Who 2 Trust

After accidentally taking way too long of a break from the game, I finally played through Day 3! After Day 2's fake-out ending, it turns out everyone's fine...for now. Neku and Shiki quickly put the whole "attempted murder" incident behind them and team up again. This is the point when it starts to become really clear Shiki is something of a pushover.

Of course, as we will find out later, Shiki is constantly putting on a cheerful front to cover up her "real" self, and her horrible self-esteem. In the previous two days, despite Neku acting incredibly rude, constantly, she never gets mad, and, in fact, goes out of her way to be nice to him. But her willingness to overlook Neku attacking her really emphasizes how far she's willing to go to get along with people. Or, possibly, she's just that apathetic about whether she lives or dies. Either way, while she's by no means a quiet or shy character, when it comes down to it, she seriously struggles to put herself first.

This isn't just a character flaw, though: some of this struggle is also due to her compassion! Though her lack of care for herself may play into it, Shiki does genuinely seem to be a very caring person. She shows concern for Neku, and always wants to help anyone who seems to be in need. Case in point, at the beginning of this day, she almost immediately gets sidetracked trying to help 777. As Neku puts it, she's a sap.

All of this makes her an excellent foil to Neku, as well as an excellent Week 1 partner (I think if Neku had to team up with Beat or Joshua at this point it would very quickly devolve into a fistfight)! Where Shiki is selfless (quite literally, due to her entry fee, heh) to a fault, Neku is totally self-centered. Shiki desperately wants to be liked by others, while Neku has already given up on that and adopted the "I don't care about anyone" approach. In the end, they're both just self-conscious teenagers, though. I think their conflicting personalities actually help balance each other out, and Day 3 is where this starts to become clear. Fittingly so, since this is the point in the story that introduces the Fusion Pin.

Anyway, this chapter is also when the game finally lets you access some stores! Time to buy threads, and, more importantly, FOOD. Purchasing clothing is less important right now, since Neku's Bravery stat is still so low he can barely wear anything. Such is the life of a self-conscious teenager, I guess. I stocked up on some Tonkotsu Ramen from Ramen Don (+6 BRV per bowl!) so I can start remedying Neku's fashion...but since I'd already fed him some burgers left over from my last playthrough, I had to wait another real-life day for him to be hungry again. It's kind of weird that food in this game depends on real time. I guess it's for the sake of balance, to prevent people (like me lol) from farming stat increases via overeating. Sad, but I'll get him to eat all that ramen eventually...even though he doesn't seem to like it much. He at least tolerates it better than Shiki, whose response to being fed it is "Eugh!". Who the hell hates ramen that much?

Checking out the clothing stores, I grabbed some threads from Lapin Angelique (gothic lolita-ish), Mus Rattus (cheap jeans), and Dragon Couture (pricey). The last one seems to have a lot of Joshua-specific items and abilities, so I guess he has a preference for imported designer clothes. Of course.

After blowing all Neku's money on clothes he's not confident enough to wear, it was time to get back to REAL gaming. By this, of course, I mean sharing memes with NPCs. You only need the "fuse" meme to complete this chapter, but you can also pick up ones for "ramen" and "cough drops" to unlock some bonus stuff.

This day ends with Neku finally agreeing to team up with Beat and Rhyme. That's some real growth, even if he had to stand there brooding about it for way too long. Yay!