Third Melt

The earthquake left the city in ruins

Shibuya 107 after the earthquake

The Third Melt was a localized 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Shibuya on November 6, 2009. It was not natural but manmade, part of the Committee of 300’s Project Noah, deliberately caused to elevate GE rates and people’s biorhythms in order to perfect the Noah II artificial Gigalomaniac device. The city of Shibuya was devastated. The final death count totaled 3,851. It was the third of three manmade deadly earthquakes and the most deadly, the previous two being the First Melt and the Second Melt.

The story of ChäoS;HEAd comes to its climax with the Third Melt, although there are multiple possible endings and ways things can turn out. In Ending AA (aka Blue Sky in NoAH or the True Ending), Takumi Nishijou defeats Gen'ichi Norose of N.O.Z.O.M.I., destroys Noah II, and then survives rather than dying like in the other endings (Ending A/“Silent Sky” and Ending B/“Crying Sky”). A guide to reaching all three of these endings is at ChäoS;HEAd Walkthrough. After the canonical “Blue Sky” ending of ChäoS;HEAd NoAH (or its shorter equivalent, Ending AA of ChäoS;HEAd), what occurs next is the events of ChäoS;HEAd Love Chu☆Chu!, which are also canon and take place in the immediate aftermath of the Third Melt.

Several years later, at the time of the events of ChäoS;Child, the events of the Third Melt still leave a scar in Shibuya, which never really fully goes back to the way it was before, as the lives that were lost will never come back again and the city needs to be physically rebuilt.