BU$TAFELLOWS 💰 Chapter 4 : リンボ (Visual Novel Book Club)

Chapter 4 : リンボ route

This is being read as part of the Visual Novel Book Club. Another VN, 9-nine-ここのつここのかここのいろ, is being read at the same time, feel free to join both clubs!

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BU$TAFELLOWS :moneybag: Home Thread

Previous Part: Chapter 3
Next Part: リンボ A

Reading + Choices

Week Start Date Chapter
Week 7 Jan 27th Chapter 4
Week 8 Feb 3rd Cont.
NO choices this time (I'm hiding the structure though so I can easily use it next chapter)

The choices are under double spoiler. So you can unblur one choice at the time (minimizing spoilers). OBS! Some choices have a time limit.

Choices for Chapter 3 for リンボ route in order:

私も会いたいな

やめておく

OBS! There are three things that indicate which route you are on. If you want no spoilers at all, I will say it has to do with situations where options are available from all dating options and one of them is picked.

The places that shows which route you are on (minor spoilers here, I blurred the only one that is at the end of this chapter). I got these from the English guide, so if anything is a bit wonky it comes from that.
  • Chapter 3: The cat’s name. Who picked the name it reacts to.
  • Chapter 4: Who approaches Teuta about opening a letter
  • Chapter 4 (end of the chapter): Who picked the swimsuit Teuta wears.

Guides if you want to check choices yourself (link to English guide for those reading on PC)

These are the general links to the guides. You’ll need to navigate to the current route yourself.
Japanese guide #1
Japanese guide #2
English guide - this is a review (that links to all the guides), so don’t read past the walkthrough links unless you are okay with spoilers. It does note when minor spoilers start and then major spoilers. Reader beware!

Discussion Rules

  • Please use spoiler tags for major events in the current chapter/part and any content in future chapters/parts.
  • When asking for help, do your best to provide context. Pasted text, screenshots, descriptions, etc. Unlike book clubs we can’t flip to relevant pages, so we may need a little help identifying exactly what is being discussed.
  • Feel totally at ease to ask questions or give your thoughts, any time! Clubs live and die by participation, and asking whatever question you have, no matter how silly it may seem, helps others who are reading it and even the answerer themselves.
  • Have fun, and do your best to interpret anything said with as much good faith as possible :slightly_smiling_face:

Participants

Mark your participation status by voting in this poll.
(Please feel free to update your status whenever you like!)

  • I’m reading along
  • I have finished this part
  • I’m still reading this VN but I haven’t reached this part yet
  • I am no longer reading the VN

0 voters

3 Likes

While there are no choices in this chapter, I did add some info on how you can tell which route you are on. And I did it as spoiler free as I could, without making it entirely obscure. But anything that could be considered even mild spoilers are hidden under a detail tag. The info is under reading, where the choices usually are.

3 Likes

Looks like this chapter is shorter, I already finished it (though I think I played a bit more than the previous weeks, not sure, sorry!)
But that’s probably fine, looks like most of the people are trying to catch up at the moment :slight_smile:

5 Likes

I’ve also finished this chapter now. To me the ‘case’ of this chapter felt fairly short compared to the previous ones, but we got a lot of continuation of previous plot lines and also quite a bit of interesting set up that I expect will pay off later

I thought the bit about the doctor that our MC jumped into the body of was very interesting. I’m guessing there is going to be a moment in the future when she really needs to use her power but also doesn’t want to because of her worry it will negatively impact someone else. An interesting moral choice to set up! I also really like the friend group of Luka, Adam and the MC but I also kind of suspect that Adam will turn out to be up to something bad for no real reason :thinking:

Anyway, still finding this incredibly fun!

6 Likes

Finished!

Teuta has the cat as her lock screen :pleading_face:

The hospital scene at the beginning was interesting for sure, absolutely think that will be relevant again later.
I don’t think I can quite agree with Adams reasoning here :thinking: When he said that everyone impacts other people’s lives all the time by making choices - like, yeah sure, but there’s a difference between making your own decisions and taking over someone else’s body and making their decisions for them :laughing:
On the other hand it’s totally understandable that Teuta would want to save her friends life, and statistically speaking it’s technically really unlikely that the small moment she spends as someone else actually significantly ruins things, she got really unlucky with that surgeon. So… hmm. Tricky

Generally we got some fun main plot development this chapter! Who wants to guess if that ルイロペス social media contact Irina gave to Teuta is someone we already know? (Adam? :laughing:)

…that Helvetica quote at the end of the chapter:
「姉だろうと他人だろうと、性的に美しいものを見るのは一種の快楽ですよ?」
… I’m sorry, what now?? I still don’t like him

I don’t even think he seems that sus as a character, but the kind of role he plays in the story… yeah, feel like characters like him occasionally turn out to be evil or something in a bunch of stories :joy:
… so yeah, also wouldn’t be surprised :see_no_evil: But we’ll see!

5 Likes

Finished this one already! It’s definitely shorter than the previous ones, it took me about 6h, which is like 3/4 of the others, and I may be overestimating how long it took since I wasn’t very careful with timing this time.

Things got pretty serious this time, I was not expecting that twist with Irina. And the consequences of Teuta’s time travel were really bad.
Anyway, it was a lot of fun trying to figure out which parts of the chapter were standard and which were due to being on Limbo’s route. I’m looking forward to seeing all the alternatives in the different routes.
I like how they balance the tough subject matters with lighter, more humorous parts. Seeing Helvetica doing something thoughtful but trying to hide it gave me one unit of hope but…that was that. And those swimsuits at the end… :see_no_evil: I was definitely sharing Mozu’s concerns. Very confused about that scene.
I guess next chapter we are going fully into Limbo’s route, whatever that means. I’m really curious to see what that entails exactly, and in which way will the different routes be…well, different. Do they all tackle the same issues in different way, do they have different stories…? I guess we’ll find out in time.

6 Likes

Agreed with you! Also, I like how through those first 4 chapters, every character had time to get a “1 - 1” with Teuta, probably so we can get an idea of what it would be like to pick them

6 Likes

I keep forgetting to post my thoughts :joy: mostly I’m just still very interested in everything, curious to see where it’s all going! I am 1000% of the opinion that Adam is going to be… complicated at the very least :laughing: I don’t think he’s evil exactly, but I definitely think he’s involved in things and we’re going to get a moment later on of Teuta talking him out of it at a crucial moment. Also as much as immigration and human trafficking and stuff have been central to things, I’m feeling less and less like Adam’s background is just a coincidence. That said, I don’t know that we’ll actually find out much about Adam this run, that feels like more of a true ending thing assuming there is one. But who knows! All I know is he’s very mysterious about things and way too nice and unreadable and also keeps being a weird narrator presence/the singer of the opening song, sketchy :joy:

6 Likes

I was slightly surprised that the game had a swimsuit scene despite being aimed at a female audience – is it a common trope in otome games?

5 Likes

I thought that scene was very cringe-worthy :dizzy_face:

5 Likes
Chapter thoughts

シュウ in a tux/suit at that party was seriously ドキドキ. :melting_face:

Also that poor doctor that Teuta borrowed. Did I understand it right they are under investigation/suspended from doing surgery? I hope it isn’t permanent. :confounded:

Irina: I really like her, and I respect her even more now. Sure she was a bit deceptive so she could help people in a bad situation, and when she’d achieved that she came forward to take the punishment for her actions. Quite admirable actions.

I really hope you all are wrong about Adam. :see_no_evil: I guess he is being played a bit too good to be true in the story, so something almost has to happen. But but but… It is telling he isn’t a dating option, huh?

Also if we’re gonna have a swimsuit scene, why didn’t we get to see the whole get up on any of the guys? xD Like, naked chest can be nice, but it becomes a bit much when they’re just lined up like that. =P

I really hope Valerie didn’t try to swim in that. :see_no_evil:

Like, yeah, it is a bit cringe, but I decided to just have fun with it, and it fit Karmen and Valerie’s over the top personalities in that way. :woman_shrugging:

6 Likes