Chapter 9 Episode 5: They are the Crafters 1

Things start off in Ota Ward as narration starts looking at something next to the Kamata Vocational School. There’s a workshop over there adjoining the school, and currently there is one young man hard at work inside. Kurogane hums to himself as he fiddles with his prosthetic arm, and eventually Amatsumara comes along to talk to him.

Amatsumara comments on what a good mood Kurogane is in and how his humming can be heard throughout the workshop. Kurogane says one of his friends from another school is coming, so Amatsumara asks if he means that one lion who hopes to become an astronaut. Kurogane says it is, and that they’ll be trying out a new rocket since the prototype is done.

The experiment will need some delicate operations, so Kurogane’s doing some maintenance on his arm. Amatsumara approves as he feels maintenance of what you use all the time is important. He looks over towards the rocket Kurogane made and says it has an original design before confusing himself. Kurogane tells him he’s looking at scrap and that the rocket is over there.

Kurogane worries that something is wrong with Amatsumara’s false eye. Amatsumara says he’s only just did some tuning on it though he can’t see details well when he has it off, so Kurogane offers to handle it. Amatsumara laughs at the idea and calls him the little kid he and the others picked up one day as he ruffles Kurogane’s head. But still, he accepts the offer.

Some time later after Amatsumara hands over his eye, Kurogane has it fixed up and gives it back. Amatsumara is impressed with how well it works now and says he can read the newspaper now, then compliments his apprentice. Kurogane laughs it off saying the favorite student should be able to do that much. Amatsumara says he can see his own muscles clearly now too and goes to pose at himself in front of a mirror.

While indulging his vanity his notices something in the corner of his vision, which turns out to be several swords along the wall. He picks one up as his scrunches up his face, then yells out loudly demanding to know what the hell is going on and calls that freeloader Musashi to get his ass there. Amatsumara is loud enough to shake the sky, and Musashi quickly scrambles over asking what’s up.

Amatsumara asks about the swords, so Musashi says he left them there because they were in the way. He asks what’s weird about that, though Amatsumara’s problem is that they aren’t sheathed properly. It sounds like Musashi somehow put them in backwards and has only oiled them with old stuff. Also he hasn’t been wiping both sides right. So in short he’s not maintaining them right.

Musashi thinks those are all trivial details, but Amatsumara argues that when you have specialized skills, a sword is an extension of your body. Musashi tries to awkwardly say that he’s not an artist, and that one of his selves see swords as just a tool. Amatsumara yells it’s still a part of you and that he understands nothing.

Musashi argues that they know that tools are a part of the self better than anyone, but Amatsumara cuts him off saying he doesn’t. He intends to drill into him the basics of maintenance, then catches sight of how filthy the kid is.

He decides that before that, he’s going to make him bathe and intends to wash his hair. In response Musashi runs off at full speed. Amatsumara runs off after him, and Kurogane blithely goes back to checking his arm and commenting on the peacefulness of things.

Scene shifts over to the front of the Kamata school, and Arc says that according to the map you got from Shuuichi that this is the place. You ask about the Crafters and read the school name plate. Arc says to be careful because you’re surrounded by the Crafters’ portals. She has heard that they keep neutral in regards to the App battles, but they still probably keep defenses. You thank Arc, though she says that since you’ve been tricked by the Genociders you’d probably be on guard towards them.

You deny this and say you trust Arc, which she reluctantly accepts. Then she suggests trying to enter the place. You two stay on guard as you approach the school gate, with Arc going ahead. After a few steps she speaks up.

Arc says that since you two were together you’ve been quiet and asks if something’s wrong. She wonders if you have something you want to talk about. You either trail off after a few words or stay quiet, so she figures it’s something you find hard to say. Arc then asks if you were about to mention the other Genociders.

You hesitate to say anything, so she takes it as a yes. Arc then asks if you feel like you ran away by sacrificing her family. She says that they chose to do it by their own free will, and that that’s all there is to it. As such she says you don’t need to feel bad about it. You either say it isn’t about that or say that it is on your mind but there’s something else bothering you.

Arc looks at you questioningly. You ask if it’s fine to keep going this way, or ask if it’s okay to end the loops. If the loops are there, then she could see her family again. Same goes for Moritaka and Tadatomo. Arc notes that you’ve been worried about the three of them. She stops walking and turns to face you.

Arc says she’s been thinking that, in a different sense, she needs to talk to you about that. It is possible to meet everyone again if the loops are happening and you just let it go on. Just like how closing the App after a battle can revert death however many times.

However, you guys still don’t know anything. How does the loop affecting all of Tokyo happen? What effects come from a loop? Why does is it even happen? Arc then brings up that you once said that you wanted to destroy the walls to stop the App battles. But after what Michael said there’s at least one other new question. She thinks Shirou and you might have thought about it already.

You either ask what she means or say she noticed too. The question is, if the loops involving all of Tokyo are happening, what causes the loop to kick in? Arc puts her hand to her mouth as she starts trying to puzzle things out. Are the loops caused by destroying the walls? If so, then why are the walls surrounding all of Tokyo still standing? It’s not like what happened when the walls around the six wards were taken down.

Normally when an App battle finishes the walls do not stay up. If you can escape the loops by destroying the walls, shouldn’t the walls stay destroyed? You agree that is the case and say it’s hard to figure out.

Arc brings something else up, which is the things Azathoth should have shown you. The memories of all the times where at the end of the loops one of your friends kill you. Arc asks why that always happens and wonders if that’s related to why all the loops happen.

Anyways Arc says there must be more things hidden in the game that you guys don’t know about. You either ask if you have to break the walls, ask if there’s something special about the Tokyo walls, or say there might be a trap. Going C if it matters, Arc says it may or may not be true. You guys don’t even know that much.

But it’s because of that that she wants to go forward to learn everything and make a choice. That’s why you’re all looking for information about the artifacts after all. Arc believes that you guys can find the answer to your questions by getting that. You either agree, apologize for saying something weird, or stay quiet.

Going with B, Arc waves it off and says you were being considerate of her. She thanks you and says you’re kind. Some time later Musashi runs up the to front of the school having given Amatsumara the slip. He complains about how bathing sucks and how working with Shuuichi was better in that regard. Competing with suspicious people is all he needs.

Musashi then has a conference with his selves as he figures what to do next, sticking his swords in the ground like he’s seating them in around a table. Two sides of him are in agreement about baths, and he wonders if his more artistically minded self agrees with Amatsumara.

Musashi asks his third organizer self for opinions. That self thinks it was a mistake to hire themselves out to the Crafters and supports trying to get famous elsewhere. The country self and the old man self have no opinions in the matter. Musashi puts his top back on as he wonders what to do before noticing something.

Back to you and Arc, Arc observes the entrance and the nearby workshop. She wonders if it would be awkward to show up without an appointment and asks if anyone is there before she sees Kurogane in the distance. She decides to try asking him and asks you to stay there.

After Arc leaves Solomon pops up saying he heard you talking, then asks if you were serious. As he doesn’t give any context you ask what he means. Solomon says he’s talking about what you said about having to destroy the walls, then claims he doesn’t really know himself. He asks if you were thinking it might be okay for the loops to happen.

Solomon then comes out against letting the loops happen and asks that you promise you won’t go down that way. You ask why, so he stammers that if they happen this time his time with you will come to an end. If you die, he’ll be done for, along with all these fun times. He’s been thinking this entire time hoping you don’t die. You however pick up on something he’s said.

Flashback happens to the beginning of the game when Solomon says to have fun with the game, and where he asks you not to die. Flashback cuts to a different scene where he comments on how strong you are and says he may have picked a winner. After the flashbacks end, you stop Solomon’s babbling as you realize something and start confronting him.

You ask Solomon if he knew from the start that you were killed by a friend and that your death kickstarts the loops. He attempts to play dumb, but you press on. If you can’t die in an app battle for reals because you’ll be revived like he said you would, then what did he mean by “don’t die?”

Solomon realizes he’s been caught and tries claiming he said something weird. He attempts to say it was nothing, but you refuse to let the point go and interrogate him some more. Solomon tries keeping the innocent act up and sweats, then outright asks if you’ll drop the topic because he remembers having things to do.

You ask Solomon what he knows, and since he refuses to look you in the eyes you grab him by the shoulders. You demand to know who he really is, and after a beat he asks if you distrust him, legitimately upset by that. You either say you do trust him or that you want to trust him, the way he was when you first met him.

After a moment, Solomon caves and says his father told him he isn’t able to go past the loops. He has no physical body and is nothing more than memories, more specifically pure memories that have been cut from the original body. Because of that he was told he can’t go past the reversing tides of time, meaning his life would be washed away if the loops happen.

You either ask about him being unable to go beyond the loops, about him being nothing more than memories, or about his father. In any case he says he was scared of you finding out. If you happened to know from the start that the loops were occurring, that you would always be brought back, he feared you’d get careless. And if you get killed, he’d be taken away to a place nobody knows of.

Solomon says that he wanted to make lots of fun memories until this loop ends. But he worries that this might be the end, that this might be the last loop. And if that’s the case, he might not actually disappear. He’s afraid of the hope that would bring that he hasn’t actually given up on, afraid that there actually can be something better than what he was told his life would be like.

At this point Musashi calls out to you because he heard something and came to take a look. He thinks the two of you are funny. You are either confused by his use of “the two of you” or call him cool and cute. Going A, he comments on Tokyo being a big and a small world, asking that flying “dragon” if he thinks so too, pointing at you and Solomon.

Solomon is surprised by Musashi, who comments on how he never expected to see another weirdo like himself. You ask if he can see Solomon or decide you want to know more about what he means about someone like himself. Solomon asks if Musashi has cut himself apart, which would make him like you and therefore able to see you.

Musashi asks if “that dragon” is a part of your self that has been cut off. He asks if that “ring” is what’s keeping you two together, just like his whatever-it-is. You have no idea what Musashi is talking about, so Musashi asks about you not knowing and wonders if something terrible happened

Musashi comments about an old boss saying it’s best to sell info to the highest bidder. You say that sounds familiar and wonder if Shuuichi said that. Before things continue Musashi pulls out his swords and points them at you, saying you’ll have to fight to get anything more out of him.

Musashi declares himself the Crafters’ bodyguard and names his sword style. He’s supposed to keep suspicious people away, but since it’s been peaceful lately he’s been treated as a freeloader. But now that you’re here it’s time for him to work. You try to protest this and ask to talk or explain yourself.

Musashi isn’t willing to stop since he has to show his skills to his employers, then asks you your name. You give it to him, and he says he feels like he heard it somewhere. But at any rate he decides it’s time to show himself off, and his swords shine in response to his call as the episode battle starts.