"Ah... yeah, I remember you telling us about that...

Ha ha ha.

But, why?

Why do you think Takano-san and I will be murdered?"

"My, my.

Frankly, it would be an honor for us to be the victims of the fifth curse of Oyashiro-sama!

Hee hee."

...As I'd expected, they didn't really take me telling them that they'd be killed on the night of the festival seriously.

They did keep their promise to tighten up my security after I showed them the ritual storehouse...

However, they hadn't given one thought to their own safety.

Oh well... like I said, I didn't expect them to believe me.

If they were willing to take me seriously, I could've easily changed their fate a long time ago.

"......I'm only going to tell you this one more time.

Tomitake, you're going to claw out your throat and die...

Takano, you're going to burn to death on top of some mountain..."

"I'm going to claw out my throat... like the terminal symptoms of L5?

Don't worry. I took the shots.

I don't have the disease."

"What happens to me is horrible too.

I'm going to burn to death on some mountain?

...Did you have a dream about that?"

".........I just want both of you to be careful, at least for tonight.

Please listen to me, even if you don't really believe it."

"Did you have an ominous vision about some danger befalling us, perhaps?

Don't worry.

You're under the protection of the Mountain Dogs.

You've had eight security guards watching you today."

"......Thank you very much.

I know I'm being protected.

But I want you guys to be careful too."

"Thank you for your concern.

We'll be fine. I've even been working out.

I think I can protect myself."

Tomitake flexed his biceps and smiled.

He was probably trying to make me feel better.

But all he really did was make me feel sadder.

......This is the sad part about being me.

I know the future, but I can't tell them.

It's as if that was a rule of the world...

People tend not to believe what I tell them.

"......But you are going to die.

If Tomitake and Takano die, I'll be killed next.

If the two of you are dead, who will protect me?"

"It sounds like you had a horrible dream.

...Don't worry.

Even if we die, the Mountain Dogs will still protect you."

"Are you really sure they would?

They've never protected me before."

"That's not true.

They saved you when you got in a fight, remember?

They're watching you at all times.

Of course they aren't on alert at all times, but just as you requested the other day, the security around you is still extremely strong.

You even have a better security team than Dr. Irie."

"They'll keep on protecting me even after you die?"

"Of course.

You're the most important person to us."

"Ahahahaha...

So you're sure that we're getting killed tonight?

That's too bad."

"......If you have no intention to survive, then I only have to worry about myself."

My words must have left a mark on his heart.

He looked much more serious after I said that to him.

"...Good grief.

Okay then.

I'll be extra careful tonight.

I'll take a security guard with me when I'm going back to Okinomiya."

"I think someone might attack the two of you if you're alone together.

Make sure not to be alone with each other tonight."

"Hee hee hee...

My my, are you jealous?

You're such a precocious girl!"

...Like I thought, I can't change their fate.

When we saved Satoko, everyone shared the same sense of urgency.

That's why we all got together and saved her before it was too late.

However, these two have no sense of urgency at all.

How can I make them understand?

I sighed and gave up.

"...Tomitake, Takano...

Good bye.

Thank you for everything."

"Hey wait... Rika-chan...!"

I had nothing else to say to them now.

Instead, it might be worth talking to someone else.

If I could get someone else to protect them, I might be able to change something.

I can't give up yet.

Fate is as thin as a piece of paper...

It's just like the lid on a jar of jam.

It's not going to open unless you believe it will.

I have to believe that I can change my fate.

If I don't, it's not going to change.

"Tomitake-san and Takano-san...?

...Are you sure about this?"

I've told Irie about this so many times in the past.

Irie tends to listen to me more seriously than Tomitake and Takano do.

However, that doesn't mean that he can actually do something about it.

"I'm the shrine maiden of Oyashiro-sama, and I have a bad feeling about this... Is that not a good enough reason?"

"Ha ha ha ha.

...I understand.

It might be a message from Oyashiro-sama.

If that really happens tonight, it would be the fifth time in a row.

I'll tell the two of them to be cautious too."

All Irie would end up doing would be warning the two of them.

Which was exactly the same thing as what I did.

In other words, it wouldn't matter in the least...

Irie is just a researcher, and he has no ability to deal with unexpected trouble.

...That's why Takano works for him, after all.

"......Please talk to them.

Please."

Who else would treat me seriously?

Who would be able to prevent Tomitake and Takano's death?

That's right... there's one man who's been fighting the curse of Oyashiro-sama with all his might!

"Oh, it's Furude-san.

I've been looking for you.

Akasaka-san wants to say goodbye."

"......I guess he and I are not meant to be."

"Na ha ha!

You're still upset about last week.

Akasaka-san really regrets that he wasn't able to help you.

He says he'd love to come back to Hinamizawa again, when he has his next vacation.

Na ha ha!

But his wife took it personally.

She's pretty, his wife, but she can be scary too...

Nfu fu fu!"

"Ooishi...

...I have something important to tell you, but no one else believes me..."

"Hmm?

What's the matter?"

I've spoken to him several times in the past too.

He usually takes me pretty seriously.

However, after they die, he starts suspecting me. That's why I stopped talking to him.

"Where did you hear that?

Where at the festival?"

I told him that I heard someone talking about murdering them in the crowd.

That way, he might not be suspicious of me after the murder really happens.

"...Tomitake-san is not from around here... and with Takano-san, that makes two people......

One is going to die and one is going to disappear.

......This could be the fifth year's curse of Oyashiro-sama...

I can't take this as anything more than a rumor, you understand.

But just in case...

We'll keep our eye on the two of them tonight."

"I think they were saying that they were going to attack them somewhere between Hinamizawa and Okinomiya."

Tomitake's body will be found on the road leading out of the village.

...From what I remember, he's discovered where the concrete road turns to gravel.

"I see.

I'll have a cruiser patrol around there.

We can spare that, at least."

He agreed to get involved, and he wasn't suspicious of me either.

I'm sure it seems odd to people that Ooishi actually believed this phony-sounding story of mine.

The thing about Ooishi is that he strongly believes that there's no smoke when there's no fire.

I've learned from experience that he tends to believe my information.

However, that personality of his has caused me so much trouble in previous worlds...

Of course, there's no question why he's so eager to believe me, either.

This is his last chance to expose the curse of Oyashiro-sama before his retirement.

Even if it might be fake, he still wanted to believe it.

That was convenient for me, since I couldn't show proof.

"...Hey, Kuma-chan, you read? Can you hear me?

Have a cruiser patrol the road back to Okinomiya.

.........No, no, it's just a precaution.

I heard rumor that something bad might happen around there tonight.

Yeah, two officers would be fine.

Thank you."

"......Thank you.

...No one else believed me, and I didn't know what to do."

"It's my job to believe these things.

We'll just be glad if nothing happens.

Be happy to swing and miss!

Well, that's what my late colleague used to say.

Besides, it's even worse if you ignore what you're told and don't take precautions, you know?"

...I see.

That's his way of thinking about things.

...That was why he believed me without question.

I hope he won't consider me a suspect after they find their bodies tomorrow...

.........I shouldn't worry about that now.

I can still do more.

Who else should I talk to?

...Should I talk to my friends...?

I can't give up. I should at least try...

"No way!

You heard someone talking about that?

On the day of the festival? That's so wrong."

"You mean the curse, right?

You're talking about the curse of Oyashiro-sama that might happen tonight?"

"Yes.

It's happened four years in row.

Lots of people think that it's going to happen again tonight too."

"What they believe is their business, but it's not nice for them to talk about Tomitake-san and Takano-san like that."

"I think you should talk to them about it just in case, I think."

"......I already did, but they didn't believe me."

"I bet they didn't.

...But it's too late if something really does happen.

I think you should talk to Ooishi-san."

".......I already did."

"Huh, I'm kinda impressed you've done all that, Rika-chama.

I agree that they should take every precaution.

...Especially tonight."

"The series of mysterious deaths in Hinamizawa.

Commonly known as 'the curse of Oyashiro-sama.'

...I really don't want them to keep happening every year.

Somebody might end up imitating it, and it's bad publicity for the village too."

"So if nothing happens tonight, it means the curse is over, right?

We should definitely make sure that nothing happens, then."

"What can we do?

Are you suggesting that we should patrol around the village or something?"

"I think patrolling might be even more careless.

Do you really think we can do something about this?"

"For starters, there's a chance some deviant trying to imitate the serial murders might be within the Watanagashi preparation committee, so let's be wary of any unfamiliar faces."

"It's easy for us to tell strangers apart from the locals.

We can spot them right away.

I think we'll be fine..."

"......But Tomitake and Takano will still be killed."

"Rika-chan...

......All right. Let's try to do what we can."

"I agree!

We can't protect them all night, but let's stay with them at least until the festival is over.

As long as we're there, the bad guys won't be able to do anything to them."

I couldn't tell if they really believed me or not, but they listened to me, at least.

We decided to keep our eyes on Tomitake and Takano and protect them for the rest of the night.

I guess I've done everything I can now.

...Though it's hard to believe this is enough to prevent their deaths...

"......I just have to hope nothing's happened when I wake up tomorrow morning."

"...Do you think you can prevent Tomitake and Takano's deaths, Rika?"

"...It might be impossible.

Their deaths might be the bell that portends my doom."

"............Au au."

"But Takano told me earlier

that even if they die, the Mountain Dogs are supposed to keep protecting me.

They might bring in more squads from Tokyo too......

Even if they die, the situation will be different this time."

"............What if it still doesn't work out?"

"...Then I will just have to die...

Anyway, I'm not going to give up until the very end.

I'll struggle to my very limits.

I won't give up and spend the rest of my time drinking wine."

".........Do whatever you want to do, Rika."

"You still believe that nothing is going to change, Hanyuu?"

".........I don't believe anything. It's only fate."

"I keep getting hurt because I have hope, huh."

If I'm an actress trying to get up on the stage, Hanyuu is a real bystander.

We have very different opinions when it comes to this.

"......Rika.

No matter what happens, don't give up..."

"That sounds like you're convinced that nothing is going to change.

Lately, the things you say have been pissing me off."

"......Au au au..."

I understand.

Hanyuu keeps telling me not to get my hopes up because she cares about me.

Because I hope to defeat fate, I get hurt when that hope is betrayed.

And the more I get hurt, the closer I get to losing my mind and disappearing.

For Hanyuu, that means losing her only friend.

Losing me is probably the most unbearable thought for Hanyuu, since she has to live alone, unable to communicate with anyone else.

...I now believe that fate can be changed.

Even when I didn't have that faith, I still believed that eventually I'd find a way to get out of this maze.

Perhaps... Hanyuu knows something I don't.

I might just be a goldfish inside of a fish bowl.

There might be no way for me to escape my fate.

We're stuck alone inside of a fish bowl, yet every day I knock on the glass, believing that I can break it someday.

...Hanyuu keeps telling me that I'm wasting my time.

If I get hurt and die, she would have to survive all by herself inside the fish bowl.

With that, I think I finally understand our difference of opinions.

Hanyuu has lived for a much longer time than I have.

...Because of that, she understands the laws of this infinitely spanning world better than I do.

...No matter how much I refute Hanyuu... I can never refute the truth.

Even so...... I still have to believe in my own faith.

I believe in a spear that will pierce the wall of fate. My faith will make that spear sharper than ever.

We found Tomitake in the crowd and struck up a conversation with him to keep him around as long as we could.

However, as soon as the festival ended, they tried to leave.

If they left now, I'd never see them again.

Mion tried insisting they stay at her house for the night, but Tomitake refused.

Everyone tried various ways stop them from being alone because the murderer might be around.

However, we eventually started to believe that they wanted to be alone for adult reasons...

and I wound up suggesting that we shouldn't interrupt the two lovebirds...

"Don't worry, Rika-chan.

Tomitake-san is a man, after all.

I'm sure he'll do anything to protect Takano-san."

"Is that so?

If something happens, you'll rescue me, right?"

"Ah, ahahahahaha... Th-That's the plan!"

"Well, we really should go now.

It's getting pretty late."

"Thank you for your concern.

Hee hee..."

"D-Don't make any assumptions!!

I'm heading to the clinic because I left something there.

Takano-san has the key, so we have to go together!"

"Oh, I didn't know that you were into playing doctor."

"Nah, I think he's more into playing gynecologist.

Heh heh heh!"

Crash, bang, wham!!

"Hauuu!!

I wonder how they play doctor, I wonder!"

"Don't hit them just because you feel embarrassed...

And as for you two,

stop only getting along when you're making dirty jokes..."

"...G-Goodbye, everyone...

Ahahaha...

I really am just going back there to get what I forgot...

Don't follow us, okay...?

Ahahahaha..."

"Ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha... Hauuu!"

"......Tomitake... please be careful..."

"I do think you're overreacting, Rika.

...Hwaaaaah..."

Everyone laughed when Satoko yawned.

It seemed like a good time to call it a day.

...It doesn't feel like I was able to change their fate.

I just hope that they pay attention, and that they're prepared for whatever faces them.

...I still might have a chance.

All I can do now is pray.

"Good bye, Tomitake-san!

Please show us the pictures you took next time!"

"Make sure you wear your punishment shirt!!"

"Man, I'm so jealous you get to spend a night with a pretty lady! Whoo, whoo!"

"Ah, ahahahaha.

See you guys again.

I guess it'll be in fall."

"That's if we don't get killed tonight.

Hee hee.

Good night, everyone."

"Good night!"

That was the best I could do on the night of Watanagashi.