  | SPOILERS FOLLOW. CAVEAT LECTOR. BAD ENDING (MIO ESCAPES ALONE) On the last night, if Mio decides to run away through the passage under the shrine without Mayu, she hesitates in front of the broken grate in the shrine, apologizes to her sister for being unable to keep her promise, and climbs down the hole into the underground passage. As Mio stumbles down the dark tunnel, she hears a voice behind her asking, "Are you leaving me behind again?" Mio almost turns around, but she hesitates, remembering that Itsuki told her to never look back. Then Mayu's voice says, "Mio, you promised we'd always be together!" Mio impulsively turns around to answer her, and sees the bloodstained Sae rushing towards her, laughing. Mio suddenly wakes up on the rock she was sitting on at the beginning of the game; it's a sunny afternoon, as if no time had passed at all. But her sister is nowhere to be found, and Mio's calls go unanswered. "I'll...be waiting...forever..." (This is not a true "ending" of the game; you get a GAME OVER if you try this.) "CRIMSON BUTTERFLY" 紅い蝶 After defeating Kusabi, Mio heads down the stairs to the underground cavern with the Abyss. Mayu is waiting for her in front of the abyss, standing in front of a stone altar. As Mio approaches, they're surrounded by the Veiled Priests, who begin ringing their staffs to signal the start of the ritual. Mayu lies back on the stone slab, and, in a trance, Mio straddles her. Mayu helps Mio put her hands around Mayu's throat, and as the Veiled Priests watch, Mio slowly strangles her sister to death. When Mayu is dead, the priest stop pounding their staffs into the ground and it becomes silent. When Mio removes her hands from Mayu's throat, there's a red strangulation mark that turns into a crimson butterfly that flies away. Mayu seems to come out of her daze and realizes what she's done, and she's utterly horrified. The mourners take Mayu's body and toss it into the Abyss. As Mio runs towards the edge of the Abyss, a crimson butterfly flies out of the Abyss. Mio chases it through the village, stumbling and crying, but there are thousands of crimson butterflies, and she can't keep track of which one is her sister's soul. She follows the river of butterflies out of the village through the forest, and escapes the village just as the sun begins to rise. In the end, Mio is sitting on a bench in front of a lake - probably the lake covering the village when the dam was built. She has a red, butterfly-like mark on her throat; she's a Remaining. "ABYSS" 虚 After defeating the Kusabi, Mio heads down the stairs to the underground cavern with the Abyss. Mayu is standing in front of the Abyss, but she rushes at Mio, and has to be driven off with a photo, revealing that she's completely possessed by the spirit of Sae. Mio fights Sae, and when she's defeated, Mayu reels at the edge of the Abyss, separating into Sae and Mayu. Both of them fall backwards into the Abyss, and Mio rushes forward and catches Mayu by the hand just in time. Sae falls into the Abyss, and Mayu dangles in the Abyss. Mio is trying to both pull her sister up and not look down into the Abyss, remembering Itsuki's warning. But she can't help it, and as she gazes into the Abyss, she sees a endless sea of horrible tortured ghosts screaming and struggling. She recoils, dragging Mayu back out of the hole, but when Mayu gets to her feet, she sees Mio on her knees next to her, hands to her face and writhing as if in pain. After that, they were able to escape from the village, and neither forgot their experiences in the village. Soon afterwards, the forest was covered by a lake due to the damn construction. Mayu and Mio sit on a bench overlooking the lake. As they get up to leave, it's clear that Mio has a bandage over her eyes; she was blinded from looking into the Abyss, just like the Mourners. Mayu has kind of a weird self-satisfied smile on her face; now Mio depends on her, not the other way around. "We'll always be together..." |