Upper Arato. It starts with an in-game cutscene.
- MO1: "Escape from police officer."
Kyoya Suda[edit]
In this preliminary level, Kyoya does not yet possess the ability to sightjack. Nonetheless, he can still heal himself very quickly, as if he had already ingested the large amounts of the evil red water as he'll later do. His inventory consists of a sole flashlight.
The police officer[edit]
The only shibito of this level. He'll remain high up in his starting position until you decide to move too far away or somewhere where he can't reach you anymore. Then he jumps down, proceeding to slowly get up afterwards.
He's basically like a normal revolver shibito except with unique looks and sounds. He seems to have worse aim than the others, but this is for completely understandable reasons: it's the first level, and you're thrown in the hellish nightmare completely underprepared. They made the challenge less unfair for the player. Of course you could also claim that the police officer is inebriated with copious amounts of sake, but if anything, it comes implied between the lines.
He has certain "taunts," like all the special shibitos.
- "Shoot to kill!"
- "Come out... wherever you are!"
- "No use resisting..."
The shed's door[edit]
It's translucent, being probably the only door in the game which is in effect translucent. Even the netted doors later in the game act as non-translucent ones! Also, the lock is situated on the door's right side, which is unusual. (You see it when you try to lock it.)
The truck[edit]
You get inside with a "key to the pickup truck," with which you can unlock both of the car's doors. The strange thing is, even after you've used it twice, it won't disappear from your inventory! (Unlike several other items that will.) It doesn't matter which door you use to enter the truck, because the end result is the same in either case; Kyoya sits on the driver's side, etc.
It's the game's first First Person View (FPV) location. As with others like these, you can't die or get damaged. The bullet that hits the windshield is only for show. It may hit the glass either when you first get in the car, or after you've ignited the engine. After you've entered the truck, you can't get out any more.
Other things of interest[edit]
- This place is visited only once during the whole game. There's even a map available. Technically, one of the later locations in this game is also called "Upper Arato," but it looks very, very different.
- Unlike anywhere else in the game, the screen doesn't flash red or anything even if your enemy gets alerted or suspicious.
- There's a small translation mishap. The magazine in the car is said to be on the floor, while it's clearly on the bench!
- Notice how the clock says "Day 1 - 00:00" at the map? Perhaps "Yesterday" didn't fit in there.
- There are two posters at the back of this area. One says "Cleanliness Is Next To Godliness" and the other says "Safety First."
- There's a List Menu message error with the shed's door. Get inside the shed and lock the door. When you open the List Menu to unlock it, it says "Unlock car door."
- The river's water is not yet red.