Heading into town, we see a young winged woman surrounded by hoodlums outside a building that has been gated off. It doesn't look good for her, until something explodes, taking the gate with it.

Lightning falls from the clear sky, knocking the hoodlums back.

The goons leave, and Nina goes inside.

Nina's obviously not our thief. She's calm and blonde, not restless and blue-haired, and while she does have wings, they're birdlike and breathtaking in a deep violet, not batlike at all. Still, we ought to know by now that trying to argue with Lin Pu is more trouble than it's worth...

Some classes are evidently in session, but since this is, after all, a jRPG, everyone is still willing to talk.

That one, at least, does respond with more snark than I would have expected, though.

That's odd... she doesn't look any older than the other students. But let's go check on Nina, shall we?

ようぢ in hiragana, that's not the most common of names. Google mainly gives me results for a pop star who Romanizes it as "Yohdi" and can't be an intended reference due to being just an infant when the game was released. Phonetically, "Yoji" is a good approximation.

Lin Pu cuts in. Ryu looks like he was afraid something like that would happen...

I like the little hesitation here. Everyone was calling him Doodoo when they met, so that's the name she learned for him, and it would be easy to automatically keep calling him that out of habit, or to stubbornly refuse to change. She's not doing that, though. Ever since finding out he goes by Ryu, she's been mindful of calling him that, even if it means a little more effort on her part to adjust and get it right.

Evidently not, since one of the hoodlums has just barged in.

Nina reluctantly leaves with him.

Sounds like... well, not exactly a plan, but at least an appropriate course of action.

Naturally, the hideout is guarded.

Naturally, we're not going to let that stop us. A little violence goes a long way. Moving on, most of the gang would rather talk than fight, but they have a curious tendency to talk about how they're related to each other.

There are also random encounters further inside, including our first Spirit-type enemy. These take half damage from most forms of attack, which makes them tougher in practice than their HP would indicate.

Note that レイト (Lait) is just トイレ (toilet) backwards, and that you're seemingly meant to mistake the latrine for an actual name.

Either he hits the switch to open the gate or we do it for him. The next guard has the sense to stand behind a gate, though.

The one with the gleaming eyes inside? Unfortunately, despite how suspicious this is, the only way forward (or back, for that matter) is to try it.

Whoever reached in starts the battle poisoned, but the spider appears in the fight, so at least we get to have a little payback.

Don't miss the Silver Knife in one of the chests downstairs. It should be an improvement for Ryu to begin with, and since Spirits take double damage from Holy but resist just about everything else, it will inflict a net 4x damage to them as compared to a typical weapon with the same power.

Continuing on, we find Nina surrounded by thugs and facing their obvious leader. Another guard gets in our way, though.

We deal with him just like all the others, but with more attempted witty quipping. Back to checking on Nina, then.

The thug shoves her toward the boss. This was a mistake. She spins around...

...and throws a fireball at him.

Another thug brings Mina out.

The thugs surround her...

...and drag her closer.

Nina struggles, but this doesn't look promising.

Good thinking. With everyone focused on Nina, we have no trouble circling around behind Mina's watcher.

Lin Pu sneaks closer...

...and takes out the guard, then positions herself to shield Mina.

The rest of the thugs attack Ryu and Lin Pu. However, they're just as unremarkable as all the others have been, except that they may call for backup.

Joker backs away.

Nina doesn't bother to hold back, launching a fireball into a rock wall that collapses on him.

The Dragon's Tear gleams as Nina gives her thanks.

However, the screen darkens, the ground shakes...

...and Joker bursts out of the rubble, except that he's now some kind of bloated, purple, long-tongued... thing.

Oh, dear. Fortunately, Nina joins the battle, and the whole party starts with full health. Unfortunately, Joker has a nasty attack that hits everyone and may cause Poison. He's weak against Ice, though, so Nina can deal good damage with Leyga (Cold). Ryu and Lin Pu should hit when they can and heal as needed.

Even now, Joker can't stop laughing. Maybe that's how he got that name.

Anyway, that's one less jerkass to worry about.

Nina turns to the others.

That's a curious way to refer to Mina... especially since they're supposed to be sisters.

Ryu seems a bit upset to be put on the spot like that, but he doesn't object.

Nina could use some better equipment from Corsair, and then it's off to Windia!