Vanishing Point (and Stride)

Now that there's taboo noise and possessed reapers everywhere, it's time to return to the grind. Not that the grind ever really stopped, but now I can finally get more Shadow Matter! Which I can use to get more Dark Matter! Which I can use to get more Scarletite! ...This takes a really long time. Not to mention the time it took to defeat today's optional Boss Noise, which is incredibly tough on Ultimate difficulty. At least in the process I made so much money I was able to max out my friendship with the remaining shopkeepers.

That aside, Beat opens up about his past a little more today. Man...underneath his cartoonish stupidity is a surprisingly realistic character? Unable to meet his parent's expectations, he gave up on trying at basically everything, and pushed everyone away (even Rhyme). Nooo! If you give up on yourself, you give up on the world, Beat! Or however it goes. In some ways, he's super similar to early-game Neku. Maybe that's why Neku is so good at cheering him up here. He's so sweet. I mean, yes, he does call Beat an idiot, but it's exactly what Beat needs to hear at that moment, and it makes him laugh! Neku has come such a long way in learning to connect with others ;-;

As this chapter progresses, Beat (and, reluctantly, Neku) become increasingly suspicious that Mr. H/CAT is actually the Composer. Honestly, it's a bit deserved. Despite his noninterference policy, Hanekoma could definitely be putting more effort into NOT appearing extremely shady. Oh, well. Neku maintains that it must all be a misunderstanding...and also that he trusts Joshua's judgement.

After fighting beserk Uzuki and Kariya, Beat convinces Neku to spare them. It's kind of cute how quickly he turned around his opinion on them. When they first show up, before realizing they're possessed, he seems genuinely excited to see them. What a crazy friendship that could have been. Alas, all that can be done for them now is to beat them unconscious and run away. Even though Neku and Beat DO notice they're both wearing the suspicious red skull pins. I swear I usually try to avoid nitpicking character decisions like this-- sometimes the plot simply has to be moved along-- but HOW did it not occur to Neku to try taking the pins off of them?!?

Day 5 Secret Report:

Moving on, Day 6 (Stride) ended up being pretty short, so I'm including it in this update as well! First, to get the optional stuff out of the way: Makoto finally reopens Shadow Ramen on this day (assuming you made the right choice while influencing his conversation with his old boss), finally allowing you to shop there! Unfortunately, picking up all his items requires a significant amount of Dark Matter. At this point I had to accept that it was probably time to stop grinding. I've made impressive progress, but most of my missing Noise, pins, and items are much harder (or impossible) to acquire without completing the postgame chapter, or replaying earlier chapters again. Perhaps that's a challenge best left for a future third playthrough...?

Regardless, I still bought enough ramen from Makoto to max out his FSG. Like a few other shopkeepers in the game, hitting 100% causes him to think Neku might have a crush on him (thus causing him to be such a frequent customer). Unlike all the other shopkeepers, he begins freaking out over not knowing how to deal with this, to the point that his 100% FSG sprite looks significantly more anxious than his regular one. Makoto. Mr. Miki. Mick. I can assure you Neku does not want you that way. He literally does not even like the ramen.

Okay, now on to the main plot events. These being Neku and Beat heading to WildKat and finding it totally ransacked (because Minamimoto immediately tried to take out Mr. H upon being revived), turning around and heading back, and soon stumbling onto another giant trash heap sculpture (because after failing to kill Hanekoma, Minamimoto treated himself to some arts and crafts time to, like, calm down, or something). And then they fight. I've raised my stats so much by now that this fight is no longer horribly difficult, but you can never truly forget the sound of "SOH CAH TOA" playing as you die repeatedly. Fuck Minamimoto, for real. Even though he is also super cool. And his boss battle song slaps. Whatever.

And with that, there's only one day left?! I'm finally almost done with this months-long playthrough?! That's insane. Who even am I without TWEWY anymore. I guess you can look forward to my final update, coming soon. Although maybe not too soon, since I also want to write up a conclusion post about both the game, and also the experience of writing this stupidly long "journal" about it. ...Also, I don't want the game to end.

Day 6 Secret Report: