...What are you doing?

I don't see you playing by yourself that often.

All you could do before was to nod to my questions...

Since when do you have your own will?

...I'm glad.

I finally have a sister or a brother.

Whichever you are.

I used to be an existence of nothingness, just like you.

But one day, I began to have my own identity,

my own thoughts,

and eventually, my own body.

So it's not a surprise to see you in possession of your own will.

Welcome to this vast yet tiny world,

my sister.

You might be my brother, but let me call you my sister until I know for sure.

This is an endless, eternal, and infinite world.

But that doesn't mean it's boundlessly vast.

I suppose...

you could describe it like a ring with a small diameter.

While the ring is an eternal, endlessly looping world...

that doesn't mean it contains infinite space.

Yes, in short, this world is eternally sealed.

The future is supposed to be an infinite weave of countless choices...

...yet for whatever reason, our world always ends in death.

If I were to compare it to something, perhaps a 'maze of fate' would be appropriate.

Looping through the same moments forever... steadily grows harder and more dejecting, eventually producing something like me.

...Then as that draws further on, even one like you is born, and eventually this world may be filled with your sisters too.

After that, we'll build a colony inside of it,

and once we lose our interest in this maze, "Rika Furude" will disappear from this world.

...It looks like you still cling to this narrow world, Rika.

Though I lost interest long ago.

Which is why I'm truly glad you were born for me to talk to.

So what are you doing?

Are you collecting Fragments of memory?

There's only five or six of them right now.

It must still be fun for you, though.

There used to be more Fragments long ago,

but one by one they disappeared into the darkness.

Now, these are the only ones that remain clear.

Oh, that's not how you're supposed to use it.

See?

Try and hold it up to the light...

All of that

is the life of Rika Furude,

and its end.

That one is...

Oh...

I remember that one...

That's the world when Keiichi was cursed.

Those Fragments are like books to me, so I titled that one the "Onikakushi" chapter.

Do you remember what happened in that one?

Good...

That makes things easier.

In Onikakushi, Keiichi Maebara was consumed by the darkness.

He couldn't accept the kind words his friends offered him, and eventually beat them to death, not knowing of their kindness.

We were all killed after that anyway.

That had nothing to do with his story, though.

That Fragment is the "Watanagashi" chapter.

Shion Sonozaki was cursed in that one.

She killed many people out of revenge for her boyfriend's disappearance, as he went missing in 1982.

Rika worked so hard.

But she was captured at the end, and she was tortured to death.

That's why she chose to commit suicide in the "Meakashi" chapter, because things were going to turn out the same way...

That Fragment over there is called the "Tatarigoroshi" chapter.

Satoko's uncle came back and locked her up inside her house.

That was the worst world of all.

There was nothing Rika was able to do in that world.

Whenever Satoko's uncle comes back, Rika usually just gives up on that world.

Fortunately, Satoko's uncle doesn't come back that frequently.

That one is called the "Tsumihoroboshi" chapter.

Rika was there until just a moment ago.

Rena Ryuugu was possessed in that world.

It was pretty exciting to see her take over the whole school.

It surprised me to learn that Keiichi Maebara had a memory of the other worlds, just like we do.

It was pretty amazing, but then again most of us have some kind of memory like that.

We all have an imaginary world within us--some idea of what would've happened

if you did things differently.

It's like the strange feeling you get when you do something for the first time, but it feels like you've done it before.

Everyone has a memory of an imaginary world in their mind, but the memory is not always that clear.

It's not surprising, really.

You are special enough to be able to see those Fragments of memory.

It's probably very difficult for you

to understand how special you really are.

You were born into a world where it's a natural thing for you to see these Fragments.

I was originally born in the normal world.

I didn't know until recently that I could collect these Fragments of memory.

You grabbed those Fragments just because you could, but I didn't know how to do that for a long time.

...I'm sorry.

I'm sure you're not interested in hearing my story.

Huh?

What's wrong?

What are you curious about?

Oh...?

You're curious as to why so many different incidents occur in the same world?

Hee hee...

...It's very interesting, isn't it?

Why do you think that's the case?

Let's think about it together.

Thinking is the first step towards playing a game.

The main character among Rika's group of friends...

is Keiichi Maebara.

In Onikakushi, he was possessed by suspicion and killed Rena Ryuugu and Mion Sonozaki.

If that was an inevitable event, he would be killing them in every world.

In other words, what Keiichi Maebara did in Onikakushi was not inevitable.

Indeed...

...

The only thing that's inevitable...

is Keiichi Maebara's role.

If Keiichi Maebara was someone with a naturally-suspicious heart,

he would take the same actions in every world.

But that didn't happen.

It's true that Keiichi Maebara is both passionate and easily convinced of anything,

but it's rare for him to exhibit the kind of rage he displayed in Onikakushi.

In other words, even though something might seem inevitable in one world, that may not be the case if you compare it to a different one.

If something really is inevitable, it will happen for sure in every life.

That's what true inevitability is like.

It's very important that you know that.

When you compare the different worlds, what's common among all of them is the truth.

Understand?

Like I said, what seems inevitable in one life could just be a random event in another.

The club activities that Mion Sonozaki suggests are a good example.

If Mion Sonozaki had a strong inclination toward playing certain games, you would be playing them in every world.

But in reality, you participate in different activities in most of them.

That means that the games they play in the club are randomly decided by Mion Sonozaki.

We know that now because we've been through many different lives.

Those who only live in one world can't see if the event in question is inevitable or random.

Those who only live once can't predict what's going on in Mion Sonozaki's mind... but we can.

Although the activities are random, Mion Sonozaki calls us together for the club meeting almost every day in every life.

I can see that Mion Sonozaki holds a strong will towards having the club meeting.

Mion Sonozaki always wants to play with the other club members,

but she doesn't know what to play.

See?

We can read Mion Sonozaki's mind just by simply examining these Fragments.

With this alone, we can see part of who Mion Sonozaki really is.

Let me talk a bit more about Keiichi Maebara.

For those who only live once, the world of the Onikakushi chapter is nothing but a story where Keiichi suffered mysterious hallucinations and beat his friends to death.

For them, there's nothing beyond that fact.

We, however, can compare different Fragments and find out something they could never see.

As a result, we know that the murder of his friends was not inevitable.

I told you that just earlier.

In fact, while there are about five or six pieces in front of you, he only kills his friends in one of them.

That means we can roughly conclude

that the possibility Keiichi Maebara triggers the tragedy is less than 20%, and is almost a fluke.

This means that amongst the countless worlds, Keiichi Maebara causing the tragedy is an unimportant factor.

Now, can you find the common thread to be drawn from here...?

My, you've found it already?

No wonder you were born in this world.

You're quick to learn the knack for playing with building blocks.

I didn't figure that out for a while.

...I was born in the normal world, so I could only see things from a single world's perspective.

...I was too obsessed with the fact that "Keiichi Maebara" caused the tragedy, so I had trouble finding it.

Right!

That's exactly right!

You see it?

The Onikakushi,

Watanagashi,

Meakashi,

and Tsumihoroboshi chapters

all have something in common.

Someone in the group becomes violent because of dark and paranoid thoughts.

In each world,

either Keiichi Maebara,

Shion Sonozaki,

or Rena Ryuugu became violent as their delusions grew stronger.

Keiichi Maebara, Shion Sonozaki, and Rena Ryuugu are all my close friends, but they were all born and raised differently.

The only common factor is that they all live in Hinamizawa.

I just said it not too long ago, though.

When we peer through these Fragments of multiple worlds,

the constant phenomena become our facts, and the chance phenomena hold little meaning.

In other words, the unrelated, individual "culprits" are not all that important.

To go further, the "violence" of their crimes also bears no meaning.

Keiichi Maebara beat his friends to death,

Shion Sonozaki killed the central people of the Three Families,

and Rena Ryuugu took over the school.

They were all different.

There's nothing in common there.

In fact, the very, very important truth is that while the culprit and crimes are decided at random,

their "process" of growing paranoid until they resort to violence is always constant.

The suspect changes every time,

but the process does not.

After comparing the different worlds, this is the truth I found.

This is one truth that is common to all the worlds of Hinamizawa.

The rule is that a random person becomes violent under the influence of paranoid thoughts. This is Rule X.

Keiichi Maebara,

Shion Sonozaki,

and Rena Ryuugu--

--pieces with no particular connection, have the potential to succumb to that rule with random probability.

I don't know what the probability is that those pieces will be ensnared by that rule.

Perhaps there is some rule to that too.

Is it because these three are all close in age?

Or is it because they all live in Hinamizawa?

...Well, we're not detectives or police officers.

This is not something that a small girl like us, "Rika Furude\

At least we now know that there's a mysterious rule in the world of Hinamizawa.

People who only live in one world have no way of knowing that.

I'm proud of myself for figuring that out...

I guess for you it's not particularly surprising, though.

Huh?

What did you say?

That's right.

If something is common among all worlds, that means it's fated to happen.

Hee hee hee...

Some events quickly come to mind, don't they...?

...Right. Jirou Tomitake and Miyo Takano are always killed in those worlds.

On top of that, they are murdered in exactly the same way in every world.

...In other words, unlike our previous rule with its variability, their murders are thoroughly planned out by someone with a strong will.

So that does not fit with the mysterious, vague Rule X that leads a random individual to violence.

After all, they are always murdered, regardless of who falls to Rule X.

Therefore, there's another rule to these worlds, a Rule that says Jirou Tomitake and Miyo Takano will get killed on the night of Watanagashi. Let's call it Rule Y.

Hee hee...

Don't you see how funny this is?

Jirou Tomitake and Miyo Takano are killed in every world, right?

Every time, the character who gets cursed always thinks that their deaths have something to do with the danger that's awaiting them.

The fact that someone turns violent, Rule X,

and Jirou Tomitake and Miyo Takano's deaths, Rule Y, are supposed to be two independent rules,

but they all tend to link them together.

Of course, one could say that's how they become ensnared in the spell of paranoia leading them to violence to begin with...

But do you think, in their paranoia, that they notice someone is trying to lead them to link those rules together?

Yes.

Whoever the piece leading them is, they are the one making this stage called Hinamizawa very complicated.

You should have noticed at least two suspicious people.

Do you know who I'm talking about?

That's right.

I'm referring to Kuraudo Ooishi and Miyo Takano.

When you compare our previous Fragments, the role of the piece known as Kuraudo Ooishi becomes clear.

He's a detective who is retiring this year, and he's in a hurry to solve the mystery of the series of deaths in Hinamizawa.

After he retires, he'll have to move away from the village.

That's why he's desperate to solve this case before he has to leave Hinamizawa.

Why is he so obsessed with the serial murders in Hinamizawa?

That's right.

It's because of the first murder involving the manager of the construction site.

The victim was Ooishi's close friend.

You will see that if you look at the "Himatsubushi" chapter.

Ooishi was there when the dam conflict was at its peak.

He saw how the Sonozaki family took control of the Onigafuchi Guardians, and he believed that the Sonozaki family was pulling the strings behind the whole incident.

That's why he always suspected that the Sonozaki family was behind the series of mysterious deaths, regardless of the evidence or lack thereof.

His personal, biased belief, combined with his credibility as a police detective, affected the pitiable victims of persecution complexes in each world.

As a result, the pitiful victims of Rule X come to accept the Sonozaki family as the identity of the unknown force their paranoia seeks.

...Shion Sonozaki's case was the most conspicuous one in that matter.

So yes, if this piece, Ooishi, didn't intervene, then perhaps the victims of Rule X wouldn't have resorted to such violence.

So the role his piece plays is to indirectly cause the tragedy.

I don't know who named him this,

but "Oyashiro-sama's servant" is the perfect nickname for Ooishi.

The other suspicious person is Miyo Takano.

One would assume the only role of her piece is to amuse herself with research into Onigafuchi's dreadful history, and to take pleasure in scaring others with those tales.

However, just like Ooishi, she also gives them the idea that the Sonozaki family is behind all the mysterious incidents that happen in the village.

She interfered the most with Rena Ryuugu.

For Miyo Takano, Rena Ryuugu was the perfect prey, grasping at straws to try and identify the force she suspected.

Ironically, however, Miyo Takano always ends up getting killed at the end.

If she had survived and seen Rena take over the school, she would've laughed long and loud.

Now, have you realized that these two pieces and the roles they fulfill have their own rule too?

They talk about the Sonozaki family, and the listeners always believe them.

This is Rule Z, and what a humorous rule it is.

You should already have an answer to this mystery in your Fragments on hand.

The fact is that the Sonozaki family always acts as if they are responsible, no matter if they are or not.

They always pretend to be the villains in order to make sure that people continue to fear them.

As a result, the villagers have believed that the Sonozaki family has been pulling the strings ever since the dam conflict ended.

Kuraudo Ooishi and Miyo Takano were simply fooled by that rule.

Actually, the whole village is fooled by it.

Still, the more I think about it...

The stranger the series of mysterious deaths in Hinamizawa seems to me.

Hee hee hee...

Do you know why?

Nearly all of the Fragments of memories we have here are from 1983,

so I have no idea about the incidents from 1980-1982.

But it's likely that interpreting these murders as "serial"

is simply a result of falling victim to Rule Z, believing that the Sonozaki family is pulling the strings behind everything.

In short, they may be trying to conflate those multiple crimes, which each happened for different reasons, into one big case.

Well, I have no way of discerning the truth from the Fragments here.

Still, perhaps something lies in one of them.

Each case was supposed to have been solved individually, after all.

We don't know if that theory is sound or irrational, but it might surprisingly be an element we can't ignore.

That reminds me, Shion said something intriguing in the "Meakashi" chapter.

That "curse system" she came up with.

Do you remember that?

Her theory was that the villagers believe that they are allowed to kill an "enemy" of the village on the night of Watanagashi, in the name of Oyashiro-sama's curse.

And that this foundation of "murder is allowed on that night alone" is the true identity of the curse.

Since most of the Fragments here are from 1983, there's nothing to back the validity of Shion's theory, but there are still interesting things about it.

In other words, her theory is that the suspect is not the one who's committing the crime.

It's the environment that's causing the murder.

People in a single world tend to analyze a criminal's life to determine the process that led them to crime, but her idea is different.

The real crime is committed not by the criminals, but by the environment.

In other words, it may only be happenstance that Robber A committed the crime,

and the environment of poverty may have created Robber B instead,

or perhaps even Robber C.

A may not even be a criminal in another world.

Therefore, the real criminal is not A, but the environment that creates A, B, or C.

And well, while people in a single world may be able to reach such an idea,

the widespread desire to place blame commonly causes A to be lynched by society while the environment that gave rise to A goes ignored.

Did I confuse you...?

I'm sorry.

Perhaps that example was actually harder to understand for you.

It's easy for me to see it like that because I'm from the normal world.

Let me make it simple for you.

The culprit behind the tragedy in many worlds isn't "individuals" like Keiichi Maebara or Shion Sonozaki, but the "environment".

So "Rule X" is the true culprit at fault.

You're earning good marks if you can grasp that, even if we don't know the identity of "Rule X".

And if you can grasp the three rules governing this stage called Hinamizawa--Rules X, Y, and Z--

then you're earning very good marks.

So long as you understand those rules, then even if this is your first-experienced world, you should easily find the truth without distraction.

See?

Isn't it fun?

Merely three simple rules are interacting on this stage, creating a kaleidoscope of different worlds.

This is probably a very unusual case.

In other locations, you shouldn't be able to see such extreme variation even after looping through several worlds.

It keeps me entertained just staying here and watching these worlds revolve.

Anyway...

There's one more fact we can understand from these Fragments of worlds.

This is the biggest problem we Rika Furudes are facing.

The fact that Rika Furude always dies each time.

It's as if June 1983 is a dead end for her.

Worse, there's no randomness to it; it's guaranteed to happen.

In other words, it's the same pattern as the deaths of Jirou Tomitake and Miyo Takano.

It's following the exact same rule, Rule Y.

Tomitake Jirou and Takano Miyo are always murdered on the night of Watanagashi.

Furude Rika's date of death is not always the same, but she's always dead by the middle of June.

Jirou Tomitake and Miyo Takano are probably attacked on their way home, so that's why it always happens on the same night.

But for Rika Furude, it's different.

She takes different actions in every world, and her lifestyle is very unpredictable.

For that reason, the day of her death is not always the same.

However, she always dies in June,

because a similar powerful conviction vows to kill her too.

So can we assume that the same Rule Y killing them is also the rule behind her death?

Is the same person killing all three of them?

I don't know if it's the same person, but it's highly likely the same rule is at work.

Is it the same person,

or the same organization?

Is it the same views?

The same goals?

Rika's most important goal is to escape her deadly fate.

But it doesn't mean that she just wants to leave the village and survive.

She wants to live happily in the village.

All of her friends must also be happy too.

That's Rika's happy future.

The ideal future she hopes for.

...It's tragic that we can't realize such a simple desire no matter how many times we repeat this.

Though, it's a tragedy we're only able to perceive, because we're beings capable of comparing the Fragments from different worlds.

By the way, I have some interesting information.

While Rika is almost always killed by Rule Y,

have you noticed that she's killed by Rule X in some worlds?

Right.

It happened in the Watanagashi and the Meakashi chapters.

Rika Furude committed suicide, but you can say she was more or less killed by Rule X via Shion Sonozaki in those worlds.

In other words,

this is a blunder for Rule Y.

Rule Y is trying to kill Rika with a strong desire to achieve some aim.

But she was killed before that, as a result of the unrelated Rule X.

That might have caused them to show some "disturbance".

If Rule Y's objective is simply to bury Rika, then that's not a problem,

but if they have some objective beyond that, then...

...that might show up as some other phenomenon.

Perhaps the Watanagashi and Meakashi chapters have something in common,

something that doesn't happen in the other worlds.

Unfortunately, we're Rika Furude, so we don't know what happens after Rika is dead.

...

...

...

...

...Or,

by any chance...

Do you know what happened?

Since I'm Rika Furude, I only know of events during Rika's life.

You, on the other hand, are a special existence who was born in a superior world.

Is there anything that didn't happen in the Watanagashi and Meakashi chapters...

that happened in all the other worlds after Rika's death?

If you know anything,

then that must be...

another truth behind Rule Y.

The memories I have here are all mainly about the chaos brought about by Rika's friends, that is, Rule X...

...but its foundation, Rule Z,

and the obvious hostility common among all worlds, Rule Y,

are what I believe to be the true rules governing this stage.

If so, then Rika's path is a thorny one.

She needs to fight Rule Y in order to survive.

Unless she defeats it, she has no future past June 1983.

And to win her own happiness, she must also beat Rule X to win her friends' safety.

So long as that's undefeated, one of Rika's precious friends may be led to tragedy.

If that happens, then even should Rika survive, she wouldn't have the happy future she hopes for.

She also may have to defeat Rule Z, just as Sonozaki Shion faced it in Meakashi.

So long as Rule Z remains, then even if she escapes 1983, it's possible another tragedy may lie waiting in 1984.

...It's extremely likely that Rule Z is the breeding ground for Rule X.

Hinamizawa's fundamental belief that the Sonozaki family is behind everything,

and the custom that anything can be misconstrued as the curse, may indirectly be the root of all evil here.

People are not surprised to see somebody die on the night of Watanagashi.

That type of thinking is keeping the curse alive in Hinamizawa, where it causes even more tragedy. It's Rule Z reinforcing itself.

Rules X,

Y,

and Z.

There are three rules that hunt Rika down in the eternal June of 1983.

They are all tough obstacles.

We didn't even figure out these three common rules until recently.

Were you aware of them?

If you were, I'll give you straight A's.

I've tried so hard in the past to break these rules, but I was never successful.

However, a miracle happened in the Tsumihoroboshi chapter.

Keiichi Maebara was able to recognize a small Fragment from another world by chance, and he beat Rule X.

...In the end, Rika was still killed that night by Rule Y, though.

But still, one rule was defeated.

That was a huge leap forward.

Rika knew there were three common rules among the worlds, but she could never break any of them.

Eventually she gave up, and lost interest in the worlds.

That's how I was born...

However, she's different now.

She learned something valuable from Keiichi Maebara.

That the rules can be broken with a strong enough will to fight.

If she can break all three rules,

Rika Furude will be freed from her eternal prison...

She doesn't have much time left, though.

Rika has traveled through many worlds.

Her physical life span is not a problem, but her mental life span is getting shorter.

Mentally, she is extremely old,

and her soul is starting to turn into something different.

In the end, she'll probably lose the ability to experience singular worlds.

She's already showing those signs, and eventually her memories from the parallel worlds will mix together,

ultimately causing her derangement,

and the loss of Rika Furude's soul.

Then she will disappear.

That means that you and I are going to be left in this dark world.

The Fragments of our memories will gradually disappear,

and we will be left alone in the eternal darkness. Eventually, we will die...

Rika Furude is aware of that.

She knows that her mental life span is getting shorter and shorter.

Hanyuu is also losing her powers.

She can't rewind through years of time like she used to.

Her power has decreased so much that she can barely rewind one month of time.

Actually, she can only rewind a few weeks...

In the next world, she should only have about two weeks of time.

Rika Furude is going to try and break all three rules

in just those two weeks.