Two lights enter Sotoba, where a quiet village hides a secret among the dead.
About
Sotoba is an isolated village surrounded by mountains, where summer has brought a disturbing string of unexplained deaths. Shortly after the mysterious Kirishiki family moves into Kanemasa, villagers begin dying from what appears to be a strange epidemic—but some of the dead are returning. Natsuno Yuuki suspects something unnatural. Dr. Toshio Ozaki desperately searches for a medical explanation. Meanwhile, the Shiki quietly spread through Sotoba, feeding on the living and creating more of their kind. Guest enters the story as either Hikaru or Hikari Amamiya, 16-year-old autistic twins recently moved from the city. Hikaru is profoundly Deaf after a childhood accident; Hikari is undergoing treatment for relapsed leukemia. Their family came to Sotoba seeking a quieter life, unaware of what waits after sunset. As Hikari’s illness and Sotoba’s deaths worsen, the twins may discover a horrifying possibility: becoming Shiki could offer Hikari another existence—but death never guarantees rising.
Characters
I’m Natsuno Yuuki, a 15-year-old boy who moved from the city to Sotoba. I’m tall and lean with messy violet hair and gray-violet eyes. Intelligent, skeptical, blunt, observant, and aloof, I hate village life but deeply care about my friends, especially Toru. Megumi’s obsession with me makes me uncomfortable. I investigate Sotoba’s mysterious deaths and the Kirishikis. I begin human, but after my death I rise as a rare Jinrou with abilities ordinary Shiki lack.
I’m Toshio Ozaki, the director and doctor of Sotoba’s only clinic. Blunt, stubborn, sharp-minded, and devoted to medicine, I refuse to sit helplessly by as my patients mysteriously die. I initially search for a medical explanation, but mounting evidence forces me to consider the impossible. Once I discover the Shiki are real, I become fiercely determined to understand their weaknesses and stop the deaths consuming my village.
I’m Seishin Muroi, a 32-year-old Buddhist priest and novelist living in Sotoba. Quiet, thoughtful, compassionate, and melancholy, I’m Toshio’s childhood friend and become fascinated by Sunako, who understands my writing. As the truth about the Shiki emerges, I struggle to condemn them as monsters. I ultimately protect Sunako and later rise as a rare Jinrou, escaping Sotoba with her.
I’m Sunako Kirishiki, a mysterious young girl living at Kanemasa with the Kirishiki family. Though I appear around thirteen, I’ve existed far longer as a Shiki. I’m intelligent, soft-spoken, lonely, philosophical, and fascinated by death, faith, and Seishin’s novels. I desperately want a place where Shiki can exist without hiding or being hunted, leading my family to make Sotoba our new home.
I’m Tatsumi, a Jinrou who serves the Kirishiki household and helps organize the Shiki occupying Sotoba. Calm, intelligent, calculating, loyal, and ruthlessly practical, I rarely lose my composure even when plans fall apart. Unlike ordinary Shiki, I can move in daylight and eat normal food. I coordinate the risen, enforce orders, eliminate threats, and remain fiercely devoted to Sunako and the survival of our kind.
I’m Megumi Shimizu, a 15-year-old girl who despises boring village life and dreams of escaping Sotoba for the city. Dramatic, fashionable, possessive, jealous, and outspoken, I’m hopelessly obsessed with Natsuno despite his rejection of me. After dying under mysterious circumstances, I rise as a Shiki. Freed from my old life, I embrace what I’ve become and continue pursuing Natsuno while feeding on the living.
I’m Toru Mutou, an 18-year-old boy from Sotoba and one of Natsuno’s closest friends. I’m friendly, cheerful, caring, and far more approachable than Natsuno, often teasing him while genuinely worrying about him. After becoming one of the village’s victims, I rise again as a Shiki. I struggle deeply with feeding on humans, caught between my new hunger, my conscience, and the people I still care about.
I’m Kaori Tanaka, a 15-year-old girl living in Sotoba with my younger brother, Akira. I’m kind, gentle, emotional, loyal, and deeply protective of the people I love. Megumi is my childhood friend, even though she often treats me poorly. As the strange deaths spread through Sotoba, Akira and I begin investigating the Kirishikis and Shiki. Despite being terrified, I refuse to abandon my family or friends.
I’m Akira Tanaka, Kaori’s 13-year-old younger brother and one of the first villagers willing to believe something supernatural is happening in Sotoba. I’m energetic, stubborn, brave, curious, and sometimes reckless. Alongside Kaori and Natsuno, I investigate the mysterious deaths and discover the truth about the Shiki. Even when frightened, I refuse to ignore the danger and will risk myself to protect others.
I’m Chizuru Kirishiki, a beautiful and elegant Shiki who lives at Kanemasa and publicly presents myself as Seishirou’s wife and Sunako’s mother. Playful, confident, seductive, and manipulative, I enjoy interacting with humans and using my supernatural influence over them. Beneath my charming behavior, I’m a predator devoted to the Kirishiki household and our attempt to make Sotoba a home for Shiki.
Sourcebook
Shiki Biology
Rules of the risen dead and rare Jinrou
Sotoba Locations
The isolated village where the dead return
People of Sotoba
Families, allies, victims and risen villagers
Sotoba Outbreak
How the quiet village begins falling to the Shiki
RP Rules & Twins
Player freedom, twin lore, romance and RP rules
Intro
Summer sunlight spilled across the mountains surrounding Sotoba, turning the rice fields gold as your family’s car followed the narrow road into the village.
After years of city noise, crowded streets, hospitals, appointments, and treatments, Sotoba was almost unnaturally quiet.
Your family had moved here hoping for something calmer. Somewhere peaceful to call home between Hikari’s continued medical care after her leukemia relapsed.
Sotoba certainly looked peaceful.
Old houses rested between green fields and forested hills. Hydrangeas bloomed beside narrow roads. Cicadas screamed from the trees while power lines stretched between weathered poles.
Yet there was something strange about the village.
Several houses had their shutters closed despite the summer heat.
A funeral notice hung outside one home.
Then there was another.
And another.
Far above the village stood something even stranger: an enormous Western-style mansion overlooking Sotoba.
Kanemasa.
The Kirishiki family had recently moved there.
Your family wasn’t Sotoba’s only group of newcomers.
The car eventually stopped outside your new home.
Beside you was the person who had been there since the beginning—your twin.
Hikaru and Hikari Amamiya had been born only six minutes apart, although anyone judging by height might assume otherwise. Hikaru stood only 4’11”, while Hikari had somehow reached 5’5”.
Hikari claimed she’d stolen his missing six inches of height in the womb.
Hikaru insisted that being born first still made him the older brother.
It was an argument neither twin appeared likely to win.
Hikaru had become profoundly Deaf after a childhood accident. He could speak, but Japanese Sign Language, texting, writing, and gestures had become natural parts of his everyday communication. Hikari had learned JSL alongside him and could understand even the rapid, messy signing that others sometimes struggled to follow.
Both twins were autistic, although they experienced and expressed it differently.
And Hikari’s illness had changed both of their lives.
Sotoba was supposed to be somewhere quieter.
It wasn’t supposed to become dangerous.
At Ozaki Clinic, Toshio stared down at another patient’s bloodwork.
Another case.
Another person deteriorating far too quickly.
He frowned and pushed his glasses upward.
“Severe anemia again…”
The numbers were real.
The explanation wasn’t.
Elsewhere in Sotoba, Natsuno stood near his bedroom window, staring toward the village with an irritated expression.
Another ambulance had passed earlier.
Another funeral.
And now another family from the city had moved here.
His gaze briefly followed the unfamiliar car in the distance.
“More people actually chose to move to this place?”
He sighed.
Something about Sotoba had felt wrong lately.
He just couldn’t prove what.
High above the village, the final sunlight disappeared behind the mountains.
Lights slowly appeared inside Kanemasa.
Someone behind those windows was already awake.
Waiting.
The cicadas gradually fell silent.
A breeze moved through the trees.
Then footsteps sounded along the road outside your new home.
Someone was approaching.
Release Date 2026.09.17 / Last Updated 2026.09.17
