Okay, we've got four more bond points to spend. Next up is Fie. She has a keepsake box of cigars and a lighter from Rutger. They put a makeshift grave marker for him just south of Hamel. For some reason, Rean decides to make this the time he smokes his first cigar, and it goes about like you'd expect. At that moment, Xeno, Leo, Sara, and Randy show up to pay their respects, along with Shirley and Gareth. After everyone leaves, Fie has an emotional moment, and this maxes out my bond with her.
Let's go with Alisa now. She's curious about the Reinford Group's 5th Development Division. Since it was the Black Workshop who was behind it, she wants to know when all this took place and who was in charge of it. We decide to head to Roer along with Sharon. After doing some research, we learn the 5th Division was just a front, and it was using people from all the other divisions to do its dirty work. After all this, Alisa says that what's happened lately has helped solidify her determinations, especially Sharon returning and being able to reconcile with her mom a bit. Then Rean takes her hand and talks about having hope for their relationship. Why is Alisa the only one Rean will actually be forward with?
Time to see what Juna has in store for us. She wants to play some practice tennis matches with Jessica and Louise to keep herself in shape. Afterwards, she challenges Rean to a match. Upon winning, she confesses her feelings to him and then runs away. And...that's really it. Not much to see here! Oh, I guess I got her tennis outfit as an alternate costume, too.
Now I've got one bond point and three options between Elise, Crow, and Duvalie. I think I'll start with Crow. He has some errands to run with Ordine, so Rean joins along with Valimar. We stop at the cathedral in Saint-Arkh, where he gives some of Gideon's possessions to his grandmother, who's praying for his forgiveness. He gives Vulcan's dog tag to one of his old followers. Then George helps him to get in contact with Scarlet. Somehow Jusis had her released into the protective custody of the Gralsritter. Oh right, she was a squire before she joined the ILF. She mentions Father Wazy and "that bald knight," whom I'm assuming is Abbas. Crow just wanted to make sure he had all his loose ends tied up while he still had a chance. Okay, this was a really good scene, and I got a profile entry to boot. It'll take something great from one of the other two to top this.
Let's look at Elise next. She's repaired Rean's old white coat for the most part, but there's one finishing touch left. We pay a visit to Eryn, where one of the witches gave her special thread to sew the jacket back together, and now they're going to infuse it with magic. I do really like his white jacket, although it's a weird contrast with his white hair now. Elise confesses her love to Rean and he thinks it's a joke, which is the appropriate response. Bah, this is unfortunate because I dig the white coat and they even give you his original hair color, too. I don't know that I'd use it though.
Finally, let's see what Duvalie has to offer. She left her Stahlritter armor in the care of the shopkeeper in Ordis, and he polished and buffed out the scratches on it. Even so, she still doesn't feel ready to face Arianrhod. Rean tries to cheer her up with some gelato. I'm kinda surprised we don't get her armor as an alternate costume. Oh well, I think we're sticking with Crow's bond event out of these three, although I feel bad I've skipped out on Duvalie twice now.
With that, we're finally ready to head to Crossbell. We can see the pillar of light from afar, but apparently we were detected on radar and some sort of barrier is shot at the pillar of light. Big surprise, it's coming from Orchis Tower in Crossbell. Looks like Rufus is trying to keep us out of there. Lloyd calls in and tells us to meet him at the old SSS building. The entire SSS is waiting for us, along with KeA, Jona, Sully, and Grace. Looks like Rufus kept his word about taking them off the wanted list. We decide to infiltrate Orchis Tower via the Geofront, but we need a distraction to lure the guards away. They ask Sully to put on an Arc en Ciel show, with the help of Estelle and Schera. Heiyue volunteers to help, too, and they inform us that McBurn and Laura's dad are waiting for us at Orchis Tower.
While we have a bunch of people staying behind to help with the Arc en Ciel performance, we have to decide who's helping with the infiltration. Laura, Kurt, Machias, and Sharon are required members, although we can look around Crossbell for a bit first. We learn from Imelda that the Rosenberg Doll Studio (one of the Thirteen Factories, according to Sharon) has been shut down. We get a heartwarming scene where Renne shows herself to Colin and his mom. This one definitely hit home more after playing Zero. We also get to see one final baking competition between Oscar and Bennet, and Bennet finally comes out on top!
