"Just a fly in the ointment, Hans. The monkey in the wrench."
- Bruce Willis, Die Hard
"Where we're going, we won't need eyes to see."
- Sam Neill, Jurassic Park III
Water sloshed around Miu's ankles as she walked through the flooded shrine. It had been so long since she found the Camera Obscura washed up on a lonely riverbank and started following the trail up Mount Hikami by herself. She had overcome every riddle and defeated every phantom that crossed her path. Now she was about to meet her ghostly equal.
Miu was almost past the gates of the Mikami Shrine when she heard a noise coming from behind her. It was like the sound of steam after dousing water over a roaring campfire. She looked over her shoulder and gasped.
There, standing in the shallows of the caldera lake, was the vengeful spirit of Kyozo Kururugi. He had a lantern in one hand, a rusty farmer's cleaver in the other, and his body was covered with hideous burns. He looked straight at Miu with his mouth locked in an angered sneer and his eyes fixed with a gaze of death.
The shrill laughter of an elderly woman echoed from the opposite direction.
"Ah, I see you're already acquainted with the guard dog."
Miu faced the shrine again and saw the old Matchmaker standing at the gate. She was caught between two of the most powerful and wicked ghosts on the mountain. Even with several dozen paces between them, Miu could feel her pulse rising by the second.
"He always wasn't such a loyal pet," the Matchmaker said. "He spent a century repeating the sinful night where he slaughtered us all."
The water behind Kururugi started to bubble.
"But we found a way to soothe his torment and turn his anguish against those who deserve it."
A single ominous black box bobbed through the surface of the lake. Kururugi waited with the same chilling look on his face. The Matchmaker snickered lightly. The lid opened to reveal…
A mint condition Yuuri, sitting quietly with the tainted water up to her shoulders. Her skin was icy blue and in place of her modern clothes, she was shrouded in dark hair-like web. As she slowly rose to her feet and levitated out of the casket, the damp fibers coiled and flowed until they took the shape of a long black bridal robe, covering her from her head to her bare transparent toes. The hood of her kimono kept most of her face covered. All Miu could see was the small bridge of her nose of her nose and her smiling purple lips.
"This girl was a worthy sacrifice," the Matchmaker said. "After we snatched out her spirit and baptized her in the Abyss, it wasn't long before she took her place among us."
Seeing the vile thing Yuuri had become, a chill crawled down Miu's back. This was never the reunion she had hoped for.
"We feasted on her Mitori for a fortnight before we put her to use. I only pray the lost spirit who brought her to us found her flesh as delectable as we found her soul."
The old crone cackled again.
"She made for such a nice bride. Not as pure as Ouse, but still rather pretty in her own right. A shame about the poor thing's eyes, though."
Yuuri raised her head slightly, revealing her milky white irises. The same flash from the Camera Obscura that had doomed her in life now left her eternally blind in spirit form.
"Not that it troubles her greatly. We let her keep just enough of her Mitori so she can use her premonitions to see clearly."
Yuuri floated over Kyozo's shoulders, wrapping him in the long black sleeves of her bridal gown and tucking her arms lovingly around his scarred neck. He seemed to grow calm for a brief moment, until Yuuri whispered something in his ear and turned her cruel milky eyes toward Miu. All of his rage returned in an instant.
But Kururugi wasn't the one Miu needed to be afraid of. The real threat was Yuuri, guiding and manipulating her undead husband as if she were pulling his spiritual energy with puppet strings. Miu had the Camera Obscura to fend for herself. Yuuri had a demon capable of wholesale slaughter under her finger.
Miu raised the camera to her eyes and focused the lens on Yuuri's hovering shade.
The Matchmaker's raspy laughter caused her to lose the shot.
"Silly girl. That trinket won't do a thing to help you. Your friend thought the same thing, and look what became of her."
The lake frothed again, this time in a spot close to the Matchmaker. A second black box rose out of the unspeakable depths. When the lid opened, it revealed only a vacant pool of black water.
"Of course, there's always a place for you, Miu," the Matchmaker said with a knowing smirk.
Fatal Frame story route decision time:
1. Boss battle: Yuuri and Kyozo
2. Let the creepy lady make you dirty
3. Watch the first season of Viper
4. Genuflect