from the last instance to Liminus, Hiroyuki received a vision thanks to Sayaka’s signature item – one the provided context for the fateful PDA message from him to her, but raised more questions than answers.
This time, Liminus was a relatively lively mall – faded but noticeable color and a reasonable amount of the Faceless were here; albeit as frozen in time as ever. Conversely, the Shinigami seemed to be in a catatonic state, ‘convenient’ given the amount of questions the group had for her. Zero attempted to be the GAME MASTER but everybody made certain not to indulge him. Instead, Matsu rallied everyone into a nearby shop away from the prying ears of the Shinigami and Zero and delivered a rousing speech that inspired everyone to work together and find different ways to escape from the various cycles; just like they were able to do last time. Matsu dubbed the group his brothers (yes, even Halo) and as everyone felt united, Hiroyuki caught the sound of geta rushing quietly away from the storefront.
Matsu used his other action to visit Doctor Kiryu, who confessed to him that Mondo and his mother moved because she and him (Kiryu) bought a home together. Kiryu reminded him that Ms. Owari wanted Matsu to move in with them, but when he still refused, he echoed this sentiment. Matsu insisted that he still had things to do around here – and Kiryu asked he continue to consider it. He admonished him for smoking, and Matsu agreed to quit…and as a reward, Kiryu promised to have some beers with him later.
Sakuya did some research on Hiro by traveling to the frozen-in-time Higurashi and found some rather strange, contradictory things (and, in this instance, was unable to locate any information of Hiroko). He also had a social event with Takeo, strengthening their spirits and confiding in one another about their concerns. Takeo also had a social interaction with Hiroyuki where he reiterated his faith in the vice president and the two debated on the morality of taking from the Liminus shops (but ultimately, they needed/wanted food). Thanks to his vision, Hiroyuki was able to piece together the repeated happenstances of him finding devices to play the CD – and while he wanted to simply listen to Sayaka sing, he knew he had to delve a little further and used a Radio Hut’s display laptops to look at the files on the CD. There, he found out some interesting data about the Renegade Virus and its capabilities, as well as discovered his own father’s involvement with the UGN. After that, he had a puzzling but not entirely terrible social interaction with the Shinigami.
When they returned, Zero had an interesting proposal for the group. During their first discussion they’d put together that the Shinigami doesn’t control the instances they’re sent to, but she does pick them. Zero wanted to pick one this time, and wanted to make a wager with the group: if they defeated him in the next cycle, he would tell them everything he knew about the situation at hand and be executed. And, if he won, he would simply get to permanently kill one of them. Still uncertain, he happily bargained with them to say they could win simply by not dying at all in the next round (which they would have wanted anyway). Puzzled by this, he simply elaborated that he didn’t think he would lose, and that he was bored so even if he did, he would find the whole thing thrilling. Begrudgingly, the group accepted the terms of his offer…
…Only for the Shinigami to pipe back up, reinforcing that Liminus is her domain, and that only she can do what she does. With a bitter but haughty concession to Matsu’s earlier comment that she was ‘breaking her own rules’, she did so yet again: executing Matsu when the group didn’t expect it at all right before shoving them into another timeline without any room to breathe after the permanent loss of another friend. A friend who had just given them hope and whose own personal situation was improving into a life better than he ever could have imagined.
Kyosuke Matsumoto's Execution
[The Shinigami pipes back up. Concedes that maybe she did bend or twist some of her rules, but they’re going to regret calling her out for it and (almost) everybody is jerked through time and space almost violently and they find themselves on top of a tall building; caged inside a chain link cube as Shinigami copies armed like a firing squad surround them. A massive sign on a nearby rooftop lights up:
Like a Dragon (only for another part of the sign, preceding that to light up with ‘Almost’)
The camera pans down...and down...and down in a blur, showing that the skyscraper is ridiculously tall. Matsu is at the locked entrance, though he easily breaks the glass door by shattering it with his foot, his hands in his pockets as he struts into the lobby of the sleek, modern building – crawling with suited, tattooed, comedically over cross-dressed Shinigami clones. Despite his posture there’s a fire burning in his eyes to rescue his friends and the Shinigami surround him, but he makes quick work of them with his fists versus their blunt weapons – rushing up the stairs to the next elaborately decorated hallway where the Shinigami clones are bigger, chucking furniture and brandishing weapons. He dispatches them too and this repeats, floor by floor until his motorcycle bursts through the elevator inexplicably, already blazing. Not questioning it, he hops on and roars through the rest of the building, tearing through hordes of Shinigami clones, mini boss versions, and even what looks like a pack of tigers.
The caged group feels the rooftop under their feet grow almost unbearably hot, but just before it feels like the whole place is about to catch fire, Matsu bursts through the ceiling and lands on his feet several yards away. The group opens fire on him, but he incinerates them where they stand – his aura visible even to his friends and burning bright, like lava. Just as he slowly walks towards them, a helicopter piloted by the Shinigami bobs into view and takes aim at the cage with what appears to be a rocket. Matsu stands between them, planting his feet stubbornly just as the rocket is launched – the group recoils until they hear a small ‘clink’ as the rocket rolls harmlessly into the fencing. A tinge of hope bubbles up as they see Matsu’s figure, standing tall exactly where it was planted, his shadow cast long over the rooftop...though his face is obscured in an ominous black shade, and there’s a massive hole in his torso.]

Extra Episode ★★☆: Kakuya-hime’s Mysterious Playmate
…Halo felt a sting of awareness in an otherworldly realm – a strange parallel of Kyotimore. Though she could tell she’d been here for a little while and had memories of her time here, her disorientation had been too great at the time to hold onto them. Now, however, she had a companion: a reticent girl ‘named’ N who seemed somewhat cold but also conflicted about Halo, and eventually helped her find her way out of this place. Oddly enough, the portal was located in the mirror of an occupied motel room but thankfully Halo was supernaturally gifted in stealth thanks to the renegade virus…not that it stopped her from cartoon tiptoeing out of the room, unperceived.
Koko threw down with the ‘normal dogs’ and Hiroyuki intervened, much to her chagrin – not that he was truly a liability, but she was annoyed nonetheless. Those creatures were tough, however – dangerous, and if things had gone even a little differently they may have been in trouble. Worse, it looked like they were about to remanifest, but Crystal Waters showed up and seemed to cleanse the streets of the miasma they left behind, warning them that they should keep moving and alluding to the motel. Eventually, they followed her advice (in part thanks to Ryoko showing up and convincing Koko of the logic) and Hiroyuki got to go to work with Koko! But only to sit down in the diner itself.
Simultaneously, Sakuya and Takeo discussed their current predicament – the strange noises Takeo had heard, the involvement of Nadeshiko and Takeo’s apparent arranged marriage to her, and Halo’s disappearance. They were visited by Zero, who had a gift for Sakuya given his earlier question to Matsu about the identity of Mikoto: an apparent, perfect copy of the ice queen herself. While Sakuya did note that it was made from his own shadow, the two were shaken and at a loss for what to do. The copy would sometimes speak, but with little apparent connection to the situation at hand. They resolved to ask the others: Takeo in too much turmoil to make a level headed decision even though he knew they couldn’t just keep her around.
When Koko stepped out onto the floor for her shift, the table that had only been occupied by Hiroyuki was now populated by said rookie detective, Halo, Takeo, Sakuya, Ryoko, and the Mikoto copy. It wasn’t long before they were joined by a relieved Georgie and an EXTREMELY relieved Hiroko, who basically threw herself into the booth and sobbed to Halo, who also started sobbing, creating a scene and annoying Koko. Hiroyuki warded some of the onlookers, and once everything was more-or-less explained, Koko somehow shoo’d off the Mikoto clone much to everyone’s relief (and, Ryoko’s slight reluctance but ultimate understanding). Now it was everyone else’s turn to be annoyed by Koko, however, who expressed a bit of enthusiasm for the cyclic death games – and despite their obvious lack of appreciation for these circumstances given the recent loss of Matsu, only Ryoko asking her how she’d feel if something happened to Georgie seemed to draw a reaction from her (though, in addition, news of Sayaka’s real and permanent death may have too – and Ryoko expressed understanding as Mikoto was also special to her).
Even so, they all resolved to investigate the hotel room and the mirror. Sakuya created another painterly being (using some finesse he learned from watching Zero create the shadow clone) to patrol a little. Hiroko INSISTED they listen to the lead she and Georgie found: a haunting supposedly connected to the last set of disappearances and the, as Halo put it, ‘giant baby ghost’. She spun the tale of the Screaming Author, a man locked away in his house until he died (admittedly unconfirmed) who can still be heard mournfully wailing in his attic now and again. The group….found this an underwhelming ‘ghost’ story and decided to go to the motel. On the way, they were stopped by a police officer – one Kaoru Naomasa. She recognized Halo and attempted to bring her home, scolding the others for apparently aiding in her running away if not her kidnapping. After a LOT of conflict, an attempted warding, and despite Hiroyuki’s UGN connection and Halo’s brilliant alias ‘Jessica Hessica’, they could not shake the cop but Takeo, hearing the sounds of monstrous, ghastly animals trailing them, was able to help convince her to at least come with them.
She at least cleared the room of its occupants easily enough, and they investigated – Halo finding that Crystal in fact stashed her in this mirror. Why here was anyone’s guess, but the sounds of their pursuers grew louder (though Halo was able to hear the sound of a flute in addition). They all received a message on their PDAs, but only Halo’s was legible: “Kakuya wants to play with you”. There was a sudden knock at the door and after much arguing, they opened it…no one was there, they only heard a childlike but haunting giggle. It wasn’t long after that the premises became swarmed with ghostly animals, however, and they took advantage of Koko’s teleportation ability to get out of there.
With seemingly no other choice, they made their way to the home of the Screaming Author. Naomasa said the guy’s family refused wellness checks and he just so happened to make noise seldom enough to incur any actual trouble. A group of neighborhood kids loitering around seemed to think they were due for another burst of ‘paranormal activity’ and they managed to at least get said kids to keep their distance. Crossing the derelict yard, they knocked…and heard the mournful wail of the screaming author. This gave them some pause, but not much – Halo slipped through the door and unlocked it, which was good enough for Naomasa (much to Hiroyuki’s chagrin). The group entered only to find the interior in disarray and, more concerning, as plagued as the Harker manor was – which Takeo instantly recognized. Thankfully the group passed a con check, and as they began to investigate, Hiroyuki noticed something under a layer of black particles and miasma. Clearing the wall of it soot, he revealed frenzied, desperate writing in blood:
I won’t do it again.
With that chilling little preview of what was to come, the group set about investigating. Halo hesitantly used her psychometry on the writing which was clearly in blood to reveal the memories of its ‘owner’: the aftermath of the last Kakuya ritual in which a nine year old Junpei told a grown man to kill himself. In fairness, that grown man had just killed two young girls and sacrificed another to the ‘giant baby ghost’ herself. However, his despair was palpable in the home and there was no sign of the sword the young Junpei imparted on him.
Failing that, the group was most interested in the barricaded area of the living room (which is fair). Halo phased through it to find a bloodstained ritual area and an exit to the backyard. Koko projected her senses and noticed a gloomy ghost girl staring unappreciatively at Halo; however, their conversation was not disastrous, especially when Takeo was able to clear out some of the barrier and Hiroyuki was let in. Unfortunately they did end up pressing her buttons a bit when Halo let it spill that it had been ten years since the girl had died, but Hiroyuki was able to defuse the situation.  The others, meanwhile, found the stairs (and a friendly and eloquent gal ghost) but the top floor was blocked off by amateurish masonry. The more outgoing ghost was protective of the other one but explained they’d been stuck here due to their grudge against Kakuya and the despair of their killer, who they weren’t even that angry at anymore after his repeated attempts to soothe their spirits, the situation he was in, and ultimate self-judgement. She also shed a little light on the nature of the ritual; that three girls who are close friends and possess certain traits need to be chosen.
Deciding they could only break into the second floor from the outside (they could see the windows, but most of them were walled-in with haphazard masonry), they went to the backyard and Halo created a ladder for Koko. Unfortunately, she was teleported right back to the entrance and while she wanted to let the group flair about for a while, she eventually popped back up for Georgie’s sake. Speaking of Georgie, he was looking pretty rough from all the cursed particles in the air and Sakuya and Takeo took the normies back out into the neighborhood for some fresh air.  They had a short conversation and the condition of their companions improved instantly, but unfortunately, Zero crawled out of a nearby gutter – intent on killing Hiroko as usual. He also managed to jam their PDAs somehow…or perhaps simply took advantage of the opportunity.
Takeo and Sakuya sent the normies back into the house to get help while Takeo stalled Zero. Though many of the conversation branches were useless and coy on Zero’s end, he did promise to confirm if Takeo was right if he guessed what he was. And he made good on that – confirming Hiroyuki’s suspicions that he was a Renegade Being. Unfortunately, he lashed out after that and attacked the unawakened Takeo, felling him in one strike. Witnessing Sakuya’s despair and willingness to stand his ground against him despite that, Zero decided aloud that when he won their little ‘challenge’, he was going to pick Takeo as the one to be permanently killed. Behind him, Takeo awakened and transformed, beheading him inches from Sakuya. The others arrived and Koko took note of Zero’s appearance before Hiroyuki kicked his head back into the gutter he literally crawled out of. They shared some of what happened (and Hiroyuki’s suspicions of Koko secretly bloomed given she shared many of Zero’s powers) and what they learned but quickly decided to resume their investigation.
This time, they were able to get into the second floor thanks to Koko’s trickery. Despite the various barricades, they exposed what the resident wanted so badly to hide away from the world: his own decomposed body. He bore the marks of gruesome self-punishments including somehow stitching the parts of the girls he’d killed onto himself, but his fatal wound appeared to be a self-disembowelment as evidenced by the sword lodge through him onto the bed. With this macabre sight in front of them, Kakuya-hime reached out to Halo once more, heralded by the glitching of everyone’s PDAs…but this time, she did not like Halo’s answer. The Screaming Author – the tormented and traumatized spirit of Yasuhiro Tanaka, was summoned: a twisted collection of dismembered body parts, loosely attached by and suspended by thin wires (that, upon close inspection, actually appear to be long, black hairs). He seemed to sport a pair of wings at a glance, but they are crafted from the scraps of bloodstained sheets and medical coverings.
Despite his fearsome appearance, the group managed to help him and rather quickly – assisted by their good choices during the investigation along with choosing the path of mercy. Koko might have picked otherwise…but their police escort was vehemently against cleansing this troubled soul, causing her to change her mind. With that, the house was cleansed and while they couldn’t completely rest yet (they wanted to see their friend avenged), the girls were no longer trapped there and were much better off. Because the confrontation was so brief, Nadeshiko arrived after the fact, much to her chagrin. However, officer Naomasa was satisfied with the groups’ ability to protect themselves and finally let them be.
The group, wanting to get away from the home, found a nearby playground to confer with Nadeshiko in. Though she did tell Takeo they should probably talk when they had a chance, for now she helped them shed more light on the situation. She was in fact the one to hide Halo away, various recent events finally helping her break free from a lifetime of brainwashing from her family. Due to the stringency of the roles in their family, she didn’t know the new location of the ritual – but she had found out who would be performing it. A man named Kenji Tanaka; whom Nadeshiko had investigated and found his alias to be Jackal Hyde. He was likely the source of the strange, phantasmal animals hounding the group. She also outlined the requirements of the girls for the ritual: the first would be an attractive and charismatic girl whose blood would be used to dye a mirror to attract Kakuya to it from the otherworld. The sacrifice was a girl with playful and mystical qualities who would keep Kakuya happy for another decade – but also had the latent potential to become an even more dangerous ‘spirit’ than the already apocalyptic Kakuya-hime herself. Lastly, there had to be a repugnant girl whose blood would seal that same mirror, repelling spirit (though Nadeshiko did try to soften this blow, Koko readily agrees Hiroko was absolutely perfect for that role).
The group debated on what to do for a while, but once Kenji’s wild animals starting sniffing around again, they had to take refuge in that ugly old hotel room once more. The weighing of options continued, Nadeshiko gave Takeo the shocking revelation that their grandfathers were one and the same, Hiroko asked for a shadow clone of Sesshomaru’s mother, Sakuya had to smell a scarf that had been outside for ages, and eventually Hiroyuki decided it was time to come clean to his father in hopes of getting some information. This ended up being a decent call; while Kageyama Ota was unaware of the endless loop they were stuck in, he proved to be a well-informed and connected ally who was earnestly on their side. Though he wished Hiroyuki would allow him to call in said network to dispatch their current foes, he also couldn’t risk them finding out too much about Hiroyuki and his friends. So, they set up some emergency code words and Ota-san offered shelter and supplies when and if needed. Most importantly, the two reached an understanding, the touching moment only mildly tarnished by Koko listening in and teasing him about it. 
Eventually, with Nadeshiko’s assurances that Hiroko (and by proximity, Georgie) would be endangered only if something happened to Halo…they decided to use Halo as bait to get Kenji to reveal himself. This did attract the attention of Kenji’s triple dog death barrage, and once Halo was trapped on the top of a car as a result, Kakuya taunted her with another eerie and cryptic clue – a set of coordinates. Unfortunately, the lot was crowded with so much danger to the point that the group almost-unanimously chose to flee. With the clue being their only direction – they were going to have to get to another section of the Tanaka estates and with no other viable option, an awkward cab ride ensued.
Once there, the darker parts of the Tanaka estate were found by the group to be overgrown with dark trees, gnarled bamboo, and thoroughly cursed. Much of the would-be clear space and rare tilled out areas were also overgrown with unfamiliar plants – but stone lanterns and rough paths did give it some navigability. Most importantly, however, Takeo caught sight of an object that shone with a familiar glimmer just off the path – and, of course, when he reached for it, the group was accosted by a terrible lamia-like amalgamation of corpses. After a chaotic and encroachment-rich battle in which Sakuya aptly proved his DPS capabilities thanks to his increasingly refined servant, Takeo was able to wrestle the crystal away from the monster and was rewarded with a depressingly sweet memory of him, from another timeline, accidentally witnessing a moment between Mikoto and her maid – in which the latter acknowledges what Mikoto has been through but cares for her deeply and hopes she’ll blaze her own path, assuring her she’ll support her no matter what.
Unfortunately, he didn’t get to meditate on it for long. They found the coordinates which pointed to a clearing, many deer spooked at the sight of them and running off into the dark forest as they entered it. Halo used her psychometry to reveal the start of the ritual: Kenji, Takeo’s grandfather, and Pryce were there – the former of which was electrocuted to death by a deceased but still combat-ready Sayaka. This caused Ojisama to click his tongue and push past Pryce to complete the ritual, expressing distaste for the current generation of the Tanaka family. This scene explained why Kenji couldn’t be baited as well as served as a warning that a confrontation between Takeo and his grandfather was unavoidable.
Upon viewing this scene a pathway was revealed to them: a twisted trail also marked with lanterns, these far brighter – almost luminous, and neglected tori gates until a large rock and a huge fence block their view.
There was a puzzle set before them and the group quickly solved it by making embarrassing animal sounds while Koko ignored Zero's ghost. Unfortunately, they were soon accosted by Kenji Tanaka's spirit, and Nadeshiko assured them she'd take care of it. She plucked some of the dangerous red fungi off a nearby tree and jumped into the dark woods, and then there was nothing left for the group to do except face off against Kakuya - her fully realized summoning ritual being conducted by none other than Ryuji Yamamoto. He faced the group grimly but unrelentingly, aiding Kakuya with his Salamandra syndrome as she attacked the group. It was a brutal fight, Kakuya managing to down a couple of the group and even killing her own ally with a haphazard, final AOE attack. Takeo wanted to prevent this, but Sakuya would have been killed if he didn't cover him instead, possibly permanently (and with Zero's threats still looming over them) - but the protagonists were victorious in the end.
Though the GM didn't mean for it to be possible, Halo managed to reach Kakuya in her final moments, showing her kindness and granting her a bit of humanity in turn. She gave the wayward spirit a set of dolls resembling the group of friends she so badly wanted, and Kakuya passed on peacefully, leaving only translucent, golden bamboo leaves in her wake to symbolize her cleansing. Still, Takeo was left solemn at the loss of his grandfather. Sakuya shared in this quiet moment, knowing what he sacrificed given these types of cycles always left permanent consequences on other timelines. Hiroyuki also abruptly dismissed himself from the group as he received an ominous message of his home in flames - the author taunting him but claiming that they were even now.
[LIMINUS]
Hiroyuki attacked Pryce; the demeanor of the texter leading him to believe it could only be him. Though Pryce prevented this, it turned out he likely wasn't the culprit - but it seemed that somehow or another, Kageyama Ota survived. Sakuya noticed his still-version in Liminus. Which, this time, appeared to be a vast, empty containment unit. Aside from their friends and families, there were also random unused and extra versions of the Shinigami wandering around - and the actual Shinigami was listlessly smoking a cigarette, seemingly unwilling to engage much with the group and telling them to do whatever they wanted...if they could escape. She made the mistake of calling their social actions 'dates' again, and Koko....tried to date the Shinigami, but for real. Shinigami tried to annoy her, but only ended up setting herself up for annoyance as Koko was completely unbothered by her unrepentant villainy. She may have even liked it - which angered her enough to declare a break up after an approximately ten second long relationship. 
It seemed Pryce wasn't done, however. He appeared to gain a little bit of control over Liminus as he was ready to make his accusation against the Shinigami. It did seem like he successfully managed to put together some of what was going on - but when he revealed a fatal flaw in his argument by calling the Shinigami 'Nagisa Tomoe' (a name Hiroyuki would search later), he lost his grip on the reality around them and was nearly executed by the Shinigami - but...some of the group stepped in. In turn, they had to agree to a fatal gamble just like Zero had proposed, but with *her* as the arbiter. With this ominous way forward looming over them, the group decided to use a great deal of karma to grant Koko her memories, and to safely release Kageyama Ota and Nadeshiko Tanaka. The latter, who was active in Liminus, protested but was eventually swayed by Halo by the promise that they'd meet up again when all of this was over.

Episode 5: Corpse Party
OP
ED
In a surprising turn of events, the new setting was a massive space station - the group given the harrowing knowledge that in this timeline, the Earth was in such dire straits that a colony of these stations were launched and carried just enough people to have a sliver of hope for society to restore itself when then planet was deemed safe again. Safe, that is, from the deadly virus that reportedly caused its victims to lash out violently and indiscriminately; something officially deemed as a super mutated form of rabies. 'Thankfully', it seemed that nearly everyone the protagonists cared about had also made it only these space stations...namely, this one. The playing field of the dangerous game they'd all had no choice but to agree to.
Most of the group started out on the station with their loving families, but Takeo was alone to contemplate the whirlwind of events that just happened - especially to him. Hiroyuki was greeted by...Hiro Mishiba, but back to the way he should have been all along. Thankfully, he seemed to understand what was going on - having been a more experienced 'player' in these death games and with a vested interest in enacting revenge against Zero for what he'd done to him. They met up with Halo, who thankfully took everything in stride though they had a brief discussion about Takeo…in earshot of Takeo, who was in the atrium nearby. Koko found Sakuya first, who seemed a little spooked by her but assured her this was only because of the way she was. The group were all together, but the vibes were off…Hiroyuki and Takeo were suspicious of each other, and honestly everyone seemed especially on edge even given the circumstances; so they decided to split into two groups so that no one was left alone with a potential killer or without backup.
That was, until, Halo’s group made a scene in the administrative office of the station (much to the administrator and a nearby Ami Mizuno’s confusion) and Hiroyuki decided to intervene. It was then that Koko decided to pop off and attack Takeo after taking the form of a giant, shadowy wolf. A brief but brutal fight ensued and even though the others quickly came to Takeo’s aid, the shock was too great and the injuries Takeo had sustained were too dangerous, forcing them to retreat. Koko was briefly confronted by ‘Sayaka’, but it seemed Koko was not easily taken in and she, too, retreated back to her cabin. As Halo healed Takeo, Koko transformed back – only to realize her father was in the room and stunned to see her shapeshifting. Unconcerned, Koko warded him and erased his recent memory; but the Shinigami appeared on the monitors in the cabin to remind the delinquent that according to their ‘deal’, Koko had to kill everyone on the station.
The protagonists recuperated (albeit separately in Koko’s case, who argued with the Shinigami over the monitor and continuously warded her poor father) and Hiroyuki left to pursue a mysterious plan. The rest pursued Koko, but she’d already escaped – though they did encounter Chiyoda Saya; Takeo’s former athlete friend. She was missing her leg brace, claiming to have made a fantastic and full recovery, and wanted to ‘help’ Takeo – just like they’d always helped one another! Sakuya and Halo were able to sense she was an Overed and when confronted with this, she did not deny it – but did not want to demonstrate her abilities as they were disturbing. She did eventually agree…but only to Halo, in a nearby room. The vibes were off, so miraculously, Sakuya used blood sculpture to craft a key card that could lock the door and they trapped her in said room.  It seemed to be the right call as she went berserk and began damaging the heavily reinforced door from the inside – prompting the group to bail.
The Shinigami suddenly cut off as she was seemingly attacked. Koko created a shadow clone to patrol and set up points for teleportation later, though both she and her clone were occasionally taunted by some unseen culprit who kept activating and deactivating electronic locks behind them. With the sense of urgency split in two directions, the others split up in response; with Takeo and Sakuya going to look for Koko as Takeo couldn’t stand the idea of her hurting anyone else, but the need to alert the authorities on board and maybe find her that way was too pressing to ignore so they sent Halo and Hiro to pursue that route. This went south quickly, just as Halo and Hiro were starting to bond they found a seemingly injured Yukari-sensei; and while they managed to find their way to the second floor with her in tow, she suddenly attacked Hiro and fled in a blindingly fast blur. Halo was able to heal his skin-deep injury, an apparent bite mark, though he still seemed a little woozy. The group quickly reconvened and Takeo had no choice but to share with the group what he knew about the disease and the situation at hand…armed with this knowledge, they decided they needed to be conventionally armed as well. With their combined knowledge of the station’s original purpose, they headed to the lowest level of the station that may have once been an armory.
Koko expressed aloud a willingness to make a deal with someone, but received no apparent response. Upon searching some of the rooms, she began to find suspicious scenes. A room just down the half from her smelled of blood and contained a single pool of gore, and in the attached bedroom lay the body of a man, long gone cold. The next room was clear, and to throw some suspicion off she moved to that one. Her shadow puppet headed upstairs, where she was scolded by Yukari sensei who offered to show the girl around – but the clone was able to convince her to show her the overlook of the atrium. However, as soon as the clone’s back was turned, Yukari attempted to attack her in the same way, only for the puppet to dissolve and for Koko to take its place. She instantly felled the crazed teacher, and out of suspicion, blended her into mush.
Meanwhile, the others searched the former armory but were disappointed to find it mostly gutted of weapons, though they did not do any deep dives. Hiro did find a tank of gas and a lighter – but the group was more distracted by the lingering sense of an Overed nearby. After some searching, they found Junpei Tanaka’s body in a storage locker…but Takeo was astounded to find he had a pulse.  The commotion awakened him, but as a horrible realization dawned on him he fled in a lightning fast blur before the others could stop him. They did try to follow him, but found themselves locked in the basement…but only briefly, as they were able to disengage the electronic lock from the inside. With the situation escalating, they tracked down Georgie – who wasn’t far, a member of the Judo club was trying to convince him to step into a nearby room but his bashfulness and incredulousness at this guy showing interest in him saved him up until that point. Upon seeing the group, the suspicious guy fled. They were able to explain some of the situation at hand to Georgie, who believed that Koko must have a reason for behaving this way, but she wouldn’t respond to his messages. He went to her room with the others and knocked, but only her father answered – seeming dazed and overwhelmed but alive. After checking in with him and dodging his attempts to be a responsible adult, they went upstairs to try to convince the authorities to lock the place down.
Koko sent a new shadow doll around, this time more or less looking for trouble. She found it – encountering a sinister man with fangs who looked at the false human with bad intentions but he was suddenly impaled by spikes of red ice. Junpei, not realizing the girl was a fake, told her to take shelter somewhere. There was something wrong with his voice so he kept it short, but did tell the girl her name was ‘Harris Teeter’ when she asked, before leaving. Kage-chan did not take his advice, instead finding a group of strange people in a nearby, ransacked room. Their apparent leader said she seemed weak so told her underlings they could have her; and of course when they went to attack her, Koko appeared and shredded up the entire pack with no issue.
The others found a security room, mere feet from where Halo and Hiro were interrupted – but not before they were interrupted by…Yukari sensei! Halo created a UV flashlight so powerful she was able to dissolve her instantly, much to Georgie’s horror. This prompted Takeo to explain more to him too – but this was partly interrupted by the security door opening. The men inside seemed intent on apprehending the group but thanks to another miraculous roll – this time a social by Takeo, he convinced them to let them in and freely cooperate with them, even getting them to take them completely seriously. They did, of course, know some of the situation at hand, having locked the bottom two floors of the space station away. Unfortunately, it became evident that there were cameras everywhere and the team showed the group Koko’s current whereabouts; the viscera filled room. This tipped off their ‘friend’, who destroyed the camera. They did heed the group’s advice to lock every door on these floors albeit reluctantly as they did not want to hinder Koko’s ‘activity’. The heroes learned that Koko’s placement here was intentional in case of an ‘outbreak’; that the sort of monster she is tears through these ‘corpse demons’ like tissue paper. Not only that, but they were fine sacrificing everyone outside of the security room if it meant securing the rest of the station.
…Ryoko appeared before Halo, having had trouble finding them given they were not on Earth. She seemed elated, though, hugging her and thanking her profusely. She had her memories back, she wasn’t someone who died in the Misuterii incident; she had been the last girl sacrificed to Kakuya! Now she could pass on any time she wanted, but she wouldn’t do so without helping the group first. Unfortunately their happy reunion was interrupted; the Shinigami’s face appeared on the surrounding screens as she plucked Ryoko out of this timeline with them – wondering aloud if she could execute a ghost. Halo cursed her with the hope she developed diarrhea but before the Shinigami could respond, she was attacked by a javelin from off-screen; causing her to swear at Pryce and the feed to cut.
Unable to stomach the intentions to sacrifice all those people, including Sakuya’s parents, Hiro struck the man who told them as much with his baseball bat…initiating battle.
The group, aside from Koko, was able to reunite with Hiroyuki, who had been trying to work with Pryce before being accosted by a pair of Shiki who nearly succeeded in convincing him to be converted. Unfortunately, Pryce had to sacrifice his method of communication with them to help Hiroyuki escape. Still, meeting up gave them some valuable insight though they couldn’t seem to reel Koko back to their side – though an alliance between her and Zero hadn’t been set in stone, either. It was considered, however, when she spoke to the more familiar wimpy Hiro; but when Koko expressed satisfaction at Zero’s absence, the monstrous version of him burst from the body of his double to talk with her. There was a lot of running around, a lot of back and forth, Junpei was killing vampires in the courtyard, but eventually Sakuya and Takeo were on their own with (good) Hiro…who unfortunately fell victim to the same fate as his feeble counterpart.
The gruesome battle with Zero commenced; his form changing into more or less a manifestation of plague. Sakuya reached out to Takeo, what seemed like one last time. They found an understanding in their shared fear of what came next but also the desire to end this once and for all – and Takeo charged at Zero with all his might, impaling him. Summoning up all of his resolve, Sakuya used his ultimate technique: a perfect ‘blood servant’ of all of their long dead friends surrounded Zero – Sayaka initiating a cross slash after smiling at her friends one last time; culminating in Matsu and Junpei performing a Double Dragon Sibling Serpent combo, starting the battle off with an incredible bang. A vicious tug of war between hope and despair ensued as Zero constantly found new ways to nullify the group’s increasingly ingenious tricks and inject some of his own. Koko finally made her alliance clear by protecting her friends and weathering his tricks, but Sakuya and Takeo were fast approaching (if not breaking through) their encroachment limit. But in the end it was Zero who gave into despair, unable to take one of the group down with him thanks to a heroic cover from Hiroyuki – allowing Halo to finish him off with a comical but brilliant laser attack.
[LIMINUS]
Waiting for them was an ominous red sky over a starkly black-and-white Kyotimore, forever enshrouded in a hellish, surreal haze. The group found themselves steeped in eerie quiet, Sakuya discovering that something happened to him, to his connection with his virus, while poor Takeo seemed to have been driven insane. They sent Koko and Sakuya to explore as there was no sign of life or of the Shinigami. Zero appeared with that group and tried to get under their skin one last time, Sakuya stopped him in his tracks by reminding him of his agonizing, humiliating death. Halo, meanwhile, found Pryce and brought him back from past the brink of death while Hiroyuki tried to help Takeo, but Pryce gave them the grim news that there would be no coming back from the state of encroachment he was in. He revealed their current situation, too: they could have rolled back his state by entering a new timeline, something impossible without the Shinigami’s power, but that she was withholding that step until they would be forced to kill him (or, until in his state, he killed them). At least Sakuya was able to have a servant, in Sayaka’s form, find the frozen people of the LIMINUS stage; but given she was not one of the group she could not awaken them. She did also find a strange ‘box’ she wasn’t able to open…
Still, they were forced to reconvene when the Shinigami called them to the park – still set on executing Zero but urged him to make good on his deal with the group. He relished in revealing the chilling twist: that not only was he a renegade being, the others were too. Manifestations of the memory of the students that had died in the Misuterii Incident ten years ago. Pryce confirmed this, though admitted something had changed in Sakuya, and the Shinigami reminded them of the destruction they had wrought along their journeys. They couldn’t even feel any real satisfaction when she finally executed Zero (which Hiroyuki expressed the limit of his disdain for and Koko said that Zero should have just unceremoniously dropped dead). 
Zero Mishiba’s Execution: No More Hiros
[Zero opens his eyes to a dark, mirrored maze. Nonplussed, he walks forwards, seemingly unfazed by any of the reflections of himself he sees, bloodied and injured as they are – though, occasionally, pale limbs swipe at him from the shadows or from mirrors he doesn’t happen to be facing. Unbothered, he simply begins breaking through the panels – not minding the cuts the glass shards inflict on him. Eventually, one such shard is long enough to catch his interest and he picks it up, brandishing it like a knife until he finds that he…is out of the maze. He’s successfully destroyed it, but his only reward seems to be a dark, empty, impossibly deep cavern. 
Shuffling sounds catch his attention…his ‘reflections’ were just Hiros and Hirokos he’d killed during his misadventures. He smiles, pleased, as they shamble towards them – but unfortunately, they’re no match for him. He downs several at a time with each slash of his makeshift blade, and even when more and more waves appear and fill the cavern until the ground is no longer visible, he only sprouts his extra limbs to help him dispatch them all until he’s the only one left – the floor awash in a shallow pool of red. Seemingly as a reward for his efforts, something falls from the impossibly high ‘ceiling’ of the cavern – a thorned vine unfurls before him, inviting him to climb up he.
He does, gaining on the ceiling with alarming speed, and though the thorns dig into his hands as he does so it seems to fill him with elation each time and as he ascends closer and closer to his goal. A few of them seemingly dead Hiros drag themselves to the vine and begin to climb too – and Zero even waits for each of them to catch up so he can gleefully slaughter them as well with his scorpion tail. Finally, his hands a bloodied mess, he’s within arm’s reach of the top though what seems to be the light of day blinds him…but the others can see just above the surface is a little, messily-maintained garden being tended to be one of the kindergarten aged Shinigami clones who is wielding a pair of comically oversized garden shears. She attempts to prune some bushes, leaving them gnarled messes, and noticed a large, cartoonish leafy vine sprout poking out of the soil. She toddles over to it and unceremoniously chops it – causing Zero to suddenly plummet down, down, down back into the darkness. He all but splatters onto the already wet floor, and when he opens his eyes, a practically mutilated version of the original Hiro stands over him with a baseball bat. Zero chuckles as the bat is brought down on him one last time, and the scene cuts to the little Shinigami’s reactions to the apparent beat down as she peers into the hole the vine left.]
However, some good came of the spectacle – the Shinigami prompted them to kill Takeo before she unshackled her psychic hold on him, and Koko seemed prepared to oblige…only for Koko to reveal that she took a power to allow her to take on just enough of his encroachment to bring him back from the point of no return. Even Pryce was amazed; they had Takeo back, passed out as he was. A miracle that even the UGN wasn’t familiar with! Undeterred, the Shinigami claimed that since someone had died, she got to kill one of them – though Koko called bullshit, it didn’t matter. The Shinigami executed…Halo!

Maria Ishihara’s Execution
[Halo finds herself in a dark space, feeling around to find that she’s trapped inside something metallic and round. A perfectly square door opens up, far away, which she can see as the top half of her spherical prison is made of thick glass. Before she can make sense of anything else she is suddenly and forcefully launched upwards into a blur of beeping sounds and flashing lights. As she makes impact with something that flingers her higher, the others can see she is in a toylike facsimile of a UFO, being pinged around in a lifesize, celestial-themed pinball machine. Its sign lights up near the top: 
SPACE CADET 3D
The shinigami is at its base, happily jumping from button to button as Halo is bounced back downwards, using the flippers to launch her back up into the machine. Every time she veers close to falling back down into the hole, greenish flames shoot out of it – heating up the inside of the metal-and-glass deathtrap.
Finally, when it seems like no matter what happens, Halo won’t be able to take any more, Shinigami launches her one last time up towards the black hole perched at the very top – but much to her apparent shock, Halo’s capsule barrels right through the hole and bursts out of the machine and flies high into the sky. Hiroko, brandishing a broomstick, pushes through the group and somehow, miraculously, flies up after her – but Halo’s little UFO’s jets go off and reaches a breakneck speed, speeding up through the stratosphere as Hiroko reaches out to her until Halo finds herself racing past stars not unlike the lights of the pinball machine. Finally, the ball runs out of momentum and crests in the sky for a moment; Halo’s last sight being a dazzling glimpse of the moon up close…
Until a giant, root like, ghostly limb reaches out from the moon, breaking the glass and snatching Halo out of the pinball. The Shinigami and Hiroko look on, aghast, as the ruins of the ‘ship’ hurtle back towards the earth as the image of the moon becomes drenched in blood and an ominous, girlish laugh is heard – just before the scraps of the toy fall on the stunned Shinigami.]
…Or tried. Her sequence was thwarted in secret by Kaguya, redeemed and hanging around in the ‘mirror realm’ for now, and she even led her back to the mysterious N who was enjoying a foggy seaside retreat in her hospital gown. After some banter, some pointless arguments, and even a little bit of a bonding moment, N reluctantly admitted to being Nagisa Tomoe. She prompted Halo to tell her friends *that she wasn’t dead*, which the chuuni agreed was a good idea, and Hiroyuki encroached on the pair to speak with them. After learning of the nature of Nagisa’s powers, their own status as Renegade Beings, and the situation at hand, they concluded they had one of two options – revisit Misuterii, or escape from LIMINUS with Nagisa’s help. One option could prevent the tragedy of the Misuterii Incident from ever occurring, saving the *real* students but changing if not outright ending their own existence altogether; or destroy the Shinigami outside of her own domain, ending the cycle and cementing their place in reality, at the cost of the memory of their friends (real or otherwise) being erased forever to clean up the loose ends of the group’s existence. Though Nagisa did state their *could* be other ways, it was best not to tell her too much as her own dreamlike perception of reality could affect the viability of these plans.
While an initial discussion seemed to suggest the group would go for the more sacrificial path, they all decided to take some time to think. After all, the decision had to be unanimous - and nobody wanted anyone to make such a grave decision because it seemed to be the will of the majority. Though nearly everyone had someone in mind that they could have, even *wanted* to speak to, or things that they wanted to do, they each ended up solemnly reflecting. Sakuya, however...had an ominous feeling, a burden while they were all speaking. It prompted him to paint a moving mural of their adventure thus far, with everyone who'd had any sort of effect on it included. Additionally, as if searching for any kind of alternative, he explored the coordinates 'Sayaka' had given him: resulting in the discovery of a strange 'coffin'. It looked almost digital and even wiggled to suggest living contents, but as curious as Sakuya was, it felt too obvious of a trap to explore alone.
When they reconvened, they all...affirmed their initial decision. This surprised but moved even Pryce, who was astounded at their selflessness and said he would help them by trying to destroy Liminus and the Shinigami should they fail. Though cautious of hurting Hiroyuki, Takeo and Sakuya brought up Sayaka, only to find he had already thought of that. Though this endeavor would theoretically erase the need for the project that brought her to life to exist, he asked if Pryce could change that. He agreed, so long as there was an acceptable world to bring her into. With that, he departed, advising them that if they did find themselves in the past as anticipated, that they should no interact with the other versions of themselves at all.  Some of the group were scared, some of them were as irreverent as ever, and some felt guilty for their very existence being a 'lie' to their loved ones that they never consciously told. But at the end of it all, the group felt that it was the right thing to do. They resolved to revisit Misuterii High, one more time, to try to prevent the Incident that caused their formation in the first place. To save the 'real' students and their friends who had died along the way, even if nobody would ever know.

[Episode 6: Goodbye Despair]
199X
It was a beautiful early autumn day in Misuterii High, ten years ago. The group found themselves at the school gates in unflattering disguises courtesy of Koko (except for Halo, whose light powers let her disguise herself unassisted). But not Sakuya...he was exactly where the *real* Sakuya should have been those ten years ago. Sitting in front of a canvas, working on an art piece, assisted by an enthusiastic kohai. Said kohai immediately noticed that Sakuya was out of sorts, though he reassured her that he was alright and left the classroom. He headed towards the occult room, seeming to have some goal in mind...
Only to be encroached upon by the group, or most of them at least. They needed to find Nagisa, after all! This was an emergency. However, the Occult club classroom was occupied by different girls than they were used to, with no sign of Hiroko which disappointed Halo (something Takeo was almost suspiciously cognizant of). However, the girls had information on recent events, citing the disappearance of a group of three friends who were at least peripherally involved in the club. The group was given a quiet moment of lament, as the sacrificial ritual of the decade past had already taken place. And on that note, they were quickly accosted by Ryoko - who desperately questioned Halo as to what they were doing. In not opening that coffin, they had narrowly avoided an altercation with their ghostly friend who would have stood in their way - and though at least now they wouldn't have to harm her, she was distraught and refused to help them advance their goal, running off instead.
While not unmoved, their resolve wasn't shaken. The group searched the school (mostly out of unwillingness to split despite Koko's efforts - and partly out of Takeo's refusal to leave Halo's side) and eventually, thanks to Psychometry, Halo found Nagisa's locker...which had been vandalized by disturbing graffiti: the mantra of Nagisa after reaching a breaking point in not being able to save those girls and others who had disappeared or worse in recent memory. They discovered that Nagisa, while a loner who felt excessively ordinary, had contracted a special form of the Renegade virus and had been using her incredible powers to help people all over Kyotimore. But as disasters mounted and disappearances became more commonplace, her powers became more profound and hard to control, she was cracking under the weight of what she perceived as her failures. The distress prompted Halo to use the Titus she had gained as the Doppleganger, reinstating those powers within herself - causing two of the party members now behaving unnervingly and brimming with power. With all this in mind, they rushed to figure out where she was: resulting in various antics in Principal McDichael's office. Halo clipped his filing cabinet in and out of reality, extracting the files inside it while Sakuya hacked his computer to find a district-wide memo hinting that higher ups knew of some greater threat and encouraging staff to report anything strange: something he found that McDichael had been diligent about. Thanks to Koko's shadow skills, they also found Nagisa's class schedule and the schedules of their counterparts, and confirmed at least some of their loved ones existed in this era...but some did not.
Hiroyuki was standing guard, but thankfully most of the passersby were content to mind their own business. Besides, most of the 'threats' were from within as the group in the office loudly discussed lock picking and other crimes. However, that changed quickly as a student that Hiroyuki recognized as the student council president approached, but taking inspiration from Halo, Sakuya, and even the lame version of Hiro, he comically distracted him and tested his valiant patience as he got him to take him to the front office for assistance. On the way, he passed McDichael having a tense discussion with the gym instructor that sounded like it was about a student behaving erratically. With some gentle buy annoying sleight of hand, he distracted Night-kun for just a little longer (though he nearly interacted with Shizuru as she stopped to help the council president pick up some papers.

As the others took the 'normal' route to reconvene with Hiroyuki and get to the gym (where Nagisa should have been), Koko indeed...encountered herself. Her gambit paid off, though - as the other her reacted more or less as she thought she would; her most genki friend also helping distract the original version of Koko. Out of scientific curiosity and general unruliness, she instructed Sakuya to help her get her shadow remnants still tracking him onto her counterpart - and the artistic student was surprisingly willing to oblige. Hiroyuki encroached and put a stop to this, and instead the group decided to stay on task and one would head to the roof and the other...well, Halo, was using her powers to phase through the floor to get to the basement, prompting Takeo to rush after her manually. Sakuya sent a servant after them and the other group went towards the roof.
Except! Sakuya's servant didn't go to the basement at all yet. He brushed by Koko, following his teammate's original intention, and not only that he set out to collect the other versions of Halo and Takeo. He succeeded on both counts, convincing them something supernatural was at hand which Halo was all too willing to run with and Takeo was just as willing to believe her. So, they set off towards the basement together despite Pryce's warning and Hiroyuki's conviction to follow through on heeding it.
But down in the basement, Halo found an ominous red, crystalline object floating in a corner. It resembled a crimson karma crystal but broken up, sharp, and huge. Not only that, it bore telltale signs of the Renegade virus out of control; with dark splotches and veins of corruption running through it. She recognized it, *resonated* with it, and as Takeo approached, she was able to glean information about this: it held a memory, just like any other karma crystal. She saw a vision of an overwhelmed and overpowered Nagisa creating this mass out of a desire to 'save' everyone by empowering them, just like her. Not only that, but she realized that this very crystal was the one she, Halo - the collection of the Renegade viruses that she was - was born from on this very day.
The other group ran into another one, but didn't dally long as Hiroyuki knew they were likely out of time already. Still, Koko was able to investigate enough to have the mind bending revelation that because of Nagisa's incredible power, interacting with this crystal was what caused Koko to retroactively be born with her Renegade powers across timelines. Still, they proceeded to the upper levels of the school - suspecting they'd find Nagisa on the roof. Another one of those crystals was spotted in the distance (and thanks to Sakuya's sensory abilities, they knew yet another still existed in the building), but the scene was plunged into more chaos as...
Takeo, under Halo's order, pulled the fire alarm - realizing that these volatile crystals would cause the Incident and unleash a storm of sorts that would turn the entire student body into out-of-control Overeds. This was not a bad call: an evacuation was immediately attempted, but Nagisa must have caught on as a ghostly version of Misuterii from another, future reality was overlaid across this one and prevented the escape of the student body. Halo and Takeo, thanks to Sakuya's servant, caught a surprising glimpse of themselves, but didn't waste any time and encroached on the others as their found the stairwell to the rooftop. 
They exchanged words of encouragement one last time (and Hiroyuki received a mysterious signal that promised incoming aid) before they stepped onto the roof and were greeted by that same, red, horrible sky they'd seen in Liminus. Nagisa - or rather, what she had become - was waiting for them. Her now-monochrome image floated above the ground, a single runic and crystal wing sprouted from her back and corrupted halo swirled behind her like a vortex; her white-glowing eyes dripped with red, molten crystal despite her serene expression and she spoke in the voices of seemingly every Nagisa across time. Hiroyuki expressed their empathy for her, and her troubling words implied this had happened once before, and the inevitable final battle ensued.
Nagisa seemed to manipulate their minds - or maybe the very world around them, felling some members of the group several times but at the cost of burning through their Loises and Tituses (after all, most of these people didn't truly know them for what they were, did they?) their karma, their memories - and maybe most shockingly of all, Sakuya relented in his passion for artistry out of a need to cling to his bonds with Halo and Takeo. Hiroyuki managed to reach Nagisa despite all odds, in small part thanks to activating his Reaper titus - and Koko took advantage of every opening that gained them as Takeo and Halo brought some incredible hits into what felt like an incomprehensibly one sided battle. The tides turned and *something* reached out from beyond reality to tear a hold in the ghostly overlay of Misuterii, helping free the desperate civilians. Yet it was Sakuya who dealt the final blow - with servants taking the forms of Matsu and Junpei delivering their now-signature strike. 
[Ending A] 
Nagisa's red, gruesome adornments turned into what looked like pure light as Hiroyuki thanked her, and with a strange mixture of joy and despair on her face she dissolved into light. The others noted they were doing the same...but not Sakuya. He persisted, and they all told him how much he'd meant to them all as they faded away. Leaving him alone on the rooftop, but thankfully someone - the real, original, Hiro was looking for and finding  people trapped in the school and scooped him up to evacuate him with McDichael's help.
Outside on the sprawling sports field of the campus, the students looked on as the sky cleared and the ghostly image that had bizarrely overtaken their school for a moment faded away. Paramedics were on the scene but there were no casualties. Koko, after all, was too level headed and calculating to be stampeded or anything; but her shadow felt a little heavier and not just because of that weird encounter she'd had today. Hiroyuki had helped too, and though it was just his job as student council vice president to help lead and direct in times of crisis...this felt different. People had relied on him, and he didn't disappoint. Halo, amount the crowd of students, with Takeo at her side somehow knew what it felt like to have true, loving friends. Like they were still with her, just beyond her extrasensory perception. And Takeo felt satisfaction from having protected Halo and helped other students who were in danger too, he felt that he had fulfilled some greater responsibility that even his family could have imparted on him - although none of them could really explain why.
Epilogue
200X
A 27-year-old Kyosuke Matsumoto is working on a car in one of Kyotimore's most reputable car shops (just down the street from Bancho Burger, coincidentally) as his older friend, Dr. Kiryu watches in bemusement. A Higurashi student named Mondo clearly thinks Matsu is the coolest person he's ever met and is earnestly trying to get him to show him how to throw a *real* punch.
VHenge 4 is performing in an underground club that night, and despite the aggressive musical stylings, the edgy accoutrements, and the Yokai masks, the band members are dressed like office ladies (albeit disheveled from performing). Georgie watches despite fretting to a nearby fan that his boss is going to kill him - he need to get pictures of Shadow Skill, but this band is so good!
Takeo has become the youngest 'chairman' ever of his family as his grandfather's health has declined - and despite his age and inexperience, the family seems to be thriving under him. The knowledge and support of his family is freely given now that they aren't living in fear, and Takeo's good nature is helping the family's resources be directed at important causes that better the town. Still, one late night of planning and preparing ends in surprise as a young lady and a dozen small children appear on his doorstep: a tough lady cop explaining something has happened to their family and he's their next of kin.
A grown up Halo - and yes, its still 'Halo' and not 'Maria' - is performing a ritualistic dance in her own...version of a shrine maiden outfit. This cursed forest is being cleansed so that the park can open and it must be going well as curious, *safe* crowd (and some very enthusiastic fans who look like current Occult Club members) is forming - while Gregory and his partner look on, providing loving (albeit confused) support.
A hotshot lawyer, Hiroyuki Ota, is negotiating circles around a courtroom as what would have been a punitive judge and jury are effectively being worn down...despite the fact that Hiroyuki's client, Junpei Tanaka, is accused of ending the lives of the adults of his clan, it sounds like the boy won't be getting the death penalty or even serving prison time - and even they can't believe it though it should be up to them!
Mikoto Shinomiya...though, perhaps that name doesn't burden her the way it once did, is in a sprawling garden of a home she's gotten. It's somehow both stately and cottage like, and local children whisper that the beautiful but icy young woman is a witch. Another young woman about her age, though still somehow giving off a boyish, princely vibe is showing her how to care for plants and is both surprised and...not at all at her various hidden talents when Mikoto takes the clippers and performs precise, needed pruning without needing the advice. A nearly-but-not-quite middle aged woman, no longer a maid but still brewing tea with four cups at the ready watches them from a window just as a high school aged Shinji Shinomiya steps in with a housewarming gift: a box of strawberry cupcakes.
Lastly, Sakuya - just Sakuya, as far as most of the public is concerned, is a famous artist. Though the products of his labor are often accused of being just *that*: products, others claim that's the whole point! And others still say that the crystalline artworks make them feel a yearning. For a place or time that never existed. For friends they had never even made, missed connections of all kinds. Regardless, even with his own passion for art diminished, there's no arguing that his work has breathed life into Kyotimore's art scene even if the feelings that come with it sometimes are complicated.
[Bonus 1: Promise]
But all evidence of Sakuya's heartfelt artistry is not gone. Somewhere in the city, a young girl stands in front of a mural - a local legend of an art piece - with her face buried in her hands. It is night time, and the streets are still as Sayaka takes a long time to mourn her friends. Only when she eventually straightens up and composes herself does Pryce approach, a yakisoba pan in each hand - extending one out to her. She takes it with a small smile and he asks her if she wants to meet the artist, but she shakes her head, not wanting to disrupt his life. He tells her that she can have a peaceful life too, and she agrees in part. She'll always miss her friends but they wanted her to exist, so she will live for all of them, but she doesn't want a normal life. With that, she goes with Pryce and they leave through a portal in time, amused at how surprised Ryota will be to find them friends.
[Bonus 2: Ryoko]
It is a balmy day in Oceanawa...or at least a foggy, yet still idyllic facsimile of it. A strange girl lounges on a beach chair under a huge umbrella and further shaded by a comically large straw hat and sunglasses. She sips from a half a coconut...and despite all that, she still wears a hospital gown. 
Nearby, a young girl in an elaborate Kimono plays noisily in the sand. It's Kakuya, but no longer jointed or made of some questionable organic material. A little girl, albeit still with beastly ears and tails, but carefree and boisterous as she parades three dolls around. Ryoko watches gloomily, but Nagisa calls to her and scolds her: come on, it's been ten years. These versions of them may not be 'hers', but they're happy. She doesn't have to stick around anymore. Ryoko looks to her, then to Kakuya, who smiles at her: she's been waiting for *her* to be ready this whole time. Ryoko asks if Nagisa will be okay and she tells her of course, she missed the quiet. And with that, the former malicious spirit who holds the dolls in one arm and the ghost girl who was once as haunted as she did the haunting, join hands and walk into the fog again. Nagisa relaxes and takes another long sip of her drink as the ebb and flow of the water are the only sound now.

Miscellaneous
Awakenings
The first time each member of the cast awakened as an Overed ‘on-screen’, they had a sort of mental transformation sequence that also served as a foreshadowing to the true nature of the characters:
[You feel this is different, that this costs you a little part of your sanity. Before, you were just in the right place, and the right time. But now, as a renegade being, there is no place, no time for you in this reality. You are bending this world to your will, however minor; you are Encroaching on it.]
•	Hiroyuki: Neurons of his brain are connecting themselves to those of reality, gripping them and reconnecting them in ways they shouldn’t.
•	Halo: A beam of light shines through the darkness on a pile of ash, she grabs it and it creates a thread back to the waking world for her.
•	Mikoto: Even inside her mind, her body mutates and warps, corrupting the fabric of reality around her existence.
•	Matsu: Cauterizes his flaming soul into the body of the world, burning past the obstacles to ground himself in this reality.
•	Takeo: Where there was a quiet void instead now booms with the sounds of cicadas droning, awakening something unsightly in him that follows this wild call back into reality, to which he is alien.
•	Sakuya: In front of him is a colorless copy of himself, but he bleeds in multiple colors and is able to paint his soul onto the image of the boy in front of him – allowing him to step back into the world of the living.
•	(Koko did not get one, so imbued with the virus from the moment of her birth that it didn’t apply; that said, her Shadow powers could be considered the very dark void that the rest of them found themselves in by default)
Mechanics
Pseudo Role Mechanics
The secondary roles had a hidden score that affected a character’s chances to be executed. Not enough to protect them from the consequences of their actions but it could subtly influence or reinforce their trajectory – especially if the player elected to keep the role as a trait Lois.
Safe: Normal, Rookie Detective, Animal Ken
Dangerous: Medium, Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, Shinigami Eyes
Variable: ???
The Normal role was immune to the powers of the and episode’s antagonist, and the ??? role allowed the player to make a roll upon dying in a round that gave them the chance of coming back as a Zombie/Gjuam (dangerous), a Shiki (dangerous), or an ally Ghost – the only outcome that was (safe). The first person to adopt the MeoDP permanently would be a Tanaka clan relative somehow.
Life Count
The Mystic Eyes of Death Perception could see the numbers above the heads of other characters that reflected their remaining ‘lives’. When they hit 0, they got executed. This would go down if the character was dead or a Gjuam at the end of the round, held onto too much Karma, spent too much Karma (lol), ran out of self-tituses, ended a round with fewer Loises than they started with, and in approximate ‘half measures’ from their secondary roles. Unfortunately for Shinigami-chan, hitting 0 was pretty rare and she usually had to cut nasty deals to the protagonists.

Unused Stuff
There was a lot, which isn’t all bad because some of it I wasn’t looking forward to making work lol. And while I still think the full executions are a good consolation prize here are some synopses:
•	Sakuya: He would be put into a situation in which he had to create servants of anyone he wanted to save, and of course being him would craft so many that he would inevitably die from blood loss.
•	Takeo: He would have to transform to fight a gigantic version of the Shinigami, growing in size to match her and inciting a kaiju battle. He would win (albeit terribly injured) only to be taken out by the UGN.
•	Hiroyuki: He would be seated at a dinner table with mannequins of his friends. He is tasked with solving a stack of mysteries involving each one of them to save them. Despite the unfair time limit, he succeeds – but there is one last mystery: his own. But time has already run out, and when he looks up from the paper the Sayaka mannequin has come to life and crawled across the table and attacks him with a knife.
•	Avoided: Pryce, Perry Kiryu, Kageyama Ota, Chiyoda Saya, and Nadeshiko Tanaka.
•	I doubted I would need one for Koko, but I had a few ideas (involving her identity being discovered and the flashes from journalist cameras dissolving her shadows, or attacked in her werewolf form by an angry mob) but didn’t want to develop them until I had more information about her. I’m glad I didn’t have to use those ideas, though, because none of them really felt like they suited her in the end.
•	In other endings, the Shinigami could have had her own execution.

A couple episode ideas we didn’t get to use:
•	An extra episode involving Matsu and Hiroyuki starting off as lone Masked Rides (the latter being UGN’s successor to Hikkoriherr and the late Agent Cerberus’, and the former being Rykizer’s protégé who was close with Cerberus’ civilian identity, Sayaka). They would eventually need to team up and rally the others into Masked Rides to fight a mech gone rogue: the Grand Mal Rykizer, infected with the Renegade Virus and piloted by Sayaka’s Gjuam – a fallen Masked Rider called Hellhounder.
•	I wanted there to be a Madoka inspired episode, but we only had three girls and one was an NPC and I couldn’t think of anything fun to do with the boys. The Witch episode ended up being close enough, though I did write magical girl transformation sequences I never got to use for Halo, Mikoto, and Sayaka. 
o	A dark blur is rushing past Halo, in purple silhouette – and as the focus adjusts, she appears to be falling from a building of a great height. Still, she isn’t frightened even when spirits and other entities fly towards and around her playfully, lit windows rushing past. Fox fire from the spirits envelope her, taking glowing shape of her accoutrements. When she inevitably hits the ground, it instead looks more like she breaks through the surface of water, emerging unharmed and transformed on the other side.
o	Mikoto finds herself pit against a glowing, silvery blue silhouette of herself. She pulls her rapier from her body and the parallel does the same; the two engage in a graceful but brutal swordfight that ends with the silhouette winning, pulling the image of Mikoto into her own and in a burst of light emerges Mikoto, transformed and brandishing a glowing rapier, her uniform elegant but accented with armor that appears to be ice but upon closer inspection, is bone.
o	A pink silhouette of Sayaka appears to be dancing on a TV screen, but the camera pulls back to reveal a group of an abstract, silhouetted scientists observing her from a monitor. One presses a button and giant plates from a machine crush her in an instant, but when they retract, Sayaka in her android form but dressed in something akin to her idol outfit emerges unharmed. 
•	Takeo’s Antagonist Era was always meant to be his rampaging Gjuam, though he would be released into a timeline if it had happened any sooner. 
•	Sakuya’s was going to involve painting portraits of his targets to kill them, albeit at the cost of his own health. Not unlike his execution.

NPC Story
Aside from Junpei’s Scapegoat and Sayaka’s Sweetheart, I was going to write one for Zero called Saboteur but I decided we had just enough information revealed about his past to be fun already. The name says enough anyway, I think.

Battle Themes
This only really panned out with Zero, but a few other characters could have become antagonists or arch-nemesis; and you befriended all except him. They’d normally fight with instrumental themes except for their final battle.
Pryce
Sayaka
Junpei

Other Songs
And here’s the song that was on Sayaka’s CD., which was also the ED of Episode 4. 
‘Sayaka’ also would have sang the OP of the Magical Girl Episode. 
If they’d ever used Karma to start before the time of Sayaka’s death, she’s have been performing this song.