Community Visual Novel Book Club - 428: Shibuya Scramble

[Exzyleph]

Overall, this was a very interesting block. Lots of answers were given but many new questions were raised on top and I have yet to put most things together.

Chapter 4 -- 13:00

MINORIKAWA continues to be an odd sort of glue between the routes; there is not much interesting going on with him, in my opinion, but his actions are important for other routes. However, this route does see him introduced to the fact that something is going down, when Taisei Yasuda (the knick-knack shop owner) tells him about Tateno letting Tariq al-Karawn go. Perhaps the next chapter will see him clue in on the kidnapping case?



OSAWA's is forced to refuse the offer in America, and then has a scare due to the bug-tracker that Kajiwara gave him, a bug-tracker that supposedly broke because he dropped it. My initial thought was that OSAWA himself could have been bugged, but both the bad end and the route ending refutes that. Alternatively, Kajiwara may have given OSAWA a broken bug-tracker to throw him off balance, which he seems to be doing all the time. The fact that OSAWA is not allowed to go to America, once he knew of the human trials, is evidence that America is not the country that weaponized Ua and wants to buy the anti-viral agent. Kajiwara continues to play half clown/half detective, with no further insight into his behavior.

We do learn that not just Ai but also Tanaka is carrying a bug, suggesting that both have been snitching on OSAWA. Who are they working for? My initial hypothesis is the Okoshi Pharma, as Tanaka at least does not appear to be feeding in formation to the kidnappers. Or perhaps he does? The fact that he asked OASAWA about HITOMI's whereabouts could suggest that he is trying to rat her out.

We also learn that the average development time for drugs is 15 years, which corresponds how long ago OSAWA's wife died (15 years ago), perhaps suggesting a connection between her death and the start of the development of the Ua anti-viral agent.

There is also a hint that Takana knows who "A" is.

Wild ass guess: A possible motive for Ai/Takana to be bugged could be to orchestra OSAWA's downfall, so that Ai has an excuse to divorce him and marry Takana instead. Takana helping might give him credibility in the eyes of Ai's father, Makino.



KANO's route reveals that Jack Stanley is most likely CIA (based on the gun he carries), and we also learn that he is most likely here because of counter-terrorism (something the CIA is mentioned as focusing on). Strangely enough, the suit-case is more important to Jack than the sisters, which makes no sense if the concern is people getting access to OSAWA's anti-viral agent. Is he too mistakenly thinking that the kidnappers actually wanted money? He also seems to be aware that MARIA escaped, since he doesn't even mention her as being a concern.

Sasayama talks about wanting to get back home to celebrate with his wife, which sounds like an obvious death-flag to me. Hopefully our favorite cosplayer makes it through to the end.

Tateno, on the other hand, is further confirmed to be the man with the cane and to have turned traitor. Jack calls him a "spy". Interesting, he first fights with Tariq (knocking him out cold) and then sets him free when given the opportunity. Was ACHI right when he speculated that this was a case of mistaken identity when they fought? The fact that he is trying to kill HITOMI, however, suggests that he has a different agenda than whoever Tariq is working for. Tateno did let some hints slip to KANO early in the investigation, but was seemingly only "activated" to kill HITOMI after that.

We also learn from Tariq (in his bad end) that something is going down or ending at 14:20, which is in the next time-block. What is that? And who is the "international criminal mastermind" behind it all? Jack is vague, but considering the scope it sounds like a country more than a mere organization. Tariq also has a tattoo with the text "SKULL" and a two-headed scorpion (with ten legs?), apparently confirming that he is the leader of that syndicate.



TAMA or rather MARIA has another great route. Even before the final reveal, we are given more evidence that she is MARIA, namely that she woke up in a store house that morning and somehow escaped. We also learn that she seemingly knows Aiki-jujutsu, as called out by Taisei Yasuda (see also her throwing Yanagishita). I suspect that this will play a bigger role in helping her foil the plot, going forward.

We learn (or at least, I learn) that HITOMI and MARIA are identical twins, and the possibility that the kidnappers wanted HITOMI instead of MARIA is raised. This is corroborated by the fact that MARIA escaped after the ransom demand was made, meaning that the kidnappers would know that they had the wrong sister at that point. That would also explain why nobody appears to be searching for MARIA.

Upon seeing another close-up of the necklace that MARIA was wishing for, I noticed that it had a leather strap, unlike the necklace in the human experimentation flashback. Is it a different necklace or the same necklace with a different chain? Or perhaps that woman in the flashback was HITOMI, and not their mother? That might explain why the kidnappers want her, if she was involved in developing the anti-viral agent.

And where did that "Meow" come from when the suit-rental guy helped her? That is never answered.



ACHI and HITOMI reveal a lot of interesting information, some covered above. We see evidence that Tateno is using HITOMI's phone to track her, as he seemingly only finds them after they turn their phones back on to contact Takana.

ACHI tells HITOMI about his sister's condition, and the extensive details leads to me conclude that somebody in the cast is going to be (A) identified as having 'Bombay' blood-type and (B) end up brain-dead, so that the little sister can get a heart-transplant. HITOMI gives the vibe of wanting to help, suggesting that she may end up being the donor before all this is over.

Wild ass guesses: The 'Bombay' blood type may be relevant to the Ua anti-viral trials, and could suggest that we saw HITOMI in the human experimentation flashback. Alternatively, Susumu may end up being the donor, upon learning that it was the reason why ACHI broke up with the SOS.

Something has happened to ACHI's little sister, seeing as the hospital tried to reach out to "Mr. ACHI"; most likely we will learn that her condition is deteriorating, putting pressure on ACHI to find a donor.



The assassin "Canaan" is very interesting. She is identified at the Black Lounge Bar, by a dying man, and apparently she is known to HITOMI and possibly other members of the OSAWA family? The fact that she is described as middle-eastern creates a connection between her and the first instance where weaponized Ua Virus was used, also in the middle east, suggesting that she may be working for whoever used the Ua Virus or whoever was hit by the Ua virus. Alternatively, considering that she is known to HITOMI and saved her from one of the kidnappers, she may be in the employ of Okoshi Pharma, and acting to recover HITOMI and MARIA. She seems invested in keeping up some sort of friendly facade, as she did not outright kill the kidnapper in front of HITOMI and ACHI, but instead knocked him out. I take the fact that she was willing to kill both Jack and KANO as evidence that she is (another) foreign agent, as it seems unlikely that Okoshi Pharma would risk bringing down the CIA and Japanese police on their heads. A shot shows that she has a eye-lash(?) tattoo'd on her hand/forearm, suggesting that she could be with another syndicate, like Tariq al-Karawan's group.


The number of groups involved appears to be growing: Tariq's group is trying to kidnap HITOMI/MARIA; Canaan's group(?) appear to be protecting them; the CIA is aware of OSAWA's anti-viral agent, and seemingly want to stop somebody from getting their hand on it; Tateno is a big question-mark either working with or against the kidnappers. And Okoshi Pharma has a vested interest in keeping OSAWA on a tight leash, though they deny being involved (could it be the rival group?).


Still no mention of the hostage situation from the intro, making me believe that it was a red herring.

 

[Exzyleph]

Whoops, I completely forgot to check up on what the you all had written:

The shameless advertising in this game is kind of endearing

And that's chapter 4 wrapped up. This was the first one where I got all the bad ends on my own. What I did differently this time was instead of playing one character until I got a Keep Out or To be continued adn then switching to the next, I was kinda playing them in a parallel. That made figuring out which decisions affect what easier. I think I'll keep doing that going forward.

Chapter 4 / 13:00 - 14:00

So the cat's out of the bag. Turns out Tama is Maria. Funny thing is, I had this idea back in chapter 2 but I didn't write about it, because I thought it was a bit too farfetched. Alas. Lol.
And her amnesia and occasional headaches don't seem to have anything to do with the virus, but rather were caused by a good old hit to the head. Now, were the kidnappers responsible for that? But then why did they let her go? Did someone rescue her and things went a bit awry, causing the memory loss? Hard to say yet.

On Achi's side, it turns out Mr. Cane-man is indeed detective Tateno! Who apparently has gone rogue. But according to Kano, he's an amazing guy, so is he playing some sort of long game here? Or was he, like Stanley said, actually playing the long-game by pretending to be a great guy? Which level of dimensional chess is he playing here?
And how does he always know where Hitomi and Achi are? Could it have something to do with the listening device Kajiwara noticed on Tanaka's body? Which then begs the question - is Tanaka in cahoots with Tateno, or is he being used?
This makes me think back to the listening device that is on Ai's body, the one that Minoru found in a bad end in the café. Is there a connection here?

Continuing on with Osawa's side, I find the continued Aya Kamiki shilling extremely amusing. Kajiwara's oddness also keeps creating amusing scenes.

Back to Achi and Hitomi though, who is the girl that saved them at the end?

The plot thickens even further as Kano and Stanley find the remains of a massacre in the hideout of the syndicate. Who killed them all?

Meanwhile Tama's scenes continue to be very amusing and Minoru continues to get material for his stories.

It also looks like the kidnappers are actually after Hitomi and only abducted Maria by mistake since they're twins. What makes her different? Does she have something to do with the virus or antiviral? (Perhaps she's the one in Osawa's flashback? But then, he really doesn't strike me as someone who would experiment on his daughters...)

Spoiler

Good job on the bad ends! I spent way too much time trying to get the bad end where you need to cook with Tanaka, and gave up and looked at the walkthrough again. And once again I missed a bad end caused by another bad end, namely the Minorikawa's bad end caused by Tama/Maria's Business Trip to South America bad end. Maria has some fantastic bad ends, and I'm really hoping that the humor is kept up now that we've (seemingly) said goodbye to both Mr. Yanagishita and the cat-suit.

I'm also sorta surprised that you didn't glom onto Tama being Maria, considering how much else you've caught on to, but as I'm sure you've noticed my reading process involves throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. Why they let her go is a good question. My initial thought was just to assume that she escaped on her own, but perhaps you are right and she had help; Canaan letting her out and then hiding in the hideout waiting for the kidnappers to return could explain why Canaan was there, killing all of them, when Kano shows up. Regarding the cause of her amnesia, the official character description (included the OP) describes her as having received a "bump on the noggin", which I also think helped clue me in on her being Maria.

The questions regarding Tateno are also good. Hitomi sort of blows off the connection between Achi and Tateno, but I am not inclined to disregard it so easily. The evidence from this chapter strongly suggests that he was tracking them using their phones, but I am still inclined to believe that the webcam network discussed in earlier chapters is the true method, as that would also explain how Tateno knows Achi. Of course, thinking a bit more about it, Hitomi could also be right: Tateno may know Achi due to him being the former leader of SOS, as it would make sense for a police-officer operating in Shibuya to be aware of its gangs and their leaders.

The fact that he is seemingly a sleeper agent caught me by surprised, and I am still left wondering if the fact that he is now limping (something that was seemingly not the case when Kano first me him) has anything to do with his motive for killing Hitomi.

Finished chapter 4, some thoughts

Spoiler

Hah, turns out my theory was right. Intrigued to know where she learned how to fight and what caused the amnesia.

Also the girl Canaan appearing, now I want to know if the anime I linked is actually worth it.

Got a question for veterans

Spoiler

Is detective Tateno the cane guy? Seems VERY likely but I didn't notice any explicit confirmation so far.

Spoiler

I had never even heard of the anime before you brought it up.

But because of that, I got the part where Hitomi calls out Canaan's name and went "Wait, like the anime!?"
Now I'm actually interested in watching that

 

[Ascheroth]

I finished the first extra scenario

Extra Scenario 1

Suzune

Oof, that was heavier than the entire main game combined. I cried. Off the top of my head I can only think of Fata Morgana and perhaps Rakuen that gave me similar gut-punches.

 

[Ascheroth]

And the second one

Extra Scenario 2

Canaan

Whoa, that felt like a different game entirely. Suddenly everything 2D and voice-acted. Probably because it was made by a different company entirely huh. I honestly wasn't expecting Type-Moon + Nasu in this VN.
Really interesting backstory for both Canaan and Alphard. Kinda makes me want to watch the anime, haha.

And there's even more? :O

 

[Exzyleph]

Chapter 5 is over, much like many of my conspiracy theories from previous chapters.
For once I managed to get all bad endings, more or less by reaching TO BE CONTINUED for every route and then checking the flow-chart after trying single other option.

Chapter 5 - 14:00

Starting with MARIA, we must sadly say goodbye to the cat suit. We do get an answer to where the "meow" came from, if we donate the costume to Taisei Yasuda, the knick-knack shopkeeper, and it was absolutely not what I expected! Given how much of a joke ending that was, I'm just going to assume that the original "meow" was just a setup for that joke as well. We do learn that the shopkeeper found the necklace by the side of the road, possibly discarded by the kidnappers during the kidnapping. From ACHI's route, we learn that MARIA met Canaan while traveling in the middle-east with her father (a trip that I had completely forgotten about), and from her flashback we learn that they met while a group of men tried to kidnap her. It is notable that Canaan seems to be wearing a necklace in the flashback, meaning that she could be the original owner of the necklace that MARIA lost(?) and then purchased at the knick-knack store.

Interestingly, Canaan had no problem killing in front of MARIA, while she seemed more reluctant to do so in front of HITOMI. From KANO's route it is confirmed that Canaan is a foreign agent like I speculated (a covert operative/assassin and cryptoanalyst, in fact), which means that her saving MARIA could have orchestrated from the start to put her in contact with MARIA. Otherwise, why would a professional killer who is skilled in keeping a low profile risk exposing herself to save a complete stranger? There is a possibility that what she too had been "kidnapped" like that (the scene honestly made me think of a sexual assault), making her feel sympathetic, but I do not believe that we have enough information to jump to such a conclusion.

We also learn that Canaan warned MARIA about Jack and even provided her with a photo. Given that he apparently cares little for their safety, that makes sense. The obvious question is when that happened; before or after the kidnapping? The open door that MARIA remembers in her flashback to the store-house fits with my previous speculation that Canaan let her out. Given that MARIA does not seem to have trouble remembering facts from after she woke up, that would suggest that Canaan gave MARIA the photo of Jack prior to the kidnapping. If so, why? Was Canaan and MARIA already aware of the plot at that point? The fact that Canaan blames herself for MARIA getting kidnapped (when talking to HITOMI) points in that direction.


The flashback that we see in ACHI's route could suggest that MARIA was trying to protect HITOMI (and it would fit with her personality), when MARIA seemingly tried to keep HITOMI away from the party where MARIA was kidnapped. There is an odd contradiction here, in that MARIA told HITOMI that the party started at 7, while previous testimony by MARIA suggested that they were meant to meet at 6, with MARIA being an hour late, and with the kidnapping taking place just around 7 when MARIA finally did show up. I am not sure what to make of that.

The whole mistaken-identity sequence was quite entertaining, and I was happy to see that both Chiri and Yanagishita manages to stay around, though the fact that both sisters ripped their clothes was a tad convenient. There is also the question as to how Yanagishita managed to retrieve his pants, but there is probably no major reason behind that.

There is additional infighting between the syndicate members and Tateno, with the knowledge we've received in this chapter giving a possible motivation for him killing HITOMI and claiming it is for ACHI's best: Preventing the anti-viral from falling into the hands of whoever is out for it. However, based on Jack's words, he appears to be an operative like Canaan, but one working for yet another government or group. If so, what government or group?



ACHI has a fun route, though it mainly serves for comedic purposes and to give us a bit of introduction to Canaan. We learn that MARIA told HITOMI about Canaan, but that she never met before. The Iron Stomach contest seems destined to be won by Chiri (the 10 million yen could perhaps save both Yanagishita and Toyama?), but I failed to note down the time when that would happen, so perhaps that was just a humorous aside in this route. ACHI is explicitly told that HITOMI and MARIA looks alike, but he never catches on for the duration of the time-block. Palmer is brought up again and I am sure that there is something suspicious about that guy! The romantic moment at the end, where we learn that both HITOMI and ACHI are recycling nuts, was quite charming.

A big point of this chapter was making clear that HITOMI and MARIA looks alike, something that was evident before (we saw a photo of MARIA as early as chapter 1), but which I never really caught on to. However, in a hint in MINORIKAWA route it is brought up that HITOMI and MARIA have different blood-types. That immediately made me think of the 'Bombay' blood type introduced earlier, and made me wonder if this as another hint that one of the sisters (HITOMI?) will end up donating her heart to ACHI's little sister.



In KANO's route we learn that the 14:20 timepoint that Tariq was concerned about in his interrogation scene was when the final hand-off was supposed to take place, though obviously his group has other motives than just handing off that money (at Ground Hill #405 Hirro 5-34, Shibuya). We learn that Jack not only has trust issues, but also that he had a brother that was similar to KANO. Is this some sort of foreshadowing that Jack will end up dying or at least risking his life to save KANO?

We also learn that Jack wasn't as on top of things as we might have thought: He expected the suitcase to contain the anti-viral agent, and was surprised to find that it only contained money. Him and KANO do catch on to the fact that HITOMI was meant to deliver the agent, and Jack correctly believes that the kidnapper was in contact with OSAWA about the anti-viral agent, but they never realize just how HITOMI was transporting it (for good reason).

We also learn that the police has face recognition software covering the city, perhaps explaining how Tateno could track Hitomi. However, given that the game has both brought the civil webcam network to our attention and hinted at their phones being the source of tracking, it would be a bit odd if that was how Tateno tracked them, and it would require somebody on the inside to assist him at all time.

This route ends on a cliffhanger; don't you die on us, you cos-playing fool!




In OSAWA's route we learn not only that Ai had bugged Takana, but OSAWA also finally catches on to the fact that the two of them may be having an affair. Previously I suspect that Ai and Takana were working together, but this chapter casts a lot of doubt on that. It seems that while Ai cares more about money than OSAWA's daughters, and while she may be having an affair, she is not involved in the kidnapping itself. But why would she suspect Takana of being involved and did she really bug him that day? The fact that MINORIKAWA's tracker reacted to her in Café Lautrec could be taken as confirmation of that part of her story, as implausible as I find somebody just going out shopping for a listening device like that.

We are also introduced to Pretty Honey, who is supposedly a 19 year old Aya Kamiki fan. The fact that she directs OSAWA to a fortune telling site that gives advice that sounds a tad too specific to be computer generated, makes me wonder who she really is. Note that OSAWA had to enter both birthday and gender to get his fortune told, meaning that somebody who knew OSAWA's details could have programmed the site to give that specific fortune to him.

We learn that HITOMI was somehow infected with the Ua virus six days before now, and that somebody with vast technological/financial resources called OSAWA to inform him of this fact. This ultimate resulted in him administering the anti-viral to HITOMI, wiping the virus from her body, and explains the flashbacks with a woman I initially guessed were HITOMI and MARIA's mother. My initial guess was that there would still be remnants of the virus in her body, but not only would that be pointless (she somebody already had access to the virus to infect her), it turned out to instead be remnants of the anti-viral agent. In addition, HITOMI seemingly knows that she was infected with this virus, but was told not to tell anyone else about it. The question is, of course, exactly how much she knows.

Who could have exposed HITOMI to the virus? An obvious candidate is Tanaka, as he talks about something getting out, which could be a virus carrying specimen, and because he obvious works with the virus. However, he also comments that he didn't expect OSAWA to do all this for his daughter, suggesting that it is at least not his idea to retrieve the anti-viral agent in this manner, assuming that he was even aware of that plot.

Tanaka is identified as being involved in the kidnapping, but MARIA's meeting up with Tanaka in one of the bad ends also gives us a major clue: Tanaka does not seem to care about the anti-viral that HITOMI is carrying, as he states that it doesn't matter which sister she is before hitting MARIA with a hammer. In other words, his motive seems to be money (per his own admission in OSAWA's route) and revenge, not the Ua virus. I'll comment more on Tanaka in OSAWA's route. He also seems to be keeping something locked up. What could that be? The fact that he states that "You need to consider the risk of it getting out!", suggests to me that we may be talking about a specimen of some sort, and the bad end for OSAWA where he envisions a pandemic makes me wonder if this is an animal carrying the Ua virus. That could also explain how HITOMI was exposed to the virus in the first place, something that would have to have happened every shortly before OSAWA received that phone call.

Kajiwara ahd a clown free chapter, leaving me wondering if he is a clown, a genius detective, or both.



MINORIKAWA keeps being an asshole, but this route finally sees him connect with somebody involved in the kidnapping case, when OSAWA asks him to look into the article about OSAWA and Ai.

 

[Knurek]

Read up to

Spoiler

Maria

reveal..
(Yes, I'm slow. RL stuff is keeping me busy lately).
Kind of wish the game had a better autoread option. The 2nd speed is a lot to slow, but the 3rd one is a tad too fast - wish there was a way to have fractional speeds there.
Also the page end markers which pause the thing are borked and are frequently not on an actual page end, which results in the game skipping last few words of a paragraph, switching to a new screen for a new one and then pausing, requiring you to disable the autoread, and then scroll up (because for some bloody stupid reason, you can't access backlog/time chart/menu with autoread enabled).
System-wise the game is a mess and two, luckily the story (so far, still wary after being bamboozled by Time Travelers) more than makes up for it.
Also, fellow Aya Kamiki fans, have you had enough of Aya Kamiki yet, or do we need to hear another soundbite of Aya Kamiki song or a character gushing about Aya Kamiki having changed their lives in an Aya Kamiki way?

 

[Exzyleph]

Read up to

Spoiler

Maria

reveal..
(Yes, I'm slow. RL stuff is keeping me busy lately).
Kind of wish the game had a better autoread option. The 2nd speed is a lot to slow, but the 3rd one is a tad too fast - wish there was a way to have fractional speeds there.
Also the page end markers which pause the thing are borked and are frequently not on an actual page end, which results in the game skipping last few words of a paragraph, switching to a new screen for a new one and then pausing, requiring you to disable the autoread, and then scroll up (because for some bloody stupid reason, you can't access backlog/time chart/menu with autoread enabled).
System-wise the game is a mess and two, luckily the story (so far, still wary after being bamboozled by Time Travelers) more than makes up for it.
Also, fellow Aya Kamiki fans, have you had enough of Aya Kamiki yet, or do we need to hear another soundbite of Aya Kamiki song or a character gushing about Aya Kamiki having changed their lives in an Aya Kamiki way?

The amount of overt product placement in this game is kinda nuts.
Cigarette brands, HiFi systems, big consumer brands (Sony) and friggin' malls, protein powders, clothing brands, pharmaceutical equipment, fast food restaurants, and of course Aya Kamiki.

There are also shout-outs to other video game developers, though much less overt.

 

[Ascheroth]

And now I'm done with the other stuff as well, 100% completion yay.

Spoiler

All those pop quiz side stories were fun. Lots of amusing and interesting insights into the side characters.
The Mean Clean scenario was the highlight of the remaining secret hidden scenarios. Was pretty amusing and tense.
The "Conspiracy" scenarios where uhhhh, a developer joke I guess? Not sure what to make of them.
But man those extras really are hidden in a way that requires a guide huh.

Overall this was a really fantastic game. The story and characters are great and invoke a variety of emotions and the pacing is ace. Due to its structure and mechanics there's always something interesting happening.

I fully agree though that the technical side leaves much to be desired, unfortunately. Probably the first VN I didn't play with Mouse+KBM because the controls just suck.

 

[Exzyleph]

Chapter 6 - 15:00

MARIA's route doesn't teach us much this time around, except for the fact that MARIA can apparently survive an explosion while standing a couple of meters away. We also see a flashback of her becoming friends with Canaan, and learn that Canaan is slightly younger than MARIA, probably making her around 18 years old at present, and meaning that she would be around 16 in the flashback (and already a skilled killer). The words Canaan spoke in the flashback, "ana ismi ...", seems merely to be Arabic for "my name is ...". Her reason for saving MARIA in the flashback is still unclear.

We do learn that MARIA was familiar with Canaan's work, likely from their time spent together in the middle-east, and that MARIA even tried to help Canaan with her work. It is also confirmed that the two of them knew about the kidnapping plot, and tried to prevent HITOMI from attending the party as I speculated based on HITOMI's flashback in the previous block. Because of this, MARIA was carrying a GPS device to help Canaan track the kidnappers, but that device was not turned on, which is a strange oversight. The device in question is probably the necklace that I still believe that MARIA originally got from Canaan, though the reason why the GPS was not turned on from the start is unclear to me.

We also learn that Canaan is seeking revenge for the death of a "friend" of hers. The most likely explanation is that said friend died when the Ua virus was used as a weapon in the middle-east, but it is also possible that said friend was killed by the mastermind ("Alphard") at some other point. At this time, the name Alphard is all we have to go by, but this obviously connects to both the author of the emails that OSAWA received, "A", and the "Alpha" that the person in the intro wrote about (see below). Canaan also appears to be operating based on limited information, since she too believes that MARIA is in the blue van.



ACHI makes the same connection that I have, namely that Tateno may be using security cameras to track them. On the other hand, we've also learned about the possibility of GPS devices, meaning that HITOMI's original clothes cloud have included a tracker. That might explain why Tateno has been having trouble tracking them. However, given ACHI's beliefs and the fact that Tateno knew of ACHI, I am inclined to believe that he has (wifi) access to the webcams; we learned that the communication was encrypted, but it is possible that he has the access to the decryption keys. That signal encryption was also the first time encryption was brought up, with the second time being Canaan (a cryptoanalyst), meaning that there may be some connection or role for Canaan with regards to the webcams.

At the scene of the explosion, HITOMI gets splattered with something that ACHI believes to the be blood of somebody else. However, considering how frequently a bio-terrorism attack is brought up, and considering that we are told that Ua spreads via blood, this seems like an obvious prelude to HITOMI and/or ACHI getting infected with the Ua virus (again). Could Tanaka have been infected as well?



KANO's route is very interesting; we see Jack telling Tariq something, something that visibly shakes the man. Most likely, Tariq was never aware of the bio-terrorism aspects of the kidnapping, and is terrified to learn of it. Alternatively, Jack could have been telling him about his men getting killed at the Black Lounge bar, but the former seems more likely to motivate Tariq to share information.

Jack's superior, Gordon, informs him about MARIA being infected; apparently the mastermind contacted them to let them know about this. What is the purpose of that? Supposedly, the mastermind has been involved in other terrorist attacks, but the motivation is unclear. Could it be to destroy the stock-pile of Ua anti-viral or simply to showcase what the virus is capable of?

One interesting detail is that the only anti-viral drug that is available is that in HITOMI's blood. But we also know the sisters have different blood-types (based on a hint in MINORIKAWA's route in the previous blood), so that prevents her from donating blood to MARIA even if we assume that the drug concentration was sufficient to cure her of the infection. The fact that HITOMI is found dead in one bad end could also suggest that you'd need a lot of blood to recover the anti-viral, which would also prevent her from donating blood to save MARIA.



Why did Tanaka show the emails from HITOMI to OSAWA? Was it to lure her out of her hiding as I speculated before? Kanjiwara keeps showing his (actual) depth of character and endless supply of bananas. At this point I'd be surprised if the banana doesn't end up foiling an attack or something similar.



Tateno is an increasingly enigmatic figure; from MARIA's route we learn that he is quite conflicted about hurting HITOMI, but that he is trying to prevent something from happening. Most likely, he believes that HITOMI is key to spreading the Ua virus, and is completely unaware of the fact that MARIA is infected with that virus. My current inclination is to believe that Alphard tipped him off somehow, but only gave him incomplete information; alternatively, he may be working for a group opposing Alphard who is similarly working from incomplete information. Regardless, while he seemingly believes himself to be doing good for the people of Shibuya (see his comments to ACHI), he is currently a major threat to the safety of Shibuya. Canaan does not believe him to be working with the syndicate, which could suggest him working for a third party, other than Alphard.

MARIA also recovers a notebook of his, which included a photo of three people, one of which is presumably Tateno himself. Who are the other man and the woman in that photo and how do they connect to this case? The included pen is also very nice, perhaps a gift from one of the people in the photo?



In the miscellaneous corner, I note that Chiri was indeed destined to win the Iron Stomach contest, as I predicted, but sadly that was limited to a bad end. I wonder if MARIA's high-level eating abilities will show up in the main story, or if that was just a throw-away joke. Most like it was just a joke, but you never know with this game.

As I read about that explosion from multiple angles, I realized that there was no way for ENDO to end up in that car and for him to know about "Alpha", at which point my thoughts fell on Tanaka, who was supposed to be working with the kidnappers. Looking back at the intro and comparing with other scenes, I found that the suit and phone in the intro sequence both matched those of Tanaka. Unfortunately the didn't allow me to feel smug for long, as it immediately went on to identify Tanaka as the victim. That's no fair! I wanted to feel smug for longer for making that connection! It does leave one question, however, which is who made that call that triggered the explosion, assuming that it was not merely coincidental, something I am loathe to believe.

We've now also gone from blatant product-placement to guest-appearances for Aya Minaki, and we learn that Pretty Honey was no other than Rumi's father, obliterating my conjecture that Pretty Honey was somehow connected with the kidnappers. But why is an old man pretending to be a 19yo old girl on a forum explicitly for people over 40yo?

The nature of whatever it was that Tanaka talked about escaping is also unclear; though it increasingly looks like it could have been MARIA, which would imply that he knew she was infected, and that doesn't make sense. My theory is still that there is some infected lab animal somewhere, that has gotten lose.

What did the SOS members obtain from ENDO Electronics? It sounds like they stole something from a store-house. Could it be that they were the ones who broke open a door and let out MARIA?

We also have a funny throw-back to chapter one, with MINORIKAWA and Yanagishita reprising the roles of KANO and a kidnapper, with MINORIKAWA's laptop playing the role of the ransom money.

Looking at Ascheroth's comments,

Spoiler

I didn't consider the possibility that the blood on HITOMI could have been from the kidnappers extracting the anti-viral agent; but if so, when did that happen? I don't recall HITOMI having been in the hands of the kidnappers long enough for them to carry out a medical procedure like that. I checked, and the location of the blood does not match the site at which she was injected in OSAWA's flashback, so I can at least reject the possibility that it was from that event, leaving either "random" blood-spatter, potentially with infected blood, and extraction as possibilities.

 

[Knurek]

Oh god, the

ending.

 

[Knurek]

Well, done with 15:00-16:00 block, that one was a hoot and a half.
Strongly contemplating staying up all night to wrap the game up... Well, strongly is too strong of a word. But I'm thinking about it.

 

[Exzyleph]

CHAPTER 7 - 16:00

MARIA finally gets her memories back, and it is confirmed that her necklace contained a GPS device, as I hypothesized, though she simply dropped it while I had guessed that the kidnappers threw it away. It still boggles my mind that the GPS was not turned on from the start, but I guess that there wouldn't be a plot of Canaan could easily have found Maria. At this point my hypothesis that it was Canaan that let Maria out of the warehouse is soundly refuted.

We learn that Canaan taught MARIA self-defense, perhaps the Aiki-jujutsu that she knows, or perhaps merely a prelude to her learning that in Japan. If it is indeed Aiki-jujutsu, then where did Canaan pick it up? We also learn that Canaan's parents died during "the war", perhaps the Golf War, if we assume that the game took place not long before its actual release date. We also learn that her friend was killed by Alphard, as predicted, though the timeline makes it seem unlikely that it was due to the use of the Ua virus as a weapon.

There is also some interesting symbolism here, perhaps hinting at MARIA and Canaan's meeting being destined to happen, or perhaps the "red string of fate" shaped into a Cats's Crade is an allusion to how the fate of every person in the story is intertwined. Canaan's claim that she only helped MARIA to avoid a scene (as if a handful of dead dudes wouldn't cause a scene), seems highly dubious, and I am still inclined to believe that somebody arranged for MARIA to meet Canaan.

But how can MARIA's story be at its end here? And what is it that she needs to "go back" (to the middle east?) to help Canaan with? Finding Alphard?


We finally get some insight into Tateno's motivation, learning that Daisuke Endo informed him that HITOMI would be a suitable donor for Suzune that very morning, after he had talked with KANO about the case, earlier that morning. His background story explains his "dead eyes", but the cane seems to have been a complete red herring, which is slightly disappointing. On the other hand, we do finally get a confirmation that he has been using the civilian surveillance cameras to track ACHI and HITOMI. Tateno's background also explains why he knew ACHI.


ACHI overhears, but does not understand it, when Canaan states that Alphard is connected with the CIA. That is quite a revelation, as Jack is also revealed to be a CIA agent (as I posited). That means that Jack, and I suppose his boss whose name escapes me, are the only CIA personnel in the story. Could this be the first hint that Jack is Alphard? It does not seem likely, as he was seemingly unaware of what the suit-case contained, despite that being something he could reasonably be aware of from official sources, but we'll see.

ACHI also learns that his father is helping the assassin, when it is confirmed that HITOMI has Bombay blood (as I predicted previously), something that Daisuke Endo knew about, somehow. But how? Who would have that information and would be able to share it with Daisuke Endo in the first place? They'd need to know both about Suzune and about HITOMI, which seems unlikely. One person that could know half of this set of information is Ai, who would plausibly be aware of HITOMI's blood type. By extension, that means that her father, Makino, could also be aware, and his apparent lack of care about the possibility of a pandemic makes me wonder if he is not already prepared for that. He did, after all, steal samples of anti-viral at a previous occasion, which means that he may have more stockpiled somewhere in the city. Could Makino be Alphard? We have seen no connection to the CIA, yet, but that applies to most of the cast. Makino may also have connections at the hospital thanks to his company, which would explain why he knew about Suzune.

Ai's role in all this is also quite interesting. We learn that she has a very traditional view of a woman's role, and more importantly that she appears to have been the one who sent the email from "A" (A = Ai?). While somebody using one of the house-hold computers remotely is possible, something like that has not been brought up before (I think), and so it seems the most likely that Ai is in fact behind those emails. Was she working together with Takana to undermine OSAWA or did she have an entirely different goal, perhaps working with Makino?

In OSAWA's route we also learn that a board member of Okoshi Pharma went missing in the US, pointing to meddling by Alphard, and preventing access to the lab containing the anti-viral drugs. The scene where Kajiwara and OSAWA finally sees eye to eye was quite heartwarming.


Tariq reveals to KANO that he was just a paid actor, which makes sense all things considered. Most likely he was paid both by Takana and Alphard, with Takana having clearly paid the lesser sum! Afterwards, Suze reveals that he has been kept out of the loop himself, which raises questions about the Japanese side of the investigation. Who is pulling the threads there? The CIA/America? And will Suze's hippie brother show up in a later chapter?

KANO's route ends at an obvious cliff-hanger, with the sound of a gun-shot, but I doubt that we'll come back to anyone being dead or dying. My feeling is that Tateno still has a role to play in the story and that he will be given a chance to redeem himself, somehow.


MINORIAKWA is showing a whole new side, after the supposed death of Toyama, and I think I like this MINORIAKWA better. There is, of course, the question as to why Hana believes her father to be dead, perhaps indicating that he came into contact with the syndicate shortly before the explosion. Or perhaps he intentionally mislead her? Whatever the case, there is something to unpack here.


At the end, I have a few addition thoughts: Why was Tanaka allowed to keep his cellphone after he was tied up and why was there a convenient hole in the bag placed over his head? That seems intentional, as if the kidnappers wanted him to contact somebody. Did he manage to send that SMS and if so, who received it. My current guess is Ai or whoever Tanaka was working with, who seemed know of Alphard.

Another weird thing, that I noticed, is that none of the bad ends mention or even imply a pandemic breaking out in Tokyo. Is this a red herring or is it perhaps a hint that there never was a chance of an epidemic happening? If the latter, then the shutdown of the entirety of Shibuya could be serving a different purpose. But if so, what? There is also the question as to what was taken from Daisuke Endo's warehouse, as mentioned by the SOS members. Perhaps it was they who broke in and unintentionally left out Maria, contrary to what Alphard claimed? Or perhaps he intended that break-in from the start?

 

[Exzyleph]

Another chapter done and the conclusion to the story looms ahead:

Chapter 8 - 17:00

ACHI confronts his father and we learn about how (and why) he worked with Tateno to bring down HITOMI, seemingly against the plans of Alphard, who would have had Daisuke turn over HITOMI to him, and it is confirmed that MARIA was kept in the Endo Electronics store house.

We also get a bit of information about Alphard, a "foreign organ trafficker", and we can at least reject the idea that he was Jack. We learn that he (so a man) was tall, had black hair, and spoke fluent Japanese despite being a foreigner, and seemingly is a hacker-man. One candidate would have been Leland Palmer, but despite my certainty that there was something fishy about him, he seems to have brown hair and speaks bad Japanese. Who else? Tariq can of course be excluded based on his poor Japanese (per the later interrogation bad end) and I am not sure who that leaves of named foreigners. Jack's boss is a possibility, of course, but that would seem strange after he was only just introduced.

In terms of tall characters, the one who stands out the most in my memory is Mr. Yanagishita, but that seems a bit unlikely, all things considered, as he does appear to be Japanese. On the other hand, he somehow managed to keep an eye on Maria for most of the day, after she escaped from the store-room, so perhaps there is reason to be suspicious? I'm assigning this a low probability.

Ultimately I circle back to Makino, though his graying hair and Japanese origin would seem to exclude him. There is probably somebody else that I am overlooking, but who?! Who else could reasonably know about HITOMIs blood type?


MINORIKAWA spends most of this time-block away from the kidnapping case, and seems destined to only play roles on the side-line. At this point I would have expected him to be more closely embroiled in the kidnapping case.

OSAWA sees him part with Kajiwara, which makes me wonder how he fits into the rest of the story and Ai turns out to be a rather tragic figure, who even felt obliged to turn against the man she loved when he acted against company interests. His story ends here, surprisingly.

Canaan breaking off the stand-off between KANO and Tateno was completely unexpected, but it makes sense considering that Canaan was also searching for MARIA, and that there is a good chance that she too was listening in on police radios (though that is not confirmed). We learn from her that Ua has been tested on the battle-field "several" times, and not just once as I had thought, though I am not sure that is of any significance.

The blood(?) spatter that hit HITOMI following the car bombing has not yet had any significance, and may just turn out to be a red herring. Perhaps that is where Tanaka injected HITOMI with the Ua virus, as Canaan claims he did?

I would have speculated that he hadn't seen the last of Tateno, but the trailer for the next block pretty much confirmed that, so ..

And why did MARIA only turn on the GPS when she was heading to Endo Electronics and how did she even know to go there? This honestly seems very odd. Did I overlook something here? We did not see Maria's perspective, and she seemingly ran off before Canaan could talk to her, so who told her to head there and who activated the GPS? I suspect that the answer to those questions ties in to the identity of Alphard, as it seems that he engineered that "chance" meeting, provided that I didn't just skip past a bit of text by accident.

And finally, the way they describe Alphard's planning also sounds like a convenient excuse for any plot-holes. Hopefully there won't be too many of those when everything wraps up.

 

[Exzyleph]

CHAPTER 9 - 18:00 + EPILOGUE

This was a great chapter (and epilogue). I quite enjoyed the sudden addition of new character routes.

We learn that Leland Palmer was Alphard, or rather, working for Alphard, validating my long running belief that the guy was shady: "Why does LeLand keep showing up around Shibuya Station? I find that suspicious, but currently there is nothing that directly connects him to the kidnapping case, other than the fact that he (supposedly) witnessed it.", "Palmer is brought up again and I am sure that there is something suspicious about that guy!", "One candidate would have been Leland Palmer, but despite my certainty that there was something fishy about him, he seems to have brown hair and speaks bad Japanese." I am somewhat annoyed at Daisuke describing his hair as black, while it appears to be brown to my eyes, and it is still unclear who he is and what he hoped to get out of dealing with Alphard, but it is clear that he was merely a disposable pawn. However, in that case it is unclear why he would have Tanaka's password to the laboratory; did Tanaka tell him or did Alphard tell him?


It is also confirmed that SOS let MARIA escape when they broke into Daisuke's warehouse, as I speculated earlier. The goods that they stole turned out to be much more benign than I expected, however, just electronics. It was probably also this event that Tanaka spoke about at the shopping mall, using "it" as an opaque reference to MARIA, but who he spoke to is unclear. It may have been Alphard or it may have been Daisuke, but I don't recall the latter having been in contact with Tanaka. It is still unclear to me how MARIA knew to get to the electronics store when the other were there, but perhaps she recalled that was where she had been kept and was looking to retrieve her possessions.


We learn that the "Canaan" we've been follow is in fact Alphard, in a twist that I certainly didn't see coming (unlike Leland's face-heel turn). In hindsight, I should have seen this coming, as Canaan's face (and hair!) was always obscured in the flashbacks that we saw. We also learn that the necklace is in fact a bomb, with a surprisingly large yield for a device that small, especially considering that it seemingly also contained a GSP device. While it was given to by Alphard, and hence could be from Canaan, it is unclear if it was the same necklace that we saw in the oldest Canaan flashback. The tattoo that we see on her hands was perhaps also a clue; I don't recall if we ever clearly saw the real Canaan's hands, which could have given it away as well, but at the very least we were told that such a tattoo signified a syndicate leader, in the context of Tariq, perhaps tipping us off that Alphard was also a leader of a criminal group. On the other hand, Canaan did self-identify as a terrorist to MARIA, so I am not sure I'd have reached the right conclusion had I made that connection.

Canaan is a bit of an oddity. She is supposedly younger than MARIA/HITOMI, which would make her about 18-19, but was already an internationally known terrorist two years prior to the current events, when Jack's brother Frank was killed by one of Alphard's bombs. Not only was Alphard known at the time, she had carried out enough attacks to have a known modus operandi. That simply does not seem reasonable, even within the fiction of the game. Is it perhaps a hint that Alphard is not one person, but rather the name for a group or series of persons working for the CIA (think 007).


The finale to the Wandering Angels story was also an amusing bit of plot contrivance, yet something that had deftly been woven into the overarching plot.


Kajiwara and Kuze both come through at the end, Kuze with his great acting and Kajiwara by murdering a bunch of cops .. wait, what? Even Ai turns good, though I gotta admit that I raised an eyebrow at the sappy hint. That did not feel like it justified her actions, it felt more like the writers were out of time or money. We also learn why Tateno never shot HITOMI, despite having a lot of opportunities to do so, nor why he let Tariq run free. Even if Tateno intended to shoot Tariq, it makes no sense to remove his cuffs first.


While I enjoyed MINORIKAWA's route, his route ultimate felt too disconnected from the other routes, except in the sense that his actions often served to bridge other routes. The labyrinth was just one big WTF and I have no idea why that was in the game. Not at all difficult to solve, but it took way too long to go through.


The epilogue was quite interesting and left me with some additional questions.

Did Alphard in fact get to Canaan or did she just fake her in the video? The nature of the video, grainy with poor audio, would seemingly allow for both a body-double and a Weekend's at Bernies situation, so I guess I'll have to wait for the additional ends to figure that out. I also noticed that Alphard seemingly met MARIA in the same spot that MARIA met Mr. Yanagishita, but that was probably just a coincidence. Who called Maria's phone near the end, when Jack was holding on to it? Could it have been the real Canaan trying to reach MARIA?

At this point OSAWA is dying (or dead) and HITOMI is still alive, so how is Suzune gonna make it out alive? My guess that Susumu might donate his heart seems to have been a complete miss, but the fact that HITOMI had Bombay blood might mean that the same is true for OSAWA? I don't know enough about transplantations to say if a young girl could receive the heart of an middle-aged man, but that is my current guess for how that situation is gonna shake out. Bombay (h/h) is caused by two recessive alleles, so it is possible for OSAWA to be h/h, HITOMI to be h/h, and MARIA to be H/h, if their mother was H/h as well.

Speaking of Mr. Yanagishita, how will his and Chiri's stories end?

 

[Exzyleph]

Comments written as I play the stories.

True end and extras

Suzune
A sweet story, but honestly one that feels like an ass-pull in the context of bigger narrative. It feels like a cheap solution to just introduce a completely new character and then have them croak in order to supply Suzune with a suitable heart. The identity of the friendly nurse is also puzzling; is this someone we know whom I am simply not recognizing? The only named character who springs to mind, who could possibly know at this point, would be Rumi. Were we ever told about her occupation? I do not recall. The nurse's hair seems much more sparse, or she did a bang up job hiding it, so probably not. The 'turning fifteen' plot-point also felt contrived, but apparently Japan did have ridiculously strict organ donation laws prior to 2010 (see here; 428 was first published in 2008), though it is not clear if Kazama's parents could have consented on his behalf.

True end
The true end requires that everyone are their best, motivated by doing good and not by seeking revenge. It's a neat idea, but unlocking that route seems like it would be a massive pain without a walk-through. We learn that Canaan was in fact alive, and that it was her that called MARIA at the end of the first end, as I had guessed. We also see KANO finally getting the approval of Rumi's father, which is about time. And we see a showdown between Canaan and Alphard, though the fact that the CIA would just go ahead without Alphard in that situation seems completely implausible. We do see that both Alphard and Canaan share the same tattoo, suggesting that they were part of the same organization (and demolishing my idea that it might have been an early clue), something that was seemingly confirmed by the "Canaan" preview shown after the credits.

Canaan
The origin story of Canaan. Quite an interesting departure from the rest of 428, in that it is pretty much a traditional (kinetic) visual novel. The main points of interest are that Alphard was responsible not only for wiping out Canaan's home town by using a prototype weaponized Ua virus (where Canaan was the sole survivor), but also that she killed Canaan's mentor, Siam during a mission. We also learn that Alphard was already working with the Americans at the time. We also learn about the origin of Canaan and Alphard's tattoo.

Alphard also seems older in this story, relative to Canaan, further cementing my feeling that the Canaan that we see is much too young for her role in the story. Canaan is fourteen in her flashback, having met her mentor Siam two years prior. And Siam himself met Alphard two years prior to meeting Canaan. It is unclear what their relationship were at the time, though it seems to be implied that Siam trained her as well. Regardless, it makes for a weird incongruency with how Alphard appears in the main story.

It was a good read, but didn't provide that much information applicable to the main story, due to the fact that we only met the real Canaan near the very end of the story. However, it does make me more interested in the anime.

Mean Clean
Not much to be said. The story was pretty forgettable, but the behind-the-scenes clips shown in the credits were fantastic. Tateno wearing a Darth Vader helmet and telling Alphard, "You are my son!" had me bursting out with laughter.


SHORT STORIES
The short stories were a mixed back, but a lot of them were quite good. I'm Kajiwara joke route made me laugh in particular, but Fukuma's (the costume tech) and Rumi's father's routes were honestly creepy in the wrong way. Chiri getting scolded and owned by kindergardeners was amusing, and it was fun to see a soft side of Makino. But ultimately I wish I could just have read those stories and not have to jump through hoops to do so.

CONSPIRACY
Not worth the effort .. neat idea, but after everything else it just felt kinda meh

In terms of story-telling, this was one of the best VNs that I have ever read, but like others I found it to have too many technical limitations and nits that made reading it a lot more annoying that it should have been. From poor controls, slow fast-forwarding, limited jumps in a story that was all about jumping around in the log, slow and unnecessary transitions, no options for text speeds, and more. It seems that "experimental" visual novels are forever cursed to be missing basic quality of life features that you'd expect in any other visual novel.


I believe that just leaves Knurek as the last active participant in this book club, and he is also close to the end. I will therefore be putting up a general thread for the visual novel book club shortly, so that we can decide on what to read next. If you have some good suggestions, then now is a good idea to write them down.

I will of course continue to follow this thread, so do not hesitate to post if you are coming to this thread at a later date.

 

[Knurek]

I probably won't finish finish today (still have a few of postgame chapters before me), but I'm done with the main game.
It feels like a decent TV drama that was cancelled in the last minute and just made into a game instead. And given the general level of stories in games, a decent TV stuff translates to a comparably amazing vidya experience.
Not sure if I'd put it in my top 5 though, it doesn't have the factor of Muv-Luv or Steins;Gate and the technical issues with the actual game part of the game cannot just be brushed under the carpet.
Also, I wish the game had actual voice acting throughout the whole game, not just in a single bonus chapter. Just imagine Minorikawa interviews where you'd hear him.

 

[Ascheroth]

Yah, I overall found it to be really good, but I don't think I would put it at the top of my favorites, that's still Fata Morgana.

 

[Exzyleph]

Yah, I overall found it to be really good, but I don't think I would put it at the top of my favorites, that's still Fata Morgana.

Same: It is not the top of my list, but it's up there.
I think my biggest complaint is probably that Minorikawa felt more like a side-character than a main character, due to the fact that his story-line had a much loser connection to the over-arching story than the other characters. I think I described him as "glue" before, something that kept the other routes connected but wasn't that interesting itself, and I kept hoping that he'd finally get directly involved in the main plot. But that never happened. I also have no idea how people were supposed to find the true end without using a walkthrough (were there any hints anywhere?), not to mention stuff like Mean Clean.

But I also think this is another really good VN to ease people into the genre:
Not only is it a great read, it is a lot more interactive than your average VN without feeling like a hybrid work, and it has a structure that makes it easy to consume in chunks without it feeling overwhelming to get through.

 

[Ascheroth]

I don't think the true end was that obtuse, iirc you get a little hint after the regular epilogue, but the optional stuff was "use a walkthrough or gtfo".
I agree that it's a good introduction VN as you say, lots of interactiviry without feeling like an adventure/puzzle game (like say Zero Escape or Danganronpa) and very good pacing/variety due to the nature of the different routes and 1 hour blocks.. Just tell them that other VNs have much better QoL standards

 

[Exzyleph]

Oh, in that case I probably overlooked the hint, as I don't recall seeing that.
The choices that you have to make do make sense (in that they are all about seeking justice instead of revenge), it's just that I didn't see how you'd know how that was relevant to unlocking the true end.