No matter which version you are playing, Miku catches up with Mafuyu at the Gate of Yomi. She's holding four out of the five fragments of the True Holy Mirror. Mafuyu's looking at the unsealed Gate, but doesn't seem to notice Miku calling to him immediately. When he does, he reaches out to her, only to have his hand drawn back by Kirie, who's embracing him from behind. Kirie, of course, wants to keep Miku's hot older brother with her forever, so she absorbs him completely into herself and then attacks Miku.

When Miku defeats Kirie, her camera starts glowing and shaking, and she has to throw it down before it explodes. When her vision clears, the girl in the white kimono is there, pointing frantically to something. It turns out that the camera had the final piece of the True Holy Mirror inside it - which is why it had so many strange powers. But then Miku realizes that evil Kirie is still very much alive and coming after her. So she gets to her feet, runs and grabs the last piece, forming the complete Holy Mirror, and runs around to the front of the Mirror Rock and places the Mirror in its slot. Evil Kirie, behind her, is blasted away by the light of the mirror. (When I played this the first time, I couldn't see where the last piece of the Mirror was - since the pointing-scene is in FMV and you actually have to play the "finding-and-putting the mirror" part yourself - and the last piece is near-impossible to see with Kirie's static messing up the screen! So I ran around the Mirror Rock like a moron a couple of times, with Kirie RIGHT ON MY HEELS. It was really nerve-wracking! *laugh*)

When the light dies down, Mafuyu is there, safe and sound - as is the spirit of Kirie, cleansed of the Malice. The girl in the white kimono (who's Kirie too, of course) reminds Kirie of her duty as the Rope Miko to keep the Gate closed and protect the world, and Kirie agrees and goes over to the Hell Gate. She faces outwards, and the ropes on her wrists attach to opposite posts of the Gate, hoisting her up into the air in front of the gate with her arms outstretched and her feet not touching the ground (hm, pretty obvious symbolism...). She can see the Gate behind her reflected in the Holy Mirror in front of her, so when the evil behind the Gate tries to burst out, the Gate is held closed by Kirie's "body", her arms almost yanked out of her sockets. It's a sad fate, isn't it?

So, the power of Malice trying to escape - and perhaps of the final battle between Miku and Kirie - has weakened the cave, and the roof is starting to come down. Kirie thanks Miku and Mafuyu for saving her, and tells them to escape! Mafuyu protests, and Kirie smiles and says that she'll be all right.

And here is where the two endings diverge.

NORMAL ENDING
Miku starts to run out, but Mafuyu goes back to Kirie. Miku calls to her brother, and Mafuyu says something along the lines of how it isn't fair for Kirie to suffer like this for eternity, in this cavern underground, all by herself. So he's volunteering to stay with her. Miku pleads with him, and as I recall Kirie protests that he doesn't need to do that, but more of the roof starts to come down, and he orders Miku to leave. So Miku runs out, and Himuro mansion collapses into ruin behind her. As she stands on the bridge outside, staring at the ruins, she thinks of Mafuyu.

"Ever since that day, I stopped seeing things that other people can't see."

So, in the normal ending, Mafuyu is presumably killed in the collapse of Himuro mansion. I like this ending better than the nightmare ending, because I guess it feels more in-character for Mafuyu. Mafuyu is a very nice person and wouldn't leave Kirie to her lonely fate. So even though I don't like the fact that he dies *laugh* this ending is more fitting, in my mind.

ALTERNATE ENDING
This is almost the same, except that when Miku pleads with Mafuyu to leave with her - he goes. He hesitates, looks back at Kirie, and then runs out after Miku. The last shot is of the two of them staring back at the ruins of the mansion, with the comment that both of them lost their psychic abilities after the events in Himuro mansion.

This is a nice ending, in that Miku manages to save her brother's life, but...still...

* back*