AHH THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Your comment means so much, seriously :'D
Fun fact! Both the new characters existed during the development of the original game, but I simply couldn't find a way to fit them into Mimiko's story. (Probably for the best — I wanted to keep that game around 10k words. Adding any more characters would've made things difficult and waaay too complicated.) HOWEVER! Nikki does actually make a cameo in the first game! Her design is a liiiittle different there, though, so it might be hard to tell. But she is there!
Aoi's character as a whole ended up being really fun for me to write, especially when it came to the endings and bonus content. Since Kin for the most part sees Aoi in a much... kinder light than Mimiko does, I wanted to convey more of his struggles/personality than seen in the original. (Even if he's still far from being a good or redeemable person.)
I seriously, seriously appreciate this comment (and the others you left on the first game <3) with all my heart. Knowing that this little passion project of mine resonated with anyone else at all truly brings me joy. Thank you for supporting me and my game. It truly means the world and gives me great motivation to continue working on future projects. 🫶
P.s. I'm a liiiittle overwhelmed juggling some TLs for the first game at the moment, so I'll hold off on that offer for now. I'll let you know when I'm open to TLs for this game, though ;3 I appreciate the offer so much!