The Project Zero Experience

by YuRiPa

On a dark evening, four friends took a boat to go to the island that they had already seen so many times. The island, as the legend goes, is the place of a haunted sanatorium, where, allegedly, medical experiments were carried out. The island’s name is Rougetsu Isle. On the island, they will play the Project Zero Experience, an event where participants can feel what the characters in the game must have felt.

“There is Rougetsu Hall”, Yuki says excited. They slowly walk towards the entrance of Rougetsu Hall as they hear some noises from the woods around the building. “Relax, it’s just the wind going through the trees”, Yuna says with a smile on her face. The friends take a good look at the building, not knowing what they will encounter in this experience.

“Wait, was that…?” Miku stumbles. “What’s the matter Miku?” Kei asks.

“I just… I just saw a ghost in front of the window there.”

“Miku, relax, there is not supposed to be real ghosts around,” Kei comforts Miku, “does anyone know what parts of the Rougetsu Hall we will be seeing today?”

“I think we’ll only go on the ground and first floor,” Yuna answers.

As the group enters the sanatorium, they receive an explanation of the Experience.

“I can’t believe we’ll finally get to meet all the ghosts of the game,” Yuki says ecstatically.

“Yeah, let’s go!” Kei answers, “let’s go to the Kunihiko Asou Museum first, just as in the game.”

As the friends enter the museum, they immediately go to the Camera Obscura that is on display. They wonder if it is a real Camera Obscura. Yuki reaches out his hand to grab the camera, when he is grabbed himself by a ghost hand.

“Pfew, that scared me, haha,” he says.

“Do you still dare to grab the camera?” Yuna grins.

Now Miku reaches out her hand and grabs the camera. She puts the camera in front of her face and looks at her friends through the viewfinder. Suddenly, she is startled, when she sees a ghastly apparition.

“What the matter Miku?” Kei asks.

“I… I… “ she stumbles.

Yuna grabs the camera to have a look herself. She sees nothing out of the ordinary.

“I don’t see anything out of the ordinary,” she says, “what did you see Miku?”

“I just saw two ghosts behind all of you.”

“Is that not what is supposed to happen in this Experience?”

“Maybe you are right…”

Miku is still not convinced that the ghosts she just saw are part of the Experience. Her sixth sense is telling her something different. The four friends continue to the Library at the back of the Kunihiko Asou Museum. The door is closed and cannot be opened. Yuki takes out the camera that they received at the Entrance and takes a picture of the door. The photo shows a row of 5 masks where one mask is missing.

“This is just like in the game, where Ruka needs to go to the Dining Hall,” Kei says.

“Yes, let’s go,” Yuki confirms.

They slowly open the door to the hallway, as they see an apparition of a nurse walking past. Just when Yuki readies the camera to take a shot, the nurse attacks. After three well timed shots, the nurse is defeated.

“Pfew, our first real ghost encounter!” Yuki says elated.

“Yes, it was a success,” Kei adds.

As the friends walk through the door, Miku turns her head and sees another ghastly apparition in the door to the Library.

“Guys, can we stop and go home?” she asks.

“What’s the matter Miku?” Kei asks.

“I just don’t have a good feeling about this all. I’m feeling that we are being watched…”

“You are sure it is not part of the Experience?” Yuna asks.

“This is different.”

“Shall we just go to the Dining Hall and see there?” Yuki asks.

Miku reluctantly agrees, under the condition that they will stop after that.

In the Entrance Hall, all people organising the Experience have left. The doors are closed.

“Where is everyone? Why are the doors closed?” Miku wonders.

“The doors cannot be opened!” Yuki shouts.

“This was not part of the Experience, was it?” Kei asks.

“I don’t think it is supposed to be…” Miku sobs.

Since the friends have nowhere to go then to continue, they slowly walk towards the big stairs leading to the first floor. The large iron gate at the top is still closed. When the friends look up, they see some apparitions moving from left to right. Miku does not have a good feeling about it all. The friends continue through the southern door to the hallway leading to the Dining Hall. When they walk around the corner, they can see into the garden in the middle of the sanatorium.

“Is that Kageri?” Yuki asks.

“Yes,” Kei answers, “but which ghosts are part of the Experience?”

“The ghosts that are part of the Experience are Fuyuko, Shie, Madoka, Iori Aiba, Natsuki Shiono, Yuko Magaki and Sakuya, with some surprise ghosts…” Miku answers.

As the friends look up through the window again, they are startled by the sudden appearance of Kageri, who stands in the garden, directly looking at them. The friends quickly duck behind the wall. After getting to their senses, they decide to call the organisers of the Experience. To their dismay, they quickly find out that there is no signal.

“How is it possible that there is no signal? We had signal when we were entering,” Yuki says.

“We can try the telephone in the entrance hall,” Kei suggests.

“Shall we try that before continuing to the Dining Hall?” Yuna asks.

“Yes!” Miku answers.

The friends decide to follow Miku’s wishes and go back to the Entrance of Rougetsu Hall. Yuki runs towards the telephone and dials the number of the Experience Organisers, but again, no luck.

“I can’t get through to them.”

“That was to be expected, this phone is already old and the line is probably dead for years,” Kei says.

“But that was the strange thing, the phone rang, they just did not answer.”

Kei quickly picks up the phone and dials the number again, to no avail.

“Try the central number of the company,” Yuna says.

Kei dials the number of the company and finally gets through.

“They say that the closing of the door is not part of the Experience. The organisers should remain in the Entrance. Furthermore, the gate on the first floor is supposed to be open…”

The friends look up the stairs and notice that the door is now indeed open.

“What the heck is happening?” Kei asks.

“Are there real ghosts around here?” Yuna asks, looking at Miku.

“According to my sixth sense… Yes,” Miku answers.

“Did you not have a Camera Obscura yourself Miku? Did you take it with you?” Yuki asks.

“Yes, and yes, I took it with me,” she answers while she takes her own camera from her bag.

“Now we have maybe two working cameras, the one from the Asou Museum and yours, assuming the one we got for the Experience is not working for real ghosts,” Yuna says.

“Let’s go to the Dining Hall and see what’s behind the locked door to the Library,” Kei says.

The friends once again pass through the hallway between the Entrance and the Dining Hall, now not seeing any ghosts in the garden. When they open the doors to the Dining Hall, the area seems to be empty.

“Here are the masks, but one is missing, just like in the game,” Kei says.

“Where to find the last mask?” Yuki asks.

“Let’s go upstairs to the room of Kazuto, he was the one who had the mask in the game. That would my best bet for now too,” Yuna says.

The friends cross through the Dining Hall to the other side. They open the door and enter the lift hallway.

“Is the lift working?” Yuna asks.

“No, seems not to be working,” Kei answers.

“Let’s take the stairs then.”

The friends slowly go up the stairs to the second floor. From the lift hallway on the first floor, they go through the long narrow hallway to the other side of the floor. They open the door and arrive at the Entrance Hall again.

“The gate is now closed again?” Kei wonders.

“I want to get out of here, something is completely wrong here,” Miku sobs.

“Come on Miku,” Yuna says.

The friends try to open the door to the rooms on the first floor, but the door is closed.

“We need to enter the code on the control panel in the nurse office,” Yuna says, while the friends enter the nurse office.

“Does anyone remember the code?” Yuki asks.

“Try 8375,” Miku answers.

Yuki enters the code 8375 and the control panel signals the door is now opened.

“Let’s go!” he says.

The friends enter the hallway and arrive at the room of Kazuto. Before they enter, the look to the right to the end of the corridor, where the room of Ayako is located. As they do not see anything strange, they enter Kazuto’s room. They quickly find the mask laying under the bed. Yuki quickly grabs the mask, but as he is taking it, a hand swiftly grabs his arm. He lowers his head to look under the bed and screams after he sees the ghost of Ayako.

“Miku, camera! Now! Quick!” he screams.

Miku takes out her camera, lies on the ground and shoots at Ayako.

As soon as the first shot is fired, Ayako moves her face slowly upwards to look Miku straight in the eyes. Miku quickly snaps another picture of Ayako. But Ayako is not dazzled and continues moving forward slowly, directly towards Miku. Kei quickly takes out the camera they found in the Asou Museum and also starts shooting at Ayako. After his first shot, he sees another picture appearing, a picture showing a woman in red with a distorted face.

“Watch out guys, we quickly have to fight her off and run immediately!” Kei shouts, “Sakuya seems to be close too!”

After one more well timed fatal frame from Miku Ayako is finally defeated, leaving behind a key to the front door.

“The key to the front door?” Yuki asks amazed.

“Let’s grab it and get the hell out of here!” Miku screams while taking the key and running to the hallway of the first floor. As she enters the hallway, she sees the door of Ayako’s room opening.

“Guys, quick, something is coming from Ayako’s room!”

The friends take a short look at the end of the hallway, as they see a woman in red kimono emerging from Ayako’s room.

“There she is!” Kei screams while running towards the Entrance.

“That’s certainly not part of the Experience,” Yuki says.

As the group arrives at the Entrance hallway again, they see that the large iron gate is closed.

“The only way to open this is downstairs right?” Yuna asks.

“Yes, but there is no way to get there now, we have to continue through this hall,” Kei answers.

They run through the narrow hallway to the other end and dash down the stairs, towards the Dining Hall again, where they hang the mask on the wall. After hanging up the mask, a key falls down from behind the leftmost mask.

“The key to the Library, will we go there or try to get out?” Yuki asks.

“Get out!” Miku answers.

When they try to open the door to the hallway leading to the Entrance, they notice the door is jammed.

“I can’t get it to open,” Yuki says.

“Noooo!” Miku screams while taking out her camera. On the other end of the Dining Hall, Shie Sonosaki has appeared, who is quickly beaten by Miku.

“Try again!” she shouts.

Yuki tries again and is now able to open the door. The friends quickly go through the hallway into the Entrance, where they suddenly stop.

“Quick, hide here,” Kei whispers, “Sakuya is wandering in front of the entrance door.”

“Ohno, now what?” Yuna asks, “Miku, do you have any idea?”

“Apart from waiting here or going back the long route to the Asou Museum, I have no idea.”

“Can we try our camera on her?” Yuki asks.

“Of course we can try, but big chance it won’t work. If it does not work, I don’t know if we can get out,” Miku replies.

“Kei, do you still have the camera?” Yuki asks.

“Yes, thinking the same as I do?”

“Yes, let’s charge forward and try from a distance.”

They sneak towards the entrance doors and shoot at Sakuya, but there seems to be no response. Sakuya slowly turns around and moves toward the group. Kei tries to shoot again while he tries to hide behind the service desk. Sakuya is closing in and he has nowhere to go to.

Miku quickly charges in and takes a few shots, damaging and pushing back Sakuya right before she grabs Kei.

In the meantime, Yuna has manged to open the doors of the Entrance and tells Kei to run faster than he has ever done before. He runs past Sakuya, just evading her attack, while Miku charges another shot and shoots Sakuya again. Now all friends are on the side of the entrance door, except Miku.

“Come on Miku,” Yuna shouts, “let’s go!”

“Yes, I am trying, but I have to get past Sakuya!” she answers while charging for another shot.

“Is that Shadow Sakuya at the back there too?” Yuki asks.

“Ohno, both of them are there now, we have to get Miku out of there,” Kei says.

“Watch out Miku! Shadow Sakuya behind you, attacking!” Yuna shouts.

Miku quickly turns around snapping a fatal frame shot of Shadow Sakuya, immediately turning around to shoot a fatal frame of Sakuya, before dashing towards the entrance door, which starts closing slowly.

“Miku, quick! The door is slowly closing, we cannot do anything to keep it open!” Yuna shouts.

With her last remaining energy, Miku crawls towards the exit, when her ankle is taken by Ayako. Kei quickly snaps a shot of Ayako and stuns her, freeing Miku. While Sakuya is closing in on Miku, Yuna grabs her hand and pulls her after which the door slams slut.

The friends run to the harbour where they jump on the boat and set off to the mainland again.

On the mainland, they start to realise what they have just gone through. Where the people organising the Experience are is anyone’s guess.