07th Expansion

## Summary

**07th Expansion** is a series of visual novels, manga, and audio drama CDs, created by Ryukishi07 and 07th Expansion. There are 3 main entries which together comprise the When They Cry (no Naku Koro Ni) series: Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, Umineko no Naku Koro Ni, and Ciconia no Naku Koro Ni; and multiple tie-in entries that expand on the world and cosmology of the setting.

The genres vary greatly from horror and murder-mystery to science-fiction and comedy-harem.

Higurashi takes place in 1983, in the small town of Hinamizawa. Keiichi Maebara moves to the town, befriending his classmates. The village appears to be simple, peaceful, and quiet - however, this ends after the annual Watanagashi Festival, a celebration to give thanks to the local god, Oyashiro. Keiichi that every year for the past four years, one person has been murdered and another has gone missing on the evening of the Watanagashi Festival, and is soon drawn into the strange events surrounding the Festival.

Umineko takes place in 1986, during the timeframe of October 4th and October 5th. It starts off on the island of Rokkenjima, owned by the eccentric business Kinzo Ushiromiya. There, the family conference for the Ushiromiya family is taking place, where it will be decided who will get the nearly dead Kinzo's inheritance. However, a typhoon traps the family members on the island, and over the night, strange things start to happen and people start dying.

Ciconia takes place in the 22nd century, 100 years after the end of World War 3. Cutting-edge technology saved the planet from a nuclear winter, allowing its population to reach the tens of billions once more. This eventually gave rise to a new ultimate military technology, the Gauntlet. People who wore these on their left arms were called Gauntlet Knights, and without carrying any additional equipment, they could use this unrivaled power to fly like fighter planes, fight like aircraft carriers and battleships, and repel all sorts of attacks like tanks.

After competing against each other in the International Battle Standard Festival, a group of Gauntlet Knights from all over the world became fast friends, swearing to support the walls of peace from both sides and prevent another World War from ever occurring. However, World War IV was steadily approaching, like a line of falling dominos...

When three worlds become one, Alice will awaken.

Once you have cycled through the three completely different worlds until the very end, you will find out "Alice's Truth."

Marie is trapped in a horrible situation. She's being constantly tormented by her classmates and regularly molested by her teacher. With nowhere else to turn, she finds herself asking for supernatural help from one of the seven demons of the seven mysteries of her school. All she desires is the death of her cruel classmates and teacher. How far will Marie be willing to go in order to achieve the murders that would free her from her living hell?

Taking place in Japan at the end of World War II. Devastated in the aftermath of defeat, the Japanese government complies with the Allies' reconstruction plan. Japan begins to recover from the loss after a few years, but America and China intricately divide the nation on a municipal level. Eventually, China's military districts become Chinatowns, and places controlled by the United States are Americanized. The many Chinese and American immigrants make Japanese people the minority in their own land. Some Japanese are unwilling to accept this fate and secretly gather their strength to challenge the new system.

A girl named Rose Haibara works at the club Primavera and lends money to Japanese people so that they can rebuild their lives. Meanwhile, Leo Shishigami is best known for his reputation among women. Everything begins to change when that legendary man meets Rose in the spring of 1947.

It's July 2016, and the Tadamura family gathers in the Hirasaka village for the funeral of the grandmother and head of the family: the young man Yukito, his step-sister Yue, his father Masashi, his uncles Nobuteru and Tsunemasa, and his cousins Terumi and Teruya, all come to pay their last respects.

But on that evening, Yue witnesses an incomprehensible scene: the grandmother's dead body starts to move and disappears into the night! The morning after, the family wakes up in a strange world, seemingly cut off from reality, where two suns shine...

Haworthia is a short drama-CD made as a prototype for Ciconia no Naku Koro Ni for Ryukishi07 to tests future Ciconia concepts. The story is of a civilization trying to leave their planet which became unhospitable for them, but it became a paradise for an artificial lifeform designed by this civilization. At the end of the drama-CD is revealed that the planet is Earth 500 million of years ago, right at the point of the Cambrian explosion, and that the artificial lifeform is life as we know it.

Kohinata Asanaro is your regular everyday high school student. He likes light novels, porn games, and fantasizing about the girls in his class. One day when walking home from school he inexplicably releases a demon from a sealed bottle. Her name is Zepafur, and she won't rest until her debt is repaid!

"Now begins the Lovey Dovey Harem Royale!" cries the demon, weaving a most curious magic. As a result, Asanaro's regular high school life transforms into a love-comedy series of harem shenanigans, with four girls from his school all vying for his affection!

But...unbeknownst to our dopey protagonist, the four girls are in the midst of a horrific survival game under threat of death and eternal torture. She who fails to capture Asanaro's heart will be confined to the depths of hell.

Just who will survive? Who will thrive? And who will meet their demise?

## Characters

**Almighty Beings**

Featherine Augustus Aurora