Konnichiwa

As a human, she suffered from an illness which caused her to lose consciousness at random times. Because of this, she was placed in a separate class at school with Haruka Kokonose, who she harbored feelings for. As a human, Takane was ranked second in the country on a game called 'Dead Bullet -1989-' under the name of "Senkou no Maihime" (lit. Dancing Princess of the Spotlight)' and often stayed up late at night playing. This caused her often to have a bad-tempered personality. She died after being poisoned by Kenjirō. Upon entering the Kagerō Haze, she is given the snake of "Opening Eyes," giving her immortality. After becoming Ene, she was sent to Shintarō's computer in an email from an unknown sender. Shintarō refers to her as a 'virus' as she constantly plays pranks on him by deleting his files and threatening to upload his embarrassing poems on to the internet. Ene joins the Mekakushi Dan after helping to stop a terrorist attack at a local department store with Shintarō.

Shintarō (シンタロー Shintarō?) / Shintarō Kisaragi (如月 伸太郎 Kisaragi Shintarō?)

Shintarō is member Number 7 of Mekakushi Dan. He is the main protagonist of the story and has an IQ of 168. While he was in school, his intelligence caused him to have an apathetic personality. His songs are "Lost Time Memory" (ロスタイムメモリー) and "Toumei Answer" (透明アンサー lit. Transparent Answer).

After a while, he became interested in the girl who sat next to him in class, Ayano Tateyama. Despite Ayano always being cheerful and friendly to him, Shintarō would treat Ayano with coldness. After Ayano's suicide, he becomes a hikikomori addicted to the internet. A year after, he was sent a mysterious virus named Ene, and as he was unable to control her actions, his lifestyle was at a loss. After stopping a terrorist attack with Ene, he became involved with Mekakushi Dan.

Ayano's death results in two possible routes for the Mekakushi Dan, as shown in Lost Time Memory. In Route 1, also known as the Good End Route, Shintaro (often portrayed in a red jersey) goes out and meets the Mekakushi Dan instead of staying at home and mourning. In Route XX, also known as the Bad End, Shintaro (often portrayed in full black), still mourning over Ayano's death at 18 years old, becomes fed up with Ene and kills her through unknown means, causing him to have a mental breakdown. The Red Shintaro dies while saving Kuroha from shooting himself, while the Black Shintaro kills himself by slitting his throat with a pair of red scissors.

Hibiya (ヒビヤ Hibiya?) / Hibiya Amamiya (雨宮 響也 Amamiya Hibiya?)

Hibiya is member Number 8 of Mekakushi Dan. He is mentioned to be mature for his age, and is shown to have an immense, unrequitted crush for Hiyori. He joins Mekakushi Dan after being spotted escaping the hospital he was at after an accident. His songs are "Kagerou Daze" (カゲロウデイズ lit. Heat Haze Daze) and "Otsukimi Recital" (オツキミリサイタル lit. Moon-viewing Recital).

He is the youngest member of the group at 12 years old and has the "Eye Focusing" ability, meaning he can see distant objects from an aerial view. He is originally from a village in the countryside and came with Hiyori Asahina to the city for the summer. He stayed at Hiyori's sister's house for the visit and met Konoha, who was living there at the time. He has a very intense (unrequited) love for Hiyori. Hibiya sees Hiyori die in a traffic accident and thus becomes stuck in a time loop trying to save her from dying each time. He comes in contact with the Heat Haze and is given the snake of 'Focusing Eyes'.

Konoha (コノハ Konoha?) / Haruka Kokonose (九ノ瀬　遥 Kokonose Haruka?)

Konoha is member Number 9 of Mekakushi Dan. Shown to be a rather absent-minded android, he has a large appetite, similar to his former human self as Haruka. His songs are "Konoha no Sekai Jijou" (コノハの世界事情 , lit. Konoha's World Affairs), "Yuukei Yesterday" (夕景イエスタデイ, lit. Yesterday Evening) "Outer Science", (アウターサイエンス) and Summertime Record ( サマータイムレコード ).

As a human, he suffered from an illness which caused him to easily die with a single attack, hence making him wish for a body that would not be as vulnerable, and hence being placed in a separate class with Takane Enomoto. With the interference of Kenjirou, he suffers a stroke and dies, entering the Heat Haze with Takane, and therefore receiving the "Awakening Eyes" ability, enabling him to live in his ideal body at the cost of his memory. As a result, he uses his eye ability to take the form of his game character. After this, the amnesiac him stays at Ayaka's house, where he meets Hibiya and Hiyori and attempts to save them from the Heat Haze.

An alternate version of Konoha also appears in Outer Science, speculated to be due to the trauma from "opening his eyes" and the corruption by the snakes. Called Dark Konoha, he is also dubbed Kuroha by a majority of the fandom, and kills everyone in Route XX. In Route 1, for unknown reasons, he attempts to shoot himself in the head, only to be saved by Shintarou.

Ayano (アヤノ Ayano?) / Ayano Tateyama (楯山 文乃 Tateyama Ayano?)

Ayano is member Number 0 of the Mekakushi Dan and was the daughter of Kenjirou and Ayaka Tateyama. Shown to be a happy-go-lucky girl with rather poor grades, she was the deskmate of Shintarou and it is suggested that her poor grades stemmed from her family matters. Her song is "Ayano no Koufuku Riron" (アヤノの幸福理論, lit. Ayano's Theory of Happiness).

After her parents adopted three young children with red eyes, Kido, Seto, and Kano, she decided to fulfill her role as "big sister" by creating the Mekakushi Dan to encourage them. After the death of her mother in a landslide and the discovery that her father was experimenting on her friends in an attempt to bring her back to life, Ayano grew increasingly concerned of the safety of her brothers and sister. She committed suicide and jumped off the roof of her school in an attempt to gain red eyes and an eye ability for herself in order to try and save her family, but despite succeeding in obtaining the "Favouring Eyes" ability (effect yet to be revealed), she is unable to escape the Heat Haze as she did not die in a pair.

The Ayano that Black Shintarou meets is in truth Kano, who does so to spite Shintarou, whom he believes caused Ayano's death. In Route 1, after Red Shintaro meets her in the Heat Haze, she passes her eye ability to him and dies permanently.

Other Characters

Kenjirō (ケンジロウ Kenjirō?) / Kenjirō Tateyama (楯山　研次朗 Tateyama Kenjirō?)

Kenjirō is the father of Ayano and husband of Ayaka. He was also Haruka and Takane's homeroom teacher and is Momo's tutor. His song is Dead and Seek (デッドアンドシーク).

He possesses the ability of 'Making Eyes Clear' and seems to know about Medusae. When he was in university, he fell in love with Ayaka, who turned him down, not interested in a such a pathetic man. This caused him to become much more hard working and taking studying more seriously. After that, he was able to marry Ayaka. Together they had Ayano and adopted Kido, Kano and Seto. Kenjirō was interested in the theory of Medusae and researched it with Ayaka, only to be caught in a landslide with her and die. He came in contact with the Heat Haze and was given the snake of 'Clearing Eyes'. He became much more engrossed in research after Ayaka's death, eventually experimenting on and killing his two students. His fate is unclear, though in Route XX, Kuroha kills him.

Hiyori (ヒヨリ Hiyori?) / Hiyori Asahina (朝比奈 日和 Asahina Hiyori?)

Hiyori is a stubborn young girl from the countryside who yearns for the city. She is very popular at her school and has her own fan club. She drags Hibiya to the city with her in order to get Momo's autograph and stays at her sister Ayaka's house. She falls in love with Konoha who was staying there at the time. She becomes involved in a traffic accident and gets stuck in a time loop trying to save Hibiya, but while Hibiya successfully escapes the Heat Haze, she passes away. Her song is Kagerou Daze (カゲロウデイズ lit. Heat Haze Daze).

Shion (シオン Shion?) / Shion Kozakura (小桜 紫苑 Kozakura Shion?)

Shion is a 1/2 medusa and Mary's mother. When Shion was younger, she lived with her parents Azami and Tsukihiko. She loves Mary very much, and in order to protect her she refrains from letting Mary play outside. One day, Mary bypasses her mother's orders and plays outside anyways, however some boys come to attack her. She sacrifices herself in order to save Mary, and uses her eye power to turn the boys to stone; but the strain on her body was too much and she passes away with Mary.

She gets consumed by the Heat Haze and is given the 'Combining Eyes' ability, however she passes the power on to Mary and sends her to the outside world. Shion's song is Gunjou Rain (群青レイン lit. Ultramarine Rain).

Azami (アザミ Azami?) / (薊?)

Azami is a full medusa and Shion's mother. Snakes grow from her hair, each with a unique power. She once thought humans were 'dull creatures that die easily' but fell in love with a human named Tsukihiko and started a family. After realizing how short human lives were compared to her immortality, she goes away to use the power of the snakes to create a Never Ending World (The Kagerou Daze) where she could live with her family forever. It is currently unclear if she waited for her family to arrive in the Kagerou Daze, before realising that her husband would have passed away by then, or that when she returned, the villagers attacking her house made her revert back to her original ideology, causing her to return to the Never-Ending World alone.

Many years later, her daughter and granddaughter, Shion and Mary were killed on August 15th. Knowing this, she was unable to bear her grief and ordered the Heat Haze to "bring in every person who died on August 15th", giving the ability of 'Combining Eyes' to Shion to allow her to return to life (who gave it to Mary). This causes her to lose control of the Heat Haze, thus drawing in every person who had died on August 15th, the day Mary died. Her song is Shinigami Record (シニガミレコード, lit. Death-God Record).

Ayaka (アヤカ?) / Ayaka Tateyama (楯山 絢香 Tateyama Ayaka?)

Ayaka is Ayano's mother, Kenjirou's wife and Hiyori's sister. She became interested in the myth about Medusae and fell in love with Kenjirou at university. She gave birth to Ayano and adopted Kido, Kano and Seto from the orphanages after hearing about their strange abilities. She died in a landslide with Kenjirou while researching, passing on her trademark red clips to Ayano.

Tsukihiko (ツキヒコ Tsukihiko?)

A soldier who fell in love with Azami. Tsukihiko is an albino man, and has long been considered a 'monster' by the other villagers. He tells Azami that he is also a monster, and that they should spend their life together. Together, they had Shion and live peacefully until villagers attacked their home, mistakenly thinking he had been held captive.

Songs

(The following synopsis does not follow the sequence of the songs.)

Once, an immortal Medusa named Azami possessed hair made of snakes, with 10 snakes that each had a unique power. She believed that humans were uninteresting and was often feared due to her being a Medusa. Tsukihiko, who encountered her, changed her mind, resulting in them falling in love and them having a 1/2 Medusa child named Shion, causing Azami to unconsciously create an 11th snake, the "Favouring Eyes" through her love for her family. Fearing that her husband would one day die, she created the Kagerou Daze (Heat Haze, Never-Ending World) with the help of the snakes in order to live together with her family forever. However, she failed to prevent her husband's death of old age, and retreated into the Heat Haze alone.

Similar to her mother, Shion eventually had a child named Mary with a human, making Mary a 1/4 Medusa and therefore having the hereditary "Eye Contact" ability; she could only temporarily freeze people upon eye contact though, instead of like her mother, who, due to being a half Medusa, encountered great strain each time her power was used. Shion and Mary were murdered, and in an attempt to save them, Azami ordered the Heat Haze to "bring in all who had died on August 15th", the day of their death. In order to let Shion live, she handed over the "Combining Eyes" ability, but Shion gave it to Mary instead, who returned to life and continued living in the same house until Seto found her many years later. This caused Azami to lose control of the Heat Haze, drawing in all who died in pairs on August 15th.

In the meantime, 3 children were brought together in an orphanage: Kido, who had died in a fire and returned with the "Concealing Eyes"; Seto who drowned and obtained the "Stealing Eyes"; Kano, beaten to death and possessing the "Deceiving Eyes". They were adopted by Kenjirou Tateyama, who was researching Medusae with his wife, Ayaka, and was interested in their eye abilities. Their daughter, Ayano, helped to motivate them by forming the Mekakushi Dan with them.

However, a landslide occurred in which Ayaka died and Kenjirou returned with the "Clear Eyes", causing him to have a breakdown. He then experimented on and killed his two students (Takane and Haruka), causing them to enter the Kagerou Daze. Increasingly worried for her siblings' safety and her father's sanity, Ayano committed suicide in an attempt to obtain an eye ability to save them: while she succeeded in obtaining an ability, she did not die in a pair and hence was trapped in the haze.

Shintarou, a close friend of Ayano with implied feelings for her, fell into depression and became a hikikomori after her death. It is here that he meets Takane who returns as a computer program named Ene. From here, two routes may occur.

ROUTE 1

This is considered the "Good Ending". Eventually, Shintarou leaves the house and meets the Mekakushi Dan. Due to the trauma of using his eye ability and the corruption of the snakes, Konoha becomes Kuroha, who wishes to get to Mary in order to obtain the Combining Eyes ability. Through some means, they successfully protect Mary, and Kuroha attempts to commit suicide, but is saved by Shintarou who dies in his place. Shintarou then enters the Heat Haze, where he meets Ayano, who gives him her eye ability, the "Favouring Eyes". As seen in Summertime Record, the Mekakushi Dan become free of the Heat Haze, with the former 3 members discarding their hoodies from Ayano and all of them gradually forgetting what happened as time passes and they grow older.

ROUTE XX

This is considered the "Bad Ending". Instead of meeting the Dan, Shintarou remains at home, grieving over the loss of Ayano.He too often has visualisations of Ayano, which turns out to be Kano using his eye ability to appear as Ayano, as he believes that Shintarou is the one that caused the death of his precious elder sister. Despite Ene's pleas, Shintarou refuses to go out, and eventually murders her. After this, Shintarou falls into greater despair, and commits suicide. He is shown to encounter Ayano in the Heat Haze, but is unsuccessful in reaching her. As seen in Outer Science, Kuroha successfully steals the eye ability from Mary, and kills all of them, while Azami appears defeated. In despair, Mary reverses time in order to save her friends.