Part 90: Ayase Route Summary

This isn't an OP for NoAH, but rather a trailer. However, it has an in-universe song by FES, so I feel it fits this update (though I was not able to find an English subbed version) :
Chaos;Head NoAH Trailer - Mikkyou no Kubikazari


The Ayase route is unlocked by choosing the Negative Delusion during the 8th Delusion Trigger. The plot is the same until Takumi and Misumi go to visit Ayase in the hospital.

Rimi does not return to school and is still missing in this route, so Misumi and Takumi head to the hospital by themselves. Just as Misumi is about to knock on the door, Ayase opens it herself. The first thing either boy notices is that Ayase is covered in blood. Misumi immediately starts running away, but Takumi is too shocked to move and ends up being dragged into her room.

After recovering enough to ask Ayase the reason for all the blood, she replies that she has given up on gathering all the Black Knights to stop Gladioul, instead focusing on the Di-Swords. She has gathered two so far. Takumi does not recognize either, but the player can realize that Ayase has Rimi's and Nanami's Di-Swords:



Takumi doesn't really understand anything, but as far as he's concerned Ayase has never threatened him and, given that Rimi's gone off somewhere and isn't protecting him like she promised, Ayase seems like his best bet. They make a promise to protect each other and Ayase makes Takumi stay in her room.

As Ayase continues to explain about the prophecy, Gladioul and the rest, Takumi makes the connection that the 'knights of Gladioul' are her term for Gigalomaniacs. That doesn't help too much with understanding the rest of her spiel, however. Takumi mentions that he tried to look up the book that Ayase supposedly got the prophecy from, but the pages were blank in the only version he saw. Ayase responds that she can see the words, that Takumi can't see them because of the Malice within him, and that there are as many different views, as many different worlds, as there are people in the world.

Takumi is not very convinced, beginning to wonder if all of this is just in her head, when Ayase suddenly pushes him into a closet and puts her lips over his mouth:



Takumi is initially anticipating something ero, but those hopes are dashed as Ayase's motivations become clear: No sooner are they safely hidden away than Hazuki comes into the room. Hazuki is on the phone with her collaborator Suwa. They're annoyed that Ayase apparently escaped from the hospital, but it isn't a big problem. After confirming that Suwa can handle things on his end, Hazuki heads to the scramble crossing to start the riot there.

After Hazuki leaves, Nishijou is just beginning to hope for more close contact from Ayase when they hear a gunshot. Ayase immediately heads for the roof, dragging Takumi with her. There they find two bodies: Ban and Yua. Ban is dead. Yua is technically alive, but according to Ayase her heart has been killed and she's not long for this world. Ayase takes the opportunity to take Yua's Di-Sword, 'absorbing' it into her own, when the Third Melt hits Shibuya.

For a moment, just as the Third Melt hits, Takumi finds himself in a strange world, similar to his own, where the sky is red and he can see writhing human-shaped lumps of black mist. Then he wakes up.

After they both wake, Ayase says that everything happening is according to prophecy. Claiming to be guided, she drags Takumi with her to Shinsen Station.

Along the way, Takumi keeps seeing flashes of the 'red world', accompanied by flashes of radio static. The red world seems to be a perverted form of the real world. In the real world, a man is busy organizing fellow survivors to effect an evacuation effort. In the red world, that same man is shooting everyone around him, reveling in the bloodshed. And everywhere, everyone, is covered by a black mist.



When they arrive at Shinsen Station, they find three bodies: A dead homeless man (Hatano), Sena and Kozue. Both Sena and Kozue have had their hearts killed, like Yua. Ayase comments that someone is hunting down the Black Knights. Just as Ayase has finished retrieving their Di-Swords, Takumi gets another vision of the red world.

Kozue, catatonic in the real world, gets on her feet, muttering about mirrors, grabs a shard of glass and starts stabbing Sena's face. With a burst of static, Kozue is back on the ground and it is now Sena who starts moving, crawling over to her father's corpse and tearing at his throat with her teeth.

With six Di-Swords in Ayase's possession, Takumi's the only one extant, the two of them proceed to aimlessly wander Shibuya. As they do, Takumi's visions of the red world grow longer and longer. Eventually Ayase asks if he can see the sky.



Takumi affirms, commenting on it's red colour, only for Ayase to say that the colour is blue. Takumi begins to disagree with her, but realizes that he cannot find the words to describe the colour 'blue' except to say that it's the colour of the sky. But to Ayase, the sky has always been that way.

As Takumi listens to her speak, he realizes that the 'red world' he's been seeing is how Ayase has been seeing the world her whole life. A world with the hidden emotions, the hidden malice of everyone on full display. Ayase confesses that after Takumi saved her from her suicide attempt, she's hoped that he could also save her from this horrible world as well. As she makes her plea, her strong emotions seep from her chest as black mist.

Takumi is scared at the thought of anyone relying on him, but after recalling the promise they made, he realises that Ayase is his only friend and that he wants to try. He grasps at the black mist, the Malice seeping from Ayase as it turns into a leech-like form, and tears it off her.



In his hands, the leech turns into a Di-Sword. His Di-Sword. The seven Di-Swords have been gathered, and Gladioul comes.

The red sky is painted black. With the seven Di-Swords in hand, the time has come for Ayase to enact the prophecy. But she doesn't know what to do. The guidance she felt has vanished. Could it be that the Black Knights were needed, and the Di-Swords are otherwise worthless?

Takumi starts to despair. Everything is ruined, just like after the Staking.... Takumi has an idea. There was one thing about the staking that didn't fill him with despair: Ayase's song. He asks her to sing it again, hoping there may be a hint in it.

A Contract of Blood to Seal Our Sin

As Ayase sings, Takumi deciphers the meaning behind the lyrics. The song was not about the staking of humans, but the staking of Gladioul. The Di-Swords are the stakes!

Understanding what she has to do, Ayase takes Takumi's Di-Sword into her own and throws it at Gladioul. The sky turns back to red, then cracks at the point of impact. Then the sky shatters.




As Ayase see's the true sky, she breaks down in tears. She never knew blue was such a beautiful colour.