Review Time:
Demdrops - Poor Osaka indeed.
James Birdsong - Thanks!
Chapter 40 - Professor Layton and the Curious Village
One night at the Kasuga house, Osaka was picking at her vegetables. To say she had been very anxious over entrance exams and graduating was an understatement, but she was dealing with her in her Osakan way.
"Ayumu….what are ya doing?"
"Hm?" She looked at her father. "Aw, just not very hungry."
"Ya struggling with those practice exams?"
Osaka looked at her feet. "Not as much as ah used to. But ah want to help two of mah friends with them. Ya see…." She then raised her head dramatically. "Ah'm done being a Bonehead!"
Bonehead….? Both of her parents looked at each other.
THUNK
"Yipee! It finally came!" Osaka got up and raced to the front door, where a package was waiting for her. Eagerly, she opened it up.
"Um, Ayumu, what is it?"
"Ah ordered somethin' from Uncle Sojiro's shop." It was a special device….
"WHOA! So we can hook up your DS to your computer! That's awesome Osaka!"
The other two "Boneheads" were marveling at the capture card Osaka had ordered. But the shorter girl took it from Tomo's hand, face oddly serious.
"Listen….Chiyo's been helpin' all of us. And we're still the three lowest grades in the class! Dunno about y'all but I'm done being a loser!"
"Where's this coming from, Osaka?" Kagura wondered. "I mean, we're not going to beat Yomi or Chiyo, so why go through all this steam?"
"If ya wanna be a swimmer, would ya settle for second place?"
"No….."
"And if ya wanna be Interpol, you'd settle for catching the…..um….." Osaka tried to finish her sentence. "Do you get me, Tomo-chan?"
"Osaka, I've never gotten you. But it sounds like you have a plan and I'm in! Let's ace those exams!"
"Good! There's one game that'll teach us all we need to know…." Suddenly she blinked. "Oh….uh….I told Ma and Pa this was for school. So we have to go to my house. And they'll be watchin…."
"WHAT?!" "WHAT?!"
The three Boneheads faced an uphill battle….
Chiyo, Yomi, and Kaorin were the other three that made their way to Osaka's house. But when Chiyo knocked on the door, Tomo and Kagura pulled them inside roughly.
"Hey!" Soon they were on the living room floor, in front of Osaka's PC.
"Listen girls, Osaka's got a game filled with puzzles that's bound to raise our exam grades! So we need your hel-" Kagura stared at Kaorin. "You're not Sakaki."
"Eh?! M-Miss S-Sakaki had something to do…."
"NO! We need Miss Sakaki to help us!" Tomo handed Kaorin the phone. "Quick, dial her!"
"Stop it Tomo!" Chiyo exclaimed. "We can work together on this, with Kaorin's help. She's our friend. (She missed the fact that Kaorin was depressed over not knowing Sakaki's phone number). "What are we playing?"
Osaka came in the room with tea for everyone. Behind her, her parents watched from the doorway, so she was visibly nervous.
"F-Figured you'd like this one, Chiyo….I thought about you when I picked it!"
Professor Layton and the Curious Village
"Ohhhh I know this one," Yomi said. "Yeah, there's a lot of puzzles in this. But….you realize this isn't a substitute for practice exams, right?"
Sensing her parents' disapproval behind her, Osaka gulped.
"Ah know. But we've played so many games while stu-in between studying….this'll combine them together, so we can focus a lot more."
Chiyo decided to play the part. "Then let's make this more interesting. I'll be the proctor." She pulled out a math workbook. "Every puzzle someone gets right, the others have to do a problem. If I get it right first, we all have to do a problem, including me!"
"What?! Chiyo, you're…..challenging us Boneheads! We….we can't beat you!"
She giggled. "If you try hard enough, you can! We can put the three of your points together!" Now both Osakan parents were satisfied.
"What's this game about?" Kaorin wondered. After Osaka finished setting up, she turned on her DS….and the display came on the larger PC screen.
XXX
A tophatted gentleman, Hershel Layton, was traveling to a village with his apprentice, Luke. In said village, a Baron Reinhold had died, leaving his estate to whoever could find the Golden Apple. The wife of the fallen baron had requested Layton's help due to his archaeological prowess.
St. Mystere was the location.
"What the….?!"
But Luke couldn't decipher the map. Layton deduced it was a test to see if they could find their way, leading into the first puzzle:
001 - Where's the Village?
10/10 Picocrats
"Oh crap…."
The top screen explained the puzzle; according to the lady's own writings, the house was "on a road that leads to no other village". The bottom screen was the diagraham with twisting roads and houses. The answer had to be circled.
"Wait what are picocrats?" Kagura asked Osaka.
"Uhh….the points ya get for prizes. When ya use a hint…..ya lose some."
Together the three Boneheads thought carefully, but within 5 seconds Chiyo circled the correct house.
"NO FAIR CHIYO!"
"CHEATER!"
"AH LOST!"
Chiyo giggled. "That's 1 point for me! Let's all do a problem now!"
"That's it, Chiyo! We're gonna ace ALL of the other puzzles and we'll show you!"
Osaka's parents seemed satisfied. If their daughter was against this smart girl, surely she'd have to do problems every other minute?
Arriving at the village, Layton and Luke encountered the bridgegoer, Franco. At first he refused to let them in, but Layton explained the nature of their visit. Unforunately, the bridge could only be turned by crank. What was the right one?
002 - The Crank and the Slot
Three crank slots were on the bottom: A, B, and C.
"Quick Tomo! Let's answer before Chiyo gets it!"
"Wait a minute! If we get does it mean we ALL don't have to do a problem in the workbook?"
"I suppose that's fair….." Chiyo smiled.
"Well what does the winner get?" Kagura pressed.
"Done," Yomi said, having chosen the right answer herself. "There's only one DS to control the game, you three. If you think you know the answer, you'd better pick it up."
"YOMI BETRAYED US!" the Boneheads cried.
Now Layton was free to explore the village. But by tapping on the villagers, they'd usually have a puzzle in mind when chatting the professor up.
003 - Strange Hats
"NOBODY MOVE!" Tomo shouted. "We need to read the puzzle, okay?! Okay, there's four hats….we need to choose….the one that's equally tall and equally wide." She shot daggers at Chiyo and Yomi.
"Ah got it. We'll get a ruler…."
"Osaka, you're the one that picked this game! Why don't you know the answers by heart?!" Kagura demanded. Osaka stared blankly at the swimmer.
"…"
"…"
"Ah…used a walkthrough…..but….I forgot the answers!"
"OSAKA YOU SUCK AT CHEATING!"
"Do they not know our daughter is named Ayumu?" Her mother whispered to her father. (Her father was mentally trying to figure out the puzzle). Then Kaorin picked the right one.
"YOU TOO KAORIN?!"
The puzzle explained it was an optical illusion. Kaorin smiled sheepishly.
004 - Where's my House?
There was a grid of houses, and a specific list of directions.
"Go out at the front door of my place and turn left. At the first intersection you come across, take a right. Turn right again at the following intersection, and you'll come face to face at the morning sun."
The Boneheads looked frightened.
"Psst! Excuse me…" Chiyo whispered at Osaka's parents. "Would it be too much trouble to help us out? Could you get something to let us chime in to guess, so there's no dispute?"
While they were gone, Chiyo checked to see if her loud opponents were watching. They were busy trying to make sense of the directions.
"Yomi, Kaorin. Let's give them some confidence. Only one of us will try the puzzle while the other two do some problems. This way they feel like they're winning without all of us just letting them win."
"Fair enough," Yomi whispered.
"M-Me too!" Kaorin whispered. "B-But whoever's playing has to try, even if they get it right!"
"WE GOT IT!"
Tomo snatched the DS and circled the answer…..only it was wrong, leaving Layton to be disappointed and some Picocrats to be lost.
"WE DON'T GOT IT?!"
"Wait wait hang on!" Kagura took the DS. "The screen has north displayed. The sun rises in the east, right? So…..if we go here….and then here…."
"It's that one!" Osaka realized.
Their answer was correct. The Boneheads high fived each other, leaving Chiyo to smile at Osaka's parents.
Slowly, Layton's journey became less of a thought to the girls. He was talking to residents and hunting for clues, and almost all led to a puzzle of sorts. But it was the competition they (read: the Boneheads) cared about. Chiyo, Yomi, and Kaorin didn't care about "winning", but they kept trying too.
007 - Wolves and Chicks
The goal was to get the wolves and chicks on the opposite side of a river using a raft. The conditions were simple.
1) Only 2 animals max per raft trip.
2) One animal had to be on it for it to move.
3) If the number of wolves on one side was more than the number of chicks, they would get eaten.
The raft could be moved as many times as needed, but the fewest possible moves was apparently 11.
"Okay, here's the plan!" Tomo huddled with her teammates. "We need to draw out a path, got it? A wolf has to move first so the chicks are safe!"
"But how can the raft move back?" Kagura wondered. "We need to move a wolf WITH a chick!"
On the other side of the room, Chiyo had officially teamed up with Yomi and Kaorin (Tomo forced them to).
"Let's project the correct path given the conditions."
"We'll do our best. I don't want those chicks to be in trouble…." Kaorin whispered. That's what Miss Sakaki would say, right?
Both teams worked at their own pace, as the Kasuga parents sat with their own cups of tea.
"This ain't what we did as a kid to learn, huh…?"
"Ohh look at Ayumu, dear! She's trying her best. Ah've never seen her so concentrated…."
In the end, Chiyo hit the buzzer first. This got the Boneheads annoyed, but they seemed more accepting now that there was a fair way of doing it. And she got it right.
"Time for a problem, then!"
"Chiyo…..this feels wrong," Osaka said. "When we win, we don't do any problems. When you win, you do…..so…we need to study just as hard! Right, Boneheads?!"
"Y-Yeah! We can't afford to slack off now!" Kagura said.
"We'll crush your entrance exam score, Chiyo!" Tomo said.
"That sounds wonderful!" Chiyo beamed. The Boneheads looked at each other.
010 - Four Digits
Four letters were expressed as variables in a set of equations: A + C = D, A X B = C, C - B = B, an = D. The answer had to be ABCD as a four-digit number.
"I-I know this! A system of equations, from math class!" Kagura said.
"Let's write it down!" Kaorin exclaimed, grabbing her pen. Both groups were writing as fast as they could….they all seemed to know the answer.
Osaka had buzzed in.
"Osaka! Go, go!"
But the girl from Kobe froze when she had the DS in her hands.
"…..Osaka?!"
"Ah…..ah….."
"Focus, damn it!" Kagura shook her by the shoulders. "You know the answer, Osaka. This isn't like Yukari's test where you fall asleep, this is a video game! And WE know VIDEO GAMES."
"Ya right. Ah can channel the big brain of Wesker, the wisdom of Nekoville's mayor, the quick-thinking of Pikachu…..the flashiness of the Squid Sisters…."
"….huh?"
Confidently, Osaka wrote down the answer, 2368.
And Luke's approving face greeted her.
014 - Which Chair?
Five distinct chairs were displayed, prompting the question - which one was the best for an auditorium?
"Huh….? This isn't math!" Kaorin exclaimed. "We need more information!"
"That's right," said Yomi. "We have no idea the dimensions of the auditorium or the chairs themselves. We'd want the one that has the smallest volume."
"I have a tape measure in my backpack!" Chiyo offered.
BUZZ
Kagura picked E. She was right.
"Wha…?! The Eggheads didn't get it…?" Osaka's father whispered. Everyone seemed confused except for the Boneheads, who knew immediately. Kagura smirked.
"You girls are thinking too hard. It's basicially gym equipment! You want the chair that can be stacked upon itself!"
"In your face, Eggheads!" Tomo laughed. "Sometimes the answer isn't what you expect!"
They're right! The Eggheads realized.
Puzzle 018 - Of Dust and Dustpan
Three matches were laid out in a certain way. It challenged the player to config them in a such a way that the makeshift dustpan had to pick up the nearby trash. But only two could be moved. Both teams mapped out their answer.
"These puzzles are all over the place! Some are hard math, some are really banal teasers…..it's perfect! You need yer brain to be sharp for exams!" said Osaka's father.
Yomi figured it out first. When she took the DS, she moved two of them….and rotated them so that they were in the direction of the trash.
"OHHHH!" The Boneheads realized that was a possibility.
Puzzle 021 - Pill Prescription
A man had to take 10 pills, one for each day. But they had different concentrations and looked the same, so he resolved to label them to keep track. How many had to be labeled?
Both teams stared at the screen.
"We don't know the concentrations of the pills!" Kaorin sighed. "How does he even know what to take? Won't he have to label all of them?"
"That's too obvious," Chiyo countered.
"What is he even taking it for? Alzhemier's? Cancer? A cold? Heart disease? Arrrrgh!" Tomo tapped her pen. "Hey Osaka, what do you think the pills look like?"
"Dontcha see, Tomo? The answer has to be the easiest one!"
BUZZ
Osaka wrote in "0". Layton's disappointed face greeted her. "Ohhhh…"
"That doesn't make sense, Osaka! If it was 0 we wouldn't even HAVE a puzzle!"
Chiyo pondered the answer. 10 pills, 1 a day….then it hit her. She buzzed in and wrote down the answer, 8. It was correct!
"What?!"
"He doesn't need to label the first or last pill he takes!"
"Wow…..that my second guess," Osaka said sheepishly.
Puzzle 026 - Bottle Full of Germs
A jar with a single, smiling germ split in two after 1 minute. Another minute resulted in the two germs becoming four. Based on this pattern, the jar was said to fill after 1 hour. How long would it take if the jar started with two germs?
"OH!" Kaorin buzzed in immediately. "Waitwaitwait! We're going to half the process! So the answer has to be…." she scribbed in 30 (minutes). But Luke did not look pleased by the answer. "Wah…."
"It's another one of these puzzles, eh?!" Tomo buzzed in next. "It took one minute to make two, right? So we lost one minute. That makes…..uhhhhhh…gimme that calculator Kagura!" After doing a quick calculation, she smirked and wrote in the answer.
But that was wrong too.
"NO WAY?!"
Chiyo shook her head. "The units, Tomo! It asked for minutes! You wrote in 0.98 hours when it takes 59 minutes!" She wrote in 59, and Luke gave a thumbs up. "But that was the perfect way to think about it!"
"Heh….I'm not even mad!" Tomo rubbed her head. "Come on, let's keep going!"
"Wait wait!" Osaka's father stood up. "Y'all been having a lot of fun with these puzzles, and ah ain't never seen Ayumu work so hard. But….ain't these a little too easy? Can you up the difficulty?"
"Oh sure," Osaka said casually. "We can play all the puzzles when we go back to the main menu."
"HUH?!" shouted the other girls.
"Osaka…..how are they even unlocked?!" Kagura demanded.
"Huh?" Osaka blinked. "Beats me. Ah guess the guy I ordered it from beat it already."
Silence.
"Okay, I guess I'll be the one to ask….who the heck is Ayumu?!" Tomo shouted.
Puzzle 116 - The Largest Total
Nine squares were carved out of wood. It asked to take numbers from 1 to 51 and arrange them in the squares so the same total was reached horizontally, vertically, and diagonally in the 3x3 grid. It asked for the number in the center of the grid that reached the highest total.
Both Kasuga parents watched in suspense. The teams stared at the screen.
"Okay uh….this is bad," Kagura whispered. "But let's just think. We don't need small numbers like 5 or 13, we're trying to get the most."
"We'll need the 9 numbers near 51, in an inclusive set," Yomi whispered. "That makes 51, 50, 49, 48, 47, 46, 45, 44, and 43."
"I-I'll draw it on my paper!" Kaorin whispered.
The Boneheads and the Eggheads glanced at each other. There was no smug overconfidence. There was an understanding…..a mutual respect between the students.
"Osaka, you have any ideas?" Tomo asked while fiddling with the calculator. "Hey, do you think we can use these for the exams?"
"….."
"Osaka?"
"…."
"Listen…..I'm sorry okay, your name is Ayumu, your mom just told me. All these years I've called myself your friend and I gave you a nickname like that."
"…"
"Maybe I was a bit of a jerk to you, but we still laughed together! Please! Don't be mad at me, I'm an idiot! You're better than me, Osa-Ayumu! Damn it, I'll call you by your name! In fact, I'll sock anyone that calls you Osaka from now on!"
"…"
"Because you're a person, unique as you are! You're not some hick region of this country of the rising sun!"
"…"
"DAMN IT, TALK TO ME, OSAKA!"
"AH GOT IT!" Osaka's expression was bright and clear as the morning sky. She buzzed in and grabbed the DS. "Ma, Pa, I'll ace those exams, I promise!" She wrote in 144 as the total.
And it was correct! The answer revealed 51 - the largest in the set - was the center square!
"Of course!" Chiyo smiled. "Each set would have the same boosting number! All you would need to do is vary the others and make the same sum! You're brilliant, Ayumu!"
"Hehehehe….." Osaka saw her parents' proud faces and blushed. "Awww appreciate that Chiyo, but y'all can still call me Osaka. Now what were ya saying, Tomo?"
"…."
"Tomo?"
"Hey, I have a question." Kaorin pointed to the coin counter in the bottom right. "What have we been getting coins for, anyways?"
"Oh. We can use them to buy hints for the puzzles!" Osaka said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Ah just remembered, whoops."
"Osaka, you…." Tomo sighed heavily. "…..you'll always be an honorary Bonehead…." She patted her on the back. "…and our friend."
To be continued...
Halfway through I swapped out Yomi for Sakaki, lol. Glad I caught that mistake (and editted the lines accordingly). I had to choose puzzles that were easy to describe, something purely visual was out of the question. Sorry for the delay.
Next Game - Persona 5 [Nyamo, Yukari, Chiyo, Kaorin, Chihiro]