Part 94: Tokimemo Girl's Side Chapter 4: Learn Me Right
Tokimemo Girl's Side, Chapter 4: Learn Me Right6/16: Basketball!
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Join a sports club in Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side, and you'll be pulled into scrimmages and practice games every 3 months. Unlike previous Tokimemos, there aren't three separate events that give you a good idea of how close you are to the stat threshold. Under the old system, one out of three meant you were close but not close enough, and two out of three meant that you just barely cleared the stat threshold and need to keep practicing over the next three months. In this system, you win or lose. No in betweens, no feedback on how many more stats that you need.
Goonko: We have a scrimmage today against Dai-Tokyo High.
Goonko: (Whew, we pulled out a win somehow.)
Okay, Goonko, let's level a little here. You didn't "pull out a win" -- you forced the other team to cover you at the half-court line because they think you'll hit the J. Do you realize who's ever gotten that kind of coverage? No one. This transcends basketball. You have the best shot I have ever seen. On anyone.
What I think Goonko looks like right now, part 8:
6/17: Mizuki please
It's time to meet the object of Mizuki's affections. Based on her stat emphasis and the way these things work, it's pretty easy to tell that the boy of her dreams is the boy we'll meet through Art. We can easily dodge that by only raising the Art stat through hanging out with Mizuki, but where's the fun in that? The game is about meeting boys, and meet boys we will, dammit.
Art boy: Very nice...
Art boy: Great use of color. What's your name?
Goonko: Huh? Uhh, my name's Fudou Kimiko.
Art boy: Fudou-kun. I see.
Art boy: You seem to be a person who understands beauty.
Art boy: You should be proud of it--
Art boy: For you can sense the full extent of my beauty.
Goonko: Ummmm, uhhh...
Goonko: And you are?
Art boy: Are you amazed?
Art boy: Yes, I am Mihara Shiki.
Shiki: Don't worry, you're not dreaming.
Two things about Shiki.
One: Mizuki. No. Please, not him. Anyone but this guy, Mizuki. It's taken 5 lines to establish beyond any reasonable doubt that Shiki is a narcissistic freak who won't appreciate you, because he's too into himself. You need to find a better guy. He doesn't deserve you! Mizuki whyyyyyyy
Two: There's no way I'm mistaking that voice. Shiki's voice actor is often cast as the flirtatious ladies man type, which is always in demand no matter the genre. He is...
Miki Shin'ichirou!
Miki Shin'ichirou's signature robot roles:
1) Lockon Stratos (Neil) and Lockon Stratos (Lyle) (Gundam 00)
2) Kurz Weber (Full Metal Panic)
3) Ryusei Date (Super Robot Wars)
Miki Shin'ichirou's most, uh, "special" role: Mikisugi Aikurou
What I think every time he opens his mouth: Neraiutsu ze!
Well, he can't be all bad if he plays snipers all the time. Right? Anyway, back to the LP.
Shiki: I'm pretty shy and I'm not good at introductions, but I suppose you could call me God's gift to beauty.
Goonko: Oh, you're the famous art prodigy everyone in Habataki Academy talks about, aren't you?
Shiki: Everyone calls me that, but that's not right, it's not right at all...
Shiki: I myself am a work of art. That's the truth.
Goonko: ......
What I think Goonko looks like right now, part 9:
Shiki: That's why you don't have to feel so inferior to me.
Shiki: Let's be friends, Fudou-kun.
Shiki: Now, I should return to my atelier.
Shiki: I have an appointment with the fickle goddess of art.
Goonko: (So that's the famous Mihara-kun.)
What a prat. On the plus side, Mizuki doesn't have to worry at all about us trying to horn in on her man. I wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot pole.
This is what it looks like to fail at art. Get used to seeing that skull, it'll come up a lot.
6/20: Extracurriculars with Icehouse 01
Reiichi: Next Sunday, we will be going on a field trip.
Reiichi: Would anyone like to participate?
Reiichi: We're going to tour the museum.
Reiichi: We'll meet at the entrance to the park at 10 AM.
Goonko: (What should I do?)
Option 1: Raise my hand
Option 2: Don't raise my hand
Hey, everything's worth trying once. Let's see what fake-dates are like with Mister Icehouse.
Option 1: Raise my hand
Reiichi: Very well.
Reiichi: Next Sunday, everyone who raised their hand will meet me there.
Reiichi: That's all. Homeroom is over.
Goonko: (Next Sunday - I have to make sure I don't sleep past the meeting time.)
6/23: The field trip. Which is totally not a date with the teacher.
This is the icon for "go on a field trip". We know what the game thinks this is.
Goonko: Whew, I made it on time.
Reiichi: It looks like everyone's here. Let's get moving.
Reiichi: If anyone can't stay quiet, I'll ask you to stay out here.
Reiichi: Good.
Reiichi: We're going inside - make a single file line and head to the entrance.
Reiichi: And now our tour begins.
Reiichi: So, everyone, is there an exhibit you would like to see?
Option 1: I want to go to an exhibit where I can be alone with you!
Option 2: I just wanna see mummies!
Option 3: Let's see the local history exhibit!
I picked as I think Goonko would choose as a normal high school girl: Mummies!
Reiichi: I don't know what you're so excited about, but mummies are certainly a fascinating subject to me.
Goonko: (Uhh, I guess that's an average response)
Yep. This was 100% a date for the game's intents and purposes. I think I'm gonna avoid these from now on...
Goonko: I learned a lot on this field trip.
Reiichi: You clearly lack focus. However, I do approve of your willingness to go on this field trip at the very least.
Goonko: Thank you.
Reiichi: I'm ending the day here. Everyone, go straight home and don't take any detours.
Is that really something you say thanks for?
6/24: Actually start reading the news
I, uh, I may have forgotten to read the news for date spots while I was getting used to the game. Plus, there's Goro's blog to read. Let's take a look at what's waiting for us on the 'net.
The first item of interest is this horoscope. You may remember in the previous Tokimemos that there was a barely-visible Biorhythm chart on the calendar which had a fuzzy effect on the success rate of certain activities. You may not remember it, because it was incredibly hard to find and read in almost every single one of them. This one? This one's easy as pie to read. The rows are neatly labeled for each activity, while the columns indicate which week is good for which activity. The first column is this week, the second column is next week, etc. etc.
The only gray areas are what horoscopes affect things like Preen - is that Love or Leisure? What about the gardening club, is gardening leisure or study? I'll look it up later, but it's simple enough to figure out what weeks are good for hanging out with our sister-from-another-mister Mizuki and what weeks are good for playing basketball.
Oh, and these e-mails seem to have been piling up for 3 months. We should probably read them. The ones with "Arbeit News" as the sender will all be about part-time jobs, for those who don't know Dutch. The rest should be fairly self-explanatory.
The first e-mail, from the first day of the game, says thank you for signing up for the jobs mailing list. Oh, there are part-time jobs in this game! That seems like a good idea.
The second e-mail, also from the first day of the game, thanks you for signing up for Habataki News, and reminds you to read the website for the latest updates.
Here's where it gets interesting! Mizuki sent a mail on the 7th, shortly after the meeting event. The header of her e-mail is a simple "su" kanji from her last name, which we'll see later. The footer is way more interesting than the header, and proves to me that I have stumbled on the very best of the best friends in this run.
Ça va?
It's Mizuki. You didn't seem to know, so I'll tell you again:
Because Mizuki is the school's étoile, everyone wants to be her friend. But because there is only one Mizuki, she cannot be friends with everyone.
That means you are very lucky! You must be so glad that you can be Mizuki's friend.
Mizuki's next e-mail comes from May 18th, after the "Praised by Mizuki" event triggered by a perfect week of hanging out.
Ça va?
It might just be Mizuki's imagination, but it seems that you have become lovelier recently.
Could it be because you're always with Mizuki? That's just a theory.
Whattagal.
The last two in the inbox are job openings at Winning Burger, a fast food restaurant, and Cafe Alucard. Both are for food service. One is named Alucard. I know which job Goonko is going to take.
Meanwhile, Habataki Net is full of useful articles about things like the Flea Market, which would've been nice to know about back in May, since it offers discounted clothes. Oops.
Goro's fashion column is all kinds of Special. I have to go change up my voice when reading his writings since he sounds like... well, he sounds like every episode of Project Runway, to be blunt about it. But I realized that my Goro voice has more in common with Troy Baker's Valvatorez voice (SAHDEENZ) than Tim Gunn's. When transcribing this, I'll try to express as much of the "14-year-old Japanese girl using social media" punctuation and inflection as intact as possible.
Ciao! Is everyone in love?
It's hot. So hawt! I can't bear to keep my clothes on.
Strip, strip... oh my, I'm saying things that would make me a failure of a designer~! Mm.
Don't worry about it. Ignore it, please~
The current craze is denim one-pieces! If you wear that to a date, your man will melt in your hands~!
Next up, the fashionable color is red! Work that into your wardrobe!
And on top of that, it might be nice to wear a ribbon as an accent.
You might just see the world a teensy bit differently.
Find a wonderful romance, girls!
★Goro's sexy calisthenics★
Transform yourself into a beauty!
Goro is a strong contender for most fun character to translate in Tokimeki Memorial history, along with Mei and Mizuki.
While I was at it, I had my stream choose the cursor for the rest of this run - it's going to be Garrison, Mizuki's butler.
6/26: Oh, and speaking of Mizuki...
Option 1: Invite Mizuki to walk home together
Mizuki: Oh my, Fudou-san, are you walking home too?
Goonko: Yeah. Hey, let's walk home together!
Mizuki: Oui! It could be rather nice to walk home once in a while.
Goonko: Yay, let's go!
Goonko: Midterms are coming up soon. Are you studying, Sudou-san?
Mizuki: Bien sûr, of course I am!
Goonko: Wow, you seem pretty confident.
Mizuki: Mizuki has 10 tutors, and studies from morning until night!
Goonko: So you should have a perfect study plan.
Mizuki: ...It had better be perfect.
Goonko: (I should study too.)
6/30: Pump Tsukushi for info
It's time to make a deal with the little devil.
Goonko: Tsukushi, got a second?
Tsukushi: The door's open, come on in.
Tsukushi: What's up?
Goonko: You said you were gathering a lot of info to practice your skills, right?
Tsukushi: Sure, but--oh, I get it, you want me to tell you something?
Goonko: Yeah.
Option 1: Ask what people think of me
Option 2: Ask about people
Option 3: Ask about date spots
Goonko: I'd like to learn more about the people around me.
Tsukushi: Sure. Who do you want to know about?
Shockingly, Tsukushi lets you read all of his notes at once, so you can get every boy's info at once.
Mihara Shiki
Birthday: January 15th, 1987
Sign: Capricorn
Blood type: AB
Height: 174cm
Weight: 58kg
Part-time job: None
Club: Art club
Notes: They call him an "artistic prodigy". Kinda weird...?
Hey, there's no creepy fixation on measurements coming from this gender! What a deal!
Suzuka Kazuma
Birthday: December 4th, 1986
Sign: Sagittarius
Blood type: B
Height: 171cm
Weight: 57kg
Part-time job: None
Club: Basketball team
Notes: They tell me he's a starter on the basketball team, even though he's a freshman.
Hazuki Kei
Birthday: October 16th, 1986
Sign: Libra
Blood type: A
Height: 178cm
Weight: 62kg
Part-time job: Magazine model
Club: None
Notes: The idol of Habataki Academy! His hobby is sleeping.
Himuro Reiichi
Birthday: November 6, 1975
Sign: Scorpio
Blood type: A
Height: 188cm
Weight: 70kg
Part-time job: None
Club: Brass band faculty adviser
Notes: Habataki Academy's math teacher. He's always wearing a suit, isn't he?
It's a pretty bad sign for Kazuma's future when, as the basketball player, he's the shortest character in the cast so far.
This is the current relationship chart. In order from top to bottom, left to right, it's Hazuki, Shiki, Kazuma, Reiichi, and Mizuki.
Yes, Mizuki has a relationship rating, and she's the only character above neutral affection right now. The current mission is going as planned.
Next time: Being a (working) girl is hard.
