Summary
: And we’re back with Tokio Morishima’s Extreme Blogging Simulator.
The kid was born with a weak heart, and he is thought to have suffered a heard attack suddenly while playing. A neighbor noticed and called an ambulance right away, but the kid died in the hospital while undergoing emergency treatment without ever regaining consciousness.
The assumed suicide, Kenichi Hiruma, lived in room 301. He was 24 and apparently worked as an advertisement artist.
And that Koichi Sugita kid lives in room 402.
: Wait, so now we have two people who are both ostensibly killers who are in the advertising business? I mean, I assume that’s what Kamui did with Ayame.
: Do we know that Kamui didn’t escape again, and that Hiruma isn’t just Kamui in disguise?
: “Should be OK, right?”
: The moral of this entire segment is that Tokio is kind of socially inept.
Timrod… why do I care so much about this guy? I think it’s his mysteriousness that bothers me. When I got all fucked up at Babylon, Timrod was nearby. The impact of that whole situation is still strong inside me. Some sort of irrational fear and Timrod’s existence have linked together somehow.
Something like that.
Will the client be interested in this stuff? I can’t stand that motherfucker. I’m sick of just tailing people like an asshole. Whatever. I’ll keep on going for the time being.
: “Now that I think about it, I’ve never really thought about what kind of people live in this building… even living in the same building, strangers are strangers, I guess…”
: “Huh? Ah… ah! H-hey… Hey, wait!”
: “…”
: “You don’t have to run, OK? I just wanna talk to you…”
: “What do you want to talk about?”
: “Huh? Um, well… Koichi, you were friends with Hikaru, right? So…”
: “I don’t have anything to talk about, so… bye.”
: " ‘Bye’…? Hey, wait up! So I got nothing… shit."
: I’m still not sure why the writer didn’t just do this part first, and then have Tokio blog about it afterward.
: “Maybe I’ll try asking Erika…”
Now the HC Unit is on the move. Which means it may not have been just a simple suicide. Remember Timrod? He’s been hanging around. Looks like he’s been watching over this kid named Koichi Sugita. I don’t know why.
It’d be easiest if I could speak to this Koichi kid directly,but it doesn’t look like he’ll talk to me. I have no idea how to deal with kids, you know? You interested in helping me out? I’ll be waiting for your reply.
: “If only Erika takes me up on this… OK, let’s see…”
: “How’s the paper knife?”
: “Oh yeah, I finished it. It’s pretty cool.”
: “Hey, that’s great.”
: “Now I’m working on my second piece.”
: “What is it?”
: “I’m making a turtle. A turtle figurine.”
: “That’s unusual.”
: “I’ve got a pet turtle.”
: “You told me.”
: “Wanna see it?”
: “See what?”
: “My turtle. I got a photo of him.”
: “Sure. Show me.”
: “Here it is.”
: “Let’s see… augh! This is rather nasty!”
: “What’s nasty about it?!”
: “I mean, the patterns… and this face…”
: Red is actually smiling - if you compare it to the shots of him in Tokio’s apartment, you can see the difference.
: “Is this him ‘smiling’?”
: The newspapers the next day have a headline about a local bartender being mauled by a chinchilla.
: “Whatever. You hurt my feelings. I’m going home. Fuck, man… I can’t believe you don’t see how lovely he is…”
: If you’ll recall, this is the day that Big Dick goes through the entire apartment building and talks to everyone.
: Tokio’s doorbell rings and there’s a knock at the door.
: “Shut the fuck up! Motherfucker!”
: Salty Vanilla’s kind of busy, but if he had the time I would’ve had him do a picture where Tokio opens the door and sees only the green battle aura thing, then looks down and sees Big Dick.
: “Timrod…?! Why is… he…?”
: “What…? What do you want? Waking me up this early… what, you wanna talk more? What the fuck? You know… your face really pisses me off. Don’t come back again… just fucking go away…”
: “This motherfucker… how can you just stand there so stoically? Normally, being told something like that would piss a person off, right? Huh? Come on, get mad. Say something. Try getting pissed off.”
: One thing I think Suda does mistakenly is conflate a silent protagonist with someone who is emotionally dead - there’s plenty of games that have shown you can have a silent protagonist with emotion.
: Transistor is a pretty good example of that, even though the actual game was kinda meh. So is GRIS.
From: Erika Yukawa
To: Tokio Morishima
Subject: Doing OK
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 1999 23:21:02Hm, dealing with kids, huh?
I checked the incident out myself and I basically get it. It looks like the HC Unit is on the job after all. OK, I’ll take it.
: I, uh… don’t think water is capable of rotting. The stuff IN the water is, but the water itself isn’t.
: “I just don’t get that guy.”
From: Tokio Morishima
To: Erika Yukawa
Subject: Re: Doing OKI’m typing this while looking out the window. Looks like you were able to talk with the kid, huh? It’s been a while since I’ve gazed at you like this. You’re too far away so I can’t see your face, but I can still tell it’s you.
You two are bathed in the evening glow, and this sounds weird, but you look like an actual mother and child. So this is the kind of woman you’ve become. Able to smile and laugh like that. Three years goes by really fast.
: I feel like Tokio and Sumio could form some kind of club.
The stars know everything. I remember a song like that. But the fact that they know everything is a sad thing. There are more things in this world that it’s better not to know. I finally understood that after I turned 30.
When I realized it, I was a crime reporter, and it was my job to know things I’d be better off not knowing and selling that info, which made me realize I was unhappy. That’s why I quit. Erika was just the trigger for that.
But after I quit the news agency, I couldn’t think of anything I could do for work besides reporting on things. It’s good to be introspective sometimes.
I have something positive to talk about as well. The turtle I’m carving is coming along well. I have a knack for this. Although I can’t draw for shit, I was surprised that I was actually good at this. But it’s looking more like a scrub brush than a turtle, which bothers me.
: “Shit. I’m really into this…”
: “Do you know how to sharpen?”
: “You mean sharpen a knife, right?”
: “Yeah… at first, I kept trying to sharpen mine properly, but I kept rounding it off. Blunting it. I tried a sharpening stone, but… however I’d sharpen it, it kept getting blunt.”
: I tried knife sharpening once, and let me tell you, it sucks.
: “I see.”
: “But it’s easier to get better at stuff you like to do. Recently, I finally got the hang of it. Now my knife cuts 120% better.”
: “You can tell it’s been done properly if you can place a tissue on the knife and it cuts through it just with gravity.”
: “I’ll try that.”
: “Are you making that turtle figurine with your knife?”
: “No, I bought a carving knife for that.”
: “So you’re really getting into it.”
: “I want some sort of merit, you know?”
: “Merit…”
: Metal Gear!?
: Some kind of merit, yeah. People need some sort of merit… same as a knife."
: “Ah, like a knife that can’t cut, right?”
: “Yeah, a knife that can’t cut is useless to a person. A blunt knife is like a wild animal, you know?”
From: Erika Yukawa
To: Tokio Morishima
Subject: Koichi
Sent: Sat, 3 Jul 1999 22:58:34I met with Koichi today. I spoke to a kid playing by himself in the complex’s park, and it turned out to be him.
Anyway, I played with him for a while and avoided asking questions for the time being, and he’s a good kid. He did try testing me out a bit, but it’s clear that he’s clever enough not to just act out without considering those around him. It looks like I’ve managed to gain his trust.
I’m seeing him again tomorrow. It’s a Sunday so I’ll go in the morning. I plan to ask him about Timrod, etc., then.
: “First off… looks like it’s coming along well…”
: “Haah… I slept a long time. Quiet mornings are nice… shit, it’s already the afternoon.”
From: Erika Yukawa
To: Tokio Morishima
Subject: Koichi
Date: Sun, 4 Jul 1999 13:29:23I just met with Koichi again. I’m writing to you from a cafe.
When I went to the park today, Koichi was crying by himself. I tried asking what was wrong, but he wouldn’t say anything. He looked really worried. So I tried asking again why he was playing by himself yesterday… then he told me about Hikaru. The kid who died of a heart attack. But it looks like Koichi doesn’t know that Hikaru died.
Or rather, it seems he doesn’t want to accept the fact that he died. He says Hikaru went off somewhere. 'I wonder where he went?" He says Hikaru went off somewhere and needs his help, and he has to do something about it, but he doesn’t know what to do.
I told him I’d help, too, but I felt a bit bad about it. Sort of guilty. I mean, I’m pretending to be his friend just to get close and ask him about all this stuff, you know? But I don’t think Koichi has anything wrong with him. He’s just in shock. His best friend, Hikaru, died… that’s why Timrod offered to help him, I think.
Koichi needs a person like that right now. He needs someone. It looks like his parents aren’t much help. Maybe that’s just how things are nowadays. Oh yeah, I also heard about Koichi’s secret base. A secret base just for the boys. It’s also his special place with Hikaru.
There may still be something else, and I worry about him, so I’m going to go check on him again.
From: Tokio Morishima
To: Erika Yukawa
Subject: Re: KoichiWhat is that kid trying to do with Timrod? And does he know anything about that guy who died? I’m worried that you may be taking what that kid tells you at face value. Can you not talk to other kids and moms or whoever, too? Your attitude is kinda…
: “If I send this mail, I’m gonna get bitched out again…”
From: Tokio Morishima
To: Erika Yukawa
Subject: Re: KoichiI read your mail. I understand the situation. If possible I’d like you to keep in contact with Koichi. Mail me again if you find anything out. Guilt, huh? I think I know what you mean.
: “Putting yourself too deep in the shoes of the other person can be problematic. Well, whatever, it’s probably not gonna work out for now… I just hope it doesn’t turn into a hassle…”
: You may have noticed that this chapter kinda drags, even though it’s not as long as Yume was. Honestly, they could’ve cut probably half of this stuff - but the actual meat of this chapter is coming up.
: By the way, there is one thing I should point out. The Steam version of this game has achievements for completing each chapter.
: The completion count for Spectrum is just over 25%. The completion rate for Hana? 19.9%. Part of that is probably people not understanding how you’re meant to read through the cases, but still.
The stars know everything. But if I were a star, I don’t think I’d know anything at all, to be honest. Guilt? that’s not something you should feel with only a halfhearted understanding of a situation. We aren’t stars.
Wood and a knife and a sharpening stone. These guys are honest. They don’t know anything, but if you speak to them, they are sure to reply with something.
: “… Erika…!”
: Erika has a dialog portrait in this chapter, which we saw very briefly in Yume but which hasn’t come up yet. Unfortunately, it has the phone static effect on it.
: “It’s… been a while.”
: “So I finally get to see you.”
: “You could’ve seen me anytime, if you had wanted to.”
: “I guess so…”
: “Well anyway, more importantly…”
: “Is it about Koichi? I’m getting confused. What were you expecting from Koichi?”
: “Expecting…? I’m not really sure.”
: “He’s a good kid.”
: “I see.”
: “He’s really pure, which is rare these days. But after what happened with Hikaru… he’s hurting…”
: “I wonder?”
: “He still can’t smile, you know. I mean, he does, but… you can tell he doesn’t mean it. It hurts to watch.”
: “But like… kids aren’t really as ‘pure’ as you think, you know.”
: “What do you mean?”
: “Exactly what I said. Kids are, like… they watch adults really closely.”
: “And?”
: “It’s hard to explain, but… that’s why he ran away from me. You got close with him. That’s because you looked like a kind person. To put it in a different way… that’s what I was trying to say.”
: “He thought I’d be easy to deal with… is that what you mean?”
: “Basically, yeah. All kids are like that. Especially that kid, or at least I assume so. Kids are like a mirror that reflects adults just as they are. That’s why I don’t like kids.”
: Didn’t Morikawa say more or less the same thing to Chizuru at the end of Spectrum? I don’t exactly see him as “pure”.
: “The same as the pain you saw in him.”
: “That’s really cynical. You’ve forgotten what it was like to be a kid yourself.”
: I dunno. I mean, I remember what it was like being a kid, and it’s a lot like being an adult except you can’t buy all the video games. I don’t know if kid me would’ve liked this game or not.
: “Have I?”
: “You don’t understand the kid’s feelings at all. You’re just trying to use him, right? Trying to get some info… that’s all…”
: “Well, yeah. That’s true.”
: “I’m not like you.”
: “So is that…”
: “Children are weak, right? They have delicate feelings. So adults need to put themselves in kids’ shoes and try to understand them.”
: It’s funny because I thought no generation would be more opaque to adults than mine, and boy was I wrong on that.
: “Well what a textbook comment.”
: “You know, you haven’t changed in the slightest…”
: “I may have gotten worse. But… just let me say this. The purity of children is also a really terrible thing.”
: “I’m leaving.”
: “Huh…”
: “Bye.”
: “Huh.”
: “What the fuck is wrong with me?”
: You’re kind of an asshole and also kind of socially inept to the point where I wonder why you do what you do.
: “I wouldn’t know.”
: “I mean, I never really was the likable type.”
: I dunno, I think Ooka did a pretty good job of making Tokio likable. He’s definitely not the Disgaea 3 cast, which left me hoping the entire game that they’d just die off screen and get replaced by someone better written.
: “Hm.”
: “The only ones who’ll pay me any attention are my turtle and you.”
: “Hehe.”
: “I’m gonna go home and sleep.”
: “I see. Oh, you’re leaving already…? Goodnight.”
From: Erika Yukawa
To: Tokio Morishima
Subject: Koichi
Date: Sun 4 Jul 1999 18:21:16I came to check on Koichi again this evening. He looked like he was really depressed for some reason.
Maybe something happened. He wouldn’t tell me the reason, but he eventually started smiling again, so I think he’ll be OK. I tried asking if he’d show me his secret base, and after thinking about it for a while he finally said OK.
When I thanked him he smiled, so I felt sort of happy myself. Doing this sort of job, smiles become a rarity, after all. But I’m rather worried since when he smiled, I could see a shadow of sadness in it. We decided to go together tomorrow. I’ll tell work that I have a meeting or something.
: I mean, it depends on which Devil May Cry games are canon.
: “Without even noticing it she’s started getting attached to him. So how about Timrod? He’s… he’s also…”
: “Hey.”
: “Are you done with the stakeout?”
: “I wish. I just took off for a little bit.”
: I wish there had been a line here where Tokio asks Kusabi who’s replacing him if the HCU only has four active detectives, and it cuts to a shot of an empty car.
: “I wanna ask you something.”
: “I bet you do. That’s the only reason you come by.”
: “What’s the deal with that Slappy Nuts guy?”
: “Who the fuck is that?”
: Slappy Nuts is an alternate universe where Big Dick is a squirrel and not a chinchilla.
: “That one guy… Timrod.”
: “Ah, you mean ‘Big Dick’, huh? His ‘deal’? Nothing in particular.”
: “I’ve been wondering about him.”
: “He’s just a regular guy. But he has his strange parts, too. All-around, he’s kinda weird.”
: “Is he a private citizen?”
: I actually have a story about this from a few months ago. I was calling this local supermarket because they take sandwich orders by phone, and somehow their phone system put me on their PA.
: I know this because I can hear my voice in the background, so I go “It’s okay, don’t worry, I’m the government” and hang up. I don’t know why I did it, I just kinda did.
: “Back in the day, he was a member of the Security Force.”
: For reference, the ambush where Sakamoto and Inomata died was only around four months before this.
: "The Security Force… you mean like, the… "
: “Yeah, that one. During the Kamui Case, he was the only one who survived the first capture attempt. After that he got scouted and was officially assigned to the HC Unit as an investigator.”
: Didn’t Tokio see this in one of his news emails? I swear he already knew this.
: “Does he have some sort of special skill?”
: I transcribed like 99% of the dialog in a garbage anime JRPG, which… actually, make that two garbage anime JRPGs.
: “What, because he was scouted? Or because he survived? I don’t know shit about that. But apparently he’s actually pretty tough.”
: “Haah… so he’s completely different from someone else I know, huh?”
: “Me? You talking about me? I’ll shoot you in the face, you fuckstick.”
: “Don’t be r—. So this Timrod, he’s been looking after that kid this whole time, huh?”
: I omitted a slur.
: “Apparently.”
: “About this Koichi kid… do you know anything?”
: “I’ve told you before, I don’t care. I think… I think Big Dick attaching himself to that kid means he must be one interesting little dude.”
: “I see… thanks, that helps.”
: “Anyways, I’m getting back to the stakeout.”
: “OK, don’t let The Man get you down.”
: “Fuck off.”
: “Yeah, thanks…”
: I’m going to finish Hana this update, because I kind of already posted it by accident and there’s not really enough for another full update.
From: Erika Yukawa
To: Tokio Morishima
Subject: Koichi
Date: Mon 5 Jul 1999 23:15:00I waited at the agreed place today, but Koichi never came.
So I thought about what you said. Then I went to speak with his elementary school teacher and his mom. His teacher was Ms. Kitajima, about 30 years old. She didn’t look like she’d be popular among students, but she does seem to be the type who gets her job done properly.
According to her, Koichi is a regular kid, with a regular sense of right and wrong, who plays regularly, ad who isn’t very good at his studies. He sometimes looks rather smart, but there you go. Anyway, he’s pretty far from the ‘center of attention’ in class, and is somewhat of an outsider.
But he has his own strengths. Apparently Hikaru was even worse at his studies. And it looks like he was bullied as well. Koichi was really close with Hikaru, and was always standing up for him. I was lucky to be able to meet with his mom. She works as a hostess. But she seemed really proper and respectable, and she seems like maybe she was just a regular cook or something who happened to also be a hostess.
She didn’t give a bad impression at all. Koichi has been living alone with his mom ever since he was three. His parents divorced early, but apparently that doesn’t bother Koichi at all. Apparently he’s never even met his father.
With that, I didn’t feel it necessary to think about Koichi any differently. I still think that he’s a really good kid. I didn’t get to go see his secret base today, but still.
: “…”
: “That’s what’s up with him. Do you get it?”
The truth and facts don’t matter. I need to work out the core of this stuff. If I can just find that, at least I can avoid choosing the wrong path.
I learned that when I first started doing this. I didn’t have any idea what it meant, but I kind of do now. If you just try and push through, stuff will work out somehow. There was a reason why I was worried about Timrod, and why I was avoiding him. When I felt the remnants of that woman’s thoughts at Babylon, Timrod was beside me.
So Timrod became a sort of catalyst, and I felt like it was his fault I felt that fear… and I secretly harbored those thoughts all this time. Subconsciously. When I heard that Timrod was the survivor of that Security Force group, something finally clicked inside my head, and the puzzle pieces all came together.
: And now, just before the end, we have what’s probably the most important email Tokio is going to send in this chapter.
It was probably a hacker or a cracker. Can you dig up who this guy is? At the very least, I’d like to get his mail address. This is a job request. I heard that you were the guy to go to for stuff like this. If you need any other data apart from the log, I’ll provide whatever I can. I’ll be waiting for your reply.
: “Just one more time… OK, that’s it…”
: “…What the…”
: As soon as we exit this email, the phone rings.
: “OK OK, I’m coming.”
: “It’s me.”
: “Ah…”
: “I was waiting at the agreed place yesterday.”
: “Again? Fucking Christ.”
: “Yeah… and that Koichi kid showed up and handed me a letter saying anything… I stuck it in your mailbox, so later on when you get the chance, take a look at it.”
: “A letter? OK. Hold on.”
: “Hello? Hey, Erika… bitch hung up…”
: “Goddammit. Passing me this kind of shit…”
: This is another part that’s a little counterintuitive. You would think “Oh, this must be like the note Big Dick got”, except it’s not an item we can use. Instead, we have to sit at Tokio’s computer first.
You’re such a good person. But you looked lonely so I decided to hang out with you. You sort of reminded me of Hikaru. But there are lots of lonely people, so I can’t spend time with all of them. Also you smelled really nice so I wanted to play with you a bit more.
I’m sorry I couldn’t go yesterday. Take care.
: “…”
Because of my personality, while I acknowledge his purity, I can’t accept that what he did couldn’t have been helped. Not now or ever.
Everyone feels like killing sometimes. Especially in that situation. Adults, kids, old people, men, women. Whether you actually kill someone or you’re able to avoid it, that’s a different story. Private citizens are expected to choose ‘not to kill’. That’s how it is standing on the side of the system. Someone incapable kills a person. The killer is then automatically expected to be punished. Because of their inability to not kill.
So this kid was lacking in his ability to not kill. But in his case, his purity was the trigger. That’s something that’s specific to these times. But is that true? Isn’t the desire to kill also originally born from ‘pure’ feelings? That’s why I don’t think that it couldn’t have been helped.
Koichi’s feelings for Hikaru were pure and brutal, and Koichi’s killing of the guy who killed Hikaru also came from pure and brutal feelings… I wonder what Timrod thinks?
: Timrod thinks this is kind of an interesting parallel to Morikawa, who went “It doesn’t really matter if Koichi killed him or not” - especially given that Morikawa is a cop and Tokio isn’t.
: I also think that if Koichi hadn’t killed that guy, Big Dick would’ve mauled him.
From: S. INOHANA
To: Tokio Morishima
Subject: Contact Request
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 10:00:12What’s up with the Kamui investigation? Send a report on Kamui’s past and the recent movements of the HC Unit. I was contacted.
: “Shut the fuck up…”
: “What kind of kid was I? Hey Red, when you were a kid… wait, how hold are you? Hey, Red… hey… HEY DUDE…”
: Red’s sleeping.
: Next time, we’ll move on to Parade.