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I've only played Rin's path and most of Shizune's path, but I assume that Hisao receives a letter from Iwanako in every path.

His response to it was quite different in the two paths I've played so far. I don't think these really count as spoilers but I'll just use tags anyway.

In Rin's path, he seems to calmly accept what he sees as Iwanako's purpose in writing the letter (saying goodbye). He writes a brief reply which he doesn't tell us about and is not surprised to receive no more letters.

In Shizune's path,he still intuits the purpose of the letter, but it seems to make him very nervous and he wouldn't have responded if it weren't for Kenji. He says that not receiving a response would "crush" him.

I assume his response is different in each path.

Why the difference?

My rather banal stab at what I've seen isjust that Rin's path gives him more to worry about, making him less likely to be distracted by an intrusion from his old life. Hisao's life in Shizune's path is pretty "normal" so easier to upset.

I'm sure there's a more interesting take on it relating to the changes in personality Hisao undergoes depending on who he spends the most time with.

just posting some more references

In Hanako's Path
Hisao actually keeps the letter! and seek advise from Yuuko. He is even planning how to write back.


In Lilly's Path
Hisao just read and crumple the letter away..


In Emi's Path (if memory serves me right)
Hisao reads and feel that he is no longer bounded by past, and should 'run' and move on.

Snelx wrote:just posting some more references
In Emi's Path (if memory serves me right)
Hisao reads and feel that he is no longer bounded by past, and should 'run' and move on.

In addition (if I'm not mistaken... it has been a few days since I last played Emi's route):
Iwanako's remarks about him "drifting off" and "shutting everyone out" (or something like that) make him realize that the way Emi's acting at that point is the same as how he was struggling to cope with his heart problem in the hospital. I believe it made him understand a bit what she was going through and how he didn't want her to drift off the same way he did.

Each path represents a new way that Hisao comes looks at himself, his condition, and his past. It makes sense that he would draw different wisdom or value from a letter of this gravity based based how his current relationship has changed his outlook on life.

Personally, I think that Iwanako's letter is one of the best fictional devices employed in the game, and is a very good delineator between Hisao's development between paths.

Jakari wrote:Each path represents a new way that Hisao comes looks at himself, his condition, and his past. It makes sense that he would draw different wisdom or value from a letter of this gravity based based how his current relationship has changed his outlook on life.

Personally, I think that Iwanako's letter is one of the best fictional devices employed in the game, and is a very good delineator between Hisao's development between paths.

Exactly. I loved that he handled it differently based on the state of his life and relationship at the time.