I didn't hear a wake-up chime.

I'm not in school anymore.

My brain is half-asleep, but I'm aware of that.

Waking up at the same time as the chime would go off at school... doesn't feel good.

I can't go back to sleep after this.

Still, I'm not going to live a torturous school life anymore.

I can make today either happy or boring. It's up to me.

Yay! That's really positive.

I feel like I'm alive for the first time in a while.

I didn't have any other clothes, so I was still wearing the school track uniform.

...It's supposed to have been designed by some famous Italian person, but... it just looks plain to me.

It really doesn't feel great to still be in clothes from that school. I want to enjoy my freedom as soon as possible.

I especially don't want to walk around outside wearing it.

I should have Kasai bring me some new clothes later.

And I should think of redecorating this room.

After all, this is going to be my castle from now on.

This is a room in a gorgeous apartment building in the suburbs of Okinomiya.

The property is one a realtor in my dad's conglomerate obtained after foreclosure due to some sort of dispute.

...Most of the residents moved out during that.

So while there are plenty of rooms, it's a lonely complex that feels devoid of people.

Plus, with the exception of the manager and a scant one or two others, all the residents are shady-looking people connected to my dad.

It probably won't be much longer before the virtuous residents are driven out...

The apartment I'm living in used to be the room they'd use for viewings, so it looks like a room in a business hotel.

It's fully furnished, but lacking in daily necessities.

I'll buy those things over time, though.

"...It's better that way, anyway.

It'll make it feel more like my own room."

I nodded to myself.

It might have looked stupid, but it helped psych me up.

At the school, there was a TV only in the common room, and we weren't allowed to watch any cable channels.

I zapped through all those channels as a form of emancipation.

It was early in the morning, so nothing interesting was on...

But I enjoyed it anyway. Commercials are fun to watch.

Kasai dropped by with lunch right when I started to feel hungry.

"Good morning, Shion-san.

Did you sleep well last night?"

"Sleeping on the couch was a bit too uncomfortable.

As a Japanese person, I want to sleep in a futon on the floor.

Ah, this pickled radish is good!"

"That's good to hear.

Please let me know what you need later on.

I'll try to get as much as I can."

"Thanks.

Oh, but you don't need to worry so much about me.

I chose this life for myself, anyway.

And your wallet wouldn't last if I started extorting you, right? Ahahahahaha!"

I have to be serious about my plan,

I can't let myself take advantage of Kasai's wallet forever.

"I think I'm going to start a part-time job.

I have to earn my own living.

This is the life I chose, so naturally I have to take care of it myself!"

"That's reassuring to hear.

But are you sure?

If you go outside, eventually someone in the family will discover you."

"I gave that a little thought.

Which is why I'll need Mion's help.

Kasai, would you mind calling the main house for me?

When Mion answers, pass me the receiver."

"Oh well, whatever you say.

What could be your plan?"

Kasai dialed the number.

It's funny to me that we're calling the main house, even though that's the place I most want to avoid at the moment.

"...Hello."

"Good morning.

......Is this Mion-san?

......It's been a while. This is Kasai.

...Yes.

Good morning.

...Could you hold for a moment?

I'm letting someone else on the phone."

I take the handset.

"Hello?

......Heh heh heh heh!

Can you tell who this is?"

"Th-

That voice!!

But that can't be true...!

Shion's still supposed to be confined to St. Lucia's...!

You can't be her...!"

"Yeah, they forbid outside calls at the academy.

But you're talking to me right now... heh heh heh!

Even my dim-witted older sister should understand what that means.

Heh heh heh!"

"...Did you...

sneak out

of the school?!

...Ho...

How...?!"

"That's not important...

I really missed you,

Sis..."

"......Ghh...

Shion...!!!"

"........."

That was as far as I could take it, and Mion had hit her limit too.

"Pff...

...Heh heh heh...

...Aha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!"

We both burst into laughter, unable to keep up our act.

...It's been a while since we laughed out loud with each other like this.

"It's been forever, Shion!!

Seriously, what's happened with you?!"

"There's not much else to it.

I haven't lied or anything."

"Wait... then you really ran away?!

...Oooh... great job..."

"The security wasn't tight enough to keep me locked up in there!

Ahaha!"

"...Maybe the school should be grateful you escaped quietly...

If you were serious, it'd be easy for you to blow up the whole building to make your escape."

"Well, I couldn't have done that, but I might have set it on fire.

Ahahahahaha!"

Kasai smiled at us in amazement, his face a blend of amusement and exasperation.

"Is it okay to talk to you now?"

"It's all right.

Granny is out for a lesson.

She's coming home later in the evening."

"That's good.

We should get together and talk soon.

Just over the phone for today though."

"Okay."

"Did anybody report my escape to our grandmother?"

"Nope.

We've heard nothing.

I pass along all the calls and guests for the main family now, so no news reaches Granny without going through me.

I'm sure she doesn't know."

"......Wow,

that's awesome.

You really sound like the next leader of the Sonozaki family."

"You know I don't like that. You should have taken my place."

"You're the one with the demon, aren't you?

Well, keep giving it your all.

I'll be rooting for you from the shadows.

Anyway, that's not important now. Ahaha!"

"You sound so indifferent...

Well, that's okay, I guess..."

"If you hear anything about me, give Kasai a call, okay?

I'd like to give you my number here, but... I'll keep it secret for the time being.

Sorry."

"All right...

If Granny hears you fled the school... there'll be all kinds of trouble.

I'll be on the lookout for now,

and I'll let Kasai-san know if something happens."

"Thanks.

I also have a favor to ask."

"I figured you would.

Oh, money's out of the question, okay?!"

"I never thought I could pester you for money.

I just want to ask you for a little help with my part-time job."

"I see.

...So that's it, then.

What exactly do you need?"

We can communicate fast in a situation like this.

We don't have to get into details because we know what's on each other's minds.

"Uncle Yoshiroh's on my side, isn't he?

I'm going to try and see if I can't get a part-time job at one of the businesses he owns.

Then I'll call you when I know my shift."

"So I just have to disappear while you're working, right?

...That's a little taxing..."

"What are you saying, Sis?

Are you turning down your only sister's request?

Seriously?"

"All right, all right. I'll do it!

I wouldn't want to see how you'd retaliate if I turned you down."

"Ahaha!

Thanks!

I'll buy you a cake from Schlanke Bertha's!

I'll throw in tons of pretty tarts too!"

"...Uh, Shion...

Schlanke Bertha closed last fall."

"Huh?

......Uh, is that so?"

"Yeah...

The owner had a stroke.

He reopened the store once

but he got sick again...

So he had to shut it down."

"......I see...

that's a shame...

I won't be able to eat their Mont Blanc cakes to my heart's content anymore."

I was disappointed that my favorite cake shop had closed down,

but more so that this town had changed without my knowing while I was gone.

It was... kind of regrettable.

"......Are there any other changes I don't know about?"

"Yeah,

there are some.

I'll tell you when we meet up next time."

"Thanks.

I'll tell you about my school life.

Let's set a date.

I'll call you."

"All right.

I'll see you then."

"...Mion?"

"What is it?"

"How are you?"

"Aha ha ha. I'm fine!"

"I'm glad to hear that.

I'm hanging up now."

"Okay.

See you."

It's really been a while since I last talked to her.

I put down the phone and heaved a sigh as Kasai brought in some tea.

"So, how did it go?"

"Do you remember Uncle Yoshiroh, who was in favor of me staying?

I'll talk to him about my escape

and ask him if he can hire me to work at one of his stores."

"Are you sure?

Some other relative might find out."

"That's why I asked Sis a favor.

I'll contact her when my shift is set,

and she'll disappear while I'm working.

Do you get the picture?"

Kasai looked puzzled.

It's not really that difficult to grasp.

"It's simple.

If somebody finds me at work, I'll tell them that I'm Mion.

Do you get it now?"

Normal people wouldn't buy this kind of plan.

But Kasai knows too well how easy it is for my sis and me to trade places.

"That's audacious... or shrewd, I should say......

I'm impressed."

"Is that a compliment, Kasai?

Hee hee hee...!"

Kasai looked amazed.

If things go south, it'll affect him too.

...Considering the rules of my dad's profession, he won't be able to get away with just a mere apology.

That's why he doesn't want me to do anything too risky.

...I think I have to make it up to him, since he helped me escape even knowing that risk.

"All right. No problem.

If I find somebody talking bad about you, I'll beat them up."

"Ahaha!

Thank you so much!

I knew I could rely on you, Uncle Yoshiroh!"

Uncle Yoshiroh pounded his chest with his fist after offering me his assurance.

He seemed glad that I turned to him first.

"I'd be happy to help

since I'm so impressed that you're trying to support yourself.

If you were here for money, I'd turn you in to your grandmother right away!"

"What?

You're scaring me, Uncle!

Ahahahahahaha!"

I knew he was reliable.

He understood my situation straight away and promised to help.

"Manager, here's the shift chart.

I'll put it here."

One of the store clerks brought out a work schedule.

...There are many things I'm unfamiliar with written on it.

"...So, how much can you work?"

"That depends on our respective schedules.

I hope I can get in when I want to."

"Hey, that sounds a little irresponsible...

But... I know you're in a difficult situation..."

I'm depending on Mion for my work.

Our schedules have to match.

...Of course, Uncle Yoshiroh understood that.

But I also knew he couldn't afford a selfish part-timer who only works when she wants to.

In the end, he decided to hire me as an office helper, not an official worker.

As a temp, I wouldn't have a work schedule.

My uncle also decided to pay me out of his own pocket.

"Ahaha.

It's fine as long as I can make enough to support myself."

"Sure, sure.

I expect to get what I'm paying for, okay?

And don't call me 'Uncle' in the office, either."

"All right, manager!

Thanks for hiring me!"

"Good, you get it!

Ha ha ha ha ha!"

Once all the business talk was over, my uncle hounded me with all kinds of questions.

He asked me things like,

"What was it like in a prestigious girls' boarding school?!"

And so on.

Apparently there were all kinds of rumors going around about the St. Lucia Academy I was confined to, and everyone was curious about it.

I added a few embellishments of my own as I explained how unordinary life at that school was.

My uncle looked extremely delighted to hear all the little details about life in a secret garden for girls...

Horny bastard.

Once my uncle was satisfied, it was my turn to ask all kinds of questions.

I wanted to know if anything peculiar had happened while I was gone.

I won't be able to act like Mion unless I can fill in the gap of information left in the past two years.

"There haven't been many big changes.

It's been quiet since the end of the dam conflict."

"I went to the academy only a bit after they froze the project.

There was still a bit of tension then."

"Even after they shut down construction, things were still tense because the project wasn't entirely canceled,

but the Onigafuchi Guardians disbanded about a year later.

There was a big ceremony held at the shrine.

That's when the dam conflict officially ended."

"That's right after I was imprisoned...

Is everybody slacking now that the conflict is over?"

"Wa ha ha ha!

I guess you all had fun playing at war back then during the dam protests, didn't you?

Try to imagine how much suffering the adults went through every time they had to come pick up their kids from the police station."

"Ahahaha!

Well, I can't deny that.

It was like a festival for us!"

Uncle Yoshiroh seemed exasperated at how differently kids and adults treated the conflict.

"Oh yeah, there was that dismemberment murder, wasn't there?

The one where that fucking jerk of a construction manager got split into pieces.

They still haven't caught the culprit behind that, have they?

Did they finally catch him?"

"Ah... come to think of it...

I don't think they've caught him yet, no."

"It happened on the night of Watanagashi, didn't it?

I remember everyone making a fuss about it being Oyashiro-sama's curse.

...That was pretty scary for us kids."

"Yeah, yeah, Oyashiro-sama's curse.

That happened the year after, too."

"That's right!

That was scary too, wasn't it?!

Who was it again? That guy who supported the dam died in an accident, right?

Houjou, wasn't it?

And it happened on the day of Watanagashi once again.

Everyone went crazy! Saying it had to be a curse!

That was horrifying.

Definitely."

The construction manager that everyone hated was killed and dismembered on the night of the Watanagashi festival.

That incident, on its own, was more than intense enough for us kids.

Worse, part of his body was never found... which made it almost a ghost story amongst us.

We seriously believed that the severed right arm was roaming in search of the body it belonged to.

It didn't take long for the rumor of Oyashiro-sama's curse to become a topic of discussion among occult researchers and the like,

considering the circumstantial factors.

Even so, the rumor faded away after about a year.

...After the dam project was officially frozen, we held Watanagashi purely as a festival.

But the curse struck again.

The victim was a pro-dam activist who lived in Hinamizawa, by the name of Houjou. He and his wife were on a trip when they fell from a cliff to their deaths. It was considered an accident.

(Technically, police were still searching for the wife's body.

If I remember right, they never did find it, did they?)

Once again, the man most worthy of Oyashiro-sama's curse fell victim on the night of the Watanagashi festival.

So the fuss over Oyashiro-sama's curse rose up again.

Until then, Oyashiro-sama wasn't considered very important.

At least in the world of us kids, it was just the name of the object of worship in the shrine. Nothing more than that.

I'd seen boys peeing on the archway, and I once stuck my hand into the offertory box.

The existence of a god didn't matter much to us.

But after two consecutive occurrences, the kids no longer doubted the existence of a curse.

We were all shaking in fear of Oyashiro-sama.

Everybody suddenly became interested in the old stories about him, too.

We quietly listened to the musty old stories the elders had to tell,

and we started genuinely believing in the tales of Oyashiro-sama's miracles, which any of us would've laughed away before.

Oyashiro-sama's rules were awfully simple and clear.

Enemies treading into Hinamizawa will be cursed.

Villagers leaving the village will be cursed.

What defined the "village" was terribly vague. Were we never allowed to leave Hinamizawa Village? Was going to Okinomiya still safe?

Was a single step enough to be out? Was a 3-day, 2-night hot spring trip still safe? We kids tried to draw a line.

It was decided in the end that if you had a house in Hinamizawa or Okinomiya, you were safe,

and it was okay to go on trips if you had a house in either area.

(I know it's weird,

but those rules were made up by kids, after all.)

According to those rules, I'd be cursed, since I lived at a boarding school in such a remote area.

I couldn't say it out loud because I felt embarrassed...

But in fact, I was a little scared of the curse.

"Yeah, it happened again the year after."

"It sure is scary when it happens two years in a row.

I still believe in Oyashiro-sama's power."

"Shion-chan, what are you saying?

Don't you know?"

"Know?

About what?"

"...Oh, right.

You went to that school before it happened...

That's why you don't know."

Uncle Yoshiroh grimaced as if he said too much.

...As though he'd mentioned something

I shouldn't know about...

"What is it?

You can't leave me hanging like that."

"...Well... I think you're mature enough now."

"Hey, if you think my body looks underdeveloped,

you should see an eye doctor.

Either that, or you're a pedo."

"......Ah, humph, okay,

I'll talk.

It happened again the year after that."

"What happened?

...What are you talking about?"

Tick.

When I was very little...

......I always had this tick before I heard something bad.

It was like a gnome who lived inside me was giving me a warning.

...Like he was poking me with a small needle.

When I felt this tick before my parents called me, they'd always either chide me or tell me something bad.

...So I used to run away when I felt it.

But my senses seem to have grown dull over the years.

Even though my gnome poked at me...

I just sat there.

"Hmm...

The year after the death of the Houjous...

It happened again...

Last year, in other words."

"Did it...

happen on the day of Watanagashi?!

Again?!

Three years in a row?!"

"That's right.

You know there's a shrine in Hinamizawa?

The Furude Shrine?

...The priest suddenly died on the night of the festival.

They said that the cause of death was an unknown illness.

And the same night, his wife threw herself into the swamp...

There was a big uproar!

The mayor even had to hold an emergency meeting......"