The Charm's Effect

The Charm's Effect is one of the 22 possible routes for episode 5 in the visual novel. It is one of four episodes to follow Unacknowledged Feelings/Partner for the Festival/The Same Feelings, the other three being Left Behind, The Indecent Kiss, and The Heart Wants.

In this episode, Makoto and Kotonoha's relationship reaches its breaking point, as their inability to connect physically drives Makoto to break up with Kotonoha and block her cell phone number.

Plot
Kotonoha's father decides he wants to spend some time with his family but her mother decides to give the tickets to Kotonoha so she can make more friends. At the pool Kotonoha and Taisuke go off to have fun while Makoto decides to look after Sekai since she's depressed now that Setsuna's gone. Taisuke comes and tells Makoto to go to Kotonoha since he can't keep up with her. Makoto goes to Kotonoha and Makoto tries to make some sexual advances towards her only to be given a slap. Makoto goes back and talks to Sekai about it. Sekai notes that Makoto looks just as depressed as she is and offers to cheer him up but he declines. Later they see Kotonoha getting hit on by some guys and Makoto goes to her. After Makoto gets there he harshly explains that those guys were simply trying to pick her up and were lying to her but Kotonoha naively believes them and asks Makoto to hang out with them. Makoto angrily declines and gets into an argument with her. Kotonoha tries to apologize by kissing him but it doesn't do much and they decide to go back. On the train ride home Makoto confesses that he's too tired from trying to get along with her and he might be in love with Sekai.

Later during the evening Kotonoha calls Sekai and asks her to tell Makoto she hates him. Sekai points out it would be weird if out of the blue she tells him she hates him and asks what's going on. Kotonoha reveals Makoto told her he might be in love with Sekai but Sekai implies she feels the same way. Kotonoha gets worried and tries to strengthen their relationship by trying to lie to Makoto that Sekai has a new boyfriend and repeatedly sends him emails. Makoto blocks her number and breaks up with her, then later goes home together with Otome. They go to Pure Burger and talk and Makoto tells her he and Kotonoha broke up. Otome then tries to tell him she likes him but is inadvertently stopped. Meanwhile, Nanami asks Hikari what's going on with her and if she did the charm trick. She answers that she's been doing this since junior high and it probably doesn't work. Sekai however tells her it might just work, since Makoto's broken up with Kotonoha and might be in love with her. Nanami offers to keep Kotonoha out of her way but Sekai declines and says she'll work something out on her own.

Route
The Charm's Effect is accessible following Unacknowledged Feelings/Partner for the Festival/The Same Feelings, although these three episodes represent an identical route from First Experience.

To get The Charm's Effect for chapter 5, at the pool, decline Sekai's offer to return to her home for sex, or decline to caress her breasts altogether. Then, if the bar favors Kotonoha at the conclusion of the episode, you will get The Charm's Effect.

If you elect to caress Sekai's breasts and the bar ends up favoring Sekai at the end of the episode, you will get The Heart Wants instead.

The entirety of this route is very similar to the chapter 5 route starting from The One I Truly Love, with The Charm's Effect being nearly identical to Blocked Number.