tl;dr

• At first, I was suspicious at how Io did everything...
• But it was because Lyrael was still learning about love, and she does apply what she learns in the story.
• I like the inclusion of Misaki here, but kinda eh on Yuki.

• 100% comprenshion, but...
• There are probably some stuff I misunderstood during the part where Lyrael confronts Barachiel.

The Story Itself

The ghostkid Belory is wreaking havoc in Landosol, stealing everyone's love! Those who have had their love stolen, becomes apathetic, and it's up to Io, Lyrael and the krampus, Frohe to snap them out.

First order of business is Misaki, who now wants to drop out of school, much to Io, her teacher's, dismay. Through Io's lesson of love, Misaki and the rest of the students become interested in love again. I really like that they use a named character here right away, it makes the situation more personal, both for the audience and Io herself. I was a bit iffy that Lyrael just spent the entire class being flustered, but then I realize, that's because Lyrael is simply still learning! The story already did a teeny bit of foreshadowing just an episode early, when...

...KSKN pulls on Io's dress, flustering Lyrael. This also reminds me what Yori usually says, if you think someone is saying/doing something perverted, it usually means that YOU are the one that's perverted! Who'd know the Princess of Gio of Teogonia could be like this? I guess that's what ruling does to you.

Second order of business Santa Claus. Here, we see Lyrael starting to take the initiative. She remembers that krampuses have the power to manipulate dreams, usually used to make nightmares to keep the naughty kids in check. Frohe clarifies that they can make whatever dream, and so, they infiltrate a tired Santa's dream to try restore his love from the inside out. The two make a dream where a bunch of kids thank Santa for delivering them presents, restoring his love. Turns out, he was getting tired from delivering presents because no kid would thank him. To be fair, how can they thank him when he does his deliveries when most kids are asleep? Even Io comments on this at the one of the story. Now that he delivers them directly, he can hear them saying thanks right away.

And then the group goes to jail. There, they meet a self-hating Yuki who has had his love stolen. I guess including Yuki here makes sense since he's a narcist, and watching him hate himself is a nice change of pace. I just realized that sounded cruel. Anyways, what I'm trying to say here, Io snapping out Misaki, her student made sense, but who the hell is Yuki to Lyrael? I guess Yuki gave her a shirt that one time during one of the sub stories? Turns out, I was right and this is indeed what they're referencing.

Yuki is giving Santa the same shirt here. Well, I suppose I'll acknowledge the use of substories to set up interactions in events like this. After all, Io/Lyrael also had that substory where Io tied Lyrael and fed her spicy food. Lyrael/Yuki is just an unfortunate combination, I guess. Could be also because I'm biased because I'm simply not into males.

And then, the group realizes that they're barely making progress by restoring love one by one like this. Lyrael remembers reading about the collective unconscious from Yuki's book, and combined with Frohe's power, they decide to have a concert to restore the entire town's love at once. Suddenly, the group taps into the deepest part of Lyrael's mind. There, they encounter Barachiel. After a bit of back and forth, Lyrael diffuses the situation by wrapping themselves in a muffler. A very satisfying callback to the book they read in Io's class.

...Yeah, if I use the phrase "after a bit of back and forth", that means I struggled during that part of the story. Anyways, I'll talk about it in the next section as usual. Still, all in all, bretty comfy event, nice to see Io's hobby of reading love novels have a positive impact on Lyrael.

Difficulty

100% (832/832) comprehension, hooray! ...Not really. As I mentioned earlier, I struggled during the parts with Barachiel. Had to do some rereading just to write this section.

Here are the parts that I understand:

• They're indeed inside Lyrael's deepest unconscious.
• Barachiel was indeed another angel that Lyrael knew from a long time ago, and not just her schizo delusions.
• Barachiel is taking the appearance and personality of Lyrael's prideful mode because of the influence from Frohe's power.

Here are the parts that I don't.

• How they got to Lyrael's unconscious is unexplained, the story even had to use the word "suddenly".
• The two angel races. Lyrael is from "the one that loves" and Barachiel is from the one "that doesn't"...?
• What does Barachiel mean by "peace at any costs"? Maybe angels and humans had a falling out, and Lyrael decided to side with the humans to maintain peace? Which Barachiel disagrees with because she sees humans as insects.
• Where is Barachiel now?

Still, what is up with Christmas and lore dumps like these? I really disliked how sudden this is, to the point the game itself had to use the word "suddenly". However, Lyrael using the muffler is a reaallyy satisfying ending, I'm willing to over look this.

That is all for this blogpost. See ya on the next one.

Wait, since they're using substories to set up events, does that mean adult Precia/Misogi/Misaki will be a thing eventually? Oh no...