"Strange Occurrence" - Ichiko Yagura
Bright Win / Freight Room / -6:27:09
Chapter 3 begins with Ichiko Yagura regaining consciousness in the freight room of the Bright Win. At the end of chapter 1, Ichiko collapses due to the shock of witnessing the rampaging dove absorbing Professor Watanabe in the sick bay, and it is naturally Offshoot B who carries her here. Offshoots B and B' were sent by Mother to the real world but were unable to properly acclimatise to the conditions on earth and fell into the sea. Whist floating in the sea as drowned corpses, they are recovered by the Bright Win. Offshoot B', who was impacted by Otoshigo while in the water, begins to rampage. She attacks humans as she comes across them, but the other half, Offshoot B, has been influenced by humans, and shows another special reaction. She begins feeling a strange sympathy towards humankind. There is no way Ichiko can have known of these circumstances, of course, and as she gets closer to the creepy shadow - Offshoot B - standing there, she takes one look and flees.
Seeking help, Ichiko leaves the freight room via the freight elevator and wanders the empty Bright Win. As she does she presses the button on the emergency bell as though being commanded to; the loud sound this bell makes ends up saving Ichiro Nakajima from the rampaging dove who has cornered him (see chapter 2). Finally, Ichiko encounters the rampaging dove (Offshoot B') inside the abandoned ship. Ichiko, thinking she is done for, is again saved by Offshoot B. Using "telepathy", she manages to get Ichiko away from Offshoot B'. Ichiko feels "something different from fear - an emotion she can't understand" towards to Offshoot B, and heads for the Bright Win's machine room with her. It is here that she hears various truths from Offshoot B. Even after Offshoot B using her power to show Ichiko "the place where we were born" - the "Nothingness World" - Ichiko cannot comprehend the situation. Offshoot B speaks desperately to her. "There's no time - you must get away from here as soon as possible." Why is Offshoot B trying to save Ichiko? In actuality, the reason isn't certain. "When I saw you, I didn't want you to disappear." "I felt something... strange... familiar... I don't understand." Perhaps the truth Offshoot B is trying to convey is hidden in her fragmented words. Also, there is a scene in the machine control room during her exchange with Ichiko in which Offshoot B closes her eyes and mutters something. What she is doing here is telepathically telling Ichiro Nakajima, in the midst of his fight with Offshoot B' in the wheelhouse, to "use the light of the signalling lamp".
In any case, due to human influence Offshoot B begins to crumble. Her flesh begins to melt horribly. And she speaks: "My shell will soon crumble." "I will return to nothing." Ichiko Yagura flees. Before everything is swallowed up by the darkness, she must escape from the boat. Trusting in Offshoot B's final words to her - "You are not alone here. Get out of here together before the rift closes - before you're trapped. You can't stay here." - Ichiko heads for the lifeboat on the starboard deck. She runs with all her might, so as to escape the darkness, but all that awaits her is despair. There is not long now until the curtain closes on the tragedy...
"Ichiko and the Freight Room"
At the start of chapter 3, Ichiko Yagura awakens in the freight room of the Bright Win. This is the same setting as the start of the level "Ichiko Yagura 1:20:19". However, the Ichiko in the game is a copy (Simulacrum) created by Otoshigo. She is no longer the old Ichiko. Ichiko herself, however, is not aware of this.
"Signal lamp"
The signalling lamp in the wheelhouse appears in the main game as well, used to exterminate Yamirei and Yamibito from the front deck.
[No.045] Heart-Shaped Letter
Ichiro Nakajima desperately battles with Offshoot B' in the wheelhouse. He no longer as a single doubt about his will to save Noriko. And you can sense a pure love from Noriko's letter to Nakajima... The two have a clumsy young bond. However, the two are torn apart by a cruel fate.