Part 67: Dance of the Cherry Blossoms

Darwin and Li Hua just returned from an investigative mission, so let's first check that Conor is still doing fine...











Araki on the other hand is being his old grumpy self...



So let's just report to Lessica instead.



And so...











What are you getting at?
I shall send four of you to the surface together, though it is dangerous to do so.
It won't do for you to be too far apart. We must minimise interference with the time-freeze mechanism.
One group shall consist of the Nominator and Candidate Araki, the other of Candidates Li Hua and Conor.
M-me?
Are you crazy? He's just a child!
I'll go!
This is the will of the Creator. Far be it from us to presume that those such as we will ever know His mind.
Now, Nominator... Candidates... Devote yourselves to your task--the sacrifices that will save the world...

And he leaves at this point, leaving the others to argue between themselves.

Finally. I was getting sick of waiting.
B-but I'm no use to anyone!
I c-can't fight those awful m-monsters...
Don't worry. I've got your back.
Li Hua...
If I were you, those two'd be the least of my worries right now.
...
Time to flex my fighting muscles at last.

















Obviously before setting off, we'll have a bit of a chat.











What's your point? You're the one who's gonna kill that "little kid".
...!!!
I...!
We still don't know that for certain. Look, stop worrying about us. You guys just go and do what you need to do.
*sniffle*
That last guy... Didn't he seem a bit different from the other monsters?
What do you mean?
I don't know how to put it exactly, but it's like he was a different breed or something. It's just a feeling.
Who cares? I'll cut down anything in my path. Why worry about something you're just gonna destroy?
You're such a boor, Araki. But you're right: worrying about it won't do us any good. We should be worrying about you instead.
Hah!
Be careful out there, Darwin.

Oookay. How is Marie doing?











That went well. I think.

Finally, let's gather some info from Lessica. The conversation that follows is probably the first step in Lessica's ascent to become the most awesome character of all in this game.











But then, something else gets her attention...









































You might want to recall what was written in Lessica's log, entry #3...



In any case, before we leave, we'll just say Hi to Piu-Piu. Since neither Araki nor Darwin are female, this will be quite boring.

















I told you.



I guess we'll buy a slightly better sword for Araki. As you can see, he is a samurai-type and uses katanas to fight.



So finally, we can set off.



And here is our new destination.



Or, rather, here. Japanese text is again a bit different and talks about how the dance of the cherry tree blossoms signifies the end of life--I am not sure if this is a reference to something, but anyway, the English version is not a bad approximation. The English translation in this game in general seems to flow a lot better than in the first.



Our destination is close, but we have to take a bit of a roundabout path to get to it, gathering a few items on the way. I guess I should finally explain what the coloured dots mean. As you can see, they are only on tiled rooms, and basically they tell you whose character's special skill you will need to access all paths in the room--each character has a different colour. So nothing too exciting really.



This is a rather nice looking area.



And here we find a place to use Araki's special skill. He can use his katana to cut through this kind of barrier, like so:





And it leads us to this item.



It's a better armour for male characters.



After a bit of walking around...















Don't you understand... the situation?
Of course I do.
I fight monsters to my heart's content, then you kill me, right? Sounds perfect.
What--
And that's why I need to see if you have what it takes... to finish me once and for all!







Yes, it's a fight.



He's actually the opposite element from us, so this goes well...



For the same reason, he can barely touch us.

But eventually...

















I guess it should have been obvious that this isn't a real fight.

























Well, I guess Bachs is not happy with us. We screwed up a bit here.

So while Araki and Darwin are returning, let's see how Li Hua and Conor are doing with getting ready to leave on their own part of the mission...