Deep down... I was prepared for something to happen tonight, once again.

The first year, the workers were stirred into a frenzy, killing and dismembering the old man. And the second year, the Houjou couple were killed through a fake accident.

...Since the dam protests, only people who have been hated by the villagers died on the day of Watanagashi.

Some people in the village were calling the incidents "the curse of Oyashiro-sama".

Now that the dam protests are over,

there would be no meaning in the village's enemies being killed on the night of the festival, I thought.

If that was true, then there were still some enemies left over.

I thought that perhaps that would happen again on the night of the festival three years in a row.

My hunch was right.

At first, however, it looked so natural that I didn't think anything of it.

The festival was nearing its end and the village officials were gathered under the main tent.

They opened their beers and enjoyed the leftover corn and braised cow tripe from the refreshment stands.

I was in the main tent too, being entertained by the villagers.

So I was actually there at the scene of the third year's incident when it happened.

Yet, I didn't notice anything at the beginning.

"Hey, Furude-san, what's the matter?

Are you feeling sick?"

Most of the older folks in the village were heavy drinkers, but a few were lightweights too.

The priest was one of the latter.

The priest was a representative as well as a host during the Watanagashi festival.

So every time visitors and guests arrived, he greeted them, and each time he was offered a drink. So by the night's end, he was pretty worn out.

That's why I didn't think anything of it to see the priest sitting by himself in a folding chair.

The mayor, Kimiyoshi, was the one to tap his shoulder and ask him if he was alright.

"...Are you okay?

Ahhhahahahaha, you drank too much, didn't you?

Huh? Does your chest hurt?"

"......Hmmm...

Sorry, I think I'm a little tired."

"Huh? Didn't you have heart trouble before?

Getting sudden pains isn't a good sign!

Dr. Irie!!

Dr. Irieee!!"

"What's wrong?

Is it your chest?

That's not good..."

"..Mmmmm... Ooooh."

When I saw what was going on, I noticed he was covered in a terrible sweat and was definitely not relaxing in his chair and enjoying the cool evening breeze.

His face had a sickly pallor, and I thought he should lie down immediately.

"......I should probably take you to the clinic.

Are you okay?

Can you hold on to my shoulder?"

"Hey, somebody help!!"

"The priest doesn't feel well..."

"What's wrong with my husband?

Dear, are you alright...?"

"Takano-san!!

Perfect timing!

The priest doesn't feel well, so I'm going to take him to the clinic.

Could you please have the car come around here?"

"Sure.

No problem.

...Hee hee."

So the priest and his wife headed to the clinic with Dr. Irie.

......I don't know about young people, but the elderly know their own bodies well.

They almost never push themselves to the point where they start feeling ill.

Especially someone like the priest. It was hard to imagine him drinking himself sick.

The cumulative experience of my years was telling me something...

I headed to the Irie Clinic just in case.

I tried to follow their car, but because the festival was almost over and all the stands were closing up, there was a lot of traffic going in and out, making it almost impossible for me to leave the temporary parking lot.

More than twenty minutes had passed since the priest was carried in by the time I arrived at the clinic.

Twenty minutes.

If it hadn't taken me twenty minutes, my involvement in this year's incident would have been quite different.

...I regretted not leaving on foot the moment I realized how hard it was to get my car out.

......All I get to do now is jot down the facts.

Because between the time the priest left the festival and the time I arrived at the clinic, during those twenty minutes, this year's curse had taken place.

The priest's condition changed for the worse right after he arrived at the clinic.

He died.

The autopsy results say it was heart failure, but how can I accept that?

I don't think the priest was having health problems, and everyone was taken by surprise by this sudden event.

Moreover, the wife of the priest disappeared too.

According to the clinic staff, she was with him right after he died, but she's nowhere to be seen now.

Of course, she's not at home either.

Maybe someone poisoned the priest.

...During the dam conflict, the priest was frowned upon for his remarks. He said there was no need to make a big fuss, because the dam project would be canceled anyway.

The older villagers like to hold grudges and hadn't forgotten that, so even I had heard word of them talking about how the priest wasn't fit for the shrine to Oyashiro-sama.

I called for backup and had them go search for the missing wife.

...With last year's falling couple incident as precedent, it was easy to believe both wife and husband could become victims.

The village's youth group got organized and searched from the village to the mountains, and as a result...

We found a set of sandals and a will by the edge of the Onigafuchi Swamp.

The will said something about how her husband's death was the curse of Oyashiro-sama and she was throwing herself in the swamp to calm the god's anger.

In other words, she committed suicide by jumping into the swamp.

Legends say that the swamp is bottomless, and is connected directly to Hell. Once you sink, you'll never come back.

Divers from the police department searched the swamp, but her body was nowhere to be found.

The past two mysterious incidents were solved individually, just as the higher-ups say, but...

Something is odd about this year's mysterious death.

The ill priest was carried to the clinic.

His wife accompanied him.

Within twenty minutes, the priest died of heart failure, and the wife either committed suicide or disappeared.

The death of the priest may really have been a fatal heart attack.

But for his wife to assume that it was the curse, and to commit suicide by jumping into the swamp... for all that to happen in twenty minutes just doesn't seem natural.

The Furude family has no relatives.

Even if she was a true believer in Oyashiro-sama, how could she commit suicide while leaving behind her one and only daughter?

...Irie is hiding something, too.

But he's just a village doctor, which means he's nothing more than their pawn.

...If this is all a conspiracy to assassinate the priest, then there is someone who's pulling the strings.

I had been starting to think that trying to tie the past two incidents to the village so forcefully was a bit overbearing of me, but...

...this incident was enough to convince me that this series of cases involving mysterious deaths in Hinamizawa were all grounded in one intention.

This incident has countless numbers of discrepancies, but someone from the village seems to be putting pressure on high command.

And just like the past incidents, this one will be treated as an individual case, and end up being forgotten...

Since it happened three years in a row, everyone in the village will say it's the curse of Oyashiro-sama.

I think that's the culprit's goal.

After the war, belief in Oyashiro-sama became antiquated.

...Is someone committing these murders as a ritual to restore that god's dignity?

The one pulling the strings

must be the Sonozaki family.

A few months passed.

Oryou Sonozaki said something like, "it was natural for that priest to be cursed by Oyashiro-sama," and so the priest's case was lumped together with the mysterious Hinamizawa deaths, otherwise known as Oyashiro-sama's curse.

At first, I simply wanted to avenge the old man.

...But now that case had grown into an abnormal one, centered on the village's faith.

...Damn it!! The old man's killer is human.

...I won't let it be pushed off onto some nonsense curse!