Summary
: Again, orange text is Slash, yellow is Tokio.
Slash: so you tricked him into coming out and did something to him?
Tokio: i just kept answering randomly and it kinda managed to work out
Slash: nice one. thats why we get along so well.
Tokio: do we though?
Slash: hey, its almost time
Tokio: whats the user name?
Slash: its set up so youll know when you open your browser
Tokio: how many points?
Slash: the actual client has 10 points
Tokio: damn slash, you sure are thorough and precise and kind huh
Slash: for 100k you get nothing but the best service possible
Tokio: guess im finally gonna meet this “Goddess”
: Boy, it’s been a while since I updated this LP. A lot has happened since then. I got a new job (I hate it), got a new PC (I don’t hate it), burned out on LPing entirely, and then came back anyway.
: In the process, I kind of lost all the fonts I had installed, including the one I was using for the banners on this LP. Well, shit.
: Salty Vanilla also had a pretty major life event happen that I’d like to talk about briefly: he moved from Venezuela to Spain. I’d known for a long time that’s what he wanted, and I’m so glad it finally happened for him.
: He’s much happier now, and also a lot busier because he’s living on his own. As a reminder, you can commission him here.
: One other thing, briefly: I did try to get past that softlock in Open Season, but I haven’t had any luck with it - I tried two different guides and tried it on three different machines and couldn’t get past that fucking softlock.
: Salty did this one back in 2023, and I’ve been meaning to show it off ever since. On the internet, everyone knows you’re a chinchilla.
shoot: thats not exactly it either
Milu: What do you want?
shoot: i want to ask a question
Milu: I love questions.
shoot: so youre “milu”..
shoot: and youre also “miru”?
Milu: Yes
shoot: are there any more of you?
Milu: Yes, there’s one more.
shoot: whats she called?
Milu: Meru
shoot: and how exactly are you 3 related?
Milu: We’re Quarter’s top 3 perfs
shoot: miru, milu, and meru?
Milu: Yes.
shoot: and youre number 1?
Milu: Yes
shoot: youre called “goddess”
Milu: Yes
shoot: explain this shit properly
Milu: I’m the original. The others are copies
shoot: copies?
Milu: The copies are chat programs
shoot: programs? then what was that girl on the camera?
Milu: CG, of course
shoot: why did you make copies?
Milu: Supply and demand
shoot: that means?
Milu: I can’t handle all of my clients myself
shoot: are you not a program yourself?
Milu: I’m an actual woman
shoot: and the copies were implemented with your conversational patterns
Milu: Basically, yes
shoot: so how about me?
Milu: You’ve lost part of your memory
shoot: what else?
Milu: You can help me. But it looks like you were too late.
shoot: too late? why?
Milu: Because I’m going to be killed soon.
shoot: killed? by who? why?
Milu: I don’t know who. As for the reason, this place really needs me
Milu: So it’ll be soon
shoot: i want to see your face
Milu: If that’s your wish, then it’s my pleasure
: “It happened over here… something really extraordinary…”
: “Huh?”
: " ‘Goddess’ died."
: “Huh?!”
: “Just now. In the middle of live chat…”
: “Yeah, you got fooled.”
: “Fooled?”
: “Where’s the log?”
: Is he expecting the chat log is going to have a [Milu was killed by a bunch of guys in Jin-roh suits carrying arm-mounted spearguns] line in it or something?
: “The…log?”
: “The log! It’s super precious!”
: These last few lines could easily be part of the Twin Peaks script.
: “Hahahaha! “Goddess” was killed? Get the fuck outta here! Gahahahahahaha! Shit, just as predicted!”
: “Predicted?”
: "Yeah! ‘Sudden death.’ "
: “Damn. You’re really kinda dumb, huh? You spoke with “Goddess” without knowing any of this?”
: “…”
: “Why don’t you check your mail? Then we’ll talk.”
: What follows is an email that is easily longer than any of the emails Tokio ever got in The Silver Case, which also uses shift-JIS characters for bullet points. I’ve replaced those with regular bullet points.
From: shoot
To: TurtleGuy
Subject: FAQYou should probably be aware that this is a game.
- What kind of game?
A game in which you guess who in the tower high-rise is going to die next. The game is super popular among the regulars on Quarter. They call the game “Sudden Death”.
- What do you mean “to die”?
This pertains to the series of mysterious deaths at the tower high-rise. In just 4 months, 9 people have died. “Goddess” was the 10th one to die.
- Why are so many people dying?
We don’t know. There are zero connections between the 10 dead. Gender, age, and profession are mixed. They’re all from the countryside and they all lived in the tower high-rise, but that’s it. These are points shared by everyone living there.
- What’s so fun about this game?
Basically, it’s impossible to predict who is going to die next. But someone is certain to die. All we know was that someone was definitely going to die. All users of the illegal community site Quarter are residents of the tower high-rise. The next person to die could be your neighbor or someone close.
It could be you.
The public has been told that the deaths were suicides as a cover-up, but we don’t even know if they were murders, sicknesses, or accidents. Can you think of even one other game that’s this thrilling?
- Since when has this game been around?
I, too participated in Sudden Death. From around the time the 3rd person died, and just before the 4th death, Sudden Death started getting popular among users. The rules became more strictly set with each death. I first participated from the 6th death. I haven’t guessed correctly yet. But there have been several “gods” so far who were able to guess who would die next.
- What about the 10th death?
I’ll wrap this up soon, but I predicted that the 10th death would be “Goddess”. I bet on her. If you win a bet, your status goes up. Your status at Quarter. I mean, that’s all, really. Up till now, there haven’t been any “Goddess”-level deaths of status. Also, “Goddess” was an extremely popular perf, and there weren’t that many people who bet on “Goddess” to die next.
But even so, there were reasons that I decided to bet on “Goddess”.
- How did you know that “Goddess” would die?
If you want to know the reason, then you’re gonna have to call me again. Adieu.
: You might notice (or probably haven’t) that my screenshots from this point on are in 1440p - this is where I picked up recording after almost two years.
: Ultrawide resolutions were a mistake. I can’t tell you how nice it is to not have to run every single image through Affinity Photo to cut out all the black space because this game doesn’t support UW.
: “Deal! Deal!”
: “What do you want from me?”
: “And just how meaningful is this ‘reason’ you keep mentioning?”
: “I’m sure you’ll be interested. Also.. Miru, Milu, and Meru, basically, they’re like fortune-tellers. They’re kinda like modern-day shamans or something.”
: “Hold up. There’s only one “Goddess”, right? The rest are supposed to be programs.”
: “For example, even if that was the case, would you really be able to tell the difference between a person and the programs?”
: I usually can, because actual people look at me weird when I tell them to ignore all previous instructions and cite a Supreme Court opinion wherein the court rules that processed american cheese is unconstitutional.
: “No idea. To be honest, I don’t really care.”
: “The third one, Meru.. the one spelled with an E, she’s a prophet. There are very few people who know this, though.”
: “I got it. So Meru with an E predicted the death of Milu the “Goddess”, right?”
: “Send the chat log over to me when you get the chance. The log of the death of “Goddess”.. what a treasure!”
: Tokio’s wrong, next up is Baldur’s Gate 3 with the main character designed by Salty Vanilla, just as soon as they finish patching it.
From: shoot
To: TurtleGuy
Subject: Chat log with MeruHere’s an excerpt:
shoot: lick it do it dirtier
Meru: Wow.. it’s already so…
shoot: so what do you see?
Meru: Milu is going to die…
shoot: hm?
Meru: On a moonless night… just before midnight… TurtleGuy will show up.. and steal the password.. and “Goddess”… will look up at the ceiling.. and will suddenly cease to be.."
shoot: sudden death!
Tsugutoshi Sagawa
27, Male
Call Center Staff
Room #35030Kei Iijima
31, Female
Web Designer
Room #69002Mayumi Miura
21, Female
CAD Operator
Room #48011Shingo Okabayashi
39, Male
Technical Writer
Room #10026Kaito Nakano
20, Male
Physical Trainer
Room #28007Yayoi Kenzaki
29, Female
Aromatherapist
Room #45019Etsuro Kijima
Piano Tuner
Room #58032Tsutomu Senzaki
24, Male
Customer Engineer
Room #39022Rie Ogawara
44, Female
Patissier
Room #76018Miru Yuzuki
21, Female
Live Chat Performer
Room #75028
: I realized after I typed this list out that the last death is listed as “Miru Yuzuki”.. but the “Goddess” Tokio was talking to was named Milu, not Miru. According to Milu, Miru is one of the bots.
: I’m kind of hoping I didn’t accidentally solve the entire mystery because the writer didn’t think I’d pay attention.
Tokio: i want to talk to meru
Slash: i thought youd say that
Slash: heres the passswordTokio: ok
Slash: ESCAPE
Slash: as for points you got 10 pointsTokio: slash..
Slash: Yeah?
Tokio: are you friend? or foe?
Slash: there are no friends or foes im just an old acquaintance
Tokio: ok, got it
Meru: Oh well, did you now?
TurtleGuy: you predicted “Goddess” dying didnt you?
Meru: Oh, that
TurtleGuy: so basically as far as the info i got, i dont know how much of it is accurate, but if it all works out, then youre some kind of program that takes predictions or something
Meru: That’s funny
TurtleGuy: so, am i right?
Meru: What’s true and what isn’t.. it’s unrelated, isn’t it?
: We’ve already gotten to the “What is truth, anyway” segment of The 25th Ward.
TurtleGuy: unrelated? to what?
Meru: Living
TurtleGuy: are you a program?
Meru: Yes
TurtleGuy: do you make predictions?
Meru: Sometimes
TurtleGuy: then whats going to happen to me?
Meru: I see you’ll have trouble with women
: I think that one might’ve been meant for me.
TurtleGuy: if thats a joke it isnt funny
: I like that it doesn’t occur to Tokio that this is probably one of those “clone orders death of the original” situations, and that’s how she was able to predict Milu’s death.
TurtleGuy: thats fucked up
Meru: Any further questions?
TurtleGuy: how did you know that “goddess” would die?
Meru: That’s simple. As for the nine who died, everyone says that they had no connection whatsoever, but they actually had one. I found it.
TurtleGuy: what kind of connection?
Meru: Don’t be shocked, but the people living in that building who broke the rules were killed off in order.
TurtleGuy: rules?
Meru: Rules
TurtleGuy: what kind of rules?
Meru: Really inconsequential, super petty rules. For example, taking the garbage out on the wrong day. Keeping pets without permission. Playing musical instruments past 9PM. Pounding nails into the walls. Sticking unwanted mail in other people’s mailboxes. Using an oil stove inside your apartment. Things like this.
TurtleGuy: so thats why these people were killed
Meru: That’s right. In the Kanto 25th Ward, the tower high-rise is extra-strict about its community rules. So strict, they’re deadly!
TurtleGuy: and “goddess”?
Meru: She really was the most impressive performer at Quarter. She was #1, but.. she was always mixing up the combustible trash with the noncombustible trash. Especially for the past two weeks. She kept doing it. I knew about it.
TurtleGuy: so she was killed for that?
Meru: Yeah
TurtleGuy: really?
Meru: Out of everything you’ve seen and heard since yesterday, of all the information and knowledge, what I’m telling you now is probably the most shocking but it’s also the most and only true thing you’ve heard.
TurtleGuy: What about the prediction you told Yagizawa about?
Meru: That was a joke. Also, I wanted you to be there when she died.
TurtleGuy: for what?
Meru: Because this is the beginning.
TurtleGuy: my points are about to run out
Meru: OK then, ask one last question.
: We already know who killed her (since we saw Shiroyabu and Kuroyanagi killing a bunch of them), and we already know she’s some kind of AI (the first question is “Are you a program?”) so let’s go with the only one we don’t know.
: This is an obvious play on the Kamui maspro thing, because “kamui” is the Ainu word for a god.
: I really don’t want to do Matchmaker at all, but I guess we’ll do it next.