Otohime starts up a narrative flashback as she addresses Yamasachi from whenever he first turned up. She welcomes him as she calls him pitiable, then talks about how he made it to the Dragon Palace while looking for the lost fish hook. She comments that he must have been traveling for a long time, then asks him to stay and relax as long as he likes until he finds the fish hook. No matter how long it is, he can stay as much as he pleases. Otohime promises that the Dragon Palace won't kick him out, and if she sees the fish hook she'll inform him.
Otohime repeats her request to Yamasachi to stay as long as he wishes it, saying he doesn't need to remember his painful memories. No one there will censure him, and he can stay until his mental damage is healed. Otohime insists it's not a despicable act when compared to being crushed by endless pain. She offers to provide a show by dancing in the hopes that he can forget his pain while doing so, and then she sighs Yamasachi's name one more time.
Title card pops up, and this chapter is called Otohime Overdrive.
Back to the present, Yamasachi talks about how beautiful that dance was from back then, then mentions that his memories between then and meeting you guys is hazy. He asks Otohime to tell him what happened in that period. Otohime suggests that the bugs' effects may have made his memory connections fuzzy and that might remember soon. That said, she still obliges and tells Yamasachi he stayed at the Dragon Palace for a long time. Also, his memories are inside a small box she pulls out of her robes. You recognize it and start to ask if it's the same box you found at the beach.
Charles says it's the same as the black box you found earlier and that it's the thing they're looking for. Algernon chimes in that it's made of Dark Matter, a material that stores information, then says that the box is a black box in the other sense too. You express surprise at what they said about looking for that box and wonder what's up. Algernon explains that after that box was discovered, they got a secret request to "clean" and "retrieve" it. They never expected to go through a virtual world and connect to another world though.
Otohime explains that it's an external memory storage device and a mimicry of the Tamatebako. She initially calls it a jewel box meant to seal away memories of sadness before deciding to refer to it as a soul box instead. Otohime then tells Yamasachi that his current self is his own sad memories that were sealed inside that box. Those memories/information were the ones she cut out and put away herself when he came to the Dragon Palace. As the admin of the place she cannot allow any of the memories entrusted to her to leave as Yamasachi did not wish for it. You either express shock at Yamasachi being a memory and ask for an explanation or nod as you come to a realization.
Otohime decides to talk about a certain case she had, a failure that she regrets the most. But first she decides to lead into it by talking about how memories of sorrow torment the hearts of people and how hard they are to remove. Even if you pretend they don't exist the world and the people around believe it to be attached to that person. That's why this place cut off from the world exists, to shelter you from those memories. The memories that are removed are then stored inside the box. But just as she mentioned earlier, even if someone wants to abandon the memories, they are that person themselves. As such, when that person left they were given a tamatebako. Since the contents were memories they wanted to forget, Otohime made sure to tell them one thing when she gave them the box: "never open it."
Hephaestus opens his comm link again and says he found a similar children's story like that in Tokyo, asking if you've heard of Urashima Taro. He proceeds to explain the story to you about how a man named Urashima Taro saved a turtle from some violent children, who thanked him by taking him to the Dragon Palace where Otohime welcomed him. After the end of a long long banquent, she gave him a box as a souvenir on his way back. But when Urashima Taro returned to land, countless time had passed, and his family and friends were no longer around. In his grief and despair, he opened the box he was told not to open. When he did smoke arose from the box, aging him to death. You comment on how no one he knew was left around and/or comment on it being the story of a bad ending.
Otohime comments on how the story was passed down like that, then says that's the failure incident she's talking about. She supposes everyone who heard the story would think the same thing: why would you give him something so dangerous? Otohime then says that Urashima Taro Stayed Too Long, and even with the regrets he wanted to leave behind there were countless regrets within him. Perhaps when he got back to land and regained his memories, the reintegration caused his body to age. That incident was not one where words could have controlled things, so the Dragon Palace set up the return of the boxes to be voluntary. Forgetting what you want to forget is happiness, and if the goal is to have the most happiness, then people will believe that to be the correct course of actions. Due to that, the boxes nobody were stored in the Dragon Palace indefinitely. Otohime then turns to Yamasachi and tells him that when he left, he didn't want his box. She's just confirmed that his Black Box leaked out of the storage area and caused a distortion of spacetime. It was when one of the external memory drives was used as an intermediary to illegally connect to the Dragon Palace.
Hephaestus goes oh as he figures his connection using the black box caused the connection, and Otohime continues by saying the connection caused a lot of boxes to open up in the virtual world. She performed in front of a lot of visitors, and she says a lot of memories of children's stories should have been leaked. She's sure that was when Yamasachi's memories were broken out too.
Otohime walks over to Yamasachi holding a box, saying she'll put him away again. All other boxes have been recovered after the debugging, and Yamasachi is the only one left. Yamasachi doesn't come up with much in response, and Otohime declares she'll also eject the rest of you since you caused things to happen to begin with. The party is surprised at this, as are you. Otohime addresses you and asks you to hand over Yamasachi (re: that memory), or else she'll use her authority to boot you out by force. She asks you to not resist, as otherwise something might go wrong with the memories like irreversible compression. You ask her what would happen if you did as she said or if you refused to go along.
Otohime says she has to eject you all to guarantee the safety of the Dragon Palace. She does try to assure you by saying it won't hurt or be frightening. Even if you did come here illegally, you're still guests who came to visit. She'll just have you guys forget about everything related to the bugs that shouldn't have happened. You ask if she's telling you to forget about Yamasachi, your meeting with her, and everything else.
Otohime says her role is to put away pain and misery. That was what she was made to do, and she'll do as expected of her. Her face goes blank, and she takes a stance that refuses any more discussion. You either say that you can't get rid of your memories, ask if that means you'll have to fight, or plead with Otohime to stop. Otohime asks if you think of her as a cruel woman, then agrees as she says that's what Otohime Is. She is the woman at the bottom of the sea who toyed with Urashima Taro's destiny, and she is her. That is her role, and that is the raison d'etre she was created for.
Yamasachi speaks up for you guys saying you aren't threatening the Dragon Palace. Otohime is surprised by this, and Yamasachi says you guys came here by accident. If Otohime were to let you guys go, Yamasachi figures you'd leave without a fuss. He also says he no longer has any reason to stay, and he thanks Otohime for letting him be there. He bows deeply to her, and she looks back at him discomfited. Yamasachi pleads with Otohime asking her to let you guys leave. With the bug slimes taken care of, he argues that there's no need to shut you all out.
Otohime relents and says she'll do as asked in regards to you and your friends. However, she tells Yamasachi she'll still box him away since that was what the Dragon Palace was made for. You either try to protest this or ask Yamasachi if this is a deal he's trying to make. In A and B, Yamasachi says he knows what you want to say and says it's okay. In C, Yamasachi tells you he's not planning on making a deal with Otohime. He's just telling her to settle all that needs to be settled, then assures you it's okay as he understands. Either way, Otohime asks Yamasachi to come into the box, but Yamasachi has one answer for her: no.
Otohime is surprised, and Yamasachi says he has something he needs to do, so he can't let himself be holed up here. Otohime asks if he's talking about finding his brother's fish hook and returning it to him. Yamasachi says she's wrong and that he's finally remembered. A moment later he takes it back and says it's more that he had been looking away from something. He wonders what expression Umisachi had on his face when he was looking at him back then.
Yamasachi starts talking about when he was younger, when the world consisted of nothing but mountains and oceans. He was a man of the mountains while his brother was a man of the sea. Next to them was a brilliant ideal, and Yamasachi admits that the ocean was his ideal. He thought it was natural to chase after his brother and one day become him.
Umisachi then told him to do something Yamasachi shouldn't be able to do
with his own power: "go find my fish hook lost at sea." Yamasachi says
he remembers what he said, but he never remembered what expression he
was making back then. He was his only brother, and in his world he and
his brother were the only ones in it. No one ever told Yamasachi to
expand his world and do more than filling his head with everything his
brother said. Yamasachi then says that at that incident, Umisachi was
rejecting him, afraid of him trying to be like himself so he sent him
away. Yamasachi figures that might be why he was sent on a snipe hunt.
Otohime doesn't have a response to what’s been said, and Yamasachi says he was an idiot to not have noticed how much he was wearing his brother down. Anyone would be afraid being harried like that. Yamasachi says he wants to leave while carrying these memories on. He doesn't want to be like he was then, like he was stuck in a small box. Once he met you guys, he learned there are all sorts of people and a whole wide world out there. And also, he doesn't want to just be the little brother who chases down his brother; he wants to be the brother his brother chases after too. He wants to be thought of as important by his brother and swears to become that way. His brother told him to take responsibility, so this is how he'll do it.
The party nods, and Otohime takes note of everyone's determination. You call out Yamasachi's name and/or say you guys will get out of here. Otohime says she understands, and if that's what you guys want there's only one thing left to do. Otohime declares the switching of the security system to anti-illegal connection mode and loading up the defense program. She also declares the removal of the self-preservation limits on her name as the admin program. Charles is shocked by this and tries to ask what she just said, and Otohime's servants pop in to surround the party. Otohime tells you that to stop the security system you'll have to stop her too. If you have the power to overcome sadness, then she challenges you to show it to her. Otherwise she'll take the appropriate steps against you. You either try to talk Otohime out of this, ask Yamasachi if he's ready, or tell everyone to get ready. A gets an extra line where Otohime nods and shows a strong dignified front.
Anyways, Shennong sighs as he says he never thought you were this much of a troublemaker, but he promises to look after you all the way through to the end. Charles agrees that you're a handful for a newbie and that your training is going to take some effort. Algernon giggles to himself about how it's unusual for him to sound so happy while complaining about something, then says he'll record it in his logs. Tiger Man calls this the biggest situation against you guys and the biggest stage, so it's time to move some hearts.
Yamasachi says he's run away and rested enough, so now it's time for him to work just as hard. Hephaestus says he's not sure how far things can go without Talos's support, but tells you things are the same as ever. He tells you to gather enough joy energy to overload the Dragon Palace's receptors. With that much energy, the control program shouldn't be able to hold up against it. Otohime asks if you guys are challenging her to a dance off, saying she'll take you up on that if you want. She asks you guys to keep up with her until the end, and Tiger Man takes note of her expression and realizes something. Otohime asks you all to see the beauty that cannot be captured that is her dance as the episode battle begins. More story happens afterwards.
After the battle, Yamasachi narrates about remembering the time he came to the Dragon Palace. He says he was in pain, but was he the only one suffering? He and his brother were like mirror images of each other, yet all he focused on was his own embarrassment. He was always proud of his brother, but it hurt how he and his brother could do different things. Yamasachi was always focused on himself, but he wonders if the same went for his brother. Someone who's always next to you will bring out your shame. There are things you can't bear with precisely because they're close by.
Yamasachi says he loves his brother and wanted to be him. He wanted what Umisachi had, and always wanted to listen to what he had to say. He wanted to be able to do anything like the brother he was so proud of. But how did Umisachi see all this? He must have been afraid of Yamasachi for wanting everything he had. He must have feared him for trying to replace him, didn't he? Maybe that was why he sent him to look for something he could never find. Maybe that was why he chose not to accept the sword that Yamasachi valued over his own life. Maybe he was trying to say Yamasachi's things belong to him while Umisachi's things belonged to himself. If Yamasachi did find the hook and come back, there was only one way things could have gone. Yamasachi apologizes for being incompetent and says Umisachi must have always known. If things had stayed as they were, the two of them would have one day started to hate each other and kill each other.
Yamasachi starts talking about how according to the beliefs of Takamagahara, there's a history of the siblings who sit at the top deposing one another. Takamagahara is a world that teaches that the Absolute at the top has become the sun and shines upon everyone else. But in the world, there is only room for one Absolute. If a world were to have two suns, they would probably clash until one is sunk. Yamasachi then starts talking about how he loved his brother and how he drove him to a corner. He always thought himself the victim, but he was also at times the aggressor. Maybe it would have been better if they were like the sun and moon, chasing after each other...
Back to the present, Otohime compliments you all for doing well, dancing like so to dodge such powerful attacks. But as much as she recognizes what you've done, the system isn't so flexible. Charles exclaims about how the servants just keep coming even with how many have been shut down, and Tiger Man tells you something is coming when he realizes something's changed with Otohime. Otohime starts announcing the rising of the miracle level and the deployment of the omni-type defense measures. She also raises the output of the security system as she switches over to Dancer Mode.
As the merfolk mobs transform into trooper mobs, the system starts blaring a warning about how its limits have been pushed past 200%. Otohime uses her authority to override the warning, saying she'll permit all risks of damage to the place and continues with what she's doing. Shennong is shocked as he hears this, and the Dragon Palace starts rumbling. When it starts pulling a laser light show you are baffled by this and say there are limits to how crazy things can get.
Hephaestus warns you that it's not just a laser light show as the lights are actually tracking lasers. If the lasers actually catch you then you'll be hit with an unavoidable attack, so he tells you all not to get caught by them. Tiger Man is surprised as he compares the lasers to a net mesh, then apparently gets blasted. Otohime talks about how she is both the Dragon Palace's dancer as well as its weapon. She moves on to put you guys away as she announces the extraction of the memory compression protocol, activating her NP as she opens the box. Multiple boxes materialize around Otohime and open all at once, and each of them fires their attack programs in a bullet hell on the party.
Hephaestus is horrified that the party is losing, but his processing speed is slower than Otohime's so he won't be able to support in time. The virtual machine is also pushing its processing limits, and if it breaks then everyone's minds will be stuck inside forever. Hephaestus starts freaking out as he calls out to you when Talos projects himself to start talking to him, saying he can't give up. There's still an option available because of the fact that 'Talos' is 'Hephaestus.' Hephaestus doesn't understand at first and wonders if his AI got wrecked too. Talos says his avatar is still over there existing as Hephaestus, and Hephaestus starts to understand. He has his reservations against the idea though, but Talos asks him to save you as he is the only one who can. If it's them, then they can pull this off, and he asks Hephaestus to come create the Ideal Summer together with you as the episode half ends.
Gosh! =O
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