Riddle Joker: Mayu Story

This blog is going to cover Mayu's route in the Visual Novel Riddle Joker. I highly recommend before reading further that you take a moment and read the overall review of the Visual Novel which you can find at this link: Riddle Joker Overview

Mayu's route is an interesting one and one that could be close to being called 'best girl route' that said though I almost feel wrong saying that as I truly believe that in this particular case the actual 'best girl route' would be the Ayase's route. I will cover that in a later blog.

To do a quick recap though in Riddle Joker you play as the MC named Satoru which on the outside may seem like your normal highschool student in reality he is part of a secret organization that is tasked with different types of espionage, spy, and other covert operations. He has currently been tasked with infiltrating an Academy that is full of Astrals, (people that have unique special powers that range from 'magic' based to almost sci-fi based powers). Satoru is also an Astral and like those in his group each is using their powers in the hopes of making the world accepting of Astrals. 

 On his first day, he is introduced to a third-year student that also acts as a researcher and is given special permission by the principal to maintain a lab in the main building. Her name is Mayu and she has a unique history with the Satoru.

Mayu is a couple of years older than Satoru and despite that, she is only a year ahead of him in school. You later find out this is due to her being held back twice, while this may make you think she is not very bright, the truth is she has a reason for remaining in the school as a student even though she could easily graduate and get a job in Astral Research.

Mayu is a bit headstrong, extremely smart, and able to deduce down any situation and information within seconds. She however has a bad habit of taking everything as a personal attack against her age. She feels that those around her are so youthful and beautiful she tends not to see herself as either youthful or beautiful. She ends up being the one that Satoru and his partner end up using her signature to help them in their mission.

Satoru and Mayu both grew up in the same orphanage and while Satoru came out about his astral abilities Mayu hid the fact she was also astral. Because of this, she watched as Satoru took the brunt of the ill will and feelings of the other children and some adults while she was treated like a normal girl. It was only after Satoru was adopted by his father (who would later become his boss), that she realized that she felt guilt towards not standing up for him as the older child to protect him from his peers. It is this regret that leads her to start taking an interest in him when she realizes who he is as he enters the daily grind of school life.

Their relationship continues to grow until they both come to terms with the fact that they are in fact in love with one another. It isn't until they start working together with their group of friends for a school festival do things take a leap forward. It isn't too long after this event that the two begin spending time with one another as well as a few nights, (insert H-Scene here). The two's relationship grows quite quickly and things seem to be going well until one day Mayu finds out that someone has been going through her files and computer both at her lab and in her room.

She sets up a trap and of course, Satoru falls for it thinking that she wouldn't catch him. However, she does and it puts them at odds, and Satoru is forced to tell his boss that he was found out. When he tells him how he was caught his father only asks what it is she wants in return to remain silent. With that said it is here when you find out the reason why she is still at the school as a student and not as a teacher or researcher. 

Two years prior she witnessed a friend of hers and the daughter of the principal go into a state never before seen by Astral Researchers. In this 'frenzied' state she was unable to control her astral powers and as such began to destroy the surrounding area. They were able to eventually put her into a medically induced coma and for the past two years, they have been keeping her in the coma until they can find a way to help control her powers. 

It is after Mayu found out about Satoru that she also found out how he was able to use multiple abilities by using an artificial cloth that is able to collect and imprint astral powers. His uniform allows him to go invisible to the naked eye, and how he got into her lab was using a card that was made with the same material that imprinted her astral id on it. With this in mind, she makes a deal with Satoru, 'give me access to that material and I won't tell the school'. Despite that Satoru and Mayu both know she wasn't going to tell anyone. 

She loves and cares for Satoru and she can see how much it hurt him to do what he was doing around her back. While he can't tell her all the details of his job or who he's working for he is able to tell her enough that she understands that he can help her with her research into finding a way to deal with her friend's issues.

Over time they are able to use the special material to create a patch that using Satoru's true astral power of 'mental manipulation' and using his ability to lower his astral numbers to a point where her over-saturation of astral energy is able to be greatly reduced they are able to cure her friend.

The Visual Novel ends with Mayu finally graduating with her friend, she sticks around the school as a researcher and also to stay close to Satoru who still has one year left in school before he is able to graduate. The two stay together and it is left to assume that once he graduates that they are able to eventually live a happy-ish life together.