The Suspects

In Shadow at the Water's Edge you have four main suspects that you have to pump for information.

Nagai Takae

Takae is Shimizu Yumi and Shimizu Miwako's grandmother. She is very traditional and has lived, and worked, in the Ryokan Hiei all her life. She has a tendency to ignore the wishes of her granddaughters in favor of tradition, which of course causes a rift between not only the girls, but the relationship between herself and them as well. She currently teaches origami, the tea ceremony, and katakana courses at the inn.

Shimizu Yumi

Yumi is the elder daughter of the late Shimizu (Nagai) Kasumi. She is very independant as evidenced by the fact that as soon as she was of age she left the inn and started her own Bento stand. Miwako and she currently have a very strained relationship because Yumi, traditionally-speaking, should be the one running the inn. Yumi is very good at cooking, loves everything cute...and pink, and designs her own clothing.

Shimizu Miwako

Miwako is the younger daughter of the late Kasumi. She currently runs the inn since Yumi has no interest in doing so. Miwako is very dutiful towards her work as proprietess of the Ryokan Hiei and is under a lot of strain, not only because of the 'incidents' in the inn, but also because her boyfriend, Rentaro, is trying to pressure her into moving to Tokyo. She has always wanted a pet cat of her own, but due to the inns 'no pets' rule, she is unable to get one. That doesn't stop her boyfriend from getting her a robot one named Suki, which she loves a lot.

Aihara Rentaro

Rentaro is the childhood nuisance friend of Yumi and Miwako. He is eccentric and kind of nerdy in his interests, which is electronics and anything number based. He and Miwako have been dating for the past four years and still going strong, despite the fact that they don't always see eye to eye on some things. He is currently trying, without much success, to convince Miwako to move with him to the city and away from the inn and it's problems.