Thing is the foreshadowing is in my opinion, pointing to worst than any accidental death.
I mean Maya and Josy need money and are slowly but surely coming under the control of a drug dealing pimp of teenage girls... I’ve no great love for Maya/Josy but I’d find them dying less upsetting to the worst case scenario where they end up addicted to whatever Quinn is slinging, funding a habit and tuition by servicing Burke for cash.
I think if there is any death it won’t be murder, that’s a total rehash, it’s gonna be natural causes. That or self inflicted like an overdose or infections causes by trying to warm a melon in the microwave, overshooting and sticking their dick in red hot melon flesh.
That's dark. I'm not sure why people keep coming up with these ideas for Maya and Josy. Some seem concerned about it, some of them want them to happen. If anything of that sort is planned, I'm sure it's gotta be avoidable and not only on relationship route, but also on friendship route.
And same goes for all characters. There's gotta be a playthrough where noone gets a bad ending if you pick the right choices.
Like the option to tell Maya about Quinn earlier in the game at the moment seems to get Maya in some minor trouble with Quinn, while not telling doesn't, but the official walkthrough still says "If you like Maya, tell her". So I guess this decision might be a hidden one that will matter in Maya's destiny later. Other girls might have such decisions as well. If I'm right, then maybe everyone can get what they want. People who generally wish them well will have a happy ending for Maya and Josy even if they go for another girl, for example Jill.
I think we can agree that the character MC chooses will get a happy ending. So if other characters won't get it just because MC didn't choose relationship with them, that would be poor design in my opinion. Of course, you can argue that this is not how Acting lessons worked and ultimately because of your choice it was that one of the characters didn't get a happy end. But this is a different game. And here we have at least 5 LIs at the moment. Potentially having 4 lives ruined because you ultimately have to choose one? That's too cruel to the player. If that's to happen, I'll never play another DPC game again as well. Leave this potential dark fate exclusively to Maya and Josy path? That's a very bad design. That's like shaming players who choose other girls that Maya's and Josy's bad fate is on their hands. Some would be glad for it, some won't care, but most, I guess, won't happy with that.
So, in short. I believe, there will be either nothing as bad as you say, or there would be a way to completely avoid it. For every route at the same time.