Rui Kagamiya

Rui Kagamiya
"Things were fine as they were... but... I couldn't help but wonder if we could ever be something more."
Japanese	鏡宮累 かがみや るい
Age	17
Height	165cm
Residence	Hojo Residence
Occupation	Assistant
Status	Alive
Games	Fatal Frame V
Notes	Rui's Journal
Japanese Voice Actor	Maaya Sakamoto
English Voice Actor	Jennifer Thompson

Rui Kagamiya is a character in Fatal Frame V. She is assistant to Ren Hojo. She respects him, calling him sensei, and as well as helping him out, she thinks of him as family. She and Ren go to Mount Hikami to do research for his next book.

Past

Not much is known about Rui's life. She and Ren were introduced at a magazine company, and because she was good at managing data, he took her on as his assistant. One way or another, she ended up living in his house, and also takes responsibility for most of the housework, since Ren is not good at it. Ren is grateful for her help, although he occasionally loses his temper when she tidies away a book he is looking for.

Fatal Frame V

Rui accompanies Ren on most of his missions and helps him with his research, but she is susceptible to the influence of ghosts, and this makes her vulnerable. In Mikomori Hot Springs, a ghost almost succeeds in making her hang herself, and in the Shrine of Dolls, the spirits of Shiragiku and the children playing hide and seek cause her to wander off and hide as well. After Ren saves her on both occasions, her feelings towards him begin to change, and although up until that point she has been comfortable with the ambiguous relationship they have, she starts to consider the possibility of a more romantic one.

Later, when ghosts begin to congregate in Kurosawa's Antiques, Rui is spirited away, and Ren goes after her. He finds her in the Watarai Residence, inside a reliquary, but when he finds her he has a strange hallucination in which she drags him into the box with her and he meets her in the House of Joining, dressed as a bride.

Ren does not tell Rui about this hallucination, and in the cable car on the way home, she makes a point of sitting beside him and leaning on his shoulder, indicating that she has made her decision. Ren, though still hesitant, cannot help smiling.

Afterwards, Rui is exhausted and spends the rest of the game asleep on the couch in the office at Kurosawa's Antiques. When Ren gets ready to go to Mount Hikami again, she is afraid he will choose one of the other brides over her, and sleepily asks him not to leave. He goes anyway, but in a post-ending cutscene, she wakes to find him sitting nearby, watching over her. When he starts to get up she reacts with alarm, and only relaxes when he reassures her he's not going anywhere.

Gallery

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Voice Lens Quote

"Things were fine as they were... but... I couldn't help but wonder if we could ever be something more. What if I wanted more... and then he went away? I don't know if I could... I just don't know... What would I do... What should I do?"

―Rui Kagamiya

Misc. Info

• Rui was inspired by Yoshio Kobayashi, a character in a series of mysteries by Japanese author Edogawa Ranpo. Kobayashi is the assistant of the main character, Detective Kogoro Akechi. In one adaptation, Kobayashi, a male character, was played by a female actress in male clothes, and Rui's character design attempted to recreate the same kind of ambiguity about gender. The creators all said that they were happy for players to interpret Rui as male or female, and Makoto Shibata stated his support for the theory that she was both.
• The English translation of Rui's meeting with Shiragiku differs significantly from the original Japanese.

Japanese	Actual English translation	In-game English Translation
Shiragiku: ・・・おにいちゃん ・・・おにいちゃん は・・・おねえちゃん？	Shiragiku: Big brother... big brother is a big sister?*	Shiragiku: ...A man, at last. You are a man, are you not?
Rui: わたしは・・・	Rui: I'm...	Rui: I'm a girl.
Shiragiku: うそつき！	Shiragiku: Liar!	Shiragiku: Liar!
Rui: わたしは・・・	Rui: (uncertainly) I'm...	Rui: (insistently) I am!

*Note: It's quite common for children to address a slightly older, unrelated person as "big brother/sister" in Japanese.

• This wiki uses "she/her" pronouns for Rui, in line with the game's English translation, but this is not intended to be a definitive statement one way or another.
• According to the guidebook, Ren and Rui are both from Toyama, and their friendship began with them discussing stories from the area.

References