Restless Rumors of a Residential Recluse

**Restless Rumors of a Residential Recluse** is a mystery added in Version 1.0, *"Welcome to Shiokawa"*. It features 3 new event cards, 2 new items, 1 new enemy and 2 endings.

## Introduction

*"While you don't get much normalcy in your life these days, today was supposed to be just that. You'd been planning to take today to de-stress before your next investigation.*

*Instead, you awoke to find yourself trapped inside your own apartment. The walls have grown over the door and windows, leaving no exit. Looking through the peephole, you yell and call out to passing neighbours, but your cries fall on deaf ears.*

*Who could have done this to you? More importantly, how are you going to get out of here?"*

## Progression

**Day 1**

* **Main Room:** *"The windows are covered in a thick layer of drywall, leaving only shallow cavities. The front door isn't much better. But there must be some way out, right?"*
* **Waste Another Day:** Triggers any apartment event that takes place in player's home. (events: 034, 038, 041, 064, 109, 178, 179, 180)

**Day 2**

* **Main Room:** *"You spend all of your time searching your apartment for a way out, but you're already getting exhausted."*
* **Front Door:** *"Wallpaper and paint have spread around the door's edges. No matter how hard you try, the door refuses to budge."*
	+ **Look Through Peephole:** "...at least he can't get through, either." [Image description: eerie eyes are staring at the door]
* **Waste Another Day:** Triggers any apartment event that takes place in player's home.

**Day 3**

* **Main Room:** *"Your sleep schedule is starting to drift. The hours just seem to slip past you, and the day is over before you know it."*
* **Front Door:** *"Wallpaper and paint have spread around the door's edges. No matter how hard you try, the door refuses to budge."*
	+ **Look Through Peephole:** *"There's a weird drawing stuck to your door..."* [Image description: Map of the house with an X mark on the bedroom.]
		- [The bottom-right corner of the map will include a drawing of either a wardrobe, a desk or a bed on it. On Day 5, this information can be used to obtain the Stuffed Toy item, which is required to unlock Ending B.]
* **Waste Another Day:** Triggers any apartment event that takes place in player's home.

**Day 4**

* **Main Room:** *"You've read all of your books and watched all of your VHS tapes three times over. God, you miss people."*
* **Front Door:** *"You wonder just how much things are changing out there without you around. If nothing else, you're at least safer in here than out there."*
	+ **Look Through Peephole:** *"You don't see anything of interest in the hallway today."* [Same image as Day 2]
* **Closet:** *"You still change clothes every day, but is there any point if you're not going outside?"*
* **Kitchen:** *"Your pantry is starting to run out of easy meals, and you don't have the energy to cook."*
* **Waste Another Day:** Triggers any apartment event that takes place in player's home.

**Day 5**

* **Main Room:** *"You're running out of ways to keep yourself busy. The boredom makes you want to beat your head against a wall."*
* **Front Door:** *"You wonder just how much things are changing out there without you around. If nothing else, you're at least safer in here than out there."*
	+ **Look Through Peephole:** *"You can't see outside anymore..."* [Image description: Pitch black peephole]
* **Closet:** *"You still change clothes every day, but is there any point if you're not going outside?"*
* **Kitchen:** *"Your pantry is starting to run out of easy meals, and you don't have the energy to cook."*
* **Your Room:** *"Just standing in here makes you light-headed. The bed is too tempting-- you shouldn't stay long."*
	+ [Only 2 of the 3 options will be available per mystery and only one can be chosen]
		- **Check Behind Wardrobe:**
			* Match with image on Day 3: *"Something guides your hand. What is this?..."* (+ ITEM: Stuffed Toy)
			* Do not match: *"You look around but don't find anything."* (+2% DOOM)
		- **Check Behind Desk**
			* Match with image on Day 3: *"Something guides your hand. What is this?..."* (+ ITEM: Stuffed Toy)
			* Do not match: *"You look around but don't find anything."* (+2% DOOM)
		- **Check Behing Bed:**
			* Match with image on Day 3: *"Something guides your hand. What is this?..."* (+ ITEM: Stuffed Toy)
			* Do not match: *"You look around but don't find anything."* (+2% DOOM)
		- [Attempting to choose a second time]: ***"**You don't have the energy to keep searching."*

* **Waste Another Day:** Triggers any apartment event that takes place in player's home.

**Day 6**

* **Main Room:** *"Your mind is hazy. It's all blurring together. You just want to sleep."*
* **Front Door:** *"You're beginning to doubt this door will ever open again. (it's better that way)"*
* **Closet:** *"... what were you doing again?"*
	+ **Look Beneath Shelves:** *"Something guides your hand. What is this?..."*
		- **Check the Note:** *" [[ I used to live here too. This was the only place that was saf(...)d good. All I could do was stay in, eat and sleep. And when the food ran out, just sleep. ]] [[ When someone eventually came for my corpse, I'd already made my way \_inside\_. ]] [[You moved it. I can't tell you how happy being with you has made me. Please don't worry, I will keep you safe. I promise.]] "*
* **Kitchen:** *"You don't have much of an appetite."*
* **Your Room:** *"(the apartment cradles you gently in your sleep every night, keeping you warm within her ribcage)"*
* **Waste Another Day:** Triggers any apartment event that takes place in player's home.

**Day 7**

* **Main Room:** *"..."*
* **Front Door:** *"..."*
* **Closet:** *"..."*
* **Kitchen:** *"..."*
* **Your Room:** *"..."*
	+ **Approach the Wall:** *"As you get closer, you notice thin cracks in the wall above the bed. Something dark, glistening red pulsates inside. The cracks move like lips, and the apartment whispers to you. >>just lay down<<. You hear wooden support beams creak as the walls flex, reaching toward you from all sides. >>and let me take care of you<<"*
		- **Prepare for Combat:** Starts boss fight with *Roommate*.
		- **Sacrifice the Toy *(requires Stuffed Toy)*:** Removes stuffed toy from inventory and starts boss fight with *Roommate*.

## Boss Fight

*Main article: Roommate*

Roommate is a Ghost type boss the player fights at the end of the mystery. The player must defeat Roommate either by using a banishing ritual composed of claps and bows or use 'sever their ties to our world' combat action and drain the enemy's HP. The player will be rewarded 20 EXP upon defeating Roommate.

## Endings

#### Ending A: Finally Free

*"The girl's face twists oddly. The apartment's pulsing innards slow to a still. The girl mouths something you can't make out. She smiles. You fall unconscious. When you awaken, you're laying in the apartment entryway, beside the open door.*

*The next morning, you see a silhouette on the balcony, staring out at Shiokawa and watching the sunrise. You blink, and she's gone.*

*After that, you never see her again, and after that, your apartment becomes just an apartment."*

This ending is achieved by defeating *Roommate* without choosing the 'Sacrifice the Toy' option before combat.

#### Ending B: Evil Evicted

*"An expression of agony overtakes the girl's face. Her hair gets tangled into the apartment's churning guts, and her flesh begins to melt apart. She arches her back in a voiceless scream until her pale body finally collapses in on itself.*

*When you stumble out of the room, things seem to have returned to normal, and your door can open again. Relieved, you take the chance to go out for a walk. Only a few hours later do you return to the bedroom, and find a lump beneath your bed's covers.*

*Peeling back the sheets reveals the toy that you had destroyed, the pieces held together with sections of pulsing flesh. Beside its body is a small note.*

*>>i'll*

*a l w a y s*

*keep you safe<<"*

(+ ITEM: Fleshy Toy)

**How to achieve this ending:**

1. On Day 3, go to 'Front Door'. Choose 'Look Through Peephole'. You'll be shown a map. Make note of the drawing on the bottom-right corner of the map. It'll either be a **desk**, a **wardrobe** or a **bed**.
2. On Day 5, go to 'Your Room'. Choose to check behind what the drawing was showing in order to receive the 'Stuffed Toy' item. Failing to correctly choose will give the player a %2 doom penalty.
3. On Day 7, choose to 'Sacrifice the Toy' before initiating the fight with 'Roommate'. Upon defeating the enemy, the player will achieve Ending B and be rewarded 'Fleshy Toy'.