META
Of course, assuming Ryugeju's actually capable of accurate predictions, the cult's actions make complete sense. Faith is a difficult thing to handle sometimes - ah, the joys of living in (fairly) godless Sweden are quickly made apparent. One wonders: will there be a war of some kind? I wouldn't bet against the Daichis in that case...NOT META
Back at the school shelter, most people seem to consider the Daichis to be pretty weird; in fact, in a meeting called by Hida, he acknowledges that everyone there is totally creeped out by them. Ever the pragmatist, though, Hida still wishes to focus on how the Daichis and Schoolers can get along, ignoring the debate about clairvoyance. They haven't done anything bad per se - rejecting them out of hand would be a knee-jerk reaction, and since they are admins, people would whine on the forums all day long - demanding blues and cursing devs.Wait, wrong game.
Well, there is another problem: Tano's been tight-lipped about the details of the killers' crimes, but he's certainly managed to spread the info anyway. It's possible people will attack the admin(awesome) dept if a schooler-daichi alliance is formed. While there would be benefits to cooperating, in the end Hida decides to just keep a cautions distance from the Daichis. Slightly problematic, though, is Tano's previous suggestion to Aya that the two groups become friends, which he didn't really manage to change. Ah well, they will simply have to talk it out with whoever comes to see them. Hida's policy of keeping a distance makes sense, and the admins agree to follow it. One does wonder, though, what the common people will do - after all, they keep getting into fights and stuff.
As Tano walks back inside from the meeting, he discusses the situation with Tsukasa. Tsukasa takes the pragmatic route, hoping that the admins will be able to convince the Schoolers to work together with the Daichis despite their differences. Heh, Taku won't stand for that easily. Nevertheless, if people with different values keep fighting, there'd be no end to it all. Tsuka also says something unexpected: he considers himself a murderer as well - making criticizing the Killer Quartet difficult for him. Tano disagrees with his line of thinking, of course. Tsuka agrees half-heartedly, wearing a cold expression.
Our heroes enter the gym, where people sleep and Aroe is currently being called an idiot by Hibari. Apparently, Aroe has cut Hiba's clothes to pieces for some strange reason. Autistic as she is, Aroe looks upon the scene in wonderment and confusion. Apparently Hiba can't baby Aroe full-time anymore, as she's now scavenging food with Tsuka (she keeps bringing back snacks that the kids totally keep asking for, though). Well, no matter.
Tano wonders what Yukacchi and Hibarin think of the Daichis. Hibari does not wish to talk about them - but Tano gently pressures her for details, and it turns out there's a reason she doesn't want to see her parents: they're actually pretty into the Society. Apparently, her parents kept taking Hiba for readings, and indeed rituals to avoid any negative fortune she may have. Hmm, the sometimes made her "drink weird water" as well. Probably not significant, but it shall be noted nevertheless. With that said, Hibari doesn't think her parents are with the Daichis now. Hmm, but is she lying? She did sound fairly convincing, and she's been a bad liar before, but... Hmmmm.
Tano's out of questions, so he asks of Tsuka has any. As expected of the analytical Tsuka, he wonders what that weird water was. Apparently it's just spring water, though. Oh, and Ryugeju-sama, certainly female, might also be just a girl. I'd personally imagined an old hag, so this is interesting. Her being young would somewhat explain Aya's administrative duties - I wonder, is Aya in charge of how Ryugeju's kept as well? She might be the true master of the whole thing. It feels... rather sinister.
That night, some white-clad Daichis start arguing with the vigilante corps. A woman is rather loudly demanding her daughter back. So, how many bets against said girl being our dear Nozo? Or maybe... You know, Aroe is actually the only girl visible in the title screen's background. Yet, she hasn't had that much of an impact yet. Could it be her?
Probably not.
It seems the other Daichis are feebly attempting to hold the middle-aged woman back. She looks creepily angry, and is in fact screaming. Tano asks her what the matter is, asking her to calm down.
Well, guess what. They are looking for Koike Nozomi. They are there to take her back, in fact. Tano sends someone to fetch Nozomi, and invites the woman, and a man who is apparently the only other person with her, inside.
The woman says she can't go with a killer like Tano. Hmm, did he actually kill anyone? Isn't that reserved for Tsuka and Taku at this point? Oh well. Well, maybe I've misinterpreted "killers such as you". Could be an indictment of all of the Schoolers, I guess.
Why does having this game open cause firefox to crash when doing google searches though the searchbars? It mystifies me - and even stranger, using the actual google webpage works, too. So you know, I was checking if "indictment" was the correct spelling.
Looks like it's against all the Schoolers. Apparently, she thinks they have lynched people using selfish rules and stuffs. You're wrong, the plot conveniently avoided that, honey - didn't you know?
Not that she'll believe Tano, of course.
Basically, the enraged woman is rather convinced that the schoolers will be going to hell. Of course, her precious daughter Non-chan cannot stay at such a horrible, evil place.
Tano is understandably pissed, as the people who died were, you know, the people who raped and almost killed Non-chan.
Response: "Be quiet. You dirty people won't understand our supreme mind. If you feel guilty, who don't you die right now? You can all die if you can't live unless you kill people. It annoys me."
Oh god who art not existing.
The tagalong man attempts to calm the woman, calling her Koike-san. Presumably her mother then, as expected. It's too late, though. The people at the shelter have been listening in, and are rather alarmed by this vicious diatribe insulting their virtue.
Tano calls for calm. A voice which sounds pretty much exactly like Hibari, but apparently belongs to an old woman, asks for Tano to drive the Daichis away, as they are scaring her. Unaware of basic law, Mrs. Koike considers refusal to give back her daughter to be kidnapping, despite having no proof of lack of consent.
The crowd is, of course, whipped right back into action, and so it goes; quite a few people offer their unflattering views of the Daichis. Amusingly, the insult "psycho" is actually censored from the voice track. I remember having that done for "dick" in some other vn, actually... I have no idea why.
Things continue to escalate, and then Mrs. Koike sees her precious Non-chan. One must give her some credit, as she seems genuinely concerned about her daughter. About two cents, maybe?
At this point, the screen, previously covered half by an insert pic (slightly diagonally slanted in the middle, by the way), is now additionally covered on the left by a pic of Nozomi, with Taku behind her wearing his now-characteristic headband. The text gives us "next to her" though, so presumably that was partly for dramatic effect, or the translators suck.
Mrs. Koike asks Nozomi to come home with her. Nozomi asks her to be quiet. Although her voice is subdued, her words are strong - her parents are the weird ones, and they have said terrible things to the people who saved her. Are they stupid?
Nozo's mom is, of course, thus convinced that Nozomi has already gone crazy from the subversive influence of the shelter.
Nozomi actually raises her voice in denial of her sanity being compromised. She can't take it any more - her parents never listens to what she says. Nozomi has a will too - and right now, she wills these two people to go away.
Then she breaks down crying.
We're back to cliffhangers, bitches.
