Part 52: Akane route, chapter 1: Live by the sword

Akane route, chapter 1: Live by the sword

Welcome to the Akane run of Tokimeki Memorial 2! There are a couple parts that make this run mildly tricky, but otherwise, it's gonna be a pretty smooth ride the whole way through. It won't be quite the cakewalk that Yuina was, but I'm personally a big fan of this run - it was the first one I ever did in Tokimemo 2.

I'm going to skip most of the mandatory and retreaded material for this second run, focusing on what's new. With that in mind, here is how this run generally works.

Akane's stat requirements are pretty easy: Lit 80, Science 80, Guts 150. The hardest part is the Guts requirement, but 3 years of any sports club take care of that without any problems. Volleyball, Track, Baseball, and Kendo will all take care of the requirement with room to spare. However, there is one complication - for reasons which will become clear in year 2, we need to make sure that our Stamina stays high, while General Knowledge is also needed. Because of the wide spread of stat requirements, plus how physically grueling and schedule-eating the sports clubs are, there is pretty much no way to avoid meeting Homura (high Stress), Kaedeko (high Guts), and Miyuki (hanging out with friends on weekdays) on top of meeting the minimum Looks requirement for certain events.

The other complication is that Akane has a job, and doesn't always have free time, but that'll become less of a problem over the years. Let's begin!

4/18: Join the Kendo club


As I mentioned before, any of the sports clubs will do. The main reason to join the Kendo club is because this is the only run where it makes sense. Just like every other sports club, this club activity eats up one Sunday every month, which makes scheduling tricky - in previous runs, we've done all the club activities on weekdays while using the weekends for girl-safe stat building.

Thankfully, most of the time the girls won't ask you out on a club activity day, which is unusually kind of a '90s-era video game.


Kendo is a brutal discipline. One day of failure can be worth 3-4 Stress, and even good days accumulate Stress at a higher rate than pretty much anything else in the game. It saps away Stamina like nobody's business either. However, it does a great job at upping Guts and Exercise, stats we'll need plenty of in this run.


It also puts a bamboo practice sword in Goon's room.

5/8: Meet Akane

Pasted for reference, even though we've seen it twice already.


Goon: Let's see, so this question should be... hmm...
Akane: Mm-hmm, I see.
Goon: Huh? ...Um, who're you?
Akane: Oh, don't worry about that right now. Keep going.
Goon: O, okay... so this problem should look like this, and that means that for the next problem...
Akane: I see, I see. So what does that mean for this problem?
Goon: Oh, you work it out this way.
Akane: Oh, that's how you do it.
Goon: ...which means that the answer is this.
Akane: I kind of get it, but could you do that again and explain it a little more simply so I can do it myself?
Goon: S, sure. So, here's the explanation in the textbook. See how it works here?
Akane: I see, I see.
Goon: So if you apply it here, then this is the answer you should get.
Akane: Oh, I get it now! That helps a lot, thanks! Bye!


Goon: So... who WAS that, anyway?
Takumi: You don't know about Ichimonji-san?


Goon: AAUGH!
Takumi: That's rude, treating me like a ghost or something.
Goon: It's your fault for popping up out of nowhere!
Goon: Whatever. So, Ichimonji-san?


Takumi: Yeah, her name's Ichimonji Akane.
Takumi: She's cute, and everyone talks about her br...
Goon: Yeah, yeah.
Goon: (Ichimonji-san, eh?)

5/9: Get Akane's profile


Akane's lit and science are bad, mostly because she simply doesn't have much time to study. She also doesn't like Goon very much right now, but that's the case for everyone who we meet in year 1.


Ichimonji Akane
Born September 10th
Virgo | Blood Type O
Height: 159cm
Club: None
MEMO: Works part-time at a Japanese diner.
Not very good at school, possibly because she's too busy.

She is also a tomato.

5/14: Get shot down after school


Akane: Hmm? Did you need something?
Goon: Want to walk home together?
Akane: Uh, well, I have to go to work, and I don't want anyone starting any weird rumors.
Akane: So I'll pass.
Goon: O, oh, okay.
Goon: (Damn...)

This is the first hurdle to Akane. She's a working girl who has no time for this crap.

5/23: The first call


Goon: Hello, is this the Ichimonji residence?
Akane: What's going on, is this urgent or something?
Goon: Hey...
Goon: Want to go to Central Park with me on 6/6?
Akane: I don't have work that day, so that sounds good.
Goon: Alright, let's meet in front of the bridge on that day.
Akane: Yup yup! I'll be waiting!

Hurdle cleared! For now, at least.

Translation note: Akane uses "boku" as her first person pronoun, which marks her as either a tomboy or someone who grew up around a lot of boys, since it's usually used by boys and young men. No wonder she gets along so well with Homura.

6/5: Sports festival, take 1


Goon: Today's the sports festival!
Goon: So, what event should I join?

For this year, I chose the strategy game, so I could lean on Jun. What a great guy.


I... may have leaned on him a bit too hard.

RELOAD COUNT: 1, 2

6/5: Sports festival, take 3


Perfect. Takumi died in battle, and our all-star Kendo bro Jun is right in the frame when the enemy base goes down. Was that worth two reloads? To me, it was.

6/6: Date at the park with Akane


Goon: (Did I get here at the wrong time?)
Akane: Sorry, did I make you wait?
Goon: No, I just got here.
Akane: Oh, good. But sorry I'm late, I was pretty slow getting out the door.
Goon: It's fine, it's fine. Let's get going.
Akane: So, where should we hit today?
Goon: Want to take a walk down the avenue?
Goon: It should be pretty nice.
Akane: I was thinking that myself. Let's go!


Akane: No matter how many times I walk down this avenue, the scenery always relaxes me.
Option 1: Yeah, it feels like an oasis in the middle of the city.
Option 2: Yeah, the view really takes your cares away.
Option 3: Really? I think it's pretty dreary, myself.

The Tokimemo Special: two answers that are good, and one answer that is obviously awful.


Goon: Yeah, the view really takes your cares away.
Akane: That's exactly it.
Akane: I'm busy all the time, so places with a relaxing atmosphere like this are really precious to me.
Goon: (Looks like I made a great impression!)


Akane: Thanks a lot for today!
Akane: Invite me out again, I'll make time somehow.
Akane: Alright, I gotta go. Bye-bye!

6/10: Meet Kaedeko

Kaedeko has an alternate meeting if you have enough Guts and aren't already a member of the baseball team.

Goon: Alright, time to head home.
(WHUMP)


Goon: Whoa! Ow ow ow ow...
Kaedeko: I, I'm so sorry!
Goon: I'm sorry too. Are you okay?
Kaedeko: Y, yes. I'm good.
Kaedeko: Oh no, you have a nasty lump forming.
Goon: Owwww, yeah, I think you're right.
Kaedeko: We need to apply cold to it!
Kaedeko: I'll go wet my handkerchief for you.
Goon: No, don't worry about it. It doesn't hurt so much.
Goon: It'll be fine if we leave it alone.


Kaedeko: Are, are you sure?
Kaedeko: Still, I'm really sorry.
Goon: I told you, don't worry about it.
Goon: Say, weren't you hurrying somewhere?
Kaedeko: Oh! Oh no! I'm late!
Goon: I'm fine, but you should probably go wherever you were heading.
Kaedeko: I, I'm sorry! You'll have to excuse me.


Goon: (That girl was pretty cute.)
Goon: (Oh crap, I forgot to ask her name!)


Goon: Augh!
Goon: Wh, what is it?
Kaedeko: Umm, could you tell me your name?
Goon: It's Fudou.
Kaedeko: My name is Sakura Kaedeko.
Kaedeko: And, um...
Goon: Hmm? What?
Kaedeko: Do you like baseball?
Goon: Baseball? No, not really.
Goon: Well, not right now, at least.
Kaedeko: I see.
Kaedeko: That's all I wanted to ask. Bye!
Goon: ("Do you like baseball", she says?)
Goon: (Sakura Kaedeko - is she the manager of the baseball club?)

6/13: Get shot down again


Goon: Want to go to karaoke with me on 6/27?
Akane: I can't, I have work that day.
Goon: (Dammit.)

RELOAD COUNT: 3, 4

After two tries, I gave up and went on with the game.

6/20: Kendo exhibition match


Goon: Alright, let's do this.
Goon: Oh, hey Jun.
Jun: I came to cheer you on. Kick some ass!
Goon: Yeah, I'm ready!

Hibikino high school vs. Tofu high school
Begin!

You'll see this kind of thing a few more times over Tokimemo 2 - for baseball games, Goon will have 3 or 4 at-bats. For track, he'll run heats. I actually don't know how volleyball works but I'm sure it involves spiking. Goon's record is based on not just stats, but a hidden stat that tracks how much experience Goon has with that particular activity - he can be the fastest man alive but won't be very good at kendo unless he trains, after all.

Goon: I won, somehow!


Goon: Hey, Jun. I won!
Jun: Not bad at all, man. I was right to come and watch today.
Goon: (I did it!)

Wait. Wait, Jun can smile? I didn't know his face was capable of doing that.

6/25: Hikari's birthday.


For safety purposes, I gave her the average gift, sneakers. Not that this will affect anything - by year 3 she'll still be in love with Goon.

6/27: Get Kaedeko's profile


Kaedeko is not particularly good at anything. But she's cute, so she gets away with it.


Sakura Kaedeko
Born November 14th
Scorpio | Blood type O
Height: 154cm
Club: Baseball
MEMO: Manages our baseball team.
I hear she's pretty klutzy.

Kaedeko's another of those characters who appreciates a guy with Guts. This gives me an idea! Jun failed with Kotoko last time because she likes cultured, intelligent folks. Jun is conservative and traditional, but he's also an athlete at heart. So Kaedeko (looks and guts) or Homura (exercise and general knowledge) would give him a better shot at success than the perpetually unimpressed Kotoko.

What do you guys think? Should we:

A: Hook Jun up with Kaedeko.
B: Hook him up with Homura instead, she could use the muscle.
C: Let the dice fall where they may, Jun's on his own (AKA Kotoko again)

The Bro-poll will close on Tuesday. Next post will be Sunday - sorry this one was late, Friday night was crazy. I'll tell the story on my stream, if you remind me.