So how does that sound?
I suppose I could help out that much, anyway.
Excellent! Please do!
2nd Stage: Lv. 2 A happy ending doesn't mean this game is over
Do you really think that'll be
enough to motivate Erika, though?
Oh, don't worry.
I've got other tricks up my sleeve.
Aha...
So that's what you had in mind?
I thought something was afoot.
Y'know, sometimes I'm surprised by
how nasty you can be, Fumiya.
Oh, shut up...
But fine, I get it.
I just need to let Erika know all casual-like, right?
Right. Thanks.
That's everything that needed to be done.
All that's left is for the three arrows I've let fly
to hit their mark according to plan.
That's our Erika!
Wow, a home run!
Girls' Softball
My strategy was a success.
All three arrows scored critical hits.
The final boss has been defeated.
Yuzu Izumi: Conversation: A / Academics: C Sports: B Friendship: A / Effort: B
The first arrow was Izumi.
Classroom / Konno's Motivation Meter / Day/Month
Say, Erika...
Now that I'm captain and all, could you help me out?
We may as well make this fun for everyone.
Konno apparently has a real soft spot for her friends,
...
and here's her pal Izumi asking her to pitch in.
Aoi Hinami: Conversation: S / Academics: S Sports: S / Friendship: A / Effort: S
Next, the second arrow: Hinami.
Gym / Konno's Motivation Meter / Day/Month
Got a second, Mika?
What is it?
Erika's going to be in the game, right?
Usually everyone participates.
Good question. Beats me.
Erika doesn't look like the softball type, after all.
If she's not up to it, tell her she can get by with, like, one pinch-hit.
Then you can leave everything else up to me!
Gym / Konno's Motivation Meter / Day/Month
Erika!
Blah, blah, yadda yadda
Blah, blah, yadda yadda...
Takahiro Mizusawa: Conversation: S Academics: A / Sports: A / Friendship: A / Effort: D
And the third arrow, Mizusawa.
Classroom / Konno's Motivation Meter / Day/Month
Hey, Erika.
Shuji says he's looking forward to the sports tournament.
Yeah, he's one of those athletic guys, y'know?
And girls who are good at sports? Totally his type.
I think this one might actually be the most effective.
I mean...
Way Home / Konno's Motivation Meter / Day/Month
Konno doesn't even know yet that Nakamura and Izumi are dating.
Could be a little distracting, though...
Girls' Softball
I'm going for a home run!
Girls' Softball
"I want to make my friend Izumi happy."
"I don't want Aoi Hinami to look down on me."
"I want Nakamura to find me attractive."
These three wants can all be satisfied by simply
"doing my best in the sports tournament."
In other words...
Erika Konno reaped great rewards for little effort.
Meanwhile,
in the boys' basketball event,
Nakamura and Mizusawa, along with
Tachibana of the basketball club, moved onward to victory.
In fact, Hinami had given me a task for the basketball game as well.
Lay-Up Shots
Lay-up practice.
Stay in a position where you can aim for a basket,
and whenever you get the ball, make the shot.
If you can contribute to a win with that,
you'll gain an in with the athletic types, too,
like Tachibana.
I see...
And so I spent the days before the tournament practicing my lay-ups.
Hinami was kind enough to tag along...
but now I'm watching the game from the bench.
I ended up racking up a flurry of fouls first thing.
You're outta here!
That's Brain for you!
And that's the game!
Victory
Shake it off, Fumiya.
Can it, will you?
Army Boy! Who gets ejected in the first thirty seconds?
You really flopped it out there, Fumin.
Man, that was amazing!
Spare me, Tachibana...
And in the end,
both our teams came in first place,
Congrats to This Year's Winners! / 2-2 / Boys' Basketball: 1st / Girls' Softball: 1st
clinching our class's victory this year.
We're number one!
Fantastic!
Victory hugs!
Everyone's really enjoying themselves.
It's like the entire class had come together as one.
What a wonderful happy ending this was.
But soon enough I would come to learn
that this game of life isn't quite so simple.
It started the day after the sports tournament.
Oops.
Sor-ry.
It's fine.
These little "accidents" kept on happening.
A paper airplane would "accidentally" hit Hirabayashi during a break,
or Konno would "accidentally" bump into her desk.
Then, some days later,
I realized, along with most of my classmates,
that there was clear malicious intent behind it.
I caused all this.
Because it got out that you were dating Nakamura?
Probably.
Lashing out at me or Shuji would be too obvious.
Instead, she went after Hirabayashi.
I probably shouldn't say anything to Erika.
Yeah, maybe so.
I agree.
Yuzu shouldn't say a word to Konno.
You think so?
This harassment is small potatoes.
She can play it all off as purely accidental, and that'll be that.
If we don't want the situation to get worse,
the smartest course of action right now would be to watch silently.
Hey...
Is life really a god-tier game?
What do you mean?
I mean, we've got an irrational negative event with no reason behind it.
There are reasons, all right.
Erika Konno liked Nakamura.
Thanks to our help, Yuzu started going out with Nakamura.
Erika Konno kicked in, and our class won.
Yuzu's relationship with Nakamura became public.
Hirabayashi is a timid girl.
All of those events just fell like dominoes.
What's happening now isn't irrational-- it was practically inevitable.
What do you mean, inevitable?
Are you saying Hirabayashi has to just take her lumps?
Well, yeah.
Hinami...
What's more, I don't personally see the need to help her at this juncture.
I mean, this is the kind of harassment one can solve on one's own.
Just because Hirabayashi doesn't intend to do so--
C'mon, that's going too far!
Look, we haven't seen anything that suggests
Hirabayashi means to solve this problem on her own.
Doesn't that make Hirabayashi herself another reason for Konno's behavior?
So now Hirabayashi is responsible for it?
Erika Konno's methods are cowardly and awful, absolutely.
Konno is in the wrong.
No two ways about that.
But it's the gamer who's gripping the controller,
clearing a path through the situation at hand.
The same goes for life. Isn't that right?
For you and me, maybe!
But to require everyone to be a gamer...
If someone tries to change something themselves
and winds up not being able to solve the problem at hand,
I will help--enthusiastically so.
But if they don't even try to fix things on their own...
I'm not required to help.
That's not my thinking.
I think it's the gamer who's in the right.
And right now, Hirabayashi isn't trying to be a gamer.
I mean, I do intend to do something
if things get any worse.
I see...
Hey, you're not considering doing something about this, are you?
If there's something I can do, I'll do it.
Aha.
Well, proceed carefully, so things don't get worse.
You can go without an assignment for a while.
Got it.
Like, what gives?
I know, right?
For real?
That's what he said!
Too funny!
I was over the moon!
Konno!
How long are you going to do this?
Enough nonsense! Cut it out already!
Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki S2
How long are you going to do this?
Enough nonsense! Cut it out already!
Huh? What are you talking about?
Don't give me that!
Just because Nakamura's taken doesn't mean you can lash out at people!
Huh...
Ooh, Hanabi!
You okay? You're shaking like a leaf.
Shut up!
Ow...
I-I didn't hit you that hard--
You started it.
Uh-oh...
Oops. Sor-ry.
There it was, out in the open, almost too clear-cut:
Erika Konno's maliciousness,
now targeted at Tama.
Konno! You did that on purpose!
Huh? Lay off the assumptions, would you?
What assumptions?!
Besides, I apologized, didn't I?
You know that's not the issue here!
What, you gonna hit me again?
I'm against violence.
Well, I'm not using violence!
You're in the right here, Tama.
You okay, Tama?
I'm fine.
Hanabi...
It's okay.
I'll... I'll do something.
Aoi?
Konno's attacks continued.
She would "accidentally" bump into Tama's desk,
or one of her cronies would "accidentally" knock Tama's chair over;
all of Tama's pencil leads would "accidentally" wind up broken,
or the Konno girls would "accidentally" trash-talk her loud enough in conversation
that Tama could hear it loud and clear.
But unlike when it happened to Hirabayashi...
Konno! I know you kicked my desk again!
...every time Konno hurt Tama, Tama called her out.
Geez, will you stop with the false accusations already?
You did it yesterday, too!
Did you forget that time you used violence against me?
That was an accident!
Huh? No, what I did was an accident.
What you did?
All. On. Purpose.
Stop, Tama! Whoa, girl!
Okay, Hanabi--time to cool off.
Hinami and Mimimi would calm her down so she wouldn't get even more furious.
This pattern repeated itself over several days.
Hanabi really has it rough...
She sure does.
First Hirabayashi, now Hanabi--
it's like she doesn't care who she torments.
Right?
That Natsubayashi is really something else...
I never expected her to keep pushing back on Konno like that, did you?
She's way gutsier than she looks, that's for sure.
Still...
Konno may be terrible, but Natsubayashi gets way too angry.
Not that Natsubayashi is in the wrong here!
Hmm... I wish they'd handle it a little better.
No one wants to see that every dang day.
How many times is it, anyway?
Why even is Natsubayashi still getting so mad?
I get that Konno is terrible, but doesn't she understand
that all this classroom bickering just sours the whole mood?
Well, Natsubayashi never did know how to read a room.
Eventually, the class's mood went all off-kilter.
Hinami was the one who put a stop to it.
She stirred up sympathy for Tama, aimed at the middle-ranking girls.
Mimimi tried to be with Tama as much as possible
whenever we were on break.
She'd hustle Tama out of the classroom, avoiding contact with Konno.
The efforts of these two
kept something truly momentous from taking place.
Sewing Room 2
This Tama thing--
it really went sour, eh?
Yeah...
You and Mimimi have her back for now,
but at this rate, she'll only become more and more isolated.
Right. It can't go on like this.
We have to do something.
Lately it felt like Hinami hadn't been going about things in her usual way.
It's not that her methods were wrong;
she just wasn't the same old Hinami.
Hey, Hinami...
What?
I think helping Tama is the most important thing right now.
More than anything else.
And?
And we could maybe ask her, you know,
to stop striking back at Konno, or...
Absolutely not.
Hanabi is right.
The situation is what's wrong.
Hanabi does not need to change.
Good Suggestion / Bad Rule
This was the exact opposite of what Hinami had been insisting thus far.
If the situation is wrong, we should fight in a way that fits it--
even if it means outwardly distorting ourselves.
That's her policy, the way she racked up all those wins--or it was.
After class, Mimimi asked me to join her and Tama on the way home.
Hinami stayed late for student council work.
Oh! You've got some whipped cream on you, Tama!
Huh? Really?
Don't mind if I do!
Hey! Why'd you eat it?
Mmm, delicious!
She doesn't like that, Mimimi.
What? Sure you do, right?
Of course I don't! Isn't it obvious?
Ack! What a shock!
How did things get to this point?
Bad luck, bad timing...
Tama hasn't even done anything wrong.
Everyone's making her out to be the bad guy...
I hate watching that happen!
Hey, Tomozaki.
Am I doing a good job?
You know: cheering her up?
Yeah.
I think you are.
Tomozaki
At this point, Mimimi's goal must be
for Erika Konno to give in to Tama's resistance.
Hanabi Natsubayashi resists!
Erika Konno take 0 damage
Erika Konno: I'm against violence!
Hanabi Natsubayashi takes 170 damage!!
Minami Nanami: Tama~~!!
Minami Nanami: Mimimi's here ♪
If Konno's harassment stops
Minami Nanami: You okay, Tama?!
Minami Nanami: All patched up ♪
while Mimimi is looking after Tama,
Erika Konno: (...Not funny)
Erika Konno: (Forget this...)
Erika Konno left...
we'd get the good ending.
Hinami was controlling the mood of the class as a whole,
Erika Konno manipulates the mood
The good/bad norm!
Hanabi Natsubayashi takes 170 damage!!
Aoi Hinami: Hanabi...
Aoi Hinami: I'll figure it out...
buying more time.
Aoi Hinami manipulates the mood
If all goes well,
The good/bad norm reverses!
Classmate x6 take 300 damage!!
the mood--the norm for good or bad-- will be flipped on its head,
Erika Konno takes 100 damage!!
Classmate x6 joined the party!!
and she'll start painting Konno as one of the bad ones.
Erika Konno: (...Not funny)
Erika Konno: (Forget this...)
Erika Konno left...
But I have a different strategy in mind.
Fumiya Tomozaki / Hanabi Natsubayashi / Erika Konno
Erika Konno glares steadily
What we need to aim for now
is getting past all this without hurting Tama.
And for that, we can use a tactic that every gamer knows:
Fumiya Tomozaki: (Thinking...)
Retreat.
Fumiya Tomozaki: Tama! We're running!
Tama: !!
The option to take time off school until everything blows over.
Successfully escaped
Sure, it's a little backward.
But it WILL get us to the goal, as "wrong" or dirty as it may be.
NO NAME can't do that, but I can.
That's the nanashi way.
Old AV Room
What did you want?
Well, um...
This thing with Erika Konno and everybody...
You know, Aoi once told me...
She said you're a little bit like me.
You just come out and say what you're thinking.
Yeah... maybe I do.
So what's this about Konno and everybody?
Right.
It must be hard with Konno attacking you and everyone else avoiding you.
And if it is, I wonder if it might be better to remove yourself.
It is hard.
But you know...
I'm fine.
When I remind myself that I'm in the right, I'm fine.
Breaking the Hanabi that believes in things would be worse.
Okay. Then you'll be all right.
I've been playing games on my own all this time.
And all this time, I've been thinking:
The righteousness inside me is more important than how people see me.
Uh-huh. As long as I can be myself,
I can put up with anything.
But you know, Tomozaki...
Minmi's so sad.
And that's why I want to change.
I guess I really am like you.
I just say what I think, and I suck at bending myself to fit.
Actually, I think you've changed a lot lately.
You're better at reading a room, better at fitting in.
You're like me, but you're challenging yourself with your weaknesses.
I didn't think that was possible.
So show me how you do it.
Teach me how to fight, too.