CORRECT the MATCHMAKER - Let's Play The 25th Ward: The Silver Case

[Timrod]

Summary

: I started recording this update maybe 10 minutes after posting the last one. This will be important later.

: As stated in the last update, 契り (“Tigiri”) is a Japanese word that has a couple of meanings. It can mean “promise” or “vow”, but can also mean “destiny” or “karma”.

: From what I understand though, most of the time when you see that kanji it’s used in the word 契約 (“Keiyaku”) which means “contract” as in a legal document.

: Now again, I’d like to remind you that I had this kanji on my clipboard THE ENTIRE TIME.

Night of Benin

A dim, dark space. But not too dark. It could even be called a dimly lit space. I was still a kid, and there were many, many other kids like me in this space.

We were all made to do the same things. It was repetitive and boring, and they made us keep doing the same work till our consciousness started to fade. To us children, “life” was just the repetition of the same, simple tasks. To the point of exhaustion. Even beyond that.

We had no idea that there was a whole world outside of that dark, dim space. I couldn’t believe it. The world was actually huge and sprawling. That thought never even crossed our minds.

One day, things changed. The days of performing the same tasks suddenly ended. Then, one at a time, we were taken to a small, clean room, where we met a demon. I knew nothing about gods and demons back then, but there was something black and huge and terrifying, and all of a sudden it was right before my eyes. He was inside my head. After tens of thousands of long, sharp needles were inserted into my half-wakened head by these adults wearing white clothes, the demon inside my head howled.

The strange howl that only I could hear echoed horribly inside my head. It kept going. For hours, days, even months. It went on for years.

: Hmm.. I wonder if this could be “THE LIFE” Kamui wants to KILL.

: We’ve only got one option, so might as well.

Slash: your little diary is too weird for me

Tokio: shut up

Slash: i cant keep reading this
Slash: dont you have anything better to do than fuck around online?

Tokio: i could ask you the same

Slash: really? i guess youre right, i thought youd say that
Slash: i was thinking your reactions are too normal, its boring

Tokio: im leaving

Slash: wait we need to talk

Tokio: you have something?

Slash: yeah

Tokio: its a hassle always dealing with you like this
Tokio: i prefer mail
Tokio: easier to get to the point

Slash: really?? i think this is pretty fun

Tokio: whats fun about it?

Slash: talking with you like this
Slash: getting to know each other is kinda fun

Tokio: just tell me what you want

Slash: youre really full on, huh
Slash: full on and efficient
Slash: TurtleGuy, thats whats interesting about you

Slash: so anyway, here it is
Slash: that illegal site quarter, i found something interesting there

Slash: a “cursed file”…
Slash: huh? i even paused there for a second and waited
Slash: but no reaction at all?
Slash: listen
Slash: look
Slash: talking to myself like this is kinda lonely
Slash: at least pretend like you care
Slash: come on, please?

Tokio: whats this about a curse?

Slash: so you were there
Slash: good, listen, im gonna turn my screensaver on
Slash: anyways, so there’s this cursed file
Slash: and i got my hands on it
Slash: as for how, I met this girl in a sex chat at quarter
Slash: she had the file
Slash: this sex chat girl
Slash: shes not a perf, but a regular amateur
Slash: so that means im a sex chat guy I guess
Slash: hahahahahaha

: Hold on, isn’t this Slash the hacker Tokio worked with in The Silver Case, who uploaded herself to the internet before Enzawa killed her?

Tokio: hey

Slash: what

Tokio: are you high or what?

Slash: just a little bit

Tokio: get to the fucking point

Slash: im trying
Slash: so where was i?

Tokio: the sex chat girl

Slash: oh yeah, someone gave her the file apparently

Tokio: who?

Slash: GLG

Tokio: GLG?

Slash: a famous rich chat user, HN = “GLG”

Slash: apparently its short for “good looking guy”

Slash: hes handsome and rich and middleaged
Slash: what a bastard

Slash: so anyway, this file was originally GLGs file and first some other sex chat girl received it as a present

Slash: and she gave it to some guy she met in sex chat
Slash: and he gave it to some other girl
Slash: and in the end, 21 different people have been sending this file around
Slash: all over the place
Slash: and now its waiting on the HD in my PC

Tokio: what kind of file is it?

Slash: um
Slash: the most characteristic thing about this file is that it cant be copied
Slash: to put it exactly, if you try to copy the file, the original disappears
Slash: it gets totally deleted so that you cant bring it back>

Slash: so it can only be moved
Slash: also, this file cant be destroyed either, it cant be wiped out
Slash: its undeletable
Slash: so as for that file, theres always only one copy in the world
Slash: and that one copy never ceases to exist
Slash: this kind of thing is pretty rare

Tokio: so whats why they say its cursed?

Slash: no
Slash: the original owner, GLG, died
Slash: a real standout suicide

Tokio: i remember
Tokio: that incident at the cafe by the park right?
Tokio: where that middleaged guy killed himself by the window

Slash: yeah thats it

Tokio: so that was GLG

Slash: yeah, he puked blood and died and the security camera picked it up
Slash: that movie was all over the net

Tokio: i saw it
Tokio: that movie was fucked up
Tokio: but its only been 3 hours since he died

Slash: so in 3 hours 21 people have gotten the file

Tokio: he was the first
Tokio: he was laughing

Slash: GLG was? the girl who GLG gave the file to first, last night
Slash: apparently GLG told her “trust the person who doesnt laugh”

: Oh, so this is how Machiko knew he was dead.

Tokio: whats that mean?

Slash: no idea

Tokio: did anything happen to the 21 people who got the file?

Slash: nope
Slash: nobodys died yet

: Now, I’m sitting here and going “Wait, what kanji is that?” and spent upwards of 15 minutes using a search-by-radical engine (looking up a kanji by its components) before realizing THIS IS THE SAME KANJI I’VE HAD ON MY CLIPBOARD THE WHOLE TIME.

: We now have a new option. I like how they added a little folder icon to the top of the screen, and how Red is Tokio’s desktop wallpaper.

: And of course, we get to go right back to the chatroom mines.

Tokio: Explain.

Slash: You wanna hear it?

Tokio: You wanna tell me, right?

Slash: Yeah.

Tokio: Then I’ll listen.

Slash: That file, it was created by Ashoka Engineering Works. It’s a security key. Only a true pro would be able to figure that out though.

Tokio: You sound like you’re bragging.

Slash: Well yeah. I was able to figure it out. Nobody else has figured it out yet. So this security key, it’s not like a PIN code or a password or whatever. I mean, it’s a program, but it’s really close to an actual “key”.

Slash: It’s like key software. Its actually probably even safer than an actual key since you can’t make copies. By the way, the money needed to issue just one of these could buy you a brand new Mercedes.

Slash: So basically, somewhere out there, there’s a locked door online that this key will open.

Tokio: I don’t want it.

Slash: Whaaat?

Tokio: I can see your ulterior motives clearly. I’m deleting this file.

Slash: You can’t simply delete the original by itself. I already told you that’s how it works.

Tokio: I’ll burn it onto a CD and throw that away.

Slash: That’s a pretty good idea, but of course it won’t work. You can’t transfer it onto non-PC devices.

: The fun part is that even if this kind of protection existed (it can’t, because the PC would need to be able to read the file to use it) you could just replace the HDD and destroy the old one.

Tokio: Oh, then I’ll send it to someone.

Slash: Do you really have that many friends?

Tokio: I just need to find some random mail address to mail it to.

Slash: Try it then.

Tokio: I don’t like the way you say that.

Slash: You can’t send it unless the receiver accepts it.

Tokio: My PC accepted it automatically.

Slash: That’s because I know how to tweak your PC.

Tokio: That shit’s illegal.

Slash: Listen, if there’s one thing you could do, it would be to simply destroy your entire PC right now, with all the files on it.

Tokio: What the hell? In that case, I’ll just ignore this then.

Slash: Let’s look into it together.

Tokio: For what?

Slash: Come on, buddy.

Slash: Because it sounds fucked up. This file is hella fucked up.

Tokio: What a crock of shit.

: We’re about to see the real crock of shit in a minute.

: I believe we have to go through every menu option at least once to progress, so let’s do that, starting by talking to Big Dick the Chinchilla’s best friend.

: Tokio won’t smoke no matter how hard we make him try. If we use “Look”…

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: I think this is the first time Tokio has initiated a chat conversation, not counting the handful of emails he sent to “Inohana” in The Silver Case.

Tokio: How much exactly do you know and why are you trying to get me involved?

Slash: Well, I don’t know much about that Kamijo dude, but..

Tokio: But?

Slash: But I know GLG.

Tokio: A friend of yours?

Slash: I’ve never met him face to face.

Tokio: What sort of friend is that?

Slash: Like you and me. Chat friends, mail friends, whatever. We traded info sometimes too.

Slash: GLG was a flasher. He loved having the sex chat girls watch him while they chat. But he’d pretend that he wasn’t noticing and have them pretend they didn’t notice either. He was into that sort of play.

Tokio: What a complicated pervert.

Slash: Everyone is a pervert, you know.

Tokio: What?

: You can see the link to Grasshopper’s Japanese website up in the address bar. Unfortunately, Grasshopper isn’t likely to be around for much longer.

: In February of 2025, NetEase (a Chinese company that owns Grasshopper) announced that they were killing off all funding for the non-Chinese studios they owned and are actively trying to sell them. If the studios aren’t sold, they’re being closed.

Slash: Where you get keys and stuff appraised. This is the website version.

Tokio: It just looks like the website for a convenience store.

Slash: "Click on “Order Here”

Slash: The password is “Let me use the WC”

Tokio: WC?

: Guess where we’re going?

: We get nine options, including “May I live in the” and “Please kill the”. I think “Please kill the” would be the appropriate answer here, but no.

: She then gives, word for word, the exact same directions the convenience store clerk did in Good Looking Guy.

: Now we get to to the Windows 95 screensaver version of the bathroom maze, except this time..

: We don’t have any keys. Clearly, we just need to make a phone call, and..

: Now, you might think “Oh, you just have to map out the maze”.. except there’s no directional heading to go by.

: I’m not sure if there is a legit solution or not. I know you can figure out which one Genbu is, but beyond that I don’t know if there’s any reason behind it.

: The good news is that if you get an answer wrong, you get immediately warped out, so it’s much easier to brute force.

: The first one you’ll come across is Suzaku.

: And the second one, before going down the stairs, is Byakko. We can now solve the puzzle without having to guess.

: The third one (before going upstairs to the WC door) only allows five letters to be input, so we know this one has to be Genbu.

Slash: Oh wait, looks like it’s your turn.

: Did Suda just invent skibidi toilet a full 18 or so years before it was a thing? Anyway, this whole thing still uses the chatroom format, so I’ll stick with that.

Okamoto: It’s a rather squalid place, but please make yourself comfortable. Feel free to make yourself at home.

: It’s weird to me that he bothers to name himself for Tokio, but doesn’t for Uehamster.

guest: Home? How?

Okamoto: So which course will it be?

guest: Course?

Okamoto: You’re aware of our system, yes? Whatever. It’s a bit of a hassle so I’ll just take your key.

guest: What do I do?

Okamoto: Please upload your security key.

guest: Oh.

Okamoto: Please wait a moment.

: Just as a warning, there are going to be a shitload of chatlogs coming up, because we have a long segment with a bunch of speakers who do not have portraits.

: Oh god dammit. I swear if we’re going back to Kamuidrome I’ll go right to Baldur’s Gate 3 with or without the extensive preparation I’ve been doing.

Slash: You use a hidden link to go in.

Tokio: Goddamn. I can’t get over how shitty this place is.

Slash: Really? Kamuinet25 is a super rich and glamorous website these days.

Tokio: Apparently, yeah. Either way, the kind of dickheads using Kamui’s name have always been pieces of shit.

Slash: You’re sensitive about Kamui, aren’t you?

Tokio: Where’s the hidden link?

Slash: Just try clicking around.

Tokio: Where?

Slash: Around there. Come on! Open fuckin’ sesame!

Tokio: And?

Slash: The user name is my handle name. So “Slash”. The password is your handle name.

Tokio: Why?

Slash: I always register to sites. Well, the popular ones.

Tokio: No, I mean why that password?

Slash: Oh, I was just screwing around. Input it in uppercase letters.

: We know what Tokio’s usual handle is, so this is easy.

: I haven’t been to church since I was a kid. The only god I recognize is Frank.

Tokio: Which is it?

Slash: Just choose one at random.

: I’m not sure if the option you pick has any kind of effect on the plot (I don’t think it does) but I picked “Session”.

: Why does Meru look so different from Milu and Miru? I mean, apart from the obvious explanation: she’s the real one, both Milu and Miru are AIs, and whoever died in that apartment wasn’t any of them.

I’m gonna end this

It just keeps going up and down

That’s fucked up

: “I like you, too.”

If it’s yes or no, then no

I want to die

Do you assholes really believe all this?

What do you think?

: “Yeah, it looks like it’ll be sunny tomorrow.”

But my muscle mass isn’t even increasing

I’m telling you its bullshit, I’ll even bet money

No pertinent information

: “It’s almost here, it’s so close.”

Hey ladies, if you wanna get plowed gimme a sign

Thank you for the polite reply

Just slap some fluorescent paint on it

: “You know you don’t really think that.”

Isn’t beef better?

You want a vacation, ya?

I’m hungry

: It’s OK, just trust them.

I’m getting fatter

Be my guest

Where did you hear that?

Tokio: Meru was a program, right?

Slash: If so, then this one may be a copy program too.

Tokio: A copy of a copy?

Slash: Well whatever. Here it is, TurtleGuy. You should be able to ask someone here.

Tokio: Ask someone here? How am I supposed to converse like this?

Slash: Call the flow to you. It shouldn’t be too hard.

Slash: Right now, the master of this virtual space is Meru. And as for the number of users..

Slash: About 3000, I think. You gotta toss out your questions in just the right way. All of the users here have their own order of priority assigned to them. Anyone can start off a comment, and the next comment, based on the first comment, is received by Meru and the rest of the users.

Slash: Sometimes you can get through, but if Meru and the other users don’t get your comment, it gets put off till later. If that happens, it’s best to log in again from the top page.

: So what you’re saying is that it’s Twitch chat (years before Twitch was a thing), even though it’s really more like 2ch. This is the same dialog puzzle as we had in Nagare.

Tokio: These guys are real garbage.

Slash: Why?

Tokio: I can feel the stupid thoughts of some real bottom of the barrel people, and these thoughts sink to the bottom and stack up here. This place is like a filthy reservoir.

: Yeah, I feel that every time I open the discover tab on Bluesky. Nothing but pundits with the absolute dumbest fucking opinions there.

Slash: Yeah. The world of the dark net is a pristine filthy reservoir. Not just Kamuinet25.

Tokio: How does it get decided, whether or not your comment is received?

Slash: Meru reads the flow and decides.

Tokio: Goddamn. So basically, I gotta get Meru to like me. Kinda like before, right?

Slash: Put simply, yeah.

Tokio: Can I ask you something?

Slash: Sup?

Tokio: How about you do this?

Slash: Come now, young grasshopper! You’re the one who has to undertake his training. I am simply here to watch over you.

Tokio: And?

Slash: You know, don’t you?

Tokio: Huh?

: Uh, I think you’re looking for Persona 5. She was technically a panther and was also tied for third place for best female character after Hifumi and Haru.

: A fun fact I learned well after I finished P5R, by the way - a good number of Hifumi’s lines, especially on her romance route, are ripped straight from Yukiko in Persona 4. Like, word for word.

: ride on…

: I missed the screenshot of the dialog choice here, but this is exactly what the right choice is.

Root canal? That sucks

If you can zip it up, it’ll be fine

It’s really cramped but I’ll clean the apartment up.

What about the red cat?

: “Scarlet Cat?”

: Our other choices are “How can I meet with this cat?” and “Someone here should know”, but we want to use this one.

Maybe I’m holding it wrong but my pinky finger is bleeding

Scarlet Cat? You mean the rare item collector?

Haven’t seen them recently.

It’s dark so I can’t recommend it.

I can handle that much.

: “I see. It’s sort of a funny place.”

Rare is rare.

It’s enough to make my blood boil.

I got no idea…

In a tiny shrine in a secret forest way down south.

: What’s a little confusing is that up until this point, only Tokio uses red text. This is a different person.

Scarlet cat retired, right?

Scarlet Cat has been making hella money through auctions.

I heard they were making money running an item dealer.

: “That’s right. The rumor is true.”

Yeah no shit.

That item dealer? Really?

You’re gonna get ripped off.

Fuck that asshole cat.

: What’s funny is that this is right around the time FurAffinity became a thing.

: What is this, Omori? Is Tokio going to have to get over his fear of drowning?

Someone tryna be a hero?

It’s a dumbass pun.

Scarlet is “hiiro” in Japanese.

Old losers like puns.

Sounds like a real punter.

Sup babynuts

Slash: You’re pretty good at this.

Tokio: Good at what?

Slash: Making the flow.

Tokio: What’s an item dealer?

Slash: Let’s go over there. You’ll figure it out.

Tokio: Is that an order?

Slash: We don’t have a leader/follower dynamic, do we? So it’s not an order.

Tokio: Anyways, let’s make like a tree and get the fuck out of here.

: The Hiragana says “Aitemuya”.

: Honestly, yeah, kinda.

: I’m going to stop right here for a second. This is two references in one. The first is to a real game called Valis IV, which was released for the PC-Engine CD in 1991.

: Valis is a series of platformer games where all of the characters are magical girls. If you watch Game Center CX, Arino did the first game and that episode has been fan-translated. You can find it on most any anime torrent site, I believe archive.org also has it.

: I looked up to see if either Suda or Ooka had anything to do with any of the Valis games, and I didn’t find anything. I mean, I can imagine why Ooka would have liked it given that “magical lesbians” is a very popular manga genre.

: The second reference is to Dragon Quest 3, which had an item known as the “Animal Suit” in the US localization that made your character look like a cat on the world map.

: “Here is where I, owner of the ‘Scarlet Cat animal suit’ of Valis, keep my entire collection of items from various games which I make available at affordable and reasonable prices. Please select a menu item.”

Tokio: I don’t want any of these.

Slash: Just choose whatever.

: “So you’re here. You’re finally here. But what I know is limited. I used to work with him at the same company. That’s all, I’m afraid.”

Slash: Chat

Tokio: Chat? Oh, so I have to input here.

: “By him, do you mean Kamijo?”

: “That’s right. Of course I do. I had the feeling he might die soon. He used to talk about that.”

: “About what?”

: “If he were to die, then someone would bring the key here to me. So he asked me to take it and enhance it. Something like that.”

: “Were you friends?”

: “No, not at all. Actually, this ‘Scarlet Cat animal suit’ used to belong to Kamijo. I borrowed it from him. In exchange, I told him I’d enhance that key. That’s the contract we had. It was about three years ago. We had a businesslike relationship.”

: “The hell kind of business is this?”

: A pretty good one, given that fursuits usually go for thousands of dollars.

: “Thanks to that, I was able to gain fame as the ‘Scarlet Cat’ and sell my wares. And he was able to have his dying wish fulfilled. That kind of business.”

: “What was Kamijo?”

: A furry, apparently.

: “How stupid. You can’t just talk about that sort of thing online like this. I’ll be killed immediately. The log always remains somewhere.”

: “He was doing pretty dangerous work way back when. That’s all I can say. But he quit that job and entered his previous company and tried to reset everything.”

: “I guess he succeeded at least somewhat. Thanks to the past, Kamijo’s life got all twisted. He started doing all sorts of strange things. Apart from that. But I guess just about anyone has those times. Am I wrong?”

: “What sort of strange things?”

: “Wearing a cat suit and selling items. Things like that. That’s just an example based on myself.”

: “As for Kamijo, he was into a lot of really weird things. His biggest interest was probably Machiko.”

: “Machiko?”

: “Yes, ‘contract lodgers’. People who can’t get married sign a contract and live together. The women doing that kind of job are called ‘Machiko’. Kamijo’s Machiko was apparently from the Shelter.”

: “I don’t know if it’s because of that, but he was absolutely enamored with her.”

: “The shelter?”

: I was going to say “How does he not remember that” but then remembered Tokio had part of his memory wiped.

: “Please take it.”

: I checked to see if doubling up on that kanji gave it a different meaning, but I couldn’t find anything indicating that it does.

: “About the place to use the key, since Kamijo died, it’s shrouded in mystery for all eternity. He may have had some really complicated things on his mind, but he was a really simple man at heart.”

: “So there should be a really simple hint remaining somewhere out there. By the way, you won’t be able to use the appraiser again. The enhanced version of the key cannot be appraised.”

: We’re about 60% of the way through going by my screenshot folder (I recorded the whole thing in one go) so I’ll stop here and finish in the next update.