The Enigma of the Phantom Theater

**The Enigma of the Phantom Theater** (幻影座の怪人 lit. *Genei-za no Kaijin*) is an event story that takes place in its own alternate universe. The story is broken into two parts, with part 1 running from **August 9, 2020** to **August 22, 2020** and part 2 running from **August 23, 2020** to **September 5, 2020**.

## Featured Characters

* Kou Niimura
* Misaki Mori
* Satoru Yonemori
* Miho Kaidou
* Shouma Akamura
* Chie Komiya
* Chigusa Komiya
* Yuuto Rurikawa
* Ritsu Kamiki
* Yukinari Shimotsuki

## Part 1

### Chapter 1

**Opening (幕開け)**

The story opens with a buzzing noise and an unknown speaker announcing to the audience that "The Enigma of the Phantom Theater" is now beginning. Backstage, there's a stabbing noise, and a masked figure holding a knife states that no one will figure out "the truth behind her death". They begin to say who the next female lead will be before the scene flashes back.

A day prior to the start of these incidents, a blonde-haired boy is walking down the corridor of the Phantom Theater. He mentions that he's been in the theater many times before as a guest, but it's the first time he's used the staff entrance. He then introduces himself as Yukinari Shimotsuki, an actor just starting out in his career. He decided to take lessons and go to auditions because of the influence the theater had on him, and ended up becoming part of the Phantom Theater.

As he's looking for staff members in the hall so he can go greet the other actors, he sees what looks like a child and assumes it's either someone working part-time or one of the staff members' kids. He goes to talk to the boy but is ignored, and he notices that the boy is playing chess by himself. After a moment, the boy asks Yukinari if he knows how to play, and he admits that he knows the rules to Shōgi, but hasn't ever played chess before and probably can't be the boy's opponent.

The boy remarks that he didn't ask him to be his opponent, and questions if he even knows about chess problems. It's clear that Yukinari has no idea, and based on the boy's following explanation, he realizes it's basically like Tsume Shōgi. The boy then explains that what he has set up is his best work, and that he'll get someone named Kou to acknowledge him with it.

Yukinari recognizes the name as being the top male star of The Phantom Theater, and the boy confirms it before walking away to Kou's dressing room. Yukinari chases after him. They enter Kou's dressing room to find him rehearsing lines from a script. When he notices the boy, whom he calls Yuuto, Yuuto jumps at the chance to show him the chess board he's set up. Kou quickly and easily solves it and asks if he needs anything else. Yuuto is impressed at his speed and aspires to think of a harder problem next time, but Kou just tells him to focus on practicing since he's an actor too. Yukinari wonders if he's new since he's never seen him before.

Yukinari introduces himself to Kou and Yuuto as a new actor, and Kou asks if he's already met with the others. Yukinari says he hasn't, so Kou orders Yuuto to guide him, saying that it's his duty as a senior member. At the idea of being considered someone's senior, Yuuto takes to the idea right away. When they leave the room, Kou ponders on a new member joining them and wonders how the next "vote" will turn out as a result.

### Chapter 2

**The Chairman's Concern (座長の悩み)**

Yuuto and Yukinari arrive in front of The Phantom Theater's chairman, Satoru Yonemori's, dressing room. Yukinari mentions that Satoru plays a lot of dark roles and his acting is truly frightening, leading him to think that Satoru himself is probably a scary person too. Yuuto is silent for a moment, then tells him that yes, Satoru is really scary. If he's in a bad mood, he'll swing a knife around, and he's particularly not fond of being interrupted while he's practicing. He then tells Yukinari to be cautious when he talks to Satoru.

Yukinari is a little skeptical, asking if Yuuto's just trying to scare him. He knocks on the door and enters just as Satoru yells out a line about handing over blood, and Yukinari screams in response. He promptly apologizes, asking Satoru not to take his blood, and Yuuto remarks on how well-timed that was. Yukinari is introduced as a new member of their group, and Satoru apologizes for startling him with his rehearsing. Yukinari recalls that Yuuto told him Satoru particularly disliked being disrupted while practicing, and flies into another round of apologies.

Satoru asks if he did something to make Yukinari shake like that, and Yuuto just snickers to himself. A moment passes and Yukinari apologizes for the ruckus, but Satoru assures him that it's fine, and because he only ever plays scary roles, people often think he's a scary person too. Yukinari comments that he's completely different from how he is on stage, and Yuuto states that Satoru is actually a fainthearted person, mentioning his fear of blood. Satoru tells Yuuto not to just give that information away, then asks Yukinari to not leak that information either, citing that it would ruin his image. He then begins to threaten Yukinari, but isn't able to come up with anything threatening, so just asks him to promise that he won't tell.

> "*P-Promise me, okay? If you tell anyone...*"
> "*If I tell anyone...?*"
> "*U-Um... Nothing in particular will happen but...anyway, promise me, okay?*"
> "*R-Right... (He really is timid...)*"
> ― Satoru threatening Yukinari
>
>

There's a knock on the door and a pale young man enters. Yukinari doesn't recognize him, and he introduces himself as Chigusa Komiya, stating that though he only appears onstage occasionally, he's also an actor. His younger sister, Chie Komiya, is also one of the actresses. Yukinari wonders briefly why he doesn't appear onstage often when he's tall and good-looking. Chigusa goes on to mention that he's in charge of the stage equipment too, and invites Yukinari to ask if he has any questions.

Satoru asks if Chigusa needed something, and he says that the audio equipment is malfunctioning and needs repairs. Satoru laments that they'd just recently had to deal with huge expenses, then begins to panic when Yuuto questions him on it. Chigusa brings up that the theater is a fairly old building and they've had to dish out money for repairs as it becomes worn, and Satoru tells them to just leave the money issues to the adults. He then suggests that they go and meet the other group members since they were in the middle of doing that already.

Chigusa mentions that there are some people in the practice room and that they should head there next. Before they leave, Satoru stops Yukinari and tells him that since he's new, he probably hasn't heard yet, but until the actual performance, the stage is off-limits. Parts of the floorboards creak, and they judged that it would be better not to use the stage until repairs are done.

Once Yukinari and Yuuto have left, Chigusa asks Satoru if it's really a good idea to keep some incident involving the chandelier a secret from the group. Satoru says he doesn't want to needlessly worry them, and it'll be fixed in three days, so it'll likely be fine. Chigusa leaves it at that but feels apprehensive, and hopes nothing happens.

### Chapter 3

**The Phantom Theater's Policy (幻影座のポリシー)**

Yukinari and Yuuto enter the practice room, but the lights are off and it's pitch dark. Moments later, another person walks up to Yukinari and begins to rehearse lines from a script, confusing and flustering him. The person then asks someone named Miho if that was good enough, and the person named Miho tells someone else named Misaki to turn the lights on.

When the lights come back on, Yuuto asks why they were off in the first place, and Miho says they were testing out a new way of practicing. She figured performing in the dark would make it easier for them to get into their roles, and asks the man named Shouma how it was. He says it wasn't bad, but that he would've preferred to practice with an actress. Miho shoots that idea down, stating that he has ulterior motives when his partner is female and he needs to quit looking at actresses with impure looks if he wants to get into his next role as a "pure young man in love".

Shouma claims it's a misunderstanding, and Miho tells him that women know where men are looking when they stare, then asks Misaki to confirm. Misaki stutters and Yukinari thinks to himself that he should be careful too. Miho then turns her attention to Yukinari, asking if he's read the script for the next play yet. He says that he's looked through it (it's for "Phantom of the Opera"), and she reprimands him, stating that he should've realized Christine is the name of the heroine and naturally gone along with Shouma's performance. She explains that it's The Phantom Theater members' policy to give the most befitting performance to match whatever scenario comes up.

Shouma tells Miho not to bully the newcomer too much or she might lose his vote, which makes Yuuto recall that the first poll will be that night. Yukinari is lost and asks what they're talking about, and Shouma explains that The Phantom Theater has a tradition of holding an election to select the lead actress. Over the course of multiple rounds of voting, the actors pick one actress to vote for, and the actress with the least votes drops out until one remains. Whoever is left standing will play the lead role in the next show. Shouma says they have 4 candidates and asks Yukinari who he's voting for.

Yukinari flounders and feels like he isn't really fit to be voting for anyone, but Misaki assures him, saying that he should just vote for whoever he thinks is fit for the lead role, and everyone will acknowledge his vote since he's always watching them as part of the audience. Yukinari's shocked that she noticed him in the audience, and she says she remembers his face because his eyes are always sparkling when he's watching.

Yukinari wonders if Misaki's found out that he's secretly her fan, but Misaki says it's to be expected that he'd be a fan of *Miho* since she's so superb. She reveals that she's also Miho's fan, and suggests that they both vote for her. Miho makes a remark about the power of insensitivity and Yukinari wonders who the other candidates are.

### Chapter 4

**Election Campaign (選挙運動)**

Back in the corridor, Yukinari ponders on who else he needs to greet, and Yuuto chooses this moment to abandon him, telling him to find the others himself. The remaining members are Ritsu and Chie, and Yuuto says that Ritsu's small but loud, so she'll stand out, and Chie will be right behind her. He then walks away.

Yukinari hears footsteps approaching him, and a young girl appears loudly repeating "Ritsu Kamiki". She continues to repeat the name out loud, then orders the girl with her, Chie, to do the same. Chie asks if what they're doing will really be effective for the election, and Ritsu says that she heard repeating a name would increase the number of votes that person gets. Chie rebuts that that's for convincing voters that don't already know the candidate (and everyone in the group already knows each other). Ritsu tells her to be quiet, saying that she'll try anything she can.

They notice Yukinari standing there, and before he can formally introduce himself, Ritsu goes up to him and shakes his hand, citing that handshakes will guarantee the vote. Chie sidles up to him next, greeting him as Chie Komiya and also shaking his hand. Ritsu yells at her, asking if she plans to steal her one vote by shaking his hand, and Chie quickly assures her that she wasn't trying to do that. She says to forget about that handshake and promptly wipes her hands.

Ritsu states that she's secured 2 votes so far, the other being from Chie's older brother at Chie's request, and Chie remarks that she just needs 2 more votes to have more than half, which will guarantee her the lead role without the need for any further voting. Ritsu asks who she should convince next, to which Chie replies that Shouma and Satoru are likely going to vote for Miho, so her next target should be Kou. If she manages to convince Kou, then Yuuto will follow his lead, making their two votes the key to victory.

Ritsu tells Chie they're going to prepare an offering of sweets so they can bribe Kou. As the two run off, Yukinari says to no one in particular that he's definitely not voting for those two. Chigusa appears beside him, apologizing for the trouble his younger sister caused and explaining that Ritsu seems to really be set on wanting the lead role since she's always complaining about being stuck in children's roles.

Yukinari asks him why Chie's helping her when she has the chance to become the lead actress too, and Chigusa explains that she's indebted to Ritsu. When Chie couldn't find work, Ritsu invited her to join the theater group, and because of that, Chie was able to pay for the medical expenses associated with a serious illness he came down with a long time ago. Yukinari realizes that that might be why he isn't onstage very often.

Chigusa mentions that he wanted to vote for someone else, but since his sister asked him to vote for Ritsu, he felt he needed to pay back the favor. Yukinari thinks that they all have their own reasons for who they're voting for, and decides to just vote for whoever he thinks should get it. Chigusa then asks him if Ritsu's yelling earlier had any effect on his vote, and he responds that for people like himself meeting her for the first time, it might have some kind of effect.

Chigusa is silent for a moment before chanting Chie's name, and Yukinari asks him what he's doing. He deflects, reminding Yukinari that the voting will start that night and telling him to meet in the practice room before walking away. When he's gone, Yukinari confusedly repeats Chie's name to himself, only to snap out of it and remind himself that he'll be voting based on his own thoughts.

### Chapter 5

**Passion For Practice (練習熱心)**

The chapter begins with Satoru giving a brief summary of the first half of "Phantom of the Opera" to Yukinari. The vote will be to decide on who will be playing the role of Christine, though Yukinari still wonders if he should be voting. Satoru reassures him that his vote is the closest thing to that of a spectator's, and it's always necessary to have a new perspective. If all else fails, he can watch them perform and vote based on that since they're practicing the role at that moment.

Misaki recites a few of Christine's lines, and Shouma tells her not to forget that the Phantom is in front of her, so she shouldn't be completely unafraid. She tries again, and Yukinari and Miho both remark on her acting. Miho states that she's definitely star potential, having seen her growth over time. Satoru says that she certainly is impressive, but he still thinks Miho is better suited to the role. Miho is grateful, saying she works hard to meet those expectations, and Yukinari is briefly starstruck, thinking to himself that while Miho is a star, she's also not lacking in effort.

Moments later, Shouma suggests they start cleaning up the practice room for the vote. Miho wants to keep practicing, and asks Satoru if she can use the stage because she can focus better up there. Momentarily panicked, he loudly proclaims that she can't, startling everyone. He then goes on to tell her it's dangerous and someone could get hurt, so he doesn't want anyone up there. She accepts this and decides to continue her practice in her room instead, inviting him to help her.

The two of them leave, and Yukinari is skeptical about Satoru's outburst just then, wondering if the old floorboards were bad enough to warrant that kind of response. He chalks it up to it being bad if the performers were injured. Misaki asks him what's wrong and he lies, saying that he was just thinking how passionate Miho is about practicing. Misaki thinks she should learn by example, and says she also wants to practice a little more. She then asks Yukinari if he'll accompany her to her room to help her.

Yukinari becomes flustered, and Shouma laughs in response. Yukinari suggests that Shouma might be a better partner, and Shouma reveals that he's not allowed into any of the girls' rooms, citing that it might be suspected as some kind of scandal. Ultimately, Yukinari agrees to help Misaki, and she says to come by her room after 10 minutes to give her time to clean up a bit. When she leaves, Yukinari tries to calm himself down, and Shouma congratulates him on the chance to be useful to her as her fan.

Though Yukinari attempts to dissuade him, Shouma tells him that it's really obvious even if he tries to hide it. He also warns Yukinari not to cause any scandals before walking away. Yukinari briefly wonders if he's not suited to being an actor if he's that obvious.

### Chapter 6

**The First Vote (最初の投票)**

As per The Phantom Theater's tradition, the lead actress in the next performance is decided by the actors' votes. If someone manages to get more than half of the votes, they'll automatically be picked. If not, then whoever has the least votes is dropped from the running, and the election will continue until someone gets over half or there's only one person left. Shouma goes over these rules before announcing the start of the election.

The four candidates are Miho (who was rank 1 last year), Misaki (who was rank 2), Ritsu, and Chie. Chie says not to vote for her and go for Ritsu instead. Shouma thinks it's a waste that she isn't trying for the part, but figures there's nothing he can do if that's what she wants. He then tells everyone to write the name of their vote on a piece of paper, and since it's an anonymous vote, not to write their own names. Yukinari decides to vote for Misaki.

After counting up the votes, Shouma reveals their results. Miho gets 3 votes, putting her in first place. Misaki gets 1 vote, putting her in third. Ritsu is sure that the last two votes must be going to her, but they actually went to Chie, putting her in second and Ritsu at zero votes. They're both shocked at the result, and Chie suspects that her brother decided to go against her wishes and voted for her instead.

Chigusa explains that when he was chanting Chie's name in his head, his hands just ended up writing that on the paper. Ritsu forgives him because he *is* her older brother, then turns on Kou, calling him a traitor for voting for someone else despite her bribing him earlier.

> "*For starters, I don't even like sweets that much...*"
> "*Liar! You were munching right through them while sipping your tea!*"
> "*...I didn't say I hated them. And anyway, trying to bribe me with sweets was your first mistake... If you want to buy my vote, give me money.*"
> ― Kou on Ritsu bribing him
>
>

Shouma pretends like he didn't hear that and announces that Ritsu's dropped out of the running. Ritsu proclaims that her charms are too much for them to see, and both Miho and Chie attempt to cheer her up. Yuuto interjects, suggesting that the results of the next vote will just end up the same since Ritsu didn't receive any votes. Shouma tells him that Ritsu will be given voting rights too, and that her one vote will be the key to victory.

Ritsu takes that to mean that Miho and Chie were just buttering her up to try and win her over with kindness. She then calls them all traitors before running off. Chigusa brings up that Chie received two votes, and wonders who the other person was. Thinking it's Yukinari, he suggests as much, but Yukinari is sure it wasn't him.

### Chapter 7

**The Enigma (怪人)**

After the end of the first round of voting, they decide to hold the next vote the day after to give Ritsu time to calm down. When there's a performance coming up, members of The Phantom Theater stay in their own rooms at the theater so they can practice. In his own room, Yukinari decides to get a good rest so he can practice the day after, but notices that the private rooms don't have bathrooms.

He leaves his room to find the men's restroom, but gets lost and ends up in the stage wing. He notices a lever on the wall with a bag of sand attached and wonders what it's for. He also notices that there's sand on the ground around the lever and thinks it must've leaked out from the bag. He briefly considers cleaning it up, but decides it's better if he just leaves it and lets someone know later.

There's a sudden noise, and he calls out to see if someone's there. He thinks it might be from the stage, but from where he's standing he can't see it. He decides to go take a look, but there's another sound, and he sees a person wearing a cloak and mask and wielding a knife. Frightened, he screams and runs out into the corridor. He goes to hide, but doesn't hear any footsteps, so he assumes that they didn't chase after him. At that moment, Shouma appears next to him, startling him.

He explains the situation to Shouma, who writes it off as being a prank someone's playing on him. Yukinari wonders who would do that, and Shouma figures it must be Yuuto or something. Yukinari feels like the person he saw didn't have the stature to match Yuuto, but Shouma tells him not to worry about it, stating that they'll know in the morning when they mention surprising Yukinari. He then asks what Yukinari was doing in the stage wings, and Yukinari explains that he got lost looking for the bathroom.

Shouma tells him where the bathroom is, and it's silent for a moment before Yukinari asks if Shouma was also headed that way. Shouma says he wasn't, then realizes that Yukinari likely asked because he's too scared to go to the bathroom himself. He agrees to guide him there so he doesn't get lost again.

The next morning, Chigusa comes banging on Yukinari's door, yelling at him to wake up. When Yukinari comes out of his room, Chigusa tells him to go to the stage, then runs off to wake the others up. Confused, Yukinari makes his way to the stage. Satoru is already there, and he directs Yukinari's attention to Miho's dead body.

### Chapter 8

**The Victim (犠牲者)**

The other performers appear on the scene, and Yuuto asks why Miho's been crushed underneath the chandelier. Satoru says that it's his fault and that he should've given them more warnings, but Kou speaks up and tells them all to come with him to the stage wing. When they get there, he points out the sand scattered on the ground and figures it leaked from the bag attached to the control lever.

Yukinari asks about the lever, and Chigusa explains to him that it's used to raise and lower the chandelier. When the lever is lowered, the chandelier is raised, and when the lever is raised, the chandelier is lowered. Ritsu comments that the lever is currently raised, hence why the chandelier fell, then asks why there's a bag of sand on it. Chigusa seems to know, but Satoru steps in and explains in his place.

He explains that the lever is an old piece of equipment, and as such, it malfunctions and will sometimes rise on its own. He asked for it to be repaired because of how dangerous it is, but because it's an old mechanism, it would take three days for the parts to be delivered. The bag of sand was attached to support the chandelier until repairs were completed. They come to the conclusion that the sand on the floor spilled from a hole in the bag, which caused the lever to rise once the bag was light enough and drop the chandelier. As a result, it landed on Miho while she was practicing on the stage.

Shouma says that Miho being on the stage and the chandelier falling on her was something they couldn't have predicted, and figures that it must've been an unfortunate accident. Chigusa blames himself for not noticing that the bag had a hole in it, but Satoru says it's his fault for keeping the chandelier a secret. Ritsu asks why he kept quiet about it, and Chigusa says they decided on that together. If they told everyone, they would all be worried about the chandelier falling on them and it might affect their performance.

Yukinari thinks back to the time he saw the lever the night before, noting that it was already raised at that point. He comes to the realization that Miho must've already been dead by then. Yuuto speaks up, wondering if it really was just an unfortunate accident. He figures that it's possible someone could've purposely dropped the chandelier on her head since she was basically a shoe-in to be the next lead actress. He then links the incident to the story events in "Phantom of the Opera", and Kou mentions that in the script, there's a scene where the phantom forces the singer chosen for the lead out of the role for the sake of the one he loves.

They mention the phantom, and Yukinari recalls that he saw someone like that the night before. Shouma suggests that he bring it up to the others, and he goes on to explain. Yuuto thinks it sounds like a lie, and finds it suspicious that he was in the stage wing at all last night. He conjectures that Yukinari killed Miho and, while running from the scene, ran into Shouma and made up the lie about the masked person.

### Chapter 9

**A Melancholic Conclusion (憂鬱の結論)**

Ritsu asks why Yukinari would kill Miho, and Yuuto figures it's just because he wanted someone else to be the lead. For instance, he could secretly be Chie's fan. Yukinari refutes him and blurts out that he's Misaki's fan by accident, but it doesn't deter Yuuto at all. Ritsu thinks that if he were seen doing something suspicious like poking a hole in the bag, he'd be found out right away, but Yuuto points out that the lever is located in a blind spot from the stage. He concludes that Yukinari must've ripped the bag and killed Miho.

Yukinari tells him he's wrong, and that the lever was already up by the time he showed up. Yuuto thinks it's suspicious that he's only bringing that up now, then asks if Kou thinks his deduction is on the mark too. Yukinari thinks to himself that there's something off about Yuuto's deduction and says as much out loud.

He mentions that the lever and the stage are in each other's blind spots. Since Miho died because the chandelier fell on her, the culprit would've had to time it just right so that it fell while she was underneath it, but doing so would've been nearly impossible because you can't see the stage from where the lever is positioned. Though not completely impossible, if someone wanted to kill Miho, they would've used a more certain method to do it. Yukinari concludes that he isn't the culprit, and he doesn't think anyone among them is the culprit either. He figures the hole in the bag happened naturally and Miho was just really unlucky to be there when the chandelier fell.

Kou remarks that Yukinari's captured one of Yuuto's pieces, and just as in chess, he's too fixed on a single move.

> "*It's just like chess... You're too fixed on a single move. Be more flexible in your thinking. Carefully examine all possibilities.*"
> ― Kou
>
>

> "*Urgh... ...Right. It's just as you said... I didn't think things through enough... Sorry, Kou-san.*"
> "*...Huh? Aren't you apologizing to the wrong person?*"
> ― Yuuto and Yukinari
>
>

Yuuto gets angry at Yukinari for robbing him of his chance to be praised by Kou, and Chigusa jumps in to summarize the situation as just being an unfortunate accident. Satoru doesn't like it, but says it's looking that way. The others express their grief and regret at such a thing happening, but Satoru tells them that the inside of the theater is soundproof, so they wouldn't have known. Yukinari is still stuck on who the person in the mask that he saw was despite being cleared of suspicion.

Chigusa interjects to talk about the next vote, stating that Miho's death is terrible, but their performance is coming up soon and they need to pick a female lead soon. He proposes that they redo the vote that night, putting Ritsu back into the roster. Satoru mentions that the police should be arriving soon, and that he'll explain the situation to them, so everyone should be on standby in their rooms.

Once the police have questioned Satoru and Chigusa, they write the incident off as an accident. Yukinari isn't sure whether or not to mention the masked person, but Shouma suggests that mentioning it would just make the situation messier than it needs to be. It would also make Yukinari look suspicious, so it's better to keep quiet about it. He ends up not telling them.

### Chapter 10

**Behind the Mask (仮面の裏で)**

They all meet back in the practice room for the second round of voting, and Shouma reads out the results once again. The air is heavy with Miho's absence. This round, Chie gets 1 vote, Ritsu gets 1 vote, and the remaining 4 votes go to Misaki. With Misaki taking over half of the votes, she automatically takes the lead role. Chie tells Ritsu it's a shame that she didn't get picked, but Ritsu's grateful for the one vote she did get, assuming it's from Chigusa. She also notes that Chie got one vote, and wonders who her secret fan is. Chie figures it's just someone who felt bad for her getting zero votes. Chigusa begins to tell her not to be like that when he starts coughing.

Chie asks him if he's okay, and he tells her he's just tired. She decides to take him back to his room so he can rest. Yukinari remembers that Chigusa was really ill a long time ago, and Shouma says that after what happened, anyone would be tired. He then says that he feels like he might not be able to sleep, and asks Satoru for some sleeping pills. Satoru agrees, and Shouma says he'll go to get them later. Yukinari thinks that he might like some too, but Misaki asks him to stop by her room later because she wants to talk to him about something.

In Misaki's room, she's about to tell him what she wants to talk about when she begins crying. She apologizes and says she didn't mean to cry, but the shock of losing Miho and the pressure of replacing her is taking a toll on her. She thinks he must like her less for seeing her like that, but he tells her that's not the case.

> "*I became your fan because...whenever you were on stage...you'd be overflowing with emotion... And...even though you were nervous and your performance was stiff when you debuted...you'd improve just like that with every subsequent performance... Seeing you grow into a charming actress to rival Miho-san...I thought, 'That's amazing'.*"
> ― Yukinari to Misaki
>
>

He reassures her that while her grief at Miho's loss probably won't go away, he thinks she'll definitely be able to play the lead part well. He thinks Miho would've said the same. Misaki thanks him for cheering her up a little, and resolves to work hard for Miho's sake too. Yukinari's glad he could help, then suggests that they get some rest since they'll be busy the next day too.

As he's leaving, Misaki stops him, reminding him that she had something she wanted to talk about. She wants to know why he didn't tell the police about the person he saw, and he tells her that mentioning that wouldn't change the fact that her death was an accident. If he'd told them, it would've prolonged the investigation and caused trouble for everyone else, and he didn't want that.

Misaki accepts this reasoning, and says that it's better not to say anything unnecessary despite seeing something. She tells Yukinari that she'll take that to heart. They say their goodbyes, and once Yukinari's out of the room, he wonders about what she said. He decides not to think about it too much, and though he's curious to know who that mysterious person was, he needs to focus on practicing.

The scene cuts to the masked person knocking on Misaki's door and entering before fading to black again. Kou walks down the corridor late that night, having become engrossed in his script reading and not noticing the time. He decides to go invite Misaki to an independent practice session in the morning since they'll have a lot of dialogue together, and notices that her room door is slightly open. There's a loud noise and he spots the masked person as they're running away.

He chases after them, cornering them in a hideout underneath the theater. They pull out the knife, but Kou reveals that he has a gun and begins to question them. The masked person doesn't say anything at all, and Kou mentions that he saw "that" in Misaki's room, assuming that's also their doing. He takes the silences to mean "yes", and not caring who they are, resolves to kill them. In the next instant, they attack Kou and begin to recite lines from "Phantom of the Opera".

The scene ends with a picture of Kou's bleeding body.

## Part 2

### Chapter 1

**Reopening (再開)**

The same unknown speaker from the beginning of part 1's opening chapter welcomes the members of the audience back to the show and gives a brief summary of the events from the previous half. The scene transitions to Shouma and Ritsu reciting Raoul's and Christine's, respectively, from *Phantom of the Opera*. When their practice dialogue ends, Shouma compliments Ritsu on her performance, and Ritsu tells Chie that it's her turn. She initially doesn't hear them as she's lost in thought about her brother's condition. They're all aware that a lot has happened, but Shouma tells her that she still needs to practice just in case something were to happen to Misaki.

Yukinari tells him not to say something so ominous, and Satoru realizes that Misaki hasn't shown up yet, wondering if she's depressed about Miho. Yuuto enters the room and asks where Kou is. Nobody's seen him either, and Shouma suggests that somebody go and get them, citing that there's no point in practicing without their two leads. Yukinari offers to go and get them and leaves the room.

Once he's out of the room, the others are readying up to get back to practicing when Ritsu lets out a yell. A mouse has gotten into the room, and after some banter, Shouma reasons that the building is old, so it's not surprising that there are mice running around. Satoru finds this odd considering they just had an exterminator come in last week, and Shouma wonders if there's a hole somewhere in the building. They all just decide to take a break until Yukinari comes back with the others instead of practicing.

In the corridor, Yukinari decides to go to Misaki's room first. He knocks on her door multiple times with no answer, then realizes that the door is open. Once he's in the room, he spots her dead body and screams.

### Chapter 2

**The Angel's Harbinger (誰が天使を)**

Having heard Yukinari's scream, Chigusa appears and asks him what's wrong. The others show up soon after for the same reason, and they also spot Misaki's dead body. Chigusa wonders if it's suicide, which Shouma agrees with and backs up, stating that the pressure of taking Miho's place and the grief from her death could've led to her killing herself. Yukinari is quick to refute this and recites the words she said to him the night before about working hard on Miho's behalf. Satoru agrees, also thinking that it couldn't have been suicide. Misaki's corpse is mentioned as having been hanged, but Satoru points out that there's bruising on the side of her neck that's inconsistent with that, likely indicating that she'd been strangled from behind. He reasons that somebody strangled her and then hung her from the ceiling after she'd died. The lack of evidence that she'd resisted also points to her likely having been put to sleep before she was killed. He figures she died painlessly.

Chie remarks on how knowledgeable Satoru is, and he reveals that his family owns a hospital, but because he can't stand blood, he couldn't become a doctor. Ritsu brings up the fact that Misaki was killed by someone, and everyone is silent. Yukinari grieves at her death, lamenting that he'll never be able to see her smiling face again. Yuuto remarks that the situation's taken a bad turn, then asks Kou for guidance only to realize that he's not there. They all decide to head over to Kou's room to find him and notice that the door to his room is also unlocked.

There's no one in Kou's room, but they find a letter on his bed, which is soon revealed to be a threat addressed to the Phantom Theater.

### Chapter 3

**Threats and Suspicion (疑惑と脅迫)**

They open up the threat to read its contents.

> "*To the members of the Phantom Theater
> The fake Christine has died again
> Continue the vote
> Don't inform the police
> If you oppose me, I'll blow up the theater*"
> ― Threatening letter to the Phantom Theater
>
>

They infer that the person who killed Misaki wrote the letter, and since they want the voting to continue, their goal is likely to get the actress they want chosen for the lead role. With their hands tied, they have no choice but to continue on with the vote, and Ritsu wonders why a threat addressed to the theater would be in Kou's room specifically. She begins to consider out loud that Kou could be the culprit, but Yuuto vocally denies the possibility. Chie thinks it is a little suspicious that the timing lines up with his disappearance, and Shouma notes that the one thing they *can* be sure of is that the culprit was in his room at some point. He then suggests that they go searching for him and check for any bombs to figure out whether the threat is an empty one.

They all split up to search the building, but don't come across any bombs or Kou. Yukinari and Yuuto are searching around the stage area, though Yukinari is momentarily spaced out because the theater reminds him of Misaki. Yukinari confirms that there isn't anything in the seating area, and Yuuto states that there's nothing set up in the stage wings. There's the sound of rushing footsteps, and Shouma shows up asking them to come with him, telling them that Chie found something odd.

Having searched the practice room, Chie says that she found something strange that got caught underneath the mirror. Yuuto recognizes the item as Kou's belt, and though they're confused about why it's there, Ritsu suggests that they pull it out. After yanking hard at it, the belt tugs the mirror away from the wall to reveal a hidden door leading to stairs. Satoru recalls that there's an underground room in the theater that isn't being used, which nobody except Chigusa has heard about before.

### Chapter 4

**Underground Reservoir (地下貯水湖)**

Chigusa mentions that the underground room was used as a water reservoir, though it shouldn't currently be in use. Shouma realizes that if the entrance to the underground reservoir is in the practice room, then it stands to reason that they'd see mice like they did earlier. Satoru thinks that if Kou's belt fell there, then he might be underground, and Shouma suggests they go check it out.

Ritsu is against going down there considering they have no idea where the culprit is, and Shouma reassures her that he wasn't going to ask her anyway with the actresses getting picked off one by one. Yuuto also volunteers to go out of concern for Kou, and Shouma reaches for one more person to take with them.

They end up taking Yukinari, who briefly dialogues with Yuuto about how unsettling the underground cave is before Shouma calls for them to hurry up. Yukinari wonders if Shouma isn't afraid, to which he replies that he is a little, but it's overridden by the anger he feels when he thinks the culprit might be down there. Yukinari takes a moment to strengthen his resolve, and they continue through the cave to an unlocked door. It's pitch dark in the room, but Yuuto takes out a lighter, and they find it to be an old storage room.

Yukinari notes that there are barrels in the room, and Shouma comes to the realization that they might be full of gunpowder. Yuuto notices another door, and when they go to check, they come upon Kou's corpse.

### Chapter 5

**Unending Nightmare (終わらない悪夢)**

Shouma checks his body and confirms that there's no pulse, deducing that he must've died the night before. Yuuto grieves over his death, and Shouma remarks that it's quite unexpected for Kou to have been killed considering he's more wary than the average person. Yukinari decides to search Kou's corpse for clues in order to figure out who the culprit is, and something catches his eye. The player is offered three choices:

**What's concerning about Kou's corpse?**

* That there's no weapon found at the scene
* That the body is too clean **(correct answer)**
* The reason Kou was killed

Yukinari brings up the fact that the body is too clean, and Shouma says that's to be expected of the theater's top star, looking good even in death. Momentarily confused, Yukinari clears the confusion up and states that he meant the clothes aren't all that dirty, leading him to wonder where the wound is. They consider that he might've been wounded from behind, but Yuuto jumps in to intercept when Shouma reaches for the corpse, telling him not to touch Kou. They reason to him that they need to do this in order to find the culprit. He eventually complies and volunteers to do it himself.

Peering at the back of the corpse, Yuuto finds the wound opening but no weapon, leading them to believe the culprit took it with them. They're about to head back to the others to tell them what they found when Shouma points towards the wall, which is lined with pictures of Chie. With the volume of photographs, Shouma figures it must be Chie's fan, then amends "fan" to "stalker". Yukinari and Shouma are ready to head back, but Yuuto tells them to go ahead so he can stay there a bit longer. They go to wait at the door.

Once they've left the room, Yuuto vows to Kou's corpse that he'll avenge his death before picking up the loaded gun that Kou had dropped and walking away.

### Chapter 6

**Safety Measures (安全策)**

In the practice room, Yukinari and Shouma have told the others about the explosives and Kou's corpse. Shouma adds on the bit about Chie's photographs and says that he thinks the culprit is Chie's stalker. Chie begins to say that Miho and Misaki dying were her fault, which Chigusa quickly tries to dissuade before breaking into a coughing fit that has him falling to the floor. Chie offers to help him back to his room, and once they've left, Satoru makes a comment about being able to breathe a little easier. Ritsu asks what he means, and he says that since the culprit is backing Chie, her chances of being attacked are low. He then amends his previous statement, realizing that the situation wasn't so ideal for Ritsu.

She says that's not true, reasoning that she won't be attacked if they choose Chie in the next vote. Satoru asks if she's okay with giving up the lead role, and she figures if she's dead, then there'd be no point. She then tells the rest of them to vote for Chie next time, and Yuuto asks what they'll do about Chigusa's vote seeing as he doesn't seem to be in any condition to be there for the vote. Ritsu tells them he was rooting for Chie from the start anyway, so his vote would go to her, and once they've all agreed, Yuuto decides to head back to his room to rest until voting time.

Yukinari decides to do the same. Yuuto silently pushes a small scrap of paper into Yukinari's hand before walking off to his room. On the paper, he orders Yukinari to come to his room without letting anyone know. Later on, Yukinari enters Yuuto's room to find him focusing on a chessboard. He calls out to him, but Yuuto tells him to be quiet so he can think, leading Yukinari to mention that *he's* the one that told him to show up. He asks Yuuto what he wanted to talk about, but Yuuto tells him they're waiting for one more person.

A moment later, the door opens.

### Chapter 7

**Trap (罠)**

The other person turns out to be Satoru, whom he'd given the same note. They both ask Yuuto why he called them, and before he explains, Yuuto asks them if they want to take revenge. Satoru asks if he has an idea on who the culprit is, and Yuuto tells them that it's someone in their group. When they were searching the theater and the underground area, there weren't any suspicious figures. Misaki also showed no signs of fighting back, so if someone got her to drink sleeping pills, it must've been someone she trusted. He then asks Satoru to confirm that his room has sleeping pills in it, leading Satoru to believe he's being suspected. He quickly rebuts with the fact that everyone knew they were in there, and that anyone could've stolen them.

Yuuto assures him that he knows that already, having stolen some just to see for himself. He points out that Satoru is too careless with his medication, and that if he hadn't mentioned stealing them, he probably never would've noticed. He explains that, based on their reactions to Miho and Misaki's deaths, he'd ruled both of them out as being the culprit. This leads Satoru to realize that, out of the remaining three members, the remaining suspects are Chigusa and Shouma. Yuuto admits that that's as far as he'd narrowed it down, but notes that if they choose Chie in the last vote, the culprit likely won't ever appear again.

He then tells them that, in order to draw the culprit out, they'll let Ritsu win in the vote. Satoru asks if he intends to use Ritsu as bait, and Yuuto confirms, saying that they'll guard her. He doesn't want to let the culprit get away and wants to get revenge. He then asks Yukinari and Satoru what they intend to do. They both agree to help, and Yuuto does another rundown of the plan. They'll have Ritsu win the next vote, which will cause the phantom to appear, allowing them to catch him.

Satoru comments that Yuuto reminds him of Kou, and Yuuto says that he's just taking into consideration what Kou told him before about being more flexible with his thinking. It's almost time for the vote, and they decide to show up separately so as to not rouse any suspicion.

### Chapter 8

**The Final Vote (決選投票)**

Shouma announces the start of the final vote, though he takes a moment to comment about the chandelier on the stage. Satoru assures him that he'd secured the lever with a new sandbag, so it shouldn't fall down. Yukinari asks if Chigusa is still sleeping, and Chie tells him that he's still in his room resting in bed. With him not present, Ritsu says to just put his vote in for Chie as previously discussed. At Chie's confusion, Ritsu explains that they'd all talked about having Chie win to satisfy the culprit so nobody else would have to die.

Chie is unsure about playing a lead role, but Ritsu tells her that, the phantom aside, Chie would do well in a lead role. They proceed onto the vote, and once it's over, Shouma announces that Ritsu is the winner with 3 votes. Yuuto, Satoru, and Yuuto are silent as Shouma questions their motives, and before long, the mysterious phantom makes his appearance. Yukinari panics, worrying about Ritsu's safety, but Yuuto tells him to calm down before asking Shouma to take Chie somewhere else.

Once Shouma and Chie are gone, Yukinari asks why Yuuto had them leave. Yuuto says that it's the most optimal action to take, and Satoru realizes what he's getting at. As he'd considered that Shouma might be the phantom's accomplice, he had Shouma protect Chie, whom they wouldn't attack given their objectives. The phantom appearing wouldn't clear Shouma of suspicion, but removing him from the scene with Chie would guarantee he couldn't hurt Ritsu. Yukinari comes to the realization that since Shouma left with Chie, the only person left is Chigusa.

Yukinari calls out to him, asking why he would do such a thing, to which he responds that it was all for Chie. Brandishing a knife, he tells them that he wanted Chie to play the lead role, and if the other candidates disappeared, then that wish would come true. Satoru says that Chigusa isn't that kind of person, and Chigusa tells him that he's changed. With death staring him in the face, the only thing occupying his mind is making his own wish come true.

They ask what he means by "death staring him in the face", and he reveals to them that the doctor told him he only had one month left to live. Before dying, he wanted to see Chie standing at center stage. He then approaches Ritsu, knife in hand, and requests that she hand the lead role over to Chie.

### Chapter 9

**Conclusion (決着)**

Meanwhile, Shouma and Chie are hiding in the stage wings. Shouma notices that Chie is holding a knife in her hand and asks her what it's for, and she explains that her brother gave it to her to protect herself. He asks her not to point it at him, and she says it just happened since he'd pulled her to some dark place. He assures her that he wouldn't hurt her, then admits that he's been secretly cheering her on, having voted for her in both the first and second polls. She asks him why, and he explains that he wanted a change of pace. If Misaki and Miho were the only ones he got to perform with, then it'd get boring for both him and the audience.

He'd hesitated between either her or Ritsu, but felt that the role of Christine was more suited to someone with a mature feel, so he went with Chie. He asks her again to point the knife away, then recalls that she said her brother gave it to her. Chie begins to talk about who that mysterious person was earlier when a loud gunshot interrupts them. Chie immediately runs to the scene, fearing for her brother's life, and Shouma follows her.

On the stage, Chigusa's been shot, and Yuuto asks him why he had to kill Kou. Chigusa tells him that Kou was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, having seen him leaving Misaki's room. He stabbed Kou in the underground room because Kou decided to pursue him there. Angry, Yuuto fires at Chigusa until the gun is emptied, and Chigusa collapses to the floor. Chie arrives on the scene and wants to take him to the hospital, but he tells her that this is a fitting end for the phantom. His final request to her is to forget everything and be happy.

The others are silent as Chie cries over her brother's dead body. She then apologizes to them, and Ritsu tells her that nobody's blaming her as she probably didn't think her brother would do this either. Satoru backs this up, saying that people change when death is at their door, but Chie tells them that they're wrong and that her brother hadn't changed at all. She says that he was only doing it to protect her, then apologizes to her brother. She states that despite everything he's done for her, she'd decided to reveal the truth to everyone.

Confused, Ritsu asks her what she's talking about, and Chie reveals that the true identity of the mysterious person that killed Miho was herself.

### Chapter 10

**The Truth (真相)**

Chie begins to retell the events leading up to Miho's death. On the night of the first poll, she'd followed Miho to ask her to yield the lead role to Ritsu and ended up in the stage wing. Miho was on stage practicing, giving her no space to ask, so she decided to wait in the wings until she finished. She recalls that being on stage was prohibited, prompting her to wonder what would happen if Miho were to be injured. This thought inspires her to concoct a plan to injure Miho just enough to get her to pull out of the running, giving Ritsu a chance at the lead.

She notices the bag of sand on the lever and figures that if she dropped it on Miho's head from above the stage, it would be enough. She goes to untie the string and finds that the bag is quite heavy, causing her to hesitate. With how heavy the bag is, she figures that if it fell on her head, it wouldn't just be a small injury. Breaking into a cold sweat at the thought, she decides to just ask normally, and goes to put the bag back.

As she's trying to put it back, she realizes it's too heavy for her to lift, prompting her to wonder why it was there in the first place. She briefly questions what the lever is for when it rises on its own, and a crashing noise is heard on stage. Aware that it might've been the chandelier, she rushes over to check if Miho is okay only to find that she's been killed by it.

She then tells them that in the aftermath of accidentally killing Miho, she went to her brother's room and told him everything. He tells her that it was just an unfortunate accident, the lever was broken, and she had no idea what the lever was for, so she's not responsible for Miho's death. She tries to say it's her fault for moving the bag, but he says that makes both him and Miho partially responsible too for not mentioning the malfunctioning lever and going on stage even though it wasn't allowed, respectively. He then tells her to leave the rest to him, claiming that he'll protect her.

After that, Chigusa went to the stage wing and poked holes in the sandbag to make it seem like an accident, resulting in the masked and cloaked figure that Yukinari saw. With the incident written off as an accident, it seemed like Chigusa's plan had gone well, but it's then revealed that Misaki had seen Chie running away from the stage wing after Miho's death.

Misaki only told this bit of information to Chigusa because she was afraid of hearing the truth from Chie, but also afraid of being lied to. As a result, she called Chigusa out to ask if he could persuade Chie into telling the truth, believing that it would be awful if she had to live burdened with that for the rest of her life. Chigusa tells her that he'll try talking to Chie about it, then asks if he could visit her room after the poll that night.

After the end of the second poll, Chigusa steals sleeping medication from Satoru's room and uses it to put Misaki to sleep before killing her to keep the secret under wraps. The same night, Chie goes to her brother's room to check on his health and finds that he isn't there. While looking for him in the corridor, she spots Kou chasing him in his phantom disguise. She follows them to the practice room, which leads her to the underground passageway.

She makes it just in time to see Kou holding his gun and hears him threaten to kill Chigusa. Caught up in the moment and wanting to help her brother, she ends up stabbing Kou from behind.

### Chapter 11

**Tragedy's End (悲劇の先に)**

Chie is hysterical after killing Kou, and after Chigusa calms her down, he explains everything to her, including the fact that he only had so much time left to live. She questions why he had to kill Misaki to keep her mouth shut when she was such a good person, and he tells her that that's precisely why he had to do it. She wouldn't threaten them or tell anyone, but if he didn't do anything, she would eventually get around to telling Chie herself to confess, and he knew that Chie would've listened. Once her confession came out, she'd have to contend with society, and he wanted to protect her from that with the time he had left, resulting in him killing Misaki to keep her quiet forever.

He tells Chie their story will be that he was responsible for everything. They'd pin him for all three murders and say that it was all done to fulfill the wish of her dying brother. Chie is reluctant, but he begs her to go along with it as his final wish. She figures they know how the rest of the story goes, what with her bringing their attention to the hidden door and getting them to find all of the pictures and Kou's body. Once Chie had been assured the lead role, they would've sent the threatening letter to the police as evidence and Chigusa would've confessed to having done all of it.

Satoru notes that the plan was ruined because of Yuuto's own strategy. Chie apologizes once more to her brother for breaking her promise to keep the secret, admitting that it would've been impossible for her to live on like that. She begins to laugh before stepping out to the center of the stage, asking if her brother is looking. She claims that she isn't suited to be the leading role after all, and begins to quote a line from *Phantom of the Opera*.

> "*Can you even dare to look or bear to think of me: this loathsome gargoyle, who burns in hell, but secretly yearns for heaven.*"
> ― Chie, reciting a line from "Phantom of the Opera"
>
>

It's then that the chandelier begins to fall from overhead and ends up killing Chie. The others are shocked and confused, Yuuto noting that the lever should've been secured with a new sandbag, but Shouma thinks that when they were in the stage wing, she'd likely used her knife to cut holes in the new bag. They come to the realization that killing herself in the same manner she'd killed Miho had been her plan all along. Ritsu cries in the aftermath of her death, asking why Chie hadn't come to talk to her when they were supposed to be best friends.

The screen fades to black and Yukinari narrates that that was the full account of the incident he'd experienced at The Phantom Theater. In the next moment, there's a standing ovation from the audience, and the unknown announcer declares that "The Enigma of the Phantom Theater" has ended. The speaker is revealed to be Yukinari, who calls out all of the actors and actresses in the show for the final curtain call. Miho and Misaki, who played the victims; Shouma, Satoru, Kou, and Yuuto, who played the supporting roles; and finally Ritsu, Chigusa, and Chie, with Chie playing the leading role for the first time.

The cast banters about future roles, and Yukinari declares the curtain closed on the show.