Hakuoki: Okita's Story

So I'm off to fall in love with another guy in Hakuoki. This time, I picked Okita Souji because he's one of the first guys you meet in the game. Since there are many times when he's with Saito, I thought that he wouldn't be too different from Saito, other than that he talks a lot more. I was so wrong on this one. (Note: all pics are taken straight from the opening.)

For Saito, he would never say anything to hurt Chizuru because he always chooses his words carefully, and he gets unexpectedly romantic near the end (after chipping away the ice to uncover all the warm fuzzies).

All I can say about this pic of Saito is "rawr" *blush*

Okita, on the other hand, is actually pretty mean in a teasing kind of way, but that kind of personality gets me agitated, confused, and flustered all at the same time though. When you get to your first option, I chose "find a way to escape". Of course, if you try to escape, then they'll kill you. So Okita is all like "It looks like we'll have to kill you now", and Chizuru says "just do it then", since she did break her promise, and then Okita laughs it off saying that he didn't mean to frighten her and be so mean. I then get a love animation with him. Seriously?! I get a love animation for telling him to kill me. This already sounds like a strange relationship.

***BEWARE: SPOILERS AHEAD***

During the battle of Ikeda Inn, which is the battle that makes the Shinsengumi so famous and respected, Chizuru is waiting outside, since it's way too dangerous inside. One of them call out to see if any reinforcements were waiting outside, and there was none of course, even though they did call for backup. So Chizuru decides to go in, and tries to help move the injured. She is then asked by Kondou to go upstairs and check on Okita, and you see that there is a "ronin" that Okita is struggling to defeat. In my previous post, I mentioned a demon that wanted Chizuru as a wife, and happens to be this "ronin" right here named Kazama Chikage. What's interesting is that at this moment in time, he doesn't know about Chizuru's heritage, and almost tries to kill her because she threw a pot at him to give Okita a chance to strike. I can't imagine what would happen if Kazama did kill her, it would be like "oh well, the bloodline of the demon race will slowly be diluted to nothing because I killed the only female demon left of the Yukimura clan". Thankfully, he leaves Chizuru and Okita alone because his purpose in this battle was only to buy time. Okita is super pissed because he couldn't defeat this "ronin", who is actually a demon. If he knew Kazama was a demon, maybe he wouldn't feel so bad? No, I think he would still be upset.

Okita having trouble defeating Kazama, and protecting Chizuru after she threw the pot.

The dialogue and the scenarios change drastically when you're going after a different guy. Even who explains you what piece of information changes, and how much info you get changes. Who changes into furies differ a bit, as well as where you end up travelling differs. This is also the reason why you can't get all the encyclopedia entries in one shot. I decided to use the fast-forward button for some parts like with annoying Ito and slowly-losing-his-mind Sanan. For other parts that I've already seen before, I felt that I was missing info if I didn't go through it at normal speed. Even though I'm playing through the game a bit faster, I can't go too fast or else I'll be lost in the storyline of the game. @.@

When Dr. Matsumoto visits the Shinsengumi at the Niji Hongwanji temple, you find out that Okita has tuberculosis (you also find this out in Saito's playthrough), but since you choose to "catch up" to Okita and Dr. Matsumoto, Okita knows that Chizuru has been eavesdropping the entire time. You find out that he had a feeling that he had TB, and would rather not get health advice from a doctor. ^_^"

Chizuru upset that Okita has TB, and Okita tries to force a smile to not let Chizuru worry

Of course, his issue with having TB causes him to be ill most of the time, and unable to fight, even though he says he can (he's just generally frustrated for awhile). Hijikata forces Okita to rest on multiple occasions, which makes him feel even more frustrated at his body's condition. He also slowly starts to hate Hijikata as the game goes on because Okita believes that Hijikata puts Kondou, who Okita sees as an older brother, in danger on purpose. You also find out that Okita does not have a good relationship with Yamazaki Susumu, one of the ninjas of the Shinsengumi, as they rarely agree on anything, but they do respect each other.

Chizuru acts a lot differently in Saito's story vs Okita's story. When going after Saito, she is often clueless, and doesn't outrightly say her feelings to him. For going after Okita, Chizuru hints and pretty much says on multiple occasions how much she cares about him, but Okita doesn't care for her at all (or at least that's what it seems 90% of the time). He often drops the "I'll kill you if you get in my way" and "I'll kill you if you're no longer useful" bombs on Chizuru. After he turns into a fury and starts to slay a whole bunch of people, Chizuru tries to stop him, and tells him that he'll have to kill her if he wants to pass. What happens next? Love animation! I'm not sure if I could date a guy like that where I would have to put myself in a compromising situation just to make him like me. ^_^"

Chizuru: You shall not pass! (Unless you kill me)

Also, there is a battle where Okita is shot multiple times. As a fury, this shouldn't be a problem, but the bullets that were being used on him were silver bullets, so he couldn't heal as quickly as would have been expected of a fury. (Are they werewolves too?!) You also find out that the Water of Life does not cure diseases, which means that Okita will die even sooner because of being a fury and dealing with TB. After he finally recovers, you get to see Okita wearing Western-styled clothes. In Saito's story, you don't get to see Okita wearing these clothes because he is always bed-ridden.

Remember that girl I was talking about that looked exactly like Chizuru in the Saito's story post? Well, her name is Nagumo Kaoru, and she is actually Chizuru's twin brother. His last name is different because he was taken in by the Nagumo family. Kaoru hates Chizuru, and is happy when his sister suffers because she got to have a happy childhood while he didn't because the Nagumo were disappointed that they got the male twin, who didn't have the equipment to produce children. You can only imagine how difficult of a life he must have lived. Kaoru makes Chizuru suffer multiple times by tricking Okita into drinking the Water of Life, and later on forcing the Water of Life down Chizuru's throat, turning her into a fury. Because Chizuru is a fury, Kazama is no longer interested in having Chizuru as his wife because she can no longer give birth to a proper demon child because she has been corrupted. So Kazama is no longer a bad guy, and is not seen again. Kaoru is pretty much the main demon bad guy for this storyline.

One night, Chizuru has a dream about her living at her old childhood home with her real parents and her brother, and how the humans burned down their village, and killed her parents and everyone else. Yukimura Kodo, her foster father, I assume grabs her from the dangerous area and brings her to his home. Now that Chizuru remembers, Kaoru becomes a lot nicer to her, since Chizuru now understands his suffering, and Chizuru can sympathize with his feelings. Kaoru's goal is to get back at the humans by killing them all, and giving demons, whose bloodline has thinned, the Water of Life to increase their strength, and repopulate the demon race again. Kaoru also offers that Okita can join them if Chizuru wants. Chizuru and Okita both don't want a life built on the lives of dead people, and they simply want to be cured from the Water of Life, which Kodo may have the answer to. Okita even tells Chizuru that he'll kill her to make sure she stays as herself till the end. (That's actually quite romantic, which is an interesting spin vs the previous K bombs.) Kaoru drinks the Water of Life, making sure that he is a lot stronger than Okita. Kaoru battles with Okita, but he then shifts his blade to Chizuru, who is saved by her foster father Kodo, but is severely injured. Kaoru is angry that Kodo got in the way, and Okita uses this chance to pierce Kaoru through the heart. With Kodo's dying words, he explains how the water in the area of her old childhood home can thin the Water of Life, hence reducing its effects, and may possibly cure it. Chizuru is upset that her entire family has died, but is extremely happy that Okita is there for her, and will always be until they die. Her foster father is nice in this story line, but was evil in Saito's story line. (That's a drastic change.)

Good ending

To get the good ending, you have to give Okita medicine all the time. This differs from Saito's story where giving him blood leads to the good ending. What's also interesting is that in this story line, Chizuru makes the medicine with Yamazaki at her house, but in Saito's story line, you get the medicine from Heisuke. So what gets you a good ending for one guy does not apply for other guys. @.@ In the good ending, Chizuru lives her life with Okita at her old home when she was a child. The last CG is Okita and Chizuru just laying outside in the sun, and Okita says how much he loves Chizuru before falling "asleep". My heart kind of melted with how many times he said "I love you" and the different ways and intensities he said it. He really opened up to Chizuru near the end, and just became crazy romantic. However, the ending is ambiguous as to whether he simply fell asleep or if he died. Since this is suppose to be the good ending, I guess he just simply fell asleep.

Bad Ending (due to making him endure)

To get this particular bad ending, you have to first give Okita medicine, then make him endure. When you meet Kazama, Chizuru explains how she drank the Water of Life, and Kazama notices that Okita is going crazy. Since Chizuru is now a fury, Kazama decides to kill her, so that she can die as a pure-blooded demon, and not as an insane fury. You then get a "Game Over" screen because of it.

This is the CG you get when you make Okita endure. Looks like he's clawing at his throat *shivers*

This only gets you the first endure CG. To get the second one, you have to give Okita medicine twice, and then make him endure. You can then play through to the end and get the good ending.

Main Bad Ending (due to giving him blood)

To get this ultimate bad ending, you have to give Okita blood all the time. The reason why giving blood gives a bad ending is because Kaoru tells Chizuru that demon blood can cure the side effects of being a fury, but then later on says that blood is blood, no matter if it's from a human or a demon, and when you taste blood the first time, you'll want to crave it more and more. When Chizuru finds out about this information, she freaks out and starts to want blood, and you get a CG of Okita and Chizuru giving each other blood at the same time. 

This is the CG you get when you give Okita blood.

The reason why this is the main bad ending is that Okita gets mortally wounded by Kaoru, but manages to kill Kaoru in the end. Okita breathes his last words and passes away. Chizuru cries, hoping to hear Okita's voice one more time, but he doesn't respond. She says something along the lines of "we'll be together forever", and it's not clear whether she kills herself in the end.