Point: Two years after LoD ended, Satoshi's living the college life with the four heroines, Satsuki, Reine, Shuna, and Shino, now officially his girlfriends. Things get shaken up when he gets a mysterious message from someone claiming to be the "5th Heroine."
That woman, Harusora Hibise, slowly gets closer to Satoshi and drags him to places that all turn out connected to LoD's past. Suspicious, the four heroines secretly tail him. They find no proof of cheating, but realize Hibise's connection to LoD runs way deeper than expected.
Hibise turns out to be the only one who remembers the entire cycle of the world's fate. She's been by Satoshi's side since the start, watching his losing battle keep getting forgotten, all the way to his sacrifice for the heroines. But Satoshi's lost every memory of her.
Even loving him more than anyone, Hibise has to accept her feelings aren't returned. Still, she won't give up. Meanwhile, the four heroines start sensing the threat she might pose, and the risk their own dark secret could get exposed.
Character:
MC: Iriya Satoshi
Heroine1: Saionji Satsuki (Pink)
Heroine2: Kitagawa Reine (Silver)
Heroine3: Nanjou Shuna (Brown)
Heroine4: Shinonome Shino (Black)
Heroine5: Harusora Hibise (Yellow)
Other: Original Protag: Sano Yuuto
Note: Game LOD (Love or Death)
★ After class, Satoshi checks a message from Satsuki waiting for him at home. Walking out of campus, he gets hugged by Shino, then Reine and Shuna, and they all head home together.
★ It's been two years since LoD ended, now in their third year of college. On the train ride home, Satoshi zones out, noticing a blonde girl staring at him. Then his phone buzzes with a message that catches him off guard: "Nice to meet you, I'm LoD's 5th Heroine."
★ Since college started, Satoshi's lived with all four girls. Today it's Satsuki's turn to cook, so she sends him grocery shopping. Reine, Shuna, and Shino all want to tag along, but Satsuki shuts it down by showing them a video, footage of the last time Satoshi went out with the three of them and got trapped in a hotel room, completely toyed with.
★ Satsuki herself got stuck with cooking duty as punishment for secretly sneaking off on a date with him earlier. This time she even asks him to buy as much contraception as possible. Embarrassed, he suggests ordering online instead, but the girls just smile, assuming he's ready to be a dad if they skip protection. He gives up and goes shopping alone.
★ On the way home it starts raining, and a blonde girl approaches him mid downpour. He tries keeping his distance, worried his girlfriends might kill him for being close with another girl, but she won't leave. One question from her catches his interest, she introduces herself as Harusora Hibise, LoD's 5th Heroine, wanting to ask about Sano Yuuto, LoD's protagonist.
★ Once home, the four heroines immediately smell another woman on him and assume he's cheated. Reine thinks he's bored of her, Satsuki even plans to kill the woman, then him, then herself if it's true. To confirm it, all four secretly plan to tail him one by one.
Reine POV
★ Reine tails Satoshi after catching another woman's scent on him. He'd turned down her bookstore date today for "other plans." Following him into a cafe, she watches the blonde girl approach him, calling him by his first name, him calling her "Hibise" back, since he feels dumb being formal with a self proclaimed stalker.
★ Hibise's a "stalker" because she got his number by asking campus professors, since Satoshi has zero friends, thanks to having four girlfriends, girls avoid him, guys avoid him out of jealousy.
★ They head to a building that turns out to be an idol handshake event, so Reine learns he's into idols. Finding no cheating evidence, she instead gets jealous of the idols getting his support, even considering becoming an idol herself since she's "proven" her dance skills on top of him that same night.
Shuna POV
★ Shuna's turn next. Getting off the train, she helps an old lady read a map and walks her to her destination. As thanks, the lady gives her 1000 yen, but the second Shuna remembers Hibise's name, she unconsciously crumples the bill in her fist, swearing to crumple Hibise the same way if she tries anything.
★ Shuna spots Hibise alone, getting hit on by a guy offering money, who gets mad at her rejection and almost drags her off. Satoshi shows up just in time, scaring the guy off by claiming to be Hibise's boyfriend, which briefly wrecks Shuna's mental state until she realizes it's just an act.
★ Hibise asks Satoshi's type, he says it's literally Satsuki, Reine, Shuna, and Shino, which makes Shuna's day. They talk about job hunting struggles, and he likes her plan to become a civil servant for stable income, agreeing gambling's a bad habit. Asked about his girlfriends' flaws, he says he's satisfied but wishes they'd hold back more in bed at night.
★ Home again, Shuna announces she's quitting gambling to chase a civil servant career, shocking the others given her gambling addiction. Still, despite no cheating proof, she gives Satoshi his "punishment" in bed that night.
Satsuki POV
★ Satsuki tails them next, watching Satoshi and Hibise run into a housewife, Hisui, who flirts with him, jokingly calling herself his mistress. He denies it, but Hisui keeps teasing, saying a woman looks more attractive waiting for a man to come to her, which gets Satsuki thinking she's been too controlling over his social life.
★ Distracted, she loses track of them when they leave with Hisui. Back home, she suddenly announces wanting to become a housewife, shocking the others. When Satoshi gets home, she greets him like a wife waiting for her husband, then still gives him his "lesson" in bed for smelling like another woman, now dreaming that marrying him means finally living her housewife fantasy.
Shino POV
★ After seeing the others change post tailing, it's Shino's turn. She watches Satoshi and Hibise head to a library, shocked to see him let Hibise read his own novel Rinne, a book he's banned all four girlfriends from reading out of embarrassment. That book was printed to save Shuna's family company.
★ He's impressed by Hibise's understanding of it, offering to introduce her to Reine if she likes reading, but she declines, explaining she doesn't actually enjoy reading, it's just an old habit from strict parents and having nothing else to do, and that she used to be a "literature girl" before changing her look for college.
★ Satoshi mentions his girlfriend Shino can do anything yet never looks down on people, but admits he's also impressed by Hibise's completely different lifestyle. Once home, Shino suddenly wants to walk away from her family to achieve something on her own effort, but cancels the idea since leaving would mean she couldn't marry Satoshi. Like the others, she drags him to bed too.
All Four Heroines
★ Piecing together everything from the tailing, the four heroines realize every place Satoshi and Hibise visited ties directly to LoD, the idol venue is where Satsuki did handshakes as a gravure idol, Rinne saved Shuna's company, Hisui's connected to Reine's family, and the guy who hit on Hibise is Shino's ex fiancé.
★ Realizing Hibise might be connected to LoD herself, they worry she might know who really wrote Rinne, and fear that Sano Yuuto's death, the LoD protagonist they'd chopped up and dumped in the mountains believing it'd never be found, might've been exposed, which means the police could be coming for them.
★ To dig for more clues, all four force themselves to replay the released LoD game, despite not wanting to relive falling for the wrong guy, Yuuto. Shuna, the best gamer, plays while the others watch, going through every route hoping to spot Hibise. But no matter how thoroughly they search, not a single character matches her, even accounting for a possible appearance change since high school. Hibise simply doesn't exist in the game.
Satoshi POV
★ Satoshi meets Hibise again, and this time she shows him a video Yuuto forcibly sent to her account, footage from a hidden camera in Satoshi's house recording him sleeping with all four heroines. Furious, he almost calls the police, but Hibise stops him, explaining she never spread it, she just wants to find Yuuto, who's been missing for a while.
★ Satoshi agrees to help find him, mainly wanting to beat him up. Hibise takes him back to their old high school for clues, empty since it's a holiday. There, he finally demands she come clean about who she really is, pulling out her diary that he'd secretly grabbed while she wasn't looking at the library.
★ The diary reveals the truth, Hibise is another victim of LoD's fated cycle, just like him. It details their first meeting, the game guidebook he once gave her, and everything they went through together. She'd always been by his side, watching him fight endlessly to save the heroines while Yuuto did nothing, only for every act of his to get erased from the heroines' memories by the world's fate.
★ When he couldn't fight fate anymore and planned to sacrifice himself, Hibise tried stopping him, but once he hit third year, his memories of her vanished too, exactly like the heroines forgetting him. Every meeting after that, he'd forget her by the next day. She never gave up though, kept showing him the guidebook, trying to stop his sacrifice, but none of it could beat fate, he still got hit by the truck saving the heroines while her body froze, forcing her to watch helplessly.
★ Relieved he survived, but crushed by guilt, she couldn't bring herself to face him again. He wants to tell her something, but she refuses to listen from a "liar," finally screaming out all her pent up emotions, that he'd once promised all lost memories would return once LoD ended, but his memory of her never came back.
★ She rages on, he gets to live happily with the heroines he loves, so why's she the only one forgotten? Only she remembers everything while he remembers nothing about her, despite being the one who's stayed longest by his side, sacrificing everything for him, and still, she's the only one erased.
★ All he can do is apologize, honestly telling her he only loves Satsuki, Reine, Shuna, and Shino. Hearing that breaks her, crying into his chest, saying even if it's a lie, she still wants to hear him say he loves her too.
★ On the train home, the air's awkward after his rejection, which turns out to not even be the first, it's the fifth time, and she's the only one who remembers every single one. Before parting, she hugs him tightly, right as Satsuki, Reine, Shuna, and Shino catch them mid hug and drag Hibise straight to their house.
★ Once inside, Hibise gets bombarded with questions, how could a mere "mob" like her know anything about LoD? But realizing the four heroines know about LoD too, she loses it, saying none of this is fair, that their feelings for Satoshi aren't real love, just leftover guilt from once loving the wrong guy, Yuuto. She's the only one who truly loves him, yet despite remembering everything and knowing the whole truth, she still fails to win his heart. In tears, she storms out.
★ Surprisingly, Satsuki lets Satoshi chase after her, even saying she's allowing him to "cheat" just this once. He finds Hibise at a park, and even without memories of her, he instinctively finds the exact spot, figuring it must've meant something to them both.
★ He tells her he could just stay away to protect things with the four heroines, but he can't, understanding the pain of being forgotten by fate means he refuses to do the same to her. He'll let her do whatever she wants and won't push her away, but his feelings won't change, he still loves the other four. She calls him cruel but refuses to give up, determined to win his heart. Before leaving, she kisses his forehead, and he turns red instantly.
★ Back home, the four heroines debate whether to accept Hibise as Satoshi's fifth woman, but two things bug them. First, even as main heroines they couldn't beat fate and forgot him anyway, so how does a mere "mob" like Hibise remember everything? Second, she clearly knows who wrote LoD but keeps it secret, and despite the "missing" author, the game still got released and sold like nothing happened.
★ Their conclusion, they won't let anyone ruin Satoshi's happiness or their own, and they're willing to do whatever it takes to protect it, even repeating what they did to Yuuto.
★ Elsewhere, a bit of Hibise and Yuuto's connection surfaces. He'd once asked her to help create LoD, a game built on heroines dying if they didn't choose the protagonist. She accepted, wanting to separate the four heroines from Satoshi, her email's even registered under the company that made the game.
★ From the start, Hibise decided she'd do anything to get Satoshi, never backing down even knowing her identity could get exposed. She almost gave up once, but after learning he still accepts her presence, she's determined again, she's getting him, whatever it takes.