Part 31: Shangri-La, Part 2
We've been put into control of Mitsuki Yamamoto and Masato Fukuroi, two students of Byakudan Senior High School. There's a large pit impeding our progress northward, and the art room is locked. We head down the stairs to the second wing's first floor.
After arriving on the first floor, we make an immediate right turn into the music room.
Had someone left them behind?
Come on, flame...I struck one of the matches along the side of the box, and a small red flame flickered into being.
I decided it would be best to take the remaining candles and the box of matches with us, just in case we needed them.
Sound Effect: Item
The candles and matches are added to our inventory, and we start investigating the rest of the room.
There's a row of awards and plaques on one of the shelves here. Among them sits a small, rectangular box.
What could this be...?Take out the box
I wonder why they don't try to break the glass. I'm sure it wouldn't work, considering the school's usual response to brute force, but you'd think they might at least give it a shot.
There are words scrawled above the portraits on the wall:
"It wasn't an accident. It was suicide. The school covered it up."
"The seal must be undone. This tragedy must not be allowed to spread any farther!"
...? Fukuroi, look. There's something in there!Something small was firmly jammed between two of the keys on the piano. It seemed to have been wedged in with tremendous force, making it impossible to move either of the surrounding keys.
Yeah, there's definitely something in there...but I don't think we'll be getting it out anytime soon.We needed something we could fit in the tiny space between the keys in order to pop it out.
It's a comparatively fresh corpse. Based on size and uniform, it looks to be the body of a female junior high school student. Her throat seems to have been torn out, resulting in copious amounts of blood not only on her uniform but pooled along the floor as well. Her mouth, too, is hanging agape, and she has no tongue. What was used to cut her apart like this?
Her student ID is bloody, but still legible:
Haruna Harukaze Age: 14
Koyo Girls' Academy Middle School
Throat torn out; died of blood loss.
A memo pad, presumably belonging to the deceased girl, is lying on the ground near her body. It looks like she was using it to chronicle her experiences here in the school building. The letters are written in pink ink, and are easily legible:
Music: Cold Tears
We three have to stick together. If we don't, I think we're as good as dead. Like that high school student we met yesterday.
There's nothing left to eat in here. I think we've been here a week now, but it's hard to say for sure. I really want to take a bath. And brush my teeth, too.
The three of us talked it over, and decided to eat that dead body. It was tough, and bloody, and felt and tasted so, so wrong... Rena soldiered through, but Nozomi threw it up.
He came again. Nozomi was injured. Now she'll just get in our way. Rena was crying. But I'm just hungry.
Nozomi's not coming. I think she's been killed already. Oh well. If Rena comes, I know what I have to do.
Music: None
We've exhausted the music room of interesting things to look at, so we leave and head up the hallway.
It's a rather heavily-decayed corpse. Based on size and uniform, it looks to be the body of a female junior or senior high school student. Her head has been smashed flat as if with a press, and everything that would normally be tucked away in her skull is now lying exposed on the hallway floor.
Her student ID can be found amongst this viscera:
Nozomi Makita Age: 14
Koyo Girls' Academy Middle School
Instantly killed by massive head trauma from blunt object.
There's a piece of paper on the floor near the body. It seems to have been torn out of a larger memo pad. Several lines are written on it with pink ink:
Music: Cold Tears
Music: None
There's a hand-drawn map at the bottom of the page with a big circle on it. The circle is labeled "staff room," and the area indicated seems to be right at the end of this very hallway.
Following the map, we head to the end of the hall and check out the staff room.
There's a corpse here that almost seems to be resting against the wall. Or perhaps it was propped up postmortem... It looks to be the remains of a male senior high school student. His wrists and ankles are bound with wire, and there also appears to be copious amounts of wire around his neck. His name tag reads:
Masaru Nijino Age: 18
Kurashiki Industrial High School
Body ensnared in wire and left immobile; slowly dehydrated.
You're...still alive, aren't you? If you don't want that to change anytime soon...then take my advice: trust no one. Not a single person.The staff room itself is locked, so we head back down the hall.
The hallway splits a little bit south of the staff room, and leads us back to the entranceway.
A decomposed human cranium occupies the top-left cubby on this shelf. It mustn't have been easy to make it fit, as there are tiny pieces of flesh and scalp tissue all along the frame. The only standout injury is to the jaw, which is clearly smashed in, giving the face an eerie, unnatural expression. Based on what's left of its facial features and the cut of its hard, this was likely a male middle school student.
Looking closely, something seems to have been shoved into his mouth.
Check it out
I can definitely see something in his mouth, but... I-I don't think I can...you know... ...Allow me.
Fukuroi dug around inside the mouth of the severed head for a few moments, then finally withdrew his hand. He was gripping something tightly between his now foul-smelling, discolored and dully glistening fingers.
Here, I've got tissues.
Ah, thank you. It seems to be...a key of some sort.Sound Effect: Item
Now that we've collected that filthy key, we head back upstairs to the locked art room.
Use the old key
All right! It's a match!
We've arrived in the art room, and set about exploring it.
There's a plaster model of a human arm on one of the shelves. Maybe it was used to sketching...? The fingers are all stained red, as if covered in blood.
The hell is this? That doesn't...look like paint, does it?
It's a still life depicting hydrangeas.
This seems like something we might be able to use.Take the palette knife
Sound Effect: Item
You never know when something like this might come in handy. Acquired [Palette Knife].
It's a portrait of a girl with long, black hair, but her face has been completely blotted out with red paint.
There's a plaster model of a human arm on one of the shelves.
It's faint, and almost invisible from a distance, but there appears to be a painting of a white rose on this canvas. Or maybe it's just a water stain...
Eep!The entire arm is now completely red. When did that happen?! Moreover, the red color is now glinting in the light as if it's just been freshly painted. It looks wet and sticky.
This happens after the third time you've investigated the cabinet.
There's nothing more in the art room, so we head back downstairs and enter the music room once again.
...? Fukuroi, look. There's something in there!Something small was firmly jammed between two of the keys on the piano. It seemed to have been wedged in with tremendous force, making it impossible to move either of the surrounding keys.
Yeah, there's definitely something there...but I don't think we'll be getting it out anytime soon.We needed something we could fit in the tiny space between the keys in order to pop it out.
Try it
Fukuroi took the palette knife in hand and started digging between the keys of the piano with it in an attempt to dislodge whatever was stuck. It took a lot more effort than expected, and creating an unpleasant scraping sound that kind of hurt my ears...but ultimately...
All right. I got it.Sound Effect: Item
Fukuroi handed me the small key, which I immediately pocketed.
There's a row of awards and plaques on one of the shelves here. Among them sits a small, rectangular box.
What could this be...?Take out the box
It's locked.
The key turned without any resistance and the heavy glass door opened right up. I removed the rectangular box from inside, and marveled at the feel of the wood. It was made of paulownia, making it smooth and lightweight.
Let's have a look inside, shall we? Doesn't seem dangerous or anything... Hope you didn't just jinx us. I wouldn't worry. Even if there's a bomb in there, I'm sure you'd be able to handle it just fine. Hahaha! Isn't that supposed to be the girl's line?I couldn't believe I'd just laughed. I guess Fukuroi's overtly serious, deadpan reactions had become a source of strength for me. I can't even describe how grateful I was just to have him there. He was like a pillar of strength.
With that in mind, I fearlessly opened the paulownia box.
Sound Effect: Item
What is this? It looks like the kind of thing you'd see at somebody's grave... That's exactly what it is. It's a wooden grave tag: a kind of protective charm. It's the sort of thing they burn at Buddhist cedar-stick ceremonies.I wasn't particularly well-versed in Buddhist practices, but in a place like this, any sort of protective charm seemed like a good item to have.
Finished in the music room, we head back down the hall, to the bathroom just beyond the entranceway.
As usual, we cannot enter. I'm beginning to suspect they just didn't want to draw a men's room interior, because you can never enter them in this game.
That aside, there's a body here. We check it out.
It's a thoroughly decomposed corpse. Based on size and uniform, it looks to be the body of a male junior or senior high school student. There's a student ID name tag on his blazer:
Koichi Kanesada Age: 17
Reubens Academy Senior High School
Left foot severed by trap; bled out.
Do you know what lies beneath this school? It's a mire of agony and torment that can drive a man to madness with a single touch...
We continue past the boys' room, to the foot of the other staircase.
It's a halfway decomposed corpse. Based on size and uniform, it looks to be the body of a male junior or senior high student. His name tag seems to have survived intact:
Take Taiga Age: 17
Reubens Academy Senior High School
Drank rainwater outside school building; sudden death after onset of abdominal cramps.
We head upstairs, back to the second floor.
You may recall that this staircase is the one that goes up to the principal's office. Unfortunately, the third floor is blocked off.
We continue east, passing the girls' room for now.
It's a thoroughly decomposed corpse. Looks to be a male junior high school student, except...he's got no head. His name tag reads:
Akira Yutsuka Age: 17
Kurashiki Industrial High School
Decapitated by booby trap.
Give it back... Maybe I can be of some help to you if you do.Music: Elegy
Good question. I never did believe in the paranormal before, but after everything we've seen here, I don't think I can be skeptical any longer... That's not what I mean! I'm asking if we should help this person with his problem or not. What do we do? We need to find our friends...but this poor soul has it a lot worse than we do.Don't help him
But, Mitsuki... We can't. We don't even know what's going to happen to us in here. We just can't...
I guess...you're right. We should focus our energy on finding Kensuke and the others.
Wait, please! If you find my head, I swear I'll return the favor!Music: None
I'd help him if he were a blue ghost, but I'm just too racist (spiritist?) to trust this red guy.
Sound Effect: Item
It's just an old wind-up key. But what does it wind up? Looks like it's about the right size for a toy, but in this place, you never really know... We might as well take it with us, then. We may come across whatever it attaches to at some point.
We continue east.
It's a comparatively fresh corpse. Based on size and uniform, it looks to be the body of a female junior high school student. The expression on her face is almost joyous. And fortunately, her student ID is clearly legible:
Rena Misato Age: 14
Koyo Girls' Academy Middle School
Collapsed while searching for friends; starved to death.
There's a piece of scrap paper on the floor near the body. It seems to have been torn out of a larger memo pad. Several lines are written on it in pink ink:
Music: Cold Tears
Music: None
"the hortensia princess
with black dress and white shoes
favors glass houses
no men in the ristorante please"
We continue down to the end of the hall.
There's nothing inside.
Keeping this bucket in mind for when someone inevitably has to pee, we leave this place. The nearby room cannot be entered.
And we're back at the girls' room.
And the door is covered in protective charms. It seems to be shut up tight. It's not even locked; it just won't open.
Maybe we can use that grave tag we found to get inside...Try it
Maybe try chucking it at the seals?
Sounds like a good way to get cursed! How about I just set it on the ground nearby instead?Fukuroi did exactly that, and after only a few moments, there was a notable change in the air.
C-Crap! The whole building'll burn down! No, wait. Look!I'd already turned to run, but at Fukuroi's urging I turned back...and I have to admit, what I saw defied my expectations (and explanations, as well). The flames weren't actually engulfing the door, but rather just the protective paper charms affixed to it. The door, the wall and the floor were untouched.
And with that, we head inside.
There's a body hanging from one of the ceiling beams, swaying back and forth ever so slightly. It's completely decomposed, but judging by the uniform, it was probably a female junior or senior high school student in life. Behind this swinging corpse, there's a conspicuous hole visible in the back wall. And all around it, on all sides, there's graffiti -- exactly the kind you'd expect to find in a public lavatory, from dirty drawings to "for a good times":
"Call me. I'll be waiting for you."
"Dead cat in class 3's locker!"
"im watching u from up abuv"
"___ from 3-A loves ___!"
"Japanese studies teacher, Mr. ____ Just die already, you pervert!"
...There's a name tag on the girl's uniform:
Moeka Natsuno Age: 16
Reubens Academy Senior High School
Fell into despair after witnessing friend descend into madness; ended own life.
It's locked from the inside. It won't open. There's a tiny hole in the door.
(What's this? Maybe we can see inside from here...)Don't do it
There must be some purpose to this hole. I wonder...Insert the wind-up key
Surprisingly, it was a perfect fit! I then tried turning it...and with just a little bit of force, it spun 180 degrees to the right and produced a loud click.
I guess it wasn't for a wind-up toy after all, then? Seems like I flipped some kind of switch. A switch? It doesn't seem like anything changed, though. Wait! Look at the hole!
It slowly wended its way down the door and formed a gloppy pool at its base. The whole room then filled with a pungent odor, all at once.
This smell...seems... Hmm? Oh, it's nothing.
A-Another earthquake?!The building shakes for a few moments, and then comes to a stop.
Th-That scared the crap out of me! This old building is run-down enough. There's no telling when it'll just up and collapse!
Yeah. We need to hurry up and find a way out of here.
Finished in the girls' room, we head back downstairs and to the entranceway.
Ah! Fukuroi, look! I think we can get outside!