Heart to Heart

Heart to Heart is the 5th episode of Meta Runner Season 2, and the 15th overall.

Summary
Tari finally meets with MD-5, but under the strangest circumstances...

Plot
The episode starts with Tari seeming to punch something, but she actually gives a Duck to Satsuki-chan, a gift that finally fills her relationship meter with the character. Then after skipping some dialogue, another dialogue appears, with 3 options for Tari to answer. Tari selects "I'm sorry, but i'm meant to be with someone else.", making Satsuki-chan cry. Then, the girl asks if she can at least help Tari finding someone. She asks who's Tari's crush, but Tari just answers it's a friend, and starts describing Lamar. Satsuki finds his profile, and Tari asks Ai-chan to lead her way to Lamar's class, also saying sorry to Satsuki-chan. After entering, Tari says her opinion about Pocket Gakusei to AI-Chan. The guide thanks Tari for playing, and Tari clicks the friend request button. The Intro starts. Cutting to MD-5's base, Sofia finishes installing Masa's new arm, and Masa starts talking about the plan to all of them. But while this is happening, Lamar is getting inumerous notifications, with a short scene cut to Tari spamming the add button. Masa yells, and Lamar enters the game to answer, surprised on seeing Tari. Sofia goes to Lamar to check the game, and notices the character in the screen is Tari. Excited, she starts to tell Tari about the plan, and after a short time, Lamar shows the camera to Masa, everything goes silent, except for Tari saying she doesn't know what to say. Tari tries to explain about everything, but Masa says it's okay, and tells them they'll talk about everything when the plan is done. Lamar opens his Meta Runner menu, and something starts to scan his face, showing his character in-game for Tari. Lamar offers 2 other Pocket Gakusei tablets for Sofia and Masa, and they start doing the same, also setting up their nicknames. Sofia enters with some black clothes and a red tie, using the nickname GenkiBunny3. While Masa enters with the same clothes (in male variant), completely annoyed using the nickname Masa6. Masa says they'll get Tari out of there in the Show Match, and the scene cuts to Belle, sitting on a chair to watch the video Theo extracted from the server. The video shows Lucks in a very old uniform, calling for Dr. Sheridan and also saying he's a coward. An employee notices a horrible smell, and Lucks checks the cabin out, just to find Lucinia unconscious, with the cyber spot of the left arm destroyed. Lucks calls for a medical team, and the video ends. Belle, shocked with the video, says that he always knew, and also tells to the Lucinia picture it won't stay like this. Extremely upset, she leaves her room, to look for Tari. Cutting back to Tari and MD-5, Sofia explains she found a backdoor to the firewall in the show match but says she'll have to take the phone from Belle. At the exact moment, Tari disappears from the game, and back to her room, Belle takes the tablet. Tari starts to Panic, but Belle explains she just wants to talk. Belle says she doesn't think Tari killed Lucinia anymore, and Tari tells that's what she was trying to explain. Belle, confused, says Lucks was always good to his Meta Runners, and he never lied to them. She also blames herself for not listening to Masa about Lucks knowing about Lucinia. Upset, she says everything will probably stay horrible, and nothing will never turn upside down anymore. Tari tells she's actually serious when she doesn't know anything about Project Blue or even herself, and that she wants to know as much as Belle wants about her past. Belle also tells that saying she would help figure out Tari's past was actually the only way she convinced Theo to get the camera video for her. Tari thinks of a plan immediately and says Belle could help save Theo, while she and MD-5 hack into the server. Belle asks who cares about Theo if he's just a videogame character. Tari says either they save Theo, or they won't do this at all. Belle agrees, and Tari thanks her. Belle hands her the tablet and asks Tari to tell Masa she's in. Tari moves the head in a way she agrees and goes back to the game. Lamar says that Lucks must've caught Tari, and now she's getting tortured, but Sofia says they shouldn't jump to conclusions yet. Tari comes back and says she was just talking to Belle, leaving all of them surprised and confused. Lamar asks her to start talking, and Tari says she actually wants to help them. Lamar, traumatized by what happened before, says it has to be a trap and explains why. A short scene shows Belle's reaction to all of this, and Lamar calls her a Red Dragon Lady, a title which Belle actually liked. Sofia starts explaining why they should trust her, even if she made mistakes, she's a good person deep down and says that of course, she's angry a lot, but it's not a bad choice. Belle thanks Sofia for that, and back to the game, Lamar is still worried and doubts Belle's sudden offer. Tari says that it's up to Masa, and he simply says No. Tari gets seriously surprised and tries to explain that even if they had their history, Belle is a better person now. At the exact moment, Belle's screen open, and she starts yelling, calling Masa an Arrogant Edgy Jerk and saying she was thinking a lot to offer him help, and it would be better than she doing it herself considering his track record. Masa mutes her after she says that, and the only thing that appears in the screen is a muted Belle yelling a lot. Sofia looks to Masa, and he just says what. Cutting to Masa's screen, it shows Tari's character with a sad expression, lowering the relationship meter. Masa says for her to don't look at him like that, and explains that they wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for her, even if she changed he still says he can't trust her. He just doesn't want what happened to him twice to Happen Again. Cutting to Tari's screen, she's able to use a Heart to Heart and starts explaining that she knows Belle hurt him in the past, but Belle is hurting really bad just like him. She says Belle offered this help to Masa because she trusts him, and asks if he's going to let her down. Lamar still doubts Belle's help, and Sofia makes an expression as if she's asking for that too. Masa says Belle's in, and Tari, very happy, says he won't regret it. Masa unmutes Belle, which still yelling, asks if she was on mute this whole time. Masa explains to Belle that if she's on his team, it's his orders, and she simply agrees to do whatever he says, calling him Captain. Masa starts explaining the plan and says Tari's show match game is Hidden Heroes, explaining he and Lamar got a cartridge that can extract the server files. He also says the roles of each other, explaining that Sofia will hack into the server using the cartridge while Tari enters the show match with Lucks and Evelyn. The episode ends with Belle turning her game off and Smiling.

Main Characters

 * Tari

Supporting Characters

 * Kizuna_AI
 * Belle Fontiere
 * Masa Shimamoto
 * Lamar Williams
 * Sofia Porter
 * Satsuki-Chan

Villains

 * Lucks
 * TAScorp. Workers

Cameos

 * Evelyn
 * Lucinia Porter
 * Theo

Trivia

 * This episode's title is also a video game reference, but it is actually an original term by Glitch Productions. It is a reference to "Heart to Heart", a game mechanic in Pocket Gakusei after a player fills up their relationship meter with their date.
 * This is the second episode where Theo is absent, the first being Unreal Engines.
 * When Tari is briefly disconnected from Lamar, Sophia, and Masa, Lamar yells, "Tari, whats wrong? Tari?! TAAAAARIIIII!!!!" referencing a popular quote from the Metal Gear Solid series where Snake's teammates will yell Snake's name in the same way as Lamar when Snake dies.
 * When Tari mentions she talked to Belle, Lamar says, "Say Sike right now!" referencing a meme where an image of a Piranha Creeper from Super Mario Maker 2 is shown with the quote as the headline.