The Stranger from the Bus Stop (Visual Novel)
Created: puresouldef
Genre: Romance/Horror
I think to be honest, there's only really one "yandere" ending for this game, and that's because the yandere in question kind of gives up if you tell him to go away. Normally I wouldn't really write a recommendation on these types of games, but I do find the idea of him writing on the door pretty intriguing, and the placeholder MC's expressions are pretty funny, so I'm just gonna write about it.
The story starts out with the MC recalling an old coworker called Mari and how she committed suicide. Due to this, the MC feels guilty of not being able to do more to prevent it and promises to themselves to help someone if they ever find someone in need. After work, the MC goes to the bus stop to go home, however finds a strange man waiting at the bus stop. They have the option to talk to him or simply walk home.
Talking to the man leads to them giving him their scarf because they seem cold, before walking home when the bus doesn't arrive. As the next couple of days continue, the MC feels as if someone is watching them, and finds strange numbers being carved into their door, causing them to be stressed. They even call the cops, however, they seem unhelpful and get phone calls from a strange person. They eventually meet the strange man at the bus stop again, whom they talk about the strange occurrences, and he asks if we would want him to walk us home.
Accepting it leads to him following the MC home, where he reveals that he has been stalking them and writing the numbers on their door, pinning them down in the process.
Being a bit more shy, the MC instead finds the man carving numbers on the door. He reveals that the numbers are the dates and times that they have met. The MC, scared, tells them to leave and they promise to never come back. This makes the MC calm down, but wistfully thinking about how the numbers should have been finished on the door.
Similarly, being more bold has the MC call the cops on the man, however, they come too late. They find a ID card in their room, revealing that the man's name is Reis.
Walking home and not interacting with the man leads to a bad ending where the next day, the MC finds out that they committed suicide by running in front of the bus, leaving the MC feeling extremely guilty.
Like I said, there's only really one ending where Reis reveals himself as the yandere, and it is kind of unfortunate he sort of just peace's out when the MC tells him to leave (though, who knows, maybe he's still stalking them and the MC just doesn't notice). Still I think it's a good instance of seeing how exactly the obsession of Reis grows from a simple kind act- which to me is always fun to explore. Reis himself seems more or less harmless, considering he doesn't really do anything very forceful except stalk the MC and carving the dates on the door. Unfortunately we don't get too much else on him other that he must have been really suicidal before the MC showed him some kindness, but it still does show how such a small act really can make someone extremely obsessed over someone.
Normally I'm not the biggest fan of having a black blob of an MC, but I do appreciate the different expressions this MC has. It makes it a lot more entertaining to play and some of the expressions are really funny to look at. Still considering that you're making a game that has the MC emote this much, you'd think you would have a more interesting design for a character. I think it's also nice that the MC has a motivation for being nice to Reis instead of the MC just being standardly nice with very little characterization.
Overall, a good short game. It is a complete game as well, which is pretty rare these days. I think for what it's worth, it was pretty fun. If you are interested in it, please give it a try. The translation is a little wonky at times, but I think it adds to the charm.
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I don't know how much it fits but, keeping with the theme of butcher!simon's neighborhood being a bit dangerous:
where I grew up (rough neighborhood) there were often bars/pubs and even gas stations nearby that operated all afternoon/night and guys often congregated outside smoking cigarettes and what not. they never bothered the residents, but they damn well worked as guard dogs and warded off strangers.
so... idea: simon and his buddies hanging out outside the corner pub when reader is coming/going to her second job in the weekends, watching closely to make sure she makes it from the bus/train stop to the building door, especially after dark.
OR
alternatively!! simon who stays up and checks out of his window when reader is coming home after dark and doesn't let himself go to sleep until he hears her door unlocking and her making some type of sound (like closing her rickety door or whatever).
i dont think you understand….. reading this altered my brain so viscerally. guard dog simon. yeah.
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“Still got yer balls in her purse?”
Simon lights his cigarette. The soft smoulder of it barely offsets the flickering streetlight above them, scarcely illuminates the sidewalk. It shines over his face, hanging from the threshold of his lips.
“Yup,” he hums. “Right where I want ‘em.”
Johnny cackles through the plume of smoke curling up and out of his lips. He pats Simon on the back, taking a long drag of his cig, and bumps his shoulder with Kyle’s.
“When’d’ya reckon he’ll let us meet the Bird?”
Kyle rolls his eyes. “When he finds someone to pay.”
“Put a sock in it,” Simon snarls. Taps the ash off his cig.
Photo is a generous word for it. But it was the only thing Simon had to testify to your existence. A blurry, smudgy picture taken on his phone. Half-eclipsed by his thumb which was accidentally in the corner of his camera. A picture of you leaving the lift—a shallow angle of you walking in some leggings, returning from work.
It was privy to Simon. A likeness to indulge in during his work days. But in a flitting moment, Johnny laid his eyes on it. Read him to filth for it.
And now, they’re here.
Off-white sheets of rain running off the canopy they’re situated under. Each holding a cigarette to their lips, resting against the wet brick of a hole-in-the-wall pub. The warm hum from inside pooling into the empty streets of Manchester.
A thin sound arises from it. The chime of a shopkeeper’s bell, signifying the door is being opened. Into the diving rain, you step out, clutching a backpack against your shoulder, your uniform sticking to your skin.
It’s a heavy mass of muscle you almost run into. You stop yourself with a hand split against their chest, against the fleetly rise-and-fall of their jacket.
You have to hoist your neck up to see him. It takes you a while to reorient yourself, to recognise the depthless copper of his eyes. And it takes you even longer to register the underside of his face. Bare, flooded under the soft light of streetlights.
“Simon!” You squeak. The succession of his heartbeat pumping under your palm. Two men hovering behind him, exchanging puckish smirks. “What are you doing here?”
Simon’s eyebrows purse like he’s confused. He tilts his head, looking at you like a puppy, and shrugs. “I’m here to pick you up.”
“Pick me up–” a chord of bemusement strikes you, collapsing your sentence. Your reservations catch up to you, hitting you like bricks. “Pick me up?”
Simon grunts. His eyes flicker down to your skirt, how it flurries in the wind, and pulls you beneath the awning.
“Getting y’rself all wet under there,” he grumbles. “Brought you this.”
Simon holds up an umbrella. He waits for you to take it before splaying his big hand on the hind of your spine and turning you around, shepherding you forward.
Your voice is warped with bashfulness when you speak. “Where’re we going?”
“Home,” he says. Three pairs of footfall tread on your heels. Each one more intimidating than the other. Sticky and wet as they trail behind you.
“Just keep walking, Trouble,” Simon mumbles. “‘m here.”
It’s a shield that keeps everyone away. The invasive eyes, the creeping men that usually accompany you on your walk home after work. But today, they’re silent.
The three men are a pack of dogs behind you.
Simon, kissing the ground before you walk on it.
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is it okay if i ask what the issue with ring doorbell cameras are? i was under the impression that they were helpful for stuff like potential crimes/lawsuits, safety from police misconduct, and protection from people who are there to harass/cause harm to a home owner. what downsides could they have that outweighs the potential good they can do?
(x) Sometimes the people with the cameras...are the ones harassing people. They're a tool: They don't have a moral alignment. I'm sure people with good reasons to surveil their neighborhoods exist, but I have only personally encountered people who really really want an excuse to call the cops on one of their neighbors.
That said, I didn't say it was amoral to have a ring camera. I said it was creep behavior. It's creepy. I just dislike it. I don't like that if I take my coffee out on the front stoop without a bra on at six a.m. three different wealthy older couples I have literally never spoken to are recording it. I don't like that an increasing number of people consider it acceptable behavior to introduce themselves by saying they've noticed while reviewing their RING CAMERA(tm) that you walk your dog every morning at 10:45 but stopped recently. I don't like being flagged down by strangers who are like, "Yesterday someone stole the change out of my car cupholders, and I notice you walked past my driveway yesterday evening.... Why is that?" and having to laugh charmingly and explain my schedule to them because if I don't they're going to try to send police to my house. I did not enjoy humoring the across the street neighbor as she scrubbed through one of her multiple exterior camera feeds on her phone trying to find the culprit who moved her doormat and discovering that it captured my ENTIRE deck until she landed on a frame that finally had some suspicious figures in it and started to get excited until I pointed out that they were us at the beginning of the conversation we were still having.
It just makes me uncomfortable. I have no obligation to think kindly about people who haven't been personally been weird at me yet who ~may or may not~ be deleting most of their surveillance footage without watching it. It's my opinion that recording everybody who walks down your street is a dick move; it's not neutral behavior to degrade people's privacy in shared spaces, and the cons of doing this don't go away if the pros outweigh them.
It's like watching loud videos on your phone on the bus--you don't have to be doing something evil to make some of the people around you passionately hate your guts. If I made anybody feel uncomfortable about having a ring camera that was on purpose. Really just not a fun luxury item people get their grandparents for Christmas I'm a fan of.
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