"Okay, I'll get going.

Thank you!"

"Don't mention it.

Come back anytime, okay?"

"Hi, I'm home!

Hey, Uncle Hiroshi.

Long time no see!!"

"Hey, Mion-chan.

Are you going home?

I have to give my clients a ride."

"A ride?

Ah, you're talking about your realtor business, huh?"

The Sonozaki family is one of the largest landowners here in the Hinamizawa area.

However, since all the land is out here in the countryside, it just ends up sitting there.

Recently, the land owned by the Sonozaki family was put on sale in lots.

At the family meeting, some of our relatives opposed the idea by saying we shouldn't sell off land that was handed down from our ancestors.

But Granny snapped and shut them right up.

Some of the unused fields were made into vacant lots and released for public sale.

Actually, I had some questions about it too.

The Sonozaki family is very wealthy.

We have plenty of land, as well as money.

So why did we have to sell it off?

What's more surprising to me is that Granny was the one who came up with the idea.

I would have thought she'd get furious if someone even mentioned something like that.

"Okay, if you're ever near the station, be sure to stop by.

I'll treat you to a cup of barley tea!!"

"Sure, thank you very much!

So how is your business going?"

"I'm surprised there are actually city folks who are interested!

They must be those nouveau riche types who live in the big city, yet also want a house in the countryside."

"Well, I guess some people are curious!"

"There's one family seeking to move here, not purchase a villa.

He said he wants to build a studio, so he must be an artist of some sort."

"Ho!

That's great!"

"Oh, gosh!

I better go now!"

Supposedly, he planned a tour to show them the lots, and he's the one driving the bus.

It should be about time for the tour and explanations to end.

He left in a hurry.

"Hey, can I ask you something?

Why did you want to sell our land? You don't like newcomers..."

"I don't like newcomers and I don't like big city people either.

...But the village needs them.

It's like ventilating a room."

"Is it good for the village to have new people move in?"

"This is a wonderful village.

But the world is changing quickly.

In the past, a very small change took ten or even twenty years to happen. It was such a quiet and unchanging village."

"Well, that's rural life.

In this village, nothing is different from yesterday and today.

...It's too boring for me, though!"

"But you made a friend, didn't you?

Rena Ryuugu-chan moved here and you got along great.

You told me you were happy that you had a friend your age."

"Yeah.

Making friends unexpectedly is fun."

"I remember you saying that school is boring when Rena-chan is absent.

Do you remember that?

Heh heh heh heh!"

"Are you saying that's the good thing about letting new people move here?"

"...No matter how cold it gets, you still have to ventilate your living space. Otherwise, it gets filled with bad air and you'll suffocate to death.

You open the window, even knowing the freezing cold air will come in."

"...Letting outsiders move here is like ventilating the village?"

"Sure.

It lets fresh air in and gets rid of bad air like us."

If I bring up the Houjou family, I know Granny will explode, so I won't.

But... I think what Granny is trying to say includes things like their ongoing isolation.

Even now, when she remembers about what happened at that explanatory meeting, she gets really upset.

But I guess even she feels that needs to come to an end.

But, of course, she can't just say she'll forgive them, not when she's at this stubborn age.

She can't lose face by openly saying they need to be forgiven.

......Honestly, I think she's behaving like a little schoolgirl who actually likes a person but treats them rudely when they're around.

...Maybe people really do go back to being children when they get old enough.

I'm not just talking about Granny.

The same can be said about all of the old people in the village.

...No, maybe I should say the evil around here.

That must be what she meant by bad air.

There's no use circulating the air in a closed room.

Unless you open the windows and let fresh air in, the air in the room won't be purified.

"We don't know if there's actually going to be people moving here,

but don't you think you're expecting too much from whoever does?

Heh heh heh!"

"Just Rena-chan moving here changed you, Mion.

Whoever moves here will change this village.

If possible, I hope some young and energetic people who have the charisma to lead will appear.

They need to be the ones to put us old people away into Heaven."

"Heh heh heh,

are you thinking about Gramps?"

"Damn you, nobody's thinking about him!

Here, have the housekeeper put away the tea set on the veranda."

"Okay, okay.

I will!"

"......Mion."

"Hmm?"

"...The day Satoshi Houjou disappeared,

you came to me, huh?"

"Ah, yeah, I guess I did...

Aha ha ha."

"That is...

what woke me up.

This problem with the Houjou family, we can't just let time take care of it.

We have to take care of it ourselves as soon as possible."

"But you can't do it yourself,

so you're going to have an outsider take care of it?"

"...That's the best I can do."

"No matter how bad your hand is, the next card can change the flow of the game.

So maybe it's a good idea to draw cards from the stack."

"Your generation will be a new wind. Let that new wind come from the outside.

And you'll be the wind from the inside. When both winds create a gale, the gust will blow away the stale air from the village."

"That's the epitome of leaving your problems to others.

You're the one who started the fire, and you're trying to have your grandchild take care of it?"

"...Oh, don't say that.

As the new leader of the Sonozaki family,

bring the new wind into the village."

"...If you're saying that's my job as your successor..."

"Please,

Mion.

I'm too old.

The only thing I can do now is to be despised by people."

The wind chime sounded quietly.

Maybe that's a sign to let us know a cool breeze is on the way...