#the point was a cute story anyway it doesn't need to be realistic haha

[down-with-the-mafia]

Ever since Mu had told Hat about the Earth celebration of Mother's Day, Hat had been in a bit of a panic. Cooking Cat would be coming by their spaceship later that day to help them make dinner, and Hat and Bow needed to act fast to make a present.

"We need to cook something!" Bow had insisted. "What better present than letting her know her cooking lessons have payed off?"

Hat wasn't worried about fire, she had plenty of experience with fire and explosives before. No, her concern was that the present had to be perfect. "Our cooking won't be as good as hers, it'll be such a disappointment!"

"We can bake cookies!" Bow snapped her fingers as she thought of the idea. "She gave us that recipe book and that had some cookie recipes. And I remember baking cookies a few times back home! It can't be that hard."

Hat bit her lip, anxious. What if they burnt them? What if they forgot an ingredient? What if they measured ingredients wrong? 'Can't be that hard', then why could so many things GO WRONG?

"Hat, it's fine! Baking is just like science! Measurements and mixtures, you've done all this before-!"

"But I haven't mastered it! Why don't we just make a friendship bracelet or something-"

"Well, okay, I can bake them myself…"

Hat shook her head so hard her hat flew off and fell to the ground. "No way! If something catches fire I don't want you to be alone here.."

"Okay! Then let's do it together!" Bow smiled.

——

Cooking Cat entered the spaceship, opening her mouth to announce her entering when a scent caught her attention. It smelled sweet like sugar.

She walked toward the kitchen curiously and peeked through the door.

The kids hadn't noticed her. Bow was sitting at the table, sipping a warm drink from a mug. Hat, much less calm, was pacing around the room.

"Are we sure they're not burning in there?" She asked, glancing at the oven, and Cooking Cat got anxious realizing they were actually baking something on their own.

"Hat, there's no way they'd burn already, it's only been a minute." Bow giggled a bit. "You're getting too worried, I bet it'll be great!"

"She's done so much for us…" Hat was pulling on her cape. "What if they taste bad? She'll be so disappointed that her lessons aren't paying off and-"

"Well they smell amazing!" Cooking Cat smiled, fully entering the room.

The two jumped. "CC!"

"I'm sure you two did a great job, but what's this for?" She asked gently, pulling them into a hug.

"It's Mother's Day…" Hat mumbled, still fidgeting with her cape.

"Yeah! And we wanted to make a gift, so we're baking cookies!" Bow exclaimed happily.

"Wow! That's so sweet!" CC gasped, hugging them tighter. "I love them."

"But… you haven't tasted them yet?" Hat said, confused.

"I love them because they're a gift from my very thoughtful daughters." She smiled. "I think it's very sweet that you made a gift. I'm sure it'll be delicious."

"Yeah!" Bow smiled, mouth open wide.

Hat's face lit up a bit, finally giving a little smile. "I hope so.."

——

CC bit into a cookie. It was soft and sweet and warm. Her daughters were looking at her, trying to read her expression. "They're perfect." CC finally said, softly.

The way their faces lit up warmed CC's heart. In truth, it didn't matter if the cookies tasted good, though. Spending time with the kids was gift enough.

[dayables]

Gonna braindump about yttd very quickly, I just need to share my thoughts with someone, hope it's not a bother haha this is so long, I'm so so sorry. You don't have to read this, I'm just hyperfixating. I think the whole emotion vs logic route choice is very interesting and I love seeing people's reactions and analysis of it so I kinda wanted to share some other aspects I think most people overlook. (Preface by saying that I'm pretty biased because I'm a huge Shin kinnie and I really really really love his character) Most youtubers/streamers or just players in general I watch play the game have already their mind made up before that choice is even presented to them. Yttd is game that has plenty dialogue choices but at that point we are already aware that our choices in those instances make no real change in the story's outcome. The only choice prior that would lead to a different route was Alice or Reko's death which I think was a choice a lot less explicit and even then you the storytelling itself suffers basically no significant changes. What I mean is that, unlike what could happen in a real situation, we have no reason to believe that by choosing to spare Shin there will be a different ending where he aids us in escaping and the rest of the participants survive with no repercussions (we, at least from what we have learnt through the gameplay so far, don't have that much control on the story's outcome). Also most players I've talked to are more often than not annoyed with Shin (understandably so), so very little choose to kill Kanna over Shin.

But when I had to choose I was also divided for other reasons. Like you already developed in one of your posts Kanna is already a girl hurt and clearly emotionally exhausted from a very young age and although she has been growing stronger through the chapters you can still see the weight everything has on her. On the other Shin is supposedly fated to die, he has a 0% win rate and the odds are not in his favor. But besides the fact I heavily relate to him (sorry breaking the ambiance but, cute boy pretty pretty kiss kiss) I tend to root for the underdog and him believing from the start he's playing a game he just can't win no matter what hits different. And people tend to judge his actions in a very unfair light as in, when he accuses Sara, Keiji and other characters of various things we know that isn't true but Shin does not have that trust in us. Often his suspicious seem odd to us because we as the player (and as Sara) know things he doesn't. We know out motivations aren't harmful or manipulative but what Shin knows is that we're a girl with 15.5% win rate in a game about manipulation and deception. A game where him (as a naive, shy guy was doomed to fail unless he changed his ways). His distrust is perfectly reasonable (and if we consider how Sara was undeniably desperate to pass her Sacrifice card to someone else in Chapter 2, something she tried to but couldn't do because of her stolen wallet, even justified).

Anyways quick add on that I think the Logic route has a way more realistic and interesting path for Sara's character she's still a teenager put into a leadership position where the lives of her new found allies (I don't like calling them allies and I also find it odd how unopenly opposed she is of calling them friends) are depending on her. I think having her have a moment of clarity and hope in the emotion route is cute and nice for us as players but breaks a bit the immersion in the universe, her doubts and declining mental and emotional stability in the Logic route make for a lot better opportunities and character development.

Again I'm so so sorry I wrote a whole essay I just saw your posts some time ago and really liked them and wanted to share other things I've been thinking about. This isn't proofread or anything hope it makes any amount of sense hahahaha

:0 OP C’MERE I LOVE YOU! /p

you have just put my whole entire head into words! 

I love the logic route so much because I too root for the underdog and Shin is just doing what he wanted. The route seems so much more alive. Especially because Sara is also mentally exhausted, her sudden awakens from seeing Joe is refreshing and nice and dandelions and stuff but it really did break my immersion. Especially because my first move was too kill Kanna. 

I had not decided what I was doing first. My choice was never made. As you said, we have no reason to believe when playing blind it will make such a huge difference which make the choice so easy. Just kill the annoying one. 

My split choice was for the exact same reason as you, people are too unfair on Shin. We don’t have nearly enough time to process his reasons before we are shoved into voting. I could not come to kill Shin because as I have covered, Kanna is mentally exhausted, which was my final push but I sat on call for a good hour thinking that choice over. You summed it up perfectly, his distrust is reasonable. I want to see Shin push past that 0.0% chance and he deserves it. He deserves to realise he is more than a number etc... I may not kin Shin and yes, go pretty boy go >///<. (/hj). but i want to see him succeed and I want to see him alive. 

I was so immersive in the logic route my first run. I never really broke out and most importantly, everyone’ reactions seem genuine. Shin is angry,  Sara is even more stressed  (even if one of the main causes of exhaustion no longer exists) 

For me to the two routes contradict each other because the logic route proves the issues with Sara’s truama does not stem from Joe. It stems from the exhaustion of leading others. And like you said, that leaves so many many opportunities  for others development. Will Shin stand up to save everyone else? What will Keiji do now big strong Sara isn’t so strong?

In terms of story writing, I much prefer the logic route but I understand why people prefer the emotional route. 

Thank you so much for dumping this on me. Please come back to my inbox any time! Don’t be sorry. I love this!