The rainy season was just around the corner, and the air had become so humid that my shirt stuck to my skin.

...It had been a few weeks since Satoshi-kun stopped showing up for baseball practice.

I looked for him as soon as I arrived at the field.

......He's not here yet... Did I get here too early...?

I want to see him playing in the field right when I get here......

I had started arriving late because of those feelings.

However, he wasn't here today either.

"......................."

I didn't even bother hiding my disappointment anymore.

Everybody knew by now how I felt.

The team members from Mion's class came over to try and console me...

but I shooed them away.

"......What's going on, Sonozaki-san?

Are you feeling sick...?"

Even Irie couldn't comfort me.

...I was aware that he, too, knew why I was like this.

"...I'm going home.

I don't feel like watching the practice today."

"...Look, we're having a meeting with the Okinomiya Titans later...

I wanted you to be there, because you're our manager..."

"...Don't treat me like a manager...

I never agreed to be one."

Irie looked down, not knowing what to say.

"All right...

Please help us again when you feel like it."

"Maybe I won't be coming back...

If you really need a manager, look for somebody else."

"...Please do come again

whenever you feel like it...

Satoshi-kun will be sad if you're not here when he comes back."

I ignored him and turned around.

I had already set up my schedule with Mion, so I didn't have to ask her every time anymore.

I'd tried to contact her a couple of times to ask how Satoshi-kun was doing in school, but I hadn't been able to get through to her.

Apparently, the hag had sensed that I might be in contact with Sis.

In other words, Sis was being watched.

...As a result, it hasn't been easy to contact her.

Kasai, who had been helping me contact her, seemed to also have been marked. People knew he was loyal to me.

I hadn't seen him for a while either.

All I could do was wonder how Satoshi-kun was doing...

...I was frustrated, because there was no way for me to know.

...My head was filled with worries...

But something surprised me out of the blue.

Somebody called out to me when I was about to leave the field on my bike...

"Mii-chan... Hello."

I'd never seen this girl before.

...Luckily, she called me 'Mii-chan.'

There's only one person who refers to Mion that way, as far as I know.

"......Rena...

I'm surprised to see you here."

Her name is Reina Ryuugu.

Her real name is Reina, but she wants to be called 'Rena.'

...So that's what we call her.

She moved here in April.

I had some information on her, but it was all ambiguous.

......Sis was still a bit uncertain about her, since she's so new.

...It was hard for me to handle someone like that.

I didn't know how to act around her, as Mion.

...So, I decided to pretend to be in an obvious sulky mood.

That way, she wouldn't talk to me as much, assuming that Mion was simply feeling bad...

Well, that's how I really am, anyway.

"...Are you going home, Mii-chan?"

"Yeah...

...I guess I'm not feeling well?

Sorry."

"Let's go together, then."

...I wanted to say that I'd rather be alone... but there's only one road to Hinamizawa.

So, asking to be alone would look odd.

The only way to not seem suspicious...

would be to walk home with her.

"...Yeah...

let's go."

Rena quietly nodded. I unlocked my bike.

"......Mii-chan, do you have an umbrella?"

"Nope."

"It might rain soon...

so let's hurry a bit, since you don't have one."

As she predicted, we were attacked by pouring rain on our way.

We ended up taking shelter in a small shack in front of a bus stop.

"It's pouring... but it doesn't look it's going to last long, since the sky over there is clear."

"...Yeah."

I heard the sound of rain pattering on the rooftop and the raindrops jumping into puddles.

It sounded loud, but... it made me feel strangely calm.

I zoned out for a moment... then Rena talked to me while looking up at the rainy sky.

"...I was worried about you,

'cause you looked so down."

All the baseball team members knew I was depressed because I hadn't seen Satoshi-kun recently.

Most of them attend the school in Hinamizawa.

...So it wasn't surprising that she knew as well.

I hadn't been able to contact Sis these past few weeks,

but I was sure she had an idea of how I feel about Satoshi-kun, and how I would feel if he didn't come to his baseball practice.

...Sis was probably pretending to act a little depressed during her day to day in Hinamizawa to avoid creating a big gap between our moods.

But neither of us knew the details about the other right now.

...So she wouldn't be able to answer if others asked her what was wrong.

She'd only be able to say, 'leave me alone.'

That might lead more people to become worried.

Rena must've thought Mion was depressed.

That must be why she came all the way to see me.

...She must have known what was going on, because she knew that I was at the baseball field.

".........Do you feel lonely because Satoshi-kun is avoiding us...?"

"....................."

Having deduced what'd been going on with Satoshi-kun from what she just said...

...He'd been distancing himself from others lately because of exhaustion.

...That's what it sounded like, at least.

"......He looked like... he was very worried about Satoko-chan..."

"....................."

"...I think... he's really on edge...

I feel bad for him..."

"......He really cares about his sister......

He has a lot of courage."

What I'd said sounded hollow,

as I knew too well how much of a burden Satoko had become.

"...But... I think he'd feel even worse if you also looked that depressed... I think..."

".....................I don't want that."

"I know...

but if you really don't,

then you need to smile for him... otherwise, he might really feel cornered."

"....................."

"I know you're strong.

You can smile, even if it's just pretend...

So, I want you to smile no matter what...

You know that lies can become true sometimes?"

...What she was saying, in a nutshell, was this.

Both Satoshi-kun and Satoko were totally wiped out.

If Mion was also depressed, even though she's the sort of person who usually lightens the mood, their situation would be stuck in a vicious cycle.

Rena sounded more like she was trying to give me advice than trying to console me... she must be more mature than she looks.

Sis told me that she was a funny girl with a few bad habits.

...But she seemed to have another, very mature side to her...

"...Do you love... Satoshi-kun?"

"......Yeah."

...Though I shouldn't have told her that...

I immediately responded.

"...In that case,

why don't you smile?"

Rena smiled herself.

"I believe Satoshi-kun will feel better if he sees your smile...

I know you feel powerless now, but...

your smile will give him strength."

".....................I know what you're saying, but...

it's not that easy..."

Rena giggled and nodded.

"He'll come back after he's done with his part-time job."

...His part-time job?

I almost asked that question, but I managed to stop myself.

From the tone of Rena's voice, it sounded like it was something everyone knew.

"......His part-time job, huh?

......I wonder when it'll end..."

"Until he has enough money, I guess...

but he'll finish by Satoko-chan's birthday, at the latest."

I tried to figure out what was going on from what she said.

I had to listen very carefully to uncover the whole picture.

...Satoshi-kun seemed to be working in order to make some money.

I don't think it's easy to find a job when you're still in school......

Sis might have had something to do with it.

His job only seemed temporary.

...And it seemed to have something to do with Satoko's birthday.

It wasn't that difficult to figure out.

...Satoshi was working and saving up to buy his little sister something expensive for her birthday.

He was trying to comfort her.

......Even though he was so torn up himself.

...Satoko again.

Satoshi-kun was already worn out because of her, and he was now working for her sake, even though he was exhausted.

...How stupid.

...It would be easier for him to just forget about Satoko.

"............!"

I was startled when I realized Rena was looking straight into my eyes.

She was smiling, but... her eyes looked creepy.

I never voiced what I was thinking...

but she was looking at me as though she figured out that I was blaming Satoko.

She beamed when she noticed my fear.

She smiled as though she understood that I thought that way because of love......

She was giving me the creeps.

...I could hear thunder roar in the distance.

The rain began to pick up.

"...Do you feel jealous of Satoko-chan because she monopolizes Satoshi-kun?"

"........................"

I avoided answering immediately this time.

...But Rena seemed to know what I was thinking already.

"Ahahaha. I wouldn't be upset even if you did.

That's just how it is when you're in love."

"...Thanks."

"You've been encouraging Satoko-chan despite that...

That's admirable."

"...Of course I have...

She's my friend..."

I sounded so fake.

I felt like spitting on the floor.

"All we can do is encourage Satoko-chan and Satoshi-kun...

I don't know how to save them from their situation..."

"...Satoko is relying on Satoshi-kun way too much...

If she were stronger, he wouldn't have to suffer in her place."

"......Ahahahahaha.

You sound really straightforward."

Rena nodded with an unflinching smile even though my remarks could be taken as harsh.

......What was this mysterious girl thinking? ...It was difficult to get a read on her.

"Maybe... Satoshi-kun feels that way a little, too."

"Eh...?"

Rena kept smiling, but her smile looked strangely cold.

"...I think... he's tired of protecting Satoko-chan, and he's aware of that."

Given the type of person Rena is...

I don't think she'd say something if she wasn't certain of it.

...Because of that, she must've been confident in what she just told me.

"Why... do you think that?"

"...He said so."

"...What?"

Satoshi-kun secretly confessed to her. Rena asked me to keep it that way.

"Satoshi-kun told me...

that he felt tired of protecting Satoko-chan.

He was feeling guilty, though."

I don't think he would say something like that.

...But, however,

it wasn't likely that Rena was lying.

I'd just met her, so I didn't know what made me feel that way......

but my hunch told me that she was telling the truth.

...I heaved a huge sigh.

Satoshi-kun must've gotten so tired that he couldn't help telling someone.

...Even so...

......Even if he thought that way, he wouldn't tell somebody so easily.

...Maybe... Rena led him to do so.

She might be capable of something like that.

...I don't understand

this girl.

It had only been a little while since we'd met, but I'd already started talking about something I was keeping deep inside of me.

...Does she have some kind of supernatural power to reach into people's minds and drag out what they're thinking?

...It suddenly hit me that I was sitting with this creepy girl in a tiny shack.

...I'd been dragged into her strange world.

I don't think Sis has realized Rena's real personality.

She thinks Rena is just a funny girl with some strange habits.

...She would've told me if she knew.

"...I guess Satoshi-kun must trust you a lot if he confessed that to you....

Hahaha... I'm a little jealous."

"...It's not because he trusts me...

I think it's because I've experienced the same thing."

"You what?

...Did you also have to cover for your siblings once?"

"Those footsteps

always followed me......

They even came to my bedside and looked down at me."

Huh???

...Sorry, Rena.

What are you talking about?

...I turned around to face her.

...And got the chills.

...Though she was smiling... her eyes

looked ice cold.

I trembled... and froze

with my eyes open.

"......Have you experienced anything like that?

...Ahaha, I guess not.

Probably."

Ahahahahaha...

Rena kept laughing self-derisively.

...I tried to figure out what she was saying.

"...Have you ever thought of leaving Hinamizawa

and moving to a big city?

...Have you ever thought of doing something like that?"

...I didn't know how to respond.

Rena waited for my answer, urging me to speak with her silence.

"...N-

No...

I love it here."

"Yeah, that's right, isn't it?

I knew that.

Ahahahahahahahaha."

It didn't seem like a good idea to lie to her.

...Rena has some kind of power I can't grasp.

...She can read people's minds just by seeing the slightest change in their expressions.

So I had to tell her the truth.

"You'll be okay, if that's true...

Oyashiro-sama won't get mad at you."

"Oyashiro-sama...?"

Oyashiro-sama.

That's Hinamizawa's guardian deity.

...I couldn't understand why she mentioned that name. My mind stopped for a moment.

"That's right.

Oyashiro-sama."

She calmly repeated the name as if trying to teach me something.

Yeah...

I remember.

Oyashiro-sama never allows heathens to desecrate Hinamizawa.

Oyashiro-sama never allows the villagers to leave, either.

Those are the rules.

Slowly,

I recalled the fear of the curse which supposedly caused the dismemberment murder and the death of the Houjou couple.

...When I was sent to the institution...

I had this fear.

I was scared that if I went to that faraway boarding school, I'd fall under the curse.

But... I should be okay.

I escaped from the school and returned to my hometown (to Okinomiya, to be precise,

but it should be okay according to the kids' rules) because I love Hinamizawa.

The hag forces me to live this suffocating life, but I still chose to stay in this place.

...I don't believe I'm breaking Oyashiro-sama's rules.

Even though the Sonozaki family had selfishly banished me to a remote place, I came back here anyway.

...Oyashiro-sama should even bless me for that...

...I guess I'm trying to convince myself that the curse doesn't apply to me.

But...

...I think

I'm still afraid of it.

"...I love this place,

so I don't think I qualify for Oyashiro-sama's curse...

You could even call me a model villager."

"Yes,

I think so, too......

But... I'm not sure about Satoshi-kun."

"...Why...?!"

"Satoshi-kun wants to leave Hinamizawa and run far away...

even if only unconsciously..."

.....................Eh...?

I gave an inaudible cry.

...While I was feeling sad that Satoshi-kun hadn't shown up for practice,

he still lived in Hinamizawa.

......So, I'd never even considered the thought of him going away.

"Are you saying that... he wants to skip town...?"

"Yes......

he's not aware of it himself, though.

He probably didn't notice it until Oyashiro-sama stood by his bed."

I still had no idea what she was talking about.

...I continued trying to figure out what she was saying.

"Everything he's going through... is a sign of Oyashiro-sama's curse.

...You feel like someone is watching you from a distance... and it follows you... Then it watches from right behind you...

...After that, you start hearing an extra footstep.

It only happens outside at first...

but you start hearing it even inside your house after a while.

Then... Oyashiro-sama keeps watching you even when you're sleeping in the dark...

right by your side, waiting silently...

for you to admit your sin.

Satoshi-kun told me he was having nightmares at first...

So, I asked him what kind of dreams he was having......

And those dreams he was having,

as it turned out,

were just like mine...

I warned him that the presence would become bigger, he'd hear an extra footstep, and feel the presence watching him in his sleep.

I told him to come to me if that ever happened.

...He must have been suspicious at first.

But... just as I predicted...

he started to feel Oyashiro-sama's presence more strongly.

He finally realized he could talk to me about it."

......Rena didn't look like she was joking.

She just calmly told me what had been going on.

I couldn't even move.

...I couldn't tell if her words were a joke... or the truth.

I could only feel stunned.

"I'm from Hinamizawa originally,

but I moved to Ibaraki Prefecture right before I went to elementary school...

However, when I couldn't adjust to my new environment...

Oyashiro-sama frequently started telling me to return to Hinamizawa, in my head......

But I couldn't do anything, since I was just a little kid...

I was forced to live there, though I felt threatened by Oyashiro-sama's voice......

then...

....................."

Rena paused.

...It looked like she didn't want to go into the details of what followed......

In general, she confused me even more.

"Anyway, I was able to come back here in the end.

......Oyashiro-sama forgave me......

I haven't felt his presence any more since then.

...Satoshi-kun is being subjected to the curse even though he's in Hinamizawa.

......Why?

...There can only be one reason.

It's because he wishes to abandon Hinamizawa...

Oyashiro-sama won't allow that.

...After a series of inner monologues,

he confessed...

You know he's working part-time, don't you?

The teddy bear he's getting for Satoko-chan costs about 100,000 yen,

and he's trying to get the money by her birthday.

Have you noticed it yet?

Think about it like this.

If he had that amount of money,

that'd be enough for him to run away somewhere far from here.

He unconsciously started to think about that,

about leaving Satoko-chan behind.

But he'd feel very guilty.

As you pointed out, Satoko-chan is a burden on him...

He's not stupid, so he's aware of that......

He just doesn't want to admit it, because he's the one who's supposed to protect his little sister.

He's been struggling with himself.

He thinks he's working to please Satoko-chan on her birthday.

......But he also feels that he might be deceiving himself, because he unconsciously wants to skip town with that money.

...I don't think he should run away.

Even if he did, he'd regret it for the rest of his life.

Oyashiro-sama knows that. That's why Oyashiro-sama is trying to warn him.

......I hope Satoshi-kun stops thinking of abandoning Satoko-chan...

He's working hard to make it to Satoko-chan's birthday, which is...

a couple of days after the Watanagashi festival?

......He's pushing himself too hard...

He believes it'll end when Satoko-chan's birthday comes.........

The curse keeps cautioning him

while he tries to figure out whether he should leave or continue protecting her."

...The torrential rain didn't seem to want to stop.

It kept pouring down on the galvanized iron roof, producing a loud noise...

yet in the shack, it fell completely silent.

What the hell was Rena talking about...?

I couldn't grasp even half of what she was saying.

The only thing I had figured out is that Satoshi-kun was struggling, confused, and in lots of pain.

He's suffering from Oyashiro-sama's curse?

......And Rena has experienced that before...?

The Watanagashi festival was...

right around the corner.

Oyashiro-sama's curse had struck three years in a row.

...There was no guarantee that it wouldn't strike a fourth time.

Satoshi-kun was...

subject to Oyashiro-sama's curse, even now?

Was he going to skip town?

Was he going to be the next victim of Oyashiro-sama's curse?

......Either way

...... he might disappear forever.

Could I do something to prevent it?

...If I didn't do anything... it would all come to a hopeless end...

End?

...I started feeling a sense of dread.

I didn't buy the crazy story Rena told me.

......But... if something really was happening to Satoshi-kun, which might bring about some kind of an end, I couldn't help feeling scared.

It's true, isn't it.

.....................My instinct is always correct.

I decided to contact Mion despite the danger.

...Mion got upset at first, but she had to listen to me.

"Sis...

what's going on

with Satoshi-kun?"

"...He looks really stressed out...

I can't even talk to him."

"......What do you mean?

You don't know what's going on because you can't talk to him?"

"......Sorry."

"......Sis,

give me another chance to trade spots again."

"Um, that's fine.

But I'm kind of busy lately attending meetings for the festival...

What are you planning to do?

Another part-time job?"

"I'm going to your school."