I didn't expect the maou and Kyousuke to be the same person, until the game "revealed" it. From then on, I never doubted that they are indeed one and the same (that I played Tsubaki's route first helped there) - until it was made clear that they are in fact not.
When the maou called Kyousuke after their father had been released and talked to him as if he were prepared to die, I believed him - right up until the moment Haru stepped in. Etc, etc.
Long story short, I fell for
every single plot-twist and for everything the maou set up. And I loved the game for it.
After I had finished Tsubaki, I also got into Haru's story really... unprepared. While it should have been obvious that her story was the main dish, I somehow expected it to be of similar length, and of similar content. Dang, was I wrong. When the terrorist incident went down I was really shocked for a moment, that absolutely crushed what I had imagined.
What really fucked me up though was the epilogue. I had a feeling that there was going to be SOME sort of epilogue, even when the credits already rolled. But what I thought it'd be like was more along the lines of "kono go no tanoshii seikatsu no ichinichi"....something like that.
As you know, that couldn't have been further from the truth. Damn the writer who came up with that evil, evil conclusion (even though it admittedly did still end on a happy note). I don't think I've read a VN before that messed with me as much as that final chapter did. Just thinking about it I still get upset.
There are really few things I would criticize....in fact, I can come up with three right now: for one, the hostage-incident. While I really enjoyed the chase around town when the exchange should take place, there's something I can't come up with a decent explanation for: if the money was already taken, why did the maou take the unnecessary risk of going for the empty suitcase in the end? Just to "play" with Haru a bit? It just doesn't make sense.
Then, the scenes where all girls dropped by in order when Kyousuke was in prison. I was not only kinda predictable, but also a tad over the top, I feel.
And finally, by far my biggest complaint: why; why the hell didn't we get to see haru in the final CG? Goddamnit!
All in all, it was more than worth my time. As said above, I thoroughly enjoyed Tsubaki's route while the main one deeply impressed me. It surely is one of the best VNs I have read to date and actually comes very close to my personal #1 spot.