i keep you in my pocket
I Keep You In My Pocket is a psychological thriller about friendship, obsession, loneliness and mystery set in a quiet snowy town in Hokkaido. You play as Takeru, a teenage boy whose life changes forever when he meets a quiet boy with a troubled past. After that Takeru's closest people start disappearing. Told through his diary, you decide what happens every entry.
The game starts with a news broadcast.
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"Thanks to a criminal psychologist, Maeda Takeru who has dedicated over a decade to this case, the bodies of multiple missing individuals have been found, 20 years after their initial disappearance. The killer, identified as 38-year-old Hiyashi Kaito, was…"
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Brought to justice by Maeda
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Killed by Maeda
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Released by Maeda
You don’t know who they are yet, so no matter which choice you make, the game begins the same way. But as you play through Takeru’s story, the weight of that choice lingers making you not know who to trust. As you play, you’ll learn the story and form your own feelings about the characters.
At the end, you return to the original choice. This time, knowing the full story, you decide how their bond ends—or if it ever truly can. The unresolved tension hints that their connection is endless, continuing into a larger story beyond the game.
idea
The idea started with time traveling through a diary. I didn’t know who the main character was yet, but I knew I wanted to create a murder mystery that felt personal.
​Takeru came to life not from the beginning of his story but from the end. I pictured him as a 40-year-old criminal profiler, who came back to Japan when new murders were too familiar, reminding him of something that he tried to forget. That’s where the story began for me: with the idea that Takeru’s diary would take us back to those moments, starting with the day he met Kaito.
adult takeru's first entries
teen takeru's first entries
2023. Tokyo, Japan.
'New faces. Those who look with interest and curiosity. How much have they seen? How much do they know?
Old faces. Those who look with surprise, displeasure, hostility, delight, anticipation of change. They've seen a lot. They know what to expect.'
'Dozens of eyes were fixed on me. Everyone froze in anticipation. Putting my hands behind my back and touching the beaded bracelet on my wrist, I took a step forward. “Madea Takeru. Profiler.'
pdf two first entries
chapters
chapter 1
1991, the year Takeru meets Kaito and the first person disappears, Takeru’s classmate who has feelings for him.
chapter 2
1994, the longest chapter where Takeru gathers clues about Kaito thanks to his sister Reiko, who disappears in the end.
chapter 3
1997, Takeru is graduating from school and wants to leave Nemuro to study psychology in Tokyo, that year his parents disappear as Kaito's graduation present for Takeru, to free him.​
But not necessarily
There are ways to save some or all of them
pdf with takeru's and kaito's info
character development
Teenage Takeru and the man he becomes feel like two different people. Once full of dreams, popular, and surrounded by friends, he’s now quiet, distant, and keeps people at arm’s length. The warmth he once had is buried under layers of caution and obsessive habits, shaped by the fear that those he cares about will disappear—just like those from his past. And at the heart of it all is Kaito, whose presence still lingers, defining the man Takeru has become.
work process
I have a thing for writing branching narratives and time travel stories. So that´s what it looks like. It´s my way of piecing together events without completely losing track of the timelines.
I wish I had walls I could scribble on and erase, but for now, I settle for filling every scrap of paper I can find.
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you've just unlocked secret data
retrospective
I think the choice of the diary format was fitting for my idea. It created a feeling of isolation, where the player only knows what Takeru writes down. It’s like being trapped in his small, snowy village in the mountains, cut off from the rest of the world, just like it would’ve been in the ‘90s with no internet and no instant connection. So when strange things start happening, that missing information feels heavy, like you’re in a dire need for the answers that aren’t there. I tried to show how at the same time, while Kaito starts to get rid of his loneliness, Takeru begins to find his own. The diary becomes Takeru’s whole world, and this world gets smaller as each new entry becomes more cold and distant, mirroring his growing disconnection from himself as he is growing up. Keeping track of timelines and branching storylines was challenging, interesting and emotional, just as writing each diary entry showing Takeru´s gradual loss and transformation.