So, in our last update we took a bit of a breather from Tartarus. However, I think we've spent long enough away from that place, and I have a few things I need to take care of, so let's head back inside!
In this run through Tartarus I head to the first area of the second block. Why, you ask? Simple. I need another Phantom Mage lantern thing for Elizabeth's requests and the only place to get it is in that specific block. We proceed to pretty much wipe the floor with a good chunk of the floor's enemies, msot of which flee from me entirely. Wimps. Seriously, these things can't even scratch us now. It's kinda funny. After a few battles we find our quarry and (apart from a minor hiccup involving Unicorn being weak to fire) quickly tear it apart. Two old lanterns are dropped, giving us all we need for Elizabeth's request! Hooray. Turns out she needed them to light the Velvet Room and gives us... HOW MUCH?! 31,000 YEN?! ALL OF MY LOVE. ALL OF IT. Anyway, let's grab the Lead Medal request (which requires... ugh, killing a Gold Shadow) for now and see if we can't complete it.
The first block... Well, suffice to say the poor Shadows never stood a chance. It's really quite sad, to be honest. Eventually I just give up and let the poor Shadows live. After all, got a bit of grinding to do, and the reward probably isn't so great. Said grinding goes fairly well, really, as we manage to get Junpei a level up from it all. Really a good deal of it consisted of beating up Ghost-Pope-hats by throwing a demon at them. In other news, I love that this game lets me say such things. Said demon also gets a level up, so it's all good. Heck, even the evil tables that I hate so much go down fairly easily due to Pyro Jack knowing Maragi. Fittingly enough, Akihiko (who really gets knocked about by those tables) gets a level up from murdering them. On this floor we also finally manage to corner our first Golden Shadow, murdering it easily thanks to Archangel and gaining a Treasure Coin from it. Huzzah!
Really, this entire thing is so cathartic. After almost getting wrecked by the second guardian, returning the favour is just so nice. It also gives our party a bit more EXP, so I'm not complaining. It also proves to me that I should be pretty okay with the next Full Moon boss. All our errands that have time limits are complete, both of the Guardians have fallen and the enemies are starting to drop like flies to my attacks. Seriously, half of my battles consist of just switching between Pyro Jack and Jack Frost and either freezing or burning things to death. I decide to call it a day at the 31st floor, since I'm feeling fairly good about my skills at present. Also having 68,000 yen kinda spelled out to me that I was doing just a bit too much grinding.
Anyway, onto Wednesday, the 3rd of June, where Junpei talks to us outside school. He wants to know if we're looking for leads, to which we reply "of course". He wonders why we aren't just leaving it to Yukari. Have you learned nothing, boy? She's doing her best to cover up the evidence! Seems he'll be of less use to us in our ghost-hunting than I thought... And I had such high hopes for you. Rassenfrassen Junepi... -Grumbling- Anyway, at lunch we get talked to by both Hidetoshi and Yuko, both of whom want to hang out. Since we haven't seen Yuko in a while, let's... Oh, Bebe too? Look, we're going to talk with Yuko and that's final! Geez, too many people wanting my attention after school... Gotta get to work on that cloning machine. Seriously, it's the only way we'll get things done around here. Anyway, let's go spend time with Yuko and see how things go.
We find ourselves in the Wakatsu Restaurant this time, where Yuko once again worries about her weight. She wants to know if she eats too much, to which we give the gallant answer of "not really". And then she gets jealous of Yukari and Mitsuru. It's okay, Yuko, not everyone can be a sexy redhead who occasionally speaks French. We comfort her and get a nice rank up for our troubles. A nice, quick, easy social link. Always nice. We head into our room to find that our Health Sandals have arrived. Huzzah! Anyway, usual routine is go. More studying before sleeping. Gotta keep my super-brain up, you know? Next day we're greeted by a sleepy Yukari, who is apparently having nightmares. Yukari, you beat up horrible nightmarish Shadows on a nightly basis. You really shouldn't be getting nightmares by this point. Oh well, she's apparently found a good lead on the ghost story. About time, too, since we're at 4 days before the full moon.
Anyway, after school I figure it's high time to spend some more time with Kazushi. We have kinda been neglecting him, you know? Still nothing this time, though. A shame, but at least it makes this day a quick one. More studying and sleep later and we find ourselves on Friday already. Making good time! Once again Yukari talks to us before school, telling us that tonight we're gonna get some more ghostly plot. Yay! As it's Friday, I decide to take up Kazushi on his lunchtime offer and head to practice after school if I can. Before that, however, Yukari has some words she wants to divulge with us. Well, more like her wanting to figure out if we actually did some research or not. Unsurprisingly, Junpei has no idea what's going on. No, wait, he was just kidding. Short little scene, but Junpei trolling Yukari is always fun. Anyway, off to kendo practice!
Practice lacks Kazushi today, but as we go back home, we discover him in the lobby, clutching his injured knee. Poor guy can't even move, so we let him have our shoulder to lean on. Carrying him would only hurt his ego, I suspect. Still not gonna let the others know about that bum knee, huh? Man, you really are carrying this "I'm a strong, independent man" thing way too far, you know. For helping him up we get another rank up for Chariot. Level five already? Oh my... Well, that's another rank under our belts, so yay! Once we reach the dorm, we're yanked into a cutscene by Yukari so we can talk about what we learned. Once again Yukari manages to cover up any presence of ghosts by carefully taking it apart and quizzing us on it all. By sheer luck I get the first question right, then using the magic of Google for the other answers. There were three victims, as it turns out, all of whom hung out together. Yukari suggests that we do a bit of... "field research". Why do I not like where this is going? Junpei also dislikes the sudden turn of conversation, having heard some nasty rumours about the place that the girls all hung out at. After a little convincing, Junpei agrees to join us in our scoping out of this place Saturday night. Wish there was another way, man, But Thou Must!.
Anyway, since this update is getting kinda huge, let's cut this off for now and return a little later with the recon mission. See you all next time!
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