This is the character sheet for White Album 2, the spin-off sequel to White Album. Tropes pertaining to characters from both the anime and the visual novel will be found here. Help would be very much appreciated.
Because the events of Closing Chapter and Coda have yet to be adapted, beware of unmarked spoilers.
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The Main Trio
Haruki Kitahara
Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima
The main protagonist of White Album 2. Aspiring to be a skilled guitarist, he joins Houjou High's light music club in his third year together with his friend Takeya Iizuka in an effort to learn and improve his playing, though with minimal success. At the beginning of the story, he and Takeya are the sole members of the light music club remaining, the others having left thanks to having to deal with Tomo Yanagisa as the lead vocalist. To save their club from being completely disbanded, he, in a turn of fate, recruits Setsuna Ogiso and Kazusa Touma into the light music club to be their vocalist and pianist respectively.
- Accidental Pervert: Walks in on Kazusa wearing only a towel over her while he was staying over at her house. Happens again in the visual novel-like Picture Drama included in the anime's blu rays, though this time, he has the option of accidentally walking in on either Kazusa or Setsuna (depending on the players' choice) changing into their outfits before the iconic concert from episode 7.
- The Ace: Excepting his guitar playing at the beginning of the story, this is how the students at Houjou High view him as when it comes to academics and other business-like affairs. He's reliable, responsible, organized, and handy when it comes to committee-related activities. Probably the reason why he's his class's Class Representative before the start of the story.
- All Love Is Unrequited: What he feels towards Kazusa, during the events of Introductory Chapter. The song he personally wrote, Todokanai Koi Translation, reflects his feelings towards her.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: To Kazusa. Understandable, given this is AFTER he already started dating Setsuna.
- Becoming the Mask: In Coda, Kazusa proposes that he should pretend to love her until she returns to Vienna. He would still love Setsuna, his girlfriend, more than anyone, but he would indulge her fantasy while she's in Japn. In her True End, Haruki turns her down, believing that once he starts "pretending", it becomes the truth, and he won't ever be able to go back to Setsuna. He is entirely right. This is exactly what happens in Kazusa's Normal End, and despite the pretense of it being an act, which Kazusa repeatedly reinforces, it quickly becomes heartbreakingly obvious that he really does love her, which only makes it so much more painful when against his stated wish, she "returns him" to Setsuna at the end.
- Betty and Veronica: The Archie to Kazusa's Veronica and Setsuna's Betty.
- Broken Ace: In the Closing Chapter, he's still a high-achieving student and employee and people still rely on him, but this is out of a desire to drown himself in work so he doesn't have any time to think or to spend with Setsuna.
- Chick Magnet: As of Closing Chapter, he now has five girls after him, though only Setsuna and Kazusa remain prominent throughout the entirety of White Album 2.
- Class Representative: He used to be one, though his peers continue to rely on him as if he was still in that position.
- Commitment Issues: Ultimately, his fatal flaw, and the driving thrust of the plot all the way into Coda. Outside of the True End, if both Setsuna and Kazusa are within reach, he is unable to commit to either of them, and his inability to cut himself off from either is a large reason why their relationships are shattered. This is spelt out in the Extra Story "Twinkle Snow Delusions", where it shows that even had he gotten together with Kazusa before Setsuna, he still cheats on the former with the latter, repeating the events of the game no matter what. In the True Ends, he averts this by fully committing himself to one or the other, either by removing himself from the picture in Setsuna's True End, or finally gathering the courage to let go of near everything in pursuit of Kazusa without looking back.
- The Determinator: He never gave up on Kazusa no matter how coldly she'd treat him. Unlike his peers and teachers who have, at that point, practically given up on her, Haruki would stop at nothing to help her out whenever he could, even continuing to persistently call and visit her at a time when Kazusa closed herself off from both Haruki and Setsuna to concentrate on her piano recital. Taken to absurd levels in Kazusa's True End, where absolutely nothing will stop him from being with her and making her happy. He breaks up with Setsuna. He confesses to what he did to her, his friends and her family. He quits his job in order to move to a foreign country to be with her. He severs all ties with pretty much anyone in Japan. About the only thing he fails to do (though not without good honest effort anyway) is to get her mother to move back to Vienna with her too.
- Dreadful Musician: At least in the beginning before Kazusa began to teach him how to play properly.
- Has a Type: Kazusa. Other than having a crush on her when they first met for her appearance alone, her personality is noted to be similar to another love interest of his, Mari, as someone who is passionate and serious about their field to the point where they can neglect other areas of their life, to the point that multiple characters wonder if this is a reason why he likes Mari (romantically or otherwise).
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Repeatedly. Haruki is compulsively helpful and hardworking.
- In the Introductory Chapter, he is one to the student council's committee.
- In the Closing Chapter, despite being a part-timer at the time, both the places he works out greatly rely on him, and he takes on greater workload than many people who have been there for longer.
- In Kazusa's True End, he becomes one to Kazusa. Two years after leaving Japan to be with her, he is her manager and basically runs the European branch of the company on top of doing promotional works for her, sometimes overseas, and this is after he presumably has to learn a new language from scratch on top of the added difficulties of living in a new country. Kazusa herself says that the reason she isn't more ambitious than she is because she knows whatever unreasonable ambition she has, come hell or high water, he'll make it come true.
- Insecure Love Interest: Despite his feelings for her, he is shocked that Kazusa ever thought of him as more than a friend, considering himself to be too average and dull for a genius like her. This contributed to him accepting Setsuna's confession, as he believed he never had a chance with Kazusa. Drama ensues.
- It's All My Fault:
- Despises himself for cheating on Setsuna for Kazusa despite still being in a relationship with the former thanks to his indecisiveness and naivety towards his own feelings for both girls. So when Setsuna still doesn't blame or even outright hate him for what he did, instead choosing to place all the blame on herself, it only made him feel even worse.
- When Setsuna turns him down for still having feelings for Kazusa, he blames only himself, despite the fact this is the one time nearly every other character believes Setsuna is at least also in the wrong (though Io only says so in Setsuna's route, and in other situations, she instead calls out Haruki for "cheating on" Setsuna).
- Love at First Sight: Had a crush on Kazusa the moment he saw her, according to him. If anything, she's disillusioned when she finds out, disappointed he fell for her for her look alone.
- Nice Guy: He's thoughtful and considerate, oftentimes putting the welfare of others before himself as evidenced by his relationship with both Setsuna and Kazusa, to the point that he's known for being preachy, but...
- Oblivious to Love: Let's just say that multiple times pretty much everyone but the man himself notices when a girl has a crush on him.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: During Chiaki's true path, he gets upset enough to knock her to the ground and nearly physically attacks her. He doesn't, but it's still an extreme deviation from how he acts at basically any other point in the story.
- Parental Neglect: After a divorce, his father leaves. While his mother still provides for him financially, she is basically not in his life. Part of the reason why he's more defensive of Youko's parenting is because as terrible as she was in the past, she at least has returned to her daughter and is trying to make amends, which is more than can be said of his own parents.
- The Reliable One: How a lot of people see him as thanks to his studiousness and avid persistence when it comes to work. This is why, despite not being a member of the committee, Hayasaka ropes him into helping out on preparations for Houjou's School Festival.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Hoo boy, his experiences in Introductory Chapter made him a lot more colder than how he personally started out as, even going so far as ignoring Setsuna for most of Closing Chapter despite causing her so much pain by doing so, though he at least does this because of the overwhelming feelings of guilt he harbors towards her for what he did to her during Introductory Chapter.
- Tsundere: Not to the same degree as Kazusa herself, as he still treats her rather civilly for the most part, but Haruki has a habit of disguising his affection for her by lecturing Kazusa or criticizing her behavior.
- When writing an article on Kazusa, Haruki fills it with so much moralizing and criticism that some of his collegues worry about getting it to publish, feeling it reads like malicious scandals. However, multiple characters recognize it as an expression, intentional or otherwise, of his love for her. Setsuna points out that this is exactly how he treated Kazusa in the past to call out his lie, and even after three years, Haruki remains deeply in love with her.
- During Kazusa's True End, Haruki begins mercilessly criticizing her, more harshly and cruelly than he had ever done, before immediately confessing his love for her in unambiguous terms and declaring his willingness to give up everything he now has to be with her and make her happy.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Kind of. In Kazusa's True End, breaking up with Setsuna pretty much severs any tie he has with his friends, and he must leave his home country to be with Kazusa. This may have changed in the years since though, and he can at least visit Japan again with her.
Setsuna Ogiso
Click to see her in Coda.
Voiced by: Madoka Yonezawa
Houjou High's most popular girl and resident school idol. Despite having won the Miss Houjou beauty contest in her high school for two consecutive years in a row and having a high chance of winning it again in her third year, Setsuna loses interest in entering again for her final year, prompting committee members to enlist Haruki's help in convincing her to join again for one last time. A cheerful person with a bright personality, Setsuna is friendly and nice to those who approach her, but it's hinted that her cheerfulness is just a facade to hide her true feelings. Haruki asks her to join the light music club after hearing her sing on their school's rooftop after class hours, making her the club's and the story's resident vocalist.
- Abusive Parents: Very much on the receiving end of this. Though her parents appear wholesome on the surface, even dwelving a little bit into their characters and their dynamics with Setsuna makes it quite clear that they are very much emotionally abusive towards her. Her father, Susumu, is very much an overprotective Control Freak with who constantly treats his very much adult daugther as a child, and refuses her any real kind of independence, constantly checking in on her and her whereabouts and doings. Her mother, Akina, meanwhile, is a manipulative Stepford Smiler, who doggedly attempts to maintain the family's perfect outwards appearence by pushing everyone to keep a lid on anything that could even hint at interpersonal conflict. Overall, is not hard to see where Setsuna gets some of her worse impluses and traits from.
- Alone in a Crowd: Setsuna is popular enough to be surrounded by a lot of peers, but in spite of this, she pretty much feels alone all the time.
- Ambiguously Bi: While she's definitely in love with Haruki to the point of Single-Target Sexuality, there's just enough subtext between her and Kazusa that skirts the line beyond two girls having a deep friendship with each other. There's also Kazusa's Stripperific outfit during the school festival, which was something Setsuna chose for her.
- Betty and Veronica: The Betty to Kazusa's Veronica and Haruki's Archie.
- The Chain of Harm: The abuse she's suffered from her parents has led her to be a controlling, manipulative person in her relationships.
- The Determinator: Towards both Haruki and Kazusa, especially the former.
- Deuteragonist: Arguably this as she remains the most prominent character in the story even if the route chosen isn't about her. She even gets her own point of view in the VN where she takes the role of the main character from Haruki during her route in Coda.
- Dude Magnet: Haruki aside, a lot of boys from both her high school and university are attracted to her, often getting confessions on a frequent basis, though she always turns them down.
- Foil: To Kazusa, being everything that Kazusa is not: friendly, popular, and with a family who loves her dearly.
- Genre Savvy: Quickly catches on that Haruki and Kazusa are mutually in love with each other after reading Todokanai Koi's lyrics firsthand before their concert together the following day. So what does she do immediately after learning this? She confesses to Haruki first knowing that he can't say no thanks to his personality.
- Girlish Pigtails: Her hairstyle. Partially subverted in that she's a young woman in her final year in high school, and later in her college years, but she still possesses the naivety of a young girl at heart when it comes to facing harsh reality.
- Happily Married: With Haruki in her route's True End in Coda. The "happy" part is a lot more pronounced in her ending since, apart from getting Haruki in the end, this is the only ending where she fully reconciles her friendship with Kazusa, fulfilling her wish during their final year in high school that the three of them would always stay together in the end.
- Heroic BSoD: For most of Closing Chapter thanks to the consequences of everyone's actions at the end of Introductory Chapter and because of Haruki's avoidance of her.
- Hypocrite: If Haruki confesses to Setsuna about what has been going on with Kazusa in Coda, she calls out Haruki for running away from Kazusa when she needs him most rather than settling things. However, if he doesn't, she intentionally takes actions to keep him with her until Kazusa's concert ends to make sure he does not change his mind and return to Kazusa. Ironically, the latter will prevent her from having Haruki in the end. Trying to keep him from abandoning her is exactly what ensures he abandons her.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Her past experiences and inner loneliness have led her to treasure the friendships she formed with Haruki and Kazusa, to the point that most of her actions during Introductory Chapter can be seen as a desperate attempt to keep the three of them together no matter what.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: This is what more than anything what defines her. Setsuna's primary reason for being unable to let go of her blatantly dysfuctional and toxic realtionship with Haruki is grip due to her intense fear of abandonment.
- Idol Singer: She's the group and the story's main vocalist.
- Indifferent Beauty: She's popular for her cute looks, but, while it's not as pronounced as Kazusa, she puts a wall around herself and others and isn't truly close to anyone until she meets Haruki and Kazusa. She even rejects any and all confessions from boys who aren't Haruki.
- In Love with Love: She is in some regards very much a by proxy case. While mainly motivated by I Just Want to Be Loved, her secondary reason for refusing to let go of her screwed-up relationship with Haruki, is because her controlling and overbearing parents constantly pushes her to confirm to their very traditional expectations and wants her to settle down with a husband as soon as possible, so being in an "committed" relationship is the only why she can maintain any kind of norminal degree of independence from them.
- It's All My Fault: Instead of chewing either Haruki or Kazusa out for two-timing her while she was still in a relationship with Haruki, she blames herself for the painful mess that happened between the three of them near the end of Introductory Chapter, seeing as she was aware of Haruki and Kazusa's feelings toward each other but still deciding to confess to Haruki first regardless.
- Love Confession: Gives one to Haruki at the end of episode 7 while being fully aware of Haruki and Kazusa's feelings toward each other. It has consequences for the rest of the story.
- Love Martyr: Assuming a favourable interpretation of her character, despite how horribly she is treated by Haruki and sometims Kazusa, Setsuna will always take the blame for whatever goes wrong, from Haruki cheating on her to her friendship with Kazusa falling apart.
- Nice Girl: While her cheerfulness and positive attitude is a facade, Setsuna is overall genuinely kind, caring, and friendly to anyone, though it's best shown to those she cares about the most.
- Odd Friendship: With Tomo, who is rude, vain, selfish and a jerk, albeit a kinder one than she initially let on. Nonetheless, the two form a strong bond after the Closing Chapter, with Tomo possibly being the person who is most defensive of Setsuna, and Setsuna in turn trusting Tomo almost more than any other friend.
- Only Friend: To Kazusa, being the only person she could ever truly call her first and best friend.Kazusa: I love you. You're my only friend and nothing could replace you.
- Plucky Girl: Towards Kazusa. Unlike Haruki who struggled to get Kazusa to even open up, Setsuna took little effort in getting Kazusa to warm up to her, quickly befriending her in the process thanks to her optimism and cheerful persistence.
- The Rival: To Kazusa when it comes to Haruki. Given Setsuna's complex relationship with Kazusa, it's a lot more complicated than it should be.
- School Idol: The most popular girl in Houjou High, having won the Miss Houjou beauty contest for two consecutive years for her looks and personality.
- Secretly Selfish: In many ways, she really is as kind as everyone thinks she is, but Setsuna also possesses a selfish and calculating streak that motivates many of her actions. She herself admits this many times, and often her character arc involves Setsuna being honest with her selfish but ultimately human desires rather than keeping them bottled up to not risk pushing others away and hurting both herself and others in the process.
- Third Wheel: Her fear in the Introductory Chapter. On top of having a crush on Haruki herself, she treasures her friendship with Kazusa, and as she notices their budding romance, she foresees herself being left out once the two of them get together. So she makes the first move.
- Troubled Abuser: Setsuna is overtly manipulative and controlling in her relationship with Haruki, but analysing her dynamic with her parents, Susumu and Akina, just even slightly, makes it clear that this behavior is at least partally a result of their own emotional abuse towards her.
Kazusa Touma
Click to see her in Coda.
Voiced by: Hitomi Nabatame
Haruki's classmate and resident loner. Kazusa is a cold, beautiful girl who is known to be the only daughter of world-renowned pianist, Youko Touma. Originally belonging to the music curriculum due to her talent in piano, she was placed in the school's regular curriculum after causing her teachers so much distress with her frequent absences, bad grades, and biting attitude. She's usually found playing the piano alone in the music room after school hours, finding comfort in playing the instrument herself amid the issues that constantly plague her daily lonely life. Upon finding out that she was the pianist who would sometimes accompany his guitar playing from the shadows in the music room, Haruki sought to to make her a member of the light music club as their pianist, though she refused until Setsuna intervened.
- The Ace: In music, she is leagues beyond anyone else in the story save for her mother despite her youth, and in at least one ending, she does manage to surpass her mother too. She is far from the very best in the world, but is exceptionally successful given her age. And though she primarily plays the piano, she excels at any instrument she tries her hand at compared to "normal" people, surpassing Haruki after a few days of messing with the guitar despite his constant practice, and being able to proficiently play the bass and the saxophone on stage despite having only weeks at most to practice with (while having to write a new song, practice with the piano and teach Haruki to play better with the guitar in the same time period).
- All the Other Reindeer: She's isolated from her peers, though it's not for the usual reasons associated with this trope as it has more to do with her being very unsociable to anyone who approaches her.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Her hair's dark, and she's as aloof as you can get her to be.
- Always Someone Better: Her own mother, who she feels remains the superior musician even after she began training again for years, though she would rarely admit this herself. She actually manages to surpass Youko in the Bonus Story "To My Sworn Enemy", which fills her mother with so much competitive jealousy that she got better from her illness just so she can train again and catch up to her daughter.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: To Haruki, knowing it could never be, as he is already dating Setsuna.
- Animal Motif: Compared to a dog at various points, usually in reference to her devotion to and her need for attention from one person, Haruki.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Fell for Haruki because he continued to care for her in spite of her pushing him away several times. This is also the basis for her friendship with Setsuna.
- Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Setsuna's Betty and Haruki's Archie.
- Blood Oath: When she finally asks him to leave Setsuna for her, she bites Haruki's finger until she draws blood, then says...Kazusa: "From now on... you belong to me."And with this, we establish an oath signed in blood.
- Book Dumb: Her single-minded focus on piano and her personal lack of interest in studying made her really poor in performing academically.
- Broken Bird: Overlapping with Broken Ace. Kazusa's issues with her mother, the realization that her piano skills are all she has, and her inability to form attachments with anyone before Haruki and Setsuna entered her life turned her into the bitter loner that we see her as at the beginning of White Album 2.
- Byronic Heroine: While she's a good person, Kazusa is a perfect fit for the trope nonetheless, being a very talented genius but also non-conformist, a loner, aloof, standoffish and bitter due to her sad backstory.
- But Now I Must Go: She leaves Haruki and Setsuna for Europe at the end of Introductory Chapter and the anime to pursue her career in piano. She does get to come back in Coda however, only to leave again in multiple endings.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Her feelings for Haruki, despite the fact that to some parties, they are painfully obvious.
- Character Development: Surprisingly, she arguably gets the most of it in the Bonus Story To My Sworn Enemy, which follows her cheating route rather than her True End. Without Haruki or her mother to look out for her, Kazusa is forced to fend for herself to fulfill her mother's wish. She recognizes that everyone changes and despite lamenting how she is unable to change, it's obvious she had already taken steps to. Over the course of the story, Kazusa grows and becomes more independent, confident and ambitious and learns the importance of connecting with other people than Haruki and Setsuna. In the process, she manages to surpass even her mother in music and is able to make major steps toward improving her life in non-musical areas.
- Covert Pervert: Anti-social as she may be, once they get together, Kazusa appears incredibly sexually active.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Haruki's and especially Setsuna's persistence towards her helped melt the icy wall she formed around herself.
- Devoted to You: To Haruki. Even in Setsuna's True End, she admits that she still loves him and probably always will. The only ending where they can be together is the one where Haruki returns this single-minded devotion to her and abandon everything else, and in all other instances, she "returns" him to Setsuna for his sake and perhaps also Setsuna's.
- Disowned Parent: No matter what other people in her life assume she needs or wants, Kazusa is flatly disinterested in even finding out who her father is. She outright says Youko will always be her only parent.
- Eccentric Artist: Like her mother, but in a different way. While Youko is carefree to the extreme, Kazusa is more lacking in common sense, basic courtesy and basically any skill other than music.
- Elegant Classical Musician: She's a talented pianist whose elegance is highlighted whenever she plays.
- Everyone Can See It: Setsuna can see it. Her mother can see it. Takeya and Io can see it. About the only one who cannot see it is the man himself.
- Friendless Background: Her difficult personality made it hard for her to form friendships. Coda reveals that she still doesn't have friends after 5 years.
- Happily Married: In her True End with Haruki.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: During her Normal End, After spending a whole month together behind Setsuna's back, Haruki proposes they run away together and get married. Kazusa accepts at first, only to reject him later, because she recognizes that, unlike in her True End, Haruki remains unwilling to actually let go of the things he have and is hurting himself by being with her.Kazusa: "The most important treasure for me... will break if I hold it myself."
- Insecure Love Interest: To Haruki, even though outsiders tend to consider her to be way out of his league by the time of the Closing Chapter. Kazusa sees herself as unworthy of him due to being incapable of doing anything but play music.
- It's All My Fault:
- Absolutely hates herself for willingly betraying Setsuna by making love with Haruki on the night before her flight to Vienna, despite knowing that this would definitely ruin not just Setsuna's relationship with Haruki, but with hers as well. The look of absolute pain and guilt on her face when she sees that Setsuna still came to see her off in spite of what she did to her says it all.
- She treats Haruki cheating on Setsuna with her as entirely her responsibility even though, objectively speaking, he shares at least half the blame. During her Normal End, Haruki realizes that she refers to their act as lovemaking as her seducing him and him pitying her to absolve him of guilt.
- Leitmotif: "Closing". It is played at the end of her True End. In the anime, it is played when Haruki discovers it's Kazusa whose piano playing has been accompanying his guitar practice all this time. An orchestral version, "Cloture", is an in-universe song Kazusa's mother asks her to play in the After Story "To My Sworn Enemy", which she does in the climax.
- Like a Daughter to Me: In To My Sworn Enemy. Kazusa outright states that she does not care who her father is and that Youko will always be her only parent. However, her strict conductor, Dupre, outright says that due to Youko's constant travels in the past, there are many who knew her as a baby and have an interest in her career, viewing her as something like their daughter. This knowledge seems to help her recognize that she doesn't have to be alone, with or without her mother.
- Japanese Delinquents: While she isn't a person who picks up fights, she still does have the blunt, standoffish attitude and very poor attendance at school typically associated with the trope.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Kazusa is a standoffish and aloof person in general and her remarks are condescendingly scathing, but she genuinely does have a good heart deep down, and if you somehow manage to befriend her and see past her exterior shell, you'll learn that she's actually pretty kind and very caring and sensitive.
- Lethal Chef: Due to her absurdly sweet tooth and neglecting any life skill other than music, her culinary skills leave much to be desired.
- Minor Living Alone: She has no guardians at home to look after her in her mother's absence despite still being in high school. It's invoked in that Kazusa herself relieved everyone who was supposed to watch over her from duty as a means of cutting herself off from being her mother's daughter, though she at least still contacts her cook whenever she needs her.
- Mommy Issues: A lot of her problems stem from her issues with her mother, who left her in Japan to go to Europe just before Kazusa graduated middle school.
- No Social Skills: Her standoffish and bitter personality prevents her from forming friendships so to speak. Deconstructed in that this pattern of behavior leaves her so isolated that without Haruki or her mother around, she may well be left alone in the world. The Bonus Story To My Sworn Enemy shows she can get better though, where the lack of support from her mother and Haruki combined with her need to fulfill her mother's wish and her realization that she's not alone in her field causes her to become better at dealing with people. Her shockingly normal interview at the end of the story surprises Haruki, who notes that she had grown tremendously.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: Due to being abandoned by her mother at a young age, Kazusa has a deep fear of being left behind by people she loves.
- She asks Haruki multiple times not to leave her. Played for Laugh in the Mini-After Story, where less than one hour after having an argument with him, she feels too lonely and barges in on him having a shower to apologize and begs him not to abandon her.
- When she discovers her mother's health problem, she begs her to stay, believing that without Haruki, Youko is the only one she has left.
- Put on a Bus: Is absent for most of Closing Chapter as a result of her departure for Vienna at the end of Introductory Chapter, though is at least mentioned or alluded to from time to time. She does return in full for Coda however.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Her second concert in Coda is a resounding success in every ending, but in her Normal End, it is a soul-crushing experience for her, as it marks the end of her time with the one man she loves before she leaves Japan forever. Takeya notes that Kazusa is crying herself even as she brings the audience to tears with her performance.
- The Rival:
- She's Setsuna's when it comes to getting Haruki's affections. Notable in that, out of all the heroines who appear in Closing Chapter, her rivalry with Setsuna when it comes to romance is a lot more personal.
- Musically, she considers her mother to be her greatest rival, and she is still trying to surpass her five years later.
- Someone to Remember Him By: She implies to want a child by Haruki in her Normal End, knowing their time together would be short-lived. Unfortunately, the After Story that follows this ending confirms they did not conceive a child.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Usually frosty and rude to even the people she loves, but when she lets her walls down, Kazusa can be incredibly clingy and affectionate.
- Sweet Tooth: Habitually puts an absurd amount of sugar into everything and loves to stuff herself with sweet food.
- Tsundere: A harsh type towards everyone she meets, though the "tsun" is more pronounced towards Haruki. She usually only shows her "dere" side to Setsuna, though, at her most tender, she'll occasionally show it to Haruki as well. She is also incredibly harsh and snarky toward her own mother even after they start living together again, but immediately breaks down when she discovers her mother's illness, begging not to be left behind.
- "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: As a child, she played music only for her mother's approval.
- When She Smiles: Oh yes, she's beautiful when she smiles. After the concert, Hayasaka notes that boys started looking at her differently thanks to Setsuna and Haruki's efforts to make her smile more.
Characters introduced in Introductory Chapter
Takeya Iizuka
Voiced by: Takuma Terashima
Haruki's best friend and president of the light music club. He taught Haruki the basics of playing guitar but with minimal success.
- Best Friend: Haruki's, until Kazusa's True End, and even then, he does his damndest to try to talk Haruki back to Setsuna, outright saying he takes Haruki's side over Io's even after he confesses to what he had done and begging his friend to reconsider and take it all back. Haruki's commitment to Kazusa by that point severs their friendship however.
- By the end of Kazusa's True End, he begins referring to Io as his best friend instead, after Haruki leaves Japan. Though the two still share a romantic interest in each others, they are implied to be putting it off for Setsuna's sake.
- Beta Couple: It's only hinted at in Introductory Chapter, but Setsuna's True End in Coda confirms that he and Io are an item together.
- Butt-Monkey: Downplayed, but a lot of people don't really respect him all that much, not even the light music club members who are supposed to be subordinate to him.
- Chick Magnet: He's popular with girls, though according to Hayasaka, despite his status, he can't seem to impress the girl he likes the most: Io.
- Club President: Of the dwindling light music club in Houjou High at the beginning of White Album 2.
- Death Glare: When he begins to notice that Haruki's eyes are starting to wander towards Kazusa despite still being in a relationship with Setsuna. He even warns him not to show too much concern towards Kazusa in front of Setsuna.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- He may be a womanizer, but does not take it kindly when Haruki appears unfaithful to Setsuna, due to her own devotion to him. He will still defend Haruki's "cheating" in the Closing Chapter because at that point it's ambiguous whether he and Setsuna are still going out after she (maybe) dumps him. Doing so AFTER he proposed to Setsuna is too far for him however, and even Takeya can't take his best friend's side after that in Kazusa's True End.
- He may fool around with lots of girls, but even back in high school, he has nothing nice to say about Chiaki after dating her.
- A Friend in Need: Through thick and thin, he consistently has Haruki's back.
- Only Sane Man: Not that others are particularly irrational, but Takeya is usually the most reasonable and measured, always seeking to avoid fights and maintain friendships without resorting to more extreme actions like Io and especially Tomo or adopting an arguably unhealthy obsession like Setsuna or Kazusa.
- Pretty Boy: His good looks combined with his loose personality made him popular with the ladies at school.
- Shipper on Deck: Like Io, he wants Setsuna and Haruki to end up together.
Io Mizusawa
Voiced by: Ikumi Nakagami
Setsuna's classmate and a friend of Haruki and Takeya. She's frank and tomboyish to a fault, earning her some hidden fans of her own, though she's stated to be uninterested in romance. She was once the captain of Houjou High's basketball team.
- Beta Couple: With Takeya.
- Boyish Short Hair: To emphasize her tomboyish personality.
- Brutal Honesty: A trait of hers that made her popular in the first place.
- Celibate Heroine: Is said to have no interest in romance. But this is subverted when it's revealed in Setsuna's True End in Coda that she and Takeya are an item after all.
- The Confidant: Besides Kazusa and Haruki, Io is the person Setsuna relies on to confide her feelings to the most.
- Shipper on Deck: Like Takeya, she ships Setsuna and Haruki together.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: Her relationship with Takeya has shades of this. So it should serve as no surprise when it's revealed that she and Takeya are in a relationship together.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- For once, she actually gives this reaction to Setsuna when Setsuna rejects Haruki. To her, Setsuna knows from the start that Haruki will never forget Kazusa, so to drag it out for years trying to reach him, only to turn him away when he tries to reach her for something she always knew was never going to change, is too cruel. Io almost goes to Setsuna expecting to sever ties with her just to let her know she did something wrong.
- To Haruki in Kazusa's True End. Though she is initially in denial about it, once he confesses, she holds him in absolute contempt for abandoning Setsuna.
Chikashi Hayasaka
Voiced by: Noriaki Sugiyama
Haruki's classmate and a close friend of his. Though a member of the committee responsible for making the school festival a success, he foists all responsibility to Haruki while he enjoys himself, though he is at least better now than he was before.
- Butt-Monkey: He's got it worse than Takeya, though he's a lot less hammy about it.
- Fire-Forged Friends: He was initially more hostile towards Haruki in flashbacks before they inevitably got closer together after getting to know Haruki better.
- Genre Savvy: He quickly realizes right at the beginning that Haruki was always in love with Kazusa, going as far as to wonder why he began a relationship with Setsuna immediately just before graduation.
Tomo Yanagisa
Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya
The Light Music Club's former lead vocalist and candidate to the Ms. Houjou competition, though she always loses to Setsuna each time. Her quitting the Light Music Club at the start of the story is what kickstarts the plot in the first place.
- Always Second Best: To Setsuna, in both the Ms. Houjou pageants and in singing.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She is rude and petty to Setsuna when they first meet in the Closing Chapter, but it becomes clear that despite her envy, she also deeply admires Setsuna and hates to see her not live up to her potential. By Coda, they become close friends and Tomo is aggressively defensive of Setsuna.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Introduced as a petty jerk, but Tomo never does any serious harm, secretly admires Setsuna and eventually becomes a very protective friend of her.
- Odd Friendship: With Setsuna.
- Properly Paranoid: She may well be the first person other than Setsuna to suspect that Haruki is cheating on her with Kazusa in Coda, and also the most zealous in exposing them on some routes. She can also be completely correct. Setsuna meanwhile is in denial and even tries to cover for them from Tomo, likely fearing irreparably destroying their relationship if Haruki's behavior comes to light.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Her quitting as the lead vocalist of the Light Music Club at the very beginning of the visual novel is what led Haruki to search for and become closer to Setsuna and Kazusa.
- Tsundere: Despite being unreasonably vindictive and mean toward Setsuna for almost the entirety of the Closing Chapter, it becomes clear by the end that really she is Setsuna's biggest fan. By Coda, the Tsun part is gone, and the two become very close friends.
- Unknown Rival: Is resentful at Setsuna for always winning the Ms. Houjou pageants even without trying but Setsuna barely knows anything about her, nor is she aware of her jealousy towards her.
- What the Hell, Hero?: She is the most venomous toward Haruki in Kazusa's True End, going so far as to suggest that he only leaves Setsuna behind for sex.
Youko Touma
Voiced by: Rio Natsuki
Kazusa's mother and an internationally renowned musician. She abandoned her daughter at a young age to live in Europe.
- The Ace: As talented as Kazusa is, she still hasn't surpassed Youko until the bonus story "To My Sworn Enemy". While Kazusa got to where she is through incredible talents and hardwork, Youko is implied to be even more talented and does not need to put nearly as much work into her craft. And unlike Kazusa, whose skillset largely begins and ends with music, Youko is also very savvy when it comes to business and image, despite her carefree and eccentric reputation.
- The Atoner: Though it doesn't show at first, she wants to make up for abandoning her daughter in the past, pulling all the strings she can trying to help Kazusa reach her potential even as she begins to fall dangerously ill. In Kazusa's True End, she says being a mother means being responsible for your child no matter what, implying regret at what she did in the past.
- Eccentric Artist: Infamously unrestrained and carefree with a string of lovers and an illegitimate daughter, and also an internationally famous musician.
- The Gadfly: Youko frequently teases and jokes at others' expense, her daughter being a favourite target.
- I Want Grandkids: After her True End, Kazusa is nagged multiple times by her mother to produce some kids already.
- Lethal Chef: Like her daughter, she's awful at it.
- Like Mother, Like Daughter: Though their demeanors are much different, they are both unrestrained people who do as they please without a care for societal norms and are incredibly talented musicians who devote much of their life to their craft.
- Parental Abandonment: Leaves Kazusa behind at a young age. Though Kazusa never had to worry about her financial wellbeing, it's clear this deeply scarred her.
- Parents as People: She cares a great deal about her daughter, but she used to be worse in the past and her own desires and wants sometimes come into conflict with what Kazusa wants, such as wishing to spend her final years in her home country, which is at odds with Kazusa's desire in most endings. She's not always the best parent either, though she does try. However, push comes to shove, such as in Kazusa's Normal End, she is fully willing to abandon her own wish to be there for her daughter.
- Parental Neglect: On top of her abandonment of Kazusa, even after they begin living together, Kazusa accuses her of barely being around. Part of this, at least later on, can however be attributed to her having to see the doctor due to her health problem, which she keeps hidden from Kazusa.
- Really Gets Around: Infamously. In stark contrast to her daughter, Youko outright admits to never loving any of them and keeping her heart guarded the whole time. The only possible exception is perhaps Kazusa's father, who she says "abandoned" her.
- The Rival: To her own daughter, though she remains the superior pianist. In the To My Sworn Enemy Bonus Story, having Kazusa surpass her riles her up so much that she seemingly regains her health and youth just so she can begin practicing again to catch up with Kazusa.
- Shipper on Deck: Recognizes immediately that her daughter is in love with Haruki, and tries a few times to push them together, such as sending a ticket to her show to his workplace to seat him next to Kazusa, which would have set up their first meeting in three years. That said, she encourages him to reject Kazusa completely if there is no chance for her so she can potentially move on.
- Sweet Tooth: Like her daughter.
Characters introduced in Closing Chapter
Mari Kazaoka
Voiced by: Yuu Asakawa
Haruki's boss at his part-time job. Infamous for being an effective worker and a strict superior, she serves as a caring if often rough mentor to Haruki.
- Benevolent Boss: She is strict and is infamous for assigning uniquely large amount of work, but she cares for the wellbeing of her subordinate and treats them fairly. After he stops showing up to work, she phones him personally to check up on Haruki and misses her flight entirely so she can hear him out from start to finish.
- Brutal Honesty: When she is unhappy with Haruki's work output, she lets him know it.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Despite being romantically interested in Haruki, she goes as far as missing a business flight to hear him talk about the women he loves when he's clearly upset and gives him an opportunity and urges him to go see Kazusa again, who she knows he's still in love with.
- Married to the Job: Very work-oriented, to the expense of other areas of her life. She plans to move to America for work reasons even before her relationship with Haruki runs into troubles, fully knowing this may well be the end of their relationship.
- Put on a Bus: She moves to an American branch of the company to work by the time of Coda, effectively removing herself from the plot.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She can be demanding and a little cold, but Mari cares a lot about the people working under her, and once she is in a relationship, she is shown to be very affectionate as well.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Sawako, her best friend since high school. The two of them can be a little aggressive with each others, but Mari is closer to her than anyone else.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Tears into Haruki in her own route when he confesses to being in a relationship with Setsuna, feeling like he used her to get through a tough period with his girlfriend. Considering she is insecure about him using her as a replacement for Kazusa, it makes her feel awful to think he's been using her as a replacement for Setsuna instead.
- You Remind Me of X: Of Kazusa. She has a somewhat domineering exterior with a kinder side underneath and is deeply passionate about her work at the expense of other aspects of her life. Multiple characters, including Haruki himself in her route, wonders if this is part of why he's attached to Mari.
Koharu Sugiura
Voiced by: Yoriko Nagata
A student who goes to the same high school Haruki used to go to. She gets involved when her best friend confesses her feelings to Haruki and is harshly turned down, demanding some real answers from Haruki for her friend, who is still deeply upset.
- All of the Other Reindeer: During her route, once rumors spread that she's been seeing a university student who her best friend had a crush on behind her friend's back, her schoolmates, which include at least two of her closest friends, begin shunning her, destroying any social contacts Koharu has at school.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: She helps Haruki's friends set up a date between Haruki and Setsuna, despite having a crush on Haruki herself.
- Mirror Character: She is noted to be very similar to Haruki by both Io and Takeya more or less as soon as they meet her.
- The two of them are highly responsible overachiever who others often rely upon. They are genuine and honest people with a strong sense of ethics and are prone to lecturing others. And just as Haruki's love for Kazusa causes him to betray his girlfriend, Setsuna, and he becomes more and more dishonest, Koharu's love for Haruki causes her to betray her best friend and she becomes more comfortable with deceiving others.
- Her crush on him likewise comes to mirror his relationship with Kazusa and how it tears apart the friendship between her and her best friend, who also has a crush on him. Though unlike with Setsuna, he does not reciprocate Yada's feelings, his relationship with Koharu is treated as a betrayal by both parties (Haruki betraying Setsuna and Koharu betraying Yada).
- Koharu's actions in her ending more or less foreshadows Haruki's actions in Kazusa's True End. Both of them give up everything dear to them (their colleagues and friendships for both, and their own country for Haruki) in order to pursue the one they love. They both make the same declaration that they will come to regret whatever choice they make, but they must choose.
- Nice Girl: Much like Haruki during the Introduction Arc, she is earnest and does her best for others.
- Out of Focus: Like the heroines introduced in the Closing Chapter, she disappears from the plot by the time of Coda, though she still works at the same restaurant.
- The Reliable One: Also like Haruki, she is hardworking and earnest, and picks up her first job incredibly quickly and swiftly becomes an often relied upon employee.
- Slut-Shaming: Part of the bullying she receives once people realize she's been seeing a university student quickly is in the form of constant rumors about her alleged sexual proclivities which has nearly no basis in reality.
Chiaki Izumi
Voiced by: Habuki Risato
A student who goes to the same university as Haruki. She is a slacker who behaves in a carefree manner, often exasperating Haruki. Unbeknownst to him, she went to the same high school as him, and considers herself a "fan" of the trio.
- Animal Motif: Cats.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Or as close as anyone in White Album 2 can get to it anyway. She prioritizes her craft so much she is fully willing to spend years near Haruki, adopting a personality to his liking and pushing him in directions that would "heal" him and have sexual relationships over weeks with him in order to see his love triangle "resolved" just so she can understand their "characters" for her play, nevermind the dishonesty and manipulations involved, so long that the story is complete. Nobody wants to be around her for this. Takeya and even the director who will bend over backward to appease her consider her a "monster" for how inhuman her thinking can be.
- Book Dumb: Nearly as bad as Kazusa.
- The Lad-ette: Is rather "unfeminine", which is one reason why Haruki finds it easy to get along with her.
- Mad Artist: Her entire relationship with Haruki is basically her going into full manipulation essentially to mine him for inspiration to create the perfect play.
- Manipulative Bitch: Until the very end of her route. She arguably has largely good intentions, but is entirely unapolegetic with lying to and manipulating Haruki for the sake of completing her play.
- Master Actress: Her true passion, and she lives up to it.
- Miss Fanservice: Though she isn't exceptionally more attractive than the other heroines, she can be quite a bit more sexual, up to and including sleeping with Haruki repeatedly over the course of weeks to get him to feel better, dressing up in costumes sometimes to spice things up.
- The Prima Donna: She is acknowledged to be the most talented and hardworking actor her troupe will probably ever see, but nobody can get along with her due to her often callous, manipulative and highly demanding behaviors. The director has to bend over backward to make sure things go her way, knowing that the troupe would not have existed if not for her prodigious talent in acting.
- Shipper on Deck: Despite being romantically interested in him, she is hoping for Haruki and Setsuna to mend their relationship. The reason why this isn't I Want My Beloved to Be Happy is she has an ulterior motive, and this ends up being one of the darker versions of this trope. She is seemingly successful in her Normal End, but in her True End, she falls in love with him for real and can't help but want him to choose her in the end.
- The Slacker: To the point where Haruki has to take it upon himself to help her out academically so she can get by. When it comes to her passion, she is anything but lazy though.
- The Tease: Haruki isn't always sure whether she's flirting with him or just being her usual teasing and carefree self.
- Walking Spoiler: For a character who is only present in one of three chapters and whose story is basically irrelevant outside her route, she sure is difficult to discuss in any capacity without spoiling. In fact, without completing the game once, getting her Normal End and replaying the route for the other ending, the player will never know what "her deal" is.
- Was It All a Lie?: Naturally, when Haruki realizes the way she acts as well as their entire relationship were orchestrated for the purpose of her play upsets him greatly. He demands to know if any of it was real to her. In the end, it is.
- Write What You Know: And in this case, act what you know as well. To achieve her best acting, Chiaki injects at least a little of her true feelings into the act, which is why she needs to get close to Haruki and Setsuna to get a feel for the characters she is trying to write for her play.
