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

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 continue Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories…

In the process of rescuing someone from a collapsing office building, Yuko Ichikawa had been separated from everyone she had met so far…

I could only assume that the inferno, which used to be a hotel, was empty, as there was a large crowd just watching the blaze. There was a vehicle hanging partway on the footpath and partially through a window, but in a turn-up for the books, it had actually come from inside — it was a showroom called Geirröd. Since it was opposite the fire, I decided to go inside and look for loot.

An angry man, apparently called Kirishima, ranted about a server. The person who appeared to be the manager of Geirröd was trying to reassure him that things were fine, but Kirishima didn’t trust Soma or Nakanishi! Whomever they were.

Kirishima turned to leave, intending to go to the company nearby, and slammed into me, knocking me to the ground. I asked how dare he bump into and speak rudely to me! His reply perplexed me, “Someone who can’t even hold their ground. Is that all you got?”

He stated that he’d get rid of anyone who bothers him before leaving, and the manager came to see if I was alright. He told me that Kirishima ran Vestola, an IT company, based south of Geirröd. Which meant that it was down the blocked road.

Kirishima was, apparently, not a bad person, so it’s only because of stress that his violent side emerged. Since the other options would mean not accepting this guy’s apology, I said that I understood and left. The only thing worthy of note was the toilets at the back, and since I had Slight Need I decided to use them.

I left and went to check out the two police officers — who seemed less than prepared — before a tremor struck. It caused something inside the burning building to explode, blowing the top floors off and showering the street with debris! I heard a large object hit the ground nearby, but since I was ducking down, I didn’t see what it was. As the dust settled, I went around to the side of the street closest to the fire.

There was water pouring out of the smashed window of an Italian restaurant called Angelina — I briefly wondered if it was related to the one from Del Ray — so I walked inside. There was a guy outside selling clothes, but I didn’t have enough money to waste it on a Cowboy outfit.

Two chefs and two waiters sitting around a table, with the owner understandably shaken by losing something she apparently worked hard to create. The waitress kept asking if she could leave, but the sous-chef noticed me and asked what I wanted. I asked if I could pass through, and he said he wouldn’t stop me. The owner stood and told the staff to go home and be safe, and if Angelina reopened, hopefully they would return to their jobs.

Passing through the kitchen and staff office, I followed the hallway around the corner and found a Chef Hat, which I equipped. Exiting through the back door, I found it mostly dry despite the water running out from Angelina. A tremor shook things as I walked, but nothing fell for a change. The alleyway led to a jewellery store which was badly damaged, but intact. In one of the bathrooms, I found and equipped a Surfer Compass, my first one!

One of the doors from the hallway went into the main store, another led me into an office with two other doors. To the side was another entrance to the store, and the one at the back led me to a corpse!

It was presumably the manager, as this was the manager’s office, and though I remained silent, an intense woman, wearing too many rings clearly taken from the open safe she had been raiding, asked if I was there to steal the jewellery. I told her I had no intention of stealing anything, then noticed that she was injured, so I asked her about it. She told me not to make her nervous, then went back into the safe. Curious whether I could grab anything myself, I managed to get the Jewelry Shop Key. Returning to the shop, I unlocked the door, which I hadn’t realised was locked and left.

I was now on the south side of Ajisai Crossing, and the road heading south was clear, so I walked down it to Kakitsubata Main Street. To my surprise, lots of people were walking around a pretty undamaged area. The elevated road appeared to be in one piece, and though many buildings were cracked, none had fallen. At least, there was no debris except for at either end of the road.

The time was 2:17 PM, so it had only been about four hours since the earthquake. Someone with red hair was wondering when the president would arrive, and as I walked past, Kirishima met up with him! How I beat the guy there, I had no idea. The pair went under a shutter and into a building, but I continued along the street.

Someone was sitting on a wall playing acoustic guitar and singing, so I joined a couple who were watching. Someone in a red Hawaiian shirt asked why the singer was being insensitive, singing while everyone was struggling, so I told him it was none of his business. The singer said that she would move along, and the man told her it wasn’t very kawaii of her — which she took offence to, asking if a singer had to be kawaii. He tutted and walked away, so the singer apologised to us and went the opposite direction.

Since I couldn’t see the singer anymore, I walked the way Hawaiian Shirt had. Towards the end of the street were two bus stops and two subway stations, one of which was Akebonoutsugi Station! The person in the black T-shirt had asked me to retrieve something from there, but I put a pin in that for the moment. One of the buses went to Chitosekazura Subcenter, and the other to Hamayu Pier, which I assumed was where the ferry would be.

Also at that end of the street was GZ Burger, a fast food restaurant, which had three employees, all saying that they were closing soon. There were three students downstairs, and three frustrated people upstairs, all waiting to use the occupied bathrooms. I also found a Schoolbag, which had 25 storage spaces, so I swapped to it.

I decided to follow Kirishima, returning to the building and crawling under the shutter. The only thing on the ground floor was a Musical Conductor Compass, so I headed upstairs and followed the hallway to an open office door. Inside was Kirishima and the redhead from earlier. They were talking about how Vestola’s stock price was dropping despite their servers still being up, likely worsened by their rival, Kerberos, spreading rumours about them.

Kirishima asked about those Soma and Nakanishi people he’d mentioned at Geirröd. Soma was in the building, but the redhead hadn’t heard from Nakanishi. Kirishima wondered if Nakanishi had betrayed them to Kerberos, which horrified the redhead. Kirishima told the redhead to find Nakanishi, while he went to get Soma.

Clearly not knowing when to leave, I was right outside when Kirishima exited the office. He definitely remembered me and didn’t seem surprised to see me, just telling me to not move around too much because I was very conspicuous. The redhead — Wakamoto — then asked if I knew the president, but I said that I just happened to be there (the other options seemed to either like or hate Kirishima). Wakamoto told me to come back another time as they were busy.

Still, I checked out the office before entering the open plan office across the hallway. Several employees sat at desks, most confident about the state of Vestola, but I found Soma and two others off to one side, trying to do damage control on all of the rumours which happened shortly after the earthquake. With that, I left the building and headed for the subway…