"Can You Open Your Heart?" - a Rika pseudo-route

[Rikabro]

I wish you changed either of these to "Magnum Opus" instead.

I'm glad that had such an impact on you. Yeah, I wanted to show Hisao getting a little crazy and weird with some of the philosophical mumbo-jumbo because that's what Rika has been filling his head with, after all. I'm glad it put you on guard. To me that means it was convincing.

The title "Magnum Opus" was supposed to refer to Takashi's motivation in trying to find a great wildlife photo, and Rika's "circus-performer" accomplishment of taming the bear lion-tamer style. In hindsight maybe it's not such a great title because it sounds like I'm saying "you guys are gonna love this, it's totally killer."

It was somewhat surprising to see the dumbass that is Hisao suddenly become this great philosopher with an existential crisis, but without any near death experiences of my own I can't say whether or not that could even be plausible.

He gets that way in a few of the in-game routes, too, though definitely not to the extent that I push it. Rin's especially. It's supposed to be Lessons from Rika + Near-Death Experience = Head Asplode. I remember thinking stuff like he's thinking when I was his age. He may not be a good student anymore but Hisao's still a smart kid when he sits down and puts stuff together. Just kind of an absent-minded professor type. At least that's what I got from him while playing KS. Ranging anywhere from insightful to smooth to completely idiotic. Just like real people.

Thanks for reading, you guys! The responses mean a lot.

[nemz]

Well, that's novel. Haven't seen Hisao initiate the breakup before.

Depends on how you qualify that. He intentionally friend-zoned Hanako in one ending, though it's debatable if there was a relationship to breakup at that point. The confrontation with Lilly at the Shanghai sure felt like him pushing her to just make the breakup he expected official, so in a way that feels like he's the one who did the dumping, though with the chance to reconnect. The unavoidable argument with Rin also qualifies in the neutral/good ending route, though you have a chance to get back together later.

It's a pity, really; I think he had a shot at reaching her here. Maybe he'll do that with the other choice? But if he does, how will he take care of himself?

See, that was my conundrum as well. Supporting her earlier made sense, but in the current context I wasn't sure if it wasn't time to cash in that trust and tell her for both your sakes that she's gone a bit too far. Still, looks like the typical Hisao takes things way further than you expected from the working of the choice problem is in full effect, as telling Emi you're still concerned about your health doesn't absolutely require breaking up with Rika. I guess I can't complain though, as that's how the game felt sometimes too and it would be unrealistic to expect so much latitude from the author.

[bradpara]

Awesome as always, so I take it the "Defend" option is going to be the "Good" Ending

[andros414]

The "Comfort Emi" options makes me want an Emi-ending for an epilogue, like the whole story with Rika was a detour before getting Emi's route in the game. *Proceeds to play through Emi's route again.*

For the "Defend Rika" route, I hope Hisao doesn't go into Pure Asshat Mode towards Emi. She really is just trying to look out for him.

[Guest]

You know, something inside me wants that to be the good end. Well, not good end, but best that we are likely to get end.

Rika just doesnt seem like a happy end sort of girl.

[The O.H.L.]

Please with the story paths, don't take them to the extreme like the game does. It would ruin the story for me.
Please just don't make him go uber aggressively towards the other character.

[Mirage_GSM]

Well, if Rika is still not willing to listen to him at this point, this is going to be the best end he's going to get.
Defending her at this point is the equivalent of mounting a ghost train enroute to a canyon.

[Guestimate]

For some reason I feel that this doesn't even have to be the end. I mean, they're both pretty sure they love the other, with a block or two in the way. I figure after this they both wallow in self-pity for a bit until Miki or someone snaps them out of it.

[DaGarver]

Well, if Rika is still not willing to listen to him at this point, this is going to be the best end he's going to get.
Defending her at this point is the equivalent of mounting a ghost train enroute to a canyon.

Isn't she like Emi, in that regard? Emi has the potential to pull a fast one on you by kicking you out of her house (seemingly bad end) and then breaking down to trust you a week later.

[Titus]

You did it again This is another amazing continuation of the last one! I'm liking this more than some actual KS routes inb4 banned. It looks like Act 4 is gonna close soon, gonna miss your writing OP.

I really do hope Hisao in the [Defend Rika] choice doesn't act like a dick to Emi. Parts of [Comfort Emi], like Hisao realizing that being a cynical jerk to the people that try to be there for him is wrong, and it's actually one of his biggest issues in KS. His friends abandoned after a few weeks (Hisao could have pushed them away too a bit but that's another topic) which led to Hisao developing trust issues later that are solved by friendship and romance. Now that Hisao has new friends the last thing he should do is scorn them for whatever childish and selfish reason he can come up with. Though I only partly understand Rika's reasons, the school thinks she's partly responsible (or wholly) for Shin's death and her stance on death may make people want to avoid her. Yet those that try anyway seem to fail nonetheless, except for Miki. That one's a miracle or something, and before the camping trip I understood it that Rika didn't bother to communicate much with Miki beyond exercise.

Next, Hisao once again says the truth but the truth always takes it too far for Rika to handle. I speculated right, Rika was using Hisao to fill up the hole her dead ex left in her heart. So for both of them to move forward, it's actually Rika that needs to let go of her old ex, Shin.

Rika needs to change more than Hisao for one more reason, the Rika we know now is the same that Shin knew. Clearly, the past is repeating itself again and will end up with the same result for Hisao this time. But Rika is so stubborn and here she's using Iwanako and Shin as leverage. One time she compares herself to Iwanako (feel sorry for me!) and the next she uses Shin (my ex died and everyone thinks it was me that caused it!). If Rika compares herself to Iwanako, then YES Rika you're implying you caused the heart attack that killed Shin. For all we know Rika probably did.

And Rika wants forgiveness for letting it happen again to Hisao? The fuck!? Rika is a stubborn character, cannot debate that. Anytime Hisao lays down the law it's tantamount to a breakup to her, what the fuck will it take? "I-love-you-but-this-shit-needs-to-stop".

Lastly, Rika brought Iwanako up almost casually or as a guilt weapon, but when Hisao says something about her dead ex. BOOM OH HOW COULD YOU. Augh.

[Dick-Butt]

It seems like the drama and conversations in this last part don't necessarily match up with the preceding events. I mean, Hisao could have just as easily said "No, Emi, you're wrong, because I do actually care, I was just a retard and lost my ration of meds for the weekend, not trying to kill myself because Rika wants to live on the edge. Also, she split half her pills with me and I thought we'd be alright to fuck without my heart exploding but I was wrong, sorry about that."

I mean, the comforting Emi stuff here seems to indicate that somewhere along the line Hisao fell into Rika's fatalistic woe-is-me mindset but it never seemed to be very well indicated to me this was the case, so I didn't really get it. It seemed that he had come to enjoy Rika's company but not that he had adapted her thinking. The only thoughts that did align with Rika's fatalism were like right during and following the heart attack, but that's not so surprising because he was, ya know, dying!

Also the stuff about Rika trying to use Hisao as a replacement for previous nameless dead kid would have been relevant to bring up at any point, so I don't know why it comes up now. I guess because just nearly dying might put someone into no-bullshit-mode.

[Silentcook]

Considering that there's no further writing yet and that author comments don't say anything concerning that either, you're all being awfully sure that scene 11 isn't going to continue into scene 12.

I know this would be the time I'd choose to strike, myself.

[Exbando]

I'm hoping this will turn out to be the good end. Things can still work out for Rika and Hisao, but only if Rika gets her act together (I think, anyway).

I also hope that Hisao isn't an asshole when the Defend Rika path comes up. Emi doesn't deserve that.

[Mirage_GSM]

Considering that there's no further writing yet and that author comments don't say anything concerning that either, you're all being awfully sure that scene 11 isn't going to continue into scene 12.

I know this would be the time I'd choose to strike, myself.

Actually, I do hope this branch is going to continue. For any kind of good end something like this HAS to happen. Kind of like in Rin's path...

[Bagheera]

Actually, I do hope this branch is going to continue. For any kind of good end something like this HAS to happen. Kind of like in Rin's path...

That's a really good point. This would also address the issue NemZ and I alluded to above; if he defends Rika and goes off on Emi I can easily see that leading to a bad end, as he continues to enable her behavior and lets her drag them both down. But by confronting her like this, forcing her to get help, and then possibly reconnecting with her later he has a chance to pull things together for both of them (with Emi and Miki providing strong support all the while). At this point I think that would be my preferred end.