Part 6: In which The Cutest Idol in the Universe brings a smile to her songwriter

In which The Cutest Idol in the Universe brings a smile to her songwriter

MUSIC: CLUBROOM
Greetings and salutations, everyone! Second verse, same as the first.


Same amount of floors as last time, but different enemies and different trivia.


Huh?! I should be the one saying that!

I FIGURED OUT THE SONG NAMES: KARMA

And on that note_(heh), Maki’s dream! New partner, new enemies, new dynamic!


We have now graduated from being a run of the mill IDOL and are now the local IDOL.
I… don’t know the difference either?

Anyhow, Maki! First-year and Nico’s junior, the local tsundere, associated with tomatoes, and the songwriter of µ's.
How she relates to our titular protagonist and super-special bestest local IDOL Nico Yazawa is that they bicker like an old married couple.
I mean, dedicated idol and someone who wants to be a doctor, resentment at a talented songwriter ‘wasting’ her talents, the conflict writes itself really.

But under that harsh exterior is a deep bond of trust, and an almost magnetic fascination that can’t keep their gazes away from each other…
…Is what the gaybaiting marketing says.
C’mon, you don’t actually buy that from idols, right?
_...right?



The first thing you’ll notice about our new partner is the difference in dynamic.
Unlike Kotori who led Nico with absent-minded enthusiasm, Maki instead shares an… antagonistic rapport instead. Pictured is her being flustered over our first encounter, literal seconds after chiding Nico for apparently glancing her way.
Speaking of encounters, this is a familiar face(beak?)! The first few floors of dreams tend to have Chirpies, as Nico’s level (and her stat distribution!) reset between each foray.
As before, they don’t hit very hard and are easy marks for our charm.


And the moment the threat is passed she goes back to acting cool. Cute, isn’t it?


Chirpies kind of give crap experience for the amount of time it takes to search for them, so I just head down…
…Is what I would say if I were playing this optimally, but I wanted to show off the other enemy type on this floor.

This will bite me later.


Listen, it’s either the level up quote or the level up VFX, alright?
If you must know, the level up quote was
Haah… Nico really is the cutest…


I mentioned before that each partners had their own specialties, and it shows in the prices that you can spend NP on.
While the chuntorial with Kotori had the costs of the 3 stats be a static 1/3/2, Maki the songwriter instead offers us a 2/1/3 spread. At least, at first.


The price for Dancing increases for each time we upgrade it. She never was very good on her feet, was she?


This is ‘I don’t Slime it’, a slime with Maki’s nifty do. The name (and dialogue) is riffing off of Maki’s catchphrase, “Nani sore? Imi wakannai’.
It’s one of those terms the weeaboo gaijins like to leave as the romaji, but it roughly translates to ‘What’s with you? I don’t get it’. _{It means a lot of things depending on the context but in this particular context with this particular character the translator has chosen to use this phrasing yadda yadda all translation is imperfect}
Coincidentally, it’s defeat quote is it finally getting it! What is “it”?
Usually, the joke. In this case, the local IDOL’s charm.

Later? Who knows…?

_{Let’s just go down to the next floor…}


Dunno.
Huuuuuh?!


The heck? You’re starting to piss me off…
Taking screenshots is hard, but I do like the imagery here where Nico is quite literally speechless.


This right here is a Chuunime, named after Chuunibyou, or eighth-grader syndrome. Don’t let anyone get you down, eyepatches are forever cool!
Especially don’t let the schmuck who didn’t buy any accuracy, missed two out of three hits,


and ate an attack she had no business taking get you down!
…You may want to keep at least one eye to see out of, though.


Cosmetic eyepatches still rule and I won’t let anyone sway me. Probably. Maybe.
Maki says ‘can’t you be more slick about it?’ here because she’s kind of bad at the whole complimenting thing.
My lady doth protest too much?.



They’re judging each other for being melodramatic seconds apart from each other.
Unfortunately, the irony is lost on both of them.

Ever downwards!


Are all dreams gonna be like this?
How should I know?
Huh? Oi, isn’t this supposed to be your dream? Jeez…


They just get on each other’s case about staring unprompted, it’s great


This is Budhaime, reminiscent of the Buddha. Do not ask me how this relates to Maki’s dream, I Do Not Know

There’s a lot of facade and bluster but when the chips are down and Nico’s hurt, Maki’s very clearly Genuinely Worried. D’aww….


The defeat quote is riffing on Namu Amida Butsu. Dreams are weird, dog.


Don’t wanna.
Good grief, how are you going to become a good idol with that attitude?
It’s not like I want to…
......What?
...Wait, no, I mean, I’m doing it because I want to, but…
Pft.
Y-, you were just making fun of me!?


You know, she-slimes, more health, hurt like hell, you get it you’ve played Dragon Quest.


A… chunpuchun-o? No I see why they didn’t go with that pun that name sucks.


You really shouldn’t drink inside dreams, you’ll- _{whatever, forget it, next floor.}


Sh-,Shut it! I don’t wanna hear that from you of all people!
Hwuuh? But Nico Ni’s never told a lie in her whole liiife?
Let’s just go.
Hey!


That’s dragon dash quest dot org slash wiki slash She dash slime, make sure not to accidentally go to the fandom wiki instead.


This means you, sitting there reading this. You in particular. She’s coming for you.


IT’S SYMBOOOOLIC


CAW


SHIT


What, are you too proud to do a little Nico Nico Nii action? NOBODY’s too good for that!


So the readme of this game just says it’s a “trial and error” kind of game just like dark souls this is the Dark Souls of and part of that is that there’s no real way to figure out where you’re supposed to grind efficiently.
I’ve spent too much time on the lower floors showing off enemies, and now I need a really really lucky floor 6 stair spawn to get to the boss.


The pot’s calling the kettle black.
I know. It’s not something you can talk about easily, but…
...What?
...No, nevermind.


It’s double symbolic, since it’s rubbing it in both mine and Nico’s faces at once!!


So, you’ve been levelling your accuracy, right?


(do you get the metaphor)


I lose a fair bit more health before cutting my losses and running.
Discretion is the better part of valor in this game, and knowing what fights to take is half the battle!


But stopping the hands of your clocks won’t stop the inexorable flow of time,


and our time is up regardless.


The alpacas are angry, with THREE whole exclamation marks.




so like, that’s what happens if the timer runs out. don’t do that. Anyway, this is where my notes from a year ago runs out.
Just noting that the prose might be slightly different because you can never step into the same river twice yadda yadda you’ve also read Heraclitus let’s move on

MUSIC: KARMA

Say, have you ever been stuck in a rut? Well and truly stuck in the motions?


And in the midst of your frustrations, what could be more irritating than someone lamenting having what you would kill to have.


Seeing them squander and bemoan what would let you finally move forward from this holding pattern, seeing them

Squander their talent for writing beautiful songs—
Able to proudly pursue their dream like you never could—


If only you could tell them what about them makes you so envious.
Alas, the well-meaning but prideful and brash approach rouses defensiveness, and the true depth of your mutual respect and yearning go unaddressed.


Or everyone’s reading too much into it since WindyNii’s commissioning so much art. Who’s to say?


Anyway, we’re here!
Hurry up and defeat it, okay?
Shut it.
………


Twice could be a coincidence.


…It’s nothing.

MUSIC: REVOLUTIONARY AISHITERU BANZAI

…Well, can’t say I fully understand what’s happening but…
Just need to beat this one for now!


They gave her 12 squares so unless you hit that 80% chance twelve times or invest a crapton of points into the rapidly scaling Dancing to get it up to at least 7 you have to do three lives to get through each iteration.
It’s a hilarious joke played by the devs entirely at my expense. Woo.


STATISTICALLY


AVERAGE ROLLS, MAKE SOME NOOOOOOISE


You can’t skip turns in this game so you realistically can’t lose unless you just don’t use your mirrors if you’ve built right. Still a lot of mashing, though.

MUSIC: AISHITERU BANZAI

But it’s not really us that brought a smile to her face, was it?


Exit stage right, led by a helping hand.

………
………
………Say.
…What is it?


…Huh?
I’m talking about when Kotori left to go abroad… …And when Honoka quit.


I asked them and they agreed, wanting to continue to be idols.
But you ended up refusing when we asked you.
And then you went back to playing the piano on your own, looking all gloomy.



……I woke up from a long dream.
What?


What’s this change of topic?
That’s why, I thought that my music would have to end one day.


My music that had stopped began moving once more, and became so colorful.
Every day was just like being inside a wonderful dream.


And I felt it would be pointless to chase after a waking dream.


Hey!
Everything after the “my music has to end” part was too unclear.


Hey, Nico-chan.
When I talk to my parents about school now, they seem so happy about it.
I’ve always been meant to be a doctor. That’s what we’ve always thought.


I’m sure they would accept it with a smile.
I don’t think I have the courage for that though…


Thoughts like “I have no choice but to be this” seem like a waste to me…

SFX: CYMBAL ROLL