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PSO2 Story Guide Episodes 4-5
The story of PSO2 has many chapters & is very long.
This isn't meant to be a substitute for the game, or as a transcript of the entire script/plot, but rather a way to understand, read-up-on, speculate, analyze & get a really good idea of what's going on in the game.
This section is for Chapters 4 and 5 ONLY. For all the plot before this, see the Story Hub. Because the game is divided up over these sections, the plot will be as well.
Character Guide
Planets/Areas Guide
Special Quest Mission Write Ups
Color key
Green Text: Speculation or opinions
What You Do/The official "Party Line" appears in RED TEXT
Bold Text: Important information
Choice Options: Blue Text
Dates & Times (Story is time travel related) Purple Text
Story Guide HUB

241 4/2 at 200
Xiera is back in her chair, she has reorganized all the intel. She says "Now it's time for our favorite time, intel sharing!" Now that it's all in perfect shape, she'll answer all your questions, so ask anything! (The asks are divided among event panels, but their labels are not translated so they are all placed here with made-up guess titles)

Wow 12 years!
While access to the ARKS ship from Earth was a small scale thing, it's very surprising that it's going on for 12 whole years. But, starting 2 years ago, they've shifted toward sending people like Hitsugi who can directly come here to investigate. 12 years ago for Earth was 2016, when Ether was established and ESCA was established across the world. You can bet this is no sort of coincidence. But 2 years ago...no major incident was on Earth. Xiera thinks it over and says the cause is likely something on the ARKS side, because both 12 years ago and 2 years ago, the world was in a huge peril. Do you remember?

About Matoi?
About the PD?

If you say About PD? (These are essentially the same incident anyway) That's right, as you can see how the situation has changed, PD was the trigger. It appears someone on Earth detected the timing of PD resurrection, hence they're trying to change their approach. Although it's unknown how the 2 are related, we're starting to see answers as we go through the intel. Hitsugi says having said that, it's only guesses so far...if only she knew more... Xiera reminds her that guesses are ok, because the dots are starting to connect to each other.

This is a lot earlier than probably anyone expected.
Maybe even earlier than the actual game devs expected. Is this going to result in shoe-horning or plot holes / nonsense? But, if they’re saying what they mean, MOTHER snapped into existence almost immediately after the creation of ETHER and ESCA. Either that…or MOTHER is an outside-entity, came to Earth, told people about ETHER and ESCA and thus was able to establish its presence on Earth and use it as a jumping-off point to invade the PSO2 dimension while everything was rattled by DF trying to come back in the era of the first Claris Claes that killed herself sealing it on Nabarius.
  Remember: You’ve been out of commission in the cry thingy since the Matoi-save 2 years ago creating the time gap, that’s how it adds up to 12 years. Your char isn’t actually “active” that-that long.

241 at 4/2
Xiera attempts to explain Ether vs Photon
She starts off with that despite the small differences with how they're used, Ether and Photon seems to be the same. (Thiiiiis doesn't make much sense) She says it's the reason the 'enemy' was able to detect the ARKS ships and Hitsugi too. However, because it's from a different universe (probably dimension) Ether can't exert the energy photons can, but it's exceptional at processing information. It is a particle which specializes in taking shapes or transmitting things. (Now this makes more sense) But, since it's a particle, the properties are nearly the same so if the fundamentals still apply, there's a lot  you can do with it. Even create a scene with fragmented bits of information. *Everyone seems amazed by this. However, that also means they can do the same, and interrupt our scenes. Xiera believes that with our mastery of photons, it's likely whoever this is has mastered Ether as well, so we need to be quick and think up countermeasures also.

So this goes back and forth with 'big deal' and 'kinda not'.
Photons and Ether are SIMILAR not the same. They're more 'that dimension's equivalent of photons', and because everything there is different, of course so is this. So, that means you could make an ether sword with an etheric edge instead of a photonic edge but they don't...so that mastry is missing. Also, that photonic weps break/ruin ether stuff also shows lack of mastry and she does know that you've run up against Hagith’s phantoms. So the bottom line here is Ether is 'manifest stuff' and photons are 'make weps & power ships'.

241 at 4/2
Xiera has no good detail on Mother Cluster because the Intelligence Unit also doesn't. That's why Hitsugi's info is so important! But Hitsugi tells her not to get her hopes up cause she barely knows anything. She never heard of Admins or Apostles. She joined MC because she got a message from Mother one day, that introduced her to a membership on a social media service. She had her doubts at first but because Mother was always right, she kept on and then got to go to PSO2. She trusted her and admired how she knew everything. The only members she knew though were in the student council and Kohri. She put herself under the impression that she knew, but that's really all she knows. She never really changed, just acted like it. Even though she 'never gained anything' she believed she had.

That's the same for everyone
It's more fun to not know

What are these choices? NEITHER one makes sense in the context of the ramble of what she's just said. It's more fun to not know about the MC? (no, not really) or It's the same for Everyone? WHAT is? Thinking you gained something or knew something but you didn't? No it's not? If you say That's The Same For Everyone, Xiera will agree and say you can accept what you don't know and then strive to understand it, that mindset is more important than anything. She narrows her eyes at this and Aru asks is it that bad to not know things?

He says he's the worst of them all then, because he doesn't know about himself, or the things around him. He is so glum about this, that she feels sad too. Xiera tells them it's all right because we are all in the same situation. It's never too late to start, so let's work hard to learn all kinds of things together. Hitsugi agrees.

Notice how she leaves out the ALL IMPORTANT FACT that MOTHER was in her MIND with that first message. She makes it sound like Mother texted her up in a phone or she clicked an ad somewhere—something mundane. Nobody assumes a magic voice in your head made you go onto Failbook/Etherbook whatever the thing is called. That’s pretty damn important to know.

241 4/2
Xiera will now explain how the ARKS got to Earth.

Xiera states: From the beginning, while conducting investigations our connection with you (Hitsugi) originally made us file requests to re-station near the Earth. After all, there's things that can't be learned with analysis of intelligence reports alone. While learning about the threat of Phantoms, 'that' happened, during prep. (The THAT is when Hitsugi-as-Aru-Character was forced to 'quit the game'--the incident from the very start of this Episode.) Error code Olympia forces Hitsugi & Aru to return. That proves that "They" were interfering with intel gathering, but also a trace of them trying to steal info from Xiera in that brief moment. That was beyond the level of impersonating avatars (what is that--nobody ever explains that) it forced intervention against Oracle from Earth. From this, it's been confirmed that something recognizes ARKS as an enemy, thus we sent the whole ship. Even though we just came, with jamming interference we can go down to Earth. We completely concealed the ship, that way we don't have to worry about being detected. We'll be in the universe for a while, so we'll be in your care.

What she means is that the very first time in this chapter-set where you met Hitsugi AS ARU and the ‘persona like thing’ appeared / attacked and then she ‘couldn’t log off the game’ that was the incident. But, ARKS had been observing Earth/Ether before that for much longer than one would think--12 Years if Xiera is correct.

241 at 4/2
About Phantoms

How do they appear? The ether spread all around in the atmosphere takes the shape of the monsters, condenses, and attacks. Things which Earthlings dislike or fear the most are easily embodied. Getting rid of bad imagery is difficult, which is true of both worlds. But, because they are embodiments of Ether, humans who are untrained can't see them, and thus appear to be unaffected by them. (REALLY? So all you have to do to be LITERALLY INVINCIBLE to any monster is to just not know it exists. Yeah. Right. ) However, if left alone, the ether that accumulates within these monster bodies becomes more transparent/pure and once it reaches a certain point, it takes forms in which it can interfere with reality. While they are unstable, phantoms which reach that level have been referred to as Angels and Demons by earthlings during their ancient times. (Really? NO because Ether is NEW to Earth or else MOTHER would have existed in the cave-man era & then what? So no, this 'ancient times' thing is just bs, it may be a throwaway line or something but like....why? The whole point of this stupid story is that Ether is NEW and lets all this stuff happen. "Demons are real" yeah ok, so they were real and also common in the dark ages/mideval times but then magically never real again once everyone got cameras despite the fact that ether was supposed to exist the entire time? Nope.) However, she scoffs, she'd much rather prefer them to gather more paramount intel than alluring stories...so do forgive her selfishness.

Recently, Arks has secretly been dealing with the increasing number of Phantoms. Using info from the IU Allies, we're conducting suppression and containment. Before the phantoms can cause trouble we scatter all their pieces. (The 'condensing' part is legitimate and creates no holes) And, in order to prevent civilians from getting involved we close off areas where fights occur so feel free to rampage all you want.

So what she PROBABLY means is that low-level barely-formed phantoms are invisible to everyone AND can't interact with the environment.

Well-formed phantoms CAN interact with the environment, and anybody can see them, but the ARKS prevent that by walling off the areas with force fields. Which...somehow nobody notices in a city of over 1 million people? That suddenly....what happens to cars going down those streets? What if you feel an invisible wall?

They hammer the 'force field' thing from ARKS very, very often. It shores up the plot holes in the game that force you onto a 'path during the levels' which are always streetscapes on earth. Isn't it great that they dialogue so many lines on this one simple mechanics hole but then leave like...10 way worse things just mucking up the rest.

241 at 4/2
Earthlings seem to have a distinct ability: the creation of 'embodied weapons'. Xiera suspects she's onto how it works. To compare with ARKS, it'd be the summoner ability. (Yeah too bad NOBODY EVER EXPLAINED SUMMONER or WHAT THE PETS ARE) She asks Hitsugi to manifest her embodied sword.

Wouldn't it be great if we knew ANYTHING about Summoner beyond 'Pietro is stupid/inept and pets hate him'????

You know it might be nice to know WHAT PETS ARE and WHERE THEY COME FROM. But yeah....nobody ever bothered explaining it we just get to see him get abused while everyone whines like a toddler about the ‘new lazy class’. Why didn’t we hear about pets before? Why did no one have them? Why keep skipping the explanation, but then barfing on about other stuff acting as if pets are this well known thing? It's like a whole chapter is missing---but it isn't.

“Ame no habakiri” she says and a blue sheath long katana appears in a sparkle of blue ether in her hand.

Xiera explains that under Hitsugi's command, the photons in the atmosphere accumulated, condensed and took form. ARKS can embody photons but it's different from how Earthlings do it. But there's something greater going on here, you got that out of thin air. It's something only someone can do if they're well accustomed to Ether.

Since imagery is linked to embodiment it's likely to be more efficient as well. It's flaws come from the lack of general use, and the small number of people able to use it. But by the way what was the name of the weapon again? Ame no Habakiri. Xiera asks the meaning of the name, but before Hitsugi can tell her, Aru jumps in with that it's the weapon of Japanese mythology Izumo's Legend where the sword sliced apart Yamata no Orochi. He's quite excited about this fact.

She asks how does he know? He says while in her room he read about it, there were lots and tons of books on legends.

You Like Books?
You Like Legends?

If you ask You Like Books? Hitsugi says yes she loves flipping through the pages as it calms her down. She prefers legends and heroic fables. Now you're thinking she's childish right? Hmf! Her heart and body will always be a child.

So, Earth’s specialist snowflake can materialize any weapon of any strength out of thin air, use it, then dissolve it again. This smells like a Mary Sue ability, and if anyone from Earth had it, Earth would be more dangerous than any ARKS ship. “Accustomed To Ether” is the other too-vague word going on here, which is how do you get it, how did Hitsugi become it, and can it be stopped? Notice how no one asks her to manifest anything else like food, a hand grenade, a friendly sprite, a gun or anything that would actually be useful in a fight against Mother or phantoms. If Ether is the ‘green lanterns’ light’ (Do look him up if you're not familiar, it seems very relevent here) she should be able to make anything yet nobody has her try & she hasn’t the brains to give it a shot. OR just as incompetently, there’s no explanation as to why she can’t or won’t.

241 4/2 at 1500
Xiera is doing her thing with screens on the bridge, but says that we've analyzed various intel..so  let's decide the best course of action. Her big revelation here is: “We'll wait for their move.” This surprises Hitsugi who asks if its really all right to have such a laid back plan. Xiera says that all we know is the enemy is targeting Aru, and maybe the motive. So the best we can do is to protect him and see how they act. Because we're not fighting darkers this time, but humans, it's not advisable to move hastily, there's nothing else we can do. (She means you can't kill them all willy nilly, and Darkers were not calculating but this foe is) So, Aru & Hitsugi, finish up any plans now because once things start to move there's no time for leisure. Hitsugi thinks about it...but Xiera interrupts her asking about her older brother, should she contact him?

Hitsugi says yes but how'd she know?
Xiera hems and haws because she's still awful at lying until she falters, saying she had a look of someone who has such a relative. Hitsugi will glare you down, but that does nothing. (She suspects you told Xiera she had a brother, but why this matters to her is unknown) She says it'd be bothersome for him if she doesn't contact him so is there a way? Xiera says just go right there to him, but Hitsugi wants to know if we're on standby. Xiera says only ARKS are on standby. Personally meeting family members is different and we're here to support you. She says thanks, and she'll meet him for a bit.

Wow cool there's no way this could possibly go wrong!
Physically going to personally visit totally mothered-out authoritarian, nosy, older brother? An older brother that's been under MOTHER's thumb for YEARS longer than Hitsugi & loves to boss her around like a parent? Maybe even fight her? Take her directly to Mother because "GROSS BOY is IN ROOM U HOE" Maybe she has Aru in tow if they turn the dumb-dial up to 11? Let's prance thru the streets with Mother's #1 target Aru too, that sounds like a good idea. Brother who everyone knows has been 'totally into mother' for YEARS? Right after wacky Kohri had a mental meltdown after someone told Mother 'no' once? Yep, yep, no problems here derp-de-dur
.

Sara Appears:
Sara says she's coming in to the bridge and...does just that. She says she knew it! You're here. Xiera says she's a rare sight on the bridge these days, but Sara ignores it. Sara claims she heard you'd returned so she came here while being called by Claris. She hears you've been in another dire mix up but it looks like you are here and healthy. Xiera wants to know why Sara hasn't heard about it from Xiao. She only got a note saying you were back, and nothing else. His messages are becoming more negligent. What does he think a presenter's supposed to be? Maybe she should confront him and say she'll postpone it.  (What is a presenter, and what is to be postponed? It never gets explained here)

How is Xiao Doing?
Xiao Must Have Been Lonely.

If you ask How is Xiao Doing? She says that's her line, he's holed up at the center of the mother ship doing calculations as usual, so there's no need to worry. He gave Xiera the authority to manage the whole ship though. Xiera asks Sara if she's free now, she'd like to ask questions about the general document submitted by the General Affairs Department. She says she doesn't know if she's got the time but---Xiao's calling! She asks why he always calls out of the blue. She says never mind but what's up? Nothing? Really? She argues one-sidedly with him then tells him to just finish calculating and come out here himself. She's doing fine, things seem settled on his side...she's not been arguing...

(Remember, this is either an earphone call, or Xiao is directly in Sara’s mind because that was always his ability and he would intrude harshly at times—for which she resented him. They have always bickered.) Xiera watches interestedly as Sara asks him if he's all right. Xiera seems to like intra-personal drama. She then claims it's not like she's worried about him or anything...but she's heading over there to visit and so he'd better come out or else!

She is practically a 'tsundere meme' right here.
And Xiera sees it, so she watches with a hand over her mouth while Sara hangs up the call. When questioned by Sara, Xiera says how to put it but it's really nice to talk like that to someone...hee hee

This causes Sara to flail and demand she get back to the request because she's sure there's problems in Maria's document so hurry up and show it! She then commands you to stop standing there and go back right now to your ARKS missions! Thus you are run off, and the scene ends.

A Battleship Appears
Somewhere out in the ocean over still water, something is happening. A bright giant globe of light appears over the ocean and the green man is back! This time, he's over a giant boat.
From the shore, Hagith watches. He answers his phone to be scolded that a large scale phantom like this one will be too hard to conceal. He says tell it to the emerald tablet, and not him. (So, he is sassing this supervisor) It's out of his control, he claims. It became an ideal structure of a weapon that doesn't require him. He simply came to watch his masterpiece creation fight. He hangs up and commands the emerald tablet to show 'them' his power, go! He gestures grandly & the scene ends.

The green man has summoned the old Battleship Yamato.
This is arguably the most famous boat in all of Japan WW2 history. (Is it the most famous boat in WW2, regardless of origin?) It was known for having tons of guns (literally) and a pretty unique profile that’s well represented here. Because the boat really does exist (it sunk, it's at the bottom of the ocean IRL) the boat in the game looks almost exactly like the real thing, which is interesting to see. Any 'Japan' elements/seals/icons have been replaced with Hagith Corporate or MOTHER symbols. The green man=Emerald Tablet is historically accurate in the ether-boat he makes. It is unsurprising that Hagith's....accidental tablet-generated-man??? would make the very boat that he's the biggest fan of. It makes sense.
Important gains:
1. If the supervisor he is sassing on his phone call is MOTHER – it’s important to know that she can’t un-manifest something she doesn’t like.
2. If it’s not her, it’s important to know that she doesn’t approve but also doesn’t interfere. Or can't.

2028 4/2 at 1700
Hitsugi is in her room, thinking it doesn't look searched because everything's in order. She wonders if all the recent events and action haven't drawn the attention of anyone yet. But, no-matter, she has to go try to see her brother. She runs out of her room and down the hall. This (Somehow) brings out the Dorm Manager. This is an adult/woman who oversees the rules of the dorm because hey...it's teens. The Dorm Manager catches her running in the hall, and yells, which startles her. She accuses her of acting poorly for someone who should be doing student council duties. Who told her she was neglecting the duties though, she asks? DM says Washinomiya did, she's not here right now? Hitsugi looks surprised that Kohri would say that (it's sabotage, of course) so the DM says that's problematic too because your brother was just here, but she told him you were away. Hitsugi says it's fine she told Bro she was away, she's got some biz with him, so she'll just go to where he is instead...where is he? The DM tells her he's on his way back to the men's dorm, and so she will leave.

Just then, the ground shakes, and there's an explosion in the distance. She sees smoke over a building and goes running. The Dorm Manager has also left by then, so you don't know if the DM saw/felt the explosion.

At 1800
Hitsugi gets out onto the school track, (as it is the fastest way to cross the campus when no one's around...which, they NEVER are, the school is always completely void of students) and see's Bros dorm. Indeed, in the corner unit, where Enga lives, there's fire and smoke pouring out of the windows.
When...a maniacal man with a megaphone on a bench yells that it was a great explosion, Brother's dorm has been blown away smoothly, so  traitor girl Hitsugi must come here right away. He has kind of frizzy curly unruly black hair that has a dull yellow streak all the way through it, off to one side. yellow tinted round large glasses, and is mostly tall/gangly. He carries a white megaphone and gestures wildly with everything he does. Hitsugi shouts at him from across the track that he's responsible for this?

He'll tell her something boring instead, that in Japan we have a saying called "This is obvious", don't we? Hitsugi yells that he killed brother? He taps his ear, and shakes his head. He then complains that his auto trans isn't working, but she's asking the same thing again. (he suspects) He also shouts some words randomly in English, though about 3/4 of the dialog is in Japanese. This, and the auto-trans mention is likely to imply that he's bad at Japanese, not just doing dramatic effect words to seem cool or flashy. Everything he does/says is flashy & fast. You can't click his dialogue to slow him.

He intros himself as Bethor Zelazney, the one who ccaused the explosion on Enga-Boy.

She summons her sword, and shoots a beam through the ground which tears it up at him. He leaps out of the way (impossibly) and so she has missed him. He ends up on another bench far away but still on the track. He says that her quavering face filled with regret and anger is the best, you don't get rare scenes of emotion like this often, yo! (So, he wants everyone's reality to be 'acting' for his fake movie that he thinks he's making)

He asks if where she's standing is 'too hot' for her, so she glances down and sees a dynamite bomb. (Yes, like Wile E Coyote, it's red sticks of dynamite, curly wires & a simple clock) It's half blue though...meaning it's constructed from Ether, and it sets off right away but not with the force of real dynamite, or she would be dead/deaf as she couldn't move far enough fast enough. She is seemingly unscathed by this. This disappoints him greatly, saying she doesn't have a dramatic enough expression, his movies always need great acting. He needs more exciting moves or everyone will think it's a monotone book, yo. (he puts 'yo' at the end of things randomly and frequently.)

So, he summons some giant rats. These rats are about the size of medium-dogs (think beagle, shiba inu) and grow crystal spikes out of their backs as they run and throw themselves at her. A swing of her sword knocks the rats away, and they turn back into Ether cubes and vanish. This also frustrates him so she begins to think and says She remembers Bethor Zelanzy, a Hollywood director of exciting movies and over  the top action and special effects.

He agrees, (With her statement that he's famous) and explains that MOTHER called to him, saying if he came to Japan, he could film the most exciting action and...before he knew it, he'd taken a trip all the way here. Touching his shoulder, he says He's the....apostle of Wood. As he says this, he changes his clothes with Ether into a white jacket with glowing blue lines and some yellow pattern triangle black pants. (What is wood? WHY is wood? Like...the meaning of 'wood' in this instance.) This also gives him a floating movie-scene-clapper-board. It has his name on it (In English) and the movie title is "Change the World". He tells her that her acting needs more charm and excitement.

Hitsugi yells at him to stop messing around, because of his 'film' and his 'exciting' her brother is...(She just keeps assuming he's dead) He says her sight is narrow on this, but the soul behind the yelling is good. More rats come spinning from behind her, so your char arrives just in the nick of time to stop them, so he says now he can film something exciting and tough. The rats seem very likely to have been able to strike her if  your char had not intervened in the scene and slashed them all away. To continue his scene he summons rats. If you beat the rats, he'll cheer, and summon crows. The crows will shoot their feathers and dive-bomb at you. If you beat the crows, he'll summon more, and when that's not enough, he'll summon polar bears & brown bears.

The bears are something people could actually fear, because when they get going, their faces split open and 3 giant bear-paw-claws come out which are made of meat/red/bloody & then they come after you that way. Keeping on the move is effective against them. Guns work best against the crows because they will fly up/away and shoot a feather. Beating all those, he'll summon a T-rex and more bears. This is a smaller-than- real life (but not by much) dinosaur. It's brown, and will charge at you doing stomps and tail swings. If it gets worked up....it's also a force to be frightened of because it's skeleton will come shooting out through it's chest and fire a power-beam all around. Kill it first.

If you beat the rats, crows, polar and bears, plus a T rex he's very impressed, he can't stop his imagination and making the best film, Its the kind he desired. Once he finds a place to get all the extras ready, he'll heed the call to action. His floating movie-clapper-board claps, and creates an explosion which causes him & his Ether influence (that had walled off the area) to disappear.

He Got Away...
Are You Alright Hitsugi?

If you ask Are You Alright Hitsugi? She says thanks for saving her, but she's still enraged. She's fine but it's all her fault that her brother's...she starts to cry sparkling tears. And for some reason your char dissappears now leaving her alone and never finding out why this was all taking place or what even happened! WHY? This makes NO sense for the plot. They just keep shoe-horning people into doing random junk like this. No one would leave her there.

Back on the bridge, the quest ends.

EVERYONE knows that Enga isn't dead EXCEPT Hitsugi. Why would you believe a bad guy? How could brother get all the way across campus to get caught in the explosion in under 5 minutes? Sure, Dorm Manager doesn't know how long he's been gone/doesn't say, but unless you have concrete proof, don't go off the deep end beliving a relative is dead, especially with a flake like Bethor in charge of it. It's not like she can't tell he's crazy/a flake from this one interaction either, the guy's whack, and he'll say anything. This is an obvious plotty-pooper just like "oh no diffuse Kohri in a single sentence???? Better not! Won't have plot!"

2028 4/4 at 1200
(So, this is 2 days later after the Hitsugi fight) Bethor is back in front of the school. He is actually high up in the air, just floating there on nothing, hanging out. Of course nobody sees him because nobody is at the school, or in the school to look out of its windows. (I GUESS) he says casting's over he needs to test the film quality of his actors. While the order's reversed, lets audition Hitsugi Girl for acting. He summons a Train Ghidoran to the school track/field area. Bethor is now in a director's chair that floats about 8 stories up over the front of the school building. He has his megaphone, clapper & now a big HD movie camera that also floats beside him.

He calls out with the megaphone, and what he desires will appear. The Train Ghidoran is...a monster that's made of trains. 3 different ones, so it has 3 'heads' with the engine of each being a head. There's a bullet train (sharp head) a commuter, and a freight. The 'body' is made of merged cars & the tail is....more train. He summons this (because he has seen it?) but it is also on movie posters around town. So, 'the people' fear a current 'movie monster' in this case. Remember-ether things are supposed to be able to most easily manifest from things people are passionate about or afraid of. This continues the theme of a bad guy summons some huge thing, and then we cut away and hear nothing more about it.

Lisa in: Lisa’s Inappropriate Questions
Lisa sees Hitsugi wandering sadly in the Arks ship, and asks why? Hitsugi tries to remember her name, does, and so Lisa asks if she's ready to get shot at by Lisa. She says no...just a bunch of things happened...(She's out of it with greif) Lisa asks if this makes her want to get shot at by Lisa?
Now, this snaps her out of it a bit, so she says it's not what she means. Lisa asks about this, wondering since when do you need a reason to be shot at? (Lisa is somewhat confounding because she'll use 3rd person dialogue whenever she feels) Hitsugi says 'well you see'...and it cuts her explanation/review with some overhead camera work to imply she tells Lisa the whole story of what you actually saw happen.
Lisa understands, and says she has her sympathy. But...she does wonder how to sympathize with the hearts of others. (So, for her, this is just a phrase she knows she's supposed to say) She confesses she has no understanding of the feelings of others, so she prefers to be direct. So how did he die? If it was an explosion was there a mess? Or was he flattened like a pancake? Hitsugi tells her that she doesn't know, so Lisa asks if she didn't see the body, didn't see the details, how does Hitsugi know that he is dead?
She then admits she wasn't really interested in the details, but she IS interested in explosives so she can understand for reference. (What she means is what sort of damage do explosives do to unguarded human flesh) This causes Hitsugi to produce an exclamation mark. Now, Hitsugi thinks and becomes encouraged. She thanks her sincerely, but Lisa doesn't know why so will just say 'you're welcome'. Hitsugi claims she can't go and confirm what really happened, she'll be sure to make sure if he's really dead. Lisa laughs fufufu, if she can't bear to look upon the scene, feel free to call to Lisa! But, in the meantime, if you feel like getting shot, please give Lisa a shout. But, if possible, could you bring Aru along too? If you take that offer, she'll be very happy. Lisa then leaves.

No sooner than she's gone though, Aru appears with your character, asking if she's ok. Hitsugi assures him she's fine, we were only talking about disturbing things, she feels oddly fine now. The scene ends.

This...is Lisa in action.
She's slipped backward some in characterization from the time when the Arks Evil Directive took place / was overcome. There, she had reached the point of not HAVING feelings exactly, but at least knowing that others do. Knowing that someone has something you don't is a step, but the next step after that is knowing what that thing is and how it works. Lisa is actually an ok plot-way to introduce Hitsugi to the obvious. Why she thinks she can't go investigate is a bit of a quandary given the whole "Arks disguise areas" that they're always boasting about. Not getting an explanation for why throws a monkey wrench at the plot. Also, why does Lisa itch to shoot Aru now?

Sara & Claris are talking when Hitsugi, Aru & you walk up to them.
Sara says she was being told a story about you. She sums it up with "Something-something if I developed better her pride would be this and that I don't understand context, so could you elaborate?" WELL with something that...barely..even a sentence? Uh...who could possibly elaborate? Claris yells that as she said before if Sara was bigger, then she could be bigger too (she's short and huffy) and she would have a nice composure with a similar aura. (This is them fighting because Claris blames Sara for not being very tall--as if it was something she did on purpose)

She stops her antagonizing though, asking if something's wrong with Hitsugi. She covers it, saying nothing too big. Claris suspects though, saying she's no longer enthusiastic. Sara leers a bit, asking if it's something she did from the last time they met? Aru fills them in (before they can start with each other again, which was clearly going to happen) that her older brother just died. Sara flips out saying she's looking like someone who can't read the room at all and that this is terrible. They're both really embarrassed and stressed that Hitsugi is in such a dire strait at losing a relative, and they didn't even know.

Claris begins shouting that all the things that were considered to be her sibilings are also dead so we're the same (situation) so that's ok. Sara frets further, and says Claris' situation is totally different, and that reply is just awful!

(It kind of is a terrible response to the situation...'things that were considered her relatives have been killed' does not compare well to 'relative you actually liked and was a person not a thing'. However, she is grasping at it here because it's a type of (probably) PSTD for her, with all the dead-eyed staggering clones of herself she & her pals had to face/kill or let Luther murder everyone. It is no wonder she says this. How Hitsugi resists asking ANY questions of these people's off-the-wall lives is really something else.) Claris flails at you, yelling to 'show us that thing! That thing you do that comforts people!' Sara agrees, saying you're the experienced one, you can do something about it. (Neither of them have an actual family, no mom & dad or any real sibling other than each other and a long history of horrible people & torment so it's not much a wonder they don't have anyone related/close/whatever to reference familial feels)

Hitsugi assures them she needs no comforting, she's ok, sorry for making them worry. If she becomes depressed, everyone will worry, so she has to work on hiding this feeling. Everyone, she's fine, so please don't worry about me, but let's go Aru. They walk off toward the transport. Claris comes up to you, telling you that you may already know, but Hitsugi is pushing herself too hard. Sara says you know how dangerous it can get when someone's like that, so keep an eye on her as much as possible.

Hitsugi's hiding her feelings is TERRIBLE.
This will only make her worse. What she needs to do is channel it into solving the Brother non-demise & holding out hope instead of going into depression
.