Part 84: Tokimemo 3, Chapter 13: Fission Mailed
Tokimeki Memorial 3, Chapter 13: Fission Mailed2/22: Hobby break
With nothing better to do on weekends - Goon has now dug up almost every possible item and there's no real need to learn any other hobbies - we took the liberty of spending about 2 months working on another portrait of Serika. This one works out a tiiiiny bit better.
That koala-haired statue appears to be worshipping it. That's... nice.
3/8-3/12: Finals
33rd: Fudou Gunzou
50th: Shiratori Masaki
87th: Makihara Yukiko
119th: Shinjo Serika(!!)
133rd: Oda Mari
136th: Tachibana Emi
somewhere really low: Yabe Takuo
3/14: White Day (kind of)
Goon: (Oh yeah, today's White Day, but since it's a Sunday I couldn't give anyone my gift.)
Goon: (I'll take care of it at school tomorrow. Who should I give my present to?)
Goon: Serika.
Goon: Alright, I'll give it to her tomorrow.
Valentine's Day? Yeah we can have each girl come over to your house on a Sunday. White Day? Nope, this game wants you to sit your ass at home and hand over a present the next day, because screw this game.
3/15: White Day (observed)
Lazy writing at work: 3/15 is when test scores are posted. So literally 3 seconds before this conversation happens, Goon talked to Serika about their test scores.
Goon: (There's Serika over there.)
Goon: Serika!
Serika: Hmm? What's up, is there something wrong?
Goon: Here, this is thanks for Valentine's Day.
Serika: Y, you didn't have to give me anything.
Serika: But... thanks a lot.
Goon: (Good, it looks like she really liked it.)
3/16: The Melancholy of Tachibana Emi
(sobbing sounds)
Emi: Why?
Emi: Oh...
Goon: Uh. Hey.
Smooth, Goon. Very smooth.
Emi: I'm afraid you saw me at a moment of weakness.
Goon: Wh, what's wrong? Practicing by yourself?
Emi: ...
Goon: Where are all the freshman girls? You've come back to the club, but they're not here.
Emi: I, I don't think they will come back.
Goon: What?!
Emi: May I ask you a question?
Goon: Uh, sure.
Emi: What is the point of everything I've done?
Goon: What do you mean?
Emi: I wanted to work hard for all of those girls' sakes.
Goon: Right.
Emi: I wanted to bring us all together, so all of the girls in the club would work as a team.
Emi: I believed that we would all help each other reach the national high school tournament.
Goon: Yeah.
Emi: But was that all just my imagination running ahead of me?
Emi: Was my injury really all it took for everyone to give up and leave?
Goon: That's--
Emi: I don't know if I have the will to keep practicing aikido anymore.
Goon: No way...
Emi: I, I'm sorry. Please forget I said anything.
Emi: I'm, I'm going to go wash up.
Goon: (The girls leaving the club is a lot for Emi-san to bear...)
Goon: (Is there anything I can do for her?)
Here you see a bit of a big reason people didn't like Tokimeki Memorial 3: nothing good ever seems to happen to its characters. It's as if the writers went "hey, people liked Kaori's story in Tokimemo 2, we should make everything like that!"
I mean, Emi's story involves falling down the stairs, dealing with a crippling sports injury, and then being abandoned by people she thought were her friends. You'll see
Spoiler tags cover a couple other character stories that do not appear in this LP, in case anyone ever wanted to discover for themselves how awfully this game treats its cast:
Rika wants to make robots so that she can make friends who will never die, because she's afraid of losing those close to her after the death of her beloved childhood dog.
Hotaru's boyfriend was killed in a car accident, which also hospitalized her for a long time and required multiple surgeries. So she's distant for pretty much the same reasons Rika is, but with less creepy stalking and robot-making.
Kazumi's story is that her father is hospitalized with some kind of chronic illness, and she has to work to cover the costs because her mom is just... not there, I guess. It's not really explained.
So 5 or 6 out of Tokimemo 3's 8 stories are "this horrific thing happened to me and damaged me" - which is a pretty huge tone shift from the whimsical tone of the previous games. Hell, it's a huge tone shift from the general silliness of the rest of this game, where you're expected to dig up tree stumps and buy codpieces from infomercials.
End rant.
3/20: Serika and the cherry blossoms
I've been skipping it, but Serika has been late for pretty much every date for the past year and a half. It's been the same dialogue for almost the entire time, so I've skipped it. Just remember that it happens. For Reasons.
Serika: The cherry blossoms are in bloom, right? Let's take a look.
Serika: I didn't think I'd be able to see the cherry blossoms here again...
Option 1: We can come back next year to see them, and every year after that.
Option 2: You should think about today's cherry blossoms, not next year's.
Option 3: What do you mean, you didn't think you'd be able to see them again?
Uh. That's weird.
Goon: We can come back next year to see them, and every year after that.
Serika: Haha, that's true. That's... true.
Goon: (Serika?)
3/21: Aikido exhibition
A close one this time - we probably can't afford to neglect aikido practice for a while.
So of course that's exactly what we're going to do. Spring break in year 3 has started, and that means that we can no longer meet any new girls. Time to make up for years of neglecting lit and science!
4/1: April Fool's, take 2
Goon: Today is April Fool's Day.
Goon: Hmm? Is that Shinjo-san over there?
Goon: Alright, I should try and pull a prank on her.
Goon: Call out to her.
Goon: Hey, Serika!
Serika: Hmm? What're you doing here?
Goon: (Alright, this year I'm gonna fool her for sure!)
Goon: Y, yeah, over on that corner, I just saw--
Serika: If you're talking about the ghost under the willow tree, she just told me she was moving.
Serika: Did you go say hi to her? It's only polite.
Goon: What? Uh...
Goon: Yeah.
Serika: Good. She was crying, you know.
Serika: She said she was really sad she wouldn't ever see you again.
Serika: It must be hard to be such a playboy.
Serika: You should at least write her a letter every once in a while.
Goon: ...Okay.
Serika: Alright, see you later.
Goon: ...
Goon: (What the hell was I trying to do?)
4/2: Guidance counseling - AKA "Screw you, RNG"
Out of everything in this game, this part has been the most purely painful. There are up to three options to tell the teacher, and the classes are split so that people on the same path in life get in the same class. If we tell the teacher that we want to go to college, we're likely to be in Hotaru or Rika's class. If we tell the teacher that we want to go to work, we're more likely to end up in Chitose, Emi, or Kazumi's class.
What's that? You didn't see Serika, Yukiko, or Mari on that list? That's because the only thing you can do is pray - literally! If you pray for luck in love with a girl at hatsumoude, you are slightly more likely to be in her class.
This time took 2-2.5 hours. I didn't keep a reload log because I didn't feel like depressing myself, but I think it hit the 2-3 dozen mark for reloads.
4/7: Class assignments
Goon: (I'm in the same class as Serika.)
Goon: (I'm in the same class as Shiratori, too.)
Masaki: Hmph. It's you.
Masaki: I can't believe that you would be one of the classmates I would spend this year with.
Goon: What's your problem?
Masaki: Hmph. Don't be so hasty.
(Received information about what the girls think about Goon)
Goon: Th, thanks.
Masaki: Hmph. I am such a nice guy.
Masaki: Well, since we are stuck here together, let's both make sure we don't do anything we regret.
Masaki: Hahaha... farewell.
Goon: (He's as big-headed as ever.)
Goon: We're in the same class again, Serika.
Serika: Yeah. Haha, another year together.
Serika: I'm pretty happy about that.
Goon: Let's have fun.
4/8: Immediate results
Serika: Hey, this is kinda out of nowhere, but are you free this Sunday?
Serika: How do you feel about bowling?
Serika: It's pretty fun to get out there and be active.
Goon: Yeah, sounds good.
Serika is one of the two best bowlers in this game. The other, as far as I can tell, is Emi.
I also find it funny that this game's definition of being active is bowling.
Meanwhile, this is probably the best character animation in the entire game.
4/8: Bomb warning. Of course.
I can't even get mad anymore.
4/11: Bowling with Serika
Goon: This is the first time we've been here, isn't it?
Serika: Yeah. I've never been to a place like this before.
The mini-game for bowling is, as you might expect, pretty obnoxious. First, Goon moves back and forth until you hit Circle, which will determine his starting position.
Next, he'll start wildly spinning to determine the angle of the approach - this is the annoying part because it wobbles back and forth so quickly. It's pretty hard to get a reasonable angle.
Then, you determine the power of the throw, which uses good ol' golf swing mechanics, while using the D-pad to put some spin on the ball.
Blessedly, the game only makes you bowl 5 frames, and starts you with a slight lead in frame 6.
Serika is left-handed, and she picks up splits like no one's business.
This is pretty much the happiest we've ever seen her.
Serika: Did you see that? That was easy!
Serika: Hehe, just kidding.
Goon: (Looks like I made a great impression!)
Oh. Hey look, Serika actually likes winning. Who knew?
4/17: Movies with Yukiko
The movie this time is Love-Love Shimensoka, AKA "Surrounded by lovey-dovey enemies" - I can't find a specific movie that this is parodying, but it's a pretty standard romantic comedy setup, so I don't know if there's any one movie that inspired this one.
Goon: (Love-Love Shimensoka is a slapstick romantic comedy about the chaos that ensues when 4 sisters fall in love with the same flirty guy.)
Goon: (What an awful guy, trying to hit on 4 sisters at once. Anyone who does that kind of thing deserves what he gets.)
Yukiko: Hehe, that was fun. I really like rom-coms.
Option 1: Watching that movie really showed me how scary girls are.
Option 2: Speaking as a guy, I'd kick that guy's ass too for what he pulled!
Option 3: I don't really like rom-coms.
Gee, I wonder which of these replies does not directly insult the other half of this conversation?
Goon: Speaking as a guy, I'd kick that guy's ass too for what he pulled!
Yukiko: Hehehe, I know you would be on our side!
Goon: (Looks like I made a great impression!)
Damn you, bomb-clearing dates.
4/18: Serika's birthday
What's the best thing to give Serika on her birthday?
A bouquet of roses? Nope, she wouldn't like it too much.
One of these portraits we drew of her? They're kinda creepy-looking, to be honest.
This needlessly enormous, rusty bell that we dug up? Hell no, that's Goon's and he's keeping it!
The best option is the same as last year - some home-grown/roasted/brewed coffee. Only the best for our girl. I think.
Serika: Hello, this is Shinjo.
Goon: Serika? This is Fudou.
Goon: (Act calm, Goon, act calm. Try not to stare at the creepy shrine to this girl you have inadvertently made in the corner of your room.)
Serika: Oh! Uhhh, what's up? Do you need something?
Goon: There's something I want to give you, can you come meet me somewhere?
Serika: Of, of course I can! We should meet up, hmm, how does that empty lot near the school sound?
Goon: Got it, I'll meet you at the empty lot. I'll be there soon!
It is not normal to choose an empty lot as your meeting place, Serika. Unless you are planning a gang fight or something...
Goon: Serika!
Serika: Y, yo. Wh, what did you want to give me?
Goon: Happy birthday. Here, I got you a present.
Serika: Wow, thank you. I'm speechless.
Serika: Oh, I know. Want to head to my place?
Goon: What? Your place? Are you sure?
Serika: Of course I am.
Serika: You came all this way to hand me a present, it'd be rude just to send you home.
Serika: It's not much of a place, but I can at least offer you some tea.
Goon: It'd be rude of me to refuse.
Serika: Awesome. It's over this way, follow me.
Goon: (This is Serika's place? It's so organized, it doesn't feel like anyone actually lives here.)
Serika: So, is it okay if I open it now?
Goon: It sure is. Go for it.
Serika: W, wow. Are you sure?
Serika: Thanks, this is... this is the best present ever.
Goon: (It looks like she really likes it.)
4/25: Bomb-clearing with Emi - water park edition
Emi: Sorry to keep you waiting.
Is... is she quite literally wearing underwear as a swimsuit?
Option 1: That swimsuit doesn't look good at all.
Option 2: That swimsuit looks good on you.
Option 3: That swimsuit is really sexy.
Goon: That swimsuit looks good on you.
Emi: Y, you think so? I thought it looked a bit too mature.
Emi: But I am grateful for the compliment. Thank you.
Goon: (Looks like I made a great impression!)
EVEN THE SEAMS MAKE IT LOOK LIKE UNDERWEAR! DOESN'T ANYONE NOTICE THIS? I FEEL LIKE I'M TAKING CRAZY PILLS!
Emi: Um... Just a moment ago, a man started talking to me over there.
Option 1: Are you okay?
Option 2: D, doesn't that mean he was trying to pick you up?
Option 3: Hmm. Yeah?
Goon: D, doesn't that mean he was trying to pick you up?
Emi: What? Is that what people call "picking up girls"?
Emi: This is the first time anyone has ever tried to pick me up.
Emi: What should we do?
Goon: (As if I know what to do...)
I'm... I'm so tired right now. I want to tick up the YKWSTG count but I just can't muster up the energy. See you next time...
Next time: Year 3 starts in earnest! And is that a f***ing dinosaur skull? You bet your ass that's a f***ing dinosaur skull!
