Shinoda (篠田 ), full name Akira Shinoda (しのだ あきら ), is a supporting character featured in River City: Rival Showdown. He is a graduate at Reihō Academy who started his own startup company right after, though his company was hit with problems in recent times, so he spends more time drinking at the bar. He likes to help as many people as he can. Shinoda was former classmates with Rina Deguchi.
Background[]
In the main story, Shinoda can be talked to on the streets during the first day and will ask Kunio if he'd like to be his drinking buddy, though retracts his statement when he realizes Kunio is not of drinking age. During the night, Kunio can talk to Shinoda while he's drinking at the Starpark Café with Shinoda immediately being reminded of his past self upon seeing Kunio's appearance. With Kunio confused by his comments, he asks Kunio to take a seat as he has some information he'd be interested in hearing. Shinoda goes into detail about the situation at Reihō Academy and talks about how the Reihō Four Kings earned their places while he was still at the school. Confused as to why Shinoda seems so hung up about the top delinquents at the school, Kunio asks why he cares so much even though he's graduated years ago, to which Shinoda mentions that it's because his younger brother is currently at the school and is a target to being roped into their current scheme of taking over all the high schools in the country. Passing out from the drinks, Shinoda is seen throwing up outside of the café shortly after. Kunio goes to check in on him with Shinoda stating that he's feeling cooled off and is ready to go back inside. Kunio hints at Shinoda to lay off the drinks, though he doesn't realize what he meant and thanks Kunio for hanging out with him, mentioning the fact that he's there each night. Upon sitting back down in the café, Shinoda will go into detail about Shun Mochizuki, Masao Kobayashi, Tadashi Kinoshita, and Takashi Onizuka before passing out for a while. When Kunio returns after Shinoda's woken up, he will continue to talk about Kobayashi and then asks Kunio to put a stop to Reihō himself as he has work on the following day. With Shinoda passed out again, Masutā will mention the fact that he never went into college after graduating and instead decided to go straight into a job. Upon talking to him for the last time, Shinoda will talk about Kiyofumi Taira and a fight that happened between Onizuka and Kobayashi that resulted in a draw. Shinoda would mention that during his days in school, Hanazono High School, Hakutaka Industrial High School and Reihō Academy were the three schools that'd call the shots and begins talking about the Blue Emperors, though he passes out again shortly after.
On the second day, Kunio gets ready to talk to Shinoda again but he passes out shortly after thinking about what topic he wanted to hear about. Waking up and remembering what they were talking about last night, Kunio gives him a disappointed look and asks Shinoda if he always drinks alone. Shinoda appears upset by the comment and gets ready to start talking about how he wished he had a friend to talk to, though immediately remembers his old classmate Rina and refers Kunio to her at Three Castle as someone that'd be able to tell him some high school stories. With Kunio unsure about what Three Castle is, he asks Shinoda what the place is about, to which he describes the place as being similar to a maid café but the hostesses wear princess gowns instead. Kunio remains unsure what the point of the place is, so Shinoda explains that you pay a thousand yen fee to talk with the girls for an hour. Kunio is shocked that people would pay such a high price to have girls talk to them with Shinoda commenting that Kunio still has such a young mindset and that those types of places are something you begin to appreciate when you grow older. Shinoda wraps up the conversation by telling Kunio to go see Rina and that he'll let here know he's coming so he's able to be let inside the building. Shinoda mentions that he'll cover his fee before passing out again.
When playing on the true ending, Shinoda will appear inside of Starpark Café on the third day to talk about the incident that happened with Mika Sakagami outside on Kotobuki Road. With Masutā being unaware of the situation, Shinoda briefly informs him about Mika being assaulted by Makoto Yamagami. When Makoto breaks into the building, Shinoda angrily asks Makoto what he's doing, though is immediately attacked and knocked to the wall. Upon Makoto's defeat, Kunio goes to check in on Shinoda with him waking up and recognizing Kunio. Shinoda assumes that they were just talking about Reihō Academy, though Kunio corrects him and comes to the conclusion that he's okay. Shinoda gets up and asks how the bar become such a mess, though Kunio doesn't give a direct answer and just says a fight went down. Kunio asks Shinoda to check himself into the hospital, to which he gladly accepts and heads outside of the building.
In Riki's story, Shinoda notices Riki feeling down and asks him what's going on. Riki gives a brief description of what's going on and Shinoda offers to hear what he has to say if he'd like. Having heard that Riki needs a fluffy cushion as an offering, he points him to Three Castle as they may have some there. Riki thanks Shinoda for the tip and leaves before he was able to mention that Three Castle is an invite-only club. After Riki fights some punks outside of the building, Shinoda comes in and tells Riki that he ran out before he even got a chance to tell him that Three Castle requires an invite to get in and assures that he won't be getting a way in now. Shinoda decides to grab a fluffy cushion for Riki and believes that this offering he's getting wrapped in sounds sketchy, though doesn't decide to intervene after Riki claims that he's seen his wish be granted.