This article is part of my Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Analysis series, where I examine Mio and Mayu’s psychology throughout the main story.
In this article, I will trace how Mio changes over the course of the main story.
At first, Mio sees Mayu as the sister she needs to protect and tries to bring her back home.
However, as the story progresses, Mio gradually begins to understand the fear at the heart of Mayu.
By looking back over the main story, I will organize the disconnect between Mio and Mayu, as well as the changes in Mio’s emotional state.
Please note that this article contains major spoilers. If you have not played the game yet, I recommend using the jump-link box below to read the synopsis first before moving on to the analysis.
- Story Summary and Analysis: The Story Leading to the Endings
- Main Story Overview and Analysis: What Path Do Mio and Mayu Follow in Minakami Village?
- Mio at the Beginning of the Main Story: Trying to Bring Mayu Home as the Sister She Needed to Protect
- Mayu’s Change: The More Mio Tries to Protect Her, the More Mayu Is Drawn into the Village
- The Difference Between Mio’s and Mayu’s Understanding
- What Yae and Sae Reflected: Mio Sees the Archetype of Herself and Mayu
- What the Kiryu Sisters’ Records Showed Mio: The Danger of the Wish to Become One
- Mio Near the End of the Main Story: Beginning to Realize That Protecting Mayu Is Not Enough
- How Mio Changed: From Being Bound by the Past to Understanding Mayu’s Fear
- Summary: The Main Story Was About Mio Catching Up to Mayu’s Fear
Story Summary and Analysis: The Story Leading to the Endings
The main story begins when Mio and Mayu visit the Stream of Memories, a place where they often played together when they were children.
→ Read the analysis of the opening scene here
Mayu almost says something, and Mio also begins to touch on the accident by saying, “about what happened back then…”
However, neither of them can finish what they were about to say.
After that, Mayu disappears into the depths of the forest as if guided by a crimson butterfly, and Mio follows after her.
Prologue: Mayoi-ga
Mio wakes from the memory.
When she lifts her head, she sees Mayu following a crimson butterfly, walking deeper into the forest.
Mio hurries after her.
But the figure ahead of her begins to overlap with the image of a woman in a white kimono.
An ominous air drifts through the trees.
“Mayu, stop!”
The moment Mio catches up and touches Mayu’s shoulder, a strange light pours into her mind.
A woman hanging by the neck.
A woman driven mad.
And then—
Mio sees her own hands closing around Mayu’s throat.
“…Kill me…”
Mio lets go without thinking.
But when she looks again, Mayu is no longer there.
Before she realizes it, the forest has fallen into darkness.
To find Mayu, Mio walks deeper into the trees.
Eventually, from somewhere far away, a mournful hymn reaches her ears.
A line of lights begins to appear in the dark.
As if drawn by that song, Mio continues forward.
In front of the torii gate, she finds a woman in a white kimono, covering her face and crying.
“…I’m sorry…
I’m so sorry…”
The moment Mio tries to see the woman’s face, a crimson butterfly cuts across her vision.
Beyond the butterfly—
Mayu is standing there, quietly.
Mayu turns around slowly.
And whispers:
“The Lost Village…”
- The “Yae” who was crying in front of the torii gate begins to overlap with Mio at this moment.
- From this point onward, Mio is gradually drawn into Yae’s perspective and regret.
Chapter 1: The Lost Village
Mio remembers a certain rumor.
A village that vanished without warning on the day of a festival, leaving only one survivor behind—Minakami Village.
When she turns back, the path beyond the torii gate has disappeared.
It seems that, in order to return, they have no choice but to search for another way out.
As they descend from the torii gate, the large house that soon comes into view is Osaka House.
Sensing that someone may be nearby, the two enter the house, hoping to find information about an exit.
Inside the house, they find a mysterious camera called the Camera Obscura.
It is a tool capable of photographing things invisible to the naked eye—and driving them away.
As Mio continues exploring, she learns that someone else has also wandered into this place.
While reading a memo left behind by that person, thinking that perhaps the presence she sensed belonged to them—
that person appears before the sisters as a wraith and attacks them.
To protect Mayu, Mio raises the Camera Obscura and photographs the spirit.
The wraith vanishes with a dying cry.
Pushed to her emotional limit, Mio loses consciousness on the spot.
How much time has passed?
When Mio opens her eyes, Mayu is gone.
Mio rushes out of the room.
“I’m sorry…
I have to go…”
Mayu, who until now had never left Mio’s side, has gone on without her.
With an ominous feeling tightening in her chest, Mio runs after Mayu.
- Mayu is being drawn toward Sae, Yae’s twin sister.
- Even before the story begins, Mayu has already been affected by Sae.
- After entering Minakami Village, Mayu’s overlap with Sae begins to appear clearly.
Chapter 2: The Twin Maidens
After following Mayu out of the house, Mio is found by the spirits wandering through the village.
They mistake Mio for someone else, accusing her of running away and trying to capture her.
— If the twins take part in the festival and perform the ritual, then Minakami Village, now sealed in darkness, will be saved…
That seems to be what they believe.
After escaping from the wandering spirits, Mio meets a young man named Itsuki Tachibana, who is locked inside the Minakami Village Storehouse.
The storehouse door will not open, but Mio is able to speak with him through the window.
“Yae. You have to leave the village quickly.
Otherwise, you’ll lose someone precious to you…”
Itsuki calls Mio “Yae” and gives her this warning.
In front of Mio, a crimson butterfly floats quietly in the air.
The sight should have been beautiful.
And yet, for some reason, a deep sadness begins to rise in Mio’s chest.
Guided by the crimson butterfly, Mio continues onward.
Eventually, she reaches Kurosawa House, the grand mansion standing at the deepest part of the village.
“Mayu is here…!”
Steeling herself, Mio steps inside the house.
- The sadness Mio feels when she sees the crimson butterfly overlaps with Yae’s lingering regret toward Sae.
Chapter 3: The Repentance
Inside the house shrouded in darkness, the spirits of villagers who had tried to escape begin to overflow.
As they vanish, they leave behind unfamiliar words:
“The Repentance.”
“The Kusabi.”
As Mio moves forward, unsettled by those words, she catches sight of Mayu in the Main Hall.
But Mayu does not notice Mio and continues walking deeper inside.
Mio immediately follows her.
At that moment, Sae Kurosawa, the bloodstained woman consumed by madness, and the Kusabi, a man bound in rope, appear before her and block her path.
Both Sae and the Kusabi carry a presence far heavier than any wraith Mio has faced so far.
Mio hides inside the closet, waits for them to pass, and then begins searching for Mayu again.
Deeper inside, in the Hina Doll Room, Mio finds Mayu lying on the floor.
Mio rushes to her side and makes sure she is safe.
Mayu opens her eyes and murmurs:
“Someone was calling out to me…
Telling me to come back…
And… to perform the ritual again.
Stay with me…
forever… and ever…”
Unlike the Mayu Mio knows, something about her feels strangely different.
For one brief moment, Mio senses it clearly.
However, more than the guilt of having left Mayu behind in childhood, more than the remorse of having hurt her, what fills Mio’s heart is one overwhelming thought:
she wants to save Mayu.
“Of course.
I won’t go anywhere.
Let’s get out of here together.”
Mio gently holds Mayu close.
- Mayu’s consciousness is being pulled back toward the village by the voices of those who desire the festival.
- From this point onward, Sae’s memories from the time when she tried to escape with Yae begin to mix strongly into Mayu.
Chapter 4: The Hidden Ceremony
Mio and Mayu return the way they came and reach the Main Hall once again.
Suddenly, Mayu runs ahead and stops in the place where Sae had once lost herself to madness.
“…Mayu?”
Mio calls out to her, but Mayu does not answer right away.
When Mio looks into her face, however, Mayu smiles just as she always does.
And yet, something about that smile feels wrong.
As they continue searching Kurosawa House for a way out of the village, Mio and Mayu find numerous old documents inside the mansion.
Mio learns many things.
That Minakami Village contains a hole called the Utsuro, said to connect to the underworld, and that offerings must be made to it regularly.
That the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual is a ceremony in which the twin regarded as the older sister kills the twin regarded as the younger sister, giving birth to crimson butterflies that calm the Utsuro.
That the Kusabi is a substitute offering made to the Utsuro when the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual fails.
That the disaster which follows a failed ritual is called The Repentance.
And finally—
that the ritual failed because Yae, the last Twin Shrine Maiden, fled from the village.
Little by little, Mio begins to understand the truth of Minakami Village.
When they reach the inner room of Kurosawa House, Mayu stops in front of the door.
“We can’t escape after all…”
Mayu’s eyes are wet with tears.
Mio desperately tries to encourage her.
Even while worrying that Mayu’s heart may be about to break, Mio keeps moving forward so they can return home together.
The place they reach is the Cell.
It seems that Seijiro Makabe, the folklorist who was offered as the Kusabi, had once been confined here before his death.
After seeing more of the village’s madness, Mio becomes even more determined to escape with Mayu.
But just as they finish searching the Cell and try to leave, the door shuts on its own, leaving Mayu trapped inside.
The lock clicks shut.
It will not open.
“Wait…
Don’t leave me…”
“I’ll be right back…”
“You promised!”
Mayu reaches through the bars and grips Mio’s hand tightly.
“Don’t…
let go of my hand…”
Those words bring back the memory of that day.
But without the key, Mio cannot get Mayu out.
Still hesitating, Mio pulls her hand away.
In that moment, the feeling of being left behind begins to churn inside Mayu.
“Yae…
are you leaving me again?”
Mayu’s strange words unsettle Mio.
Even so, Mio hurries onward to find the key.
- For Mio, letting go of Mayu’s hand is something she does in order to save her.
- For Mayu, it feels like being left behind again, just like that day.
- Here, the disconnect between the two sisters becomes impossible to hide.
Chapter 5: The Sacrifice
Mio visits Osaka House once again.
In the underground passage beneath the house, the mournful hymn she heard before entering the village echoes around her.
Somewhere within this passage—known as the Deep Path—there may be a place where the villagers gather and sing.
As Mio continues deeper inside, she finds the key to the Cell.
With the key in hand, Mio returns to Kurosawa House.
But Mayu is no longer inside the Cell.
All that remains is a note, written in stiff, uneven letters.
“Are you leaving me again?”
The moment Mio touches those words, the memories of Yae and Sae flow into her mind.
The two Twin Shrine Maidens had tried to escape from the village just before the ritual.
But on the mountain path, Yae let go of Sae’s hand.
Only Sae was captured by the villagers.
Left behind in despair, Sae was hanged and offered to the Utsuro.
This memory overlaps with Mio’s own past—
the day she let go of Mayu’s hand when they were children.
— It’s just like us…
Mio begins to feel that Yae’s regret and Sae’s pain are no longer someone else’s tragedy.
They are no longer distant events from the past.
They are beginning to feel like something happening to Mio and Mayu, here and now.
- Mio no longer sees the tragedy of Yae and Sae as an old story that happened in the village.
- For the first time, she accepts it as something that overlaps with herself and Mayu in the present moment.
- From this point onward, Yae’s regret and Sae’s pain stop feeling like someone else’s tragedy to Mio.
Chapter 6: The Remaining
After leaving Kurosawa House, Mio sees Mayu walking along the second-floor corridor of Tachibana House.
However, the entrance to Tachibana House is firmly shut, and Mio cannot get inside.
Searching for a way in, Mio enters Kiryu House, a mansion connected to Tachibana House.
Kiryu House, too, was once home to twins who performed the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual.
The elder sister, Akane, lost her younger sister, Azami, in the ritual.
Having killed her other half and survived, Akane became the Remaining.
It is said that those who become the Remaining often continue living with their minds broken.
Some are even said to turn white-haired overnight.
Learning this, Mio remembers Itsuki Tachibana, the white-haired young man locked inside the storehouse.
Because Itsuki knows the pain and regret of the ritual, he once helped Yae and Sae escape.
And now, he is trying to help Mio and Mayu escape from the village as well.
Inside Kiryu House, the tragedy of Akane and Azami is revealed even further.
After losing the sister she loved, Akane spent every day drowning in grief.
For her sake, their father created a doll in Azami’s likeness.
But something that had come from the Utsuro took residence inside that doll.
Eventually, it began to control Akane.
And when her father tried to destroy the doll in order to save her, Akane killed him with her own hands.
Through Azami’s spirit, Mio learns what Azami truly felt during the ritual.
Azami had wanted Akane to kill her.
“I didn’t want you to regret it…
because at last, we had become one…”
A ritual where one sister kills the other.
Mio still cannot understand the wish to accept death itself.
And yet, the intensity of Azami’s feelings for Akane reaches her painfully clearly.
- Mio learns that the wish to become one can become so desperate that even death is accepted.
- In Minakami Village, the twin born first is treated as the “younger sister,” while the twin born later is treated as the “older sister.”
Chapter 7: Sae
After passing from the depths of Kiryu House into Tachibana House, Mio continues deeper inside, chasing after Mayu.
But when she finally catches up, Mayu has changed into the image of Sae.
“Yae…
Are you leaving me again?”
Is it Mayu?
Or is it Sae?
Inside Tachibana House, the two begin to overlap again and again.
Mio is shaken by fear.
At times, she hides from Sae.
Even so, she continues to chase after Mayu.
In Itsuki’s room, Mio sees Mayu again.
The door is locked, and Mio cannot get inside.
When Mayu notices her, she reaches through the bars and takes Mio’s hand.
Then, with a tender expression, she presses Mio’s hand against her own cheek.
For a single moment, Mayu’s face overlaps with Sae’s.
Mio instinctively pulls her hand back.
Mayu’s expression clouds with hurt, and she quietly retreats to the back of the room.
After finding the key, Mio enters Itsuki’s room.
But Mayu is no longer there.
Searching the room, Mio finds the key to the storehouse.
“If I ask Itsuki, he might be able to tell us how to leave the village…”
When Mio turns around, she sees Sae approaching from beyond the bars.
Just when she thinks there is no escape—
the one who enters the room is Mayu.
“Mio…
I don’t know what’s happening to me…
But no matter what happens…
I’ll forgive you…
Please…
don’t leave me…”
“Of course I won’t leave you behind.
I’ve been looking for you this whole time.
Come on…
Let’s get out of this village.”
“Okay.”
Mio feels uneasy at Mayu’s unstable words.
But in this moment—
the two sisters truly manage to reach each other.
Fires are lit around the torii gate.
Outside, preparations for the festival have begun.
There is almost no time left.
- The boundary between Mayu and Sae is beginning to blur violently, even in Mio’s eyes.
- Even so, Mio does not give up on bringing Mayu back, no matter who the person before her appears to be.
Chapter 8: The Waning Moon
Mio and Mayu visit the Minakami Village Storehouse.
When Mio opens the door with the key she has found, Itsuki Tachibana is no longer there.
After helping Yae and Sae escape, Itsuki had taken his own life.
When Mayu learns this, she stands there in tears, overlapping with Sae as she once stood in despair.
Mio finds a clue inside the storehouse that may lead them out of the village.
Long ago, the twins who tried to escape used an old Deep Path.
If they can pass through it, they may be able to leave Minakami Village.
To take Mayu with her and open the seal to that old Deep Path, Mio begins searching for the necessary crests.
While searching for the crests, Mayu sees a film of a festival in the projection room of Kiryu House.
It reminds her of the day, long ago, when she became separated from Mio.
The memory of losing sight of Mio in the crowd—
of chasing after her, but never being able to catch up—
still remains deep inside Mayu.
Mio takes Mayu’s hand and tells her that once they leave the village, they should go to a festival again.
But Mayu only lowers her eyes in silence, as if to say that they can no longer return to where they once were.
Even after that, Mayu’s words and actions grow more unstable, little by little.
On the second-floor corridor, Mayu is drawn toward the railing and leans out over the edge.
“Only I fell…
only me…”
Mio quickly pulls her back into her arms.
At that moment, the two sisters overlap with the figures of Yae and Sae.
“Back then…
I wish we had fallen together.”
For a moment, Mayu comes back to herself.
But once the heart has been shaken that deeply, it can no longer return to where it was.
Eventually, the two reach the island floating in the pond.
As Mayu gazes at the moonlit surface of the water, she speaks as if tracing another memory.
“We used to play here all the time.
All of this will be gone soon…”
Mio tries to encourage her, telling her that they will be able to leave the village soon.
But Mayu’s eyes are hollow.
“Yes…
the two of us will run away.
We promised, didn’t we…”
Mio hesitates, but nods.
Mayu embraces Mio from behind, wishing they could stay there just a little longer.
After gathering the crests, the two enter the hollow chamber.
It is a place where the Twin Shrine Maidens thrown into the Utsuro were enshrined.
It is also the place where the seal to the old Deep Path can be opened.
Exhausted, Mayu falls into a deep sleep there.
When Mio touches Mayu’s cheek, her consciousness is drawn into Mayu’s inner world.
Inside Mayu, Mio sees something like a bottomless abyss opening in the darkness.
A forbidden place.
The Utsuro.
As Mio looks down into it, her vision overlaps with the memory of looking down at Mayu after she fell from the cliff.
When Mio wakes from the dream, she uses the crests to open the seal to the old Deep Path and lifts Mayu into her arms.
But Mayu only murmurs, as if in a fever.
“No matter what happens…
I’ll forgive you…
I’ve already fallen.
I… already…”
Supporting Mayu, who seems as if part of her heart has already fallen into the Utsuro, Mio heads toward Kureha Shrine, the entrance to the old Deep Path.
- Mayu’s childhood memories, Sae’s memories, and her fear of being left behind begin to mix together, causing the outline of her heart to collapse.
- Through the dream of looking into the Utsuro, Mio is gradually drawn closer to the feelings of the one who fell.
Final Chapter: Crimson Butterfly
Holding Mayu’s hand as she barely remains conscious, Mio climbs the stone steps leading to Kureha Shrine.
Just a little farther, and we will reach the shrine—
or so Mio thinks.
Then, the sound of drums echoes through the air.
The spirits of the villagers begin to gather.
Mio desperately tries to protect Mayu, but only Mayu, who has fallen behind, is captured.
One escapes.
One is taken.
The past of Yae and Sae has repeated itself between Mio and Mayu.
“Together forever…
because we promised…”
After driving away the villagers’ spirits, Mio renews her resolve and chases after Mayu, who has been taken away.
Relying on the crimson butterflies, Mio reaches Kurosawa House.
But the Mayu she sees there does not look as though she is being dragged away by force.
Instead, she seems to be moving forward of her own will.
“This is how it was meant to be.”
That voice, filled with resignation, sounds like Mayu’s.
And yet, it also sounds like Sae’s.
Inside it are:
the pain of being left behind,
the regret of trying to run away,
the resentment toward the one who never came for her.
Mayu continues deeper and deeper into the house.
As Mio follows her, she finds the charm filled with Mayu’s feelings.
Through the charm, Mayu’s emotions flow into her.
“Mio…
Please, save yourself.
No matter what happens…
I’ll forgive you…”
Rather than easing Mio’s heart, those words force her to confront the truth once again:
Mayu is still carrying the pain of being left behind.
At last, Mio reaches the Deep Path beneath Kurosawa House.
The deeper she goes, the more the voices begin to echo.
They no longer sound clearly like Mayu or Sae.
“I’ve been waiting…
Waiting…
all this time…
Hurry…
You finally came…”
Mayu and Sae.
The two voices overlap.
And Mio, too, is drawn deeper into Yae’s regret.
Before her, the enormous hole known as the Utsuro spreads out.
And standing quietly just before it—
is Mayu.
- Mayu’s voice and Sae’s voice begin to overlap so completely that they are almost impossible to tell apart.
- Mio is drawn even deeper into Yae’s regret.
- The ones facing each other before the Utsuro are Mio and Mayu, but also Yae and Sae.
Main Story Overview and Analysis: What Path Do Mio and Mayu Follow in Minakami Village?
From this point on, I will organize what Mio sees throughout the main story, where she is forced to confront the disconnect between herself and Mayu, and how she gradually changes as a result.
At first, Mio believed that everything would be all right as long as she protected Mayu.
However, as she encounters the events that take place in Minakami Village, the records left behind by other pairs of twins, and the changes taking place within Mayu herself, that belief gradually begins to waver.
Mio at the Beginning of the Main Story: Trying to Bring Mayu Home as the Sister She Needed to Protect
Even after wandering into a strange place like Minakami Village, Mio’s goal is clear from the beginning.
It is to take Mayu with her and return safely to the reality they came from.
At this point, Mio still sees the disconnect between the two sisters as something separate from the events taking place in the village.
- The spirits are dangerous
- The village is abnormal and frightening
- As long as she keeps herself together, she should be able to protect Mayu and bring her home
For Mio, this means:
- protecting Mayu
- worrying about her
- searching for a realistic way out
This role as Mayu’s protector remains consistent both before and after Mio picks up the Camera Obscura.
However, although there is kindness in that attitude, it does not yet include a deep understanding of Mayu herself.
The more Mio tries to protect Mayu, the more Mayu is drawn into Minakami Village.
- Mio believes that Mayu is frightened because of the abnormalities of the village and the presence of spirits.
- She prioritizes protecting Mayu, but has not yet reached Mayu’s true feelings.
- Because Mio believes leaving the village will solve the problem, she says they should go home together.
Mayu’s Change: The More Mio Tries to Protect Her, the More Mayu Is Drawn into the Village
At the Stream of Memories in the opening scene, Mayu is already following a crimson butterfly and moving away from Mio.
What Mayu seems to see as more important than simply staying with Mio in the present is a place where she and Mio would never have to become separate again.
Inside Minakami Village, Mayu’s consciousness gradually begins to blur.
“Someone was calling out to me…
Telling me to come back…”“Are we really going to run away…?”
From these words, we can see that Mayu is no longer experiencing the village as something abnormal, but as the place where she is meant to return.
Of course, Sae’s influence is the major reason behind Mayu’s change.
However, Mayu is not simply being manipulated in a passive state.
From the beginning, there is a part of Mayu herself that resonates with the structure of Minakami Village—or more precisely, with the structure of the Utsuro.
The strongest of these feelings is her fear of being separated.
The feelings Mayu carries—
her refusal to become separate,
and her fear of being left behind—
are amplified even further after Sae overlaps with her, and Mayu sinks more deeply into them.
Mio tries to encourage Mayu by saying they should leave together.
But for Mayu, the real problem is not whether they can leave the village.
- that after leaving the village, Mio may go on living as a separate person
- that as Mio grows, she may keep moving into a wider world and one day leave Mayu behind
What Mayu truly fears is separation from Mio itself.
That is why Mayu’s words when they reunite in the Hina Doll Room are so heavy.
“Stay with me…
forever… and ever…”
On the surface, these words may sound like something caused by the village’s abnormality.
But in truth, they are a desperate wish:
even after they leave this place, Mio must not separate from her or leave her behind.
What Mayu Means by “Mio… Please, save yourself. No matter what happens, I’ll forgive you…”
Mayu’s words, “Please, save yourself,” are not words meant to let Mio go.
More than anyone else, Mayu knows that Mio is not the kind of person who would truly abandon her and run away alone.
That is why these words are not simply something she blurts out.
Rather, they can be understood as a call meant to confirm that, in the end, Mio will still come back for her.
This “call for confirmation” can also be seen as an extension of Mayu’s attitude in the prequel novel, where she repeatedly tries to make sure that Mio will always stay with her.
The following words—
“No matter what happens… I’ll forgive you…”
are not meant to push Mio away, either.
Instead, they express Mayu’s distorted wish:
“Even if you leave me, I will forgive you—so please come back for me.”
In other words, these are not words of rejection.
They are Mayu’s true feelings, which she can only express by saying the opposite of what she really wants:
“Do not leave me behind.”
The Difference Between Mayu in the Prequel Novel and Mayu in the Main Story
In the prequel novel, Mayu seems to have already half-resigned herself to a future in which she and Mio will one day separate.
By contrast, in the main story, when Mayu says, “Yes… the two of us will run away. We promised, didn’t we…”, there is still the possibility that they may leave the village together and continue living as two separate people.
This difference may come from the fact that, inside Minakami Village, Mayu is no longer carrying only the pain of Sae being left behind.
She has also become mixed with the feelings Sae once had when she still wanted to run away with Yae.
Mayu in the main story is therefore in a more unstable state.
Her own original fear and Sae’s feelings have overlapped.
The Difference Between Mio’s and Mayu’s Understanding
The difference between Mio’s and Mayu’s understanding becomes clearest in the locked Cell scene.
“Wait!
Don’t leave me!You promised!
Don’t…
let go of my hand…”
At this moment, Mayu sees the childhood memory of Mio letting go of her hand and Mio’s present action of leaving her behind as the same thing.
For Mayu, everything comes down to only one thing:
being together with Mio forever.
— She needs nothing but Mio.
Because of this, the moment Mio leaves her behind, Mayu can no longer hold herself together.
Even so, Mio pulls Mayu’s hand away in order to find a way out.
For Mio, this choice is an action meant to save Mayu.
But to Mayu, it appears as proof that Mio is separate from her.
Mayu did not become unstable out of nowhere.
The feeling she had carried from the beginning—not wanting to be separated—was simply drawn out more openly through Sae.
What Yae and Sae Reflected: Mio Sees the Archetype of Herself and Mayu
The ones who bring the greatest change to Mio’s understanding are, without question, Yae and Sae.
They were the final Twin Shrine Maidens, and because they ran away from the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual, they ultimately became one of the causes that brought The Repentance upon the village.
But what matters most to Mio is not simply that they were “the twins who destroyed the village.”
What matters more is that they were twins who resembled Mio and Mayu far too closely.
In Yae’s diary, there are several words that overlap directly with Mio.
“We can live together forever, just like we always promised.
Even if we leave the village, I still want to be together forever.
I’ll always protect you, Sae.
Always.”
The role reflected in these words is clear.
Yae sees herself as the sister who protects, looking toward a future where she and Sae escape the village and live on together.
- Yae is trying to protect Sae.
- She is trying to take Sae outside the village and live together with her.
This role is exactly the same as Mio’s at the beginning of the main story.
But by the end, Yae’s diary begins to collapse.
“I can’t get back into the village anymore.
If only I hadn’t let go…
If only I hadn’t let go of her hand…”
For Mio, these words are far too close to her own past to dismiss as someone else’s tragedy.
- Mio, too, once let go of Mayu’s hand when they were children.
- One fell, and one was left behind.
Yae’s fate appears to Mio as the archetype of a future she herself might have followed.
In Sae’s diary, there are also many words that overlap directly with Mayu.
“I don’t care if we run away.
As long as I can be with my big sister, I’ll go wherever she goes.
Just, please, don’t leave me behind, Yae.”“My body is weak.
Someday, I won’t be able to keep up with my big sister.
I’m afraid she will leave me behind.
The thought of us growing apart scares me.”“We were so inseparable when we were born.
But the longer we keep living, the more distant I feel we will become.
That is why I want us to become one again.
If we do that, we will never grow apart.
We really will be together forever.”
For Sae, what she truly could not bear was the thought that she and Yae would live separately… and die separately.
— If being left behind is the only other choice, then I would rather become one.
These words become a turning point that allows Mio to deepen her understanding of Mayu.
Sae’s desperate longing appears to Mio as the original shape of the pain Mayu carries—
the archetype of Mayu’s fear.
- Yae carries the regret of the one who let go of the hand.
- Sae carries the pain of the one who was left behind.
- By accepting the feelings of both Yae and Sae, Mio gradually begins to reach Mayu’s true feelings.
What the Kiryu Sisters’ Records Showed Mio: The Danger of the Wish to Become One
If the diaries of Yae and Sae showed Mio the archetypes of the one who let go and the one who was left behind, then the records of the Kiryu sisters exposed the danger hidden within the bond between twins.
The words left behind are direct and brutal.
They point toward a desire to become one, a desire with nowhere left to go.
In Akane’s diary, the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual is recorded as raw emotion, showing how the ritual destroys twins from within.
“I choked Azami to death with my hands.
So Azami and I became one again.
I did it because I love you, Azami.
I killed you because I love you.”
What is truly terrifying here is that Akane did not kill Azami because she hated her.
On the contrary, she wrote that she killed Azami because she loved her.
Here, affection, ritual, and violence are no longer cleanly separated.
The act of becoming one becomes directly connected to losing the other person.
In Azami’s diary, the following words remain.
“I don’t need to be replaced.
I’ll always be together with my big sister, Akane.
We are one.
One and the same.
Kill that doll.
Kill that doll and get rid of it.”
These words contain several elements that also connect to Mayu and Sae.
- what is needed is only the other half, and no substitute will do
- no one else can fill that absence
- “being together” and “being one” become almost the same thing
In other words, this is the denial of separation from one’s other half.
The Kiryu sisters’ records show Mio that when twins wish to be together forever, that wish does not always move toward living side by side and supporting each other.
It can also tilt toward something far more dangerous:
I need no one but my other half. I do not want to be separated. I want to become one.
For Mio, this realization is a heavy blow.
Until then, she had believed that protecting Mayu was enough to preserve their bond.
But what the Kiryu sisters’ records reveal is a form of relationship that cannot be fulfilled by kindness or protection alone.
For Mio, the Kiryu sisters become the ones who show her, ahead of time, the danger hidden at the bottom of Mayu’s wish.
Mio Near the End of the Main Story: Beginning to Realize That Protecting Mayu Is Not Enough
As Mio moves through the village and comes into contact with the past of Yae and Sae and the records of the Kiryu sisters, she gradually begins to realize something.
The way Mio had tried to relate to Mayu until now—by protecting her—is no longer reaching Mayu.
“Maybe what Mayu is truly afraid of isn’t this village at all…
Maybe it is something deeper…
the thought of becoming separate from me.”
When this feeling rises within Mio, she is forced to understand it clearly.
In the Hina Doll Room, Mayu had pleaded:
“Mio, I’m scared.
Stay with me…
forever… and ever…”
What Mayu had truly wanted was not a promise of a future outside the village.
She had wanted Mio to promise not to go anywhere, and not to become separate from her.
And immediately after that, in the locked Cell, Mio broke her promise to “stay with Mayu” and ended up hurting her.
What Mio believes to be right does not always lead to saving Mayu.
Protecting Mayu and answering Mayu’s wish do not necessarily mean the same thing.
For Mio to change means that the assumptions she had believed in until now are beginning to collapse.
How Mio Changed: From Being Bound by the Past to Understanding Mayu’s Fear
Mio had always been strong.
She moved forward through the abnormal village, tried to protect Mayu, and continued facing danger.
But what begins to waver throughout the main story is not that strength.
It is the assumption that all she has to do is protect Mayu.
Until the middle of the story, Mio tries to preserve her relationship with Mayu by protecting her.
That is kindness.
It is also responsibility.
And at the same time, it is a form of guilt over the past, when she let go of Mayu’s hand.
However, Mio gradually comes to understand something.
What Mayu truly feared was not the spirits, the ritual, or the abnormality of the village.
It may have been the very act of living on as separate people.
The past of Yae and Sae shows Mio the archetype of her own relationship with Mayu.
The records of the Kiryu sisters reveal how dangerous, and how painfully sincere, the wish to become one can be.
Through these things, Mio realizes that Mayu is not simply someone weak whom she must protect.
This change becomes decisive only in the remake’s Sprouting Wings + Remaining Sun Ending route.
“I wish… I hadn’t let go of your hand that day.
I should have just held on.”“Mayu…”
“I… I wish we had fallen together.
If we had, I could’ve been just like you.”“From now on, we’ll be together.
Until the very end.
That’s all I want.”
Near the very end of the story, Mio finally faces her own true feelings.
For the first time, Mio realizes that within herself, too, there had been:
- a desire to stay together until the end
- a wish to have fallen together
- the feeling that if she had fallen, she might have shared Mayu’s pain
By encountering the memories, records, feelings, and inner truths left behind in Minakami Village, Mio finally reaches a point where she can accept Mayu’s fear not as something outside herself that must simply be saved, but as something that also exists within her own heart.
Mio learns that the “rightness” she believed in may not necessarily save Mayu in the truest sense.
And little by little, she changes into someone who can understand Mayu’s fear more deeply—and feel it as her own pain.
Summary: The Main Story Was About Mio Catching Up to Mayu’s Fear
The story of Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly is about Mio, who had been facing Mayu through the act of protecting her, gradually coming into contact with Mayu’s fear itself.
How, then, did Mio come to understand Mayu’s fear?
It was because she learned that what Mayu truly feared was not the abnormality of the village, but the reality that she and Mio would eventually become separate.
What existed there was a fear that could not be reached by protection alone.
Mio learns the depth of Mayu’s fear and gradually catches up to that pain.
In the end, she reaches the point where she can accept Mayu’s fear as a pain that also exists within herself.
Mio has finally changed enough to reach toward Mayu’s fear, which had once been beyond her understanding.
However, understanding and salvation do not always mean the same thing.
Next time, I will examine what the Crimson Butterfly Ending shows us—the pain that lies beyond Mio’s decision to take on Mayu’s fear.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you will stay with me for the next article.
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Analysis Hub
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Analysis Series
Analysis Article #2: The Cliff Scene｜Why Mio and Mayu See Different Worlds
Analysis Article #5: The Opening Scene｜The Unfinished Words and Their Connection to the Endings
Analysis Article #6: Main Story Analysis｜How Did Mio Change Throughout the Story?
Analysis Article #7: Crimson Butterfly Ending｜Why Did Mio End Up Killing Mayu?
Analysis Article #8: Lonely Road Home / One Wing Endings｜Explaining the Price Mio Had to Bear
Analysis Article #9: Frozen Butterfly Ending｜Mayu’s Tearful Smile and the Head in the Hina Doll Room
Analysis Article #10: Shadow Festival Ending｜Why Did Mio Say, “This Time, We Fall Together”?
Analysis Article #11: The Promise Ending｜The Meaning of “I’ll Never Let You Go Again”
Analysis Article #14: Sprouting Wings + Remaining Sun Endings｜What It Means for Mio and Mayu to Return Alive
*This article is part of the “Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Analysis” series.
*The images used in this article include unofficial AI-generated images inspired by the world of the game, as well as screenshots from FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE and Project Zero 2: Wii Edition. All rights to Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly belong to Koei Tecmo Games.
*This article refers to certain official materials that are currently difficult to obtain. Their contents are summarized only where necessary for understanding the story, while the article itself focuses mainly on analysis and interpretation.
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