Disaster Report Diaries (Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories) Part Fifteen

This is my exploration of the Disaster Report series, where I will chronicle my playthrough like a text-based Let’s Play. Now let’s complete Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories…

Weeks had passed since Yuko Ichikawa had made her second post-disaster visit to Hisui City, then been tasked with finding a missing teenager, and exposing a crooked CEO…

Arriving in Suiren Park on Day 209 (February) after the earthquake hit, it was about 12:00 PM when I got off the bus. I really wanted to find Hiroko and get her home this time; it had literally been about eight weeks that she had been missing for.

In the park, I found Masaki Sudo (AKA Keith Helm), who kind of remembered asking me for directions. We introduced ourselves properly, and we wound up talking about Natsumi Higa. He hadn’t visited before December as he was in another country for the City Times, which owned Weekly Magazine. When I mentioned Ryoko Honda and what she’d asked of me, he didn’t seem a fan of hers and said to stay away from her.

Masaki told me that he was working on a story about Snake Snake, the human traffickers, then left. Speaking of whom, Tomoya Kazama was standing not 10 metres away, talking to the guy who dropped his lunch that first day. From what I overheard, Tomoya expected the guy (Kawamura) to do something that the older gentleman wouldn’t or couldn’t. When Tomoya left, I asked if they knew one another, and he confirmed that they worked together. I was a little surprised that you can be laid off as a human trafficker, but he told me to take care and then left.

Since I was hungry, I ate the four-week-old GZ Burger, which was still in my pocket, but that made me thirsty… Regardless, I changed my outfit (it was no longer Christmas) and headed over to the clothing store, where Akemi stopped me at the front door, thanking me for the delivery two months prior. She gave me Valentine’s Chocolates and asked what I was up to, so I told her about Hiroko.

Akemi directed me towards Azami Station, as that was a place where teens congregated, but first I nipped upstairs to see the depressed woman — she was doing much better, it seemed. So, I went across the road to Glintir Inc. and asked for a meeting with Tomoya Kazama, but was told he was working remotely. Also, Kawamura had retired, so he must have worked there and not for Snake Snake.

Curiously, the receptionist also offered to buy things from me, so I sold the Chef Whites and Fast Food Worker Uniform for 18,000 yen. But then it was time to catch the Azami Station bus to look for Hiroko.

There were dozens of people to speak to, but nobody had much of interest to say, until I bumped into Danny! I thought that he was dead! I asked how he was doing, and he confirmed that he was safe, though homeless, as his apartment in Housenka Shopping Street had burned down. He also said that the university was still in disarray, and he refused to get his country’s embassy to send him home until he had achieved his goals. I gave him a hug and let him cry against me, then he called me his truest friend and left.

Since the train station hadn’t yet reopened, the only place I could think to look for Hiroko was in the White Coats’ base. I had a bad feeling as I went to open the door — they had tried to kill me — but to my surprise, it was now a maid café?

I was greeted by a server who wanted to put some rabbit ears on my head, which I happily accepted. I asked if Hiroko worked there, but she denied it — I was worried that the teen was likely broke by now. The server asked what I would like to order, so I splashed out on the Mr. Mousey omurice at 1,780 yen.

After eating, I overheard two maids talking about “the awful” customer not visiting. He worked at Vestola, but quit and hadn’t found a job since. Instead, he spent his days visiting the café and sitting in front of the nearby Pachiko statue while wearing his rabbit ear headband.

I headed to the back office and was surprised to find Kouda Yoshimi, formerly of the Angelina restaurant. She was the manager, as the previous person in charge had just decided to promote her and leave one day. On top of the large safe was a Leather Backpack with 34 storage spaces, which I gladly equipped, and an Omurice Compass sat on the coffee table, which I also equipped.

Once outside, I went over to the statue and found the guy in the rabbit ears. I couldn’t remember if I bought his Vestola stock or not, but I greeted him as if I had. He said that I’d probably made some money off of that, and I admitted to not liking Kirishima, which seemed to prompt him. He was the General Manager of General Affairs, and all set to defect to Kerberos (Vestola’s rival), and had been behind the rumours spread during the earthquake.

The guy was annoyed that Kirishima had come out of it all on the other side, and I agreed that it was fishy. So, he pointed me towards a person named Kuramoto, from Kerberos, and suggested giving them their favourite food. Whatever that might have been.

It was 2:41 PM, and I had no other leads to pursue, so I headed back to the bus stop, this time headed for Kakitsubata Main Street, to see if I could meet with Kuramoto. The ride took about half an hour, and when I got off, I was honestly more concerned with finding traces of Hiroko than working out what the deal with Vestola was.

Since I needed a drink and the bathroom, I went into the nearby Smile 12&12 convenience store. I wasn’t expecting to find Fake Manager Kumazawa inside! He didn’t save my life in this save, however, so when he remembered me, I told him that he overcharged me during the earthquake. He asked me if I was sure, then showed me what he had for sale and was overcharging me again! I bought a Bottle of Orange Juice for 8,000 yen (normal price 150 yen), then drank it and visited the bathroom.

I went down the street and found Ryoko Honda leaving the Kerberos building while shouting at it. It seemed that she had been escorted out, unable to find out anything about Vestola. She asked if I’d found anything, and remembering that she’d promised a reward, I handed over what I knew. But got no reward.

Instead, she told me to meet her at Vestola after I’d finished at Kerberos. First, however, I chatted with the locals and attempted to get through the gate to the other side of the road. It was locked, so I figured that I’d need to speak to the receptionist at Kerberos for the key again.

Once inside the building, I headed up to the reception desk, and they recognised me! I confirmed that I’d borrowed the key before, and asked to borrow it again. She agreed, so long as I would wear a Construction Helmet. In the president’s office, I found a POW Armor Compass, and in one of the meeting rooms, someone confided in me that they wanted to go shopping with the receptionist, Kuramoto.

Having completely forgotten that I needed to speak to Kuramoto, I went down and unlocked the gate, then checked out the other side of the road. Someone was pretending to lean on a car exactly where a car had been in July, a civilian was standing next to a police car pretending to be a detective, and someone was selling a police woman’s clothes and hat. I found a Firewood Backpack, but I hadn’t been filling my current one, so I didn’t swap over.

At the bus stop was the president of Kerberos, but he didn’t really have anything to say and seemed in a bit of a mood. So, I headed back to Kerberos to return the key, only to remember that I had to talk to Kuramoto. I tried to get information about Kirishima out of her, but she refused. Her stomach growled, and she apologised, but when I asked her about it, she said I couldn’t butter her up with food, as she only ate expensive chocolates in the daytime.

Having eaten a four-week old burger earlier, I couldn’t really complain about her dietary choices, but I did have the expensive Valentine’s Chocolates from Akemi. So, I handed those over, and Kuramoto agreed to tell me everything if I could guess the initials of her ex-boyfriend. She gave me a hint: “It’s the seventh and second letter, in that order.”

No, she didn’t mean letters of the alphabet. She meant letters of this very videogame’s title, so the answer was E and I. There had been meta things before this, but never ones that solved puzzles…

Kuramoto spilled all of the gory details — alleged details — and it was so bad that the game literally said it was too disturbing to let us know. Now that I knew everything, she asked me to work for her when she started her own business, so I swore loyalty, then left.

I still had no idea where Hiroko was, so I headed back to Smile 12&12 and spoke to Kumazawa, and wondered why I was considering his prices. However, I did ask him about Hiroko, and he said that he knew someone with a crush on a person matching her description. When I asked who this Masao character was, Kumazawa demanded 100,000 yen before he’d tell me. I still had 170,440 yen, but when I offered to pay in instalments, he took the full 100,000.

Masao worked at another convenience store, and Kumazawa was fairly certain that Hiroko went there. It was by the canal in Akebonoutsugi, but before I could go there, I had apparently agreed to meet with Ryoko at Vestola.

I took the bus back to Kakitsubata Main Street and met Ryoko outside. I asked for my reward before I’d give her the information, and she kind of threatened me, then didn’t even give me anything before I told her… She was overjoyed and we entered, heading straight to Kirishima’s office, where Ryoko introduced herself, then confronted him with all of the information.

Ryoko said that she’d be writing an article about these inconvenient truths, but Kirishima vowed Vestola would not fall! I didn’t get to brag that he was the one who had declared me his enemy, and if he hadn’t done that, I’d have been more on his side, before he stormed off and we left.

Outside, Ryoko thanked me (again without a reward) and asked what I’d do now. She likely didn’t know anything helpful about Hiroko, so I mentioned Tomoya to her. To my surprise, she pulled out a copy of Weekly City News, February ◯ Issue out of her bag, saying that Tomoya was in an article inside!

I headed for the canal in Akebonoutsugi, as per Kumazawa’s information, and it made me think of Kanae Tomita. I quickly read the magazine, and found out that the Tomoya I had met was actually Keith, member of Snake Snake, who had been surgically altered to look like the real Tomoya, who was actually in Country L at the time. A simple explanation!

Inside the Smile 12&12, I found a customer reading a magazine about Disaster Report 5, and in the staff room, I picked up a T-shirt & Overall Shorts outfit. Behind the counter, I spoke to the cashier, asking if she knew Hiroko, but when she said no, I asked where Masao was.

In the stock room, I found a Ballerina Compass and Masao. After confirming his name, I asked if Hiroko had been in, but he said no. However, she worked nearby, at a “company along the canal”. It was actually the one across the street, where I had received a letter and thousands of yen back in July.

I spoke to the company’s new president, Tomie, the daughter of the old president, who confirmed Hiroko worked there, but had been sent home as she felt unwell. Since she hadn’t made it to the store, I went along the promenade and spotted three people at the far end.

Hiroko was cowering on the ground in front of what I recognised as the two men who had tied up Kanae and I in the metro station! Worse, they were the two who Miki Kinoshita had warned me about and had attacked Yayoi Kasahara! The memory of my friend’s attack gave me the strength to beat them both up, in a 2D fighting genre style. This included fireballs in the shape of slices of cake. Yes, really.

The two ran off, only to be caught by police officers before they left the promenade. I was about to speak to Hiroko when Hidemi Shimizu’s voice called out to her. She and Eri Akasaka were running towards us (weird that the police didn’t want a statement), and Eri held her former victim. Apparently, they had become friends since Natsumi Higa’s death, much to Hiroko’s surprise, and didn’t she blame Eri for cutting her hair while she slept…?

The three wandered off without a word to me, and I was left to look out over the canal while the ending song played, and I wondered how Yayoi was doing…

As if to answer that question, the final thing I did in Hisui City was visit Geirröd, where the manager handed me a letter from Yayoi! She didn’t know my address, so hoped I’d get it from there. I opened it eagerly, and read it while the credits ran. She thanked me for my help, apologised for not thanking me properly (twice), and told me that she’d finally got herself a job after a bout of depression. She finished with a photo and her contact information, hoping that we’d meet again…

Oh, by the way, this game has a VR mode and I have a VR headset, so there’s more to come!