Endings/Plot Questions *spoilerssssss*

[MrMoosh]

Stop reading if you haven't finished the game yet!!!

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Okay, so...detective has a son who committed suicide sometime prior to the story. Then she goes in search of these 3 missing children in the hopes of unburdening her own guilt about her child.

There's two endings....In the bad ending, the children are found dead at the bottom of a lake, right before the protagonist is pushed into the water herself by an assailant. There's also a crying spirit that seems to follow you around the park (I almost missed her but happened to turn around and catch her behind me). Anyone have ANY idea who pushes her? Or who this ghost is? Or what Mizuki was supposed to bring with her to the park as the web chat on her computer mentions?

In the good ending, you have to find all 3 windmills and offer them to a shrine near one of the houses. Then you find all 3 girls alive on the dock and sobbing. Why did the windmills keep the girls from killing themselves?

Not sure if I'm just missing like, some vital in-game information or if there is perhaps a Japanese folktale about missing children that this game is alluding to. I've just finished my second playthrough and I'm still kinda clueless about what's going on in-game. Thanks, y'all. Happy gaming!

[Nico Nico Nii]

I think the windmill offerings refers to like how you are warding off evil spirits/thoughts around you or the girls which lead them not to commit suicide. In Chinese culture, they also symbolize to turn luck around. And there's also several things related to paper windmills in Japanese folklore or belief systems.

Example of article - https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/c8cljc/what_is_the_significance_of_pinwheels_in_japanese/

[Jerm Forever 4k]

I assume as the other fella said the evil spirits were warded off by the pinwheels and make the girls rethink there actions maybe and if you dont the spooky gets em for good and the big man is a muscle demon that wrecks your sh!t perhaps maybe I like the game though my gaijen mind cant comprehend that much

[Lapom]

According to this blog post, the pinwheel is part of a Jizo statue. My guess is that they are unable to protect the children from the evil spirits without the pinwheels.

https://atlanta2tokyo.com/2017/08/28/jizo/

[Momonzo]

There's 3 spirits on the park, those are spirits of the kids that recently died there, the ones you're trying to save. The "assailant" that pushes you there is the spirit of her son that probably turned evil because from seeing her mother was not able to save those children. There's isn't much of supernatural in this game besides the evil spirits and spirits trying to help you find the kids and save them.

[miyo]

im sad

[Inmost Silence]

Originally posted by Momonzo:

There's isn't much of supernatural in this game besides the evil spirits and spirits trying to help you find the kids and save them.

Well, and the vanishing grandma and the dog with the human face ;) Still trying to get their role.

[Elfteiroh]

Originally posted by Inmost Silence:

Originally posted by Momonzo:

There's isn't much of supernatural in this game besides the evil spirits and spirits trying to help you find the kids and save them.

Well, and the vanishing grandma and the dog with the human face ;) Still trying to get their role.

For the second one, look for Jinmenken... they are not very "horror", but some older rumors about them said they were harbingers of disasters/bad luck? But more commonly they are just rude and insulting.

Also, something I haven't seen mentioned:
On the dock, there was the 3 girls... but... if you look, there's a bigger "person" sitting with them on the left. I think that's your son, protecting them. I thought it was a nice touch. (And I cried a lot.)