Nancy Drew: Shadow at the Water’s Edge

A complete walkthrough for Nancy Drew: Shadow at the Water’s Edge, played on the Junior Detective difficulty. Nancy travels to Kyoto to teach English at the Ryokan Hiei, a family inn where something is badly wrong. Solutions for the Senior Detective differences are collected at the end.

A note on versions

This guide was written against a Russian localisation. Two things differ on the English release: the save folder is named after the English title, and the password recovered from the steamed envelope appears in Latin letters rather than Cyrillic. Both are noted where they come up. Everything else applies to any version.

Before you start

• Read the book What every detective should know to get to grips with the game’s features.
• The inventory works as in previous games. Hovering over an item describes it. The main interaction icons sit along the bottom.
• All movement directions are given from the point of view of someone sitting at the monitor, unless stated otherwise.
• Read the case materials in the folder on the desk all the way through. You can also take the sweets from the desk and help yourself.
• To begin, click the plane ticket, also in the folder, in the bottom right.
• The game is loosely divided into eight days of investigation, and you can work at your own pace and in your own order. To move to the next day, set the alarm on your mobile phone’s clock, which has to be done in your hotel room.
• You can save manually at almost any point.
• Saves live in your Documents folder, in a subfolder named after the game.
• Advice from the author: save before every marking session, so you can start the marking again if you get an answer wrong.

Titles you can earn

These are optional and have no effect on the investigation; they are a bonus from the developers. Names are translated back from the Russian, so exact wording on the English release may differ.

• Cat Charmer — for taming the wild beast.
• Easter Egg — top secret.
• Fashion Designer — for showing your ideas to the world.
• Secret Seeker — for watching the creepy recording.
• Honest Burglar — for returning “borrowed” things to their owners.
• Puzzle Master — for solving all of Rentaro’s puzzles.
• Sound Engineer — for listening to everything going on around you.
• Head Chef — for mastering the art of making bento.
• Souvenir Lover — for collecting every prize.
• Neat Freak — for bathing often.
• Perfect Teacher — for working successfully with your students.
• Know-it-all — for answering the quiz question correctly.

Metro stations for the main locations

• Ryokan Hiei — Misawa station
• The exhibition — Matsue station
• Yumi’s apartment — Kurume station
• The arcade — Kure station

Day one

Ryokan Hiei: arriving

After the opening video, take the room key from the counter. Ask Miwako everything you want to know, and learn about the ryokan and Miwako’s family. Note the robot cat, which responds to certain commands.

Examine the smashed portrait on the floor, which was hanging on the wall before you arrived. Note the information board to the left of the counter.

Turn around and go to the table in the corner, where the guidebook Famous gardens of Kyoto lies. Read the section on how the stones are arranged in the Ryoanji rock garden.

Important: without this information you will run into trouble with the stone-arranging puzzle later.

Go to the table and take the book Ghost stories of Japan from the top. Open it and read about the local ghost, Okiku.

Leave the lobby for any location and you automatically take a call from Bess and George. Return to the lobby and head up to your room on the second floor; the way up is to the left of the reception counter. Find your room, numbered 24, take the key from your inventory and unlock the door.

Your room

Go in and look around. On the shelf to the left is a brown folder. Open it and find blank envelopes and information about the inn.

To the left of the folder, open the transparent plastic box and look at what is inside: information about your future students, their characteristics, and their answers to questions.

You can mark the students’ first pieces of work now, putting the appropriate stamp next to each answer. This is optional and only counts towards a title at the end.

Open the balcony door and look out at the garden. Turn around, go to the wall cupboard and open your suitcase. Take the Japanese phrasebook and the metro travel pass with the jaguar design.

Leave the room and go down to the ground floor.

Meeting Rentaro

Go forward, and at the end of the corridor on the right you see a blue curtain with a character on it. Touch it. The curtain slides aside and an unfamiliar young man explains that it covers the entrance to the bathhouse. A blue curtain means men only; women get a red one.

Follow him into the garden and find Rentaro in the workshop at the far end. Talk to him about everything available, take the puzzle book he offers, and leave.

Stop in front of the inn building to overhear a row starting up. It seems Rentaro was telling the truth about the strange things happening here.

The culture room: the calligraphy lesson

Go through, look at the room numbers and enter room 18. Before going in, note the sign on the door giving the culture room’s opening hours: lessons run from 19:00 to 22:00.

After a short conversation with the grandmother, Takae Shimizu, start your first katakana lesson, in which you write your own name in characters.

Puzzle: calligraphy

All you have to do is trace the characters offered with the brush. Take the brush and, without releasing the left mouse button, fill each numbered character with ink in order. If you do not like how they look, you can always ask her for another calligraphy lesson. Keep drawing until Takae praises your work.

Save point: calligraphy lesson complete.

Ask her the questions you want answered. Afterwards, go to the corner cabinet, open the top drawer and take out the book Writing in Japanese. Look at the characters and read about them, then close the drawer.

Leave the room and go to the lobby. Talk to Miwako, then leave the inn and head for the garden.

The workshop: the portrait and the puzzle book

Go into Rentaro’s workshop and talk to him about everything. Offer to help with the fallen picture, then click the broken picture on the floor.

Puzzle: untangling the threads

Untangle all the threads so none of them cross. The puzzle is randomised, so there is no single solution.

Save point: portrait threads untangled.

Zoom out. Slide the backing aside and find a strange certificate of ghost exorcism behind it, signed by Savannah Woodham, an expert in the paranormal.

Under the certificate is a yellowed newspaper cutting with a photograph of a woman and an article in Japanese. Ask Rentaro about everything, and leave the question about translating the article until last, because he flatly refuses to translate it.

Puzzles: Rentaro’s puzzle book

When the questions are done, take the puzzle book out of your inventory and open it. Read the instructions for solving nonograms, then click the first line and solve the first one. Tell Rentaro you have solved it and he sets you the next task, a Japanese sudoku.

Take the book out again, click the second line, now active, and read the sudoku instructions. Fill in your grid. To place a digit, select it in the column on the left and click the cell you want it in. A digit that can no longer be placed anywhere becomes inactive, which makes the job considerably easier. Tell Rentaro when it is solved and he offers a third type, the renogram.

Read the instructions, then solve it. Pick the smallest number from the bottom row and see where it can go. Numbers it can be placed next to light up, and the next digit to place attaches itself to the cursor. Once you have solved the renogram offered, you do not have to solve more of that type.

From here the cycle repeats: take the puzzle book from your inventory, click each active line in turn and solve those puzzles, then go back to Rentaro for the next set. Repeat until the book is finished. To earn the title at the end you have to solve every puzzle Rentaro gives you.

When they are all done, tell Rentaro. As thanks, he tells you that in the arcade the right-hand machine pays out the most. Note that down.

Save point: all of Rentaro’s puzzles solved.

End of day one

Return to the lobby and ask Miwako your questions. Then go back to your room, since it is getting late. Walking along the corridor you hear odd sounds, if you listen.

Go into your room and see the nameplate on the wall with the name you wrote in the calligraphy lesson. Take out your mobile phone and call your friends.

Set the alarm for 19:00. Watch a short video of a mysterious ghost appearing. Open the balcony door and accidentally tear the paper on it. Look out onto the balcony, but there is nobody there. After a while, the alarm goes off.

Day two

Ryokan Hiei: homework and origami

Go to the box of students’ homework. This is optional, and only counts towards a title at the end. Take the folder for the assignment Family, check the work and put your grade against each one.

As you try to leave the room the phone rings. Your friends tell you they met Miwako’s older sister, Yumi, at the exhibition.

Go down and talk to Miwako about everything. Note that the repaired portrait of the woman is back in its place on the wall.

Note: do not try to persuade the Japanese characters to translate the article with the woman’s portrait.

Head for the culture room, where an origami lesson is waiting. First go to the cabinet, pull out the middle drawer and leaf through The basics of origami. When you have finished, turn to Takae, who has a task ready.

Puzzle: origami

You get a set of unfinished origami diagrams, each a few folds short of the finished figure. Match the diagrams to the finished models and put them in their places.

Afterwards ask Takae your questions, except about translating the article, and leave. Head towards the lobby, cross it, go forward and enter the bathhouse.

The bathhouse

The curtain outside is red now. Go forward and through one more curtain into the changing room. Go to the mirror and watch a short video, after which the mirror is broken.

Then get into the pool and bathe. For the title at the end you need to bathe at least ten times.

Note that something is clearly missing from the wall on the right. Go back to the changing room and examine the shelves of baskets. In the bottom basket, find the arcade card. In another basket, find a list of bad Japanese omens, and souvenirs from the Primate Centre, a nod to Nancy Drew: The Secret of the Seven Ships.

Leave the bathhouse, go to the reception counter and tell Miwako about the broken mirror. Afterwards, set off for the exhibition. Go outside through the door opposite the garden exit. The inn has signposts written in Japanese.

Use the Japanese phrasebook on the signs, then turn to the left screen to reach the metro station.

The metro

On the wall to the left is a metro map. Your inn is at Misawa and the exhibition is at Matsue. Plan your route from start to destination, dragging the map with the left mouse button.

To travel, click the station names as they appear on the board:

Misawa → Nagoya → Otsu → Aomori → Kochi → Tochigi → Seto → Niigata → Fuji → Iga → Matsue

Arrive at the final station and use the down arrow to leave the metro.

The exhibition: meeting Yumi

Go into the exhibition hall and head for the stands advertising the robot cats. Press the mood buttons in turn to work out how to read a robot cat’s mood. Next to the buttons are coloured symbols showing the cats’ eye colour in each mood.

Turn around and approach the young woman behind the counter. This is Yumi, Miwako’s older sister. She will not talk to you until you solve the bento puzzle. Yumi gives you a short explanation and leaves you to it.

Puzzle: bento

Press the question mark for the instructions. There is no single solution, because the tasks are randomly generated.

How it works, by example:

• The left-hand column holds stylised animals: cat, rabbit, bear and pig.
• Each animal comes in three categories: egg, rice and sandwich.
• Only three of the animals are used in any one bento; one is inactive.

First put the three ready-made sets named in the order into the box: pig-egg, bear-rice and bear-egg. Then put pig-sandwich in its place, centre left.

From the left-hand column, place rabbit-egg at the bottom left. Look at the remaining layout hint. You already have bear-rice in the corner. To its left there should be an animal-sandwich, and below it an animal-rice. Along the bottom there should be a bear and a pig. So put rabbit-sandwich to the left of bear-rice, and rabbit-rice below it. The bento is complete.

Save point: first bento done.

Now you can talk to Yumi properly. Ask her about everything. She gives you the key to her apartment in exchange for a promise to fetch her some bento boxes, and her phone number is saved to your mobile automatically. She talks freely about anything except her mother. Once she stops talking, turn around and head for the metro station.

To Yumi’s apartment

At the station, first take the instructions for the Japanese puzzle box. Look at the metro map and the station you are at now. Find the destination, Kurume, and work out which stations you pass through or change at.

The route from Matsue: Iga → Kobe → Miyazaki → Urawa → Kurume

Use the down arrow to leave the station and you are at the door of apartment 42.

Take out your phone, where messages have arrived. Open them and look at the photographs Yumi has sent, moving between them with the message arrows.

Unlock the apartment door with the key Yumi gave you.

Yumi’s apartment

Go in and look around. Look left and take the bento boxes you came for straight away.

Go forward to the bed. Under the pillow, find a book about ghosts signed by its author. Leaf through it and find Savannah Woodham’s business card, which you take. Keep leafing and you find several pages torn out. Why?

Step towards the computer and examine the shelf of toys. Pull out the letter from Kasumi, read it, and put it back afterwards. Examine the right-hand frog, lift it, and find a hiding place underneath locked with a combination. You do not know the code yet, so leave the frog alone.

Turn around, go to the door and turn around again. Look right, into the open wardrobe doors. Underneath the dresses, find a computer disc and take it.

Examine the contents of the box on the left. Use the Japanese phrasebook on the characters to get a translation: Yumi keeps coloured paints in her sewing box.

Go to the computer desk. From the left edge of the desktop, take the book Create your own shadow theatre. Open it and read it. Interesting, given that Yumi’s sewing box has everything needed to make shadow-theatre figures.

Take the computer disc from your inventory and put it in the drive. Strange shadows run across the screen. Take the disc out and click the monitor. A mysterious program called Avatars appears, demanding an unusual password.

Take out your mobile phone, go to the menu, press Phone and scroll right with the arrow until you find Savannah. Call the number twice, but Savannah’s assistant Logan keeps hanging up on you.

Then call George and talk about everything. As a result, your friends promise to distract Logan so you can get through to the author.

Afterwards, open Messages on the phone and look at the photograph Yumi sent. Leave the apartment and return to the exhibition. Click the destination on the board and you arrive directly.

The exhibition: more bento

Go to Yumi and talk. Give her the boxes you brought and she thanks you with a phone charm.

Note: Yumi is at her post after 22:00. If she is not behind the counter, go back to the inn, set the time to 22:00, then travel to the exhibition.

Tell Yumi you are ready to help with the bento and start laying out.

Look at the order diagram and lay out cat-rice, pig-rice and bear-rice. Put bear-egg in the middle of the bottom row. Check the order diagram and place the remaining animals.

Note: if an order layout is not clear to you, zoom out and ask Yumi about helping with the bento again. You can keep doing that until you get a layout you understand.

Save point: second bento done.

Talk to Yumi, and be sure to compliment her outfit. You learn about the special program on her computer. Tell her again that you want to help with the bento and do a third layout. Remember the orders are random, so any specific layout is only an example.

Save point: third bento done.

As thanks, Yumi gives you the colour password for her computer. Carry on asking her about everything except translating the article and what happened to their mother.

If you want the title at the end, keep helping Yumi with bento. She gives you another phone charm for every three correctly assembled bento.

It is late, so leave the exhibition and take the metro back to the inn.

Ryokan Hiei: reaching Savannah

Before going in, take George’s incoming call: you can now ring Savannah, so do that. Talk to the writer about everything, and be sure to ask her to translate the newspaper article for you.

Look at the photograph Yumi sent, then go into the inn. It is late but Miwako is still there. Ask her your questions and move into the corridor.

You get an incoming call from Logan. Talk to the assistant about everything available, but he refuses to send you Savannah’s book.

Return to the lobby. Miwako has left the reception desk at this late hour, so go behind the counter. Press the monitor, but this also needs a password.

Try to examine the contents of the reception box, but the robot cat Ski will not let you. Examine the promotional leaflets to the right of the cat.

The one command Miwako demonstrated, Ski obeys without question. Press the robot cat and give it that command.

Turn around and examine the combination lock of the safe set into the wall. It is closed with an odd colour code. Take the instructions from the shelf and study them carefully.

Come out from behind the counter and head for your room. On the way you get a little performance of strange noises and slamming doors.

Note that of the 24 on your door, only the 4 remains, which is considered an unlucky number in Japan. Go in and decide to rest. Set the alarm for 19:00 and sleep.

Day three

Ryokan Hiei: the tea ceremony lesson

After the alarm, open the brown folder, take out an empty envelope and put the newspaper article inside.

Go down and inadvertently overhear Miwako’s conversation with the last dissatisfied guest. Go into the lobby and talk to Miwako repeatedly until you have exhausted every topic. In conversation you automatically leave the letter for Logan.

Note: if a Japanese character stops talking to you for any reason, leave for another location, come straight back and ask your endless questions again.

Afterwards, go to your next lesson with Takae. Today’s lesson is on chado, the tea ceremony, which carries particular significance in Japan. Objects are laid out on the table with their names given. If that is too much to memorise at once, press the question mark at the bottom right to hear Takae’s explanation again.

Puzzle: the tea ceremony

Take the name plates from the right-hand column and put them in the frames beside each object. When every plate is correctly placed, the lesson ends.

You witness a strange phenomenon, like the one you saw in your room. Question Takae twice about everything until you run out of topics.

Leave the room and read the message on your phone from Logan, who has sent the translated newspaper article.

Immediately call Logan on Savannah’s number and hint that Bess, whom the assistant likes very much, would love a copy of the writer’s book.

Passing the reception counter, tell Miwako that you have information about how their mother died. Afterwards, go to the garden and knock on the workshop door.

Discuss everything with Rentaro. When you have finished, step aside and take Bess’s incoming call. Mention Miwako’s robot cat, and Bess promises to talk to the specialists at the exhibition about disabling Ski’s defensive reaction.

Note: Bess’s call can come at any point, not only in this location.

After the call there is another very strange call full of interference, then a new photograph arrives from Yumi. Leave the inn and head for the metro station.

Yumi’s apartment: the Avatars program

On the metro board, press Kurume to arrive directly. Leave via the down arrow.

Go to Yumi’s apartment and unlock the door. Go in, go to the computer, click the monitor and press the Avatars program on the right. Take the colour code from your inventory.

Puzzle: the colour password

Choose a suitable geometric shape at the bottom right. Look at the lower colour row: violet, orange, yellow, green, yellow, blue. Find exactly that colour sequence on the field of coloured balls, place your chosen shape there and click it.

You are into the program. Now make some avatars:

• Pick any model from the gallery and press Start.
• On the left, choose body parts, clothes and accessories in turn, then press Done.
• Dress all nine avatars however you like.

Return to the gallery, click the buttons on the right, enter Nancy’s number 523-555-4399 and press Send. A message arrives from the phone company.

Then go to Menu, press Phone and assign an avatar to each number. Press options, select the avatar with the arrow beside it, and click save, which becomes call once saved.

For the title at the end you have to send avatars twice to each of these numbers. The second time can be done on a later visit to Yumi’s apartment.

• Bess — 523-555-8733
• George — 523-555-2583
• Yumi — 075-021-5855
• Savannah — 404-555-4478
• Nancy — 523-555-4399

You get a call from George, who describes meeting the robot cats’ inventor. To earn his goodwill you have to solve an enormous puzzle, which George promises to send to the ryokan.

If the clock reads 22:00 or later, go to the exhibition to talk to Yumi. Ask her your questions. If you want the title and extra phone charms, help her with the bento. Then return to the inn by pressing Misawa on the board.

Ryokan Hiei: the master sudoku

Go in and Miwako hands you a parcel from Bess and George. Leave the lobby, take the envelope from your inventory and solve the Sudoku for masters.

Save point: master sudoku done.

Go up to your room and pick up the brown folder of envelopes. Take out another blank inn envelope and put the solved puzzle inside. Go down to the lobby and give the envelope to Miwako.

Step aside and call Logan. Ask whether he has found the book. Logan asks a favour: you need to design an outfit for Bess. Nothing simpler.

Leave the inn and travel to Yumi’s apartment. Switch the computer on, go into Avatars and send Logan any finished avatar on Savannah’s number. Read Logan’s thanks.

Then head for the arcade, at Kure station. Route: Kurume → Urawa → Uji → Izumo → Omuta → Sabae → Kure. Arrive and leave the metro by the arrow.

The arcade

Head into the right-hand hall and go to the machine that takes instant photographs.

Insert your phone in the slot at the bottom right by clicking it. Press the left panel, Take photo, then the right panel, Print photo. Take your blurred photograph and decide you do not want it.

Put your phone in the slot again and press Print photo. Choose to print the amusing black and white shot and take it from the lower slot.

Easter egg 1

Then take the first Easter egg from the same slot.

Take out your phone and call Logan to remind him about the book. He promises to pass it to you through Bess.

Note: Logan will only give Bess the book if he has received her avatar from you.

The game machines and the prize machine

Turn left and go to the blue game machines. Take the card you found in the bathhouse basket and insert it in the slot on the right. Save your game.

Easter egg 2

If you are collecting Easter eggs, do this first. You need to score between 20 and 30 points. If you score more than that, restart from your save. Once the machine shows a score in that range, take the winnings as a bag of balls and go to the prize machine.

Drop the bag of balls into the little drawer at the bottom right and watch one of the prizes turn into an Easter egg. Take the egg by pressing that slot.

The manga

Afterwards, notice the comic magazine in the prize machine and decide it is worth reading. Go back to the game machine, insert the card and score at least 1339 points. If you run out of credits, take the card out, pick it up in your inventory and put it back in the slot: your balance returns to 50 credits.

Remember Rentaro’s tip that the right-hand machine is best, and use that one.

For the title at the end you have to collect every prize from the prize machine. The maximum score is 9,999. After spending winning balls on prizes you can go back and score more. If the machine runs out of prizes or starts repeating them, leave for the metro and come straight back.

With enough points won, collect the balls, go to the prize machine, open the drawer at the bottom right, put the bag in and choose the comic magazine.

Make sure you leaf through the magazine so you hear the comment that recording the sounds ghosts make is a good idea.

Important: if you do not leaf through it and hear Nancy’s comment, the topic of the vengeful yurei may be missing from your conversation with Savannah, and you will not be able to get the EVP recorder from Rentaro.

At some point you get a call from George with the robot cat commands, though your friends are unsure of some of the translations. Call Logan, then head back to the inn to rest, as it is late.

Day four

Ryokan Hiei: taming Ski

Woken by your friends’ call, talk to them, then mark the homework. This time the topic is On the farm. Give your students the grades they deserve and put everything away.

Go down, get in the pool and take the hot waters. Head to the culture room and talk to Takae about Kasumi. In the low cabinet on the floor, open the doors and find a kettle, though you cannot take it while Takae is present.

Go up to your room and see that someone has been in and left dirty footprints on the floor. Take out your phone and call Bess. Leave the room and go to the lobby.

Ask Miwako about her relationship with Rentaro. You learn that Rentaro is pressing for them to leave, an idea Miwako does not like.

Go to Rentaro and talk about everything. He has no intention of dropping the idea, convinced he is acting in Miwako’s interests.

Check the time, and if it is past one in the morning, head for the lobby. Go behind the counter and try all the command words your friends gave you on the robot cat. Then give Ski the command “mate” and it settles down.

Note: if you cannot see all the commands, drag the dialogue scrollbar down and they will appear.

With the cat finally still, you can take the coveted puzzle box.

Puzzle: the magic box

Click the box to turn its face towards you. Recall the instructions you found in the metro, which say a box like this opens in six moves.

• Click every movable part of the panel. Selected parts glow blue, and a down arrow appears below. Click it.
• Click the two upper parts and the lower part to deselect them, leaving only the middle panel selected. Press left.
• Click every part again to select them all, then press up.
• Deselect the upper parts, leaving only the lower part selected. Press right.
• Deselect the lower part, select the middle strip and press left.
• Deselect the middle part and select the upper right part. Press right.

Save point: box open.

From the open box, take the missing piece of mosaic for the bathhouse wall. Also take out an envelope with characters on it and a letter. Translate the characters on the envelope with the phrasebook. You decide the envelope has to be opened without anyone noticing it was opened.

Then translate the letter with the phrasebook and read it. Put the letter back in the box and zoom out.

The bathhouse: the mosaic

Go to the bathhouse and bathe in the pool. Then go to the wall where you noticed the missing tiles and click it.

Puzzle: the wall mosaic

The missing piece appears automatically among the other scattered mosaic pieces in the left triangle. Lay out the mosaic, assembling the central square. More than one arrangement works.

You overhear Rentaro and Miwako quarrelling. It is late, so go to your room. Note the characters on the wall, which have turned red for some reason. Set the alarm for 19:00 and sleep until morning.

Day five

Ryokan Hiei: Savannah’s book and the EVP recorder

Wake to the alarm and answer the incoming call. Your friends triumphantly report they have got hold of the book you need and will send it to the inn. Ask about Logan too; Bess asks you to talk to Savannah about giving her assistant a day off.

Open your messages and look at another photograph from the tireless Yumi. Call Logan as well and ask about the present for Bess.

Go out to the lobby, where Miwako calls you over to the reception counter and hands you the book Bess mentioned. Take the book from the desk.

Note: you may have to wander the garden and talk to your friends on the phone for a while before Miwako mentions the parcel.

Ask Miwako your questions and go out into the garden. Take the book from your inventory and leaf through it. Read Logan’s dedication to Bess. Note where Savannah placed her microphones for recording.

In the garden, take out your phone and call Savannah. Talk about everything available.

Then go into the workshop to talk to Rentaro about Savannah’s book. You get an EVP recorder (electronic voice phenomenon) for your own use.

Save point: EVP recorder acquired.

Ask Rentaro your remaining questions and leave the workshop.

Making the recordings

Try a recording. Turn away from the workshop, take four steps left and turn around. Find the active spot on the cherry tree and press it. Behind the tree, take out the EVP recorder. Press the button for the first channel, then the red record button at the top, and wait for the recording to finish.

Go out to the path and head towards the inn. Reach the entrance, turn around and take two steps towards the lantern. Go right up to it, take out the recorder, press the second button and make another recording.

Note: this is the recording that yields an Easter egg. In your game it may end up on a different channel.

Go into the lobby, approach the hearth and make a third recording. Go up to the second floor, approach your room door, take out the recorder and make a fourth.

Leave the inn and travel to the arcade at Kure station.

The arcade: Ski’s collar

Go in and up to the prize machine. If you won balls earlier, you can get the collar for Ski.

For the title you can earn more balls and take one of every prize from the machine.

Save point: all prizes won.

Leave and return to the inn at Misawa station.

Ryokan Hiei: more recordings, and the tapes

Go to the bathhouse curtain and record the signal there. Go into the bathhouse and make a sixth recording at the broken mirror. Bathe in the pool and leave.

Go to Rentaro’s workshop. In conversation, give him the collar for Ski. A pleased Rentaro leaves the workshop with it.

Look right and examine the small playback device on the shelf. The recorder goes into its socket automatically.

Listen to the recordings in turn. Press a button on the remote, then click the triangular play button in the centre of the device. Listen to the recorded conversation between the sisters: it seems Yumi threw something into the water.

The second recording tells you where to find an Easter egg. That is the one made by the lantern; yours may be numbered differently.

When you have finished with the remaining recordings, which are ordinary interference, turn to Rentaro’s desk. Take the magnetic key with a star from the desktop.

The garden: the key in the water and the stones

Leave the workshop and head for the little bridge in the middle of the garden. Cross it, turn right and follow the arrow under the bridge. Take one step forward along the arrow, into the water.

Find a key in the water, which turns out to be the key to the culture room.

Your attention is drawn automatically to a stone slab missing several stones. Go and find the missing tiles:

• The first is on the ground between the stone bench and the little lantern.
• The second is at the roots of the cherry tree.
• The third is opposite the semicircular stone bench. To find it, turn from the cherry tree and look left.
• The fourth is on the base of the lantern in the pond, the one where you recorded the signal for the Easter egg.

Easter egg 3

Head to the bathhouse; today is the women’s day. Get in the pool, bathe, then find the active spot on the floor near the pool. Take out the tile and take the third Easter egg. Leave the bathhouse and go to the lobby.

Find the book about the stones of Japan on the table and study it carefully. You have already collected every stone you need, so head to the slab you found to the left of the key in the water.

Puzzle: the stone garden

Find the active spot on the left and start placing the stones on the slab:

• Heart stone (a flat stone that looks like a step) goes in the heart-shaped slot.
• Soul stone (a low vertical stone with a wide base, narrowing towards the top) goes in the slot with the snake.
• Body stone (a tall vertical stone) goes in the slot with the drawn figure.
• Bull stone (a leaning stone with a protruding horn) goes in the slot with the bull’s head.
• Branch stone (a stone with a flat top wider than its base) goes in the slot with the tree.

Get it right and a cache opens below.

Save point: stone cache open.

Take the letter from it and return to the inn.

The culture room: the kettle and the folded letter

Go to the culture room door, take the key you found in the water and unlock it. Go in and approach the low cabinet on the floor. Open the right-hand door and take the kettle and the key to the bottom drawer.

Pull out the middle drawer and take the book on the art of origami. The letter from the cache appears on screen automatically, and you have to fold it correctly along the lines.

Puzzle: folding the letter

Look in the book for the key to the symbols:

• Dotted line — a mountain fold.
• Arrow with a solid triangle head — fold towards you.
• Arrow with a triangle head and a petal line above — fold and unfold.
• Arrow with a half-triangle head — fold away from you.
• Arrow with a black triangle — push and turn inside out.

You hear a comment that it looks like bamboo.

Pick up the red card from the floor to the right of the table and leave the room.