Valentine Timeslip Episode 2 Part 2

Things pick up with Snow saying that the machine is working without issue, so the stirring or whipping of the chocolate should go fine. Echo says it’s not making alarming noises this time, notes the smell is sweet, and that it should be different than last time. She is still worried about the taste though. You say there isn’t enough sugar, say the bitterness needs to be removed, and ask Snow if anything can be done.

 

Snow says that the first batch used fruits and stuff Barguest picked up and the sugar Snow had for the afternoon tea. Unfortunately he doesn’t have enough sugar for making sweets, never mind chocolate specifically. Echo says she likes slightly bitter chocolate but wonders what Narcissus likes.

 

Snow suggests she make an assortment of various types then. He says Gyumao anticipated this and had suggested it too, so the amount of sugar used can be controlled with each type. Echo thinks about sweet ingredients, and a flash pops by that no one seems to see.

 

Time skips a bit later to when Barguest comes back and asks how Echo’s chocolate making is going. Snow asks him to quiet down as it turns out Echo is asleep. You say she only just fell asleep, say it’s because she talked a lot, and/or say to let her sleep.

 

Barguest comments on how well she seems to be sleeping and wonders if Kenta and Inugami slept like this before too. Snow says the chocolate maker is on automatic and making the cacao beans into cacao mass. He also comments on all the things Barguest brought with him and asks if he saw anything besides fruits and berries.

 

Barguest says he found something that might be useful that he found growing out there. Snow is shocked to see sugarcane and asks where he found it. Barguest is surprised by the reaction and says it was in the forest. He saw pictures of them before in Kenta’s textbook.

 

You mention that sugarcane is the main ingredient of sugar and that you can make chocolate now. You also question how convenient that is. Snow is quiet, and Barguest says the sugarcane wasn’t there the first time around as he asks what Snow thinks. Snow says it’s too perfect and that it’s like chocolate ingredients are being arranged for you guys.

 

You wonder what’s happening, say this might be your chance, or say you can at least make chocolate now. Snow agrees that the issue with sugar is solved now so you guys should focus everything on making the chocolate.

 

Heavy footsteps come in as Gyumao and Heracles appear, and Gyumao rather loudly asks Barguest how his search went. Barguest is more concerned that the other two are covered in sweat and asks if something happened. Heracles assures him that there wasn’t any problems occurring and that they were out destroying marble pillars. Gyumao says it went well thanks to Heracles.

 

Gyumao asks Snow if the marble has been broken down to the right size. Snow approves and thanks the both of them. Heracles brushes it off but is curious as to what the marble is going to be used for. Snow smiles as he summons a chakram and starts spinning it, then says it’s for making Echo’s chocolate.

 

Time skips again to when Echo wakes up from her nap. It takes her a moment to catch up with what she was doing, at which point she panics a little over falling asleep in the middle of making her chocolate. You talk to her and comment on her being up, say she was cute asleep, or say she has drool on her face.

 

Going A to skip over some things, Echo says she has to hurry and get back to work. Snow notices that she’s awake now and comments on that. Echo says she’s up and is more focused on the chocolate, but Snow says he stopped the machine for now since he feels Echo needs to make a decision at this point. She’s unsure of what he means.

 

On the table, it turns out Snow has cut the marble into shapes or molds for chocolate. Echo says they look pretty as she gets excited over the shapes like hearts and stuff. Snow says he only just finished cutting and sterilizing then by boiling. Everyone helped out with that. Snow also says he thought the appearance of the chocolates would be more gorgeous if there were more shapes than what was in the starter kit.

 

Echo says they’re all cute and is having trouble deciding. Snow says he’s glad she likes them, then says that the next things to do is to adjust the tastes and pour the chocolates to chill. Echo asks if the chocolate will be done after that. Snow tells her that the sugar has been readied while she was asleep, along with all the things Barguest found. He also offers her some milk and says she can make white chocolate if she mixes that with the cacao butter. You either be flabbergasted that Snow cut marble, ask where the milk came from, or just be mind blown at Snow.

 

In A, Snow says he used his chakram to do it though it was the first time he used it that way. It worked out in the end. In B, Snow smiles but doesn’t answer the question. Anyways, Echo goes quiet, so Snow asks if something is unclear to her. Echo apologizes but says nothing is.

 

Echo starts talking about how everyone is helping her and says she thought about how she had to work just as hard. Despite thinking that, she couldn’t bring herself to move her hands. You either say she’s pressuring herself, say you have times like that too, or suggest she might be feeling the weight of everyone’s expectations.

 

Snow says he understands her feelings and says everyone feels it. He then asks if deep down she’s worrying about what she’d do if it doesn’t go the way she wants things to. Echo doesn’t answer.

 

Snow talks about how he intends to help as much as possible, though he does cop to wanting to get out of the overworld shift. He then says that while there is a strict line over whether he ought to be doing so, he stresses that it’s something he can’t do himself. Solid Snake Echo parrots him, so Snow explains he’s talking about having confidence. He asks her to believe in her choices and to have a bit of courage. You think aloud on the idea of confidence or believing in your own choices.

 

Snow says he might come off as strict with his next words, but he says that if you feel the pressure from the expectations of those around you, it’s showing you have no self-confidence. If you fail to fulfill your goals and have no confidence, then all the incidental factors will be attacking you. Terror is what’s paralyzing Echo, so he says she needs confidence to push past it.

 

Echo gets flustered as she admits she doesn’t have any confidence and looks away from Snow’s sharp eyes. Snow says that’s fine since no one is confident before starting something new. It’s through trying while you don’t have any confidence that you find any. Even if it doesn’t work out, what’s important is that you believed that it would. He tells Echo she should do what she can, and if she fails then she can try again next time. He says he wants her to learn to believe in herself so that she won’t give in.

 

Echo thinks on what Snow said, and you tell her she doesn’t need to think so hard because she already has it inside herself. Snow agrees and says she already has courage. Echo doesn’t believe him, so Snow says she has the courage to protect her friends and try to escape her punishment. He also reminds her she’s been trying to get her feelings out this whole time.

 

Snow says that what Echo isn’t doing enough is focusing her attention on that courage. He starts walking towards her, and the pressure he starts giving off makes her gulp her breath. She tries asking him to stop, and Snow says he starts remembering a certain someone who tried to muster up their own courage and stand from long ago when looking at her. He then pulls off the apron and says he’ll give her lessons so that she can hold her chest out with pride. He starts by telling her to stand up straight, like the five chakras and a five story pagoda.

 

Echo follows along as best she can, and you either express shock at Snow giving lessons, ask him to not overdo it, or express some jealousy. In any case Snow tells you that you’re taking lessons with him too. He says that you are a strong person that he and Claude recognize, but he says your behavior still has room to grow to become fitting as someone strong. He decides now is a good time to combine both your lessons and Echo’s, and he’ll be strict about it.

 

You express even more surprise and try to back away, but Echo begs you to stay since she’s afraid to do it alone. Snow says he’ll teach her to act confidently and warns her to not show any discomposure as he starts the episode battle. The story continues afterwards.

 

Things pick up some time later as Snow decides it’s time for a break. You and Echo pretty much collapse like the strings of tension holding you guys up have been cut. You comment on how rough it was and that your knees are trembling, then ask how Echo is holding up. Echo says confidence is hard and that she’s totally exhausted.

 

Snow says he needed to beat the basics into you, though he admits he feels he might have done it in a hurry. Heracles says it looked terrible from where he was watching, and that he didn’t expect to see chakrams flying to correct your posture. He’s come back with a big basket of fruit. Snow comments on his return and says he was putting a little courage into you two.

 

Echo mentions how straight her back is and asks if she’s gotten any braver. Snow laughs and says she’s braver than when she’d try to run away at first. You either protest and say the method is too Spartan, say it somehow feels like her voice is getting clearer, or demand a compliment for your efforts.

 

Going A, Snow says it might have been drastic since he thought time would be an issue, but he figured he’d try something that would get results. He also mentions giving lessons like this to a lot of other people in the underground arena.

 

Heracles asks if love is something to push your body so hard for. You say it might be more of a spirit thing, say it’s something you go all in on, or at least not something you push your body for. Going A, Heracles thinks on it and says he doesn’t really understand. He does say there is a thing in Olympus where you train your body for the sake of making connections, so that sorta tracks with Olympus values.

 

Heracles mentions having to clear trials he’s been given since birth, so he’s never felt the sensation of having his heart taken by someone like Echo has. That said, he thinks it’s brilliant how Echo is trying as opposed to how he lives for boring ties. Echo disagrees and says she’s just entranced by Narcissus like everyone else is. You question if that’s all there is to her feelings, say any reason is fine for being attracted, or say what’s important is what comes after.

 

Echo seems surprised by the question. Snow asks if Echo’s throat is dry and offers to get a cold drink. Scene shifts back into the base as everyone gets some drinks, and Snow decides to continue an earlier conversation. He brings up that Echo mentioned Narcissus’s lonely expression was painful, so she wanted to take his mind off of it. He figures it’s love and says it’s wonderful.

 

Echo demurs, though Snow continues and says those feelings are also a step away from being a binding curse about wanting to monopolize him and wanting him to look only at her. She doesn’t responds to that.

 

Snow talks about how thinking of your love interest all the time can be painful. He cautions Echo that love is not an excuse that allows you to do whatever you want and asks her to always remember that. She nods. Heracles talks about how Hera acted the way she did because she loved her husband and wanted him to be faithful to her. He thinks about how Zeus must’ve feared her, and how her deep love ended up cursing other people.

 

Snow says that thinking about someone means that a line has to be drawn down. He does hope that Echo’s romance works out for her, but he says that love is about mutual agreement over each other’s wishes. He warns her to not push her feelings one-sidedly. She parrots the point back, and you speak up to say you’d want to be connected with the one you like and/or that you want to tell someone that you love them.

 

Echo agrees with you, and Snow says she should make sure of what she should do. Heracles asks what he means, so Snow says he’s talking about not looking for a connection. Being connected is a result and not a goal. While Echo’s feelings may be intensifying, whether it’ll work out is another question. Love is something you fall into, and no one knows where things go after that.

 

Heracles is surprised and says he doesn’t understand. He asks about how that would mean effort is pointless. What does anyone have to suffer so much for? Snow says all one can do is plant the seeds of love. Whether they bloom or not depends on what happens. How much effort you put into them is for your own sake, not your love interest’s. Maybe that seed wouldn’t have gone anywhere. Or maybe the foundation you put it in would never have worked. Snow says that when you think about who you did it for, that’s when your love turns into regrets.

 

Snow says that when you see why you failed, love becomes a poison that eats you up. And when you feel like not wanting to see why you failed, that poison turns toward the other party. You either say nothing, say that’s scary, or say you understand how that feels.

 

Snow says he wants Echo to be confident she’s done all she could when she plants the seed of her love. If it doesn’t pan out, he hopes she’ll not despair over it, then find a new love. Echo thinks about the no regrets part, then talks about how she never could talk to Narcissus and how her regrets formed the overworld shift. You say she should try to talk properly to him but hope it does work after everything. Snow says he’ll help Echo deliver her feelings, then offers to teach her a charm that can help, at which point the section ends.