Sensible, Senseless
Since Joshua is off on his Tin Pin vacation, it's time to finally team up with Beat! Booyaka!
Beat immediately endeared himself to me by being stupid. After a week of Joshua's secrets, it's refreshing to have a partner who just says exactly what he's thinking. Also, the dialogue in this game continues to be top notch.
Learning Beat's combat was not as hard as I thought it would be, either. Though definitely not as easy as Joshua's. It's actually kind of impressive how TWEWY manages to have Joshua be just OP enough to underscore the fact that, narratively, he is the most OP guy in Shibuya, while also not being so OP that it completely trivializes combat. It definitely makes fights easier, but by this point I've boosted Neku's stats so much that most regular enemies are nothing to me, even without Joshua's aerial combos and ease of gaining fusion stars. I might've actually made the game too easy for myself now. Oops?
Today's Secret Report:
I've begun patrolling Shibuya in pursuit of the Conductor's strategy. While in Ugadawa, I spotted Minamimoto's Taboo Noise refinery sigil.
Several types of these sigils exist in various categories which We of the Higher Plane have classified. Not all of them, however, will work in the UG - its vibe frequency is simply too low for them to translate properly.
The sigil Minamimoto drew was one of the undecodable types. Was that a mistake on the Fallen Angel's part? Or was it a transcription error by Minamimoto?
Either way, with that design, he stands little chance of reviving himself.
However, Minamimoto is driven, and his Imagination strong. Perhaps strong enough to make a Taboo sigil work, even in the Underground... If so, the specific result would be impossible to predict.
Anything that might interfere with the Composer and Conductor's wager is to be avoided at any cost. I will personally neutralize Minamimoto's sigil.
Angels may not interfere in the Reapers' Game, but this contest will decide Shibuya's future. The Higher Plane cannot idly stand by.
Meanwhile, the Conductor has dealt a preemptive blow: the starting Player count in this final Game is one.
I cannot be certain whether the Conductor knows that Neku Sakuraba is the proxy, but this severe restriction to the number of entrants ensures Player erasure. In this flagrant abuse of his privilege, he has eliminated the threat of the proxy.
With the Composer in a parallel world, the proxy's position is perilous. Still, as Producer, I am bound by the rules. I can offer him no help...
All I can do is guide him to the Shibuya River.
Call it luck or fate, even by himself the proxy has managed to form a pact. He's partnered to Beat, now a Reaper, who is himself fixated on reaching the river. As such, guiding the proxy will require little work on my part.
Still, I haven't uncovered the Conductor's strategy for this final week. I can't afford to relax quite yet.