[R18] Shuumatsu no Esperanza

Shuumatsu no Esperanza

 終末のエスペランサ
[The Hope at the End]

Hanakagami page

Warning: There is forced situation/rape in some volumes.

About: The world is falling apart because of a pandemic threat of a certain virus that will kill a person within 9 days after contracting its tell tale mark. Within the panic, a love between two people is only just beginning.

Trivia: Hanakagami even made a short comic for the three guys. Check it out! There was supposed to be two part for each of them but I guess they forgot about it? lol

Kagari (CV: Asagi Yuu)

MC and Kagari were childhood friends, fellow students to the same university, and until recently, they were lovers. He is quite cold at first glance and a bit awkward around the MC but he deeply cares about her much more than anyone else in his life. He got into an accident that left one of his arm had to be amputated and now wearing a prosthesis. This was especially a depressing reality for him since he and his music band was just about to make their debut. Added by the fact that the pandemic was starting to get so bad that the government started to give out rationed food supplies once a week, he had no choice but just to witness his dreams as a musician falls apart and his band dissolved. Kagari even broke up with MC due to the stress, but she never agreed to it. She saved one of his guitar pick from being disposed as a piece of hope that one day he would remember his passionate dream. Kagari was quite angry with her for doing that because it reminded him the fact that he cannot play the guitar anymore. He assaulted her sexually then because how angry he was, but he apologized the day after. One day, the apartment where MC was staying caught on fire with her still inside. Kagari, with only one good arm, broke in the room and saved the unconscious MC that had inhaled too much smoke. It was then after getting her to safety that he realized he didn't want to lose MC. They made up and agreed to pick up where they left off. Kagari also was finally over with his dark days and was optimistic about life, saying if he cannot play the guitar then he would instead be the staff behind the scene and make music however he can. Everything that he planned, however, was shattered into pieces when he found he had contracted the deadly virus with a mark on his chest as proof. He told MC to immediately get out of the home they're sharing and get to somewhere else for safety. MC refused, saying she only wanted happiness just by staying by his side. With the MC also contracted the virus soon after, they spent their last days on the bed together.

Itsuki (CV: Sugakiya)

Itsuki is a part time lecturer in a university and MC is one of his most attentive student. He is described as not taking things seriously and only does things as he likes it. MC is actually harboring her feelings for him but he never seemed to take her seriously. I actually had a hard time following the story since the flow is not chronological; it skips from current to past, back to back. I don't know if it's just my files that's messed up. Anyway, what I can understand is that when the pandemic panic escalated to chaotic level with people raiding other's homes and properties just to survive, MC, who recently lost her parents to the same virus, got scared and ran to Itsuki. He at first was empathetic and let her stay at his place. Somehow though, it led to him forcing himself on her because he got annoyed by how serious and honest she is?? The next day, though he knew what he had done to her, he asked her to change place to a big abandoned mansion I assumed belonged to his family. MC (I don't know why she trusted him so fast) tagged along. It was then she learned that Itsuki was abandoned by his mother for a new family she had with another man. The abandoned mansion was where he lived before his mother left him. Itsuki then arranged to find another place for MC to seek shelter but at this time they shared a feelings with one another instead (she had completely forgiven the rape???). He sent her to a shelter that could take her and bid his farewell, only to have her running back to him and saw that he had the mark of the virus on his chest. She then chose to stay with him and have herself be infected with the same virus so she would not be left alone.

Amane (CV: Hirai Tatsuya)

The man named Amane is a graduate student of MC's same university, and they had only started to go out when the pandemic started. He is an heir of a pharmaceutical company and described to be very kind with no obvious bad side of his personality. During the panic, he invited MC to stay at his home with his family until the whole scare calms down again because her hometown is quite far away and with communications are mostly cut-off or limited, getting there would be very difficult now as well. It was then she found out that Amane was hiding a dark secret; he was living a dead man's life. His brother, the real Amane, the pride and joy of the family, died in a plane crash some years ago after he met MC once and mentioned that he liked her. I'm not really understanding exactly why, but Souma (I assumed twin brothers but they never said they were), would have to assume Amane's identity right after. I think it's because of the inheritance or something? Now the whole family member and staff called him Amane, and that includes his own mother. His mother even said it's would be much better if Souma died instead of Amane. As the stress to live as another person slowly began to eat him from the inside, he had to visit Amane's grave - in the garden within the property - occasionally just to make sure he, Souma, is still alive. It was then that MC found him one night and saw the name on the grave. Souma was mentally unstable for a moment, threatening to inject her with the deadly virus if she said anything about it, but she chose to stay and listen to his story. Souma told her about everything, and that he didn't trust MC's love for him because it was meant for Amane. MC denied it, saying she fell in love with the man that is right in front of her; Souma. After half a year living with him, Souma suddenly told her to leave his home and to someplace else he had readied for her. MC persuade him to explain why until eventually he showed her a mark on his chest - he had contracted the virus while working in his company's lab on making the vaccine, which will not be ready before his 9 days are over. MC insists to stay with him despite his insistence for her to leave. They spent the last days in each other's embrace. The tokuten had him cured of the disease either by vaccine that his company managed to produce in time, or by a miracle. The former had them married in the end.

Final say: I admit, I never thought I'd get this much of drama for something that looked like nothing special to them. This was also when I realized that I really really like Hirai Tatsuya (before I found out that he is Hirakawa lol). No brainer his volume is my absolute favorite. I'd say this is THE best of Hirai Tatsuya as of yet. Asagi Yuu's completely broke me down in tears though. JUST as Kagari began to feel positive and optimist despite the bleak global situation, the virus had to wreck everything up again. I am now very desperate to hear the tokuten endings. If anyone has them please share? Anyway, I recommend this series completely if you prefer a more deeper drama than the ecchi.