In this Until Then: Afterimages Chapter 2 walkthrough, it’s time to conclude Mark’s story and the DLC as a whole.
Despite the shortcomings, this year’s Sparkle Night was a success. When the rest of the crew members left to celebrate, Mark and Desiree decided to complete their remaining tasks. Both of them met backstage, which ultimately led to a confession and a kiss.
Table of contents
Reflection
A year later after the night of Sparkle Fest, we see Mark at the university. However, it doesn’t feel “right” as numerous students in the main hall sit anxiously. He exits through the main gate and talks to a delivery man who delivered the wrong amount (30) of items. He says it’s the right amount, but when Mark checks the invoice to show him that he ordered 50, it mentions 30.
So, the delivery man places another order on his behalf. Desiree arrives and tells Mark that Trishia can’t find last week’s receipts, asking where he placed them. According to him, Caloy *misplaced* them, and when they try to call him, he doesn’t pick up.
Mark leaves and finds him outside an instant noodle stall. When Caloy asks how Ronel is doing, Mark says he was discharged a few days ago. When he asks what’s wrong with him and why he isn’t acting like usual, Caloy says that he never lets him repay. Suddenly, when he tries to open up, the scene cuts to Deisree and Mark; they’re living together now.
He’s covering Caloy’s work because he quit at the last moment, which makes Desiree furious, saying they can’t delay Sparkle Night further. Since she’s confused, she asks Mark to attend the meeting with T.H.I.N.K, Nicole’s organization, next week.
With that, we cut back to the initial scene of Mark’s story, where he looks through the window. While Desiree is asleep, he checks his phone to see a receipt for a PVC badge. Then, Doogle Photos (a parody of Google) shows Mark a reel, showcasing pictures of him and Desiree from 10 months ago.
As the reel plays, Mark remembers his conversation with Caloy. He was jealous, not of Mark and Desiree as a couple, but instead of how he never relied on his friends outside the organization’s work. The bottom line of this conversation is that Mark has changed, and it is affecting the rest of the group. When he asks how he sees him, Caloy says, “It’s for you to see yourself.”
The flashback ends. Desiree wakes up and asks Mark what he’s doing. He explains that he was inspecting Caloy’s receipt, watching ClickClock, and then, before heading to bed, he expresses his love to Desiree. The segment ends here.
Externals
Here, we play as Nicole, who’s talking to Lucas about Rose’s emergency meeting. When she asks about the meeting, he says to ask either Jomari or Farah, but they’re both busy with their work; Lucas forgot. The conversation’s tone sounds eerie, and it hints that Nicole is falling out of love with him.
After she gets up, walk right and try to sell the tickets to people on the footpath. Unfortunately, most of them will ignore you. One individual will buy it and ask why it says 2019. Nicole says that Sparks, formerly Sparkle Night, was delayed and is now happening on March 10th.
Move ahead and try to sell the tickets again until a couple arrives and buys them. With how lovey-dovey they sound, Nicole feels jealous and tries to complete the transaction as soon as possible.
After selling all the tickets, she tries to call Lucas, but he doesn’t pick up. She tries multiple times to no avail, and then calls T.H.I.N.K’s president.
On the other hand, Mark is picking up Caloy’s receivables. However, he receives a message from Desiree, explaining that the other organization is waiting for them at the meeting. As he tries to explain that he can’t just leave the receivables, he removes the text midway and says he’s on it. Closing his eyes, Mark thinks to himself that it won’t take long.
Walk left to leave the university’s main hall, then move forward on the footpath. A few steps ahead, he sees Nicole across the road, trying to call Caloy. After crossing the road, walk right and talk to Nicole. Mark asks what she’s doing here, and when she asks about Caloy, select “On a Break” during the dialog selection.
He says that all of his organization mates are swamped, and he’s handling the logistics since Caloy is “on a break due to personal reasons.” So, Nicole and Mark discuss Sparks and decide to stay in contact for updates. The conversation shifts to how, like Caloy said, he’s handling everything, and then Nicole asks what happened to ‘on the dot’.
Mark says nobody has said that in a long time. She starts laughing since Desiree, the punctual perfectionist, had to delay the festival. Then, she asks how he and Dess are doing. He says they’re always seeing each other, working on their organization, and living together. But the thing here is that Nicole notices that they don’t actually spend time with each other, as they’re always working; there’s no time for personal enjoyment.
Whether they’re awake or close to sleep, Mark and Desiree always work for the organization, eventually giving him a reason to take on everyone else’s work so he can spend further time with his girlfriend. He doesn’t give Nicole’s word a second thought, and asks how she and Lucas are doing. After zoning out for a bit, she says they’re fine.
Since Caloy is on a “break”, Nicole and Mark decide to meet next week to finalize Sparks’ preparations. The screen fades, and the segment ends.
Ode to Eva
It’s the dead of the night, and Mark and Desiree continue to work on Sparks. While he has eye bags, Desiree doesn’t seem to care as he continues to work on the laptop. He looks at her and wonders what’s wrong. He stays playful until he finally drops the bomb: They have a mix-up with Store ‘N Store. She starts crying, and Mark consoles her, saying they’ll make it work either way.
She worries what her dad will say, as he puts a little too much hope in her daughter. Mark says they’ll announce that the band won’t be coming, and after crying for a few minutes, she lies down in his lap. To keep the ball rolling, he says that there’s a little room for error, and she shouldn’t worry about his dad, as they’re not perfect after all; it’s only a little bump on the road.
Moments later, she falls asleep, and Mark leaves the room. In the dorm, if you interact with the books on the table, it reveals that he’s handling Sparks during his exams. Then, lie down on the bunk bed, and Mark will open up Anonchat, an app that lets him talk to random people.
Note: In the main game, Mark uses the same application to find his soulmate, but fails.
The first individual immediately disconnects after Mark says “20 M.” Now, the next individual talks about 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick, but this conversation leads nowhere. Time passes, and one stranger asks Mark if he’s going to Sparks.
He says yes, then he asks whether they’ll go to the festival if Store ‘N Store backs out. They immediately say no, and then he closes the conversation. Another individual arrives: a 22-year-old female, and Mark begins to vent about his relationship and how he’s exhausted from work.
She asks him to talk it out, but he says that there’s no right time for it. And even if he tries, it will affect everyone at the organization as well. As they talk, it reveals that they’re both in the same situation and bound by the people around them.
Their conversation ends, and Mark says goodnight to her. With this, the ninth segment ends.
Discrepancy
The next day, Mark goes to the university to see Trishia and Dan fight. When he asks what’s wrong, Trishia says that there’s a lot of money pouring in, leaving him confused. Dan says he keeps track of all his receipts, but she mocks him for losing Store ‘N Store. He leaves angrily, and when Mark checks her laptop, he sees numerous small transactions happening every week.
He tells her to ask everyone in the organization. However, she mocks him, saying that now he wants her to do something about it. A few moments later, he meets Nicole to report the recent incidents in his organization. She doesn’t make a big deal out of it and says that they should just get rid of this set of tickets.
Now, lead the way. Go right and try to sell the tickets to anyone you can talk to. This is just a gimmick to let the conversation between Nicole and Mark happen; keep moving left and right as they talk. They converse about ontology, where Mark says that he failed the exam. She asks whether he’s a slacker again, and he tells her how he was dissecting a chair in his dorm, thinking about its existence like, “When does a chair stop becoming a chair?”
Nicole laughs and decides to give him a lecture over it. After selling the tickets, they sit outside the university and continue talking about their past; you can’t hear them, but Mark and Nicole act like they’re playing a piano. In the main game, they used to play piano together.
Back home, Mark crashes out over skipping his classes to find absolutely nothing about the transactions. Desiree starts crying, saying she’s worried about Sparks. Mark comforts her, but then she asks why he loves her. He calls her dependable and reliable, and whatever hurdle she has, they always cross it together. Now, she tells him to ask something; he asks the same thing.
According to her, Mark is also reliable, but she says if he can’t enjoy his time with her since it’s always about work, why is he even spending time with her? Why is he even saving her, when he knows she’s nothing without him? Whenever he tries to say something, Desiree cuts him off, until you get a choice of dialog. Select “And” to keep the conversation rolling.
No matter what, he’ll always love her. Desiree asks if he will live up to his words even if she tells him something. When the dialog appears, select “You can tell me anything.” So, as Desiree tells him her inner feelings, the audio and screen become out of focus, eventually shifting to Mark, who’s sitting all alone outside.
He receives a message from his dad, who asks for an extra ticket for someone he’s been seeing for the last three months. Since he wants Mark to meet her, he invites him to dinner. However, no matter what his dad says, he remains avoidant and says that he will be busy with the event. Before closing the chat, he says he’ll do something about the ticket, and when his dad says “love you,” Mark tries to open up, but eventually backs out.
He asks himself what he’s doing outside. After taking a short walk, he talks to the 22-year-old, Eva, whom he met on Anonchat. To keep his identity concealed, he’s using Ronel’s name. Once again, he vents to her, which eventually reveals what Desiree said to him.
Remember the extra funds that the organization had to commit several transactions and missing receipts? It was her. She sold tickets last year without anyone’s notice, and that’s how they kept the cash flow rolling. Everything that Mark did the entire year was nothing but a lie to cover up Desiree’s mistake; even he didn’t know.
Mark tells Eva that he felt betrayed at that moment and didn’t know what to do. No matter how many times Desiree apologized, it didn’t go through him, and he left the dorm. Eva explains her situation with her boyfriend and how he is acting like her ex. Still, she and her ex had real love between them, but something caused stagnation.
Mark relates to her on an unbelievable level, as he and Nicole were in a relationship once. After Cathy, Mark’s best friend and Sofia’s significant other, passed away, their relationship ended without a proper breakup or anything.
Note: So, this confirms that Mark's story takes place in the first loop after Cathy's death, and before Nicole and he got married.
When Eva learns about it, she immediately asks him to meet her. Move right onto the footpath and sit on the seat to wait for her. After waiting for 20 minutes,
Mark gives up and leaves, but when the camera zooms out, Eva is revealed to be Nicole, who was watching him from behind the bushes, and the segment ends. It’s honestly delightful to see these events unfold.
All That Sparks
It is Sparks night, and we’re playing as Nicole this year. Walk left and enter the stage construction area to talk with Trishia. She greets her, and when asked about how things are going, she says she just wants to survive the night and then graduate to get out of this “hellhole.”
Move forward to meet Lucas. Nicole asks about the progress, and according to him, everything’s fine. Out of the blue, she says that she loves him, and he reciprocates. But when his attendant, Ivy, walks in, Nicole can’t see her directly, as if she’s jealous of her. Ivy smirks and takes Lucas away to check other lists.
Mark arrives, and Nicole asks how Desiree’s feeling. He says she’s just taking a day off as she’s not feeling well, but the show must go on. She decides to help him in her place, and they decide to check the receivables. After they leave, we see two power stations full of plugs. Last year, Mark told the recruit that they shouldn’t be overloaded, but seeing the amount of plugs, it doesn’t feel right; T.H.I.N.K. is lacking in their department.
Hours later, the festival begins. Mark, Trishia, and Dan stand behind the stage, and one of the audio engineers warns them about a weird hum. It sounds like electric distortion, and to solve it, he asks the engineer to use EQ to blur it out. He tries to tell him about the consequences, but Mark tells him to do it either way.
Once again, Trishia mocks Dan for losing Store ‘N Store, and this time, he slams his earpiece on the ground and walks away. Mark asks what her problem is, and she crashes out at him, saying that she knows what’s happening with him and his lovely president. He stays quiet, and Trishia tells him to stay away. She leaves, and he tells Lucas and Nicole to kick things off.
The first artist heads on the stage. However, the situation is falling apart behind closed doors. Ivy didn’t have the updated cue list, which prompts Nicole to say that he told him Mark was there with the updated ones, but he didn’t listen, like usual.
Nicole goes away, and Mark calls Pyro to check the power stations. Nobody replies. He tries to reach them multiple times, but it’s all in vain.
He goes to check the power station himself and finds it completely overloaded. He wonders if Ivy and Lucas checked it, but they’re too busy in the crowd. Another girl appears before Lucas, and when she tries to talk to him, Ivy shows her affection to show that he’s busy. Mark sees them, feels bad, and then goes backstage to find Nicole all alone.
He asks how she’s doing and why she’s sitting alone. Nicole says that her ad break is up next, and she’s just waiting for it. When she asks Mark how she looks, he stares at her for a good minute and says, “Good.” She gets up and asks why he renamed the festival ‘Sparks’, but before he can answer the question, her ad break arrives.
Nicole goes to the stage to present a phone with the advertiser, and Mark looks at her from backstage. In the crowd, Lucas doesn’t even glance at her, and he keeps talking to Ivy. Trishia, on the other hand, sits with her hands on her head. During the advertisement, Nicole anxiously looks at the crowd to find Lucas, only to see him kissing Ivy. She’s at a loss for words, but thankfully, the phone company’s representative handles it professionally.
When the ad ends, she angrily leaves the stage. Mark tries to approach her, but he holds himself. Eventually, the fireworks begin, but this doesn’t last long as Sparks turns into a tragedy. The compressor that was providing air to the Banana Ketchup mascot fails, and we only see a blurry glimpse of it.
It catches fire. The festival turns into a nightmare as the crowd screams, and the management calls the firefighters to control it.
Fester
Mark watches everything go out of control without any emotions. After the firefighters arrive, he leaves and goes to the same spot where he was supposed to meet ‘Eva’. Walk right till he lights a cigarette. Mark claims he quit smoking long ago, but wonders why he is doing it again.
At the festival, while the firefighters try to control the fire, Caloy is recording a video.
Mark receives a message from his dad, explaining that he couldn’t come to the festival due to an emergency. He replies, “Same Dad, same.” In the university’s group chat, Dan asks where Mark is, but he doesn’t reply to their messages. He continues smoking, and his self-destructive side says that he failed to change. However, the optimism hasn’t faded away, and he counters this argument. Still, there’s no point in discussing this now.
So, he messages ‘Eva’ that he’s still waiting for her at the same spot. Surprisingly, she replies. Mark says, “Wow! So you are alive,” and suddenly Nicole comes from behind and says, “Barely.” As usual, he shows no reaction to this reveal, and she asks who taught him to smoke cigarettes; it was Desiree.
Then, she asks about his relationship with his dad. He immediately gets worked up as he explains that they’ve moved on. Nicole tries to calm him down, sits with him, and tells him to remember about “us.”
They both tell their perspectives on how things ended between them, and it’s nothing but an amalgamation of misunderstandings that were never cleared since both of them were grieving Cathy in their own ways. For Nicole, Mark kept him waiting, and for him, it’s the other way around.
After getting closure on their relationship, Mark says he’s sorry to disappoint and then sits with her again. They both understand their mistakes, and he jokes that they were doomed to fail from the start. She asks if they can start over, but according to Mark, it’s too late. Nicole stands up and messages him as Eva. When he asks if they’re doing it again, she tells him to play along one last time.
She tells him that Lucas kissed Ivy, and Mark consoles her on the chat. He asks why she didn’t talk it out before things got worse, but ‘Eva’ points the finger at ‘Ronel’ for doing the same as Desiree apologized to him. He has his doubts, and when she calls it out, he sends her multiple pictures of him and Desiree together to prove that he loves her.
When ‘Eva’ says that he knows why he loves her, ‘Ronel’ goes blank and can’t think of the right reply. She says it again, and Mark lowers his head and puts his hands above it. Seeing him like this, Nicole sits on the bench, and she manages to get words out of his mouth: He doesn’t know why he loves her.
They talk about their past once more, where Nicole explains that he managed to bring her mental walls down after Cathy’s death and allowed her to make friends again. However, in this process, he went into a mental shutdown himself, and she apologizes for not noticing it earlier.
He says she’s absolutely right. He didn’t date anyone after their stagnation, and had stayed the same until Desiree came into his life. Thinking about it, Mark believes that he may have wanted to save her from her parents, which sounds pretty similar to the case of Nicole. He realizes that he’s just finding the same person in everyone, and it isn’t going to end up.
Then, he asks Nicole about her relationship with Lucas. She says he’s dependable and strong, but when he says he’s happy for her, she becomes furious because Mark knows what he did. Since she’s doubting herself, he points it out, and finally, the conversation turns lighter.
When Nicole asks whether they matter, he says maybe. She calls her and Mark’s past similar to the question he asked about the chair. From here, they finally crack the code about the chair’s Ontology. As they talk about it, we see moments from the main game, the previous segments, and the events of the Sparks tragedy.
Mark and Nicole finally kiss, and “FeverFew” by Megumi Accorda plays in the background. The credits roll. During them, we see a glimpse of everyone.
Desiree… cries all alone in her room, regretting her mistakes. The next day, Nicole breaks up with Lucas, and she leaves after hugging him.
At the very end, we see Mark wearing a mask, crying as he looks at his phone. A butterfly comes and sits on his hand, and if you don’t know, Cathy loved them. She wore a butterfly dress at the prom before her death, and always said how their wings tatter during the rain. With her symbol, the DLC finally comes to a close.
And with this, our Until Then: Afterimages Chapter 2 walkthrough comes to a conclusion.
If you’re looking for more walkthroughs, please check the links below:
- Into Indie Games Homepage
- Crushed in Time Walkthrough Hub
- Pawsome Resort Guides and Walkthrough
- Maseylia: Echoes of the Past – 5 Beginner Tips & Tricks
- Witchspire – Walkthrough Hub
Either listening to music 24/7 or having an existential crisis; no in between.
