Gazing from beyond

Gazing from beyond is a college-life romance game in which Muse considers a question from his sister, Eureka: “Would you like to be my opposite bank?” A week later, he is still unsure what to make of it, and further troubles complicate his choices. Hope, a sunny and optimistic girl whose perseverance seems out of reach, and Jade, a girl who feels unnoticed despite all her efforts, add to his uncertainty.

The manjusaka legend

The story draws on the fable of the manjusaka, a flower whose fragrance is said to help the dead recall their previous lives as they travel toward the Styx. Long ago, a flower elf and a leaf elf lived on opposite banks of a river, loving and longing for one another but unable to meet because the manjusaka’s flowers and leaves could not appear at the same time.

Unable to bear the separation, they disobeyed God’s order and met in secret. God punished them by casting them into transmigration and cursing them to live apart through generations. In each life, the fragrance of the other’s side brings back their memories and their promise to be together; making that promise leads them into another transmigration.