Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni

Marie Moriya (森谷 毬枝, Moriya Marie)

Marie is the main protagonist of the first short story, titled Mesomeso-san. She is introduced as a student who is constantly bullied by her classmates and molested by her homeroom teacher at an abandoned school building neighboring her school. While despairing over her predicament in the public toilet of the building, she becomes the subject of an eighth urban legend involving a yōkai named Mesomeso (derived from the Japanese onomatopoeia for weeping and sobbing) that haunts the toilet. The school's yōkai offer her the chance to become a yōkai in order to fill the new rank in their hierarchy, which she does after being strangled to death by her teacher. As Mesomeso, she appears before the series's other protagonists to support them if they are victims of bullying, or to confront them if they themselves are bullies.

Higanbana (彼岸花)

Higanbana is the third-highest ranking yōkai in the school, also known as the "Dancing Higanbana". She is a very beautiful girl who takes the form of a Western doll that sits in the school infirmary and, according to her associated legend, dances on its own at night. She is the yōkai who directly offers Marie to become Mesomeso, and treats her as her personal assistant. She regularly torments cruel or weak-willed students, and is depicted as either an antagonist if she targets a story's hero, or as an antihero if she targets a villain.

Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni began as a manga written by Ryukishi07 of 07th Expansion and illustrated by Ichirō Tsunohazu. The character designs were originally designed by Nishieda. The manga was serialized between the May 2010[1] and November 2012 issues of Fujimi Shobo's Monthly Dragon Age magazine. Six tankōbon volumes were released between November 9, 2010 and February 9, 2013.[4][5] A light novel written by Ryukishi07 with illustrations by Tsuitachi Sakuya titled Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni was published by Fujimi Shobo on December 20, 2011.[6]

07th Expansion produced two dōjin visual novels based on the manga. The first game, titled Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni: Dai-ichi Yoru (彼岸花の咲く夜に 第一夜, lit. On the Night the Red Spider Lily Blooms: First Night), was released on August 13, 2011 at Comiket 80. The second game, subtitled Dai-ni Yoru (第二夜, lit. Second Night), was released on December 31, 2011 at Comiket 81. Unlike 07th Expansion's previous game series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni, both Higanbana games contain seven novellas and are about the same length as an Umineko game.[7] The games were also distributed by MangaGamer since February 7, 2014 for explicit use of the English translation patch,[8] but following the end of the deal between MangaGamer and 07th Expansion, they have ceased to sell the games.

The port of the first visual novel to the Nintendo 3DS was released by FuRyu on July 27, 2016 alongside The House in Fata Morgana and World End Economica: Episode 1 as a digital-only title.[9]