Walkthrough: Near Future Chapter

The first choice in the conversation doesn't matter much. Hit the Y button when Akira tells you to. You can read minds this way throughout the chapter by going up to people and pressing Y. Sometimes this can be pretty funny. 8-) After the conversation with Akira, you can talk to the people in the park and read their minds. When you try exiting to the east, you'll be surrounded. Read the mind of the left skull guy and a fight will begin. It's real easy (Matsu is super-strong as of now).

After the fight, read Matsu's mind and hop a ride on his motorcycle. You get to listen to the theme song of this chapter and sing along with the Japanese lyrics even though you have no idea what they mean. Apparently anime lovers actually do this. O_o You'll be dropped off at Chibikko House. For now, just enter.

After Taeko cleans you up, you can explore. You can play the piano in the schoolroom to the north. Taeko is doing laundry in the upper right room. Venture into the bathroom to her left and examine the bathtub faucet to get a ShowerCap. Go back to the main hall and to the lower right. A wrestling match is on TV; talk to Watanabe to get him out of the way. Enter the door facing down to the left of the entrance and talk to Watanabe again. Return to the TV and look at it; Watanabe will come back and give you a FirstAid, then scamper to the lower left. Talk to him one more time to hear about Kaori's turtle (yes, you have to do this).

The Director will now be watching SNN news in the room facing down, right of the entrance. Your next goal, though, is visiting your sister Kaori in the far left room. Talk to her, then read her mind. Exit Chibikko House and return to what I guess we should call the map.

Here, you'll run into members of the Crusader Gang. You can get rid of their robots by destroying the Crusader controlling them, but you won't get any experience or items from them if you do this. Try to get the robots individually. If you run away from battle by Teleporting, you'll end up in one of several spots, like the shower room in Chibikko House, or possibly just the spot where battle started. Also note that whenever you level up, your enemies will change. Your goal is Toei's shop; it's a brown house near the lower left.

Go up to the door (a bathroom) and read the mind of the person inside. Follow him into the staircase below. Walk onto the teleporter from above. Now exit the shop and return to Chibikko House. Go into the far left room and talk to Kaori. Go to the lower left corner of the room and examine it to find a power outlet. Now talk to the walking robot turtle and read its mind to get it to join you! Give it any UpgradeParts you get, and equip it (it can equip the same items as Akira). Now talk to Toei and read his mind.

Head right and Taeko will announce nap time. First go into the bedroom just to your right and talk to Watanabe at the lower left. Next, head into the laundry room at the top right and talk to Taeko, who will leave. Examine the washing machine for a DirectrBoxers. Go into the bathroom and sit on the toilet; Watanabe will enter and give you a WatanabePnts. Keep going on and off the toilet and Watanabe will give you a TaekoJeans, TaekoPants, and TaekoPunch. You'll get slapped, but get back on the toilet one last time for a TaekoPanties. Equip the TaekoPunch on your right arm and TaekoPanties on your body. ^^; Give Taro whatever you used to have.

Now's a good time to get some free healing items! Go back to the park (west of the map). Matsu is running the taiyaki stand here. (Taiyakis are fish-shaped pastries. Akira's menu cursor is a taiyaki.) Anyway, go to the left of Matsu, face down, and press A. You can sell taiyakis to people. There are four people who can show up and four prices you can charge. Each person has two "correct" prices which you'll get a prize for. Every taiyaki you sell will get you a free healing item depending on the price you sold it at. To whit:

100 Yen: Boy, Old Lady; Prize: Taiyaki
300 Yen: Girl, Boy; Prize: BananaCrepe
1000 Yen: Girl, Man; Prize: Konjouyaki
10000 Yen: Man, Old Lady; Prize: Misawayaki

Get at least one of every healing item, then stock up as much as you want, preferably on Konjouyakis (Misawayakis if you can't get 'em) and return to Chibikko House. Kazu (outside) wants a Konjouyaki, and he'll give you a Glove. In the bedroom (second from left facing up), Akki will give you a Misanga for a Taiyaki, Yuki will give a PowerWrist for a Misawayaki, and Watanabe will give you a Cap for a BananaCrepe. Equip everything but the Glove.

Return to Toei's shop. There's a new staircase at the upper left of the room with the busted teleporter. Continue following the stairs all the way down. Talk to Toei and tell him you'll try moving the robot. Follow him all the way back upstairs. Now you have to do an extremely convoluted series of events. O_o Touch the pink statue at the upper right; read the book in front of Toei (get to it from the other side); play the xylophone to the right of that; examine the blue mask near the staircase down; return all the way down to Buriki Daioh (just go near it and Akira will say "Naamu"); go all the way back up and wash your hands at the sink, then go into the bathroom and sit on the toilet. Whew. O_o

Follow Toei out of the room. You can play around with the levers here, but you won't be able to do anything much. Return up to the toilet and you'll end up back on the first floor. You can now talk to Toei and he can refine your items (see list below). He might mess up the refining, but don't worry, you won't lose the item if that happens. ^^; Some of the end products can be random (they're in italics below), so save before refining.

Some good refinements are: WeirdPearl = GoldenGodPin; WeirdPearl = SangoRing = MagicPendant; TaekoPanties = PowerWrist; DirectrBoxrs/WatanabePants = TaekoJeans = LongUnderwear/PunkJacket = RiderBelt = BeastGodShrt; Sweat = TaekoPants/LongUnderwear = RiderBelt (you should be able to get three BeastGodShrts and one RiderBelt from the stuff you got in the toilet scene); Bash = IronFoot; NapalmShot = PlasmaSpark/100VLaser/StunGun = PoisonJet = Lacquer = KintotoGun/AngelBootle = ChickGun. (You should already have a bunch of NapalmShots to use to get several of these accessories, which let Taro use new moves in battle. PoisonJet and AngelBootle aren't accessories, though. Lacquer, ChickGun, KintotoGun, and PlasmaSpark have the best techs.) You can also get PotionNo9s by refining Konjouyakis or Misawayakis.

When you're done refining, head back to Chibikko House. Walk into the house and up a bit and you'll hear a scream. Go back down and read Taeko's mind to start a pathetically easy fight. You'll end up in the warehouse area south of town. Just keep wandering around the boxes and chase after the Crusaders. The first time you see Kazu is at the top left; then when you try to go to the screen south. Just keep following Kazu where he appears for the rest of them. You'll end up in the screen south. Approach Matsu and a fight will start. It's exactly the same as the first fight in the chapter, and Matsu can still whip their asses. 8-) After the fight, read the mind of the only Crusader you can reach, then talk to Matsu, then read his mind.

Return to Chibikko House, enter Kaori's room (far left), then read her mind. Exit the House and head right and into the "facility". This is the big "dungeon" for this chapter. Choose "Nope" when they ask if you have business. You'll start a fight with two Men In Black. 8p They're your main enemy throughout the facility, and they're not particularly hard. Once you beat them, they're beaten for good, unless you exit the Facility. If they appear with other enemies, they're like Crusaders in that the other enemies will disappear if you beat them, but you won't get any experience or items from the other enemies. Also note that if you Teleport from battle in here, you'll just end up where you were when the battle started. One last note: remember to read the minds of anyone who doesn't start a fight with you. 8-)

(Macc tells me that there's a way to get Matsu early on: just squat on the second toilet you come to; this has been confirmed on the GameFAQs LaL board. So, er, yay.)

Continue north to find a room with a secretary. Here you can go two ways: into a big door, or up a one-way conveyor belt. Why they have these things in here, I have no clue. 8-) Go up the conveyor belt. There are two men (not guards) in here. The left door has a toilet; sitting on it causes a guard to enter and fight you (you can have infinite fights this way). Go into the right door and examine the two lockers for a ThrowKnife and HandGrenade. Exit and go back down the conveyor, and enter the big door.

There are now three ways to go: two doors and another conveyor. The doors both lead to the same room, so go in. Pick up another ThrowKnife and HandGrenade in the lockers, then go out and into the conveyor. Head south. There are now *three* ways to go: a door or two conveyor belts. The door is kind of one-way (the wrong way) so first head into the right conveyor belt. The door to your right is another toilet, so go in the door straight across from you. Now head to the right door for three NapalmShots and a PlasmaSpark. Beat the guard blocking the center door and enter for a ThrowKnife and NapalmShot. Go north again for a HandGrenade and 100VLaser, then at the top part of the room for a ThrowKnife, HandGrenade, and 100VLaser. You can read the bookshelves here for some interesting info.

Head out both center doors and back left; go up the conveyor belt to reach a room with two conveyor belts, both going into the room above (hence the "dead end"). Go north to return to the three-way room, and take the left conveyor belt. Fight the guard blocking the door, then go in for another fight with some Crusaders. Beat the robots, then the Crusaders. Matsu will then appear and join you! W00t! Exit to the left.

The enemies here are harder than before, but nothing you shouldn't be able to handle (especially if you have some of those 1337 accessories for Taro). One of the guards running around is a General, who's a bit difficult (high HP), but not too bad; he can drop a Misanga. Enter the first door and read the mind of the lady to start a fight with eight Guards (PlasmaShock/AngryFist is useful). (You can keep reading her mind to repeat this fight if you like.) There's nothing in the lockers or bookcases, though.

Exit and head left. The big door is locked, so beat the guards and enter the leftmost door (another General fight before you go in). Check out the monitors and talk to people and read their minds, then head into the door to the left. There's a man near the bottom left; read his mind to get the ID code for the big door. Return there and examine it; pick the last choice (F49F). Get ready for an extremely difficult battle!

Enter; after the scene, the W1 robot will attack. It has over 900 HP, and very high evade stats. Have Taro use GoldfishShot (you DO have a KintotoGun, right?!) Have Akira keep healing, and... just keep Matsu out of the way; it's highly doubtful he'll survive this battle. ^^; You can have him use HeavyBlow if you like, but it'll miss often. You can use him as a seconday healer if you like. Try to get the robot from the back; he seems to take much more damage that way. If you're lucky, he'll counter with Vaporize, which will instantly kill him. ^^; You'll probably have to use several healing items even besides Akira's healing skills. Having lots of PotionNo9s will be useful; you won't be needing them after this fight.

After the scene, head back to Toei's house and read his mind. Go to the bar north of Chibikko House to meet Matsu; talk to him and read his mind. When you exit the bar, you'll notice there aren't any enemies around. Head back to Chibikko House. Go around the kids and talk to the Director. Go into the house. First head up and left and talk to Taeko. Now, there's exactly one door blocked by a fire. Enter every single other door (including the bathroom and shower room behind the laundry) and the fire will disappear. Now enter (it's the leftmost door facing up) and read Kaori's mind.

After the scene, equip Akira with all of Taro's best accessories (yep, you heard right. This way Cube can use them in the final chapter.) Then read Matsu's mind. After the long scene, you'll be in control of Buriki Daioh! He has over 2000 HP, and these fights are kind of fun. 8-) You *can* lose, though. Keep using HalogenLaser against everyone until you get up to the AngryDragon, at which point you should use BabylonKick. Make your way north to the temple. You'll fight the boss, InkoStatue. It's a bit of luck, but just keep using BabylonKick against him. (if your foot gets hit, use MetalHit. If you're too far away, use JomjomMissile.) That's it! Congrats!

Generally item refinements go from a weak item gradually to stronger ones. You can sometimes find the medium-strength items (though never the strongest ones) as well, but usually you'll have to refine them from weak ones. Items that can be found are in bold. Refinements go from top to bottom. Frequently one or more items can refine to one or more other items.