Occultic;Nine: Tips

≫Kirikiri Basara

Official Name: “Paranormal Science Kirikiri Basara.” An occult aggregator blog run by Yuta Gamon. Every day he picks occult-related news stories for his readers to disprove scientifically.

≫Eggs

Throwaway accounts made on Twitter for the sole purpose of attacking and slandering others. Their owners never reveal who they are, and when things turn bad, they’ll quickly abandon the account and flee. For this reason, it’s extremely common for them to not set a picture for their icon, which means they use the default picture— an egg.

≫Café☆Blue Moon

A café and bar tucked away five minutes from Kichijoji Station. During the day it’s a café, and at night, it’s a bar. The place is decorated in an extremely Oriental fashion that suits its owner’s tastes, and it can be difficult for first-timers to enter. Yuta brings his laptop here to update Kirikiri Basara.

≫Woodberrys

A frozen yogurt shop that opened in Kichijoji in 1997. It offers homemade yogurt and farm-fresh fruits. In addition to frozen yogurt, there’s also yogurt drinks, yogurt scones, and yogurt soap available as well.

≫Suta-Don

A pork bowl that’s the most popular item at the rice bowl chain called “The Legendary Suta-Don Store.” Suta-Don bowls are known for being far larger than the bowls offered by competing chains. Suta-Don is, therefore, short for “stamina bowl.”

≫Simulacra Phenomenon

The phenomenon where any three points in an upside-down triangle shape will tend to be seen as a human face. Patterns in animal fur, wood knots on ceilings, and shadows cast by rocks in satellite imagery are all common examples of this.

≫Kokkuri-san

A form of fortune-telling that uses, or appears to use, a supernatural phenomenon very similar to the Western ouija board. Many people believe that it is a form of spiritual summoning that involves summoning the spirit of a fox. In kanji, it’s written Ko (Fox), Ku (Dog) Ri (Raccoon). It’s always done with two or more people. A paper with the words “yes,” “no,” “torii” (An arch at the entrance to a shinto shrine), “man,” “woman,” the numbers one through nine, and every letter of the Japanese alphabet is put on a desk. Then a ten yen coin is placed on the paper, and all participants put their index fingers on the coin. After an incantation, a question is asked of Kokkuri-san, and the coin is said to move on its own to answer the question.

≫One-Man Hide And Seek

An urban legend that became popular in the 2000s. It’s considered another form of spiritual summoning, like Kokkuri-san. The ritual is done in the dead of night, and involves repeatedly playing hide-and-seek (or rather, performing a ritual that seems similar to it) with a stuffed animal whose stuffing has been removed and replaced with white rice and your own fingernails. This ritual is repeated again and again for an hour or two. It’s said that there was a rumor that strange paranormal events would happen during this ritual, and many people started to do it for fun.

≫Nico Livestreamer

A regular user of the Niconico Livestreaming service. Some livestreamers can be extremely popular.

≫Skysensor

A portable radio sold to the general population in the 1970s. In addition to AM and FM, it can also receive shortwave broadcasts. It has a lot of other functionality as well, and was a big hit.

≫QSL Card

Also known as a verification card. A card issued by a TV or radio station as proof that you received a broadcast. Listeners can receive a broadcast, and submit a report to the station, which will reply with this card. Each station has its own card design, so some dedicated collectors exist. However, since there’s no legal requirement to send a QSL card, some stations don’t.

≫Niconico Livestreaming

A livestreaming service offered by the Niconico Video site. In addition to official programs run by the site staff, there are also livestreams broadcast by regular users. Since anyone can easily upload a user livestream, there are many of them held every day, and their contents range from simple small talk to coverage of very niche hobbies.

≫SPR

The Society for Psychical Research. Founded in 1882 at Trinity College in London. An academic society founded to promote scientific research into spiritualism and the paranormal. It researches six subjects of study: telepathy, hypnosis, poltergeists and other spiritual manifestations, ghosts, spirit-summoning, and the history of the paranormal. At the end of the 20th century, advances in science greatly accelerated scientific research into the paranormal, and the SPR, which had been in decline for some time, returned to the public eye.

≫Ahriman

One of the dolls Aria uses in her rituals. It has a green striped body and bug eyes. Its name comes from the god who rules over evil itself in the Zoroastran religion.

≫Gorgon

One of the dolls Aria uses in her rituals. It has a yellow and black pattern like a honeybee, and the face of a dog. Its name comes from the three ugly sisters of Greek mythology, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa.

≫Coven

One of the dolls Aria uses in her rituals. It has five eyeballs and its body is covered with stars. Its name comes from a word used to describe a group of witches since the latter half of the sixteenth century.

≫Peter

One of the dolls Aria uses in her rituals. It has a bright purple body and multicolored fabric teeth. Its name comes from one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, who later became a saint.

≫Lilith XII

One of the dolls Aria uses in her rituals. Its head is covered with a paper bag. A prince of black cats who lost its tail. Its name comes from a woman in the Book of Genesis who was Adam’s first wife, and who later became the wife of the fallen angel Lucifer.

≫Amenity Dream

A chain of trading card stores with 14 stores around the country. They often hold tournaments in their stores.

≫Vanguard

Full name: Card Fight Vanguard. A trading card game made by Bushiroad. “Lead knights, dragons, mecha and angels, dinosaurs and mermaids! Stand at the Vanguard and fight in this one-on-one card game!” (From the official site.)

≫ICPO

International Criminal Police Organization. Also called Interpol. An international organization which counts police from 190 countries among its members. The organization’s primary function is to facilitate cooperation between police in different countries by helping them exchange information and issue international warrants. It has no police officers of its own, and most of its staff are office workers.

≫Super Ultra Lucky Tea

An original drink created by the owner of Café☆Blue Moon. It was so awful that Yuta was in serious pain after drinking it, but the owner himself says he likes it.

≫Kyam-Kyam

A fashion magazine for women in their 20s. It primarily deals with work, femininity, and girly fashions, and its articles on tips for dressing for work and attracting men are loved by readers.

≫Don’t Miss It POM!

A news and information variety program broadcast Monday through Friday.

≫Hot Reading

A technique used by self-proclaimed fortune-tellers and psychics when they perform “readings” of a target. “Hot reading” is the act of gaining information on a target in advance. By giving out information that only the target and those close to him should know during the reading, the fake psychic can gain the target’s trust.

≫Ramen Saburo

A ramen shop in front of Seimei University. It was originally named something else, but someone drew graffiti on their sign, and that’s how it got its present name.

≫Mumuu

A monthly occult magazine. Founded in 1979, it has over thirty years of history.

≫666

The number of the beast, found in the Revelation of John in the New Testament. The number has also come to be associated with devils and devil worship.

≫Master Must Murder

Yuta’s favorite late-night anime. Its abbreviation is MMM. A suspense and crime action show with lots of pretty girls’ blood flying everywhere. Yuta particularly likes the heroine, Zonko.

≫The Tree of Life

A symbolic diagram used in Kabbahlic mysticism. It consists of ten spheres with twenty-two channels between them, and is said to represent the universe and the human body.