Holiday Star short episodes

[Banana]

I finished the main ep. and is now on extra short ep. I just finished the temple episode and wondering if the short stories are an AU where Nageki and Kazuaki were never killed since Kazuaki and Hitori both exist. I'm really confused rn and also where in the 4th episode was it revealed that Hitori was the one who killed Kazuaki for his identity? Thanks!

[sunny]

the short episodes do indeed take place in an AU. nageki doesn't have the charon virus and therefore hitori never went insane/nanaki was never tricked into suicide. i don't know if it was ever directly confirmed however i've always thought that it was implied the heartful house incident is where the timeline splits- no traumatizing events ever happened to hitori and nageki! my boys are happy!

the shrine dates as well as preliminary inspection take place in this AU, the other short stories can just be seen as little extensions to the main story.

if you enjoy the AU moa has a short e-book called "kazuaki-kun's book" available on amazon and gumroad for about a dollar.

hope this helped!

[Phoenix]

Remember that all of Hatoful Boyfriend is pretty much non-linear outside of the Hurtful Boyfriend route, and the Holiday Star content represents a sort of alternate Nageki route. The short stories can be seen as taking place independent of the main stories but still connected within the Hatoful universe.