Part 43: 07/10/09 - 07/29/09: The Butterfly Effect
Alright, time to pick up where we left off. I really didn't expect to split July in two quite like this, but here we are.
And also here's Akihiko for good measure.






> A small boy sitting with his family at the next table begins screaming...

> The mother's voice is getting louder as she argues with her child...
> It's reached the point that your ears are hurting...


> Akihiko is surprised...
> It seems that Akihiko wasn't bothered by the commotion at all...
> The family at the table next to you has gotten embarrassed and begins to leave.
> The child's screaming slowly recedes into the distance...

> Akihiko is absentmindedly watching them off...



> Akihiko suddenly falls silent...















> Akihiko smiles gently...



We've even seen a couple hints about this already, even in the main playthrough. The most obvious one was during one of Aki's one-to-one conversations with Shinji, naturally.





> Akihiko smiles wryly...
> You feel like you understand Akihiko a little better now...


> You returned to the dorm with Akihiko.
It's nice getting to see stuff lieke this from Akihiko sometimes. Helps flesh him out a bit, too.
Anyway, uh, now we'll have our first real skip through a large period of July since there's not much else we can do that's new. We're rapidly approaching finals again, after all, so we'll pick right back up immediately afterwards.








Not overly different to how it was before, but it shows that no matter what Junpei can realise that, yeah, he messed up and apologises for it of his own volition.

But, hey, the most important difference is, like, A Lot Of Yakushima so let's enjoy a vacation!






> But the atmosphere is still heavy...




This is just a mini-scene to replace the animated cutscene, since they don't exist here for space reasons.
The scene at the mansion is the same, minus character models, which is sensible enough. The beach...




> You can tell even at this distance that Junpei is extremely excited...



















Fuuka and Mitsuru's relevant bits are functionally identical to before, so we'll gloss over them for sensible reasons.


> Akihiko and Junpei are whispering to each other...










The bit about Aigis spying on us from off-screen still happens, naturally.

The general dialogue is mostly the same, but Akihiko mentions relaxing under the parasol. This is because he doesn't function as a way to leave/save any more.

He just hints at the parasol being a save point, which I guess is nice for if you're not using these icons for one reason or another.

But that's all there is today and the Aigis stuff is the main event anyway.
Yeah, Yukari's event plays out the same but without the option to give her a hug which... you'd really think they'd keep.

The initial dialogue goes the same, but you get Yukari mentioning this outright because, well, no character models any more.


...But what about Akihiko and Junpei's terrible antics?




































...You mentioned it first. You explicitly turned it into a competition. Which, arguably, makes this event even worse somehow. Fortunately!



Notably, for starters, each scene here is heavily truncated and only shows one side of the - very brief - conversations.






And the best part is that it even removed the transphobia that didn't need to exist in the first place. A much better scene all around, really.










Yeah, Aigis is still just hanging out on the pier for whatever reason. The scene here is the same as before, but without the irrelevant RPS bit.

When it gets to the part when Makoto went to talk to her, however, it diverges slightly.










...I really wanna know how that happened.
> .....?
> You sense a strong gaze, more palpably than before...

> It's a girl...
> She must be the one who has been watching you.






> It doesn't seem like she wants to let go...

> Junpei and Akihiko have arrived...
> Even then, it doesn't seem like she plans on letting go...


This is also surprisingly good for a modern Persona game. Just a "oh, I see, okay" and then immediately moving on. Things like this really stand out because they feel like they were written by someone different entirely and that's a very good thing.











And from there, the scene ends the same way as before.

The second part also plays out identically, but it's really weird that Aigis walks in, we get "this is Aigis" and... she's not on-screen. I dunno, that just strikes me as weird.


The 3rd day's beach scene is mostly the same as before, but the end has a very large and very clear divergence...









I've been waiting for this!

> You had a fun time with your friends at Yakushima...
> With Aigis joining, things are likely to get livelier...

> SEES's determination in battle has been enhanced...

Also, yeah, new mechanic unlocked and this one is backported from Persona 4. Key difference is that this is unlocked for everyone, as opposed to requiring it to be done piecemeal. HP death is definitely more likely than normal against bosses thanks to being on Maniac, but like it's generally because it's a massive oneshot even at full HP anyway so...
> The Yakushima vacation has ended. You returned to the dormitory...

Skipping way ahead now to when we get told about Sports and, yeah, that still happens but I feel like it makes more sense here? I dunno. That might just be me, since we're in a volleyball club and all.

And, hey, let's have one last hang out with someone before summer hits and, uh.... Fuuka? Sure, Fuuka sounds good.


> Various sweets are in the book that Fuuka brought for today...
> Based on the ingredients you have on hand, you decide to make cupcakes.







...H-How?! How do you make a mistake even remotely close to that.







> You had some leftover bananas, so you tried mashing them in, even though the recipe didn't call for it.
> ..You poured the batter into the cups. All you need to do now is bake them.
> A light, sweet smell permeates the room.







> Fuuka seems to have gained some self-confidence...
> Together, you've overcome a difficult task, and you feel as if you've grown closer to Fuuka.




> You cleaned up the room with Fuuka and headed back to the dorm...


Just one last little thing here. For whatever reason, the sports stuff gets pushed forward by 1 whole day to August 1st instead!

Oh, and obviously we have Rio yelling stuff instead of Yuko. Makes sense, though.

But we can't end there, so we'll just go forward a tiny bit more.

This scene isn't different, but you can see Koromaru look even cuter and better.
That's it. That's the entire reason for this.
...Oh shit, I nearly forgot. There's a full moon in like 5 days. Uhh....