Let's Play Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Chapter 04 The Shinjuku Underground Labyrinth "Mayohiga" Case

Chapter 04 The Shinjuku Underground Labyrinth "Mayohiga" Case

(Note; The original chapter title is 新宿地下迷宮‟マヨヒガ”事件 Shinjuku Chika Meikyuu "Mayohiga" Jiken. The word Meikyuu refers to a maze, but can also refer to a mystery and is used in the expression Meikyuuiri "to go unsolved.".)

"The incident is taking place opposite that person...let's go!"

There's another Digimedal machine on the way to the Shinjuku underground, but using one that's just out on the street like that is tantamount to sitting at the left seat at an arcade when the right seat has 20 straight wins.

Everyone outside the underground remarks on the strange digitization going on.

 Arata is here too, interested in the Shinjuku incident. He asks if we know anything about this.

The policewoman from the prologue wants us to get off her crime scene. She introduces herself as Date Makiko (伊達真希子 remember that Japanese does not have silent e, so every vowel in Date is pronounced). Before long she starts to recognize Arata as being from some hacker team, and he shoves off with us in tow.

No way but forward! Arata's not going to prison, so into the underground we go!

Is this the real world, or the cyber world? Arata thinks the two worlds must have somehow crossed over, but it's completely beyond his understanding. We certainly can't go back towards that policewoman, so we have to press on. Anything could happen here.

(Arata uses the expression オニが出るか、ジャガ出るか Oni ga deru ka, jaga deru ka. "Will a devil appear, or a snake?" It's sometimes confused for the similar expression "Will a devil appear, or a Buddha?" but the usage is different. Arata's expression is negative, anticipating either one terrible thing or a slightly less terrible one, but the other expression means something good could be possible as well.

About the distinction between "real" and "digital," be aware that I'm trying to keep things consistent by translating references to 電脳世界 dennou sekai as "cyber world" while デジタルワールド dejitaru waarudo becomes "digital world." Arata doesn't know about the digital world that Gabumon talked about, but does know about the cyber world as EDEN. In the text when he says dennou it's written with the forced reading of dejitaru so that we see 電脳 but in parentheses we're supposed to vocalize this as デジタル instead. Arata is thus saying the world "digital" aloud but is not referring to the digital world.)

This area is the Shinjuku ???, our first entry in another type of recurring dungeon. We'll call them labyrinths for now; that's how they're identified on the official soundtrack.

This area's encounters include Gotsumon, DORUmon, Kuramon, Tsumemon and much further on Ankylomon.

Arata asks if we think the Digimon we're encountering are demons or snakes. Digimon appearing means we have to be in cyberspace, but the sensory experience makes him think we have to be in the real world.

Arata brings out his own Digimon, Keramon. Keramon will be serving as our first proper guest party member, taking Arata's orders rather than our own.

As we get further in, Arata wants to know about this Cyber Sleuthing job we have, and what agency it is that we're working for exactly. We get him to drop the subject, and instead Arata elaborates a bit on the "digital wave" effect that he suspects is behind this. He doesn't say much on it though, telling us that we should google it for ourselves.

I finally get to evolve Black Agumon into Black Greymon, whose unique skill is Bit Fire. It only has a base power of 30, but hits up to three targets.

On the second level, Arata finally gets fed up with us! He can't stand not knowing, and wants us to tell him what a Cyber Sleuth is right away. What is it that we know about this case? Who are we working for?!

A familiar scene interrupts us.

Arata says this is the same thing that happened to him at Cron, but when we try to bring up the ghost nearby he doesn't see it before the boy's gone. Arata's getting a terrible feeling about this, and he'd rather not think about it, but what in the world is going on here?

As we go on, Arata realizes we're being followed, and calls our lurker out.

The fearful man introduces himself as Suedou Akemi, a researcher for Kamishiro Enterprize--"a truly terrible company." He explains that this space is a digital phenomenon created by digital waves gathering energy and converting everything into data, including human thoughts. It's part of his research--Suedou likes to think of himself as a Nikola Tesla-kind of guy. More to the point, another subject of his data is the "Eater," and he wants to know if we've seen it. Arata correctly identifies the Eater based on Suedou's description as the nautilus-like program we encountered before.

Spotting our Digimon Captures, Suedou scouts us to help take out the Eater. The Eater is capable of corrupting data and creating dangerous bugs, and defeating it will cause it to stop emitting the digital waves that are holding this space together. Arata really wants to get revenge on the monster, so we agree to help Suedou get rid of it.

To proceed we have to pick up the IC card at the back of this floor, then proceed back to the locked turnstyles to go down deeper. There's also a Shellmon medal hidden off-screen and to the right.

Down these stairs is the corridor to the Eater, with a Digi-lab access point near the middle of it.

Digicode text (highlight to read): "--Hurry and find me."

The ghost appears again, and this time Arata is able to see him before he disappears. Then, in his place...

(Digicode transcribed by Theigno)

...Eater appears.

The old man was telling the truth after all. It's time for the two of us to bring Eater down together.

The Eater is not actually a particularly intimidating boss for this point. The Eater is Free-Null so it has no particular advantages nor disadvantages. I have three Adult-level Digimon going into this, Black Garurumon, Black Greymon and Wizarmon. Arata's Keramon provides damage support with Crazy Giggle and generic Dark-attribute skills. The combined damage from Freezing Fang, Volcanapalm II and Thunder Cloud quickly overwhelms it, and while Eater can still use Erode Device to restore its hit points, the boss in general is very easy to outpace on the damage front. There's nothing super clever about being able to turn out bigger numbers in a four-on-one fight.

The Eater is destroyed in short order, and...

The Shinjuku underground's digitized space vanishes, depositing us back in the real world.

Arata breaks out laughing, saying that between the Eater and our white ghost this has gotten very interesting. It's the best feeling to him, even if this Eater has proven bothersome. Arata gets out of dodge before the policewoman can get him.

...and come to think of it, we should be doing the same!

Back at the office, Kyouko considers our report. She dubs it the Shinjuku Mayohiga case; the Mayohiga is a phantom location in northern Japanese folklore that appears before those that have wandered into another world. It takes the form of a mysteriously vacant house, kept in extremely good condition but with no signs of people living there. The digital world that we've wandered into is much like the spirit world (異界 Reikai, compare to Spirited Away's spirit realm) and it seems we managed to wander across the boundary between the normal and spirit worlds to arrive at such a place.

When we suggest the digital world as an answer to this mystery, Kyouko's surprised that we're familiar with the term. We explain everything that happened during Shiramine Nokia's request. Digimon are not just programs created by humans, but an intelligent form of life that came from this "spirit world." The truth is, Kyouko knew about it when she hired us. The "digital wave abnormality" that Suedou described is at the heart of the incident, since it's the source for the Mayohiga. But before we go on with our investigation, Kyouko has a present for us.

Her latest blend creates a harmony between coffee, yogurt and seaweed boiled in soysauce! We get 1000 CSP for surviving the drink.

"Would you like to save?"