I'm considering on running this game and i got some questions to ask, the first one is, i saw that there is a in-game time, how can i get track of it? i was playing the game around and the only thing i could track is the time for each level. Another thing is, where should i start/end my splits, should i start when i hit the first level on the character screen? And end it when i kill tatsumaru? considering Ayame's route. The last question that is got is, on any% i can choose any itens that i have? for example, i have a lot of dragon's breath, can i take one for each stage or do i need to get the itens that i use throughout the run, getting GM's and stuff. xD

I know this post was a year ago, but I'm going to answer it anyway just in case someone wants to know in the future.

Your in-game time is displayed after you beat each stage (the same screen that shows your rank). To get your final in-game time, you would go to your characters rank screen at the options menu after you beat the game and add all of the times. Personally, I put all of my times into this website because I'm lazy and it will add them up for me (http://www.grun1.com/utils/timeCalc.html).

Your timer needs to START when you choose your first stage and it needs to END on the final hit of the last boss fight. I don't think there is a set rule for where you need to split in between the stages. To be consistent, I always split at the rank screen at the end of each stage until I beat the final boss.

Finally regarding items... you can use any items you get during the speedrun, but keep in mind that if you're doing an any% run, you have to start from a NEW game/save. You won't start with Dragon's Breath because you won't have it in a new game file. Maybe you can find it during the speedrun or get it by Grand Mastering a stage (I'm not sure), but that would be the only way you could use the item.