Fruits of Grisaia: Sachi's Ending

Sachi was the second girl and path I choose to play through as I was interested more in her personality quirks than anything. Upon playing through this path I came to regret my choice only slightly. I have mentioned to some friends of mine that I may need more medication for this game. That said though I do not regret it in the slightest. The ending made up for the rollercoaster ride of emotions that happened prior to the conclusion of her route.

Whereas Amane's problem stemmed from a combination of physical and emotional issues caused by her own belief that she didn't deserve to be happy due to her being the only survivor of harsh circumstances, Sachi's problems are mostly all mental issues. Though I won't discredit the emotional scarring either as that plays a big factor in her problems.

When Yuuji first meets Sachi she is dressed as a maid which catches him off guard. As you learn about her character you learn that she is the Class Rep and acts as custodian of the grounds when the contractors are not there handling the cleaning and maintenance. She acts as a personal servant to the other girls by filling every request they make of her. She has some tendencies of taking things to the extreme and takes joking requests as 'orders' which she will complete, because of this the girls and Yuuji have to watch what they ask for when in her presence. 

She is quiet and always seemed happy and dedicates her entire time to studying, doing chores, and doing things for the other girls she is a complete busy body. Yuuji finds this to be a bit strange and eventually is put into a position where he is able to learn more about her. This of course leads down the rabbit hole of the twisted sordid path that is Sachi's past and mental and emotional scars.

Yuuji one day suddenly realizes something. The smile she always has on her face is fake. He realizes that he was careless and that he overlooked it because she was so good at showing it. But he was also able to put on a facade when needed and he was able to see through her. This leads him to try and break her from her shell, to find out why she was a shell of a girl that does whatever anyone asks of her without hesitation, and she never failed to do what was asked of her.

He then slowly constructs plans to pull her out of her shell and force her to deal with what it is that has pushed her into being as she puts it, "the good girl". That leads to them dating though at first, he knows she's not dating him because she loves him but because he asked her to. Though at this point she does start to have feelings for him. It is during this time they start to go on dates and start to get intimate with one another.

 This sudden turn for her and Yuuji's constant questions that force her to think more and more about herself and what she wants finally does what he wanted it to. She begins to show more and more of her true personality but at a price. As she starts to do this she begins to have nightmares of her past and they take a toll on her. Eventually, she ends up in the hospital with vivid flashbacks and nightmares that push her body to the limits.

It is at this time that Yuuji finally pushes himself to ask the question he needs to know. He approaches his handler to get him files on Sachi, she of course does this because he has never really ever asked her for anything. Plus not only is she his handler but also his guardian at this time. She presents him with the file and he finds out about her past as well as the fact that he and she had actually known each other as kids.

She was born into a poorish family and both her parents were extremely smart in the field of machines and metalworks. Despite being poor her parents poured all their time into spending time with their daughter Sachi. She wanted more and more to impress them to make them happy so as she grew she done things she knew would make them proud. She started cleaning the workshop, the house, she studied harder and was making perfect scores and even won an art contest in her Elementry school. 

However, eventually, her parents got a break due to a family ran commercially. This led to them spending long hours at the workshop filling orders and creating products. As they spent more time at work they spent less time with her. Eventually, this sudden shift from having their attention to having none led to resentment, anger, and bitterness. This led to her feeling as though her parents didn't like her, want her or love her anymore. She would try to speak with them, spend time with them, and they were always too busy for her.

She then found solace in a local playground when she came across a boy that was sitting alone on a swing. His name was Yuuji and he seemed down. She struck up a conversation with him and soon they were friends and every day they would meet on the playground.  Sadly, the day before her 10th Birthday she was going to invite Yuuji to her place for her birthday but Yuuji dropped the bombshell that he was leaving. He couldn't tell her why, but that day she made a promise to him that they would one day meet again on that playground.

On her 10th Birthday, she woke up in tears from the night before after feeling her one and an only true friend had left her. She left her room to find her parents sitting there waiting for her, they greeted her and told her they were going to spend the day with her doing whatever she wanted. At the moment she was happy...but happiness turned directly to bitterness and anger, she had felt betrayed because now of all times they wanted to give her their attention after she had shut herself off from them. With this bitterness, she fled from the house to the playground hoping to see Yuuji even though she knew it wouldn't happen.

Upon hearing her parent's voices she made her way to where they were and they were crossing the road to the park to get her when tragedy struck. A drunk driver failing to yield at a stop slammed into both her parents right in front of her. Her father was killed instantly but her mother was able to pull herself forward only so far and the last image Sachi the girl of herself remembered was watching her mother mouth the word "why".

She instantly shut down, and later the doctor looking over her told her uncle that she had PTSD and mental escapism. Every night she would have the nightmare of seeing in vivid detail the moment that her life fell apart, this led to physical effects as well the feeling of her body going cold as ice, feeling as if she was choking and intense headaches and body pain. This led her to think, "if I was a good girl, none of this would have happened, if I had been good I'd not lost everyone I loved." with that thought in mind she made the choice to become the 'good girl' by dedicating her life to doing everything that others wanted of her.

Yuuji taking this information along with why she was forced out of her old school to this one and made a plan. He gave her plenty of chances to not do what she had been asked. She was asked to make a test disappear. The last time she was asked to do that she burned down a school. This time would be different. Yuuji called in favors from multiple sources to set up a scene where Sachi would be forced to break through the darkness.

Sadly, even after that and her finally starting to try and be happy, she started to have nightmares again this time stronger than before. Yuuji made a request of Sachi. "The only way you can truly stop all of this pain and suffering is to kill the reason for it." Contemplating this she went to the hospital that her mother was in a coma. Forcing herself to go into her room the thoughts, fears, and images took hold. She contemplated killing her mother or killing herself, was that the answer that Yuuji was wanting her to find. 

Sachi made a realization, even if her parents did hate her she loved them and couldn't bring herself to kill her mother, but she had finally found Yuuji again and fell for him so she couldn't kill herself either. As she sat on the floor resolving herself to just bearing the weight of it all, Yuuji finally speaks. He tells her that she made the right choice and that he had one final thing for her to do if she was ready to finally put things to rest.

She follows him to her old house where he produces a key to her parent's workshop. He tells her she has a choice, open the door and see what it was her parents had left for her, or to walk away and bear the burden of regret for the rest of her life. Either way, he was staying with her but she needed to make the choice on her own. Thinking about it only for a moment she turns the key and enters the workshop.

In the end, she concluded due to everything she saw and read that her parents really did love her and they felt sorry they had neglected to be there for her and in the end, they loved her and nothing would change that. Because of this, she is finally able to break free of her chains that kept her held within her own mind. The path ends with her and Yuuji at the playground where they first met and Yuuji asked her to marry him after they graduated. 

This path was pretty long and a rollercoaster ride of emotions. I am looking forward to the next 3 paths that remain...though at this rate I am going to need more coffee as the amount of time going down these paths is pretty long. But they really develop the story and the characters.