Kokoro Surugadai

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With Imagigear

**Kokoro Surugadai** is one of the protagonist's companion characters in *Monark*.

## Background

> Do not worry. I am both safe and secure. I have no intention of bothering anyone.
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Kokoro is an enigmatic first-year high school student at Shin Mikado Academy. Despite being gifted with a high IQ, she dropped out of college overseas and transferred to the academy. As the Pactbearer of Sloth, she often confines herself within the library. "Safety and security" is her creed, and she has a strong aversion to both hurting others and being hurt herself.

Spoilers ahead***This section contains unmarked spoilers. Read ahead at your own risk.***
In act 1, the Protagonist meets her in the Library where she convinces him to help her defeat Subaru Ikariya, the Pactbearer of Wrath, who is haunting the 1st Year Building and killing those who bullied him, stating that her Precog-analysis ability showed her that he would help her defeat him. As they travel through the Mist and destroy his Ideals they also see him possess students, forcing them to kill each other and are unable to stop him. Kororo informs the Protagonist that she already knew they would die, and apologizes for deceiving him.

As they prepare to destroy his final Ideal, Subaru reveals that he fell in love with Kokoro, or more accurately his idea of what Kokoro is like. His feelings for her come from the fact that she didn't pity or look down on him and seemed indifferent to what was going on. In truth, Kokoro didn't intervene because she didn't know what to do or how to interact with him. When Kokoro rejects him, she corrects him on the fact that she did care about what was going on and just didn't know how to act. He becomes enraged at the Protagonist, accusing him of manipulating and changing Kokoro, the rejection not setting him off, but instead the fact that Kokoro destroyed his image of her. The duo defeat him, destroy his final Ideal, and then learn that he wasn't actually a ghost and was in the Infirmary as when Hidefumi Yoshida pushed him out a window he was transported to the Otherworld just before dying and was using his Authority to project his consciousness despite being knocked out in the real World.

Koroko then remains behind in the True Student Council room to rest as her Precog-analysis wears her out. As the Protagonist inspects the other buildings, she helps Nozomi Hinata with her paperwork. Ryotaro Date and Shinya Yuda join the True Student Council as well (or had already joined, depending on when the Protagonist completes her route).

After clearing most of the buildings, Sora Jingu informs them that the only Pact Bearer left was Greed. As the True Student Council have a party to celebrate their victories, the Protagonist hears ringing in his ears which makes Sora realize Greed was using their ability. She is able to protect everyone in the TSC room from it, though it effects the rest of the school with everything being set back to when the barrier was first applied, bringing the dead back to life, though the Ideals were still shattered. The defeated Pactbearers wake up, though Ryotaro is able to put them back to sleep by stealing their energy. The Protagonist and one of his friends then travel to the old school building and destroy the Pactbearer's Ideals, eventually learning it is Kakeru Hasegawa who wanted to go back in time ten years to revive his brother though this would cover 20% of the World in Mist. Needing the barrier to be removed he tries to convince them to team up with him to defeat Sora, who was behind the barrier, though not wanting to cover so much of the World in Mist, defeat him. After doing so, Yoru kills him as she no longer found him useful. Kokoro either saw these events herself, or learned of them upon the Protagonist's return.

In the intermission, she becomes even more upset when she learns of Chiyo Aikawa's death and visits the Protagonist in the Infirmary after he had fallen unconscious through shock after finding her dead body.

In act 2, after the Protagonist has awoken, he visits Kokoro to thank her for visiting him and though she is happy to see him awake tells him that this will be the last time they ever see each other again. During Kokoro's route, the Protagonist is able to convince her to tell him what she means by agreeing not to stop her and she informs him that she asked Sora to seal her away forever in the Otherworld so that she could never hurt anyone again, and never be hurt again. Rather than try to stop her, he instead convinces her to let him be sealed away forever alongside her by telling her how much he cares about her and that she would be hurting him by leaving. Not wanting to hurt him by leaving she accepts this, and also tells him to take responsibility for the fact they basically just accepted to be lovers. She asks Sora if she can take him with her, though she tells them that she will only agree if they defeat Ryotaro Date as then all Pactbearers will be dealt with.

As they travel though the Archives destroying Ryotaro's Ideals, she tries to change the Protagonist's mind about being sealed away with her forever as she doesn't feel she is worth it and that they barely know each other, though he rejects this notion even after she tells him her life story. She reveals that she is happy the Protagonist feels this way about her, and that she feels the same, though doesn't like the feeling of selfishness it has of taking him away with her and that she had initially agreed due to said happiness of being loved by him and hadn't realized it was selfish to take for herself until later. They are unable to have Ryotaro give up his powers without a fight and after defeating him, destroy his final Ideal.

Kokoro had been impressed by Ryotaro's resolve and comes to the realization that she no longer wants to be sealed away forever and instead wants to remain in the real World with the Protagonist, by his side forever. She relays this information to Sora, though she is able to talk her out of it and begins sealing the duo away before she can change her mind for a second time (with Kororo indeed seeming to have changed her mind again). As she is in the middle of sealing them away, Shinya and Yugo Jingu show up, apparently having been asked to arrive by Sora. Before the sealing can be completed Yoru comes out of Sora and reveals she was the one who had summoned them, and attacks Yugo. Sora stops her sealing to protect Yugo, and though is able to stop him from dying he only has a few seconds left to live. Sora snaps and absorbs Yugo, then absorbs Shinya as well. She leaves the room and begins absorbing all the students, whilst Yoru is able to convince the Protagonist and Kokoro to form a temporary alliance to stop Sora as stopping her was more important right now than stopping Yoru. Yoru reveals that the real Pactbearer of Woe was Yugo, and Sora was his Monark with an altered appearance as the real Sora was dead. His memories had also been altered, making him unaware of this. Yoru was an alternate personality of the Monark that had come to life as its own entity and had become stronger by creating more Pactbearers.

She gives them the key to the basements of the school, so they can destroy Yugo's Ideals. As they transverse them, Kororo reveals she no longer cared about safety and security and instead now only cared about being by the Protagonist's side. They fight a fake version of Shinya, who had been created to try and deter the duo from stopping Sora since they wouldn't want to hurt their friend, though realize he's a fake and defeat him. As they arrive at the final Ideal they confront Sora who refuses to release the absorbed people. Instead, she offers Kokoro to chance to be absorbed as well, since she'd be safe and secure there - though she refuses. Sora then reveals her plan is to absorb the entire World so that everyone can be together as one. After being defeated, Sora begs them to not destroy the Ideal as doing so would destroy not just her but everyone she absorbed though Kokoro states that the real Sora and everyone she absorbed was already dead. After destroying the Ideal, Sora, with the last of her power, tries to kill Kokoro though the Protagonist protects her and takes the blow instead. As he dies, Yoru arrives, with Kokoro asking her to save him. Yoru tells her to use her Precog-analysis ability to see if she can save him but finds that she cannot. Yoru then explains that the Protagonist can only exist within the barrier, and leaves not wanting to ruin their goodbye. The Protagonist apologizes for not being able to be with her forever whilst Kokoro tells him about how much loved him and how badly she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. Unable to do so, he dies in front of the tearful Kokoro. Kokoro stands in front of a bottomless pit, staring into it, which causes Yoru to tell her not to kill herself as the Protagonist had given his life to save hers and that she could now leave the building. Kokoro then tearfully apologizes to the Protagonist.

In Nozomi's route, the Protagonist and Nozomi decide to destroy her Ideals rather than allow her to seal herself away as they were worried about what would happen to her after she was sealed, finding that destroying her Ideals would be safer. She leaves notes in the Mist in the library directed at the Protagonist, indicating she knew he would try to stop her by smashing the Ideals. As they arrive at the third Ideal, Kokoro demands they leave as she wanted to be in the Underworld alone. As she found no way to understand others, this being her true wish, she rejects every attempt from Nozomi to resolve things without a fight which leads them to defeat Kokoro. They then shatter her final Ideal, putting her into a coma.

In Shinya's route, it is implied that Sora seals away Kokoro within the Otherworld.

In Ryotaro's route, Sora seals her away within the Otherworld. Ryotaro, not fond of her running away like that, decides that he and the Protagonist would force her to face her problems. They also hoped they'd be able to use her powers to help stop the distortions, as well as hoping on the slight chance she can find a way to revive Chiyo. Figuring she'd show herself if they smashed her Ideals they travel through the Library doing so. Upon reaching the third Ideal, they are confronted by Kokoro - who is surprised to see Ryotaro with the Protagonist. Wanting to remain sealed away, she summons Acedia, and attacks the duo before they even have a chance to talk her down. After defeating her, she tells them not to smash her final Ideal to which they inform her that they were there to take her back and team up with her not to smash them, Ryotaro due to wanting her powers and the Protagonist due to caring about her. As she uses her powers, she finds that they are indeed able to stop the distortions through some sort of gate though before she can look further into it Shinya and Sora arrive and destroy her final Ideal, putting her into a coma.

After experiencing all four timelines, the Protagonist is sent back in time once more time - this time to before Chiyo died, though at the expense of Kakeru no longer existing (as Vanitas had hidden his last Ideal at the last second, allowing him to use his power as a ghost, the five time travelling's causing his Ideal to break). Unlike the previous times, the Protagonist retains his memories and is able to access his memories pertaining to all four timelines. He then uses Resonance to share what he learned over all four timelines with the others. Having the memories of all four timelines, Kokoro is upset - though feels better after being hold by the Protagonist. She then sets out to help change the future so that no one has to disappear.

With the True Student Council back together, due to everyone gaining said memories, they resolve to defeat Yoru to protect Chiyo though remember that doing should would cause the Protagonist to die again. Remembering about Yugo and Ryotaro mentioning Gods, as well as Kokoro remembering about the gate, she uses her power to see what they need to do. She sees the Protagonist and a bunch of symbols, which Shinya remembers reading about in Cromwell's writings. By proving your worth after overcoming all the Monarks, you can see the symbols needed to send you to the gate. With the Protagonist having defeated everyone else over the various timelines they come to the conclusion that he qualifies.

After figuring out what the sign is; he types it into his phone which then drags everyone in, including Chiyo, with the group being dropped right in front of the gate. As they try to go through it, they are unable to and are confronted by Yoru who informs them that only those worthy can enter (indicating that only the Protagonist could go through). Asking what had happened to Sora, they come to realize that she had gained the memories as well. Sora arrives, and having rid herself of the name Sora due to also regaining her memories, introduces herself as Tristia. She explains that she had forcefully removed Yoru from herself, who was now under control of Yugo, the pactbearer. Yugo then arrives, and, wanting to bring the story to a close asks Shinya to join their side. The group then realize that only those worthy could arrive at the gate (with the others being dragged in alongside the Protagonist) which leads Yugo to reveal his real name is actually Hugo Cromwell which makes the group realize he was the one in the past who had found the Gate in the past. As they discuss things, Hugo reveals that the Protagonist is actually a Monark, not a pactbearer, and was simply borrowing Hugo's power with the fact he can control Fiends proving he is not a pactbearer (as Tristia had absorbed the previous Vanity pactbearer and said powers had been split off alongside Yoru, allowing her to create a fake pactbearer). He then tells the group that even if they were to wish away the Mist and distortions, something would just replace them which is why the entity behind the gate was sealed away. He tells them that he will send Tristia and Yoru back to the otherworld and watch over Kokoro and Ryotaro if they keep their powers to make sure they can do nothing to effect things and tells the Protagonist to surrender and allow himself to no longer exist. The group, including Shinya, refuse, with Shinya refusing as he didn't see Hugo as his father - only Yugo. Disappointed; Hugo, Yoru, and Sora fight the group but are defeated. Refusing this outcome, Hugo attacks the wounded Protagonist though Vanitas steps in and protects him with a barrier. Tristia and Yoru begin to fade away, as Hugo giving up on his wish had caused his Ideals to void. He then passes out as a result of losing those Ideals. The Protagonist then begins to fade away, with the group realizing that they had defeated Yoru - causing not just her but the Protagonist to fade too. Vantias tells them that if he fades away they can simply earn the right to go through the gate and ask for him to be revived, though the group refuse as they don't want to see him die in the first place. Instead, Vanitas tells them that if someone forms a pact with him, as he is a Monark, they can save him that way. Chiyo accepts, though she alone isn't enough. Shinya then joins in, which causes the power to become more powerful. As he had used Resonance to link their memories together, the group are all able to join in and collectively become the Monarks of Vanity - saving the Protagonist. The Ideal is weak due to none of them being a proper fit for the power of Vanity, though it was enough to gives him a few days left to live - enough time to ask the entity behind the gate to allow him to live as a real human.

The group return to the real world, put Yugo into the Infirmary, rest then return to the gate. Having made a pact with the Protagonist, they are now also able to get through the gate. After going through, they find themselves in pitch blackness in which Vanitas reveals he is actually the wish making God, and had been sealed away behind the gate by a previous human who had wished for it. He states that he is only an incarnation and that now they were inside the gate, his real powers would manifest. After the Protagonist asks why he helped them the entire time, he states he did so because he was bored. For their wish to come true, though, they would have to prove they are worthy, which results in them fighting Yog-Sothoth, Vanitas' true form. After defeating him, they earn his recognition which allows Yog-Sothoth to grant the Protagonist's wish. Everyone is then able to leave the school.

## Profile

From the in-game smartphone profile:

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> A member of the Go-Home Club who has enrolled in the academy for high school on a scholarship.
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> Despite being gifted with a high IQ, she dropped out of college overseas and transferred to Shin Mikado partway through her first year.
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> "Safety and security" is her creed, and she has a strong aversion to both hurting others and being hurt herself.
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> She often spends her free time cooped up inside the library.
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## Other outfits

Casual wearFormal wear

1. ↑ [@MenzelSavanna: "So excited to announce I’m playing Kokoro Surugadai in Monark! Thank you to the amazing @shannondreed @SentaiFilmworks and @NISAmerica for having me! You can check it out now on PS4, PS5, Switch, and PC"]