CALL HER NAME | JAPANESE HORROR SCHOOL

THE RULE

Calling Her Name

Calling her name

Saying somebody’s name is normally a kindness. It acknowledges them, tells them they have not been forgotten, closes the distance. In this school, the same act means something else as well.

01

AS A GIFT

As a gift

It acknowledges that she exists.
It tells her she has not been forgotten.
It gives back, out loud, a record that was erased.

02

AS A CURSE

As a curse

It wakes her.
It locks every door in the school.
It makes whoever spoke the name her subject.

One act, carrying two meanings. Which of them happens depends on what you know before you call.

STORY

The PA is calling a name you do not know.

The summons

One night, four friends are called to a school that is no longer used. Nobody knows who sent the message. The place it named is a building that has been off-limits for years.
An empty building

There is nobody here. The desks are still lined up in the classrooms. Old paperwork is still in the staff room. The clock in the gym has stopped, and the door to the roof is locked.
The broadcast

As you turn back towards the exit, a girl’s voice comes through the speakers. “Please. Call my name.” The name she gives is Sakura.
The lock

The moment somebody says it, every door in the school locks. The lights go out, and footsteps start coming slowly down the corridor.
The records

The more of the school’s records you go through, the clearer it becomes that she is not simply a vengeful spirit. Records deleted. A desk nobody sits at. A photograph with no name under it. A broadcast that stops partway through.

If all you want is to get out of the school, ignore her voice.

To save her, you have to say that name one more time.

CHARACTER FILE 01

SAKURA

Sakura

The girl whose name was forgotten. Call her name and she appears.

NAME: SAKURA
STATUS: FORGOTTEN / PRESENT
HEIGHT: 165 cm
AGE: UNKNOWN (APPEARS 16-17)
FORM: HUMAN / CURSED
ACTIVATION: HER NAME IS CALLED

Sakura carries both the fear and the sadness of this story. She is not simply an enemy.

What she actually wants is for somebody to remember that she was here.

For a long time nobody said her name. Nobody looked for her. Her name was taken out of the records. That loneliness is what turned her into what she is.

TWO FORMS

Both of them are Sakura.

These are not two personalities. The years in which nobody said her name simply covered over the Sakura who was human. Keep talking to her and the curse bleeds into the kindness, and the kindness shows through the curse.

HUMAN

Sakura, human

「Do you remember me?」

Quiet, and inclined to put everyone else first.
Answers “I’m fine” even when she is not.
Liked empty classrooms after school, and the PA system.

KindnessEnduranceLonelinessPain she could not put into words

CURSED

Sakura, cursed

「Stay here and we can be together.」

Follows whoever spoke her name.
Uses the PA to steer visitors — sometimes towards a way out.
Grows stronger each time the name is repeated.

AttachmentJealousyThe fear of being left behindAnger at a record that was erased

To her, keeping you in the school means making sure you can never forget her. That is why she asks so gently. It does not follow that she means you harm — she may well believe she is saving you.

Character design sheet (orthographic views, expressions, colour palette). The reference that keeps her the same person across the in-game model and any other medium.

ENTITY FILE 02

The broadcast room is empty.

A voice urging the visitors to call the name. At first it sounds like Sakura herself.

But the broadcasts continue while Sakura is standing in the corridor in front of you.

POSSIBLE SOURCES

Sakura’s own voice
A broadcast recorded while she was alive
Something else left in the school
Something trying to call Sakura back
The voice of the school itself

Whether this voice is trying to save Sakura or to lead the visitors into a trap is never stated, in the game either.

LOCATION FILE

The school is a character.

The school is a character too.

It is not scenery. The building itself changes with Sakura’s memory and her state of mind. The school remembers everything that happened to her — but rather than showing you the truth, it replays it as damaged memory.

Corridors get longer
You come back to the same classroom
A door you locked is open
Names on the register change
New writing appears on the blackboard
The PA calls a visitor by name
The time never moves past after-school
Count everyone and there is one too many

The washroom of a closed-down school. Cracked tiles, and a clouded mirror that shows no reflection — 01 / WASHROOM

Washroom

The mirrors are still there, and show nothing. This is where you first notice the count is wrong.

The infirmary of a closed-down school. A curtained-off bed, and paperwork left on the desk — 02 / INFIRMARY

Infirmary

The paperwork from the time is still here. Only the records about Sakura are missing.

The storage room of a closed-down school. Cardboard boxes stacked and labelled “books”, “teaching materials”, “waste paper” — 03 / STORAGE

Storage room

In the box marked “waste paper” is something nobody could bring themselves to throw away.

In-game footage. All you carry is a torch and batteries. There is no way to fight.

CHARACTER FILE 02

THE FOUR VISITORS

The four visitors

None of them have names. The person who says Sakura’s name is you.

01

THE ONE WHO SUGGESTED

The one who suggested it

Proposed exploring the closed school, and is first to say Sakura’s name. Once it becomes clear she is real, the weight of that starts to settle.

02

THE ONE WHO RECORDS

The one who films

Keeps filming inside the building. First to notice that she only appears in the footage.

03

THE ONE WHO DENIES

The one who does not believe

Puts it down to coincidence or a set-up, and denies she exists. That refusal opens a different ending.

04

THE ONE WHO HEARS

The one who hears her

Was hearing the voice before they entered the school. The only one Sakura can speak to directly.

⚠︎ NAMES: NOT ON RECORD

THREE ENDINGS

Your choice decides how it ends.

END 01

ESCAPE

Leave, with the name still spoken.

You get out of the school. You never learn why her name was erased. After you pass the gate, somebody’s phone rings.

CONDITION Leave without the truth

END 02

REMEMBER HER

Say her name properly.

You gather the records, learn what happened to her, and call her name — not out of fear, but to acknowledge that she existed. The curse weakens. Just before she goes, she asks you something.

CONDITION Call once you know everything

END 03

STAY WITH HER

The next names called will be yours.

You keep following the voice, and you do not leave the school. Outside, the records of the four of you thin out. Later, other young people come to the building, and more than one voice comes over the PA.

CONDITION Keep following the voice

We have not decided which ending is the right one. Saving her and calling her back are two sides of the same act.

GENRE: Japanese psychological horror
SETTING: A closed-down school at night
PLAYERS: 1–4
PLAY TIME: 30–40 minutes
GAMEPLAY: Exploration / puzzles / evasion
ENDINGS: 3
ISLAND CODE: 7890-2211-9481

Will you call her name?

Available now in Fortnite (UEFN). Enter island code 7890-2211-9481.

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