Aki Fujishima (26) is the owner of Patisserie Larme from Finally, In Love Again.
The description “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” made by Voltage Inc. for Aki explains him briefly. From the outside, deserving of the title “Sir Smiles”, he is calm, collected and kind; however, his walkthrough provides a journey towards his inner self: forceful, free-spirited, quite heartbreaking and interest in older women.
Coming from a wealthy family, Aki meets the famous pastry chef, Momoi, during the time they were students and these two fellows end up opening Patisserie Larme. The reason why Momoi wanted to open a patisserie is pretty clear, but, why had Aki preferred this, is the question to be answered. According to him, the idea is to “bring people an everyday happiness”, however, considering behind his gentle words and calm facial features there is always an ulterior meaning that is quite forceful and strong, ordering the person he is talking to obey him, it is not very believable that this is the only reason. Then what is it? In the game, these mysteries under Aki’s kindness are hinted quite subtly, requiring a detailed work on his expressions and words and this was achieved in a very studious manner.
In need for a sous chef, the fellows meet MC and Aki does everything he can in order to persuade MC to become the so wanted chef. However, it can be said that his persuading methods are pretty “unprofessional”. Unlike a professional relationship, Aki mostly uses his charm in order to attract the woman in front of him and this behaviour continues even after she is employed and ends up in an event that is not seen in a Voltage game very often. What happens? And how is it solved? FILA is absolutely one of the most mature Voltage Inc. games (which is understandable since MC is 34 years old). This is why this storyline can be seen as quite shocking, though, it is unique and a real shade of the “slice of life”.
Being the owner of the patisserie, Aki’s walkthrough is mostly played in Patisserie Larme, however, somewhere along the way he is forced out. How this occurs, how this effects Aki’s relationships and how he manages the problems in the “outside world” are the questions that are also answered during storyline.
Due to the gentle-yet-repulsive character of Aki, he and MC are observed to have an on/off “relationship”, although, until the very end, both sides claim this to be a “professional relationship”. If this situation lasted longer than necessary, this could lead some to insipidity, however, the situation had ended up exactly on the right point. How this ebb and flow ends and how the both sides confess their actual feelings were also written pretty successfully.
According to the general theme of the game, MC is supposed to come up with a “special item” for Larme during the routes of each character. In Aki’s case, she comes up with “Larme”, the special taste of the patisserie, which included vanilla salt in it (since vanilla salt has a sentiment for both Aki and MC) in shape of a teardrop (since Larme means “tear” in French). The story of the creation of the cake is written very beautifully and unlike other characters’ storylines, this route provides a drawing of the cake (since Aki is the first character to be published, after this image, I shall confess that I expected the same from other routes but since it was not available, I was quite upset).
Furthermore, considering the meaning of the patisserie, the logo of the shop is also designed perfectly.
Aki Fujishima is absolutely appropriate for those who want to read a more mature storyline.
