Part 28: A Mother's Greatest Fear

Update 28 - A Mother's Greatest Fear



Storage Area





Yami... this really isn't the time.

Yami...
I know how you feel. I know what it feels like to have someone leave you.
She didn't leave me.
You make it sound like she left on purpose.



Well, the person who left me did have a choice.
How do you know that?
Because he had the chance to come home, and he didn't.
What if he stayed because people needed his help?



He left us alone.
I'm sorry...
I know how it feels to be alone. But if you come with me, you'll never have to be alone again.
Yami...
Come with me. I'll take care of you.









... Welp! We're off to a great start. Already lost the boy to to the Envoy and we're about a minute and a half in.







The door is locked so we can't go inside it. Only way to go is to ask the inn employees if they saw the boy leave.



Oh look, she's awake!
Good morning, ma'am! I hope you slept well!
Wasn't Star Night a blast?
Thank-you all... and yes, it was a very lovely event... I'm sorry, I'm just a bit distracted right now...



Your son? Oh that's right! You two are usually together, aren't you?
Yes... but I just woke up, and now he's gone! I have a terrible feeling about this... I have to find him!
It's okay, ma'am... we'll help you however we can!



What's going on? Someone is lost?
Yes, her son's gone missing!
Her son? You mean the child with the warrior's hat?
That's him! She woke up and he was just gone!
That's terrible...
I know!





Ma'am... I know you must be in a great hurry, but if I might make a suggestion... Here in Morizora's Forest, we have a belief that when a loved one has gone missing...



A Hikaribana? You mean the glowing flower?
Yes. Do you know Winston? He was in town the other day and he mentioned keeping one in his tent. Winston lives out by the river. He might lend you his Hikaribana if you're unable to find your son...
Thank-you very much... I will go there right away.



Yes?
The Envoy are strong today... so please be careful.
Thank-you, I will be.





Dark Heart



The Envoy aren't just strong today, they are out in force. All around the village, Envoy have taken up positions. Though they are just staring for now, it'd be wise to not stick around in case they do decide to do something.

But... I think we'd be okay to ask around the village and see if anyone saw anything.

Did you enjoy Star Night? ...Oh, where is your colt? Aren't you usually together?

This morning there were big grey clouds everywhere... do you think another storm is coming?

What a night! I've never had so much Sila Berry juice in all my life... My stomach ache only lasted 3 hours!

...We're not getting anything useful from the leebles in the town square. Let's try the huts; leebles with portraits could maybe lend us a hand, right?



When I was out this morning working on my painting, I got the strangest feeling... Shortly after, a whole wave of Envoy passed by... I was relieved they didn't see me.



Good morning! Lovely day isn't it? Actually... it feels a bit strange today, doesn't it? The energy is a bit... heavier than usual.

So far this has been a bust. But we gotta keep trying.



Hey lady! You're up early today! I think this is the first time I've seen you in here without your son... is he off playing somewhere?



Star Night is over, but as you can see, a baker's work is never done!

Nothing about the kid? Really Panky?

Let's keep going, there's gotta be one leeble who saw something.



Maybe it's because I had 20 pancakes last night...

Urgh! These leebles have been useless. Maybe Tony and his family can help us?



Sure is making the cubs act strangely... Well, moreso than usual.

She's right, both cubs have nothing to say.

This strange weather is making my joints ache. Hey... where's your cub?

No one has seen the kid. Where could he be if he left and no one saw him leave?



The Envoy aren't even trying to be subtle, they're just right on the road now.





Oh Winston... I'm sorry to bother you, but I don't know who else to turn to right now...
Oh no, what happened?
When I woke up after Star Night, my son was gone!



The Envoy...
The Leebles at the Inn told me that a Hikaribana could lead me to him...
Come with me, I think I might be able to help.





A little bit...
Where I come from, every year Lunaflies lay their eggs inside these big flowers. When they hatch, the Lunaflies make the whole flower glow, and lift them up as they fly for the first time. But there's something else that's special about these flowers...



The light of the Hikaribana will glow and lead you to them.



Thank-you.





...Yes?
You should start where his presence was the strongest. The place where he spent the most time recently; perhaps where he spent the most time alone with his thoughts.
Good luck.
Thank-you.



We've got the Hikaribana, we should head back to the hospital and check the boy's room. We can head there through the door right outside Winston's tent, which should take us to Sue's Gemma's room. We can't use the door in Winston's tent because it, too, is locked.







Storage Area



Uhh, it's really dark and there's pools of water all over the floor. I'm not sure if I like this.



...Where's Winston and Gemma? There's water all over the floor here too and they seem to be missing. Did we go to the hospital, or... somewhere else?



The messages on the wall written in blood are back. The pools of water are everywhere now, and everyone seems to be missing too! Let's just head for the boy's room and hope for the best.











The Envoy are present...as is a portal. Did the Hikaribana open that up?



Well... let's see where it goes.









Mom's 'To Do' List



Well that's a jarring shift.



Is someone calling me?



Oh, hello Dad we've never met! Where've you been and why are we just meeting you 8 hours in?

...
Just wanted to let you know that I gotta head in early today... Tetsuya called in sick, so they need an extra hand on the floor...
Aww, that's too bad...
Well, your lunch is all ready, I just gotta grab it from the kitchen.
Oh I can grab it on the way out!



I think we should be fine. I'll let you know if we run into any trouble! I just gotta take care of some things around the house before we head out.
Alrighty, I'll see ya later then. I love you.
I love you, too.



Hmm... now where did I put that "to do" list? It's gotta be around here somewhere...

Before we continue on, I just want to take a minute to really take in how damn jarring this tonal shift is. Though I'm not saying that as a bad thing, It's emotional whiplash done well. If you're not a fan of emotional whiplash, then uh I'd get some comfy neck protection.

Now, let's search for this 'to do' list. Is that it on the floor?



Nope, just a big old red herring. Nothing important about this piece of information being here. There's only one other thing in the room that can be examined, so I assume that's the list.


1.) Find work papers 2.) Start the laundry 3.) Water the plant 4.) Turn on rice cooker

Ah, here it is! Time to get to work...

A mom's job is never done! Let's leave the living room and see if we can start knocking out these tasks.



We found the plant! Just need to water it...



Oh, we don't have any water. Well, let's keep looking around.





Ah the bedroom. I'm not sure if it being a one bedroom house is just things being shrunk down for the game or if we do all live in one room.



My work papers!

The other drawers contain clothes (shocking!) or can't be opened. I guess that's it for this room! One task complete.





And we found the bathroom. We needed to start the laundry so we should get to doing that, but first...



We can't stop filling sinks now of all places! Anyway, the laundry needs doing.



... Is it an all purpose machine? Does it wash and dry? Because I'm just noticing that there's only one appliance in here and it's even called "the laundry machine." We leave the bathroom and water the plant, there's no confirmation for it so you'll just have to take my word on that. Only one room left to check!





The kitchen of course. Let's go ahead and turn on the rice cooker...



All tasks complete! Well...except for one thing.



There we are! Well there's nothing else to do, so let's head to the living room. We need to be ready to leave to pick up grandma, right?



The moment we enter the living room, the phone starts ringing. Unlike earlier, we have all the time in the world to get the phone... but nothing cool happens if we wait so let's just pick it up.

Hello?



Silence



I'm calling from Sakuramachi Elementary with an urgent message about your son.
My son? Is everything okay?
He's okay right now... He's resting here at the nurse's office for the time being, but you're gonna have to come and pick him up.
My goodness, what happened?



He also complained of a severe headache and nausea right before... I'm sure it's just a flu or something like that...
I'm leaving right now, I'll be there as soon as I can.
Thank-you ma'am.







X-Ray Soda

(song's not long and I don't think it's imperative to hear, but it's a nice little tune you should listen to at least once)





Whoa! The boy without his helmet on! There's actually a portrait for the boy with hair out for almost every portrait version you saw over the game!

















He could see that his friend was in there...
So he tricked the giant into drinking so much soda that he burped his friend out!
Yup! The doctors are gonna use an X-Ray to look inside YOUR tummy to see what's going on in there. To make sure everything is okay.
Does that mean I get to drink soda?
We'll talk about that later.
...



Gosh they were always that cute! It's so adorable!



The Longest Wait...