[No. 012] Drawing of Strange Characters
These strange characters, drawn on a piece of an iron sheet, are the letters used by shibito. As you can tell by looking at the layout, it is set up in the familiar "ouija board" manner, the standard Japanese character set replaced with the 26 shibito letters, which have been long used in rituals to commune with spirits. Each of the shibito letters displayed has a counterpart in the alphabet, from A to Z, and once you get used to them you can easily figure out what things say. If you decipher the messages written on other archive items, you will expand your knowledge even further.
[No. 013] Letter to Risa Onda
This is a letter sent to Risa by her sister, the elder of the Onda twins, Mina. Through it you learn that the reason Risa returns to Hanuda Village is because "something happened when she was working for an employer in the city". According to director Toyama, after graduating from middle school Risa got a job as a cashier at a supermarket in the city, but couldn't make any friends there and was lonely. She becomes involved with a mysterious scout (from the entertainment industry) who deceives and gets her into trouble, so she returns to the village heartbroken... Mina senses something like this, mentioning in her letter, "You didn't sound too good on the phone before - are you okay now?" The other part - "There's someone I want you to meet" - clearly tells of the relationship Mina, as a nurse, has been having with the doctor for whom she works, Shiro Miyata. It's unclear whether they had been considering when to get married, but thinking of how Miyata later strangles Mina the letter at times is painful to read. Also, the four-leaf clover bookmark that Mina made by hand and put in with the letter represents Mina's personality, according to Ms. Sato of the development team, as being "someone who broods over the negative things and ends up doing depressing actions".
[No. 014] Telephone Card
The second of the items showing how popular Mihama was as an idol at her peak. It is a telephone card that was awarded as a prize by the idol magazine "BANG", and if you refer back to [No. 006] "BANG" you can guess that there must have been quite an idol maniac, or perhaps a Naoko Mihama fan, in Hanuda. However, there is another possibility - that a member of the TV crew that was with Mihama dropped it. The TV crew that was travelling along with reporter Mihama when they entered Hanuda, and yet are never seen in-game. It is impossible to refute the possibility that they had been gathering data on Naoko Mihama to use. This would also be a good explanation for why Mihama merchandise is floating around the village when her popularity is now so low. The TV crew, having been drawn into the incident separately from Mihama, frantically trying to contact the outside world at the Janokubi phonebox... Imagining this "untold tale" is quite interesting.
[No. 015] TV Show Proposal
The proposal for the occult TV show "Darkness Japan", on which Naoko Mihama works as a reporter. Since the proposal is found by the processing plant in the Janokubi Area, like the telephone card, it is reasonable to guess that for a time the unseen TV crew were here as well. What should be noted is the cheapness of "Darkness Japan" that can be seen through this proposal. Written in red pen in blank space is "Just keep it low budget! ... Super low fees for guest stars!!", which directly conveys the kind of position Naoko Mihama's career is currently in. Mihama and the others actually originally came to the village to search for tsuchinoko. They became wrapped up in the odd unfoldings without knowing a thing about the secret, occultic ritual. Incidentally, had their research gone as planned, the "Tsuchinoko episode" was scheduled to air at 8pm on Sunday, 10 August 2003.
[No. 016] Page from Sketchbook
A drawing depicting a red flower (Midnight Pimpernel) and a medal engraved with a Mana cross design buried beneath it. This is a hint as to where the medal is buried.
[No. 017] Mana Cross Medal
As standard, each of the Hanuda villagers who are believers in Manaism has one of these medals. The engraving of "TAKEUCHI" on the medal reveals that even the Takeuchis, pursuing the village's secrets as local historians, believed in the religion...
English Translation by Chelsea
