AKINARI KASHIHARA (age 32 at death) 橿原明成
The World History teacher at Seven Sisters High School. Mr. Kashihara was a big fan of the occult and conspiracy theories, and was troubled because he wasn't sure that the "official" history he taught in class was the truth. He became obsessed with aliens and the Mayans and the history of Sumaru City, and with the help of a fellow teacher and one of his students, Mr. Kashihara wove together an elaborate theory about the true history of mankind. He wrote it down in a book and they named it In-Lak'ech, which supposedly Mayan for "I am another you." (The in-game graphic says "In-Laqetti" but it appears the actual phrase is "In Lak'ech" - thanks to Edward Hyde for the catch!) The book contained an important prophecy, the Oracle of Maiya, as well as a bunch of nutty theories on the origin of humanity, the power of rumors, Nazis, and the end of the world. In-Lak'ech confuses the hell out of me, but here are the salient points:KEYWORD 1: RUMORS
Rumors will become reality. For example, the rumor about the cursed Sevens emblem originated with Yasuo at Kasugayama. Through word-of-mouth, everyone heard of it, and shortly thereafter, the emblem became cursed and the Sevens students started to have their faces melt off. Seven Sisters High School has seven "school rumors" or "school legends" that start coming true one by one, freaking out Ms. Okamura.1. The ghost in the clock tower
2. The cursed school emblem
3. The zombies in the principal's office
4. The statue of Hannya that moves
5. The room that can't be entered (1-C)
6. Toilet Hanako
7. The giant stopped clock of Sevens
Rumors also affect Kasugayama HS, and the Abandoned Factory is rumored to be infested with demons.
KEYWORD 2: MASKS
The Masquerade is an organization full of masked people. The rumored wish-granter, Joker-sama, is a masked person whose face has never been seen.KEYWORD 3: UNREALITY
Blimps flying, Nazis invading, four Shrines rising out of the ground, buildings blowing up, the city flying... Okay, in short, here's the deal with In-Lak'ech. There were two tribes of Maiyan aliens who came to the earth from the Pleiades - the Bolontiku and the Oxlahuntiku - and they rode a ship called "Xibalba." They set up a home on Earth, buried Xibalba in the place where Sumaru City would eventually be built, and went around spreading civilization. These were the ancestors of humankind. The great buildings of the Mayan people of South America were actually made by the aliens, and the Mayans worshipped the two tribes as gods. Eventually the two tribes started fighting, and the "good" Oxlahuntiku were wiped out by the "bad" Bolontiku. But the Bolontiku were drained of energy by the war, and they went into hibernation in Xibalba underneath Sumaru City. Based on this Kashihara came up with three bizarre theories:ONE: "SUMARU" == "SUBARU"? (The Pleiades)
TWO: IS MT. KATATSUMURI A PYRAMID?
THREE: JAPANESE == MAYANS?
There was a prophecy about the raising of Xibalba known as the "Oracle of Maiya." Certain events would come to pass, and Xibalba would rise again, destroying humanity in the process. When Kashihara discovered this, he warned Okamura and Sudou not to release In-Lak'ech to the world so that the Oracle would never be fulfilled. Shortly thereafter, his wife Junko began saying (spreading rumors) that he was a lousy father. His son Jun protested that his dad was cool, and out of these conflicting rumors (probably) came the Fake Kashihara, aka Nyarlathotep. Nyarlathotep took over Kashihara's role as a father, and Kashihara himself was crushed to death in the gears of the clocktower at Seven Sisters. Okamura claims that the Last Battalion killed him, but...He is modeled after the actor Kouichi Iwaki.
MAYA OKAMURA (age 34) 岡村真夜
She's the Japanese history teacher at Seven Sisters. Even thought she was eight years younger than Mr. Kashihara when she met him, she thought he was a genius and was madly in love with him. When he was killed, she was devastated, and dedicated her life to proving that his crackpot theories were correct. She became known as "Ms. Ideal" because of her obsession with "Idealian" and "Ideal Energy."The woman is stark raving bonkers. You have to understand this. Aliens, Hitler, Mayans...she loves them all. She is queen of conspiracy theorists.
She becomes involved in the story of Tsumi when she realizes that one by one, the pieces of the Oracle of Maiya were coming true. At first she thought that Maya's party was the Last Battalion, but she became an ally of sorts, giving them information on Mr. Kashihara and In-Lak'ech. This is all well and good, but she's still obsessed with proving that sensei was right, so she runs off to personally ensure that people find out how right sensei was. She is overjoyed to discover that the Bolontiku were being awakened and were about to destroy humanity, because, hey, that proves he was right!
Okamura's especially nutty about Junko Kurosu. She hates Junko for treating Kashihara so lousily, and swears that if she herself had been sensei's wife, she would have given him the respect he deserved.
In the end, it turns out that both she and Maya Amano were direct descendents of the bloodline of the Maiyan aliens - making them both Maiyan Maidens that could fulfill the Oracle with their death. At first Okamura intended to die herself, but then Nyarlathotep used her as a convenient pawn to stab Maya Amano with the Lance of Longinus and kill her. Great, Okamura, you proved sensei right, and now the world's been destroyed!
TATSUYA SUDOU (age 28) 須藤竜也
Tatsuya Sudou was a senior at Seven Sisters when Mr. Kashihara was a teacher there. He was a nervous, twitchy fellow who was terrified of his (abusive? neglectful?) cruel father. He also had hallucinations which made him even more nervous. He and Mr. Kashihara hit it off, though; Mr. Kashihara thought that Sudou's voices were direct messages from the Maiyan aliens and wrote them all down into the book In-Lak'ech. He called Sudou "The Channeler" instead of "The Psychopath," after all! Sudou liked him a lot - he was kind, listened to him, didn't treat him the way his father did - and that sort of devotion probably transferred itself to Jun when Jun became the Joker.After Mr. Kashihara died, Sudou set Araya Shrine on fire, and was arrested and institutionalized. Joker-sama came and sprang him from the asylum, and he followed Jun as his new savior...