Let's Play/Read For Elise ~Elise no Tame ni~ [COMPLETE]

[lain is here]

A couple days ago I downloaded a retro visual novel that I've been interested in for a while, but that I think the broader Agora community might also find interesting. Since it's untranslated and likely never will be, reading it and writing a review of it seems pointless. Instead I had this other idea to do a screenshot Let's Play of it. That way I could summarize each scene of it and also provide my own comments along the way. I'm also thinking about asking the community on how to answer some of the choices, which should hopefully encourage participation.

Some basic info on the VN and why I think people here might find it interesting. It's called For Elise ~Elise no Tame ni~, and was originally released in 1996 as a Windows 95 exclusive. For many years it was borderline lost media until two years ago it received a port for modern Windows computers. Craftwork, the company that made it is considered legendary among the niche of people who are into psychological horror VNs. With their title Sayonara wo Oshiete being considered the best in the genre, and in my opinion, one of the best VNs ever made.

For a community that's into retro software, schizo posting, and vaporwave, I think a retro psychological horror VN made with a shoestring budget would be of interest to people here. As you can probably guess from the name, For Elise, a good portion of the OST is made up of eerie arrangements of Beethoven's Für Elise. And I fully recommend giving it a listen, as I think it's a great soundtrack: (link).

The VN also features a lot of compressed photos of 90's Japan. Something that at the time was a cost saving technique, but I think now can be appreciated for the vaporwave-esque nostalgia of 90's Japan. In fact, here is a cool website I found where somebody tracked the real locations of the photos used in the VN. The webpage itself is all in Japanese, but the photo comparisons speak for themselves: (link).

*Disclaimer: The work is 18+, and Craftwork's VNs are well known for exploring the more disturbing side of human psychology. Obviously I won't post anything inappropriate, but I will be providing scene by scene summaries. Also, as the company's first visual novel, it is considered to be one of their weaker titles. Nonetheless, I'm interested to see how their flame got started. As this is my first time reading it myself. So please enjoy the ride along with me.

 

[lain is here]

*Formatting Disclaimer: All italicized text will be summary, and italicized text in curly braces { } will be directly translated text.
Non-italicized text will be my commentary.

OST link: (For Elise OST)
I highly recommend listening to it while reading this. FYI, 90% of the scenes so far have used HA! at 23:45. So if you want to keep loyal to the VN experience, keep that on loop.

Part 1:

Our Main character is named Hioki, although I'll be calling him MC (main character) for most of this LP. The VN starts with him sitting at his desk at the 3rd rate company he salarycucks for. He complains about how shit the economy is, as 90's Japan was a time of economic recession. He mentions how almost immediately after starting at the company its profits started declining, causing them to lay people off. Consequently, although he was originally hired to do generic desk work, he was transferred to handling sales and customer service. An area he feels fits very poorly with his passive personality.

It's refreshing to read a VN that doesn't take place in a school for once. Our MC is a generic wageslave who hates his life and is at the risk of getting laid off. It's like the movie Office Space, but if 90's America was in economic decline instead.

{This woman works in the sales department like me.}
Our first interaction is with this woman that works in the same department as our MC. She's annoyed at even having to interact with him, and tries to avoid conversing with him more than she has to. However, because the MC harbors a secret crush for her, he tries to extend the conversation, much to her dismay. She then brings up how one of their coworkers has recently snitched to their boss about all the times the MC ditches work and wastes his time chilling at a local park when he should be at work. It doesn't help that our MC frequently shows up to work late, although today he is uncharacteristically early.

There's just no getting around it, our MC is incelcore. And the VN is very much going to be exploring that mentality. I'm just curious to see how he inevitably Eliot Rogers.

Otherwise, I consider his ditching work to be pretty based.

{I suck at work, I can't talk to people, and my work evaluations are poor, of course I look pathetic to this woman}
I don't think this need any commentary lol. This guy is a straight up loser, and he is fully aware at how his presence disgusts those around him.

His boss shows up, and while he is mildly (and I really mean mildly) impressed that our MC isn't late for once. He immediately brings up how he heard all the methods our MC uses to ditch work. He's pissed. But in that Japanese way, where it's more in what he doesn't say that expresses his rage than in what he explicitly says.
Not going to lie, at first I got huge Lumbergh vibes from this guy. But by all objective measures, he seems to be a pretty fair boss. Our MC is self-admittedly a shitty worker, and his boss leaves him alone after making his point. Still though, our MC is in deep shit. The previous girl told him that he's one misstep away from getting fired. And this interaction confirmed that.

This dickhead comes to passive aggressively say good morning to our MC. He's the guy that snitched us to the boss, and he basically spends this conversation rubbing it in. He ends by saying that the boss has been seriously considering canceling the MC's bonus payment this year.

In contrast to our MC's very weak vibe, this guy might seem to exude Chad energy in comparison. But he's just a rich kid and worst of all, a snitch. And where I come from, snitches always deserve stitches. Also, apparently he only even got the job because of family connections.

All in all, this guy is infuriating and this isn't the end of his antics either...

{Where on earth will you find a self-respecting person who ditches work to go home and watch rented videos}
Personally, I think he should be more proud of his NEET Grindset

One of the company's clients calls the office and is infuriated about something. Although this client is normally not the responsibility of our MC, for some reason the blame is placed on him and he has to rush to meet this client. It's while running to the train station that he crashes into a woman. When they both gain their composure she asks whether they have met before or not.

Finally, we run into someone that isn't a bitch to our boy Hioki. The fact that the CG is actually drawn confirms the importance of this character as well lol

We find out that she's a dental assistant, which is how she met the MC. Apparently in his most recent visit, she accidentally cut his gums and is still apologetic about it. He assures her that he's fine. As the conversation progresses, she offers to exchange contact info. They exchange business cards, and before departing says that she'll give him a call on his cell.

What a lucky guy, because there is no way he would have had the balls to ask for her phone number himself. Maybe this day won't suck for him after all?

Also, I'm 90% sure she mentioned them both having cellphones. This VN was made in 1996, so let that sink in for a bit. That would mean cellphones were in common usage in Japan by the mid-90s, whereas I don't think they became a regular thing in America until the very late-90s and early 00s.

Remember that dickhead in the blue suit before?, Apparently this client is normally his responsibility, and he had promised that a large delivery of items would be delivered by this day. And they haven't been delivered. MC has no idea about any of this, and is now in the position where he has to fix it. After getting yelled at and promising to take care of the issue, he returns back to the office.

This is an FYI, but Japanese names where you only have kanji to go by will always be an enigma to me. So "dickhead blue suit guy" or some variant of that is what I'm going to keep calling him. Also, I'll probably use nicknames for other characters for a similar reason.

MC returns to the office and confronts blue suit shithead about this. To which he basically dismisses the MC's complains, and tells him that he left the paperwork on his desk a week or so ago. MC didn't notice this because he was too busy ditching work to watch rented videos (probably porn). Regardless, the company manager discovers this, and is pissed that blue suit would do this).

It's now break time and MC-kun goes to his favorite park to chill out for a bit.

I think the only reason the manager was pissed off with blue shit is because he's pissed that anyone would entrust the MC with any degree of responsibility. Although MC is clearly getting bullied. I don't think the manager cares about that.

While daydreaming at the park, a pre-schooler kicks a soccer ball and it smashes into MC's face. The pre-school teacher rushes to ask if he's okay... (of course he is)
This is the second time today that a violent accident has led to MC meeting a cute girl. I really don't know if this is his lucky day or not, considering that he's on verge of getting fired at his job.

Yeah, I'm just posting this picture because I think her sprite is really cute. 10/10 waifu material. Also I think they also exchange contact info. So our limp dicked protagonist is at least slowly building himself a harem.

The afternoon break ends soon, and the MC has to get back to the office. He arrives at the bus stop and runs into this school girl there.

I really hope things don't go in the direction I think they are...

Okay, so apparently things aren't going the direction I feared.
Instead, while inside the crowded bus a man who is identified as a teacher gives this girl unwanted attention. And after a heated argument he begins to get violent with her.

We are now presented a choice:
1. Pretend not to see
2. Help her

So, will MC summon up his balls and help this girl? Or will he just ignore the sexual harassment? I hope you guys don't let me down on this one, because I'm leaving the choice up to you.

Please let me know if this is engaging or not by commenting your vote or by reacting to this post. Doing a screenshot LP is more effort than I thought it would be. So if people aren't interested, it might be better for both the forums and for me to stick to reading the VN just for myself. But if people are interested, I'm more than happy to continue!

 

[Mеченый Яков]

*Formatting Disclaimer: All italicized text will be summary, and italicized text in curly braces { } will be directly translated text.
Non-italicized text will be my commentary.

OST link: (For Elise OST)
I highly recommend listening to it while reading this. FYI, 90% of the scenes so far have used HA! at 23:45. So if you want to keep loyal to the VN experience, keep that on loop.

Part 1:

View attachment 22002
Our Main character is named Hioki, although I'll be calling him MC (main character) for most of this LP. The VN starts with him sitting at his desk at the 3rd rate company he salarycucks for. He complains about how shit the economy is, as 90's Japan was a time of economic recession. He mentions how almost immediately after starting at the company its profits started declining, causing them to lay people off. Consequently, although he was originally hired to do generic desk work, he was transferred to handling sales and customer service. An area he feels fits very poorly with his passive personality.

It's refreshing to read a VN that doesn't take place in a school for once. Our MC is a generic wageslave who hates his life and is at the risk of getting laid off. It's like the movie Office Space, but if 90's America was in economic decline instead.

View attachment 22003
{This woman works in the sales department like me.}
Our first interaction is with this woman that works in the same department as our MC. She's annoyed at even having to interact with him, and tries to avoid conversing with him more than she has to. However, because the MC harbors a secret crush for her, he tries to extend the conversation, much to her dismay. She then brings up how one of their coworkers has recently snitched to their boss about all the times the MC ditches work and wastes his time chilling at a local park when he should be at work. It doesn't help that our MC frequently shows up to work late, although today he is uncharacteristically early.

There's just no getting around it, our MC is incelcore. And the VN is very much going to be exploring that mentality. I'm just curious to see how he inevitably Eliot Rogers.

Otherwise, I consider his ditching work to be pretty based.

View attachment 22004
{I suck at work, I can't talk to people, and my work evaluations are poor, of course I look pathetic to this woman}
I don't think this need any commentary lol. This guy is a straight up loser, and he is fully aware at how his presence disgusts those around him.

View attachment 22005
His boss shows up, and while he is mildly (and I really mean mildly) impressed that our MC isn't late for once. He immediately brings up how he heard all the methods our MC uses to ditch work. He's pissed. But in that Japanese way, where it's more in what he doesn't say that expresses his rage than in what he explicitly says.
Not going to lie, at first I got huge Lumbergh vibes from this guy. But by all objective measures, he seems to be a pretty fair boss. Our MC is self-admittedly a shitty worker, and his boss leaves him alone after making his point. Still though, our MC is in deep shit. The previous girl told him that he's one misstep away from getting fired. And this interaction confirmed that.

View attachment 22006
This dickhead comes to passive aggressively say good morning to our MC. He's the guy that snitched us to the boss, and he basically spends this conversation rubbing it in. He ends by saying that the boss has been seriously considering canceling the MC's bonus payment this year.

In contrast to our MC's very weak vibe, this guy might seem to exude Chad energy in comparison. But he's just a rich kid and worst of all, a snitch. And where I come from, snitches always deserve stitches. Also, apparently he only even got the job because of family connections.

All in all, this guy is infuriating and this isn't the end of his antics either...

View attachment 22007
{Where on earth will you find a self-respecting person who ditches work to go home and watch rented videos}
Personally, I think he should be more proud of his NEET Grindset

View attachment 22009
One of the company's clients calls the office and is infuriated about something. Although this client is normally not the responsibility of our MC, for some reason the blame is placed on him and he has to rush to meet this client. It's while running to the train station that he crashes into a woman. When they both gain their composure she asks whether they have met before or not.

Finally, we run into someone that isn't a bitch to our boy Hioki. The fact that the CG is actually drawn confirms the importance of this character as well lol

View attachment 22010
We find out that she's a dental assistant, which is how she met the MC. Apparently in his most recent visit, she accidentally cut his gums and is still apologetic about it. He assures her that he's fine. As the conversation progresses, she offers to exchange contact info. They exchange business cards, and before departing says that she'll give him a call on his cell.

What a lucky guy, because there is no way he would have had the balls to ask for her phone number himself. Maybe this day won't suck for him after all?

Also, I'm 90% sure she mentioned them both having cellphones. This VN was made in 1996, so let that sink in for a bit. That would mean cellphones were in common usage in Japan by the mid-90s, whereas I don't think they became a regular thing in America until the very late-90s and early 00s.

View attachment 22011
Remember that dickhead in the blue suit before?, Apparently this client is normally his responsibility, and he had promised that a large delivery of items would be delivered by this day. And they haven't been delivered. MC has no idea about any of this, and is now in the position where he has to fix it. After getting yelled at and promising to take care of the issue, he returns back to the office.

This is an FYI, but Japanese names where you only have kanji to go by will always be an enigma to me. So "dickhead blue suit guy" or some variant of that is what I'm going to keep calling him. Also, I'll probably use nicknames for other characters for a similar reason.

View attachment 22012
MC returns to the office and confronts blue suit shithead about this. To which he basically dismisses the MC's complains, and tells him that he left the paperwork on his desk a week or so ago. MC didn't notice this because he was too busy ditching work to watch rented videos (probably porn). Regardless, the company manager discovers this, and is pissed that blue suit would do this).

It's now break time and MC-kun goes to his favorite park to chill out for a bit.

I think the only reason the manager was pissed off with blue shit is because he's pissed that anyone would entrust the MC with any degree of responsibility. Although MC is clearly getting bullied. I don't think the manager cares about that.

View attachment 22013
While daydreaming at the park, a pre-schooler kicks a soccer ball and it smashes into MC's face. The pre-school teacher rushes to ask if he's okay... (of course he is)
This is the second time today that a violent accident has led to MC meeting a cute girl. I really don't know if this is his lucky day or not, considering that he's on verge of getting fired at his job.

View attachment 22014
Yeah, I'm just posting this picture because I think her sprite is really cute. 10/10 waifu material. Also I think they also exchange contact info. So our limp dicked protagonist is at least slowly building himself a harem.

View attachment 22015
The afternoon break ends soon, and the MC has to get back to the office. He arrives at the bus stop and runs into this girl there.
I really hope things don't go in the direction I think they are...

View attachment 22016
Okay, so apparently things aren't going the direction I feared.
Instead, while inside the crowded bus a man who is identified as a teacher gives this girl unwanted attention. And after a heated argument he begins to get violent with her.

We are now presented a choice:
1. Pretend not to see
2. Help her

So, will MC summon up his balls and help this girl? Or will he just ignore the sexual harassment? I hope you guys don't let me down on this one, because I'm leaving the choice up to you.

Please let me know if this is engaging or not by commenting your vote or by reacting to this post. Doing a screenshot LP is more effort than I thought it would be. So if people aren't interested, it might be better for both the forums and for me to stick to reading the VN just for myself. But if people are interested, I'm more than happy to continue!

Idk how people likes to put inmersive and serious name in visual novels, i usually put dumb and generic american names to my characters just in order to getting some laughs at a japanese character naming me "Bob" "Michael" "Santa" "Paris Hitler" "Alberto Barbosa" "Stalina" or "Obama" i usually do that because i don't want to take too serious the inevitable death or dramatic moment of a character =((((((


Also, we need a visual novel in which the protagonist got fired and he become a Yakuza, and you should deal with the yakuza stuff, that would be cool

 

[SomaSpice]

Also, I'm 90% sure she mentioned them both having cellphones. This VN was made in 1996, so let that sink in for a bit. That would mean cellphones were in common usage in Japan by the mid-90s, whereas I don't think they became a regular thing in America until the very late-90s and early 00s

Scary to think how fast the world became this overconnected shitstream of data.

2. Help her

I wanna see him man up a bit.

 

[夢遊病者]

Interesting idea! As someone with close to no nipponese knowledge the wide wide world of untranslated works is still closed down to me, and I pretty much don't know a lot of untled titles, other than Sayooshi and the other popular ones that everyone prays for them getting translated someday.
Will definitely keep an eye on this, even if reading a VN through summaries isn't the best way to enjoy the story...

I wanna see him man up a bit.

Me too, so I'll also go with 2. !

 

[Mеченый Яков]

Interesting idea! As someone with close to no nipponese knowledge the wide wide world of untranslated works is still closed down to me, and I pretty much don't know a lot of untled titles, other than Sayooshi and the other popular ones that everyone prays for them getting translated someday.
Will definitely keep an eye on this, even if reading a VN through summaries isn't the best way to enjoy the story...


Me too, so I'll also go with 2. !

holy shit another touhou fan joins the agora, welcome brother.

 

[Deleted member 3981]

Followed. I love reading old lps from lparchive, it's awesome to see they're still going strong.

1. Pretend not to see

Sink or swim bitch, I aint no helicopter parent

 

[夢遊病者]

holy shit another touhou fan joins the agora, welcome brother.

2hu thread when?

 

[proto]

No fun seeing a limp-dicked MC still staying a weak bitch. Lets see how he manages to deal with the bus situation. Either he mans up, or he gets put back in his place. Both outcomes seem interesting.
Definitely choosing 2.

 

[lain is here]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I'm going to start reading in a bit. Since the votes are 3 to 1 in favor of helping her that's what we're going with. The next part should hopefully be up in a day or two.

2hu thread when?

I kinda already made one Okay not exactly

 

[夢遊病者]

I kinda already made one Okay not exactly

amazing thread

 

[lain is here]

Part 2:

Alright, so I've now figured out some of the names. I will probably end up using a combination of nicknames and their real names throughout the LP. So this name-key should be helpful:

Hioki = MC
Chitose = Female co-worker
Hana = Pre-K teacher
Masumi = HS school girl
Nanae = Dentist chick

{Hioki: "I think it'd be better if you didn't fight like this inside a bus"}

According to the votes most people wanted to see MC-kun man up a bit. What that got him was a slight beating while being called out on his white knighting. In the midst of this conflict, the high school girl, Masumi, takes Hioki by the hand and they run out of the bus.

We'll see how we get rewarded for our good deed down the line. But I have a feeling this story has a messed up notion of karma.

{"Jesus, why'd you have to go and do something so stupid? You know that guy's a second degree black belt right?"}

At least we also get an obligatory thank you, which she bluntly tells us is only to be polite.

She then tells us, {"You got what you deserve. Please don't do something like that again"}

Apparently even she thinks we were just white knighting

{So, you've been ditching work today as well?}
Once we get back to the office, the manager is frankly baffled that we ditched work today after already being called out for it. This doesn't impress Chitose either.

In the last part I mistook his trip to the park as an official lunch break. Turns out our dumbfuck of a main protagonist ditched work again after being called out for it in the morning. Worse yet, he ditches again at one of the exact locations he was already called out on using. I almost have to admire his level of not caring...

With nobody at the office wanting to even acknowledge his presence, he just decides to go home. This concludes day 1.

DAY 2:

A sharp pain wakes our MC in the middle of the night. His head keeps throbbing and it reminds him that a soccer ball hit him there the day before. The pain prevents him from getting back to sleep, so he goes on an early morning walk. It's Sunday today, so he doesn't have to worry about work either.

That must have been one strong 4 year old to kick the ball that hard

We end up just aimlessly wandering the area for a while until we head to the park from yesterday. That's when we run into Hana, the cute Pre-K teacher. She asks us about the injury and we lie that we're fine. The conversation extends to the topic of work and they compare their jobs.

{"Because of that I've already past the marriageable age"}
She unironically says this despite being 27. Although the fact that she is 3 years Hioki's elder does surprise him, since his estimate was that she was 22.

Hana is what we call a Christmas cake. The idea in Japan being that after the 25th of December, nobody wants to buy leftover Christmas cake. And likewise nobody wants a woman who couldn't get married by 25. Although these days that term doesn't apply so much until a woman hits 30.

That said, I don't care what the date is, I'm always happy to get some Christmas cake...

Observant that today is a day off, the MC wonders if she lives near the area. Hana affirms this and points out her apartment complex. She then asks the MC the same question and he points out the location of his apartment. Impressed by the apartment building (even though our MC confesses that he rents the cheapest one there), she playfully teases him about how good his salary must be. She then apologizes for bringing that up, and then asks him if he would go out with her sometime. Which he agrees to do. She then tells him, {"Great! So I'll contact you next payday!"}

I think Hana might have turned gold digging into an art form. Or maybe I'm just cynical.

Continuing our aimless wandering, we find ourselves at a residential area where we run into Chitose. She looks momentarily startled to see us, but the moment we say "hi", she flatly ignores us and walks away.

She really doesn't like us

Finding ourselves back outside the train station, guess who we run into again? She thanks us for yesterday and asks if we could talk at a cafe. When he agrees, she then asks if he could pay for her as well. Which he also agrees to do.

She claims not to have eaten anything since yesterday and orders herself a dish of pasta and a coffee. Our MC just orders a drink. Still hungry after scarfing down that pasta, she orders another. Meanwhile the MC is wondering why she is in her school uniform on a Sunday. He assumes it must be because of club activities (it's not uncommon in Japan for club activities to happen on weekends), but isn't fully convinced.

Upon finally asking her, we find out that she didn't go home yesterday and slept over at a friend's house. Apparently the teacher harassing her yesterday is the teacher in charge of the club she is part of at school. To avoid his harassing phone calls she avoided going home altogether. Apparently her parents don't give a shit either.

She then asks if the MC has a girl he likes, to which he confesses yes. Reflexively she then asks if he has a girlfriend, to which he says no but thinks to himself, {"It's not so much that I don't have a girlfriend, as much as in my whole 24 years of life I was never fortunate enough to have one."}

MC-kun is now a confirmed 24yo khv.

{"So, if that girl you like was snatched up by somebody close to you what would you do?"}

He probably wouldn't do anything. Chitose already hates his guts anyway.

Before leaving, she orders herself a final drink.

She thanks us for the food, to which the MC grumbles that it was no problem. Both being fully aware that she shook him down harder than any New Jersey mobster named Paulie could do.

As they are parting, with some concern MC asks her where she will be going. She responds back to her friend's house. He asks her if that's really alright. To which she says, {"Wha? Alright, then how about I stay over at your place?"}

She then quickly dismisses the remark as a joke and leaves.

Something tells me if Hioki really offered her to stay at his place she would have taken it

Just when the day looks like it's about to wrap up, Hioki hears his cellphone go off.
{"Hehe, good evening☆ "}

At first assuming it's a miscall, the person confirms that she wants to talk to Hioki. He then remembers the dental assistant he ran into yesterday, and realizes it's her. She asks if he's free this evening, to which he says yes. She says that she will meet us outside the train station in a little bit.

A little bit turns into 30 minutes, and Hioki is starting to think he's being stood up

{"Sorrry! I ended up kind of late."}

MC-kun isn't sure where they should go, so she insists they go to a bar

A bar on the first date, I'm liking this chick already

MC-kun, being a khv, instantly feels out of place at the bar. Nanae however, chugs down one drink and quickly orders another.

She tries to get Hioki to order an alcholic drink, but he refuses. She doesn't mind so much,

{"Oh, whatever. Cheers!"}

While self consciously sipping his non-alcholic drink, Hioki thinks to himself how nice it would be to have a girl as pretty as Nanae as a girlfriend. But quickly dismisses the possibility. He then asks her why she's interested in him, to which she says because he's cute. And then adds, {"How should I put it, I want to try making you my pet!☆"}

This chick completely counterbalances Hioki's pathetic vibes

Hioki, still being a pussy refusing to drink any real drinks notices that Nanae is getting hammered pretty fast. He suggests they leave. Nanae, interpreting this to be an invitation to go some where else, has her own suggestion: {"Okaay, how about we sleep at a (love) hotel?"}

Hioki first dismisses this as a joke, but she insists that she's being serious.

{"Everything alright? You seem to be shivering. Are you cold?"}
True to her word, they make it to a love hotel. The whole time MC is internally freaking out because of his virginity. He observes that although she's 2 years younger than him, she seems to already have a lot of sexual experience. Nonchalantly she begins to strip.

Today's the day Hioki turns into a man

{"Hmm, I've never slept with a virgin older than me before"}
Picrelated.

To get serious for a second. It's worth noting the contrast of her face expression here compared to before. Whereas she was playful and ditsy before, she is absolutely domineering now. Given the themes I think this work is going for, I suspect we're going to be seeing a lot more contrasts like this.

She ends up blowing MC. I'm not going to show the picture, but she looked like a lioness devouring prey.

MC ejaculates in less than a minute. However, she doesn't seem too bothered by it. Already talking about preparing for round 2. Just as she's getting ready for the main course, her cellphone goes off. She tells him it should only take a second.

{"Sorrry, it's just my boyfriend. He's being real annoying, says he want's to see me now."}
{"Sorry, but we're going to have to finish here today."}

lul
At least he halfway lost his virginity

{"Well, I'll see you. I'll give you a call soon"☆}

I guess this is what she meant about making him her pet. MC says he feels a bit used, but decides to go home and sleep it off. Idk if it's his fantasies, wet dreams, or both. But he meditates over that word "pet", and continues to fantasize about having sex with her.

His last dream is of this severed head of a girl we haven't seen before

Well, that concludes day 2. This VN is definitely taking an interesting direction. With each of these girls my eyes are seeing two different people.

What my right eye sees:

1) A cute Pre-K teacher who loves kids
2) A victim of abuse and sexual harassment
3) A ditsy but friendly dental assistant
4) A cold hearted office bitch

What my left eye sees:
1) A (potentially) sly gold digger
2) A definite gold digger that's underage
3) A sex fiend
4) A cold hearted office bitch

Which of theses perspectives is correct is hard to tell. Or perhaps the truth, is the very realistic horror that it's probably some combination of the two. We'll just have to see where the story goes.

As for the severed head, I have no idea what that's about. But an inverted version of that image serves as this VN's title screen background, so it's clearly significant.

 

[SomaSpice]

Very cool. I'm guessing the most important girl is gonna be the office bitch.

 

[Deleted member 3981]

She then tells us, {"You got what you deserve. Please don't do something like that again"}

I warned you, simps

What my left eye sees:
1) A (potentially) sly gold digger
2) A definite gold digger that's underage
3) A sex fiend
4) A cold hearted office bitch

I don't like any of these girls. I hope this ends with MC-kun getting a hobby and some friends, or at least a less miserable job.

 

[lain is here]

I don't like any of these girls. I hope this ends with MC-kun getting a hobby and some friends, or at least a less miserable job.

I kind of like Nanae, since she knows what she wants and goes for it. But I agree, none of these heroines are conventionally likable. They are however, quite realistic imo. It's not uncommon for passive guys like Hioki to attract assertive woman who desire to take advantage of them. I also just find it refreshing to read a VN that has more complex heroines than what we usually see.

Very cool. I'm guessing the most important girl is gonna be the office bitch.

Keen observation! And I agree, I think she's going to prove to be pretty important.

 

[lain is here]

Part 3:

{I've got work from today... Just for a while I want to take vacation somewhere...}
First thing in the office and MC is already wishing he could escape. That's Mondays alright...

At least nobody is criticizing him of have the case of the "Mondays", but arguably what he's got in store for him is a lot worse

Remember that really angry client that blue-shit pushed on to us on the first day? Well now the manager's decided to permanently transfer him to us. Apparently blue-shit helped sort out the problem (that he caused and pushed on to us in the first place), and out of gratitude, the manager decided to make that difficult client our problem moving forward.

Great...

Guess who's apologetic (but not really) about having his client transferred. This whole interaction is just him rubbing it in our face. Of course, it's all in Japanese so on the surface he's all sympathetic and polite about it, but really what he was saying the entire time was, "Look what I can do, and you have no way of getting back at me". What a dickhead...Japan's trademarked "polite rudeness" is somehow worse than somebody just being upfront in your face about it.

At this point I'm refusing to learn this guy's name out of spite

{"Blueshit-kun really seems to enjoy bullying you."}
Chitose comes up to us afterwards and asks us if we are really okay with everything that just went down. That is, being transferred to a really shitty client we formerly had nothing to do with, and blue-shit gloating about it. We mumble a yes, and she then talks about how we're getting bullied.

Chitose actually seems to be a bit sympathetic to us. She even offers to perhaps help us out a bit. But she doesn't mention anything specific.

We're sent out to deal with that persistent client again, and on the way to the station we run into Masumi. We sarcastically ask if school's already finished, to which she confesses that she's ditching.

She asks us for our number, but quickly dismisses it as a joke. Claiming she just wanted to see us flustered.

Masumi's endgame seems to be to make MC a loli-fag, and I'm glad he's resisting. Although he doesn't strike me as a guy with very strong will power...

This faggot is pretty disappointed to hear that we are his new go-to contact at the company. He spends the whole time talking about how great blue-shit is and criticizing us (even though we've had next to no interaction with the guy). He basically ends the meeting by telling us to get out of his face.

I'm not going to lie, this VN is pretty blackpilled. Blue-shit gets away with stuff because he's charming and has good looks (this is implied in dialogue I didn't deem relevant enough to translate), and MC is shat on simply for not being charismatic.

So that last interaction was demoralizing as fuck. On our way back to the office, we decide to buy a drink from the vending machine and then go to our trademarked park to destress a bit. Just as we're about to buy a drink however, we run into Chitose.

She's sympathetic about how tough our morning has been. But is also candid about that fact that MC is pretty lazy, and tells us that it would do us some good to try a bit harder. Ironically right after telling us that, she mentions that the manager is at a meeting and that there is nothing pressing to do at the office, so she offers us to get tea with her. With elation we accept the offer.

Chitose is starting to warm up on me

Isn't Chitose cute? At least that's what the MC spends a good minute thinking. When one of them finally do open their mouths, it's Chitose, {"Hioki, don't you think that person is out to get you?"}. MC admits this, and Chitose is sympathetic. She asks if the rumors are true about blue-shit being a fuck up that coasts off of nepotism. To which the MC confirms this (I think they went to the same college, but I could be misremembering).

MC gets some pretty bad headache flashes, but after a minute they go away. Chitose is concerned, but we convince her that everything is alright.

I'm glad Chitose doesn't seem to be in the blue-shit fanclub, because it sure as hell seems that everyone else is.

Chitose eventually asks us what brought us to this company. To which we say nothing in particular drew us. She then asks us what we studied in college, and MC-kun responds Business.

MC then flips the tables and asks her about the company she worked at before transferring to this current one. But she seems vaguely discomforted by the question and dodges it.

I wonder what's got Chitose to be so nice to us all of a sudden. While she was never malicious to us, just a day before she ignored even seeing us when we ran into her on the street. Nonetheless, MC-kun is more than happy to be talking to his crush.

Just as we are leaving the cafe, guess who we run into... We introduce Masumi to Chitose as an acquaintance, and Chitose to Masumi as our coworker. This instantly gives Masumi an idea and she asks, {"Say Hioki, is this an office romance?"}

Chitose immediately denies this, and says that she and MC-kun are strictly coworkers. She does however seem to be exceptionally bothered by Masumi's assumption, and excuses herself very soon after. Leaving us alone with Masumi.

{"When I asked if she's your lover, she looked really shocked didn't she?"}

Although we initially deny it, Masumi proceeds to deduct that Chitose is our crush. She then says that she thinks it's hopeless, and encourages us to not aim so high.

Gee, how nice of you Masumi

Changing the topic, we then ask about her and why she's still here. She says that she's planning to meet with her friend (supposedly the one whose house she crashes at). We then ask if her friend is also skipping, to which she responds that her friend actually dropped out. With the implication being that the teacher currently harassing Masumi, is the reason why her friend had to drop out.

On the one hand I really do feel bad for Masumi, but on the other hand she really is kind of a bitch. Prying into MC's love life and shutting down his hopes point blank.

We part with Masumi, and consider the possibility that Chitose got the wrong idea about our acquaintanceship with Masumi. This really worries him, as Chitose left kind of angry. He decides to go to the park like he originally planned. But while sitting there, he only convinces himself further that Chitose got the wrong idea.

It really doesn't look good when the girl you like mistakes you for being a potential pedo... I feel bad for MC, since (so far at least), he doesn't seem to have any interest in Masumi, and she keeps fucking things up for us.

We return to the office, and it seems that we are the only ones there. However, in no short time blue-shit spots us and asks us how our time with Chitose at the cafe was.

This guy really is a stalker...

He confronts us about our crush for Chitose, and pretty much forces us to admit to it. He then mentions that he's aiming after Chitsose as well. He then starts talking about her really sexually. Specifically stating that while he doesn't think her breasts are that impressive, he thinks she has a great ass.

This angers MC, and he brings up the fact that this is a really inappropriate conversation at work. But Blue-shit reasserts how the manager is still at a meeting, so it really doesn't matter. Also, Chitose left work early today, so it's not like she's around to hear either. He continues his "banter"

MC's really not having this guy's shit. After hearing about Chitose leaving work early today, he abruptly tells blue-shit that he's not feeling well and has to leave. Blue-shit tries to stop him, telling him that he has to at least fill out a specific form when leaving early. But MC ignores him and leaves.

I'm kind of proud of MC for leaving. Of all his (realistically) available options, that was probably his best choice. Not to give blue-shit the satisfaction of talking shit about your waifu in front of you.

MC replays the day's events in his head as he goes to sleep. Particularly the parts about Masumi and Chitose running into each other. Chitose coldly denying any romance between them continues to devastate him. In this delusion Masumi continues to taunt him about how she doesn't think he could get with Chitose. She repeatedly asks him if this bothers him.

She keeps asking him, "Does that make you sad?", "Does it make you sad?", "If it makes you sad, just be honest about it."

{"It makes you sad right? If it makes you sad, just please admit that it makes you sad."}

MC finally internally admits this, and Masumi responds, "I knew it made you sad!"

The delusion then transforms in accordance to his rage. The CG is disturbing, and a bit vague in detail. But it's obvious that Masumi is tied down somehow, and the MC is (literally) pissing in her mouth like a toilet bowl.

He tells her, {"Never appear infront of me and Chitose again!"}

He's clearly starting to lose it. I can understand him being pissed at Masumi, but his anger taking this form in his head is definitely on the disturbed side.

The delusion finishes and the last image we see before the night ends is this severed head once again.


This concludes day 3

So my thoughts on this latest part. I'm definitely a lot more interested in Chitose now. I hope we find out more in the next part. She's clearly a key player, and I think the story was downplaying her early on for a reason.

I also hope to see more of the Pre-K teacher and Nanae soon. While I'm certainly suspicious of both their motives, I do find them intriguing and want to know more about them.

Edit: Yay, 200th post!

 

[SomaSpice]

I'm waiting for the MC to have his joker moment

 

[proto]

Damn, the plot thickens.

I'm waiting for the MC to have his joker moment

Same.

 

[lain is here]

I'm waiting for the MC to have his joker moment

Oh I'm 100% sure he will

 

[lain is here]

Part 4:

{Ugh, work today as well huh... At least I'm not late, so that's good.}

Considering his work ethic, it is a bit of a miracle that he's on time again.

{Manager: "How the HELL did you make such an embarrassing mistake! Well!?"}

For once the manager is yelling at somebody that isn't us. Surprisingly it's Chitose who is under heat. Although once he finishes yelling at her, he scolds us as well for clocking out early yesterday. He tells us that there is a lot of work piled up for us regarding our favorite client.

After the manager leaves, we talk to Chitose for a bit about how we both left home early yesterday. We talk for a bit more after that, but pretty soon Chitose says that if we keep talking the manager will probably get angry again, so she heads back to her desk.

Work for us means going back to the client that hates us. So we leave the office shortly after finishing talking to Chitose.

Guess who we run into on our way to the station? Upon first recognizing her a distorted image of her flashes in MC's head:

Nonetheless, they chit-chat for a bit. The small talk on Hioki's part being a bit awkward, Nanae by contrast is completely natural. Just as they are about to part their separate ways our favorite neighborhood truant runs into both of us.

We say hi to Masumi, but almost immediately after responding back with a "hello" she runs off.

Glad she isn't here to kill the mood like she did with Chitose

Nanae comments on how MC is more popular with woman than she assumed. MC-kun denies this, but Nanae teases him a bit more about it. Before departing for real this time, she says, {"Alright, and next time let's make sure to continue where we left off last time☆"}

That's a more loose translation basing things on the context between MC and Nanae. What she more literally said was "Let's do erotic things next time☆"

After that we decide to head to the park to clear our minds. However Masumi finds us there (she always finds us), and we start a conversation with her since she ran off before. She asks MC, {"That person, what is she to you?"}

We tell her that our relationship to Nanae is nothing substantial and then she immediately calls us out on our bullshit.

Quite the accusation but she says something interesting:

{"Well, she's my sister."}
{"Hioki, let me warn you that I think it would be better for you not date her"}

I did not see that coming... Weirdly enough it kind of makes sense. But only in retrospect.


You know a woman's bad news when her own sister advises against going out with her. MC does consider if jealousy on Masumi's part could be the reason for her warning, and that's entirely possible. That said, the red flags for Nanae are definitely there. It's probably a bit of both.

Masumi leaves, and we're left contemplating the implications of what she just revealed.

Hana runs into us, and tells us that one of the kids at the Pre-school she works at ran away. She asks us if we saw where they went. We tell her that we don't know but that we'll help her find him.

While searching for the kid, we run into Chitose. She basically asks us what the hell we're doing, but when we tell her that we are searching for a lost kid she agrees to help. MC is quite happy that she agrees to help.

Despite this however, they struggle to find the kid anywhere and ultimately decided to return to the park.

When Chitose and MC return to the park, they find Hana embracing the kid in gratitude that she was able to find him. We are also treated to this nice CG.

Now that the situation has calmed down, Hana thanks both of us for helping her. It becomes clear in this interaction however, that MC already knows Hana. Chitose then tells him, {"Eh? I see, so as expected this really is where you always ditch work."}

Chitose does however tell us that her opinion of us has changed since she now sees that we are kinder than she thought we were.

Hana asks us if MC and Chitose are going out, and just like the last time this was assumed Chitose instantly shuts it down: {"We're just colleges!"}. This shatters MC's heart, especially since it started seeming to him that things between him and Chitose were improving.

At least we still have a chance with Hana

We finally get back to the office and the manager is livid with Chitose. She was originally send out to buy some supplies, and she takes 2 hours to return. She explains the situation regarding the lost kid, but he just yells at her asking if that's more important than work. MC observes, {To this manager, whenever anyone gives an explanation for something he always dismisses it as an excuse.}

After the manager leaves, we offer to help her with the tasks he gave her to do as a punishment, but she insists that she can take care of it all herself.

Listening to her we return to our desk, and then soon go home after a day of getting nothing (work related) done.

Suffering his nightly delusions, MC recalls Nanae repeatedly teasing him about being more popular with women than he let on. He insists that he really wasn't lying, and that also her misunderstanding is none of her business. This then evolves into a fantasy where he sadistically forces her into a humiliating sexual position where she has to lick a dirty floor. He insists that she has to lick the entire floor clean.

Honestly, knowing Nanae she would probably be into it lol. But also, I find it interesting that in the last delusion we forced Masumi to drink our piss, and now in this one we are forcing her sister to orally clean a filthy floor. Evidently both sisters for different reasons add unwanted stress to his life.

Chitose shows up in the delusion asking us if we're enjoying ourselves as we're sadistically dominating Nanae.

MC is unable to answer this, and then we transition to the last image of the night:

So Masumi and Nanae are sisters, that definitely took me a back. They have such subtle similarities where I can see it, but I never would have guessed it. I do find it really funny that as revealed in his delusions, those are the only two characters to seriously distress MC (so far at least). To the point that he fantasizes about sexually torturing them.

I do think MC should be a little grateful to Nanae. She was willing to get down and dirty with him without any bullshit. And she literally got halfway to taking his virginity. That said, who knows what she's hiding from him. She's definitely potentially quite devious. And the fact that her very own sister warns us about her is not a good sign lol