Persona 5 Part #80 - 7/27: Psience Is A Dumb Word

Part 80: 7/27: Psience Is A Dumb Word

Part 78: 7/27: Psience Is A Dumb Word

I’m actually kind of impressed with Ari’s antics in the last few updates. That looked like a lot of work. Still gonna bury his action figures in the lawn, but interesting stuff.

Huh…? Who could that be at this hour…?

Music: Break it Down (Elp Version)

The cafe is cool and quiet, and it’s relaxing with the “Sayuri” there. It’s a peaceful place. I’m thinking of relaxing and reading a book. Moreover, we can easily meet up should something occur. We can kill two birds with one stone. If you’d like, we could spend some time together.

Yusuke’s coming tomorrow, huh? Might be nice to hang out with him. *yawn* I’m going to bed...

Why does everyone always send their invitations right when they’re going to bed?

Music: Beneath the Mask -Rain (Instrumental Version)

Relax, Morgana, we got plenty of time! ...But, you’re right, let’s do it now.

Sounds like Yusuke’s here. Come on, let’s go downstairs.

There’s not going to be any time to prepare in between, so make sure you’re ready to go beforehand.

As I mentioned last update, there’s no waiting period on this one, which means no time to make infiltration tools the night before. We’ll manage without it.

Why us? They can’t expect to gain any notoriety by targeting a small business like ours.

Is that their way of calling our the Phantom Thieves? Everyone seems to be talking about it.

How should I know? Hey, let’s head out after you finish drinking that. We gotta get some work done. Thanks for the coffee. I’ll just leave what I owe you here, Boss.

Yusuke’s down here, waiting for us, but… nah. Let’s blow him off and send the calling card.

Music: Suspicion

Well, I got the calling card, so lemme know when you decide.

This is different from past cases. We’ll be handing the calling card directly to Futaba herself. Once we give it to her, we’ll head straight into the Palace. There won’t be any time for prep work in between, so make sure you’re ready beforehand.

Music: Beneath the Mask -Rain (Instrumental Version)

Are you sure we’re ready to go? Once Futaba sees the calling card, we’ll need to head straight into her Palace. Is that OK?

Music: Suspicion

Looks like it’s my turn to unlock the entrance. Forgive me, Chief.

How will we convince Futaba to let us into her room though? Even Boss is forbidden entry.

Yes, that is the best course of action.

You know a method?

I think it’s quite straightforward. Futaba doesn’t know what we’re doing inside her Palace, correct? Hence, if we tell her we’ve come to steal her heart, she’ll surely open the door and let us inside.

Wait… That’s it?

Futaba wants to have a change of heart. After all, she contacted us for that express purpose. That desire should lead her to open the door as well.

…You’re right. Our feelings should get through if we just try and talk to her.

All right, I believe in Futaba! C’mon, let’s get this done!

When did it get on here…?

Oh dear.

Music: Desire

Wh-Who’re you…?

I am the other you.

Is this some kinda hallucination? It’s different from usual…

How long will you continue blaming yourself and shutting yourself away from the world?

Blaming myself for what…?

For your mother’s death. Don’t you think it’s time you grasped the truth of that moment? What happened before your eyes… What happened to your mother…

The truth…

Why did you choose to rely on the Phantom Thieves?

That’s…

Are you simply going to shut yourself in and do nothing? Are you going to avert your eyes from the true answer?

If so… I will kill them in your world.

Music: Wicked Plan

There’s no mistaking it. This is the same door as in the Palace.

I doubt she’d answer...

Alibaba, we know you’re there. It doesn’t matter if it’s through chat messaging. Just answer us.

In order to steal your heart, we need you to open this door. We can’t change your heart otherwise. Please let us in.

I’m not mentally prepared!

It’s too sudden.

The other you within your heart told us to have you open it. Deep down, you want to open this door, don’t you?

The other me?

Right.

Um, I don’t think she understands, Makoto.

We’re trying to uphold our promise, but you’re the one resisting us.

Give me some time.

Ten seconds.

That’s too short! At least minutes. Please!

Fine. But if Boss comes home, we’ll kick down the door and enter if we must.

All right, I’ll open it now.

We need to change her cognition. Better to be completely safe than sorry.

So she has to be the one to invite us in...

Futaba, please open the door.

All right, let’s go in...

Music: Suspicion

Medical science, information technology, biology, psychology… these are all technical books...

She keeps herself cooped up in a room like this all the time…?

Where’s Futaba?

Where could she be hiding…?

The closet!?

She’ll shut herself in to the bitter end, hm?

Even if that door’s opened up, we’ll get stopped again inside. I bet a fence or something formed right in front of the Treasure now.

Whoa, she talked...

We needed to change your cognition. Unless we do so, we can’t steal your heart.

I highly doubt she would understand it even if we explained it to her…

So basically, my cognition is being a hindrance, keeping you away from the core of my cognitive world?

I mean, it’s confusing that she understands this, but hey, at least someone here doesn’t need the entire damn game explained to them in advance.

Huh? She understood it?

Why do you know about that? Who are you?

……

Why’d you call yourself Alibaba and make things more complicated? If you wanted help, you could have just asked for it.

(mumbling) ...was ...rrassed.

Huh? M-My bad. I didn’t catch that.

*annoyed groan* ...’Cause I was embarrassed.

I think I get it. Asking someone for help isn’t that easy…

Futaba, can you tell us more? How do you know about the cognitive world?

…’Cause I knew about it.

Oh… That reminds me. Boss was talking about “cognition” or something before, right?

You think this is related to how he was gettin’ grilled by that one lady?

Perhaps her mother was researching this cognitive science that was mentioned?

Cognitive psience with a PSI in front! Less science, more supernatural. That’s important.

This is a total guess, bur my assumption is that the words for “science” and “psience” (ugh) are pronounced differently in Japanese and this bit just makes no sense in English.

Well that certainly got her attention… It seems we’re on the right track.

So, cognitive… psience? Futaba, what was your mother working on?

Futaba does not respond.

Please tell us. What happened?

She’s not answering.

Shouldn’t we do this later? She seems to have gone through some shit in the past...

True… She did say things like “die”...

Futaba-chan. Did you really kill your mother?

WHOA

Whoa, you moron…!

Wasn’t her death an accident? What actually happened?

Um, there was a suicide note, Ann.

Maternity neurosis? Is that really true?

Ann Takamaki, master of tact.

Ann.

We saw what your heart is like, but we still can’t figure anything out. The mother that Boss told us about is completely different from your cognition.

Music: Alleycat

*groan*

We want to hear the truth from your mouth.

...M-My mom… was… The… one who killed her… was… Nngh...

It’s possible that she can’t remember because her heart has become distorted.

I’m so sorry, Futaba-chan. I, um… A lot happened, so… I’m sorry.

Th-There! Now steal it!

Music: Everyday Days

...What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?

C-C’mon, hurry it up!

We did come to steal your heart, but it’s not really done right here at this moment… All you really had to do was open that closet door… ...I’m sorry we made you jump to conclusions. You don’t have to be like that...

...Wh-What’s the meaning of this!? Did you guys trick me?

Music: Wicked Plan

No! Please listen! There’s a reason we had to do this!

She’s aware of the cognitive world, but it seems she doesn’t understand how a change of heart occurs.

Um, Futaba, how much do you know about the cognitive world?

I know that there’s another world based on cognition. But I don’t know how to get there. Can you guys go there? You said you “saw my heart” earlier.

Yes, that’s right.

How do you do it?

We use a smartphone app.

An app?

Yes. By entering the required information, we can go to the cognitive world.

A name, a place, and a distortion—those three. So in this case, “Futaba Sakura,” “Sojiro Sakura’s house,” and--

Futaba, you don’t happen to have this app, do you?

This… …I don’t.

Liar!

Thank goodness… OK then.

Can you take me with you too?

Why’re you even askin’? Of course she can’t come with us.

I’ll leave it to you then.

Good. And you better not forget about our promise, all right?

Oh yeah! Almost forgot! The Treasure’s not gonna appear if we don’t have her read this!

Ryuji slides the calling card through the crack in the door.

Hm? A calling card?

It’s the one you prepared. Read it.

...I can’t read it. It’s too dark.

You could just come out…

...It’s embarrassing.

I’ll make sure she reads it, so you guys go on ahead.

Futaba, make sure you read it, OK?

...OK.

Now, this is odd. This is not supposed to say sloth. Now, I found this out from an unsourced Reddit post, so it could be complete bull, but in the Japanese version, Futaba’s sin is apparently never mentioned. The English version added this in, and it’s wrong. I found this out from a few sources, including the name of the corresponding trophy, the name of a song on the soundtrack, and pretty much everywhere I looked for clarification. Futaba’s sin is something else, which we’ll go into when it comes up very shortly. It can be argued that Ryuji, who seems to be the one who comes up with the sins, is acting on incomplete information, but for now, just know that her sin is not actually Sloth.

...Thus, we will rob every last bit of those distorted desires. …...

Music: Life Will Change (Instrumental Version)

Futaba seemed totally up for gettin’ her heart stolen… What’s up with this?

Hm… Something about this place really is unusual. Either way, there’s only one thing for us to do now that we’ve sent the calling card!

Hell yeah! No matter what we gotta face, we’re gonna take that Treasure for sure!

I mean after all the trouble we went through, she damn well better’ve read it!

Well yeah, Futaba-chan opened the door herself.

Anyway, the Treasure is up ahead! Let’s finish this!

Yup, this is the heart of a hacker all right. Anyways, where’s the Treasure?

I’m getting a strong signal from above us. The Treasure has definitely manifested.

There’s no knowing what may lie ahead, so let’s be vigilant as we push toward the Treasure.

A new foible has been added to our plan, however: there’s an enemy gauntlet between here and the exit.

We learn a few skills from these enemies, even if it is annoying to fight before our boss encounter. Ann learns Ambient Aid, which greatly increases the odds of status effects sticking during Rain, Flu, or Pollen weather days. It’s not great, but it’s something to replace the garbage Fire Break, and it’s good for Mementos money farming.

Next, Yusuke learns Tempest Slash, which deals Miniscule Physical damage 3 to 5 times. It replaces Vicious Strike.

Finally, Ryuji learns Shock Boost, which increases the odds of inflicting Shock with Electricity. It’s okay, but Adverse Resolve is so incredibly situational (especially because it’s a situation you should almost never be in) that it’s worth replacing anyway. I still might have replaced Headbutt instead of Adverse Resolve, though.

There’s even a treasure chest in here! Too bad it only contains a Balm of Life, which we can just buy equivalent items of.

To get through this place while minimizing SP use, we keep our SP Adhesives on, leave Ann in the reserves, and have her Diarama everyone after every fight. It’s pretty costly, but we’re not using her here anyway.