Liminal Border Part II

Liminal Border Part II is the second visual novel in a four-part series. Itsuki Ninomae, Rin Akinashi and Hina Yorozuya begin a business venture using a video Itsuki made. With help from Hina’s brother Tatsuya, the group starts to find success, but an incident leaves them owing twenty million yen to the Yakuza. To escape the debt, they approach Kotoko Teshigawara, the syndicate boss’s daughter, hoping to form an alliance.

The characters

Kotoko is a student in the grade above Itsuki at the same school. Although her father leads the Umon-kai crime syndicate, she has a strong sense of right and wrong. Rumors about her background leave her isolated, and she is inexperienced with romance, though she puts on a brave front when it comes up. She likes stationery and accessories with panda designs, and hopes to help Itsuki and the gang after giving them permission to run their business.

Meryl Hathaway appears fragile because of her slight build and indifferent manner, but she has exceptional skills in emergencies. She likes sweet things, seems to be on equal terms with Kotoko, and is treated with great respect by the Yakuza.

Rin is Itsuki’s long-time acquaintance and classmate. At school, she seems perfect: attractive, well-behaved and academically successful. Behind that image, she is cunning and scheming. Though raised in a wealthy environment, she is strongly attached to money and runs a large-scale business with Hina. When trouble strikes her venture with Itsuki, she initially tries to distance herself, but Hina persuades her to stay and help find a solution. Rin carefully conceals her movements and contacts only Itsuki and Hina.

Hina is another of Itsuki’s classmates. She has some unsavory friends but is friendly and likable, and she trusts Itsuki completely. The two have faced dangerous situations together and share a connection, though they are not lovers. Hina is involved in Rin’s business and helps Itsuki’s group with its venture.

Tatsuya is Hina’s older brother, a student at Badman Academy and leader of DREAD. He uses whatever methods he sees fit to make money and sometimes resorts to violence. Backed by the Yakuza, his activities are far from an ordinary student’s. He considers Itsuki a friend, and Itsuki trusts him in return.

Shiori Iida is the schoolgirl whose actions left Itsuki and the others with their twenty-million-yen debt. Strongly protective of herself, she blames others when the truth is inconvenient and appears to have carried on attending school as if nothing happened. She acts refined at school, but is very different in private.

Koji, a Badman Academy student and former DREAD member, disappeared after trying to steal the video from Itsuki. Shoji, a teacher at the academy, is a regular customer of Rin and Hina’s business. His connections with other regular customers lead him to cooperate actively with Itsuki and Hina, despite having some unusual preferences.

Shinonome is an executive in the Umon-kai who oversees its criminal dealings and is Tatsuya’s direct superior. He obeys syndicate boss Goro’s orders without question and is sharp-witted. Goro Teshigawara leads the Umon-kai and is Kotoko’s father; despite the family business, he wants his daughter to have a normal life.