Darkest Hour(s) and The Ninth Remembrance

WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR ONE OR MORE OF THE GAME’S ENDINGS

Introduction
Those three achievements can only be obtained by reaching the game's "bad endings". To do that, you must fail all main Areas of the game in other to trigger the event where the Music Teacher informs you that the school's Principal wants to talk to Lenin, allowing the player to enter the Principal's room and have a talk with him, having a total of four sets of two options to choose from in it. Afterwards, all there's left to do is to go back home and have one of the game's "bad endings" be automatically triggered by entering Lenin's bedroom.
 * To reach a bad ending for an Area, you need to either fail before reaching the Area Boss or lose the battle against them. In other words, for each Area, there is a number of ways to fail it. Afterwards, you won't be able to warp to the Area by using the dark spheres - that's how you know for sure you've failed it.

The only thing required for the "Painful" Darkest Hour achievement (dubbed as such in reference to its tagline "A path of pain") is triggering the bad ending as described above, since at least one set of options will have one of the choices locked out unless you've done all of the requirements for the Ninth Remembrance, locking you into this achievement only. The bad ending that triggers then is that of Lenin dropping his backpack and sitting on the floor in front of his mom's bed and beside the save journal in fetal position all alone, the screen then fading to black to show each of the Area bosses coming to haunt Lenin, followed by a mysterious human appearing behind him, partially shadowed.

On the flipside, '''AT LEAST IN THEORY, ONE COULD OBTAIN BOTH "DARKEST HOUR" ACHIEVEMENTS IN ONE RUN BY MEETING ALL THE REQUIREMENTS TO UNLOCK THE NINTH REMEMBRANCE. '''Since by doing so all options when talking to the school's Principal are unlocked, it is theoretically possible to save the game before talking to him and pick both sets of options to trigger both "bad endings" in turn.

As such, this article will mainly focus on how to get the Ninth Remembrance.

Requirements for the Ninth Remembrance (and the "Hopeful" Darkest Hour achievement)
Those two Achievements are obtained along with the Ninth Remembrance. That is one of the harder achievements to obtain in the game, as besides it being required to have failed all four main Areas of the game, as disclosed above, it is also mandatory to have dispelled every one of Lenin’s ”inner demons“ that can be dispelled around Samiga Village (there are eight in total) in order to unlock all four necessary options when talking to the Principal at the end of the day and achieve the Remembrance at the end of the game. Said “demons” begin to appear all over Samiga Village the more you fail each Area of Depression Realm.

In order to do that, some things must be taken into consideration:
 * The Umbrella, the Semicolon and the Mask are required, but the Gauntlet is not. There is no way to fail Illusion Village before obtaining the Umbrella as far as is currently known, so you should have it no matter what, and Restlessness Mansion can be skipped entirely at the first opportunity, but make sure you have obtained the Semicolon and the Mask before failing Nausea Fields and Self-Sabotage Desert, respectively. How you fail those Areas afterwards is irrelevant.
 * Each demon can only be dispelled at a certain moment in the game’s timeline, since they all require a specific interaction with a specific character to do so - 1 is to be dispelled after failing Illusion Village but before entering Nausea Fields, 3 are to be dispelled after failing Nausea Fields but before entering Restlessness Mansion, 2 are to be dispelled after failing Restlessness Mansion but before entering Self-Sabotage Desert, and the last 2 are to be dispelled after failing Self-Sabotage Desert.
 * Two of those demons also require specific interaction choices being made earlier in the day - those being the ones tied to the Gothic Boy and to the fence Guard near Lenin’s house, as will be detailed below.
 * Unlike with "neutral ending" and "good ending" runs in which the school closes down and you can't enter it again after leaving at night, the school stays open for you to come and go at night if the "Principal event" and the "bad endings" were triggered, all the way until you end the game by going back home and entering your bedroom after talking to the Principal. In fact, that is the only way to end the game when a "bad ending" has triggered.

Pre-Ninth.png Illusion Village, Before Nausea Fields
The point of the game where Magnolia gives you the Umbrella in Illusion Village marks the start of the demon hunt for the Ninth Remembrance.

Magnolia will not let you leave her house without equipping the Umbrella first, but as soon as you're out the door and into the rain, the quickest way to fail the Area is by unequipping the Umbrella and letting the toxic rain soak Lenin. (Alternatively, you can leave the Village after the rain starts, which the game interprets as you complying to the Patriarch's threats, but that's not quite as fast and also requires triggering the second siren alarm message by approaching the lake entrance). It will trigger a "failure text sequence" - a sequence with floating words appearing on a black screen to a slowed down version of "Homely", the game's title screen soundtrack.

After Lenin wakes up back in Samiga Village, go to school - from this point on out, you’ll start seeing several demons scattered all around the village, talking Lenin down whenever spoken to. First things first, talk to the Gothic Boy until you're given the chance to reply to his offer, then tell him you will "think about it". This is important to dispel a demon later.

Afterwards, go meet Edward, and when Isaac appears to harass you, pick any option except "I've got to go". (Picking "He's better than you" triggers an extra cutscene in the cafeteria later, but its mostly irrelevant as far as the Ninth Remembrance is concerned). You need to do that to access the rest of the school and have the chance to dispel the first demon - yes, with Edward in tow, there's no way around that. Afterwards, head to the first floor and then go east. While passing the Principal's room, a dark aura surrounding it will appear, triggering an "unintelligible dialogue" sequence - the choice picked in it is completely irrelevant, and the cutscene's purpose is just to symbolize Panic having asserted dominance over Lenin. Once the sequence ends, head into the east corridor.

Once you get there you will find  the first demon to dispel  right beside the Scared Boy facing the wall. Talk to him, pick "Go if you don't mind the consequences", and then talk to him again with the Umbrella equipped. He will mention he always feels comfortable when seeing an umbrella, and thank you for showing yours to him, causing the demon beside him to disintegrate. What you do afterwards with Edward is irrelevant - it only triggers extra dialogue options later on that are just as irrelevant for the purpose of obtaining the Ninth Remembrance. The quickest way to get rid of him is by ditching him in the library after talking to the librarian.

After that, you will be in class. Talk to the teacher and he will indicate you a seat. Take it, and off you'll be to Nausea Fields.

After Nausea Fields, Before Restlessness Mansion
Again, you must make sure you have obtained the Semicolon before you fail the Area, meaning that you have to agree to help Harriet and Rudolf, help the cook, well... cook the hay to recover your backpack, gather the items for the Prov: Jill cannon for Harriet and co. and head into the castle with them, at which point Harriet entrusts the Semicolon to Lenin. The quickest way to dash the sheep leader's grandest hopes and fail the Area after that is by going up to Dimitri's cell and freeing him, which unlocks the Throne Room, then going there and entering one of the Morpheus' System pods near the throne. (Alternatively, head to the dungeon where Dimitri awaits you and pick "Will I be able to forget my problems in my dreams?" to surrender to him without a fight, but again it's not as fast).

Then the failure text sequence happens again, and you will find yourself back in Samiga School with Edward by your side, saying you fell asleep in the hallway and automatically taking you to the infirmary, from where you won't be able to leave until talking to the nurse - that is also your only chance to  dispel the second demon  which is also in the room. Tell her "I was sleeping on the hallway", and she will give you advice to help you sleep properly at night, causing the demon to disintegrate, after which you're free to leave.

After you leave, go downstairs to the cafeteria, and you will find  the third demon to dispel  next to the Introspective Boy (the brown-pelted one with shaggy hair covering his eyes to the southwestern part of the room) and show him the Semicolon. He will mention Harriet as a book character, compliment Lenin for his "faithful replica" of her sword and invite you to play RPG with his group sometime, causing the demon to disappear.

 The fourth demon to dispel  is also in the cafeteria - it's the one right next to Jackson. In order to dispel it, you need to unlock his secret dialogue, which you do by talking to the Football Player on the other end of the table while holding the Umbrella until he wonders why Jackson is always by himself and hangs out with "unpopular people" even though he's popular. Then talk to Jackson and he will speak his mind on the matter. When given the options, pick "You're worried about it even though you're the school heartthrob?" and "Actually, that's fine" in order. He will thank you for listening to him without judging him, and thus the demon beside him will be dispelled.

Now before going to get your lunch and heading off to Restlessness Mansion, there are two things... Afterwards, go get your lunch, feel free to do as you please when talking to Antony and Leandro, and get going to the mansion.
 * You can take the time to go all the way out to the fence Guard near Lenin's house and show him the Semicolon, which will be needed to trigger the dialogue to dispel a demon near him later, but you can also do so after failing Restlessness Mansion, which might be the more practical way to do it since you'll be dispelling another demon nearby at that time.
 * The Gothic Boy is also there waiting for your reply, but as long as you've told him you'd "think about his offer" earlier, it doesn't make a difference whether you talk to him and accept it, or turn it down, or just ignore him completely - you will still get the dialogue you need from him to dispel the demon next to him later.

After Restlessness Mansion, Before Self-Sabotage Desert
Again, the Gauntlet is not needed at all for the Ninth Remembrance, so the quickest way to yeet yourself out of there is going up to Amir and Liane in the dining hall and refusing to help them (any option except "What will we do to solve things now?" should probably do for the first set, but picking the latter two ones are the safest bets; then "It's out of question" when they ask for your help). Amir and Liane will disintegrate before Lenin's eyes, and you'll fail the Area.

One "failure text sequence" later, you'll be back to the school, this time in the PE Court. Feel free to ignore the PE Teacher and Jackson and yeet yourself out if you want to save the most time, then head to the entrance hallway of the school -  the fifth demon to dispel  will be there, next to the Gothic Boy. But before you can dispel it, you need to go outside, where you'll see the school on fire, triggering yet another "untintelligible dialogue" sequence, this time related to Amir and Liane's dominance over Lenin. Go back in, and talk to the Gothic Boy about the fire. Keep talking to him until he says Lenin will be accepted as he is among the Goths, and respect is a basic principle for them, causing the demon to disintegrate.

Head back to Lenin's house next, minding the demon right in front of it before you enter - it's  the sixth demon to be dispelled . Once you enter, Lenin's mom will call him in to have a talk, mentioning she's heard of him falliing asleep in school and giving him a lecture that he has to try to do his best to snap out of his depression, at the end of which a mysterious voice will laugh and utter "ONLY ONE MORE...". After this bizarre moment, talk to Lenin's mom again with the Umbrella equipped, and she will compliment you for making it - though in a more foot-in-mouth manner than she would in "normal" runs. When you leave Lenin's house, you will notice that the demon at the front yard is gone (it's the only demon that isn’t dispelled on-screen). After that, go to the music class, bang your head on the piano keys if you like, and head out to Self-Sabotage Desert.
 * Before leaving, you can go upstairs to trigger Dimitri´s "unintelligible dialogue" cutscene at Lenin's bed if you want - unlike Horace's later on, its trigger overrides the "bad ending" triggers, so its "incidentally inevitable" just like the Phuny and Amir & Liane ones, since you will pass by the Principal's room when leaving the infirmary if you didn't pass it already when heading to the library for the former, and you will have to leave the school to end the game one way or the another for the latter.
 * Make sure you show the Semicolon to the fence Guard before going back to the school if you haven't done so yet - again, it's necessary to dispel a later demon, and if you go to the Desert without doing this you will have missed your chance. 

After Self-Sabotage Desert
Since you need the Mask to dispel one of the remaining demons, you'll need to talk to Bertram, then to the Bird Stone to trigger his "little ship tour", accept the Mask from him, talk to the Bird Stone again with the Mask on until it flies away to find your backpack, then find Hopeless Island by landing on the top hat-like patch of sand, and then unequip the Mask as soon as you've set foot on the Island. That is the quickest way to fail the Area while obtaining the Mask.

Once you're back to the Music Class, the Teacher will inform you that the Principal wants to talk to you, and then leave - that means you're headed for a "bad ending" already. But in order to obtain the Ninth Remembrance, there are two more demons you have to dispel before going to him.

In order to get two birds with one stone, you must save in the hallway from the entrance before meeting the Principal. Talk to him before getting the last two demons and you will get the Bad Darkest Hour achievement and ending. After you got that ending, reload your save back to school to take care of the last two demons. Leave the school and head south to where the Happy House is. Serena's clinic The mysterious house with a chimney to the right has  the seventh demon  right next to it. Talk to it, and then interact with the house's sign. It will say that "reading this sign seems to be the key to unravel things", and then the demon will disintegrate.
 * Lenin's thoughts on the world around him are affected by his fragile state of mind. Interacting with things in this state will yield new lines of text ranging between the morbidly funny ("Fi- blahblahblahblah..."), the just plain morbid and the heart-wrenching...

Finally, go back to where the fence Guard is, and you will see the eighth and final demon waiting beside him. If you‘ve shown him the Semicolon during daytime, his dialogue now will yield a line written in brown in the middle of it - the color of the Desert and Hopelessness. That's your cue to wear the Mask and talk to him again. The Guard will say you've given him a scare, and mention that only Lenin would come to talk to him at such a late hour, and afterwards, the last demon you needed to banish disintegrates.
 * Horace's "unintelligible dialogue" sequence at the mirror in Lenin's bedroom isn't "incidentally inevitable" like the others, since the "bad ending" trigger overrides it, and it's not mandatory to get the Ninth Remembrance either, but it might well be mandatory for the "regular" version of the bad ending with the "Painful" Darkest Hour achievement, since that involves all Area bosses coming to haunt Lenin. So if you have yet to get that achievement as well, it's recommended that you go trigger that cutscene by the mirror to be on the safe side.

With all the demons slain, its time to go talk to the principal.

The Principal
When going back to the school, it's important to save before going to talk to the principal, especially if you want to trigger both bad endings in the same run. Go up to his office on the first floor and enter it. When you talk to the principal, you will be given four relevant sets of two options each (the first Yes/No one seems to be irrelevant for the outcome of the sequence, but I'd pick "Yes" just to be sure). Past that, the first option of each set has Lenin rebuff the principal when he tries to reach out to him and keep his grief to himself, and the second option of each has Lenin pour his heart out to him about the hardships he's been facing and the bad feelings overwhelming him.
 * You can enter his room wearing the Mask, but it will only add an extra line of dialogue when the Principal comments on Lenin wearing a mask to go see him, with no other significant difference to the sequence.

I'''f you did everything right, all four bottom options will be unlocked. Discounting the Yes/No choice pick, you must pick the bottom option every time - all the ones that have Lenin open his heart to the principal.'''

Afterwards, all there's left to do is going back home to Lenin's bedroom. If everything went right, you will notice on your way that all of the demons are gone, including the ones that couldn't be dispelled before - the auras and special effects by the Principal's office, the school's front and Lenin's bedroom signifying the bosses' influence on Lenin, however, still remain.

When you enter the bedroom, Lenin will once again cast aside his backpack and sit down in fetal position, but his time he'll sit in front of the save journal instead, facing the stairs. The scene will then change to the Remembrance art style with Lenin still sitting down, until a human hand reaches out to him from offscreen and he looks up - then it cuts to the mysterious human holding out his hand to Lenin, his face cropped off the picture.

Congratulations, you have obtained the Ninth Remembrance.



Important Notes

 * The Bad Boy sidequest cannot be completed during a "bad ending" run, since he will not show up at night if you have failed all four Areas and triggered the Principal event and the bad endings. As such, the two achievements related to him cannot be obtained during such runs.
 * Likewise, the Complete Diary achievement can’t be completed during a “bad ending” run, since two of the notes require going back to the Mansion after clearing it (one of them requiring the good ending for the Area), and its impossible to return to any Area after failing it.
 * (Not tested) There seems to be an alternate demon you can dispel if you haven't triggered the Gothic Boy one properly - if you didn't tell the Gothic Boy you would "consider his offer" when first meeting him before entering Nausea Fields, and you have agreed help Antony and Leandro out in the cafeteria before entering Restlessness Mansion, Antony will appear any time after you fail Restlessness Mansion under the unfinished bridge to the east of the school. Talking to him there and picking the "I wouldn't say peace, but I do come to find silence" option dispels a demon in the area (it is unknown if obtaining the Fifth Remembrance is required in this case, or if just agreeing to help the twins and skipping out on the Remembrance by picking a completely unbalanced meal is enough to trigger the encounter).