Toggle Background Color
Chapter 92: 7/29-7/30: The Rehabilitation Of Maaku Hamiru
This update covers content from Part 78 of the original LP.
Music: The Days When My Mother Was There (Another Version)
Well, let’s head on out of the Palace.
Come inside—we have much to discuss.
D’okay.
Music: Aria of the Soul
Our master admires the progress of your rehabilitation, and hence has given you use of a special ritual.
Any further questions regarding this ritual can be directed toward our master himself.
He’s apparently gonna consider making even more rituals if your rehabilitation goes as planned. Work hard for it, Inmate!
And so, we (finally) unlock the Gallows, used to boost the level of one of our Personas by sacrificing another. I have no immediate use for this, so I won’t be partaking. Instead…
Strength Rank 6: Part 77
……
What’s wrong, Justine?
Does presiding over the growth of another not feel… familiar? Nostalgic, even?
Huh? We’ve never done this before, though.
Great, Igor foisted off a couple of greenhorns on me…
Stop muttering, Inmate!
I just feel like we’ve been in this situation before. Well, not the rehabilitation part, but the growth at least…
You’re not making any sense! The inmate’s growth is his rehabilitation! Hey, Inmate! You agree with me, right!?
To be fair to Other Twin, I have no idea what the fuck any of you are ever talking about with this “rehabilitation” thing. I know what the word is *supposed* to mean, but the way you’re using it feels really vague and poorly-defined. Maybe “contrition” would be better? No, that kinda loses the prison theming—not that prison has much to do with rehabilitation in the first place, heh. Maybe “penance” would work better. Yeah, that tracks. Sorry, what were we talking about?
I’m going to poke you with my zapping stick now.
Yeah, that’s fair.
That rambling nonsense from Maaku was brought to you by my sudden realization while writing this update that “rehabilitation” likely has a vastly different connotation in Japanese society than in the West. See, Japan has a frankly absurd conviction rate, over 99.8 percent by some estimates, for a few reasons. One of those reasons is a very low prosecution rate, with prosecutors suspending prosecution in 60% of cases and use a simplified process for another 30%, only wanting to pursue the 8% or so of cases that are absolute slam dunks for fear of damaging their reputations with a loss.
Likewise, if you’re being prosecuted, the assumption is that you’re 1000% guilty and the main reason to show your face in court is to show remorse in hopes of getting a reduced sentence. For all the hay people make about Ace Attorney being an absurd parody of the Japanese legal system, the most ridiculous part of it is having a defense attorney willing to actually defend you. By the way, that extends to the judges as well, because they can suffer career penalties for “engaging in acquittals.” *shudder*
Oh, and before you make any assumptions about prosecutors at least only pressing charges when they’re sure they’re correct, the Japanese police are notorious for forcing false confessions by holding suspects for questioning for extremely long periods of up to 23 days without allowing them to talk to their families or lawyers. All this should make Sae’s whole character arc make a lot more sense, if you were unaware previously. The relevant bit in that spiel was the part about “showing remorse”. Granted, I don’t know much about the Japanese language, but what I know about Japanese society tells me that it’s pretty likely that the word “rehabilitation” might here be referring to that concept instead of the more traditional Western one of a sort of “rebirth.”
…Or, at least, I did think that, until I got curious enough to go down a rabbithole wherein I looked up the Japanese characters for “Caroline” (カロリーヌ
and the original Japanese version of “Confidant,” “Coop” (コープ, pasted those into Google until I found a video for this rank of the Strength Confidant, went to a line I knew had the original word “rehabilitation” in it, then searched kanji translations of the word “rehabilitation” on Jisho until I found one that was in the Japanese text for that line. I did find it, but the kanji the game used were 更生, for which the dictionary I was using did not list “reformation” or “contrition” or “penance” or anything like that in its definitions. No, it was all stuff like “rebirth” and “revival” and “reincarnation”, which fits thematically with Megaten as a franchise but seems to completely quash my theory unless they’re using that word connotatively in a sense that I can’t determine without lots of context I have no simple way of obtaining. Which, honestly, could very easily be the case, but I can’t actually tell.
Basically, the last four paragraphs have been a complete waste of time, both yours and mine! That’ll learn me for making myopic assumptions about translating from a foreign language I have no real experience with! Curse the vagaries of communication! For real though, I have no idea what I was thinking. Translation is an art form, and one I am not equipped to tackle for even a single word here.
We are supposed to judge his rehabilitation for ourselves, Caroline…
Our job here is all that matters Justine. No thinky!
I suppose… you are correct...
*sigh* I guess you’re gonna keep worrying about this till the inmate finishes his rehabilitation, huh, Justine? Look what you’ve done, Inmate. Getting us all wrapped up in your fate… Ugh.
……!? Could it be…?
What’s wrong?
…Nothing. But… I believe I am beginning to look forward to seeing whether the inmate can complete his tasks.
You heard her. DON’T disappoint us, Inmate!
I feel like my bond with Caroline and Justine is growing deeper…
*pause*
You only need speak with us once you obtain it. We will be able to tell.
Bring us a Lachesis, you hear!? One that knows Tetraja!
Well, let’s bail for now.
Music: The Days When My Mother Was There (Another Version)
It’s not spacing out, I’m doing important business. In my mind. Yeah.
You really worry me sometimes, man…
Let’s mosey.
Daytime → Evening
Music: Beneath the Mask -Rain-
After all, Medjed is quite different from anyone they’ve gone up against thus far. It seems their best option is to reveal their identities before more people are needlessly harmed.
He really hit us where it hurts… We’re going to beat them, though!
That was fast!
That was fast!
Yeah, I know!
I mean, I already wrote three of ‘em before this, remember?
But I came up with almost all of the sentences…
You don’t gotta mention that!
Smooth, Ryuji…
The real question here nis when we should go to Futaba’s room…
Well, um… I think our leader should decide.
Look who’s the smooth one now…
It really should be up to him though, don’t you think?
Absolutely. We have no choice but to carry this out.
It’s all on you, Maaku!
…There you have it. Sounds like a pretty important task got pushed on you. No point in thinking about it now though. We have to do it. Once you’ve made up your mind, just give the order as usual at the hideout.
Curry time.
Music: Break it Down (Elp Version)
By the way… What was that sticky sauce you added?
LET ME EXPLAIN!
You throw it all together with such gusto. Could it be that the secret ingredient is… confidence?
No.
Maaku gains Guts +1 for an unrelated reason.
Nice! The curry’s smelling good…. This’ll definitely be a hit!
SNARF
We should rest for now. Got a big day tomorrow.
Anon: im staying out of this shit
Daytime
Music: Tokyo Emergency
It seems that the world will be affected by all this… Don’t you think so too?
Heh… A refreshingly honest answer. That kind of innocence is a privilege of the young. At any rate, they’ve made a strong impression on the hearts of the people. If this were a film, the Phantom Thieves got the opening sequence right. Let’s see what’s next.
Can Yellow Owl overcome the curry, or will he explode first? Revive and fight, Phoenix Rangers! Next episode… “When It Comes to Curry, Always Bet on Yellow.”
Music: Tokyo Daylight
There’s one thing we should really check out here before it ends on the first day of August.
There’s a special “Summer Mammoth” lottery at the lotto stand that might reward us with a much better payout. Unfortunately, we can’t savescum it because it doesn’t pay out for a month. Oh well, we’ll have to just remember to show up on August 22nd.
Anyway, let’s head back to the hideout.
Music: Suspicion
Well, I got the calling card, so lemme know when you decide.
This is different from past cases. We’ll be handing the calling card directly to Futaba herself. Once we give it to her, we’ll head straight into her Palace. There won’t be any time for prep work in between, so make sure you’re ready beforehand.
Music: Tokyo Emergency
And that’s gonna do it for this one, because I’ve been busy. I was hoping to make it to the next natural stopping point at the start of the Cognitive Wakaba fight, but I’ll save that for next time.