The worst chapter.

And I have a headache, so expect some rushed unprofessionalism. 

Before this chapter kicks off, a disembodied voice asks us a question. "Are you happy?" I respond with "Not really" because life sucks, and then you die. I have no idea if this matters...

In the near future lies a boy sleeping on a park bench near a lake in Japan. This is Akira, and he can read people's minds. He's also an orphan who lives with his sister at the orphanage. Akira tries to leave the park, but he's surrounded by people in skull masks. Before a four-on-one fight starts, a man on a Harley rides up. This is fellow orphan and friend, Matsu. The two of them easily knockout the thugs. Matsu goes to work at the nearby taiyaki shop, while Akira heads home. 

More masked people roam the streets. Touching them enters you into combat with a crusader gang member and their robots. Everything is usually weak, but Akira plays like a mage: terrible physical attacks, but he charges magic-esque moves. 

While there, he talks to all the orphans and sees Mitsuhara Misawa vs Keiji Mutoh in a boxing type match. Why are there rounds? This is now the second Mutoh reference in this game. Misawa died in 2009, and Mutoh is currently sixty three years old, so how "near future" was this near future story? Regardless, the goal here is to wash your hands and help a dying turtle. Your sick sister, Kairi, loves that turtle, so we have to protect it. She suggests the antique shop owner, Toei. I skipped a lot of random running around in this part. 

Toei is in the bathroom, so you'll have to read his mind to get him out. Akira tells him that a turtle is ill, and Toei has just the thing. He even offers us a teleport home... Akira breaks the teleporter. The two return to the orphanage, and Toei asks you to plug in a robot. The turtle is dead, but Toei can liquify him and place his consciousness into a robot. After Toei gets electrocuted, Taru the turtle becomes Taru the robot. He joins Akira as thanks, and Kairi is happy. Taru kinda sucks in battle, but that's because I didn't equip him correctly. He gets gear from the robots roaming the town, but I equipped them as armor pieces. They're supposed to be accessories. Taru's still tanky, so he works. 

From here, go to work at the taiyuki shop. You should talk to Toei first and do his stupid ass quest. Our reward is an attempt to pilot a Gundam. It's powered by either spiritual energy or liquified people, and we're neither. But we do have psychic powers, so who is Akira? 

But back to the taiyuji shop! I didn't realize this, so I roamed around for an hour. There's no obvious indicator you can work at the shop, but you need to sell taiyuki, at different prices, to get a bonus reward from Matsu. Being those rewards to the "napping" kids back home. You can also get the orphanage mom's underwear. She's about your age, and it's good gear, so... Feed the kids, and someone will scream. The crusader gang rolled up and kidnapped one of the kids. We see them going to the wharf. 

A strange maze chase happens before we're finally led to the docks. We confront the kidnappers, and Matsu joins us. They easily beat up the gang, and Akira read their minds to learn where they came from. They're in league with the government. Everyone heads home, but then Matsu has to leave. Gee, wonder where he went? 

Akira and Taru raid the government facility east of town. At one point, I thought it would be funny if I pooped. I was interrupted by Matsu! Why was this the trigger point?! We head deeper in to find classified documents discussing liquid humans. We also read that Matsu started the Crusader Gang... We confront the people in charge and have to put down Watanabe's robot fused dad. Watanabe is another one of the orphans. After this, Matsu forces us to retreat before things get worse. Before leaving, we learned their end goal. If they liquify 2000 people, they can use the Buddha statue in the north temple to revive Odio. It's probably a coincidence. The whole group, including Toel, discusses how to counter this. Toel beings up the Gundam, Buriki Diaoh, an ancient Babylonian robot Akira failed to pilot. But we can't just liquify people. Kairi offers herself up, though. She's aware she'll always be sick and won't get better. Her best chance is to become the stronger Taru-bot! Akira tells her that's a terrible idea, which it is. Matsu, ever the confident, takes Toei back to his shop. Matsu believes he can pilot it. 

He can not and spends his time drinking at the bar. Every patron there is thinking about a certain drug/drink that I can't remember the name of. As Akira leaves, we see the orphanage is set on fire with the Crusaders leaving the scene. Akira hurries home to see everyone outside. Everyone but mom and Kairi. Mom, whose name is Taeko, is outside Kairi's room. Akira tells her to leave, which she does. Kairi isn't in her room, so we have to wander around the house, hoping for a trigger, before a flame blocking the main kid's room randomly dies down. Kairi is inside, on the ground, barely alive. 

We cut back to the cockpit of the Diaoh. Matsu, who's a tad lot inebriated with the bar's drug of choice, can pilot it now. Toei tells him that the drug enhances spiritual power but is likely to kill him. Matsu doesn't care. A humorous scene, breaking the tension, gets ruined by the Diaoh rising out of the lake. Matsu bursts through the wall of the orphanage, letting Akira and Kairi escape into the cockpit. But that one action took its toll on Matsu. And the Crusaders randomly becoming mages didn't help. Taeko is also there somehow. Matsu passes out, so Akira reads his mind. He's thinking of something terrible. He's remembering the time he killed Akira's father. Matsu was the leader of the Crusaders, and Akira's dad was on the police force. The two got into an argument, where Matsu shot him. He's been guilt ridden ever since and has tried to make up for his actions that day. 

Akira screams for everyone to leave. This realization has awakened something that was lying deep within him. Akira's spiritual power has skyrocketed, and he can pilot the Diaoh! He pilots the mech north, to the temple, beaming the army en route. He arrives at the temple too late, though. 2000 people have been liquified, and Odio is being transferred to the statue. 

I don't know if you can lose this fight, so who cares? 

The 2000 strong liquified mass remains sentient. It forms one gelatinous goop and tries to bring the three government officials into their collective. They succeed, but the Diaoh gets caught up. Akira tries to escape... 

"Hey!" Yells out a boy in the park. He wants Akira to make taiyuki, which Akira does. Time has passed since the battle, and we know this because Taru is still a robot while hanging out with the kids. Finally, we see Akira ride away on Matsu's motorcycle. He stares off into the ocean at the docks as the chapter ends. 

So much wandering around, with nothing learned. Why does Akira have psychic powers when only liquified people get them? What about Kairi's illness? Why does the turtle want to keep living? Who won between Misawa and Mutoh? This may have been my least favorite chapter, but I like Akira as a battle character. 

I'm also not into robot anime. And there was so much filler at the start. And I have a headache...