Do you suspect I'll find out/figure out why the girl-of-the-route's profile at the start of each day is faded at first, and then becomes solid later?
I suppose I should worry about what's right in front of me first though. Onward!
FRIDAY 23RD
And today, we find Rin outside the CAFFE where he muses that "It's a little after lunchtime on a weekend, (...)" Waitwhat? Since when was a Friday part of the weekend, anywhere? That aside, Rin has come here for no reason in particular, and just wants to walk around for a bit. A he passes a few shops though, he realizes he's bought a few things just because there were only a few left and, oddly, calls himself a "typical Japanese person" because of this. Realizing how long he's been hanging around, he decides to go home to listen to a CD he just bought. (I always seem to like it when stuff is referenced which sticks this Next Sunday A.D. story into the time before DVDs. Yes people still buy CDs now, but this reminded me of references to VHS tapes, as well. :P)
Lisianthus pops up on screen for a fraction of a second, followed by Rin musing that he thought he just saw someone's "familiar brown hair" (Tip to Rin: red is not brown.), and quickly realizes who it was. Wondering why she's going where she's going - there are no shops she'd go to in that direction, and she's not already holding anything - he starts to follow her.
Before long, she's left the shopping district and seems to be on her way home. As Rin turns a corner, we can hear Lisianthus greet somebody above. Or to be exact, she is above and is greeting Rin. Cue CG.
It's tilted, like many of the other CG images unfortunately are, and we can see Lisianthus sitting high atop a wall, hair waving behind her. She considers aloud how "Hello" would probably have been a better greeting than "nice to meet you", prompting Rin to note how her eyes seem more... evaluative than normal. (Evaluative is a word? Huh.)
...Is this even Lisianthus? Those eyes do seem a bit different. Rin, noticing the same thing, asks her who she is, to which she replies that she doesn't have one. A magical copy, perhaps? Furthermore, she says calmly that she shouldn't even be there, and that nobody would do anything for her. For convenience's sake, she says that he can call her whatever he wants, such as "Fake Sia" or "Reverse Sia". Rin again asks who she is, but is prompted to guess. He says all he can tell is that "You're not Sia."
She says he's not quite right, and that he's the second person to know her after Lisianthus herself. Oddly, she says that the rest of Lisianthus' family knows of her too, but don't. She says "I cause a problem. There's no use for me to exist." When asked who she is to Lisianthus, she smiles as if expecting this question: She is "Another Sia". She says she is Lisianthus' dark side; the devils within her. She says that she was born but nobody wanted her. That she wasn't supposed to exist as an heiress.
What a curious being this is here. I think I shall call her Sia.
She floats down to the ground, and says that that's enough for today and that she'll be going. She kisses Rin's cheek and whispers a suggestion to him that he not ask Lisianthus about her because she (Lisianthus) "is determined". She walks away.
...This rather reminds me of Nerine's situation, only the exact reverse. For Nerine it was two of the same person become one, and here it seems to be that at some point Lisianthus became two people. At least the plot's given me something to make the main heroine not seem totally boring, even if it does seem a little bit overused with the whole Evil Twin thing that's been used for who knows how long.
WEDNESDAY 28TH
Taking a walk in the park, Rin muses that it's been a while since he heard Nerine sing there. Cue Lisianthus popping up to ask what he's doing. He answers, to which she responds that she often does the same: take a walk and sometimes come by this park. Explaining the narrative significance of Rin's musing at the start (Conservation of Detail and all that), she asks about how he and Nerine "used to play in this park" (Note to translator: In English, this sentence implies playing with her multiple times.). Rin answers in the affirmative, but wonders how she knows. She gives an ambiguous answer before then asking where he played with Lisianthus.
...Is this Sia? I suspect so; this half of her tends to have a calm face far more often than Lisianthus' typical super-happy one. Rin, coming to a similar conclusion, is greeted with a big smile when he calls her out on it... but she still wants an answer to her question. Rin tries to get her to answer more clearly who she really is - citing that the question asked first should be the one answered first - but she says that she thought her earlier answer was good enough. In an attempt to clarify though, she says that she is the other existence within Lisianthus; that she is the daughter of the devils within Lisianthus. Rin asks why there would be a Devil within her - a slight issue of miscommunication, I assume - and is told that it is because she is a God that she has this other half.
So are all Gods are like this? At least not all of these dark sides are visible all the time; that'd get confusing.
She also says that she considers herself the younger sister of the King of the Gods' only child, and that she might actually be lower than that, although certainly not higher.
Out of nowhere, Rin says "All over the city". Sia is confused, but he elaborates to say that that is the answer to her question of where he and Lisianthus played when they were young. Sis is happy that he remembers, but he says that he only just remembered now. She likes his honesty, and is now happy to know who the person her "sister" fell in love with is. (No, the word sister isn't surrounded by quotation marks, but I don't think "sister" will end up being the right word for it.)
Sia then says that I'll find out the details "soon or later" (I hope that's meant to say "sooner or later"...), and then adds somberly that when he does, that "he should keep the connection". The connection between Sia and Lisianthus, I guess? She walks away.
THURSDAY 29TH
Ah. The Primula dream again. In case you, dear readers, forget, that dream was about Rin's realization of Primula's nature as a homunculus. After checking her room only to find that she's not there, he leaves the house to try and clear his mind, only to meet Lisianthus' father just outside. As they talk about Primula, I notice something I don't think I really picked up on last time: Rin muses about the girl in his dream; "She doesn't see, doesn't ask, and doesn't speak. That's exactly like the scene from eight years ago." Now that I know more about what happened with Nerine & Lisianthus that time ago, I'm thinking that this thought may actually be related to Kaede, back when she and Rin didn't get along so well.
As last time, he describes the first two homunculi as not having bodies powerful enough for the magic contained within, while Primula was made from scratch and thus does have a body powerful enough. He asks Rin to take care of Primula, and leaves, with Rin considering the ramifications of what he was just told. He also touches upon the fact that she smiled when he gave her the stuffed animals, leading me to wonder what exactly would have happened had I chosen to go back to the store that day.
FRIDAY 30TH
White text; black screen. It seems that somebody is shaking Rin while he sleeps. He thinks it's Kaede, and so tries to go back to sleep, but eventually gives in, only to see Lisianthus' father standing in his room. Later, in the loungeroom, I can see Lisianthus' father and Kaede smiling calmly (ie. their neutral pose). The God talks about how something's going to happen today, and "You don't have any plans today, do you? If you do, let me know and I'll cancel them."
At least giving me no choice is funnier when it comes to Lisianthus' Father rather than Nerine's.
After I confirm that I have no plans, I promise to go over to the Gods' house straight after lunch. Kaede asks whether it's something important, to which the God replies enthusiastically that it is very important.
Later, after ringing the Gods' house's doorbell, I can hear over the intercom Lisianthus being told by her father to get the door... which makes me think about how this seems somewhat similar to when Nerine's father got me to see Nerine in a maid uniform. Although I do of course see the differences.
Oh, wait, I didn't expect this. After they both come out, her father locks us both out and says that she doesn't need to come home until tomorrow morning if she wants... and I think he's blushing. Lisianthus is as expected quite confused, but then figures that we may as well do what her father seems to want (in part): to go on a date. She's a little bit shy about it at first, but seems okay. She does, however, have a suspicion that her father has intentions to follow them. He agrees, and quickly looks back, confirming that it's safe... for now.
She then asks where they should go. Rin suggests Sunlight Way - the street the CAFFE is on, if you recall the one or two times I've mentioned it by name - but Lisianthus says that if they go there she'll want to go shopping, and that she can't help thinking about what to cook for dinner. Rin counters by saying that it'll be okay so long as they only go places which wouldn't make her think that...
...such as the cafe! Lisianthus likes this idea. While Rin is noticing how the boyfriends of other couples are taking more notice of Lisianthus than their own dates, it seems Kareha has already greeted Lisianthus, and is asking whether we're on a date. Ignoring the question, Lisianthus asks Kareha about her working here and is told simply that she does, and that she'll leave us to ourselves. After she leaves, Lisianthus comments on the cute uniforms, prompting Rin to suggest she work here... but she smartly predicts that her father would be monitoring her the whole time if she did.
Soon, Kareha comes back and gives us water and a couple of hand towels (Hand towels? Weird), but then sticks around silently. When Rin asks about the notepad she's holding, he's told that she was asked to take down all the details of our time here. (Although I had at first thought the notepad would have been for taking our orders...) Lisianthus & Rin bemoan how invasive her father is.
Later, we get to see a scene I haven't seen in the main part of this visual novel before: The fountain. (I have seen it as part of the list of CG images though, in the "backgrounds" section. Did I already mention that?)
So yeah. It's dusk and there are still a few people around. Lisianthus comments about how it being just the two of us in the park is the best part of this date, to which Rin mentions that they could do that even if it wasn't a date, but muses to himself that everything does seem shinier as they are now. Lisianthus then says that she's going to go get them some drinks, to which Rin says that that should be the man's job on a date, and is able to stop her without incident.
When he's gone to get the drinks though, he (figuratively) bumps into Nerine as she's on a walk, who asks whether he's also on a walk. He says he isn't, and mentions what happened with Lisianthus, and her father's trick. When he asks Nerine if she'd like to go say hi, she declines, citing that it is Lisianthus' birthday. I'm not entirely surprised. Rin is a bit surprised though, and worries about not having a present for her. Nerine does her best to put him at ease though, saying that his presence alone would make her very happy anyway.
After he gets back to Lisianthus, he mentions that a "happy birthday" is in order, to which she is a bit confused, but realizes that it may be the case. She considers getting older to not be a good thing for women, but Rin reminds her that birthdays are for "celebrating your birth into this world"... But wouldn't that make her birthday the day she first came to 'this world' eight years ago? :P
Given Rin's new definition, she's briefly happy, but then grows sad, remembering Sia. Rin realizes why she's sad, but doesn't mention anything. When he asks her about what he should give her for her birthday though, she's at first okay with just him, but then says "I want to ask you..."
And then the day ends. Really curious about what that last bit was about, but I suppose I'll find out soon enough.
...So yeah. While I might get an installment done tomorrow, don't get too hopeful. Like I mentioned earlier, my current aim is for one every weekend, with any others being bonuses.
おわり
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