Higurashi When They Cry Ch.3 Tatarigoroshi-Hen

Higurashi When They Cry: Tatarigoroshi-hen
Higurashi: When They Cry
Ryukishi07
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Opening
Curse or coincidence?
Are the conjectures inside you solidifying?
Will they waver or become cornerstone?
The difficulty is extremely high, you probably won’t even be able to guess.
This is a work of fiction.
Any resemblance to actual persons or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
The snake in the well was happy.

For it did not know what was outside the well.
The snake in the well was happy.
For it had naught to do with what was outside.
And you are happy too.
For you do not know what is outside either.
-Frederika Bernkastel
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A.D. 1983
Early summer of the 58th year of the Showa era
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Day 1
...It was a very humid day. Not even a slight breeze was blowing... It had been an un-
pleasant summer—one that wasn't only hot, but swelteringly so. There were various articles of
clothing hung out to dry in the messy apartment windows, but the lack of wind evoked an im-
pression far removed from coolness—in fact, it only felt more oppressive. There were crooked
houses and apartments lining the narrow, twisting road. In addition, there were planters and
flowerpots whose contents were beginning to rot, as well as bicycles and cars on the sides of
the road, making it even more cramped, more oppressive, and all the more sweltering. Nobody
who was in this place at this time was visiting it voluntarily.
...But in spite of what everyone might expect, a single motorcycle came rolling in...
The lone motorcycle, which couldn't be called 'neat' even as flattery, pulled up to a two-story
apartment complex and stopped there. A man, fairly old and wrinkled, stepped off. ...When
the housewife hanging out the laundry noticed him, she called out.
"Well, heeello there! It's quite hot today again, isn't it?"
"Hoo, you've got that right! I feel like I'm gonna boil out here. Eh-heh-heh!"
"Oh, right, Landlord, I di'nt think that would be the first thing you said."
"Ahhh, sorry, sorry~! The fluorescent lights, right? I completely forgot! Ehehe!"
"No, not that. Don't you smell it? There's a teeeerrible smell about. I've been smelling
it since this morning!"
"......Wait, what's this? It reeks! Did the sewers get backed up again?"
"Do something about it, Landlord! I've had to keep my nose plugged all day long!"
"Eh-heh-heh! You'd still look plenty lovely plugging your nose, my dear! Eh-heh-heh!"
There was an unhygienic drainage channel running behind the apartment. The lattice
from which it flowed was stuffed with branches and fallen leaves, and when filth got caught
up in them, it created an awful stench in the summertime.
"Could you tell the municipal office about it? The drain will end up buried at this
rate!"
"Well, yikes! It's completely blocked. Eh, it'll start back up if you poke it with a stick."
The man crossed the fence over the drainage channel and picked up a filthy drying
pole sitting nearby. He must have planned to stick it into the drain and clear it out.
"Ah, wait, Landlord, stop that! If you mix it all strange, if you do that...! It will smell
terrible!"
"Eh-heh-heh, it smells if it's clogged, and smells if it's mixed! Which should I choose?
Heh-heh-heh!"
He shoved the drying pole into the filth in the lattice. ...Of course, it did nothing to
help the accumulation of waste.
"Gyah... It's a dead cat. This is the health center's job!"
"Cats and dogs smell awful when they die. ...A bamboo pole's not going to do much
good."
"Garbage bags, old clothes—they throw all kinds of stuff in there. And is that a duck I
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see? ...Well, of course it stinks. The nerve of some people!"

The drainage channel was already unsanitary—what was a little more garbage at this
point?
...The stream of such imprudent people was never-ending, and now this channel had
turned into a garbage dump. When he poked the pile of old clothes floating in the sewage, a
black cloud of smoke floated out in the water. The two of them grimaced at the terribly bi-
zarre and repulsive sight.
"Gah... We've got maggots, eh? Someone must've thrown kitchen waste in..."
"...Wha... Landlord. ...What's that?"
"What? Just more garbage..."
"...La...Landlord, that's... that's!!"
"Heh? ......Eh? ...Eeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkk!!"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"Oh, hello! Good work today."

"Ack, what a terrible stench! Hey! Someone cover this thing with a tarp! It's in plain
sight of the two-floor houses!"
"Identity of the deceased, unknown. Sex, female. Age, estimated to be late 20s or early
30s. Time of death, about two or three days ago. She was probably abandoned after death."
"Naked, too? Figuring out who she is will be rough. Contact the community division
and ask if anyone's gone missing."
"They probably weighed her down, so she'd sink. Then the weights came off and she
floated to the top. ...But why in a drainage sewer, of all things? Would've been better under an
overpass or in the mountains, you know?"
"And it would've been outside our jurisdiction, right? But it looks like they never
wanted to hide the corpse at all."
"Did they do it so she would be found? As a warning, or something?"
"This slice in her stomach definitely wasn't from a fish eating her. She was cut open
and her insides were dragged out. They really made a show out of killing her. Doesn't the
Chinese mafia do these sort of traditional punishments? Ask Shige-san in Section 4 if he's had
any trouble with yakuza."
"On it, sir!"
"Still... what a terrible way to go. Hey, don't her innards poking out like that look sort
of like the salad soba you can get in Kyoto? Maybe if you stuck chopsticks in, noodles would
pop out. See?"
"...Urgh! P-Please, give me a break..."
"Kah-hah-hah-ha! Her intestines were pulled out, and her ears and nose cut off. That's
definitely not how I want to go. Her fingers are in a bad state, too. There are long nails stuck
in all of them, on both hands. What kind of torture was this, anyway?"
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The most relaxing time during the school day? Lunch, for sure. Everyone brought their
desks side-by-side like always, and we all ate together.
"Oh, my! Mion-san, if I may say, your lunch looks quite appetizing today!"
"...There are so many different things—it's wonderful."
Satoko and Rika-chan looked at Mion's lunch, shouting gladly.
...Let's have a look. Whoa!
"I just packed in some leftovers from last night. All the elders were having a drinking
party at my house yesterday. I managed to nab some of what they didn't eat."
"Ahahahaha! So that's why they all look like snacks you could have with sake."
"...Hmm. ...They're but leftovers—mere scraps of food—but when arranged in a bento
box so cleanly, they look impressive! It looks like part of a full-course meal at a high-class
restaurant!"
"People seem to decide if they like things mainly based on their first impression. So
I thought maybe the taste of a bento would be proportional to how pretty it was when you
opened it!"
"You may seem unrefined, Mion-san, but you are positively splendid at arranging food
like this."
"Her room is nice and tidy, too. Mii-chan is a lot more organized and polite than ev-
eryone thinks!"
...It's all the same once it's in your stomach! I'd have thought Mion would say some-
thing like that—but to think she had this kind of taste!
...Hmm. You can't judge a book by its cover. Mion was careful in everything she did.
...She never misstepped, faltered, or messed up. I see—she is our club president, after
all!
"...Yours is nothing to scoff at either, Rena. Your crab kamaboko flower is very pretty."
"You know, Rena, your lunch always has, like, an art to it. Like it has rabbit-shaped
apple slices and carrot flowers and stuff."
Rena's bento wasn't all about taste... It was like, hmm. Like she always puts her heart
into it, or something. It wasn't just good—it made your insides all nice and warm.
"Ahahaha! Thanks. It's not quite as good as Mii-chan's, but I wanted to make it really
kyute, hau~!"
"Cooking isn't about skill—it's about love. In that sense, I don't even come up to your
feet!"
Love, huh?
...Yeah. Just from looking at her bento, I could definitely feel that Rena put her heart
and soul into making it. That's what her bento was like!
"The taste isn't all that counts for a bento—how it looks also matters. I suppose we
must learn from this too!"
"Huh. So, let's see Satoko and Rika-chan's up-and-coming bento! Whoa...?!"
"...Ta-da."
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"Wo-ho-ho-ho! Yesterday our neighbors shared some meat with us, so we ended up
grilling it for our bento!"
These ones, too... They had such an impact!! They were bursting at the seams with
grilled meat! At a glance, it was too impactful for a girl's bento, but when you thought about
eating with all your friends, it brought more than enough color to the table!!
"Wow. ...At first, it looks like the kind of crude bento that a jock would eat, but there
are so many different things in here. Like boiled spinach in soy sauce, and stewed hijiki."
"Rika-chan, you're really good at this kind of unaffected cooking, huh? ...Yep, I think
Rika-chan will make a great wife when she grows up!"
"...I have a tight hold on my future husband."
...A husband for Rika-chan, huh?
......At first, that sounded appealing... It did—but I felt like a married life with her
would be anything but normal. But really, everyone was amazing. They were all so young,
and yet they're all capable of cooking for themselves. I would sort of cook whenever I went
camping with my family... but making lunch every day was a level I definitely couldn't reach.
I could only really cook in my spare time. When I thought about it like that, it really made ev-
eryone stand out more. Frankly, I respected them.
......Hm?
...Huh?
...I feel like maybe this doesn't only apply to other people...?
...Come to think of it, this morning, when I was eating breakfast half-asleep... I think
my mom was saying something really impor...tant......
...Uh.
"Uh... Aahhhhhhh!!"
With a hysteric groan, I suddenly stood up, startling everyone at once.
"...W-W-What's wrong? Wrong?!"
"*cough* *cough*!! You'll make us choke if you shout like that so suddenly, you
know!!"
"...There's rice coming out of your nose, Satoko."
...I'd forgotten.
...All this stuff about cooking for yourself... It applied to me, too...!
"Keiichi? Your mom and dad need to go to Tokyo again for business."
"...Hmmm. ...Yeah...? *yaaaawn*~... Sleepy..."
"Your dad's mentor fell ill right before an event he was taking part in. It's a very im-
portant event, and they need someone to fill in."
...Well, Dad does what he has to do for his job.
"So your dad and I, you see, we need to go to Tokyo as fast as we can to help with the
event. We might have to stay there for a few days depending on what happens."
...That sounds annoying...
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"While we're gone, we won't be here, so you'll need to make your own meals yourself...
Are you okay with that, Keiichi?"
"...I'll be fine. ...Humans can do anything when they're desperate..."
"Is that so? That's a relief. You can at least cook rice, right? And you can make miso
soup as well. Then you just buy some side dishes and you'll have a meal."
A meal?
...Yeah. I can cook rice with my camping kit.
...Never used a rice cooker before...
...I've only ever made instant miso soup that you make in a pot of boiling water, too...
Well, I'll think of something...
"If you can cook for yourself, then you don't need much money, do you? No eating
out—it's too expensive. You're at the age where you should learn about cooking and personal
finances now, after all."
...Yep, yep... I'll get by, I'll get by...
"No I wooooon't!!"
What was I thinking... I was half-asleep and I made such crazy empty promises!? Just
like manga characters always do at times like these, I bent over backwards and scratched furi-
ously at my head! Scritch scratch!!
"Huh. Keiichi-kun, your parents sure have it rough. Anyway, you need to keep things
in order while they're gone!"
"A-Anyway, food! Food!! My parents aren't here! I have to make it all myself, you
know!! This is a huge emergencyyyy!!"
"Should you not simply give up and cook for yourself? Keiichi-san, did you not make a
fabulous curry dish for the curry party previously?"
"Uh... Listen here. My mom taught me how to cook that curry when we camped, and
it's the best I can do...! I can't eat curry three meals a day!! I mean, it's just junk food in the
first place!! There's no nutritional balance whatsoever, and it's just completely— mgh!"
"S-Stupid, ssssshhhhhh!!"
Mion and Satoko put their hands over my mouth! A moment later, the door rattled
open... and Chie-sensei, a known curry maniac, suddenly poked her head in.
"...Did I just hear somebody badmouthing curry?"
"N-N-N-No, we didn't say anything!"
Everyone's faces went totally white and they all shook their heads in denial. Her eyes
rolled over the classroom—her glare wasn't just a teacher's ordinary stare...!
"......Is that so? ...Must have been the wind..."
Chie-sensei gave one more look around the classroom, then closed the door and went
back to the teacher's lounge... .
..I may have been shouting, but for her to hear it from all the way across the hall in the
teacher's lounge... That teacher is terrifying...
"...Kei-chan. You can disparage other foods all you want... but you might want to stay
Tatarigoroshi-hen
away from curry. At least, as long as you live in Hinamizawa!"

"...Mgh, okay. I'm sorry..."
That's what I said... but still... I can't have curry for every meal. And cup ramen is
good because you only eat it once in a while—if you ate it for every meal, you'd get bored of
it pretty quickly. Rice and miso soup, and a good side dish... Yeah, that's what a Japanese table
should look like.
"Why can't you just try to cook for yourself? Rice you make yourself is really good."
"This old man thinks it's more a pain than good. But experiencing it every once in a
while might be nice!"
"That's right! Life is all about experiences, right?"
"...But when you cut your fingers or burn yourself, it's so sad, so very sad."
...With everyone encouraging me like this, I started to feel like maybe I could do it if
I tried, too. (Though approximately one person didn't sound like she was encouraging me...)
Cooking is a skill I'll have to learn at some point, since I want to live on my own one day.
...Maybe learning now wouldn't be so bad...?
...I'm pretty uneasy about it, but...
"You're right... If I don't understand how to cook a few things around here, then I won't
be in good shape the next time our club does a cooking showdown."
"Ohh-ho-ho-ho! You are correct! That clever trick of yours in the last curry contest
won't work every time, after all!"
As if scorning me, Satoko ridicules my comeback from a hopeless situation in a cer-
tain do-or-die curry showdown.
"And what are you so relaxed for?! You relied entirely on Rika-chan back then, didn't
you?! What did you cook at the time, exactly?! You put a bag of salt in Rena's curry, a bag of
salt in Mion's rice, ...and you flipped over my pan!!"
I relapsed into my grudge over the last curry showdown!! For now, I calmed my un-
quellable anger by pinching Satoko's ears.
"Owwwwwww!! My attack was because that's what they were doing for club!! I may
not look like it, but I can do a little bit of cooking!"
"Can you, now?! Even when you couldn't peel one carrot during the showdown and
had to get Rika to do it?! Don't be so daft!!"
"People get better every day, you know!! If you think I'll always be crummy at cook-
ing, then you're quite mistaken!! Right, Rika?!"
"...I have to watch or else I get worried about the pot and the flame. Sometimes you
forget to turn the gas off, too."
Wah-ha-ha-ha!! Everyone burst into laughter.
"That shouldn't be an issue with cooking!! Even I would never do that!"
"I don't want to hear that from someone who eats nothing but cup ramen!!"
"But, but... Satoko can cook pretty well for herself, you know?"
"Rena, it's fine, you don't need to force yourself to cover up for her like that."
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"No, she's not trying to cover for her or anything. It's just that Rika-chan's cooking
is by far the best of all of us, so hers doesn't stand out. Satoko has mastered the basics too,
right?"
"...At the very least, she can cook rice and miso soup."
"Weeell, she can't quite tell the difference between cauliflower and broccoli, though."
"T-They're both the same anyway once you boil them!!"
Satoko erupted into anger, making two fists and swinging them above her head. Every-
one laughed a lot after that.
"Wah-ha-ha-ha!! Gaaahhh-ha-ha-ha-ha!!"
"Mgaahhh!! The others don't matter! I cannot stand being laughed at by you, Keiichi-
san!!"
"Gah-ha-ha-ha! Yes, perhaps I do lag behind everyone else in terms of cooking skill.
But at least I'm confident I'd never lose to you, Satoko! Not to you, at least!"
"Wh-What was that?! You have the gall to say you're confident... That's what's daft
here!!! I might not seem like a good cook, but I take turns with Rika, you know!! I can cook
just fine for myself, thank you!!"
"I see, I see. Good for you for being able to cook~. I'll buy some candy for you as a
present later~."
I patted Satoko on the head while I made fun of her.
...Satoko seemed to know I was making fun of her, too, since her face went bright red
very quickly, and steam started to pour out like she was a kettle.
"Mgaaahhh!! You don't believe me, do you?! Anyway, aaannnyyywwwaaayyy! I can
cook far better than you can, Keiichi-san!!"
"I see! Then if you can tell me the difference between cauliflower and broccoli, I'll
believe you. Come on, let's hear it."
"...Mmgh... umm... the green one is broccoli... ...or, no... the yellow one... Cauliflower
is... red... blue... ...green... ...mgghhh...!!"
"Come on, now. What color is broccoli? It's not red-blue-green, like a television! Come
on, say it, say it!"
"......Mgggghhhh...!!!"
"Satoko can cook just fine without knowing what color bwoccoli is, wight~? Good for
you, good for you~~!!"
"...Waaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!! Stupid Kei-kei!! Waaahhhhhh!!"
Oh, it was nothing to cry hysterically about. ...She's so god damn cute. I stroked her
head as hard as I could. Ruffle ruffle ruffle!
"Hmm! If you're going to act so smug, then you can surely show us something better
than Satoko...!" remarked Mion, giving me just a slightly mean smile.
Actually, well... I had no confidence at all in my cooking. But the situation carried me
along, and I decided to deliver an impressive declaration.
"Just you wait. Tonight, I will make the best darn meal you've ever seen! I'll even make
Tatarigoroshi-hen
a little too much and pack it for lunch tomorrow—you'll be so surprised you'll fall over!!"
"...That sounds like fun. I can't wait for lunchtime tomorrow."
Rika-chan petted me on the head. ...mgh, her words of "can't wait" sounded so trans-
parent...
"Ahahaha. Rena is excited too! I promise I won't laugh no matter what you make!"
"All right, so... Maybe I'll go all-out on my bento tomorrow too. ...Then let's do this!
Let's have a bento showdown tomorrow! As a club activity, of course! And we'll throw in a
punishment game, too!"
"My, what an ingenious idea that is!! How is that, Keiichi-san? I'll give you one chance
to back down!"
Satoko wiped her tears and snarled at me, as if this was her chance to turn things
around...!!
...Uh... ...maybe... this is bad...? I feel like... maybe the conversation is getting pretty out
of hand... Oh, if I apologize... now's my chance...? But what came out of my, Keiichi Maeba-
ra's, mouth was a statement so reckless it even frightened me.
"Yeah!! You're on!! My bento tomorrow will knock you right out of your shoes!!"
"Whoaaaa...!!!"
Everyone raised their voices in surprise at my bold, confident reply...!

...Aaagh... Now I've done it! What have I done... I'm so irresponsible...!!
"So, Mion-san? What sort of fantastic punishment game will we have to play if we
lose?"
Satoko grinned fearlessly.
...As if to say that it was already decided I'd be playing said fantastic punishment
game.
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"...Ku-ku-ku... Let's see. ...Okay, how about this? ...Whoever loses tomorrow's bento
showdown... during lunch break tomorrow, has to go up to Chie-sensei as she's eating in the
teacher's lounge... and say bad things about curry!!"
"M-Mii-chan!! T-That's...!!!"
"...How... How terrifying...!!"
Everyone went pale and gasped... at how truly terrifying the punishment game was...
...Chie-sensei is such a maniac about curry that she'd risk her life for it... And to go up
to her... and start saying bad things about curry...?! What kind of fate would await us...? Just
trying to imagine it was scary. And as everyone looked blankly amazed at the terrifying pun-
ishment game... Rika-chan spoke.
"...Tomorrow's contest will be decided by skill."
Rena, and Mion, and Satoko. Everyone nodded deeply in agreement.
"Although Keiichi-san's problem might be his own dinner tonight, rather than tomor-
row's bento... Ohh-ho-ho-ho!"
"Hah! How disappointing that you can't witness what an amazing dinner I'm going to
make tonight!! I'll let you have a glimpse of it in my bento tomorrow, so look forward to it!!"
"That is quite a lot of grandstanding. ...You do know what will happen if you come to
us with something terrible, right?!"
"Ku-ku-ku-ku!! I just can't wait... how much trouble you'll be in with Chie-sensei to-
morrow, Satoko!! Ku-ku-ku-ku!!"
"Yes, I can't wait, either!! To see you, Keiichi-san, groveling before her and begging for
forgiveness~!! Saying it all with tears streaming down your face!! Yes, I can just see it now!!"
"Wh-What was that?!?"
Yank!
"Mgaahhhhhh!!!"
Stretch! Both of us, on the verge of tears, pull on each other's cheeks...!! Stretch!
"Ah-ha-ha-ha! Trying to muster all your desperation by placing yourself in a predica-
ment... Kei-chan, that's so manly!!"
"That isn't manly or anything of the sort! It is called being reckless! He can't even
cook well! Stretch!!"
"Ahahahaha. Rena believes in you! I'm looking forward to your wonderful bento!"
"...I'm looking forward very much to seeing Keiichi tomorrow as well."
...Their expectant gazes were painful...
...I was just trying to tease Satoko a little... How did it come to this...?!?!
"Y-Yeah... You'd better look forward to it...! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!"
Aaagh...! How... How am I able to say such reckless things?! I'm being so unreason-
able... What the heck is going to happen to my dinner?! And the bento showdown tomorrow?!
No, more importantly... If they make me say bad things about curry to Chie-sensei's face...
what'll happen to me...?!? The extreme contrast between my outward bravado and my internal
screaming continued as the hot and humid June afternoon dragged on...
Tatarigoroshi-hen
That entire day.

...Up until school was over, the whoooole time. .
..My meal tonight and my bento tomorrow were the only things on my mind.
...And now that I thought about it... It made Mom seem amazing for planning three
meals every day of the year.
...I've complained before about having the same meal in a row once in a while, but now
I know how rude that was... Aaagghh... More importantly... What am I gonna do about the
punishment game tomorrow... And besides that, what am I gonna eat tonight...? Boo hoo...
"Keiichi-kun? Keiichi-kun...?"
"...Huh? Oh, sorry... I-I was just thinking about stuff..."
"About what to make tonight? Or about the bento showdown tomorrow?"
...Urk.
...She hit the mark, and I couldn't find anything to say. And my facial expression made
obvious the fact that she hit the mark.
"For tomorrow's showdown, I think that if you do your best to make a bento, you'll be
fine. There's nothing superior to a bento you tried really hard to make all by yourself."
"...Tomorrow's showdown is one thing, but what about dinner tonight... I might sud-
denly get food poisoning..."
I couldn't make any more bluffs... I exaggeratedly drooped my shoulders, and heaved a
sigh from the bottom of my gut. Rena laughed in a shrill way when she saw me do that.
"Keiichi-kun, you don't have any confidence in your cooking at all, do you? Ahaha-
haha."
So I've been found out... ugh...
"If it looks like you can't do it no matter how hard you try, you can always give Rena a
call!"
"Eh... R-Really...?!"
"But only if you try really hard first, okay? You can't rely on others without first strug-
gling yourself."
Rena seemed naive, but sometimes she was instructive. She didn't just spoil people
unconditionally. Rena always seemed like an adult at these moments.
"...If I absolutely can't do it, I'll call you. ...Though the chances are extremely high."
"Go for it, yay! You were grandstanding so much to Satoko-chan that you have to try
your best!"
"Hey, about Satoko... How good is she at cooking...?"
"Ahahaha. She's at least better than you."
That was so direct.
...It hit me pretty hard.
"You were making fun of her a lot, too. ...Maybe you should have to struggle just a
little, huh? *giggle*"
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"...Urghhhh... Rena... You're pretty mean..."

"Rena isn't all cute, all cute! Ah-hahahahahaha!"
Ahhh... Now that I'd provoked Satoko that much, I couldn't just make some crummy
bento... Aahhhh... I can't believe... how loose-lipped I am...!
"Okay, bye. Good luck. On the cooking! Show everyone that you can do it if you really
try!"
"Y-Yeah..."
I waved my hand absently in response.
...Leaving me with words of encouragement and a few pieces of super-beginner advice,
Rena disappeared past the trees... Fine, I'm desperate—so what?
...I may not know the ABCs of navigation—and I have neither a sea chart nor a com-
pass.
...But still, one idiot is taking on the ocean of the great cooking age alone! And his
name is... Keiichi Maebara!!
"Let's go!! Time... to cook!!!"
My enthusiasm is peerless! If energy and recklessness was all it took, I could take over
the world!!
......However. There are plenty of things in the world that can't be achieved with resolu-
tion alone.
...And cooking was probably the top contender. Therefore, even if it was hastily-pre-
pared knowledge... I wanted something to help me! I made up my mind and fished through the
kitchen cabinets.
...I was on the hunt for a cookbook. My mom should have had a few of them... For a
complete amateur like me, the first thing I needed was information. Just like he who would
cross the oceans needed a compass. For me, a cookbook was absolutely indispensible!
...Oh, here's one! Its worn-out, wrinkled cover made it feel somehow reliable.
...Okay! As long as I've got this...!!!
"...Well. It's easier to give it a shot than think about it, right~? Anyone can concoct the
tastes of a gourmet chef as long as they have a cookbook~. Cookbooks are great~..."
...And as such optimistic thoughts filled my chest, I flipped through the pages.
......However.
"............Whoa."
...It played with technical terminology like toys—I just couldn't see how to actually
make things.
...Ah... You knew it all along, Keiichi Maebara...
...If anyone could make delicious food just by reading a book... then there would be no
such job as a gourmet chef in the first place...!! First off, it calls for three "teaspoons"... But
which spoon is that?! And it keeps saying to use however much you like!! How much exactly
are you supposed to use?! Stop using such obscure expressions!! Strain out the water in a col-
ander... Add salt and pepper to taste...?? What the heck is a colander?! And strain it out... Like
Tatarigoroshi-hen
stretching? You can't stretch water droplets like meat!! Agh, and besides, how much salt and
pepper is that supposed to be, anyway?!
"Urgaaaahhhhh!! Aren't there any beginner-friendly guides in here?!"
It won't do you any good to yell... .
..Cool off, Keiichi Maebara... Think calmly, calmly... F-For now... I'll leave the side
dish until after.
...The rice is more important. Have to cook the rice, or I can't start... I know a little
about how to cook rice. I didn't cook it with my camping kit when camping all the time for
nothing. I'll wash the rice... That should be enough water.
...And... which switch is it...? Is it this button? Oh, the lamp turned on! Yeah, yeah—
fully-automatic rice cookers are one of the Three Sacred Treasures, after all...! Now pleased
by the rice cooker set, I pulled myself together and decided to take on the miso soup next.
The miso soup I made at day camp was all the instant kind, after all... Well, it would be fine
if I just melted the miso into hot water, no doubt.
...I'll boil the water... And put in the miso.
...Huh? How much should I put in?
"Let's see here... ...Use the proper amount according to the number of people and your
tastes...? ...Enough with the vague expressions!!! Ah, fine, then I'll put in the 'proper amount'!!"
I crushed the bag of miso in my fist and put half of its contents into the pot! W-Was
this really okay...? Maybe this was a little too hearty...?
"...Mm-hmm. They do say miso soup is best when it tastes strong. Come to think of it,
my mom's miso soup is a little thin. Maybe I'll like it better with this much in it!"
I said it aloud as if trying to convince myself. Then, convinced by my own words, I
nodded to myself... All right, the rice and miso soup were (probably...) fine.
...Next... the side dish!! But... What should I make... Something I could make... that
would add color to the meal...
...Hmm...... That's it—why don't I stir-fry some vegetables?! You can eat vegetables raw
too, and they won't die just from a little bit of fire...
...I was so cute then, not realizing that the level of my thoughts had fallen from 'what
would look great in a meal' to 'what would be easy to make'... There were quite a few veg-
etables in the refrigerator.
...Hmm, what kind of vegetables go in a stir-fry...? Bean sprouts? Cabbage? Chives?
Onions? Can you put cucumbers and lettuce in...? For now, I grabbed a nearby cutting board,
cut them into chunks, and tossed them into a wok. This has gotten pretty exciting... Is the true
worth of men's cooking? Hey, this is actually getting kind of fun...! All of a sudden, there was
a pile of vegetables in the wok. All right, next is the salad oil! Glug, glug, glug went the salad
oil... It'd be more exciting if I filled it to the brim.
...Whoops, a bit leaked out... Well, no point in worrying about something so minor. The
great Keiichi Maebara's cooking is exciting! Okay, let's turn on the heat.
......Bwp! Fwoooshhhh... The salad oil filling the wok to the brim caught fire... and
flames reached up to the sky...!!
Ryukishi07
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"A-Amazing! Maybe I can be an iron chef too...!! What if I'm really good at cooking
with fire...!!!"
Those words were spoken by delusion... I was saying something outrageously careless...
but when the words came out, they sort of convinced me...!
"Gah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Yes, I am an iron chef!! ...Ow, hot hot hot!!"
...Right as the crazy pillar of flame started to burn the ceiling, I finally realized that
the fabulous cooking before my eyes had cultimated into an actually life-threatening disaster...
Wait... what?
...Could I... Could I have been... doing something insane...? The force of the flame grew
stronger and stronger... Wait, whaaat... what...??
"G-Gyaaahhhhhhhhhh!!! What in the world are you doing?! You must stop the flames
this instant!!"
Ker-thwack!! Somebody forcefully struck me in the back of the head! When I turned
around to see what was going on, to my surprise, I saw Satoko and Rika-chan there.
"Eh?! Satoko? Rika-chan...?"
As I stood in wonder at their unexpected entrance, Satoko shoved me out of the way
and turned off the gas. Then Rika-chan got a towel, soaked it in water, spread it out, and
placed it over the pot. She continued to soak more towels, and put a second on, then a third...
Once a whole bunch were piled on, the fire finally stopped. ...All of it had happened in a few
moments. Having avoided a huge fire by a hair's breath, the three of us gasped for air...
"...Wait, what are you doing in my house?! You're trespassing on private property!!"
"Yes, well, Keiichi-san, you've been caught red-handed in the act of arson! It was just
about to turn into a huge building fire, wasn't it?!"
"...It would be very, very sad if Keiichi was homeless after this."
And after pretending to be an iron chef... I finally began to take in the situation...
"......Urgh... S-So... that was really about to set the house on fire...?"
"Is that not obvious?!? Just look at it!! The ceiling is all sooty, is it not?! Chimneys are
the only things that should be sooty!!"
Satoko was seriously mad at me.
...Maybe they saved my life... According to what they said... I was so absorbed in my
fiery cooking that I hadn't noticed when Satoko and Rika-chan rang the doorbell. But they
could tell someone was home, so they came in to check.
...Thank goodness... they did...
"...If Satoko and I hadn't come, the fire engines would have been going wee-ooo right
now."
"Keiichi-san, do you understand now how serious this was?"
At some point, I had sat down on my knees as I listened obediently.
"Urk... ...I-I'm sorry. ...You two saved my life..."
"We thought we would come and see what a fabulous dinner you made! But as we
thought, it's a mess! At this rate, we won't even need to look at your bento!"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"...Urk, you're mean. ...So you and Rika-chan came all this way just to see what I'd
make for dinner...?!"
"Us being mean saved your house and your life—is that not something to take to
heart?"
"...Urk... Ugh, yes, I'b sowwy Satoko-san..."
At this point, having shown them such a disaster, I could't exactly make any more
bluffs... I'd completely surrendered...
"And yet you tried really hard on the curry. Where did the Keiichi-san from back then
go? Geez!"
"Urk... I had all our underclassmen help me then, and just borrowed entire pots from
the other teams... I didn't really cook anything..."
"Keiichi-san, you cheated?!?! ...Geez, you might have been doing what our club usually
does, but that was terrible!"
...Pouring salt into the other teams' pots seemed far more terrible to me... But Satoko
was in control right now, so I couldn't respond. I obediently hang my head to her.
"...By the way, Keiichi-san. ...This terrible pot. ...This wasn't supposed to be miso soup,
was it...?"
Satoko stared at the pot, totally full of miso, with an awful expression... Ahhh... so I
really did get the amount wrong... Judging by the look on Satoko's face... whatever was in the
pot couldn't be called miso anymore...
"F-Forget the miso soup—t-the rice should be cooked just fine! Rice cookers these
days are pretty convenient! It should be just about done...!"
"...Meep. It's not cooked. See—the inside is still all watery."
"Eh? What?! But I switched it on, and the little light came on...!"
"...Keiichi-san. The button you pushed... was the timer button, okay? It's set for break-
fast... so it won't turn on until tomorrow morning."
"G-Gyaahhhhhhhhhh...!! So then, what?! In the end... I don't have a side dish, or miso
soup! Or even rice!! I couldn't make anything myself?!?!"
"Ohhhh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!! It serves you right!! So? Have you finally realized your
place? Come!! Admit it!! Say it—I, Keiichi Maebara, am all bark and a much crummier cook
than Satoko Houjou-san!!"
"Migyaahhhhhhh!! I'm a terrible person and a crummier cook than Satoko!!! I beg
your forgiveness!!! Ugaahhhhhh!!"
I fainted in agony. Rika-chan pat my head, satisfied at the sight.
...And Satoko laughed loudly in triumph.
...Ahhh... I've completely lost...!
...In the end, I talked big, but couldn't make a single dish adequately. At this rate, I'll
go without dinner... And tomorrow morning, no breakfast—and no bento for lunch, either.
...I didn't know how many days it would be before my parents returned... but at this
rate, without a doubt...
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Page 21
"I-I'll starve to deeeaaaaattthhh...!!"

"Meep~~~~~~♪!!!"
"Of course, I'll have no bento tomorrow either!!"
"Meep~~~~~~♪♪!!!"
"And I'm sure to get the punishment game tomorrow!! Gyaaahhhhhhh!!!"
"Meep~~~~~~♪♪♪!!!"
Rika-chan kept on patting my head with a smile on her face that couldn't possibly get
any bigger...... Satoko, completely appalled at how unsightly I looked, heaved a heavy sigh.
"...Adult men are just so pathetic, aren't they? ...Come on! Please, move yourself out of
the way!"
As I sobbed like a girl, Satoko, displeased, brushed me aside, dumped the remains of
the miso soup into the sink tidy, then began to rinse out the pot.
"D-Don't worry about it, Satoko... I can at least clean up after my own mess...!"
I couldn't have Satoko clean up the cooking utensils I'd made a mess of. But when I
tried to stop her, Rika-chan pulled on my clothes.
"...Keiichi, you can just be silent and watch."
She grinned as she said it.
"B-Be quiet and watch... What are you saying, Rika-chan?!"
"...She meant just what she said. Keiichi-san, just be quiet and leave this to me."
Satoko turned around and declared, seeming bothered.
...As if to say that amateurs should keep their hands off. Her annoyed expression was a
little scary.
"Leave what to you...?"
Satoko didn't answer—instead she spun back around and began to rifle through the
pots and the refrigerator.
"Hey, wait... Don't mess with them too much...! If you turn the place inside out, my
mom might get mad at me later...!"
"Would you just be quiet already? Men aren't supposed to enter the kitchen! Rika!"
"...Aye aye sir~"
Satoko snapped her fingers, and Rika-chan got on her tiptoes, grabbed me by the back
of my neck, and started dragging me away. Ahhh... Leaving Satoko alone in the kitchen,
Rika-chan dragged me back into the living room.
"Hey, stop... Rika-chan. Let me go already...! If we leave it to Satoko, the kitchen will
be a disaster...!"
"...Satoko came to see how she beat you today. It's her revenge."
"R-Revenge...?! Come to think of it... Her face looked kinda grim..."
Eventually, from the kitchen, there was the sound of a faucet being twisted and a stove
dial being turned. I began to hear the nostalgic sounds that made me envision dinnertime; the
refrigerator opening and closing, ingredients being cut on the chopping board. What did that
Tatarigoroshi-hen
mean? Was Satoko... Was she cooking??

"...Keiichi made fun of her quite a lot. Satoko wanted to show you that she can cook
proper meals too."
"...Urk. ...Just listening to it like this... There haven't been any sounds of blood spilling,
or bursting, or explosions..."
...At this point, at least, she had proven she was a more skillful cook than me. In the
cooking showdown with Satoko Houjou vs. Keiichi Maebara... it looked like victory had al-
ready been decided... I recalled Satoko's slightly annoyed expression from before.
"...I was making fun of Satoko too much today, wasn't I...? Is she... holding a
grudge...?"
We were just provoking each other with our usual back-and forth.
...But I also think I maybe overdid it...
...At the very least, I shouldn't have made fun of Satoko, who could cook for herself,
when I'd never cooked other than for recreation before...
"...Satoko isn't holding very much of a grudge."
"But she came all the way to my house and pushed her way in. ...She's gotta be mad..."
I quietly took a peek into the kitchen. She definitely looked different than the usual
birdbrained Satoko. Her eyes were sharp, and her movements were brisk... to the point where
it was a little scary. Then, she must have noticed me, because she turned around and shot me
an annoyed glare!
...I cringed in fear and hastily pulled my head back out.
"She's mad...! She's totally mad...! ...Ahhh, how will she take revenge on me...? Aahh-
hhh..."
"...That's just Satoko being serious because she doesn't want to fail. She isn't angry or
anything."
"How can you say she isn't angry?! I've never seen Satoko be this frightening!"
"Keiichi-san!! I can hear that, you know?!"
"S-Sorryyyy!!"
I jumped at Satoko's angry outburst and faced towards the kitchen.
...I felt exactly like a kid who had done something bad and gotten called to the teach-
er's lounge.
"Where do you keep the miso?! The refrigerator is so big that I don't see any of it any-
where!"
"I-I-I'm sorry!! The miso is... It's on the middle shelf in the fridge, at the back left of
the lower rack..."
"W-What is this? You need to close the miso package after you finish with it! It's get-
ting the inside of the refrigerator dirty, isn't it?!"
"Gyagya! I'm sorry!!"
Before I can look for something to wipe it with, Satoko wiped it off with a wet dish
towel.
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Page 23
"I swear. How are men so bad at cleaning up after themselves? I shudder to think that
you'll become an adult like this!"
Urgh. ...I couldn't talk back to Satoko today... The only thing I could do was obediently
lower my head and apologize. As Satoko nitpicked and I apologized, a good smell began to fill
the kitchen.
"This is how you prepare the miso for the soup! You scoop a little out with the ladle
and break it up with chopsticks! It's important to add a little at a time and keep tasting it.
Dumping the entire thing into the pot is absolutely outrageous!!"
"Urgh, I'm sorry! I never paid attention in home ec class...!"
"You're pathetic! I swear. Men! ...Grumble grumble."
I cowered at her annoyed-sounding muttering.
...But looking at her like this, she seemed quite good at cooking.
...It had just been overshadowed by Rena's and Rika-chan's artistic abilities. Satoko's
skills were clearly enough to get passing marks.
"Hey! If you have time to zone out like that, then you can go set the table! Rika and I
will be eating too, so set three places!"
"Ah... On it!!"
I hastily took a three people's worth of dishes and such from the cabinets and headed
to the dining room. When I returned there, I could hear laughter from a variety show on the
television. Rika-chan was sprawled out on the couch, watching television and relaxing. When
she noticed me putting the dishes out on the table, she came scampering up.
"...Dinnertime is soon. Dinner at Keiichi's house. Nipah~."
"Rika-chan, you're in a good mood... That's a pretty big difference from Satoko..."
"...Satoko isn't in a bad mood at all. She's enjoying herself more than she has in a long
time."
"Enjoying herself? Seriously?!"
"She's like how she was when her Nii-nii was with her. It really has been a long time
since I've seen Satoko look like she's having so much fun."
...Nii-nii? What the heck is nii-nii? Is it a sound cats make???
"...'Nii-nii' means 'brother'. Satoko's older brother."
"Satoko's... older brother."
"...He's named Satoshi. Haven't you heard his name before?"
Satoshi.
...Satoshi Houjou? Maybe I have, maybe I haven't.
...At least, he didn't go to our school.
"Satoshi, huh? Satoko's older brother... ...Hmmm. That's the first time I've heard of
him."
She had a brother, huh? I didn't know that. She does have one. Saying that, Rika-chan
grinned even more brightly and went "nipah" again.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"...When Satoko was with Satoshi, she always looked like she was having fun, just like
this. ...It really has been a long time since I've seen Satoko enjoying herself this much."
However I looked at it, she seemed to be in a bad mood... But her good friend, Rika-
chan, was saying that it was actually the opposite.
"Is she really... enjoying herself?"
"...She must be remembering the time she spent with her Nii-nii. ...It's nostalgic."
"Nostalgic? Huh. Then does he live apart from Satoko?"
Maybe Satoko's older brother Satoshi is actually a lot older than her? He must have
gone off on his own and was living by himself far away.
"Satoko seems like she got along well with this Satoshi person."
"...She did. The two of them got along very well."
She spread her arms wide to demonstrate the width of how well they got along.
According to Rika-chan...
...Satoko supported her docile, slightly unreliable older brother through nagging. That
was their relationship.
...I see. That certainly applied to the current situation... We had me, unreliable, unable
to cook even a single dish properly, and Satoko, who redid it while scolding me. Could Satoko
have been... ...getting a glimpse of her brother, who now lived far away, through me?
"So she would always nitpick whatever Satoshi did... but she firmly supported him, and
they got along well..."
"...Today, she was the one. She suggested we should go to Keiichi's house."
She said: there's no way the unreliable Keiichi-san could possibly make dinner. We
need to go make it for him.
"...Then... she didn't come here to get revenge, or to get even, or anything like that..."
"...She couldn't leave you alone. Even now, Satoko is a proper little sister."
I was an only child. I didn't know how it felt to have siblings.
...Of course, I've never had a little sister, like Satoko. But... I felt that in this moment, I
was an older brother, obediently and helplessly being looked after by her. Without any teasing
or messing around.
...I'm going to give thanks for her trouble.
......That's what I honestly thought.
"Keiichi-san! Do you know where on earth the ladle is?!"
"Ah, sorry, sorry...! The ladle should be in the drawer to your right...!"
I ran into the kitchen, got the ladle out of the drawer, and offered it to Satoko.
"It's all done. Have you put the bowls and things out?"
"Yeah. Everything's a-okay."
"Then let us have our meal. Rikaa! It's time for dinner!!"
"...Mi~~~♪!"
Ryukishi07
Page 25
I heard Rika-chan's effervescent voice coming from the dining room. Satoko turned off
the gas flame on the stove and lifted up the pot of miso soup.
"Could you bring the rice cooker, Keiichi-san? Be careful not to flip it over, all right?!"
"Uh, right. I'll be careful..."
I can carry rice cookers just fine without being warned about it... I thought about reply-
ing like that, but I decided not to. No mean words or witty retorts today. Rice with steam bil-
lowing from it, and miso soup. As well as a handful of side dishes. On the table... was a truly
firm, family-oriented dinner. It wasn't weird at all, or extravagant. It was a daily meal—the
sort a housewife would make.
...It was very nonchalant, and brimming with liveliness.
"Then let us eat."
"Thank you for the food!!"
At Satoko's command, Rika-chan and I both thanked her in a loud voice.
"...I made light of you, Satoko. You've beaten me soundly."

"Oh-ho-ho! Do you have a better opinion of me now? I may still not be as good as
Rika or Rena-san, but I can cook faaar better than the helpless Keiichi-san!!"
"Yeah, yeah. I know better now."
After I honestly admitted my defeat, Satoko's expression finally softened, and she
laughed with her normally loud and cheerful voice.
"Chomp chomp... ...Oh... The rice is cooked really well."
Though she used the rice cooker, it tasted a little different from the rice my mom
made—maybe she used a different amount of water for it. Even so, I could feel Satoko's per-
sonality from the rice, which made it taste better than usual. The miso soup was a little on the
thick side, but it was still delicious. The side dishes, while not exactly flashy, tasted great as
well. It was all so appetizing, and I couldn't stop eating.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"...The side dishes are well done too. ...Satoko, you're not a bad cook at all."
I gave my honest impression, without a hint of sarcasm. Satoko seemed to have been
expecting some, because when I praised her so honestly, she got flustered instead.
"Ho-ho-ho...! Your praise honors me, but it's nothing so grand. The side dishes are just
things I bought at the store and heated up. This, and this—all I did was open the can. I can
only really make... rice and miso soup myself."
Satoko said, embarrassed, her face a bit flushed.
...There was none of her normal verbal abuse or sarcasm in there either.
"...I can't make anything except rice and miso soup, but when you get ready-made side
dishes and put them on the table too, it turns into something fairly splendid."
"My mom uses ready-made side dishes and canned goods too. It's nothing to be so
embarrassed about. ...This is a fantastic dinner."
I gave her honest praise.
...I've never met Satoko's brother, but Satoshi would probably praise her in the same
way.
"...Hm-hmm. ...Well, I suppose it's enough now that you've come to realize that I can
hold my own in the kitchen. Would you like seconds? There's plenty of miso soup still left."
Huh...? Did that brat just awkwardly change the subject? When I realized my response
had been on the mark, it made me a little happy.
"...When we eat rice like this, it's fun, like we're eating with Satoshi."
Rika-chan mentioned Satoko's older brother's name again.
...Satoko's chopsticks paused, and she looked up at the ceiling.
"...How nostalgic. I wonder what he could be doing right now?"
She had a faraway smile, as if yearning for a friend who had moved away.
...From how it looked, I got the impression she hadn't seen Satoshi in quite some time.
...Satoko realized I was giving her a blank stare.
"Ah, I do apologize. Satoshi is my Nii-nii. ...Er, no! My older brother."
"Ah... okay. I see."
Nii-nii must have been a nickname only Satoko used for him. It was funny to see her
hastily deny it.
"I was rather surprised a person with such few living skills had the ability to run away.
Well, I'm sure he'll pack up shop at some point and return out of the blue."
"......So he ran away."
...There was another story to what Satoko had said so cheerfully.
...The reason for Satoshi not living with her was a little serious. Everyone had been
talking about it in such an upbeat way, so I continued to talk about him... Should I not have
broached the subject at all...? I hastily took a look at Satoko's face after thinking that... but
there was no trace of the gloomy expression I'd been worrying about.
"Well, he's not old enough to be dreaming of living on his own. Nii-nii won't be able to
Ryukishi07
Page 27
do it for long anyway. He has no endurance."

"...Satoshi may not look like it, but he's a very persevering person. He's a lot more per-
severing than you think."
"Rika, you always take Nii-nii's side right away. You're a little too nice to him."
"Satoko is just too harsh on Nii-nii. You should treat him more kindly when he comes
back."
Satoko and Rika-chan's views regarding Nii-nii a.k.a. Satoshi were parallel to each
other... But I could easily tell... that both of them really liked him. They were so optimistic,
too... even though he had run away from them, it was like they were going to see him again
next week. Satoko and Rika-chan both liked Satoshi even now... and waited for him, believing
he would surely return.
I've never met him... but I know for sure that this Satoshi person was a really good
guy. I had thought Satoko would be deeply hurt by her brother running away... But she had
already overcome that.
...She was still being the energetic little sister, always full of vim and vigor, as if to say
that her brother could come back any time he liked. I thought that Satoko didn't think through
anything, and just frolicked and played practical jokes every day, and that was it.
...But she was really...
...............Yeah.
"......? Why are you petting my head?"
I roughly rubbed a hand through Satoko's hair.
"I misunderstood you, Satoko. ...I didn't know you were this level-headed."
Satoko seemed to think I was making fun of her, and tried to bat away my hand.
...But then she saw that there wasn't even a trace of malice on my face, and obediently
granted me her head.
"Yep. Satoko's level-headed. ...She sure is."
"I-I've been level-headed from the start. I was just playing pranks on you because you
always do it to me."
There was her usual provocation, but I decided not to buy into it today.
"You're right. You were just doing it to go along with me. But you really were so level-
headed. ...Good for you."
"...I-Is that actually a compliment? It kind of... seems like y-you're making fun of me..."
"I'm not trying to make fun of you at all. I'm seriously complimenting you. ...Because
if I was making fun of you, Rika-chan would be petting your head too."
"...T-That's right, isn't it! When Rika makes fun of people, she usually pets their head!"
"...Meep. These canned sardines are delicious."
Rika-chan went nipaa~ and her smile became even brighter. Her attitude was clear
as day, but it was annoyingly cute—so both Satoko and I suddenly burst into laughter. That
laughter lightened up the table.
...The table itself is so dull and simple that... I never even thought people could be
Tatarigoroshi-hen
laughing like this around it. And then. I finally came to realize something really obvious.
"...Dinner is better if you're laughing while you're eating, huh?"
"...Of course it is. Laughing makes it taste better."
"How rude! The food is good because I'm a good cook, obviously!"
"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha...!!"
This harmonious moment, this happy circle... It was completely different than spending
time with family, but still somehow nostalgic.
"Satoko, do you want to see Nii-nii?"
"I-I didn't say Nii-nii! Call him my brother, please!!"
Hey, wait, you've been saying Nii-nii this, Nii-nii that this whole time.
...I grinned wryly and decided to just call him "brother" like she told me to.
"Satoko, do you want to see your brother?"
Rika-chan stopped eating, then looked back and forth between my face and Satoko's...
Satoko was smiling—she looked like she was trying to choose her words.
...Just from that, Satoko conveyed her feelings. Honestly, she wished he would come
home right now.
...But she wasn't that weak. Satoshi should just do what he wanted until he was satis-
fied. In return, she'd let him have the scolding of his lifetime.
...And then she'd have dinner with him, and lay out his futon for him.
"...Well, of course I want to see him again. It's been almost a year."
...It's been that long already. Rika-chan smiled thinly, her eyes appearing to look far
away.
"Well, Nii-nii can do what he wants. It would lighten my load if he came back with
more muscles and knowing how to do housework, of course."
"See? You said Nii-nii again."
"...You said it."
"I-I did not!! I would never call Nii-nii Nii-nii!!"
Things rapidly returned to the usual, lively atmosphere of lunchtime at school. But
nothing changed about Satoko's feelings towards her brother. She was living so bravely, and so
strongly. Hey, Satoshi. .
..Your sister is trying so hard to watch the place while you're gone, isn't she?
...Give it a rest... and come back soon, got it?
"...Satoko. It's time to clean up, or else we will get sleepy."
It was when we were all watching TV while enjoying some tea after dinner.
...Rika-chan let out a big yawn and then spoke. Satoko and I both then looked at the
clock and noticed how late it had gotten. No... Perhaps we both realized it already.
...We just didn't want this warm moment to end. Maybe we didn't want to say anything.
"Oh, this will not do! I still haven't washed the dishes yet...!"
Ryukishi07
Page 29
"Don't worry about it. I can do that much, at least. You made a great dinner, so I can't
let you do the dishes too."
"...Are you sure you'll be all right? When people who are not used to it try and wash
them, the soap could make the dishes slip out of their hands, you know."
Geez... She's turned into a perfect nagging little sister. It was charming, and awkward...
Emotions like that were all mixed up inside me. I gave her a vague, dry smile.
"...Keiichi can at least wash dishes. ...If you break one and hurt yourself, I'll give you
pettings at school tomorrow... ...yaaawwwwnnn..."
Rika-chan yawned again, so wide you could see her molars.
"...Is it really all right...? Keiichi-san is pretty unreliable, despite how he looks!"
"Gimme a break... Looks like Keiichi's approval ratings have plummeted in Satoko's
mind. ...Don't worry. I'll clean those dishes up no problem. So don't worry about it and go
home. ...Actually, at this hour, I can't let you two go home by yourselves. I'll take you there.
Let me find the key for my bike..."
"Once you've taken us home, Keiichi-san will be the one going home by himself!
You'll be in big trouble if you get lost on the roads at night and end up in Takatsudo! There's
no houses or lights out there at all."
...I was trying to worry about them going home, but I didn't think they'd be worried
about me getting lost.
...Am I really that unreliable? She really is being critical, but... yeah.
...This feeling I have—it's not bad. So I ended up not needing to escort them. I saw off
Satoko and Rika-chan to the gate.
"Thanks a lot for today. Thanks to you, I got a good, cultural dinner."
"...If Satoko hadn't come, Keiichi would be growling and yowling right now."
"Truly! It's really good that we came."
They really saved me... I gave them another bow filled with gratitude.
"Oh, yes. I put the rice and side dishes into a container, so use that for your bento
tomorrow. And for breakfast, you can eat some bread and jam. Strawberry jam and peanut
butter were in your refrigerator, on the middle shelf to the right. Cocoa powder, too, was in
the upper-right door of the cupboard..."
I know all that, you don't have to go into detail—I was about to say that, but I decided
to humbly listen to her. It was then that I finally realized that Satoko, who had appeared to be
in a bad mood, was in fact in a great one, just like Rika-chan had said.
...And that though she nagged a lot, she was very kind.
"...Then good night."
"Make sure to brush your teeth before you go to bed! You have to do it for at least five
minutes!"
"I got it, Satoko. ...I'll brush my teeth and make breakfast for tomorrow. And I'll be
sure not to forget the bento."
"You need to wake up earlier than usual, or you won't be able to get your breakfast or
bento ready, got it? If you like, I can give you a call a little earlier to wake you up instead of
Tatarigoroshi-hen
using your alarm clock."

"Y-You don't have to go that far. ...I'll set my alarm clock to wake me up a little early.
...Thanks for being so concerned about me."
Satoko looked like she had more fault-finding to do, but she stopped and, leaving me
with a 'good night,' got on her bike and disappeared down the night-time road. Rika-chan went
to do the same, but then remembered something and came back.
"What's wrong, Rika-chan? Did you forget something...?"
"...Keiichi, you get one hundred points for today. Clap clap clap."
Rika-chan suddenly complimented me. She clapped her small hands. ...What was she
on about?
"I-I didn't do anything worthy of praise, did I...? I nearly burned down the house, after
all..."
"...Satoko probably felt like her Nii-nii had come home. I think she was having a lot of
fun."
"......"
"...Once in a while. I want you to go along with Satoko's scolding in the future."
"Are you telling me to be like an older brother that she can scold... instead of Satoshi?"
Rika-chan didn't say anything—she just smiled and went all nipah~.
"...This Satoshi person... He has such a great little sister, so what was he unhappy
about? ...If I were Satoshi, I would never have run away from home."
"...Satoshi had his own circumstances. ...I'm sure."
I didn't know what he was unhappy with.
...But whatever the reason, it was no excuse for abandoning Satoko.
"I hope he comes back soon. ...I probably can't play the role of her actual Nii-nii for-
ever, you know?"
"...It's okay. You were just like Satoshi today. Please do it again sometime."
If that's what would make Satoko happy.
...I'd take on this easy role whenever I needed to.
"...Rikaaa~!!!"
Satoko stopped her bike under a distant exterior light and called out to her friend, who
wasn't coming no matter how long she waited.
"...Okay, I have to go. Good night."
"Yeah, night."
"...I can't replace Satoshi, but Keiichi could do it. ...That's one less piece of baggage I
need to shoulder."
Leaving me with that, Rika-chan sped off on her bike.
...She rode up next to Satoko... and then the two of them disappeared in the blink of an
eye.
"Satoshi. ...Seriously, come back soon, got it? ...If you come home really late..."
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I'll punch you right in the nose.

...Let's try our best until that day comes, Satoko. Even if I could no longer hear the
sounds of their bicycles.
...I stood there for a while, seeing them off.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Tip #1 - Satoko’s Trap Course (Elementary)

...How did it come to this? What traps did we fall for, and how did we fall for them?
Mion was caught in a profusely thin pitfall she couldn't escape from, and only her head
was poking above the ground. Rena's head was completely covered by a tin bucket; she was
squirming around in a vain attempt to remove it.
...Either of these really were funny, but that's where it ended. At least they had their
feet on the ground.
"...Kei-chan, what about youuu? Think you can get out of that? Hurry up and get out so
you can save this old man!"
"Y-You're the one who should be breaking out and saving me, Mion! What do you ex-
pect me to do in this freaking bamboo mat?!"
...I was wrapped up in a bamboo mat and hanging two meters above the ground. Agh...
What was this trap and how did I fall into it? Huh?! It was Satoko! This all started when they
suggested that I was unfamiliar with nature, having grown up in the city, and proposed a little
exploration on the mountain.
"Hmm, but Rena doesn't really know how it is back there either! Rena might get lost.
Hau."
"The mountain out back, huh? ...I played there a lot when I was little... but I haven't
gone there for years. If you get lost out there, things can get pretty dangerous."
"You can leave the mountain to us! The whole thing is our playground. Isn't that right,
Rika?"
"...Mew!"
"Oh, I see! How reassuring. We'll defer to you two this time and have you be our tour
guides!"
"Wait, Keiichi-kun... The summer vacation guidebook says not to play on the mountain
because you'll get lost."
"...It isn't summer vacation yet, so it's all right. We know the path, so there's no need to
worry."
"The mountain has always been our playground! Our backyard! We know all the secret
paths and shortcuts!"
...Yes, both Satoko and Rika-chan knew the path like the back of their hands. Thanks
to them, we had our fill of fresh air, gorgeous views, and Mother Nature, the likes of which
you could never see in the village. But things got strange partway through!!
"Oh, yes. Everyone, I have something to say. From here on, you must follow exactly
where I go."
"Huh...? What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"...It would be safer to do as Satoko says."
"Oh, my. Hey, Mii-chan, look at this. What is it? Should I pull it? Should I?"
Suddenly.
...Squeak.
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...Crash!!!! When Rena pulled the kite string, a bundle of bamboo spears fastened to a
tree branch all came raining down with a clatter right next to where Rena was standing!!
"Wahhhh!! Wahhhh!! What is this?! What?! What?! Gyaaa!!"
"...That brings back memories. Satoko made this trap in the second semester of second
grade."
"That was a close one. The tips of the spears are covered in dog poop, so if one of
them hurts you, the wound will start to fester."
"W-When did this turn into freaking Vietnam?!"
...According to Satoko and Rika-chan...
...Earlier in elementary school, Satoko had been on a trap-making craze, and set them
up along every inch of this mountain...
"...Keiichi-kun, maybe... they didn't tell us not to go on the mountain because we'd get
lost... but because it was dangerous...?"
Mion and I both nodded wholeheartedly at Rena's hypothesis.
"Come, now! We are hurrying on ahead. If we do not return soon, it will get dark. If it
gets dark, it may even become dangerous for me."
B-But you're the one who brought us to this crazy mountain!! Why was an average
healthy Japanese boy like me being forced to deal with life-threatening booby traps?!
...And then... The very moment Satoko and Rika-chan got just out of sight was when
the three of us all got caught in nice little traps together...
"...Someone get me out~~! I have to go to the bathroom~~!!"
"Never mind that~! Somebody get the bucket off me~!! I can't see in front of me~!
Hau~!!"
"...Wait, Rena, don't struggle around so much. I-I can see your panties..."
"H-Hauuuu!!! You saw?! You saw?! Keiichi-kun, you saw!! Hau~~~!!!"
Smash, crash, smash, smash smash crash bash!!!
"O-Of course you can see them...!! You may be in a bucket, but you can definitely—
gehah, gohoh!! Gbhbhreh!!"
Bucket Rena was using me as a sandbag, and Mion was crying.
"...You can't get out of the pitfall? How sad, how sad."
"Geez, didn't I already tell you all? You weren't supposed to leave my side!"
I finally had an epiphany.
...Satoko had been so bent on taking everyone out to the mountain... because she
wanted to brag about all the traps she'd set up here over the years.
...You could have stopped just at showing them to us.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Day 2
"Okay! Anyway!! Lunchtime has finally arrived!!"
Mion gleefully announced the beginning of lunch.
"Oh-ho-ho-ho! Lunchtime at last~! Someone here will have to play the punishment
game, yes?"
"Hau... The punishment this time... it's a little scary, so... Sorry, but Rena went all out
on making her bento...!"
In Rena's case, I don't think she'd lose even if she wasn't taking it seriously...
"...Meep. We tried our hardest too."
"Satoko and Rika-chan made separate lunches today? Usually you have the same
bento, but that won't do for the showdown today, will it?"
"Yes. It's quite all right. Rika and I made sure to make separate ones."
"Wow, Satoko-chan and Rika-chan both tried really hard! How exciting!"
"...What's a little surprising is that Kei-chan was able to make a bento! Good job, Kei-
chan! It looks like you really can do it if you try!"
I scratched my head and gave her a dry smile.
...My bento today had been made entirely by Satoko last night. It had none of my per-
sonality. So there wasn't anything there that they could praise me for."
What does Keiichi-kun's bento look like? Hau, I can't wait to see!"
"Don't expect too much... It's just the leftover rice and side dishes from last night..."
"...Leftovers are the foundation of bentos."
"Oh-ho-ho-ho! Now we'll know your dinner last night too—we'll kill two birds with
one stone!"
...Was it really better to hide the fact that Satoko came over and made dinner last
night...? Well, of course it was.
...If I revealed that I didn't make my own bento, I'd be sure to end up playing the
punishment game. Today's punishment game... was to stand right in front of the curry maniac
Chie-sensei and say bad things about curry! It wasn't too different from telling someone to
jump out of a hundredth-story window.
...It was exactly the same as telling someone to die...!
"But Mii-chan... How will we decide who wins and loses the bento showdown? Kei-
ichi-kun made his own too, so maybe we should call it a draw for today?"
"...We could do that. The punishment game yesterday was sort of a whip to encourage
Keiichi-san to cook for himself, after all."
"...And Keiichi made his own too, so it's a draw."
My simple bento with last night's leftovers could never have stood up to everyone else's
bento that they made to win... I fully understood Satoko and Rika-chan's concern for me as
they tried to end the showdown peaceably.
...However! The club president, Mion Sonozaki, would not be convinced by something
Ryukishi07
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like that...!!
"I wonder why you're all so optimistic! Leaving one of our showdowns in such a grey
area is out of the question!! Now that we've clashed, we must settle the score! Reconciling
with a draw only happens in the yakuza world!"
"I-I knew you'd say that... There's no way you'd end it that way, with your battle lust..."
This was bad...
...At this rate... I was sure to be the sole loser.
...But, well... I didn't make this bento, after all... .
..Maybe... I need to resign myself to my inevitable loss...
"...Okay, Mii. How are we going to decide who wins?"
"It won't be fair if we grade each other's. Let's do an open judgment! Okay, everyone!!
Assemble~!!"
Mion commanded everyone, who had just started eating, using her club president
voice.
"Come and judge our five bento!! Write your favorite three on a piece of paper and
submit it! Understand?!"
Everyone in the class was used to being dragged into Mion's club activities. Yeeaah!
came the energetic voices from here and there.
...Everyone already knew that the showdown this time involved an utterly fatal punish-
ment game... and they were all very interested in what would happen to whoever lost.
...Of course, they wanted the thrill of seeing something terrifying!
"Okay... Everyone ready?! Then I'll go first, all right?! Ta-daah!!"
In exaggerated fashion, Mion pulled the lid off her multi-tiered, ornate bento box. Mul-
tiple cheers of joy erupted at the brilliant sight...!!
"T-That's amazing!! It's just like New Year's food!"
"It can't be... It has to be a lie. She must have switched the contents with a catered
bento. Such purely Japanese cooking...! Mion!! Mion Sonozaki couldn't possibly make this!!!"
"Nope... This is easy for Mii-chan if she gets serious... She almost never gets serious
though..."
"Ku-ku-ku...! Just who do you think this old man is? Given enough time and ingredi-
ents, I could even reproduce the Manchu Han Imperial Feast! Ku-ku-ku!"
The entire classroom gulped audibly.
...And everyone wrote down a score on the notepaper in their hands simultaneously. It
made sense. Just the visual impact would give her a perfect score...!
"All right, let's see Rena's next! Rena's really good at cooking too!"
"...Rena's bento is always like a flower arrangement."
"Ahahahaha! Thanks, everyone! I'll reveal my bento now. Eeii~."
Rena's bento... was a beautiful mix of the two colors of eggs and minced meat... and it,
too, was a bento staple, the soboro bento! She had been thorough with the side dishes as well,
Tatarigoroshi-hen
and they were abundant in number.

...She had spent more time than usual on it, but it was unassuming and truly noncha-
lant. One couldn't ignore the household warmth in it that Mion's bento lacked.
"...If I may say... you've done it again! This... should get quite a high score!"
"...I should have known. It may look rigid, but there isn't anything to deduct points
from. ...Amazing as always!"
Once again, every one of the judges wrote a score on their note paper at the same
time. There seemed to be some who were revising their opinions when they compared it to
Mion's score, too.
...The whole classroom seemed split between Mion and Rena. And on everyone's face,
it was clear... that they all wanted to be tasting them, rather than scoring them!
"...Then we'll be next."
"Yes! I will now reveal mine!!"
Come to think of it... Satoko and Rika-chan ate with me last night at my house... It was
impressive that they still made a bento... Both their bentos... were clearly lacking compared to
Mion's artfulness and Rena's perfection.
...However... because of that, you could sense from them how hard they worked. The
toppings were a little on the rough side... but you could still feel... that they tried their hardest.
It made you feel a little biased, so that you'd give them more points. A few people struck by
just that once again revised their opinions and wrote in scores on their note paper.
"...Satoko, Rika-chan... You both made really good bentos today... They might not
measure up to Rena or Mion's craftsmanship... But when you think about that, they're pretty
amazing..."
Satoko and Rika-chan glanced at each other and grinned happily.
"This... is a secret, okay...? Mutter mutter."
......Eh.
......What?! When Satoko told me, I broke off from the others... and secretly looked for
my classmates' bento boxes.
...There—Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun's bento boxes! I took a quick peek inside,
and... Ahhh!! Half of the contents were missing!!! N-Not bad!! In the end, Satoko and Rika-
chan hadn't made bento today... A bold move—they got Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun to
share their bentos with them!!
"...Hey, Tomita-kun, Okamura-kun... How did they buy you out?"
"W-W-W-W-W-W-What are you saying, Maebara-san?! W-W-W-W-W-When did we get
bought out, and for what?!"
"T-T-T-That's right...! It's not like we traded them our duty watering the garden for half
our bentos...!!"
...Curse you, Satoko. What an impudent trick...! Satoko grinned, showing her fang-like
canines, and laughed in triumph.
"Oh, this is only something I learned from you, Keiichi-san! Oh-ho-ho-ho!"
"...Yes, oh-ho-ho."
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Heh, how naive—buying them out with watering duty alone. They're men—if you're
going to buy them out, you need to use something a lot spicier than that!! For example... hmm.
...Like giving them three tickets to walk Satoko and Rika-chan around like dogs all
day, with them on all fours, wearing tails, and with leashes around their necks.
...Whoaaaa, t-that would... That might be enough to get me to do anything?!?!
...As I was lost in my wild fantasies, Mion clapped me on the shoulder and called me
back to reality. (Damn, it was just getting good...!)
"All right!! Next up is Kei-chan's bento!! We're all hoping for something pretty great
because of your declaration yesterday... but how did it really turn out?!"
"Keiichi-kun can do it if he needs to! Rena was really excited for today. Today!"
...Urgh, they're all looking forward to it... But... it's really just leftovers from dinner last
night. I didn't even make it, either.
...How was that supposed to stand up to Mion and Rena and the others...?
"Argh, that's it!! Feast your eyes on this!! Haahhh!!"
I tore the lid off my bento box.
...There weren't very many cheers.
...Well, I guess there wouldn't be...
"Ahahahaha! Keiichi-kun, you tried your hardest too! Rena can tell how hard you
worked."
"Rena... Don't feel like you need to compliment me..."
"Umm... How did this happen? Was Keiichi-san actually a hard worker after all...?"
"Ku-ku-ku-ku! Well, I mean... I want to acknowledge how hard you tried, but... For this
showdown, it doesn't matter. Ku-ku-ku-ku!"
Mion's cold, mean laugh...! It was like it spoke for everyone's opinion, just like that.
"Um... Hmm... Keiichi-kun did really well considering it was his first challenge, you
know? I think maybe everyone should rate his a little higher..."
"...But for the showdown, it doesn't matter."
"Ku-ku-ku-ku... All right, Kei-chan. If you have any last words before we tally up the
results, I'll listen to them now. Ku-ku-ku!"
"W...What do you mean by last words?"
"I mean that you might be hoping for a few extra points if you appeal somehow to the
crowd. ...Ku-ku-ku! After all, for today's showdown, you just need to avoid coming in last. If
you do well enough... then maybe you'll be able to worm out of the punishment game."
"Oh-ho-ho-ho! You are implying that Keiichi-san's bento is going to take last place,
aren't you?"
"No, this old man wasn't trying to say anyone's bento came in last or anything. Ku-ku-
ku!"
Mion cackled repulsively.
...In contrast, Satoko's smile was growing somehow awkward.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...Oh, right. This bento was filled with last night's side dishes.
...That means it was basically a bento that Satoko made. And Mion outright said it
would come in last place...
"Mii-chan, aren't you being a little mean? Poor Keiichi-kun."
"Rena... Kei-chan knew he couldn't lose today's bento showdown beforehand, didn't he?
He did all that grandstanding yesterday, well aware of that. I don't think there's any reason to
go easy on him, do you? Right, Satoko?"
"Y... Yes! You are right! And he came here with this mess—it makes me laugh! Ohh-
ho-ho-ho!"
"...Wait, Satoko-chan! You can't laugh at him."
"But that bento is just so ridiculous I can't help but laugh! These side dishes look like
they were bought from a shop—it's really disillusioning!"
"Look, this one was just taken out of a can, wasn't it? This cucumber here isn't cut
cleanly, like the knife didn't go all the way through~ Kei-chan, you never used a knife, did
you? Your lack of experience is apparent."
"...Nooo, this goes beyond a simple lack of experience!"
"The presentation is fairly monotonous as well. It's almost a shock to see such a lack of
taste! Ah-ha-ha-ha!"
"Urk... I-It was my first experience putting food into a bento box, so... Of course it's
not going to look too good..."
"Kei-chan, Kei-chan. There's a bigger problem than how you put it into the box! To-
mita, Okamura. Explain please~"
Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun were chosen from our many underclassmen. Tomita-kun
quickly adjusted his glasses and took a step forward.
"The fatal flaw in Maebara-san's bento. It's the coloration. As you know, there are three
primary colors forming the basis of all colors. So if you want a well-balanced color scheme,
then excluding white and black, you need those three colors."
"And, nevertheless. If you removed the white and black from Maebara-san's bento, all
that would be left is dark green."
Ah, dark green... No one will want to eat it if you describe it like that...
...I had forgotten. Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun had been bought out by Rika-chan
and Satoko, so they were trying their hardest to let them win and make me lose, weren't they?
...Gah, what strong wills they have. It was charming if only because they were working
so hard despite having been bought out.
"The side dishes have no spirit in them either—they're all prepackaged or canned food.
In other words, out of the three necessary requirements for a bento: love, spirit, and taste, we
can assert that Maebara-san's bento is lacking two of these!!"
The classroom, convinced by the elucidation of the mystery they were thoroughly
baffled with, raised mysterious groans of admiration.
"...Ku-ku-ku! No heart, and no spirit. It's decided, then? Keiichi Maebara!!"
"Hmm... This may sound cold... But if you realized how much fun cooking is because
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of all this, Keiichi-kun... isn't that enough? Enough?"

"...In any case, everything is fine as long as I'm not doing the punishment game."
Rena was giving a dry, "ehehe♪" smile as well.
"Oh-ho-ho-ho!! It's been settled, Keiichi-san! You're going to be the one doing the pun-
ishment game!! Ohh-ho-ho-ho-ho...!"
She laughed in such a vile manner... but she didn't look like she meant it. I knew that
Satoko was speaking ill of a bento that she'd practically made herself in front of the whole
classroom, and I could tell how painful that laughter was.
......Okamura-kun said before that this bento lacked spirit.
...But among all the bento laid out here today, there wasn't a single one with as much
spirit as this one. This meal... that she made for me yesterday in such a good mood (though it
looked like she was in a bad one)... I won't let it end with this slander...!
"Well then! Last place, Keiichi-san?! Please, admit your honest defeat already!!"
"...Could you wait just a moment?"
When I began to speak in a low voice, the expressions of all the members of the club
changed. Mion clicked her tongue.
...This man was bearing his fangs at the last moment again...!
"My bento was defeated because it lacked spirit. That's how you explained it. Am I
wrong, Okamura-kun?"
Okamura-kun, who had suddenly been placed in the spotlight, looked flustered for a
moment, but immediately, he stammered in reply that I was right.
"How do you measure spirit? By difficulty? By effort? By sweat, or tears? By its mani-
festation?! ...Then how would you rate these burns that are still on my hands?!?!"
"Wow... Keiichi-kun, those... Those are oil burns...?!"
Great—the burn marks from when I almost caused a fire yesterday looked just like I
was having a ton of trouble cooking. I could clearly tell that the classroom was forced to ac-
knowledge the effort I put into it!
"...I see. ...To turn your failures at cooking due to lack of skill into scars of hard work
instead... As I thought... I cannot falter around this man!"
"That's right. I lack skill. I'm so bad at cooking that my grandstanding yesterday was
pitiful. But I didn't run away! I fought!! And I delivered these results!! Is that not spirit?!
What do you think?!?!"
"Rena wants to acknowledge it...! Nobody can keep on going... if their defiant spirit
doesn't get valued!"
The girls in the class started to nod in agreement.
...Okay! The tables are turning!! But Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun, bought out by the
objects of their unrequited affection, weren't about to lose either. They shifted to the counter-
attack, clearly exceeding the price they were paid!!
"I see! I understand your feelings, Maebara-san! However, if spirit was all that mat-
tered in cooking, the world wouldn't need chefs!"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"That's right. If a chef brought you burned steak and said they put their spirit into it
and tried hard, would you pay them? You wouldn't, would you?! It's the same thing!"
That's right, that's how it goes! The male students took Tomita and Okamura's side.
...Gah, they did have a point.
"What about consideration?! Even if you did get a totally black steak!! If I knew how
much the mother who made it struggled, I would eat it! I would eat it all!!"
Clap clap clap clap!! This time, the female students in the class took my side.
...Good! Now we're even!!
"Besides, a bento is a refinement of one's love given form!!"
"It only means something when the other person feels that way. Does your bento make
us feel that way, Maebara-san?! No, it doesn't make me feel that way!"
"You're meeeeaaaan!!!"
The girls in the class began to boo loudly at his remark! Now even Okamura-san was
panicking.
"Uhh, order, order! Will the spectators please refrain from making remarks!"
"Your Honor! In order to prove how much of my spirit has gone into this bento, I call
Ms. Ryuugu Rena, an authority in the culinary arts, to the stand!"
"U-Umm...! R-Rena thinks this bento has spirit in it! It might be rather artless in
places... But I think cooking isn't just about outward appearances!"
The girls in the class again gave cries of support as they all applauded! In response, all
the men in the class began to boo!!
"Y-Your Honor! The opinions of Maebara-san and Ryuugu-san are extremely sentimen-
tal, and aren't in following with common sense. They are unsuitable to use as evidence!!"
"Order, order!! The prosecution's objection is sustained. Go ahead!"
"Ahem. Let's replace the bento in question with a birthday present, for example. Let's
say on my birthday, I, Tomita, received a hand-knitted sweater. And he, Okamura, received a
bookstore gift certificate for 10,000 yen!"
...That felt strangely real. Was it actually just an example?
"Common sense dictates which of them has the spirit. It is, of course, the hand-knitted
sweater! If we went back to the bento, this would be handmade side dishes! And the gift cer-
tificate, which is nothing more than money, allows you to buy things—in other words, it's the
same as simple, meaningless canned goods!!"
Murmur murmur murmur murmur!! The boys and girls all began to argue amongst
themselves about presents. They were all talking about what they received as presents in the
past...! Damn...! Tomita-kun... He changed the subject to something that could easily grab ev-
eryone's attention... Not bad!! I'll lose the initiative at this rate!!
"Objection!! This matter regards the spirit put into the bento! It is entirely different
from birthday presents, as they are each unique situations!"
"Overruled. Will the prosecution please continue?"
D-Damn!!
Ryukishi07
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"Now then. What's important here is the fact that the spirit of the giver and spirit of
the receiver are totally different. Between the handmade sweater that looks a little bit askew
and the 10,000 yen book store gift certificate placed here before your very eyes, which would
you say is the better choice?! The gift certificate, right?! It's 10,000 yen! 10,000!! Can you cal-
culate how many comic books you could buy with that?! You could instantly complete a full
collection if it was around 10 volumes long!! Dozens of happy, humorous, slightly perverted
manga...!! The bliss of your soothed heart can't be compared to the sweater!"
The boys unanimously praised that with applause.
...Materialistic brats...
...Mgh... But all guys that age are like that. Even I would choose the gift certificate
over the sweater in that case...! Hey, wait, weren't you guys the ones who said it was about
love, spirit, and taste right at the start?! Since when did taste trump all?! That's the stance
they were taking now!!
"I believe this has demonstrated that the spirit of the giver and the spirit of the receiver
have no causal relationship. ...Yes!! No matter how much Maebara-san struggled to make this
bento! That cannot enter into consideration for the rest of us on the receiving end!!"
"M-Mere sophistry, Tomita-kun!! It has plenty of spirit! Whether that gets through or
not is the receiver's problem!!"
"That's right!!"
"Boooo!!!"
"Taste is most important!!"
"Enemy of women!!"
"What was that, ugly?!"
Ah, now the courtroom is in chaos...!! But I can't allow myself to lose!! And not only
to avoid the punishment game. But also... to protect Satoko's honor!!
"Now then. Do the defendants have a response to give?"
Slowly and strongly... I nod, and step up to the dais. Tomita-kun, Okamura-kun.
...Do you two... really think you can beat me with mere words...?!?!
"The prosecution just said that we should value the gift without basing it on the spirit
of the giver. Correct?!"
...At some point I began speaking formally...
"Yes, that's right! No matter how much you labored to make that bento, that labor
should not factor into our grading!"
"Then I have a question for the prosecution. If I, Maebara, were to take the bento I
made for today and placed it beside one bought from the store... Would both of these be given
the same score...?!"
The prosecution hesitated to speak.
...Got you!!!
"That's right!! A convenience store bento doesn't even come close to a homemade one!
No matter how badly made it is, it has far more spirit than a bento that you just bought would
ever have!! You see, that spirit is being graded!! Meaning, the spirit the cook put into the
Tatarigoroshi-hen
bento has already reached the recipients!! Admit it!!!"

Booooommmm!! With those impactful words drawn in the air behind me, I pointed
my finger!! The girls, led by Rena, broke into applause!! Some of the boys were admitting it,
too!
"...Mgghhhh!! I-I'll admit it..."
"You admitted it?! You admitted it, right?! Then let's move to why a convenience store
bento has no spirit in it. What exactly is the spirit in a bento in the first place?!"
"O-Objection! Maebara-san is trying to deceive the court by using abstract expres-
sions!"
"Objection overruled. This sounds interesting, so listen until he's done."
Got them.
...Now I'll show you two the difference between us!!
"Your Honor. I'd like to call Ms. Rika Furude to the stand as a witness!"
"...Meep."
Even for Rika-chan, that must have seemed like a bolt from the blue. There's no doubt
that she never dreamed the point of my spear would be aiming at her.
...But Rika-chan... You said it before! For this showdown... it doesn't matter!!!
"Rika Furude-san. Your bento today was very well made. It looks delicious."
"...Meep?"
Yes. Satoko and Rika-chan's bentos had been made of half of Tomita-kun's and Oka-
mura-kun's. The prosecutors' faces turned pale... but they were too late!!
"Rena. Would you bring Okamura-kun's bento over here?"
"Huh? Okay, sure!"
"Y-Your Honor! My bento has no relevance to this case!!"
"Overruled. ...Ku-ku-ku!"
"Your Honor, I submit Okamura-kun's bento box as evidence! Look at it!! Look at
what's inside!!!"
"Hmm. ...Ku-ku-ku, there's only half in there...!"
"It's not about whether there's half—please, look a little more closely!! See?!?"
"Ahhh?!?! They're exactly the same!!!"
"Your Honor, you've seen it! Miss Rika Furude's bento is stolen from Okamura-kun's!
There is no way such a thing could have spirit in it!!!!"
"N-No, but that's... just a coincidence...!!"
"It's already obvious! Spirit—it's a game of catch between the giver and the receiver!!
The bento box, then, is the ball! That bento was something Okamura-kun was given—from
mother to son! That means Okamura-kun is the only one who can feel the spirit from this
bento box!! Now that it's been disturbed and been stolen... it no longer has that spirit!!!"
Dun-dun-duuuuuunnnn!!! Yaaaay... That did it!!
"Huh? What? I-Is that true?! Rika-chan, is that true...?!"
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"...Meep. Nipah~♪"
"Ku-ku-ku-ku. ...I see how it is."
Mion, the judge, folded her arms and began to hum... .
..I couldn't even take a guess... as to what Mion was laughing about. Frankly, I didn't
know... whether I would win or lose...!!
"Okay. ...Before announcing my judgement, I'll start from the top."
Shh... The entire classroom quieted...
"First. ...From an objective standpoint, there is no doubt that the bento of the accused,
Keiichi Maebara, must be seen as poorly-made. This is something that the grading results
clearly display!"
...Gah!
"But as Kei-chan said, cooking is not all about taste. The spirit put into it should be
considered subtle seasoning. For grading, though, that would only amount to a few points. It's
so subtle that it's not enough to alter the results."
...Grrr!
"Now then. I'd like to mention the original reason for today's bento showdown. What
was the reason for it? That's right. We started it to see whether the accused, Keiichi Maebara,
could cook for himself, and to measure the result!"
"Yeah. That's right! Keiichi-kun did make his own bento!"
...Urk. That stung my conscience a bit... but for the showdown, it didn't matter.
"So, the whole basis behind this showdown was to cook a meal for yourself! In other
words, whether or not the meal was homemade!! Rika-chan neglecting to do that... is a much
bigger problem than how good her bento is! In other words... is she disqualified!?!?"
"...Nipah~♪."
Rika-chan let out a nipah~, looking as though she had prepared herself for this out-
come.
"D-Don't take it personally, Rika-chan. At our club, things like that don't matter."
"...Keiichi did well, like I thought. You tried your hardest until the very end."
Rika-chan demanded I lower my head, then she pet it.
"With that over with, this case is closed!!! Today, last place goes to... Rika Fu-
rudeeee!!!"
"Woooooooooaaaahhh...!!!"
That miraculous turnaround!!! And... last place went to... Rika-chan, the one everyone
had least expected!! The whole classroom went wild!!!!
"...H-Hmph. I'm amazed you managed to avoid coming in last place with such a ter-
rible bento."
Satoko looked at me hatefully, but spoke in a vague kind of voice.
"There's no way I'd come in last. There's nothing in this bento that would deserve last
place!"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"B... But! It's got... ready-made side dishes and canned goods... and has no style... and,
and...!"
Grab!! Satoko was speaking more and more poorly of herself as time went on—so I
roughly grabbed her head and began to stroke it.
"I told you! Spirit is important. This bento isn't all about appearance—it's got all kinds
of flavors in it!"
"But... Spirit isn't the only thing...!! It tastes... totally weird, and..."
"What about it is weird?! I thought it was great! It was absolutely great!! That's why I
packed it!! If dinner last night had been bad, then I would never have brought it to school. I
would have come here with some bread and a milk carton!!"
"...Umm... B-But, but...!!!"
Oh, just shut up already. I caressed her head, swinging it from side to side. At some
point, Rena had come up behind us. She was giggling to herself.
...That was the face of someone who had known everything from the beginning.
"When did you realize I hadn't made it?"
"When you showed us your burns, I guess? I mean, there's nothing in your bento that
you needed oil for...!"
"...Umm, err...! Rena-san, don't you think you are misunderstanding something?! I-I
didn't do anything...!"
"Huh? Satoko-chan, you weren't the one who made this bento? Then did Keiichi-kun
make it by himself after all? Okay. Then I guess he did."
Rena smiled roguishly and turned from Satoko to me.
"When you cut cucumbers, you hold the knife like this, and go like this. As for the
colors, you can express all sorts of things if you place vegetables in the right way!"
...This lecture was clearly not meant for me.
"But you've gotten a lot better since the last time you showed us. I see you've been
studying! If you keep this up, I bet you'll be able to make better and better dishes in no time!"
She continued saying words clearly meant for Satoko while facing me instead. ...Satoko
was wearing an ambiguous look, and couldn't even nod her head at her.
"Anyway, no matter what anyone says! I like the way my bento is today. I'm not gonna
share it with anyone else, either! I'll eat the whole thing by myself!!"
"Wow, how greedy...! Rena wants to try some too! Too!"
As we were going back and forth, Satoko rubbed her eyes as though she was drowsy,
then announced to Mion, and everyone else:
"E-Excuse me... The truth is...! ...I got Tomita-san to give me some of his bento!"
"Stupid! ...Houjou, what are you saying...?!"
If she'd kept it a secret, then at least she would have been saved... Tomita-kun looked at
her with an expression filled with regret and surprise.
"Huh? Is that true?! Really?! Oh my..."
Mion spun her finger around, then pointed to the hallway, sentencing Satoko to the
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punishment game as well. Satoko left the classroom behind her, completely prepared, as
though she was going with Rika-chan on an errand.
"...I can't let Rika go alone. I will accompany her to the very depths of hell."
"...You don't need to go that far."
"My word, Keiichi-san really is terrible, too! Humiliating only Rika like that—he is
truly a rotten person!"
I didn't mean... I couldn't just return Satoko's kindness with malice...
"...Hey? Satoko really is silly."
Rika-chan spoke so that only I could hear, grinning happily.
"Now then! Let us be off, Rika! Punishment games are one of our duties as club mem-
bers!!"
Satoko seemed awfully happy—not frustrated in the slightest, like she always was
when she lost.
...Damn.
...Rika-chan's right after all. Everyone here is a moron!
"Mion! I'll come clean too!! I didn't make my bento today! I was the same! So I'm go-
ing with them! For the punishment game!!"
"Huh!? Even you, Kei-chan!? W-What's going on...!?"
"Uhuhuhu! Good luck! With the punishment game, I mean! I'll get the first aid kit
ready."
"...Call an ambulance in advance, will you? And maybe a hearse, just in case..."
Leaving a bewildered Mion and a happily-smiling Rena behind in the classroom, I
went into the hallway.
"...Wh-What are you doing?! You finally won for once! I had no idea you had such an
odd taste for these punishment games that you'd go so far as to volunteer yourself for one!"
"Guess so. It's a little much for a hobby, eh?"
"...I swear! I think you're underestimating this one! We're one thing, but grave harm
might actually befall you, Keiichi-san! I hope you're ready to have one or two ribs broken!"
"Urgh... That sounds like it would hurt... I don't like getting hurt..."
"Keiichi-san, you just stand there and nod along, okay?! Rika and I will smooth it
over! I swear! I can't believe I have to look after you even during a punishment game... Seri-
ously!"
...I already knew that her pouty behavior was a sign that she was actually in a really
good mood. So it made me want to smile.
"Hey. I do want to eat some vegetable stir-fry... Satoko, can you make that?"
"What...?! Err... Well, there's nothing I can't do if I put my mind to it!"
"...She can make it very well. I really like Satoko's stir-fry."
She was uneasy at first, but once she got assurance from Rika-chan, she turned back
and looked at me with once-more confident eyes.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"It's settled, then. Let's go shopping for stuff after school today. I don't really have any
idea what to buy, after all."
"That is true, isn't it? I think it's still too early for you to go shopping at the supermar-
ket, Keiichi-san! It would make me anxious if I wasn't watching!"
"...And Satoko makes me anxious that she'll buy the wrong thing if I'm not watching."
"R-Rikaaa!!"
"Meep~~!!"
The conversation continued as we walked, until we arrived before the door to the
teacher's lounge.
"Okay! Let's get this punishment game over with and discuss the menu for tonight!"
"...Meep."
Rika-chan gleefully grabbed onto my arm. In turn, I pulled Satoko to me, grabbing her
shoulder with my other hand.
"We'll all be together in death! I won't let anyone die alone!"
"...We're all together. I won't let anybody die alone."
"W-What an indiscreet thing to say! I want no part of something so disturbing!!"
She may have sounded annoyed... but she was so happy it was gonna make ME blush
"All right. Just beyond this door is the world after death! However, we shall return! All
of us will!!"
"Yes!! Everyone will!! Then... let us sally forth!!"
Slaaaam!!! We opened the doorway to the world of death!! And like she did every day,
just as the sun rose in the eastern sky... Chie-sensei was eating curry for lunch. It was store-
bought, but she made a point of eating a different brand every day.
"Oh, my. Maebara-kun, Furude-san, and Houjou-san. ...Is something the matter?"
She appeared to be in the middle of a moment of supreme bliss, her mouth full of her
beloved curry.
...And we were to pick a fight with her—what a crime this punishment game would be!
However, it was what we had to do! For that... was the rule of our club!! The three of us held
each other's shoulders tightly once more.
"...All right, let's do this. Ready?"
"What do you mean, ready!? Keiichi-san, you're going to stay quiet!! Rika and I will
handle everything!! Entrust your life to me for now!"
"...Go for it, yay."
"...What are you all doing? ...???"
We could see two or three question marks popping up above the teacher's head. All
right, Satoko. This is the only time I'll trust you with my life.
...Because I'll be shutting my eyes tightly and only thinking about what we'll be having
for dinner...!! I'm leaving it to you...!!! Satoko inhaled deeply.
...And so...
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"H-Hey, you over there! You curry xxxxxxxx~~~~!!!!"

In the end... My selfish request was readily granted. As Satoko muttered complaints
under her breath (quite merrily), she came with me to the store. Rika-chan didn't come with
us. She said she had a thing she wanted to do, or something. I believed her when she told me,
but when I really thought about it... I started to think maybe she was being considerate to-
wards Satoko in her own way. Without Rika-chan here, Satoko was prouder and more loqua-
cious than ever.
"Do you understand? Supermarkets will put things on sale when it gets near closing
time! For example, you can't have a stir-fry without some pork—and if we wait a little lon-
ger it'll be marked half off! They can't sell meat or fish once it's not fresh anymore... So they
make it all cheaper in a last ditch effort not to have anything left over! Of course, every vet-
eran housewife is familiar with this concept, and when we get close to happy hour like we are
now..." ...and I wasn't really listening to her, but she was telling me all this quite proudly.
Every time I seemed surprised at something, or made an affirmative grunt in place of
conversation, Satoko would say: "you don't know anything, do you, Keiichi-san!" and smile
very happily in spite of her complaints.
She led me by the hand to all sorts of stalls, one after the other.
...She was in such a supreme mood... that just being with her cheered me up. Merely
being pulled into Satoko's pace was a lot of fun.
"Hey, why don't we just go with this economy-size pack? Whoa, there's a real good-
looking one with cheese in it over here...!!"
"Keiichi-san, you have no financial sense! Look at this!! It's over our budget! We don't
have enough money!!"
Satoko pushed a handful of receipts in my face. Pfft! Why can't Satoko do these kinds
of mental calculations when she's at school?!
"Drat...! Should we buy a load of the normal ones, or buy fewer of the better stuff with
the cheese in it... This is... quite troubling!!"
"Calm down. For boys at your age, it's wiser to choose quantity over quality!"
"Grr, Satoko, you're being too strict! A man's heart desires both quality AND quan-
tity—why can't you understand that?!"
"No matter the size of a man's heart, his wallet won't be any bigger! I swear!! Hey,
stop clinging to the glass so stubbornly!!"
After enjoying ourselves in such an exchange, we started to hear energetic voices com-
ing from over by the butcher we visited earlier. I could see a handful of housewives flooding
the place.
"O-Oh no!! If we don't hurry, all the half-off pork will be gone!!"
"Ow, owwww...! Don't pull me! Don't pull on my neck!!"
Satoko really seemed like she was having fun.
...She looked like a kid who had grabbed her family's hands while running towards
an amusement park attraction. In the end, the bag of pork we obtained was so normal that it
almost hurt, but... I knew that it would taste absolutely delicious. The cicadas had come out at
some point, and the higurashi were singing in chorus.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...The air was so clear, and it felt so good.

...Our silhouettes stretching out on the ground made for a really wonderful picture. We
had filled our bicycle baskets to the brim with our shopping bags. They only contained ingre-
dients and various other foodstuffs. Even so, every last thing packed in them sort of looked
really happy, and made me feel really happy in turn.
"Going shopping for dinner seems pretty sensible too. It makes you really enjoy your
meals—I can't wait to eat."
"That's a part of cooking for yourself, as well. Dinner starts while you're shopping for
it."
"I'm so excited for this! Vegetable stir-fry isn't even in my mom's cookbook. I never get
to eat it unless we go out to a Chinese place—so I'm really looking forward to it today."
"That is indeed a pity. Then today, I will present to you an especially tasty dish."
Normally, right about now... was the time I would start messing with her. ...But I didn't.
"Yeah. I bet you'll end up making something really great. I'm really looking forward to
it."
"......Um... uh."
She stammered for a second. Satoko had been prepared for me to start making fun of
her right then, too... and when it didn't come, she was surprised.
...Or maybe she stammered for some other reason—I don't know. But I immediately
knew she wasn't feeling anything bad.
"Yes! I'll deliver an extraordinarily delectable dish! You'd better look forward to it!"
As Satoko and I rode back on our bikes, I had a thought. Was I this sort of person?
Until now, I would have lashed back at Satoko right away if she did something to me. Yeah,
that was the kind of relationship we had. We would poke at each other a little, then kick up a
storm while nitpicking at one another. At some point... that had changed. We weren't playing
our usual tit-for-tat. I didn't provoke her, so we didn't fight. That went for Satoko, too. Satoko,
who I thought I knew, hadn't been like this until now. Our relationship was changing, little by
little.
...That's what it felt like. But... it wasn't something I had to worry about.
...It was like... our relationship had become a little bit happier, a little bit more charm-
ing.
...I wonder why we changed like this?
...Was she lonely, and projecting her older brother Satoshi, who hadn't returned home,
onto me? Rika-chan told me about that yesterday. That was probably exactly it. So... as my
actions drew closer to Satoshi's, Satoko was returning to how she'd been when she was living
happily with her brother. In other words, this Satoko was the real Satoko.
...Satoko had been able to see her brother again, and had finally gone back to normal.
Now that I'd been playing the role of her brother, I'd discovered that she really could smile so
sweetly.
......But I wasn't Satoshi Houjou.
...I was Keiichi Maebara—a totally different person. I couldn't become her brother. I
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could come close, but I could never really get there. That was... vaguely, somehow... a little
sad. I was wearing Satoshi's mantle, and that would have to come off one day. And that would
doubtlessly put an end to this meager, nostalgic, peaceful time of Satoko's. A limited tranquil-
ity.
...A tranquility that would end one day.
...Putting it in those terms, it really was sad. I shook my head firmly and drove off
those pointless thoughts.
"W-What's the matter, Keiichi-san...?"
"Sorry, it's nothing."
"If it's nothing, then please don't act all strange like that. It makes me worried that you
might have eaten something rotten!"
"Right, right—sorry, Satoko!"
Nagging like always... but she still seemed really happy. That mood of hers drew me
in, putting a smile on my own face. Hey, Keiichi Maebara. Why don't we quit thinking about
this having to end one day?
...If it will, then just think about it when that happens. There was one thing, however,
that I could say for sure. As long as I smiled like this, Satoko's own smile would never wane.
...So as long as I stay this way, this tranquility would never end.
...Satoshi would come back one day, too. That might happen a lot further away than
I'd like, but... Until that day... what's wrong with me being a replacement for him? Saying that
I'm not her real brother, so I can't become Satoshi... that was just an excuse. If I just didn't run
away... Satoko would stay happy, and live a fun life of annoyed nitpicking. I don't know what
happened to Satoshi... or what made him abandon Satoko and run away. But just seeing Sa-
toko in such a good mood... made me think I could perservere as long as I needed to. So this
is what I thought: I wouldn't become Satoshi—I would become a replacement brother.
"This is it!! This is the kind of stir-fry I was waiting for! It's great! It's absolutely
great!! The salt and pepper in the broth... Man! I could eat an entire pot of this!!"
"Stop that, Keiichi-san! You're spilling food everywhere! The food isn't going to run
away—you don't need to eat it so fast!"
"No, it WILL run away! The best and freshest flavors are running away from the mo-
ment the meal is completed. If you were to make a hundred delicious things, then I would
have a duty to taste every one of them! It's just good manners to do so!"
"Your feelings are more than enough!! So calm down and enjoy your food!"
"Ahahahahaha. You're right, I'm sorry."
No insults here. I meekly scratched my head, then put down my chopsticks and
laughed along with her like it was funny. I ended up doing most of the eating. Satoko was
barely taking a bite—she seemed satisfied just by watching me enjoy the food so much.
Whenever I filled my mouth with more of her delicious meal, Satoko looked glad. That let me
enjoy the food even more. In this way, she kept smiling happily the whole time.
...Looking at her made me really happy as well...
...The time passed, softly and gently. Before, I would have gone back and forth hurling
Tatarigoroshi-hen
insults with Satoko; in other words, we would have gotten into a fight right away.
...I'd never known I could feel such peace of mind by talking to her honestly like this.
...I was a little bit happy about having discovered this new side of Satoko. For exam-
ple... I was eating food that Satoko had made. There wasn't an inch of me that thought it was
suspicious. Before, however, Satoko would have definitely put some sort of a trap into this...
"...Mm. I think I ate too much. I'm gonna take a dump."
"Hey, Keiichi-san! It's bad manners to say such words during a meal!"
"Then what should I say? I'm going to the bathroom? The toilet? The lavatory?"
Satoko looked down, her face bright red, and pointed down the hallway as if to say
"just go already!"
Whoops, my old habits seem to have come back.
...But... yeah. This wasn't all that bad either. No weird schemes—everything is just
natural.
...And, while having such utterly unguarded thoughts, I went into the bathroom... Tug.
My foot caught on something string-like.
......Huh...? Whoa?! Bang, ker-slam!! Gyahh-oh?! Rattle rrraaattle!!!
"A kettle?! Washtubs?! S-Satokoooooooooo!!!"
She got me... I can't believe her... She always does this when I let my guard down! I
can't relax for a minute around her.
...Still, it was kind of funny, and I didn't really feel like getting angry. Satoko, laughing
uproariously, came over.
"See? See?! I knew you would fall for it sooner or later!!"
"Why, you little...!! I let my guard down for one second... and this is what I get!!"
I picked up all the washtubs that had hit me in the head and went to go hit Satoko with
them... but then I doubled over with the laughter that was been welling up within me, so I
couldn't manage it.
...I wished things could go on forever like this... It's not like I was having the most fun
since coming to Hinamizawa or anything. But... it was probably the first time... that I'd spent
my day so simply and comfortably. It really wasn't worth much... it was only a few hours,
after all. As an only child... it was my first taste of having a sibling. Just washing dishes with
her felt really nice.
...Side by side we washed, with the experienced Satoko doing most of the work as I
threw in appropriate words to add to the conversation. The scene was so commonplace... and
yet so mild and warm.
...Maybe I had felt this kind of warmth before too, in the past. I think I've stood next
to the sink with my mother like this when I was little. It made me feel nostalgic when I re-
membered it.
...It was the same sort of slow, easy time. It was tranquil. Such a quiet tranquility that
the fact I wasn't uneasy about anything itself almost made me uneasy.
...Hey, wait, Keiichi Maebara. You feel uneasy about something just from spending
time so leisurely? There's nothing at all to feel uneasy about.
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...I mean, why would I be punished for enjoying a gentle life? I'd do anything to keep
these days going, and I would never do anything bad, no matter what. I'd work hard for it, and
endure much for it. So, God... It's not much of a dream to want this kind of thing to keep on
going, but can't you grant it...?
"...Oh? Is that not the telephone? Who could it be at this hour?"
"...Hm? Oh, you're right."
I hadn't noticed until she mentioned it. .
..I hurried to stand up, then ran to the phone. Who could it be at a time like this? I did
feel a little like the phone had interrupted my happy moment... But I still wanted to brag about
how happy the time I was spending made me, no matter who it was on the other side.
"Hello? ...This is Maebara speaking."
"...Hello? Keiichi? It's your mother."
"Oh, hello, Mom. ...What is it? It's pretty late."
That was a little cold of me, when she was only calling because she was worried about
her son. I couldn't help but give myself a dry smile.
"It sounds like you're doing just fine for yourself. I was worried that you couldn't make
dinner and went to bed hungry."
"Nah. It worked out."
"Did you make dinner properly? What did you have tonight?"
"Heh heh. It was vegetable stir-fry, rice, and miso soup. Bought stuff for it at the
supermarket, plus a whole bunch of side dishes just for fun! Oh, yeah, listen to this! I got the
pork during the sale and got it half off! Heh heh! The things a housewife knows, right? And,
and also...!!"
All of that was thanks to Satoko, and not something I should be proud about. But
still... I couldn't help but want to boast about the dinner tonight. It seemed like Mom got the
hint that I was in a really good mood.
"...I see. I'm so relieved that you're doing just fine. ...Oh, yes, another thing. Your dad
and I finished up with our job. We think we'll be back tomorrow afternoon or evening."
"...Oh, I see."
"You did well for two nights. We've been pulling all-nighters, too. It was a lot of work,
but we managed to fill the gap in your dad's mentor's event."
"Cool. ...That's good. Well done."
Why did my parents coming home seem so disappointing?
...I knew a little bit of the reason, of course. This tranquility I never wanted to end was
about to end so readily... and it was a little painful. After being asked what kind of souvenir I
wanted from Tokyo and replying that anything edible would be great, I put down the receiver,
and Satoko appeared, having finished cleaning up her trap. At first, Satoko was in a very good
mood... but when she saw me put down the receiver with an uncertain expression, her own
clouded over a bit.
...It seemed like she'd gotten the gist of what my phone conversation had been about.
"...Was that your parents, Keiichi-san?"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"Yeah. Mom says they'll be back tomorrow."

"Oh, that's good, then. I won't have to go to the trouble of making you dinner tomor-
row! Now you can enjoy your meals with just your family!"
"No, that's not it. When I think about the dull, plain dinner table coming back tomor-
row... it's a little lonely."
"You sure do live in luxury! A family sitting around the dinner table is the most fun
way to enjoy a meal of all."
...Her brother, Satoshi, running away from home came to mind immediately. But there
was no gloom in the way she said it.
"It was only for two days... but they were very enjoyable dinners."
"Well, then... Next time I'll go to your house to visit."
"Huh?"
Satoko momentarily made a happy smile, but then a second later, it changed to an ex-
pression of surprise.
"M-My house is small, and it's dirty! And the kitchen isn't as good at this one..."
"Well, I don't mind. ...But, well, if you don't want to, then I won't."
Satoko shook her head firmly, her whole body expressing denial.
"I gotta get you to teach me a whole bunch more stuff, too. ...I finally managed to fig-
ure out how to use the rice cooker and how to cook miso soup, after all."
"Th... that's right, isn't it! Perhaps we should use this opportunity to have you learn
more about cooking!"
It was so like Satoko to take this chance to proclaim that it was all for my sake. But
there was no way to conceal her own enthusiasm. It was true that this gentle time would come
to an end when my parents got back.
...There was no need to lament that, though. I can easily put in the effort to continue
our mild moments like this. Like yesterday, Satoko told me she didn't need to be escorted
home. But Rika-chan wasn't with her tonight. She would be going home by herself.
...Everyone knew everyone else's face here in Hinamizawa... So it wasn't like it was
dangerous to go out at night, but it still wasn't good to send a girl on her way all alone.
...At the very least, that's what I thought as Satoko's 'older brother'.
"I'll take you as far as the school, at least. There's more lights over in that direction
anyway."
"I-It's really fine, all right?! If someone bad shows up, I will take them down with one
finger!"
There was no point in pressing her any more on the subject, so I took a handful of
Satoko's hair and rubbed her head vigorously.
"Come on, Satoko, don't complain so much! ...Uhh..."
Your Nii-nii will bring you part of the way there.
...That's what I was about to say when I suddenly got embarrassed and my voice trailed
off. Nii-nii could only be the nickname Satoko gave to her old brother, and nothing else.
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...I was about to use it pretty lightly... so I started to feel apologetic and a little
ashamed.
"...Nii-nii."
Eh?
...What did Satoko just say?
"Ah, well...!! ...K-Keiichi-san just seems like an older brother. That is, what I said... it's
not quite right, but... you seem kind of alike, so I just... Oh, oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!"
Satoko laughed awkwardly and turned red in the face. Of course, I was embarrassed
when I saw her, too.
...Because the fact that I was trying to act like her brother had gotten across. A warm
feeling spread out from my chest... It was completely different from romantic feelings, or any
of those more impatient emotions.
...It was much more graceful, quiet, and warm... and calm.
......Satoko... still needed her Nii-nii. I had initially thought Rika-chan was being sly by
not coming today.
...But when I thought about it like this... I could feel a kind thoughtfulness, of her wor-
rying about a good friend's feelings. Maybe Rika-chan had understood... that she couldn't play
the part of a brother herself.
...So then......... No, let's stop there, Keiichi Maebara. There's no point in thinking about
it so hard.
...It means everyone feels the same way. It means... everyone wants Satoko to be happy.
Satoko is acting as though her Nii-nii running away from home didn't bother her at all... Even
though that wasn't actually the case.
...She was very sad... and always waiting for him to come home. Because Satoko... was
a stable person when she was his sister. In order for her to really be this levelheaded, having a
brother was something she couldn't do without.
...In other words... Satoko still needed a brother. Nobody had the right to smile it away
as childish immaturity. In fact, they deserved praise for being so close to each other as sib-
lings. That role of brother should be played by her real Nii-nii, by Satoshi... but unfortunately,
he wasn't here. So since I'm here, I'll play the part. And not with a guilty conscience—but in
a very natural way. Because... Was there something wrong with seeing Satoko smile so hap-
pily...?
"What is it, Keiichi-san? You've been smirking for quite a while now...!"
"Is it weird for me to look happy?"
"I-It isn't weird or anything, but...... well..."
The sound of the motor on her bike light was too loud and I couldn't hear what Satoko
said.
"Huh? What? What did you say?"
"...Nothing. You really are just like Nii-nii, you know. Keiichi-san."
".........Is that right?"
"...Of course, you're completely different from my real Nii-nii... ...But, like... there's
Tatarigoroshi-hen
things. ...Things that you do the same. ...It's really a mystery."

"...The same... Do you feel lonely when you remember Nii-nii...?"
Once I said that... I thought for a moment that was absolutely the wrong thing to say,
but Satoko didn't seem to mind one bit.
"It's not that I'm lonely. Since Keiichi-san is being my Nii-nii for me right now!"
"Um... well, I...!"
As I was flustered for a moment at her hitting the mark... Satoko suddenly asked me a
question in a calm voice.
...It was very quiet, composed, and adult question.
"...Was it Rika?"
It was quiet... but her voice sounded lonely somehow.
"...Didn't Rika ask you... to act like my Nii-nii for me...?"
"...Is that what you think?"
"...Please don't take offense. ...Rika... is strangely considerate of me. ...But it really
doesn't bother me that much."
...I could say for sure that, at least, was a lie.
...Yesterday, and today... Satoko had been so happy spending time like this with me
as siblings. And that was proof itself that she was lying about it not getting to her. So I gave
Satoko a light poke in the head.
"......... You're thinking too much, dummy. ...I'm me—Keiichi Maebara. I'm not your
Nii-nii—not Satoshi Houjou."
"...I know that."
Despite her saying that... her expression seemed a little lonesome.
...At this point, Satoko herself had realized that her question had been the wrong thing
to say. We didn't need to keep talking about something that Satoko regretted. So in order to
cut the conversation short, I grabbed Satoko's head and pet her.
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Tatarigoroshi-hen
Tip #2 - Satoko’s Trap Course (Intermediate)

I could see Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun walking over to the gym storehouse. They
needed to get the bag of lime used to make the lines on the court for our next gym class.
They were on duty today, after all. But... in that storehouse... a terrible trap was awaiting
them...!!
"...Being on this side of the trap for once... is really thrilling!"
"Ho-ho-ho! If you realize that is the true pleasure in setting up traps, then you have the
potential yourself, Keiichi-san!"
The two of them fumbled around with the gym storehouse's lock.
......Oh? What's this? Okamura-kun pointed at part of the door and started whispering
to Tomita-kun. Then, realizing something, they both jumped away from the door.
"Oh... Satoko, I think they found out! Did we mess up?!"
"...I had calculated that they would notice the trap at the entrance. And, of course, I've
calculated what action they will take now. Ho-ho-ho..."
According to Satoko... after they noticed the suspicious trap on the door, they would go
around and try to get in through the back window. And just as she'd prophesized... they went
around to the back... and just as she'd prophesized, they climbed up... opened the window and
tried to sneak in...
"...Wow... amazing... Everything's exactly like you said...!! ......Ah! It got them!!!"
Boof, poooooooooooooooof!! An explosion of pure white lime burst out of the window.
...After a few moments, the two of them managed to crawl away from the window...
both of them completely white.
"Ho-ho-ho! Ohh-ho-ho-ho!!! This is the moment I live for~! It tastes like honey~!!"
"...But still... ...That was some trap... You would have had to know everything to set
something like that up: where they'd put their hands, their legs, where they'd jump down...?!"
"Listen carefully, Keiichi-san. The first step to making a trap is to watch and observe
the victim! You must scrupulously predict their movement patterns—how they'll move at any
given moment! If you do that, then you can achieve the greatest possible results with only the
most minimal trap!"
...Come to think of it, before Satoko read the final move at that final moment earlier,
Mion had given her high praise, saying she had the makings of a genius.
"So it's all about reading the opponent. ...So then, the traps you've caught me in be-
fore—they worked because you figured out everything I'd do?"
"Yes. I can see right through all your actions, and that's how I set them up! So if one
day you suddenly started having different habits and behavior, I wouldn't be able to anymore."
...Bragging that she could anticipate everything I'd do...
...That was kind of mean.
"Okay, then. Let's play a game now. I want to test whether your predictions are accu-
rate."
"Yes, that is fine with me. Keiichi-san, you are particularly easy to get a read on—I
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could do it before breakfast! Ohh-ho-ho-ho!!"

When we went back to the classroom, Satoko tore off pieces of paper and wrote some-
thing on the back of them, making three cards. Of course, I didn't know what she'd written.
"Please, pick one of these cards, Keiichi-san. If you do not pick one that says 'you're a
loser,' you will win."
"Great, you're on!! The club has built up my sensitivity to this stuff, so I'll smash right
through your predictions!"
Satoko smirks and holds out the three cards. Set your mind to full power by calming
it, Keiichi Maebara!
...Cool and collected is how you'll win!
......If I don't pick the losing one, I'll win.
...Which means if I do pick it, Satoko will win.
......In other words, Satoko wants to make me pick the losing one. What would she do...
to make sure I picked the losing one? Could she even predict something like that?! Statisti-
cally speaking, isn't there some rule... that says I'm more likely to pick the one in the middle,
or the ones on either side...?! And then... it hits me like a flash—this is what Mion would do!
"Now, which one will you pick?"
"I've made my decision. ...And it is...... this ooonnneeeeeeeeeee!!"
"Huh? Ahhh!! W-What are you doing?!"
I steal all three cards from Satoko's hands! I predicted what Satoko would do in ad-
vance.
...Satoko wanted to make sure I picked the losing one. Which meant... all three of these
were losing ones!!
"And that's how I knew!! Allow me to look at all three!!!"
I flip all three cards face-up... and, on each one, there is a single word.
"You're"
"A"
"Loser"
"...What is this? ...You're... a... loser. ...Huh?"
"It means just what it says. ...If you had only chosen one, you wouldn't have lost."
"What... whaaaaaat?! T-Then... you predicted... that I'd draw all threeeeeeee?!
Gyaaaaaahhhh!!!"
I held my head in my hands and fainted as Satoko reveled at the might of her abili-
ties! Her shrill laughter echoed throughout the classroom. And then, there was a poof as lime
powder came down upon Satoko's head. I looked to see Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun, all in
white, dumping a whole bag of lime powder on her, getting their revenge.
"...Houjou~!! You're the only one who could have set up a trick like that!!!"
"Well, excuuuuse me!! Would you happen to have any proof? And I'd like it if you
didn't call it something so inelegant—a trick! I would prefer you call it something more re-
fined: a trap ♪ please!"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"Payback~~!!!"
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!! K-K-Keiichi-san, h-help meee!!"
...Our underclassmen crashed around the classroom in furious combat, getting white
lime everywhere.
...Hey, Satoko?
...Why couldn't you see this coming, exactly? At the time, I hadn't seen something
coming too, though: the teacher coming to me afterward and giving us all a stern talking to...
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Tatarigoroshi-hen
Day 3
"Oh, really? Your parents came home, huh?"
"They smelled like energy drinks, and their eyes were all bloodshot. They said they
had a crazy amount of stuff to do, and were up two whole nights in a row. Adults have it
tough."
"Your dad is an artist, right? They really do have it rough."
"Come to think of it, he was, wasn't he? I would very much like to see what kind of
things he draws sometime!"
...An artist, huh. I'd seen a number of watercolor and acrylic paintings on display, but
he had to have been doing some other job too.
...Just what did Dad do, exactly?
...He didn't let anyone into his workshop, after all. I wanted to sneak a peek one day.
"So the house was empty for two days after all that? Hu-hu-hu, that didn't leave much
time! So? Kei-chan, did you manage to go after the character who was in your heart?! The
absence of parents is a must-have for eroge protagonists!"
"...He built up a lot of relationship points and raised all the right flags."
I have no idea what any of you are talking about...
"That means you don't need to cook for youself anymore, Keiichi-kun. What did you
make last night? Last night?"
Hm... hmm. ...In the end, I... I didn't make a single thing myself.
"Last night's dinner, well... it was vegetable stir-fry."
"Wow! Kei-chan, you can make a little bit of real cooking now, huh?"
"Hmm. You made vegetable stir-fry? Did it come out good? Did it?!"
"...Rena-san, you're being unpleasant. Why are you clinging to me...?"
"...A delicious meal, and friendly dish-washing together."
"H-Hau~~~~. How nice, how nice!!"
"Hey! I said, you're being unpleasant~!!"
"...Huh? What are you talking about??"
Mion, utterly confused, asked me for clarification, but I just barely, albeit transparently,
averted my eyes.
"Right, right! Does anyone have plans for this afternoon? You don't, do you? Do you!?"
Today was Saturday. The beautiful day on which we're liberated from the confines of
school in the afternoon. Actually, the school in Hinamizawa had slightly different Saturdays
than those in the city. There were a lot of students here who brought a bento, ate it at lunch,
and then went to play in the school or around the schoolyard. You could say that the entire
school turned into a children's playground...
There were mountains behind the school, and if you went down that way, you'd find
mountain streams. You could avoid the strong sunlight and make conversation in the class-
room if you wanted, too. You could also play hide-and-seek in the construction pipes. Of
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course, you were free to go home as well. There were some kids who went home and helped
water the fields, or tended to stores. If Mion was bringing up the afternoon like this... Then it
must have been for some crazy big club event!
...However. Sadly, I had something I needed to do before taking part in whatever it
was.
"...You have work? That's unlucky."
"I wonder what kind of work it is. Maybe helping his father with his artwork job."
"Hmm. ...Or being a model for his father's art? ...A model? A nude one? Hau~~~♪."
...I looked into Rena's eyes... and saw myself completely naked in a questionable pose
with a single rose in my mouth?!
"No, no! I wouldn't do that for a million yen!"
To get rid of Rena's delusions, I grabbed her head and swung it from side to side.
"Hau~~~~!! Stoooooopppppp!!"
"...Er, sorry. Leaving your fanciful delusions aside, I have something to do real quick
during lunch. I'm OK to meet up with you after I'm done though."
"Work during lunch? I see! That sounds kind of cool, actually. What could it be? Are
you having a banquet with VIP experts? Like a business lunch?!"
"...Urgh. ......This is truly sad... but you're right."
"Whaaaat?!”
Everyone shouts wildly, surprised... It was true. Today I'd be on the job with my fam-
ily. For my dad's job, he was having about ten people from the publishing agency over for a
house party. He called people from work for a party the day after having stayed up two nights
in a row—I'm amazed at their vitality.
...Adults have it pretty rough. Of course, it would be incredibly uncomfortable for me.
It would be really tiring to have to force myself to smile at some old dudes I didn't know.
But... they were my dad's important business connections, so offending them would be bad...
Well, with all that said, it was going to get very uncomfortable for me today, starting at lunch.
"Well, well! What an intelligent child...!"
"This is my son, Keiichi. Keiichi, this is ___-san from ___. And this person here is
___-san, the _____ manager. Say your hellos."
"H-Hello. My name is Keiichi. I appreciate all you've done for my father..."
"Keiichi-kun, do you draw pictures like your father does? I would very much like to
see them!"
My dad had such a brazen occupation—that of an artist. Although... I don't really
know what kinds of things he creates. I don't really care, and don't want to see anyway. Dad's
so tightfisted about it, so he doesn't show them to me very often anyway. I'm not a kid any-
more, so I wouldn't care at all if they were pictures of naked ladies or anything.
"If you study under your father as an apprentice, you'd be able to become a great artist
like him, too."
"...Excuse me... This is just between you and me, but... My dad... Is he really that great
of an artist?"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
I readied myself... and whispered my question. It might have seemed odd for his son
to be asking this, but... When I did... He gave me this really strange grin and tightly clamped
down onto my shoulders.
"Yes!! He is truly... truly a fantastic artist!!"
"I-Is that so...? I'm glad to hear it..."
"There are no purchase restrictions, he does fanservice, and he always answers the
letters he gets! He has an inquisitive mind, always on the prowl for what the world needs!!
Taking off your socks? Absolutely not! And that goes for glasses and school uniforms too!
Maebara-sensei understands these things perfectly!! Every event sees him along the wall, with
a huge lineup..."
"U-Uh, I'm sorry, but... His pictures... they're not ones you hang on the wall...??"
"Not at all! In the beginning, everyone starts in the islands! And then to their corners,
and finally climbing up to the corners of the larger paths! The final destination is the famous
wall!! You too! Please, become a great artist who can display his works in unison with Maeb-
ara-sensei!! I'll cheer you on!!!"
I-It's fine to have a lot of passion for the things you like, but... I didn't get it... but it
seemed that the world of art ran pretty deep... It was probably a much deeper world than I
could have imagined.
...I decided to leave it at that. Then, I realized my mom was calling me from the other
side of the room.
"Keiichi! It's the phone. It's a friend of yours."
A lucky break! Maybe I could get out of this uncomfortable business party by using
a friend's phone call as an excuse. I scampered over to the front door and snatched up the
receiver my mom had left there.
"Hello! It's me~!"
"Hello, me! That's not how you answer the phone, Keiichi-san. I implore you, learn
how to choose your words more properly!"
...I was of the opinion that the person speaking to me had a far stranger way of talking.
"Oh, it's Satoko! It's unusual for you to call my house."
"This isn't the time for pleasantries! Keiichi-san, when are you going to be able to
come?!"
"S-Sorry... It looks like this is going a bit long... I can't get them to let me go... I want
to go do things with the club now, but..."
"That's not it, Keiichi-san! It wasn't about the club today. It's a real battle!!"
Satoko's voice was different from normal. ...I could feel the urgency in it drifting
through the phone!
"A-A real battle?! That doesn't sound good! What's the situation?!"
"I will explain the particulars when we meet! Anyway... this is a terrible crisis!! At this
rate we're going to lose!!"
What on earth was going on?! Could it have been... a fight?! I didn't know who they
were, but laying a hand on someone from Hinamizawa was an absolutely terrible idea!
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"Right! Got it!! I'll come and reinforce you right away!! Where are you at?!"
"We're on the Okinomiya elementary school campus! There are signs at the station, so
you should be able to figure it out!! Anyway, we're in a huge hurry!!"
The school campus..! The situation could have a lot of people involved... Could it have
turned into an all-out brawl?! Who was the enemy here, anyway?! Ooohhhhh!! I'm on fire!!
"Got it! I'll be there soon!! Should I bring a weapon with me?! Like a metal baseball
bat or something?!"
"You have a metal bat?! That would be fantastic!! We will wait for you here!!"
The call cut off abruptly. I needed to hurry!!
"Oh, Keiichi. I was looking for you. ___-san here from ____ was looking for a photo-
copy—"
"Now's not the time! Don't we have a bat?! A metal bat?! If not... then anything long
will do!!"
"...I-If anything long will do... then my golf clubs are in the storage room."
It didn't have the same kind of impact... but a golf club was a splendid weapon too! It
was lighter than a baseball bat, and maybe easier for me to use!
"Thanks! I'm borrowing one!! I really need to go see my friends for something—it's
urgent!! Sorry!!"
"Wha— Keiichi!? Wait a minute...!!"
I grabbed a golf club, jumped on my bike, and headed straight for town...! Wait for me,
Satoko! I'll be right there!! Just hold out until then!! I didn't actually know where Okinomiya
Elementary was exactly. But Satoko's phone call seemed to demand urgency, so I rushed out
without asking her about how to get there...
...But if I went to the station, there would be signs... At least, I feel like that's what she
said... Then I heard the jingling of a bicycle bell from behind me.
"...Hello there."
"Hey! Rika-chan!! ...Hah! Hah!"
"...Keiichi, you came quickly. You put the pedal to the metal."
Damn! This isn't the time to be out of breath! I need to hurry!!
"S-Sorry!! Where is Okonomiya Elementary?!"
"...I'll show you the way. Come along with me."
Rika-chan rode off on her bike. I followed her.
"Satoko suddenly called me out here... But what on earth is going on, anyway?!"
"...At first, we had the advantage. ...However... they called in a helper. It's bad man-
ners."
A helper?! What cowards—calling for reinforcements the minute they realize they'd
lose!!
"...They're taking everyone out one by one. ...We can't put a dent in them."
...Gulp.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...Sounds like they were pretty strong...

"Anyway, I'll ask about it later! We don't have time, right?! Please hurry!"
"...Leave it to me."
With Rika-chan leading the way, we headed straight for the elementary school
grounds! I asked Rika-chan something during that time... It seemed that all of the club mem-
bers besides me were part of this fight.
...Damn, so what Mion was trying to tell everyone... was that this would happen?! If I
had known that, I would have just ditched my family job!!
...But it was too late for regrets. According to Rika-chan, we had a one-sided advan-
tage at the start, but our angry foes had brought in a powerful ally.
...The club members put up a resistance and went against them one by one... but appar-
ently they couldn't stand up to them!!
"The combined efforts of the whole club couldn't win?! Just... just what kind of mon-
ster is this guy?!"
"...He's amazing. This enemy is orthodox."
...Orthodox... So they weren't using thuggish brawling tactics, but had actually studied
karate or something—is that what she meant...?!
"...Keiichi is our last ray of hope now."
Okonomiya Elementary came into view.
...I could hear many voices raising hell over there!!
"Woohhhhhh!! Mion! Rena! Satokooo!! I'll be there sooooon!! I'll crush them all at
once!!"
There were a lot of bicycles left out in front of the school. I left mine there next to
them in the same way. I could tell there were a lot of people flooding the campus.
...Were the two armies in the midst of a huge, no-holds-barred brawl?! I took my golf
club in hand. Woosh! I swung it. I felt the sensation of it sticking firmly to my palm. Great!!
The feedback wasn't bad! I'm gonna go all-out with this thing!! I dashed at a breakneck speed
to the school gates, swinging it around...!!!
"Come with me, Rika-chan!! I will show you what the mighty, manly warrior, Keiichi
Maebara, can really do!!!"
"...Wow. Keiichi, you're so reliable. You're going to rampage with a golf club."
Rika-chan applauded me, though a little dryly, lauding my valiance! The manly Keiichi
Maebara put it behind him and headed for the place where he may die!!
"...But Keiichi. ...Why did you bring a golf club today?"
"I had no choice! At first I figured a baseball bat would have been good, but we don't
have one at my house. A golf club was far better than going bare-handed, so I brought one!!"
"...How very excellent. I will give you a pat on the head. I can't wait to see your golf
club rampage."
Despite the emergency situation, Rika-chan reached up and stroked me on the head.
"H-Hey! This is no time for jokes!! ............Huh?"
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Crrrrrrraaaaaackkkkk!! Just then, an extremely loud metallic sound rang out, and I
heard many people cheering.
"Left! Ahhhh...! We missed!"
"Ruuunnn!! You can get to second base—go!!"
"Center!! Calm down!! Send it to third!!"
The center fielder caught the ball, and after a brief pause, sent it flying to third base.
If he had pitched it wildly, it might get there. He gave up on second and threw it to third with
time to spare... The instructions from the bench—they were solid...!
.........Wait... what?
"Oh, Keiichi-kun's here! Satoko-chan, Satoko-chan, Keiichi-kun's here!!"
"You're late, late, late!! Loafing around is only okay when you do it at the bread shop!!"
"This Maebara-kun kid... Will he really save us...? We're up against the ace of Ooshi-
ma—left-arm Kameda-kun! He can beat a Koshien-class pitcher... He must be a god...!"
"It's okay. I'm sure... that Keiichi-kun can turn the tables! He's a really dependable
person!"
Murmur!!
"...What?! He's the pinch hitter we brought in to take out... Left-Arm Kameda, with his
bullet fastball?! The one who had one no-hit no-run game after another during the regional
qualifiers—the undefeated demon pitcher of Ooshima... The super high school level pitcher
that had already been marked by professional scouts... he's going to win against him?!"
"Some greenhorn pitcher like that is no match for Keiichi-san!! He'll send his throws
all the way to the back screen for an easy victory!!"
Murmur murmur!!
"There was a slugger like that in this prefecture?!"
"I-I had no idea!"
"He must have gone under the radar!!"
"Hey! ___-san from Hanshin stood up...!!"
"Hey! Take a picture!!"
"His full name is Keiichi Maebara... Look him up in the database and send his history
to our office!!!"
"Which one is Keiichi Maebara?! Pictures, pictures!!"
A whole lot of sports journalists, led by Satoko, gripped their cameras tightly and
searched for the rumored Keiichi Maebara. As for me, I was so dazed... at what was happen-
ing... that I was frozen in place with my golf club up in the air...
"Keiichi-san, Keiichi-san, over heeeere...!!! ......Eh?"
The camera people stared at me through their viewfinders... and just like I had...... they
turned to stone.
...In the hands of their gallant pinch hitter, Keiichi Maebara, was...... a golf... club...
Nobody could... seem to understand why... I was holding something like this.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...And at this point... neither did I...... Cheeeeep cheep cheep cheep cheep... A cold,
greasy sweat dripped from me... The first one to break the inordinately awkward silence... was
Rena.
"......Um... Ke-Keiichi-kun."
"Y-Yeah...?"
"May we...... ask you a question...?"
...Please... Please don't.
...Psychic waves of my entreaty flowed out of my face along with my sweat... It some-
how seemed to reach the two of them... The deathly quiet reporters all parted... as Moses once
parted the sea.
...But Moses probably didn't go through the parted seas this quietly...
"I-If you were playing baseball, then tell me that from the staaaaaaaaaaart!!!"
"Whaaaat?! Did I not say that?! I mean, I told you to come to the campus with a base-
ball bat—what else could you have thought it was?! And... what manner of thinking caused
you to mistakenly bring a golf club here instead?!"
"Umm... I think, I think! K-Keiichi-kun must have... done it on purpose to lighten our
moods and get us pumped, I think. ......I think!"
Rena smiled bitterly and covered for me with all her might. Please believe her, every-
one... I-I'm begging you~...
"...Keiichi loves golf. ...Pet pet."
...Rika-chan started patting my head, a broad grin on her face all the while. I pushed
her hand away, grabbed her from behind by her suspenders, and picked her up like a kitten.
"...Meeep."
"Riiikaaa-chaaaaan...!! Why didn't you tell me it was a baseball game when we met at
the station!? I wouldn't have had to suffer such a disgrace!!"
"...Nipah~."
Rika-chan's smile was like the sun—so incredibly innocent. Urgh... S-She's glowing...
When I saw Rika-chan's radiant smile, I couldn't help but feel like I could forgive anything
she did... However! If Rika-chan thought I actually would, then she had another thing com-
ing!!
"Anyway, this is your punishment. ...Rena."
"...Meep?"
Rika-chan still plucked up in my hand, I offered her to Rena.
...That's right. The kitten-ified Rika-chan sent Rena's voltage into overcharge!!
"H-Hau~~~~!!! I'll take her, I'll take her!! Rena will take her~!! Hau~!! So kyute~~!!!"
Hop! Spinny spinny!! Rena stuck out her tongue like a chameleon and preyed upon
Rika-chan while spinning her around!
"Rika-chan's so kyute! Rika-chan's so kyute!! Hau~~!!"
"Meep! Meep~~~!!"
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...Rena held her tight as a vise and began to get her fill of rubbing her cheek into Rika-
chan's. Their cheeks rubbed together tightly. Rika-chan's face... It looked like it was being
crushed by Rena's...
"...I do not know what has happened... but it looks like Rika has gotten her just des-
serts."
"Yeah. I recently found out that Rika-chan isn't only cute..."
"Hau~~!! I got Keiichi-kun's permission~!! I'm gonna take you home~~~~!!!"
"...Meeeep!! Meeep!! Meep~~~!!"
For the moment, I just gave her a three-minute timeout.
"...By the way, Satoko. That urgent call was for a baseball game?"
"Yes, that's correct. ...You said you had a house party with your family? I suppose I
was wrong to ask, but... At times of trouble like these, you obviously must prioritize friends
over family!"
...I felt like that's what I was supposed to be saying, not you. Well, it was just a busi-
ness party for my dad, I guess. I honestly felt glad to be called out here.
"So what's the crisis situation look like? ...6 to 7. Which means our team is losing,
huh? ...Hm? Two outs in the bottom of the ninth?! What the heck? This game is almost about
to end...!"
"We would have had a little more time if you'd gotten here sooner! Do you have any
idea how difficult it was for us to hold out for this long?!"
"...All right, all right, I'm sorry! Okay, so? What am I doing? Am I gonna be the pinch
hitter? Just leave it to me! I may not look like it, but I went to the batting cages a lot before
I moved here. My dad went there for fun, and I used to go with him pretty often. I'm pretty
confident about just hitting the bat with the ball, but..."
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Vrrrooooooooooooooomm!!
...A tremendous sound rang out, the likes of which I'd never heard before.
...The catcher's mitt trembled, sending up a light cloud of dust... telling me the tremen-
dous sound had come from the ball.
"...Hey, now, wait a second... What's up with that crazy fastball, anyway?"
"...Surprised? Yeah. That's a bona fide Koshien-level pitcher. Don't you know about
Left-Arm Kameda-kun, the ace of Ooshima?"
"Sorry, can't say I do. ...Wait, Mion?! W-What happened to you?!"
Mion showed up... and to my surprised, she was wrapped up in bandages! J-Just what
on earth happened?!
"Well... You came late, so I guess we need to explain from the beginning."
"Oh, hm? Done with Rika-chan?"
"Yep. I had a lot of fun and she's so kyute. She's so soft and fluffy and squishy~.
Hau~~ I could eat just her cheeks three meals a day~."
"...Meep. I can't get married anymore..."
...Ah, I wonder how Rika-chan's cheeks taste if you could eat them three times a day.
...It almost flipped my own delusion switch, but I put a stop to it using logic.
...I was an adult.
"Okay, explain away. ...How did things get screwed up enough that a Koshien relief
pitcher ended up in a baseball game for fun...?"
Everyone exchanged glances. Then, Rena spoke for all of them.
"Mm-hmm. At first, well... It was just a normal baseball game."
"It's nothing much—just a little grudge match between the Hinamizawa Fighters and
the Okinomiya Titans. We were just having a grand old time—really, nothing much."
"Well, in simpler terms, it was an intramural match. A match to settle the grudge be-
tween Hinamizawa and Okinomiya!"
"We say 'grudge,' but it's all pretty peaceful and friendly."
"...So, why is our whole club a part of it? Some of you are wearing uniforms, and some
aren't. ...Last I checked, we weren't the school baseball team."
"Ahahahahaha. That is... well, it was pretty irresponsible."
"They happened to have some players who couldn't make it today. They were pretty
down in the dumps, so we ended up getting involved posthaste."
I see. So if there weren't enough members, anyone could come to the rescue, whether
boy or girl and no matter what grade they were in. That jumbled-together feeling was the hall-
mark of our school.
"But Rika-chan told me we were crushing them at the beginning."
"...Mii is an amazing batter. She was hitting home runs left and right."
Mion proudly stuck out her chest. Doing so seemed to hurt her somehow, and she
groaned pathetically...
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"Yes! Every time Mion-san went up to bat, she hit a home run and brought everyone
on the bases in!"
"...Unlike Satoko, she can actually hit the ball."
"Rikaa!"
"...Meep~~!!"
"...All right, I think I got the gist of it. So you were having a pretty easy time until that
Koshien pitcher showed up."
"That's right. It was all us at the beginning. Maybe we didn't get all that many points,
but we were always getting people on the bases..."
"And Kameda-kun from Ooshima just happened to show up to watch the game today."
Ooshima was apparently a fairly well-known school in our prefecture that frequently
sent people to Koshien. And this man known as the ace of their baseball team, Kameda...
seemed to be quite skilled.
...Now that I thought about it, it was certainly strange to see cameramen with journalist
armbands here to watch a casual baseball game out in the sticks like this.
"...I heard that when Kameda was little, he was on the Okinomiya Titans."
"...You've figured it out, right? His old team was losing, so that's why he jumped in
as relief pitcher and took the mound... Now it's just terrible. We can't even hit any foul balls,
much less get anyone on base."
"But still!! A Koshien pitcher barging in... It's unfair! We're just playing for fun!!!"
All the boys wearing the Hinamizawa Fighters uniform... were hanging their heads in
disappointment... I knew almost all of their faces. Isn't everyone here a classmate?
...Oh, I see. We're the only school in Hinamizawa, after all.
"Oh, it's Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun. You were on the baseball team too?"
"...M-Maebara-san...... mgh..."
His uniform was brand new, and not very dirty—fresh off the presses.
...I could see hand-made banners with their names written on them in the grandstands.
...I see—their families came to root for them in their debut game today.
"...Okamura said he just got his bat today as a present from his dad."
The brand new bat sparkled.
...With that kind of present, a man just has to perform well.
"He practiced swinging a whole lot, just for today. Tomita-san, well, he went too far...
and he tore the skin off his hand, see... unfortunately..."
His torn hand looked like it hurt, but from that injury, you could sense his backbone. I
get it, guys. You wanted to make your big moment a good one...!!
Vrrooooooommmmmm!! The savior of the Okinomiya Titans—we could hear the
sounds of this Kameda-kun's tremendous fastball practice. This was... no joke. He was defi-
nitely on a level far above high school kids.
...But at his level... he clearly shouldn't have been interrupting a grass-lot game, grudge
Tatarigoroshi-hen
match though it may have been. He should have understood how much better he was, too...
"......This guy. Was he being serious against opponents like these...?"
"...Yep. ...Rena thinks it's immature."
Rena's eyes grew harsh.
...It took a lot to get Rena mad. As for Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun... They were snif-
fling, fighting back tears.
...We heard another tremendous noise from the mitt.
...I turned around... and this Left-Arm Kameda-kun guy was looking at us and grin-
ning boldly...!
"Anyway... that's how it is. ...Now that it's come to this, we have no choice. We have to
engage in real battle!"
"Yeah! Looks like... we have to get serious!!"
"Yep, and then. ...We tried getting serious. But then... Mii-chan went out with a bang..."
Mion, embarrassed, scratched her head—then a moment later doubled over in pain.
"Went out with a bang... But how on earth did she end up getting injured like this...?"
"It would take a really long time to explain... ...The one thing I can say is that she came
up empty even though she pushed herself that hard."
"...Mgh... I risked my life... and I couldn't even get one point..."
"...Our secret plan did nothing, and now we're very sad."
I couldn't even imagine what sort of secret plan it was... but it must have been crazy
enough to get her that badly hurt.
"...Still, though. We're still playing baseball thanks to you failing, right?"
"Ahahahahahaha... Yep. ...Maybe Mii-chan's last resort wasn't very baseball-like, I
think. ...I think."
"We have no other recourse now, do we? It means that we need to settle the score front
and center, in a manner befitting a baseball game!!"
"That's right! We have to settle it like baseball! Ah-hahahahahaha!"
...I think normal people... Would have given up and gone for a frontal attack... But as a
member of our club, I wasn't about to accept that so easily.
"...Like baseball? I don't know. ...If we look at it like a baseball game, then... we can't
be picky, can we...?"
"Ahahahahahaha. Hmm, it is our club's creed, after all."
"That's correct! We can't be picky—that's the virtue of our club. Oh-ho-ho-ho!"
Rena and Satoko laughed to each other delightfully.
...It wasn't really a virtue we could brag about, but the best thing about our club was
that we never rolled over and gave up.
"...But the cameras are all watching very closely, so it will be hard to cheat."
Rika-chan spread her arms wide, indicating the array of reporters in the bleachers.
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...She was right. With all those cameramen watching us through those cameras with
giant telephoto lenses... ...foul play would be fairly tough.
"That's right. ...That's the bottleneck. ...Everyone's eyes are on us—we can't be too bold.
...Owwww..."
"...I never did think Mii-chan's ways were very ladylike, though."
Satoko and Rika-chan both nodded behind Rena.
"Then let's get down to business. ...Our team is down one run right now."
"Plus, it's the bottom of the ninth... and we already have two outs."
"...If this old man's plan had gone better... we'd have our bases loaded right about
now...!"
"There is no point lamenting a failed plan! Our club never loses heart, and always goes
on to the next one!!"
Satoko said eagerly, trying to cheer up the downcast Mion, whose secret plan had
failed! It may have failed, but Satoko still seemed to have another...
"Satoko, you seem pretty cheerful. ...Which means... you've got something up your
sleeve, eh...?"
"Keiichi-kun. ...Who do you think she is? It's Satoko-chan, you know. Satoko Houjou-
chan!"
...That was right. We called her Trapmaster Satoko, didn't we? She would ensnare her
opponent at the perfect moment: the very end. Everyone in our club knew that we could never,
ever let our guards down against Satoko!
"...I may have taught her, but she's grown a lot and doesn't seem to want to stop. Some-
times even I'm astonished at how she overcomes such slim margins."
"...By the way, Mii bats next, then Satoko."
We were losing by one point, so if we could get the next runner on a base... ...then the
runner after that could hit a big one and end the match... And that final batter was Satoko...?!
"Uhuhuhuhu...! See? You feel like we can win now, right?"
"...I can't imagine what she's got set up, but it's got to be some kind of trap for sure.
...If I were the opposing pitcher, I'd definitely walk her."
There was no way Satoko was going to hit a home run, even in my dreams.
...But if she was going to stand in the batter's box normally, without any kind of plan, I
can't think of anything else she could do!
"And the fact that you called me here... I see. I think I know where this is going...
...It meant that I was a necessary piece of Satoko's trap!
"I'm excited! I wonder what Satoko will do. Will do!"
"...I can't wait to see Satoko's walk-off home run either."
"Kei-chan is indispensible for this. ...Understand?! This is our last chance at creating
an upset. We absolutely cannot fail!"
"Right! That much I know for sure!! Just watch! Satoko and I will give you all front-
row seats to the greatest turnaround victory of all time!!"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"Then I'll explain your instructions, Keiichi-san. Lend me your ear for a moment."
Satoko and I huddled up in a hidden place... and held a briefing that anyone watching
could tell was suspicious.
"...I wonder what Maebara-san and Houjou are talking about."
"...I pray it's not some crazy trick like the one the president used..."
Our teammates, Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun, seemed very nervous. Rena gave them
a wide smile, trying to dispel their anxiety.
"It'll be okay, everyone. ...Satoko-chan and Keiichi-kun will be able to pull this off for
us!"
"But Ryuugu-san, we're up against a Koshien pitcher...! I don't know if Satoko's traps
will be much good..."
"Hu-hu-hu... Now, everyone, be silent and watch! ...You're gonna get to see an interest-
ing game. Hu-hu-hu-hu!"
Mion, who knew everything about to transpire, looked like she was having a hard time
stifling the laughter bubbling up within her.
...She was so terrifying as an enemy, but so reliable as an ally! Mion waved her hands
at the umpire.
"We've got a pinch hitter! I, Mion Sonozaki, am switching out with Keiichi Maebara."
"...Are you sure he'll be all right?"
The umpire turned an uneasy gaze on the pinch hitter who had jumped in with a golf
club.
"Uhuhuhuhu! Don't underestimate Keiichi-kun, now~"
The members of our club were the only ones grinning with wholehearted confidence.
Satoko's plan... was definitely simple... but scrupulous. It even looked like the entire situation
had gone according to her calculations.
...The fact that we were losing by one point. The fact that I had come late. The fact
that Satoko was the last batter.
...It even felt kind of like this had been set up before the game started. There had been
a lot of time since I got here... And during that time, the opposing pitcher, Kameda-kun, took
a bathroom break—even that felt calculated.
...No—this is Satoko we're talking about, so maybe... Maybe she made him drink
controlled laxatives to get him to use the bathroom at this exact moment. And while he was a
long way off, shut up in the bathroom... our plan would begin. The opposing pitcher, Kameda-
kun... There he was. In front of the urinal... pleasantly taking care of business. He thought it
was only natural he would win at a grass-lot game like this... and relaxed enough to relieve
himself without a care in the world.
..Maybe that was supposed to be his appeal. However... his relaxed state was itself our
chance.
...Right now... you've already... conceded to our club!! I, too, casually walked into the
bathroom.
...There were three urinals. Kameda-kun was doing his business at the farthest one.
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...I went to the one next to him.

...Normally, you would leave one urinal open. Kameda-kun seemed to notice me—I
had stood right next to him, after all.
"...What—look who it is, the big pinch hitter! Hu-hu-hu...!"
He recalled seeing me swing the golf club around like an idiot, and he couldn't seem to
resist the urge to laugh.
...I, however, wasn't frustrated in the slightest. The match had already been won the
moment I arrived.
...The game had been decided as a big upset for our team... so now, all I had to do was
push things along exactly how Satoko planned.
...Hu-hu-hu! I'm the one who should be laughing...!
"...I wonder if Keiichi-kun can do it."
"He will be fine. When Keiichi-san is serious... he can do this much before breakfast!!"
Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun, our underclassmen, asked another question with much
trepidation.
"...Um... Is Maebara-san... really going to be able to beat that pitcher...?"
"Ah-hahahahaha! ...You don't feel any confidence in Kei-chan after being in the same
class with him? ...Someday, he could be strong enough to control all of humanity. ...Join Kei-
chan... and you could easily rule the world! Hu-hu-hu!!"
"T-The world?!"
Our teammates exchanged glances! Did Maebara-senpai... really have such incredible
strength...?! J-Just what kind of strength could that be?!?! My question caused Kameda-kun to
stare in bewilderment, and for a moment, he didn't know what to say.
"......Sorry. I don't think I heard you right. ...Could you say that again...?"
I smiled thinly, looked straight ahead, and said it once more, clearly.
"I'll say it one more time. Let us win."
...R-Right to the point!! No threats, or beating around the bush, or anything!
...Kameda's brain couldn't figure out the meaning of what I'd said, and I could clearly
tell he was confused.
"W-What are you, some kind of moron?! Let you win?! Are you insane?!"
"...I've relayed our demands. What's your reply? Yes? Or no?"
"It goes without saying! Like hell I'll let you win!! Is your brain broken?!"
Kameda didn't hide his bewilderment.
...He didn't want to be around someone who would babble on like this for another
second...! Those thoughts spilled into his expression, and he quickly moved to leave the bath-
room...
"...Kameda-kun. What does victory mean for you?"
"That's a dumb question! Priceless, absolute... supremacy! Nothing else can change it!"
He grinned lightly as he answered as if to make fun of me.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"...Hu-hu-hu. How like a sportsman to say that. Victory decides all. No one can change
that. ...Hu-hu-hu!"
"Of course not! No matter what kind of threats or bribes you come to me with, there is
nothing valuable enough to make me abandon victory!"
I was waiting for those words. I... after spinning around three and a half times... point-
ed right at Kameda's face!!
"Then don't you think you should ask?! Something worth abandoning your precious
'victory' for... What kind of compensation you could be given!!"
"W-What are you saying, stupid?! There's nothing... nothing that could make me do
that!!"
...Hu-hu-hu! He was denying it, but he stopped.
...He stopped! He... was waiting. He was waiting... for me to present some attractive
conditions!!!
"...In a magazine interview, you said your favorite foods are grilled meat, and that you
don't like sweets... ...but you lied about that, didn't you?"
"Wha...... what...?!"
"For example... let's say you went to a grilled meat buffet. What, exactly, would be on
your plate? ...Pork loin? Korean barbecue? A pile of beef tongue? ...Ku-ku-ku. That wouldn't
be it. You wouldn't bring meat with you. ...It would be all the pudding and gelatin and cake
you could eat!! The kinds a girl would love... pretty, cute, and sweet... You love Western treats
like that, don't you?!?!"
Kameda's face turned utterly pale.
...Our club already knew that he ate a mountain of desserts when he went to the grilled
meat buffet. And we were well aware of his embarrassment at his weakness for sweets despite
his age!
...Kameda-kun couldn't possibly have known that the particular grilled meat buffet
chain in Shishibone was owned by a member of the Sonozaki family. (I'll have to be careful
when I go out to eat with my parents from now on...)
"N-No!! I love the hearty, bone-in—"
"No!!! What you like is gentle, soft cute piles of desserts topped with colorful creams!!
It almost... makes you think of a girl... adorned in frills and ribbons, pure, ignorant of shame...
Cute desserts, like those girls, so clear and clean... And with your acne-laden face, your sports
cut, and your lust in full display, you sully them!! Crunch, crunch, munch, munch!!"
"Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuup!!"
"That's right!! You eat desserts—but you don't love them!! You just dirty them, violate
them, and chew them!! All you do... is relish in the enjoyment of soiling them!!!"
"Gyaaaaaaaahhhhh!!! Please, no more!! My secret!! My secret pleasure has been found
out! I can't go on living!! I have to... I have to die!!!"
"You idiot!!! Don't end your life so easily!!!"
Ker-slam!!! I hit him on the side of his head as hard as I could!! Kameda-kun fell
down like a girl... His eyes started watering, and he broke down.
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"...Uuu. I'm probably the only one in the world who thinks those things while eating
desserts... I'm nothing but a... a pervert, pretending to be a proper sportsman..."
"That's right. You're a pervert!!!"
"Giiyaahhhhhhhhh...!!!!"
Bshweeeeee!! This time I didn't hit him.
...Instead, I clapped my hands down onto his shoulders!!!
"Do not cry, Kameda!! What's wrong with a man being a pervert?!?!"
Dun-Dunnnnnn!!!
“...Eh............ huh...?"
"A man ought to be a pervert!! But admitting it sets a man apart from those below
him!! You've been honest to yourself!! You can brag about that! You can be arrogant about it!!
You can be proud of yourself!!"
Instead of blaming him, I told him to have pride in himself... and Kameda-kun couldn't
hide his confusion.
"Yes!! I have been deeply moved by what you've shown me!! Desserts are nothing but
sweet foods eaten after meals... That's what I'd thought this whole time!! But I was mistaken!!
And you showed me that!! Thanks to you, I... I can...!! Starting tomorrow, I will be able to
enjoy my desserts in a completely different way. For example... strawberry shortcake!!"
S-Strawberry shortcake.
...Gulp.
...Kameda's throat cried out.
"The simplicity of strawberry shortcake... Indeed! It's somehow old-fashioned... like
the orthodox maids from the gaudy times of the late 1800s!! Not those flirty maids with short
skirts we have now! An orthodox, fully-dressed, authentic maid!! It's just strawberries... but
please, master, I could not prepare any more than this, so please give them a taste... that kind
of honesty is unbelievably great...!! Please give them a taste... mm... I-It's such a turn-on!!!"
"...A-A turn-on......"
"Because there are only strawberries, the soft, accented cream decoration ends up...
looking like frills, laces, and embroidery... And she takes it, and splits it with her fork for her
master, an elegant aristocrat... No, no!! It would be wilder if she took it and sucked on it vul-
garly, like her bad master in his greasy sweat?! N-No, more than that... gulp! The... the dent
in the strawberry after plucking it... isn't that even better? And you let your tongue crawl over
it... ah?! What kind of taste must that be?! Hah, hah..."
"T-The dent... a-after you pick the strawberry...!!!"
"I... I can't hold it in anymore...!! I'll go to Angel Mort on the way home and make a
shortcake into my plaything all I want... hu-hu-hu!! The girls, dressed up beautifully, just for
me... uhee-hee-hee!! I draw ever closer to the trembling maidens, and then, one by one... I
show them... hu-hu-hu!!! For every one I eat... I hold my jaw tight, just like this, and appraise
the goods... wondering which to eat next... Hu-hu-hu!"
(Please translate "girls" as "cake," all right? Keiichi-kun seems to be talking about cake
combination platters (emphasis mine))
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"...As if I'm showing off...!! I hold my jaw... tight like this... and... g-gulp!!!"
Has there ever been a man such as this who could speak so passionately about a single
piece of strawberry shortcake? No, there has not! There has never been, I say!! Such passion-
ate feelings... are trying to melt away the stubbornness in Kameda's mind...!!
"Kameda. I'll say it one more time. Let us win."
"...Um... B... But... that would......"
"Then fine. I won't rely on you!!"
I rejected Kameda outright and turned on my heel.
"Enough, we've lost this game! It's over! I don't care about it anymore! Instead... once
this game is over... why don't I head down to Angel Mort and get all-you-can eat of gothic
lolitas, decorated like western dolls in frills and ribbons?! Guh-hya-hya-hya!! Tonight... will be
the greatest feast I have ever known!!!"
"L-Lolitas... A- All you can eat!!!"
Thud!! Despite this being the bathroom, Kameda-kun put both his hands on the floor.
"Ugh, mmmgh...! I-I was wrong!!"
"What's wrong, Kameda-kun? If you have something to say, then say it!"
"This is... this is the first time I've met someone... someone like you...!! Until now, I've
always thought something was wrong with me... and I had to have fun secretly..."
"What are you waiting for, you tiny man?! I already said!! Admitting your perversion
is what separates the boys from the men!!! You are a man entitled to pride!! Now!! Reach out
your hand!! And show me how great you really are!! Come with me... and accept that it is our
world!!!!"
"...Uhh...... uuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"
Claaaaaaaap!!!! Kameda-kun was crying tears of gratitude, unable to speak... That
was the moment we exchanged the most zealous handshake the world has ever known. The
handshake of the bond of our souls... ardent, and intense, tight, and steadfast... For a long
time, we remained that way. It was an enthusiastic handshake... as though we were two broth-
ers separated at birth, embracing each other tightly as though it would give us back the time
we had spent apart. That was the moment the man who would pass into legend for eating so
much during Angel Mort's all-you-can-eat dessert day that he was banned from the restaurant
forevermore was born... He would eventually write in his autobiography that our meeting this
day was fate.
...But none of that had anything to do with this...
"Then, until later. ...For now, just play the game the way I described it."
With just that, I turned on my heel and made to leave the bathroom. But then Kameda-
kun stopped me.
"...Wa... Wait! At least... t-tell me your name...!!"
"Who, me? ......My name is Keiichi Maebara... No..."
...I kind of didn't feel like using my real name.
...Anyway... maybe I should lie to him and use a codename...
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"...Just call me... K."

"K... K. ...Kaayyyyy...!!"
...W-Wait, was that actually an embarrassing name...?
...I left the bathroom behind me at a quick pace, hiding my embarrassment.
...But from what I heard later, I apparently looked quite gallant coming out like that...
"Satoko to Keiichi-san. How did things go?"
"Keiichi to Satoko. Negotiations successful. We settled on he and I getting all-you-can-
eat dessert at Angel Mort. Mion, no problem, right?"
"Two guests for Angel Mort's all-you-can-eat dessert. Roger that. I'll set it up!"
"...I am actually quite interested in how you negotiated with him."
"They... had a really fun talk about how delicious dessert is, probably! Probably! Hau!"
After that, the game started again. I entered the batter's box as a pinch hitter in place
of Mion. But... all of the pieces were already in place...! Vroooooooooooooommmm!! The
straight pitch whipped by me like a bullet, true to its name. The camerapeople raised their
voices in wonder and clicked their shutters.
"A sharp pitch, as always!"
"He's really going places this summer, isn't he?!"
"That golf club pinch hitter is standing straight up too—hee hee!"
"...But... doesn't Kameda-kun look a little strange?"
"It's like he's got a cold sweat..."
I patted my shoulders with my bat, then sneered at him in a relaxed voice.
"What's wrong, Kameda-kun? Not feeling well today?"
"......Guh...!"
"I couldn't swing at the ball because I was too busy laughing at it! Was that all you
got?"
"...Grr... you little...!!"
Vrrrrooooooooooommmm!!! The next pitch... with the same incredible speed as before,
it curved sharply, and should have thrown off the batter's skill.
...But Keiichi didn't move at all. He just watched coolly.
"You don't need any little tricks on a straight pitch, Kameda-kun. Do people fall for
those curves a lot? Batters around here, that is? ...Hu-hu-hu!"
"......Mgh...!"
Both the reporters and all the people watching... noticed something was strange here.
...Was Ooshima's Kameda, the pitcher who conquered Koshien... losing the mental
battle?! The next straight pitch had incredible speed again, but it went a little wild—it was a
ball! I snorted, not even bothering to get ready for it.
"...What, Kameda-kun? Scared of going right down the middle? Everyone calls you the
best... You'd never walk the batter!"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"......Sh-Shit..."
Murmur murmur murmur... The abnormal, unexpected situation spread confusion
throughout the reporters.
"...Wha... What is he... Who is this Keiichi Maebara...? How can he be so relaxed when
faced with that supreme fastball?!"
"H-Hmph—he's just bluffing. He knows he can't win. Kameda would never throw a
ball that an insincere guy like that could hit..."
"...No, I don't think it's a bluff. ...They say that at a high level, you can see right
through others. ...Kameda is, without a doubt, one of the best. Which must mean... he can see
through to that mysterious man's true value..."
A really businessperson-looking guy took off his sunglasses and gazed upon Keiichi...
"...Huh... Uh... I-Is this... Could it be...?"
The idiot pinch hitter who came in cheering them on with a golf club... was actually a
genius?!
"...I'm sure baseball has long since lost its charm for him, and now he's trying to switch
over to golf..."
"A genius slugger, making a transfer into the golf world... W-What a tremendous loss
for baseball! Stop the presses! We're changing up our sports columns!!"
Vrrroooooooooooooommmm!!
"B-Ball!! ...Now it's a full count...!"
Murmur murmur murmur...!! This excessive production was, of course, all being dra-
matized by Satoko. The big shots constantly had their eyes on Kameda-kun. If he were to lose
easily, they knew the match would have to have been fixed.
...Perhaps she wanted this little play of ours to create a mood where it wouldn't be
strange for Kameda-kun to lose, but...
"...Satoko. Isn't... isn't this going too far?"
"Oh-ho-ho-ho! Do your best, now, Keiichi-san! Today, this game—tomorrow, all of
baseball!!"
I-I don't want any scouts actually coming after me!! I'm terrified of what would happen
when the jig is up... Wait, I can't be making nervous faces right now!
"Ball!! Base on balls!"
"...Have you gotten scared, Kameda-kun?! I thought you were better than this!!!"
Kameda-kun hung his head in (feigned) dejection.
(K-san... I did all this according to plan, right...?!)
(Yeah. Well done, Kameda-kun! Keep going like this for the next batter...!! Let's wrap
this thing up, and then... ku-ku-ku-ku!!)
(Hah, hah. We'll go get all-we-can-eat~!!)
Grin!! Kameda-kun and I exchanged evil smiles! For some reason, there were a lot of
camera flashes right then.
...It seemed like our dear journalist friends took it as two worthy rivals smiling to
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acknowledge each other's strength. As I trotted over to first base, the camera flashes continued
almost to the point where they were annoying... When I got to first base, one of the reporters
came over for an interview.
"M-Maebara-kun. ...Do you plan on settling the score with Kameda-kun in Ko-
shien...?!"
Ugh... Things seemed like they were about to get too big for me. Maybe I should just
be honest and confess that I'm not really into baseball...
"...Koshien? I've never been interested in Japanese baseball. Sorry."
W-Whoaaaahhhh!! This man... Right from the start, he was always aiming for the
world!! He might become Japan's first ever big-leaguer!! What...? U-Umm... The conversation
was getting fantastically out of hand... Oh, I don't care anymore...!! I'll strike a guts pose for
the cameras in desperation...
"Yes! Kei-chan got on base, just as planned!!"
"Next... Satoko-chan is at bat!! What will she do? What will she do?!"
"All right then!! Time to get that walk-off home run and win it all~!!"
Satoko stepped up to the plate, waving the bat around.
...The reporters couldn't hold back their laughter—maybe because they had just seen
his battle with me.
"Maebara-kun finally got on base, but now it's all over..."
"I see—so this is why Kameda-kun intentionally walked him. He didn't even fight it—
he waited for an easier opponent for the final out!"
"...But to avoid a direct confrontation like that... We cannot make light of him! That
Keiichi Maebara!!"
"All right! Come on now, Kameda-san!!"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"Hu... Pfahahahaha! You makin' fun of me? Who do you think I am, anyway?! K-sa—
no! Maebara-san was one thing... but you think I'll lose to the likes of you?!"
"Whenever this girl stepped up to bat, she had swung wildly and missed, striking out
every time."
"...This might sound rude, but however much Kameda-kun holds back... I don't think
she'll be able to hit a home run."
I could hear the reporters declaring that there was no way a comeback would happen.
Wait, what?
...Satoko... she swung wildly and missed every single time she stepped up to bat...?!
Vrrrooooooooooommm!!! She swung after the sound had ended, completely mistiming it. I
could hear disappointed voices coming from those rooting for Hinamizawa.
...It's only natural. Every single batter has struck out. Even if worse came to worst... no
one would get a hit. And that's why it didn't sound strange when Kameda-kun said this.
"...I can't take it seriously with someone like you. I'll give you a chance. I'll throw the
next one slow and underhanded. I'll let you get a hit or two so you can go home and brag to
mommy...!!"
Of course, these lines were all part of the plot too.
...From out of the corner of his eye, Kameda-kun gives me a look... Was that all right?
(Yeah. You did great. It looked very natural! Kameda, you are a splendid actor...!)
(No, no, compared to K-san, I'm nothing... gu-hu-hu-hu!)
Even that exchange was seen as heated and enthusiastic by the reporters.
(But K-san... However slowly I pitch... can this girl really hit it?)
(...Don't worry, and throw the ball like we planned. I think I've got a good idea of how
this'll turn out.)
Our exchange over, Kameda-kun moved from set position into a pitching stance.
"Come, then!! Throw your merciful pitch!! I'll hit a huge home run off of it!!"
...She had struck out every time she was at bat. When I heard that, my vague ideas be-
came firm beliefs. And out of Kameda-kun's hand... comes a slow, lazy pitch, as though they
were playing catch.
...Normal people would probably be able to hit it... but for Satoko, who had been strik-
ing out the whole time... Just when people started to think that way... the members of our club
had already realized that Satoko's trap had begun! It was true. Striking out constantly today
had all been laying the groundwork for this moment.
...An act... all to make it feel like Kameda-kun letting off the gas wasn't strange at all.
Which meant, in other words... that Satoko...... Crrrrraaaaaack!!! W-Whoaaaaaaaaaaa!! She
gooooot it!! Look at it go...!!
"I don't even need to run, do I? ...Ohh-ho-ho-ho-ho!!"
The super-huge home run Satoko hit... disappeared over the roof of the school... The re-
porters lost their words at the sight. And then... Roars of applause!! Despite... this being what
we'd anticipated... I can't help but stare in mute amazement at the gorgeous home run. Satoko
strutted over to first base.
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"Come on, what are you doing, Keiichi-san? Second base is that way."
"Satoko, you... you're really good at baseball."

Satoko grinned, showing her fang-like canines, in reply.
...Come to think of it, she played baseball a lot with Tomita-kun and the others during
lunch, didn't she?
...The fact that they always invited her to play... meant she was by no means bad at it.
"...And... you purposely struck out all those times...? Since before Kameda-kun even
got here? ...Geez, you've really got something for every occasion...!"
"I say this all the time, do I not? I only have one trap. And when everything is about
to come to a conclusion, it's enough that I don't even have to worry. Ho-ho-ho!"
D-Damn it... That sounded kind of cool!! Basically, she was just bragging about hitting
the ball... but when Satoko did it, it looked so cool! We crossed home plate in order—me, then
Satoko—and completed our walk-off home run!! Our teammates welcomed us back with their
blessings.
"M-Maebara-san! That was amazing—totally cool!! I never thought it would happen!!!"
Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun praised me.
"How about that, Tomita-kun? Okamura-kun?! I turned things around just fine!!"
"Rena thinks you were cool too! Good work~!"
"Hah! It was nothin'!!"
I briskly clapped my hand against Rena's outstretched palm.
"Satoko did brilliantly too!! She gave us a spectacular ending~!!!"
"Who do you think I am? Ohh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!!"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Man... can't underestimate her! Satoko Houjou!!

"Kei-chan was great too! ...Winning Kameda over like that...!"
"...He is a magician of duplicity."
"Ahahaha, Rika-chan, I don't think that's a compliment."
"But really. Only Keiichi-san could have pulled off such a drastic move! I wouldn't
have been able to do it myself. I would very much like you to teach me sometime."
"...If Satoko learned such displays of power... That's terrifying to even imagine. I'd pre-
fer it if you didn't mimic me..."
After declaring the match over, the umpire came to us.
"...Well... I never... You actually won... I-I'm shocked."
"We said Satoko could hit it, didn't we? You didn't believe us at all!"
The umpire scratched his head apologetically and apologized to Satoko, smiling dryly.
"And Keiichi-kun was amazing too, wasn't he? Keiichi-kun is actually the most reliable
person here."
"Well, when I saw him come in with that golf club... I certainly had my doubts, but...
That breathtaking battle against Kameda-kun had me on the edge of my seat..."
...Right, that breathtaking farce. I quirked a wry smile.
...Not even the Buddha would have realized that while everyone thought this was a fair
match, Kameda-kun and I were thinking about our evil dessert-violating ways...
"Excuse me, Coach? You remember your promise, do you not?"
"Uh, yeah, this is... guess I have no choice. Tahahaha..."
"Ahahahahaha! We did it, we did it! Keiichi-kun, this means we're having a barbecue
meetup tomorrow!"
Rena clapped her hands, and we all began to dance with joy. Tomita-kun and our other
teammates were jumping up and down too.
"W-What's that about? A barbecue meetup? Hey, wait, what on earth are you talking
about??"
"Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho! We made a promise that if we won today's game, he'd treat us to a
barbecue party with all kinds of high-class meats! It wasn't looking good for a while when
Kameda-kun appeared, but thanks to Keiichi-san we've won that privilege!!"
I see—so that's what this was about. It was certainly not a game we could have lost!
"...Irie's big wallet will be so sad, so sad."
"You're right about that... But I did make a promise..."
"When we eat... we do it without any mercy!! We need to feed our growing bodies,
after all! Ahhh-ha-ha-ha-ha! All right, everyone!! Tomorrow, we dine like kings~!!"
"Yeaahhhhhhh!!"
All of the members of the Hinamizawa Fighters raised their fists high in the air and
cheered. Rika-chan was petting the head of the umpire, who was smiling painfully at the off-
kilter remarks. He gave her his head, and looked like he was about to cry.
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...It looked like the price of victory would be pretty big.

"...You beat me. But I have no choice, since I promised. Guess I should go shopping for
some meat..."
"Coach~ Get some grade A beef like you promised~! We won't forgive you if you buy
nothing but vegetables to keep it cheap~!!"
"Boo-hoo..."
The umpire, whom they were calling "Coach," grinned dryly, crestfallen. ...Umpire?
Coach? The uniform he was wearing had "Hinamizawa Fighters" written on it.
...Oh, so he's not just the umpire... he was actually our team's coach!
"Maebara-kun—is that all right? Can I call you that?"
"Huh? Uh, yeah."
"This comeback wouldn't have happened were it not for you getting on base. Please,
come to tomorrow's barbecue. ...No, besides that! Would you please consider joining the
team?! If you were with us... we could dominate the whole prefecture...!!!"
"Ahahahaha... Coach, Coach! Let's leave that aside for now..."
"You should be more worried about your wallet~! Ohh-oh-oh-oh-ho!!"
Despite the coach being an adult, everyone seemed to get along very well with him.
...Coach, huh?
"Pleased to make your acquaintance. I'm Irie, coach of the Hinamizawa Fighters."
He extended his hand to me.
...I firmly grasped it with my own in reply.
"I'm Maebara. Nice to meet you."
Then, the coach took his other hand and began to stroke mine softly...!
"Mmmm, what smooth hands you have... Such a narrow grain, and you truly take good
care of them... Hah~ Silky smooth..."
"Uh... huh?!?! H-Hey, wait!"
"I must strictly instruct our maids to take this good care of their skin as well... and
punish the bad ones who don't~."
"M-Maids?! W-W-What are you talking about?!?!"
"Haa~~... Such velvety hands... I just want to put them to work~... Hahh~~~..."
The coach's eyes were spellbound... and as his delusions floated through his very own
original magical universe, he made a supremely satisfied smile.
...How do I put this... Who the hell is this guy?!
"Ah-hahahahahaha!! You look so flustered."
"Our coach is a little strange. But he's really funny, you know? You know?"
I felt like you couldn't measure him by saying "strange" or "funny"... I really didn't
think we'd get along.
...Snap! The other self in my mind made a witty retort for some reason.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"Come on! Settle down already!! You're making Keiichi-san uncomfortable!!"

"...Ha~... Silky smooth~...♪"
The coach didn't try to take his hands off mine until Satoko hit him with a three-fold
washbucket attack, causing him to faint...
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Tatarigoroshi-hen
Tip #3 - Satoko’s Trap Course (Advanced)

It was a peaceful lunch break. Thud, clatter, splaaaaaash!!!
"Whaa?! What was that?!"
"I just heard something really loud from the hallway! What was it? What was it?!"
We rushed into the hallway... and to our surprise, Coach was there with a water bucket
overturned on his head!
"C-Coach, are you okay?!"
"Taha, hahahaha... Man... you sure got me... Hello, everyone."
Coach greets us, cool and calm.
"What's going on, Coach? You don't come to school very much."
"Well, I do come here once a week as part of my job. It had been quiet here for a
while... but I totally let my guard down..."
"Ahahaha... Satoko-chan's little tricks always come when you least expect them... Will
you be okay in those clothes?"
"Oh, I'm fine—I was just thinking of taking a nice bath, so this is actually cooling me
off."
"You sure are calm, Coach. In fact, you never get mad! It really makes you come off
as an adult."
...She was right. If I were Coach, I would have started running around with the bucket
still on my head, looking for her. His adult way of not getting mad at every little child's prank
was admirable.
"Listen, Maebara-san. With things like this, changing your perspective just a little can
make it either irritating or pleasant. It's all about how you react to it."
"...If there's some secret trick to staying so calm after getting hit in the head with a
bucket filled with water, then I'm begging you, tell me."
"For example... Let's say there was this old and traditional family, dating back to the
Meiji era."
"Okay."
“And let's say they had many maids under their employ. Being a large house, of course,
they have all kinds of maids—from the veteran ones who turned mean and don't want to give
up their jobs, to the new ones who are young and full of energy!! See, can you imagine that?
Yes...♪"
...Yes...♪ A space filled with dreamy maids in pink and peach adorned with frills and
headbands, with Coach at their center, began to spread out before me...
"The newer maids, with all their youthful vitality, giving everything they have to
please their master! But the older maids won't allow that to happen! They find fault with ev-
erything they do, bullying them and tormenting them all day long!! Look, there's still so much
dust here! Oh... I'm so sorry... Do it over! Splash!! A bucket falls upside-down on the maid!
She's soaking wet... and she wants to cry, but still puts on a brave face... haa haa!! Maaaiiid-
ddsss~~~~♪♪♪!!"
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"...Hau~~~ I don't get it but it sounds fun~ Maybe Rena should be a maid too...♪"
"Ah, geez, stop! You've even infected Rena! And you, Kei-chan! Don't go getting lost
forever in Coach's world!"
"...If not for this character trait, Coach would be a good person, too."
"Mgh! One Satoko Houjou-san sighted! ...I say, Satoko-san, what is this! I say, look at
all this dust! I-I-I say!! It's time for you to be punished!"
"Whaa!! Nya-nya! Nyaaa!!!"
Coach plucked Satoko up and started giving her a spanking.
"Ahahahahahahaha! Satoko-chan, you're so kyute! Ah-hahahahaha!"
"...Satoko can put traps together with such brilliant predictions—it's so strange how she
can't predict the very end, though."
"Is it? I think Satoko-chan wanted this to happen. She wanted it!"
"Satoko wanted this outcome? What do you mean by that?"
"When she plays pranks on people like this, they always get mad and chase her
around. Don't you think it's like a form of communication?"
"...Sounds like a terrible way to communicate. Don't people normally say 'hello' to each
other?"
"Oh, Keiichi-kun, haven't you heard it of before? People who play lots of pranks are
actually lonely and want people to pay attention to them."
Rena gave a cool smile and, laughing abruptly, explained.
"That's what I mean. ...If Satoko-chan plays a trick on someone, she wants them to
get mad or laugh and chase her. It's kind of like a kitty biting you softly... Don't you think it's
cute...?"
"They will definitely be surprised right here and jump backwards. So if I put it in this
spot, it will work for certain!!"
Satoko, regaling us with her trap philosophy, was improving the already-brutal trap
hell on the mountain. If Rena was right, and her traps are to get people to pay attention to
her... Then all of these traps on this mountain... were basically a crystallized form of those
feelings. Alone with Rika-chan... setting up trap after trap after trap in the mountains...... al-
ways waiting for someone to fall into them.
...But nobody needed to come to this mountain in the first place. .
..Without a doubt, she and Rika-chan had spent a lot of time imagining how victims
caught in their traps would react. Satoko, separated for so long from her beloved Nii-nii, Sa-
toshi.
...With her stubbornness, she never once said that she wanted him to come home. But
all the traps sleeping on the mountain told me how Satoko really felt.
"...Keiichi-san! Are you listening?"
"Oh, sorry about that. What did you say?"
"All you have to do is pound one nail into the tree trunk like this, and it's already a
great trap. If you trip up right there and smack your forehead into it... it would really hurt~!"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"A-A human hammer pushing a nail into your forehead... Y-Yeah, that sounds pain-
ful..."
"If it was someone really, really evil, this trap could put them to death! I do so look
forward to seeing what sort of villain gets caught by it!"
"...Why do you keep glancing at me like that? ...Are you saying you want me to fall for
it? ...I-I could get really badly hurt, you know. Maybe you shouldn't be using this trap."
"......Is that so? ...Well, it is true that I can't use traps without love behind them. ...Then
I'll just move the nail here so that if the villain really reforms their behavior, they won't get
caught by it..."
Satoko immersed herself in adjusting the nail's position. ...Traps of love, huh? Maybe
Coach was right. ...Just by reacting a little differently... everything changes. Come to think of
it... maybe you can feel humor and warmth even when Satoko's traps get you.
"All finished!! Now it's absolutely perfect where it is! What do you think, Keiichi-san?"
"Uh... yeah. It's perfect. I hope a villain comes along and gets caught by this trap."
"Ho-ho-ho-ho! No, of course it would be better if that didn't happen."
...It looked a little painful, but I considered coming here sometime and getting caught
in it.
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Tatarigoroshi-hen
Day 4
"All right then, I'm off!"
"Look out for cars! Be back before dinnertime!"
Today was the day of the barbecue party that was the Hinamizawa Fighters' victory
celebration. Of course, I, having prepared myself, skipped breakfast in order to stay hungry.
...Though with all the club members coming, it was pretty possible there would be a
contest based on how fast or how much you could eat! Rena was already at our usual meeting
place. Mion arrived a few minutes later.
"Great! Let's get going! This old man skipped breakfast and is starving to death!"
"I expected nothing less! I, too, went without breakfast—and am now in top physical
condition!!"
"Wow, you two—skipping breakfast is bad for your health. Rena made sure to eat
something."
"Yeah, yeah, you're great, Rena. Breakfast is an important part of the day. I'm sure
you'll surpass that unhealthy Mion, get yourself a nice, sproingy body, and be all over the
dirty magazines!!"
"Hau, the dirty magazines~ If I get a nice body, then maybe a prince on a white horse
will come for Rena too? For Rena too?"
"...Definitely not happening. If you won't take responsibility for them, Kei-chan, then
don't give Rena any silly ideas. ...She might start eating breakfast three times a day starting
tomorrow."
...Yeah, I could see Rena doing that.
...Wait, who did this gluttonous princess think was going to come for her...?
"Well, anyway! We're all nice and hungry! Let's go and treat ourselves at the big bar-
becue party!!"
"Yeaaahhh!!"
The venue for said barbecue was to be the Furude Shrine grounds where Rika-chan
lived. They held events and festivals there, and barbecues too. It was the place that held all
sorts of ceremonies in Hinamizawa.
(...Come to think of it, there was supposed to be a big village festival coming up,
wasn't there? "Watanagashi" or something...)
The scenery you could see from that high up was fairly superb—and the calm at-
mosphere particular to shrines was something fairly difficult to find in the city. We left our
bicycles at the bottom of the shrine steps and broke into a mad dash up the stairs! When we
arrived on the shrine grounds... the Hinamizawa Fighters and their fathers had already gath-
ered and had begun setting up for the barbecue early. Of course, Satoko and Rika-chan were
there as well. When they noticed our arrival, they waved to us.
"Oh, so you managed not to forget about this! Curses! If you all hadn't come, there
would have been that much more meat for me. How truly disappointing it is!"
"You underestimate us, Satoko! Now that we've arrived, you don't think you'll be
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able to have even one bite of that fabulously marbled beef, do you?! Remember when we ate
our bento here? You and I have a fatal difference in reach—I'll be overwhelming you once
again!!"
"W-W-Whaaaaat?! I-I cannot allow that to happen by any means!!"
"Cry and shout all you want—you'll just be watching us fill our mouths with beef.
Don't worry, though! We'll give the peppers and onions to you!!"
"...I'll give Satoko lots and lots of the grilled squash too."
When Satoko heard the word "squash," her complexion changed color. When she took
my overwhelming reach into account, she knew it wasn't just a threat—it could actually hap-
pen.
"I'll go tell the coach. I'll tell him you really love squash! If it's for you, I bet he'll get a
whole mountain of specialty squash from all over Japan!"
"Wow, good for you, Satoko!! You'll have your pick of the squash!! You can have
squash from dawn till dusk—three meals a day!!!"
"Waaahhhhhhhhhh!! Rena, Rena~! Everyone's bullying me!!"
Satoko tried to leap into Rena's chest!! Oh no... Clearly, given another second, Rena's
mach punches would have us piled on the ground!!
...So just before Satoko hit Rena, I grabbed her by the nape of the neck and pulled her
back...!! A superb reaction with only seconds of foresight... at least, it was supposed to be.
...But for Rena, when I caught the leaping, crying Satoko, it looked I was keeping her to my-
self. Bam bam baaammmmmm!!!
"Hau~~♪ No, no, no, Keiichi-ku~n, this is Rena's, okay~? I'm~taking her home~~♪"
"Wahhhh, Rena-san~! Beat up Mion-san and Rika like that too~!!"
"Whoa, whoa... hold on there!! Gyahhhh!!!"
Bam bam baaammmmmm!!!
"Okay!! Now where could Rika be?! There she is!! Rena-san, over there!!"
"Just wait, Satoko-chan, I'll take care of her right away~!! Then I'm bringing you
straight home~!!!"
"...Meep! Meeeeeeep!! Satoko, you're mean!"
"Hau~~!! Rika-chan's so kyute too!! Hau~~~ I'm gonna take her home~!!"
"Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!! Rika! It serves you right!!!"
Satoko laughed in a shrill voice at Rika-chan and Rena's unproductive game of tag
while we watched them, sprawled out on the ground...
"A-Are you all right, Maebara-san? Sonozaki-san...?"
The coach came over and lent us a hand.
"Yeah, this is just how we communicate, that's all. Don't mind us!"
"...If the way we communicate ends up leaving bruises on my face, then I don't want
any more to do with it..."
"You never learn, do you?"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
laughed the coach loudly. It made us start to laugh too. Satoko's laughter, Rika-chan's
yelling, and Rena's strange voice were kind of comfortable to hear. The adults here knew what
they were doing, so the barbecue was ready in short order. As the salad oil dripped down onto
the plate with a hiss, there was a loud cheer. When the coach brought over a big plate with all
the meat on it, we all cheered again.
"Wow, this meat looks amazing! Coach, you really did splurge on it!"
"I did make a promise. Can you tell how much all of this weighs? It really did cost me
a lot!"
"Of course it did! Third-rate meat wouldn't be enough of a reward for everything I did
yesterday!"
"Ahahahahaha! Yeah! Satoko-chan's definitely the guest of honor today!"
"Yeah, Satoko was the one who hit that last home run, after all. She might have caught
the guy off guard, but the arc it flew was long and true!!"
"...Satoko is pretty athletic."
"Not bad at all—she could be one of the best of our generation! She doesn't fall behind
in physical ability even compared to me."
"Maybe Satoko-chan has a big future in the world of sports!"
"Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!! Stop singing my praises—you're making me blush~!!"
"...Munch munch."
Satoko, for whom the excessive praise made her not notice the moderately grilled meat
being stolen one after the other, was just far too cute...
"Maebara-saaan! T...This is heavy...!"
Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun were carrying something over to us. It was a huge bar-
becue plate.
"Whoa!! The barbecue's protagonist has arrived!"
The plate was chock full of skewers with vegetables and meat on them. The grilled,
burning hot meat juices made a 'shhsh' noise as they drizzled off.
...Gulp! You need a lot of heat for cooking something on a metal skewer, so they had
grilled the whole plate at once.
"Yep, can't have a barbecue without some of these!"
"You can say that again! I'll help out, so let's get it over there. Up we go!"
"Wow!! Look, look! It's amazing!!"
Everyone greeted us with a cheer. Each person received a skewer with vegetables and
big pieces of meat on it. They also received paper cups filled to the brim with juice. In my
right hand were pounds of piping hot barbecue. In left was a cup of juice that I could chug
down! If this didn't make you want to dance, you weren't a man!
"Ahhhh, I can't hold back any longer!! I'm gobbling it down!! Gobble gobble!!"
"Not just yet, Kei-chan. We've got a little ceremony first."
"Can I have your attention, everyone~?"
The coach, with a cup of beer in his hand, mounted the nearby beer cooler. This was
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suposed to be a victory celebration, after all. We needed an opening statement.

...Damn—I hope it ends soon! For every second this goes on for, a little more of the
food's freshness goes away!! Nwohh?!
...Satoko stomped down onto the back of my foot!
"My word! Men your age are so greedy. Can you not wait a little more elegantly?"
"...Is everything I'm thinking really showing on my face...?"
"Okay, is everyone listening? We won a huge game yesterday. It had become a hard
battle after that amazing pitcher came in, but thanks to equally-reliable saviors on our side, we
scored a beautiful turnaround victory."
Clap clap clap! Both my hands were full, so the adults and older brothers gave us a
round of applause.
"This is to celebrate that victory. As promised, I got a ton of delicious meat for every-
one. Eat as much as you want and use that energy on our next game!"
Then, after a few words of thanks to the fathers and brothers who helped with the bar-
becue, he led us in a toast.
"Cheeeeeeeers!!!"
They say that when toasting, you would normally down the contents of your cup. But
we were young! At the toast, all of us immediately began to dig into our skewers! After that...
it got really lively, with everyone congratulating one another for things they did during the
game. Like how someone made a great catch, or how awesome someone looked when steal-
ing a base. Of course, they congratulated me too, the savior who appeared to fight against the
Koshien pitcher.
"Well, even what I did was all thanks to Satoko."
"Satoko did have a plan. But you're the only one who could have won over Kameda
like you did, Kei-chan. You did more than enough to deserve praise!"
"By the way, Keiichi-kun, you went to eat cake with Kameda-kun after that, didn't
you? You looked like you were best friends."
"The seeds of friendship sprouting between male rivals—something like that? Ahaha-
haha!"
"...That's sort of... well, it's... ufufufufufufufu, hau~~~..."
...I violently brushed through Rena's hair as she turned red in the face for some reason
at the mention of friendship between males, dispersing her pleasant-seeming ideas... Now then,
where's the hero—or rather, the heroine, Satoko?
...Oh, there she is. Satoko was with Rika-chan, in the middle of bragging her heart out
about the home run yesterday. And her teammates spared no compliment for her—since even
though he was going easy on her, the fact that she hit a throw from a Koshien pitcher was
something else. Satoko was more loquacious than usual—it seems she was in a great mood.
She was flying so high that I thought for a moment about getting a word in to tease her... But
she was the leading actress today, so I decided not to bully her at all. As I watched Satoko,
going at things as lively as usual under the sun, it struck me that it didn't quite line up with
the pleasant time I'd spent with her. But both of those were the real Satoko. I didn't care which
it was—her smiling happily, or making a big, lively fuss like this. Just as long as she would
Tatarigoroshi-hen
keep smiling like this forever.

"...She looks like she's having fun. Quite a lot of it."
The coach had approached me from behind before I realized it. As he gazed at Satoko
from afar, like I had been doing, he addressed me.
...So I could tell he was talking about her.
"Doesn't it just cleanse your soul to see Satoko-chan smiling?"
He smiled, refreshed, searching for confirmation. I felt a little embarrassed to admit it,
so against my better judgment, I played it off.
"R-Really? ...I don't think her smile could cleanse so much as a plate."
"Hu-hu-hu-hu. I'm sure Satoko-chan would be mad if she heard that, but that part of
her is very cute too."
...Leaving her cuteness aside, I could understand him thinking Satoko getting angry for
being teased would be funny.
"Umm... Mr. Irie, was it?"
"That's right. Everyone else calls me Coach, though. I'd be very happy if you called me
Coach as well, Maebara-san."
As he said that, Coach Irie smiled, blushing a little.
"Coach... You seem to like Satoko a lot."
I didn't have any real basis for saying that—it was just what I felt to be true.
"Yes. I do like her. I love her, in fact. When she gets older, I'm thinking of asking her
to marry me."
"Uh... Whaaaaaaaat?!?!"
This guy... really says some insane stuff, doesn't he?!
...After being astonished by this, I hurried to put my mind back in order. I'd heard that
this Coach guy was the kind of person who said crazy things out of nowhere. According to
Mion, if I took everything he said seriously, I physically wouldn't be able to take it. If I was
able to ignore that part of him, he seemed like he'd be a really funny guy...
"Hm? Um, Maebara-san. Did that surprise you? Could it be... you're going after Sato-
ko-chan yourself? That would bother me, then. I've been going after her for decades now, you
know."
"Coach, Satoko hasn't even been alive for much more than a decade..."
"Hm? Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha."
Coach gave a dry grin and laughed. Was this how I should be doing it? I must some-
how master the art of responding to this Coach guy... After that, I received many words of
praise for my actions—almost too many. As that conversation was happening... Leaving aside
the controversial statements this Coach person would spout suddenly, I learned he was very
composed, and not a bad guy by any stretch.
"I think Satoko deserves more praise for that crazy home run she got. ...I honestly
didn't think she had it in her."
"Satoko-chan's older brother was more the quiet bookworm type. She probably inher-
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ited the exact opposite skill set."

...Her brother? Right, he meant Satoshi. The one who left Satoko... and ran away from
home—Satoko's Nii-nii. Satoshi Houjou.
"Do you not know about him? Satoko-chan's older brother, I mean. His name is Sa-
toshi Houjou-kun, and he played with the Hinamizawa Fighters too. I wanted him to play a lot
more...... but then he transferred."
"Huh... I see..."
...So he 'transferred'.
...Yeah, maybe that was... a little more considerate than saying he ran away. Now that
he mentioned it, I think it was Rena... I think she said Satoshi transferred too. I didn't know
the details of him having run away from home at the time, so I didn't pay much attention to it,
but...
............
"Only her brother transferred? ...That's sort of unusual."
...Everyone having fun was far away... and their cheerful voices distant. The chorus of
the cicadas separated us from them, giving me a sense of distance. At first, I thought my own
voice was too soft for even me to hear... but for a really long time, Coach didn't respond to my
words... so at this point, I began to wonder if I had said something I shouldn't have. Just when
I began to feel impatient, Coach finally spoke.
"...Something unfortunate happened. A few things, actually."
After informing me that what he was about to say was a secret, Coach began to talk, a
little at a time.
"...It's been three years already. Right around this time of year, I think. Satoko-chan's
parents were in an accident."
"...An accident?"
"Yes. ...At a public park they visited while on vacation, they fell from a viewing plat-
form."
It was supposed to just be a little time away from the house with the family. They
went for a walk on a path through a nature park after it had rained.
...There was a little viewing platform that looked like it had a good view.
...That was the stage on which the tragedy was set. The metal fixtures in the viewing
platform fence had deteriorated from time... and with all the rain they had just gotten... they
might have loosened somewhat. Right before Satoko's eyes... both the fence...... and her parents
fell. There was a river some tens of meters below... The water level was high due to the rain,
and apparently very muddy.
"...And... her parents......?"
Coach gave a thin but melancholic smile and touched his paper cup to his lips.
...Without saying anything... I knew how unfortunate that accident was, and how Sa-
toko's parents had left on an eternal vacation...
"...Umm... Then Satoko is............ well."
I was so focused on being careful with my words... that I lost what I was going to say.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
A single word—orphaned. I knew how little consideration it showed and how much it would
hurt Satoko without having to say it aloud. Come to think of it... Satoko lived with Rika-
chan... At least, that's what I thought I heard from others.
...Wait... Rika-chan, her father died from illness too... and her mother soon after... ...I
felt like I heard she was living by herself...
"Yes. She's living with Furude-san right now. ...They've probably lived many discourag-
ing days without any parents, but they've gotten along by helping each other."
".................."
"Going on living without the protection of parents... is very difficult for kids that age, I
think. Maebara-san, you can probably understand that as well."
...I've only survived because I rely on my parents, so the only reply I could give was to
nod...
"Furude-san is particularly beloved by the older people in the village. As long as she's
here, she won't want for much."
"Come to think of it, you're right. Rika-chan kind of seems like the village mascot
sometimes. ...I don't think she'd have a hard time living here."
Rika-chan could go "meep" just once and get two or three croquettes from a vendor,
after all. I felt like if she asked for help, everyone in the village would.
"But that only applies to Furude-san in particular. ...Satoko-chan doesn't have it the
same way."
Rika being so spoiled was just an exception.
...Upon thinking about it normally... living on your own as a child should be fraught
with difficulty. It wasn't, then, very difficult to imagine how much suffering Satoko had to go
through just to live. It wasn't very difficult to imagine.
...Was I really... thinking that?
...No, I was only thinking the words... I couldn't imagine it in the slightest. How was I
supposed to imagine it when I saw that annoying smile of hers?
...There was no way I could.
...I found out she was living apart from her brother, and I just kind of... vaguely
thought that it was rather unfortunate. I mean... Satoko was smiling so energetically every
single day.
...Was I thinking that her smiling... meant she wasn't hurt? .
..That she didn't feel lonely? When she found out my parents were coming home the
other night, Satoko said, "A family sitting around the dinner table is the most fun way to en-
joy a meal of all." Those words... held a lot more weight now.
"I've seriously considered adopting her."
"...Huh... Adoption...?"
"It's a secret."
After warning me, Coach put his index finger to his lips.
"I've lived a really steady life all these years.
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...I own property, and I have credit. But marriage is the one thing I never got around
to.
......By law, obviously a single individual can't adopt a child. So I... can't make Satoko-
chan my adopted daughter.
...Ha-ha-ha-ha—what a shame. Didn't take long for my plan to get her to call me Papa
to hit a setback."
This guy spouts some crazy stuff... At first, I was only half-listening.
...But... midway through, I realized how rude that was. This "Coach" person... seriously
only wished for this one girl, Satoko, to be happy. That was neither crazy nor was it nonsense.
...He just wanted her to be happy... those were his true feelings.
"Satoko-chan's current lifestyle is probably not a very happy one. ...But, you know... I
want to make it easier for her, even if it's only a little. Hahahaha—of course, I can't do much
for her but share my leftover food and do errands that she's not strong enough to do..."
"......You're wrong. Satoko's happy."
"Huh?"
Coach showed surprise at my having declared that.
"...There are so many people all around her that really want her to be happy. She can't
possibly feel otherwise."
I spoke with a serious expression, quietly... but firmly, all the same. It was my approval
of his feelings... and my gratitude as Satoko's Nii-nii.
"...Thank you. Still, keep this a secret from Satoko-chan, okay? If she knew I wanted
to adopt her, she'd probably get mad and call me a pervert for wanting me to call her papa.
...Ha-ha-ha-ha."
...I wonder. Satoko may have been somewhat childish, but she was still able to empa-
thize with people. She'd call him that. I knew it. As if my feelings had gotten across, Coach
grinned, satisfied, and returned his gaze to the hustle and bustle before us. Her parents, and
her older brother.
...She lost her family, had no relatives... and was huddled up with Rika-chan, who was
in the same situation. Satoko Houjou. ...It wouldn't be odd for her to look at her life with de-
spair, but she didn't seem to feel that way—she lived energetically with a smile.
"...I want her to keep smiling forever."
It was a naive wish... and yet it was one that he couldn't help hoping for.
...So... the words that I spoke were the same.
"What a coincidence. I think the same way."
"Oh... You too, Maebara-kun? Then that makes us friends. ...Let's make a promise."
"A promise...?"
"It's a very simple one."
The Coach said this, giving me a grin.
"That we will never, ever... make her cry."
Tatarigoroshi-hen
It was short and to the point.

"...Uh, yeah. I promise too."
Coach nodded happily. We exchanged no more words after that.
...We just sat their comfortably, gazing at Satoko and everyone else having a good time.
She'd certainly lost family, but there were people watching over her. How reassuring must that
have been?
"...Just hypothetically... If you did adopt Satoko... what would you do?"
"Hmm, that's a tough one..."
Coach gave a wry, happy smile, then exaggeratedly tilted his head in contemplation.
"Well, first, I would get her to call me Master, and re-educate her in the ways of a
maidservant."
"...Huh... ......what?!?!"
How does this guy always pick the craziest time to say the craziest things?!
"U-Umm, Maebara-kun? I, well... I haven't said anything yet...?"
"W-W-W-What are you talking about?! I heard it loud and clear!"
"Oh, that's right. I clearly said I would put Satoko on a wooden bondage horse and
make her my meat slave."
"Ahhh, that sounds nice... Satoko-chan on... on a wooden horse...♪"
"Please leave the item-using play for after she's acquired the proper knowledge. It
would be very dangerous to go in with the wrong idea."
"I get it. They do always write on labels to only use things for their intended purpose,
after all."
"That's right. Kei-chan, you do understand. ...Then, with that, it's time for...~"
My hand shot out and grabbed Shion, smiling, waving, and about to leave, by the nape
of her neck!
"Hey, wait right there. Don't just show up out of nowhere and start saying crazy
stuff!!"
"Speaking of saying crazy stuff, I thought the Satoko love talk you were having with
the coach was pretty crazy too. I can perform a reenactment of the adoption bit, want to see?"
"N-Nwahhhhhhhhh!! You've been hiding ever since then?!"
"Kei-chan, you can't even beat my sister—you're a hundred years too early to challenge
me. Ku-ku-ku-ku!"
This was Shion Sonozaki. The younger of the Sonozaki twins.
...Though she hadn't a scrap of the reserved quality you'd expect from a little sister.
She was a villain no better than her older sister Mion. We met the other day in town and I
dug myself into a hole when I mistook her for Mion. Unlike Mion, Shion said she was living
in Okonomiya, so I thought we'd never see each other again... but to think we actually would!
My frankly displeased expression didn't change a bit, either. This must be what people mean
when they say something is like water off a duck's back.
"Shion-san, you came! I was disappointed because I thought you wouldn't make it."
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"Well, I couldn't think of anything else to do, really. I figured I'd come and tease you
all a little."
"...Coach, why did you need to call Shion to our victory celebration? How did she con-
tribute to our team's win—"
"Ahahahaha! Well, you see. I'm actually the manager for the Hinamizawa Fighters."
"The manager?! No way—then why weren't you at the game yesterday?!"
"That's because I'm like a ghost manager. Teh-heh."
She seemed to think I'd forgive her if she stuck her tongue out and smiled. She wasn't
sorry at all!
"The match wasn't nearly as pretty without you there. I won't tell you to come to prac-
tices, but couldn't you at least come to games to root for us like you used to...?"
"Hmm. I'll think about it. Maybe I will if Kei-chan joins the Hinamizawa Fighters? I
can't get into a cheering mood when there's no good-looking guys on the team."
"Hm...... huh?"
Did... did Shion just smoothly say something absurd...?
"S-S-S-S-S-S-Shioooooon!!! You little... Where did you come from?!?"
Suddenly Mion came running over, latched onto my shoulders, and pulled me towards
her.
"Ahhhh! It's Mii-chan's little sister!! Hello, Shii-chan~!"
"Hello, Rena-san. I'm honored you remembered my name—we only met once!"
"Oh, not at all. Thanks for remembering Rena's name too!"
"Cut the stupid greetings!! You're not allowed to solicit Kei-chan!! He's the hope of our
club!! Don't pull him out and put him in baseball like he's some kind of plant!!!"
Mion gave a low growl as she grappled my arm.
...She looked like a little girl desperately clinging to her toy.
"Ahahahahahahaha. Yep, Keiichi-kun is the star rookie of our club. We could never
trade him away!"
Rena's smile hid a nonchalant bloodthirst. She was blocking Shion's way, ready to un-
leash an ultimate attack if she got within two meters of me...!
...Ahhh... I felt like... this was gonna turn into a bloody battle...
"Hmmm, ah-hahahahaha! That's too bad. We'll leave the negotiations for another time."
"You don't have the right to negotiate!! Coach, why did you call Shion here too?! She's
a ghost member! She's been slacking off for the last year!!!"
"Ha-ha-ha-ha. I just thought it would be even more fun if Shion-chan was here. ...Yep.
It definitely worked."
...That was what he planned for all along. Mission accomplished.
"Hey! Kei-chan, come over here! We're all playing a game!! With strings attached, of
course!!"
"Shii-chan, how about you? The rules are simple and it'll be fun!"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"Hmm, should I? I'll just win if I join in, after all. I don't want to ruin my sister's
presidential image."
Mion, now irritated, turned around with a glare...
"......Mgghhhhhhh..."
"What is it, my sister? Should I join in to make this a battle of the siblings? For your
sake, I don't think we should—but if you want to!"
"B-Bleehhhhh!! I won't let you play, Shion!! We're leaving you out! Bleh!!"
Whoa... Mion just avoided a direct confrontation.
...It seemed like the twins were completely incompatible with each other...
"You won't let her play? I was looking forward to seeing you two face off."
"I hate Shion!! I'm bad against her!!"
An angry Mion dragged me away.
...Sliiiiiide.
"Do your best! I'll be rooting for you!! Go for it, Kei-chan! Yay~!"
Shion waved her hand at us, reveling in the bliss of teasing Mion. All right! Club
activities had begun... which meant I needed to clear my mind!! What was today's battle?!
Today's punishment game?! I'd take anything on!!
"Okay, Keiichi-san!! You should prepare yourself! We're... going all-out today!!!"
"Great, bring it on!! Satoko or not, I'll crush you all mercilessly!!"
"Ahahahahahaha! Rena will profit from your battle and fish herself up a win~!!"
"...Then I'll get all the manta rays first and ride them to victory."
"Hau! Rika-chan is flat like a manta ray~~~ I-I-I-I-I-I wanna take you home~~!!"
"Okay, everyone! We have a lot of people today, so let's play something easy and
simple! Today's game is...!"
Everyone who lost the game game dropped out and had to help clean up after the bar-
becue.
"Wah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Ahhh-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!"
Shion laughed more uproariously than anyone I'd ever heard when she saw my loser
face.
...Okay, okay, was my getting bombed out of the game really that funny...?
"Man, oh, man... Kei-chan's face~! He was like, how can you still call yourselves hu-
man?! Ahh-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!"
"Daaamn iiit... I had it all worked out when I bought up the scissors...!! If only... if only
Satoko and Rika-chan hadn't betrayed me...!!"
It was going great while we had maintained a united front... but Satoko had been
quicker to betray me than I her—she was just a tiny bit better than me!! Urgh~!!
"I warned you about trusting Satoko!"
Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun were unanimously wearing "I told you so" faces.
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...Incidentally, those two were victims of Satoko's traps pretty early on as well.
"...Damn... I was trying to do well enough to make up for you two..."
And once again... for the showdown, it didn't matter. Maybe this meant I still couldn't
match up to the other members yet...
"You were going to have the lowest-ranked member of the club play a punishment
game, weren't you?"
Shion remarked, as though forcing me to recall something I'd tried to forget, even for a
moment.
"Um... .........i-is that right...?"
"Come to think of it, Maebara-san, when you came up with the punishment game with
the president, you looked really heated up... What on earth did you decide on?"
"Mgh......... ugh..."
"Earlier, Mion told me to get an Angel Mort uniform ready. Does that have anything to
do with it? You told me to get the biggest size I could find."
Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun... were giving me these complex, indescribable looks
mixing empathy, pity, and the desire to see something scary, all at once...
"W-wahahahahahahaha!! Wahhh-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!"
All she could do now was laugh. Strangely enough, the more she laughed, the more I
felt like it was actually funny... Ugahhhhhhh!!! I looooooost!!
"Oh my... Maebara-san, what's the matter? You're smiling, crying, and howling."
"It's okay—he's just pretending not to like it. He can't hide his excitement at the oppor-
tunity to gain valuable experience using the punishment game as an excuse. Right?"
"W-Whooaaaarrgghhh!! What do you mean valuable experieeennceeeeeee!!!"
I held my head in my hands in agony... My state of mind could be summed up with a
three letter word. It was... *sob*... Coach gently put his hands on my shoulders.
...Was he comforting me...?
"Maebara-san. In times where you must accept hardship... you should imagine that
you're a domesticated maid. ...See? Don't sadistic things seem kind of fun now...? Yeeeah, it's
nice, isn't it...♪"
Red in the face and indulging in his imagination, still holding my shoulders, Coach
said "Oh, Master~♪" and started twirling around like a ballerina...
...I had to wonder what kind of word associations he had going on in his head.
...At the very least, it was much different than what was in mine. The first thing that
comes into mind when I think of "domestication" certainly isn't "maids"...
"...Tomita-kun. Okamura-kun. ...Your coach is pretty funny. I'm surprised he can even
be a coach."
Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun exchanged glances and answered with dry smiles. Then
they added that he was a really nice person most of the time—which is something you'd nor-
mally say about a person like that. The coach's questionable revolutions slowed to a stop, and
then his expression returned to a clear, calm one, almost making what just happened seem like
Tatarigoroshi-hen
an illusion.
...H-He can switch gears way too fast...
"Then let us start cleaning up. Maebara-san, you seem quite strong. Could you bring
the plates over to the wash basins and clean them?"
"Right, on it!"
I hoisted the dirty barbecue plates, each with slimy oil clinging to it, and looked for
the wash basins.
"...Argh, these... these are heavy!"
"Where're the wash basins? ...Over there?!"
Figuring I should make it there before my arms gave out, I headed towards it at a trot.
A lot of the adults who had been helping out were using the wash basins, so I gave up and
looked for a different set. I asked them, and they told me there were more right by the as-
sembly hall, too, so I decided to head that way. Rather than multiple basins, there was just
one faucet there. I initially thought it would be too small to wash plates as big as these, but
it would probably still be faster than waiting for a faucet to open up back there. I turned the
faucet and water much nicer-looking than it gushed forth. I put a plate under the faucet and
scrubbed it with my hand to try and rub it clean.
...It didn't go very well.
"Here you go. A sponge and dish soap. You can't wash them with just water."
It was Shion.
...She threw a brand-new sponge and a container filled with cleaner to me.
"Oh, thanks."
"You should've just put them by the basins and left it to the grown-ups. You're always
doing the right thing."
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...I got the feeling that wasn't quite a compliment. I answered her with a forced smile.
"...I was surprised to learn you're the manager for the Hinamizawa Fighters. I thought
you didn't do stuff like that because it's too much of a bother."
"Yes. It is quite a bother. That's why I've stopped showing up entirely."
"Didn't Coach say he wanted you to come back? You should pay a visit once in a
while."
"Ahahahaha. If I feel like it, I guess."
Shion made it sound like the end of world could happen before she "felt like it."
...Whoops. I couldn't keep washing the dishes while preoccupied with conversation, so
I decided to take the my task seriously. Shion neither offered to help nor got in my way—she
just quietly watched the water flowing from the faucet...
"Oh, right, I heard something. You were the star player in yesterday's game, weren't
you?"
"Satoko hit the home run, so I think she was the real star player. I didn't know she had
those kind of reflexes. It surprised me."
"She's totally different from Satoshi-kun. There's not much doubt that all the athletic
ability in the family went to her."
Shion smiled as she spoke, her eyes looking at something far away, betraying her remi-
niscence.
"...Satoshi-kun?"
"Satoko Houjou's older brother. You know, Satoshi Houjou-kun? ...Oh, right. You just
moved here this year, didn't you, Kei-chan? ...You wouldn't have ever met him."
I was a little surprised that Shion knew about Satoshi.
"Never met him... but I know a little. After their parents passed away... he transferred
to a different school, right?"
I avoided saying that he ran away from home, and used the slightly more vague words
that everyone else did.
"......Transferred? ...Who said anything like that?"
I hadn't yet realized that Shion's tone had changed slightly.
"Well, I mean... Who was it, then...? Yeah, I heard it from someone. That he trans-
ferred."
"...Who? You said that because you asked someone, right?"
"Who did I ask...? I don't really remember. ...Even so, he transferred, so that's it, right?
Not like there's a problem with it."
"There is one. Does that mean there's a record of his transfer? To another school? And
that someone saw it? Or heard about it?"
Around that time... I not only noticed how awfully caught up on this Shion was... but
also how startlingly dangerous her eyes had begun to look...
".........Shion...? What's up... You look really serious..."
With that, Shion seemed to realize the expression she was making.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...She took a deep breath, pretended to fix her hair, and went back to her composed
expression from before.
"I'm sorry. But, Kei-chan. You don't know much about Satoshi-kun, so please don't say
that he transferred, or anything like that. I'm serious. ...Please."
...I realized I must have said something I shouldn't have.
...But I wasn't immediately sure of what I should apologize for... so I just said one safe
word for now: Sorry.
"...I just sort of heard he'd transferred, and believed it. ...Was it actually something
else?"
...It was, of course.
...Preceded by his parents, he had left his sister and "run away." But I'd wanted to try
and avoid using the words "run away"... so I pretended not to know. Upon seeing my flustered
reply, Shion realized she was intimidating me, and lowered her voice.
"Ah, I'm sorry... I'm not blaming you for anything, Kei-chan. I was being a little harsh.
I apologize."
"......I didn't really mind."
That was a fib.
...I was actually a little scared, even.
...Was there something wrong with saying he ran away? Was there some sort of misun-
derstanding in saying that he transferred? But before I could ask her, she turned on her heel to
leave.
"Hey, Shion..."
"Right, good luck with those. Looks like your plate is last. That's the last one you need
to wash."
Her final remark reminded me of the dishes I had so easily forgotten about.
...So immersed in conversation were we that it got pretty late. I turned the faucet again
to get the water flowing faster.
...Wssshhhhh! I violently scrubbed the plate. When I turned back around, Shion was
no longer there. By the time I'd finished washing the plates, most of the other things had been
cleaned up. The air had cooled off before I'd realized it—and as the heat that had stuck with
us all day dispersed, a nice breeze started to blow.
"Okay everyone, can I have your attention?"
Coach got everyone together to make his closing remarks.
...And with that, another fun day drew to its close. In the end, Mion ended the game
with a magnificent victory. Satoko and Rika-chan, who had labored so hard to betray me, had
fallen into a huge trap afterwards, leaving them frustrated about more than a few things.
"People who betray others will one day be betrayed themselves. Never been more true,
huh?"
"Mgahhhh!! You're not the one I want to hear that from, Keiichi-san!!"
"Ahahahahaha! Rena didn't fall for anyone's tricks. That's how I got second! Second!"
Ryukishi07
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"...Rena doesn't buy into lies very easily. She has a sharp wit."
I'm surprised. She seems like she would fall for the first lie to come her way.
"Funny you should say that, Kei-chan. You desired to prey upon others, and right away
you became the prey instead! Make sure you don't fall for those dumb schemes that promise
higher returns the more friends you rope in, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah... I'll try harder. ...*sob*."
Even good friends will lay traps mercilessly and betray everyone in sight once they get
into a serious enough game!
...But despite that, once it's all over, they can feel refreshed and laugh together.
...It reminded me of how we were all such great friends.
"Anyways, I'm looking forward to Keiichi-san's punishment game! However, can you
really implement such a thing? I would think the store manager would have a thing or two to
say about it, no?"
"Hmm, I wonder. Maybe Keiichi-kun will be reaaally kyute. Kyute! I kind of want to
see~ Hau!"
"...I am on the edge of my seat. I will trip him up and make him wipe the floor."
"Ah, that would be great! Ku-ku-ku!"
"Ugahhhhh!!! Why couldn't I win now of all times?! Whenever I think 'I'll definitely
win today' and that 'I'll make someone else play the punishment game', I lose!! Is it not
enough?! Do I not believe hard enough in victory?! Uwooohhhhh...!!"
"Oh-ho-ho-ho! The wailing of the loser tastes like sweet honey!"
"...How sad, how sad."
Pat pat.
"This is how you get stronger, Keiichi-kun. It's like I'm looking at Mii-chan from last
year."
Mii-chan last year? What—did she always lose and moan about it in the past? How
very interesting—I didn't know our undefeated president, Mion, was once like that...
"N-No need to talk about that!"
Mion hastily covered Rena's mouth. Everyone watching burst out laughing. Finally,
Rika-chan pulled on Satoko's sleeve.
"...Okay. We should be going soon."
"Oh... Yes, we must go shopping for dinner, mustn't we?"
I wanted to keep talking like this forever... but it was getting late. We split up with
Satoko and Rika-chan and decided to get on our way home.
"All right, bye! See you tomorrow at school!"
Everyone waved to each other and split up for the short time between now and tomor-
row.
"Okay... let's go!"
We began walking down the tall staircase leading from the shrine grounds... As the
Tatarigoroshi-hen
sun started to set, the afternoon's heat began to disappear as though it were never there. Just
listening to the chorus of the higurashi was enough to make me forget about how hot it had
been today.
"Come to think of it, it's still June, huh? We didn't have a rainy season at all this
year—like, all of a sudden it's just summer, you know?"
Now that I thought about it, she was right. It was June—the season of long rain, of
hydrangeas and snails. I haven't seen a real rainy season since transferring here.
"According to the weather forecast, it's supposed to get more rainy during the first
part of the week. They were warning people about heavy showers. I hope it doesn't run into
Watanagashi."
"That's right. The rainy season's supposed to be rainy! Rena likes all the rain in the
rainy season."
"What? So much rain just makes me depressed! Hey, Kei-chan!"
"Huh? ...Ah!"
I was a little spaced out, so I was late in answering Mion. I was thinking back to my
conversation with her sister. When I said that Satoshi transferred... Shion clearly got angry.
...She was mad at me for saying something so careless. I mean... It may have been a
vague way of skirting around the fact that he ran away from home... but I don't think it was so
bad that Shion would need to feel mad about it.
...I wasn't really... satisfied with it. I felt like a child, completely ignorant of what he
was being scolded for. So my thoughts spilled out of my mouth in a very direct fashion.
"Satoko had a brother, right? ...Named Satoshi, I think?"
".........What?"
As soon as I said the name 'Satoshi', Rena and Mion both lost their relaxed, comfort-
able mood and made strange expressions.
...Should I have avoided talking about this? That's what they made me think.
...But I've already said it, so that's that. .
..And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested.
"What happened to Satoshi again? ...Did he move away?"
That was such a transparent way of putting it... but in my desire to know everything, I
feigned ignorance.
"...Umm.......... hmm..."
Mion turned around and looked to Rena for assistance. Rena looked between us, then
quietly and softly spoke.
"......Wait, did we not tell you? ...He 'transferred out.'"
When I said those words to Shion, she got upset.
...So I answered her with the same words Shion had given me.
"...Transferred... Who told you something like that?"
"...Huh?"
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I had only intended to borrow Shion's words, but I said it exactly the same way she
had—right down to the thorns in my voice.
...When I realized what I had done, I immediately tried to soften my remark.
"If he really transferred, there would be records of it at school and stuff, right? But
there's... is there actually anything like that?"
Mion and Rena... Their eyes grew wide—they were at a loss for words.
...I started to feel like I was doing something really bad.
......I thought they were only hiding the fact that Satoko's older brother ran away out of
consideration for her.
"...I'm not trying to blame you for anything, okay? I just... wanted to ask what hap-
pened to Satoshi, that's all..."
I wasn't trying to blame them. The fact that I had to remind them... even looked like I
was tormenting them with an impossible question.
...No, maybe I was actually bullying them. Maybe I had lashed out of them in retalia-
tion for Shion getting mad at me...
...This whole day had been so much fun, but now...
...Why did I go and say something that made all of that meaningless...? I couldn't help
but regret my own careless curiosity... That's enough—let's drop it now... As I was about to
say that, Mion spoke up.
"Umm... well... it's not like we were hiding it, or lying. I hope you understand, that's
not what we were trying to do..."
Mion's tone conveyed her genuine awkwardness.
...They sounded like the excuses of a child who'd been presented with evidence of her
own mischief.
"...Satoshi, well... ...He didn't transfer schools."
...Mion said, resigning herself. ...But I felt bad for pushing her to say that. So... it's
okay, Mion. Let's stop talking about Satoshi. Sorry for teasing you... I wanted to apologize.
......But right before that—
"He won't come back."
"...What?"
Unlike Mion's stammered reply, Rena was extremely clear and resolute.
"...He won't come back... What?"
"He won't come back home, ever since that day."
He won't come back... That was a very strange way of putting it. Normally you would
say that he "hadn't" come back "yet."
...At least, I thought you'd only say it like Rena did if he wasn't capable of coming
back. You wouldn't say it like that when talking about someone who ran away from home...
"...What do you mean, he won't come back? Where did Satoshi go?"
"Don't know."
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"..."
Rena's word choice felt very cold to me.
...It was so cold that I couldn't muster a response right away.
"...Well... she's right. ...After that day, Satoshi hasn't returned home."
Mion noticed the deadlock between us and hurriedly followed up on what Rena had
said.
"Well, that is... Everyone in the village searched for him, and we even got the police to
help us look. ...And, well... they started thinking that maybe he ran away."
"...They started thinking he maybe ran away?"
When running away from home... I thought you were supposed to leave a note or
something. So when Satoshi ran away... he would probably have left some kind of a letter
apologizing to Satoko—that was just kind of what I figured.
...But... from the way Mion was talking... it seemed a little different than just... running
away from home.
"...The police did an investigation. Umm... Satoshi had been earning money at a part-
time job, and had some put aside... And they learned that on the day he vanished, he withdrew
it all. ...And then, at Nagoya Station or something, they spotted someone who looked a lot like
Satoshi..."
He withdrew all his savings to fund his escape from home... was that it?
...It seemed consistent enough to me... But before I could say anything—
"I think that's a lie. Satoshi-kun didn't run away," declared Rena shortly.
"...Hey, wait. ...So if he didn't transfer schools, or move away, and he didn't run away
from home... Then what on earth..."
"...Stop it, Rena."
Mion whispered to her. Rena, however, continued without interruption. And... then she
said this.
"Because it was Oyashiro-sama's curse."
"......Huh? A... a curse?"
It took some time before I understood what Rena meant by that. Mion clicked her
tongue and shook her head a little.
"Satoshi talked to me before he disappeared. ...He said someone was watching him.
Stalking him. They even followed him home. He told me that when he went to bed, they were
standing there at his bedside, looking down at him."
"...Stop it, Rena."
"It's a portent of Oyashiro-sama's curse—there's no doubt. I think, somewhere deep
down, Satoshi-kun was probably thinking about abandoning Hinamizawa and running away.
...And Oyashiro-sama wouldn't allow that."
"...I said, stop it..."
"Oyashiro-sama is the guardian deity of Hinamizawa. He would never allow anyone
to abandon Hinamizawa and run away. I apologized for it! But Satoshi-kun probably didn't. It
Ryukishi07
Page 109
must have been! It must have been Oyashiro-sama's curse!!"

"...Oyashiro-sama's... curse...?"
I hadn't intended to repeat it.
...But the words came out of my mouth anyway.
...Oyashiro-sama's... curse.
"The police may have said he ran away, but I don't believe it! I won't believe it, not
ever! It's just a lie told by the self-important people in the village who don't want to admit it
was the curse! And whether or not you believe in Oyashiro-sama's curse, it's—"
Wham!
...Mion struck Rena in the head. And not in a joking way, either.
"I told you to give it a rest, didn't I?! I try to be nice, but you're pushing me to my
limits!!"
Pushing her to her limits... Actually, there was plenty of displeasure and anger in
Mion's face at that moment.
...For a few moments after being hit, Rena looked astonished.
...Perhaps the voices of the higurashi calmed her frantic mind—because after a little
while, she regained her original calm expression... We arrived at the place we always split up
with Mion.
...No one said a word until we got there.
...The voices of the higurashi just tortured our ears with their buzzing.
"..............."
We'd always split up with Mion here, leaving just Rena and me.
"Hey, Kei-chan. Didn't I promise to lend you some manga? Want to come over real
quick?"
...Huh? She promised that? However, I quickly realized it was a convenient way of say-
ing she wanted to talk to me alone.
"...Oh, I see. ...Okay, then Rena will go home."
Maybe she realized it—maybe she didn't.
...Thankfully, Rena quickly said she'd go home before us.
"Bye, Rena. See you tomorrow."
"Yep. See you tomorrow! Keiichi-kun, don't be too much of a bother, now. It's already
evening."
"I'm just going to borrow a few books. ...See ya."
Considering the fun day we had... it was a very insipid, lonely parting.
"Hey... Don't worry too much about before."
After a little while, Mion finally spoke.
...Quite some time had passed since splitting up with Rena.
"No, I'm not, really... ......I think it was my fault anyway."
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"...We weren't... trying to hide anything about Satoshi. ...It's just... one of those things
that we shouldn't mention, you know?"
At this point, I understood exactly what she meant by that.
...Judging by our odd interactions with Rena, I understood so well it hurt—that I
shouldn't ever talk about it again. Actually... if that's the case, then with Shion, too...
.........No, this is a bigger problem.
...Talking about it in the first place had been indiscreet. .
..I shouldn't have been interested in it at all. But that's why I really had to think about
it.
...About why everyone got so irritated...
(Idiot! Stop this, Keiichi Maebara!!)
...By the time I'd tried to warn myself, I had accidentally spoken already.
"I won't ask ever again. So could you tell me honestly? ...What on earth... happened to
Satoshi? ...He ran away, right?"
"....................."
For a long time, Mion remained silent... but finally, unable to endure it any longer, she
began to speak timidly...
"Have you ever heard about... Oyashiro-sama's curse?"
"...Just a little bit."
...I got the gist of it. I only overheard someone in class talking about it, though. Oyas-
hiro-sama was the name of the deity protecting Hinamizawa, that they worship at the shrine
we had the barbecue at today.
...And a few years ago, when they started talking about flooding Hinamizawa as part
of the dam project... One of the people worked on site died or something, and people blamed it
on Oyashiro-sama's curse.
...That's how it was.
"Satoshi's dead parents... They were proponents of the dam project."
"Huh... Wasn't everyone in the village against it? Why would they support the project
if they lived here...?"
The dam project, that would flood the entirety of Hinamizawa.
...I'd heard the village all got together to fight the terrible project... but it was a little
hard to believe there were villagers who were supporting it.
"...Well... there was a lot of stuff going on. But not everyone agreed to stand up to the
dam proposal. ...Satoshi's parents were basically the leaders of those who were all for it."
"Leaders of the ones for it... Satoko and Satoshi's parents?"
"Yeah. ...The government had gathered a lot of compensation money to exchange for
the construction of the dam. There were plenty of people who agreed with the proposal be-
cause they wanted the money."
"............"
Ryukishi07
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Aside from a few households, Hinamizawa was, in general, not very affluent. And not
because they were proud to inherent the land of their ancestors. It wouldn't be strange if some
people wanted enough money to start a new life.
...But even in that case, they would have had to hesitate to say so, given the situation.
It just happened to be Satoko and Satoshi's parents... who understood that and stood up to be
their representative. By that standard, you might say Satoko and Satoshi's parents were very
heroic.
...They volunteered to be hated, all to help those without much money who didn't have
a voice.
"And then. ...Their parents had bad luck. ...They died in an accident on the day of the
festival honoring Oyashiro-sama. ...So people started to think that maybe it had been Oyashi-
ro-sama's curse..."
...I thought back to what Coach told me today.
...They went to a nature park on a family outing... and fell from a cliff...
"...So... people thought even Satoshi running away from home was because of Oyashi-
ro-sama's curse...?"
".........Well... yeah. ...Basically."
It was a bit of an evasive reply, but I felt it was wrong to ask any further, so I didn't
press her for details.
"...I don't think I need to explain this, but... for Satoko, her parents' accident and Sa-
toshi running away... and all the business about Oyashiro-sama's curse... None of it's a very
happy story, you know?"
...Yeah, of course I knew.
...I could only nod silently.
"That's why... we're not mentioning anything about Satoko's family. ...Even if someone
asks about Satoshi, we just lie and said he transferred schools. ...You can understand why,
right?"
...They wanted to protect Satoko's happiness—her smile. ...As someone who thought
that way once, even for a short time... I really did regret having been imprudent enough to
broach the topic to begin with...
"............Yeah. I get it. I'm sorry I asked something so careless."
When she heard that, Mion smiled, seeming a little relieved. With that understanding,
thinking that I should get going, I began to make my way home.
...I could really have stopped by Mion's house, but it was already late. I'd stop by again
the next time I had the chance.
"Bye then, Mion. Sorry about today. ...See you tomorrow."
"Yeah. Good-bye."
We waved to each other.
...Then, suddenly remembering something, Mion called out to me.
"Kei-chan! ...One more thing... ...Not only around Satoko, could you keep quiet about
Satoshi with Rena, too?"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"............Huh?"
"...I think you realized earlier, but... For some reason, when it comes to Oyashiro-sa-
ma's curse... she gets extremely serious. ...Ever since she transferred here."
".................."
Yeah, judging by how Rena was acting earlier... it was clearly no laughing matter to
her.
...Mion had interrupted the conversation for us... But if Mion hadn't been here... what
might have happened...?
"...Why would Rena... be so serious about it?"
Not only Rena, either—but Shion too.
"...I don't know. Rena is—oh, this is a secret, okay? If you tell anyone, we're not
friends anymore."
Mion emphasized this as her expression clouded even further.
"I won't tell... What's this about Rena?"
"...She says she's been a victim of Oyashiro-sama's curse before."
"......Huh...?"
"I... well, it may sound mean, but I think it might be a bad case of a persecution com-
plex, or some kind of wrong assumption. But she says so herself, so I believe her. ...If I poke
fun at it, she gets pretty upset. ...Rena jokes around all the time... but she's really scary when
she's mad."
"...I get it. Don't talk about it in front of Rena, right? About Satoshi."
"Yeah. ...If possible, I think we shouldn't talk about this ever again. For her sake. ...And
for Satoko's."
For everyone else's, too.
...And if I must say, for your own sake too, Kei-chan.
...With her silence, Mion made sure I knew that.
"......Yeah. ...Okay. I got it."
"Thanks."
Saying only that, she waved her hand, and began walking away.
...I watched her go, a little dazed, and then started walking myself.
......Satoko's older brother, Satoshi. Had he run away from home?
...Or had he been a victim of the curse and disappeared forever?
......Whichever the case, none of this was anything I should have asked about...
...The cooling air forced me into self-reflection.
......I wanted Satoko to smile... Yet, my curiosity easily defeated me, and I frivolously
tried to step into the dark side of things in a joking way...
...I'm shameful. I wanted today to be exactly like yesterday. I wanted tomorrow to be
just as fun as today, too.
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Page 113
...So why did I go and do something like that... We were having a blast at the baseball
game yesterday. And today we had a blast at the big barbecue party, too. It was a lot of fun.
...But then I went...
...I went and almost nullified all of those fun times.
...I would have to be more careful starting tomorrow. I would put all this unpleasant
stuff behind me forever.
...Like hell I'm gonna let my enjoyable life end because of how careless I was today...
But the more I thought that I'd be more careful starting tomorrow... The more I couldn't get
rid of the ominous thought that I had already put an end to those enjoyable days with what I'd
just done.
.....................
...............Hey, wait.
...Calm down, Keiichi Maebara.
...The gears of destiny are freaking gigantic, aren't they? What happened just now was
trivial.
...It doesn't make any sense to think my life will be totally different starting tomorrow.
...But even though I understood it logically... the mist in my heart wasn't going to
fade... until tomorrow turned out to be as fun as today.
"...I'm acting weird. ...I'm thinking a little too much... about that conversation..."
I wished tomorrow would come already. I wanted it to make me understand how ab-
surd my insignificant doubts really were.
...The night was long.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Tip #4 - The Slacking Manager

“Shion-san, why don’t you help out a little?”
“Are you asking a girl to carry something heavy? This is why you still haven’t found a
nice lady at your age, Coach.”
“Well, you see, at times like these, here’s what people say. Ahem—it’s none of your
business.”
“Ahahahahahahaha.”
He was loading the station wagon with heaps of equipment we’d used for today’s bar-
becue meeting. All the fathers and sons who had helped were starting to get on their way.
“...All right. So, Shion-san... Why did you come all the way here? If you rode here on
your bike, I can give you a lift.”
“I did, but I’ll be fine riding back. I appreciate your consideration.”
“......I was glad you came today. Things don’t quite fit together without the manager
here.”
“Am I still the manager? I’ve been shirking my duty for an entire year, so maybe you
should just fire such an incompetent manager already.”
“All right. If you say you want to quit, then I’ll fire you whenever you want.”
“...Grr. That’s not fair. .........Let me go soon, please? Every time I don’t show up at a
game, I get an annoying phone call, and I can’t stand those.”
“If you were more honest with yourself, Shion-chan, you’d be far cuter. Your father
is so sad—where did he go so wrong as to deserve such a rebellious daughter? Oh, perhaps
if your father catches you in a big, loving embrace, you’ll open your eyes?! Well then, don’t
mind if I do!! Come here~~~♪♪♪”
...Coach was fooling around with all his might, but Shion just smiled into the distance
without responding.
“......Nothing’s changed. You’re still a weirdo, Coach, and everyone’s still lively as
ever.”
“...Even though Satoshi-kun isn’t here. ...Is that what you wanted to say?”
“............”
“He’ll come home. I’m sure of it. He has someone waiting for him.”
“......Hmph. ...Say whatever you want.”
“He sure is cruel, isn’t he? Going off to who knows where, leaving such a cute girl-
friend behind.”
“Heh?! G-G-Girlfriend?! Who?! Who?! ...Huh?!”
“Pfft... hu hu hu, ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
“...Pff... geez! Quit laughing already!! Coooach!!”
“Ha ha ha! Wahh ha ha ha!!”
Coach bent over and laughed heartily for a little while...
“We’ll see each other again. Please come and root for us once in a while, okay?”
Ryukishi07
Page 115
“If I feel like it. ...I have no desire to be the manager anymore, after all.”
“...That’s fine. If you don’t like it, I’ll fire you. I’m not the kind of person who likes
forcing people to do things against their will.”
“..................Grr. Okay, fine, fine! I’m sorry, I’m sorry! You win this round. If I feel like
it I’ll come root for you, so for today, just be patient.”
“Hu hu hu! Whoops, that time already? It’s past time to return all this...! I’m already
making them wait for me! I’ll be leaving for today, then! Let’s meet again at the next game!”
“Yes, if I feel like it. Good-bye, Coach.”
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Tip #5 - Preliminary Autopsy Report
The autopsy suggests the victim was killed in the following
manner.
1. Entire body bound in restraints.
Traces left behind from when the body seemed to have been bound
indicated usage of a specific restraining table rather than rope
or another common method.
Finger joints on either hand appear to have been bound espe-

cially tightly.
Highly likely that the table was either specially-made or home-

made given this information.
2. Both ears and nose severed with a sharp blade.
Traces of the restraint and other things seem to suggest there

was at least one more other than the one who severed these body
parts holding down the victim's head.
Possible that multiple blades were used, with one of them most
likely being scissors or shears.
3. Five nails penetrated fingers on each hand One long nail

stuck in each joint of each finger on each hand, for a total of
thirty.
The deceased's fingers were nailed to wooden planks twenty

square centimeters large; extremely likely these planks were
part of the restraining table.
In addition, it is likely that the table was originally designed

for just such a purpose.
4. Abdomen incised, intestines removed The incision in the ab-

domen is likely to have been a technique grounded in medical
methodology using a sharp blade.
Estimated that there was still no threat to the victim's life at
this stage.
After this, the organs inside the incision were dismantled and
removed.
The victim likely died as a result of this process.
5. Body disposed After fastening a dumbell to the victim's neck

using a commercial pet collar, the victim was likely abandoned
in the the Ouji River's third drain.
Judging by the dumbell's weight, it's highly possible they would

have needed at least three grown men to have disposed of the body.
To Ooishi-san.
Here's a copy of the preliminary autopsy of the slaughtered corpse

in the Ouji River.
Chief Shigeharu sees this as having a possible relation to the S-

group.
What are your thoughts, Ooishi-san?

Tip #6 - East Round 3

"What...! What's up with that... How do you have three dora?"
"You idiot. You're the one who flipped over another kan dora when you knew Ooishi
was in tenpai! That's what you get."
"Getting more dora was the only thing I could do after revealing the chun! You can't
discard a dora tile after a yakuhai is out. Nfu-fu-fu!"
Ooishi grinned meaningfully as his buddies, swearing, began breaking down the walls
and reforming them.
"...By the way, Ooishi-san. Figure it out yet?"
"What? ...Oh, the murdered body in the drainage channel. Any new clues come up?"
"Yes, well. You are the one collecting the evidence, here."
"I should have expected that. Who was the deceased?"
"Rina Mamiya. Actual name Noriko."
"Apparently she worked for the Blue Mermaid, a hostess bar on Shishibone Flower
Road."
"Oh, wow, that place, huh? A young leader of the Sonozakis owns it, yeah?"
"...Sonozaki—whoops! So it's related to the S-group. ...That mountain'll be tough to
scale."
"Rumors say the deceased had her hands in both drug dealing and money to be paid to
the government. And on a pretty significant scale, too, from what I've heard."
"A woman getting her hands on yakuza tax money... Sounds like a man's behind it. Not
a lot of women do that sort of thing themselves."
"Nfu-fu! Well, she's dead now. The dead can't have anything to do with it."
"About that... Ooishi-san. Her man's apparently alive."
"Alive? Then maybe he'll die soon. Vermin usually exterminate other vermin—I think
we have a very nice self-cleansing system going on."
"Anyway, her man... It's, well... Teppei Houjou."
"...Houjou? Who's that?"
"...Teppei Houjou. The husband of the housewife who was beaten to death last year in
Hinamizawa. ...I heard he disappeared after the incident, though. ...I get it—he was staying at
his lover's place, huh?"
"......And so the Sonozakis grow ever more suspicious."
"Where is he now?"
"He was living in a woman's apartment. He must have thought she abandoned him, so
he's been searching around shops and other gathering places."
Ryukishi07
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Tatarigoroshi-hen
Day 5
"Morning, Keiichi. ...My. What time did you go to sleep?"
I did not sleep well last night at all. My mother could tell from a single glance.
...I had the worst dreams. Nightmares, very ominous dreams, one after the other, again
and again. I woke up after each one... but could never even remember a fraction of what they
had been about. But... it was like those dreams were predicting something unpleasant... and I
woke up in a terrible mood.
Hey, now... Every day... has been calm and fun before today, right?
...Those days should continue on, unchanging... And yet... Anxiety was the only emo-
tion growing within me.
...Why was that?
...Nightmares reflect your own anxiety.
...They show an uneasy mind that which you wouldn't admit to normally...
...............Yesterday... I remembered the ominous conversations about Satoshi I had...
with Shion, Mion, and Rena.
...Right.
......My mind felt like it was in a black fog... because we had talked about that. If I... If
I'd lived every day without causing a fuss, my reward would be ever more peaceful days.
...I understood that... so why did I cause such discord?
...But... now that I thought about it calmly... A simple verbal slip on my part couldn't
possibly change the world. Yeah.
...As long as I'm sorry for doing it, and never talk about it again... there's nothing that
anyone can blame me for, right? Besides... how would my fate possibly change... just because
I talked about that...? Nothing was going to change. Yeah. Nothing would change. Nothing
would change, nothing would change.
...Hahahaha!
"That's a creepy smile. If you're still half asleep, then go wash your face."
I'd finally cheered up enough to smile, and Mom slapped me right back down—now I
was irritated again. There wasn't much time left before I had to meet up with Rena. I franti-
cally started to get ready to go to school.
"Have a good day. Watch out for cars!"
"There's barely any cars to watch out for! In Hinamizawa, anyway."
I dashed out the front door.
...The morning air was far more refreshing than the water on my face. That's right,
Keiichi Maebara. If you're sorry enough about it and reflect upon your mistakes, that's
enough! Now let's pull yourself together and get to school.
...And return to fun, enjoyable days. Where everyone laughs, plays, and just has a good
time.
...I'll be nice to Satoko as an apology, too.
Ryukishi07
Page 121
...Yeah. Wasn't I supposed to be her Nii-nii until Satoshi got back...?

"Good morning! Keiichi-kun!"
Rena, too, looked nothing like she had yesterday when she said that weird stuff.
...If I could only forget, then I could still act like nothing had happened.
...So I called out to her with all the energy I could muster.
"Hey! Morning, Rena! Early as usual today!"
"Morning!"
"Good morning!"
There was little time before the same old morning homeroom began... but Satoko and
Rika-chan were unusually absent.
...Maybe they went to play somewhere? However, looking over and seeing none of their
things... so it looked like they really hadn't come to school.
"...Hmm? They're almost never late."
Rena seemed to be enjoying herself thinking about what their excuse for being late
would be. Mion said something nonsensical as well, imagining how funny the reason they
were late must have been.
...I had only come to school to see their energetic faces, since I figured it would get rid
of these feelings I have... but the load on my chest remained where it was. It wasn't very pleas-
ant at all.
"Good morning, everyone. President, if you would."
"Everybody stand up!"
Our teacher finally arrived.
...Then, finally, I heard the pitter-patter of footsteps running down the hall. Clatter.
...Rika-chan was the first to run through the opened door.
...And then, Satoko... .........didn't come.
"You're late, Furude-san. ...Where's Houjou-san?"
It was unusual for Rika-chan to be late, but equally unusual for Satoko, a ball of en-
ergy, to be absent at all. Everyone's eyes were wide at the series of strange events.
"...Satoko... might be a little bit late."
"Has she come down with something?"
The teacher walked over to Rika-chan and they started talking in hushed tones.
"Ah-hahahahaha! Rika-chan is late, and Satoko is absent—I guess crazy things can
happen."
"You're right. But... I wonder what happened to Satoko-chan. ...Is she sick?"
...Why now, when I most wanted to see Satoko's energetic face...?
...The unease that had been building since last night tightened within my chest.
"Kei-chan, you worry too much~! Sometimes girls of her age can't help but stay home
sick. Ku-ku-ku-ku!"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"Mii-chan, you're not supposed to say that around boys!"

Mion laughed indecently. Normally, I would laugh along with her... but right now, I just
didn't feel like it. Homeroom ended, and we went to talk to Rika-chan in the short time we
had before first period started.
"Hey, Rika-chan. You looked so sad, so very sad when getting yelled at for being late~
I'll make sure to pet you today."
I was very aware of my gloom this morning, so I strove to keep my tone cheerful. I
petted Rika-chan's head the same way she always did... but she didn't cheer up at all.
"...Meep."
"...What happened to Satoko? ...Did she get sick...?"
For instance, she got a fever from playing around too much yesterday.
...If that had been her response, I would have accepted it in a flash.
"............"
But the atmosphere around Rika-chan felt somehow heavy.
...It was a little weird, and actually made my unease worse.
"Hey, come on, come on~! There's certain things she can't talk to boys about~! Kei-
chan, back to your seat, back to your seat~!"
Mion, acting just like a club president, pulled me back to my chair.
...Rika-chan's gaze immediately fell back to her desk, and she hung her head gloomily...
Rika-chan had said something odd... that Satoko might be a little bit late. They were... living
together, weren't they?
...Then she would have known for sure—she wouldn't have said "might." I didn't under-
stand why she was absent... and that made me all the more anxious. ...Damn it, what's going
on today? It's like... we started off on the wrong foot, and it wasn't going to get any better.
"...What's the matter, Keiichi-kun? You seem pretty down this morning."
Rena noticed how I looked and whispered to me while the teacher wasn't looking.
"......D-Do I really... seem that way?"
"Yeah. Even Rena is starting to feel down just looking at you."
I thought of jokingly saying "then don't look at me!"... but I didn't even feel like doing
that.
"Is it something you can tell Rena? ...I don't know what you're worried about, but I if I
can help, then you can tell me, okay...?"
I won't tease you. Rena said this, looking me straight in the eye.
"......Until yesterday... nothing strange had happened, and it was a lot of fun."
Huh? Rena's eyes widened for a moment, not understanding what I meant... but she
remained silent and listened.
"It was peaceful and fun. Every day was lively. ...I never had any doubt things would
stay that way forever."
"......Yeah. You're right. Every day is fun. I'm sure today will be, too."
Ryukishi07
Page 123
"...You're sure? How do you know?"

"Umm... well. ............"
Rena, feeling perplexed, couldn't think of something to say. I didn't blame her.
...What I was trying to say... seemed a little confusing, even to me.
"...When I think about it, I've been anxious lately. ...Like maybe, since every day is fun,
one day... all of a sudden... it would get really dark, like a light bulb turned off."
"...Yeah. ...Rena kind of understands how you feel."
Rena nodded gently.
"...We've always been taught... that it wouldn't only be good things happening to us.
...Sometimes I'm scared of what's going on behind the fun. It's a little bit sad, but... But be-
cause of that, we learned how to do our best to make sure that the fun never stops."
"...I see."
"So it's not a bad thing that you think our fun lives might not go on forever, Keiichi-
kun. ...Kind of like... Mm. Like if suddenly there was a volcanic eruption tomorrow and
everyone died."
"Hey, wait... That's terrible!"
"If you were the only one who survived the catastrophe, Keiichi-kun... how would you
feel?"
"...How would I.........hmm..."
...I imagined myself being that sole survivor in the ruins of Hinamizawa.
...Rubble and the bodies of friends lying in heaps at my feet.
...It was such an abhorrent sight. Was it sadder that all my friends had died? Or was it
sadder that I couldn't have died with them?
...I didn't know which...... but I'd probably cry a lot.
"...It'd probably break my heart. ...First... I think I'd cry."
"And then maybe you would think this. If this was my destiny, then I should have
made sure every day before this was as fun as possible, so I had no regrets."
...I didn't want to consider such a horrible event to be my destiny.
...But...
...............
"..................I probably would think that..."
"The fun times will end one day, and nobody knows when they will. It makes sense to
live each day to the fullest so that if it does happen tomorrow, you don't regret anything."
".........Yeah."
"It's really hard to think like that. ...A lot of people take their everyday happiness for
granted. They think tomorrow will be the same as today, so they leave things they could do
today for tomorrow. They leave the kindness they could have shown today until tomorrow."
...Rena was usually cheerful and silly, but right now she wasn't like that at all.
...She was taking my troubles seriously.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...It was a little reassuring.

"But Keiichi-kun, you realized it. ...I think that's a wonderful thing. So that unease you
have... I think you should keep it close to your heart."
"...Keep my unease... close...?"
"Yes. ...Everyone might die tomorrow in a big catastrophe. ...So you should be really
nice to everyone today. ......So when the end really does come... you don't regret it."
"...Do you do that, Rena...? Live like you would have no regrets if everyone died to-
morrow?"
"Yep."
...It was such a hyperbolic conversation, but Rena just gave me a nonchalant nod of her
head.
"...Rena knows... what it's like for the fun times to end overnight. She knows there's no
proof tomorrow will be fun, even if today is. ...I'm living... life to the fullest."
.........It seemed like Rena perfectly understood all the anxiety I couldn't put into words.
...And on top of that... like a reliable teacher, she showed me what to do.
...Ooh.
......Hey, Keiichi Maebara... There's no need to cry now...
"...Last night...... I feel like I had a dream about Satoko. ...I don't remember what kind
of dream it was...... but ever since this morning, I've felt... anxious..."
"Because... you thought seeing Satoko-chan's energetic face would cheer you up?"
...She was right on the money. If everyone had been here with smiles on their faces
this morning, then the murk in my heart would have definitely been blown to smithereens.
"...Then... if Satoko-chan arrives, you'll have to be nice to her. Actually, it's totally fine
if you play your usual pranks on each other. As long as you're having fun."
".........Yeah, you're right."
...So that even if these fun days came to an end... I'd have no regrets. I couldn't tell if
what Rena told me had been comforting or just made me more anxious. But...... it was enough
to make me think that if I saw Satoko again... I'd be honest with her.
Lunchtime arrived, with everyone pushing their desks together like always.
...Satoko wasn't here.
...Despite that, we had bento boxes for five lined up on our desks.
...Rika-chan had made a bento for Satoko too.
"...Was Satoko supposed to be here before lunch?"
".................."
Rika-chan was clearly acting strangely.
...We were talking to her... but it felt like... she was too far away to hear us.
...I'd never seen Rika-chan so downcast.
...So... the rest of us started feeling down too. Hey, Rena... I understood what she had
said before pretty well.
Ryukishi07
Page 125
...When we were together, we were supposed to have lots of fun so we wouldn't have
any regrets if the world ended tomorrow.
......And yet.... While I'd just resolved myself to do it, now we can't all be together...
What the hell...?
...Because... because it was just so sudden, wasn't it? I mean... yesterday was fun, so
who could believe... it would all end today?
...No volcanoes had erupted, and no earthquakes or fires had happened either! The
cicadas were making the same noises they did yesterday, and the sun remained bright in the
sky. It was the same normal day as always.
...So then... why... As I pondered, Rena's chopsticks reached in front of my face and
stole the fried chicken out of my bento.
"If no one else wants it, Rena will take it! Heehee, delicious!"
Rena tossed the entire piece into her mouth and began munching on it, her expression
one of bliss.
"...Tch, I'm such an old man! Rena got a leg up on me! All right! This old man's taking
this bit of steak here!"
"...Meep! All my food is gone except my rice."
Rika-chan, also behind the curve, smiled again and went for someone else's bento. As I
sat there, dazed at how quickly everyone had changed... Rena sent a wink over to me.
(Come on, Keiichi-kun. Live life to the fullest! That way, if a volcano erupts tomorrow,
it'll be okay.)
"T-This is serious! ...I'll be damned if dried plums and rice are the only things I have
left for lunch! I'm taking that meatball!"
I stuffed the meat into my mouth and constructed a clumsy smile. I played along, as if
trying to fool myself.
...But as I did, it rapidly became less and less of an act. Satoko still wasn't here... but
at some point, we had regained our lively lunchtime. We had fun, we smiled, and we fooled
around.
...Thanks, everyone. This was definitely the best thing to do. This way, when Satoko
suddenly dropped by, we could welcome her with our best smiles. The more I smiled, the
more I felt the anxiety from this morning clearing away.
"Wasn't there a proverb that went something like 'fortune comes in by a merry gate'?"
"I think so. If it's true, then this old man will roll around the floor laughing twenty-
four seven!"
"Rena thinks it's true. If you laugh every day, it'll be fun every day."
"......Rena has a way with words."
"Then... should we try it out?"
Everyone took a deep breath, then brought their faces together, locking shoulders.
...And then,
"Wahh-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha...!!!"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Everyone laughed uproariously from their stomachs... trying to laugh out all of the bad
stuff accumulating in them. By the time our bento boxes were empty, everyone was right as
rain...
Having heard our friendly banter, Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun walked up and tim-
idly spoke to us.
"...Excuse me... Maebara-san. Sorry to interrupt your fun, but..."
"We need your help with something..."
They grinned dryly and scratched their heads.
"...What could it be? Wanna know how to remove the censor bars in porn magazines?
By the way, don't believe what you hear about butter doing the trick—total superstition. You
can't use an eraser, either."
"...Wait, what?! Seriously...?!"
"That's not what we're here for!" said Tomita-kun, elbowing Okamura-kun.
"Umm, actually... Our ball got caught in the gutter on the second floor. We were think-
ing you might be able to reach it since you're tall..."
"I see. Asking an upperclassman for help comes with its own price, you know. I'm not
cheap! You can't buy me out so easily~!"
Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun conversed for a short time, then gave their reply.
"We'll give you the right to take a nap during class, Maebara-san. How does that
sound?"
"...What do you mean? I can sleep during class whenever I want. Why do I need your
permission for it?"
"Oh, no you can't. The next time you take a nap, we'll tell Sensei about it."
"Wah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!! I see! How sly!"
"Y-You little~~!! Where did you learn to bargain like that?! Grrrrr!!"
"S-S-S-S-Sorry...!! I-It, it was just a little joke...!!"
"Come on, Kei-chan~! Why not just cave in to your underclassmen's threats? Ku-ku-
ku!"
And now Mion was getting on my nerves... Suddenly, it came to me—and I took
Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun's hands.
"All right, I surrender. I'll get your ball for you, so give me all the rights to naptime."
"Huh...? O-Oh, okay..."
"Look, Mion. I now have the privilege. But you don't, do you? ...Tomita-kun, Okamura-
kun. Tell on Mion as soon as she falls asleep. Got it?!"
"Yeah!!"
Rena and Rika-chan began to cackle at
"Keiichi-kun's victory."
I... wasn't sure how the ball managed to get stuck up there, but it was planted firmly in
the school building's second floor gutter.
Ryukishi07
Page 127
"Hand me that stick. I should be able to reach it. ......Here we go... Urgh...!"
I took a bamboo pole and poked the ball with it.
...Damn, it's hard! Come on!!
"Oh, he got it! You got it, Maebara-san! Thank you so much!!"
The ball rolled down the gutter and fell down behind the school building. My under-
classmen ran over in that direction. Leaving me by myself.
...Mission complete, I guess. Sheesh. There was still a lot of time left until lunch break
was over. Guess I should go back to the classroom. I'd absorb myself in a silly conversation
with everyone and wait for afternoon classes. Just when I thought that and turned towards the
entrance... someone suddenly called out to me.
"Hello there—good day. Sorry for bothering you during your lunch break."
...It was a middle-aged man I didn't know.
...Or maybe I'd passed by him a few times, and I'd seen his face... but I didn't know
him. When his half-smile deepened... something within me... shuddered with fear.
......There was no basis for that. No reason.
......But... I shuddered. I was somewhat confused about those emotions... not quite un-
derstanding them myself. There was one thing I could say, though.
...Nobody but teachers and students should be at school.
...This person shouldn't have been here. I felt less of a tremble... and more of a sense of
dread... like a brilliantly-colored, poisonous caterpillar were crawling across my forehead.
...A feeling of disgust... that neither "itchy" nor "gross" could describe as the frizzly,
dreadful hair rubbed against my brow.
...I didn't even want to see his face. I wanted to jump backwards and run away.
...An unpleasant feeling... for which I didn't even know the cause. The other side of
myself has nothing but questions.
...Hey, what are you doing? What are you disgusted by? This is the first time you've
met him. It's rude to hate someone for no reason.
...No answers were coming.
...I held my silence, waiting, a damp sweat running down my forehead... When he saw
that, Ooishi thought maybe he was being intimidating, and gave me a relaxed smile.
"...Oh, please, excuse me. I'm no one suspicious, I assure you. Nfu-fu. I'm Ooishi—
from the Okinomiya police department. ...Wait, where did I put my card? ...Hmm. ...Huh?
What? ...This is... What?"
He fished through various pockets, then finally found his police ID and showed it to
me, grinning dryly.
...He may have been trying to use those clumsy-seeming actions to ease my anxiety,
but I could definitely say it didn't work.
...Why was I this nervous...? There was a reason, of course. If I wanted today to be the
same as before... then today didn't need someone who hadn't been here back then.
...The fact that a man who wasn't here yesterday showed up today... meant that today
Tatarigoroshi-hen
would be a different day than those before it.

...That would... mark the end of the fun and happy days... I gulped and erased that
ominous conclusion from my mind... Calm down, Keiichi Maebara... It's just an old guy, who
looks kinda perverted and came from the police department—don't go deciding that the fun
times are over...
......He just came here because of his job.
...Yeah, just for his job... If he's working... then he would normally go to the teacher's
lounge, right?
...The fact that he spoke to me... yes, it must have been to ask where it was.
"...Are you looking for the teacher's lounge? You just have to go through the entrance
and—"
I didn't want to look at this man for another second, so I started pushing things along.
...Ooishi, however, didn't seem to have any interest in the teacher's lounge.
"Oh, no. I don't have anything to do there. Could I get you to call a friend of yours, if
I may be so bold? Nfu-fu-fu!"
"...A friend? Who?"
"A girl. ...Could you call Satoko Houjou-san for me?"
My consciousness grew faint.
...Like I was about to pass out... Yes. .
..............My anxiety... was realized. The dreadful... disgusting caterpillar... was looking
at me... about to crawl into my ear. Its frizzly, dreadful hair... was touching my ear cavity......
That's how bad it felt...
"W-What do the police... need with Satoko?"
"No, no, no. It's nothing important. I just had two or three things to ask. I'd like it if
you could cooperate with me."
...Why...? Why... of all people... was it Satoko...?
...Why would a police officer come here in the middle of the day... for something that
wasn't important...? This man was strange. I could smell it.
...And it smelled bad—just a whiff of it made me want to grimace.
...I knew that this man... couldn't possibly be here to deliver her lost wallet or anything.
......I couldn't imagine what he needed from Satoko... but it had to... be something un-
pleasant......
"............Ah."
My throat stung with burning pain.
...Burned, like a parched, creviced wasteland.
...The wasteland broke apart deep in my throat... and brought out the words from deep
in my mind...
"...Um...... You may need something from her, but I don't think Satoko needs anything
from you. ...Could you please leave?"
Ryukishi07
Page 129
Ooishi probably hadn't expected that reply.

...He stood there surprised for a few moments.
..I did as well.
...I hadn't thought words like that could ever come out of my mouth.
...Things might still work out. This guy may have shown up out of the blue... but if I
drove him off, maybe I could make it so that it never happened.
...If I could do that... then I could get back... the peace we had until yesterday... I could
get it back...
"Nah-ha-ha-ha...! Well, well... You sure are strict. Are you Satoko-san's manager, per-
haps? Can I not see her without an appointment? Nfu-fu!"
"...If you just want to talk to her, shouldn't you just call her? ...Barging into school in
the middle of the day isn't normal."
"Breaking through a dam" would have been the perfect analogy to use.
...Why didn't I like this man? This man shouldn't have been here. I needed to make
it so that this man wasn't here. Childish, selfish emotions bubbled up from the depths of my
mind, and they each came out of my mouth just as it had been formed. Not liking the guy was
my own problem.
...But to say things so bluntly to him... Even I thought I was crazy.
"...Oh. You're the logical sort, aren't you? I'm not too good with people who talk like
that..."
Ooishi grinned and scratched at his sweaty throat. .
..Even as he feigned stupidity, I could tell he was irritated. Hey, Keiichi Maebara.
...Why am I... looking for a fight with this old policeman here...? It's not like... he
brought the gift of misfortune with him, all wrapped up in paper, right? Right.
...It wasn't like he was had brought a package of misfortune with him and was asking
me to sign here please... Rationally speaking, I understood all that... so then, why was I so......
...Finally, I outlasted Ooishi in our game of silence, and he gave a big sigh. Then he
addressed a few of my female underclassmen running around nearby.
"Oh, excuse me, all of you! Do you have a moment? I'd like you to call Satoko Houjou-
san if you could."
"....................."
My underclassmen tried to smile in reply, but they noticed the oddly stiff air atmo-
sphere around me... and seemed hesistant to give an quick answer.
"...Is she not here? Satoko Houjou-san?"
"Umm...... Houjou-san... she stayed home today..."
"Stayed home?"
...His face remained smiling... but his tone was clearly one of ill humor. Such conspicu-
ous spite caused my underclassmen, who had answered honestly, to cringe in fear...
"I see. ..Nah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Dear me, dear me. I'm quite unlucky."
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...He was smiling broadly, but the way he laughed didn't make me feel better at all.
When he noticed that his laughter wasn't getting anyone else to laugh with him, he immedi-
ately stopped.
"...So. You girls... Could you tell me the name of this boy here? Hm?"
He grabbed the girls by the shoulders so they wouldn't run away, and crouched down
to address them at eye level.
...The girls flinched away from the sharp, piercing light in his eyes.
...And in exchange for their release, they didn't resist and told him my name...
"I see. Keiichi Maebara-san, is that it?"
......He said my full name.
...That was all he said... and yet I couldn't help but shudder...
...It was like he had grabbed me by the collar just with those words.
"...Oh, could you be the son of the Maebara family I've heard so much about...? Nah-
ha-ha! I hear your father is a renowned artist. His works go on display twice a year in the
Great Ariake Exhibition in Tokyo, don't they? I don't know what sort of fantastic pictures he
creates, though. Then there's your mother—she seems intelligent too. I heard she was a high
academic achiever. She went to some girls' university, didn't she? It's amazing for someone
that age to have graduated from a girls' university. Could your mother actually be the daugh-
ter of a respectable family? ...At least, those are the rumors, and they say she's a cold person
because of it—did you know that? She only went to the very first neighborhood association
meeting, right? That's certainly no good. You can't disrespect your neighbors in a place like
this. Mfu-fu-fu-fu-fu-fu!"
...A sense of eeriness... slithered up my spine... That was... my first experience of true
terror. I couldn't believe it felt this terrible... for someone you've just met... to know everything
about you already...! Ooishi clamped onto my shoulders... and brought his eyes close to peer
into mine.
"In a place like this... it would be far better not to make enemies, wouldn't it? If not..."
...Oww...! Ooishi... dug into my shoulders with inhuman strength... gah...!
"...then if something unexpected were to happen, you might see some drawbacks.
...Have you ever heard of karma? It's like how a butterfly flapping its wings can cause a torna-
do. ...Grudges borne in strange places... could come back to you in ways you wouldn't believe.
...You wouldn't... like that, would you? Nfu-fu-fu-fu... Nobody wants to have a grudge held
against them. ...There's nothing positive... about making... enemies. ...Hm? What's the matter?
Your shoulders are very stiff. Should I give you a massage? See? Feels good, right? Nfu-fu-fu-
fu...!"
Ow...... ow, ow... owww......! This man wasn't just strong... It was like... he knew exactly
where to press to make me feel pain... Gah... Only four or five fingers were on my shoulders...
and yet the pain... made me want to bend over backwards... Urgh...! A few of the girls from
my class... were pretty shaken up... but didn't seem to want to help me.
...They weren't sure if they should go call the teacher...
...As for me... I couldn't take the time to wait until the teacher got here... Kh...! It... it
hurts...!
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"Would you mind leaving things at that? You're hurting him."

"...Hm?"
Behind Ooishi-san... someone...
...To my disbelief... it was Coach.
"...Oh my. If it isn't Dr. Irie! It certainly has been a while since we were last in touch.
Nfu-fu-fu!"
Discomforted by Coach's sudden appearance, Ooishi laughed scornfully.
...The vise on my shoulders, however, remained as strong as ever...
"Never mind the greetings. Please... just let go of Maebara-kun."
Ooishi smiled daringly and glared straight at Coach. He didn't release me in the mean-
time, of course...
"...I was just thinking of stopping by your place later, Doctor. You always seem so busy
and we can never have a good chat."
"Yes. ...If you want, I'll chat with you all you like. But, please be sure to have a war-
rant first. ...After all, otherwise... I can refuse to go voluntarily into questioning."
...Coach didn't display a shred of the weird behaviour he'd shown at the baseball game
and barbecue.
...He stared steadily at Ooishi... and fought so that he would release me.
...His chances were terribly bad, of course.
...Compared to the relaxed Ooishi, Coach seemed like he was being defeated mentally.
...It made sense.
...Coach had a somewhat narrow stature, but Ooishi's body was packed with muscles.
...It wasn't even a contest. But... Coach was fighting for me, without taking a step back.
Beads of sweat formed on his face... and though he paled, he was fighting for my sake.
".................. ...Na-ha-ha-ha-ha...!"
Suddenly, Ooishi laughed and let go of my shoulders.
...My body exhausted, I fell right onto my backside.
"...Maebara-kun! Are you all right!?"
"...Urgh... damn it... oww..."
I rubbed my shoulders where Ooishi had latched onto them... The pain from falling
over went away quickly, but this pain was lingering.
"...Are you all right, Maebara-kun!? ...This is terrible...!"
"Shit...... ow... oww..."
"I was just giving him a little massage! Nfu-fu! Maebara-san, aren't you overexaggerat-
ing a bit? Boys have gotta learn to man up. Nfu-fu-fu!"
I wanted to retort... but I couldn't think of anything witty.
"...Can you lift your shoulders? Are they in pain? ...If you're really hurt, then you
should have a proper checkup. Let's just go to the nurse's office...!"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Coach lent me his shoulder and walked beside me.

"What an exaggeration. ...I'd be the last person to do any sort of permanent damage.
Right? I am still an active police officer, you know. Nfu-fu-fu...!"
"Come—I don't know what you needed to be here for, but if you're finished, then
please leave! ...I'm going to complain about this directly to the chief, so please keep that in
mind."
"Oh, that's a problem, ain't it? ...Nfu-fu-fu-fu...!"
Ooishi-san waved his hand sarcastically, pivoted around, and headed to the car parked
by the school gates.
...And without turning back around, he got in and started the engine.
......Damn it... Who... who the hell was he... damn it...!
"He's a detective named Kuraudo Ooishi. ...And a hooligan. Everyone in the village
hates him. Maebara-san, you should be careful too."
...Kuraudo... Ooishi... Just like I thought... My gut instinct wasn't wrong... He would be
the one.
...The one to bring unhappiness, misfortune... something that would ruin our peace...!
Shit... I won't accept it...! All these fun days... can't possibly end just because some guy like
him showed up.
...I won't... I won't accept it...!! Coach seemed to be familiar with the school, so he
brought me to the nurse's office without much trouble. The girls from my class came along as
well, looking worried. Our teacher and the principal, having noticed the disturbance, came to
see what was the matter.
"Maebara-kun...! What's wrong?! Are you hurt...!"
"Umm, well!! There was this weird man in the schoolyard just now, and Maebara-
san—!"
Coach gently interrupted the girls trying to explain.
"...No. It looks like he just fell and twisted something. I think he's all right, but I
wanted to make sure. If it's fine with you, I'll borrow the nurse's office for a bit."
"...Hm. Please do, Dr. Irie."
The principal gave him a deep bow... It looked like Coach was acquainted with the
adults at school. He slid open the doors to the nurse's office, but there wasn't a nurse in there
or anything.
...I'd figured. I'd never seen anyone but Chie-sensei and the principal working here.
Coach didn't seem to mind the fact that there was no nurse and quickly made his way into the
nurse's office. He instructed me to sit down and started washing his hands in the sink.
...Oh, I get it. He's the coach for the boy's baseball team. He must be pretty used to
treating wounds with first-aid.
"Could you show me where it was? ...Are you still in pain?"
"No... It doesn't hurt at all anymore. ...I'm fine, really."
I rolled up my shirt and showed him my shoulder.
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...No bruise—not even nail marks. And yet it had hurt so much I thought my shoulders
would be crushed.
...Even the pain had disappeared without a trace.
"...It hurt so much, but there isn't a single bruise..."
"It just means he's used to doing that."
...."Used to it", huh...
"The next time you meet, don't provoke him. Nothing good will come of making him
angry. ...If you go home with a uniformed policeman by your side, your family won't like that,
will they...?"
"......Well, you're right..."
"Still... What happened? Why did you end up in a fight with him?"
"...He... came up and said he needed something from Satoko..."
"Huh? Satoko-chan...?"
...Coach's gaze lowered and his expression clouded a bit. Somehow, that gesture
seemed... to be saying Ooishi was bound to come to Satoko, and did... and that it was no
laughing matter.
"..............."
Coach fell silent in thought.
...Quietly, he took a compress out of the first-aid kit and put it on me.
"............"
"...Does he still plan on clinging to Satoko-chan? ...He's a persistent man, I'll give him
that—like a snake."
Coach mumbled to himself.
"...Cling? ...Does that Ooishi guy go to Satoko's place a lot?"
"........."
Coach didn't answer, but the lack of a denial served well enough.
...What on earth did the policeman (probably a detective or something...) need from
Satoko? What mistake had led a detective to cling to the sweetly-smiling Satoko...?
"...Maebara-san... Oh, right. You just moved here, didn't you?"
"...Y......yes. I did, but..."
"......Have you heard anything about... Oyashiro-sama's curse, and about Satoko-chan?"
...Well, I knew a few things about it, certainly.
"...Satoko's parents were dam proponents... and their accidental death was because of
the curse... You mean that...?"
Coach smiled thinly and dryly—"So you know..." he said, dropping his gaze. If I
recalled correctly, there was an accident on a viewing platform at the public park she'd gone
to with her family, and her parents died. And then... it was just big brother and little sister...
...and then she was with Rika-chan, and...... Umm.........
"When they lost their parents, Satoko-chan and her brother, Satoshi-kun, were given to
Tatarigoroshi-hen
their uncle and his wife to care for them.

"...Uh...... Oh, is that so..."
Their parents died in the accident and Satoshi ran away, leaving only Satoko to start
living with Rika-chan... I'd known that much, but this was the first time I heard they'd been
brought to their uncle and aunt.
"Their uncle was Satoko-chan's father's younger brother. ...Unfortunately, neither of the
couple were people deserving of respect."
Coach normally picked his words politely.
...So when he came out and said they didn't deserve respect, it really made me wonder
what kind of people they were...
"...As soon as Satoko-chan's parents came out in support of the dam, their uncle and
aunt took on a lot of the shame in the village as well. They would never have welcomed in
Satoko-chan and Satoshi-kun. ......I've heard that for the siblings, it was a very rough life..."
Bit by bit, Coach told me about the numerous agonies the Houjou siblings had suffered
at their uncle's house. As their guardians, their aunt and uncle sucked up everything belonging
to their immediate family.
...Satoko and Satoshi were crammed into a small room, and their lives were laden with
things that were miserable both for their bodies and minds. In the first place, since apparently
their aunt and uncle weren't on good terms, there was no end to their fighting.
...And as if in revenge for that, whenever they saw Satoko or Satoshi's face, they would
always find fault with them, scold them, yell at them, strike them, and take away meals as
punishment.
"...I still shudder to think about it. ...You've never known any Satoko but the energetic
and healthy one now... so you probably couldn't imagine her face being so deathly pale, a girl
always standing dazed in the shade of trees..."
......I couldn't imagine it, and I didn't want to—that was how I honestly felt.
...But at the very least, Satoko wasn't like that anymore. She may have had a miserable
life in the past, but it was different now.
......Something happened to change that life.
"...Last year, on the night of the Watanagashi Festival, their aunt died. ...She was beaten
to death with a baseball bat by a drug addict. ...Rumors spread of the curse having killed an
enemy of the village on the night of the festival. This death wasn't a simple homicide either—
they whispered that it was actually Oyashiro-sama's curse."
A few days later, the deviant arrested for drug use confessed to further offenses and
the incident was resolved.
...However, though it was resolved... no one knew whether the part about it being
Oyashiro-sama's curse was true or not.
"Their uncle is part of Hinamizawa, after all. He apparently grew incredibly frightened
of Oyashiro-sama's curse and went into hiding. ...From what I've heard, he's staying with a
lover somewhere in Okinomiya."
"......And Satoko and Satoshi... Were they released?"
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"Their aunt died, and their uncle fled. ...There was nobody left to torment the siblings
then, but......... as if picking up their torch, that man started showing up with alarming tenac-
ity."
"...That man?"
Then Coach lowered his voice just a bit as if being aware of his surroundings.
"I mean Ooishi."
"......Ooishi. ......The guy from before..."
The events that just occurred came back to me. The hard-to-describe ominous sensa-
tion I'd felt from him came back to me.
"...He's a little strange. ...The chain of incidents surrounding Oyashiro-sama's curse
have all been solved... and yet he alone doesn't want to accept that."
...Accept it?
...The incidents were all solved, and a detective supposedly with the police depart-
ment... didn't accept that?
"......People say that something bad will surely happen to those he gets close to. ...In
Hinamizawa, they think Ooishi is Oyashiro-sama's—"
"Kei-chaaaaaaan!!"
The door flew open with a rattle and Mion came rushing in. Rena and Rika-chan came
running in a few steps behind her, and then Tomita-kun, Okamura-kun, and a few more of our
classmates.
"K-Kei-chan...! Did Ooishi do something to you?! Are you hurt...?!"
"Calm down, Mion-san. He's not injured. I only gave him a compress just in case."
"Keiichi-kun, are you really okay? Okay?! Everyone was saying stuff about how you
were being strangled...!"
"Calm down, Rena. He just squeezed my shoulders really hard. See, there's not even a
bruise!"
"......Meep."
"Geez! What the heck were you all doing?! We're friends, right?! Why were you just
standing around?! Why didn't you help Kei-chan?!"
"W-We're sorry... President..."
Mion yelled at our classmates, baring her fangs. Tomita-kun and the others hung their
heads in silence.
"Quit it, Mion... Tomita-kun and the others weren't even there. Stop blaming them."
"Damn...... Damn it!! Ooishi...!!"
Mion kicked the floor with her heel a few times, her temper running hot. Our teacher,
overhearing the commotion, arrived as well.
"Hey, come on, everyone! Don't make so much noise in the nurse's office! President,
take everyone and leave, please!"
"Come on, everyone! Let's get going! Keiichi-kun is fine. You too, Mii-chan."
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Mion was letting her emotions get the best of her, so Rena stepped in instead and led
everyone out of the nurse's office. The detective from Okinomiya Station, Kuraudo Ooishi...
...It looked like the first impression I'd gotten from him hadn't been mistaken. Satoko's
absence had amplified the vague apprehensions I'd felt since yesterday... and Ooishi's appear-
ance basically sealed the deal.
"All right. ...I'll get going. I originally came here for Chie-sensei."
"...Ah... So you had something to do here... Sorry for causing you trouble..."
"Don't be so humble," he said, smiling easily.
"There was a side benefit to all this. ...I was lucky enough to experience so much of
your soft, silky skin, Maebara-kun. Hafuu~~~...."
With the usual (for Coach, anyway) parting words, he instead continued.
"Please excuse me. You weren't wounded badly, but please avoid putting pressure on
your shoulders or anything along those lines. If you get a high fever or it starts to swell, con-
tact me right away, okay? I don't think it'll happen, though."
"...Oh... That's right, Coach. ...Before everyone came in, you were going to say some-
thing. About what people think Ooishi is to Oyashiro-sama."
As he was about to leave the nurse's office, Coach placed a hand on the door and
stopped.
"...Right. They think he's Oyashiro-sama's servant . They're just bad-mouthing him,
though."
"...Oyashiro-sama's... servant?"
"...Do you know about the serial freak death incidents that occur in Hinamizawa every
year on the night of the Watanagashi Festival... otherwise known as Oyashiro-sama's curse?"
"...What... Freak deaths...? What...?"
Now that I thought about it... I did seem to remember overhearing Mion or someone in
class talking about it like a ghost story... On the festival day in June, one person would always
die, and another person would be spirited away (but they seem to call it "demoning away"
here...).
...What a fine story that was. I figured they made it up to scare me, but.........
...It was true...?
"...I don't have any idea who first suggested this. ...But at some point, everyone started
calling Ooishi 'Oyashiro-sama's servant'."
"...Why?"
"...Because the rumors go that he... decides the sacrifices for the curse every year."
Whenever June came around, Ooishi would start paying frequent visits to Hinamizawa.
"...Because Ooishi had been persistently questioning most of the dead or disappeared
people."
Four years ago, it was known that the victim of the dismemberment—rumored to be
the sacrifice—had been seeing Ooishi numerous times leading up to the incident. The sacri-
fices three years ago were Satoko's parents.
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...Right before their accidental deaths, Ooishi had apparently visited their home. The
one who disappeared two years ago was Rika-chan's mother. And again, people know that
before she vanished, Ooishi had been talking to her extremely frequently. The one who disap-
peared last year... Satoko's older brother, Satoshi. Satoshi, too, had apparently been approached
by Ooishi many times before he vanished... And then, this year.
...This time... Ooishi was trying to contact Satoko...?
".........This... This isn't... a freaking joke."
"They're rumors, Maebara-san. ...There's just some rumors to that effect."
"....................."
I hadn't said that because of the rumors of Ooishi being Oyashiro-sama's servant, or
his contacting someone foreshadowing who would be the sacrifice that year.
...It was because the ominous hatred I felt towards Ooishi was becoming... more sub-
stantiated, more real.
"Umm...... Today, Satoko... She was absent today, wasn't she?"
"Wait, really?"
That looked like news to Coach.
...I had thought he might known why Satoko was absent today, but...
"Then I'll get going. You should go back to the others and put their minds at ease."
"You're right. ...I will."
Clatter.
...Coach left the nurse's office and headed towards the teacher's lounge...
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Tip #7 - Research Notes
<The Houjou Family>
Every year, Oyashiro-sama's curse claims two victims.
This means that with four years in a row, there have been eight
now, but it's worthwhile to note half of them have been members of
this family.
Note: The curse on the second year, a certain falling accident,

involved the death of Houjou, a dam proponent, and the disappear-
ance of his wife.
(She was pronounced dead the following year after being consid-
ered to have vanished under perilous circumstances.)
The curse on the fourth year involved the death of the Houjou sib-
ling's aunt, who was then their foster mother, and the disappear-
ance of the elder brother.
The Houjou family is a poor one, and it's hard to say Mr. Houjou's
job went very well.
Apparently, upon reemployment via family connections, there was

a plan for them to return to the home of the mother's side of the
family.
For Mr. Houjou, the eviction due to the Hinamizawa dam project
and the payment of a large amount of compensation money was es-
sentially a windfall.
Mr. Houjou aggressively accepted the Ministry of Construction's

negotiations from an early stage and selected others from Hinam-
izawa who were also dam proponents.
It was rumored he had been bought out by the Ministry of Con-

struction for doing so, but the truth is unknown.
However, the dam's proponents were in the vastly outnumbered mi-

nority.
In addition, as the Sonoazaki family strengthened its own foun-
dation and promised support against the dam, all of the propo-
nents save for Mr. Houjou switched over to the anti-dam side.
At this point, Hinamizawa was completely united against the dam,

and Mr. Houjou was held up to ridicule as a stooge of the dam
project's proponents.
He was, essentially, used as a scapegoat for the anti-dam coali-

tion.
In the end, the dam project collapsed with Oyashiro-sama's curse

and the dismemberment incident.
However, punishment towards the bitter enemies supporting the

dam project continues to this day...
There are not many left today who supported the dam project, nor
who had a negative reputation at the time.
If there were any candidates left for the curse, it's the husband
of the housewife who was beaten to death last year, Teppei Hou-
jou.
And Mr. Houjou's daughter, Satoko Houjou.
Strangely, these two are the only candidates left.
Will this year's curse come down on the two of them...?
There is more than enough value in observing them both...

Tip #8 - Ooishi’s Post Memo
To Ooishi-san.
There was a call for you from Section 4's Chief Shigeharu.
Apparently the slaughtered corpse in the Oujikawa River is re-

lated to the S-group, as we thought.
We're still verifying what happened behind the scenes, but ap-
parently the deceased filled up dozens of self-created fiction-
al bank accounts to their limits with money from the S-group,
reaching around one hundred million yen.
It appears there were three or four men with former S-group

connections involved in this.
They've already disappeared along with millions of yen.
The deceased was tortured on that point for information, and

she was clearly slaughtered as an example to others.
There are apparently some real wizards chasing down the people
who disappeared.
They're also spreading letters to related yakuza groups not to

harbor them.
There's still no evidence that Teppei Houjou is one of those

people.
From what Chief Shigeharu has seen, nothing's been announced.
For such a dependent, the man wasn't trusted at all.
Teppei Houjou has left his apartment in Okinomiya and has re-
turned to his former residence in Hinamizawa.
Page 141
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Day 8
"...Is Houjou-san staying home today too? Furude-san, do you know anything?"
The teacher's voice wasn't critical... but Rika-chan hung her head, unable to answer,
and I felt really bad for her... The teacher called Rika-chan up and they had an exchange in
hushed tones at the dais. At first Rika-chan said that Satoko's fever had grown worse, but
everyone in class knew it was a lie.
...Because... every day, Rika-chan brought Satoko's bento with her.
"...Satoko-chan... I wonder what happened."
"Don't ask me..."
...I'm the one... who wants to know most of all. It was already the third day since
Satoko's first absence. Ever since then... I haven't felt good. Until just last Sunday, everything
had been so much fun... I had reached out to Satoko like a real older brother... and we spent
that time quietly, but warm and comfortable.
...So why had it suddenly been... flipped over...? The more I thought about it... the more
I thought that the world had taken a turn for the worse ever since Ooishi arrived. Thinking
on it now... maybe the strange apprehensions plaguing me the night before Ooishi arrived had
been a sign...
...Kuraudo Ooishi... Oyashiro-sama's servant...
"...Shit, that's impossible... They can't decide Satoko will be the curse victim this year
just 'cause he showed up..."
Just what sort of slip-up had I committed... to cause those fun times to end so sud-
denly?
...Yes, it was the day before Ooishi appeared. Shion, Mion, and Rena had spoken of
the curse surrounding Satoshi and his disappearance, and it was so sinister it gave me a bad
premonition.
...Such a small thing was the slip-up... that invited Oyashiro-sama's servant...? It was
absurd.
...I kept on groaning to myself... that I would never accept it, ever... I obviously wasn't
the only one suppressing my feelings.
...Mion and Rena were too. Everyone in the class was doing it. Rika-chan knew some-
thing about Satoko's situation.
...But she wouldn't tell us.
...Rika-chan still held a calm attitude, like a cat basking in the sun... but she was be-
ing unbelievably stubborn about this whole thing. She didn't want to tell us, and that wouldn't
change no matter how many times we asked her.
...Everyone understood that... so nobody questioned her.
"...If Rika-chan won't talk, then we just have to wait. And she might not be talking
because it's something not worth saying."
There was no persuasive power in reassurance given with an anxious face like that.
"....................."
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Mion was being taciturn... and just looked up at the sky with a somehow annoyed ex-
pression.
...I couldn't tell if she was unhappy that Rika-chan wouldn't talk about it with her own
friends... or if she was concerned over Satoko's well-being.
...And what about me?
...My anxiety was suffocating me, day after day. If someone else were looking at me...
then maybe I'd look annoyed, like Mion did... .
.....Tap tap.
...Someone tapped my shoulder. It was Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun.
"...Maebara-san. Do you have a minute?"
"Did your ball get stuck again? You guys have to get it yourselves this time. Don't rely
on the older kids for everything..."
I didn't feel like going along with them, so I was a little unsympathetic with my re-
sponse.
"......We heard a little interesting rumor."
"...A rumor?"
"...Yeah. ...I just thought... it might have something to do with that..."
A rumor... .
..About Satoko—they hadn't said that, but it didn't seem unrelated. They didn't want to
talk in the classroom, so they pulled me behind the school building, lending further credence
to that thought... The back of the school was damp and humid like always.
...Students didn't really come here because they wanted to. It might, however, have
been the ideal location for trading rumors away from prying eyes.
"...Tomita-kun, Okamura-kun. ...These rumors—they're about why Satoko is absent,
right...?"
"We don't know if it has something to do with it though... ...Or maybe......"
"...What on earth happened to Satoko? Is she sick? Or could she be... like really sick, or
injured or something...?"
"No... Actually... it's the opposite..."
"I heard my grandma saying... that she came to buy tofu at our shop yesterday."
"Oh—Tomita's family runs a tofu shop," added Okamura-kun.
"......She went shopping... to buy some tofu...?"
My voice sounds so stupefied even I can tell.
...It was understandable.
...I was worried about what grave illness or injury she had... when the person herself
had been out and about, shopping for tofu.
"So... how was she? Did she look okay? Was she wearing a mask, like she was getting
better...? Or was she using crutches, or did she have bandages on her...?"
"No... There wan't really... any signs of sickness or injuries on her, but..."
Tatarigoroshi-hen
I should have felt relieved that it wasn't an illness or an injury.

...But my anxiety wasn't going away.
...Because Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun's expressions weren't looking any better.
"She apparently came to buy one piece of soft tofu... but my grandma said it was
strange..."
"Strange? Why? What's wrong with buying soft tofu?"
Irritated by how roundabout they were being, I had to desperately fight that irritation
from creeping into my voice.
"Well, Houjou and Furude live by themselves, and they don't have that much money,
right? ...So they only ever buy the cheaper, firmer kind of tofu. ...They've never bought the soft
stuff—it's the most expensive thing there."
"...Soft or hard, they're both tofu, right? Maybe she just wanted to eat some great tofu
or something."
"W-Well... maybe, but......"
...I knew how transparent I sounded right then.
......This wasn't anything trivial—it was some kind of important clue. Not the cheap
firm tofu, but the expensive soft kind...
...Shopping not in the evening after school, but in the middle of the day.
...I couldn't figure out what those things meant. As I thought hard about it, Okamura-
kun took his turn to speak.
"...Me next. ......This is just a rumor... but apparently, he's back."
"He? Who? Who's back?"
".........Houjou's... ...uncle."
Satoko's uncle.
...Right, I think Coach told me about him.
...Their aunt and uncle had taken them in after Satoko and Satoshi lost their parents in
the accident...
"Houjou's uncle... They say he skipped town last year, scared of Oyashiro-sama's curse.
......He's really scary, and violent, like a gang member..."
Everything Coach told me... came back in bits in pieces.
...Right. The mean aunt and uncle who had tormented them all the time.
...I think he said... that after their aunt was beaten to death by the deviant, he ran away
to his lover's house in Okinomiya in fear of the curse.
"...Why would she be staying home from school and shopping for soft tofu in the
middle of the day just because her uncle came back?"
".................."
My underclassmen clammed up and looked downwards.
...There must have been some big hint buried in there.
...Even if I didn't understand, if I told Mion or Rena about it, maybe they'd know some-
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thing...
"Oh... My bad, you two. ...You were nice enough to talk about it, and I started ham-
mering you with questions..."
"Oh... No, it's okay..."
"Now we know that she hasn't been in bed this whole time, gravely ill. That's worth
something, right?"
...That might be true.
...But... it still won't... It won't make the clouds over my mind... fade away.
"Ah!! M-Maebara-san, over there!!"
Okamura-kun cried wildly, pointing over my shoulders behind me. Startled, I turned
around... and way on the other side of the schoolyard... near the school gate, I saw a figure
trudging forth.
......Ah!!!
"It's Houjou...!!"
I burst into a run faster than I could speak.
...So that, as quickly as possible, I could see with my own eyes that she was okay.
"Sa......Satokooooo!!!"
Satoko seemed taken aback by me shouting and running over to her.
"Oh! My, what is it, Keiichi-san...! You surprised me with all the yelling and run-
ning...!"
"Stupid, enough about me already!! Three days—what happened, Satoko!? I was so
worried...!!!"
"Oh-ho-ho-ho...! What a worrywart. It was only three days! You're such a worrywart,
Keiichi-san..."
From listening to her... she seemed like the normal Satoko, but I could tell she was
clearly acting strangely. Her smile was somehow forlorn... and her complexion was bad for
some reason.
"Houjou...!"
"Were you all right?! Were you sick or something...??"
Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun both expressed their concerns.
"Just... what happened, anyway...!? Three days! Do you know how worried I was...!?"
"Oh, I do so apologize. I was just giving the house a good cleaning. We haven't used it
for a rather long time, so everything was covered in dust..."
"...Huh? ...Satoko, what are you talking about? Why would you have to stay home from
school to clean the house?"
Satoko didn't answer me—instead she passed by me and headed for the entrance.
"Gosh. It is nearly about lunchtime, is it not? I am just starving."
...It was certainly lunch break. I couldn't force her to stop after she told me she wanted
lunch since she was so hungry.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"...Well, whatever! Rika-chan's been bringing your lunch for three days now! You look
like you can eat it today. Let's just go to the classroom, and put everyone's minds at ease!"
"You're right. ...I suppose I may have caused everyone to worry. ...Oh-ho-ho. It sure is
tough being popular!"
I put a hand on Satoko's shoulder and we ran to the classroom together.
...Up close, I was able to verify that Satoko looked somehow weak.
...All this anxiety was supposed to go away when I saw her again... That's what I had
thought.
..................But now, I actually started to have quite different fears. What... the heck hap-
pened, Satoko...? Everyone in the class, of course, reacted in the same exact way I had.
"We worried about you!"
"I'm glad to see you well!"
"What were you doing for three days?"
Our classmates showered her in questions.
"I truly do apologize for causing a fuss...! Oh-ho-ho-ho!!"
As she cackled, she chowed down on the bento Rika-chan had made for her. Those in
the teacher's lounge must have been informed of Satoko's arrival, because our teacher sprinted
into the classroom, her breathing ragged.
"Houjou-san!!"
"Oh, Sensei. I'm sorry for worrying you these three days! Oh-ho-ho! As you can see, I
am fit as a fiddle."
"...My... I was very worried about you! When you are done eating, come right to the
teacher's lounge. I have a lot to talk to you about."
"I must be in for a good scolding for those three days I cut class, oh-ho-ho...!"
Satoko laughed sheepishly while she scratched her head, and the rest of the class burst
out into laughter. The teacher was acting angry, but she breathed a sigh of relief at seeing Sa-
toko healthy and smiling as she ate her lunch with the class surrounding her.
"......What a relief, right, Rena?"
"Huh? ......Oh, sorry. Yeah, I'm glad she's okay."
...I looked at Rena and knew.
...She had a sense that something about Satoko was off too. I looked to see Mion de-
tached from the clamor as well, with a somewhat grim expression.
...But Rika-chan, on the other hand, was smiling from ear to ear. She spread out the
bento boxes one by one as Satoko finished them... Finally Satoko was satisfied, and after en-
joying a thorough conversation with her classmates, remembered that she'd been called to the
teacher's lounge.
"...It's such a pain, but I think she'll be angrier if I don't go."
"...I'll go with you."
Satoko rises from her seat, and Rika-chan runs over to her.
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"I do apologize, Keiichi-san. I'll be right back after getting scolded."

"R-Right. ...I mean, I could go with you too. We're all comrades in getting scolded in
the teacher's lounge—ever since the curry incident, right?"
"...That won't be necessary. ...Keiichi should mind the place while we're away."
Rika-chan's words were gentle, but the firm rejection was clear in her eyes. The two of
them exited into the hallway, walking shoulder to shoulder... After seeing them off, the class
breathed a collective sigh of relief, broke apart, and went back to their usual lunch break ban-
ter. We, however, couldn't go back to how we usually were.
".................."
Not I, not Mion, and of course, not Rena.
...They stared at the classroom exit Satoko and Rika-chan had left through, their ex-
pressions a little distant and grim.
"......We're all friends. ...Isn't that right?"
I blurted out something strange, so Mion and Rena turned around with dubious expres-
sions.
"I won't keep anything from my friends. So I'll tell you what I just heard a little while
ago."
I told them the stories I heard from Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun earlier about the
tofu shop and how Satoko's uncle had apparently come back. All at once, without letting them
speak.
"...And that's all I know. So if either of you knows anything, please say so. ...I've said
everything I can."
I ended my sentence firmly and looked into Mion and Rena's eyes in turn... Rena
stared right back at me.
...Her eyes didn't falter. Without even opening her mouth, I could tell she wasn't hiding
anything.
...Then our gazes turned to Mion.
"......It's not... like I was trying to keep it a secret or anything."
Mion couldn't seem to endure our silent stares... and began to talk timidly, as if she
was guilty of something.
"......It's just... now that you've said something, Kei-chan... I guess I have to talk about
it..."
"...Mii-chan... You know something?"
"...Well, I mean... I knew from the first day that Satoko's uncle had come home... That
he... just randomly showed up in Hinamizawa last Sunday..."
"...Why didn't you tell us that?!"
“......I-I... I'm sorry..."
My angry shout caused Mion to flinch away, look down... and hang her head uncom-
fortably...
"Keiichi-kun, it's nothing to get angry about. You're scaring Mii-chan."
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"Huh...... oh... sorry I shouted at you..."

...I lowered my head in apology.
...Mion accepted it, collected herself, and continued. According to her... her uncle's rela-
tionship with his lover, whom he had been with in Okinomiya, had collapsed.
...Without anywhere to go, he went back home to Hinamizawa.
......And... on that Sunday, the day of the barbecue... Her uncle ran into Satoko...... and
brought her back to the house.
"...Why.. did he bring her with him?"
"Because he's a good-for-nothing parasite. ...He can't even cook by himself, much less
do any cleaning."
"But... But that's... He brought Satoko-chan back to have her cook and clean?!"
I remember that she said... she'd been cleaning the house... when I met her back at the
school gate.
......A moment later... the pieces fell into place... into the jigsaw puzzle of unease.
...And as for... what the puzzle depicted, when I saw it from afar... I could see the an-
swer clearly...
"...Satoko was locked up at home... and tormented into doing the housework... Those
are... the rumors..."
If you knew that, why didn't you speak up?!
...I nearly yelled that at Mion, but hastily stopped myself...
"M-Mii-chan, is...... is that true?!"
"I haven't seen it myself... so I don't know if it's true or not..."
Mion looked down again... and, staring at the floor, grew quiet.
"......Just like last year? Like when they lived with their mean uncle and his wife...?"
"........................"
"......But this uncle... is completely helpless when it comes to housework, right? ...If Sa-
toko's that important, then there wouldn't be any reason to torment her, would there...?"
"...Keiichi-kun, I don't know what grounds you have for saying that. But you shouldn't
be so irresponsible."
Rena clearly and directly got mad at me.
...You don't know much about this, so don't talk as though you do—yes, that's clearly
what she meant...
"...Fine... Then do... do you know something, Rena......?"
"...I don't know anything either. I didn't know her uncle had taken her to the house
until hearing it just now. ...But... The situation is different from a year ago."
"...The situation is different... What does that mean?"
"Satoshi-kun isn't here."
"......Satoshi... really cared about his little sister. ...He always stuck up for her. ...He was
her shield... so that she would be affected just a little less by their mean aunt and uncle's fight-
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ing."
"...The mean uncle and Satoko-chan are the only ones living there now. ...Can't you
imagine how stifling that must be, Keiichi-kun? He only even came back because his broke
up with the woman he was staying with. ...Do you think a person who came back for such an
unpleasant reason would be able to treat Satoko-chan kindly?"
...She was right... It wasn't easy for me to imagine Satoko not being tormented.
"............Um...... sorry........."
"...Oh...... No, I'm sorry too. ...I sounded like I was interrogating you, didn't I? Hau~!"
An awkward atmosphere floated among us.
...The three of us remained silent and just stared at the floor... Finally, we heard the
principal's bell ringing. The teacher came back with Satoko and Rika-chan at her side.
"All right, all right, we're starting afternoon class! Class president, please!"
"Everybody stand up!!"
"Oh-hohoho... I'm sorry. How rude of me..."
I couldn't read anything from Satoko's vaguely sheepish expression.
...But given the clouded look Rika-chan was wearing behind her... it was tough to
laugh off the disquieting story I'd heard from Mion...
"Awright!! First time in a while everyone's been here!! Let's all have a roaring good
time with the whole club!!"
Yeah, perfect!! Indeed... in times like these, the best thing to do was obviously get
rowdy and scheme against one another in a club activity!!
"Ehehehehe! Just what I was waiting for~! Hey, Satoko-chan! Let's play!"
"There was that game you liked, wasn't there? What was it again... It doesn't matter
which! Tell me? Tell me~!!"
Mion laughed happily, took a bunch of games out of the club locker, and lined them up
on the desks. I think that was the first time Mion's ever let someone else decide on a game for
her.
...I could tell she was being especially considerate to Satoko.
...Thinking that whatever her circumstances, if we could just enjoy our time together as
a group... that might be some comfort, some diversion... Satoko seemed to understand her feel-
ings, too... and smiled vaguely, though pleased.
...But... her head slowly moved from side to side.
"I'm very grateful, but... your feelings are enough. ...There are... many things I need to
do, so..."
...Even Rika-chan hung her head in remorse.
"Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa! Seriously?! All the club members are here for once and we're
not playing anything?! Desertion in the face of the enemy—what was the punishment game
for it? What part of the club constitution was that in?!"
"...Stop it, Mii-chan. ...We can't force her to play with us."
"...Hey, this old man isn't trying to force her or anything...! I just thought it would be
Tatarigoroshi-hen
more fun for sure if we did something exciting...!"

"...Really, I'm happy you feel that way. ...Don't worry—next we meet, you'll see! I'll get
you all caught in a gigantic trap! ...Ohh-ho-ho-ho!"
Satoko, while insulting us, still said she couldn't participate in the club today and
apologized... She quickly put her things into her bag, and pattered out into the hallway, disap-
pearing... It all happened in the blink of an eye.
".........Satoko..."
Rika-chan stared lonesomely as her friend hurried home, unable to be part of club
activities... Silence filled the classroom.
...Both the cheerful voices of our classmates in the schoolyard and the voices of the
cicadas sounded like they were coming from some faraway world.
"......Pff. ...This is boring."
...The silence was broken by Mion's bitterness, as she began putting the games on the
desk back into the locker.
...Everyone just stared absently at Satoko's seat, now empty.
"...Rika-chan. Maybe you could tell us about it now?"
"................"
Rena made as gentle a smile as she possibly could and spoke softly to Rika-chan.
...Even without hearing it from her, we pretty much knew the situation at this point.
Satoko's uncle had broken up with his lover and come back home to Hinamizawa.
...And he had taken Satoko back home and forced her to do all the household work...
...And that all had to be pretty rough on her. Thinking this was common knowledge to
everyone, I skipped to the important part.
"......Is it... really bad...?"
...Maybe Mion and Rena... wanted to ask the same question.
...Nobody spoke—we all just stared, waiting for Rika-chan's reply.
"..............."
Rika-chan still didn't answer us.
......We were hoping for her to say no... but her silence was a bad enough sign.
"......Last year, was it? It was like this when both her uncle and his wife were here,
right?"
"...Yeah. At the time, they were mostly just being caught between their aunt and uncle
fighting. ...One of the ways we helped out was with the club, by reducing her time at home as
much as we could, but..."
"......He's making her do the chores now... so she can't stay at school either."
...Shit... Satoko's not a slave...! Who do you think you are... ignoring your own inability
to live properly and basically putting Satoko under house arrest...?!
"...When you think about it, isn't this really strange? We'd need a lot of circumstantial
evidence, but isn't this abuse? Can't we notify the police or something?"
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"...You're right. ...If we had evidence she was being abused, I think we could tell the
police. ...And can't we talk to the region's welfare people about this?"
Rena and I kept saying "police, police" as though it were nothing, but Mion's response
sounded like she thought we were a little naive.
"...It's easy for you to say that. Have you thought about the risks of actually getting
proof?"
"What do you mean... risks?"
"...I think it was two winters ago. ...We reported it. To the child consultation center. We
told them there was abuse happening, and to do something right away."
"Huh? You did? ...What happened?"
"A person came as soon as we called. ...She interviewed Satoko and Satoshi about what
was going on. And then their uncle and his wife, too."
"...I can understand asking Satoko and Satoshi... but wouldn't it be not so good to talk
to the aunt and uncle...?"
"They said they'd base their judgement on what they heard from both sides. Great of
them, wasn't it?"
"...So... what did they decide to do?"
"Wait and see."
"...What... What do you mean 'wait and see'?!"
"The uncle really studied up on this stuff. By law, you can't call it abuse unless some-
one admits to assault or child neglect. ...They poked and prodded Satoko and Satoshi a lot, but
it never left any real marks on them. They were pretty much eating three meals a day, and
had beds. And there weren't any recordings or something like that to prove they'd said or done
anything to cause them psychological trauma. ...None of the villagers had ever actually seen
them being violent, either. ...No matter how mean you are, you wouldn't act so violent in front
of other people. Nobody would."
"Then... what happened...?"
"The welfare officer apparently went to visit on the same day each week for a while.
The aunt and uncle knew they were being watched, though, and didn't torment them in any
way that would stand out. ...Of course... that wasn't the end of it."
"......You mean they... ramped up how malicious they were being...?"
Mion sighed and nodded.
"...Their aunt was really damn stubborn. ...She's one of the most spiteful people I've
ever known. ......Apparently she was doing some pretty disgusting things. ......Satoko... was like
a doll that did nothing but breathe by the end of it..."
...So what?
...From that conclusion... does that mean they never should have contacted child welfare
in the first place...?
"...Understand? Without proof of abuse so clear anyone could see it, there's nothing we
can do. ...In fact, it might even make the situation worse. ......We... messed up pretty bad..."
...After hearing that even public organizations, the one thing they thought was depend-
Tatarigoroshi-hen
able, couldn't do anything... everyone hung their heads...

"...In other words... until we have clear evidence of abuse, we shouldn't notify anyone?"
"...Mm. ...Well, I mean... Basically, yeah."
I considered Satoko's current situation. She was brought back to her house.
...It was a little... difficult to call that abuse. She was being tormented and forced to do
the chores.
...How she was being tormented would be the key... but without concrete evidence, it
would be difficult to prove.
...If she had some kind of external injury, that would work... but as far as we could
tell from today, she had nothing like that. And being forced to do the chores—that was a bit
weak, too... There had to be better evidence that she was without a doubt being abused.
...Ah, I know.
...Her uncle had ignored Satoko's existence for a whole year and went to live with his
lover in town.
...Didn't that fall under one of the definitions of abuse that Mion had mentioned—child
neglect?
"...Yeah. ...It's the perfect case of child neglect. ...What about that, Mii-chan?!"
"Um... hmm... ...If her uncle weren't here now, it could be recognized as child neglect...
But he's living with her at the moment, isn't he? They were apart before, but if he said some-
thing like... he had a change of heart and decided to live with her... then they might just 'wait
and see' again!"
...Once we reported it, we would need to be absolutely sure they'd interpret it as abuse.
...Maybe we needed far more concrete evidence... lest we repeat last year's mistake...
"...It's, well... It's sad. ...This means... we need to sit quietly and wait for him to be vio-
lent towards Satoko-chan and leave a mark, don't we?"
"............Mgh..."
...The only plan I could think of was, in the end, just watching and waiting.
...It left me in shock... when I realized that it would be the same policy as that of the
officials who had made the situation worse... As Mion said... reporting it to a public agency
would be a gamble. If we're going to pick a fight, it would have to be one we couldn't afford
to lose. If we were gambling, without enough money—without enough evidence, our defeat
would be assured.
...If we took the time to amass enough 'money' that we could be sure of victory... then
that would mean pretending we didn't see Satoko's plight for a considerable amount of time...
"......Sorry for bringing this up now, but... How is Rika-chan able to live by herself...?"
"......"
Rika-chan had lost her parents, if I recalled correctly.
...From what I'd heard, she had no relatives either. She was forced to live on her own as
a result... but her life was unfettered, free of restriction. .
..If she could somehow grant that freedom to Satoko, too...
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"...I mean, Rika-chan... you're living without any parents, right? ...Don't kids with no
guardians... have to go to orphanages and stuff...?"
"......Keiichi-kun... That's... cruel..."
"...I'm not saying it to be mean. ...I only asked because I thought maybe there would be
a hint to saving Satoko. ...Rika-chan, sorry if I offended you."
Rika-chan shook her head, not particularly disturbed.
"...Well, you see... It's because I'm considered the mayor's daughter."
"Let me explain... The mayor, old man Kimiyoshi, is Rika-chan's guardian. He got of-
ficial permission from the governor of the prefecture."
"Huh... So you're adopted?"
"No, not adopted. You can be someone's guardian without being in the same family."
"...Oh, I get it. ...Rika-chan lives by herself, but by law, she's considered to live with the
mayor, right...?"
"Yeah, basically. That's how Rika-chan avoids being sent to an orphanage. ...Actually,
it would be child and family services, not an orphanage."
"...Meep. I don't understand the hard things... but anyway, she's right."
"Interesting you should say that, Mion. ...You can be someone's guardian even if they're
in another family? ...Then shouldn't we have the mayor or someone else become Satoko's
guardian, if only on paper?!"
Then... she'd be in the same position as Rika-chan.
...And she could go back to her old life...!
"Too bad it won't work! ...I mean, her uncle is supposedly her guardian."
"...Wait a minute. You lost me there. ...What's a guardian exactly, anyway?"
In legal terms, a guardian and a parent weren't necessarily synonyms. So... whoever
was actually looking after her at home would be considered her guardian.
"...Then her uncle isn't her guardian. He left Satoko by herself for so long!"
"But if he insists he's her guardian, then that's it! It's been a few days since Satoko was
taken back to her house. Her uncle's been paying for her meals, since then, right? He is sort of
looking after her, so he'd probably insist. And even though he abandoned her for a year, he'd
already looked after her for the whole year before that, but the mayor doesn't have that kind of
history."
"...So then if both the mean uncle and the mayor requested guardianship at the same
time... the uncle would make more sense?"
"No, but he'd have a better chance! ...The term 'guardian' refers to the person actually
caring for her, right? The uncle actually has a bed and food for her, but the mayor would just
have his name—it wouldn't even be a contest."
"Then... shouldn't the mayor just start caring for her for real?! He'd be her guardian in
name and reality if he did!"
We just need to shelter Satoko! That might lead to her uncle being desperate to take
her back, but we'll stubbornly refuse him!!
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"It won't be that easy!! Satoko is a growing girl, you know? It's not like giving some-
one a cat—you're asking him to care for a real person!!"
"Then Coach!! What about Coach?! Coach, he's... I don't know, he's got a lot of money,
right? He even said it himself! Even if he's not her real father... Coach could become her
guardian!! Coach would... he would be great at taking care of her!"
"Stop that!! Stop thinking of Satoko like a pet!! All you're doing is talking about push-
ing her onto someone else! You need to think more seriously about how much responsibility
it is to care for another human being!! Did you ask him?! Did you get an actual promise from
him that he'd take Satoko under his care?!"
"...N-No, I didn't. ...But Coach would definitely say yes...!"
"Hah! Well, fine. Even considering the 0% probability of Coach saying it was okay,
then what? It still wouldn't work!! He couldn't become a guardian all by himself!!"
......Agh......! That's right... Coach... Didn't he say it himself?
...He was alone... so he couldn't do it...!! Sh-Shit!! What the hell?! Why is being single
such a disadvantage in this society?!
...Then, then... all you could do is marry into a wealthy family, couldn't you?!
"...Is there anyone that wealthy in Hinamizawa...? ...I'm not sure..."
"See? It's not simple!! It's hard to adopt someone!! And you can't go into it thinking
you'll push Satoko onto someone else just for a little while!! You're being naive, Kei-chan!!"
"Shit, damn it, what the hell?! I'm desperately thinking of how to save Satoko, and all
you're saying is no, no!! Don't you care about Satoko at all?! Are you even worried about our
friend one bit?! What do you have to say for yourself?!"
"That's...! ...I didn't... mean that!! But... it just won't be that easy, and...!!"
"It's not that difficult a problem! We just need to have some rich people look after
Satoko for a while, that's all!! Right... What about your family, Mion?! You always brag about
great it is being one of the Three Families or whatever, don't you?! From what you've said, you
must live in a gigantic house!!"
"M-My house...?! No, that won't happen!! ...My... my grandma would never allow it...!"
"Then what about your relatives in Okinomiya?! From what I heard, they're living in
luxury themselves!! There's plenty of shops your relatives manage in town too!! Your family
are basically millionaires, aren't they?!"
"No... no, that won't work!! Going to Okinomiya is even more out of the question!! My
father... He'd never let it happen, ever!!!"
"Hey, hey, hey, hey!! Normally you act like some high and mighty bigwig, and now
you're being all spineless? What the hell?! Are you just going to sit by and watch Satoko suf-
fer?!?!"
"T-That's... no, I don't, but...!! I mean... I want to help her as much as you! But... That's
a different... a different story..."
"How is it a different story?! How can you be so cold-hearted!! Your friend is in trou-
ble!! What are you if you don't rescue her?! You're our president!! Our club president!! Save
her!! Save her from this crisis!! If you don't save her right now, you're not her friend—you're
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not even human!! I don't know if you have any humanity left in you!! Are you listening to me,
Mion?!?"
My emotions all exploded out of me... and I didn't even give her a chance to say any-
thing in response.
...I just wanted to make Mion agree with me, even if I had to force her.
...If she did, Satoko's problems would be solved. If pushing her would solve the issue...
then I'd push her as much as I needed to!!
"Why aren't you saying anything anymore?! I'm asking you, asshole! Well? Say some-
thing, Mion Sonozakiiiii!!!"
"...............Mii...?"
"......mgh......... kh............ ...hic...!"
...Mion, looking down with a grim face, began sobbing...
...Her hands were clenched into trembling fists... and she rubbed her eyes to wipe
away... the tears...
...Was... what I said actually that mean...? This isn't the time to cry—we're in the gam-
bling room now, and we have to do something to save Satoko!
...And as I thought that, Rena spoke, her voice cold and incredibly calm.
".........Keiichi-kun. If Mii-chan's family won't work, then what if we look for another
wealthy family? I know someone in Hinamizawa who lives in a nice, big house."
"...W-Who's that?"
"Oh, come on. You've got a splendid family, and you're leaving it out of things?"
"...My... my family...? My family is..."
"You're friends, right? Save her, Keiichi-kun. Mii-chan is cold-hearted, after all. Since
you are so considerate towards friends, you should lead by example. Just the three of you are
living in that huge house, right? Then you've probably got plenty of spare rooms. You should
just give a few of the empty ones to Satoko-chan. And then her worries would all be over!
What's this? We're done already? That was pretty quick! Okay, great, congratulations on solv-
ing the problem!! Then are we done for today?! I'm going home, hooray, hooray!! Maybe I'll
go treasure hunting—I haven't done that in a while!! I was so worried about Satoko-chan until
now that I didn't feel like going to play at all!! I wonder what I'll find today, hauu... ............Say
something, will you?! Why am I the only one talking?! Say something, you bastard—are you
listening, Keiichi Maebara?!?!"
............Even the cicadas... seemed to cower in fear. Rena, her shoulders bobbing up and
down—and me, who had forgotten to breathe.
...Mion, whose face had gone completely pale, and Rika-chan, who was keeping silent
as if nothing had happened. .
..The atmosphere in the classroom grew tight and stiff... and it petrified us where we
stood. Rattle. The sound of the chair as Rena sat back down after having stood up... finally al-
lowed everyone present to take a breath.
"...............”
...Rena......... had shown me just how much... I'd hurt Mion.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
".........Rena's scary."
After a few moments... Rika-chan cut into the frozen air.
"...Yeah. I'm sorry, Rika-chan. Mii-chan, I'm sorry to you too. ...I don't have to apolo-
gize to you, do I, Keiichi-kun?"
"...............Yeah. ...I'm sorry. ...I'm sorry for being so unreasonable."
"Were you saying all that to me before? You said it while glaring at Mii-chan, so I
totally thought you were talking to her."
......Rena had such strength... that you wouldn't have imagined it normally.
...All I did was spout terrible things as a wave of violent fury passed over me—I
couldn't contend with her.
"......Mion... I'm sorry. .........I lost my cool."
Come to think of it, I didn't understand what had gotten me that riled up...
...I thought of myself as Satoko's Nii-nii... so I only had good intentions... that I'd think
about it a little harder than everyone else, and yet...
"Um...... mm. ...It's okay. ...You were worrying with everything you had, but all I was
saying was that nothing would work... so I'm sorry. I... did something wrong too."
Mion rubbed away the tears at the corners of her eyes with her fists and apologized as
well... We bowed our heads to each other... and looked down, without glancing at the other.
"..............."
Someone, I don't know who... heaved a sigh.
...Satoko being tormented... had been known about since last year. How had... the trag-
edy back then saved Satoko? How had they brought it to an end...?
...Right. ...In the end... nobody could do anything.
...All they could do was bear it patiently... and wait for those agonizing days to end.
...That's right. The one who brought an end to those terrible days... was some crazy
drug addict nobody knew. On the night of Watanagashi last year... their mean aunt had been
beaten to death.
...But it hadn't been done to save Satoko or Satoshi.
...Right. ...It really was... just a coincidence. Satoko's friends, who needed to do some-
thing for her most of all, could do nothing.
...The incident may have been a tragic one... but from Satoko's viewpoint... it was noth-
ing less than a miracle. Yes, a miracle.
...A miracle one could only wait for.
"...Is waiting all... all we can do?"
Not for evidence of abuse—not for something that minor.
"...Huh? .........Wait... for what...?"
"......A miracle."
...No one made fun of me for using such a crazy word.
......We couldn't come up with any solutions, so it was the only thing we could do...
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"............We're... powerless."
That one word Mion dropped... was the finishing blow.
...It was hot. .
..My body was sticky with sweat.
...The worst month... June.
I walked forward quite a ways... then turned right where the rice fields ended.
...I'd never come here before, so I had no idea where to go. I got lost several times, so I
may have taken quite a long way around.
...Maybe I should have gone back home and gotten my bike first...
...It would have... made everyone else worry if I'd asked them... so I asked one of our
other classmates where Satoko's actual house was. That house was originally her family's, ap-
parently—not their uncle and his wife's.
...Their house had been bigger... so they had taken it for themselves. A right here.
...Several houses all in a line.
.........Over there...?
...I was visiting Satoko's house... but didn't particularly intend to meet her there.
...I didn't mean to spy on the enemy, her mean uncle, either.
......Maybe I just... wanted to be a little closer to her... as her Nii-nii.
......Pretty words—but I didn't know if they were true.
......If what Tomita-kun and the others told me was right...
...it'd be this house...? When I recognized it... my feet grew heavy.
...What did... I come here for? My motive for coming here... was absurd.
...When Mion had said at the end that we were powerless... it made me sort of frus-
trated. I just wanted to do something, anything other than waste the days away praying for a
miracle.
...That's what made me come here.
...But... that was all. Even if I... I were to witness her uncle actually tormenting Sa-
toko... what could I do?
...Would I act like a comic book hero, punch the guy in the face, and take Satoko away
with me? And then live together somewhere far away?
...That was ridiculous.
"...I'm......... powerless........."
......The cicadas' voices, raised in chorus, sounded like they were scoffing at me. .
..As though they were saying... that if I couldn't do anything and wouldn't do anything,
then I should go back home. I heard a car approaching so I got out of its way.
...But the car stopped right behind me, its horn honking shortly once. Annoyed—hadn't
I gotten out of their way?—I looked behind me... and a familiar face was looking at me out of
the driver's seat window.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"...Coach..."
"Hello, Maebara-san. How unexpected to meet you all the way out here. Do you live
nearby?"
...Me being here wasn't normal.
...Just as I considered somehow giving him the slip, I noticed Satoko sitting in the pas-
senger's seat.
"...S-Satoko...?"
Satoko got out of the car and began unloading a lot of groceries from the trunk.
"...I happened to run into Coach on my way back from shopping. ...He said he'd bring
me home, so I accepted his offer."
"...She wouldn't have been able to carry all those groceries on her bike."
As Coach spoke, he pulled Satoko's bike from out of the back seat where they'd put it.
The grocery bags were big... and there were four of them.
...They all seemed to be packed full and very heavy.
"...Those bags... Sevens Mart...?! Hey... isn't that a little far to go by bicycle?!"
I looked at the bags... and saw that they were filled to the brim with sake bottles,
snacks that you'd eat with sake, and boxes of cigarettes.
...Their weight was one thing... but their contents were nothing less than luxury items...
"......I made it thanks to Coach... He helped me out. ...It was a little... difficult going up
those hills."
Satoko gave Coach a smile filled with gratitude... but it was incredibly awkward and
even heartrending...
"Satoko...... These groceries... aren't for dinner tonight, are they...?"
"...Of course not. ...I do not drink sake, and I hate snacks. ...Of course I don't smoke,
either..."
...He... he made Satoko go to a distant store by herself on her bike... So she could buy
dumb shit like this...? And what was the uncle doing right now, anyway? He must have been
working up a good sweat at this very moment if he needed to send Satoko out by herself,
right...?! If not... then how much... how much had Satoko suffered for no reason...?!
...I hadn't intended to voice my feelings.
...But... they may have made it into my face. Coach might have noticed, because he
clapped me on the shoulder... Just then, one of the house windows clattered open... and the
face of a vulgar man, the very sight of which made me immediately avert my eyes, emerged
from within it...
...There were no self-introductions necessary. .
..My gut told me... that this was the uncle in question. The first thing out of his mouth
should have been words of gratitude for Satoko...
"Satokoo!! You left the heat for the sake on when you left, you halfwit!!"
"...I-I'm sorry... But you... told me to go right away..."
"You idiot!! All that brewing I did for nothing! Idiot!!"
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"...I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry...!"
Satoko miserably... apologized over and over, bowing again and again...
...She could be perfectly described... as a small animal.
...I had no idea... what was happening.
...Satoko finished shopping... for all this heavy stuff that wasn't even for dinner!
...She only managed to come back because she ran into Coach and he drove her home...
If she hadn't been found by him... She'd surely... still be by herself... panting and moaning,
pedaling her bicycle... up that steep hill. What was with those words... those horrible, sleazy
words... that he said to Satoko?!
...In what country's dictionary... did it tell him to say such things... to a young girl
who'd just finished shopping?!
...My anger, of course, wouldn't reach him.
...The uncle displayed no interest in me, instead shouting at Coach.
"......Oh. If it isn't Doctor Irie! Hallo, hallo! Why don't you come on inside too? We're in
the last round, so you can get in right away. A hundred yen per thousand points, and anything
goes."
"...No... I'll pass, thank you. I just ran into Satoko-chan and gave her a lift is, all. I'll be
leaving now."
"Aww, nah~ Come play a round! You've got a lot of money, yeah? Dah-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
...I didn't even understand what her uncle and Coach were talking about. But I knew
one thing for sure... none of what he'd just said had been to thank Satoko in any way.
"Satoko, could you bring us the damn snacks?! And start gettin' those beers chilled
too. Go get us some cold ones from the fridge!!"
"Tecchan, you're so harsh on her. She looks so sad, you should take better care of her!"
"This is how I gotta treat her. ...She's been like this since she was with my bro. Spoil
her and she ain't gonna listen to a damn thing you say... Shit."
"Whatever, it's your draw, Tecchan!"
"Tsubaki-san declared riichi too."
"...Sorry, sorry. ...What? You in riichi again, Tsubaki..."
It looked like it wasn't just her uncle—some of his friends were over.
...Hey, wait... What was he— no, what were they doing...? Flinging rude words left and
right... making Satoko go shopping for your beer... What were they doing?!
"My uncle's friends came from town... and they're playing mahjong. ...He told me to
prepare dinner for them as well."
"Wha...... what... the hell...?"
Mahjong?! He called his friends over... for mahjong?!
...They were too busy playing... so they sent Satoko... to buy them a crapload of booze
from a faraway store... And the first thing he said to her... was how she left the gas on?! What
the hell, what the hell—what the hell?!
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"What... does that guy... think he's doing?! Who could get lost in some dumb game of...
mahjong... and send Satoko to buy all this stuff?!"
...Even though Coach was listening... he pretended he wasn't. There was a line of
heavy-looking shopping bags lined up on the ground next to the trunk.
"...Maebara-san, you help too, please. You're a boy—you get to carry this heavy one."
"Coach!! You're gonna let this slide?! This is completely...!!"
...Coach pretended he hadn't heard that violent outburst, either.
...When I thought about it later, his reaction might have been the best thing he could do
in that situation...
"...I'll carry two of them myself. ...Come on. ...Help us carry them, please."
The bags were packed to the brim with bottles of sake and bar snacks.
...They were so heavy.
...And... so filthy, so unfair.
...They weren't just heavy in terms of weight... they made me feel mortified... Nothing
could have been heavier than that...
"...Keiichi-san, there's no need to push yourself. I'll carry it..."
Satoko mistook my biting back the humiliation as grimacing under the weight... and
offered to help.
"......Stupid... Don't... underestimate me..."
...Satoko had never looked down on my physical strength in the slightest.
...Guh...... grah......
"...Coach... I'm sorry for you too. ...It must be heavy..."
“No, not at all...” answered Coach, smiling vaguely.
...Coolly.
...But I, and I alone, knew.
...Coach was an adult, so he just knew how to keep his feelings from showing.
...There was even more anger than I was feeling... burning deep in his eyes.
"...Well... Haha. ...It is heavy."
............Guh......... shit...... shit...! It wasn't very far to the doorstep of Satoko's house... but
the bags squeezed my palms... and started leaving red marks.
"............Guh..."
Fury welled up in me, and the back of my throat stung.
...But... even if it all came gushing out... it wouldn't solve anything.
......So... Just tightly gritting my teeth... was as much as I could do...
"...Really, thank you so much. ...Both of you. You really helped me here."
After we carried them to the back door, Satoko said that was enough.
...Occasionally we'd hear the repulsive laughing of her uncle and her friends from
within... and my insides would seethe.
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...I knew they weren't ridiculing us. And... that was why it made me so mad.
...They'd made Satoko shop for all this heavy, selfish stuff, then ignored her and
laughed amongst themselves as they pleased... It was deeply aggravating.
...Of course, Coach had to have felt the same way. But... if he accidentally let his feel-
ings slip onto his face... he'd only cause Satoko more worry. .
..He knew all that... and spoke coolly... as if to say he didn't care.
"......Not at all. I'm happy I could be a bit of help for you. ...If there's anything else I
can help with, please, tell me."
"Yes. ......I really am happy you feel that way."
...That he feels that way.
...Those words... were sad.
...Satoko herself... was sad... and resigned... that we could only help her so much.
...But she was right.
...No matter how much Coach or I want to help Satoko... this was as much as we could
do.
......I felt absolutely... ashamed... at not having the power to help her any more than
this... Burning, boiling emotions were bubbling up within me... and rising into my throat...
Trembling all over... I almost started to cry from my fury...
"......Me too... If there's anything I can do... I'll help you whenever you need. ...So,
umm... hang in there..."
I wanted to at least... give her those trite words, saying that I'd help her whenever she
wanted.
"...Yes. Thank you very much. ...I'm happy just that... you came all the way here when
you didn't need to."
...Satoko seemed to have guessed... What I was doing in a place like this... when my
house was in the opposite direction from school.
"...All right. You should get going. ...They're drunk right now, so there's no telling what
they'll get mad at you for."
She felt guilty getting us involved... after we'd helped her.
...Because she wanted to be the only one to suffer this misfortune.
...That's how it looked... and it hurt. I handed my supermarket bag over to Satoko.
...And then, I noticed on the back of Satoko's hand... there was something that looked
like a bruise.
"...Hey, Satoko... What's... what the heck is that bruise?!"
...I knew as much as anyone else how transparent that sounded.
...I didn't need to hear it from Satoko... to know how this bruise... came to be.
"......I just slipped on the stairs and hit it a little. Please, pay it no mind."
"......Y-You're lying...!!"
Coach nudged me in the back. And then he put his index finger to his mouth... to chide
Tatarigoroshi-hen
me forbeing so loud.
"Really, thank you so much. ...Until tomorrow. ...I hope we can see each other at
school."
"T-That's not... what I'm talking about!! I asked you how you got that bruise on your
hand!! ......Ahh... ah...!!"
...The evening glow finally got to a point... where I could see... the other concealed,
oval-shaped bruises and traces of swelling.
...On her neck... and her legs...... and other places too...!
"...I fell down the stairs! ...Hohohoho."
The very moment... my violent, rampaging emotions were about to burst their way out
of my throat... I found my mouth being tightly clamped down on...
"Mmnnmff!! Nfmfmfmmmmnfff!!!"
Coach was... pressing down on my mouth from behind... wrapping around me tightly
with his hands. Because of that, I couldn't say anything.
...I could only groan.
...Which I did. That was all I could do. I needed to expel all the magma sitting deep
within me.
...Because otherwise I'd surely explode into a million pieces that very moment... So I
groaned. I groaned. From my mouth. From my whole body. While heat fell in drops from my
eyes. I groaned and groaned... I groaned to the point of exhaustion.
"Mggggghhhhh!! Gmhmhmhhmmmmmnnn...!! Gghghhhohoooohhoooohhhhhh!!! ...!!!"
...I wrung absolutely everything out of myself.
...Even having lost my voice... I was still... wringing it all out......
"......I understand how you feel...!! I really do, Maebara-san!! ...Please... please just en-
dure it for now...! Please, I'm asking you... Maebara-san...!!"
Endure it for now?! And then what, huh?! What would happen to her... to Satoko?! Her
body and mind were wounded... and she was being made to suffer like this...
...Can you not even... even let me howl in vain at it?! Is that it, Coach?! Are we
this powerless?! So powerless... that we can't even fucking scream from the bottom of our
hearts...?!
......The voices of the higurashi... made me calm down. I didn't know... how long it had
been. Satoko... abruptly... gave a slight bow.
"...Thank you very much, Keiichi-san."
"............Satoko..."
"...You... looked a lot like my real Nii-nii just now. ...My real Nii-nii... may not be here
anymore...... but I have another Nii-nii named Keiichi-san."
"......Yeah, you got it... ...I'm... your Nii-nii. ...And when you're... in pain... I'll help you
no matter what... Your Nii-nii... will rescue you for sure..."
...Satoshi Houjou... you fucking idiot!! If not now, then when?! Satoko... she's never
been in more pain in her life!! If her Nii-nii... doesn't save her now... then when will he?! Why
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did you run away?! Why did you abandon her?!? Why did you leave Satoko behind?!? You
don't... have any right... to call yourself Satoko's Nii-nii!!!
"......I... I won't run away..."
"...Huh...?"
"...I definitely won't...... run away. ...I won't run away and abandon you... like Satoshi
did! No way...!! I will not... abandon you!!!"
Slip.
......Tears... trickled down from Satoko's eyes. And then... she narrowed her eyes... into a
smile.
"Good-bye... Nii-nii."
Satoko took her right hand... and awkwardly waved to me.
"...I'll be all right. ...My... my Nii-nii now... helped me... helped me so much... So I'll be
okay... I'll do my best... until tomorrow... I'll be okay... ......So... for today... this is... good-bye."
There was no way... that I could say "bye, see you tomorrow."
And then... from inside the house... came a throaty... disgusting voice.
"Satokooooo!! Could you bring us the snacks already?!?!"
"...Okay, Nii-nii. ...Get going already. ...I'll... be fine now. ...Hurry."
"......Let's go, Maebara-san. ...Staying any longer than this... would be a bother to Sato-
ko-chan."
"...Coach. ...Nii-nii's house... is a little far away. ...I'm sorry to ask you this... but could
you take him home...?"
"......Yes. I'll do that."
...Coach grabbed me by my collar... and with strength I couldn't have imagined him
having... started dragging me away.
...And I... unable to oppose him... started getting farther away from Satoko. She waved
her hand to us, expression still dark... and disappeared... through the back door. Coach got
into the car first, then turned around on the narrow path and brought the passenger side door
around for me.
"......I know how you feel so well it hurts. ...No... I think I understand it even more than
you..."
"..............."
"......But right now, just for now, please endure it. ...She understood exactly how you
feel. ...So... please endure it. If you don't..."
"...I... I know already. .........I'm sorry. Thank you for before."
.........I meekly got into the passenger's seat.
...The car accelerated quietly... and Satoko's house grew farther and farther away in the
rear view mirror.
...We made a wide turn... and then I couldn't see her house anymore...
".........Hm? Is your house that far away? It's in the other direction from the school, isn't
Tatarigoroshi-hen
it?"
...I didn't bother to reply.
...I would have been hard-pressed to give him an answer as to why I was at Satoko's
house. Coach didn't say anything more either. For a while... the two of us were silent, the only
sounds from the gravel spraying over the road as we drove.
......I remembered how Rena said things were different than last year. At the time, she
had Satoshi with her.
...Satoshi protected Satoko.
...So that less of the sparks fell onto her.
"............But now... Satoshi isn't here."
"......Yes. ......That's... the unfortunate truth."
...Coach seemed to understand what I really meant when I said that.
"...It's a terribly sad... cruel story... but there's a limit... to our resolve, our efforts, and
our assistance."
...It sounded like an excuse... but he was right.
...Even if Coach and I wanted to be people Satoko could depend on... That was all. It
ended at the front door. No matter how much I shouted... that I would be her Nii-nii.
...No matter how much I shouted that I wouldn't abandon her, and no matter how much
Satoko called me Nii-nii.
......I couldn't do... any more than that.
"...Where on earth...... could Satoshi have gone?"
...Right—Satoshi was another story.
...Her actual brother, Satoshi... He was in a position to protect her far, far better than
we ever could.
...That was the cold, sad truth... of the massive gulf... between Satoshi and us.
"............I wonder... what he's been doing lately?"
Satoshi left home.
...I didn't know why—maybe it was because of Oyashiro-sama's curse, or he disap-
peared, or something.
...In any case, he wasn't beside Satoko now. .
..At the time Satoko needed him to protect her most, he wasn't here.
"......Why isn't he here?! Satoko needs him now more than ever!"
"......A lot of people talk about Oyashiro-sama's curse... but the only thing I can say... is
that he ran away."
"One of my friends said that one day he just never came back. ...He ran away without
even leaving so much as a note for his sister...?!"
"...Satoshi-kun had been doing part-time jobs a lot. ...At the time, Satoko-chan really
wanted this huge stuffed animal. ...It ended up costing a lot, so he was doing all sorts of part-
time jobs in order to afford it. ...He felt so strongly about it. Everyone was whispering about
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how he at least wanted to get his sister a nice birthday present, since she was being made to
live such a pitiful life with her uncle and his wife."
...In the end... he didn't use his savings for a birthday present for Satoko.
"...Satoshi-kun disappeared, and the police looked long and hard. They found out that
Satoshi-kun had withdrawn all his savings himself on the day he left. ...After checking all
over... they began to think that maybe he'd used his savings to go to Tokyo."
"...Tokyo?! For what?!"
"......Again... All I can say was that he ran away..."
"He saved up all that money so he could run away? ...He was that selfish?! But... how
could he just leave Satoko behind?! If he was going to run away anyway... he should have
brought Satoko with him!!"
...Even now... Coach was still calm.
...He wasn't trying to pour any oil on the fire of my anger at all.
...He just waited... until my anger naturally subsided. After listening to gravel being
crushed under the wheels for a little while... Coach spoke abruptly.
"......Please understand. ...Satoko-chan, left behind, arrived at the same conclusion..."
'I'm a burden on my brother... and that's why he abandoned me.'
...He didn't take her with him when he left.
...How terrible... must Satoko have felt... being betrayed by the brother she loved so
much...
"But... Satoko-chan was a very strong person. ...Of course, she had the support of close
friends too... but that was how she regained her smile."
I recalled how Satoko had spoken of Satoshi so brightly... when I was eating dinner
with her and Rika-chan a few days ago... At the time... I didn't think any more of it than how
pleasant their sibling love had been.
...But now that I did think about it... I realized... it was like she was peering into the
distance... from atop a pile of tragic perserverance.
"...She said Satoshi-kun will come back for sure. ...And that when he did, she wanted
him to see how she was no longer a burden."
"Satoko isn't a burden!! She's... she's way better at day-to-day living than me... and she
can do pretty much anything! I mean... she might fall behind Rena or Rika-chan in certain
aspects... but she's way more of an adult than most people!"
"...That's the result of her having worked so hard, since she didn't know when Satoshi
would come home. ...Her efforts are so painful."
While she lived with Rika-chan... while Rika-chan taught her how to handle every-
thing flawlessly... all so that she could welcome back Satoshi at any time.
...So that she could show him she wasn't ashamed.
"......So... when is Satoshi going to come back?"
".................."
I asked Coach, but knew he wouldn't be able to answer.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...In any case, Satoshi ran away.

...He left Satoko and ran away from Hinamizawa.
......Someone said that when you leave Hinamizawa and run away, Oyashiro-sama's
curse gets you, right?
...Then... that made sense. .
..Satoshi running away, and his disappearance... that would obviously mean people
thought it was the curse, right...?
...And they could smile... as though it were his own fault... as though he got what he
deserved.
...Hey, Oyashiro-sama, whoever you are.
...Satoshi didn't vanish because he ran away... you demoned him away with your curse,
didn't you? If that's not what happened... then I couldn't forgive him.
"......When did Satoshi run away?"
"...The night of the Watanagashi Festival last year, when their aunt was killed by that
deviant... it was a a few days after that. ......On Satoko-chan's birthday."
"...On Satoko's... birthday...?!"
Bang!! I slammed my hands on the dashboard in front of me with all my might.
...Satoshi... Of all the days... he could have chosen to run away...!! Their aunt just died
a few days before, didn't she? All your days of suffering were about to end, weren't they?
...You were just about to start thinking about a new life, weren't you? It's wrong to be
happy about someone dying... but for Satoko and her brother... her birthday had come at a
critical turning point. Their mean uncle had fled town, and the siblings would be left alone.
...They should have been able to be happy about that... on Satoko's birthday.
...Satoko was probably... waiting for her brother to return the whole time.
...Waiting for her brother to return, when he never did.
...Waiting with bated breath for her brother to return... her hopes and dreams of a new
life to come growing ever larger.
......But no matter how long she waited, he didn't come back. He didn't even contact
her. Satoko, trembling in anticipation of a great present... Just when... when would she have to
face the cold, terrible truth?
......Satoshi... you fucking idiot... I could feel my blood rising to my head... in my anger
at Satoshi... I was frustrated. I was aggravated.
...I couldn't forgive him...
...Satoko still respected and adored her brother... and yet he so heartlessly betrayed her.
...Such a person... wouldn't just come back... now, when he was most needed.
...Yes—no one would protect her.
...Not even her real brother Satoshi.
"......So when... she started to see you as her Nii-nii... I was happy."
"......Huh...?"
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"...I pray for Satoko-chan's happiness as well... but I have a position in society and a
job to do every day. ...I have little time that I can devote to Satoko-chan. ...But you're differ-
ent. ...You go to school with her, and you're closer to her and Satoshi-kun in age."
"............"
"...I know you think you can only do so much... but you're in a position where you can
give Satoko-chan a hand much better than I can. ...So... I want you to help her enough for the
both of us. That's what I wish for."
"...But that's... Coach, you could..."
"Of course, with my job skills, there are plenty of things only I can help her with. But
in the same way, there are things only you can do for her. ...What I want to say is... we should
both perform in every way we can."
...Was that a little too complicated...? Coach added that... but I shook my head in re-
sponse. When I heard him say he had job skills, it reminded me that he was an adult, in a
different position from all of us.
...Maybe I should ask him about it.
"...Oh... Coach... Do you know a lot about laws?"
"No, I know even less than the average person—why?"
...I thought back to when I argued with Mion and the others about Satoko. Our chil-
dren's argument had only left us with the conclusion that we had to wait and see, but what
would an adult think...?
"Hmm, what was it... the Child Welfare Law? As an emergency measure to secure the
safety of a juvenile, they can force him or her to separate from the parents."
"They can do that...?! So then... we could rescue Satoko from her uncle right away!"
".........Satoko-chan... might not want that. Unless the person being abused wants shelter,
anyway—it doesn't go that far."
"Satoko... doesn't want it?! Why..."
"............"
Coach didn't answer me.
...I didn't know why he didn't. It was clear as day that Satoko's uncle was being violent
and treating her like a slave!
...So then why... I clamped down on my frenzied emotions... and waited intently for
Coach to answer. But he never did. It wasn't like he was pretending he hadn't heard me.
...If I had to say... it was more like he wanted to explain, but couldn't put it into the
right words.
"...Satoko-chan probably... thinks of this abuse as a trial."
"A trial? ...This isn't some weird religion we're talking about...!!"
"...You might know this, but Satoshi-kun always looked out for Satoko-chan. ...She
always relied on him. ...Almost as though she was utterly dependent on him."
I'd known for a while that Satoshi had always protected Satoko from their aunt and
uncle. But that was his duty as an older brother, not something to worry about...
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"...I think that may have traumatized her. ...Maybe she figured that depending so heav-
ily on her brother had made him hate her."
And for Satoko, the current situation was a retelling of the story of a little over a year
ago.
...But this time, Satoshi wasn't here...
"...So I believe that now... she thinks something like this: She wants to overcome this
trial by herself, without relying on anyone else. And that if she doesn't grow strong, then
Satoshi-kun will never return."
......Now that he mentioned it...
...Satoko had never said a word about how hard it had been before.
...I figured she was being threatened not to talk about it, but...
"...I talked with everyone and we were wondering... if we should report it to the child
consultation center."
"I have heard... that a social worker was visiting Satoko-chan last year."
"...Yes... In the end they decided to wait and see... and we thought maybe that made her
get tormented even more."
"That was......... Apparently Satoko-chan reported it herself. ...And as a result the abuse
worsened, but was kept just out of sight. ...She was under even more torment, and the burden
on Satoshi-kun for protecting her rose considerably..."
"...Huh... Could Satoko... She wouldn't be thinking it's her own fault for reporting it,
would she..?"
Coach nodded quietly.
"...Satoko-chan would probably either hate it if you suggested reporting the abuse or
feign courage and say you didn't need to. And even if you reported it in secret... she's probably
insist to the social worker that she wasn't being abused."
...Satoko always acts tough and doesn't readily admit defeat—so I could imagine that
easily.
"And there are... strict limitations on this emergency measure—the child consulta-
tion center would need permission both from the court and from the concerned party. ...If the
abuse was known to the public, they could forcibly shelter her even if she denied it. ......For
Satoko-chan... that would probably mean losing."
"T-This isn't about winning or losing!! It's real life! Satoko, she's...!"
"...............Back on topic. ...After they placed her under their protection, she would be
sent to a child care institution or the like. ...And she would basically be living there... so
it would mean moving away. ...And with the change in residence would come a change in
schools, too."
"......That...... Changing schools... It has to be done. ...If that's what it will take for her to
be safe."
"Satoko-chan understands all those things. All the more reason for her not to want it."
"...Why?!"
Ryukishi07
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"Because Satoko-chan's reason for living is to wait at that house for Satoshi-kun to return. ......
She was a husk, an empty shell after being abandoned by her brother... How did she find her
reason to live? ...Try looking at it from Satoko-chan's point of view, rather than your own."
"......Umm...... mm...... ........."
...I felt like he was trying to confuse me with that hard-to-understand, roundabout way
of talking so unique to adults. The point was... that I couldn't do anything about Satoko want-
ing to stay in that house... and that... I should watch... until she gives in.
...In the end... no matter what I said... Coach himself was saying... to wait and see.
"I...... I don't understand."
"...What?"
"...If... If I feel that Satoko is really in danger... I will report it without asking anyone's
opinion. ...She might not be happy with the result... and she might hate me for it......... But I
believe that will ultimately be what brings Satoko happiness."
Coach turned to me... and gazed fixedly into my eyes.
...It was written all over his face... He was shocked... and what such a young kid had
said.
".........Why... why would you go that far..."
...Coach... no, rather, normal adults... might not have understood. So I taught him the
creed and the values that I believed in.
"Satoko is my friend. ...And I am Satoko's Nii-nii... Isn't that enough of a reason...?"
I stared at him with a will strong and unbreakable as steel as his eyes betrayed a tiny
bit of unrest.
".................. ...No... Of course that's enough."
...We were silent for a little while, until finally, Coach said only that.
"Didn't we make a promise?"
"...Umm............ I'm sorry... what...?"
"That we weren't going to ever let Satoko cry."
We made a vow on that day of the barbecue party.
...I didn't think about it hard at all... but Coach and I still made a promise.
...That we wouldn't ever let Satoko cry. Coach gave a dry grin of regret, immediately
apologizing for not remembering.
...One way or another... when he grinned like that... it made me think that his enthusi-
asm for saving Satoko... was a tiny bit smaller than mine... He lightly hit the brakes, making a
skidding nose, and leaned forward.
"......Could that be your house there? Oh... Right, Maebara-san would live at the Mae-
bara residence, wouldn't he."
...Before I knew it... we were almost to my house.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Tip #9 - Case 31
December 1, 1981 _____
Prefecture Juvenile Welfare Division Report
(Do not view; do not duplicate)
Case 31 (November 20)
Satoko Houjou (_ years old)
Residence: ___ Hinamizawa Village, Shishibone
(i) Consultation circumstances Anonymous telephone SOS of child

abuse.
(ii) Abuse situation Anonymous claims that a female child is

suffering physical abuse by adoptive parents, her guardians.
(iii) Family structure
Adoptive father, adoptive mother, older brother, child in ques-

tion
Note: In June 1980, the child's parents died in an accident,

and she was given to her uncle on her father's side (her father's
younger brother).
(iv) Child consultation center's response On the day of the

anonymous telephone consultation, the center called the child's
school and asked of her situation.
The next day, the welfare officer on duty visited the child's
home and heard what they had to say.
Both adoptive parents agreed to the center's coaching. Contacted

anti-abuse network in the city.
As part of this suggested coaching, a district welfare officer

in the area began visiting for coaching at fixed intervals.
(The scrawled note below is stapled to the report)
Related information from former official Mr. W. Refer to 1977 docu-

ment D2-3 number 44.
Ask Chief Investigator F from the city's education consultation of-

fices; he is well-informed about it.
Day 8 Part 2
I went up to the second floor and shut myself in my bedroom.
...Then, facing my desk... I folded my arms. My topic of thought, of course... was Sa-
toko.
...We'd thought that if we could just get a public agency to intervene in the right way,
the problem would be solved.
...But with what Coach said... I didn't think it would be so easy.
...Satoko was obstinate, and she would stubbornly deny the abuse... and try to endure
it.
...And that was an act of atonement... towards Satoshi, who had protected her before
and then run away.
...As long as she thought that way... the situation wouldn't be so simple. But earlier,
before Coach, I made a clear declaration.
...If I thought Satoko was in danger... then I would do what I had to. In the end, that
meant I was just going to 'wait and see' too... Nevertheless, I thought I'd drawn a clearer line
than Coach or my friends had.
...If the time came... I would report it. Over the phone.
...Given Satoko's personality, she might criticize me if she found out.
...But... I believed it was ultimately the best decision.
......Wait, Keiichi Maebara.
...Would that really be all it took for the problem to end...?
...Say that I reported it to a public agency, like the child consultation center... What if
they stuck to their 'wait and see' attitude like last year again...?
...Last year, they decided to do just that, and the situation improved temporarily... but
then the aunt, thinking herself a laughingstock, increased her tormenting in secret.
...In the end, things became more underhanded than ever before. This year it was her
uncle.
......I had just seen him for the first time today... but the man seemed much more direct,
much more violent than the word 'underhanded' could imply.
...He wasn't like their aunt... no, not that subtle... He was more direct... He might also
assault her with punches and kicks.
...That could easily be discerned from the bruises and such I saw on Satoko's body.
...Shit... You're too naive, Keiichi Maebara!! However heroic it may seem to report what
was happening... if it doesn't save her, then it doesn't mean anything!! Reporting things to a
public agency was only one option, and leaving everything to them would be dangerous.
...We would need something more... to guarantee Satoko's safety... I scratched madly at
my head, thinking, then tilted it back, wanting at least a little bit of calm.
.....The memories of angry arguing with my friends today came to mind. I was embar-
rassed that I hadn't realized it until Rena said something.
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...She was right.

...My house is big. Compared to all the houses with the straw-thatched roofs in Hinam-
izawa... it was really big. We did actually have empty rooms.
...I've never thought that we were affluent... but also never that we were poor.
...I just didn't admit it because people would think I was arrogant...
......But maybe my family... really is wealthy.
...We had a few rooms we could lend to Satoko.
...The guest rooms are only in use when people related to my dad's job come and stay
every once in a while.
...Plus, if we cleaned up a few of the rooms my dad uses for storage, they could work
for her as well.
...As for food expenses... That might have been a more serious problem than a kid like
me could imagine. Lunch every day would be manageable.
...All of our friends would just have to bring a little bit more for lunch than they usu-
ally did. With everyone pecking at everyone else's food anyway, it would be manageable.
...For breakfast and dinner, though... that would have to be up to Mom.
...I would need to convince her to lend Satoko more than just a room.
(Of course, I don't even think convincing her of that would be easy...)
About how much... did it cost for one person to eat... How many tens of thousands of
yen... per month...? They couldn't... complain about it if I shouldered that, could they?
...I only had ten or twenty thousand yen in savings, but it was something. I actually
had even more, thanks to New Year's gifts and such... but my parents had taken all that and
put it into a fixed time deposit.
...If I could get access to that, it should add up to a lot of money. And if I got that far...
Mion and Rena would need to share some of the burden. Of course, that didn't seem like it
would work.
...Rena got mad at me, didn't she? About how I shouldn't just shove responsibility onto
others.
...I'd have to ask for help. Even so... I'd basically be saving her myself. I would follow
through on it...! Oh, but... it wouldn't be only food expenses.
...There were a lot of other things that you couldn't do without, like baths and laundry.
...My mother was awfully methodical and strict about cutting out inefficiencies—and
for once, that was troublesome.
...She might even make reference... to the money it would cost for the detergent Satoko
would use for her own clothes.
...I couldn't think only about food expenses. I... needed more money.
(Hey, wait, Keiichi Maebara, since when was all this about money?! Even if you could
afford it... you would need your parents' permission first! They'd be looking after a young girl
for a really long time...!)
What would I say to persuade them...?
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...Just calm down a little bit, Keiichi Maebara, and you'll realize right away that you
can't. Even if you asked them seriously, they would tell you to call the police. Even if you
managed to gain their empathy, why should the Maebara family have to shoulder all of the
burden by itself? That's what would happen.
...That was it.
...It was very sad and frustrating... but no matter how much I wanted to help... My
resolution alone... couldn't save anything."
......Are kids... are they really this powerless...
...I felt frustrated.
...I believed my feelings were stronger than anyone else's.
...I even thought they were stronger than Coach's.
...And yet... At that point, there were two knocks at my door, and Mom poked her head
inside.
Were you awake? I've been calling you for dinner for a while.""
...Oh... Yeah, I'm coming..
As someone financially dependent on his parents, I shouldn't say this, but... I just sat
around doing nothing, and food suddenly appeared.
...It felt so natural to me that I'd shamelessly thought of it as the responsibility of the
parents who gave birth to me.
...But when I realized that natural thing was actually a privilege... I came to realize
just how hard it was to grant that privilege to others... Even the boring meal in front of me, no
better than it ever was, had more meaning than that tonight. There was food for three on the
table right now—for Dad, for Mom, and for me.
...I couldn't imagine how hard it would be to add another place at the table...
......Think, Keiichi Maebara.
...If it was hard to make food for four... then just think about how four people could eat
food made for three.
.........Oh...
...I changed around the way I thought... and with that I began to consider an unthink-
ably bold plan... That's right.
...I didn't need to get my parents' permission.
...She should just live here in secret. I got upset when I found out a while ago... but if I
remembered right, if you climbed out the window then shimmied down the first floor roof or
the gutter, you could go in and out of the house directly from my room. Satoko's physical abil-
ity far surpassed my own, so it would be even easier for her.
...I hadn't even thought about it, but her living here secretly was actually a necessity. I'd
only have to bring Satoko to my house when the public agency said they would 'wait and see'.
...In other words, if Satoko's uncle continued to be her guardian. If, in such a situation,
word got out that she was here, her uncle would barge in and drag Satoko back with him. Her
uncle was her rightful guardian, so my parents would hand her over without an argument, no
doubt. So... I needed to keep it a secret that she was living here!
Ryukishi07
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(If it needs to be a secret... then having my parents help would mean a lot, but... gotta
deceive your allies first, like they always say...)
...Okay.
...Persuading my parents was an unrealistic proposition... so I'll search for a way to
have her live here in secret. When I was around, she would just have to be really quiet in my
room on the second floor.
...The issue was the daytime. If she was hiding from her uncle, then she shouldn't go to
school.
...It might be lonely, but not going would be the better option.
(I could easily teach Satoko the stuff she learns in her grade. ...Actually, during school,
I mostly help all the younger kids out rather than study my own stuff!)
...During the day, I would need to go to school, so I wouldn't be at home.
...My parents respected my privacy now that I was this age, so they wouldn't go snoop-
ing around in my room while I was gone.
(...I think.)
...If she holed herself up in my room... it would be okay, right...? If my parents did
come, thanks to where the second floor was, she could hear their approach from the sound of
them coming up the stairs. And there would be a little bit of time before they got all the way
up
(...I estimated a few seconds) that she would be able to hide herself in the closet... Wait,
wait, Keiichi! Something doesn't make sense...!! If she can't go to school, then what'll she do
for lunch?!
...Calm down already! I could just leave her my own lunch, couldn't I? I should just go
to school without lunch and get everyone else to split theirs with me.
...Okay... that's good.
...No more contradictions or oversights, right?
...Oh, breakfast and dinner.
......I could somehow get her to go without breakfast.
...I can go with two meals a day when I sleep in on Sundays, after all. Every night... I'd
pretend as though I had a bigger appetite, then ask for a bigger helping.
...And then, I could just somehow give part of that to Satoko...!
...As a test... I stood up from my seat, with my plate of fish in my hands.
"What's wrong, Keiichi? Sit down and eat your food."
“Um, well. ...I'm kind of not in a good mood. ...Could I eat up in my room?"
"...You'll make a mess. Eat dinner at the dinner table."
"......Mm... sorry.."
...Hey, wait... I only... tried to take away one plate of fish... and they ganged up on me?!
In reality... it was impossible for me to smuggle food away without my parents knowing about
it.
...But it... it must have been worth taking the time to think about.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...There must be some trick, some method to avoid them realizing...

(Even if I can't think of one today, I might think of one tomorrow...!)
My appetite was rapidly fading, so I finished early and went back to my room.
...I went back there... and tried to think about it from Satoko's point of view.
...For example, let's say my parents were coming up the stairs right now. I've got to
hide...! I opened the closet.
...Clatter clatter.
...It didn't open quietly. Hey, wait... Didn't it always open real smooth and quiet?! Why
was it suddenly doing this now?! What is this, a faulty house?! Had it already gotten old or
something?! Or was I just not putting enough work into it?! Could I just plaster it with wax?!
...The sound itself may have been soft... but it left me uneasy as to whether my parents
would detect it happening when they climbed the stairs.
...But this was an easy problem—I could do something about it. I just had to fix it up a
little bit so it didn't make noise anymore. For now... I'll close myself in the closet as though I'd
successfully hid.
......I basically always left my futon out on the floor. I couldn't think of any real reason
my parents would want to go into my closet.
...Even so, there still might be some reason they would. I might need to construct some
sort of camouflage so that she wouldn't be noticed even if they did open it. But the more she
worried about that... the less time she'd have to actually hide, meaning it would be more likely
they'd hear a noise...
...And then... I suddenly had to go to the bathroom.
...The bathroom...?! The need to use the toilet—so obvious, and yet such a fatal flaw...
The only bathroom was on the first floor. It would be absolutely impossible for her to use it
without my family realizing.
...I might need to set up a portable toilet
(like a chamber pot, I guess... Satoko would hate it) so she could go in my room.
...But... the stench... would be pretty terrible. Anyone sensitive would probably notice
the smell without even coming into the room.
...The bath was okay, though. She could just take a bath when my parents were out. But
I couldn't do anything about a toilet.
...When her stomach started to hurt... if my parents were lazing around downstairs...
she'd be in trouble...!
...It was then that I noticed... that I'd been clawing at my head with both hands. I sat
down in the dark closet with my knees against my chest.
...I buried my face in them and tore at my hair.
...The more I thought, the more contradictions popped up.
...The more I thought, the more things failed... and the more I worried... the more I
was reminded of how little power I actually had. My back started to hurt from staying in a
cramped place for so long. But if I was to shelter Satoko, I would need to force her to feel this
pain.
Ryukishi07
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...To live in such a dark, narrow... suffocating place... forever. But it would still be bet-
ter than being abused by her uncle... or so I wanted to think.
...It got hard to breathe... so I gave in and crawled out of the closet. I looked at the
clock... and to my surprise, it was 3:30 in the morning.
...It had felt like so little time, but it was so unbelievably long. When I realized that,
I was slammed with a terrible urge to sleep as if the time had only just caught up with me. I
didn't have enough strength to fight it... and I fell flat onto my futon.
...Shit, I can't just go to sleep like this.
...If I waste any time, that'll mean I'm taking the same 'wait and see' attitude that Mion
and Coach and everyone else did. I needed to... keep worrying about how to rescue Satoko for
a minute, or even a second longer... than everyone else.
......Isn't there a better way?
...Isn't there a better way?
...That one phrase I spoke to myself swirled around and around in a spiral... and steadi-
ly took over my entire mind...... For my last moment of consciousness, I thought.
...There were a lot of blind spots in what I'd considered tonight... but I absolutely wasn't
wrong for having those ideas.
...Tomorrow, I would suggest this bold plan to the others.
...Mion might be able to help somehow, and Rena was really sharp, so she might have a
good suggestion.
...And above all... We needed to rescue Satoko once again... with everyone helping
out...
............I felt pathetic for letting myself fall asleep.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Day 9
......The ceiling... blurred into view.
...It was hot.
...There was a thin layer... of moist sweat on me.
...The voices of the cicadas permeating my room... were somehow grating to my head.
".........Wha...t... Today's... not Sunday... is it..."
I remembered today was a weekday... and quickly brought myself to consciousness.
And then, finally, I leaped out of bed. The clock... read a little before 10.
...I was... totally late.
...When I wandered downstairs, my mom would get mad at me.
...There was nothing I could do, though. After reviewing the schedule for the school
day for a moment, I suitably rearranged the stuff in my bag. I hurried and got dressed, then
went down the stairs.
"..........."
There was no sign of my parents anywhere.
...Maybe they went out somewhere together. So that's how it was.
...My mother had probably woken me up once this morning, but then I fell back asleep
without remembering it.
...And my parents, thinking I'd gone to school, left.
...Something like that probably happened.
...I went to the front door, and as I expected, it was locked. Looked like I was right.
It was further evidence of my speculation being correct. When I realized my parents weren't
here, I suddenly felt less like I had to rush to get to school. There was one portion of break-
fast left in the dining room.
...Probably mine.
...The milk they'd poured in it had gone warm since a while ago.
...When I realized how hard it would be to sneak food for Satoko... yesterday, I had
cried. Well... Thinking back on it, food wasn't the only issue in that regard... I wasn't in a po-
sition where I could bargain for Satoko by myself anyway.
...It's such a heavy thing just to save a single person. I'd seen this on TV and in comics
all the time... Those feel-good words, about how you'll save your friends for sure, and such.
...Was that why I ran my mouth like that, swearing to save her—because I wanted to
feel good about it...? No... That absolutely wasn't true.
...Because the fact was I couldn't save her. Because I didn't want to think like an
adult... like I couldn't do anything but watch.
...Had Satoko gone to school today...? I immediately realized that was a meaningless
question.
...Whether or not she did... there wouldn't be a change in the environment she'd been
placed in. If I couldn't save her, and no one else could either...... then we could only pray for a
Ryukishi07
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miracle.
"......Are we... so powerless..."
With a vague goal of getting to school in mind... I sluggishly put on my shoes and
stumbled out the front door. I had only overslept by two or three hours, but the sunlight and
air felt completely different from how they usually were in the morning.
...Well, of course they did. Once ten o'clock came around, you could barely call it
morning anymore.
......I didn't feel like walking the same old route to school. I needed to ultimately end up
there, but it was like... I didn't want to choose the shortest route, the most proactive one, to get
to school.
...Put in a more positive light, maybe I wanted some time to walk by myself and think.
I had to go to school.
...Partly to make sure Satoko was safe. But... I hadn't come up with any plans yet.
...Nothing since last night.
...So the path I took from my house was in the complete opposite direction.
...If I went this way, I'd pass Rena's house... and the dam site.
...It would be quite a detour. I calculated how long of a detour it would end up being,
then, satisfied with the answer, I started to walk...
...Rena had brought me to the dam site a few times. One section of it had turned into
an unlawful, oversized garbage dump, and Rena really liked going fishing for junk in there.
...Without that, she'd come off as a completely normal girl, too.
(...I can think of a few other qualities she could do without... but whatever...)
The view quickly opened up wide, and I was hit by a strong wind.
...There was no shelter... here at this big dam site.
...Maybe it was a good thing I came here, I thought.
...At the very least, it was more healthy to think about stuff in a place like this instead
of my cramped bedroom. I took a deep breath and filled my lungs with the rich, cold air
unique to Hinamizawa.
...Ring rrring. I turned around reflexively. It was a bicycle bell.
...Considering where I was standing, I don't think they were trying to get me out of the
way.
...They'd rang the bell because they wanted something from me.
"Hey, excuse me. You're from Hinamizawa, right?"
".....Yes, why"
I've... seen this person around a few times.
...Right, I remembered.
...His name, I think, was Tomitake, a freelance photographer who lived in Tokyo. He
would zealously visit Hinamizawa every season to take pictures... or so Mion and the others
told me, I think."
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Could you tell me how to get to the Furude Shrine from here? I think I left my map at
the inn. I don't know where to go!"
"The shrine, from here? .........Hmm.."
I knew where everything was in my head, but explaining how to get there was diffi-
cult. I was a little irritated at having been bothered for this... but when I realized it meant my
detour actually meant something, that feeling faded quickly.
"I'll tell you... but it's a little difficult to explain. ...I could bring you there, if you don't
mind."
"Really?! I would be in your debt. Thanks a lot! ......But are you sure? Did you have
something to do?"
Tomitake-san finally appeared to have realized how strange it was for a student like me
to be here at this time of day. I smoothly told him not to worry about it, then turned my back
and started walking towards the Furude Shrine. Tomitake-san hurried to turn his bike around
and came after me.
"Ah-ha-ha, sorry, sorry! Don't worry—all guys have times when they need to split up
from the pack and be lone wolves for a while"
...What a free-minded freelancer. It was easier for me, too, that he was under that im-
pression.
"I'm Tomitake. A freelance photographer. I specialize in wild birds and landscapes. I'm
still pretty unknown, though."
It seemed absurd for him to introduce himself when I was just showing him to the
shrine, but he gave me his name, so I needed to give mine back.
"I'm Maebara. ...Pleased to meet you, I guess."
"Maebara-kun? Pleased to meet you."
He seemed like a pretty silly man... but that felt kind of good considering I'd been
suffocating with worry over Satoko all night. Along the way, Tomitake-san spoke at length to
me about how precious the nature in Hinamizawa was and how it was a treasure trove of rare
wild birds, despite my not having asked.
...I wasn't interested in what he had to say, but he seemed to be enjoying himself, so I
left him to it.
"These steps will take you up to the shrine grounds."
"Thank you! You really helped me out! ......Hmm... I think I'm a little late."
As Tomitake-san mumbled to himself, he left his bicycle nearby and started to climb
the stairs quickly.
......I didn't have a watch, but as far as my internal clock could guess, it was still a little
late in the morning.
...School wasn't very far from here.
......Maybe I could kill a little more time until then. With that in mind, I went up the
steps in pursuit of Tomitake-san. When I reached the top of the long staircase... I arrived at
the wide-open shrine grounds that were too grand-looking for this tiny village.
...Tomitake-san... oh, there he is.
Ryukishi07
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...It looked like he was supposed to be meeting someone here. Then he got lost and
ended up being late.
...He was bowing to a lady who must have been the person he was meeting. That lady...
I knew her.
".........Oh, is that you, Maebara-kun? Hello there. Are you off from school today?"
"What? Oh, Maebara-kun, you followed me...?!"
"I-I wasn't really planning to. ...I just wanted to kill some time."
"Oh my. ...Arriving at work late like an executive—how refined! You certainly are
famous, taking the time to look like a bigshot"
...What was I, a celebrity??
...Well, she did say my name out of nowhere, anyway.
...I was oddly concerned about what she meant by"famous."
"Oh, you still can't remember my name? ...Hee hee."
"This is Miyo Takano-san. She works at the village clinic. Maebara-kun, you seem
healthy, so you probably haven't been to the hospital much, have you?"
"Hee hee... Now that we're finally acquaintances, the next time you're sick or anything,
I suppose I'll give you a little bit of special treatment. ...Hee hee."
This lady named Takano-san... I kind of didn't remember her.
...Maybe we'd passed each other on the street a few times, but I was pretty sure this
was the first time we'd talked. Well, this is Hinamizawa—even if I don't know a person's
name, it's not unusual for them to know mine.
...I glanced at Takano-san and saw she had a bag and a camera.
"...Are you photography partners? Was that why you were meeting each other?"
"Oh, we're nothing like partners. I am but an amateur, and Jirou-san is gently initiating
Tatarigoroshi-hen
me into it. Right...?"

"Mm... ha-ha-ha...! T-That's not it at all! Takano-san is a quick learner—she could take
pictures just fine without my guidance! I mean it. Ah-ha-ha-ha..."
......I couldn't tell which of them was ahead in the conversation.
...Well, they were certainly one couple you wouldn't get tired of watching.
"The festival is finally coming up the day after tomorrow. I hope I can take some good
pictures this year."
"I plan on taking some shots of the set-up tomorrow. I want to capture the festival en-
ergy shown by the preparations for it, too."
Oh... I just remembered. There was some village festival called 'Watanagashi' or some-
thing the day after tomorrow, on Sunday...
"They hold a service with a pile of old futons, in order to give thanks to Hinamizawa's
guardian deity, Oyashiro-sama... I think?"
"Oh, you're correct. ...You have quite extensive knowledge despite just having moved
here. ...Yes, it is a festival... to give thanks to Oyashiro-sama. .........Hehe."
Takano-san smiled somehow meaningfully, but didn't tell me what part of a festival to
thank Oyashiro-sama needed to be laughed at.
"...Cryptic as ever, Takano-san. ......But I do wonder what will happen this year."
"You know what they say—if it happens twice, it'll happen a third time. And it's al-
ready happened four times. I think there's less evidence that it won't happen a fifth time, don't
you think..."
I knew what they meant by their whispered exchange.
...On the day of Watanagashi... A freak death always occurs, which people call 'Oyas-
hiro-sama's curse'—and a disappearance occurs that people call being 'demoned away'. These
strange events had happened four years running... and Watanagashi, rapidly approaching the
day after tomorrow, marked the fifth...
"Oyashiro-sama puts a curse on enemies of the village, eh? ...If it does happen this
year... I wonder... who will find themselves at gunpoint? ...Oh, and I always come here to pray
and donate money whenever I visit! It won't be me for sure."
"...Oh, is that so? They say that Oyashiro-sama has been especially harsh on outsiders
recently, you know. Maebara-kun may have only just moved in, but he's a proper member of
Hinamizawa... But you, Jirou-san, are a stranger who only comes once a year. ...I wonder...
will he let you go this year?"
"Th-That's harsh! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha..."
Tomitake-san was the only one with a pained grin, but we all were smiling, me in-
cluded.
...Oyashiro-sama—the one who used a curse to kill people involved with the dam con-
struction project, one after the next. He killed the dam construction manager, killed Satoko's
parents for supporting it... and the next year, he even killed her aunt. If the demoning away
was part of that curse, then you could add Satoshi to the list of victims.
...As I thought about it, I realized that in the serial freak death incidents, the over-
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whelming majority had the last name Houjou. Half of the deaths and disappearances had come
from the Houjou family.
...The Houjou family lived here in Hinamizawa.
...Did that mean Oyashiro-sama punished and cursed them particularly harshly because
despite that, they had been in favor of the dam?
"......Have you heard the news that Satoko's uncle has returned?"
Takano-san, who had been enjoying a few words with Tomitake-san, was caught un-
awares by my sudden inquiry.
"Oh, I'm sorry. What was that?"
"Umm... Satoko's parents were killed by the curse, and her aunt, too. ...So I was won-
dering if, maybe if you went in order... her uncle would be next. ...Her aunt had a miserable
death from the curse last year... and her uncle let his fear take over and fled into town, right?
...Oyashiro-sama doesn't allow people to try and abandon the village, does he..."
...I hadn't intended to be quite this persistent. But those words... They just flowed out of
my mouth without me thinking about it.
...Right. Oyashiro-sama's curse.
...I didn't believe in something so unrealistic, of course... but the fact was that every
year, unfortunate accidents and incidents happened to enemies of the village. Like Takano-san
said just now... it had happened four times. No one could say there wouldn't be a fifth.
"......Hmm. ...That's an interesting suggestion. It is true that if you look at those sacri-
ficed in previous years, those named 'Houjou' come up quite frequently. ...Given how long it's
gone on for... Her uncle being the one to die or disappear this year isn't out of the question.
...Hee hee hee."
"...Not again, Takano-san. Don't laugh about it—it could really happen!"
"Ufufufufu, I'm sorry. But Oyashiro-sama's curse is my life's work. Hee hee hee.."
Takano-san gave off a mysterious, somehow intellectual impression... and her life's
work was mysterious in its own right.
...She probably really liked inexplicable supernatual phenomena or something.
"...Takano-san, you seem like you know a lot about Oyashiro-sama. ...Give me your
honest thoughts. ...Given that he's a Houjou and that he's returned, what are the chances that
the uncle will fall to the curse?"
"...My, what? ...You seem like you really want this uncle of hers dead. Hee hee."
"...That... that's not..."
"Ah, ahahahahaha! Hmm... I wonder? ...It all depends on the whims of God..."
"...Maebara-kun. Do you know the true identity of Santa Claus?"
Huh? I got a strange question all of a sudden, and I couldn't immediately answer.
"What, you don't know? ......It's your daddy. The daddies in everyone's family."
"...W-What? ...That's what you meant? Well, of course. Everything ultimately comes
down to humans in the end. After all, humans are the only ones living in the world. All
strange things should be explainable in terms of human actions."
Tatarigoroshi-hen
I felt like I put that somewhat strangely, but Takano-san was not as dissatisfied with
that reply as I might have guessed.
"Oh... It's impressive that you've caught on to that at such a young age. You're right.
Strange things that happen in the world of man are all caused by man for his own benefit.
...Maebara-kun, I'll ask you again then. This time, not Santa Claus, ...but Oyashiro-sama. ...Do
you know anything... about who Oyashiro-sama is?"
Takano-san... took a step towards me and gazed into my eyes... as she asked.
...Santa Claus was really the parents of every family's children. If lionizing that legend
was a corporate tactic to try and profit during Christmas sales, then... what was Oyashiro-
sama, really?
"...Um... hmm..."
"Oh... Didn't you already say? There are only humans in this world. Everything can be
explained by human actions, right? ...Hee hee."
"......Maebara-kun. Keep this to yourself, okay? ...This string of freak death incidents
attributed to Oyashiro-sama's curse... Takano-san's view is that they may be premeditated ho-
micides, performed by the people of Hinamizawa and based on some kind of ceremony."
"No, don't misunderstand me. My life's work is to research teachings, thoughts, and
cultures from the viewpoint of folklorism. I don't really care at all about who the cuplrit really
is... Just keep that in mind, please."
...Umm...... I could tell, at least, that she was saying some crazy stuff. .
..If I were to liken her statements to a meal, it would be sort of like... she'd just tried to
stuff a whole plate of duck into my mouth, and now I couldn't say anything.
"To understand that in the first place, you have to go all the way back to ancient times,
when Hinamizawa was called Onigafuchi—or 'the Demon's Abyss'. The transcendants who
lived there believed themselves to carry the blood of demons, and so were only half-human."
Takano-san, having entered her home field, leaned forward and began to speak of ri-
diculous matters. ...Tomitake-san realized she was overawing me and interrupted for me.
"Takano-san, Takano-san. You can't just chatter on about that stuff to Maebara-kun...
Look, he's really confused."
".........Oh, my... Are you? If you want to hear more, ask me anytime. I have heaps of the
grotesque stories that boys your age seem to love hearing."
"...T-Thank you. If I feel like it, I will.."
For now, I softly and safely gave my refusal... Takano-san seemed a little unhappy that
Tomitake-san had rained on her parade, but she stopped talking about it then. Even so... it was
still a very interesting story.
......That Oyashiro-sama's curse, which we thought of as strange, freak deaths... were
really homicides... perpetrated by people of the village.
"Well, I mean... If you thought about it logically, it would have to be. ...People wouldn't
be dying because of a curse. ...Someone's obviously killing people and making it look like
one."
"Indeed. ...As for who that is... Hee hee, it might be safer not to try and find out."
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"......You seem like you know, Takano-san. ...You may not have proof... but you seem
like you believe it."
"Oh, my... Why do you think that?"
I just kind of felt it vaguely.
...It didn't seem like her extreme passion for this research could be explained just by
these things being taboo, or being safe and easy. This person... loved walking through the pro-
found, forbidden abyss of risks and taboos.
"Let's leave it at that, Maebara-kun. ...I just helped you escape, and now you're trying
to talk about Oyashiro-sama again! ...Hmm... I wanted to take a nice walk while it was still
cool.."
Tomitake-san seemed a little disappointed not to be able to go on the date he'd planned
since I had brought up a weird topic.
......But right now... there was something I wanted to ask, just for a little bit.
...And that was......
...About whether... Satoko's uncle... will be chosen for the curse this year.
...If he was............ then... another miracle would happen, just like last year.
...A terrible incident would happen again... but it would release Satoko from her unfor-
tunate circumstances once more.
"......Well. I do have a few suspicions as to the kind of people who would probably be-
come involved, of course. It's a natural, inevitable conclusion for anyone who's researched the
history of Onigafuchi Village..."
"...Who... do you mean?"
...What would I do if I knew?
...I asked that question to the other me deep inside... but got no reply.
"How enthusiastic. ...What would you do if you knew?"
"......Nothing really."
"...If you found out, you might get into danger yourself, you know? Maybe the fifth
year's curse would be you... Hee hee."
Takano-san, toying with taboo, gave a devilish, satisfied smile... as though nothing in
the world would be more amusing.
...She was probably trying to tease me, but I didn't feel like going along with her little
game one bit.
"...Hmm. ...You like to talk pretty big... but you don't really know yourself, do you,
Takano-san?"
I had felt a tinge of irritation at Takano-san's roundabout way of speaking... but those
emotions escaped my mouth... like water flowing through a strainer.
...Even I was surprised at how directly I had spoken out about what I felt.
...Of course, I wasn't the only one taken aback..
"......Oh, my. ...You're something. You may be just a boy, but you can still provoke
people. How unexpectedly rugged. ......I don't dislike people like that, you know."
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Takano-san's tongue poked out of her mouth... and I was convinced that it was long,
thin, and split in the middle like a snake's.
"All right. ...I'll tell you, then."
"........."
"...But you have to promise me three things first. ...One, not to regret it, no matter what
I tell you. Two, not to tell it to anyone. Three, not to tell anyone I told you."
I gulped firmly... and nodded. Tomitake-san made an exaggerated expression of dis-
tress, gave a dry, vague smile, and lit a cigarette.
"Please tell me. ...Who is putting this curse on people? Who is it... who's deciding who
gets cursed?"
...And after I said that... I finally realized why I wanted to know...
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Many of my classmates were playing freely in the schoolyard. A few of them had just
run out of the school building after putting on their shoes and tapping their toes to the ground.
...It looked like they had just finished eating lunch.
...From a time-manipulating standpoint, I guess I succeeded.
"Oh... Maebara-saan! Are you okay...?"
A few girls noticed me and came running over.
...It was only natural they were worried. You'd think if someone wasn't there in the
morning, they'd be out the rest of the day.
"Well, I'm... just late for school. Don't worry about it. ...Anyway... What about Satoko?
...Did she come today?"
The girls exchanged glances.
...I saw a thin shadow fall over their faces and knew the answer without needing to
hear them reply.
...Satoko... was absent today too. When all was said and done, after being out three
days, she'd only come back for one. And now she was out again.
...Who knew if she would come tomorrow?
"...Yeah. But the teacher said she got a phone call from Satoko-chan."
"She said she had a cold!"
"Chie-sensei said everyone should make sure to rinse their mouths out really well."
...Wait a minute, Chie-sensei.
...That's a little too thickheaded, don't you think...? You're a teacher, aren't you? Why
can't you be more sensitive and catch on to the fact that your pupil is sending out an SOS...?
But... Even if she did, there was nothing we could hope for.
...The most she could do was a home visitation.
...She didn't have any right to take Satoko from her uncle into safety.
...No matter the result, it would end up just like the public agencies—with a 'wait and
see' attitude.
...It would just piss Satoko's uncle off... and her suffering would only grow deeper...
...Then wasn't saying she had a cold the best option?
"...She's right. Be careful not to catch a cold, got it? ...You can go now. There's still
plenty of time left in lunch break"
The girls excitedly scattered into the schoolyard.
"...Oh... Keiichi-kuuun!!"
Rena was yelling out the classroom window, waving her hand.
...A moment later, Mion and Rika-chan poked their heads out too.
"...We were very worried... that even you would be absent today."
"Thank goodness! You don't seem sick—you look pretty okay"
...I felt a little uncomfortable with her saying that I didn't look sick, but I didn't care
that much.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"...What happened? Overslept?"

"......Well, late is late. ...Think if I said I was late because of a train accident, she'd let it
slide?"
"......You overslept."
...Mion was being a bit persistent. Was she going to put on her club president cap and
scold me for being late?
...Well, maybe she didn't have it in for me, so I briefly stated that she was right.
"There's still more bento! Everyone eat up! Without Keiichi-kun here, we couldn't have
any fun!"
"...Satoko... is still absent, huh?"
...Even Rena, feigning cheerfulness, couldn't stand to hear that, and her face darkened.
"............"
"She called this morning. ...Apparently she said her cold came back and she was stay-
ing home again. She said it might go on for a while, too."
"...She must be sad, so we were all talking about going to visit."
"...What are you saying, Rika-chan?"
Not pleased with Rika-chan wearing a wide smile as though it was a happy occasion, I
threw cold water on her.
"We know best of all she doesn't have a cold, don't we? ...Don't ever tell a fib like that
again, even as a joke. ...I'll get mad next time."
......Rika-chan furrowed her brow, looked down... and mumbled an apology.
"...It's not just you, Keiichi-kun. ...It's hard... for everyone..."
"I know I'm not the only one worrying. But none of us can do anything either, can
we?"
".........That's... true, but... ...B-But..."
...I got the feeling I would cause another fight if this exchange went on. So I apolo-
gized first.
"Sorry. ...I'm sorry, so forget about what I just said. ...It's hard for everyone, right? ...It
must be."
It was at least clear, however, that I was the only one who had worried so much about
rescuing her.
...At the very least, everyone else probably got the normal amount of sleep last night.
Probably had good dreams, too.
...They definitely hadn't... stayed up all night thinking so desperately...
"...I know it might not be what you want to hear right after you get to school... But you
were late today, Kei-chan. ...Did it have anything to do with Satoko being absent?"
"Huh...?! Mion, what are you talking about...?"
"...Sometimes you act kind of foolhardy, Kei-chan. ...When both you and her were ab-
sent this morning... We seriously thought you might have kidnapped her and hidden her some-
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where."
...Easy for you to say. If I could have, I'd have done that last night.
...None of them had really thought... about how difficult that clear-as-day solution was.
I was... up thinking all night, thinking until the night was brightening. .
..And then... I concluded that... I couldn't do anything of the sort.
"...Don't be dumb. ...I couldn't... I couldn't hide someone."
".........You're right. ...I'm sorry. I apologize if I upset you."
"Don't worry about it. ...Anyway, let's eat some food. I'm starving."
I took my bento box out of my bag. Everyone moved to make a spot for me to sit.
"Maebara-kun...! Did you just get here?"
And just as I was about to stick my chopsticks in... Chie-sensei came along.
"Uh... yeah. ...Sorry for being late. I overslept."
".............."
...What the heck? Even the teacher... was giving me that strange look.
"When you're finished eating, could you and the president come to the teacher's
lounge? ...There's something I want to talk about."
......Probably about Satoko, I thought. Sensei left it at that and went back out into the
hallway.
"...Eating lunch can wait. ...Let's go, Mion."
"Mm... You're right."
Mion and I exchanged looks, nodded to each other, and got up.
"...It's probably... about Satoko-chan."
No doubt about it.
...They were saying she had a cold, but everyone in class knew the truth.
...I didn't think that wouldn't have reached the teacher's ears by now.
"......I kept playing dumb... so I think she gave up asking me."
...Revealing the truth to the teacher would only worsen the situation.
...Was that why she hadn't said anything?
...Or was it... because she was Satoko's friend... and knew that she was trying to en-
dure... the trial of her uncle's abuse... in order to get her brother to come home?
"...What should we do? ...Maybe we should use this chance to get a collective opinion."
"......What do you want to do, Rika-chan?"
"......Meep.."
Satoko's closest and best friend was Rika-chan.
...However much I pretended to be her Nii-nii... it didn't come close to the amount of
time they'd spent together.
...So I felt like her opinion should be held in the highest regard.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"......I know... why Satoko is enduring her uncle's torture."

Everyone looked startled... and turned to me.
"...Back then, whenever Satoko was... abused... she probably cried and hid behind her
brother. ...But Satoko thinks that... in the end... that's why her brother ran away."
"............"
"......Who... did you hear that from...?"
"The coach, I bet.."
I nodded quietly.
"...Satoko believes her brother will come back if she can withstand the abuse... maybe
that's why she's trying to push through. But... that assumption has nothing to do with Satoshi
coming back. ...It hurts to say that about Satoko... but it's the truth."
Everyone... hung their heads.
...Everyone... was thinking the same thing...
"...Satoko... probably won't be happy no matter who helps her. ...She wants to withstand
everything with her own strength. .........But is it... really right to respect that...? ...I don't think
it is. ...Even if Satoko hates us for a while... I think there will come a time when we need to
save her against her will. ...And I think... that time might be now."
...I told them all about what I saw and how I felt when I went to Satoko's house yester-
day.
"......Keiichi-kun... so you think... we should tell someone?"
"Of course, only after we're sure that reporting it to a public agency will guarantee her
safety. ...Without being sure of that, it could just get more dangerous for her instead."
"...It's a difficult problem. ...You think we can get a definite promise out of the teacher?"
I had no confidence.
...But we had to try. Meanwhile... Rika-chan had her hand raised for a while... as if
asking for an opportunity to speak.
"...I will... leave it to Keiichi."
"What... Is that okay, Rika-chan...?"
"...Keiichi is... thinking about Satoko more than anybody else here. ...If Keiichi thinks...
that we need to tell someone, then I have no complaints."
"...Thanks... Mion, Rena, are you okay with that?"
Mion seemed to hesitate, not knowing if she should agree.
...But when she saw Rena's firm nod, she made up her mind and did the same.
"Okay. ...Let's go, Mion."
"...Right."
Only Chie-sensei was in the teacher's lounge.
...We didn't see the principal anywhere.
...The schedule on the blackboard under the principal's name said "training—going
straight home."
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...Our principal's sense of justice was too strong.

...Satoko's problems wouldn't be solved with something so vague.
...Maybe it was a stroke of good luck that he wasn't here. When the teacher saw Mion
and I come in, she closed up her curry bento, saving the rest for later.
"Sit over there, please."
She told us to take a seat in the chairs directly in front of the principal's seat.
...I hadn't sat in this chair since doing the paperwork for transferring in. The two of us
sat there uncomfortably... before the teacher walked over carrying a notebook and a ballpoint
pen and sat in front of us.
"Maebara-kun, you were absent this morning—did something happen?"
"I'm sorry, I overslept."
"......Really?"
"...I have no reason to lie.."
She narrowed her eyes at me in suspicion.
...Now I was sure of it.
...She wanted to talk about Satoko.
"...In any case, I think you two already know, but your friend Houjou-san has been
away frequently lately."
Neither Mion nor I had anything to say in response.
...But the teacher proceeded, not minding.
"...Would you happen to know anything? There are some people in class spreading bad
rumors."
Mion looked down and remained silent, as though she were being lectured.
......She sent me a quick glance.
...Everyone had made up their minds.
...They'd be leaving things to me.
"Mion-kun? Or you, Maebara-kun? ...I won't get mad or anything, okay? If you know
something, I just want you to tell me."
"......Sensei. Can we ask you a question first?"
She must not have anticipated that response.
...She looked surprised.
"...I don't know what rumors are going around about Satoko in class. ...But if those
rumors happened to be true... what would you do, Sensei?"
"W-Well, what would I do? ...If, well... If it's true that she's being abused by her uncle,
then I can't leave it alone."
"Can't leave what alone, exactly? What would you do?"
Sensei's eyebrows shot up.
...Maybe I said it like I was trying to pick a fight.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"Maebara-kun! I'm being serious here!!"

"...So am I. ...I'm also being completely serious right now. Please answer me. ...If it
were true, what wouldn't you leave alone?"
Sensei... took a few breaths... then began to speak slowly.
"F-First. I'd have to visit Houjou-san's house to confirm the situation."
"Her uncle might get mad and drive you away, though. ...Well, okay. ...Let's say you did
meet with Satoko and her uncle. Then what?"
"Then I'd ask whether it was true. Once I got the facts... I'd go from there."
"Please stop talking so vaguely. What exactly would you do?"
...Even despite my tone being so provocative, Chie-sensei bit back her emotions and
listened calmly.
......I thought then that she was a good teacher.
...Chie-sensei really did... have her students' best interests at heart.
...But... she didn't have the power or the authority to save Satoko. If she let her sense of
justice run away with her... the situation could get more complex.
...Sensei folded her arms... and for a few moments, she closed her eyes as though men-
tally concentrating.
...And when they opened again... there was a strictness in her eyes I'd never seen be-
fore.
"There's a law called the Child Welfare Law. It clearly states that abuse against chil-
dren will not be allowed, no matter who it is."
"So it would seem. ...Then what?"
"I'd contact the prefecture's child consultation center. You said just now that I would be
turned away, didn't you? Child welfare officers can bring the police with them if the situation
demands. They will not submit to intimidation."
"How many days would it take after you contact the social worker and submit the pa-
perwork for her to be saved?"
"It would be the same day. Their job is to guarantee the immediate safety of children.”
"I know that. That's if they decide there's an urgent need. ...If they didn't... then they'd
do the same as you. They'd go from there—they'd just wait and see, right? They'd just watch.
It would make Satoko's uncle's mood sour, and Satoko would be stuck with him there."
"......Kei-chan... that's going a little too far..."
"I'm not lying, am I? Last year, or the year before, whatever—that's exactly what
happened when the child welfare people came, isn't it? And what happened then? ...You and
Sensei would know about it a lot better than I would."
...I had said too much—I didn't need Mion to tell me that.
...I was talking crazy and itching for a fight.
...I was supposed to be telling her about the situation only after I was sure we could
save Satoko, but I basically told her everything right from the start. Chie-sensei looked at the
clock, stood up, and picked up the phone at the principal's seat.
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"............Hello? Put me through to extension 3455, please."

"...Is this okay, Kei-chan? ...Is this... really okay...?"
It was too late.
...The dice had been cast.
...Now we could only... pray.
"Oh, thank you for answering my call. I'm Chie, a licensed teacher at the Hinamizawa
branch school—would Director Watanabe happen to be in the guidance office? ...Yes, that's
right. ...Something urgent came up, so I'd like to contact the principal as soon as I can. ......Yes.
Thank you. Please tell him immediately. Yes, thank you.."
The teacher put down the phone... and tilted her head back and took a breath, like I
always did.
"...I'll ask the two of you again. ...Are the rumors going around class really true?"
".........Yes. ...Yesterday I went to Satoko's house... and I saw for myself just how bad it
really is."
"You can leave the rest to me. I'll definitely do something for Satoko-chan."
"...Something? Please stop saying such ambigious things. Not something—we have to
save her!! If they end up deciding to wait and see again... how do you plan on taking responsi-
bility!?"
While I was yelling, the phone rang. Chie-sensei snatched the receiver up first.
"...Hello! Oh... I apologize for interrupting your training. ......Yes. Actually, it's about the
issue with Satoko Houjou-san. ...Yes."
Sensei waved us away, telling us we could leave now.
...Mion went to leave, but I held my ground.
...I had a responsibility to make sure she stopped saying such vague, ambiguous things.
...If it didn't look like she was going to say anything substantial... then I'd tell them the
truth, even if I had to steal the phone from her.
"......Yes. .........No, I haven't contacted them yet. ......Yes. ...I haven't confirmed it... but it
seems pretty bad from what the children are saying."
"It's not just pretty bad!! Do something about it!! Right now!! If you're going to report
it, then I don't care who you tell!! But I swear, if they end up just waiting and watching... I
will never forgive you!!"
I yelled angrily at Sensei and the principal on the other end.
...I wanted to somehow, some way... convey to them just how dangerous her situation
was right now.
"I understand that! I will tell them as much! Mion-kun, please take Maebara-kun back
to the classroom."
"Ah... yes, ma'am. ...Let's go, Kei-chan. We should leave this to the teachers now."
".........You better... promise.."
Until the very last moment... I glared at Sensei.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...Chie-sensei... was being pressured by the likes of me.

...Idiot, this isn't the time to feel pressured.
...Now's the time when you give me a firm nod that'll set my mind at ease...! Even so...
we've already left things in her hands.
...At this point... we really can't do anything but pray.
Bang.
...Mion shut the door to the teacher's lounge.
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Tatarigoroshi-hen
Tip #10 - Article
Article 2 (Definition of Child Abuse)
The term "child abuse" means the following acts committed by a

custodian (meaning a person who exercises parental authority,
a guardian of a minor or other person who is currently engaged
in the custody of a child; hereinafter the same shall apply)
against a child (meaning a person who is under 18 years of age;
hereinafter the same shall apply):
(i) Assault the child in a manner that will cause or is likely

to cause external injury on the body of a child;
(ii) Engage in indecency against the child or cause the child

to engage in indecency;
(iii) Substantially reduce the amount of food for the child or

abandon and neglect the child for a long time period in a man-
ner that may interfere with normal development of the child
mentally or physically, or otherwise materially fail to per-
form the duty of a custodian; or
(iv) Speak or behave in a manner that would be significantly

traumatic to the child.
Article 3 (Prohibition of Child Abuse)
No person shall abuse a child.
Law number: Act No. 82 of 2000
<Authored by the Minister of Health and Welfare>

Page 197
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Tip #11 - Statistics from the Department of Health
Year 19__
Principal Abusers (in cases reported to the Ministry of Health

and Welfare)
Total: 5,352
Mother by blood: 2,943 (55.0%)
Mother not by blood: 203 ( 3.8%)
Father by blood: 1,445 (27.0%)
Father not by blood: 488 ( 9.1%)
Year 19__
Instances by Type of Abuse (in cases reported to the Ministry

of Health and Welfare)
Total: 5,352 Physical abuse: 2,780 (51.9%)
Neglect (abandonment of child): 1,728 (32.3%)
Psychological abuse: 458 ( 8.6%)
Forbidden from going to school: 75 ( 1.4%)
Sexual violence: 311 ( 5.8%)

Page 199
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Day 9 Part 2
The die of fate had been cast.
...Reporting to a public agency, which we'd kept being warned could instead result in
something far worse for Satoko if we didn't have the evidence first.
...And just... just like that. Had I failed... had I let my emotions get the better of me in
that moment?
...Maybe I should have stayed silent... and left everything to Mion, since she had been
relatively calm.
...I remembered the punishment game where we had to badmouth curry, and how me
saying anything would have made it worse, and Satoko told us to leave the talking to her.
...Maybe it was the same thing here.
...I was impulsive, so maybe I should have just shut up and looked at the floor.
...But... it was too late to lament it.
...The die I had thrown wouldn't be coming back into my hands. All we could do was
pray for something good to happen.
"...Keiichi-kun... You did everything you could. So... leave it to the teachers now.
...Okay?"
"Everything I could...? ...If I really gave it everything I had, if I had really struggled...
I would have dragged Satoko out of her home last night and hidden her in some abandoned
house. ...I didn't, so that means I didn't do everything I could."
"......Stop thinking about it, all right? ...You're being a little too persistent, Keiichi-kun.
At this rate, you'll collapse."
Just leave me alone. .
..I left her with those words and stared lazily up at the ceiling.
...I wondered if I'd really got Chie-sensei to understand.
...Would the public agency intervene... and solve everything within the day?
...Would they acknowledge the abuse... and guarantee her safety...?
...After lunch break, our afternoon classes were mostly self-study. The teacher came
back to the classroom occasionally, but then the phone in the lounge would ring and she'd
have a long conversation with the caller. Everyone in class... got the feeling they knew what
those phone calls were about. Sensei came trotting back from the classroom.
"...I'm really sorry for all the phone calls recently. Let's call it a day. President, please
lead the class!"
"Everybody stand up!"
...It looked to me like Sensei had been wearing a dark expression ever since after lunch
break.
...It wasn't a very relieving expression. It wouldn't be.
...Even if Sensei 100% understood the situation and passionately explained it to the
other person... at the end, the child consultation center, as a public agency, would be the ones
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to decide whether to get her to safety.

...Sensei understood that as well as us... and that's why she looked so unreliable right
now.
"Kei-chan, let's go home. ...I don't think anyone feels like having the club today."
"Ahahaha. Mii-chan, it's no fun if someone's not here."
...Rena was right.
...It was no fun for us... if someone was missing. If the teacher's expression had shown
more promise... then maybe we could have gone home more comfortably.
...But I...... couldn't let myself feel relieved.
...I couldn't be naive and tell myself all I can do is pray, now that the dice have been
cast. Just in case... they didn't get her to safety and decided to 'wait and see' again... I'd need
to take further measures.
...We've asked the people who could do something official already.
...Then... there was one more place... that was worth asking for help.
.........She might laugh it off... ...or I might be right... and I could be endangering my
own life. But... I'd try.
"Oh... Mion. Is it okay if I stop by your place today? ...You've got a lot of manga, right?
I want to borrow a bunch of them."
"Huh...? .........Sure, I guess."
There was an ominous meaning behind my words, so Mion realized what I really
meant right away.
...I wanted to talk about something alone.
...That's what I meant.
"Mii-chan, Keiichi-kun! Let's go home~"
Rena already had her shoes on, and was waving to us from the schoolyard.
...Mion's house... was gigantic in every way imaginable. The house itself was a vaguely
old-fashioned, traditional Japanese house, but the yard, I guess—or their plot of land—was
enormous.
...It easily convinced me that they really were major landowners, with Hinamizawa un-
der their thumb. Mion brought me through the guest room and a servant brought us some tea.
"Wow. You really are rich, huh? You've even got housekeepers?"
"Grandma and I are the only ones who live here. I wouldn't be able to do everything
myself."
The servant left, telling us it was five o'clock... then withdrew with soft footsteps.
"We have people come in to take care of Grandma and clean two or three times a
week. They come in rotations of three or four, so there's someone here almost every day. Only
until evening, though. Oh, and if we're having a party or something where we need more help,
we call up different people."
...If you had the money to hire all these people, then just take Satoko in.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...I glared at her as I thought that... and Mion seemed to catch on immediately.
"......Oh... sorry."
"It's fine. ...I know it's not a money problem."
"...Just to be clear... My family may be rich, but... It's not money that I can use freely
for myself, okay...? I don't want you to misunderstand that.."
...It kind of looked like I was bullying her.
...Mion had been apologizing to me a lot lately.
...Was Mion the sort of person who would do that this much...? Maybe it's just that I've
been looking so grim lately...
"...So. ...What's up? You had something to talk about, right?"
"I have... something pretty serious to discuss, Mion. ...This will be sudden, and you
might be surprised... but I want you to hear me out."
"Huh... W-What?"
"Oh... I'll give you a way out first. ...Even if what I say is true, you don't need to admit
it. You're allowed to play dumb. ...But... I want you to listen until the end. ......I have something
to say to the next leader... of what's still the most important of the Three Families of Onigafu-
chi Village: Mion Sonozaki."
"..........."
At first Mion looked like she had no idea what I was saying... but at hearing the whole
sentence and putting it together, she reacted.
"......Where did you hear that?"
"...It... doesn't really matter."
I definitely couldn't tell her who told me.
...Takano-san, you told me not to... but please forgive me.
...This was why I asked you about it, after all.
"...I was surprised just that you'd heard of Onigafuchi Village, Kei-chan... but you seem
to know a lot of things, both true and false... about me too."
"...Yeah. ...True and false. ...I really might just have the wrong impression here. But...
I'm okay with that, so listen. ...And, if it really is true..."
"I don't know what you're getting at, Kei-chan... but let me say this beforehand. ......
You've got a big misunderstanding. ...So if it were possible, I wouldn't want to hear what
you're about to say. Because even if you said it, I can't do anything to help you. ......Still... If
talking about it will lighten your burden even a little, I'll listen. ......I'm only just going to lis-
ten. Nothing more will happen. ...Are you okay with that?"
".........Yeah."
Mion... seemed to know what kind of thing I'd be talking about. She warned me that
doing so would be fruitless.
...That much was obvious.
...If what I was going to say was true... then the Sonozaki family... would be... the mas-
terminds behind the string of freak deaths that had been occurring every year in Hinamizawa.
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"...You know that stuff... about Oyashiro-sama's curse, right?"

Mion nodded a little.
"......No one knows what it is or why it happens. ...Even if each incident is solved, the
string of deaths and accidents as a whole is still a mystery. ...But there's one thing connecting
them all. And that's... how the targets are always enemies of the village."
".........Seems like it."
Mion spoke as if it didn't relate to her.
...That was fine. She didn't have to admit it.
...For now... I just wanted her to stay quiet and listen to me.
"...The day after tomorrow... it's Watanagashi, isn't it? ...Has the sacrifice for this year's
curse... been decided already...?"
Mion didn't answer. Her expression remained the same, too.
...Like she said... she was just quietly listening.
"Er, sorry. ...The promise was that you'd just listen... so it's weird for me to ask a ques-
tion, huh?”
Mion gave me a look she'd never given me before... a faraway look... a sympathetic
one.
...She didn't nod... she just smiled faintly and listen to me.
"If... this year's curse... isn't going to be on Satoko's uncle... then please change it to
him. I mean... last year it was her aunt, right?! It's in the right order, so it wouldn't be weird!"
"...Ahahaha. You're right, it seems like there's an order."
"I mean, after her aunt died to the curse last year, he abandoned Satoko and fled into
the town for a whole year! Why wouldn't a guy like that definitely be next on Oyashiro-sama's
list?! There shouldn't be any issue with choosing him for this year!"
"...I see. If he were to die from the curse this year, no one would see anything unusual
about it."
"I... I, er... I heard... that Oyashiro-sama's curse is... well.."
No matter how I looked at it... I wasn't sure... whether I should continue.
...No matter how I tried... the words... wouldn't come out.
"The string of freak deaths in Hinamizawa... also called Oyashiro-sama's curse—you're
saying they're incidents perpetrated by the village... carried out by the Three Families at the
Sonozaki's instructions? Is that it?"
"I... I wasn't...!! I don't care one bit whether you have anything to do with it! I'm just
saying!! If... If you have any way of communicating with whoever decides the targets of the
curse... Then I just want you to tell them... to choose Satoko's uncle... ...Please!!!"
"......Everything you've been saying has been terrible. If the freak death incidents in
Hinamizawa were carried out by the will of the Sonozaki family... that would mean the main
culprit would be me, wouldn't it? I would have chosen the target of the curse, given the in-
structions, killed many people, and gotten rid of others. ...You're calling me a murderer, Kei-
chan."
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"...I didn't say that!! Didn't you listen to me? ...I don't care whether you're the one be-
hind the murders or not... I just don't!! Even if you were the culprit, it doesn't change the fact
that you're my friend!! It doesn't matter at all! If the police were chasing you, I'd come to help!
I'd make you an alibi and even help you escape!! Because we're friends and comrades!! Aren't
we?"
Mion... looked surprised for a while.
...She was dumbfounded.
"............Now you're declaring yourself complicit? Kei-chan, that's pretty bold of you."
"Come on, don't interrupt!!! ...Satoko's uncle... Choose him for—"
"Stop right there, Kei-chan. ...I want to start on dinner soon, so I'd like to leave things
at this."
"M...Mion...!!"
I then realized... that my cheeks were wet with tears.
...They slid down my chin and fell, drip drop, to the tatami mat.
"......It's like I said at the start. ...You've got a big misunderstanding. ...Oyashiro-sama's
curse is just that... Even if there were people behind those incidents, they don't have anything
to do with the Sonozaki family, or me either."
"...Right. ...I understand that, it's just..."
"......It was touching to hear such a desperate plea, Kei-chan... but that was all it was.
...Even if I wanted to help, I can't. ...You understand that too, right?"
"......Yeah."
"...But now I know how you feel so well it hurts. ...If I really were... like you said, the
one controlling the Three Families and choosing the sacrifices every year. ......I'd probably
grant your wish."
".........Mion...!"
"But the reality is different. I'm just Mion Sonozaki. ...My family may be the subject of
all sorts of bad rumors about controlling Hinamizawa from the shadows, but we have nothing
to do with the freak death incidents. ...We may have been a little extreme during the dam war,
but that's all. ...We would never do something... so insane as to kill people."
"...That's...... Don't say such sad things... ...Right now, at least... I don't care... Why can't
you just be nice and lie to me...!"
"Kei-chan. You're free to believe what you like. If I lied to you now, you'd be con-
vinced Satoko would be freed the night after tomorrow, and you'd be able to shed much of
your burden. ...However, reality is harsh—Satoko's uncle will survive beyond that day. ...He'd
still be alive next week, and the week after that. ...You need to prepare yourself for that. ...I
don't want you coming to me the day after Watanagashi and demanding to know why he
wasn't killed."
"............Mion.."
Mion stood up slowly and closed the sliding door, to keep out the wind that had grown
chilly...
"...Was it Miyo-san? Did she give you all those ideas? ...She really likes to misunder-
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stand things about Hinamizawa. ...Well, we can let her have her fun. ...But I don't really want
her influencing you, Kei-chan. ...Geez. This is why outsiders are no good."
"Takano-san... has nothing to do with it."
"...Right, right. Don't worry. Even though I know she told you about it, Kei-chan, noth-
ing's going to happen. ...It's not like Miyo-san will be chosen for this year's curse. ...Besides,
we don't even know for sure if the curse will happen this year. ...Maybe it was all just a pile
of unfortunate coincidences."
"......Thanks for listening. ......If you aren't connected to the serial deaths at all... then
that must have been an uncomfortable conversation. I'll apologize for it."
"I see... You'll apologize for it... ...Hahahahahahahaha."
...Mion said she didn't have much time, but she still brought me to the gate. She said
she had a meeting or something today about Sunday's Watanagashi festival, so there would be
a lot of people from the town council and the festival committee coming.
...Despite her day being so busy, she still listened to what I had to say.
"...If there's a God in heaven... then he probably understands how strongly you feel."
".........Yeah. I'm really sorry for being so weird today. ...You can pretend like this dis-
cussion never happened if you want."
"...Okay. I'll forget about it."
"Okay. ...See you tomorrow."
"Bye-bye."
I had really only spent... a short time with Mion.
...Talking to her made me think.
...It was clear that what Takano-san had told me, at least, wasn't a complete fabrica-
tion. If Mion was really, really unconnected to the incidents, then she probably wouldn't have
listened to me so quietly.
...She heard me out until I was done without making any quips... and I wanted to think
that was proof.
...I did kind of feel like I was grasping at straws. Of course, thinking back on it... it
was a terrible thing to discuss. I mean, I went to my friend's house, called her a serial murder-
er, and then told her to kill Satoko's uncle... I was the only one talking that whole time. Mion
quietly listened to everything I had to say like a pastor listening to a confession.
...She could have gotten angry partway through, told me off, and to go wash my face
in miso soup and come back later.
...But she didn't. Was that proof that Mion's family, the Sonozaki, were the master-
minds... or was she just listening because she felt sorry for me going kind of crazy?
...I didn't know which it was. But... it was the one effort I could make at the moment. It
was another form of insurance... should worst come to worst and the public agency decided to
'wait and see'. It was a completely useless resistance... literally grasping at straws. Sensei said
that if she reported it to the child consultation center, they'd have to respond on the same day.
...Could they already be in the middle of responding to it now...? If Satoko came to
school tomorrow morning all energetic... then everything would be just a needless fear. Why
Tatarigoroshi-hen
couldn't tomorrow come faster... That night was unusually hot and humid... and I couldn't get
to sleep.
...I said all that to Sensei.
...They couldn't possibly decide to 'wait and see' again this year. Satoko... What was it
like for her tonight?
...Had she tasted the end of her nightmare, enjoying a night of liberation? I actually put
my hands together... and prayed into my futon.
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Tatarigoroshi-hen
Day 10
"G'morning, Keiichi-kun!"
"Morning."
"Thank goodness. I thought you overslept today too! Your mom said you'd gone on
ahead yesterday, and then you weren't at school. I was worried that you had gotten heat stroke
halfway there!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm very sorry for all the worry I caused you yesterday."
"Heeey, goood morning!"
"Mii-chan, good morning~! ...Wow... You really stink of liquor! You'll get found out for
sure!"
"Oh, right, wasn't there a big business meeting with all the people on the town council
yesterday?"
"They only called it that—it was more like a party. We have the festival every year,
right? We wouldn't have any annoying meetings at this point."
"Are you going to help out with the festival this afternoon then?"
"Yep. I have to do a meet-and-greet with all sorts of people in Grandma's place. Be-
sides, they already started setting up for the festival."
Our morning conversation was lighthearted as usual.
...It looked like Mion had thankfully forgotten... about how I'd barged into her house
yesterday with that crazy talk.
...The more I think back on it, I felt like I'd really said something terrible to her.
...I was really thoughtless, and it wouldn't have been weird if she'd yelled at me. It was
highly possible Takano-san had exaggerated her story.
...To think that our comrade and friend, Mion, the young leader of the Sonozakis, one
of the Three Families effectively controlling Hinamizawa, was pulling the strings behind the
serial death incidents... was a little unbelievable.
...But... if there was even a one percent chance... that it was true...
...Then what I said yesterday to Mion... might have been a success. Yes, it was no more
than one in a hundred.
...But that little bit of effort might have brought the chances of saving Satoko up by
even a tiny bit.
......At least I'd made that effort.
...After yesterday ended, I was sure I'd done everything I possibly could.
...If there was something else I could do... it was probably just to clap my hands and
pray that Satoko's uncle would be killed by the curse...
"...I hope Satoko makes it today."
"...Me too. ...Sensei is doing things for her, right? Mm. ...I'm sure it'll be fine."
"My aunt is a welfare agent in the Hinamizawa district... I gave her a call last night."
"Huh, I didn't know your aunt was a welfare officer. ...What happened? Did you tell her
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about Satoko-chan?"
"Yep. Chie-sensei called the child consultation center right after we talked to her. A
child welfare officer apparently visited before the night was over. My aunt said that they were
going to pay visits at regular intervals from now on."
"...Enough with the dumb, little stuff. I want to know what happened to Satoko. Did
they get her safe?!"
"Mm... My aunt wasn't that informed about it. ...I was supposed to keep this a secret
anyway. Her telling me was a big breach of ethics in the first place."
".........Damn, that makes me feel even worse."
"...Let's... get to school."
Right. Discussing this more would just make us feel worse.
...It was far quicker to go to school and see if Satoko was safe or not. The three of us
nodded... and ran off.
...Was Satoko safe? What measures had the child consultation center taken? I didn't
care what—as long as we could go back to our peaceful life with Satoko today, it didn't mat-
ter to me. At the shoe racks at the entrance, Rena took a peek in Satoko's shoe cubby.
"Ah... Satoko's shoes are here! They're here!"
"Kei-chan, Satoko came. Thank goodness...!"
"We don't know if anything happened just because she came to school. We can't know
anything... until we see her face."
We trotted towards the classroom. The classroom... was lively, as it usually was in the
morning.
"...Satoko...!! Where are you...?!"
"...Meep. She's right here."
"It's too early in the morning to be so loud. Would you please keep it down a bit?"
"Satoko-chan! ...Umm... Are you okay?"
All of our friends crowded around Satoko excitedly.
"...A probation officer came, right? ...Umm... How did it go?"
"...Who was it that called them? I swear... It was quite a mess, you know."
"It was the teacher. ......You were absent for so long, of course she was worried"
...Satoko said "I told you I'm fine" under her breath. She was still... trying to overcome
all the suffering on her own.
"...It was a big bother to both me and my uncle. That person just barged on in on us
suddenly, geez..."
"Everyone was worried about you, Satoko. Don't say it was a bother..."
"Ahh, geez!! Anyway! What happened?!"
"Nothing happened. Ho-ho-ho—my cold got better, so I came back to school, that's all.
I can't take too much time off from now on because then you'll all worry about me. ...Ho-ho-
ho"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...What... was Satoko saying...?

"What happened to, well... your uncle?"
"Oh, he admitted there were some misunderstandings, and we both apologized."
Tug. ...Rika-chan grabbed the back of my collar and pulled me away.
"...W-What is it, Rika-chan."
Rika-chan silently dragged me all the way into the hallway.
"......Rika-chan... What... did that mean?!"
"...Satoko... said nothing was happening and chased them away"
.........Id—
"...That idiot...!!! But... but why...?"
No... Somewhere in my mind... I thought it might turn out like this. Satoko didn't... ask
for anyone's help, she didn't hide behind anyone... She was trying to ride out this pain.
...She wanted to show Satoshi proof that if he came back to them, she wouldn't need to
hide behind him anymore.
"B-But... Coach said probation officers can bring her to safety in an emergency even if
it's against her wishes! However much Satoko denies the abuse, it's a fact...!"
...Chie-sensei finally came.
...Her expression was far from cheerful.
"......Yes. You're right, Maebara-kun. If the child welfare officer determines that it's an
emergency, they have the right to immediately take them to safety. Regardless of the affected
party's intent."
"Then why?! Why is Satoko's intent being respected so much—it's weird! Why don't
they put her into safety?!"
"...Well... After the person in charge at the child consultation center looked into it from
many angles, they determined..."
"What the hell is that?!? Sensei, didn't you say it was going to be all right, since you'd
definitely save her?! What's the meaning of this?! This doesn't make any sense!! Answer me,
damn it!!"
".........Keiichi. ...This is actually the third time someone has reported Satoko's child
abuse. ...It happened... twice in the past too."
"Furude-san..."
Sensei tried to stop her, but Rika-chan went on speaking anyway.
"...Twice before? ...I heard they decided to 'wait and see' after reporting it the winter
before last... But it happened before then too?"
"...Satoko's father, who died, wasn't her real father."
"What...? Rika-chan... that's... what?"
I'm stunned at the sudden revelation.
...I had no idea what Rika-chan wanted to tell me... but it seemed really important... so
I couldn't get a word in either.
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"...Satoko's mother remarried. She brought Satoko and Satoshi with her... so they
weren't related by blood to their father."
Satoshi was a good kid... one who listened politely to what adults told him.
...He immediately welcomed by their new father, and was loved. But... Satoko was dif-
ferent. She was rebellious, she told lies, she played pranks.
...Her stepfather didn't like her at all.
"...What...... ...So... what do you mean...?"
"...Even before she was given to their uncle and his wife... Satoko didn't have a very
good relationship with her family."
Of course, her stepfather didn't have any malicious intent at the start.
...At first, he must have worked hard to get his new daughter to accept him. But... the
young Satoko didn't make any effort at all towards that end. She was distant towards her step-
father, and never opened her heart to him even a little.
...She just got on his nerves all the time... with seemingly-forced lies and pranks. Her
father's discipline and punishment must have been loving at first, of course... but that, too,
faded quickly.
"......I don't know because I wasn't in Hinamizawa at the time... But I learned this on
the phone yesterday."
"...What story did you hear, Sensei?"
"...That Satoko-chan... wanted to trick her parents... especially her stepfather, so she
inflicted wounds on herself so she could... make up a false story about abuse... And that she
sent out an SOS herself."
"She made up a story... about hurting herself...?"
"...Satoko made a fake phone call... to try and get rid of the father she hated."
Child welfare officers rushed there and heard the story.
...Her father genuinely apologized for a few times when he had gone too far, and
agreed to let the child welfare center give him coaching.
"......Related agencies looked into it quite a bit. ......They determined that Satoko-chan
and her stepfather's hearts not being quite matched up was the cause of the incident... But they
found another problem, above that, with Satoko-chan."
"A problem with Satoko... What was it"
...Satoko's mother... there were a few times where she had lived with de facto husbands,
though those relationships didn't result in remarriage.
...From a young age, Satoko had been forced to call at least two or three people her
father. At some point... Satoko's pranks escalated.
...She would spill food on purpose, turn over her plate... and even throw it. She would
break the windows in the neighborhood, and shoplift candy. She would put thumb tacks every-
where, and set other traps to seriously hurt people.
...Not in the way she did now, just to get laughs. She was also fond of telling lies that
would be found out right away... and people got mad at her every time.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...But she never, ever changed her behavior.

"......Please don't think Satoko-chan was a problem child. ...Satoko-chan was young...
It was an act of self-defense... that she had to take against the unknown men her mother had
chosen."
In regards to Satoko's problematic behavior, child psychology experts from public in-
stitutions... indicated her actions were to draw her mother's attention to herself. They acknowl-
edged that she had a form of harmful emotional trauma... and declared that she needed coun-
seling and therapy from professionals. They didn't know... whether that therapy had healed the
wounds in her heart.
"...Satoko-chan purposely hurt herself... and told them that she was being abused by her
stepfather... in an attempt to chase him out."
"...But... in the end... her stepfather did abuse her, right?"
"No. ...All of the abuse... had been made up by Satoko-chan. ...Her stepfather, of
course, may have scolded her in a somewhat emotional way... but it was nothing out of the
ordinary."
Satoko... had lied to chase away her stepfather. And... they saw through her right
away... and found out... that Satoko had issues.
"...Oh...... Could it be... that's why... the winter before last... they decided to wait and
see...?"
"...Yes. ......The child consultation center had all their past records... so they needed to
act carefully... in case Satoko was lying."
"...What the hell... So... so what? ...Satoko... might be telling a lie, so they needed to be
careful. ...So... how does that mean... they'd just end up... waiting and seeing?!"
"......It was the girl who cried wolf."
That fable... about telling a lie once... making others unwilling to believe you later.
"T-That's bullshit!! The past has nothing to do with this, does it?! Only what's really
happening right now is important!! Satoko is being abused by her uncle!! Why is... Why is
something that happened in the past getting in the way helping her now?
"...Neither Sensei nor Rika-chan had anything to say to that."
...Anyway, yesterday, a probation officer visited to carefully determine what was going
on
"And... Satoko dealt with them... put on the best, strongest smile she could manage, and
denied the abuse. Of course, she was probably being threatened to keep quiet about it by her
uncle.
...Satoko was trying to outlast everything without asking for help... Satoko wanted to
wait for Satoshi to come back home... And she outright denied the truth of the abuse...
...What an idiot...
......What...
...You're not really enduring it... Do you really think pretending like this... will actually
bring Satoshi back...? Just stop it already.
...Satoshi, he... He abandoned you.
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...And the fact that he hasn't shown up to save you now is proof, isn't it?
...So just stop it.
...Please stop being weird and pretending to endure it...
".........Forget everything we just said. Understand? If you tell anyone else, your teacher
will be very mad with you."
Chie-sensei gave me a warning then left to go back to the teacher's lounge...
"...Keiichi. Please don't think Satoko is a pathetic, pitiful girl."
"............"
"...She's living life. ...She's—"
"I know that!! She's our irreplacable friend!"
"......Satoko is still trying her best. ...Let's watch over her... a little longer... The person
from the consultation center said they'd visit periodically from now on. ...If something terrible
happens, they'll help her right away..."
".........Yeah, but only after it happens."
Any more than that would have sounded like I was picking a fight... so I firmly swal-
lowed my next words and went back to the classroom. Mion and Rena were talking to Satoko
like they always did.
...It was a silly conversation. A humorous, even fun one, like it was any old day.
...If... If Satoko really said she could still endure it... then maybe I should do as Rika-
chan said and watch over her.
...Maybe whatever help I offer will just go unwanted.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Day 10 Part 2
"Okay, why don't we all have lunch!!"
"...Meep!"
"Ahahaha! It's been a while since it's been all five of us! This really is how it has to
be~!"
"Hear, hear. Come on, you too, Kei-chan! Bring your desk over~"
Satoko brought her own desk over as well, grinning broadly.
...Even knowing nothing had been resolved... this exchange was pleasant, and made me
remember how fun it used to be.
"...I can't have Rika... making a bento for me forever."
"...I don't mind. ...I have fun making your bento."
Rika-chan's such a good girl. Having such a good friend must be so reassuring...
"...I put in the big steak, and Satoko puts in the burned stuff, so if it was just Satoko it
would be so sad, so very sad, nipah~."
I take it back.
...Well, hmm.
...She's Rika-chan, after all.
"Hey, come on, look! I've got omelette rice today~ Mushrooms and stuff are delicious!
Delicious! Hau!"
"I say it every time, but your craftsmanship is splendid. You could become a wife
whenever and not have a problem!"
"A, a-a-a-a-a-a-a wife, a wife~~♪ Eaaating~ a wife~♪ Hau~~~~!!!"
"Using the word 'wife' is totally forbidden around Rena. Please don't say it again."
"...I'll think about what I've done. A little."
"By the way, what's in your lunch, Mion? It looks different again today—we're all
waiting in anticipation!"
"It's a rich assortment of side dishes left over from what my uncle brought last night.
The stew looks really great, huh? The color of the radishes too—really good, right?"
"...Wow~ It looks delicious."
"Stew tastes best when it's left overnight! This looks like it would be really good!
...And so there'll be none left for Satoko. I'll eat it all and tell you what I think, so just be
quiet and watch."
"W-W-What was that?!?! Hand over my portion too!"
Elbow! Punch! Headbutt! I'll use my knees too, orryahh!!
"Oh-ho-ho!! At close range like this, my advantage is unwavering! Hmm, Keiichi-san,
the daikon in your portion tastes really good!"
"...Damn it... Coming right for me from the start and using a combo attack... How hu-
miliating.."
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This little exchange... how long had it been?

...It looked like they'd ended up going with the 'wait and see' approach... but maybe her
uncle had realized he'd gone a little too far and would dial it back now.
...If her treatment improved a little... would that be a good thing...? Satoko was grin-
ning wider than I'd ever seen as she chomped down on her mouthful of the daikon she'd plun-
dered from me—did it really taste that good? Satoko was somewhat cute like that... and just
as I'd done many times, I grabbed her head and started petting it...
Catch...! Smack... flip-flop, clatter clatter...
"......Huh...?"
"......Satoko...chan..."
...It was so sudden... that for a moment, I didn't know what had happened. The back of
my hand... was stinging.
......Umm... I went to pet Satoko's head... and then she... hit my hand...?
"...W...What's wrong, Satoko?"
Satoko was... scratching at her head... as though a pimple or something had appeared
on it and become itchy.
...It was so sudden... and so unprovoked... that I didn't understand what happened.
"...W-What's wrong, Satoko?"
At some point... her body had been covered in a thin layer of sweat... and her breathing
had turned ragged. When I... pet her head, did she not like it... was that what it meant...?
"...Hey... Did you dislike... being petted...?"
Once again... slowly... I held out the palm of my hand... and brought it close to Satoko's
head.
...The instant the palm of my hand touched her head.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...There was a shock like static electricity, and Satoko began to howl...
"Hyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"
Thud, slaaaaam!!! She grabbed my arm in both hands... and as if flinging off a snake
trying to cling to her... as if trying to throw away something dirty... she threw it violently.
...It happened too suddenly for me to react. I hit the desk behind me, and both it and I
fell to the floor. The classroom... fell deathly silent. As Satoko bellowed... it sounded like she
was in the throes of death... and she unsteadily backed away.
"Ugh... ughooooehehhhhhh...egh...!!"
Then... she threw up the food she'd just eaten. She vomited it all back up. Splish splat!
The sound of Satoko's vomit hitting the floor rang through the classroom.
"...A... Are you okay, Satoko... You seem sick..."
"...Eeeeeeeeeee-aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!"
I reached out a hand... and she swatted it away with all her might. With such extreme
strength that I fell onto the floor again. Satoko put both hands on her head as though protect-
ing it, groaned some more, and took a few steps back.
...And then, she began swinging both hands around.
...Students in nearby seats were forced to evacuate.
...She grabbed anything within reach... bento boxes, chairs, threw them, tossed them,
and flung them about.
"Wait, stop it, Satoko!! W-What... What's wrong with you?!"
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...!!"
She screamed out as if Mion's words had caused her physical pain. .
..No one... spoke a word to her. All the students were withdrawing behind us... leaving
Satoko alone in the corner of the classroom. Around her... there desks and chairs all over the
floor... bento lay scattered... It was terrible.
...All I could hear... was Satoko's ragged breaths... and the voices of the cicadas.
"...Ah... ........ah.............ah... I... I'm sorry....."
The strings of tension loosened around Satoko... And maybe she suddenly grew scared
of her own actions... because she started trembling... and gave a word of apology.
...But nobody knew just who that apology was directed towards.
...So... for now, I decided to answer as everyone's representative.
".........N-No, it's fine... Are you all right...?"
"...I... I-I... I'm s o r r y I'm s o r r y ...I'm s o r r y I'm s o r r y... Hee... eee... aaahh.."
Our words didn't match each other at all.
...Satoko hugged her shoulders... and back, back she went... Bang!
...She ran into the locker with the cleaning supplies in it. Even that made her give a
little yelp.
...The impact caused the bucket atop the locker to fall, making a loud sound... and that
scared Satoko most of all. She almost jumped out of her skin, grabbing a bunch of the curtain
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in her hands.
...Nobody... spoke to her.
...They could only look... not even remembering to blink.
"...Ooh... ah... aaahh... I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I'm sorry, I'm sorry... It wasn't me it wasn't
me... awahhhhh... ah.."
...Satoko... what...... what on earth... I stood up... took a step away from everyone... and
approached Satoko.
"...What...... happened..."
"I said, I said...!!! I don't know, I don't know!! You're wrong, you're wrong... Please
stop, please, please forgive me... aahhhhhhhhhhaaahhh... ahh... ah..."
"Just... just calm down... ...Satoko... Do you know who I am...?"
"No more, no more... I hate this I hate this... ee... eeee!!"
Every time I took a step forward, she grasped the curtains more tightly... and cried out.
"...Satoko... it's me... it's Keiichi. Don't you recognize me?! I would never... ever hurt
you!!"
"Nooooooooooooooooooooo!!! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!! Waaaaaaaahhhhhh!!"
"Come on, calm down...! It's all right... I'm your friend...!!"
"Help... help meeeeeeeeeeee!!! I don't wanna be scared... it feels bad... no... I don't...
waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!"
Suddenly, my shoulders were grabbed and I was dragged backward. ...It was Rena.
"...Sorry, Keiichi-kun! You get a little farther back!"
After pulling me back, she ran towards Satoko in my place...
"...It's okay, Satoko-chan, there's nothing to be scared of...! Please... don't worry!"
"No, no, no... No more, no... No more of... of that... wahhhh, ahhh, uuhhhh...!!! ...Nii-
nii... Nii-niiiiii!! Help me...! Help meeeee!! Nii-nii, help meeeee... waaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!"
...As she gripped the curtains... and kept calling for Nii-nii... she continued to wail
about being forgiven for something... and to be saved from something. .
.....What... what is......... this...
"...............Urgh... gh.."
Mion gnashed her teeth and groaned... and there were tears... falling from her firmly
closed eyes.
"...What the hell... what is this... ...Didn't... didn't this all come to an end yesterday...?
Weren't we... supposed to go back... to our old lives...?! Mion... Mioonnnnnn!!"
"...............Urgh... mmgh"
Craaaaashhh!!
...There was a crazy sound.
...Rena had taken the cleaning supply locker... and kicked it down to the ground. Every-
one stood surprised... at Rena's unexpected act of brutality.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...After that... Rena embraced the bawling Satoko from behind............ and started crying
with her, stifled.
"...Rena... What's wrong..."
"............Sorry. ...Keiichi-kun... be quiet for a minute."
"...What is it now? ...What happened...?! What did Satoko tell you? What did you
hear?!"
"Shut the hell up!! I told you to shut your mouth, asshole!!"
Rena's raw, hostile emotion hit me like a brick.
...It was no more than a momentary howl of emotion for Rena... but it was more than
that for me.
...She had shown me... what was behind all that emotion... what was in her heart.
"............ooooh... ...Satoko... chan......"
"No, no, no, no... no more, no more... waahhh, wahhh......"
"Forgive us... We couldn't do anything for you... Forgive us..."
"Wah... waaaahhhhhhhh!! Nii-nii...! Nii-nii!!! Nii-niiiiiiiiiiiii...!!!"
"...I'm sorry...! I'm sorry!! ...oooooh...!!"
Forgive us... for being unable... to do anything. Rena's words... made me feel as
though... the blood vessels in the back of my head were suddenly all turning to ash.
...My vision grew distant... blurred with grey... and the world... lost its color.
......I thought... I thought we could save Satoko.
...But... though I knew it'd be the sooner the better... I thought there was no time limit...
for doing that.
...I never even dreamed... that we could be too late...! I... I'd been making a huge mis-
take.
...I thought Satoko could be hurt... but never that she'd break.
...It was... such a huge mistake!! People... they break.
...Thinking that they don't... is absolutely absurd!! We... We needed to save Satoko.
...We needed to save her before she broke.
...That fatal lapse in awareness... had brought this on. Whose fault was it?
...That went without saying.
...Mine—no, ours.
...We all took on the duty of saving Satoko... but we were negligent to the point of lazi-
ness. In that sense... this was the inevitable result. Even if this didn't happen today, and it hap-
pened tomorrow, or the day after, or next week... we would have just sat around doing nothing
until that day...!! So this... this was... the obvious result!!
...I slumped... down to my knees.
......Just as Mion... and Rika-chan had done.
...And I, too... closed my eyes tight... and couldn't stop myself... from sobbing...
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"...W-What is all the noise about?! ...Wait, what's happened?"

The teacher came... and her face screwed up... at the terrible spectacle before her. The
instant she realized the teacher was here, Satoko went through another complete change.
...She wiped her face with the curtains... and, like nothing happened, smiled.
"Houjou-san...? What on earth is going on here?!"
"...Hoho, hohohohohohohoho! I just... got into a little squabble with Rena-san is all. We
went a little crazy over our lunches. ...Right"
Rena didn't nod in reply... But then... since Satoko wished it... she nodded without
strength.
...The rest of the class... couldn't keep up with her extreme changes.
...We all just... stared... in a daze.
"...Oh-ho-ho... It was just a little... horseplay. I scared everyone out of their wits. Oh-ho-
ho-ho-ho-ho.."
Satoko... would probably sweep the whole thing under the rug.
...For what?
...Her heart is torn to pieces... so what... what else...?! You... wanted your Nii-nii to
help, didn't you...? But... unfortunately for you... Satoshi... doesn't ever intend on coming back!!
...It's never that easy... He won't just conveniently show up and save you!!! So... you
don't have to wait for him anymore!! You can cry, beg for help... and you can run away!!
Wohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
"...We...... we can't do anything...!"
Mion... suddenly said.
...She spoke then... those few words that had tormented me countless times. Those
words were a spell, and when I heard them.
......My whole body... suddenly regained its calm.
...My emotions... all slipped away like they'd never been there... like a wave departing.
And then... the world's color flipped inside-out! My field of view expanded. My head grew re-
markably cold, and I felt like my mind's volume had grown even wider than the classroom we
were in. At the time, my soul was doubtlessly no longer in the small, petty vessel of my head,
but floating in the air a little bit above it. It was... a mysterious feeling of release.
...I broke free of the cramped confines of my skull... and stretched out my roots... in all
directions... as far as I wanted to.
...It was a strange feeling... and one I'd never felt ever before.
...An odd... sense of exhilaration. My sharpened senses... caused me to transcend! My
mind was sharper than a knife's edge... and I immediately decided that spending the time to
let myself be crushed with grief would be an absolute waste.
...I erased all the garbage information from my brain. I expelled the pointless emotions
presenting obstacles to action.
"......Mion. ...You curse it all you want. Curse our powerlessness as much as you want."
"......Huh..."
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...If I could have taken back what had happened by crying about it, I'd have cried all
day.
...But the fact was, this was how things had turned out. I couldn't take back what had
happened.
...The top priority, then, would be to prevent the situation from worsening further and
to sever the chains of misfortune.
...Until today, I'd been looking at things so narrowmindedly I could scarce believe it.
To save Satoko, the only thing to do was to save Satoko—that's the only thing I thought about.
...I didn't allow myself to realize the most basic, direct, and certain way of remov-
ing the source of Satoko's unhappiness. No... Actually, I realized it yesterday. But as for the
means, I'd relied on some stupid curse from some dumb deity... I never considered carrying
the task out myself. I would obliterate Satoko's uncle . There were plenty of ways to do it.
This was a task that held infinite methods. Ironically, the method of saving Satoko required
mostly money, but the method of killing that man pretty much took no money at all. I could
kill him with the least amount of investment. The least amount of money suited him. It was
only the weight of his life. I kept eliminating needless, worthless information from my head,
replenishing it with only the knowledge I'd need to achieve my goal. I used every cell in my
brain to think about how I'd kill him. The way I killed him didn't matter. I would allow any
method, from whatever time and whatever country, as long as it ended in a quick and certain
death. If I were to have an additional condition, it would be to not get caught. Removing him
was an act designed to return the peaceful times we had with Satoko. If I was arrested in
exchange for the removal, then we might as well have killed each other. With only him gone,
we'd go back to our normal lives. That was my supreme objective. My ultimate goal. Kill him,
definitely. But definitely don't leave evidence either. Two alternatives at odds with one another.
The condition of not leaving a trace back to me automatically narrowed the number of murder
methods. No witnesses was an absolute must. Fortunately, given the right time in Hinamiza-
wa, there would be nobody around. I mentally reconstructed the land around Satoko's house.
...The number of pedestrians, different at different times. The movement algorithm of
the neighbors. Would I lure him out, or charge at him? What would my weapon be? When and
where would I carry this out? Where—it needed to be somewhere I wouldn't leave a trace.
When—it needed to be as soon as possible, for Satoko's safety, without wasting even a mil-
lisecond. This is absurd—completely absurd. When I thought about it this way, it struck me
how easy the act of killing was. If I could leave evidence, if I was just going to kill him, any-
one could easily turn into a murderer. But our reason prevented that. It told us doing so would
get us arrested for sure. In the end, being arrested by the police was the final thing preventing
people from committing homicide.
(Absurd!)
If you went all the way out into the very middle of the ocean, you wouldn't leave any
trace at all—anyone would drop those they hated into the depths if they knew that! It was
all too easy to simply remove him. I could leave class right now, grab a metal baseball bat or
something from the schoolyard, go to his house, and attack him. Estimated time would be 25
minutes. If I wanted us to kill each other, it wouldn't even be minutes—I could do it in 1500
seconds. I knew just how much his continued existence depended on me. He was nothing—I
could expel him from this world within just 1500 seconds after making up my mind. From
when I decided what to do, he only had 1500 seconds. Actually... if I ran full speed to his
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house, that number would go down even further. But he was alive. He was still part of this
world at this very moment, having torn Satoko's body and mind to shreds. Why?! Because I
was letting him live. I was permitting him to live, so he was alive. If I rescinded that permis-
sion, he would be evacuating this mortal coil within 1500 seconds.
...You think I'd let you live to breathe even 1500 more seconds of air?
...I'm taking that permission back—right here, right now. You'd better thank me for let-
ting you live until today. However, I actually need more than 1500 seconds. I'm not just gonna
end you—getting back our old lives is far more important.
...It's only you I'll be cleanly cutting out of this world. They won't find a culprit. I'll for-
get that I dirtied my hands on the likes of you as naturally as I brush my teeth before bed. So
to do that, I'll make a special exception for you and give you more than 1500 seconds. I'll give
you special permission to keep on living as you have until I can construct the perfect plan
for your murder. Wait, Keiichi. You can't let that time go to waste. Yeah, I know. I'll kill him
quickly. I'll remove him with certainty. I won't misuse any time to think of a plan.
...Think back—tomorrow is Watanagashi, isn't it? Last year on the night of Watana-
gashi, her aunt died. Her head was busted open by some deviant, and her brains splattered
everywhere. That's it—he's someone who deserves to be given death on the night of Watana-
gashi. Hey, Oyashiro-sama. You call yourself a guardian, but you didn't protect Satoko. Curs-
ing Satoko's family for the dam stuff is your own business, but now you've made Satoko
unhappy when she didn't have anything to do with it.
...I, Keiichi Maebara, hereby denounce you, the guardian deity of Hinamizawa, a
failure. We don't need YOU. Go back to the deepest, darkest part of your shrine this year.
Besides, if you had just cursed and killed both her aunt and her uncle last year, none of this
would have ever happened! The curse this year—it's not on you. I'll be the one deciding. It
won't be the Three Families controlling the serial deaths behind the scenes—no, not some
vague people who I can't tell if they're buffoons or not—this time, I'll be the one to deliver
divine judgment. So don't get in my way, just watch... Stay quiet and watch. I'll obliterate him.
I'll wipe him off the face of the earth. I will... stomp out his very existence!! Go away! Disap-
pear! And die!! I'll tear your heart apart just like you did to Satoko!! I'll have your blood as
payment!!!
W h o o o o o a a a a a a a a r r r g g g g h h h h h h!!!"
...Keiichi-kun... Are you all right...
"Rena, Mion... and Rika-chan were looking after me. ...Had I fallen to the floor...?"
...You surprised us. You suddenly fell down.
...Were you having a nightmare? You were moaning..."
"Shut it. ...Quit squeaking at me like that."
"......!!"
"...Eep...!"
"........"
My friends gave a start and backed away.
"............What"
Rena and the others... they exchanged glances, unsure of what to say... and stood con-
Tatarigoroshi-hen
fused for a few moments.

"...W... Was that... your voice, Keiichi-kun?"
"......Of course it was"
Rena gulped firmly... and opened her mouth.
"...For a second... Keiichi-kun... your eyes were... really scary."
"...My eyes...? Probably just a trick of the light. ...Don't waste my time."
"......I... I'm not mistaken. ......I've never seen... those kind of eyes before."
...What were these guys talking about?
...They've all been too scared of me lately.
"......You are Keiichi Maebara-kun... right?"
What... was Rena saying?
...Who else do I look like except Keiichi Maebara?
...The look I gave her seemed to speak quite eloquently to those irritated thoughts. She
understood, and quickly apologized.
"...I-I'm sorry. ...Don't worry about it"
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Tatarigoroshi-hen
Tip #12 - Emergency
June 18, 1983
Abuse issues regarding Satoko Houjou (URGENT)
We propose that Satoko Houjou must be taken into immediate

custody based on the items below.
1. Family situation. Life with adoptive father who recently

returned to Hinamizawa has already turned disastrous, and
she is currently subject to unendurable physical and mental
abuse from the father.
2. Child consultation center's response. A child probation of-

ficer was dispatched yesterday on the 17th from the prefecture
welfare office, but because of the '77 case, changed to contin-
ued coaching and cautionary action.
Unfortunately, the consultation office head does not properly

understand the situation.
3. Status of concerned. child Child already appears to be suf-

fering from an outbreak of something close to neurosis or
manic depression.
If her unstable pubescent mind is negatively stimulated by

stress, it will put her development of a healthy body and mind
at risk.
This cannot be allowed to continue from a humane standpoint.
4. Allegations made to the family court. We propose, based on

the above items, that Satoko Houjou should immediately be
taken into protective custody.
She should be secured temporarily under emergency allegations

to the family court under Article 28.
We request emergency coordination between all related agen-

cies.
Page 225
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Tip #13 - D2-3 Number 44
Fukujisho D2-3 Number 44
______ __, 1977
Child name: Satoko Houjou (_ y/o)
Residence: ___ Hinamizawa Village, Shishibone
(i) Consultation circumstances Telephone SOS from child of child

abuse.
(ii) Abuse situation Child claims she is being physically abused

by her adoptive father.
(iii) Family structure
Adoptive father, real mother, older brother, child in question
Note: Adoptive father and real mother entered family registry in

19__.
The child is the daughter of the mother's previous husband.
(iv) Child consultation center's response
On the day of the child's telephone consultation, the center called

the child's school and asked of her situation.
On that day, the child welfare officer on duty visited the child's
house and conducted an interview.
The adoptive father sincerely listened to instruction and agreed

to take child-raising workshops in the city from now on.
As part of the suggested coaching, the center will continue to ob-

serve the situation.
(v) Other notes As a result of numerous counseling sessions at

the city's education consultation office regarding the child, we
learned there was a high possibility the cause of the child's ex-
cessive distrust towards her adoptive father was the result of a
lack of communication.
The abuse she claimed hadn't actually taken place—she had made a
false report to distance herself from her adoptive father.
(Below is a note written in pencil by the person on duty at the

time)
The problem appeared to be more with the daughter.
Chief Investigator F of the city's education consultation office

said that most of her stories of abuse were likely fabrications.
They decided to shift the focus of their coaching to the child.
Be cautious not to take everything the child says as truth.

Day 10 Part 3
Mion and the others, having to set up for the Watanagashi Festival or something, in-
vited me along, but I refused.
...Of course I did. How could they be taking it easy and setting up for a festival in this
situation? Mion had a lot of nerve. The first thing I did when I got back was take a shower.
Not because I wanted to wash off sweat.
...It was because I wanted to be even calmer. I already understood this, but killing that
man would be so very easy.
...The really hard thing would be not getting arrested for it, so we could get our peace-
ful days back. As I thought about it, I realized it wasn't easy.
...Japan's police force have the highest arrest rate in the world. I would need to deceit-
fully pull off the perfect crime... and it couldn't be a half-hearted attempt.
...Still, it wasn't 100%. Even the best police force in the world couldn't have a 100%
arrest rate.
...I've read a lot of articles on trials with people brought up on false charges.
...They do a lot to determine whether they really were false accusations, but figuring
out who the real criminal was is usually out of the question. And that meant...perfect crimes
did exist. In fact, perfect crimes were sort of like works of art. They could even be respected
and revered. You just had to look at the inundation of mystery novels everywhere throughout
history. They dealt with all sorts of difficult-to-solve incidents, involving secret rooms and
alibis and stuff, but they all wanted to show one thing.
...They wanted to show the beauty of a perfect crime. There was something divine... in
the flawlessness of the word "perfect" Yes. Perfect crimes were skills of the gods.
...And in that sense... the serial freak deaths they were calling the curse of Oyashiro-
sama... I understood—they must have been the works of gods. Each one appeared to have
been resolved, but they couldn't stop it from happening every year.
...Yeah—skills belonging only to gods, those are perfect crimes. And I would be setting
up my own crime before Oyashiro-sama's series of perfect crimes four years in the running.
...If I were to put it boldly, I was challenging a god. Foolhardiness would be needed
to make the decision... but I needed to be calm, cool, colder than ice to put that plan together.
Kill him like a flame. But as systematic as ice. Starting now, I need to retain both of those
ideas within me... Modeling my crime after a mystery novel wasn't actually a bad thing to
focus on. Somtimes, kidnappings involving disturbing, original methods that made it into the
newspaper were used as a basis for novels after the person was arrested... Stuff like that made
it into the news. Day and night, for a very long time, mystery novel authors polished and re-
fined their most fantastic artistic crimes.
...Imitating that could be a shortcut to planning the perfect crime in a short period of
time. Of course, I haven't read enough mystery novels to act all high and mighty about them.
...The one who really liked mystery novels... was my mom. She'd read every well-
known mystery novel from overseas, from past and present. Every time she watched mystery
shows, she would always criticize them as having cheap tricks or being poorly thought-out.
...I wonder... what the perfect crime would mean to her...
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"What do I think the most well-done perfect crime in all the mystery novels I've read
is?"
"...Yeah. Well, you read quite a lot of them, right? I figured you might know a lot about
them."
"It's more fun to read them to find out. If I told you all the tricks right off the bat,
they'd be no fun anymore."
...It wasn't like I was asking for my own amusement.
...She was deflecting the question, so I would somehow butter her up first and draw out
an answer...
"Of course, Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None' is my top recommendation.
And 'Murder on the Orient Express' used some great, bold tricks too, of course. I didn't see it
coming at all."
"...I didn't want to know which novels you liked. I wanted to know about the trick that
made you the most surprised."
"If it was really a perfect trick, the detectives wouldn't be able to solve the case,
though."
...That was true. ...Then there'd be no point.
"Mystery novels are enjoyable because of the process of the mysteries getting solved. If
it was unsolvable, it wouldn't make a very good topic for a novel..."
"...I get it. ...Yeah, you're right. If the main character can't solve it... it wouldn't be much
of a story, huh.."
Was I being too simplistic?
...A mystery novel was basically a game. They were written so that you can get to the
goal, so that you could solve them. But I couldn't use something so optimistic.
...It needed to be the be-all end-all of tricks so that we could, without a doubt, return
to our old lives.
"By the way, Keiichi. ...Do you understand that truly perfect crimes don't even become
stories?"
Mom looked at me intellectually and grinned impishly.
...I'd never gotten to read it, but apparently one time a long time ago, Mom had written
her own mystery novel and submitted it for some mystery novel award.
...Apparently she was really into it.
"Don't even become stories? What does that mean...?"
"Keiichi, what are the essential parts of a story?"
"A beginning, a middle, and an end?"
"Correct. The beginning, of course, is especially important. If there is no beginning,
then the story never starts."
"Well, yeah. ...If nothing happened, nothing would begin."
"Right. Nothing happened, so there wouldn't even be an incident. Detectives wouldn't
be called, so there wouldn't be any mystery. There would be no mystery, so there would be no
Tatarigoroshi-hen
solution. ...In other words, it would be the ultimate perfect crime."

"......Wait... ...Wait a second. ...Could you explain that again...?"
My mom... just told me something absurd.
...And she was saying it so smoothly, too, so I kind of tuned her out... but... She said
something extremely important just now.
"It's not really that difficult to understand. ...The incident just has to never come to
light, that's all."
"...Just has to... never come to light."
"For example... Hmm, how about this? Say there's an old man living deep in a forest
nobody goes into."
"Uh-huh..."
"And one day, the old man gets killed by an axe. ...And, hmm... Let's say the criminal
was the old man's son. He went to the old man's house and they were drinking together, but
they got into a fight and he killed him."
...What an extremely cheap plot. It was an impulsive crime, without a bit of planning. It
was pretty far from a perfect crime...
"But Keiichi. The house was really, really deep in this forest. So deep in the mountains
that nobody would ever go out that far. ...Then his son would go back to town and say... that
the old man was doing fine."
"...What about that is a perfect crime?"
"Keiichi. ...This incident would only begin when it was found out that the old man was
killed. ...If nobody ever visited the old man's house after that, that beginning would never oc-
cur."
...The beginning would never occur...
"So basically, the story wouldn't start. The incident wouldn't come to light, and they
wouldn't call in detectives. And nobody would be suspicious in the first place, so there'd be
no mystery. ...They'd think the old man was still living by himself deep in the forest... And
the old man's face would appear in the sky, and that would be it. ...Something like that, you
know?"
"...That... That's amazing...!! That's a pretty great trick!"
"But it wouldn't be a novel. Mystery novels are for entertainment, after all. They can't
be instruction manuals for perfect crimes."
...I was trying hard to talk cheerfully to fool her... but inside I was excited. Special
tools, strange geography, mysterious drugs, traps involving huge sums of cash... None of them
were needed for perfect crimes. The important thing... was that there wasn't a beginning.
......As long as the incident didn't come to light... it would be fine. Speaking broadly...
If I could kill him without anyone finding out... And dispose of the corpse somewhere no one
could find... It would basically already be a perfect crime.
...Of course, if someone up and vanished one day all of a sudden, people would get
suspicious.
...But that didn't apply to this man. Last year, after their aunt died, he ran away from
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the village in fear of Oyashiro-sama. When the night of Watanagashi came around again, ev-
eryone would have to think... that he ran away in fear again. I mean, he had been living with
a lover of his in town. No matter what it felt like when he vanished, no one would be suspi-
cious. People hated him, after all.
...No one would care where he went if he disappeared...!! When I thought about it like
that, it got easier and easier to imagine killing him. There was no point in thinking inside my
house anymore. I left, getting my bike out of the garage.
...For now... it didn't matter where I was going. I just rode through the wind, trying to
calm my excitement by feeling the cool air on my body.
...Where I'd kill him, how I'd do it, what time, and how to dispose of the corpse.
...If I just had those four things... I could get a good plan going. I was so surprised at
how little there was to decide that I shivered.
...I'd been completely prepared to build this humongous plan over a really long period
of time...
...But if I could just get these little things in order... I could put it into motion. Today
was Saturday.
...I would have to kill him on the night of Watanagashi... so as long as I was standing
in for Oyashiro-sama, I only had twenty-four hours remaining.
...Satoko.
...Just hang on... for twenty-four more hours. I can't even imagine... having to suffer
through even more... but please, hold out for a little longer. I know you can't even last another
second... I know that... But please... just hold out...
...Your Nii-nii... will save you for sure... Outside, it was still early enough for the cica-
das to be crying.
...Early afternoon.
...Evening was still a long way off.
...I looked at the sky—at some point it had gotten cloudy. Come to think of it, as I
left the house, I heard on the TV that the weather forecast was calling for a chance of rain on
Sunday... The sky was the color of lead.
...If I heard a little bit of thunder, I'd definitely have expected a sudden evening shower.
...My first destination was school. Before explaining why I was going there, I needed to
explain what method for killing that man I had decided upon.
...I decided that the most suitable death, the one I needed to give him... ...was the same
as last year's curse.
...The same as the punishment their aunt had received... being beaten to death. Wouldn't
beating him to death be somewhat unreliable...? You may think that stabbing him with a
blade... would be more reliable. But this was something I had chosen after a lot of thought.
...You just needed to think realistically. The law... It prohibited carrying any blades lon-
ger than 10 centimeters, I think.
...So the blades available to me, though long enough, were limited to things shorter
than a ruler.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...You can probably understand how tricky it would be with such a short reach to go up
against an opponent that might fight back. In that case, using a weapon with reach would be
far more effective. It might not have the same precision, but you just had to hit the guy until
you killed him—both options resulted in death. With that settled, what is the weapon with the
most terrifying force behind it that is also easy to carry around?
...By this point, you should immediately think of a metal baseball bat. I don't need to
explain... how terrifying a metal baseball bat can be as a weapon. Of special note is the fact
that you can carry one around in broad daylight and not be thought of as suspicious.
......Just those two points would have been enough to choose a metal bat for my weap-
on... but there was one more reason... for choosing a metal bat in particular. I will speak about
it later. After school that Saturday, my classmates were still having fun, playing in the school-
yard. I could show up there and it would be the same as always, so nobody will think I'm
suspicious.
...Getting my hands on the weapon without looking suspicious was actually a factor I
couldn't ignore.
...I didn't normally play baseball, so if I went to a sports store looking for a metal bat...
it would definitely be suspicious.
...I can't let there be a beginning to the story... so I needed to be really careful even
about that. That left school.
...At a location at which my appearance wouldn't be suspicious... I would acquire the
weapon. I checked inside the classroom through the window... but of course, there was nobody
there. The only students who would stay in there were me and the others, when doing club
activities.
...Without us, the classroom after school was just an empty, unused room.
...Without glancing around nervously... as if I'd just gone to get something I'd forgotten,
I casually went in the entrance.
......It looked like the teacher was busy with paperwork in the teacher's lounge. I didn't
see her in the hallway.
...Naturally, yet quickly as a shadow... I entered the classroom. The empty room was
full of a strange, stagnant air that you couldn't feel normally.
...An empty classroom... with nobody here.
...Maybe while no one was around... the desks creep about of their own accord, licking
the floors clean of dirt.
...If I suddenly stepped into a place like that... Would the desks, in their surprise, fly at
me, crush my bones, and eat me alive...?
"......That's ridiculous."
I felt regret at wasting valuable thinking time on stupid delusions.
...The students' lockers were lined up in the back of the classroom. The one I was look-
ing for... wasn't my own.
...It was... a forbidden locker...... one I had accidentally discovered one day.
"...Here it is... Houjou... ...This has to be it."
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...If one person has one locker, then why would only Satoko have two? I'd made a fuss
about it once.
...After that... I learned it was Satoshi's locker, and he had the same last name as her.
...But of course, even though it was a locker for a student no longer here... looking
inside it was still a shameless act.
...But one time... I let my curiosity get the better of me and took a peek inside... Inside,
it was average and worthless... At the time, I hadn't been interested, so until now I'd forgotten
what had been in it.
...But now that I had—dare I say it—awakened... I remembered... the thing... that had
been there.
Scrr...ape...
I opened the locker... and a stench of mold and sweat wafted out, like a gym store-
house that hadn't been cleaned in weeks.
...My face puckered up at the stench... but I looked for it. Yes.
......Satoshi was on Coach's baseball team.
...Inside the locker was a Hinamizawa Fighters uniform...... and it.
...The one Satoshi used... the metal bat... Yes.
...This was the reason I wanted to choose this bat.
...This murder would be carried out by me... but this wasn't originally my role... it was
Satoshi's.
...But I would stand in for him and call myself Satoko's nii-nii.
...It was one of the rules... for standing in for him. I reached for the metal bat... and
grasped it firmly.
...It was light.
...And yet... its tip had enough heft in it... enough to easily imagine the horror if I
brought it down with all my might.
...Satoshi.
...I'll give you one last chance to save your sister.
...Lend me your strength.
...You're a coward, but I will stand in for you.
...So if you still care even a little bit about her... you will... lend me your strength.
There is no more suitable weapon in the world for putting that man to death than your bat.
Now... I just needed to figure out where to hide it.
...Tomorrow, before the act, I would just stop by the school and grab it.
...Because I couldn't ignore the possibility someone would see me bringing it home
and think it was strange. But if I left it here, there wouldn't be a problem. Plus, tomorrow was
Sunday. Not only that... it was the day of the biggest festival in the whole village.
...Nobody would be coming to school. I left out the entrance... and went over to a
construction vehicle parked nearby. We'd been warned by our teacher not to touch it just for
laughs, so none of the kids would come near the vehicle either.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...They wouldn't, because if she found out they touched it, they'd be in huge trouble. I
quietly hid it... in the shadow... of the vehicle.
...The chances of someone operating the vehicle tomorrow were slim to none.
...Because tomorrow was Sunday. Government workers had the day off.
...And... from what my classmates had said, the thing had been left here for years now.
...Machines that haven't been moved in years... You can't just suddenly start them up
again.
...So I was almost definitively fine in this case.
...The sunlight was piercingly hot. My head grew faint for a moment. Had the heat...
been this harsh for the entire day...? A moment of dulled thoughts like this... was a moment of
carelessness.
...I gave myself a couple hits in the head, then looked around warily...
.....................
...Okay.
......Next... how to dispose of the corpse.
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Tatarigoroshi-hen
Day 10 Part 4
...Disposing of the corpse. The ultimate way not to create a "beginning"... was to not
let the corpse be found. It was even more important than killing him. Thinking on it vaguely...
the first thing that came to mind was the swamp.
...Onigafuchi, the dreadful bottomless swamp revered even now... that appeared in the
legends of Onigafuchi Village. Yes, the swamp called Onigafuchi was here first... and then the
village took its name to become Onigafuchi Village.
...In other words, this swamp... was the origin of Onigafuchi Village. No one, no matter
who it was, would float back to the surface of this bottomless swamp... Everyone would be
swallowed down into the land of the demons below the earth.
...That was how the stories went. If I was trying to copy Oyashiro-sama's curse, then I
felt that theory demanded I discard the remains and the weapon into the swamp. But... They
may have said it's bottomless, but I didn't actually know. And people say large creatures like
humans produce a lot of gas when they rot, granting a lot of buoyancy. It was why using fairly
heavy objects to hold them people down didn't work.
...Come to think of it, with the curse the year before last, Rika-chan's mother drowned
herself in this swamp.
...And the criminal behind the dismemberment that went missing the year of the first
curse too—it was rumored he'd tried to discard the body in the swamp and accidentally
drowned in it.
...I never heard of the corpse coming back up or them finding it.
...Then... shouldn't I choose to discard the corpse there, too...?
............I could discard the weapon there.
...And then... for example, if her uncle came out on a motorcycle and attacked... it
would be convenient to get rid of the bike, too.
(I knew that Satoko's uncle generally used a motorcycle for transportation.)
But... as for the corpse...... After a lot of worrying... I decided not to discard the corpse
in the swamp.
...The drowning suicide and accident were both rumors... Nobody knew if they'd actu-
ally happened. There were no lack of false rumors about the drowning suicide anyway, and it
was possible the murderer hadn't drowned there and was still on the run.
...That meant... no one had ever confirmed a corpse being dropped in there and then
not coming back up. Then what would I do with the body...? I thought it might be interesting
to go with the first incident, cut him to pieces and hide him... but the preparation and work for
dismembering a human body would be difficult given the amount of time I had.
...With that out of the question... I arrived at the conclusion... to go with the more
orthodox method of burying the body. Then where I would bury it... was a question related to
where I would kill him. Of course, I wanted to keep my time in proximity to the body at a
minimum. With that in mind, I would want to dig the hole to dump the body in beforehand,
and to make the location of the act and the hole close together.
...The choice of where to plan the crime... That, I needed to be absolutely careful and
thorough with. It had to be somewhere nobody would witness it... and a place with hiding
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places for a sneak attack.

...I could dig a hole for the body right there.
...I go over the possibilities in my head of the various destinations her uncle would
head to from Satoko's house. I imagined a map of the area in my head... and then I found a
place that fulfilled those conditions so easily it was almost unbelievable.
......A bit of a back road that went through the woods. I didn't think her uncle would
go deeper into the mountains of Yagouchi on a whim... If he was going somewhere, he'd pass
through these woods first... And nobody used this back way unless they had something to do
at Satoko's house or one or two other places.
...This path was fantastically ideal... as few people used it. I would wait for him... in
these woods.
...Would an ambush actually be possible? I went into the trees and tried really hiding
myself in a few places.
...It was extremely quiet.
...My senses could be sharpened here to their maximum amount. I didn't know when
he'd come... but I'd wait right here... for Satoko's uncle.
......I actually had some trouble coming to that decision. The question arose of whether
I should somehow call the man out.
...Was there a risk I'd be taking by luring him here?
...That man made Satoko do all the shopping and errands.
...He seldom left on his own business.
...He wouldn't leave... unless I worked out a plan to force him to, would he?
...That was the question. Tomorrow was the Watanagashi Festival.
...Would he go out for the festival or would he stay inside? If he stayed inside... how
would I drag him out of his house?
...That's right.
......Wouldn't he... make Satoko go to the festival? Satoko would go to the festival.
...Meanwhile, I would call the man.
...This is the Okinomiya police station. We have the young lady from your house—
could you come and pick her up immediately?
...It didn't even have to be the police. This is the clinic—the young lady from your
house has been injured. Please come and pick her up—yes, that would work too.
...If I claimed to be the police or the hospital, told him to come and then hung up on
him... He'd rush there trying to figure out what was going on, wouldn't he? And just the other
day, he was visited by a probation officer.
...He wouldn't suddenly grumble about having to get his niece and not go—it would
look like child neglect.
...The man had no skills useful around the house... Satoko, his slave, was an essential
part of his daily life. Conclusion.
...If he went out to the festival... I would attack him here on his way there or back.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
If he didn't... I would lure him out by phone. If luring him out by phone was my first step, I
needed to be sure Satoko would go to the festival, leaving the house.
...It would be convenient if I could make Mion take Satoko to the festival.
...She said her aunt was a district welfare officer.
...In other words, an ally to the probation officer.
...If I somehow incited Mion to take Satoko to the festival with her... Well, being who
she was, she'd use that fact and get her there...
...Satoko should just... take a break and have fun at the festival with everyone.
...She should have a good time, reminisce on our former, peaceful days... and when she
went home, everything would be over.
...Yeah... That would be the best outcome. With that decided... I needed to dig a hole
somewhere in the woods to hide the body.
...So it wouldn't stand out, so it wouldn't be found.
...Some place nobody would see me while I was completely exposed as I buried the
corpse.
...I had wanted it to be close to the scene of the crime... but it naturally grew farther
away. Deep in the bosom of the black forest.
...The voices of the higurashi were the only sounds here, informing me that people
shouldn't indiscreetly set foot in this place.
".........Digging a hole... huh.."
Digging a hole with so many tree roots crawling around the ground... would be far
more difficult than I'd envisioned.
...I snuck a gardening spade out here in my bag... but that wouldn't be enough. Still, as
I looked into various approaches, I managed to find a place I could dig into.
...Tomorrow I'd bring a real shovel from the storeroom at home. I'd manage with that. I
wondered how big a hole would have to be to fit a human all the way into it.
...I'd probably have to dig pretty deep down.
...But if I was slipshod in these efforts, I'd let a "beginning" occur.
...I absolutely couldn't allow that.
...Use any amount of time you need to.
...I mustn't spare any effort to utterly erase him... I glanced at my wristwatch.
...It was a little past six. This was probably all I was going to get done here for today.
...I really wanted to dig the hole in advance tonight even if it got dark out, but Mom
would be upset if I stayed out that late.
...It wouldn't be good to come off as suspicious to my parents. I needed to go back
home and give Mion a call soon. I needed to get her to promise Satoko to take her by tonight.
...After that, today would be done...
...Done.
...Would it be, though?
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......Was this really everything I could do to prepare right now?

...I decided where to kill him.
...I decided how to kill him. I decided, of course, how to dispose of the body.
...I didn't decide on a time, but I would play that by ear. I didn't have a way to decide
that.
......Was that really all? Was this really all right? Have I overlooked anything? Would
this really go how I planned? After all this, worries started welling up one after another.
...It was only natural I'd be anxious.
...This would be... the first and last big job of my lifetime. I could not allow failure...
and I had no experience, as this was my first time. I didn't have the know-how, the knack.
...So it was only natural I'd be anxious... The dark clouds of unease... told me doing
nothing would be the easiest way... a truly pathetic suggestion this late in the game.
...Have you forgotten how miserable Satoko looked?!
...From the outside, it may have looked like I was resolute... but deep in my heart, my
knees were shaking loudly.
...I've never actually won a single fight to my satisfaction... Could I really kill some-
one...? I may have been planning an ambush... but my enemy was large and far older than me.
He had a scary face, and he looked like he was well-accustomed to fighting.
......Could I have...
...All the pieces before and after the murder were perfectly planned... but was the ac-
tual murder, the most important part, what unsettled me the most? All my preparations, all of
my perfectly-concealed machinations... If I didn't successfully murder him, they amounted to
nothing.
...Damn it...! After coming this far... You're pathetic, Keiichi Maebara! If you start to
have these kinds of second thoughts, your ulterior motive will be obvious.
...Let's go home... Go home and calm your mind. Tomorrow... will be a juncture in
your life... the likes of which graduation, employment, marriage, and childbirth couldn't hold a
candle to.
...A day of murder... to kill someone... for someone else's sake. With that day behind
us... we would take it back again.
...Those mild, spring-like days we never thought would stop—those safe, peaceful, fun
times. I pedaled my bicycle hard to get back home.
...I felt somehow unsteady.
...Like my body and soul weren't in alignment.
...A subtle shift between where the tips of my hands and feet really were and where I
felt them to be. My vision was a little distant and narrow.
...As if the great barrier I risked my future life on... had nothing to do with me.
...An unreal sensation.
...How could I put it... Everything was so far away.
......Fine.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...Feel your unease permeate you, Keiichi Maebara.

...If that will turn your timidity into meticulousness and allow you to act with greater
caution... then it's actually an important emotion to feel. This feeling I had... never went away
that night.
It was the first time I'd be calling Mion's house. I searched for her in the phone book
the school gave me... then dialed a short phone number, the kind unique to remote places... It
was around dinnertime. She would probably be home.
............But just as I started to think nobody would respond... Someone finally picked up
the receiver.
"...Hello, this is Sonozaki."
"............Oh, I'm sorry for calling so late at night. ...Umm... Is this Mion?"
"...Huh? May I ask who's calling?"
"It's me... Keiichi."
"Ah... oh, Kei-chan. It's pretty late. What's uuup?"
She seemed to be in a weirdly good mood, and she drew her syllables out.
...Right—it's the night before tomorrow's festival, so she's probably with her family
having some drinks.
"Sorry for the late call. ...Do you have time right now?"
"Sure.... What is it?"
"It's about Satoko."
I heard her draw in a small breath on the other end.
"...Satoko... She's in a pretty bad spot. ...I hope she's okay.."
The "scene" of sake had completely disappeared from her voice...
"She can't be okay. ...You saw too, didn't you? What she was like?"
"..............."
"...She was completely worn out from all the abuse. ...We failed her all this time, and
now she's become like that."
"......We didn't fail her. ...Everyone tried their hardest to help her."
"But we didn't come up with anything... and we couldn't save her. ...In the end... we
couldn't do anything about it, and now she's become like that."
".........I guess... you're right. ...All I did... was watch, after all..."
"...So, well... At least... Couldn't we at least let her have fun for one night?"
"Huh? Let her have fun...?"
"...She's been so battered lately, you understand... That's why. ...I want you to take her...
to the Watanagashi Festival tomorrow."
"......I don't mind. ...But why?"
"Why...? ...I want to give her a breather at least for the festival night, you know? ...Even
if it's just one night, if she can get away from her evil uncle... then I think she'll be happy,
even if it's only for a little while."
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"............Yes, but... why?"

"...Why...? ...Why what?"
I was having a little difficulty understanding what Mion was asking me...
"...Why...... well... ...I mean! ...W-Why don't you bring her, Kei-chan? Why do you need
to ask me to do it...?"
Mion was... persistent about odd things.
...No... maybe it'd be better to say that she was sharp.
"I, well... I actually have something to do tomorrow. ...I can't make it to the festival. So
I wanted you to take Satoko there for me."
"......Something to do...?"
"It's nothing major. I'll probably finish quickly... but I might not be able to meet up
with you all tomorrow."
".................."
"Hey, Mion. ...Could I leave Satoko to you, just for tomorrow night...?"
Mion took a long time to give her reply.
...I got the feeling... that Mion had been acting weird for a while now.
...Like she was flustered by emotions, or something...
"............No... ......hic.."
Huh...? Was that a sob? ...Mion...?! ...Are you... crying...?
"......I... said no... I don't want to... I don't want you... to push this onto someone like
me...!"
"...I... I'm not trying to push anything onto you. ...It's just for tomorrow night."
"That was a lie!"
...What...? ...Mion... What was she... talking about...?
"Saying it's just for the night of Watanagashi... and then it was... forever... Liar... hic...
......aha... ahahahahaha. But I guess... we're even, huh? ...I couldn't... couldn't keep the promise
I made with you. ...I left her alone... alone, all this time.."
...I had no idea what to say to that.
...Mion was clearly... now talking to someone other than me.
...I didn't... know who. All I could do... was listen to her in a daze.
"......You never... came back after that... And now you called me again... to push her
onto me. ...You're so... unfair... ...hic... ..................Hey, you're .........Satoshi-kun... aren't you...?"
"...Mi...Mion... What are you... talking about...?"
...When I said her name... whatever spell was on Mion was released...
"...Ah... Ahahahahahahahahaha... ...I... I'm sorry... It's nothing. ...It's just that... I got a
phone call a lot like the one you're making now... a long time ago."
"......Was it... from Satoshi...?"
...Mion didn't answer.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...All I could hear were sobs coming through the receiver.

"S-Sorry. ...I think I'm still a little tipsy. ...I got all weirdly emotional. ...Ehehehe...
Sorry, I probably scared you."
......I had no idea how it happened.
...But I was pretty sure that last year, on this very day... Satoshi had called Mion.
......And told her to bring Satoko to the festival. And when she asked why he needed
her to do it... He replied the same way I just did.
"...Satoshi...... didn't go to the festival... did he?"
"......Yeah. ...He said he had something to do, and couldn't make it. ...And he told me to
take Satoko there in his place."
..................
"...At the time... Satoshi said it, too, didn't he? ...That he'd leave Satoko to you?"
".........Yeah. ...He did. Just for tomorrow night. ...The way you said it... was just like how
he did... Ahahaha. ...I just got a little upset, caught up in a memory and all."
I didn't expect this.
...Satoshi had given her the exact same phone call... one year ago today.
...Mion kept going after that.
...That I—that he—was lying.
...That he told her it would only be for the night of the festival.
"......I get it. ...A few days later... Satoshi...... he disappeared."
"Disappeared" might have been a rather vague way to put it.
...Whether he ran away or not... Satoshi left, abandoning Satoko.
"......Yes. ...He didn't transfer, or run away from home... He disappeared."
...And then... an idea far more indistinct than even fog crossed my mind. Satoshi made
exactly the same phone call as me last year.
...Why... would Satoshi make the exact same call...? If... in the truest sense... he really
made the exact same phone call as I am right now...... then the incident where their aunt was
beaten to death...
...............That's... ...could it...
......
"......Was...... Satoshi."
"...Huh? ...What was that...?"
...Last year.
...Satoko had been constantly abused by her uncle's wife, their aunt, too.
...Her aunt abused her the most... And on that night, in the name of Oyashiro-sama's
curse... she was taken from this world...
...If I thought about that... everything made perfect sense, didn't it?
"...Last year, Satoko's aunt was beaten to death, wasn't she? ...Would it be... impossible...
Ryukishi07
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for Satoshi to have..."

...No, but... That would mean...
...But then... Satoshi... He was a coward who abandoned Satoko and ran away, wasn't
he?! How could Satoshi... resolve himself to kill a person... to save Satoko...? It was unthink-
able...
"......I... I actually considered that as well. ...Though it'd be mean to Satoshi.."
...A few days later... he disappeared. On Satoko's birthday. When I first heard it, I flew
into a rage... What a cruel day to have run away on.
...But...... now that I thought about it like this... the story changed completely... Satoshi...
had probably been even less calm than I was now.
...He was her big brother, related by blood, watching his little sister be abused day in
and day out... Maybe that's why he couldn't keep calm.
...And that was why... the corpse of their aunt, beaten to death, was so easily discov-
ered. Satoshi lost himself in his anger and hadn't hidden the corpse. He'd permitted a "begin-
ning" to occur. If the police conducted a full-blown investigation... it was easy to imagine
they wouldn't take long to pin down Satoshi as the culprit. Satoshi... He wished for a return to
peaceful days with Satoko, and though he achieved it for a time... he had been steadily driven
into a corner. And then... he wanted to at least hold out until Satoko's birthday... but finally...
they nailed him.
...At the time, Satoshi had been carrying the savings he'd amassed to buy Satoko a gi-
ant stuffed animal for a birthday present. He would buy the stuffed animal as her gift... and
then get caught.
...Or he could use the money and disappear... That was the choice he had been forced
to make.
...And he... decided... not to make Satoko the sister of a murderer...
...If that was the case... then it must have been an unspeakably bitter decision.
...All that money he'd saved wanting to see Satoko happy... He had to use it to make
her sad.
...And he used the savings... and disappeared... to Tokyo, if the rumors were true.
"......Was that how Satoshi... disappeared........."
"...I... I don't know. ...That Ooishi guy seems to think that way, though."
Ooishi...
...Had he been slowly driven into a corner by that repulsive man's pigheaded pursuit...?
"The circumstantial evidence is all there... but I think your deduction is wrong. ...They
caught some crazy drug addict somewhere in the prefecture and he apparently turned himself
in for the crime."
.........That was right.
...The deviant had confessed... and the incident was solved.
"They said he really was just a crazy person, and that he had no ties to Hinamizawa.
And no relationship with Satoshi, of course. ...I mean, I have a pretty hard time believing the
guy would lie in Satoshi's place.."
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...You couldn't just arbitrarily decide like that.

...You never know where or how humans are tied together...
...If that guy took the blame... then it was the perfect crime.
...Of course, if it was really a perfect crime... there would have been no reason for Sa-
toshi to vanish.
"Plus... I don't think Satoshi had the kind of money to run away. That day he withdrew
all his savings... ...No matter who I tell this to, nobody believes me, but... That stuffed animal
he said he was buying for Satoko... It was gone from the display, sold. ...It must... have been
Satoshi."
"...Wait a minute. ...If he didn't use the money to flee and bought the stuffed animal
instead... He would have gone back to Satoko, wouldn't he? ...It seems unbelievable he'd buy it
and then disappear without having given it to her."
"...Yeah. ...So... now I don't know what happened. ...It would be one thing if he had the
money... but if he used all his savings on it, he'd be totally broke. ...You can't live a life on the
run without money in this world."
".............."
I didn't get it.
...After all that... I was understanding Satoshi less and less. The two of us... fell silent.
...I couldn't remember how we even got on this topic.
"Ahahahahaha... Sorry. ...I think we got off topic. ...Satoko, right? Don't worry. I actu-
ally already invited her."
"...Huh?! ...You serious...?"
"...When everyone went to the shrine to prepare for the festival, we started talking
about getting Satoko to the festival itself. So then I used the phone at the assembly hall to
invite her. Her uncle was acting distant and didn't seem to care at all, but in any case, we got
the OK from him. We decided to all meet up and go together tomorrow. ...You okay with that?
Satoshi~?"
"...Stupid... I'm not Satoshi.."
I was a little relieved.
...I hadn't needed to make the phone call... Satoko had already been invited to the festi-
val. And not in a way that smelled of blood, a way to leave her uncle alone to create time for
me to kill him... They purely wanted Satoko to enjoy herself... so they invited her. In the end,
it was the same... but I was happy for that slight difference.
"...Sorry. ...I guess I didn't need to call, then. ...First yesterday, now today... Sorry for,
uh... saying such weird things. Just forget about it."
"......No, I'm the one who should apologize. Losing it like that isn't like me. I'm really
sorry."
We apologized to each other for a little bit.
"All right, I'll be going now. ...Good night."
"...What did you have to do?"
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Page 245
...As if interrupting our parting words... Mion struck straight where it hurt.
"...Or is it like... with Satoshi... where you can't say?"
".....................Stupid. ...I keep telling you... I'm not Satoshi."
".........Yeah. ...Yeah, I... I know that."
I deflected her... with an response that wasn't really an answer.
...Mion didn't hound me anymore after that.
"All right, this time for real... Good night."
"...I don't know why you're giving me the same phone call as Satoshi-kun did, but...
...............Yeah... Never mind. ...I'm sorry. Good night."
"......I'm hanging up."
...Click. Satoshi Houjou.
...Just who are you...?
...I scorned you as a coward who ran away, abandoning his sister. I always thought...
you didn't have the right to call yourself her Nii-nii. But...... Now I didn't know what to think.
Oyashiro-sama's curse on the fourth year...
...Their aunt's death... and Satoshi's disappearance.
......And now... me, trying to carry out Oyashiro-sama's curse on the fifth. Oddly
enough, what I was going to do... overlapped perfectly with Satoshi—the day before the curse.
No, that wasn't all...
...If we start... back from Satoko being abused... then I'd been overlapping with Satoshi
for days already. When I talked to Mion before... she asked me if I was Satoshi.
...If that was the first impression a third party like Mion got... then it was probably
true. Then as Satoshi had accomplished... I would succeed in the murder. But that was the
extent to which we overlapped. I was far calmer than Satoshi... and more calculating.
...I could actually grow calmer... the more enthusiastic I became.
...That's why I wouldn't follow in Satoshi's footsteps. I would snip him cleanly out of
the world... and then get our peaceful life back.
...Maybe Satoshi has been with me ever since I chose to use Satoshi's bat as my weap-
on.
...No... maybe even longer than that.
...When I decided I'd be her Nii-nii... Maybe Satoshi had been residing within me then,
too.
...Satoshi.
......Were you really... a coward?
...Or... are you a true Nii-nii even now... the kind worthy of Satoko's love...? I'd never
met him, never spoken to him... didn't even know his face... and yet I felt so connected to
him... I'd never felt that way before.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Tip #14 - Attention
July __, 1982
Okonomiya Police Station 1st Investigative Division Chief Taka-

sugi
____ Prefecture Police Headquarters for the Eradication of Drug-

Related Crime
Shishibone Branch Head, ____ ____
Regarding incident _ designated as undercover investigation
This message is to inform you that a section of the testimony re-

cords of an incident under this police headquarters' jurisdiction
has been found that is thought to be related to the undercover
investigation of the incident in question
(Okinomiya Police Station X, Hinamizawa Village housewife slaugh-

ter incident).
During investigation of suspect ___ ___ who was arrested for

possession of illegal drugs, there was testimony related to the
crime in question, and as part of it, we learned that the criminal
had information only he could have known.
Therefore, this record of testimony (duplicate attached) will be

provided to you.
If this testimonial is to be believed, then there is an extremely

high chance that suspect ___ ___ was the culprit behind the in-
cident in question.
In addition, the head investigator on the case received this re-

port and inquired as to the incident with the Okinomiya Police
Station, but the responsible party at Okinomiya Station, who re-
sponded to the designated undercover investigation announced by
the prefectural police's general director on July 1 (1982, Osamu
Fusakane, B1-12), misunderstood, and did not explain the inci-
dent's existence to the head investigator on the case properly.
Because of this, the case's head investigator was not aware of the
importance of the testimony as it related to the case in question,
and as a result, was negligent when combing the scene; we apolo-
gize for having left it in the dark until now.
In addition, there is a postscript stating that suspect ___ ___

died while in confinement yesterday on X/XX.
Day 11
Sunday.
...The fireworks I heard before noon were probably to announce the opening of the
festival. And the weather... certainly wasn't festival weather—it was cloudy. The television
forecast was calling for possible downpours starting this evening and lasting until around mid-
night.
...But as long as it wasn't raining at the moment... the festival would go on. The festi-
val had to open... or it wouldn't begin. The Furude Shrine grounds... were probably decorated
beautifully for the big performance that only happened once a year.
...Many paper lanterns were hung up, all in the auspicious colors of red and white.
...The sound of electric motors at the stalls.
...The voices of kids running around. Their happy families watching them. Smiling.
...Today was the festival of Watanagashi.
......Was everyone... already partaking in the festivities? What about Satoko?
...Had she forgotten her days of suffering just for a few moments... while smiling that
brilliant smile she hadn't in so long?
...This would probably be the longest day of my life. It would be a day I would re-
member vividly for as long as I lived. I told my parents I'd go to the festival this evening and
lounged about during the early afternoon.
...We may have lived under the same roof, but they couldn't help being surprised by the
deviation from how I usually spent my time.
...Glancing at my parents out of the corner of my eye... I went to the front door. I tied
my shoes just a little tighter than normal.
...As if to express the firmness of my resolve in those knots.
......When I decided to murder Satoko's uncle... I was in such a state of excitement I
almost went crazy.
...And when I was planning out the act of a murder, which went directly against all the
morals fostered in me thus far... I was in such a state of calm I almost thought I had lost my
emotions.
...And then... yesterday.
...When I learned Satoshi had made exactly the same phone call as me...... I didn't know
how to describe the muddled feelings I had then.
...And now, entering today. Right now, I lacked all the emotions I'd possessed until
now.
...To make a simple analogy... it was the kind of feeling you might get right after you
wake up, when you're still half-asleep and you don't feel anything very clearly. I had no an-
ger towards that man for the violence he'd committed against Satoko. Nor did I feel sadness
towards or sympathize with her. I felt no discontent towards my friends, who had just waited
and watched, never reaching out to her with any help... and no nervousness or fear towards the
day that had finally come.
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...Yes. Right now... you could say I was in the best possible condition for carrying out
a murder. When it came down to it, I would probably need to let my violent emotions take
control.
...But right up until that moment... I would be like an insect.
...I would slowly, surely, and silently move towards my one objective...... and then,
when I had my prey, I'd attack like a bullet. There was no emotion in that.
...Just the creeping mindset insects possessed.
...That sort of sneaking feeling was just the best.
...I would kill Satoko's uncle like he was a worm. I had to laugh a little at thinking that
way—thinking like an insect.
......Tug. I tightened my laces one more time... and walked out the door. I brought the
shovel out of the front storeroom. I would need it to dig the man's grave. The shovel was a
convenient one made for camping... If I twisted it like so and split it into three, I could easily
hide it in my bag. I twisted the shovel... and dismantled it. And even though I'd done it count-
less times before... I had trouble for some reason.
...Like I was suddenly clumsy now.
......I knew why.
...It wasn't because I was nervous.
...My weak-willed self, deep within me, was hesistant.
...I knew that the act of dismantling this shovel... was the first step I'd take to becoming
a murderer.
"...Guh...... oohhh!"
The last twist was conspicuously difficult... but it finally submitted before the strength
of my determination... The area around Satoko's house... was outside my circle of activity.
...But even just riding my bike in the middle of the day like this... might seem suspi-
cious to an observant person. I definitely want to avoid meeting and talking to someone I
knew... With that in mind, I chose the route to my destination carefully.
...I didn't mind going the long way around.
...With how long this day would be, I could never be too careful, after all...
...Still, I was fortunate enough not to run across anybody on my way to the planned
site of the crime.
...I wasn't superstitious at this point... but it was a good omen. The place I would dig
the hole... was in this grove, a little further into the woods.
...I was worried I might not make it to the same place as before, since there were no
signs to guide me... but I arrived there smoothly and as expected. I took another look around.
...Not even a hint of human presence.
...The air was a little bit damp, but it was comfortable in the cool shade of the trees. I
took the disassembled shovel out of my bag... and began skillfully putting it together.
...Then... I stuck the tip of the shovel into a soft-looking patch of ground... and pushed
on it with my foot.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...The shovel would split into the earth if I put some strength into that foot.
...The act of doing so... seemed awfully like the point of no return... and it made me
hesitate. I was just digging a hole with a shovel... but it made me gulp hard.
...Calm down, Keiichi Maebara.
...Let's do a countdown.
...Get it done on the count of three, okay?
......All right... One... two...... I couldn't do it on the countdown, despite it just being
sticking the shovel into the ground... and I had to count down five or six times.
...Damn it... I'm just digging a hole... This is pathetic! As I thought that... I put strength
into my heel like I was stepping on something unpleasant, and split!! came the sharp noise.
"......Hoo... ............ngh. ............Hoo.."
...It was only soft at the beginning.
...Roots and stones quickly got in my way, informing me just how hard it was to dig
a hole big enough for a person. No decent person would ever come here anyway... Maybe it
would be enough to cover him up with some dirt...
...Every time a naive thought like that crept into my mind, I bit down on it with my
teeth and dug even harder. I've dug enough now... I could hide him like this... Every time I
thought that, I would go down into the hole, grow disappointed at how shallow it was, and
return to digging.
...The thin layer of sweat on my brow eventually formed into drops and fell to the
ground.
...My back was in even worse shape. My damp shirt adhered to my skin... and it felt so
disgusting.
...The things I couldn't stand the most were the mosquitoes.
...Maybe they were attracted by the scent of my sweat... The white and black striped
mosquitoes would cling to me whenever I let my guard down. It was hot. It was disgusting. I
was sticky.
...I was itchy.
...All those uncomfortable feelings surged through me in waves.
"...Damn it all... So what... Are you telling me to pack up and go home?! Is that it?"
I hadn't yelled at anyone. It was me talking to myself, me telling myself something.
...Why was I... feeling this way... and digging a hole all the way out here...? What ben-
efit would digging this hole give me? What harm would there be in not digging this hole at
all? Wait, in the first place...... Who ordered me to dig?
...When I thought it over... maybe, ever since grade school, or even before that... my
whole life had only been me doing what other people told me to.
...I didn't mean it was somehow constrained, living a life just based on the commands
of others. And I didn't mean I was too lazy to try and find my own road in life. Metaphori-
cally speaking... yes... it was like a road. I'd never been particularly physically fit.
...I didn't hit puberty very early, and if all my classmates and I got in a line, I'd usu-
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ally be on the shorter end. My scores in jump-rope competitions and marathons were the very
picture of average. And it wasn't like the captains of the dodgeball teams would have a pas-
sionate rock-paper-scissors contest to see which would get me. During those kindergarten and
grade school years, it felt like someone was only worth how fast they grew and how fit they
were... Looking back on it now, it was really uncomfortable for me. The thing that turned all
that around... was just a few words from my mother.
"Keiichi. Would you like to go to a cram school? You'll better grasp what you're learn-
ing in school, and it will be more fun."
The very first test I took at cram school was kind of like a game—it was a lot of fun.
It wasn't like the tests with the same exact problem dozens of times in a row—every question
had a picture to it, almost like one of those puzzle books that came with manga magazines. If
my studies at school had been like this, it would have been way more fun. Several days later,
I went to the cram school again with my mother and the enrollment paperwork.
...Mom and the person at the cram school had a really long, heated discussion, so I
accidentally dozed off and missed most of what they said... but I clearly remember one point.
Mom had made a loud groan, surprised at something.
"Umm... By 61, do you mean his average score was 61 points?"
"No, not at all, Mrs. Maebara. The mean deviation of our cram schools all across the
country is 61. He's showing rare numbers, even if this was just a simplified intelligence ex-
amination. ...First, I would like to say that Keiichi Maebara-kun is extremely bright."
"Keiichi...? But he doesn't have very good grades at school. He has average marks on
his report card—Bs, Cs, Ds... ...Is there some kind of mistake...?"
"We gave him the Kraepelin test as well, and we learned some very interesting things
as a result. Maebara-kun is extremely weak when faced with questions that don't have any
meaning. ...He just has no interest in simple, dull questions that don't have to do with every-
day life."
"...So even if he doesn't know what 2+3 is, if you told him he had two apples, then got
three more... He would understand that sort of question?"
"That's right. For example... Instead of telling him to draw a flattened, foldable cube,
what if we asked him what a die would look like when cut open? If we did that, he can an-
swer beautifully."
Then the person from the cram school showed her a page from one of the exams I
took.
...It was a paper with questions about construction. Construction questions were un-
usual, so they were really cool, weren't they?
"In this question, it asks to draw an unfolded regular icosohedron—a shape with twen-
ty faces. ...When we rephrased it and asked him how he would cut out a piece of cardboard to
create a twenty-sided die... Keiichi-kun drew the answer as though it were easy. ...This is not
something an average child can do."
"Keiichi... Have you ever made a die with twenty sides from a magazine extra or any-
thing?"
Dice only went from one to six. I'd never even considered before this test that there
were dice with more than six sides. So it was fun to imagine what kind of shape a die that
Tatarigoroshi-hen
went up to 20 would have. If I had a die like that, I could win at dice games against anyone!
So I immediately wanted to make it. Finally, I entered cram school.
...There were only four students in the class they put me in, which was called 'Select'.
It was the highest class... and some of my classmates were in lower classes... and when I
remembered how much better they had done at things like dodgeball and the 50 meter sprint,
I felt happiness well up within me for the first time. Even if I wasn't as good at them physi-
cally, I triumphed over them in other ways. It was fun at first. The more I did, the more I was
praised, my teachers at school suddenly started pampering me, and it felt good.
...My parents were satisfied too. And I enjoyed seeing them satisfied. The more I lis-
tened to my parents' commands, the more fun things got.
"...............Heh."
That did happen, didn't it?
...I grinned dryly in self-deprecation. Because, well... My studious lifestyle didn't end
up lasting very long. It was only at the beginning I enjoyed learning more and more. I gradu-
ally got along less with my friends... My classes were behind what I was learning in cram
school, and I eventually stopped respecting the teachers, given that they could put me to sleep
with their lectures.
...And, well, I was a disagreeable sort who bragged a lot about how much I knew... and
the ways of the world wouldn't let me remain in that state of ecstasy forever. I would do as I
was told, then I'd go above and beyond their expectations, and then they praised me.
...I was happy for that, and the cycle repeated itself like the wheels on a bike.
...I thought moving forward like that was how life worked—like a bicycle. When I
moved to Hinamizawa... I realized just how inadequate it was. Some things happened, and we
started saying how moving and getting a change in atmosphere would be nice. And then my
father... He had a place that he liked, that he'd gone to a few times to draw the nature... He
started saying... that he wanted to bring his atelier there.
...With me in blank amazement, they decided to move to Hinamizawa. And after
that...... I... I met them, didn't I? The first day after transferring here.
...I went to the classroom with the teacher.
...I thought it would seem pitiful for her to bring me in there, so I placed my hand on
the door before she could, slammed it open, and set foot into the room. Clatter. The thrilling,
powerful way I opened that door... was none other than my own determination to try doing
my life over again.
...And then... within within seconds, that determination took a hard counter to the face.
A blackboard eraser fell on me. Plus, there was a huge rock inside... It was a supremely pain-
ful trap someone had set up.
...Oh, come on. Satoko was already beating me right from the first day I transferred?
That frightened me. I was bewildered. The class was surprised, too. I wasn't just surprised
that the students in the class were all in different grades and were different genders.
...It was because the room felt completely different from the schools I knew. And as I
spend more time with them... my surprise continued to grow. This fresh sense of surprise...
had never left my life, even to this day.
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...Every day was a fresh new surprise... I've never had a single boring day since com-
ing here. The days were lively, spent with the other club members. We played old maid with
cards with scratches on the back to cheat. We let all our passions go wild during our games.
We went all out as regular participants in tournaments at the toy store in town, and many,
many more things... Recently during those times, there was the bento competition.
...It was then. That's when I saw an unexpected side to Satoko. Thinking back on it...
I only ate dinner with her two nights. It was such sweet, gentle time spent, and it warmed
my heart remembering it even now. I realized that Satoko was pretending to be stubborn and
firm... and how brave she was, part of her heart always waiting for her Nii-nii to come home...
and I vowed to become her Nii-nii. Satoko may have been nagging and overly critical... but
she knew how to take care of someone. But though it might have seemed like she was tak-
ing the lead, it was actually her way of depending upon another person. Even if Satoshi and
Satoko's lives as siblings... were confined by their uncle and his wife... they were still warm,
sunny days. When did those sunny days all go wrong? What mistake was made? Lament-
ing tragedies of the past would do no good, and I'd told myself that so many times... but I did
anyway.
Keiichi... Isn't that why you chose your own path—to take back that life? Nobody
ordered you to do this. You decided it on your own. You don't desire anyone's praise for this.
You thought it all through yourself. You'll carve it out yourself.
...And you'll do it now! This wasn't a path I could see very far down... not like the road
parents or society could offer.
...It was a narrow path, dark, and utterly distressing, one for which the next step would
always be shrouded in darkness. But... that disheartening path... would keep on going for-
ever. It was an unlimited path... and there was nowhere I couldn't travel. The kind of path...
only available to those able to imagine where they wanted to go. Don't be ashamed at break-
ing from the brightly lit, paved road. In fact, feel proud... that you found your very own path
to walk. And I hadn't discarded the paved road either. ...Once I achieved my goal, I would
go back to that bright road. And then... I'd spend those average, sunny days at my leisure...
Crush...
...When I next realized it, the hole... had grown so deep I couldn't believe it.
...Did I... dig all this myself...?
"...I think digging this much... is enough, right?"
I put my shovel into the bottom of the hole.
...I would drag the body here, throw it into the hole, and cover it up with dirt.
...Even if it took me time to camouflage it by putting plants on top, it would all go
much more easily than digging this hole had. I glanced at my watch.
...It was almost evening, and I hadn't realized it.
...I may not have felt the time passing... but digging a hole this deep must have taken
quite a lot of time. I took a seat on a slanted rock nearby... and wiped the sweat from my
brow.
......Now... once it got a little darker, I'd go get the metal bat I hid in the schoolyard.
...Then I'd make the call to lure him out.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...And then... I'd do it. The number of things I needed to do to reach that moment...
were dwindling. I felt that moment closing in on me much more keenly than I did the passage
of time.
...I didn't have any hesitation, but I still felt that—a contradiction.
...At every step in this process, I had a few chances to hesitate, to turn back... to let
myself lose my nerve. Having to endure those million temptations and wait for when the time
was right... was an indescribably slow and painful torture. I had thought myself acting all
weak because of that, but I stopped midway through.
...This was okay.
...It was fine. I could detest the abnormal act of homicide as much as I wanted and it
didn't matter.
...I wasn't going to be a cutthroat killer after today.
...I would pass through this strange day and go back to the world I was in before. If I
fell to the level of a psychopath who thought nothing of killing, I wouldn't be able to go back
to my old life.
...So this was fine with me. I didn't have to feel ashamed at hesitating to kill. Because...
I was human. It was so funny to me... that I'd be the bearer of Oyashiro-sama's curse at the
same time I was aware I was human... I exhaled lightly and stood. I concealed my presence...
and sharpened my senses in all directions... to search for anyone around but me...
...Okay.
...Let's go.
...One step at a time. I would walk my own path.
...A path no one had forced me to walk.
"...Let's do this... Keiichi Maebara.."
The cicadas made an annoying fuss.
...Their chorus covered up the suspicious noise of me breaking twigs underfoot.
...And their chorus filled the path far ahead of me, letting me know I would be alone
for some time. The cicadas blessed the path I walked, encouraging me with every last ounce
of strength they had. The sky was far above.
...In not even an hour, the veil of night would draw near and the sky would be tinted
with dusk.
...By that time, the higurashi would let me hear their chorus in place of the cicadas.
When that happened... would everything be over with? Would everything have ended...? I said
something along those lines when I left Satoko's fate up to a public agency.
...But this time... was different.
...I would do it. I would carry it out. I would... end it. It would all be over very soon.
Everything would end.
...
Yes, when the h i g u r a s h i cried.
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Tatarigoroshi-hen
Day 11 Part 2
There was nobody at school.
...I couldn't hear the playful voices of children... This was the first time I'd seen the
school with such a lack of human presence. Still, I quieted my breath... and looked around, not
wanting to be unprepared. It had gotten darker outside... but it was almost like my eyes could
see more clearly now. I made absolutely sure of my safety... then walked to the heavy con-
struction machine I'd hidden the metal bat behind.
...I had a tinge of worry, a premonition... that someone had found the bat and hidden it
somewhere else as a prank...
...If that happened... would I take that as an opportunity to desist?
...If... it really wasn't there, then......... The sensation of chilled metal.
...It was still here where I left it.
...It hadn't run away.
...Satoshi hadn't run away.
...He'd waited here patiently... for me.
"...Sorry for the wait, Satoshi. .........It's been a long time coming... You prepared for
this?"
...Through the metallic touch, Satoshi grins at me in my mind.
...That's what I should be asking, you know.
I did this last year already. You should be more worried about yourself.
"...Right on, Satoshi. ......Let's show him a bad time.."
Satoshi's bat got lighter and lighter... and fit into my hands like it was being absorbed.
...It didn't feel wrong to swing this.
...I could move it around so naturally it was like an extension of my own right arm.
......Of course it felt like that. Satoshi and I were holding one bat together.
...Next... I would make the call... to lure the man out. It... wasn't a bad time for it.
...My friends were doubtlessly parading happily through the stalls.
......I hadn't considered... where to make the call from. My house and Satoko's were
pretty far apart. If I called from my house, I wouldn't make it.
...Couldn't I use the school phone?
...But... as I thought, the room was locked up and I couldn't get in... Shit...
...I'm so naive... You should have at least... figured this part out... I couldn't call him.
...And just for that... was today all over...?
........................
......I'm sorry...... Satoshi... And just as I cursed my own naivete... a miracle occurred. A
bicycle came into the schoolyard.
...It was a familiar middle-aged man.
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...The one from the forest service field office.

...Why?
...Wasn't today Sunday...? Was he here to pick up something he forgot?
...Anyway... the forest officer went around back and felt around in his pocket... then
unlocked the door and entered.
"..........."
The best possible coincidence... and it had to be Satoshi who saved me. The metal bat,
through just my contact with it, told me this was a chance I couldn't allow to slip by.
...The sections for the forest office and the school were neatly separated.
...I felt the man head into the forest office's storehouse, which was so far in the back
students weren't allowed into it.
...The door didn't match its fittings well, so it didn't close all the way... and the gap in
the door opened slowly as if to lure me in.
...I took a deep breath... and went in. I tiptoed along, silently and stealthily... and made
it into the teacher's lounge. That was the only place with a phone. As I held my breath in the
teacher's lounge... I heard the forest service officer walking back over.
...Then the back door clattered shut... and was locked. I glanced out the window at the
schoolyard... and watched as the man got on his bike like nothing had happened... and rode
out the school gate.
...The school once again emptied, becoming deathly silent.
...I waited for a bit to make sure the silence was the real deal... then reached for the
telephone on the principal's desk.
...I fished Satoko's house's phone number out of my pocket.
...Yes... the number in the class directory for Satoko had been the one from their house
now, where she lived with her uncle. I touched the dial with my fingers... and then thought for
a moment... about what to say, exactly, when he picked up. Despite how many times I'd gone
over it in my head last night. Now that I had my finger on the dial like this... it started to seep
out of my mind like a cracked bucket leaking water. Simple would be best. More importantly,
to say it straight, and not sound suspicious. I counted off three heartbeats... and spun the dial.
The call sound.
......Would Satoko's uncle... pick up? Now, of all times... the hope that he wouldn't
pick up... and the feeling of doom in the knowledge that I couldn't save Satoko if he didn't...
whirled around in a vortex.
"...............Hello?"
It was the voice of a grumpy man, like he had just woken up.
......He picked up...
".........Hello..."
...Say your name so I know you're Houjou, you asshole!
...It would be terrible if I got it wrong... .
..I made up my mind... I had all the initiative on my side.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
......Here we go...
"This is the Shishibone Okinomiya Police Station. Am I speaking to the Houjou resi-
dence?"
...I was changing my voice, but... did he really think I sounded like an adult?
...Would he believe... I was the police...?
"Oh... Yes. ...This is Houjou."
"We currently have your daughter, Satoko Houjou, here with us."
"Whaaat? Satoko?! What did that brat do...?"
He fell for it... I could tell by how tense he was that he didn't doubt my words.
"I can explain the particulars once you have arrived here.
...Would you mind coming to the station right away?"
"Right now...? I already took a bath m'self, so I don't really want to go out like this,
though.."
...What?! You don't want to come because you already took a bath?!
"Yes, right away."
".........Right away? ...Geez, man... What the heck did Satoko do?"
"I'll explain once you're here. ...I will be waiting. Thank you for your assistance."
"Ah! Ack! One second! I don't know where the police station is. Where am I going?"
".........Uh.."
...You moron... What the hell...
...The Okinomiya Police Station?
...I... I don't know where it is either! Aren't you from around here?! Why don't you
know that...?! A greasy sweat came over my body.
...Eventually, just as I was about to choke, he spoke.
"Oh... Next to the fire station... right? ...That's pretty far.."
Thank goodness... he remembered on his own for me.
...I didn't care where the police station was. So long as he left his house to get there.
"Then we will be waiting here..."
"Oh! Wait! Who am I asking for once I get there?! What is your name?"
...On top of that... he wanted to know my name?! Just leave your goddamn house al-
ready...!
"...Maeba—Maebashi. Excuse me.."
...That was close. I almost thoughtlessly told him my real name.
...I managed to change the last syllable of it, but... I put the receiver down like I was
running away. My fingers were trembling... and I was soaked with a tepid sweat.
...I wasn't just nervous about the phone call.
...With that call... everything... had finally been put into motion. I left the school.
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...It was locked before, but it was easy enough to open from the inside.
...But I couldn't lock it again after I left. In terms of being thorough, I wanted to lock
it... but I couldn't waste time going back to the teacher's lounge and looking for the key.
...I needed to rush back fast as I could and ambush him. I zoomed back to the scene on
my bike.
...If Satoko's uncle got out of town before I got there, everything would be over.
...He'd learn there was no one at the station named Maebashi... and things would get
pretty messed up. As I returned at full speed... I passed a family wearing yukatas.
...They must have been on their way to the festival.
...Many people in Hinamizawa knew my face, though I didn't know theirs.
...Even just passing by them like this... made me uneasy. But I didn't generally come
around here... so those living in the area might not have known much about me.
...That didn't matter right now.
...I needed to get back as fast as possible... to control my breathing, and to ambush the
man... I hid my bike in a thicket and picked up Satoshi's bat, which I'd just left hidden in the
shade.
...And then I held my breath, waiting to see someone...
......I wondered... if he still hadn't gotten here... Or maybe... he went right out after the
phone call... and passed by here already...? I couldn't figure out which it was... and was set
upon by an indescribable impatience.
...Calm down, Keiichi Maebara... Even if he came here already, he'd pass by here on
the way back, right?
...The end result would be the same. It wouldn't change the fact that he'd die.
...He'd probably be coming on his motorcycle.
...How would I stop him then?
......I figured it would be best not to think too hard and just hit him as he passed, or
beat him out of his seat. The path was made of pebbles. If I hit him as hard as I could and
made him lose his balance, he wouldn't be able to help falling...
......And then.
...The chorus of the higurashi stopped.
...The sound of a bike approached from far away. I couldn't tell what sort of motorcycle
it was from its sound... but I'd seen it parked before, so I'd know.
...It was getting rapidly closer.
...It was almost here. If... he just went a little farther, he'd cross into that thicket... and
appear in front of me.
...I'd take a moment to make sure it was him... then when I had... ......when I had.....
............I'd put my plan into action. The motorcycle appeared.
......A few easily-identifiable characteristics told me it was Satoko's uncle's bike, without
a doubt...
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...Was... it really him...? Was it really Satoko's uncle...? I wasn't making a mistake... was
I...? I looked at its characteristics again...
......Its color, shape... and most of all... the man's clothes... ...and face...!!
...............Those last feelings of hesitation... I did away with them.
...Satoko... now... your Nii-nii will end it, okay? Closer, closer... the bike came closer...
...Let's go.
...Satoshi...!
"......Yeah!"
Woosh!!! I jumped out of the thicket...!! I used my shoulder... to basically tackle... the
uncle on the bike... with all my might...!
"...Owaaahhhhhh...!! Ack, aahhhh...!"
He gave a dumb shout as his bike completely lost its balance.
...Finally, it fell, the bike scattering clouds of sand, and after spinning, it stopped. Her
uncle, tossed to the ground, didn't understand what had just happened, and groaned for a few
moments, crouched on the ground.
...Hah... hah... hah...!! My breathing started to become ragged.
...No. I couldn't have this emotion.
...Some weird secretion crossed through my brain and nearly made me hallucinate...
Her uncle was groaning... Now was the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity... What was I doing...?!
All the sounds in the world cut off. My mental chaos from a moment ago withdrew like a lie...
and I could feel the temperature in my head rapidly cooling down. The tension in my mus-
cles all went away like the strings they'd been attached to had been cut... and I let my hands
dangle at my sides.
...It wasn't quite like exhaustion. Have you calmed down now...? Keiichi Maebara.
...Do you need to remember again... why things got to this point today...?
Scrape.
...Scrape. I stepped over the pebbled path... taking one step, another step, then another
towards Satoko's uncle. The more I walked, the more my breathing calmed.
...The more I walked, the more I felt my body cooling, calming... chilling with frost.
......Yes. At this moment... this guy had lost permission to live. I had just rescinded it.
...So he mustn't stay in this world any longer.
...If he lived any longer... if Satoko's misfortune continued... it would be my responsibil-
ity for having allowed him to live.
............I could feel the cooling substance going through my whole body, even down to
my capillaries. Her uncle was at my feet now, still on the ground like an idiot.
...I smiled coldly at how ridiculous he looked.
"...Urgh...... that hurt.."
That's all it took... for it to hurt?
...Satoko's heart hurt much more... and now... you're gonna feel that.
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...And... with your life... I'll make up for her pain......! I erased all unnecessary informa-
tion from my mind. I prioritized the murder of this man.
...Execute. Execute, execute. Wham!!! Utterly calmly, I delivered my first strike to the
back of his head.
...I wanted to get at the most effective spot, at least during that first moment I'd have to
attack him while he was at his most defenseless.
"...Ugah?!?"
And if he was hit in the head, he'd cover his head.
...It was a defensive reaction all humans made, like machines. He used both hands to
cover his head, so he couldn't pick himself up off the heap he was in on the ground. Like
pounding a caterpillar into the dirt, I hit him over and over. If he covered his head, I'd hit him
in the side. If he covered his body, I'd go for his head. If he rolled over, I'd strike his feet. His
knees. His elbows.
...I didn't care where anymore. By just delivering one blow after another, I induced
panic in him.
...I retained my overwhelming advantage, but I hadn't done nearly enough to deliver a
fatal wound.
"...Eeeeeeeeeeeeee...!!!"
"...!"
Her uncle skillfully pulled himself up off the ground... and started to run like a fleeing
rabbit. It wasn't a judgment he'd made after seeing my face and deciding whether to fight me.
...Right now, he was fleeing by instinct, just trying to escape from the threat that had
presented itself. A counterattack from the more physically capable uncle was what I was most
concerned about.
...He may have run, but it wasn't all that unlucky. And the odds were in my favor.
...The uncle didn't run away towards people, but off the path and into the woods. How
pleasant, that he would run in a direction where nobody else was.
...He was fleeing into strange geography, like a rat that instinctively runs into tight
spots over and over.
...Yes, he was no longer human. He was a rat. The blood vessels in my legs expanded,
and my total oxygen supply increased.
...I lowered myself to gain the most explosive velocity I could.
...Without breathing... I became a wind-like shadow... and dashed...!! I crossed thickets,
crushed dead tree branches underfoot... and dove through the woods like a bullet...! He ran
so cowardly, arms flailing as he went... After catching up to him, I didn't need so much as a
blink of an eye to strike him again. My senses, mind, and body were all sharpened purely to
kill this man... This was the first time... I'd felt like this.
...Well... this was the first experience I'd ever had killing someone.
...It felt natural continuing to do this for the first time.
...And that meant... I had this much... talent for killing. Or perhaps the act of killing
was so simple that anyone could do it. I didn't struggle or grow tired at all chasing the clum-
Tatarigoroshi-hen
sily fleeing uncle.

...No matter how much he ran, it was like trying to get away from his own shadow—
he couldn't get away from me. I could easily aim at his back, his shoulder, and his head even
from this unnatural stance. Each time I struck him, he wailed in pain and begged pitifully for
forgiveness, but it didn't disturb my mind.
...I was neither excited nor plagued by hesitation like before.
...I felt sharp... I felt like a carnivore.
...Of course, so did the uncle, who was trying to run away because he didn't want to
die.
...He didn't want to be eaten... like a herbivore running with all its might, trying to get
away.
...Despite all the attacks, despite all the hits, he kept on fleeing without even stagger-
ing.
...And despite the bad footing in the forest, he impressively never tripped over any-
thing.
...But there was no need to admire that fact.
...It was simply proof that he was no more than an animal. If he was chased, he would
run. If he was going to be killed, he would run. He bared his fangs at the weak, but couldn't
oppose the strong whatsoever.
......He was lowly, vulgar... a diminuitive animal. Such an puny little creature... had
harmed Satoko.
...Scar after scar to her body and mind—deep wounds that might not ever go away as
long as she lived.
"...Hel... ......ee... ...eee!"
...Ooohhhhhhhhhhhh...
"Wooaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
My cold and calm emotions suddenly turned into beastial ones.
...My personality changed... into something specialized for murder... purely to devour
the diminuitive animal before me.
"...Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...!"
The uncle gave a puny little shriek, covered his head, and ran, ran, ran...! I'm im-
pressed by how much you can run...! Fine, run as much as you like. I will be your death. I
will choose the moment at my leisure. Your legs will hurt, your lungs will feel about to burst,
your head will hurt from lack of oxygen... If you feel the pain has become worse than death,
then by all means, stop any time. Without turning back, suffocating on his terror of the ap-
proaching death... he just ran shamefully onward.
...He ran, but was chased, his head bashed with the metal bat, sweat and drool fly-
ing everywhere, blood clinging to him. From his mouth came the sounds of coarse, irregular
breathing and high-pitched screaming that verged on crying.
...And pleas for forgiveness to someone—I didn't know who. Each and every second
was a second of atonement that I granted him.
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...Now, run, run run, run run run run run run run run run run run!! Then fall, and
moan, and die!! Where did you even crawl out of, anyway?
...You were never here before. If you were never here, you never should have showed
up. If you never showed up, our lives would still be fun and enjoyable. We would have gone to
today's festival, waited for each other, and gone to the shrine, laughing. We would have been
playing amongst the stalls right about now. We'd be browsing the strange food stalls you only
saw at festivals, trying to get prizes from goldfish-scooping, ring-throwing, or target practice.
...Mion would surely make it into a competition, and we, as a club, would have a grand
time. And... everyone would have been cheering for Rika-chan's dedication dance... and every-
one would say how fun it was... and it would give us energy for days to come. Fun, enjoyable,
and funny... warm times spent with friends. And that... would... have happened... but it didn't...
and now it was all smashed to pieces!! There was no doubt that would be what the world was
like if you never showed up! You were the obstacle, the mistake, the heresy in that world. But
I would correct that mistake now. I would erase you and make it so this last week never hap-
pened. Tonight was the Watanagashi Festival. The holy night, where taking just one life was
permitted in the name of Oyashiro-sama's curse. Ahh... It looked like the higurashi stopped
crying at some point. When the higurashi cried.
...Everything would end.
... And the h i g u r a s h i si le nc ed.
...Lowly one. The hour of atonement is at an end. The higurashi have stopped their
crying, thus it is the end.
...The end, the end, the end—end!! You don't have to run away anymore. Die, with
those dirty brains of yours smashed everywhere!! Guooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
Lightning and thunder struck like an explosion.
...It was so loud it shook the ground, and I smelled gunpowder. The response I got this
time was clearly different from the one before.
...The metal bat... crunched into the crown of his head... It was like the top of his head
had caved in—the bat felt like it was biting him. It had been the final, killing attack that vis-
ited him... when I didn't overlook the opening he left as his knees gave out under him.
...I remained alert for a few moments... then thud... thud... I planted both knees in the
ground... and then... fell forwards, burying his head in the ground.
"...Hah...hah...hah! Hah...! ...Hah...!"
I'd been holding back my ragged breathing... but now it all came out of me like a dam
bursting.
...My head was dizzy... and light... and unable to maintain my balance, I leaned against
a nearby tree... The uncle... didn't try and guard his head any longer.
...After a disgusting sort of spasm... he stopped moving.
...Did I get him...?
...Did I get him... for sure...? I fought back my exhausted urge to fall over where I
stood... and drew towards him carefully, bat still at the ready...
...It was possible he was faking it and trying to wait it out.
...Should I check for a pulse...? I realized right away, though, how unnecessary that
Tatarigoroshi-hen
would be.
...If I thought he might be faking it... then I would just have to... keep pummeling him
until I was satisfied. I fought back my ragged breathing again.
...And then I swung my bat far above... and brought it down. Clunk.
...His body leaped like a bow, but he didn't try and cover his head. Then, once again...
I aimed for his head... and swung!! His reaction was the same this time. After spending a
few moments making his head into mochi... the hits gradually started to feel different, and it
started to spray a filthy, dark red liquid everywhere.
...That was enough... It was definite now.
......I had absolutely... killed him. There was no sense of accomplishment, nor one of
regret. I didn't feel anger towards Satoko's uncle, nor pity towards Satoko herself.
...Instead, right now... I was feeling like my heart had been stolen by the downpour (it
had begun to rain at some point) and how comfortable it felt... The rainwater drenched my
body and dripped down to the ground.
...The excitement within me faded... as the rain washed away the grime.
...In exchange, my shoes... were so wet they made splashing sounds. And despite abus-
ing Satoshi's bat like that... it wasn't bent very much. There were a few dents in it—probably
from hitting the man—but nothing that would make it seem different from before. Instead... it
had been stained... with black, with red, with mud and blood.
...But that itself would be evidence.
...The one piece of evidence needed to prove that my delusions hadn't just been day-
dreams, and that I'd ended Satoko's uncle for all eternity.
............All right, Keiichi.
...Calm your mind.
...The time for passion is over.
...Now is the time to be cold as ice.
...I needed to bury the body.
...But... where was I? I'd simply followed the man as far as he ran into the darkness.
...I couldn't take a guess as to how far we'd run.
...It was already pitch black around us... and the only light I had to go on was the very
faint lights on the road a little further down.
...It was so dark out.
...I hadn't noticed the darkness until just now. My vision was so good I could see the
man's ugly hairline—I could have counted the pores in his head.
...It was only now that I realized how much crazy strength I had mustered at that mo-
ment.
...I went over to the street light.
...I looked up and down the road... desperately trying to figure out where I was.
"..................This is....."
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...Oh, no. This was the one road connecting Hinamizawa to the town.
...We were... unbelievably far away from Satoko's house.
...Had the two of us really run so far a distance...? My surprise at that... was accom-
panied by knowledge of the miraculous fact that despite running so far and making so much
noise, we hadn't come across anybody at all.
...There was a long way... between here and the ambush location where I'd dug the hole.
...There was no way I could carry the body that far. Wait... Aside from that...
...The bike the man took here was still lying in the middle of that path.
...That would be an issue.
...The police could tell whose motorcycle it was by looking at its license plate. And
they wouldn't just leave it at that... Thankfully... the corpse was in a dark forest.
...In terms of urgency, dealing with the bike would come first.
...And... I wanted to get the shovel back from where I'd left it next to the hole. I
shouldn't drag the body there.
...I would have to deal with it right here.
...Fortunately, the ground was like mud from the downpour, and was more sludgy here
than where I was before.
...I might be able to dig a grave quickly here.
...Of course, my bicycle was still over where I'd left it, too. It still... wasn't over. Homi-
cide... had only been half of my goal.
...The other half would be just as important as the first.
...I would completely hide the body, not allowing a "beginning" to happen.
...I would erase the man like he'd never existed... and regain the peaceful times we had
before. I bent my head backwards...... and calmed my mind even further... The big water drop-
lets struck my brow mercilessly.
...They were actually quite comfortable... and for a while I let my desire have its way.
After confirming that I was sharp again... I started running through the rain. The motorcycle
was in the grass at the roadside. Considering how it looked—pelted with rain and covered in
mud—it actually seemed like it had been lying there for a very long time. The plan was to
drop the motorcycle into the swamp.
...The swamp was a bit of a walk from here.
"......Ngh......... urgh..."
I lifted the bike up.
...I didn't think it would be so heavy... I was a little surprised. But once I had it up-
right, it was fairly easy to roll it along.
...Still, pushing this thing all the way to the swamp... was really not something I want-
ed to do.
...I could no longer ignore my exhaustion... and it warned me numerous times of how
far away the swamp was.
......This motorcycle... I wonder if I could ride it well enough.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...Once I got it going, it would be basically the same as a bicycle.

...Wouldn't it get me to the swamp quickly? A plan suggested by my exhaustion... The
anxiety at getting on a motorcycle for the first time withdrew. I turned the key... and then you
just kicked this pedal, right?
......Yeah!
...Yeah!! Vrrrrrrrr...mm!! It's on! And then... I gripped the handlebars... first the right,
then the left...
"...U-Uwaahhhh!"
Maybe I twisted them too much—the bike lurched and did a wheelie like an angry
horse.
...I lost it for a second... but it was just a problem of how much torque to apply.
...Let's try that again.
...This time, slowly... gently......
...That time it went well. It was strange to be on a two-wheeled vehicle that would go
even if I didn't pedal... Very odd, but I got used to it quickly.
...Mion once told me you could get a scooter license within a day, and she was clearly
right.
...This was pretty easy. I needed to throw the metal bat into the swamp, too.
...But I didn't know how I would pack the bat onto the motorcycle.
...Without much other choice, I stuffed it into the back of my shirt, feeling like a ninja
carrying a katana.
...If I put the tip down the seat of my pants and hunched over, it wouldn't fall out. I got
back on the bike and, this time, got going without any difficulty. I carefully pressed the button
labeled "light" and a rather strong light came on, illuminating the way forward.
...I probably really shouldn't have turned it on... but I didn't have any way of seeing at
this point, and had zero confidence I could ride through this darkness. As the rain came down
on me... I maintained a precarious balance and inched my way towards the swamp. Along
the way, I ran across a few people who seemed to be returning from the festival. But none of
them had any interest in me—they were either all soaked through with the rain and hurrying
on their ways home, or had their umbrellas low and their heads down. Yesterday I might have
been wary of even these passersby... but right now it didn't seem to be much cause for con-
cern.
...In fact, it would probably be less suspicious to be riding out in the open like this
instead of sneaking around.
......More and more, though, I started to think of that idea as naive, brought on by my
exhausted state. I climbed a steep hill.
...On a bike, the hill would have put me out of breath, but I just had to accelerate a
little bit to climb the entire thing—motorcycles sure are convenient. For a moment, its lights
illuminated a sign before I passed by it.
"Onigafuchi Swamp / Good children do not play around here."
Still... it wasn't like the way to the swamp was cordoned off by a metal fence or any-
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thing.
...Parents and teachers would get mad at you if they found out you were playing at the
swamp, but some of the bad kids in my class apparently snuck out here sometimes to see the
giant crayfish in the place.
...They'd talked before about... how they'd go to the candy shop and buy some pickled
squid, then just tie it to a fishing line and throw it, and all the crayfish would come running.
Once I got up to the bank... there was a tiny ritual shrine and traditional ropes on one of the
trees.
...And... as it swallowed the downpour whole... the blackened swamp had waited for
me. If I slammed on the accelerator from the cliff-like stop I was on now... the thing would fly
straight into the middle of the swamp.
...I had to be careful not to fall in with it.
...If I drowned and disappeared... man, what a stupid ghost story that would be. On the
night of Watanagashi, Satoko's uncle's corpse was found in a thicket by the road leading to
town, and Keiichi Maebara went missing. People would whisper that I'd been demoned away.
...The fifth year's curse would be a half-baked one. I got off the bike... and twisted the
accelerator as hard as I could. I let go just when it seemed like it would drag me forward.
...The bike shot off the cliff... and was swallowed down into the swamp, leaving a far
fainter splash than I'd imagined. Its surface was being pummeled by the downpour... and the
muddy, filthy water was flowing into it.
...I couldn't even make out the motorbike I'd just thrown in there.
...It was pretty heavy, after all.
...It would be quickly... engulfed by the soft mud at the bottom of the swamp.
...And it would be pulled deeper and deeper... until it reached Hell itself. I felt no reluc-
tance whatsoever in throwing the man's motorbike down to the land of the demons... but I did
have a tinge of regret when I did it with Satoshi's bat. The muddy water washed off the gore
sticking to it, and it sunk easily.
...I had sort of shared today's events with Satoshi... so I wanted to give it a quiet place
to stay.
...That's how I felt. I started to feel more like returning it to the locker from before... so
it could continue to keep watch over Satoko.
.....................
"...Satoshi. ......I... probably, well... misunderstood you."
......Satoshi listened quietly, without nodding. I am absolutely convinced now.
...You were the one... who beat your aunt to death last year and saved Satoko.
...I always scorned you and called you a coward who ran away... but I was wrong. To
the rest of the world, some deviant was behind that incident... but I know.
...That... was something you did for her. And then... you disappeared.
...You finally got back that peace... and lost it within days.
...So... I swear to you that I will live life to the fullest from now on—live it enough for
the both of us. I will live on as though this week, this day, never happened.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...But... I will never forget... this short time we shared together for as long as I live.
......I didn't know what expression Satoshi made as he listened... but as someone who
had protected the same girl... I felt he had smiled and given me his blessing.
...And then...... my hand moved of its own accord... and the bat I had hesitated to throw
away... left my hands... and flew through the air. It traveled its parabolic path... spinning all the
while... and the swamp absorbed it without a sound.
...There weren't even any ripples when it hit the surface.
...That surface was tempestuous because of the downpour... and the bat was long gone.
.........For a moment, I regretted having thrown it. But... I realized that might have been
what Satoshi had wanted.
"......You're right. ...I... still can't let myself give in to emotion just yet."
I would return for my shovel, get on my bike... dig a hole to hide the body... and bury
it. It seemed like a simple sequence of events... but I felt extremely exhausted—and I had to
do it all tonight. Satoshi left me with only the advice that I needed to finish this up soon......
then fell silent for eternity... and disappeared at the bottom of the demon's abyss...... I returned
to the path I had ambushed her uncle on.
...My bike was hidden, sleeping in the brush; I stood it back up.
...My whole body felt heavy.
...But... I needed to finish by the end of the day... even if I had to whip myself to do it.
...Oh... I forgot something. I didn't just come here for my bike. The shovel was here
too. Not good... I was zoning out.
...Every once in a while, if I let my guard down... my vision would almost go black.
...Pull yourself together, Keiichi Maebara.
...It's still... not over... I went into the grove of trees... and looked for the hole in which
I'd hidden the shovel.
...Unfortunately... I had hidden it deep in the forest, not wanting it to be seen... and now
everything was black in the night... and I couldn't see anything anymore.
...I reawakened my fading consciousness... and realized just how big this annoyance
really was.
"............Wait... You can't be serious.."
The sweat the rain washed away before... came back up to my skin.
...Deep, deep in the forest, where the street lights could never reach.
...The fact that... it would be so pitch black... had been completely uncalculated. With
this much darkness... even if I had been able to kill him right away like I'd planned... I didn't
know if I still could have buried him without a problem.
...What should I do... I simply... couldn't find the shovel... tonight.
...If I forced myself to go deep into the forest... I'd lose even my sense of direction, and
might actually get lost in there.
...That might have been an exaggeration, but it was fully possible I'd trip over a tree
root and sprain a muscle. Oh, right... My house's storage room... There was another shovel
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there—the same fold-up kind.

...Couldn't I go back to the house, get the shovel, and give up on finding the shovel
tonight...? It's not as though... the name "Maebara" is written on the shovel.
...But... it seemed like an unusual item from an import variety store, made in another
country, so......... I didn't want to leave that shovel here.
...But... in this darkness... I couldn't do anything.
...I should give up and go back to the storage room.
...And... there was an electric lantern in there. If I used that for light, I could look for
it.
...But... it was so extremely dark. Could I light the way with just the lantern?
...The light of a lantern in this dark night.
...I couldn't discard the possibility of it drawing eyes.
...And... I doubted if I could find the shovel with the lantern's feeble light.
......Besides... I'd left the body there for a pretty long time already.
...My sense of fear, dulled through excessive exhaustion... finally reared its ugly head.
Anyway, for now... for now the most important thing was to hide the body... A shovel being
found wouldn't be a big deal... but a corpse? If they found that... I'd share the same fate as
Satoshi.
...First I'd go back to the storage room at home. Then I'd get the lantern.
...Now that it's gotten this dark... I might still need light to dig a hole for the body too.
And I'd get the other shovel.
...And then I'd deal with the body first thing.
...Once that was done... I'd come back here... find the shovel and bring it back...... I
had to... had to do at least that much... but I was so tired... But... complaining was getting me
nowhere.
...If I started getting complacent now... everything will have been for naught.
...At some point, I had sat down.
...I gritted my teeth... and endured, lifting my heavy hips. The night was young.
...Of all the nights I'd experienced... none had ever been this long. When would it all
end?
......The night was young.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Day 11 Part 3
The lights at home were dazzlingly bright.
...Suddenly, they reminded me of how hungry I was. I checked the clock... and saw that
it was almost seven.
...I’d thought for sure it was two or three in the morning already.
...I was surprised at how messed up my biological clock had gotten just from this one
night. There was a warm light... coming from the curtains in the living room window.
...The worlds between here and what was beyond those curtains... were so different... If
only that man hadn’t shown up... I would have been in that light.
...I’d still be excited from the festival... and I’d be talking to my parents about how
much fun I had with all of my friends. And then... even though they made a hot meal for me,
I would have eaten way too much at the stalls, barely eaten any of it, and gone back to my
room... No doubt I’d crawl into my futon and easily let myself fall asleep. But right now, I was
completely different. There wasn’t a single ember of warmth from those weak street lights.
...Right now, I was unconnected to any time spent with my family... and there was
neither warm food... nor the time to allow myself to sleep. My body exposed to the cold rain...
I knew... that I simply had to spur myself on to accomplish what I must.
......I realized how timid, how cowardly I was becoming. ...For what reason... did I need
to kill someone... even if it felt this terrible?
...I’d lost sight of my purpose. I selected the fastest, most fundamental way of saving
Satoko... and executed it without hesitation. That man was dead. He was gone.
...He would never, ever hurt Satoko again.
...We all thought frantically for days on end about Satoko’s problem... and finally, with
no options, we gave up... and I had solved it in one night.
...By myself, without anyone’s help. Right about now... Satoko would be making din-
ner for her uncle, despite not knowing when he’d return... and she might be spending the night
trembling in fear of whether he’d yell at her for how it tasted. But... her uncle wouldn’t come
home. She wouldn’t have to fear his wrath, nor let him make her feel sad.
.........I
......I see......... I did it. I successfully... saved Satoko.
...All I’d been thinking about for a long time... was killing that man... and I’d forgotten
the feeling that it was actually all to save her.
“...I did. ...Aha... hahahahahaha...”
I... did something good.
...That’s right.
...I did... something good, didn’t I? I felt hot tears... coming from my eyes... and that’s
when I first realized that the exhaustion I’d been feeling was actually guilt. The blade of
guilt... for a while now... had just been scraping away with its tip... hurting my heart.
...It hurt so bad I couldn’t stand it... It was throbbing painfully.
...It hurt so much, it was so painful, that I cried.
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...I cried tears of joy at saving Satoko.

...I didn’t know why, really, anymore—I just cried.
...My tears fell and fell. As I stood there for a while... coming to terms with those
warm tears... my heart was comforted a little. ...All right, Keiichi Maebara.
...That’s enough. There’s nothing to regret or feel ashamed about. Both my body and
mind... were thoroughly exausted, and that was a fact.
...It was only natural I couldn’t feel anything. Even tomorrow, and the day after that... I
might not be able to feel anything for a while.
...But... there was one thing that was true.
...There was the undisputable fact that I had saved Satoko. One day, we would surely
be rewarded.
...One day, I would be proud of how distressing an enterprise I had undertaken to get
Satoko’s smile back. And so that I could wait for that day... I had to put the finishing touches
on this night. If I left it undone... everything I’d accomplished today would be for naught.
I looked back up, up at the sky, which didn’t look like it would stop raining anytime soon.
Then... I rubbed my eyes and summoned forth energy from my core again.
...How long... did I plan on spacing out? This isn’t the time for daydreaming. Someone
could find that corpse this very moment...
...That pessimistic thought was proof the very natural emotion of fear had returned to
me.
...As I allowed the fear to spur me onwards... I went to look for the other shovel and
the lantern inside the storage room... It was fortunate... I remembered what it looked like
around the street light the body was near.
...With how dark it was, it was quite possible I wouldn’t have been able to look for it
either.
...I didn’t realize that when I left the place, so the idea of memorizing the spot hadn’t
even crossed my mind.
...And that’s why I had to call it fortunate that I managed to get back to the body like
this. The corpse was now located in a big, muddy puddle.
...Half the thing had already sunk into the swamp-like pool of water. I only realized
afterward, but there was an unused irrigation channel right nearby clogged with fallen leaves
and dirt, and there was rainwater flowing in from there. My shoes had been awash with water
for a long time now, so without any hesitation, I stepped into the puddle. The whole muddy
stream started flowing back, luckily.
...I couldn’t leave any slight traces... like bloodstains.
...The rain was like a blessing from heaven. I checked around me... paying very close
attention... then turned off the lantern.
...It became pitch black... but my eyes got used to the darkness in a few moments... and
once I managed to reach the streetlight on the other side, I was able to make out even faint
lights... I stuck the shovel into the puddle right next to the corpse.
...The ground was even looser here than I’d thought, and the shovel’s tip easily slid
Tatarigoroshi-hen
inside it. I had to hurry and dig.

...If I took too much time, I might lose my energy and strength again. It felt almost like
digging a hole in the sand at the beach. It was easy to dig... but no matter what, the muddy
water kept flowing in, covering the hole.
...The digging wasn’t going as well as I’d hoped. I dug and dug... and the water would
go in... so I couldn’t get a sense of how deep it was.
...The only way for me to measure it was to bury my own foot in the mud. I’m digging
just fine... It’s all right, don’t be disheartened... dig... dig... dig. Occasionally a car would come
by on the road... and I’d hurry to hide myself in the trees.
...Everyone was only passing through. They wouldn’t have their eyes peeled in this
kind of darkness.
...I understood it logically, but I still couldn’t help but hide... What I was really scared
of... wasn’t quite that one of those cars would coincidentally happen to witness me here...
...It was that the distance I could spot cars from was getting gradually shorter. At first,
I noticed the splashing sounds from really far away as cars drove through them.
...I started noticing them less and less... and with the car that just passed by, I didn’t
notice it until its headlights were upon me.
...I felt my senses growing duller by the second. If someone... were to take a peek in
secret... as I was burying the body, at the worst possible time... maybe I wouldn’t even notice...
The moment I thought that... I took a good look all around me.
...I roused all my half-asleep senses... and searched for signs of presence nearby...
...What if... I found out someone was spying on me from the trees...?
..................... A carnivorous feeling... snarled at me, glaring...
............If there was............ then I would dig another hole.
......I’d come this far already.
......In order to achieve perfection... I didn’t care how much more I had to pay...... I
didn’t know what kind of face I was making at the time... but it was definitely a fervently
glaring one...
“..................”
...My five senses reached the conclusion... that nobody was present.
...I didn’t breathe a sigh of relief. How long had I been digging this mud out of here.
...It was deep enough for it to go up to my knees. Maybe this was enough. ...Maybe I’d
throw the corpse in as a test...
“...Hah...... hah...... ngh...”
I swallow, getting my breathing under control... Despite how much I’d beaten him... I
was afraid of touching the corpse.
...So instead, I dragged it by the feet to the hole.
......It took more than just a waggle and a tug to do it.
...But of course it did. ...Considering this man’s weight... was easily eighty kilograms.
I rallied all my strength... and dragged him... At this point, my groundless fears that he might
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suddenly start moving again had vanished long ago. His body fit perfectly into the muddy
hole.
...It was more than deep enough. All right... let’s bury him.
...Quickly, quickly, quickly... If I did a perfect job of burying it here... everything would
be over.
...I would hide it in the hole, and none of this would have ever happened...!!
...When I realized I only had a little farther to go to finish everything... I was wracked
with pointless anxiety, like I was in a race against time.
...It was like I was absorbed in a delusion... that if I didn’t bury the body quickly, it
might come back to life... In any case... in a great rush, I poured mud and dirt into the hole. If
I didn’t work efficiently... someone might find me here.
...Until now, I figured if someone saw, I’d just kill them... but not anymore.
...I was arrested with such absolute fear... that if someone saw me, it would all be over.
As I finished the work off... it was a total mess.
...Splish-splash, squish-squash.
...I drew the surface of the shovel across the ground, trying to make it flat.
...I was completely covered in mud at that point. The rain washed the mud off my
body... but not off my now-blackened clothing. My body and mind were caked with panic,
with fear, with rain and sweat and mud......
“...Hah... hah... hah...!!”
My shoulders heaving, I threw down the shovel and sat down in the mud.
...I was... so exhausted... that I wanted to lie down right here and sleep...
......It was over.
...This time......... for real... it was over...! The man was now in the bottom of the wet
dirt.
...Right this moment, there were traces that this place had been dug up, but the rain
and flowing muddy water would completely cover it all within moments.
...Yes... It was over.
“I did it... I did it...... I did it, you motherfuckerrrrrrrr...!!!”
And then I fell over backwards, face-up in the mud.
...Raindrops pelted my face without mercy, but I didn’t care.
...After staying there for a while... resting my mind... I got up again. It was over.
...So let’s go home.
...You already buried the whole thing. So now it’s like it’s never happened. It never
happened... so there’s no reason for me to stay out here... and get rained on. I wobbled to my
feet.
...I wouldn’t use the shovel anymore. I considered disassembling it... but I didn’t have
the strength in my absolute exhaustion.
...I didn’t... really need to take it apart anyway.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...Dragging the shovel behind me... I headed towards the light. I stood up my bike; it
had been laying in the grass by the road.
...I didn’t know how I was going to get the still-assembled shovel into the front basket.
...I put the shovel down the back of my shirt like I’d done with the baseball bat.
...Unlike the bat, the corner of it was on my back, making it very painful. Plus, if I
relaxed my posture even a little, it would fall out behind me.
...I ended up having to carry the shovel in my left hand and ride my bike using only
my right hand. Not only was I in a state of total exhaustion—this was a downpour. One hand
on the handlebars.
...I was swaying to and fro like a drunk.
...But I didn’t care.
...Even swaying like this, I got a little closer to home every time I pedaled.
...I saw two lights swaying slowly in front of me. .
..A car was approaching.
...Oh no... I need to get out of the way...... From far away in the shadows of the dark-
ness, a car appeared. Its dazzling lights washed over me.
...The driver made a short honk of the horn to inform me I was in the middle of the
road.
...I have to get out of the way.
...I kept telling myself that... but not only was I riding one-handed, I was exhausted, so
I couldn’t do anything.
...Wobble, wobble, wobble, wobble... I meandered about... not going to the right or to
the left.
...The driver decided to swerve out of the way right in front of me, and without lower-
ing its speed much, steadily came towards me.
...Its outline grew larger in my vision... and telling myself again that I really needed to
get out of the way, I jerked the handlebars in one direction, then lost my balance and fell over,
bike and all. My whole body splayed out, and one foot got caught in the bike.
...This was... seriously bad...!! My drowsiness quickly vanished, and just as a cold sweat
broke out on my skin... the driver recklessly spun the wheel to the left, made a counterclock-
wise U-turn... and came right up to me and stopped...
...The driver’s seat door opened... and the driver came out. You idiot—what are you do-
ing here?!
...I was pretty sure someone would yell at me like that.
“...Oh, oh my. ...Look who it is.”
...It was a woman’s voice—and one I knew. ...I lifted my face off the ground... and
looked at her.
“.........T...... Takano-san...”
“Good evening. The moon is very pretty tonight... Maebara-kun.”
It was raining far too hard to see the moon.
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...Takano-san unfolded an umbrella and smiled as she spoke.

...That smile... was, for some reason, uncanny... like she’d seen right through me.
...Out of all the people I could have met... I got the sudden feeling that this was the one
I wanted to see the least...
“What are you doing out so late? And you’re soaked and covered in mud, and no um-
brella, either. ...What is that? ...A shovel?”
...She had come here via car.
...She wouldn’t have known what I was just doing.
...And yet... she smiled... as though she knew everything.
...Calm down, Keiichi Maebara. ...She always makes that mysterious-looking smile,
remember?
...Don’t let her on to anything, lest you dig your own grave...
“...The rumors say you were playing baseball with a golf club. Is that what the shovel’s
for, too? Hee-hee-hee... You’re using it as an umbrella?”
...I should... tell a good lie here. .
..If I could just do that... things would work out.
“......When I went with Rena... to go digging for treasure at the dam... we forgot this
there.”
“...Hmm. And you went to get it in this downpour...?”
“...When I left my house, I didn’t think it would rain, so...”
“...Oh, it’s been raining for a while, though. ...You’ve been out for quite some time,
haven’t you?”
Tatarigoroshi-hen
“...Well... yes... I was kind of wandering around...”

“Even so. ...You came from that direction, didn’t you? The dam is in the opposite direc-
tion, you know. ...Hee-hee-hee-hee...”
Takano-san... was clearly aware that something exceedingly abnormal was happening
with me.
...And as she played her little word games, she was enjoying driving me into a corner.
......Maybe she had a vague guess, just from the situation... of what I’d been doing...
...My timing really sucked... to run into her, of all people, of all the times...
......At the very end... I could only be frustrated at my terrible luck... I’d done so much...
and the end was literally right around the corner...
...So why... why, at the very, very end... did I run into... her, of all people...?!
......What do you do, Keiichi Maebara? ...You’re still holding something that could be a
dangerous weapon.
.........Will you... silence Takano-san...?
“........................”
...Even if it would be simple to kill Takano-san... dealing with the car she’d come in
afterward would be an issue.
...I couldn’t drive a car. It was completely different from a motorbike.
...But... even if the car was here... as long as there was no proof I killed her...
...Yes... In tonight’s downpour... without any prior planning, all by coincidence... a hit
and run.
...As long as I didn’t drop any handkerchiefs with my initials on them...... they would
never know I killed her......... A black flame... quietly smoldered and raged... in the core of my
body...
“............That’s a scary look. Did I tease you too much? Hee-hee!”
Takano-san started to laugh by herself, then thankfully stopped talking about it.
......But the dark clouds in my mind didn’t go away...
“Leaving that aside... How long are you planning on crawling on the ground with your
bike like that...? Would you mind moving out of the way?”
If I moved, she would leave...
...So I tried to get the bicycle up and out of the way... but then twisted my ankle in it
and fell over.
“...Agh... ow, shit, ahhhh...!! ...Urgghh...!!”
There was a sharp pain in the ankle I’d twisted... This is nonsense... A sprained ankle...
now...?
“Oh, my......... Are you all right...? Did you twist your ankle...?”
Takano-san squats down and takes a good look at the ankle I keep rubbing.
...She compares it to my facial expression, apparently trying to gauge how bad the
wound was.
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“Can you stand?”

“...Ugh............ guh...!”
I didn’t expect to... but I couldn’t even stand up. It was all I could do to shamelessly
wriggle on the ground like a caterpillar... Takano-san looked at her watch, then at her car, and
after thinking for a moment, opened the passenger’s seat door. And then... gave me her shoul-
der to stand up with.
“...I’ll take you home. I do feel bad, since it’s almost like I hit you.”
“......Ugh...... I... I’m sorry...”
“I wouldn’t just leave you there. ...It’s a good thing I’m a nice person! Hee-hee-hee...”
...Nobody good has ever called themselves a nice person... but that would have been a
terrible thing to say to someone holding me up like this. I took Takano’s hands and sat down
in the passenger’s seat.
...Takano-san went around the back and looked at my bike on the ground.
“...I don’t suppose we could take the bicycle home tomorrow?”
I could clearly tell from her face that she thought it would be a pain, since it would be
heavy, and it would get her car dirty.
...But... my bike has the name Maebara written on it.
...I couldn’t leave it out here like this.
“Umm... well... can you somehow put it in the car...? I sort of... need it.”
“The trunk is already full. If I put it in the back seat, it’ll get the seats dirty with mud.
...Well, given how you’re already in here, it’s already dirty, I suppose.”
I turn back to the back seat... and see someone’s folding bicycle there already.
...It still looked big enough to fit my bike in there as well. My expression reflected my
thoughts, and the exact thought seemed to get through to her.
“...All right, all right. I’ll put it in here for you. ...I’ll be really nice, but just for tonight,
okay? ...Hee-hee-hee-hee...”
Takano-san continued with her mean jokes, but she hoisted my bike and loaded it into
the back seat for me. The mean jokes were one thing, but couldn’t she do something about
that eerie smile of hers...?
...And... even more importantly than the bike... I didn’t want to leave the shovel here.
...The shovel could be directly connected to the buried body and to me.
“...Umm... Sorry to ask another favor... but could you get my shovel too?”
Takano-san gave me a clearly dubious expression.
“...............Your shovel? ......That’s fine with me. ...Is it important?”
“..................”
The more I talk, the worse it gets for me... That’s how I felt, so I didn’t force myself to
answer her...
...Eventually, outlasted by my silence, Takano-san gave a short shrug and sighed.
“...All right, I understand. You need your shovel, right? ...You don’t need to make such
Tatarigoroshi-hen
a mean face.”
Takano-san brought over the shovel that was lying in the middle of the road.
...I clutched it like I’d never let go of it again.
...Takano-san watched me with a puzzled look.
“Okay, let’s be off. ...Maebara-kun, you live at the Maebara mansion, don’t you?”
“...Why does everyone call my house the Maebara mansion?”
“Because it’s actually a mansion! It must be nice to be rich.”
...As she spoke, Takano-san pulled the hand break and stepped on the gas.
...After making a skillful U-turn using the shoulder of the road, she steadily increased
in speed...
...From the rear-view mirror, that accursed place seemed to melt into the darkness.
“...ried?”
“Huh? ...I’m sorry, I didn’t quite hear you. ...What was that?”
Takano-san suddenly tried to say something to me... but thoughtlessly, I didn’t catch it.
Looking ahead, Takano-san... said the same thing one more time.
“The body.”
“......Uh......”
“...How well was it buried?”
“..................”
............I thought my heart might beat out of my chest, but I didn’t let it show.
...But... my lungs were squeezed tight... and I couldn’t breathe.
“...Wha......... what... are you talking... about...?”
“...When burying bodies in mountains like these... You have to bury it fairly deep,
because wild dogs will often smell the corpse and dig it out. ...Some human bone a wild dog
brings back in its mouth leads to an incident being uncovered, the police head out to a stretch
of mountains... It actually happens pretty often, you know? ...Hee-hee...”
Pound, pound... clang, clang...
...Huge, rusted bells start ringing in my head...
...Had I buried it... so deep that I could say it absolutely wouldn’t be found...?
...The answer was no.
......I was in such a rush to bury him and get it over with... that I couldn’t deny having
possibly buried it too close to the surface... No, wait, wait, wait, wait... That’s not, wait, any-
way...
...This woman... how... how does she know...?!
...She had just passed by here in her car by coincidence.
...And we ran into each other... by coincidence.
...If she had been watching the entire thing from the trees... and once I left, she came
back in her car?
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...It didn’t make logical sense.

......So then...... why...
...............Keiichi Maebara...
...That’s it... You need... to kill... her... My entire body reawakened... and I could feel my
pupils dilate.
...I couldn’t possibly beat her to death with the shovel in such a small car.
...Then... I would use my hands...... and strangle her.........
...But... she was driving right now... If I strangled her... we might get into an acci-
dent...... Then, suddenly, Takano-san turned and looked at me.
“.........What, no witty retort?”
...For a moment, I was surprised—what was she talking about?
“...It would seem we’re not a very good match.”
Takano-san said, disappointed, returning her gaze ahead.
...I repeated the words she’d said... a few times in my head... and finally realized she’d
meant it as an off-color joke... I didn’t know whether it was really... a joke, but... I wouldn’t be
able to fool her, no matter how many lies I told.
......Right now, with her driving the car like this... I couldn’t kill her.
...I would have an even harder time doing it when we got back to my house.
...That moment we met—that had been my best chance.
...And to have missed it so easily... it hurt. After that... Takano-san didn’t say a single
word.
...The car was completely buried in an almost suffocating silence.
...What... kind of woman had I run into...
...With everything that happened today... I managed to pull it off.. and at the very end
of it all... I just had to go home and go back to sleep... What bad luck...
“.....................”
As my sleepiness gradually overtook me... the anxiety I felt... steadily started to matter
less and less...
............Is this all right, Keiichi Maebara...?
......You probably... should not leave this woman alive.
..................Right now... I’m tired. She stepped on the brakes, and I jerked against my
seatbelt.
...That woke me up.
...I thought I must have fallen asleep by accident. I looked out the window... and there
was a big building with faint lights on.
...It was really dark out, but I knew immediately it was my house.
“I’ll go get your folks for you. Would you mind the place for a few moments while I’m
gone? Hee-hee-hee...”
Tatarigoroshi-hen
“...Don’t make fun of me, please. ...Besides, look. ...I’m fine now. I can walk by my-
self.”
“...Oh, my. You were in such pain before that you had to get me to carry you. Did you
just want a pretty lady to be nice to you? ...Hee-hee-hee.”
As Takano-san spoke, she left the car and opened up her umbrella.
...The sound of falling raindrops was fierce, as always. I carefully reached down and
rubbed the ankle I’d twisted.
...There was still some pain and a little weirdness... but they weren’t that bad anymore.
...Rather than being happy about how light the wound was... I first regretted this whole
thing... If I hadn’t twisted my ankle, I could have still taken the option of killing Takano-san
right then and there.
......There probably wasn’t much doubt... that Takano-san was convinced I was involved
in some sort of crime.
...If she knew about everything happening with Satoko... then she might have even
guessed I’d killed somebody. Ka-click.
...Takano-san opened the passenger side door for me.
“You’re sure you don’t need my shoulders? I wouldn’t mind doing it for you again.
Hee-hee...”
I ignored her and answered by getting out of the car by myself.
...The rain was still pretty intense. I got my bicycle out of the back seat.
...I was a bit curious who the other bike belonged to, but that didn’t matter right now...
I let Takano-san hold the umbrella over me, then pushed my bicycle up to the front door.
“...Thank you, very much. I’ll be fine now.”
My ankle hurt so much earlier... and it still did, but it aggravated me that it hadn’t even
been that bad.
...It was really, seriously... terrible luck.
“All right... I will be leaving, then. Keep it a secret... that we had a nice evening drive
together by ourselves, okay? Hee-hee... Especially from Jirou-san.”
Jirou-san...? Oh... she meant Tomitake-san.
...I supposed she calls him by his first name.
...His full name must be Jirou Tomitake, then. And then...... the other bike, the folding
one in the back seat, that I didn’t care about at first... suddenly came to mind.
“Hey, excuse me. You’re from Hinamizawa, right?”
...On the day before yesterday... as I walked near the dam, half-asleep, Tomitake-san
had talked to me.
...And the bicycle he’d been riding......... It was......
“That bicycle in the back... belongs to Tomitake-san, doesn’t it...?”
Takano-san’s eyes... I think they sharpened for a moment.
“............And why do you think that...?”
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“...I saw it when I met him before. ...The frame stood out to me.”
“..................Hmm. ...But... wouldn’t that be odd...? Do you think it’s possible for this to
be Jirou-san’s bike...?”
“...Odd......... huh...?”
Takano-san, her hair elegantly fluttering... peers into my eyes.
“...Well... There are no bed and breakfasts in Hinamizawa, are there? Jirou-san would
need to be staying in town.”
“......Is that so...? ...Well... I guess that’s right, huh...?”
“...You can’t really walk from town to Hinamizawa, can you? And there are no buses,
either. ...You at least need a bicycle.”
She didn’t need to tell me that.
...That’s why Jirou-san was riding a bike.
“...For Jirou-san’s bicycle to be stowed in my car... and him not in there... That would
be strange, wouldn’t it? ...It would mean Jirou-san was in Hinamizawa... without a bike. I’d
have to have left Jirou-san somewhere and put his bike in the car, wouldn’t I? It wouldn’t
make sense.”
......As she spoke, Takano-san made eyes like a hawk...
...Unfortunately, I didn’t really understand... what was so odd.
“...What about that is odd? ...Aren’t you and Tomitake-san friends? ...I don’t really think
it would be strange for there to be some reason you had his bicycle in your car...”
“But it would be. ...What I mean is, Jirou-san and his bicycle being in different places
in Hinamizawa wouldn’t make sense. ...And for those reasons, it means this bicycle can’t be
his. ...Do you understand now...?”
...Takano-san’s roundabout way of talking was hard to comprehend... but that eeriness I
could feel, that vague dreadfulness... I didn’t like it at all.
...But...... the most wild, instinctive part of me... warned me not to pry.
“That’s my bicycle. ...Jirou-san picked it out for me, though, so I can’t deny that it
looks alike.”
“...Ah... I see now. ...I thought it looked similar.”
“You and I never saw each other tonight.”
And now she was talking about something completely different...
“...What are you talking about?”
“You and I never saw each other tonight.”
I stayed there, not knowing what to say... and Takano-san repeated her eerie, succinct
phrase to me again.
“You and I never met this night.”
“.........”
“...You and I... never saw each other tonight.”
Something cold and unpleasant... crawled up my spine.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...I knew... because I’d killed a person with my own hands before.
...Before, I came to the conclusion that I only had one chance to beat this woman to
death to keep her quiet, and I couldn’t hesitate... so I could tell... that she’d arrived at the very
same conclusion. My instincts warned me again.
...I wish I’d never met this woman. The faint sense, like a rotten smell... drifting from
this woman... was no doubt the exact same sense... that I was giving off right now.
...The very peculiar aspiration... the lack of uncertainty at taking a human’s life for a
purpose, one that only those who have risen above everything had.
...Actually... maybe I should have called it a nausea. It meant... and I didn’t know how
to explain this very well... but Takano-san was the same as me. In other words... someone who
shouldn’t have been here. Someone I couldn’t have let anybody know was here.
......Someone who nobody would have wanted to see.
...And, now that we had... we could calmly pretend... as though we never met. Yes.
...Which meant that... just like I wanted to have nothing else to do with her... she didn’t
want anything to do with me, either. And... she, too, wanted to make it so that we’d never met.
...Both of us wished for the same thing.
...Our desires were the same... which meant Takano-san’s suggestion was extremely
practical... .
..And that I couldn’t outright refuse...
“...If that’s fine with you, then sure, whatever. ...You and I didn’t meet this night.”
“You’re right. ...That would be best for you too, wouldn’t it?”
“...Why do you think that?”
“Are you seriously asking me that? ...You can’t figure that out on your own, boy?”
......She cut me off with the condescending word “boy.” Right in front of my house... in
a place most unsuited to killing.
...And yet... there was a frozen thirst for blood... coming from both of us.
...I would be... killed, right here, right now.........
...Yeah... Then I should have definitely... beaten her as we passed each other... A damp,
greasy sweat broke out on my body...
......That’s fine... If you want me... then you can come anytime...... And when I made up
my mind...... she shook her hair elegantly and turned on her heel.
“...Good. ...I am a kind person, after all.”
What was good? How?
...Because she was a kind person? Was that it?
...I didn’t get it... Takano-san got into her car.
...We didn’t exchange any words of parting.
...I had performed a massive feat: the killing of Satoko’s uncle... and yet I didn’t feel
any accomplishment.
......On the holy night of Oyashiro-sama’s curse, on which the taking of another’s life
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was allowed.
......On the terribly rainy night when the demons wandered... as agents of Oyashiro-
sama’s will.
...The demons were never supposed to meet... but suddenly... they did. The demons...
parted ways triumphantly.
...There was no reason for them to fight.
...Both their objectives... had already been accomplished...
...With the rain hitting me like a waterfall, my eyes met with Takano-san’s through the
car window. The female demon... Her mouth twisted into a distorted, fearless smile.
.........It was too late to kill her.
...Far too late. ...That first moment, the very first moment we saw each other, had been
my best chance.
...And now that we had parted like this, I was acutely aware of it. .
..I... s h o u l d n o t h a v e l e t h e r l i v e...!
She beeped her horn quickly... then her car drove away into the deluge.
...The one woman who knew what really happened tonight... disappeared into the dark.
As long as she was alive... this night would never really end.
......Just get into an accident... I thought to myself. In this downpour... Slip on some
mud or something... and fly face first into a tree... and die.
...That wasn’t a delusion, a wild flight of fantasy.
...It was an earnest wish.
......Yes.
......It was a command. Die.
...Die!
...And keep your mouth shut for eternity.
...Because I have no doubt... you’re wishing for me to die all the same. My curse upon
her faded emptily as Takano-san’s tail lights disappeared into the utter darkness...
“.....................”
...Her car’s lights were completely out of sight now. Even the sound of the engine faded
into the sound of the heavy rain, and was inaudible now.
...I, too, turned on my heel.
...To draw the curtains on this insane night. To open my front door and end it all. I
began walking towards the front door.
...I was covered in mud, and I made a squishing sound with every step I took
...Squish.
...Squish.
............Don’t worry, Keiichi Maebara.
“............”
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...Squish.
...Squish.
............She’ll die.
“............”
...Squish.
...Squish.
............Her end will be as miserable as she is.
...I’ll throw her into some flames alive and let her dance until she’s burned to a crisp.
I’ll burn her to ashes in the fires of hell itself until she’s roasted as much as she deserves.
“...I wish. ...I really do.”
Squish.
........................Huh?
...Just now, I... hadn’t taken a step... And yet... a footstep.........
......Without emotion... I turned around.
...If there was a footprint that wasn’t my own... then it was obvious someone else was
behind me.
...Was somebody else there......? I was sick of this. Whoever it was, I was sick of every-
thing tonight. This time... I would kill them. I’d kill them without a second thought.
...I wouldn’t hesitate... to turn around and dig another hole.
“........................”
...But... fortunately............ there was nobody there.
...I wasn’t going to have to kill any more people tonight... This night... I couldn’t handle
any more of it. Even if I heard an extra footstep each time I stopped... I put it down to me just
being tired...
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Tatarigoroshi-hen
Tip #15 - Hellfire
"Hello? Do you need the hospital or the fi re department?"
"Err... the fi re department!"
"Is there a fi re, or some other accident? Please speak slowly

and calmly."
"I-I think it's a fi re... This is the _____ rest area on the ____
Highway... I can see a ton of fi re and smoke coming up from the
mountains behind us. Nobody goes back there, so I don't know
why anything got lit on fi re... Anyway, I figured I should let
you know...! It could turn into a forest fi re!"
"I understand. I need to know exactly where you are, so please

tell me your name, a phone number we can use to get in touch
with you, and the exact location of the fi re."
"Notice from the fi re department headquarters. We have a report

of a suspicious fi re on the western slopes of the _____ Moun-
tain. Given its distance from the road, it could be a couple's
bonfi re or someone unlawfully burning trash. The location
is deep in the woods. No homes in the area, but the fi re could
spread. Immediately go to the site to verify."
"Is this the fi re station? This is the ____ District fi re de-

partment branch. We arrived moments ago at the reported area.
Fire confi rmed to be a burning oil drum left in the mountains.
The fi re is calming, and there is no chance it will spread. ......
And... well...... in the oil drum... I think it might be a person.
Like, a person burned with kerosene... or something. ...Well... I
think maybe we should get the police over here..."
"Ah... ah!! T-T-There's no mistaking it!! This is a person!!

Eeeeeeek...!!"
Page 287
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Tip #16 - Victim of the Fifth Year

"...This year's curse, then?"
"...That's what it looks like. ...He kills them differently every year, but this is particu-
larly conspicuous, isn't it?"
"Clawing out your own throat... ...That isn't normal..."
"Let's leave the rest to the old man in forensics. ...I'm sure he'll find some suspicious
drugs."
"Thank you! Thank you for your hard work!!"
"Oh, Ooishi-san! Komiyama-san and the others have arrived!"
"Ooishi-san, much appreciated! Well, it would seem we have a pretty crazy one this
year."
"Yes. We've been outsmarted. ...I was absolutely under the impression Teppei Houjou
would get killed tonight..."
"Who is the deceased?"
"Jirou Tomitake. A photographer with a hobby for coming to Hinamizawa a few times
a year. ...We didn't even have him marked..."
"...I wonder what happened? Did they realize we were watching the Houjou residence
the whole time and decide to switch their target?"
".........Maybe...... We sure flubbed this one..."
"And there are no problems with Teppei Houjou?"
"Correct. His daughter left for the festival in the evening, and a little while later, he
left on his motorbike. ...His daughter came back first... wait. Has he not come back yet? Is he
still out drinking somewhere...?"
"Ooishi-san, are you there?! Call from Chief Takasugi. He's on the line in Car 1!!"
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Tatarigoroshi-hen
Day 12
............At first, I thought it was a dream.
...I was staring at this strange sheet... not really understanding what it was.
...That was all. I didn't go after it, nor did I ridicule it. The fact was that the boring
view was the ceiling of my own room... but I didn't realize that for a fairly long time.
...Yes.
...I thought I had been dreaming... but I had actually been staring at the ceiling... the
whole time. Lethargy induced by the voices of the cicadas.
...Even after I realized I was awake, I couldn't draw forth the energy to sit up...
......Everything I could see, everything I could hear—everything was like a television
broadcast that had already ended.
...It was hot.
...So hot I could choke on the heat.
...My back was moist with night sweats... and it felt gross.
...Unable to endure it any longer, I tossed in my futon... and finally, blood started
coursing through my brain... I lazily recalled... the long day... I had yesterday. The reality... as
I lay here listening to the voices of the cicadas... and yesterday, so different from it.
...In order to kill Satoko's uncle... I had rehearsed, formulated a plan... and dug a hole.
...It was... very hot, and I was tired, wasn't I...?
...And when evening came... I went to school and called him out on the phone.
...I panicked for a moment when he asked where the police station was... but it worked
out.
...And then I awaited him... and swooped down.
...I couldn't remember anymore what sort of emotions I'd let control my body.
...In any case... it didn't go smoothly...... but I did it.
...It was very hard to dig the hole for the body.
...That feel of the rain pelting down on me... I don't think I'll ever forget it.
...The rain, the mud, and the sprays of blood.
...The sensation of floundering in a swamp.
......When I met Takano-san on the way home... that wasn't good, no matter how I inter-
preted it.
...It was the most misfortunate and uncalculated thing that had happened that night.
Everything would have been perfect... if only I hadn't encountered her.
...............Haa... I was just riding my bike, with my shovel in one hand, through the
downpour, utterly soaked.
......There was no way someone could surmise I was a murderer burying a body just
from that information.
...Now that I was thinking calmly, napping under the morning sun, that's what I
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thought. Still... the more I think about Takano-san's eyes...

...It seemed like she understood.
...Takano-san... s h e k n e w.
...That I'd killed someone... buried them... and that I'd been on my way home, exhaust-
ed.
...Takano-san wouldn't gain anything from selling me out to the police.
...But that didn't mean I could feel at ease.
"......I should... have killed her........."
I had crossed such a bridge... to get my tranquil life back... And I'd finally achieved it
as a result...
...But now, for the rest of my life... for all the tranquil days starting today... I'd have to
live in fear of when they could suddenly end. I may have twisted my ankle, dulled from total
exhaustion... The fact that I couldn't make the snap judgment I needed to... I regretted it more
and more as time went on...
...You didn't have a choice, Keiichi Maebara.
...You didn't have any choice at the time. You were tired. You were a mess.
...Even if you had made the decision... you might not have even been able to kill her.
...She might have just beaten you instead. In that sense, parting ways uneventfully
could have been the safer option.
...No matter how sharp Takano-san's intuition was, she had no proof.
...Her suspecting me didn't amount to evidence by itself.
".........Logically, I know that. ...But... that doesn't mean I have nothing to worry about,
does it...?"
...Just worry about it when the time comes.
...Now isn't the time to be worrying.
...It's the time to be smiling, right? You accomplished so much, just to gain a new life
starting today, didn't you?
...Then you should be happy at this new morning.
...If remembering the past is too hard for you... then just consider everything up to yes-
terday as having never happened. You said so yourself.
...You'd bury it all like it never happened. Well, your wish came true. Everything before
yesterday never happened.
...So be happy, Keiichi Maebara.
"............Yay."
I stuck up my hands lazily.
...It felt a little silly for me to be the one doing it. I heaved a sigh from deep in my
belly.
...That sigh got my lungs moving. It felt like I hadn't been breathing until just now.
...It wasn't enough to admonish myself over. All the dice that could be thrown already
Tatarigoroshi-hen
had been.
...And the numbers that turned up... weren't bad at all.
...If I lost with those numbers... then I'd just have to give up, I guess.
...I grabbed the chest of my pajamas and flapped it back and forth.
...Cool air flowed over my sweating body. Okay.
...Nothing before yesterday... happened. Nothing. Nothing at all.
...I'd forget it all. Yesterday was all a dream! What time was it?
...About midday?
...Getting myself up and going to school this late seemed kind of absurd.
...But I needed to go. I felt like going to school would be the first step into my peaceful
new life.
...I didn't care how late it was; I would go.
...I'd go to school right now and get back to the life I had retaken as soon as I could.
My lazy body immediately became lighter at the thought. I rolled up out of the futon, bounced
onto my knees, then leaped upright.
"Nice. Stuck the landing!"
I stuck out my chest with pride at my gymnast-like pose, then took a deep breath of
fresh air.
...The brisk morning air had been gone for a while, replaced by the crisp air of sum-
mer. Downstairs, I got a stern talking to by my mother—where were you last night? When did
you get back? You need to tell me when you won't be home for dinner—things like that.
...But considering the importance of what I'd accomplished yesterday, a little scolding
was no problem.
...In fact, it even felt like the sort of thing that would happen in such a peaceful life.
I listened with an irresponsible smile... and stepped out into the sun high overhead. It was
around the time lunch break would be ending.
...Everyone... would probably be worrying about me. I didn't go to the festival, and now
I wasn't at school.
...Well... Maybe they weren't too worried about it. Since... They would have gotten a
small piece of news, but a happy one, from Satoko today.
...Yes, the small piece of news... that her uncle hadn't come home last night. Satoko
would probably live her days in nervous tension for a while... thinking he might still come
home.
...But eventually, those days would end. And finally, Satoko, too... would realize her
uncle was never coming back. And then... Rika-chan would quietly invite her.
...She would say, "you can live with me again." And everything would be back to nor-
mal.
...Our lives would go back to how they were before that man appeared. Satoko would
start wearing that extraordinary smile, complete with those protruding canines... and fool ev-
eryone with those traps she was so proud of.
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...I'd probably be her first target out of everyone... but I wouldn't be mad. In fact, I
might actually shed tears of joy at the return of something so normal. Satoko... She'd gradually
grow back into that meddlesome personality of hers.
...I mean, my lack of useful life skills was already completely exposed.
...I wondered if I'd ever be a match for Satoko.
...But that would be such a pleasant thing to see too. And with such warm, fuzzy pre-
dictions... I didn't feel bad for going to school so late.
...In fact, I wanted to run there now to get there as soon as I could. Instead, I decided
to savor the peacefulness of just going to school like normal, without running.
...The world I'd obtained for myself... that gave me joy just by walking like this. Yes.
...The world beginning on this very day was something I had won. Without that monu-
mental feat yesterday, I would never have been able to come to school so cheerfully today.
...The school gate came into sight. Just then, I heard the principal ringing the bell to
mark the end of lunch break. It was a clear, refreshing sound.
...I stopped despite myself... and let myself take it in.
...Tap. I had stopped suddenly.
......So there was an extra footstep.
........................ With a noise... the blessedness I was feeling... throughout my whole
body... withdrew into any pore it could find.
...And as if to replace it... I felt like... hundreds of hairy caterpillars were climbing up
my feet. I turned back, but of course, nobody was there.
...A single footstep could have easily been my imagination.
...But... the foostep... felt so ominous. That extra footstep I had heard... after seeing
Takano-san off last night. With everything that happened on that insane night... I didn't mind
something like that happening once.
...It had been a hell of a night, after all.
...In fact, having just one hallucination was pretty fortunate. But... those footsteps
should have ended with yesterday, so if I heard them again today...?
...There was really... ... ...only one thing it could have meant.
...Last night still wasn't over.
...It was still going.
...Still. That insane night—forever. The step I heard. Just that one extra footstep... was
quietly, quietly ridiculing the nonsensical notion... that the world starting today was completely
different from the one that ended yesterday... My classmates playing in the schoolyard all van-
ished inside like the tide going out.
...When I approached the school... it felt like that warm, fuzzy scene had ended... and it
didn't feel good. At the entrance... I took a quick look in everyone's shoe boxes.
...Satoko Houjou... She was here.
...Mion was here too. And Rena, of course. .
..Even Rika-chan was here.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...Tomita-kun and Okamura-kun were here... In fact, I didn't see any missing class-
mates. If there were shoes missing... they would have to be my own. I took my shoes off and
stuck them in... then took out some slippers. There wasn't a single pair left in the shoe boxes
anymore.
......With that, they returned to their rightful state.
...But as I stepped up onto the wooden floor... I noticed there was just one pair of slip-
pers left.
...Huh...... Whose...?
".........Satoshi ...Houjou..."
Satoshi, who had never been to school since... disappearing last year.
...Until now, we had committed the exact same act of violence... but I guess in the very
end, it went differently. You couldn't make it to school... but here I am. I didn't repeat the
same mistake you made.
...I wasn't about to let myself feel superior about that.
...In fact, I felt... an odd sense of familiarity with him.
...A misfortunate bond... with someone I'd never met, due to following the same fate. I
headed down the hallway... towards the usual classroom. It felt like... it had been a whole year
since coming here.
.........Hey. ...Did you forget, Keiichi Maebara?
...Satoshi Houjou... didn't really disappear on the night of Watangashi, did he...?
"........................"
...Satoshi Houjou... disappeared a few days later.
...On Satoko's birthday, if I was right. I didn't know what day it was... but I couldn't say
for sure I'd avoided Satoshi's failure... unless I remained here past that day.
...I was still... living in that night of insanity... The teacher still hadn't come to the
classroom. The other door clattered open, the one the teacher wouldn't use, so everyone turned
at once to see who had arrived.
...Everyone looked pretty vacant.
...Mm. Suppose I'll greet them.
"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I do thank you for coming all the way out here
today. Mfu-fu-fu-fu!"
...Silence.
...When I started to think I'd fallen flat, someone finally started laughing for me.
"Ah-hahahahaha! Good morning, Kei-chan. You're pretty energetic today~!"
"Yeah, energetic! Maybe you haven't gotten out of the festive mood yet. Hau!"
Hearing Mion and Rena's cheerful voices made me realize how dumb those dark feel-
ings I'd been having at the entrance really were.
"...Hey, now... Festive mood? ...I wasn't..."
At the festival at all, remember?
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...Before I could say that, Rika-chan smiled at me.

"...Keiichi, did you make sure to watch my dance?"
"Yep! He saw it just fine. Didn't you see how big an applause he gave you?"
"And he ignored it when that blockhead Shion came up and made a pass at him~! Ah-
ha-ha-ha! Take that, Shion! Wow, that felt good!"
...Mion starts laughing at the memory as she slaps me a few times on the back.
"So... How did that target practice contest turn out in the end?"
Tomita-kun was facing me and talking.
...There was nobody behind me.
...That meant he was talking to me...?
"...Tomitake turned up dead last. Everyone had a good time with his punishment game."
"Ah-ha-ha-ha! Weren't you supposed to be the one in last place, Rika-chan? It was such
a turnaround when you pulled off getting that chewing gum... I should have expected that
from a member of my club! It was fantastic!!"
"Crying at a time like that is a feat only Furude would be allowed to do!" said Okamu-
ra-kun, breathing heavily from his nose.
...In my direction. Everyone laughed—if anyone but Rika-chan had done it, it would
have been against the rules.
...Rika-chan gave one of her nipah~ smiles as she listened to it.
...In my direction. Rena, too, turned to me... no, turned towards me. And then, with a
somewhat embarrassed smile, she whispered to me so only I could hear.
"But really... thanks. Keiichi-kun."
"............For what?"
"That giant stuffed animal. ...I was really happy. It's nice and safe right at my bedside.
...And I made sure to give it a good night kiss before bed, too. ...Hau~."
The class laughed at that, cheering and jeering.
...This whole time... the conversation had been a little bit off... I wasn't quite getting it.
"......What's this... about a stuffed animal...?"
"What's this...? Come on, we all worked really hard at the festival yesterday to get it
down, remember? The gigantic stuffed animal."
"...The gigantic... stuffed animal."
Rena seemed taken aback, but when she answered she did it with a smile.
"We were having a hard time knocking it over, so we tried aiming at the forehead, and
rapid-fire shooting and stuff. And then, Keiichi-kun, you got a whole bunch of guns ready
beforehand and shot them all! It was so cool... Hau~!"
...Wait... Who was this?
"All the people in the neighborhood association, including the chairman, were praising
you so much at the party afterwards. One of them said he'd fallen in love with your way with
words—Tokuzou Kimiyoshi, the chairman of the children's committee, I think? He said he
Tatarigoroshi-hen
wanted you to entrust you with a few of the stalls at the next festival!"
"...Tokuzou is the chair of the refreshment booths. He's on the festival executive com-
mittee."
"Maebara-san is great at making things sound good, isn't he~!"
"Yep, whenever he talks about something, it seems a lot better than it actually is!"
"Ahahahahaha, you can't say that! Ahahahahahaha...!"
"Keiichi-kun, you'd be a great salesman! If you did a bargain sale on bananas or some-
thing, I bet it would go great~"
".........What have you been talking about? ...I mean, I..."
...Didn't go to the festival in the first place.
...I swallowed those words.
...I didn't know exactly why...... but in Hinamizawa... this is what had happened.
...Yesterday, during the Watanagashi festival... "Keiichi Maebara" had appeared. And he
had romped about with all the usual members of his club. He made a big scene at a few of the
stalls, snatched a few sticks of takoyaki and okonomiytaki in his glee, rating each of them as
delicious or terrible to get everyone excited. And they'd seen a gigantic stuffed animal at the
target practice game... and everyone went after it.
...And then I got a whole bunch of the cork guns, firing them in rapid succession,
throwing each one away after using it, and admirably, I shot down the biggest stuffed animal
there... And then, I gave the stuffed animal, the proof of my victory, to Rena as a gift... Then
our fun came to a close as we had to go see Rika-chan's offertory dance. There was a ton of
people squeezed in there, and we all got separated, but we each managed to get into good po-
sitions to cheer Rika-chan on from. Then, in the middle, when Shion came up and asked me
to go hang out with her instead of watching the dedication dance, I refused... and stayed put,
watching the dance until the very end...
...But who?
...Who was that?
......Well, everyone's been saying it, haven't they?
...Keiichi Maebara... I had an urge to yell in anger at my classmates for having so much
fun talking about the festival yesterday with "Keiichi Maebara."
...What the hell... are you guys even talking about? Far stronger than that feeling,
though... was the sheer uncanny nature of this reality I couldn't understand. A "Keiichi Mae-
bara" who wasn't me... was... in Hinamizawa yesterday.
...As I threw away my humanity... turned into a demon... and was busy beating Satoko's
uncle to death... I was having a great time at the festival last night.
...What... the hell?
...I had... to suffer through so much... Desperately holding back tears... getting so worn
out... in that downpour... digging holes, chasing, beating, killing, dragging, and burying... Who
was this "Keiichi Maebara" who had ignored me so and spent such a fun, carefree time at the
festival, damn it?! Who the hell... stood in for me... as I put my life on the line working so
hard to achieve this treasure-like everyday life?! If there was another Keiichi Maebara besides
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me... then what was I?

...On the night of Watanagashi... where one died and one disappeared, in accordance
with Oyashiro-sama's curse... there was only a demon... who had killed someone.
...Dumbfounded... as I succumbed to a horrifying possibility, I looked around at my
classmates.
...To make sure... there was nobody extra I didn't recognize among them.
...To make sure... I wasn't among them.
...It was a horrifying thought... That the real Keiichi Maebara hadn't overslept, and had
come to school on time... And that I, who was no longer Keiichi Maebara... had just waltzed
in here...
...But... no matter how much I checked... the only people here were ones I knew.
...The man I met every time I looked in a bathroom mirror... was not here.
"Okay, everyone! Time to start afternoon classes! Please take your seats. President,
please lead the class!"
The teacher entered and everyone hurried back to their seats.
...Upon finding me, who was so stupidly late, she gave me a stern talking to...... but I
wasn't listening to it.
...Wasn't... our old life supposed to start today...?
...Something... wasn't right.
...It was just strange. I was supposed to go back to my old, fun life after yesterday.
...I had set foot in an incomparably mysterious world... that was completely differ-
ent from both my old life and my recent one. Yes... This was... without a doubt... a different
world... than the one I'd been living in until now.
...There was no way such an absurd thing could be possible.
...But... unless it was true... I couldn't explain... anything that just happened. In this
classroom, I was surrounded by so many faces I knew... and yet I felt isolated. The cicadas
sounded no different than they had before now... but they seemed somehow false.
...The air was parched and dry, too... making me think... was the air in Hinamizawa
always this uncomfortable?
"......Hey, Rena."
"What is it? We're in class."
"...About the festival yesterday. ...About... when would you say I got there...?"
"Huh?"
...To be honest, I was pretty excited afterwards... and I gobbled down some cans of
beer... I mean... it's kind of embarrassing, but... I don't quite remember... some things...
...For random babbling, it wasn't a bad excuse.
"Keiichi-kun, you said you couldn't come at first, didn't you? You called Mii-chan's
house about it, right?"
......That matched.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...I called Mion... and told her to take Satoko in my place, since I wouldn't be able to
meet up with them due to things I had to do.
"We all decided while we were setting up for the festival that we'd invite Satoko-chan.
...We wanted to bring her out someplace where she couldn't see her uncle for a little while."
...That was the same too.
...Mion said that when I called her. That everyone had already decided to invite her.
"And then we all went, me, Mii-chan, and Rika-chan, to Satoko-chan's house, and
brought her out. ...Satoko-chan's uncle seems like a really mean person."
...That part didn't matter.
...What I was trying to ask was...
"...I... well...... When did I meet up with you...?"
"...How could you forget that? ...Keiichi-kun, I think you shouldn't be drinking until
you're an adult..."
"Whatever! When did I meet up with you...?!"
"Uh! ......Um... well..."
At my sudden, threatening demand, Rena was at a loss for words.
...Oops, I shouldn't have rushed that...
...I told her I was sorry.
"It was at the shrine grounds. It was unexpected. You were talking to Rika-chan,
weren't you?"
"Yep. You were having a fun talk with Rika-chan in her shrine maiden outfit. And
then Rena came up and said, 'Hau~~ I'm taking you home~'"
"...I was talking... to Rika-chan..."
"And I asked, 'Kei-chan, didn't you have something to do today?' Then you pounded
your chest and said it yourself. That letting loose at a festival was more important than some
silly errand."
...I didn't say that. I never said anything like that.
...I never even went to the shrine grounds yesterday to begin with.
...I never had the time to stop by a place like that. I went to dig the hole as soon as I
woke up.
...I had a pretty hard time doing it.
...After that, I snuck into the school and made a call.
...I called him out and lay in wait.
...And then it started raining really hard. With that kind of downpour, the festival
should have come to a halt.
...In other words, it ended then.
...From the time the festival started to when it ended... It would have been impossible
for me to have swung by the shrine grounds.
...I was already there when Mion and the others dragged Satoko out and brought her to
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the shrine, and I was talking to Rika-chan.

...Then... where would Rika-chan say we met...? The teacher went out to wash her
hands, so I ran over to Rika-chan's desk and asked her directly.
"...With you?"
"Yeah. ...We were talking to each other before Mion and the others got there, right?
...When did we see each other? When... and where...?"
"...I don't know what you're trying to ask."
"I, uh, drank so much beer I lost some of my memory... I don't remember a thing.
...Hehehehe..."
It looked like Rika-chan bought into my babbling.
"...We saw each other when the mayor and the others came out of the assembly hall.
You were in front of the ritual implement storehouse."
"...Huh? What...? ...The ritual implement storehouse?"
...I'd never heard a building called that before.
...Or maybe I have, but... At the very least, I wouldn't know where on the shrine
grounds it was.
"...The mayor got real angry at you, since you shouldn't go near holy places without
authority, remember...? ...Keiichi, did you forget that too...?"
...I was too scared to ask any more. The more I asked... ...the more it became clear
without any doubt... that "Keiichi Maebara" was present at the Furude Shrine grounds during
the Watanagashi festival. The clearer that became... The more doubts—no, fears—I had... Who
on earth was I yesterday? Whoever that was... he had a good time in my place... and managed
to go the entire day without letting them notice I wasn't there...
...Oh, right.
...When... did that person leave everyone? This morning, my mother got mad at me for
having stayed out so late last night.
...Which meant at the very least... that "Keiichi Maebara" hadn't come home while my
mother was still awake... The festival would have been closed because of the downpour.
...If I recall right... when I went back to the house's storage room to get another shov-
el... I think the clock said seven. Since it was already raining hard by then... the festival would
have had to close down before seven. If I'd returned that early... I would have definitely run
into my parents.
...Or, at the very least... they wouldn't have asked me when I got back last night. So the
"Keiichi Maebara" from yesterday... that meant... he never went home. That meant... the down-
pour happened, the festival was broken up... everyone left.
...But... he didn't go back to the house.
...Umm...... that means...?
...When I arrived at the natural conclusion... a wicked chill... suddenly froze my spine...
and climbed up to my brain...
...That meant... "Keiichi Maebara"... was the same as Satoshi.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...One day... he never went home. On the night of Watanagashi... he never went home.
...The downpour interrupted the festival... and on the way home... he suddenly disap-
peared... And... I, who was dealing with the corpse... went home without a problem. I was so
tired I wasn't even hungry, so... I went up to my room without a sound... and crawled into my
futon......
...Who... was I? That much was obvious. Keiichi Maebara.
...Keiichi Maebara was me. There may have been another one, but that doesn't negate
the fact that I was Keiichi Maebara.
...Then... that other Keiichi Maebara... was... what...? The voices of the cicadas, steadily
filling the classroom, were beginning to bother me... Suddenly... I laid eyes on Satoko.
...Satoko's expression was dark as always... She seemed completely exhausted... at a life
of agony she couldn't even imagine an ending to.
...What had last night been like for Satoko? Did she have fun with everyone and feel a
little happier, if even for a moment? And... when she went home. The end of her dream. She'd
probably gone to sleep afraid of when her uncle would return. And then... this morning.
...Her uncle hadn't come home.
...And then she went to school. Right now... she must have been still trapped by the rot-
ten idea from which she couldn't be saved... that her uncle would need her when she got back.
But you can... rest easy, Satoko.
...Your uncle won't ever be coming back. I couldn't tell her it was because I'd killed
him.
...When Satoko realized on her own... that her uncle would never return... then that
would truly be the end of the long, insane night. That's right.
...I didn't do anything wrong.
...I did the best possible thing I could have as Satoko's Nii-nii. Not an atom in my body
regretted it. And look... Calm down and think, Keiichi Maebara.
...From a certain point of view... isn't it convenient there was another "Keiichi Mae-
bara"? I buried the corpse perfectly. A "beginning" wouldn't happen.
...But... if worst came to worst, and it got out, and the investigation got to me... I now
had a strong alibi, able to profess the "fact" that I'd been at the Watanagashi Festival.
...But accepting something so creepy... and using it as an alibi... Still... if I proved I
hadn't gone to the festival yesterday, it would do no good and a whole lot of harm.
...That... was what left the really, actually bad aftertaste.
...You'll forget about it, Keiichi Maebara. Everything that happened before today.
...So just forget... about the Keiichi Maebara who was there yesterday, too. Instead, let's
watch gently over Satoko... for the day her smile returns. And the day... that would mark the
end of that insane, all-too-long night.
"That's all for today, class. Please go straight back to your homes, everyone! President,
if you would."
"Everybody stand up! At attention! Bow."
"Good-bye!!"
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I thought about many things... and saw my thoughts dispersed by many other things.
...I didn't know whether or not that time had been spent worrying or daydreaming, but
either way, it came to an end along with the class. Cheerfully, our classmates got their things
and ran for the hallway. Mion, Rena, and Rika-chan were packing up as well.
...What about Satoko...? This whole day... she's seemed deflated. Well, her uncle may
not have returned last night... but she wouldn't have known he'd never return.
...How much I wanted to express that fact to her... Satoko packed up her pencil box and
math workbook messily... and after a dark glance at the clock... heaved a sigh.
...Then went to leave the classroom. Then... suddenly, somebody placed a hand on her
shoulder and stopped her.
".........What is it...? ...I watered the plants like I was supposed to, and got all the print-
outs done..."
...Her words, possessed by a persecution complex, hurt... I spoke loudly so everyone
could hear.
"Hey, everyone! Why don't... why don't we have club today? It's been a while!"
Satoko always had to tend to her uncle... so club has been on hiatus.
...In our minds, our club was proof of a calm, peaceful life. By enjoying being togeth-
er... I wanted to make Satoko realize her days of darkness were over.
"I'm... okay. I'll do it."
"......Meep."
"...Well, I mean. I don't mind. ...If it's okay with Satoko."
Under a condition.
...That was important.
...With everything up to her, Satoko gave a worried look.
"Come on, Satoko, it's been a long time! Let's go crazy!!"
"...Well... I'm happy you feel that way, but..."
My uncle might already be home.
...Thus spoke her darkened eyes, her mouth unmoving.
"You've been choking on life every day for a while. You must be about to suffocate. It's
not good for your mind or body! Once in a while, you've gotta have some fun!!"
"......Please, leave it alone. ...It's not like I... don't want to do club again..."
With one word, "but..." She looked down...
"Satoko, you know as well as anyone that it's more fun being with everyone, right?
We're friends! That means we can spend time with each other! I mean, you had a great time at
the festival yesterday with everyone, didn't you?"
...Rena nearly said something... but she was too late.
"......Keiichi-san... what are you saying...?"
My arm on her shoulder seemed to weigh her down... and she threw it off.
"...When exactly... was I playing and having fun at the festival? The only one having
Tatarigoroshi-hen
fun... was you, Keiichi-san."

".........Huh......"
I looked over to Mion for help.
...But now everyone was looking down.
...My instincts told me... That Satoko... hadn't gone to the festival. But... Rena said it
herself. That she went with Mion to Satoko's house to invite her...
"......Satoko-chan... left on the way there. ...She didn't go to the shrine."
"...Wh... Why...!?"
I realized the absurdity of what I'd just said with Satoko in front of me.
"...She said her uncle was waiting at home... and she couldn't have fun by herself.
...When we were in front of the shrine."
"We... we tried to stop her too. We told her her uncle said it was okay, and that he
wouldn't get mad if she had a good time..."
At some point... tears had begun welling up in Satoko's eyes.
...Satoko... was so afraid of her uncle... that she couldn't even allow herself time with
her friends... and went home.
...No... she was even afraid... of letting herself have a good time with her friends.
"...Keiichi-san, you must have it nice... having a blast at the festival all night. ...They
told me you went all-out, didn't you? ...I'm very envious."
Smiling to herself, her tears began to fall.
"...I... must provide for my uncle. It's completely different from you... with how you let
your parents do everything...!"
"......Satoko..."
"...I'm so glad you enjoyed yourself at the festival...! I'm so glad you you had enough
fun for me too!! I mean... I want to participate in the club too!! Making such a racket with
everyone... is so much fun...!!! But... right now... I can't... I can't!!"
Unable to withstand such violent emotion... a few teardrops slid down her cheek.
...But even though she was having such a terrible time... not once did she ever say that
it was hard for her.
...It was a sad... obstinate bravery. But... the days when Satoko had to feel like that
were over. Satoko didn't need to... to endure it, to bear it anymore! She could forget all about
it now... and smile...! I was so frustrated at not being able to tell her that directly. Instead... I
said something... that I'm not sure I should have said, before I thought twice about it.
"......He didn't... come home, did he?"
The words were deeply meaningful to me... but I didn't know if Satoko understood
them.
"...Didn't come home... Who...?!"
"...He didn't come home last night, did he...? ...Your uncle?"
"What are you talking about, Keiichi-san...!!"
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Satoko shouted... with all her might.

"When has he not been there?! When?! When?!?"
"...C-Calm down... I mean... He didn't... come home yesterday... did he?"
"I don't understand... what you're trying to say, Keiichi-san!!"
"S-Satoko... what are you talking about...?! I mean... that man, I..."
I killed him. Killed him yesterday. Killed him for sure. And I buried him. Buried him
whole. He could never have returned to his house.
"Even yesterday... he was torturing me so much...!! He yelled at me! He shouted at
me!! He found fault with everything I did!! He threw the dinner I made him on the floor!! He
dumped his bowl of miso soup on me, too!! It was hot! It was messy!! And I cleaned all of it
up!! I cleaned!! All of it!!! Fuwaaaaaaahhhhhn...!! Waahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"
...What......? Our stories... weren't matching up.
"...He... ...ba... ...night...?"
"And this morning... When he woke me up to make him breakfast... he got
so mad at me!! He would have gotten mad at me whether I'd gotten up or not...!!
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!!"
"...Satoko..."
Rika-chan went over to Satoko and said a few words of consolation.
...But Satoko angrily refused those words and thrust Rika-chan away.
"...Nii-nii!! Nii-niiii!! Come back... Come baaaack! Waahhhhhhh!!!"
Crying, Satoko slowly walked out into the hallway. After a moment, Rika-chan went
after her... I couldn't stop thinking... about the words Satoko had spoken while crying.
...I buried her uncle last night.
...But she said... this morning... That was impossible. I buried him last night... so she
couldn't have seen her uncle this morning...!
...What was... what was Satoko...... At that point... I heard Mion's cold voice.
"...Hey, Kei-chan. ...What did you mean... about Satoko's uncle?"
Gulp.
...I said too much... I let my emotions get the better of me...
"Rena heard it too. ...You said Satoko-chan's uncle didn't come home."
"Why? Why didn't he come home...?"
"That's strange. Satoko-chan's uncle was right there this morning, wasn't he? So why
would you say he didn't come back? Come back...?"
"...Kei-chan, you've been saying weird things for a while~"
...Suddenly, Mion and Rena... started to speak in strange and creepy voices. What
were... they... doing...? What... were they saying...?
"...Kei-chan... is it somehow inconvenient for you for Satoko's uncle to be around...?"
"You... No, what are you talking about...? Of course it would be better if Satoko's uncle
wasn't here...!"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"Yep. That's true, of course. If only he weren't here. Right? ...Ahahahahaha."

...Something... something wasn't right.
...The next thing I knew... Mion and Rena... were smiling thinly... and their eyes were
dark and muddy, in a way that I'd never seen before.
...And as our eyes met... that mud even seemed to fill the air...
"Satoko's uncle is an awful person, no doubt. I think we'd all be better off with him
gone just as much as you do. But he's here. There's nothing we can do, right...?"
Nothing we can... do...
...Something's wrong. Something's clearly wrong here.
...What the hell... was happening... After a moment... a chilly, liquid-like feeling, as
though my blood had been mixed with sherbet, crawled up my spine...
"No choice... I mean... of course there isn't, but...!! But... then Satoko will never...!"
"If there's no choice... what would you do...?"
...Urgh...
......Rena... was trying to prompt me to say more. There really was no choice, so I
killed him.
...I killed him to protect Satoko.
"......That's............ mgh......"
"Leave him alone. I think things will resolve themselves soon enough."
"Satoko-chan said her uncle was here, so he's here. He was here yesterday, and he's
here today. She said so, so it's fine, right? Right?"
...Mion and Rena were speaking unbelievably dismissively.
...How could they... be talking like that...? Mion and Rena... they were my friends, and
were seriously worried about Satoko's abuse, weren't they?
...They would never... blurt out... something like this...!! And...... I definitely killed Sa-
toko's uncle. No matter what Satoko or anyone else says... I wouldn't acknowledge it, because
him being alive was impossible. There is no way he was alive.
...It was impossible.
...And yet... since Satoko herself said he was here... then he was alive. I didn't know
why or how... but suddenly, Mion and Rena were at my sides, standing there silently.
"...Let's go home, Kei-chan."
"...After we leave, Rena wants to go treasure hunting for the first time in a while. Mii-
chan is coming too."
"Kei-chan, you should come along. ...Of course... you're not allowed to refuse."
If words could freeze blood... ...then there was no doubt... that they would have frozen
me solid.
...I could hear it... a layer of thin ice... the sound of all my muscles tensing. And with
them closely at my sides... we left the school, as if they were police officers taking me away...
They talked about silly things the entire way home, like they always did... but they always
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stood at my sides... as if to prevent me from escaping.

...This was strange.
...Everything about this day was strange. Actually... it had been strange ever since the
previous night. Yes, thinking back... it'd been strange ever since killing Satoko's uncle. That
creepy meeting with Takano-san... was only the beginning. That insane night... was still con-
tinuing.
......Yes. It still hadn't ended.
"...What? What's wrong, Kei-chan, why did you suddenly stop...?"
"Ah... Sorry... It's nothing..."
When I stopped... it was distant, but I definitely heard them.
...An extra set of footsteps.
...That was proof.
...Proof that insane night hadn't ended... Mion left where she usually did... and finally
we came to my house.
"...Okay, Keiichi-kun. Wait here for me. Rena will come to pick you up soon."
What was it—she was inviting me along on one of her oversized garbage 'treasure
hunts' at the dam site, right? But... why now?
...Mion coming along was strange too.
...Mion may have accepted Rena's little hobby, but she hated fishing through garbage,
so she'd never come with her before. And the location specifically being the dam site... was a
little creepy. The dam construction site was completely outside the flow of everyday life... It
was so remote that no one ever went there unless they thought to in particular.
...Nobody lived there, and there were no lights, so at night it got dark very quickly.
...I was being forcibly invited there.
...There was no reason I had to fear Rena and Mion.
...Besides, wouldn't the trouble I'd make by refusing them be a pain to deal with...?
...In that way, it didn't seem like going treasure hunting with them was a bad idea.
......But... that insane night was continuing. Haven't the sirens of instinct been wailing
in my mind for a while now...? Warning me that Rena and Mion... were strange.
...That I needed... to be cautious.
...The warning sirens were so freaking loud it felt like my head would split in two.
"...Ah... Rena. ...I... I actually have something to do."
"Something to do? Like what?"
"Like what...? It's... I just have something to do, okay?"
"If you had something to do, why didn't you say it while Mii-chan was here? I already
told her to meet us at the dam site before we split up."
Rena was smiling... but her words made her discomfort clear.
"...S...Sorry. I just... kind of missed the opportunity to say so..."
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"Really...?"
...You're lying, aren't you? You just made that up now, you liar.
...That's what Rena's eyes said to me.
"...Umm... I... my, er, head hurts. I might have a cold. ...So I wanted to go get it
checked out and get some medicine."
"Really...?"
...That... wasn't really a lie... My head did hurt a little bit... so I wasn't lying.
...Rena... she couldn't figure out if my head hurt or not... just by looking at it...!
".................. Then... I guess that's that."
After staring me in the eyes for a few moments... she fired a sharp, needle-like stare at
me.
...The tension in my body loosened, and I felt like my knees might buckle.
"...If you're going to the clinic, then you should go soon. Sometimes they close early."
"...Thanks. ...I'll do that."
"Make sure you go, okay? To the hospital."
"...I... I will..."
"Go, for real."
"...I will..."
It seemed liked Rena had realized that I was going to refuse her invitation for a while
now. With how serious she looks... she might actually call the clinic later to make sure I
went...
...I couldn't say anything careless...
...Lying about getting checked out was just an excuse to decline her request in the first
place.
...It didn't matter... whether I actually went.
"...Yeah... I'll go. ...If you want, I can bring you the bill tomorrow..."
"...Oh, that would be good. Be sure to bring it, okay? Rena will look at it then."
......Another tingle... started crawling up my back.
...There was no ignoring it... Rena and Mion must have been monitoring my move-
ments. That wasn't normal. Far from it.
...All of it was... insane. I did what I did... because I wanted my peaceful life back.
But... what... what on earth was all this?
...It was far from peaceful... Something had gone mad... leaving the world out of or-
der. With the other... 'Keiichi Maebara'... With those creepy footsteps I've been hearing... With
Rena and Mion acting so curious...
...And above all... with him being alive.
...Where was I?
...Hinamizawa Village, Shishibone.
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...I knew that much.

...Was this really the Hinamizawa I knew?
"...Hey, 'Keiichi Maebara'... Where... is this?"
I asked, whipping around before the front door... to face the one who has been follow-
ing in my wake all day.
......Nobody would have been there, of course.
".................."
..."Keiichi Maebara," huh. ...That's what I just called him... called the one who had been
trailing behind me this whole time.
...That shadowy presence... always clinging to me... like it was constantly watching for
the opportunity to change places. Footsteps always following me... was another impossibility.
...It couldn't have been a ghost... so it was just impossible. So the strangeness must
have been my ears, my head, or Hinamizawa.
...Everything I could see was the same exact Hinamizawa I knew so well... and that
gave me the creeps.
...Eventually I decided to actually go to the clinic. I really didn't want to go outside...
but a stronger feeling than that desire was the fear Rena might actually be keeping an eye on
me to see if I went to the hospital. But... before I went to the clinic... there was something I
wanted to make sure of. It was... at school. I pretended I'd forgotten something... And was go-
ing back to the classroom to pick it up.
...As soon as the thought crossed my mind... I was overwhelmed by paranoia.
...I was just going to the classroom... but I hated it so much... having to be so careful
to fake it. After carefully verifying once more that nobody was watching... I went over to the
locker.
...Yes, Satoshi's locker.
...I committed the crime with the bat I found in this locker—Satoshi's bat. And then... I
had thrown the bat into the swamp. Which meant... the bat shouldn't have been inside.
...But... but... what if... The bat... was still in here...?
...It was a very dreadful... incomprehensible idea...... But if it was true... it would ex-
plain a lot.
...If... the bat was in here... yesterday's events... would have all been a delusion... no,
an illusion. I hadn't killed anyone... and I'd gone to the festival. I had a great time rampaging
about with everyone. It would prove that... 'Keiichi Maebara'... was really me. Proof that I was
only under some strange assumption that I had killed Satoko's uncle.
...Proof that it had all been a wild fantasy.
...That would explain everything.
...Nothing happened yesterday.
...I had just gone mad, unable to separate my shocking, uncle-killing dream from real-
ity.
...That would explain everything.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...If the bat was here... would I be able to accept that reality? If it was here... nothing
will have changed.
...If it was here... it would just mean... I'd gone crazy... Preparing myself for the worst...
I opened the locker door.
...I was actually scared of opening it slowly, so I threw it open with a bang!
"....................."
And just like the first time... the choking scent of smell and sweat, like a stale towel,
came flowing out.
...There was a baseball uniform... and some miscellaneous other things, like notebooks.
...There was also a shoe pouch... .
..And as for the bat, it wasn't here.
...It was how I left it when I took the bat out.
...There was no doubt: yesterday really happened.
...Now that I knew I wasn't a lunatic, I felt relieved.
...But at the same time... if I wasn't the crazy one... then Hinamizawa was... and that
was evidence of a reality I found just as difficult to accept.
...There was noise, somehow, creeping into everything I saw, and the world was losing
a tiny bit of color.
...So, what did I know about last night now? Now that I'd made sure the bat wasn't
there... I didn't need to be here anymore.
...Shall I go? For real... to the hospital. It was my first time going to the hospital, but
from what I'd heard, it wasn't far from school. My mom had told me where it was—a big,
easy-to-see road went straight there. I went past the shopping street... made a turn... It wasn't
overly hard to spot the sign with "Irie Clinic" written on it. There was one other person, an
older man, there in the air-conditioned waiting room. I went up to the counter and told them it
was my first time here.
...The man behind the counter glanced at the clock and said there would be a short
wait.
...It was almost five. Clinic hours would be ending soon.
...As I sat in this unfamiliar waiting room, isolated from everyone... and let myself feel
the cool air... I actually felt relieved. What should I tell the doctor when he comes?
...I could tell him I had a cold, but I was the very picture of health.
...Actually, I wanted him to check my head.
...I wanted someone to confirm for me... whether I was really sane or not...
"Keiichi Maebara-san? Please come into the examination room."
Huh? The voice, from the other side of the examination curtain... I thought I'd heard it
somewhere before.
"Hello. This is the first time we've seen each other here."
"...Coach! ...Coach, you... You were a doctor...!?"
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Now that you mention it... he did seem to know his way around when he was looking
at my shoulder in the nurse's office...
...It would make sense... if he was actually a doctor. Come to think of it, our teacher
called him 'Irie-sensei', didn't she?
"Well yes, I'm more or less a doctor here. ...Doctors have it really good, you know?
You get to see and touch all that young, silky smooth skin~. I could inject them with a weird
chemical that'd make them my slaves, and have them be my personal maids~~..."
"Thank you very much. Just seeing that made my cold go away. I'll be leaving now.
Polite bow."
"Whoa, wait, wait! Maebara-saaan! A joke—it was a joke! Come, come—sit down
and let me take a look at you. I'll need to use my stethoscope, so show me your silky-smooth
chest, Maebara-san~"
For some reason... I felt really relieved.
...After that insane night... as much as I thought everything had gone crazy, Coach was
here doing the same thing he always did—I was very happy for that.
"Hmm, you don't seem to have a cold. ...Actually, those scrapes and cuts all over you
seem to be the painful thing. Don't tell me you were playing in the bushes with short sleeves
and shorts? I mean, I can't say for sure you haven't been infected with tetanus..."
As I was chasing that man last night, I'd kept being scraped by bits of trees. I didn't
realize I had so many cuts...
"You went a little too crazy at the festival yesterday. Enjoy that while you're young."
...And once again, I apparently went to the festival.
"...Coach... Did you go too? ...To the festival."
"Yes. Of course I did. I may be a doctor, but I'm also on the Watanagashi executive
committee."
"...Did you... see me there?"
This Coach was the same Coach that I'd always known, and I felt like I could trust
him more than my weird friends... so I asked.
"Well, actually... I was drinking in the main tent with the chairman and the others the
whole time... I didn't go out to see the festival at all. I don't think I saw you."
"...Oh."
"That was a strange question. Did you have too much to drink and forget about what
happened last night? And underaged, too—you bad child."
Coach let out a laugh.
...He didn't laugh in an unnatural way, like Mion and Rena did.
...Coach was okay.
...He was the Coach from the world I knew. He wasn't someone from this abnormal
world...
"...Well... This all... might seem a little weird to you, but... I want you to hear me out
without laughing."
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"Yes, go ahead. I greatly welcome any shy, bashful worries you might have as you
come into your secondary sex characteristics~."
"............Could it... be possible... that I have... an identical twin?"
Coach hadn't expected that question at all, and couldn't say anything for a moment. But
then... he smiled calmly and quietly answered.
"This is just superstition... but I've heard before that everyone has two other people in
the world who look just like them. ...If there was, I'd certainly like to meet him, though. Also,
there are plenty of fairy tales where a person's double appears. The German ones about dop-
pelgangers are probably the most famous."
"'Doppelgangers?'"
"Yes. They look exactly like another person. Apparently they herald misfortune, and if
you meet one, you're sure to die soon... I think that's how it went."
...When you meet them... you're sure... to die soon.
...The story ended directly in death, plain and simple... and it made my spine tingle.
...Coach wasn't saying it to scare me, though—he was just offering a casual anecdote,
but that made it feel all the more real.
"...Have you ever heard of... one of those things... showing up in Hinamizawa?"
"What?! ......Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Well, I can't say that I have. Ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Coach must have thought he was being teased, so he laughed in an exaggerated way.
But... when I didn't smile along with him, his laughter steadily grew fainter.
"...I'm sorry... well... I was sort of being serious."
"...No... I apologize for laughing. ...Was there something you were worried about?"
...I wondered if I should tell him... then, after resolving myself one final time... I slowly
spoke.
"...I... I didn't go to the festival yesterday."
"Is that right? ...Well, there will be one next year. And then you can—"
"That's not what I meant!!! ......I didn't go to the festival... but according to everyone
else... I was there. ...Could that... even be possible?!"
After blinking his eyes in amazement... Coach thought seriously about what I was try-
ing to say.
...And he answered, choosing his words carefully.
"...Let me make sure I have this straight. ...Maebara-kun, you went to the Watanagashi
Festival, but don't remember it... Am I right?"
...I was trying to say something completely different... but I suppose any sane person
would come to that conclusion.
...That night, Keiichi Maebara was actually at the festival, but I was saying I didn't go.
...That obviously meant my memories of going there had failed me.
...But... that was absolutely impossible.
...That vivid act I had committed during the downpour couldn't possibly have been an
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illusion. All these scrapes on my body prove it, as does the fact the bat wasn't in the locker.
"...No... That's not it, Coach. ...I really didn't go to the festival."
"Please don't take offense, Maebara-san. ...Have you ever had an experience where you
were suddenly somewhere unfamiliar, and you couldn't remember why?"
"No. And I didn't lose my memories or anything. ...Because while the festival was go-
ing on... I was definitely doing something else. It wasn't like I was asleep and unconscious or
anything."
"...You're certain you were doing something else? ...I know I'm being awfully rude,
but... Are you sure you're not mistaken?"
"I know I'm not. My memories are clear as day... and they were real."
"...During the festival, you weren't at the shrine, and you were doing something some-
where else. ...Can you definitely prove that?"
"............Um..."
That's right. ...Thinking it through... brought me to this. There was only one way to
prove that I really wasn't at the festival yesterday.
...And that was... to show that there was no doubt I had killed her uncle. Coach saw me
struggling to answer... and his eyes looked a little cold.
...I guess they would.
...After all, from Coach's perspective... I was just a weirdo sputtering nonsense.
"......Would you like to lay down? Maybe you should relax and take it easy for a bit."
"Sorry. I didn't really come here to lay down."
"...You seem to be a little worked up. Why don't I give you a sedative that'll let you
sleep for a bit? That way—"
"I'm not being strange!!!"
Coach seemed to realize he was treating me like a deviant, and he raised his voice.
"......I apologize if I've offended you. So please... calm down..."
"I definitely didn't go to the festival! That's the truth!!"
"...I understand. I understand, so please, calm down, take a deep breath—"
"No, you don't understand at all!!!"
Coach was stunned... and stared in stupefaction.
"I do understand, Maebara-san. You didn't go to the festival yesterday. ...Is that right? I
believe you. I believe you..."
Coach jotted down a brief note in his records.
...He was writing it in German.
...So that his patient wouldn't know what it said.
...But I could make a good guess as to what he wrote.
"You won't believe me until I tell you everything I was doing at the time, will you?"
"......No, I believe you. Please, sit down..."
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Before I sat... I tilted my head back a little.

...The blood in my face... all drained out... and I quieted down.
...After taking a deep breath... I made sure that I was calm now.
"...It would have been impossible for me to be at the festival. ...Because... at the time, I
was... ......"
...Should I tell him, or not...?
...I really... didn't want to go on living like this... feeling this horrible...
...And... I said them... the final, fatal words.
"...Because I was... killing Satoko's uncle at the time."
I could smell the concrete in the room... I could feel the air around us sharpen. Nobody
moved.
...Only the sound of the clock ticking told us time hadn't stopped. With his mouth wide
open... Coach even forgot to blink for a little while.
"...You... killed Satoko-chan's... uncle...?"
...Yeah.
...It's fine now, Keiichi Maebara.
...Don't hesitate.
...Admit it... with all your strength!
"...Yes. Last night... I did it. I killed him."
".................."
I spoke clearly and fluidly. I could easily tell that Coach's mind had gone completely
blank...
"...Why... would you... ...No! ...That... was a foolish question..."
"I believed it was the most direct method of saving Satoko, so I carried it out. I don't
have any regrets."
"......I... I see. ......Heh........."
Coach smiled thinly... and nodded a bit.
"...So I couldn't have been at the festival."
I left the brightness of my house for the darkness of the outside. After that, I dug
holes, made phone calls... I had my hands full.
...And then I attacked him... killed him... and buried him. It was pouring hard at the
time. The festival started that evening, but was suspended due to the rain.
...There were no gaps in my memories. From the late afternoon until it started to rain,
there was no time for me to possibly have gone to the festival.
"...And those wounds... are they from that...?"
"Yes. There's a road through the forest near Satoko's house. I attacked him there... he
ran, but I chased him... and finally killed him near the road that leads to town."
"......Is that... true...?"
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Killing her uncle—it wasn't some wild fantasy? I could tell that Coach didn't believe
me.
...So I spoke slowly, not letting myself grow excited.
"It's true. I killed him with Satoshi's bat. I threw it and the uncle's motorbike into the
swamp. I dug a hole, killed him, and buried him. ...I did it all by myself."
"Satoko-chan's uncle drove past you on a motorbike, did he...? Then you... predicted
he'd do that and just... waited?"
"I assumed he wouldn't be leaving his house that day. ...So I lied to him over the phone
to get him out."
"You called him? But your house is so far away from Satoko-chan's. I wouldn't think
you'd be able to make it there so soon after calling him."
"I used a phone closer to where I was going to attack him—the one at school."
"But, Maebara-san... It was Sunday. Wouldn't the school have been locked up?"
"A forest ranger happened to go inside for a bit. I slipped in when I had the chance."
...After that, Coach grilled me on a few different things regarding the incident. He
made sure to question me carefully... looking for any contradictions in my account.
".................. I'll believe you. ...What you did yesterday... doesn't seem like a dream."
I explained everything, including minor details that only someone who had actually
committed the act could explain.
...I could, of course.
...It was only yesterday. Coach realized... that my story had no expedient coincidences
or too-convenient details that would have existed in a daydream or a delusion... and finally
seemed to want to believe me.
"...So... do you still think I went to the festival and lost my memory...?"
".................."
Coach slowly shook his head.
"...But everyone in class... They said I was at the festival yesterday. Is that even... pos-
sible?"
"No, it's not... ...Your classmates probably mistook you for someone who looked very
similar. Then, given how group psychology works, everyone just assumed that you had been at
the festival."
......They couldn't have mistaken me.
...Mion and all the rest said they were spending time with 'Keiichi Maebara'. It was
much more than just having mistaken someone else for me. But... saying that out loud... would
just confuse Coach... He spoke to me in whispered tones.
"...Do you feel... guilty at all?"
It didn't sound like he was criticizing me.
...And even if he had, I would have flatly said the same thing.
"I don't. ...I did it so that I could return the peaceful days that he'd stolen from us. So
I plan to forget all about having killed him and live my life as usual. Once Satoko's regular
Tatarigoroshi-hen
smile returns, the one from before he showed up... everything will finally be over."
"............Any chance that someone witnessed the crime...?"
"I don't think so. ...If someone had seen me, I would have been arrested already."
"......I am a doctor. My job is to save lives. ...So I cannot make any statements to the
effect of condoning the taking of another's life. ...So instead, I will say this."
Coach... slowly rose... and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"...For saving Satoko-chan... I thank you."
...Coach's eyes... started shedding warm tears.
...When I looked at him... I started to feel some tears of my own...
"......Mgh......... hic.........!"
I didn't know... what I was crying for.
...And so, for a little while... the two men in the room fought back their tears.
"...But... it's strange."
"What is...?"
"I'm sure I killed him... and yet... he seems to have returned home alive."
Coach's expression immediately sharpened.
"...Depending on the situation, there are many ways that mere unconsciousness can
look like real death to a layperson. Do you think it's possible he was just knocked out?"
"I didn't check for a pulse... but I'm pretty sure I did him in."
"...Can I ask you to reproduce the situation in which you attacked him, Maebara-san?"
Coach rolled up a health and fitness week poster nearby and offered it to me—to repre-
sent the bat.
...Though I may have been lost to the emotions of a beast that night, I remembered in
detail the number of times I swung the bat, the angles I had swung from, and the force I had
applied. Using Coach as a stand-in for the uncle, I reproduced them over, one by one...
"And when he tripped and fell... I bashed him in the top of the head, like this. When I
did, it felt different from the other strikes. ...I thought I'd cracked his skull."
...Coach was calmly analyzing this information, using the places I'd struck and the situ-
ation at hand, to find out what state the uncle's body had been in.
"I wasn't totally sure he was dead, so I hit him a few more times after he fell."
"Did he react at all?"
"At first, I sort of felt his body jolting with every hit, but eventually that stopped too,
and he didn't react at all."
"...............Hmm..."
Coach folded his arms and said "hmm" a few times. ...And then he spoke.
"...He's dead. There's not much doubt about it."
"He didn't just look like he was...?"
"...I can't say very much from just your story, Maebara-san, but I think it's almost cer-
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tain. ...Besides, you buried the corpse in the mud, and that took you quite a bit of time, right?
Let's say it took you thirty minutes. ...That would mean he was buried under the muddy water
for those thirty minutes. ...If you don't breathe for that long, your brain will die no matter
what."
"...You mean, even ignoring how hard I hit him, he would definitely have died while I
was burying him...?"
"That's right. It's impossible to stay alive buried underground for thirty minutes."
"......Impossible... You're right. But! Satoko... she says he's alive!!"
Coach, a doctor, just gave his stamp of approval... that he was dead for sure...
...That made it seem all the more unfair that he could still be among the living...
"...Maebara-san. ...This... is a really horrible idea, but... Is it possible that the person you
killed... wasn't actually her uncle...?"
"...Huh?!"
...He's right... that could be why... It cleared up the inconsistency of my definitely hav-
ing killed someone, but him still being alive.
"There's no way...!! I mean, we were both at Satoko's house when she was bringing his
alcohol inside, and there was a man who stuck his face out the window to look! It was him,
right?! That was Satoko's uncle, right?!"
"......Yes. You're not wrong. It was that man."
"...Could she have had more than one uncle or something?!"
"Not one that I've ever heard of. It's just him."
"Could you tell me... what he looked like?"
"...Well... his height, first. ...He was... about 175 centimeters, maybe a little taller."
In order to eliminate the worst possibility—that I'd killed someone else, Coach began
to thoroughly compare what the man in his mind looked like with what I told him the person
I killed looked like. But... no matter how in-depth my description went, none of the character-
istics differed.
...The uncle's traits, according to Coach, were all exactly the same as the person I'd
killed. But those traits were all extremely vague... and they weren't particularly distinct, at a
glance.
"...Could you, well... Is there anything else about him that would let us identify him for
sure?"
"...Now that you mention it... I've never seen it, but... I believe Satoko-chan once said a
long time ago that he had a tattoo of... a tiger or something, on his back."
"A tattoo...?!"
...That was... really important.
...Not everyone had a tattoo.
...If I found a tiger tattoo on the back of the man's corpse... it would be proof I'd killed
the right one. At the moment, though... there was one other thing that would verify this. To go
to Satoko's house... and see for myself the uncle that had returned home despite having died.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...But... that was far more terrifying than digging up the body and looking at its back...
Without even looking at the tattoo... I knew for sure the one I'd killed had been Satoko's uncle.
...I cracked his head open and killed him.
...And yet... he'd gone back home.
...There wasn't any misunderstanding, or even the shadow of a doubt in my mind about
having killed him. And yet... It was impossible for him to exist.
...Kind of like how "Keiichi Maebara" had been at the festival, despite it being impos-
sible.
...That small commonality... made me feel as though a faint but bizarre force was per-
meating this insane Hinamizawa...
"......I wonder... what on earth could have happened. ...Despite you not going to the
festival and killing Satoko-chan's uncle... ...You were at the festival, and the uncle you killed is
alive..."
"...None of this... makes any sense. ...When I look at everything that way... it's almost
like I'm just having a nightmare... and there's no killer at all. ...But... it's the truth. The sensa-
tion as I used my own hands, and that bat, to bash him again and again... It was no illusion or
dream...!"
Coach let out a slow sigh, then after looking at the clock, got up.
"...Let's... go over this all a little more seriously. If you'll excuse me, I'll go put on some
tea. ...Clinic's about to close, after all. I need to let the other employees leave."
Coach stood up and went out into the hallway.
...Leaving me alone. The clock was about to strike six.
...I was at the festival... and the uncle I'd killed was alive. Had I... really... committed
murder yesterday...? The only whisper of a fact that proved it happened... was the absence of
that bat from Satoshi's locker...
...In any case... I was glad that Coach had taken my nonsense seriously. I just confessed
to murder.
...Normally that would frighten a person away.
...But Coach didn't run—he cried with me.
...I was glad he did. Like so, my tension smoothly melted away, and I suddenly realized
I really had to urinate.
...I thought to use the restroom while Coach had stepped out. There was one across
from the waiting room... As soon as I left the room... I saw Coach and two male doctors wear-
ing white clothing standing in the shadows of the hallway nearby.
...I didn't particularly intend to eavesdrop or anything... but I was quite surprised upon
noticing how uneasy they seemed. .
..I hid behind the wall... and quietly listened in... It seemed like Coach was giving
directions to the two doctors.
"Black tea? I'll make some."
"Mix in amobarbital or Ravonal. Cover the taste with milk and sugar."
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"He may grow suspicious at the sudden onset of drowsiness. It's possible he may get
agitated and become violent..."
"We will handle that. How many male staff are still here?"
"One Mountain Dog. Including us, three."
...What... what was all this...?! I think... I was already agitated, despite what Coach said.
...Was that it? Was it a just casual conversation... and it was only sounding unbelievable
to me?! Coach said he would bring some black tea and left the room. And then... in the shad-
ows, he was telling his subordinates to put some kind of sleeping powder in the tea?? Plus...
they were getting extra help... in case I thought the sudden sleepiness was suspicious and
started getting violent?!
...Hey, wait, Keiichi Maebara...!! Calm down, calm down...!! There's no way... some-
thing this stupid could be happening!! I mean... he was genuinely listening... to my story...
and he even cried with me!! I thought... I thought he was the one person in Hinamizawa who
would... understand... This... this was... no, this was...!!
"There are signs of fabrications or falsehoods, and his memories of yesterday in partic-
ular are completely confused. He can no longer tell truth from falsehood. It's quite similar to
multiple personality disorder. ...But as for how quickly this mental disorder emerged... It's just
not normal... Maybe it's inborn, or perhaps there were signs of it before he moved here. ...I'd
like to take a look at any records of him staying at a mental hospital before he moved here.
...In any case, I want him to take a quiet nap."
The two doctors nodded deeply.
"...I should probably contact Maebara-kun's parents, too. ...Though I can't think of what
to tell them... ...Please find his home phone number for me."
...My eyes, still moist... began to shed tears once more. This was... too cruel...! I really
thought... he had actually understood... and had believed what I'd told him...! But now, from
the other side of that wall... he was bluntly treating me like a crazy person...!! I believed you...
I believed you!! I had let down my guard... because I though you were the only ally I had left
after that insane night...!! Was that a lie?! All that... about thanking me on Satoko's behalf...
Were you just... pretending in order to keep me placated?!
...Uurrrrghhh...!!! My tears... fell to the floor... in frustration...!
...I was an idiot...! I was an idiot...!! I was such an idiot... for believing that bastard...!! I
heard footsteps approaching the doctors.
...A man in a dress shirt with no tie came running up.
"Dr. Irie...! It's terrible...!! They... they found Takano-san!"
"Takano-san? Wait, where?"
"W-Well...! Apparently they discovered her burned corpse in the mountains in Gifu..."
"She's dead?! Takano-san...?!"
The men, all surprised, exchanged glances.
...Dead...? Takano-san...?
......Hey, wait... so then... does that mean when I cursed her. wishing for her death, that
wish was granted...?!
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"What do you mean, burned corpse? Was it an accident?"

"...According to the Gifu police's statement, the possibility is extremely high that she
was murdered..."
...Huhuhu... ahahaha...
...As I cried... I laughed quietly.
...Serves you right... Serves you right...! If I hadn't run into that woman, my murder
would have been perfect. But she just had to come driving up to me... and tried to coerce me
like that.
...I regretted not having killed her on the spot... but now she was dead anyway. My
curse, my wish for her demise—it was fulfilled...!! Serves you right...! Serves you right!!
"...Risa-san died, and Takano-san died. ...What on earth could be happening in Hinam-
izawa? ...Don't tell me... that this was all Oyashiro-sama's curse for this year...?!"
Like hell I'll let the curse be real, Coach said. Everyone present just nodded as Coach
cursed at no one in particular... Ku-ku-ku-ku...!! Yes, maybe it wasn't Oyashiro-sama, but this
was definitely a spell, a curse...! I wished for her to die. So she did!!
...If this wasn't just a coincidence... and she died because I wished for it... Then you'll
die next, Coach!! You... betrayed me. You pretended to believe me, but deep down you thought
I was a madman...!! You looked down on me with all that pity in your eyes!!
"For now, get the black tea ready. ...I'll bring it inside. I don't think he'd let anyone
besides me be alone with him."
Shit... shit... shit!!! What do I do?! What do I do, Keiichi Maebara?! This time I heard
the voice of a nurse.
"Dr. Irie? Oh, there you are. You have a phone call."
"I'm a little busy at the moment, so please tell them I'll call back. ...Who is it from?"
"A Mr. Ooishi from the Okinomiya Police Department."
"Ah... sheesh, what bad timing. ...All right, I'll answer it."
Coach left to go answer the phone. The other men headed towards the room with the
teapot to make the black tea, like Coach had ordered them to.
...Fortunately, Coach having to take that phone call meant there would be extra time
for me to act. I had to decide what to do now... Would I let him make me drink the sedative-
infused tea... or be held down and thrown into a mental hospital?! Nothing would come from
starting a brawl here.
...They had more people anyway, and they were all bigger than me. If it came to a
fight, I didn't stand a chance in hell.
...If I couldn't win against them... then there was only one thing left to do: run... Adren-
aline suddenly rushed into my brain, and my body... started to move with keen instinct, like it
had on that night. My surface temperature quickly cooled, and the transmission routes be-
tween my cells enlarged. Using 360-degree visual information, I searched for an escape route.
...I would open the window behind me. Outside was a parking lot. There were no cars.
...A little beyond there was the bicycle I had taken to get here.
...I determined that this would be the quickest method of escape. I approached the
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window swiftly, but with little sound, to raise as little suspicion as I could. With the speed and
silence of a shadow, like I'd had on that night I chased her uncle.
...I unlocked the window and opened it up.
...A cool evening breeze wafted in... I stuck my head out and looked over the parking
lot again.
...Nobody in sight. No need to hesitate. I quietly crawled outside and closed the win-
dow behind me.
...I held my breath and listened carefully.
...Nobody seemed to have realized I'd run... I looked around. Then... I jumped onto my
bicycle... and zoomed away. The pedals clattered under the force. Had my bike always creaked
like this? Did the pedals always whine every time I pushed down on them?
...My bike wasn't the only one crying, though. My tears fell as the wind cut through
them. They rode the breeze and scattered behind me. Uurghhh...!!
......I hate this... I hate this...!! I'm not the crazy one... Hinamizawa is...!! How... how
dare you treat me like a madman...!! Die! Die!! Just fucking die already!!! I believed you! I
believed you...!!! Uwaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!
...I'd gone to the hospital in order to escape Rena and Mion's invitation... but the reality
that was waiting for me... had been too cruel.
...Who was insane—me, or Hinamizawa? Or... was the answer something else? I started
having trouble breathing.
...I didn't... have any clue what was happening anymore. The loud chirps of the higu-
rashi were irritating me.
...Ah... Were even the Hinamizawa higurashi I knew so well calling into the wind...?
No, that wasn't quite it. They weren't calling.
...They were crying. The pained wailing... of those lost in some kind of rhythm... in
another world... no longer able to return to their own sunlight. I didn't... do all that to end up
in a world like that...!! And actually... at about this time... I might have been having fun with
everyone else...!! Satoko would have gotten her smile back after realizing her uncle wouldn't
ever come home... and she might have shown it to us at our first club meeting in a while. That
was the kind of world... I wished for...! So... what was this?! Why... did I end up... in such a
strange, ghastly world?! Someone I'd killed was living like normal... and I had enjoyed myself
at the festival despite not being there.
...I don't want it... I don't want this strange world!!! When did it start to go wrong?!
When?! When?!? No matter how much I thought about it... I never understood. I rode swiftly...
and returned to my home. It had begun to rain during my journey back, and just like yester-
day, I was now soaked.
...But I didn't care about something so trivial right now.
...The pain I felt in my heart that Coach, the one person I trusted, was acting so cru-
elly... was far worse. Did I have no allies in Hinamizawa anymore...? With the naive thought...
that I at least wanted my parents to side with me, I stepped up to the front door... Wait... Kei-
ichi.
...It'll be dark soon... There's something you want to check, right...? Yes.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...I wanted to dig up the man's corpse... and get a look... at his back. If there was a
tiger tattoo there, I would know beyond a doubt he was Satoko's uncle.
...That long night... wouldn't end until I was certain... If this insane world... was all
reparation, all a divine punishment... then I needed to make certain... whether I had been suc-
cessful enough to even deserve to pay that price. I went to the storage room again... and got
the shovel.
...It had been washed in the rain, but the paint was peeling, making it look unsightly.
...I never, ever wanted to touch this thing again. The sensation of it in my hands was
totally different from the night before... There was a ruthless coldness about it.
...Yeah. ...It would be dark soon... so I'd need the lantern too... There would be a little
bit of light from the street lights... but it would get extremely dark.
"..................Uh."
I thought I'd put the lantern here, but I suddenly noticed it wasn't anywhere to be
found.
...Then it hit me like a bolt of lightning.
......Of course.
...On that night... I hadn't brought the lantern back with me. I'd left it at the place I
buried the body.
...If I didn't go to get it soon, it would get very dark. And then, not only would I be un-
able to find the spot I'd buried the corpse, but I wouldn't even be able to find the lantern itself.
If that happened... it was all over.
"...I need to hurry."
In order to fit the shovel in the basket on the front of my bike, I'd need to twist it
and disassemble it. But... it looked like there was dirt in the joints, and no matter how hard I
pushed... it didn't want to come apart.
...After a strenuous effort, I realized I couldn't get it apart... so I decided to hold it in
one hand and ride my bike with the other. With the downpour soaking me through... and a
shovel in one hand. And riding one-handed.
...It was as if... I'd returned to that night.
...No, 'return' was the wrong word.
...It was more like... that night had never ended. The pain of the raindrops striking me...
were no different from then. The thing that was different...... was Hinamizawa.
...The world, and nothing else. The rain clouds were already making it dark, and now
was about time for the sun to set. I could tell it would only get rapidly darker. The straight
road leading to town.
...In the middle of it.
......That... should be where I buried it...
......Yes. ...It was near that street light... On that night too... the water from the down-
pour was splashing down from the street light's overhang like a waterfall... The pouring rain
was exactly the same as it had been that night, and thus it brought my memories into focus. I
left my bike in the brush and stepped into the forest, the ground already soaked with mud.
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...Where had I... buried him?

...Think... The darkness, the shadows, the water, the mud.
...Everything was the same.
...Think...! And then... I spotted the lantern by a fallen, moss-covered tree.
...That's right, I left it right there. If I left the lantern here, then... I would have buried
him... over here. With the sensation of standing in the sludge, my feet remembered the spot
better than my eyes did. I plunged my shovel into the ground.
...Ngh... it's hard.
...It wasn't here.
...I just dug it up, so it should have been softer. I stick my shovel down in a few spots...
to test what they feel like... One of them...... clearly felt deeper.
...I recalled where the lantern was, where the trees and things were in relation to each
other... and knew that it had to be here...
...Under here... slept that man's corpse. There would definitely be... the tattoo of a tiger
on his back.
...But... if it wasn't there... then I... had made a horrible mistake... and killed someone
completely unrelated instead.
...I would be more dazed at the fact that Satoko's uncle wasn't dead... than I would
regret having gotten someone else mixed up in this... If this insane world was punishment for
the sin of committing murder... I wouldn't be able to accept it until I'd killed Satoko's uncle for
good. And then... without any fear... I'd attack him again.
...And that time... I would kill him for sure. But what... if the tattoo was there?
......That would mean I'd killed Satoko's uncle. But... that would be terribly strange.
...If I'd killed him for sure... then who was the "uncle" at Satoko's house this very mo-
ment...?
......Impossible.
...I didn't even know anymore what I was using the word "impossible" to refer to. I've
used the word quite a few times today. ...If I had to make the words "impossible" fit just one
thing... what would it be...?
...That much was obvious to me.
"...It would be impossible... for this crazy world to be real...!!"
I shouted, then turned behind me.
...There was nobody there, of course.
...It hadn't been bothering me for a while... but those footsteps had followed me this en-
tire day. Even just now, an extra set of footsteps had splashed behind me. No one was actually
there—no indications of anyone, even.
...But... they were there.
"......Who are you? ...You've been following me ever since I came to this world."
That's right. Thinking back... the first time I heard those footsteps was after Takano-
san and I had parted.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...Those footsteps... were my welcome into this strange, inside-out world.

"..........................."
No one could be there. I'd get no response.
...Whoever it was, they just kept staring at me.
...It wasn't ominous, just unpleasant.
...After staring into empty space for a bit, as I bathed in the rain, my illogical anger
slipped away... My tension loosened... and a tired feeling reared its head.
...I tasted this feeling that night too.
...The sudden exhaustion I felt as the tension in my brain loosened. My vision quickly
narrowed, and I felt like everything around me had suddenly gotten darker.
...I couldn't... give into this sensation. I would light what little explosives were left in
my brain and force myself to keep going. I needed to dig that man up... before my stamina ran
out.
...I needed to see the tattoo on his back...... I caught my suddenly ragged breath and
calmed down.
...Then, I stuck the shovel into the soft, muddy ground again. It felt exactly the same as
that night.
...The sense of digging a hole in the beach, with water coming into it with every wave.
...What day was today? Had I... gone back to the night of Watanagashi...?
...Every strange thought that came to mind tormented me.
...Given my exhaustion, I didn't think I could manage to hold those thoughts back.
Once the hole was deep... all illumination finally faded, blanketing my vision in jet black.
...It was probably the moment the sun had fully set, too. That night, I had feared the
worst, and gone without using much light.
...My senses were so strained that I could see even in that darkness.
...But now... I didn't have that kind of strength left.
...I drained everything I had last night, and now the darkness would be lethal...
...I decided to turn on the lantern.
...Putting it on the first setting would make it give off a faint light. Even with how little
there was, it was enough... and people wouldn't be able to see it from far away in this rain...
I grabbed the chilled lantern, turned the dial with a click, set it to the weakest light setting...
and turned it on. An uncanny world of silhouettes... appeared before me.
...A complex and strange shadowy world, created by the intricate entanglement of trees
and branches. I had only turned on a light... and it was like... that was all it took to make the
world into something else.
...I let out a quick, tired breath, and wiped the liquid, neither rain nor sweat, from my
brow... Then I raised the shovel into the air... and slammed it into the mud. That moment.
......The silhouettes surrounding me... ominously all moved at once...
"...........Uh............"
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Inside my head... something packed in there, something coarse but not hot or cold...
was loudly rushing about. The silhouettes were all around me... looking down at me. And one
of them, a silhouette bigger than the others... stepped forward.
".........Good evening. ......Nfu-fu-fu-fu, the moon sure is beautiful tonight."
The coarseness in my brain shot through my whole spine... and left me at my waist. .
..The strength in my body all left me through my hips... and I crouched down with a
splash... into the sea of mud I'd dug myself...
".........O...... Ooishi........."
"...Is that really how you address your elders? ...You'll have a rough time of it once you
become an adult. ...Nfu-fu-fu...!"
It wasn't only Ooishi, but five or six of them in a row... men wearing raincoats.. I had
no inkling... that this many people had gotten so close. It was like... once I turned on the lan-
tern... they just appeared there... sliding out of the shadows...
"...Please, don't mind us. Just think of us as... trees in the forest, perhaps."
...............Don't mind... them...?
"Yes. Pay no attention to us—please, continue digging your hole."
"......Uh..............."
"It's very late, and raining very hard. And you're working pretty fervently. We won't
get in your way! Please, dig to your heart's content. ...Nfu-fu-fu."
No thank you, I said... When I tried to get up and turn around, two men blocked that
route.
...They stood on either side of me and lifted me up with amazing strength... then threw
me into the sea of mud. As I... soaked in the mud bath I'd dug for myself... I looked up at the
silhouettes looking down at me... Ooishi squatted, picked up my shovel, and threw it at my
feet for me.
...It bounced loudly off the mud and hit me in the face.
"...Come. ...Please, continue. Continue."
I couldn't bear the oppressiveness of the silhouettes surrounding me... and slowly, I
stuck the shovel into the mud again.
...I felt like I was... digging my own grave. If I kept digging... it wouldn't matter wheth-
er there was a tattoo or not... because that man's corpse would appear eventually.
...It was... all over.
...Surrounded on all sides, and nowhere to go. But... I just couldn't figure it out, no
matter how much I thought about it.
...Why... were they here?
............Was it Takano-san...? There was only one person... who could have made the
connection between me and this place.
...Shit...... I knew it... She deserved to die...!!
"...Stopping so soon?"
"...Agh...!!"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Bam! ...Ooishi kicked me in the back, which took me by surprise, sending me flying
into the mud...
"...Hurry up and dig, please. You really should consider the fact that some of us are
standing out here in the rain."
".........Fuck you... If you don't like the rain... then just go home... ...Grah!"
Ooishi kicks some mud into my face.
"...Work, please, instead of talking. Only people from the red light district do both at
once. ...Isn't that right, boys?"
...The men around him didn't react, not knowing quite whether they should laugh... but
when Ooishi glared at them... they started mumbling out pained chuckles.
...Just who... who was this guy... I knew the world had changed after that night... But if
I went even further back... didn't it start when this guy showed up?
...That was when our peaceful days had been taken from us.
...Ever since he showed up in Hinamizawa...... things had been odd. ...Everyone stopped
smiling... and the world went crazy...
".........Hah...... hah...... ngh..."
The ground under my feet gradually got harder and heavier.
...At this point... even I started to think something was odd.
...I hadn't... buried him this deep on that night, had I...? My exhaustion peaked... and I
sat down on the spot.
"...How long... do you want me to dig......"
"...Kids these days have no stamina. ......Hey, you."
At Ooishi's gesture, the men all pulled out their own sinister-looking shovels. As I
watched adaze, one of them grabbed my collar, dragged me out of the hole, and threw me to
the ground. The rest of the men stepped into the hole I dug and started shoveling themselves...
...As I stared at them, dumbfounded, Ooishi sauntered over... and squatted down to
look at me directly.
"...Keiichi Maebara-san. Is this a hobby of yours—digging holes on rainy nights?"
".................."
When I didn't respond, Ooishi took one of the tin buckets they were using to bail out
the muddy water, scooped up some of it... and splashed the whole thing in my face.
"...The rain's heavy today, too. No matter how wet I get, I still don't understand the ap-
peal!"
Ooishi smiled to himself, then scooped up another bucketful of muddy water.
"...I'll ask you again. Is digging holes on rainy nights your hobby?"
"......Who the hell... would have a hobby like that?"
Splash!! Ooishi hit me with another bucketful of muddy water. ...The pebbles in it
stung.
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"Will there be something in that hole? I've always liked that story, you know—about
the old man who could make plants bloom, and the puppy digging in his yard for gold."
As he spoke, he ran the bucket through the muddy water again.
...To splash it in my face again.
"...What kind of treasure is buried down there, hmm? Can't you at least give me a hint?
...Nfu-fu-fu-fu-fu...!"
...If you want to know... then dig on your own time.
...You... fucking pig...!! I wasn't saying that out loud... but Ooishi mercilessly drenched
me in muddy water again anyway.
...Shit... shit... shit...!! If only... if only you hadn't shown up, the world wouldn't have
gone wrong...!! Ever since you showed up... things have been strange. Satoko got abused by
her uncle... I ended up killing him... and the world went crazy... He was how it all began.
...Because of this culprit...! He splashed another bucket of mud in my face.
...My insides were seething with anger.
...Die... You... You die too!! If I have some strange power to kill someone by cursing
them, like with Takano-san... then you're dead!! And it won't be Oyashiro-sama's curse, it'll be
mine... I'll curse you and kill you...!!
"What a rebellious look you're wearing. Why don't we use this opportunity to teach
you a thing or two in that regard? We really do live in peace these days. When I was about
your age, corporal punishment was the norm for everything—"
"...Ooishi-san."
One of the digging men in raincoats wiped some sweat off and called Ooishi over.
Ooishi tossed the bucket away, then turned around with an evil grin on his face.
"...Yes, what is it?"
"Please, look at this..."
.........
...Acceptance, or maybe resignation.
...I wanted to say to them...
"So you blockheads finally found it."
Yeah... That's right, I'm the one who killed him.
...But you're the police, so it's your own job to figure out who he is, right...? Come on,
prove to me that he's really Satoko's uncle...
"...What on earth?"
"We think it's an old drain pipe. ...It seems to be connected to the irrigation channel
over there."
"...Let's smash the thing. It's not being used, is it?"
The men all exchanged glances... then hesitantly broached another topic.
"Ooishi-san... The ground down there is pretty hard. I don't think anything could be
deeper than this."
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"...Did we get the location wrong?"

"...No... At first, it definitely felt like the place had been dug up before. But after dig-
ging so far, the ground suddenly hardened. ...We think we've gone down further than the hole
that was originally dug."
"...So... what does that mean? There was a hole here, and someone filled it back up?
...Is that what you're trying to tell me?"
.....................What...?
...What were they... talking about......?
"Nah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha... Well, well... I'm at a loss. Aren't you? Maebara-san?"
Ooishi grabbed my collar and dragged me to the huge hole they dug... The mud inside
was like an ocean, and I couldn't see any drain pipe down there. One of the men stirred it
with a shovel, letting me hear it clang against something hard.
...There was no doubt I'd buried him right here. But I hadn't buried him this deep.
...I didn't dig deep enough to unearth an entire drain pipe.
...So... ......then......... this man, his corpse...... where was it... Proof... proof that I'd been
successful on that night......... was gone.
...Gone. Gone. Then... what...... what on earth was I...
...Was I actually crazy after all... and just possessed by the delusion that I'd killed
someone...? That couldn't be.
...It was the unmistakable truth. It couldn't have been a hallucination. But now...... the
most important evidence... that it hadn't been an illusion... was gone. I killed him. I buried
him.
...I had... absolute, unwavering confidence in that fact.
...Then...... did I fail to kill him......? After I left here... had he started breathing again...
crawled out... and gone back to Satoko's house? Was that it?
......I had come here to see... Whether he had a tattoo or not.
...And yet... the truth I unearthed... was far more than that. I... yesterday... what was
I... I killed him. I buried him!! There was no doubt...!! But... for some reason he lived, and
crawled back out! And that... was... impossible too!! Agh, I'm so tired of hearing the word
"impossible" over and over... I get it, I get it...! Dead people don't like to play by the rules here
in Hinamizawa.
...Then... I'll kill you as many times as I need to... I'll keep killing you... until you never
show your face to Satoko again...!! Ooishi and the others were muttering to each other.
...Eventually, their conversation ended, and Ooishi came towards me.
...What did he want to say?
...What did he want to do?
...I stiffened, tensing up...... and then, Ooishi just ignored me like I wasn't even there,
and passed right by me. The other men, too... they ignored me and shuffled away. Eventu-
ally... there was no longer a sign that anyone was around... and I returned to my quiet world of
silhouettes. The only one left there was me.
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...Only the sound of the pouring rain filled up the silence...
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Tip #17 - Inquiry Report
"This is the Okinomiya Security Police, we read you loud and
clear."
"Hello, we'd like you to look up a license plate for us. XX, X-XXXX."
"XX, X-XXXX, all right. Please give us just a moment to look it up."
"Thank you."
Number Match XX X-XXXX Owner: _____ _____
(Address: _-____ Hinamizawa Village, Shishibone)
Vehicle make and model: _____ ______
Theft reports: None
Special mentions: Nothing of note
"Okinomiya Security Police to Ooishi. We found the license plate

from earlier. ............Ooishi, do you read? ...............Ooishi, please
respond. .........Hmm? ......Am I getting a bad signal.........? ...Anyone
in Ooishi's car, please re—"
"Nothing, eh?"
"Ooishi-san wanted a license plate check? Whose car was it?"
"Someone from the village. ...A completely average car."
"...Who was it? If Ooishi-san was asking, then it can't be anyone

good, right?"
"The special mentions column is completely blank. No indication

it's related to the S-group, either. And no demerits on it."
"...Hahaha. Maybe it passed him on the road and he got mad. That
guy isn't the type to forget a grudge."
Page 329
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Tip #18 - Record of Malice
He said it smelled.
He said the food smelled.
He said it smelled because I smelled.
He said I smelled because I don't take baths.
He said to take a bath three times a day because I was a smelly

person.
He said I had to stay in the bath for a long time every time.
He must be possessed by something too.
This is the same thing the man who died said.
Why does he know what that man said before?
That much is obvious.
The same thing that possessed that man is now possessing him.
Can't a sudden earthquake make a big hole in front of the house?
If it did, he would definitely go and look into it.
And then I just have to push him in.
I won't give in until I get that chance.
I won't give in, I won't cry.
I won't give in, I won't cry.
Ahh, someone is apologizing again...

Page 331
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Day 13
...I had already awoken.
...I looked at the clock to see that it was early in the morning, at just about five. It was
already light outside. Once I'd hardened my resolve to become a demon again... I could feel
my whole body teeming with the awakened power once more. Time wasn't an issue. No matter
what... I'd do it. I got myself up.
...The exhaustion from the past two days was completely swept away, and I didn't even
feel sleepy anymore, either. I slowly rose and made sure my body was moving like I wanted it
to. I could feel blood flowing through each and every one of my fingers.
...As I got dressed, I let my mind wander... and had a strange thought. These two
days... while I've said it was for Satoko's sake, the only thing on my mind has been killing.
I've said it was for Satoko... but while actually carrying out the act, I had completely forgotten
about Satoko, albeit only temporarily.
...Maybe, initially, it was for Satoko's sake. But now, I... I was just a demon, killing for
the sake of killing. And as a result, I'd sunk into a world fit for such a demon.
...Maybe... it was the same for Satoshi. He resolved himself to kill his aunt to save
Satoko... became a demon... then disappeared from the sunlit Hinamizawa... vanishing into the
demon world.
...Which meant that, after all was said and done, I'd met the same fate as him.
...I'd tried to avoid making the same mistakes, but it happened anyway.
...Which meant...... that maybe Satoshi was here. Satoshi had come to this world a year
before me... so he would be here somewhere. Then... surprised... I stopped walking.
...There was the second set of footsteps I'd grown so used to hearing.
".........Are... could you... be Satoshi...?"
The empty, lifeless air wouldn't give me an answer.
...But I felt a strange kind of relief... that there was someone there... that Satoshi had
stuck with me the whole time.
...Let's go, Satoshi.
...Once more. .
..This time, we will set Satoko free for sure. I quietly slipped out of the house so my
parents wouldn't notice. If they caught me now when I'd been out way too late for two days
now, they'd give me a really angry talking to.
...I didn't have the time to allow for that to happen. Today... I would put an end to it.
If the dead body disappeared, then I didn't have to bury it—I could just burn it to ashes... and
then take them with me, so I could kill him again every time he resurrected. I'd do it again.
...I'd kill him again.
...And this time, I'd set her free. Outside... the morning light was so beautiful as to
stagger belief... I went to the storage room... to find weapons with which I could kill him for
sure.
...Blunt or not, it didn't matter to me. Right now, I didn't need to care whether someone
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saw, or if the police came. This world had gone crazy, after all. A world where I'd shown up
at the festival and had fun, even though I wasn't there.
...Even if the police arrested me, I'd probably end up going right back home as if noth-
ing had happened.
......Both me and that other "Keiichi Maebara." Even without me, he'd fill in.
...I could vanish from Hinamizawa without anyone noticing.
...So basically... I didn't care if I was mistakenly killed. Even if I died, "Keiichi Mae-
bara" would remain.
...After all... this isn't the world I belong in.
...If I was going to be killed mistakenly for Satoko's sake, then that was just part of my
duty as her Nii-Nii.
...As those desperate thoughts became serious... the morning air felt more refreshing to
me, strangely enough.
"...Oh, this one's... scary. ...Let's go with this."
It was... a hatchet meant for chopping thick firewood.
...Its hefty steel blade was sinister, almost as though it was a tool meant for killing
people. I couldn't exactly take it out in public like that, so I wrapped it a little in some old
newspaper and tossed it into the basket on my bike.
"...Sorry for using you for evil all the time. ...I'll need you again today, my legs."
I apologized to my bike for some reason.
...For the past three days, I've only used it for dangerous things. I'd been riding this
bike ever since I lived in my old town. I could walk most places I wanted to go, so I hadn't
used it all that much. My mom had bought it for me when I entered cram school... thinking it
would be a convenient way to get to the station, since it was far away.
...So I'd always used it to get back and forth from cram school. I'd only ever put text-
books and class materials in the front basket, too.
...I'd never tried to put a hatchet that I'd be using to kill someone in here.
...When I came to Hinamizawa, life finally felt fun. I met the best friends ever, and had
some of the greatest times ever.
...Those times... might have been shattered now, but...
...It was my greatest wish that I could get them back, even if I had to risk my life to do
it.
...That's how fun those times had been. I killed someone. .
..And now I was at it again, needing to kill someone. Murder was a crime.
...I didn't believe that people should ever think murder was okay. But... still.
...The times I'd had were enjoyable enough for me to commit such a crime. My friends
were irreplacable, and the time spent with them a treasure.
...Hanging out, laughing, sometimes tricking each other, but always in a friendly way.
I didn't fear committing any crime, as long as it was for the sake of taking back those times
that gave my heart so much pleasure. Yes. This was a value I'd decided to uphold.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...It wasn't something I learned from a school teacher.

...It was a noble path... that I chose for myself. I thought back to when I'd first come
to Hinamizawa. About how on the very first day, Satoko had welcomed me via a blackboard
eraser with a rock in it.
...That 'welcome' really surprised the heck out of me. She would laugh, get angry,
cry—she was never boring.
...She was obviously the most child-like one among us, but she was actually lively, full
of vim and vigor, and good at meddling in other people's business. That went for Mion, Rena,
and Rika-chan too. Wasn't Satoko the one at the center of everyone's laughing and banter? Sa-
toko would try to look cool. Then Mion would make fun of her endlessly. Then Satoko would
cry, which would put Rena in a state of ecstasy. Rika-chan would be greatly delighted.
...And I happened to get mixed up in it. ...We would always fool around like that.
...It was lonely when someone wasn't around, but if I had to name one for whom it was
the worst... it would have been Satoko.
...Her smile was everyone's smile. Ever since she stopped smiling, so did the rest of us.
And for the rest of us, not smiling... was the same as dying.
...It was just like when I was silently going to cram school every day, just to maintain
my unchanging test scores. So... basically, we were nothing when she wasn't smiling. She was
full of hot air, but she was our princess, cute and unhateable.
...In that case, I was her knight, searching for the dragon's castle in order to win her
smile back.
"...Knights, of course, use swords. The awesome two-handed kind! ...I'm probably the
only knight in the history of the world... to be taking someone on with a thick, rusty hatchet."
Then I saw an old woman in the ridge of a field waving to me.
"...Oh, my! Keiichi-kun! Out for a morning ride, I see!"
"Good mooorning!!"
I reflexively waved back in a refreshing way.
...Should I really have been... feeling so happy, waving like that? Satoko's house would
be right past this road, going beyond the rice paddies. The cicadas had woken up too... and the
next thing I knew, I was the audience to their daily chorus.
...I gave myself a hit or two in the head... and drove away my merry morning mood. I
took a deep breath... then tilted my head back... quelling my pointless excitement...
...The body... wasn't there. Its absence... either meant my killing him had been an illu-
sion, or that I'd killed him and he'd risen from the dead.
...If I was at the festival... then maybe I should have considered it an illusion.
...Coach probably thought that way, which is why he treated me like a lunatic.
...But it being an illusion... was just impossible. I killed him without a doubt.
...Without a doubt. If that had been an illusion... then that would make all of this Hin-
amizawa I was in right now an illusion.
...If that was the case, then here's how it would end up.
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...I was actually in a vegetative state due to a traffic accident, and I was currently
dreaming in a hospital bed... about how great it would be to spend time with friends in rice
paddies like these.
...That was a terrifying thought, though.
...If this wasn't an illusion... then the only possible answer was that he'd resurrected.
...It would make him a literal monster. But... if he was such a monster... then I was no
less than a monster myself.
...I didn't hestitate to kill someone, and... I could even manipulate curses. Takano-san
had died probably because I'd cursed her.
...Or maybe that was a little much.
...If Coach and Ooishi died too, like I'd cursed them to yesterday, then I'd believe it. I
set my bicycle aside... and went to take a look. His motorbike wasn't here.
...Of course it wasn't.
...I sent it down to Hell that night, throwing it into the Onigafuchi swamp.
......Or maybe... just like how the corpse wasn't here... maybe the motorbike didn't get
thrown into the swamp either...? The fact his bike wasn't here... might have been because he
had gone to town and hadn't come back, not necessarily because I'd thrown it into the swamp.
...If her uncle wasn't around, then that was convenient on its own.
...Then I would just show myself in, then wait for him to return, sharpening my hatch-
et.
...If... if he was there.
.........Forgotten sensations came back to my gut.
...A feeling of tension rose within me.
...The sensation was like poison, dulling my actions... but it could also be the trigger to
allow me to awaken to my superhuman, otherworldly self. I held the hatchet, still wrapped in
newspaper.
...Its weight in my hands was profound, sinister, and reliable.
...I didn't know what time it was without a clock... but it was probably still a little be-
fore seven. Satoko would probably be awake, preparing breakfast and her lunch.
...But her uncle would probably still be wallowing in indolence. A guy like him prob-
ably would have stayed up late drinking, and probably always slept until noon.
...I considered ringing the doorbell and having Satoko open the door for me... but if her
uncle woke up at the sound, I'd waste my chance of him still being asleep. If Satoko saw me
sneaking inside without ringing the doorbell... she'd be surprised.
...If I ran into her... what would I say? I've come to kill your uncle for you, so stay
quiet.
...No, I couldn't do that.
...That would be like making Satoko responsible for his death.
...Be quiet and go wait outside.
...Maybe that would do it. How would... Satoko react to that?
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...She would probably... try and get me to give up on killing him.

......I would have to lie somehow to get her to go outside.
...Satoko didn't need to know that a murder was going to occur in this house.
...I couldn't quite think of a good lie to tell her... but I couldn't do much just standing
around like this. I made up my mind... and grabbed the doorknob... Then slowly... turned it...
and... pulled.
......It wasn't locked.
...The gap between the door and the wall steadily grew larger.
...The chain wasn't even on. The oppressive smell of life in Satoko's house hit me.
...At the entrance... there were a few pairs of shoes and sandals.
...I couldn't tell whether he was here or not just by looking at them.
...I could hear a television on somewhere. The television... was in the messy dining
room.
...There was food scattered about the table... giving an impression decidedly different
from a 'happy family's meal time'.
...Meals were for eating food while thanking the person for making it.
...Meaning whatever occurred in this dining room wasn't a meal. Nobody in sight.
...No sign of anyone, either.
...But with the television on... he must have been close.
...Could he have anticipated my coming and be hiding, waiting for me...?
...The tension I felt was so thick, so tight that I thought it would choke me. The news-
paper wrapping the hatchet's thick blade didn't hamper its power at all.
...I tightened my grip on it, then, very carefully, took a look around... Where had those
peaceful feelings from before I arrived here gone?
...Even the sound of sweat bubbling up on my brow... got on my nerves... And then... I
looked at the table and realized something.
...This wasn't breakfast. The grains of boiled rice were all hard and dried up.
...Then... was it last night's dinner...? I left the dining room, keeping vigilant... went
down the hallway, and found the stairs to the second floor.
...When that man was playing with his friends, he looked out of a second story win-
dow.
...It was highly possible that room was his own, and that he slept there. I tiptoed up the
edges of the stairs... quietly, quietly climbing... without making a sound.
...I couldn't hear any kind of snoring.
...I didn't hear anything up there. I went through a few rooms... slowly and quietly
opening the paper doors... checking inside... ...but I still couldn't find anyone around. To search
more efficiently... I got down on the floor and pressed my ear right up to it.
...I could hear... the television in the dining room... and a low hum, perhaps of boiling
water.
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...It was then... that I started to harbor some feelings of suspicion. This house... wasn't
right. It seemed like people had been here, since the TV was on... but it wasn't normal for
nobody to be around this early in the morning. I silently descended the stairs... and went back
into the dining room. I looked at the food scattered about.
......Completely dried up rice. An overturned bowl of miso soup. The package for a side
dish bought at the super market.
...I could tell Satoko had definitely been the one who made this.
...The food was far from Mion's perfection or Rena's gentleness... but it was sincere.
...Judging by how she cooked for me at my house... and from the type and amount
of side dishes... I deduced the meal was from last night. The numbers stamped into the food
package read 83-06-20. ...June 20, 1983. ...That was yesterday. And there was food for two.
...Which meant... that this was last night's dinner, and Satoko's uncle would have been
here then.
...Stop it, Keiichi.
...Don't even think about saying the word "impossible" again... Anyway... her uncle was
here last night.
...That much was the truth. He had found fault with Satoko's food... thrown the bowl of
miso soup and flung the rest everywhere.
......Hidden deep within my feelings of calm and composure... was lit a flame of anger
and a curse.
......Should I have... ever shown this man any mercy...?
...Bump.
...Nnnnnnnnn... I heard the sound again—the one from before, like a water boiler.
...What was it coming from?
...The first floor...?
......But where?
......The... bathroom, maybe...? I could hear the noise coming from the other side of the
frosted glass at the far end of the changing room.
...It had to have been the sound of the water boiler for the bath.
...Steam was enshrouding the glass door... and the heat from it was leaking into the
changing room where I was standing, too.
...My misgivings deepened.
...People didn't normally take a bath this early in the morning. If one did... ...then it
would mean... that in this house... time had been stopped ever since some moment last night.
Whistle, whistle, whistle... Was it being reheated?
...The water boiler in the bathroom had been active this whole time. I checked in a
clothing basket... and saw Satoko's familiar uniform stuffed in it. The uniform had stains and
dried rice stuck to it... certainly not something she could wear today.
...It was probably from the miso soup at the dinner table yesterday.
......I looked hard at the frosted glass, but I couldn't see anything through all the steam.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...And then... an electric surge ran through my mind... and a terrible premonition came
over me. Could she.........?!? She couldn't possibly have been in there since last night—that
would be impossible...!!
...But no! In Hinamizawa right now... nothing was impossible...!! I gulped audibly...
then quietly pulled aside the glass door.
...Hot, steaming air burst out of the slight opening.
...The fan wasn't on in the changing room, so it went completely white with the steam.
...Just as the hot vapor poured into the changing room... cooler air also flowed into the
room with the bath.
...And I just heard... ...due to being hit by that air... a very weak moan... .
..That was all I needed... to know who it was.
"...Sa...Satokoooooo!!"
".................."
No answer. Satoko was in the bathtub, surrounded by a thick layer of rising steam.
...The top half of her body was leaning over the edge of the tub... and she was passed
out. The water boiler kept on making a whistling noise, as if angered.
...I could see the gas flame through a small window—it was roaring at full-force,
completely blue. Satoko's entire body... was boiled red... and flaccid, as though her bones had
melted away... She was... almost like a doll... as she laid there unconscious. I wasn't sure how
many seconds passed as I stared in complete bafflement.
...I came back to my senses and promptly shut off the boiler. Then... I dragged Satoko's
small body out of the bathtub. The water in it... was as hot as the water in public baths.
...Was she in this boiling water... for the entire night...?! She'll die... she'll die...!! Sa-
toko's body was lighter than I'd expected as I laid her on the floor and wrapped her in a towel.
I went back into the bathroom and opened up the vent, creating a path for a cool breeze to
come through.
...Upon the breeze hitting her... Satoko moaned again...
"It'll be all right, Satoko!! It's me, Keiichi! Keiichi! Can you hear me?!"
"......Ke...ichi......sa...... hee...... heh..."
Satoko recognized me and muttered a response, but... I couldn't really tell what she was
saying. Her eyes were muddy and unfocused—I could tell she wasn't completely conscious.
...Upon closer inspection... her limbs and waist were twitching slightly.
...This was... way worse than normal overheating... This was dangerous—didn't they
call this heatstroke...?!
...Think... What would the teacher do... if a girl passed out in the middle of summer...
during a marathon in gym class or something...?! I turned the water faucet in the kitchen all
the way on and soaked a towel in it.
...I then took the cold towel and pressed it to Satoko's forehead.
...Satoko reacted harshly to the coldness and let out a muffled voice. For burns... right,
you would soak the burned spot under running water... Then... could I run cold water in the
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shower and cool her off like that?!

...No... If it was that sudden... it wouldn't be good for her heart, and she'd go into
shock... I think I read that once before...
...Agh... ah...... This... was about as much nursing as I could possibly give her.
...Anything more than this... would be too much... for the likes of an amateur...!!
"......What happened, Satoko...? You're all right now. ...I will... your Nii-nii will save you
for sure..."
".........five thousand thirty-nine... ...five th—*cough*! ...forty... hah...... hah......!"
...? What was Satoko... reciting under her breath? I brought my ear to her mouth to bet-
ter make out the mysterious, spell-like words she kept saying.
...And at that moment... I understood what they were for...!
"Satoko... you... you're counting?! ...Why...?!"
...People tell little kids... in the bath... to count to a hundred a lot... right...?
...Satoko... was counting like that.
...But... five thousand thirty-nine?!!
"You... you moron!! How... how long were you supposed to count in your own bath-
tub?!"
"............Ten... tho..."
...I doubted my ears... and doubted her common sense.
...T-Ten thousand?!
"You're a freaking idiot!! What kind of dumbass can count to ten thousand?! There's no
way you could do that!! You'd boil to death before you got that far!! Why were you...?!?"
".........My... uncle..."
Last night... her uncle flew into a rage at the dinner she'd made, saying it stunk and
was inedible. Satoko didn't understand what on earth he meant. It wasn't much different than
what she usually made for him.
...Maybe he hated the smell of the pickled vegetables she'd bought in particular... Her
uncle then decided the stink was originating from Satoko, and shouted at her that she never,
ever took baths. And then... he put Satoko in the boiling water and told her not to come out
until she counted to...
"Ughoooohhhhhhhhhh!!! I'll kiiill yoooooouuuuuuuuu!!! Guoahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"
I snapped and exploded. Raising the newspaper-wrapped hatchet, I stampeded through
the house.
...I searched for anything—traces, signs, smells, vibrations, heartbeats. With a war cry,
I raced up the stairs with such force I could have stomped a hole through them.
...Then I found the futon in the room I thought to be her uncle's... and well-aware he
wasn't sleeping in it... I bashed it with the hatchet. Did he run into the closet?! I'll bust the
entire closet down, door and all!! And if he's not there... maybe there's a secret door!! Any
switches or levers in the walls here?! I smashed into wall after wall with the hatchet, crushing
Tatarigoroshi-hen
them.
...Dust rose into the air, and broken pieces scattered about the floor. I smashed all the
glass windows, too, for good measure.
"Woooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! ...Hah... hah... hah...! ............Hah..."
After I'd destroyed everything beyond recognition in her uncle's room... my reason
finally kicked in and suppressed my emotions. Anyway... her uncle wasn't in the house right
now.
...I'd have to leave killing him until later... Right now... I had to do something about
Satoko...!! I went back to the changing room.
...Satoko was still lying limp on the floor.
...There was nothing more an amateur like me could do for her.
...I needed... to take her to the clinic.
...Coach... had treated me like a lunatic yesterday, and tried to lock me up in a mental
hospital.
...I never wanted to see his damn face again... but I still... needed to go to the infirmary
one more time.
...I needed to have a doctor look at Satoko... I thought about putting her in the dirty
uniform lying in the laundry basket... but I had no experience dressing someone, so it would
be pretty difficult.
...Shit... I don't have time to be wasting here...! I eventually gave up on clothing her
and decided to carry her in her bath towel. The clinic was close to Satoko's house. It would be
way faster to carry her there than to call 119 and get an ambulance. I threw the biggest towel
I could find over her and prompted her to stand.
"...Can you stand...? I'll carry you over to the clinic."
"..................Thank... thank you..."
Her words sounded clearer than before.
...She was starting to come back. I cried tears of relief just knowing she'd improved
even a little bit. Satoko turned over so she was lying on her face... and then... put up a weak
struggle to get up on a knee. I smoothly swept her up and put her on my back.
...The towel I put on her seemed like it was about to fall off.
"...The towel... it hurts..."
"We'll be there soon... it won't be long, so stay strong...!"
It didn't hurt one bit to carry Satoko—she was light, too light.
...The lightness... actually made me uneasy. Outside, it had gotten hotter, as though ea-
ger to attack Satoko... Fucking cicadas... Why did it have to choose this morning to get so hot
out... I didn't have time to swear at them.
...The clinic... was this way. Hoisting Satoko on my back, I broke into a trot...
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Tatarigoroshi-hen
Day 13 Part 2
The hilly road to the clinic, with which I had never had difficulties before, was now
torturous. Big beads of sweat formed on my brow, and at some point, my breath had grown
faint. The hatchet in my belt was heavy and made it hard to walk.
...I considered leaving it... but I couldn't let it go... at least not while Satoko's uncle was
still breathing. The signboard for the Irie Clinic came into sight.
...But I quickly noticed something was odd, so I stopped. Several red revolving lights
were flashing at the clinic.
...Three police cars were parked in the parking lot with their lights on.
...There didn't need to be much else to inform me something had happened.
...I didn't want to see Coach, so I had planned to leave Satoko in the clinic waiting
room and give the receptionist a message.
...But... with that police officer Ooishi here, I couldn't go inside so carelessly.
".........What's going on... ...Why are there... so many police cars..."
I gently put Satoko down in the shade of the thicket.
"I don't know. ...I'll go see what happened, so you stay here for a moment."
"......Leaving a lady... in a place like this wearing nothing but a bath towel... Simply
unforgivable..."
"If you can still fire off those insults, you'll be fine."
"I'll be right back," I added, getting to my feet. Cautious of my surroundings, I hid my-
self behind a car and got closer to the officers grouped at the clinic's entrance... I overheard an
officer wearing a necktie, probably their leader, and a white-robed doctor having a discussion
about something. The doctor... didn't seem to be Coach.
......It was one of those who Coach told to make the tea yesterday.
"So you were the first one to find it, since you were on morning duty. So then? What
did it look like?"
"He was sitting on the sofa in the head office; he looked like he was taking a nap."
"There was a jug and an empty bottle of sleep medication on his desk, so you immedi-
ately thought he had tried to commit suicide with it. What else?"
"His high temperature and incontinence indicated a severe disturbance of conscious-
ness. It seemed like a typical case of sleeping pill poisoning, so I immediately began to treat
him."
"Without calling the police or an ambulance?"
"This is a hospital—and I'm a doctor! Since his life was in danger, it's my job to treat
him at once!"
"...Yes, yes, I understand, okay... What else?"
"His breathing was in disarray, so I put him on a respirator. I also administered breath-
ing stimulants. It had no effect, so I prepared a medical ventilator, and—"
"—Um, right, right. So, in other words, you did what you could, but it wasn't enough.
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That's it, right? You reported this as soon as he died?"

"Yes. ...It was very unfortunate... that we were unable to save him."
Just then, a radio in one of the police cars started to buzz, producing a broken, me-
chanical voice.
"This is HQ. This is HQ. Komiyama-san, can you hear me? Over..."
"Hello! This is Komiyama. We've come up with something! It looks like he committed
suicide with sleeping pills. No notes or anything."
...Suicide...? What... the heck were they talking about...? Someone had committed sui-
cide at the clinic.
...But who?
............
I wished Takano-san dead, and she died the next day.
...And yesterday, I wished Coach was dead.
...Then......... could he... have...
"Did he use sleeping medication regularly?"
"...I don't really know."
"Did he normally complain that he was tired or wanted to die?"
"Well... Irie-sensei was normally so... well, himself. ...He never... acted like that..."
...So... I was right.
...Irie-sensei... They were talking about Coach. Coach killed himself.
......Why would he do that?
...There couldn't have been any reason he wanted to die.
......The only reason that came to mind was that I wanted him dead.
...This world... was insane.
...If I wanted someone dead... they'd die... That was the kind of world this was...
...Then... what about Ooishi? What happened to him...? If... people really died because I
wanted them to... then something should have happened to him, too...
"I've sent you backup. The chief wants you to leave the rest to them and get back to
searching for Ooishi's car."
"Yes, sir! ...Please excuse me, then. It looks like we're getting relieved here, so please
leave everything as it is right now. ...Alright, let's go!"
The officers nodded and split up into the patrol cars. Did they just say... searching for
Ooishi's car? Searching for his car... .........that meant... he had gone missing...?! Takano-san,
Coach, and Ooishi.
...When I wished for it... the very next day... they disappeared. No matter how angry
you were when you said you wished someone was dead... it didn't normally happen.
...Everyone knew just wishing for it wouldn't make them dead, and that's why people
could utter such curses so lightly.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...But... the curses I uttered were being granted.

......At the time... I hadn't even been walking, and yet... ...tap.
...I heard a footstep.
...And it wasn't... only one this time... tap... tap... they came, from behind. And... they
stood right behind me.
...Reaching a hand... for my shoulder...
"...Would you mind... telling me what's going on...?"
"Uwaaahhhhh!! .........Sa... Satoko? Don't scare me like that..."
"...I'm the scared one here. I'd prefer it if you didn't shout so suddenly."
It was Satoko.
...Her eyes were still unstable, unfocused... but she seemed able to at least walk on her
own now.
...She looked far better now compared to her earlier exhausted state.
"How do you feel? ...Are you better?"
"...My... head still hurts... but I can't stay outside looking like this forever..."
She gave a smile—a show of courage—but her legs were still shaky.
"...Anyway... what on earth... is going on?"
"...From... what I just heard the police talking about... ...Coach... apparently committed
suicide."
".........Eh..."
Satoko was at a loss for words.
...Her face grew paler and paler... and I could tell she was doubting her own ears.
"...Ke... Keiichi-san... that...! Is that true?! I didn't mishear you?!"
"Th...that's what I heard...! They said Irie-sensei killed himself with sleeping pills..."
...Satoko went down on her knees... and broke out in tears.
"...It... it can't be... ...Coach... he... would never... never ever... kill himself...!"
As I watched Satoko crying and clawing at the grass... I felt myself trapped by guilt
and remorse... I got so angry that Coach was treating me like a madman yesterday, that he'd
betrayed me, that I'd thought... he'd be better off dead.
...But... even Coach, who, to me, deserved to die... still must have had people who
loved and respected him.
......Like Satoko here. In... my selfish, egotistical anger, I wished for his death, and it
was granted... and now Satoko was crying hysterically as a result.
......The guilt... tore at my heart...
...I worked myself up to murder for Satoko's sake.
...I decided I wanted Satoko to be happy.
...But... was that really all it took? Murder meant taking someone's life.
...It meant making everyone attached to that person sad.
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......In Satoko's uncle's case, of course, nobody would be sad. So I didn't feel a sense of
guilt at all.
...But... Coach's death was different.
...I... had wanted to make Satoko happy...... and that had resulted in me inflicting a deep
sadness upon her, hadn't it...
...But... Coach killed himself... It wasn't... my.........
"............Hic...... sob..."
Satoko still hadn't stopped crying... but she seemed to be a little calmer now. Wiping
her tears, she stood up.
"......I'm sorry."
...And the only thing I could think of to say to her... was an apology.
"Why............ are you apologizing?"
"...I, well... Yesterday, I, um... got into a...... a fight... with Coach. ......And I thought...
that I wanted him to die. I wanted it, so... so he really..."
Satoko looked at me dubiously for a few moments.
...Eventually, her expression softened, as she interpreted my words in her own way.
"...It isn't your fault, Keiichi-san. ...Coach... was an adult too. ...He felt like there was
something he had to give his life for... and chose to do so after a lot of worrying and suffer-
ing. ...It's not anyone's fault."
She smiled a little, trying to comfort me.
".........I do not want to be naked forever. ...I want... some clothes."
"Are you okay?! Shouldn't you get someone at the clinic to..."
"...I won't die from putting on clothes before going..."
Satoko readjusted her bath towel and started back along the path.
...Her stride was wobbly... and it didn't look like she'd recovered as much as she let on.
At first, Satoko tried to go back home, but it was the time of the morning when people were
going to school and to work, so after seeing people walking around, she thought better of it.
...She must have been pretty embarrassed wearing only the towel.
"......I'm going to Rika's house. ...My clothes should be there. .........What's wrong? Kei-
ichi-san...?"
Satoko noticed how I was hanging my head and spoke to me.
"...Despite how he might have come off, Coach was an adult, all right? He would cer-
tainly not have killed himself after a petty fight with you, Keiichi-san. ...Please, stop blaming
yourself."
"........................"
At first I thought it was a coincidence... but with three people now... I couldn't discard
the possibility. ...There was no such thing as "impossible" in this world...
".........These past few days... haven't made any sense."
"...What hasn't...?"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Satoko seemed to be having trouble breathing... but she still tried to listen to what I
had to say.
"...At the Watanagashi Festival the day before last... you went home on the way there,
right? ...And... I went there and had a lot of fun."
"......So it would seem. ...I do apologize for getting so upset with you about it..."
Satoko remembered how she blew up at me in the classroom yesterday, and bowed to
me a little...
"...If I said...... I actually didn't go to the festival at all... would you believe me...?"
Satoko looked at me, confused.
...She couldn't help it, of course.
"...Of course I wouldn't believe you. ...What are you on about...?"
"...You wouldn't, right? I don't believe it either. ...I mean... I didn't go to the festival...
but everyone's saying I hung out with them there. ...Nobody would believe it, right...?"
"...............Are you... being serious...?"
"...Yeah... ...Ever... ever since the night of Watanagashi... everything's been messed up.
...These weird footsteps suddenly started following me everywhere..."
The blood drained from Satoko's expression.
".........Footsteps... following you...?"
"...Yeah. ...I thought it was just my imagination at first... but they stayed with me.
...They're probably still there.
...I can't tell them apart now because of your footsteps, though."
Satoko took a long and hard look at me.
......Maybe... she was doubting my sanity.
...Coach did the same thing.
...I mean, why wouldn't he, after telling him this?
...The more I thought about it... the more I was unable to endure the feeling that my
hatred for Coach had been meaningless...
"...On the day of Watanagashi... I didn't go... I was doing something else. ...The whole
time. I wasn't sleeping or unconscious or anything. So it's not possible... that I walked to the
festival in my sleep and forgot about it afterwards."
"...That is quite strange. ...Then how were you at the festival...?"
"That's what I mean! I didn't go to the festival!!"
No!
...I can't let myself get emotional!
...If I get agitated now, that'd be like proving that there's something wrong with my
head...
"......Ah... sorry. ...Well, nobody believes me, so... yeah."
".........If that is what you say, Keiichi-san... then I will believe you. ...Then what?"
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"...That night... I saw Takano-san. ......And it... felt like she was looking down on me...
so I made a wish. ...A wish that she would die..."
"...Takano-san does have that sort of air about her, doesn't she? ...I cannot say... that I
don't understand how you feel..."
"Did you know that Takano-san died? It happened yesterday. Apparently she was
burned alive somewhere."
"...Is that... true?! ...She died...?"
"...I... wished for her to die... and the next day... she was dead. ...And Ooishi from the
police, too! Do you know him? That annoying and fat detective guy..."
Satoko nodded a little.
"...I heard from the police earlier... but apparently he went missing. ......And yesterday,
actually...... I, well... wished... that he would die."
".........Is... is all this true...?"
"I'm not lying. ...I don't want to believe it either... but it's true! ...Takano-san, Coach,
and Ooishi... I wanted them dead... and then they really died!!"
...For a little while, Satoko was at a loss.
...A long silence ensued.
"......Hoho... ho ho ho ho ho...! ...What a scary story... ...I should be sure not to get on
your bad side, Keiichi-san..."
"...And that's not all. ......There's something... even stranger. ...It's... about your... your
uncle."
"......I would rather... you not talk about my uncle..."
"...He was... there yesterday, right? At your house."
"...Could we please stop talking about him?! I don't want to!!"
"It's impossible. He... he couldn't have been there."
"I said, stop talking about him!! No! Nooo!!"
"That man couldn't have been there after the night of Watanagashi...! Because, because
I...!!"
"Nooooooooooooo!! No more, please, no more about that man!!!"
"I killed him!!! With my own hands!!"
...Even the cicadas... stopped crying. Her face was streaked with tears... and it stiffened
even more... as she looked at me in disbelief.
"...On the night of the Watanagashi Festival... I killed your uncle. ...So... it's impossible
that he could have gone back home."
But still!! He went back!! And... last night, he found fault with the dinner you made
him, yelled all sorts of things at you, and then basically boiled you in the bathtub!
...That... couldn't possibly have happened!!
"...So I... I wanted to make sure I'd actually killed him... so yesterday, I went to dig up
the corpse I buried. ...But the body wasn't there. ...Is that even possible?! I killed him for sure,
Tatarigoroshi-hen
but there was no body! And... he went home like nothing happened... home to you, and...!!
That... that wasn't supposed to happen, was it?!?!"
Satoko's entire body stiffened.
...She was shrinking away... like there was someone in front of her, about to hurt her...
".......................You probably... think... I've gone... a little crazy, don't you? ...I don't blame
you. ...I can't... believe it myself."
"......Ke-Keiichi-san, I think... you are very confused after all the people you wished
were dead coincidentally died... ...You're just in shock at Coach's suicide, and you're really
upset... ...I think... you should stay home from school today and rest... ...I'll be fine... so please,
take care of yourself..."
...Satoko spoke like she understood me... but she also told me to go home.
...I could see the revulsion in her face... and knew that she didn't want to be around me
anymore...
"...Once I show you to the clinic, I'll go home. ...Your legs are still shaking, aren't they?
It would be terrible if you collapsed halfway there..."
"Really, I am fine now...! I do not want to expose my naked self to a man any more
than this...! ...Hah... guh... hah... hah...!"
She wobbled up the shrine steps, looking like she was about to fall.
...I immediately ran up to her and helped her stay on he feet.
...But then Satoko promptly jumped away from me.
...That outright rejection... hurt a lot... Once she got to the top of the stairs, her breath-
ing was ragged... and she wasn't even looking at me.
...At this point, I was being ignored... Well, it was more like... she didn't want to have
anything to do with me... It really was a feeling of rejection.
......And that hurt my heart more than any blade could have.
...This was the path I chose for her sake. To be treated like this at the end of it all...
was just so saddening...
...Don't be naive, Keiichi Maebara.
...You never wanted to be repaid in the first place...
...You didn't do it so that Satoko would thank you.
...You did it so Satoko would be happy.
...And that... was what led to this ending. Rika-chan's house was a disaster prevention
storehouse used by the town council. If you went past it, a little further through the shrine
grounds, you'd apparently reach the back of the assembly hall. Satoko was heading there,
walking quickly, the gravel under her feat crunching as she went.
...Did she want to get there as soon as possible... or did she want to run away? I
couldn't tell...
...And then... I heard the vigorous sound of wings flapping. I turned around... and saw
a crow. I hadn't seen many crows since coming to Hinamizawa. I saw them a lot in my old
town, though.
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...On garbage day, they'd flock to trash collection points, peck through the bags with
their beaks, drag out the contents, and have a feast.
...As I was remembering that... I saw a few crows flocking around the shrine's donation
box... and I thought... how terrible it was for someone to leave a garbage bag in a place like
that.
............The cicadas... quieted.
...Breathing stopped.
...Thoughts ceased.
...Even time... came to a halt. I ran... over to where the crows were flocking.
...I ran there... in order to drive a horrible idea... out of my mind.
...I... definitely hadn't wanted this...
...There's no way... I would ever... wish for this even by mistake...! This was not... this
was not...!!! When they noticed my vicious approach, the crows all flapped upwards, fleeing
into the sky.
...When the crows' big, black bodies flew away...... they exposed the "garbage bag".
"Urgh... waaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... ahhh... ah... ahh.........!!"
What had I seen there?

...The scream had escaped from my throat before I understood what I was looking at.
......Wha... what...... was...... was this?!? Satoko came over as well, realizing something
had happened.
...And she looked... over my shoulder...... then she screamed as well.
......This......... this wasn't.........!! The garbage bag... was crimson... dyed in fresh blood.
...Argh, enough of this stupid, roundabout way of saying it...! That's right... yes! Yes!! It
Tatarigoroshi-hen
was... Ri...Rika-chan! Our friend, Satoko's best friend! Always easygoing, clever as a cat, but
so cute you couldn't hate her, our friend... Rika-chan... she... she was...!!
......Rika-chan... was stark naked.
...She was face-up, limbs sprawled. Her eyes were like glass... just staring... staring up
into the sky.
...And... and...... ...aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
"Rika!! Rika! Rikaaaaaaaaaaa!! Waaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!"
Satoko broke down crying on the spot.
...And yet... she still couldn't approach... her friend's remains.
......The crows had gotten through the garbage bag... ...and dragged... well... they
dragged out an apple peel... and spread it all over...
...No... no.
...Crows... they couldn't do this... Ugh... agh...
"Wooehhhhhhhhhhhh...!!!"
On the spot... I started vomiting.
...The sour taste... became a bitter one, as I threw up over and over again... .
..Rika-chan... ......she... ...... ...... ...she...... ...... ......she... her... her st-stomach...
...Was cut... wide open, vertically... completely open!!!
"Rikaaaaaaaaaaaa!! Uwaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!"
Crows... crows couldn't have done this!! .
..And... from her opened stomach... urgh...!!
....Guh......... her, her organs... her... b-bowels... were dragged out...... like... like children's
toys left all over the floor...!! That unbelievable sight... induced oxygen deprivation in my
brain.
...Color left my vision... a pounding headache... dizzy...... and... I wanted to vomit...!! It
was like... the nightmarish remains... of a ceremonial killing...
...Someone, somewhere, had killed Rika-chan... brought her here... laid her here with
her limbs sprawled out... and then... cut open her st-stomach... and... and dragged out... her
intestines...... Red and pink viscera were sticking out of her gut... and her intenstines... were
scattered in every... every direction, like... like it had been for fun...
...The entire ground... was covered in an ocean of red and black... A few of the crows
had hopped around inside that ocean. They walked through the sea of blood, leaving bloody
footprints... and those footprints... there were several, several still left on Rika-chan's body.
...Those sinister prints... made it seem even more like a bizarre ritual killing...
...I may have... wished for Takano-san, and Coach, and Ooishi to die.
...But... I didn't remember ever... wishing for Rika-chan's death...
"...Yeah... It wasn't me... it wasn't me... It wasn't... me..."
I stumbled backwards, then stepped on a newspaper.
...A newspaper? In a place like this...?
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...The newspaper... was what was covering my hatchet. I had kept it wrapped up and on
my belt in order to carry Satoko.
...And that newspaper... had fallen off.
...Sheesh... don't scare me like that...
...I bent down to pick it up... and then Satoko... looked at me with such disbelief as I'd
never seen... and froze.
......She was looking straight at me.
...At the hatchet... on my belt.
".........Ee.........k............"
"...C............ Calm down, Satoko. ...This... this isn't what it looks like."
Satoko... trembling madly... backed away...
"......It wasn't me... ...It wasn't me... ...It wasn't..."
"...er...... Mur...derer........."
She didn't care at all that she was exposing herself through the towel.
...She just trembled... and tried to step back... from the demon in front of her...
"...Satoko... please, calm down. ...Please, relax... Satoko—"
"No... noooooooooooo...oooo...!"
Screaming weakly... Satoko began to run, unsteadily.
...Run... away, that is.
"Wait... Please wait, Satoko...!! You're wrong! That's not it!!"
The way she ran away, it was so weak, so slow.
...So if I wanted to go after her, I could have caught up.
...But... if I tried to grab Satoko's shoulder or something right now... she might actually
go crazy...
...So I... had to follow her... and try and clear this up.
"...You killed Takano-san... and Coach... and Ooishi-san, didn't you?! ...You killed my
uncle... and then... you killed Rika!! You murdereeeerrrrr!!"
"No!! It wasn't me!! I didn't kill her!!"
"What are you saying?! You just said it yourself, did you not?! You wanted them to
die!! And then everyone died, didn't they?!"
"I... well... no! Just wishing that they were dead... that couldn't...!"
"You don't even remember what you did, do you?! How can I trust a person like you?!
Didn't your memory of killing them... just slip your mind?! No...... maybe you're only pretend-
ing not to remember!! Besides... what is that hatchet for?! Try explaining that!!"
"......Urgh... It's for......"
"See? See?! Keiichi-san... you are a killer, aren't you?! Why did you do it?! You were
a little mean... but you were fun... and kind... and once, I even thought you might be my real
Nii-nii... Why did you turn into this?!"
Tatarigoroshi-hen
......I might have been able to slowly answer each one of Satoko's questions at a time.
...But... in this situation... explaining my innocence in such a short period of time... was
impossible... I mean... I didn't even know if I was really innocent anyway. At the very least... I
"killed" Satoko's uncle!
...There was no body, but I killed him!! Without a doubt! At that point, I was far from
"innocent."
...And... I wished Takano-san, Coach, and Ooishi were dead... and that... curse of
mine... was granted.
......When I wished for Takano-san to die... I didn't think of it as anything more than a
normal thing you'd say to someone you didn't like.
...But then she actually did die... and I realized that if I wanted people to die, they
would.
...And... hoping it would happen again... I cursed Coach and Ooishi to the same fate.
...So... even ignoring Takano-san's death... Coach's and Ooishi's were... completely pre-
meditated crimes! Was I... a killer, just like Satoko said?
...Was I unable to distinguish between illusion and reality... and turned into a demon
without remembering it... becoming a killer who carried out Oyashiro-sama's curse...? No...
that couldn't be.
"It was impossible."
...Ah, damn it!! The very word "impossible" was impossible in Hinamizawa right now.
How many freaking times have I said that word these past three days?! Satoko... had started
crying again... and was walking unsteadily.
...At first it felt like she was still running, but now, it was like she was walking away
crying from someone bullying her...
"...Why...... ...Why... did things turn out this way... ...Why... why...?! Mgh...!!"
...If there was an answer to that... then I wanted to know it, too.
...Why. ...Why had it turned out like this...?!
"...After Nii-nii went away... I was lonely for a long time... But then Keiichi-san trans-
ferred to our school... and everyone... was happy again... ...It was fun again... every day...... was
beautiful..."
...Yeah.
...She was right...
...Those days... were bright and beautiful.
...And yet... and yet...
...After that, Satoko and I shouted the exact same thing.
"...How... did it turn out like this...?!"
The cicadas were sneering at the spectacle—our strange game of tag.
..Ah... shut up shut up shut up... Eventually I heard the murmuring of a stream.
...The forest parted... and a suspension bridge appeared. Satoko was... crossing danger-
ously... wobbling as though she might fall at any moment.
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...And when I stepped onto the bridge, it swayed a lot, causing Satoko to stagger and
fall on the spot...
"...Satoko... Are you okay...?!"
"Don't... don't come near meeeee...!! You... you murdereeeerrrrr!!"
Satoko shouted... her hatred made very clear.
...It was sad.
...If words could cut... then this warmth flowing from my eyes... would have been blood
for sure.
"......Why... did you turn out this way...? Keiichi-san, I... hic... I really... really liked
you..."
...I wanted... to go up to her and give her a hand.
...But... the distance between us... was uncrossable. ...If I got any closer... Satoko would
start shouting again.
...And... say things... that would hurt me deeply again... So... I couldn't approach any
closer than this.
".........Satoko... I don't... I don't know how... things turned out like this either... ...But... I
can say this. ...I wasn't the one who killed Rika-chan. At least that... is true..."
"...Please stop being so absurd!! How do you expect me to believe... anything someone
who can't even rely on his own memories... has to say?!"
......I tightened my hands into fists.
...This was mortifying...
...I wasn't crazy.
...Hinamizawa was crazy... ever since I wandered into it, lost, on that one night.
...This insane world... where I was at the festival when I wasn't, and the uncle I killed
was alive... where death would come just by wishing for it... it was this world's fault!!
...Mion and Rena started acting strangely, like they were possessed by something, too...
...And Coach... wouldn't believe anything I had to say...
...And even Satoko, who I should have protected... was yelling at me like this...
...Was the price for killing a man... supposed to be this high...?! Was I... really go-
ing to be forced to stay in such a bitter world?! I did the right thing!! At least, I wanted to!!
So then... ...why...?!? I hated it... every time I asked why... the days Satoko and I enjoyed in
peace... went so wrong.
"......Satoko... Please believe me. ...I'm... not a... a murderer."
"Then what is that hatchet for? ...Can you give a convincing explanation for that...?!"
"...Is... is this hatchet scaring you...? ...Okay... I'll throw it away. ...That's what you want,
right...?"
Satoko didn't nod, but she seemed to be in agreement with that proposition... I clumsily
took the hatchet out of my belt... then dropped it over the side of the bridge into the stream
below.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"......There, it's gone. ...Now... you'll listen to me, right...?"

"...You think I'll let my guard down... just because you got rid of your weapon...?
Keiichi-san, you're strong... It would be easy for you to strangle me with your bare hands..."
...Like hell I would... ever want to kill Satoko...
...You... you idiot...
"...Then what should I do? ...Should I put my hands on my head...?"
"...Yes, why don't you? ...Please, put your hands on your head and face the other way."
...It was a cunning plan, much like the ones she used during club activities.
...Putting my hands on my head and turning away would mean I couldn't attack Satoko
very easily.
...I immediately acquiesced to her request, since it would make her feel better.
"...Is this all right? ...Please listen to what I have to say."
".................."
Satoko stood up, then carefully approached me from behind. And then... she actually...
came right up behind me.
...She was so close... and yet I was so sad... that I wasn't allowed to turn around...
"......I sort of... think I understand... that it isn't your fault, Keiichi-san."
"...Huh...?"
"......I think... probably... you have just been possessed by something evil..."
"..............."
"...Until before, I thought Keiichi-san was a killer... but now I know. ...After looking at
your eyes."
I could hear... that Satoko was still crying... but her voice was gentle just the same.
"Keiichi-san... could never kill anyone. ...Something simply possessed his body... and
made him do evil things."
...Was she speaking literally right now?
...Or was she trying to admonish me...? I couldn't tell.
"......Come to think of it......... maybe... ...Maybe they... were possessed, just like Keiichi-
san. ......At the time... I was only thinking I would be killed... so I didn't think about it... but
now I understand. ...That was... the work of something evil... that possessed you."
".........Satoko...? ...What... are you...?"
It was less like she was talking to me... and more like she was talking to herself, like
she was confessing at my back.
"......I understand... you know. ...It isn't like... I haven't experienced it myself..."
Satoko's voice... started to become mixed with sobs.
...Her pained voice... tore at my heart... But... I didn't know what Satoko was... talking
about.
"...I climbed... to the top of the ritual storehouse once. ...It was a few years ago."
Ryukishi07
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Once... when Satoko was playing hide-and-seek at the shrine grounds... she climbed
onto the roof of the storehouse for ritual implements, which everyone said not to go near... and
hid. Then, Satoko... saw that she could get in... through a window meant for ventilation.. For
Satoko... the word "curse" was plenty scary... but she was more curious about what was inside
the unknown storehouse. She took removed the grating on the window, which was already
hanging off... slid her small body into it... and climbed down inside. It was too dark to see
much, but after descending, she realized just how high up she'd been.
...Despite the darkness, she could see a a few things around her thanks to the faint
light coming in from the air window.
...And to her disappointment, it was just a regular old storehouse. She tried to leave...
but the door was locked up tight from the outside, and it was made to not open from within.
...She would have to go back out through the ventilation window she'd come in from.
But... the window... was high on the wall... and there was no way... she would be able to climb
back up. Satoko desperately tried not to cry... and racked her brain thinking of a way to get up
there.
...There were a lot of bird cage-looking things hanging by chains from the ceiling.
...She took the hanging chains and strung them along the wall.
...If she climbed up the bundle of chains... she might be able to manage to climb up to
the ventilation window. There was nothing else she could do... so she had to try.
...And try she did.
...It was dark and creepy, and she didn't want to stay there forever. The more she
thought about that, the more she panicked. She climbed the bundle of chains.
...Satoko could hear the clinks and clangs of everything creaking under her weight.
...And then... just as her hand... reached the window— one of the metal fixtures she'd
used to stick the chains on the wall flew off, and the chains all began to pull loudly and furi-
ously every which way. Spurred on by the sounds behind her... she managed to get back onto
the roof from the window.
...Because of the weight of the flailing bundle of chains, the other fixtures broke... And
then one of the big bird cages hanging from the ceiling... fell to the floor with a huge noise.
...Under it... was an image of Oyashiro-sama, his vessel, and the cage took off one of
the arms... then trapped some other implements beneath it.
...It didn't take very long... for her to grow scared of what she'd done. The deafening
noise could be heard from the rest of the shrine grounds.
...A few other children heard it and gathered around. And, of course... Rika was one of
them. Then... Rika's father... the shrine's priest, with an angry look, ran over.
...And then............ as for what happened next... it was painful to remember... The only
one who knew where Rika's parents kept the key to the ritual storehouse... was Rika.
...So... he scolded her, saying that this happened because Rika pulled a prank and hid
me in there.
...He was very angry and menacing.
...Just looking at him... was enough to frighten anyone.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...He exposed Rika's back, took a strangely-shaped ritual cane or something, and struck
her with it several times. Rika's words... at the time... It wasn't me... It wasn't me... I'm sorry...
I'm sorry... that pitiful voice... I still can't get it out of my head. I should... have said it was me.
...I should have said so... to save my best friend from that false accusation... without be-
ing afraid of Rika's father's terrible temper. Rika gritted her teeth and cried... at the crime she
didn't remember doing... Ever since then... the "world" had been strange.
"...I know, I understand. ...This is... Oyashiro-sama's... curse. ...His judgment... for mess-
ing up the ritual storehouse... and forsaking my best friend."
"......Oyashiro-sama's... curse..."
"...My father and mother, too... they vanished in that muddy stream. ...My mean aunt
died too.. but then Nii-nii... who loved me more than anyone... ran away from home. ...And
then... ......and then!! ...Keiichi-san transferred in... and I thought I'd finally gotten my fun life
back... but this time... Keiichi-san was possessed... and even Rika... got killed... ...mmmmm-
mmgh!! ......There's something I heard once! Oyashiro-sama... when he really curses someone...
he doesn't kill them right away!! He goes in order of your closest friends... and after killing
them all... he kills that person last!! So... Keiichi-san... the curse got you too... mmmmmgh-
hh!!! I'm sure... that Rena-san and Mion-san will be cursed next!! And then... they'll kill... and
be killed...! No... no more! Noooooooooooooooooo!!!"
"...Calm down, Satoko!! There is no curse! Nobody is trying to torment you!!"
When I turned around... I was thrust away with amazing force. Given my hands were
awkwardly placed on my head... I couldn't take the fall and lost my balance. And I'd been
pushed not into the bridge... but to the side.
...Towards the stream. No... This can't be happening...... uwahhhhhhhhhhhh...!!
......As one last miracle, I was allowed to grab a cord hanging from the bridge. Far
below me... was the stream.
...We were pretty high up... and below were rocks of all sizes.
...If I fell, it clearly wouldn't be pretty. The entire bridge was tilting under my body
weight. My frail little grip probably wouldn't last another minute before my fingers had to let
go...
"......Satoko...!! ...Satokooo...!!!"
...I didn't understand myself... what I meant by shouting her name then.
...Was I asking her to save me... Or was I asking her why she did this...?
...Finally, everything came back into focus... and I saw Satoko.
...And I was surprised... at what an odd expression she had. It was... the first time I'd
seen it.
...It was an expression of righteous anger meant only for those who needed to die.
"Die, you murdereeeeerrrrr!! Give him back! Give back my Nii-nii!! Give back Rika
and Mommy... and Keiichi-san!! Waaaaaaaahhhhh!! Uwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"
As she screamed, she jerked the bridge to and fro.
...She didn't... have to do that... I was going... to fall anyway...
"I won't... I won't lose to the likes of you...!! I won't lose... to some stupid curse!! I will
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never, ever lose to you! You took everyone... I will never lose to you, not ever!!!"
".........Satoko. ...Please... just let me say one thing."

...I don't know what my face looked like at the time.
...But... it seemed like it was enough to quell Satoko's agitation.
"......I know that... what I did... isn't exactly praiseworthy. ...No... in fact, maybe I should
never have done it at all. ...But...... I did it... because I wanted you to be happy. ...Please... just
believe that."
"...Y...You...! At the very... very end... you're still pretending... to be Keiichi-san...!!"
Satoko didn't seem to have any more desire... to listen to what I had to say. And for
that to happen at the very end like this... was tragic.
"......I didn't do any of it so you would praise me. ...If it made you happy, that was all
that mattered. ...We were nothing. ...Without your smile... we were nothing... ...So... after I
disappear... please, smile. ...If you can get on with your new life... by my dying... then please...
just smile. ......Can't you... at least promise me that...?"
"Stop speaking!! Don't use Keiichi-san's mouth like that!! Fall down!! Diiiiiiiieeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeee...!!!"
...And those... were the last words Satoko ever said to me.
...Those sad, tragic... and altogether unrewarding words. What... on earth was I?
...My desire to make Satoko happy... ended up like this. Where did I first go wrong?
...And what was the mistake I made? When did I make it? Was I the crazy one, or was
it Hinamizawa? Even after all of this... I thought I wasn't crazy at all. It was this eerie world
that was crazy... this world I'd accidentally wandered into that one night. Because... that fun
world, where I never doubted all the crazy times we had as a club would go on forever... It
couldn't possibly... have transformed into such an abnormal world. That fun world... wouldn't
Tatarigoroshi-hen
have ever ended with this... with Satoko pushing me to my death.

...In the end... I was going to be swallowed up by this crazy world... and disappear.
No... I'd probably already disappeared.
...Yes... probably. On the night of Watanagashi.
...I'm sure... that in the world I really belonged to... I had vanished that night, and ev-
eryone was worried.
...It was laughable... that I had taken this long to figure out I wasn't around anymore.
Oyashiro-sama's curse on the fifth year... was Satoko's uncle dying and me disappearing. In
the real world... Satoko had already been freed. Maybe my friends were all lamenting my dis-
appearance... and valiantly trying to get back on their feet.
...And... even though they were down to four people... the club would re-open... and
they would have a good time without me.
...Waiting... for the day when I would come back. I'm sorry, everyone.
............I... couldn't come back home.
...But... this is what I wished for. It was my wish for Satoko's smile—and my duty as
her Nii-nii. At this point... there will be nobody left to torture you.
...Because Satoshi and I... it took two years, but we succeeded. That annoying, toothy
smile of yours... We wanted to see it... one more time. My pain... wasn't gentle, or merciful.
...It was a sharp pain... violent, powerful, and ruthless.
...What little compassion I had... receded in the span of a moment...... And now... I
could die.
...I could say good-bye to this insane world. Farewell, crazed Hinamizawa.
...Thanks for giving me the psychic power to kill people whenever I wanted.
...If you'll still allow it, I'll wish for one last thing.
...The death of this very world, of this crazed Hinamizawa.
...So that nobody... would ever again have to find themselves lost here again...
Ryukishi07
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Tatarigoroshi-hen
Final Tip - Research Notes
<Oyashiro-sama>
Nobody really knows what characters to use to write 'Oyashiro-

sama'. Knowing this is hard partly because depending on the time
period, he has been called with various titles, with subtle changes
to his name, and nobody knows the real one. The only thing all
time periods agree on is that the four syllables "o" "ya" "shi" and
"ro" are always used.
There is a theory stating the shrine, or "yashiro," dedicated to

Oyashiro-sama itself became an object of worship, and that people
began calling it "o-yashiro-sama," or "lord honorable shrine"—but
this doesn't make a bit of sense.
I don't know whether this is related, but people say the Furude
family, the most respected bloodline in terms of worshiping Oyas-
hiro-sama, actually inherited his blood.
And in the legend the Furude family passes down, if for eight gen-
erations in a row the firstborn child is a girl, the eighth daugh-
ter will be the reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama.
If we go by this legend, the characters used for Oyashiro-sama's

name should be "o" for "honorable," "ya" for "eight," and "shiro" for
"generation."
(These character assignments are simply something I've thought up;

there is no way to verify it.)
If this is true, then Oyashiro-sama would have been named as such

under the assumption he would come again.
The second coming of an object of worship can be seen in several

religions, so this isn't unusual.
But a few of these religions call the second coming of their object
of worship a "day of judgment" or something along those lines, and
we must not forget they mean it to be the end of the world.
Rika Furude, pampered and loved dearly by the elderly folk in the
village.
...The rumors say she is the eighth generation, and Oyashiro-sama.
I do not know the family tree of the Furudes, but at the very
least, I can confirm that for the past two generations, the first
child has been a girl.
Rika Furude watches over Hinamizawa.
If the village were to lose her protection, what would happen?
Would peace between man and demon be lost?
Would it once again create a hellish landscape where man-eating

demons run rampant?
A gruesome feast of the demons, who suddenly remembered how deli-

cious the weak humans were, who could only cry, scream, and run
for their lives.
...What would that look like?
Just imagining it... is enough to make my heart pound with ex-

citement.
The Last Day

......My head was pounding.
...The sky... was bright.
...It was cold, too.
.....It hurt. Each sensation I felt... led to a new and different one awakening. When I
came to... I was lying face-first on a dry river bed.
...A few body parts hurt a lot. The skin over a bunch of my joints was torn, turned
blue or red or oozing blood.
...I could tell it was my bones that were in pain from the agony I felt whenever I
moved.
...I looked up and saw how high the bridge from which I had fallen was.
......Considering I'd dropped from there... it was a miracle that I could open my eyes
again. Right next to me... was a broken, upside-down car seat... which I guessed some prank-
sters had brought here.
...Maybe... this thing had been conveniently lying right under me, allowing me to es-
cape instant death.
...Miraculous. Of course, I didn't know... whether this miracle was fortunate or unfortu-
nate. I'd failed to die... and now I was still stuck in this insane world.
......How long had I been unconscious for?
...The sun was high in the sky, so it looked like only one or two hours had passed.
...But my body's sluggishness didn't make it feel at all like so short a time had gone by.
...Mentally, it felt like I'd been asleep here for a decade.
"......Ow...... agh........."
The more feeling returned to my body... the more the pain flooded in.
...It hurt so much it would have been better not to have woken up.
...I needed to get to a doctor.
...Yeah... to Coach's clinic... The term "Coach's clinic"... brought memories back one
after another... memories I wish I hadn't recalled. Satoko was no longer on the bridge.
...She would have returned to Hinamizawa by now. And she would... put on some
clothes, go to the clinic, get a check-up, and report on how crazy I had seemed. The police
were waiting for me without a doubt. This time, would they find out for real that I'd killed
her uncle and arrest me, or would they just send me to a mental institution like I thought they
might?
......Still... I didn't care which it was. Please, someone stop all this pain.
...You can boil me or cook me after that—whatever you want. I began to walk un-
steadily... just limping along. I went downstream... and then through an animal trail-like path
in the woods... I walked haphazardly, searching for a path I knew.
...Eventually... I finally came across a familiar road... and set off towards the clinic.
......Not to my house... but to the clinic, which had treated me like a lunatic.
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......It was hot and humid.

...There was no wind, and the air was stagnant. For a while now... I've been smelling
the terrible stench of burned eggs, and it made my face scrunch up.
...And then, at last, I noticed something. I couldn't hear any cicadas. It was the first
time I'd heard Hinamizawa be so utterly silent.
...When I thought back, it seemed like birds always chirped in the morning, cicadas
always cried loudly in the afternoon, and higurashi always rose up in chorus in the evening—
always something to hear. I couldn't hear a single insect. The only thing I could hear was the
rustling of the wind brushing the treetops.
......I'd never experienced this sort of quiet before. Even the only sound coming from
the trees lacked life somehow. The trees were yellow, and many leaves were spread on the
ground, despite it being too early for autumn.
...Even the weeds that had been growing so persistently at the side of the road had yel-
lowed, browned, and lost their vigor.
......Only the sunlight itself was of the June Hinamizawa I knew.
...And yet it seemed like the seasons had switched all of a sudden.
".................."
Looking at the fallen leaves and rotting weeds led me to spot a few small insects
turned on their backs.
...They weren't moving. They were corpses.
......I looked closer to see insect corpses scattered all around... like a child had collected
them as samples and then strewn them about...
...This stench... What was it? It was terrible... like burned eggs.
...Combined with all the bug corpses and leaves falling from the trees in summer.
......Had someone sprayed herbicides or pesticides around here?
...Even at school, we apparently fumigate—they call it pest disinfection or something—
once or twice a year... I hadn't run into anybody, despite how bright it was outside. It was
mid-afternoon... and yet it felt like I were sauntering about at midnight. Well, with this smell,
nobody would want to be walking around outside.
...Just what was this... anyway...?
.........There was no sound, no noise, not even a breath... Hinamizawa was silent. The
school would come into view... right after turning this corner.
...And yet I couldn't hear any commotion at all.
...None of the shouts or grunts that children always made.
......It was simply... quiet. Just as pretending to ignore the silence... had grown intoler-
able... I saw the school. And finally I heard something. ...It was the sound of a few trucks.
There were a few very tall trucks parked in the schoolyard, idling. About ten workers in rain-
coats... were unloading things from their trunks.
...It was hot and humid even in my casual clothing... I couldn't imagine how unbearable
that must have been.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
...And then I remembered. Our school was rented from the forest service field office
building, wasn't it?
...It wasn't strange at all for forest service trucks to be doing some kind of work in the
schoolyard.
...Besides... What did forest rangers do, anyway?
......I felt bad for them having to work in such heat... and with such a stench about.
They were taking colorful cargo out of the truck and lining it up in the schoolyard. They were
containers... fairly large ones, inside multicolored, patchwork bags. Heavy, too—they were
being carried in pairs. They lined them up very neatly, like tuna at a riverside fish market.
Several, dozens, hundreds of tuna... were completely filling the fairly wide schoolyard up.
...I forgot my pain for a little while... captivated by this big forest ranger job I'd never
seen before... As I stood there, watching in a daze... the people in raincoats working on the
other side noticed me.
...One of them pointed me out and they shouted a few things back and forth.
......I thought they might yell at me for getting in their way... so I decided to leave post
haste. But then, two trucks drove up behind me. I stepped aside and they entered the school-
yard.
...Sheets covered their trunks, but I could tell they were completely full. ...As they
passed, there was an awful smell that made me want to choke.
...It wasn't the same burned eggs smell as before... but an even worse one, like rotten
crab meat. What on earth was it?
...I'd been enshrouded in one terrible stench after another all day. Then, certain white
letters emblazoned on the side of the passing trucks caught my eye.
"Ground Self-Defense Forces"
......What? Self-defense forces... Like the army? Why was the army in the schoolyard...?
"Hey, you! Where did you come from?!"
Suddenly, someone slapped me on the shoulders from behind. I turned around... and a
canopied SDF jeep was parked there.
...The SDF person had on a green raincoat and a gask mask like in the movies, carry-
ing a compressed air cylinder.
...He didn't look normal—there wasn't an inch of exposed skin anywhere.
"......Where did I... Oww, ow..."
When I tried to talk, I stretched a wound on my head.
...It made the SDF people exchange glances.
...I couldn't see their faces through their masks... but they seemed surprised.
"Do you live in Hinamizawa? Can you tell us your name and address?"
"......Well, yeah, I sort of live here. ...My name... is Keiichi... Maebara. ...Oh, and my ad-
dress... ___ Hinamizawa Village, Shishibone..."
After seeing me tell them my name and address without hesitation, one of the SDF
people watching from the jeep started talking into a radio.
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"...Base, do you read? Base, do you read? We have a 402—survivor discovered. I re-
peat, we have a 402, we've found a survivor. He's in front of the forest service office."
"This is Base, we copy. Secure the survivor at once. What is his status?"
"Healthy. Wounded all over, but not fatally. He can walk on his own. We'll send him to
HQ for safety."
...I was prepared to go along with the police... but the SDF...
...I couldn't help but think it seemed a little bit much. They urged me into the back of
the jeep. And then... they told me to put on this gigantic gas mask.
...I did so, and one of the troops fiddled around with it, strapping it tightly to me.
...It was heavy, hard to see out of, hot, and difficult to breathe.
...Just looking at the world through the lenses... made it lose its sense of reality. My
breathing sounded like some giant monster through the mask.
...At this point... I had no idea what was happening. With much trepidation... I asked
the trooper adjusting my mask.
"...Umm... Excuse me. ...Has something happened...?"
"Where were you? What were you doing?"
...Hey, don't answer a question with more questions... I was the one asking you..
"...I, umm... fell from a rope bridge way back in the mountains. ...I think I passed out
on the river bed. ...I don't actually know what day it is."
"Today is June 22nd, 1983. Wednesday."
...That surprised me.
...Satoko pushed me off the bridge on Tuesday the 21st.
...That meant... I'd been asleep on that river bed for an entire day.
"...Forgive me for asking again, but... did something happen? Why is the SDF here? Is
this a drill?"
".................."
...Had my question been that difficult for him?
...None of the troopers would answer me. The one in the driver's seat talking on his
own radio turned on the vehicle's.
...He turned the dial and some broadcast station or another came in.
...I started to listen to the voice of a radio announcer I was familiar with...
"...was conducted at the prime minister's office. In regards to questions from the press
that the SDF not responding to the disaster promptly was directly related to this unprecedent-
ed, unheard-of catastrophe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Okuno had this to say."
"~and so... I believe that once the SDF received the dispatch order from the prefectural
governor, they responded promptly."
"According to him, the SDF was prompt to respond to the crisis after receiving their
orders. He implied that it was the prefecture's responsibility for taking too long to comprehend
the situation. When did the governor who requested the SDF's dispatch actually become aware
Tatarigoroshi-hen
of the outbreak of such an unprecedented catastrophe? And did he not invite further damage
because of the time lost before he sent the request for disaster relief—in other words, because
of the bureaucracy? We are awaiting further investigation into the matter."
"That was Mr. Okada, reporting from the prime minister's official residence. At this
point, we can take another look at the political response following this disaster."
In the middle of the night, between June 21 and June 22. A large-scale disaster broke
out in Hinamizawa Village, Shishibone. The details have not yet been investigated, but there
was an eruption of volcanic gas from somewhere in the Hinamizawa area. The gas was rela-
tively heavy, and as it spewed out, it began to flow. That flow went down along a small river
and headed directly into Hinamizawa Village. After a few hours, it had covered the entire
region. It happened in the middle of the night. 2:00 to 4:00 AM. Every home and household in
the village was afflicted. With most of the residents asleep, it is thought that all died without
noticing the crisis. The catastrophe striking in the middle of the night caused its detection to
come too late.
...But there was still one small opportunity to have noticed it. 3:00 AM. A news
dealer's shop in Okinomiya sent a vehicle carrying the morning newspaper to its branch office
in Hinamizawa. Usually the shop would be contacted upon the vehicle's arrival, but this morn-
ing, that didn't happen. The news dealer's shop made repeated calls, but got no response. The
shopkeeper sent his eldest son to check on things, but they lost contact with him as well...
"...It is extremely regrettable. If they had contacted the police or fire department at this
point, it is highly possible the situation would have turned out more positively. At the very
least, it's possible that a portion of the village might have been saved from tragic annihilation."
6:00 AM. Residents in areas in the same region began continuously calling 119 to
report the smell of rotten eggs, dizziness, nausea, and headaches. The fire department received
the same reports, all from the same confined region. They speculated a truck loaded with
chemicals may have gotten into an accident and reported it to the local police.
6:30 AM. Contact was lost with a patrol car on duty in the Hinamizawa area after
the officer reported the smell of rotten eggs. The local police considered the possibility of a
large-scale disaster involving highly lethal gas and reported it to the prefecture and prefectural
police at 7:15 AM.
8:00 AM. The governor was travelling to nearby prefectures for inspection, so in ac-
cordance with regulations, the prefectural environmental disaster prevention chief was provi-
sionally escalated to director-general and set up a disaster countermeasures office. However,
without contacting the governor, the countermeasures came too late.
"As has recently been pointed out by citizens' groups, his trip with honorary Diet mem-
bers to inspect other prefectures was based solely on good relations, and it's rumored they
preoccupied themselves with a drinking party. Sources closer to him claimed the governor had
been drinking all night, and had gone to sleep in a drunken state. He was completely drunk
when the environmental chief phoned him as well, and apparently he could not get him to pay
any attention to the matter."
And so it took about hour for the governor to sober up, gain an understanding of the
situation, and gather information...
"Though not as extreme as the governor's case, the environmental chief who became
director-general in the governor's absence will likely also be questioned about his negligence.
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Page 367
In addition, without any procedures in place on the prefecture's side that predicted catastro-
phes this massive, they would always react too late, and that ended up being fatal."
9:12 AM. On the advice of the prefectural police, the governor requested a disaster
relief mission from the SDF. By the time the Chemical Defense Unit, equipped with protective
equipment, arrived on the scene, eight hours had already passed since the incident's outbreak...
"Whatever the case may be, it was unfortunate this happened while everyone was
sleeping in the middle of the night. Had the same disaster occurred during the day, it likely
would have been entirely different."
All households in the Hinamizawa Village region were wiped out. There were over one
thousand victims. The SDF is still confirming the situation on the ground, but their results are
predicted to only increase that number...
"Here with us in the studio today is Dr. Fujiwara, a professor at ____ University who
is well-acquainted with volcanic disasters. ...Doctor, can such a sudden and horrible outburst
of poisonous gas actually happen?"
"It isn't at all unusual for this to happen right around craters, at least. Japan is a vol-
canic nation, and so has many active volcanoes. There is always a danger of hazardous gas
around any of these craters, and it's generally a rule among mountain climbers not to go near
them."
"Does this mean the rotten egg smell that visited Hinamizawa Village was the normal
sort of gas from volcanic craters?"
"Judging by how it smelled like rotten eggs, we think it was hydrogen sulfide, a gas
seen particularly frequently in accidents compared to other volcanic gases. If it's dense, it
becomes extremely dangerous."
"Hinamizawa Village is very far away from the craters of any volcanoes. Can hydro-
gen sulfide be generated even from a place not close to a crater?"
"I don't know all the details, so I can't say anything concrete... But in other countries,
there are records of gas eruptions due to magma buildup under hot springs. It's an extremely
rare event, but it is possible for such a thing to happen even in a region not near craters."
"Thank you very much, Doctor. ...We appear to have an announcement from the Japan
Defense Agency. Miss Morikawa, are you there?"
"Yes. I'm at the Japan Defense Agency. The agency has just made an announcement
regarding the source of the Hinamizawa Village gas disaster. Analysis from the Ground Self-
Defense Force's Department of Chemistry has found that the gas was a mixture of carbon
dioxide and hydrogen sulfide."
"Miss Morikawa, do you know whether the gas is still erupting or spreading to nearby
areas?"
"According to the SDF's 9th division, who are currently engaged in a rescue operation
at Hinamizawa Village, the gas density is steadily decreasing. They've announced that the
damage will not spread. However, it does not change the fact that surrounding areas are still
in danger, and that very strict observation must be maintained."
"That was Morikawa from the Japan Defense Agency. And now we have a report on
the state of those who have been made to evacuate the Okinomiya area. Shimoshinozaki El-
ementary School is one of the evactuation sites, and we currently have a reporter on... bzzz...
Tatarigoroshi-hen
scene... bzzz... bzzz..."

".........Wait......... what?"
Inside the jeep clambering and bouncing along the rough road... none answered my
muttered question. An unprecedented catastrophe... had destroyed Hinamizawa... in a single
night...? Where was Hinamizawa Village, anyway?
...Some place deep in the mountains, right...? Names of places I'd heard about on the
radio were always like that.
...They were all places... I'd never heard of... much less knew the locations of... Wiped
out...? What does that mean...? Don't... they usually say how many died, and how many were
injured...? How many people were alive? Where... where did everyone evacuate to...? Eventu-
ally we came into view... of Coach's clinic. For the first time, I saw the flag of Japan hanging
on a pole outside. .
..Japan's circular sun hung down as though exhausted... Many SDF tents were set up in
the clinic's big parking lot, and many strict security vehicles were parked there as well. When
they saw the jeep coming, men in white clothing and gas masks came running out of the
clinic, frantic, carrying a stretcher.
"You're going to be all right. How do you feel? Can you walk?"
"......Yes. ...Ow, oww..."
And because of my "oww"s, they forced me to lay in the stretcher anyway.
...People who seemed like doctors were looking at me and notifying others of my con-
dition via radio.
"Multiple wounds. High possibility of fractures and internal damage. Large laceration
in the head. Pupils normal, but even without bleeding from the fundus, brain damage is still
possible..."
And then... from the clinic entrance, people lying on stretchers were brought outside to
replace me.
......Judging by their clothing, they were from Hinamizawa... and that's how I knew they
were victims. They brought the stretchers in front of a truck.
...Two troops, holding shoulders and legs... like some kind of baggage... picked them up
and threw them into the trunk...
"......Wha...... ahh...... aaaaaahhhhhhhh......"
...In the trunk of the truck... people's bodies... piled in heaps.
...They were just like baggage... and that told me they were already nothing but shells.
At that moment... I remembered... all those colorful sacks filling the trunks... ... and them...
lined up in the schoolyard like a fish market... Hundreds... of empty shells.
...Corpses... corpses... corpses... corpses... corpses... corpses... corpses... corpses... corps-
es... corpses!!!
"You jackasses!! Don't just throw the victims in like that! They lived here!"
The troops carrying the sacks answered me with a humble salute...
...The world didn't need this insane version of Hinamizawa. My... my final... wish...
again...... it was granted...
Ryukishi07
Page 369
......I... didn't understand anything anymore...

...None of it mattered...
......I wished... I cursed... and then it happened the next day...... Then please, tomorrow
morning, let me die.
...That insane night... it's still going on... please, please end it already.
"......?! Hey, he's lost consciousness!! Shout his name! Quickly!"
"Maebara-kun! Can you hear me?! If you can hear me, just blink!! Maebara-kun!
Maebara-kun! Maebara-kun!!"
Suddenly... the world didn't matter to me anymore.
...I wasn't interested in their cries.
"His breathing stopped! Get his respiratory tract open! Use CPR!! Make him live!!
Damn it, damn it...!! No more, no more dead people!! Nobody deserves to die!! Don't kill him!
Don't kill hiiiiiiiiiiim!!"
...I could hear the voice of a man crying and screaming in my ears.
......Nobody deserves... to die. Those words came from his heart. They were... so, so...
commonplace... and they soaked into my heart, too.
...Maybe it was a mistake... to take someone's life... even if it was to save Satoko.
...If... if this is the price I had to pay... this horrible tragedy.
.........Then this is a little much, Oyashiro-sama.
............Why... why did you never punish me...
...Come to think of it... Satoko said something. Oyashiro-sama's actual curse... never
goes for the target at first... but kills everyone they love before that. Oyashiro-sama's... curse.
...It was a convenient excuse I told myself at the very end... that it wasn't my curse that
destroyed it, but Oyashiro-sama's.
............Given that I was in a stretcher, this next bit might have been obvious...
...But last of all, I realized one thing.
... ... Y e a h ... ... ... ... T o d a y ... ... ... I had not heard those ... ... ... ... ... ... foot steps
following me ... ... ... ... ev en ... on ce ... ... And now... I was liberated... As the cries of the
higurashi... I couldn't have been hearing... filled my mind... Their tearful ensemble... was the
only funeral march I had.
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Epilogue
June 22, 1983, early morning.
A widespread disaster occurred in Hinamizawa Village,

Shishibone, ___ Prefecture.
Volcanic gas (carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide) erupted from

Onigafuchi Swamp, one of the Hinamizawa area's water sources, and
spread through the entire village.
There were 1200 victims.
20 have gone missing.
The catastrophe was unprecedented, forcing local governments to

evacuate approximately six hundred thousand people.
According to later investigations, magma pools and hot springs

were uncovered directly under Onigafuchi Swamp, and the gas that
gushed from it was determined to be the cause of the disaster.
In addition, directly after the incident broke out, many came

forth claiming this disaster was a curse based in Hinamizawa
Village legends, fi rst sparking a wave of chaos.
There were apparently local legends of a curse spreading a mi-

asma, destroying the village, and some scholars believe a similar
gas disaster may have happened in the past and remained part of
these legends.
More extreme periodicals suggested this was an extension of the

string of freak death incidents that had been happening in recent
years in Hinamizawa Village, stirring interest in theories about
this curse of Oyashiro-sama.
In addition, relatives of those in Hinamizawa Village who had

escaped the disaster complained of sickness afterwards and were
hospitalized.
Some of them even died of unknown causes, further encouraging

such extreme opinions.
On top of that, several relatives professing to be possessed by

Oyashiro-sama's curse committed suicide in strange ways... and the
impact the disaster has had on the entire nation can no longer be
ignored.
Wild visions of terrible toxic gas sneaking around in the middle

of the night killing people spilled across the country, causing
a steady stream of people complaining of insomnia, difficulty
breathing, headache, dizziness, etc.
Some who identified themselves as being obsessed by it began do-

ing odd things.
Most of these were mistakenly attributed by the tabloid press...

but afterward, some even began to call the mental issues arising
from the Hinamizawa tragedy the "Hinamizawa Syndrome"...
The Hinamizawa Village region, the object of all kinds of rumors

and speculation, is currently closed off, and even ﬂying overhead
is prohibited.
The prohibition was, at one point, undone as a result of a decrease

in the gas's density, but that autumn another gas burst was con-
fi rmed, leading to the area being cordoned off again.
Word is that the area is sound asleep, all traces of its former
life intact and left to rot...
Only one survivor remains—Keiichi Maebara, age 1_, who lived at

___ Hinamizawa Village.
At the time of rescue, he had some trouble breathing due to ﬂuid

buildup in his lungs, but as a result of life-saving procedures
he was kept alive.
He is currently in a general hospital somewhere in the prefec-

ture.
The press have been asking for him for some time, but all inter-
views are being refused.
...What did he see in Hinamizawa? What happened between June 21

and June 22 in Hinamizawa Village?
Today he remains silent, unwilling to speak of it...

Page 373
Tatarigoroshi-hen
Jirou Tomitake - Suicide - 6/19/1983
Investigation Suspended.
Miyo Takano - Murdered - 6/19/1983
Kuraudo Ooishi - Missing - 6/20/1983
Investigation Ongoing.
Katsuya Kumatani - Missing - 6/20/1983
Investigation Ongoing.
Kyosuke Irie - Suicide - 6/21/1983

Rika Furude - Murdered - 6/21/1983
Hinamizawa Disaster in Memoriam List
Reina Ryuugu - Dead [6/22/1983]
Mion Sonozaki - Dead [6/22/1983]
Oryu Sonozaki - Dead [6/22/1983]
Satoko Hojou - Missing [6/22/1983]
Teppei Houjou - Missing [6/22/1983]
Ichirou Maebara - Dead [6/22/1983]
Aiko Maebara - Dead [6/22/1983]
Daiki Tomita - Dead [6/22/1983]
Suguru Okamura - Dead [6/22/1983]
Rumiko Chie - Murdered [6/22/1983]
Kiichirou Kimiyoshi - Dead [6/22/1983]
Yukikazu Kameda - Murdered [6/22/1983]
Tatsuyoshi Kasai - Dead [8/11/1983]
Shion Sonozaki - Suicide [8/27/1983]
Epilogue Part 2
An elderly couple living in Osaka Prefecture discovered a cassette tape while organiz-
ing the possessions of their son, who passed away eight years ago. Their son went missing
when his fishing boat capsized in 1995. He was 47 at the time of his death. Eight years later,
in 2003, they had begun to organize their son's remains in order to organize their minds, and
came across the cassette tape in question. From 1975 to 1989, the deceased had experience
working as a journalist for a photography periodical, and this tape is thought to have been cre-
ated during that time. The label on the tape read "11-28-1983 Keiichi Maebara."
It is thought the tape was recorded during an interview with Keiichi Maebara, the only
survivor of the Great Hinamizawa Disaster that occurred in June of 1983. As the only person
who lived through the disaster on the night of June 21, shrouded in mystery, many interested
parties attempted to question him, but he never once spoke physically to anyone in a public
place.
...Therefore, the tape caused quite a stir, possibly being of extremely high value.
...Click.
"......It's really hard to talk about stuff when I know I'm being recorded."
"Please, don't worry about it. Here, it won't be a problem if I do this, right?"
(After this, the sound quality dramatically decreases. Did he cover the recording device
with something?)
"Then let's get started. ...Here's my first question. Keiichi-kun, where were you the
night of the Great Disaster?"
"...I had gone behind the shrine... then took a path through the woods for a while...
...There's a rope bridge there. A little while before you get into the mountains. ...I fell from
there and lost consciousness."
"Did this happen during the night of the disaster—between the 21st and the 22nd?"
"......No. It was the morning of the 21st, on Tuesday. Which means I woke up the after-
noon of the next day... I think I was out for a day and a half."
"Why on earth were you there? I mean, I'm sure everyone wants to know, but the
bridge you fell from that day—a weekday, I might add—was quite far from both your house
and the school, wasn't it?"
".................."
"Speaking frankly, there are some who say you knew of the Great Disaster beforehand,
and fell from the rope bridge as you were trying to flee the village."
"...This isn't a joke. Please don't be so arbitrary about this."
"I think it's a terrible thing to say too. Please don't be offended. ...Anyway, about the
rope bridge you fell from... It was right here on the map, right? The rope bridge beyond the
back of the shrine and through the path in the woods."
".........Probably. ...I never went over there, so I can't say for sure."
"Hahahahaha. I guess I just want to know why you were out somewhere you'd never
been before on a weekday morning."
"....................."
Ryukishi07
Page 377
"And then... well, about the river bed you fell unconscious on, have you heard the ru-
mors about that being impossible?"
"...'Impossible'... ...That ...that word... again...? Again... again..."
(For a little while, Keiichi Maebara mutters the word "impossible" several times.)
"...Why... would it be impossible?"
"You know how the volcanic gas originated in the Onigafuchi Swamp? Some scholars
did some pretty delicate simulations and modeling and discovered something very interesting."
"........................"
"The volcanic gas was heavier than the air, so it went along the ground, flowing into
lower and lower places, kind of like what water does. And with Onigafuchi Swamp as its
source, they were able to test how much time it would take for the gas to erupt and spread
across the whole village. ...So, well. That river bed you were unconscious on. The gas... It
would have flowed down there."
"......I don't really understand what you're getting at."
"In other words, if you were really passed out on that river bed, you would have been
in the middle of all the toxic gas that was spreading everywhere that night. That means there
was no chance you could have been passed out there."
"........................"
"Allow me to be a little more frank. I think that maybe... you might be telling a lie.
...During the Great Disaster, you were hiding in a safe place... keeping an eye out for when the
gas got thinner, then reappeared and were secured by the SDF. ...How about that? Is that right
on the mark?"
(For a short time, the journalist presses Keiichi Maebara further, in a teasing way, but
all that can be heard are heavy sighs.)
"......Even if that was the case... I wouldn't be surprised at this point."
"What do you mean... you wouldn't be surprised?"
"...You said it before, didn't you? That it was 'impossible.' ...Impossible things happen in
that Hinamizawa all the time. ...There are people who shouldn't be exist. Dead people end up
alive. ...It's not really that unusual. ...Never thought I, of all people, would be asked to prove...
that I was still alive when I was supposed to have died... hahahahahaha. Ahahahahahahaha...
ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
"Ah-hahahahahaha! Ha-ha-ha..."
(The journalist and Keiichi Maebara both laugh for a while.)
"All right, then, I'll change the subject. What do you think of the debate about whether
this disaster was the curse—the fifth year of the serial freak death incidents in Hinamizawa?"
"I don't think it was. I was the curse that year, after all."
"Hm? Ahahahaha! What do you mean?"
"What do I... I was just answering the question."
"The curse... well, you probably won't believe me when I tell you this. ...I was the one
who caused it. ...I was the one... who wished for the whole village to die, and it happened."
Tatarigoroshi-hen
"Hahahahaha... What an... exciting story."

"Exciting? ...I supposed you could call it that..."
"I was the one who killed Takano-san, and Coach and Ooishi too. ...At the time, I had
some kind of divine power. ......Yes... I suppose it was like footsteps."
"Footsteps...? Wait... hahahahaha, what's that supposed to mean?"
"You... have you never heard footsteps before? ...Tip tap. Click click. Ku-ku-ku."
"Today, when you're walking around, try stopping suddenly—something interesting
will happen. ......Anyway. ...If you hear an extra footstep... even though you'd already stopped
walking...... You'd better be careful, you know. ...Huhuhuhuhu."
"Ah... ahahahaha! Y-Yes, I'll be careful. Haha, hahaha!"
"......Is what I'm saying... really that funny to you?"
"You've... been doing nothing but laugh in my face this whole time... ...You're just like
Coach. ...You pretend to sympathize with me, to listen to what I have to say... but your eyes
are telling me you think I'm a lunatic."
"Haha, haha. ...That's not true. Hahaha..."
"No... I can tell. Your eyes are the same as Coach's. ......I never heard the footsteps
again after that day. ...So I don't think I have that terrible power anymore. ...Perhaps... right
here, right now, I'll wish for you to die. I'll wish for your death, for saying all these unpleasant
things. ...Yes, this time, why don't I decide how you die? ......Takano-san was burned to death,
so......... let's go with the opposite—with water. ...I hope you drown and die—how's that?"
"...If I'm in top form like I was then, you'd die before tomorrow morning for sure. ......
Now then... I wonder how many days it will take you to drown? ...Hu, hahahahahahahahahaha.
...You'd better be careful, you know. D o n ' t g o g e t t i n g y o u r s e l f k i l l e d b y s o
m e s t u p i d c u r s e I p u t o n y o u , o k a y ? ... ... Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Ryukishi07

Higurashi When They Cry Ch.3 Tatarigoroshi-Hen

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Higurashi When They Cry Ch.3 Tatarigoroshi-Hen

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Higurashi When They Cry: Tatarigoroshi-hen

Higurashi: When They Cry

The snake in the well was happy.

Early summer of the 58th year of the Showa era

see? ...Well, of course it stinks. The nerve of some people!"

"Oh, hello! Good work today."

away from curry. At least, as long as you live in Hinamizawa!"

Everyone raised their voices in surprise at my bold, confident reply...!

That entire day.

"...Urghhhh... Rena... You're pretty mean..."

"I-I'll starve to deeeaaaaattthhh...!!"

mean? Was Satoko... Was she cooking??

"...I made light of you, Satoko. You've beaten me soundly."

do it for long anyway. He has no endurance."

using your alarm clock."

I'll punch you right in the nose.

Tip #1 - Satoko’s Trap Course (Elementary)

and they were abundant in number.

of all this, Keiichi-kun... isn't that enough? Enough?"

bento has already reached the recipients!! Admit it!!!"

"H-Hey, you over there! You curry xxxxxxxx~~~~!!!!"

...The air was so clear, and it felt so good.

"Yeah. Mom says they'll be back tomorrow."

things. ...Things that you do the same. ...It's really a mystery."

Tip #2 - Satoko’s Trap Course (Intermediate)

could do it before breakfast! Ohh-ho-ho-ho!!"

...Sounds like they were pretty strong...

...I went to the one next to him.

"...Just call me... K."

"Satoko, you... you're really good at baseball."

Man... can't underestimate her! Satoko Houjou!!

...It looked like the price of victory would be pretty big.

"Come on! Settle down already!! You're making Keiichi-san uncomfortable!!"

Tip #3 - Satoko’s Trap Course (Advanced)

suposed to be a victory celebration, after all. We needed an opening statement.

keep smiling like this forever.

ited the exact opposite skill set."

It was short and to the point.

must have been! It must have been Oyashiro-sama's curse!!"

Tip #4 - The Slacking Manager

1. Entire body bound in restraints.

Finger joints on either hand appear to have been bound espe-

Highly likely that the table was either specially-made or home-

2. Both ears and nose severed with a sharp blade.

Traces of the restraint and other things seem to suggest there

3. Five nails penetrated fingers on each hand One long nail

The deceased's fingers were nailed to wooden planks twenty

In addition, it is likely that the table was originally designed

4. Abdomen incised, intestines removed The incision in the ab-

The victim likely died as a result of this process.

5. Body disposed After fastening a dumbell to the victim's neck

Judging by the dumbell's weight, it's highly possible they would

Here's a copy of the preliminary autopsy of the slaughtered corpse

Chief Shigeharu sees this as having a possible relation to the S-

What are your thoughts, Ooishi-san?

Tip #6 - East Round 3

...Yeah. Wasn't I supposed to be her Nii-nii until Satoshi got back...?

"Mii-chan, you're not supposed to say that around boys!"

"...You're sure? How do you know?"

...It was a little reassuring.

would be a different day than those before it.

Ooishi probably hadn't expected that reply.

"Would you mind leaving things at that? You're hurting him."

Coach lent me his shoulder and walked beside me.