Let’s Blog: Ar Tonelico III – #9: Finnel’s Secret Identity

This entry continues to cover cutscenes at Fallen Heaven Peak, as well as on the return to Tokoshie Canopy along Fallen Heaven Road.

Spoilers, as usual.

Back in his tent, speaking in a strange tone of voice, Tatsumi remarks that he’s got to remember to take his medicine regularly… when he’s practicing boarding, he goes into a trance and forgets everything else. Suddenly, Finnel barges in. Becoming flustered as Tatsumi asks her what she wants, she eventually says that she’d like to become his friend.

Tatsumi replies that he’s not interested in having friends. Finnel becomes angry and asks why he’s friends with Aoto, and not her. Tatsumi replies that Aoto isn’t really a  friend… he’s someone who helped him out when he came to Cielo Valley, and taught him how to V-Board, thus Tatsumi owes him a debt. He tells Finnel to go back to her own tent and get some rest, since they’ll be returning to Tokoshie Valley tomorrow.

Instead, Finnel begins talking in a very phony tone of voice about how she loves to V-Board. Tatsumi remarks that he would never have guessed she was interested. After attempting to chat with her a bit (Tatsumi asking which type of board she uses, and Finnel responding desperately with the names of blood types) it becomes evident that Finnel has not the slightest idea what she’s talking about.

Finnel finally scores a hit by asking him if he’s excited about the upcoming V-Board Grand Prix in Arkia (presumably the equivalent of the Superbowl in notoriety.) Tatsumi talks about how the grand prize is a HAYABUSA883 type board, and he wants to win it as a present for Gengai. Finnel says she’ll cheer him on, and get his first autograph when he becomes famous.

She wants to talk to him some more, but Tatsumi insists the two of them need to sleep and throws her out. Outside, she says she wasn’t able to have much of a conversation, but someday…

The next morning, they get ready to return to Tokoshie. Rufan unexpectedly arrives as well; Aoto remarks that he was supposed to travel with Gengai, but Rufan says he decided to stay behind to investigate the ruins of Fallen Heaven Peak, thinking there might be a clue within the area captured by Clusternia. Aoto says goodbye to him, after which you can freely roam.

Down a ladder nearby you’ll find a talk topic named “It’s Saki’s fault…,” where she blames herself for what happened to Fallen Heaven Peak until Aoto convinces her otherwise. I’d have liked to upgrade Tatsumi’s weapon at the save point, but apparently he won’t let go of his equipped V-Board and I’ll have to buy a spare before I can do that. After that, the only place to go is back along Fallen Heaven Road.

Near the foot of the mountain, Aoto remarks that they haven’t been attacked (apparently Pom random encounters don’t count) and if they keep moving, the enemy shouldn’t be able to catch up. Tatsumi says not to let their guard down as Clusternia is definitely still searching for Saki. Aoto wants to continue on, but Hikaru warns that the sun is going down and the mountain pass is dangerous. They decide to stop for the night.

In his tent, Aoto complains he hasn’t been sleeping well lately, being in a different place each night. Suddenly, there is a rustling noise outside, and when he heads out to investigate Soma is there.

Soma watches silently, as Aoto shouts for everyone to wake up and escape. Suddenly, he jumps backwards, out of sight. Aoto shouts for him to wait and pursues him. When the others come out of their tents, Aoto is nowhere in sight, and they are confused.

Aoto pursues Soma to a cliff edge, trapping him, and taunts that he won’t be able to escape any longer. Soma speaks for the first time, saying “I’ve been waiting for you, Aoto.” Aoto doesn’t understand; isn’t his objective to capture Saki and kill the rest of them? Soma replies that searching for Saki is certainly Clusternia’s objective, but it doesn’t interest him.

He explains that his duty is “environmental regulation”, and since receiving it long ago, he has not failed in this duty even once. But he has been irritated lately, and can’t concentrate on his task. “Something has been interfering with the Autostabilizing Nuclear Tesseractal Loop…” he explains. When Aoto asks what that is, Soma responds it’s better if he doesn’t know. Aoto says “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I won’t let you continue that dangerous-sounding duty of yours… I’ll defeat you right here and now!”

Soma replies “You shouldn’t. You’ll just die.” He continues, “I didn’t call you here so that we could fight… I have a request of you. For Finnel’s sake, I want you to go to Clusternia with Tatsumi. As soon as you can.” While Aoto is bewildered by this, Soma insists, “Finnel’s life depends on your actions. Please heed my request.” Aoto replies, “You think I’m going to fall for a scheme to trap Finnel like that? Why should I believe you?”

Soma laughs and says, “When you see this, I wonder what you’ll say? Goodbye, Aoto… We’ll meet again.” Suddenly, with a flash of light, he (she?) transforms into Finnel, who immediately faints. It’s then that the others catch up to Aoto, who finds himself having difficulty explaining the situation. Finnel recovers consciousness, and seems to have no memory of the incident. Aoto comes up with a vaguely plausible excuse; Finnel must have been sleepwalking, and he mistook her for Soma in the poor light. They return to the camp, and the cutscene ends.

Upon returning to Tokoshie Canopy, Hikaru asks Saki to come to his clinic so he can examine her properly, and Finnel invites all of them to come eat at her restaurant. You’re then allowed to choose which you want to do first, or else go somewhere else in town. Glancing ahead it looks like either one will embroil me in another lengthy cutscene, though, so though it’s about 15 minutes into the video I’m going to pause here.

Will likely spend the next blog entry clearing Saki’s level 1 cosmosphere.

Tags: ar tonelico, ar tonelico 3, gust, jrpg