Silent Hill f’s middle school chapter gates your progress behind three linked puzzles: getting the second-floor access key, solving the classroom Secret Box, and opening the right student locker. This guide walks through the sequence in order, with the specific differences you’ll encounter on Story and Hard.

Puzzle difficulty (Story, Hard, Lost in the Fog)

Silent Hill f ships with two puzzle difficulties on a first playthrough—Story and Hard—and unlocks a third, Lost in the Fog, after you finish the game once. The core mechanics of each puzzle stay the same, but:

  • Story mode shortens or simplifies steps and highlights important words in collected notes and letters.
  • Hard mode removes highlights and typically adds another step or item to find.
  • Lost in the Fog strips back in-game guidance and may expect outside knowledge; you’ll often need to infer rules with minimal prompts.
Note: The walkthrough below covers Story and Hard. Expect fewer clues and more omissions in Lost in the Fog.

Find the 2F stairwell key (Ebisugaoka Middle School)

The objective is to open up the school’s second floor. Where the key is depends on puzzle difficulty:

  • Story: The second-floor key is in a locked drawer in the faculty room. You’ll need a hairpin from the school’s garden shed to open it.
  • Hard: The key is buried in a flower bed in the school courtyard/garden.

If your route takes you outside, you can reach the garden by climbing through the classroom window directly opposite the first-floor locker room. Watch for a large knife-wielding enemy patrolling the area, and check near the blue flowers—the key may be on the ground by their front edge.

Solve the Secret Box puzzle in the classroom (three rounds)

Upstairs, you’ll eventually be locked in a classroom with a wooden puzzle box and a note on the desk. Interact with the box to rotate it and slide wooden tiles to reveal specific images. Each solution is three rounds long, with a short letter or envelope appearing between rounds to push the theme forward.

The underlying logic is consistent across difficulties; the differences are in how many symbols count for each theme. On Story, you’ll pick fewer, very on-the-nose tiles, while on Hard, you’ll include broader sets. Use these round-by-round prompts:

  • Round 1 — “sweet and tart fruit.” Reveal the fruit-related images called for by the letter. (On Story, this narrows to very obvious choices; on Hard, expect to include all fruit.) Confirm to reveal an envelope.
  • Round 2 — “journal.” Reveal the notebooks/notepads/diaries the letter implies. (On Hard, this expands to include related stationery like origami alongside books.) Confirm to advance.
  • Round 3 — “sakura in full bloom.” Reveal the blooming cherry blossom imagery on the box’s faces. (On Hard, include broader flower motifs along with a cherry blossom tree.) Confirm to complete the puzzle.

Finishing the Secret Box yields a generic key for the second-floor classrooms and triggers the classroom door to unlock.

Open the right locker with “girl code” (Ebisugaoka Middle School)

With the 2F classroom key, head to the east end of the second floor. In one of the newly opened rooms, read the Note to Teacher on the podium: it explains that a student, Ayumi Asakura, found a lost key and left it in her locker. This interaction also gives you the Old Annex Main Gate Key.

Use that to enter the Old Annex on the north side of the first floor. The halls and two unlocked classrooms here are scattered with student notes that demonstrate the students’ numeric cipher—nicknamed “girl code.” Several lockers use that cipher as their combination.

If you just want to progress, you only need Ayumi’s locker. The combination varies by difficulty:

Locker Story code Hard code
Asakura Ayumi 534 865
Aoi Takeshi 401 401
Tsuchira Taiko 377 377
Suga Yosie 505 505

Ayumi’s locker contains the key you need to open the locked cabinet in the faculty room, which in turn gets you to the next objective. The extra lockers are optional but can be opened once you decode enough notes in the Annex.

Tip: The Annex notes aren’t just flavor text—they demonstrate how letters map to numbers in “girl code.” If you intend to open every locker without a list, collect and compare multiple examples.

New Game+ behavior in the school

On a New Game+ run, the girls’ locker room is unlocked as soon as you enter the middle school. That means you can open Ayumi’s locker immediately and bypass most of the school segment. Be ready for the tradeoff: once you obtain the Key Cabinet Key, a group of scarecrows spawns and attacks on the spot.

What actually changes on Hard and Lost in the Fog

  • Hard rearranges where you find the stairwell key (outside in the flower bed instead of in a drawer) and adds breadth to what counts as a valid symbol during the Secret Box rounds.
  • Story highlights key terms in your journal; Hard removes those highlights. Lost in the Fog provides minimal in-game guidance and may omit crucial puzzle hints entirely. The puzzle rules don’t change—you just get less help inferring them.

Once you’ve cleared these three obstacles—secured 2F access, solved the Secret Box, and opened Ayumi’s locker—you’ve effectively unlocked the rest of the school path. From there, expect the game to lean harder on inference and environmental notes as you move toward the shrine arc.