The book slipcase represents a distorted landscape of Japan, while the interior, when revealed shows the true nature of the "videotape" within the story: a virus as ravaging as smallpox. the package is meant to emulate a VHS slipcase cover.
Smallpox/ Videotape
Tokyo Bay/ Japan/ Video Distortion
Interior Illustrations
But was that really all there was to is? An evil chill seemed to rise up around her shoulders, spread to her back, and began to slither down her spine...
Darkness. She's terribly afraid of the dark...
...he had high hopes that the key to unlock the riddle of four people's deaths was hidden on this tape...
...the rumblings of the earth increased until the whole screen seemed about to be engulfed in molten rock...
A pair of dice, tumbling...what did it mean?
The old expressionless women made her statement...
The face of a newborn baby filled the screen. From somewhere he could here a baby's first cry. This time, too, he was sure it didn't come from the television speakers...
Each one displayed hatred and animosity; he couldn't see any distinguishing features other than that. The myriad of faces...
...not a play within a play, but a TV within a TV...
...he had no idea why he should hate this man...
...darkness gradually encroaching in a ring on the center...
...I've been wanting to meet you...
...he stared at his face in the mirror. Somebody else was reflected in the mirror. The cheeks were yellowish, dried and cracked, and his hair was falling out...