Obihiro Case Files

On the 3rd of February, 2025, Obihiro Japan was struck with a record-breaking winter storm. Over 1.4 meters (4 feet) of snow fell in twelve hours, felling trees, trapping residents indoors, downing power lines, and forcing schools and businesses to close. The mayor had instituted a state of emergency, encouraging all residents not to leave their homes and be patient while power is returned online and roads are paved.

 Three days later, at 4:12 AM, the Obihiro police department received a 110 call belonging to nineteen-year-old resident Sasaki Kentaro that lasted approximately 13.2 seconds, after which the phone had ceased functioning:

{Dispatcher} "110, what is the state of your emergency?"

{Sasaki} (Faint scratching and heavy breathing in the background) "Help...help!"

{Dispatcher} "Sir, you need to tell me what's going on. Where are you right now?"

(Breathing fades. Scratching does not cease.)

{Dispatcher} "Sir, help is on the way--stay on the line for me, okay?"

Police triangulated the victim's signal to east-northeast of the Hidaka mountain range. Due to the brief and distressing nature of the call that Detective Inoue thought, quote, "didn't feel right at all", seven teams of police and canines were called to the scene led by detectives Mishima, Inoue, and "Saru-chan" Hideki.

Due to the outskirts and hiking trail not yet paved, coupled with the rough location of the phone's signal, approximately five hours and forty-five minutes elapsed before police had discovered a human-shaped trail snaking up the eastern cliff side. According to Detective Mishima, the trail had evolved to visible footprints, which implies the hiker was on the move when the storm was in full swing and continued after it died down.

Exactly eight minutes passed after discovery a three-floor mansion appears in the distance of Mishima's car. It was at this point when Detective Mishima turns on his body cam and seizes his radio.

{Mishima} "Stop stop stop stop!"

The snowplow grinds to a halt. More radio clicks are heard.

{Hamada} "What's up, Mishima-san? We still have a ways to go."

{Mishima} "Do NOT drive over the footprints! It's evidence now."

{Tetsuya} (whistles) "Damn, would you look at the size of that place!"

{Yoshida} "Yeah, but I never heard anyone living up here. Rich people and their money am I right?"

Detective Inoue begins to pull out a cigarette to Mishima's right.

{Inoue} "Guess we won't need the dogs after all."

{Mishima} "Or we still might. Look there."

Mishima's body camera points towards the southwest end of the mansion where a second human-sized pathway veers left. Notably, the trail leaves behind what police claimed was a blood smear.

{Inoue} "I'll take some boys to check it out."

{Mishima} (chuckles) "Good, because I was gonna ask you."

The two get out of their car, and Mishima approaches the mansion with dozens of snow-trodden footsteps behind them. No lights appear to be inside the mansion, and the door does not budge when he attempts to open it.

{Mishima} "Alright Saru-chan, work your magic."

{Hideki} "Shouldn't we get a warrant first?"

{Mishima} "I brought you here for your muscles, Mister Makushita, and whoever it was that screamed for help won't give a rat's ass about a warrant!"

Hideki sighs, and Mishima watches as his leg curls back before sending a foot straight through the jamb, snapping solid wood planks in half.

{Mishima} "Nice! Flashlights out."

Beams of light fan the atrium and in mere seconds they discover an unresponsive Sasaki splayed stomach-down on the tile floor, his feet nearly touching the back corner wall while in a pose similar to crawling. Detective Hideki leans back and begins to choke.

{Mishima} "Oi--this is the one place you can't puke on!  This your first time seeing a body?"

(Hideki nods)

{Mishima} "Then find the bathroom--otherwise, start humming and look for evidence. And keep your guard up while you're at it!"

It was after a cursory glance when Detective Mishima radios for a forensic team and backup. Several deep gashes appear on Sasaki's back, left shoulder, and neck. The size, shape, and motion of the wounds appear most similarly to a woodsman's axe.

Mishima then turns to the eastern wall with sluggish breathing and begins to call out.

{Mishima} "What the hell is with this heat? Obihiro Police! Is someone out there? Saru-chan! I'm heading down this room."

Mishima enters a ten-seat dining room, his flashlight dancing eastward until revealing a door to the south, and as he opens it, he finds three gas stoves on full blast and an oven glowing red on the east wall. 

{Mishima} "Damn--it's like a sauna in here!"

His hand reaches for the knobs and dials the stoves off.

{Mishima} "Note for the record these were on all the way."

Mishima turns off the oven, crouches, and peers inside, after which the detective is then heard yelling.

{Mishima} "My God!"

Inside the oven was blackened fabric covering up the charred remains of an unknown victim huddled in the fetal position with hands pressing against the glass.

Mishima spins around as the sounds of muffled sobbing can be picked up on the body camera. The feedback bobs as he rushes back to the dining room where piles of china and dinnerware are scattered in the top-left corner, and upon prying open the vanity, he discovers a woman, conscious but in a severe state of distress. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her skin appeared in a purplish tint. Given the style of clothing, notably a long, frilled skirt and blouse, the woman is assumed to be the mansion's maidservant.

{Mishima} (Maid sobbing in background) "Easy there, easy! It's alright. I got you. You're safe. Can you tell me what happened?"

{Maid} (breaking down) "I don't know!"

{Mishima} "Alright, we're gonna get you out of here, okay?"

The detective takes her to an officer on standby and orders him to take her to a nearby clinic before stepping over the police tape at the entrance and returns to the atrium.

{Mishima} (Grasping radio) "HQ, any chance of sending us the floor plans to this place?"

{HQ} "That's a negative, Mishima-san. No records of a mansion exists at your location."

{Mishima} "Then would you kindly tell me what the hell I'm standing on then?"

It was at this point where Detective Mishima begins to take out a notepad and draws a makeshift blueprint of the first floor, marking where he had found the bodies and the maid as well as question marks in areas which appeared odd to him. Detective Hideki returned as Mishima's flashlight bounced from the atrium's top-right-hand wall to Sasaki's feet, noting the trail of blood that seemingly stops at the corner.

{Hideki} "What the hell, man?"

Mishima taps on the wall and the body camera picks up brief, dull thuds.

{Mishima} "Well if there's a secret passage or something behind here, there should be a way to open it."

After the detectives note how relatively-clean the west parlor was, they take the team and climb the stairs to the second floor, splitting the team left and right. Mishima and Hideki first enter a single bedroom, and after noting nothing was inside except for a twin-size bed in the center of the room, they leave and discover that the master bedroom's door was already open.

Mishima's harried breath can be picked up on the body camera as Hideki inches the door open, then Mishima trains his pistol through the clearing before rushing in, which alerts Hideki.

{Hideki} "Mishima-san! You shouldn't be waving that around!"

{Mishima} "You'd have yours out too if you saw what I saw." 

On the floor of the master bedroom was a hunting rifle. The detectives note the smell of gunpowder from outside the barrel and inside the room, then turn behind them and discover two bullet holes: one hitting the center of the door, the second lodged higher on the wall to their right.

{Hideki} "Whatcha think happen?"

{Mishima} "Looks like the head of house was dragged from his bed as he fired. See there?"

Mishima flashes above the bed where the rifle's stand sits, then bends down so the camera can note the empty shell casing near where it traveled. He then approaches the bed where the second can be seen lying on the blankets. He jots down the locations of each on the floor plans.

The detectives spend a brief amount of time inside the walk-in study before making their way outside the master bedroom and to the bath, where Mishima notes the bathtub "is completely spotless".

{Hideki} "Aren't bathtubs supposed to be clean, though?"

Mishima points the flashlight down the drain but the body camera is unable to focus.

{Mishima} "Not like this. This is more than spotless. The bath is absolutely flushed."

The detectives join with the rest of the team, and they share what evidence they found within the guest room and servant's quarters. The guest room had two beds, and while one bed had a pocket knife underneath, the second bed had a pocket knife, a can of pepper spray, and another cellphone.

{Mishima} "Another guest, looks like. Wonder where they went off to."

In the servant's quarters, the bed belonging to the maid had an 8-inch kitchen knife placed to its side.

{Mishima} "That's all? Alright, let's head up to the 3rd floor."

{Deputy} "What third floor?"

{Mishima} "Don't play dumb with me, you saw how tall the mansion was outside! Now where's the stairs up?"

{Deputy} "There aren't any, Mishima-san."

{Mishima} "[expletive] there isn't! There's gotta be a third floor--attic--something!"

Enclosed inside the documents are the floor plans Detective Mishima drew up, as well as evidence discovered. Note that as the floor plans are not official, certain items or areas may be missing or overlooked. Detective Mishima has asked those with access to these documents for assistance in piecing together this mystery.

Twenty minutes elapse before forensics appear, and after taking photos of Sasaki's body, Mishima was given the green light to turn him over.

Most notably, while in one hand held the cell phone Sasaki used to call 110, his other hand was tightly gripping a leather-bound journal. (For the record, due to being sandwiched underneath Sasaki as he bled out, some of the pages may not be readable).

Mishima takes the journal and flips to what is assumed to be Sasaki's last entry.

You'll walk the halls of this mansion and it is already too late, for all your preconceived notions, the light you spent years building up to cast away the darkness, it all leaves once you step foot past that door, because it sure as hell isn't coming with you. What the gods stamp out are intruders who invade their house. Their power lies in their house--that's why we have so many--but they don't overstay their welcome, they don't overreach, because they'd be intruders. No god is welcome in this house. What else could possibly remain then but a naive crumb of a miracle, the faint hope that someone will come to save you? 

Then She grins at you, and at the end of it all, that single pinpoint speck you cling so desperately to flees from the tips of your fingers and leaves you to your demons you spend the rest of your life fighting to stamp out. That is when the nightmares will begin.

As of the 10th of February, the Obihiro Case Files, up to and including Sasaki's journal, are now opened to all prefecture detectives, but remain classified to the public.