Part 23: 5/24/11-5/29/11

5/24/11

Kanji's still in pretty bad shape despite his brave show yesterday, I can't imagine what being in that TV world for so long has to be like. We're in sort of a holding pattern for now. Oh, and I found that dog.



> It looks like the dog you saw on the riverbed…
> It must be the runaway dog referred to on the ema the fox showed you.
> It seems the dog is wary of you. What should you do?

I didn't want to scare it off.



Missing Dog: *whimper *
> It seems the dog became less wary of you.
> The dog ran away…
> You're doubtful it'll return here any time soon. You should look for it another day…

I ran into Yukiko on the way back into school. She wanted to head down to the book store, so I went there with her.



> It seems Yukiko has bought a book about job certifications…
…Thank goodness. That was the last one.
Sensei recommended this book to me because it has details on a bunch of different job licenses…

Seems Yukiko might be serious about wanting to get out of here.



Uh-huh… That's right.
> Yukiko seems a bit embarrassed…
Inside the TV… The "other me" said she didn't want to inherit the inn…
I think… those were my true feelings.
So I've decided to be a little more true to myself…
I… I refuse to inherit the Amagi Inn!
When I graduate… I'm leaving this town!
…I said it.
……
I said it!
Haha…
> Yukiko has a refreshing smile on her face…
So in order to live on my own, I'm thinking of getting a job license.
I was thinking something along the lines of an interior decorator… What do you think?

She does seem to have thought this through a bit.



it's cool, isn't it…?
> Yukiko looks happy…
But it's hard. It costs money to get a license…
And of course I can't tell Mother…
If only there was a part-time job I could do discreetly…
> You can make envelopes in your room…
Really…!? I'll go check the board, then!
> It seems you were able to help Yukiko…
> Touched by Yukiko's spirit, you feel your relationship has grown deeper…

Still, just getting this out seems to be making her happy.



Thank you for keeping me company today.
I was a bit nervous when I told you how I felt, but…
…Now that I did, I feel much better.
> You parted with Yukiko as she headed toward the bulletin board and went home.

Oh, and Dojima was finally back, and wanted to talk to me about a little something.



They say you did well on that last exam.
I heard about it when I was investigating.
It's great to see you're taking care of your responsibilities, even though you just moved here.
I need to act like an uncle every so often and give you some spending money.
But don't spend it all in… Nah, you can use it however you like.
> You obtained 20000 yen from Dojima.

They'd gotten some stuff I could make lunch with again, so I hit up the kitchen.



> You have the ingredients to make sweet and sour pork.
> You decided to make sweet and sour pork.
> ……
> It's almost finished…
> How should you make the sauce thicker?

This was obvious.



> You mixed the starch with water and poured it into the pan.
> Obtained Crispy Sweet and Sour Pork.
> …In addition, you made Bait x3 from the leftovers.

Wonder how long we'll have to wait?

5/25/11

Still no word from Kanji.



Chatty Girl: I saw a new job posting on the town bulletin board!
The daily pay for being a tutor looks really good.
Braided Girl: Yeah, but… Don't you need to have more Knowledge before anyone would ask YOU to tutor them?
Chatty Girl: Wh-Why would you say that!?
Anyway, you're wrong!
It turns out you need Understanding to take the tutoring job!
Braided Girl: Yeah, but you don't have much of that, either.

I had way too much of that pork so I grabbed Daisuke and Kou to help me polish it off.



> You ate lunch with Daisuke and Kou.
> You ate Crispy Sweet and Sour Pork together.
This is delicious. I didn't know you could cook.
Got enough for seconds? My stomach's a bottomless pit!

After school I checked out the bulletin board. There were a few new job postings but I wasn't able to take them quite at the moment. I found the dog again near the river.



> It seems that the dog is still wary of you. What should you do?

I tried to calm it down by singing to it, with mixed success.



> The dog became quiet, but it still seems uneasy around you.
> The dog ran away…
> You should look for it on another day…

Yukiko wanted my opinion on something, so I headed out with her to Junes.



> Yukiko brought you here…
Why are there so many different types of food…?
Even eggs come in so many varieties…

She was getting a lot of food, so I thought this was a fair question.



No! I'd never dream of it!
I don't think my food's nearly good enough to serve to the guests.
> Despite saying so, Yukiko looks happy…
I was just thinking of practicing my cooking…
Since I've decided to leave town… Eating out all the time is bad for you, right?
So I'm going to get some practice while I can!

Makes sense.



Thank you!
> Yukiko nodded happily…
Oh, yes.
I was thinking that maybe you could taste-test my food sometime…
I want someone to eat it and let me know how it is. I thought I'd improve quicker that way…
And knowing you, I'd get an honest opinion…
W-Will you…?

I'm going to regret this, aren't I?



Really!? Thank you!
> Yukiko smiles happily…
When I obtained the power of Persona, I thought, "I can do it…"
I used to think I couldn't do anything on my own, but maybe I really can…
I depended on others up until now, but from this point on, I want others to depend on me…
I'll do my best!
> You can sense Yukiko's iron will…
> You feel your bond with Yukiko has grown yet stronger…

Oh, and Yukiko saw one of the waitresses at the Inn do something really unspeakable to some guy with a fan recently. She managed to get the secret of it and I understand it's devastating.



Now then, um…
Where do they sell lobsters?
> You helped Yukiko with her shopping and went home.

I was able to talk her out of the lobsters fortunately. Still, it's good that she's trying.

5/26/11

Some things never change, like Yosuke.



Ms. Sofue: As I discussed last time, civilizations coexisted with rivers… But Egypt was a special case.
In order to predict when the Nile would flood, they created a calendar. Egypt introduced math to measure the land.
Wisdom was born so people could live together with nature. Ah, there's so much romance in ancient history…
Some fools find romance in war… But what culture can truly be born from conflict?
My older brother was like that. A dense samurai with no respect for the ancient civilizations…
He's always wearing a rugged Japanese kabuto. How disgraceful. My Nemes headdress is so much more elegant!
…Hm? You! You didn't think I'd catch you spacing out, Mr. Hanamura!?
Tell me, what kind of writing system did the Egyptians use back then!?
Hmm!?
U-Uh, writing system? Y-You wanna know what kind it was…?

It's good for Yosuke that I'm around.



Ms. Sofue: Oh, so you've been doing your reading. I'm impressed, Mr. Hanamura.
You're right. Egyptians used sacred carvings, also known as Hieroglyphics.
Thanks, Souji! I guess I should open the book for this class sometime…

That dog was back by the river.



> It seems that the dog is still wary of you. What should you do?

I tried talking to it again.



Missing Dog: *whimper *
> It seems the dog became less wary of you.
Missing Dog: *whimper *
> The dog isn't trying to run away. It seems to like you.
> …But it seems to be out of energy.
> Perhaps it's hungry.
> If you gave it something a dog would eat, it may become energetic again…
> But you don't have anything like that.

I headed down to Souzai Daigaku in the shopping district and got some steak, but the dog was already gone when I got back. I'll have to get him tomorrow. Oh, and we had a soccer game today.



Soccer Player: Alright, we've got a game today, so don't hold back!
> The soccer game began.
> It's time to show the results of your hard practice!

I've gotten damn good again.



Soccer Player: What was that!?
Nice! Get the ball to Souji if he's open!
That was crazy, Souji! I didn't know you could hustle like that!
With him on the team, we might have a shot at next year's tournament.
Man, I'm glad you came along.
> Thanks to your play, it seems the rest of the team has begun to acknowledge you.
> You owe it all to your training…

We headed to Aiya after the game.



> After waiting for basketball practice to end, you came here with Daisuke and Kou…
That's awesome! So the training paid off, huh?
You should've seen the looks on their faces.
Now he won't get stuck with all the grunt work. He's one of the team!
> Daisuke is beaming as if it's all thanks to him…
Nice. So am I free now?
It's hard work polishing balls after a full day of b-ball practice.
Yeah, thanks for helping out, Kou.
It's not like I did it for you!
Still, Souji, I'm glad it all worked out!
> Kou is beaming like it's all thanks to him…

I was pretty happy they'd helped me out.



No worries. In the end, it was all you, man.
> Daisuke nods.
Well, I say we celebrate!
One extra order of mapo rice, please! Souji, yours is on me.
> The three of you celebrated the end of your training…
You feel your relationship has grown even stronger…

Things are going pretty well honestly.



I'll have the pepper steak. Hold the green beans.
…Hold the beans? All you've got left is mean, dude.
If that's all you want, why don't you order this?
> ……
> The three of you had a good time talking about food…

Still, can't let myself forget that we're on the lookout for a killer…

5/27/11

Interesting day today.



> The dog isn't trying to run away. It seems to like you.
> …But it seems to be out of energy.
> Perhaps it's hungry.
> If you have it something a dog would eat, it may become energetic again…
> You gave it a Steak Skewer.
Missing Dog: *woof * *woof *
> The dog looks happy.
> The dog ran away energetically. It should be able to return to its owner's house now.
> You accomplished the request written on the ema!
> You should report back to the fox…

I had some free time and needed the cash, so I headed to work at the day-care center again.



Yuuta: I don't wanna play house!
Let's play hide-and-seek! You're it!
> Yuuta is full of energy.
> Once again, the children tug at you from all directions.
Day Care Supervisor: Souji-kun!
Most of the children have been picked up, so you can go home now.
I'll see you next time!
> You finished your job and went home.

On the way home, I saw a familiar face.



> You see Yuuta's mother sitting over there.

I decided to go over and talk to her.



Oh! It's already this late?
I've been sitting here all this time…

She looked like she was thinking something over.



…Oh, no, it's nothing.
*chuckle * You're a high school student, right? You seem so mature…
I was heading over there… I was going to pick up Yuuta…
But then something came over me… My legs just went weak all of a sudden.
Every time I think about him…
> Yuuta's mother sighs…
…Have you heard?
Yuuta and I aren't related by blood…
He's my husband's child. I've lived with Yuuta for six months now…
Only six months… Already six months… We don't ever talk to each other.
My husband is away, so… Heh… It's just the two of us, alone together in a dark house.

That's a pretty terrible situation really.



Oh… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to tell you all this out of the blue…
…But I'm glad that you listened to me, that you spoke with me…
Haha, it's sad, but these days, I don't even get to have simple conversations like this…
> Yuuta's mother is smiling weakly…
> It seems she is trying her best to adapt to living in the countryside…
> You feel a faint bond forming between you and Yuuta's mother…

It's interesting that the universe rewards me for horribly intruding on others' lives.



I'm Eri Minami.
Nice to meet you. Please take good care of him.
…Oh, that's right. I still need to pick him up.
It was nice meeting you…

Well, I might have moved to a small town just in time to have to fight horrible monsters and search for a murderer but she might actually have it worse.

5/28/11

Not much happened today, went to soccer practice. Still waiting on Kanji.

5/29/11

Kou called earlier today.



If you're bored, wanna do something with me and Daisuke today?
Sound good?
Alright! Don't forget, okay?

We stopped by the bookstore.



So what'd you buy, Daisuke?
A comic. I was feeling kinda nostalgic when I saw it 'cause I used to have it…
Wait… this isn't what I…
…I got the wrong one.
Instead of Rubber-Armed Pitcher Hero, I bought Lovely Witch Detective…
……
Here, Souji, you can have it.

Did I mention I literally will take anything free no matter what?



I didn't know you read those kinda books…
You must be one of those comic snobs.
> Obtained Witch Detective.
What can I say…? The covers looked exactly alike…

Chie walked by while we were there. I think Kou's kinda into her.



You three, all together?
Now that's a weird trio… Then again, you guys are all into sports, huh?
Ch-Chie-san.
Uh… What are you doing?
…Training!
Training…?
You're the man, Chie.
Hell no!
> It promises to be an entertaining day.

I wonder how long we'll have to wait on this? The killer could already be scoping out his next victim, we don't have time to mess around.