Shonanoka — the Buddhist memorial service held on the seventh day after a death.
Tsubaki Soemon, who built a fortune from seven companies, has died. Cause: heart failure.
You arrive as a law clerk entrusted with his will, to stay until the seventh-day memorial.
On the desk in his study, a single sake cup, washed and left face-down. That is all.
Only ten moves before the memorial
There are 13 places and people you can visit — the annex, the kitchen, the storehouse,
the herb garden, the temple, the clinic, the teahouse on the pass, and the suspects themselves.
But you only get 10 free actions before the service on the seventh day.
You cannot see everything. What waited down the path you didn't take stays unknown.
Evidence stacks in three columns: motive, opportunity, proof
You may rise at the incense offering and name anyone — as long as your journal holds
at least one line about them. Against a blank page, you cannot get to your feet.
The question is not whether you can accuse, but what your accusation is worth.
Name them with all three columns and you reach the truth. Name them without, and even
the right person yields only an accusation without certainty.
Each night, your journal writes itself — in your words
Evidence gathered during the day is composed into your journal at night.
Gather by day, arrange by night. No two playthroughs produce the same journal.
Four suspects. Any of them could be the killer
The eldest son, the second wife, the illegitimate son, the old steward.
Each is hiding something, whether or not they are the killer.
One of the four is chosen as the killer, so the same house yields different evidence.
The eldest son — Tsubaki Soichi (50)
Managing director of the group. Raised as the only heir.
He lies. In an executive's polite phrasing, with his irritation wrapped inside.
"Good of you to come. So, what is it you've come to check on today?"
The second wife — Tsubaki Sayo (51)
A former nurse. Eight years his second wife; she saw him through to the end.
She keeps silent. She tells no lies. She simply doesn't answer.
"No. It is nothing."
The illegitimate son — Sano Ryo (24)
An outsider who appeared at the funeral. His mother has passed; the surname is his alone.
There is no way to check. His story holds. There is nothing to test it against.
"I was at my hotel. ...All night."
The steward — Tsukamoto Juzo (66)
A retainer with no blood tie to the family. Forty-five years in service, since the previous generation.
Too honest. He answers before you ask, with the times and the figures attached.
"Certainly. Hour by hour, then."
The eldest son, the second wife, the illegitimate son, the old steward.
Each is hiding something, whether or not they are the killer.
One of the four is chosen as the killer, so the same house yields different evidence.
Four endings
The Truth (three columns, right person) / An Accusation Without Certainty
(right person, thin evidence) / A False Charge (wrong person) /
Unsolved (you named no one). Saying nothing is an ending too, and it is recorded as one.
Replay to open all four cases
Roughly 40–90 minutes per playthrough. Bring a culprit's name to light and that case is bound into your Case File,
and the next run picks a culprit you haven't seen. A case you couldn't crack returns on the next run. Even after all four names are known, you can revisit an opened case to find the evidence you missed.
Your investigative habits are reflected back at you at the end of each run.
The people at the heart of the case
The deceased — Tsubaki Soemon (72)
The man who built seven companies. A heart condition. Every night at nine, a single go of sake, alone in the annex.
He had a notarial will drawn up fourteen days before he died. At his last supper, he told the family:
"I have made a new will. It is in Mr. Okuma's keeping. It will be opened after the shonanoka. Each of you had best think carefully."
You
A clerk at the Okuma Law Office. Your name and gender are never revealed.
Entrusted with the will, you stay in the house until the seventh-day rite.
Every night, you write down what you saw that day in your journal.
The family lawyer — Okuma
Your employer, and the Tsubaki family's lawyer. He was present when the notarial will was made.
From outside the house, he advises you by phone and by letter.
"...Don't wear yourself down. Your work is not to judge. It is to watch. Until the seal is broken on the seventh day."
The sister — Takato Sakie
The deceased's younger sister. Not invited to the funeral, she speaks of the Tsubaki family from outside, over the phone.
"Still in that house. ...You'd do well not to stay too long. That house puts a stoop in anyone who stays in it."
Other characters
The maid — Yoshie
Talkative, and knows the daily life of the Tsubaki house inside out.
"Well, well, come in. I've just this minute finished stewing the aubergines—"
The priest — Koun
Keeper of the family temple, and Soemon's regular opponent at the board game go.
"Come to pay your respects, have you. ...No. Not respects. Not with that face."
The old doctor — Narazaki
The town clinic. Fifty years of watching this town's births and deaths.
"...Fifty years of it now. I brought the children of this town into the world, and then I sat with their parents at the end. Lately it's the sitting at the end, and nothing else."
The teahouse keeper — Umekichi
The teahouse at the pass, partway up the road from the town into the mountains.
"...Police, are you. No. No, you're not. Police hardly ever order the cakes."
About the Demo
The demo is a separate case, written for the demo alone, and you can play it from beginning to ending.
The culprit in the demo is always the same person. In exchange, not one of the four truths in the full game is revealed.
Solve it or fail it — the case in this house is still entirely ahead of you.
What's included
40–90 minutes per playthrough; roughly 3–4 hours to see all four truths
Japanese, English and Simplified Chinese text (no voice acting)
Keyboard and mouse (partial controller support)
Save anywhere; progress carries across playthroughs
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