Tsukahara Neko

* Re:newal
* Hotel Staff Uniform
* Hotel Guest
* Real World
* Bathrobe

Unnamed Younger Brother

**Tsukahara Neko** is the playable character and the main protagonist of Tasokare Hotel. She is a high school student who was sent to the hotel after being stabbed by a phantom killer.

*"The heroine of this story. She is a high school student and started working at Tasokare Hotel in between this world and the afterlife. She is an active girl even if she always has unmotivated eyes."*
-In-game Character Profile

## Appearance

Neko is a young adult who appears to be quite short for her age. Her lilac hair is styled into a bob with half-moon bangs. Her yellow fish eyes are deadpan and unmotivated, which often makes it hard for the other characters to tell when she's joking.

### Hotel Staff Uniform

Neko's staff uniform at Tasokare Hotel consists of a purple, polka-dot, semi-traditional kimono top and a plain dark purple wide skirt that reaches above her ankles. It also has a white frilly apron, a maid headband, and a pair of murky purple laced-up knee-high boots.

### Hotel Guest Outfit

When she first arrived at Tasokare Hotel, Neko wore a '50s style purple polka-dot dress, white high rise socks, and black Mary Jane shoes.

### Real-World Fashion

Neko's real-world outfit consists of a baby blue Team Autumn sweater, a green undershirt, and a dark purple frilly skirt with printed skulls, triangles, hearts, circles and bows. The skirt has multiple layers, with the print at the top and white ruffles underneath. Her socks are mismatched, one being green with white stripes, and the other being polka-dot purple. She wears magenta rubber shoes with thick soles and has a one-eyed-monster-themed hair clip and canteen bag.

### Bathrobe

This outfit consists of a pink lightly checkered bathrobe and green slippers.

### Behind the Scenes

*"In the beginning, we also had an image of Steampunk, but decided to go on with a Taisho modern era's style. We also set her up as a subculture of Harajuku, Tokyo fashion. So we played with colors and compositions for her style."*
- Artist's comments on Neko's Hotel Uniform
## Personality

Neko always looks serious because of her eyes, but is shown to be energetic and playful. While primarily lighthearted, she is not always kind and can be harsh to the Hotel Manager at times. She can also be very pushy when she wants others to do her bidding. Prone to boredom, she is constantly roaming the hotel in search of work and entertainment.

To her coworkers, Neko is seen as a slacker since she tends to skip out on work to fulfill her own agenda, such as when she wanted to get Kanekono's autograph. She is described to not be very skilled at cleaning, and her perpetual serious face makes her a bad concierge. Rather than specializing in traditional hotel-related skills, she is adept at investigation and interrogation, often being one of the first to figure out guest’s identities.

Neko is extremely determined and ready to face any consequence she is given, as shown when she sends Osoto to hell without any remorse. She claims that she is not a kind person like Ruri and Atori, but someone who lacks common sense and a sense for peace. She has no care for the world's laws and ethics, only adhering to personal values that interest her. Despite this, she still demonstrates deep guilt and regret whenever she is in the wrong, and will do anything in her power to make things right again.

In Another Ending, Neko demonstrates her more sinister side, showing sympathy to Osoto and offering to become his friend and accomplice. She expresses excitement in continuing their cat-and-mouse game, treating it as a form of entertainment and acknowledging that the lives of herself and others are at risk as long as he lives. However, she is confident in her ability to kill him if need be, and regards this outcome as a punishment for enjoying their rivalry.

#### Behind the Scenes

*"... I decided her to be an active girl. In the story, she moves, thinks, makes mistakes and covers her own mistakes."*
-Benoma Ray
## History

### Background

Not much is known about Neko's life prior to the incident that brought her to the hotel. She never mentions her family, but she has a younger brother as stated in the developer notes. She found out about the 365 Sister Q when she changed the TV to the wrong channel one day, and has followed their development ever since.

One day, on her walk home from a Team Autumn concert, Neko was stabbed in the side by the phantom killer Masaki Osoto. Her last memory before falling unconscious was a desperate plea wondering why it had to be her.

### Tasokare Hotel

When she wakes up, Neko finds herself in the middle of nowhere. She has lost all memories of who she is, her belongings are gone, and she is for some reason wearing a '50s style outfit. After much walking, she suddenly finds herself standing in front of the Tasokare Hotel.

Inside the building, Neko is greeted by The Manager, who explains that she is in a realm between life and death, and must regain her memories and figure out if she is alive or dead in the real world. A polite and accommodating young man named Haruto Atori is assigned as her concierge, who takes her to her room to search for clues. Neko quickly finds her student ID and remembers her name, interests, and status as a high school student. However, she has no recollection of what sent her to the hotel. Bored with nothing else to do, she decides to become a staff member until she is able to regain her memory.

The first guest to arrive at the hotel after Neko is the Gambler. While working at the reception, she picks up a call from him asking her to find three people to play Mahjong. After bringing The Manager, Atori, and Menow to his room, Neko is then asked to search for clues about his identity. Neko investigates the room and interrogates the Gambler before coming to the conclusion that he had a gambling addiction, fell into debt with loan sharks, and then went into forced labor in the form of illegal coral poaching. Remembering his identity as Atsuhiro Ando, the Gambler's face is revealed.

This recollection is short-lived as the room suddenly fills with dirt in a simulated landslide. Ando is trapped underneath, so Neko and Atori hastily dig him out with a shovel. Ando realizes that he is alive, but trapped in a landslide in the real world. Thanking Neko, he decides to check out of the hotel and take his life back.

The second guest is a man with a Pansy Head, who is the first guest that Neko is completely in charge of. Explaining his situation, she brings him to his room to help him search for clues. There, she quickly finds a victim list of women, causing the man to remember his identity as Masaki Osoto, a detective. Although she distrusts him at first, he is able to convince her with his business card. The two then decide to take a short break to eat, where Osoto is introduced to Atori.

When the investigation resumes, Neko figures out that Osoto was sent to the hotel after slipping on a wet manhole cover onto a pointed fence. As if to confirm her deduction, Osoto’s side suddenly begins bleeding, so she calls Atori and Ruri to help. Osoto shortly recovers, and it is then that Neko voices her suspicions about him being a criminal. After a brief interrogation, her suspicions are confirmed as he takes Ruri hostage and threatens to kill everyone in the room. With her quick thinking, Neko reflects light into his eyes to temporarily blind him, giving Ruri an opening to get away. Shortly after, the Manager comes in and explains that killing someone is a direct ticket to Hell. Additionally, only 1 in 50,000 people remember their time at the hotel, so there’s no real incentive to killing them anyway. Defeated, Osoto decides to check out of the hotel.

However, this victory is short-lived as Osoto returns shortly afterward, realizing he can't leave since he does not know if he is alive or dead in the real world. With no other ethical options, the hotel staff allow Osoto to stay, with Neko continuing as his concierge. The two develop a relationship almost akin to a friendship and are often seen conversing and bickering with each other when they have nothing else to do.

One day while waiting for new guests to arrive, Neko visits the bar and meets a tarsier named Kiriko. He gives her a one-time use telescope and tells her she can use it to see a "good view." Shortly afterward, a masked couple arrive, who Neko is appointed to assist. Talking to Osoto about them, he points out that only the husband is wearing a wedding ring. Returning to the couple's room, Neko saves them from a water overflow and subsequently brings up her doubts about their marriage. The wife, Kyoko, runs away in anguish.

Following Kyoko, Neko ends up at the bar, where Menow gives her a rubix cube puzzle. She asks Osoto to solve it, revealing clues about the couple's past. The two go back to the couple's room and deduce that Kyoko is not Toru's wife. Neko then uses Kiriko's telescope to prove that Toru is alive in the real world while Kyoko is dead. Afterward, Kyoko jumps off of the room's balcony, and Toru checks out of the hotel.

The final guest to arrive at the hotel during Neko's stay there is the idol Kanekono, who Neko recognizes from the 365Q idol group. Neko gets her autograph and asks her to sing a song live, which she agrees to do as long as Neko can find players for the instrumentals. Getting the Manager to play the drums and Osoto to play the piano was easy, but Atori refuses to play the saxophone. When it is time for the performance, however, he shows up and thanks Neko for being so adamant about him playing.

A few hours after the performance, Neko visits Kanekono in her room, where the latter passes out from eating too much. Distressed, Neko calls Osoto for help, who swiftly shows up and saves her, despite getting nothing out of it. The two have tea together as they wait for Kanekono to wake up, prompting Neko to wonder what their relationship could be like in different circumstances. Osoto leaves after Kaneko wakes up, and Neko helps her come to terms with her death and her past relationships. The idol checks out shortly afterward with no regrets.

Waking up one morning after Kaneko's departure, Neko has a dream about how she died in the real world. Realizing she was stabbed by a phantom killer, she goes to ask Osoto about it. On the way there, she meets Ruri, who has mysteriously lost her shift roster. After helping Ruri, Neko asks Osoto if he killed her. Hearing she was wearing normal clothes that day, Osoto replies in the negative, making them both wonder who the real culprit was.

Getting back to her hotel work, Neko is stationed at the reception where she runs into Atori. He says he's on his way to clean Osoto's room, since he complained that Neko didn't clean it well enough earlier that morning. Just to spite Osoto, Neko and Atori switch shifts.

In Osoto's room, Neko sees new things related to his memory that weren't there before. After a brief investigation, she finds a secret passage to a hidden room, where she finds his diary. Reading it, she realizes that he was her killer all along. Searching for more evidence in the room, she uncovers a wall full of pictures of Atori, and quickly realizes that Osoto stalked and killed him in the real world. Not only that, but he plans to do something to Atori in the hotel as well. Neko leaves the room and decides to stop the problem at the source, and so begins her and Osoto's game of life and death.

Excited to go face-to-face with her greatest adversary, Neko approaches Osoto in the bar to ask for more time to get ready. He obliges, comparing their likeness to Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty, where she is Sherlock, and he Moriarty.

Neko first goes to the Manager, begging him to send Osoto to Hell lest something happens to Atori. However, the Manager refuses, claiming that nothing can justify taking the life of another. It is then when she is approached by Kiriko, who tells her that there is a gun-shaped tool in the Manager's room that is capable of sending its target to Hell. Neko goes on a treasure hunt for the hotel master key, and then enters the Manager's room and equips herself with the "Hell gun." Afterward, Osoto approaches Neko, tired of waiting, and the two head outside the hotel to settle everything without prying eyes.

Outside, Osoto challenges Neko to figure out his plans and motive with the evidence she had collected from the hidden room. She correctly deduces that everything he did as a criminal in the real world stemmed from his parents' neglect, and that he is targeting Atori out of jealousy and a wish to be him. She almost jokingly asserts that he plans to eat Atori in order to assimilate him, and after he affirms this, she pulls out the gun but hesitates to shoot him, realizing that it's likely just a normal gun that will send her to Hell along with him. Osoto takes advantage of this and beats her nearly unconscious. Suddenly, Atori shows up, having seen everything from the window. Desperate to save Neko, he grabs the gun and accidentally shoots Osoto, killing him. As a result, the gate of Hell opens, and the two are pulled in. Neko is brought back to the hotel, where she is immediately fired from her job.

The following day, Neko decides to check out of the hotel. After saying her goodbyes, the Manager stops her, telling her she has yet to receive her salary for working there. Additionally, because Atori is dead, she will receive his as well. Much to Neko's surprise, the salary is not money, but time. She can use it to go back in time, however, the amount she has earned isn't nearly enough to go back to before Atori was killed by Osoto. Ruri then shows up and offers Neko her own salary, which is enough for Neko to go back to that point in time and save Atori.

Neko says her final goodbyes once again, ending with Kiriko, who is outside the hotel. He apologizes for tricking her with the gun, and thanks her for allowing him to see the "good view" of Hell's gate being opened. He asks her if she is ready to fall into Hell, to which she responds in the affirmative. Satisfied by her answer, he gives her a puzzle box containing the key to the gate of Hell, which will allow her to send Osoto to Hell in the real world.

Ready to check out, Neko solves the final puzzle and goes back to the real world. She finds herself standing in the middle of a train station platform at night, where Atori is nearby waiting for his train. She picks up some makeshift weapons and notices Osoto approaching. Before stopping him, she realizes that he is her fate.

### True Ending

Neko confronts Osoto, who does not recognize her, having not gone to the hotel in this timeline. Equipped with the key to the gate of Hell, Neko opens the gate and Osoto is dragged in. However, he is able to grab her and take her with him. The two fall, but Neko is able to jam an umbrella between a wedge of a cliff to keep from going all the way down. Osoto, suddenly remembering everything due to his traumatic experiences in Hell before, grabs onto her torso, desperate to not go back.

In a struggle reminiscent of the Reichenbach Falls battle between Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty, Osoto climbs up Neko and grabs onto her umbrella, then pulls out his knife to stab her. However, she jams a metal rod into his hand before he can do so, causing him to lose his grip and fall into the depths of Hell. As he falls, he screams out pleas of help for his parents, as well as an anguished cry wondering why it had to be him.

Meanwhile, the gate is closing. Neko scrambles to the top of the cliff, but can't reach high enough to pull herself out. Fortunately, Atori has noticed the hole in the ground and reaches down to pull Neko out of Hell. Neko feigns not knowing what was inside the hole before thanking Atori and going her separate way.

One year later, Neko has enter a two-year college. She says she has no regrets about sending Osoto to Hell, and has started working part-time at the Yokohama city hotel. There, she must undergo professional exchange training, and she is lucky enough to be taught by the top concierge of the Hamilton Hotel. Coincidentally, the concierge in question is Atori, who recognizes Neko from the train station. Neko is glad to see he is still doing well, and she begins working as his junior much like she did when she started at the Tasokare Hotel.

### Another Ending

Neko confronts Osoto, who does not recognize her, having not gone to the hotel in this timeline. Although she is equipped with the key to the gate of Hell, Neko does not use it, instead held back by her close relationship with Osoto at the hotel.

Neko invites Osoto to a nearby cafe to talk, where she explains everything that happened at the Tasokare Hotel. Even though it sounds like a tall tale, he believes her because there's no other way she would be able to know everything about him. She then proposes a deal: he stays away from Atori, and in return, she will become his accomplice. Although he has his reservations, he agrees, and so the two begin their unlikely partnership.

### Special Stories: True Ending

One evening after work with Atori, Neko invites him to a cafe to talk. She has been exchanging letters with Ruri, who recently checked out of the hotel, and wants to arrange a meeting for the three of them. Under the guise that Ruri is aiming to work in the hotel field, Neko asks Atori if he can teach her, to which he accepts. Neko follows up on this request by asking Atori to play saxophone in a live jazz performance that she arranged with her SNS friends. Atori wonders how Neko knows he plays the saxophone, but she covers it up by saying he told her when he was drunk. Although he doesn't buy her excuse, he also doesn't outright refuse about performing. The two exchange contact information so they can plan for these events.

Some time later, Ruri comes to the city to meet Neko and Atori at the Yokohama Hotel. Neko introduces her two friends to each other, and Ruri begins sobbing seeing that Atori is alive. Atori becomes more suspicious of his relationship with both girls, but doesn't say anything of it. During their conversation, Atori mentions he has regularly been having nightmares about running away from tarsiers in Hell. Neko makes a mental note of this. When it is time for Ruri to leave, Neko gives her a hug goodbye and tells her to keep in touch.

A little while after that, Neko calls Atori one morning to ask him about his nightmares. Hearing he had the same one the previous night, she tells him to contact her the next time he thinks it's about to happen. He says he believes it will happen again that night, and she responds that she will see in his dream.

Later that night, Neko goes to sleep holding a nail bat and a ladder, hoping to infiltrate Atori's dream with these items if she falls asleep at the same time as him. Miraculously, it works, and she quickly finds Atori to save him from the tarsiers chasing him. The two fight off the Hell creatures and run to the top of the mountain, where there's a ladder leading up to the train station in the real world. They make it out just before the gate closes, with Atori pulling Neko up by her collar just like he did the year before. He pressures Neko to answer all of his questions, and even though Neko tries to say it's all a dream, Atori knows better, realizing he somehow knew Neko and Ruri before. The key to Hell in Neko's pocket breaks, rendering it unusable, and Neko promises to tell Atori everything the next morning, should he remember the ordeal.

Sure enough, Atori remembers everything and contacts Neko the next morning. She presumably tells him everything that happened at the Tasokare Hotel, although he does not remember a thing about it. Thanks to Neko, he never dreamed about going to Hell again.

A while afterward, Neko and Atori meet in the cafe after the live music event. Atori ended up playing the saxophone after all, thanks to Neko's persuasion. The two talk about the event's success, the Osoto family, and finally about possible jobs for Neko once she graduates college. Neko ends up deciding that she wants to become a police officer, as that's an unusual job that fits her, and Atori ends up agreeing.

### Special Stories: Another Ending

Following a successful assault, Osoto and Neko go to a cafe as they normally do after committing a crime together. Ever since the two joined forces, she has been his great assistant, consistently finding new targets and photographing his victims without hesitation. At the cafe, Neko voices her concerns about her university entrance exams, and Osoto begins tutoring her in math. Although she does not fully trust him, still keeping the key to Hell on her person at all times, she visibly enjoys their relationship and seems to trust him a decent amount.

## Relationships

### Haruto Atori

Neko sees Atori as a serious and dependable senior colleague. They look out for each other, shown when they offer to take on guests to ease the other's burden and always trying to protect each other from dangerous people like Osoto. Neko even saves Atori's life twice in the game: once from Osoto in the hotel, and then again from Osoto in the real world. Subsequently, Atori is protective of Neko as shown when he discovers Osoto's true identity, offering to take care of Osoto himself instead and advising Neko on how to protect herself when she refuses his offer. They also understand each other well and respect each other's boundaries. In Chapter 6, he is the first to point out her similarities with Osoto. Even after Neko's actions indirectly send him to hell in Chapter 7, he does not hold her in contempt, instead asking her to live a long life for him.

After Neko goes back in time to save Atori, subsequently erasing his memories of her and the hotel, he acts more distant and polite to her, yet cannot shake the familiarity of her dialogue and personality. The two adopt a relationship similar to what they had at the hotel, although this time more professional due to being in the real world, despite Neko constantly asking him to drop the formalities. She decides to keep the Tasokare Hotel a secret from him in order to protect him from remembering his experiences in hell.

In Special Stories, Neko becomes extra protective of Atori after learning he is having nightmares of Hell, and must open up about the Tasokare Hotel after saving him from said nightmares. This causes Atori to finally drop the formalities, and the two truly do go back to the dynamic they had before.

### Masaki Osoto

Osoto compares their relationship to Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty, with Neko being Sherlock and himself being Moriarty. After she exposed Osoto's real identity, he acknowledged her as his foil and a rivalry sparked between them. However, he does end up helping her a few times in the game and often has humorous banter with her, almost as if they are actually friends. She only starts fearing and truly despising him after learning about all of his secrets from the basement.

Eventually, Neko realizes that Osoto is her destiny, and that they will either live or die by the other's hand. In turn, Osoto acknowledges that she is the only one who can truly understand him, much to her dismay.

Depending on the choices made throughout the game, Neko may either completely despise or feel sympathetic for Osoto. In the case of completely despising him, she will not hesitate to kill him or turn him in to the authorities. In Another Ending, she realizes she became soft after spending too much time with him at the hotel, and decides to corner him into continuing their friendship-rivalry instead of killing him.

In Another Ending's Special Story, it is mentioned by Osoto that Neko has become his closest ally and, perhaps, his best friend. Although they now work on the same side, Neko still does not completely trust him, always prepared to send him to Hell with the key Kiriko gave her. Despite this, she also seems to trust him more than she does most people, able to immediately fall asleep next to him in the same bed trusting he has no ulterior motives. In short, she seems to be enjoying their current relationship, indulging herself in it although it may not last.

Overall, Neko acknowledges Osoto as her destiny and respects him to a certain extent despite not agreeing with him.

### Hotel Manager

Neko and the Hotel Manager usually have funny and childish banter, stemming from her obnoxious nature and the Manager's tendency to get easily flustered. Ironically, Neko often reprimands the Manager for not showing up to work on time.

In later chapters, Neko is able to unveil the Manager's serious side when addressing him about sending people to hell. He expresses discontent about her adamancy to send Osoto to hell, and thereafter is immensely disappointed in her when she steals his gun. Despite her mistakes, he cares for her deeply as his employee, saying that he hopes to never forget her after she leaves.

### Ruri

Ruri is Neko's subject of admiration and her source of entertainment since there's no TV or internet in the hotel. Ruri often scolds Neko and often acts more mature despite being younger, while Neko enjoys teasing her for her cuteness. During Chapter 8, Neko calls Ruri her goddess because she gave her another chance to set things right again. In return, she makes a promise with Ruri to become her first friend in the real world.

In Special Stories, Neko continues fawning over Ruri in the real world through both letters and in-person meetings. She is able to get Ruri to hug her, as well as show Ruri that she was able to set things right with Atori thanks to her salary.

### Kiriko

Kiriko started off as a friend and ally of Neko's before trapping her with his tricks in Chapter 7. Neko would often talk to him in the bar about the "good view" he was looking for, but then found out the hard way that he was talking about the Gate of Hell. After this, Neko held him in contempt, but eventually decided that she was at fault for falling into his trap. Upon her departure, she is grateful to him for giving her the key to Hell and allowing her to finish what she started with Osoto. Throughout all of this, Kiriko remains entertained by Neko's exploits.

### Menow

Neko admires Menow for being a pretty and mature woman. She has yet to see Menow's fury.

## Trivia

* Her Sherlock title in contrast to Osoto's Moriarty foreshadows the true ending and climax of the final chapter.
	+ In The Final Problem of Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock and Moriarty presumably fall off a cliff at Reichenbach Falls after a long struggle, but it is revealed later on that Sherlock managed to survive.
* Neko is agile and therefore good at speed games, as shown when she plays against Osoto to get him to play the piano in Chapter 5.
* In a conversation with Osoto, she mentions having a good grade in gymnastics in high school.
* Neko is the only human to go to Hell twice and return both times.
* Neko is one of the rare cases at the hotel where her face never changed.
	+ Usually, only celebrities retain their real face after first coming to the hotel. It is speculated by Atori that Neko retained her face due to her determination.
* In all but one of the late-game bad endings, Neko loses her rivalry with Osoto. The one time she wins is when she gets him sent to jail.
* One year after the main storyline, Neko applied for a part-time job at a hotel in Yokohama, where she meets Atori again and works with him through the hotel professional exchange program.