Kawabata

Kawabata, a kankrelat like no other

At the beginning, Kawabata was a character made for the game Lyoko Conquerors. It was developed by Immudelki alongside IFSCL and had several prototypal phases. Its first iteration, in 2017, was a real-time strategy game (RTS), in which each player had to create their own XANA monsters army to take over all of the other players' towers. Just like XANA in the show, each player had a commander leading their army, William.

As for IFSCL, Immudelki had, back then, the ambition to add a solo mode to Lyoko Conquerors. It would have been a tutorial and told William's story after his xanafication at the end of season 3.

At that time, Immudelki imagined a small kankrelat with a strong temper, with a blue circle on his laser. He was meant to be William's mentor and teach him how to be XANA's leading commander. That is how, when promotional images for this new story were revealed, players met for the first time the funny creature that is Kawabata.

After that, Immudelki's ambitions for IFSCL took any time he had for Lyoko Conquerors. Therefore, he paused the game and completely canceled its story mode. As his project was stopped, Kawabata should have disappeared, or at least put aside. However, Immudelki did not want to let the small kankrelat fall into oblivion. He had the idea to include him into his main projet, IFSCL, as a free electron, breaking the 4^th wall and living his own adventures outside his creator's grasp.

Immu's Rooms exploration

The kankrelat's first appearance in IFSCL was in december 2017, inside the 3.5.0 version Immu's Room, 'Frontier of Mysteries'. This Room was the first step of a tiny story in four parts aiming to announce the Story mode arrival. In this first Room, the player found themselves inside of the Frontier, a strange place between real and virtual worlds. After picking Jeremy's glasses in a chest, Kawabata greeted and introduced himself to the player.

The small kankrelat instantly broke the 4^th wall by announcing that Immudelki, the game developer himself, asked him to appear out of his native game, Lyoko Conquerors, in order to advertise it. Kawabata mentionned elements from the previous Immu's Room (3.4.0 and 3.4.2 versions) while taking the player through a storm to a scanner, showing that he perfectly knew what Immudelki had done in IFSCL. Before letting the player go, his teasing mind tried to scare them by saying that Immudelki had very dark plans for the future.

The next Immu's Room, in the 3.6.X cycle, introduced the second step of that story. After using the Frontier scanner, the player got into the factory scanners room. Kawabata, having followed him, also arrived in a unfortunately broken scanner. He wished to guide the player through the factory, but he instead asked the player to look for a new electric fuse to repair his scanner. He promised the player to tell him some exclusive information about the Blue Return to the past, a mysterious program which appeared at the end of the 3.4.0, 3.5.0 versions and 3.6.X cycle trailers.

While walking through the factory, looking for the fuse, the player found new elements left by Immudelki coming directly from the Story mode prologue, which was then added in the {4.3.X cycle](/version/13). In the windows room was even a note directly signed by Kawabata himself: "Le ciel rouge arrive" (The red sky is coming).

After repairing the kankrelat's scanner with a new fuse, he explained to the player that he did not knew what the Blue Return to the past was for, but that he did not think that Immudelki would stop there. He talked about how purple disgusted him, hoping that the game developer would not create a new Return to the past with that color. Before being transferred elsewhere, he promised a cup of tea to the player for their next meeting.

Kawabata did not directly appear for the 3.8.X Immu's Room, 'Supercomputer of Mysteries', which is the 3^rd step of the tiny story started by the 3.5.0 Immu's Room. He did, however, left a Supercomputer plan with some annotations to help the player to reconfigure and replace damaged quantum circuits. Once repaired by the player, a neuronal headset appeared in the room. The player then had to recharge it with the nuclear battery in order to use it. After that, they arrived in a white hallway looking just like Kadic's.

The Kawa's Room

After the Story mode's chapter 1 release, the Immu's Rooms had fulfilled their role to announce its arrival to the curious players. And so, to everyone surprise, on the 3^rd of July 2020, a video named "The borrowed room"](https://youtu.be/QqZ5haIg3DE) was published on Immudelki's Youtube channel, in which Kawabata announced his big return with a new Immu's Room, which he had renamed as Kawa's Room.

That last Room ended the story that started with the 3.5.0 Immu's Room, allowing the player to leave the 3.8.X Room dorms hallway and arrive to the Kawa's Room. This strange place included a central hub looking just like Besaid, a small fishermen village from Final Fantasy X, a video game loved by Immudelki. Each house was a room or a place from the cartoon's real world, which would later be used in the Story mode.

The kankrelat explained the player that this place was not really his home, but only borrowed from Immudelki. This place was originally used by the creator to make prototypes for IFSCL future. He also revealed that it was the origin of all the chests of spoilers the players could find in the Immu's Rooms. He added that this Room might have some bugs, as it originally was used as a test zone. Finally, his last advice was to always be wary of Immudelki's revelations on Story mode. According to him, he likes to use every detail to lead the player on false leads about his story development.

While strolling in the different rooms, the player found boards on which numerous pictures from Kawabata himself were pinned. The kankrelat was also in each room, wondering whether he should return to his original game, Lyoko Conquerors, now that the Story mode had begun.

As announced by the kankrelat, the Kawa's Room contained several glitches in each of the rooms as well as in the central hub. After triggering all of them, the player reached a strange place, called Station of Awakening, which floor was a huge Kingdom Hearts inspired stained glass of Immudelki's avatar with the kankrelat. The player then had to cross a data tunnel, then enter a tower to type the code 'Kawa' on its interface. That code revealed, for the first time, the Purple Return to the past existence.

When the player returned to the Station of Awakening, after having activated the code, Kawabata had disappeared from the giant stained glass. Night had fallen on the Kawa's Room central hub, its occupant gone with all of his chests of spoilers. The kankrelat had left a letter for the player at the center of the village. He had written that this Room was his last gift, and that now was the time for him to leave. He hoped the player had appreciated the moments spent with him and for a reunion in a few years in order to share the promised tea.

Immudelki had then announced that the kankrelat would come back in the Final Room. As indicated by its name, it is the last hidden piece from the game, that will be added in IFSCL last cycle. The tea promised by Kawabata by the players then seemed already planned, and the kankrelat's story definitely finished.

The IFSCL files leak

After the Kawa's Room, Kawabata completely disappeared for two and a half years. Nobody expected to see him before a long time, since the Final Room was only planned to be added a few years after that. However, on the 13^th of Decembre 2022, Cinémorphique, the IFSCL's composer released a two-hour long new music called '嵐と静けさ' (Calm and Storm) on his Youtube channel, added inside of the game for the Story mode's chapter 4. This music was put on a video showing the Ishiyamas' house at different times of the day. In this video, some members of the community found Kawabata. The kankrelat only appeared for a few seconds each time, asking for help.

• "Au secours !" - (Help!) 13:34,
• "Non so dove sono !" (I don't know where they are!) - 54:29,
• "¿alguien me escucha?" (Is anyone listening?) - 1H 10:36,
• "Help me !" - 1H 34:46

At the same time, players found in the game Changelog other messages requesting for help left by the kankrelat. This messages have since disappeared from the document.

• "Help me ! It's me, Kawabata !"
• "Kawa here ! Please respond !"
• "It's me, I can't see you !"

The players therefore knew that Kawabata used IFSCL's different medias to try to establish contact and find help.

The kankrelat finally reappeared when the IFSCL 13^th Ultimate Anniversary Trailer release, on the 15^th of April. There was, at the end of the trailer, a shot dedicated to Kawabata, with an internet page from the Supercomputer's [internet browser], on which there was written "Have you seen this creature ? Contact me", with a photo of the kankrelat

This web page was actually a message directly from Kawabata to the players. In the 4.5.X, 4.6.X and 4.7.X cycles, typing the command "Contact me" or "Have you seen this creature" on the console engaged a string of enigmas the player had to solve.

In the 4.5.X and 4.6.X, the players first had to destroy at least 3 replikas in the same Custom game save in order to unlock the "Kawabata" entry on Holoviz (the game internal glossary system, available by clicking on the lab's holomap from the interface armchair. That first step was removed in the 4.7.X cycle, after the code was officially revealed.

After that, the players had, just like in the 4.0.X cycle's Kawa's Room, to move inside the factory, looking for glitches to trigger. Once all of them were found, a passage to a new secret room in the boiler room was opened. This place, named "Boiler Room 2957", was subtitled "Kawa's Room". There were stacked teacups and Kawabata's journal on the desk at the end of the room, leaving no doubt on the fact that that place was used as a hideout by the kankrelat.

The players learnt in the diary that on the 22^th of November 2020, during the 4.1.X cycle, the kankrelat saw a glitch in the factory's boiler room. He then used this breach to create inside a partial copy of the Kawa's Room he had created in the 4.0.X cycle. That explained the numerous chests of spoilers stacked into the room: they are those the kankrelat took with him after leaving.

He precised he had found a lever's prototype looking like the one used on the Supercomputer in 2018. After some technical considerations, he precised that he didn't know where the final lever would be found. Finally, he wrote that he will continue his investigation on anomalies on the following month, meaning on December 2020.

Some objects used in Immu's Rooms or which only appeared into trailers can also be found in the room. Numerous sheets pinned to the walls or only cluttered on the ground contain notes about the Story mode, showing that the kankrelat keeps investigating on Immudelki's story by himself to find the truth.

Finally, an old computer was on the desk, displaying lab surveillance camera footage. Kawabata had been closely watching each action for the last 4 IFSCL cycles. When the lever on the right of the desk was activated, the players saw the holomap rise on the screen. Returning there, players found a post-it with "Don't forget our pending tea" with a kankrelat drawing and little hearts.

This note is the proof that this riddle was entirely and intentionally organized by Kawabata, without the game creator himself, Immudelki, knowing anything. The kankrelat wanted that the players find the hideout and has now left to return inside the game files to continue his Story mode investigation.

To lead the players to his new room, Kawabata used his ability to introduce himself in IFSCL medias and leave 2 clues announcing his return. On the 6^th of September 2023, the very last patch of the 4.5.X cycle was released. On that occasion, Immudelki published a promotional visual on the Game Discord server news channels. The image showed Jeremy at the hideout's entrance, with a caption "Is there a bug here ? Hellooo ?"

The second clue was much more visible. At the end of the 4.6.X cycle trailer, a few shots directly show the hideout desk with a cup of tea. The letter "K" is shown on the tea bag tag which pokes out of the cup, as well as the "Kawabata" file that the players can read and that is right on the cup's side.

After that, on the 21^th of December 2024, a video named 'Mystère IFSCL - Reveal video' was released on Immudelki's Youtube channel. This video aimed at revealing to the whole community the existence of Kawabata's hideout and the code "Have you seen this creature" that had to be typed in the console to get into it.
In addition to that, it was very interesting for those who had already discovered the room, given that the video explained how the kankrelat got into the 13^th anniversary trailer against his will. He seems to take some jump windows which randomly open to travel from one IFSCL media to another. This explains how he got into the chapter 4 music video on the Cinémorphique Youtube channel or in Immudelki's changelog. He then displayed the trailer's web page and said that he hoped one of his distress calls would be heard.

For now, those are the last information available on Kawabata's journey into the IFSCL files. However, there is no doubt on the fact that he keeps wandering from jump to jump in the game, hoping to find some exclusive information about the Story mode that he could give to the players…

Other Kawabata appearances

While traveling into the game files, the jump windows used by Kawabata already sent him randomly in some promotional visuals made by Immudelki.

On the 13^th of April 2024, the jump windows sent him inside of the IFSCL's 14^th anniversary poster. However, he only appeared very briefly at 1:16.

Later, Kawabata was haphazardly found in the 4.7.X cycle files with the new pocket money system. Immudelki then drew a promotional visual of the new system with the kankrelat before he escaped by jumping into another window. It is worth noting here that it is in that visual that Kawabata appeared with a scar. Immudelki confirmed that it was at first in the character design but that he had forgotten to add it up until that moment. Therefore, this was not a new element in his story.

Finally, Kawabata's last chronological appearance was on the 6^th of June 2024, for Franz Hopper's diary 30^th anniversary. A jump window had sent him inside the lab and he used that time to record a video with the Supercomputer video recorder, just like the Lyoko creator in his diary.