Curate of Curiosities

...Who Needs Yanderes?

Mikoto Nikki


Previously, I played through Full Bokko Youchien, a visual novel where you spend about half an hour being roasted by a six-year-old.

Since I heard that there was a connection between the game and Charon's first game, Mikoto Nikki, I decided to check out the latter game.

It being the creator's first game and all, I didn't expect it to be very polished. However, it should be noted that this game was made with RPG Maker, rather than Wolf RPG Editor.

The game begins with its main character, a high school student named Matarou, confessing to his crush, the titular Mikoto.

She invites him to her house to have dinner with him, but warns him not to wander too far from the kitchen.

This is an adventure game, however, so of course this is what we do.

By disobeying Mikoto, you are rewarded with a fragment of her diary. This is what it says:

There was a test at school today.
Of course, I did as well on it as I do on aaaall the others!
I'm a genius, so there's no problem I can't solve!

I don't watch that much anime, but I can tell that by the end of this game, we're going to find out that Mikoto's actually a serial killer or something. This is Charon we're dealing with, after all.

"Come to the entrance"

This is what most of the gameplay consists of; finding and reading a diary entry, then using the clues to find the next entry. It's a bit like Slender, except it's top-down and there's no one chasing you.

The next few entries you find seem normal enough, concerning how she's so popular and successful at school that she got the attention of a boy named Yukimaru.

However, it's not long before you find out that despite this, she's under a lot of stress due to her parents' high expectations for her.

Eventually, she'll just have a mental breakdown on the seventh entry.

On the tenth entry, you find out that something's happened to both of her parents.

I don't know what Mom's saying anymore.
I don't understand what Dad's saying either.
During that moment, I thought, 'It's quiet now.' Maybe they won't do anything to me anymore?

This entry also has a key to the one locked room in her house.

In the garden, there's another mental breakdown.

What's more, the clue is completely blank.

Going into the inventory reveals the real clue, but you can't read the next entry just yet.

You have to go back to the kitchen and talk to Mikoto. No matter what choices you pick in the ensuing conversation, she'll act like there's nothing wrong.

We find out that Yukimaru got a bit too nosy about Mikoto's closet--there's something horrible in there, isn't there?

And in the meantime, have some more mental breakdowns.

You then face another roadblock; you need to find out when Mikoto's birthday is.

She is quite willing to oblige.

Here, we finally find out the truth. Some time ago, Mikoto snapped under the pressure from her parents, and locked them in her closet in an effort to raise them properly. She went on to do the same to Yukimaru when he asked too many questions. However, she was clearly unfit to do so, and so they starved to death.

After you finish reading this diary entry, the door to the closet opens.

Yep, called it.

As if on cue, Mikoto shows up, and tells Matarou what led her to do this to her parents. When she was younger, she was nowhere near as popular or as smart as she is today, so her parents saw her as a lost cause. Despite her efforts to improve herself, they refused to accept her.

Even though she has no doubt suffered greatly, the fact remains that she is responsible for the deaths of three people. So, for once, we do what a reasonable person would, and leg it.

I figured it was for the best. To think that Mikoto was a crazed murderer...it sent a chill down my spine. I was together with a nutjob.

One last thing: notice something about Mikoto's hair here?

It looks exactly like Mitarou's mother's, indicating that they are in fact the same person. Now we know what Kotomi was talking about in that other game.

So that was Mikoto Nikki. There might be other Charon games that are directly connected to this, but I don't think playing them will be worth my while.