There might have been a scene that took priority over the scene that would have planted shoes II in the trashcan. Some scenes also take a few days to trigger. I know you need to have installed the shoes app before you can get the interest, but I don't really remember what else might be needed besides that.
They should be hanging out in the bottom right corner. They wearing a purple hat and are visible from the teleporter IIRC, and standing beside a chest.
The only requirement listed in the strategy guide is to install the app, which I did at least 20 days ago. There's been plenty of empty days since. I've gotten stuck because I don't have enough compliments to unlock popularity II, but I've done everything available.
aura-dev: Just in case you missed it earlier, my original post (#2,792) had a save file as well. Not a particularly useful save file, since I didn't notice Shoes II wasn't available until fairly late, but maybe it will help.
Alright I had a look. The scene unlocking Shoes II is Aura Dev 4, which has a quick cut-in at the end to Richard's home and requires it to be unlocked.
Thanks for investigating. I wasn't aware that any of the core corruption progression scenes were gated behind Aura's progress in Roya. I think I'm going to stay away from hard mode for the time being. It's a puzzle I haven't had much luck solving, and I know it isn't (and shouldn't be) balanced yet. Best of luck in development over the next few months. I'm looking forward to seeing how this second major plot arc plays out.
Hard Mode on a first blind playthrough without any NG+ bonuses is indeed fairly tough, haha.
My victory score is -108, so I don't think defeating bosses is going to do much.
