Part 111: 9/22-9/23: Avoiding Awkward Conversations
Part 107: 9/22-9/23: Avoiding Awkward ConversationsMusic: Beneath the Mask -Rain (Instrumental Version)
Ill be at the arcade today, so stop by if you feel like playing. Ill teach you a bunch of tricks.
Howd you get my phone number, kid?
Im eating now. Maybe I should respond later...
Oh, and make sure you eat your curry before it gets cold.
We got an invitation to go out. Lets reply once we finish eating.
So, we have another day off. I dont know what for. Probably Arbor Day or something, there are a lot of random Japanese holidays (I just checked, its Autumnal Equinox Day, and Mondays day off was for Respect for the Aged Day, both of which are somehow even dumber than the joke example I just gave).
Music: Tokyo Daylight
We head over to Chihaya to boost our affinity with Futaba. Its not enough, unfortunately.
I guess we should hang out with the child, failing other options (okay, fine, Makoto was actually available today, I just wanted to get the next skill before the Palace for some ill-defined reason).
You can get all kinds of Phantom Thieves stuff. I got a Phantom Thieves badge. I wonder what Ill get next Youre here to train, right? Well, are you ready?
What are you gonna do? Are you gonna have Shinya teach you how to shoot?
Lets keep playing.
Music: Wicked Plan
Okay, so, how to explain this? In non-voiced scenes, Confidant characters will occasionally have little voiced barks, or short phrases that dont match the text of the scene, but fit with the spirit. Why do I bring this up? Well, for this line, Shinyas bark is You bastard!
Thats right. He swears in the non-canon voice lines, but not in the text itself. This is fucking baffling to me.
Dont you get it!? You cant just shoot all over the place!
...Yeah, but hes got such a bad attitude.
Its like hes bipolar.
I really wanna know if he calls him bipolar or something else in the Japanese text.
I wonder how long that high schoolers gonna be able to keep up
Gahhh! You havent gotten better at all! When are you gonna learn!?
Music: Alright (Elp Version)
Thanks to you taking so long to figure it out
Ive always been good at shooting games But I absolutely NEVER wanna lose at Gun About. So I guess I tend to get all heated up about it
Do you understand, little boy?
Do I need to call your mom?
...Fine. Ill leave, all right?
I really wanted to keep playing.
You must have deep pockets, kid. Where are you getting all this money for arcade games?
...My house is so boring. No ones ever there and theres never anything to do. Adults and high schoolers are so lucky. They get to play all night long. Having that much time helps you get stronger ...I wish I could play all day instead of going to school. Id never lose another game ...I need to get really strong, like the Phantom Thieves.
Seriously though, I cant stop thinking about that employee. He was super annoying, huh? If he says something again, I might just have to use that move on him. The one I taught you, remember? You should use it sometime.
Youre gonna fake shoot him!?
I feel like my bond with Shinya is growing deeper...
Bullet Hail lets us sometimes follow up an ambush with a smaller All-out Attack using our guns. Its pretty neat, and well see it next time we go into the Palace.
Well, its just a move in the game, so it wont work against actual people ...I wish it did. Then Id be strong in real life. I need to be able to win in real life ...
Uhhhhh
...Im gonna head home.
Interacting with Shinya has made my heart grow I feel like my Kindness has increased...
Maaku gains Kindness +3.
Later. Say hi to the Phantom Thieves for me1
Music: Beneath the Mask
We got 3 Condenser Lenses, a Five-inch Nail, a Black Rock, and a Nirvana Ring.
Oh, yeah-- You bought stuff from Shady Commodities.
Now, which of these is the punishment for forced labor, the most grievous offense? A: Ten years in prison./B: A twenty million yen fine.
The correct answer is A! An inhumane executive gets ten years in jail!
Okumura Foods is likely only guilty of long hours and unpaid overtimenot forced labor. Many say the punishment for thats too lenient: six months in jail or a three hundred thousand yen fine.
The punishment is too soft in both those answers! Thats why people are looking to us
It feels like Ive improved my Knowledge.
Maaku gains Knowledge +1.
I wonder I bet its better than Okumura Foods though. But geez, are you OK? Dont overwork yourself.
I have to work as much as I can to keep my job. Everyone else is sucking it up and pitching in
Now that our package has arrived, its Shady Commodities time!
Music: Dark Net
Mr. Hamiru, youve opened the door to possibilities that normal people can only dream of! Now, you can find all the rare items you could possibly want!
Some new items in stock now. We buy the Spyware-laden Gear (which requires washing, and I only bought because I got confused), the Hercules Anklet (Strength +5), the Black Robe (for transmutation), and another Black Rock.
Youve spent over 50,000 yen! Your member rank is now Dark! Now you can purchase all of our Dark-tier products! But wait, theres more ! Youve spent over 100,000 yen! Your member rank is now Chaos! Now you can purchase all of our Chaos-tier products! Youve reached our highest member rank, so this is our full lineup. We cant thank you enough!
All right, weve illicitly acquired some new shit, so lets get to Confidantin.
Music: Crossroads
But how the heck would you know, right? Riiiiiight?
What are you insinuating!? Oh, wait, I think she might just be plastered.
Hey you have some info to share, riiight? Need smore info on the Phantom Thievesssss. So sit your pretty lil butt down
This is sexual harassment!
Im expecting a lot from you OK, take a seat!
Ill shmack you if its not good enough
...Hey, you sure youre OK?
Youre usually kinda-- *hic*
Man I havent seen her drink this much in forever.
You could you know cut her off? Just saying, Lala.
Im totally not drunk *hic*
Oooh, youre sharp, kid! Truth is, um my quota got doubled.
Music: Suspicion
Theyre shacklin me down so I wont have time for anything else Ugh, my chiefs such a shithead
Hes clearly saddling you with more work so you wont have any more time to date high schoolers.
Before this, I was starting to feel like a real journalist again The rush of investigating Kayos case uncovering the dark secrets hidden away by our corrupt society But now? Its gonna be impossible to run my investigation with this quota
That doesnt sound good.
Theyll fire me if I cant reach my quotas! Hey, Lala-chan if they fire me, can I live here? That still wont help my investigation though The incidents over a year old, and the authorities arent doing shit. *gasp* Maybe Kayo really was the true culprit
I mean if I dont, who will!?
Watch your temper.
*sigh* What am I doing ? I mean, Im the one who dragged Kayo into politics. Its my fault this ended up happening to her Yknow, she started out in book publishing, mostly taking photos of nature and wild animals. She was a genius behind the camera though. Thats why I thought shed make the perfect partner for me
Right. Partner. Im hip to the lingo.
Hey, you cant blame yourself. Kayo-chan was just as set on exposing the evils of society as you were. Isnt that right?
Dammit, that incident is all my fault Thats why Ive gotta get to the bottom of it!
Yknow, its weird how calm I get when Im talkin to you. Its almost like you actually understand me. Oh, and Im sorry for snapping at you earlier. The stress must have gotten to me. Its just, all this quota business is driving me crazy. Im gonna have to put all my focus on that for now. Ill still be counting on you for Phantom Thieves stories though as long as youre up for it.
It feels like Ohya is really starting to rely on me...
But I might be able to ask some of my coworkers for help. Journalists will do anything for a scoop. Now then, Ill take any tidbits you have for me today. Hope you dont mind if I get back to drinking though. This whole conversation really sobered me up
Thats not how that works, but whatever.
Mm, its getting late Ill see ya later.
Anon: Hes definitely a target
Anon: Make him beg!
Music: Beneath the Mask (Instrumental Version)
Arent they a bit late this time? Im on the edge of my seat here
Dude, it took like a month for Medjed to go down. Settle down, bucko.
Yeah, they can take Okumura down easy.
Not just him, but ALL companies that exploit their employees.
Yeah. Were in trouble too, you know. Take out one, you gotta take out them all. Its only fair.
Why are they raking us over the coals ?
Music: My Homie
*chime* ...Is this on? Ms. Chouno, please come to the faculty office at once.
What could this be ? Im off to the faculty office, so make sure you study on your own.
Learning about the spirit of the samurai seems useful, but this book looks difficult
Seems like you still have some pages left. You should continue some other time.
One more session to complete that book.
Ah! The teachers back !
Phew, that was close. Kawakami helped us get a good chunk of free time though!
Music: So Boring
In another class
Someone please save Pleasant Boy, hes been trapped in the Metaverse for eight days. Hes had to eat the burger robots for sustenance.
Hes in hiding now that everyone turned against him.
Public opinion has truly flipped between him and us, but I doubt hes given up.
And if we dont hurry, the public will turn against us next
There are already signs of that.
Then lets move! We cant go wasting our popularity!
Id like to stop my father as well, for everyones sake.
Considering Harus circumstances, we must follow through with this.
Music: Butterfly Kiss
First thing we do after school is head over to Takemis.
Not to actually talk to her, mind, just to buy pharmaceuticals.
We buy a bunch of Takemedics (200 HP for one party member, kinda pointless but I still wanna be prepared), a lot of Takemedic-All Zs (200 HP for all party members, nearly entirely redundant due to Mediarama but were saving these for a specific purpose later on), some Kajaclears and Kundaclears (negate enemy buffs and party debuffs), a large supply of Life Ointments (full HP restore from KO), a good number of Relax Gels (Rage/Despair/Brainwash/Fear/Confuse relief, because those statuses suck and Wakaba drained us of these), a few Nohar-Ms (Burn/Freeze/Shock relief, which we havent been hit with much but never hurts to be prepared for), and some Alert Capsules (Hunger/Dizzy/Forget/Sleep relief, and Ill tell you why were buying these later).
So, some healing items, a full round of ailment relief items, and some debuff deleters. All in all, a pretty productive shopping session, which drains us of about 60k.
Oh hey, while Im here, Takemi? Yeah, your patients alive. What? No, sorry, I have to go, cant stay to elaborate. Maybe we can hash this out in a few days? I might still be busy though. Tell you what, well definitely talk sometime next week. Just dont take any initiative on this before that. I know shes dying rapidly, but Id really prefer to be there for the whole Confidant thing. Oh, you dont know what that is, whatever. Kthanksbye.
Music: Tokyo Daylight
Back to Chihaya.
And Futabas ready to advance.
And we get Money Reading as well.
Music: Tokyo Emergency
Anon: bros, cmon. were waiting
And next time, were ready to infiltrate Okumuras Palace!