DMMD re:connect Let's Play! (Part One)
Here is the first part of my DRAMAtical Murder re:connect LP! I have actually never done an LP before, so this is my first so I hope to keep up with this! (And figure out an orderly way to do it...)
I'm going to try to include everything in this game. That being said (and considering the fact that it's a DMMD sequel and a Nitro+CHiRAL game, this is going to be NSFW pretty often. But don't worry: NSFW things will be tagged as such and everything is going under a readmore. I should also put a warning that these posts will be image heavy!
My comments will be written in [[double brackets.] Anything in the game that is not being said aloud will be written in italics. (i.e. Aoba's thoughts, etc.) and dialogue will be written with the Character's Name bolded and their dialogue written "in regular font in quotation marks." If there is a sprite available when they speak, I'll add that too! Pretty straight forward!
[[So I opened up the game, clicked the "start button" (ha ha ha) and it brought me to this screen!]]
[[A super cute change to the original title screen. I'm guessing that clicking on one of the colorful spirals leads you into the various routes so I guess I'll take a shot and click on the dark blue one. I'm going to take a wild guess that it's Ren's.]]
[[Incredible. Let's go into the gray paw on the right first.]]
[[Oh, geez. This seems pretty familiar.]]
Aoba: "Ren...?"
Ren: "..."
Ren: "Grrrrrr..."
Aoba: "-!"
I look up to find Ren, terrified.
His glaring eyes are blood-shot, with his fangs bared with a low growl.
... Like a beast drooling over its prey.
Aoba: "Ah..."
I back away, driven by fear.
Ren closes the distance with one slow step.
... This isn't Ren.
It's because I failed with Scrap...
Did I destroy him?
Ren: "Grahhh!"
Aoba: "...!!!"
Aoba: "... Ren...!"
[[ALRIGHT. Okay. So this is an extension on the bad end in the first DMMD. Gotcha. Let me also note that this next part is actually in Ren's POV. So all of these are Ren's thoughts!]]
In the past...
I was called an 'imaginary friend' by Aoba.
When I was called that, I was a separate fragment of Aoba... Along with the "other Aoba."
The "other Aoba" was Aoba's "Instinct," a special being of desire with no knowledge of good and evil.
Human's all have desire, but their actions are not driven by only that factor.
That's why they all live with their desires suppressed.
I was born as the "Restraint" inside of Aoba.
We were a coexistence with some distinctions, as regular humans have "Reason," "Desire," and "Restraint" kept in equilibrium in their unconsciousness, or perhaps merged as one.
But Aoba was different.
He was born under unique circumstances, and the burden must've been too much for his immature heart and mind.
In order for him to escape the stress, he divided his consciousness into three parts.
With the illusion of having three persons in one, he deceived himself.
Sei also dispersed his consciousness, but that was the only thing he did to escape from the same stress Aoba experienced.
[HOT DADS MY FAV.]
When Aoba met the man he called his father, Nine, when he was given his name, his unstable mind calmed.
Aoba sensed that his father was like him. That may have been why it stabilized.
After that, the "other" Aoba calmed down, and stopped talking to Aoba altogether.
As Aoba's "Reason" began to work, our balance began to form.
But when Nine and Haruka left on a long journey, the balance in Aoba's mind broke again.
As his only support was lost, he found new burdens cast onto him.
The "other" Aoba and I resurfaced.
And the circumstances were a bit different this time.
The "other Aoba..." His instinct began to show in Aoba.
Aoba's "Reason" became utterly powerless.
I tried desperately to tell Aoba to stop, sensing the danger.
But he pretended not to hear my voice.
Aoba was stuck in the middle of the confusion, and went into a period where he holed up in his room.
When Aoba happened to be walking outside in the rain, he picked up a trashed Allmate model on the side of the road.
Aoba: "..."
He must've felt pity for the discarded thing. Maybe it reminded him of himself.
Aoba didn't use Allmates, but he had finally picked one up so he was interested.
At that moment, I thought it was my chance.
I could synchronize with the wavelength of its consciousness when it was registered through an online connection.
Sei had dispersed his consciousness over the net himself, so I thought of sneaking myself into the Allmate when Aoba registered it.
I'd tune in with the programming and it would be possible to physically interact with Aoba as an Allmate.
It went well in the end.
I was able to get off the sidelines inside and curb Aoba on the outside.
Aoba gave the Allmate the name "Ren."
Once, Aoba told me that he thought I was "this massive lump," but it was different.
[[Flashback to Glitter. Good ol' Glitter.]]
Aoba: "When I first held you, I thought you were this massive lump of fluff. You seemed a lot bigger back then."
That was because he recognized me as his "imaginary friend" that felt bigger than him when he was young.
He must've mixed up the Allmate Ren and the "me" that was his imaginary friend.
Aoba's understanding was that the "other him" was something scary lurking deep inside of him.
... But, a short while after that, the "scary being" that the "other" Aoba should've been began to see things go in his direction.
Aoba didn't listen to most of the things I had to say.
But I still guarded him from the worst possible scenario, and I believe becoming his Allmate proved effective.
???: "Hey, ain't it alright? Just once, it's not like there's no girls around."
[[ Edgy&Hip ]]
Aoba: "Hah?"
???: "I've been interested in you lately. You're strong in Rhyme and you're a looker with a pretty cute face."
Aoba: "..."
Aoba: "Fuck off, don't touch me."
???: "-- Ouch, you're cold. Don't you fuck around over there all the time?"
???: "Then just give me a little..."
[[ So then Aoba kicks him. Or hits him??? Attacks him, in some way. I really can't get over how Aoba isn't wearing his poofy jacket. You know, the one he almost got mugged for. 8^| ]]
???: "Ugh!"
Aoba: "I told you to fuck off, so go."
Aoba: "You're wrong that I fuck around. What you're saying..."
???: "Gah!"
Aoba: "I'm only here to satisfy my own sleazy appetites. I've got no interest in screwing around."
???: "-- Ow-- Ouch! Take your fucking foot off of my head!"
Aoba: "If you want me to blast holes through you and mince you up while trying to kill you, I'll be your partner."
Aoba: "Do you want to destroy me? You..."
???: "Hii...!"
Ren: "Aoba, no more."
Aoba: "...Ah?"
Ren: "That's enough. You should just leave him like that."
Aoba: "..."
Aoba: "... Tsk."
???: "-- Fuck!"
???: "You're fucked up... Fucking crazy!"
Aoba: "... Hmph."
Aoba: "I don't want to be told if I'm fucked up or not from a piece of shit like you."
Ren: "Aoba..."
Aoba: "You like to stop me when it gets good, don't you, Ren. It would've been so much fun to hit him with that."
Ren: "You should stop picking meaningless fights."
Aoba: "Yeah, yeah. There's no meaning in a fight."
Aoba: "Haha!"
Ren: "..."
... After that.
After Aoba had that incident in Rhyme, his mind was forcibly compromised, erasing all his memories from the event.
It was possible that I remembered while Aoba didn't, but the influence was so strong that I lost memory of it as well.
And I even forgot that I was actually a fragment of Aoba's personality.
After that, I lived thinking that I really was the Allmate, Ren.
... Because of the worm I caught in a Drive-By, all of my original memories came back.
I remembered everything. Not just my memories.
I remembered... This impossible feeling even if I was an Allmate or a fragment of Aoba's mind.
I loved Aoba.
I was originally Aoba.
So holding affections for myself was an indescribable, curious phenomenon.
It was chaos, something I'd never felt before.
And I wasn't able to comprehend what happened to my body then.
But still, emotion was a frightening thing.
To a startling degree, the feeling that "I love Aoba" swelled inside of me.
All of the memories of his face, his body, his words...
All of it ran through me, and my feelings for Aoba grew even stronger.
Maybe it was because of the virus, or it may have always been like this and I'd only ignored it.
The answer is both of those things.
There was no doubt that I had a bug, but the time I spent with Aoba up until then became irreplaceable.
It was an obvious thing.
In order to protect Aoba... I was born for that purpose.
And I wanted nothing in return.
I didn't have any awareness of it at first, but I had truly been watching nothing but Aoba from the beginning.
I wanted to protect him.
But I couldn't connect to him like this.
[[ EEYY THEY DID THE THING. ]]
Being tossed around by these conflicting emotions, I was surprised to have the consciousness-- the feelings-- of a human.
When it began with a single puff, I couldn't stop it.
None of my controls worked.
Was there a person inside of me?
At the same time, my thoughts on the "other" Aoba began to change with my awakened emotions.
It's not that I feel hostile against instinct... The "other" Aoba.
I hold the duty of restraining that instinct, and that alone.
But the moment I understood emotion, I understood what "Instinct" wanted from Aoba.
"Instinct..." He was lonely.
Aoba treated him like an enemy.
The truth is that "Instinct" was made to protect Aoba too.
He was treated as something evil, and was restrained by me in the end.
He didn't wake up with as strong of a presence as mine, but still...
He wanted to return to Aoba, wanted Aoba to recognize him, and was lonely.
Instincts and desire... Are parts of Aoba.
My feelings for Aoba are different, but I understood those of "Instinct."
Because I was once again separate from Aoba.
Yes. Even if I have a will of my own, I am still a part of Aoba.
I'm not human, so I can't do anything even if I yearn for him.
It was a mistake for me to have ever had these feelings.
These feelings are a punishment.
So I have to kill them off.
If I do, I can fulfill my duty.
I'd become a contradiction, a part of Aoba that wants him.
These are feelings that can never come true.
If they don't disappear soon...
... But.
The more I tried to get rid of them, the more I thought about Aoba.