振り返り：落とし穴１６２堀～落とし穴１６５堀＋α (Part4)
"Okay, Taiki. You're jumping all over the place. I still don't understand how saving just one heroine is supposed to save the entire town."
The process and the result simply don't connect. It’s like saying 1+1 equals 10 instead of 2. Where on earth is that extra 8 coming from?
"That’s just how the scenario is written. If you don't end up with the heroine, she collapses again on the 18th day and leaves town to seek treatment at a large hospital. Two days later, you hear on the news that a massive gas explosion occurred, resulting in a catastrophe where over half the town's residents were killed or injured."
"That’s absurd. The cause and effect make zero sense. And what kind of gas explosion kills half a town?"
Unless you were carpet-bombing the place, you wouldn't get a result like that. Even if there were a massive gas facility, you wouldn't build residential housing near it in the first place. In other words, even for the sake of a story, it’s nothing more than an incomprehensible situation.
"Well, the news report said that flammable gas had accumulated in the sewer system running beneath the town and ignited."
"If it’s underground, that’s even less reason for the surface to suffer such damage. Besides, an explosion powerful enough to blow the surface away would require something on the scale of a strategic nuke. In that case, everyone on the surface would be dead anyway. That’s some sloppy reporting."
"Well, it is just a game world, after all. Or maybe there’s a secret research lab for strategic nukes buried under the town."
"That’s impossible. That strays too far from the horror genre. If the protagonists' poor health were caused by a nearby nuclear facility, there would be far more victims. The people running the lab would have noticed, and if it got out, it would be a massive scandal."
"Ah, when you put it that way, I suppose you're right. But that’s all the information I have."
In other words, I have almost no reliable intel. If I knew the cause, I’d just storm in and eliminate it, but I can't do that if I don't know what it is.
"Well, if we don't know, it can't be helped. Then we focus on solving each heroine's individual problems. If we do that, the town won't vanish. Whether the protagonist succeeds in 'capturing' a heroine or fails, or collapses from a spiritual affliction, it won't matter."
"That feels like a rather heartless proposal."
"Then you should get involved with the protagonist and help his love life bloom, Taiki. Though, I think there’s nothing more difficult than trying to help someone else find love."
To me, other people's love lives are far more troublesome. I’d bet on solving the supernatural mystery being the more viable path.
"I’m sorry. We’re treated like background characters, so you're right—that’s probably better than running around trying to make a romance work. But are you sure? We’ll be the ones interacting directly with the heroines."
"That is the problem. Can't we just go in ourselves and crush the source of the supernatural phenomenon? Does the person involved—the heroine—have to be there for it to be resolved?"
Still, it’s a common trope that bringing the cursed individual along is a condition for breaking the curse.
"Ah, I honestly don't know. But wouldn't it be more stable to follow the scenario rather than taking a blind gamble? The only difference is that we’ll be the ones accompanying them instead of the protagonist."
"Hmm. The protagonist doesn't have some special power that resolves things, does he? If he does, it might be useless for us to go in his place."
"Oh, no, that’s not it. In the scenario, the protagonist is always just encouraging them or providing support; there’s no mention of him doing anything special."
"I see. Then we just need to go with the heroines. Now, the question is how to call out those four heroines... wait, that reminds me. What happens to the heroines who aren't 'captured'?"
It’s fine if the protagonist gets a happy ending with one heroine. But that leaves the question of what happens to the three who weren't chosen. In a normal dating sim, they’d just go on living their lives as friends, but in this game, the other heroines would presumably be left with their problems unresolved.
Hm? I just realized a problem.
"Hey, do the heroines all share the same problem? Are they all suffering from the same supernatural phenomenon?"
"No. As far as I remember, the content was different for all four. And as for the heroines who aren't captured, they basically don't appear in the scenario afterward. They’re from different classes, or they’re upperclassmen, or the girl next door who’s a childhood friend."
"That’s a rare composition for heroines. Don't they usually keep them all within the school? And there’s no capture target in the same class?"
"Ah, one of them is technically in the same class. Though, her problems are so severe that she’s a shut-in."
"That’s just a scam, then. Is the package illustration of all four standing together just a fantasy?"
"Well, aren't there a lot of things on game packages that are impossible in the actual scenario?"
"I suppose so..."
That happens often enough. But in this case, it just means the problem has ballooned even further.
"Package talk aside, the heroines' problems are all separate, and if you don't capture them, they’re left to their own devices and we don't know what happens to them. Isn't that a bit dangerous? Is there no 'resolution scenario' after capturing all the characters?"
The unease I felt was about the fate of the unchosen heroines. Based on what I’ve heard, the scenario is structured so the protagonist barely interacts with anyone other than his chosen target, leaving the rest in the dark. I asked if there was a resolution arc after clearing everyone, but...
"There wasn't anything like that. Hmm, their fates, huh..."
"If they just moved away like the protagonist because the spiritual affliction was too much, that would be a relief, but if they died, that leaves a very sour aftertaste."
"That’s true. But there was no such scenario..."
"Well, games aren't usually made with scenarios that show such aftermaths. We could just leave them be, but..."
"More importantly, we might get caught up in the town's disappearance, so we can't just ignore it."
"Yeah. Besides, it’s hypocritical, but knowing the ending makes it feel wrong not to act. If this were reality, I’d lead Weed to resolve the issue."
If there’s a problem that could blow up a whole town, it’s only natural that I, as a ruler, have to do something about it.
"...We’re running around just because we happen to know the future, aren't we?"
"It can't be helped. Our survival depends on it."
And so, the basic plan was set. We would save all the heroines not chosen by the protagonist as a safety measure and lead them to a resolution. Then, we would spend the 30 days in peace.
"So, has the story already begun?"
"No, I’m pretty sure the protagonist returns to town on January 4th."
"So the plot is that he gets a girlfriend in 16 days? That’s insane."
"Isn't that how dating sims are? Besides, the setting is that they were already acquaintances, so let’s assume the groundwork was already there."
Tch, this is why I hate dating sim protagonists... Damn, that’s some serious 'protagonist bias' at work.
"Well, let’s consider it a stroke of luck for us. First, we’ll spend today going through every scenario on the computer. We can't afford to miss anything."
"Yes, that goes without saying."
"Then, the second day will be for analysis and checking the locations that appear in the game. We need to see how much of the town matches the game, or where the differences lie."
"That’s important."
"The third day is for searching for the heroines. We should be able to figure out their locations from the game."
And with that, we immediately set out to conquer the game.
...By the way, what was a New Year's holiday again?
Pitfall 164: The Ambiguity of Games
Side: Yuki
"..."
We spent the entire night clearing the 'Town of Twilight' game. And it was a surprisingly passionate scenario—a masterpiece with 300,000 characters and full voice acting.