[MeoTwister5]

You know, the ending of the original anime's run now actually makes sense...

Spoiler for Spoilers:

The original anime ending implied that Bernkastel still had a hand in the events of any of the alternate timelines in the game, possibly even the one where they survive past 1983. In fact it could always just be one of the possibly futures, and it was never really confirmed that Rika would actually survive and live a natural life in the timeline she ended up in.

So in a sense, what we're seeing now is yet another fickle witch's game where they let Rika survive a few years longer, only to kill her and send her back again.

Which again, sadly, means she is still trapped in this endless cycle of murder.