When you hear of summer vacation, you might think of blue skies, traveling, or somewhat liberating time, but the summer waiting for you in ”7'scarlet for Nintendo Switch” is a little different. The protagonist is college student Ichiko Hanamaki. Her older brother suddenly disappeared one year ago in a town called ”Okunezato.” ”Where on earth did my brother go?” While living with such a question, Ichiko is approached by Hino Kagutsuchi, her childhood friend and college classmate, proposing that they go to Okunezato. The trigger was a website called the ”Okunezato Taboo Club,” where people discuss the town's mysteries and legends. Learning that an offline meetup will be held locally during summer vacation, the two decide to use it as an opportunity to search for clues about her brother. Thus begins not a sightseeing trip, but a summer to gather up the mysteries left behind in the past.

Okunezato, the stage of the story, is a town surrounded by nature shaped like a waning moon. While nostalgia lingers in its traditional scenery, modern buildings are also increasing along the main street, where old and new coexist in a strange balance. Furthermore, numerous legends and lore remain, making it a location drawing attention as a mystery spot among some young people. This is truly exquisite; based on the scenery alone, you might think ”I could relax here,” but the more you learn about the town, the more the feeling swells: ”Is it really okay to be here?” Rather than a land rich in nature, it is like a giant cage of nature. That closed atmosphere gives a quiet sense of tension to the story.

At Fuurin-kan, the hotel serving as their base in Okunezato, a lineup of unique characters with a quirk or two gathers. Isora Amari, the live-in chef; Toa Kushinada, a cat-loving otaku; Sosuke Tatehira, a medical student; and Yuzuki Murakumo, the owner of Fuurin-kan. Furthermore, Yuki Hirasaka, a genius middle school student running the hotel; Kagura Tsukuyomi, a landscape photographer; Chikage Karasuma, an unsociable novelist; and Yua Susano, a game-loving female employee, also appear. With such a lineup together, you become curious about each person's words and actions, thinking ”What does this person know?” or ”Could there be another meaning to those words just now?” Enjoying human relationships while simultaneously doubting someone's words—that very feeling is the unique fun of this work.

The initial purpose is strictly to trace the steps of her disappeared brother. However, as the investigation progresses, Ichiko and the others draw closer to another face that Okunezato has been hiding. The plausible ”Legend of the Revenants,” the forbidden areas existing in reality, the incomprehensible events occurring one after another in town, and the legendary flower said to bloom only in Okunezato. By the time you think, ”We were just investigating my brother's disappearance, so how did it come to this?”, multiple mysteries are beginning to connect in complex ways. Whether suspicious legends are mere old stories or related to the current incidents—gimmicks that stimulate your desire to know what happens next are scattered throughout.

A major feature of ”7'scarlet for Nintendo Switch” is that, beyond relationships with the characters, Okunezato itself exists at the center of the story as a giant mystery. As you grow closer to someone, a new side to that person becomes visible. And learning about a person also leads to getting closer to the town's secrets. Because these two aspects intertwine, the interest in ”who to get to know next” and the curiosity to ”confirm the truth of the incident” set off simultaneously. A nostalgic summer town, the brother who vanished a year ago, mysterious legends, and the people gathered at Fuurin-kan. What lurks behind the seemingly peaceful scenery? When the moonlight illuminates Okunezato, the truth that was unseen until then gradually reveals itself—this is a work that should draw the attention of anyone wanting to thoroughly savor such a mysterious story.