Reiji Makino
Karuwari / Irazu Valley Church / 1976 / 19:00:03
Karuwari / Irazu Valley Church / 1976 / 19:00:03
Chapter 3 is set in Hanuda Village after being hit by a catastrophic landslide, caused as punishment due to the failure of the holy marriage rites (though the end of chapter 2 depicts Miyako and Koichi holding hands and fleeing, they do not appear in this chapter). The chapter begins with a description of a mythical creature known as the Ubumedori (taken from the Compendium of Materia Medica), and it is obvious that the methodology of the Ubumedori therein mentioned - "They apparently enjoy stealing human children and raising them as their own" - and children, are an important, all-inclusive theme in the story itself.
Rescued from the site of the landslide, the previous Guiding Priest Reiji Makino worries about the missing Guiding Nun (incidentcally, it appears as though Hisako Yao was already serving as Guiding Nun at the church by 1976), but the real cause of concern for him here is his sister Ryoko, who has married into the Miyata family, the village doctors. She loses her long-awaited son Shiro in the landslide. As described, Reiji worries about his sister's position in the Miyata household, since she is no longer able to have children after the birth of her son. It also shows that even though he is a coward, Reiji feels guilt at having been the one to cause the landslide that caused the death of his sister's child, something that troubles him even more deeply. He is also concerned by the village tradition of replacing Guiding Priests who have failed in performing the ritual.
Regardless of whether they wish for it or not, it is just as though children fall from the sky before Reiji Makino and Ryoko Miyata, both of whom need children to continue their families. You could say that this scene represents how deeply steeped the land on which Hanuda Village stands is within the laws of cause and effect. A car suddenly appears from above. The Yoshimuras fall from the sky... The Yoshimuras shown here are simply there as the twins' parents, being struck by tragedy for no apparent reason. Then Ryoko, wanting a child to act as successor to the Miyata family in Shiro's place, takes the twins from the Yoshimuras as though it is completely natural... The ghastly actions of Ryoko in this scene are just like those of the Ubumedori mentioned at the start of the chapter.
And thus, one of the children is taken in by the Miyatas in place of the late Shiro. The other is taken in by the Irazu Valley church as a successor to Reiji, retiring from his role of Guiding Priest due to the responsibility of the ritual's failure (showing that Guiding Priest Kei Makino in the game has no actual blood relation to Reiji). Twin brothers who fall from the sky when two children are needed... It is impossible to call it a mere coincidence, a completely unnatural situation that is likely to do with the workings of cause and effect by which Hanuda Village is bound. And the final words uttered by Ikuko Yoshimura, having lost her sanity, on the verge of death - "The light is so, so soft! So, so soft..." - these words are strongly reminiscent of the form of Datatsushi, but whether this is a harbinger from Datatsushi himself after the chain of events is unknown.
Characters
Reiji Makino
Ryoko Miyata
The younger sister of Guiding Priest Reiji, who married into the Miyata family. Stealing a child (Katsuaki Yoshimura) from Ikuko Yoshimura, she raises him as Shiro, successor to the Miyata family.Shiro Miyata
The only son of the director of the Miyata Clinic and his wife, Ryoko. He dies in the 1976 landslide. He doesn't appear directly in either Strange Tales or the game.Toshio and Ikuko Yoshimura
Nothing is known about their lives until the car they were riding in fell from the sky on the night of the landslide (both dying)."Photo of Twins"
In the game, the Yoshimura house can be found in the Harayadori area. This photo can be obtained from the photo album inside the residence. It shows twin brothers (Takaaki and Katsuaki) who were fated later to be taken in by the Miyata and Makino houses.
Postscript
If you include the Yoshimura twins in the "31 victims of the landslide" mentioned in the news article in chapter 3, the total number of people is 33. This is the same number of victims as in the "XX Village Massacre".
English Translation by Chelsea
