A familiar ceiling.

...The smell of the bed and pillows... I knew them well.

...Was this... my room?

Normally there wouldn't be anyone in my room besides me, but their presence made me spring wide awake!

...When I did that... pain shot throughout my entire body.

"...Feeling all right?

I think you'd better just lie down for a bit..."

Why was Rena in my room!?

Blood began to surge through my muscles and my capillaries!

...But... Rena's smile belonged to the Rena I knew well.

...I knew I shouldn't let myself feel this way... but I relaxed thinking that this version of Rena was safe...

"...Why... am I...?"

"...Don't you remember?"

"...After losing consciousness... nothing at all..."

My body had become more lethargic than I could ever have imagined.

...I guess that would be the expected outcome after exerting everything I had back there...

I tried to at least clear my head... but I just couldn't shake the sluggish feeling out of my mind.

"I called the doctor...

He should be here soon.

I think you'd better just lie down until then."

I wasn't injured seriously enough to merit calling a doctor.

...But knowing that someone impartial was coming was slightly reassuring...

"...Why... am I here...?

I'm sure... I was at the dam site..."

"That's what I want to know.

...What happened?

When I got there, Keiichi-kun was already passed out..."

"...That's why I'm the one who wants to know...

I was attacked by two weirdos..."

As I talked about it, I finally remembered what happened right before I passed out.

Recalling that memory and the terror that went along with it caused the fogginess around my head to clear right up.

Let's forget about those two for now.

...I didn't expect... Rena to be nursing me.

I thought Rena was trying to kill me.

She would have had the perfect chance while I was unconscious.

Not only did she not kill me, she had nursed me back to health.

"...Amazing you could drag me all the way back here.

...Wasn't I heavy?"

Looking at Rena's delicate frame, it was hard to believe that she had not only gotten me back home, but even dragged me all the way up to the second floor.

...Did she have some help...?

"...Don't you remember, Keiichi-kun?"

Rena appeared a bit surprised, but still kept her smile.

"...I only propped you up on my shoulder.

You said you could walk on your own and that you were fine...

You don't remember?"

...I didn't remember.

My memory was fuzzy after the point where I lost consciousness.

"...What about those two?"

"Huh?"

"...When you got there, Rena... the ones with me, or rather, those two guys..."

"There wasn't anyone."

She said it bluntly.

The way she stated it felt slightly unpleasant.

I was just too timid at that time...

I might have been able to force some answers out of Rena.

But if I did that... then this kind Rena might transform into the scary Rena who I didn't know...

Fearing that... I didn't press any further.

Thinking about it... it was the obvious choice.

...If both of those men were there, I don't think Rena would even have stood a chance.

I couldn't find a way to explain it unless I assumed she brought me here after those two were already gone.

Rena was still smiling.

Her eyes sparkled warmly.

...Yet...

I felt like I was hallucinating when I saw something...

something akin to a shadow slowly creeping across her face...

...That small omen... sent shivers down my spine...

While Rena was still Rena... I needed to make contact.

...I needed to contact Ooishi-san.

Rena stopped me when I tried to get out of bed.

She said it would aggravate my wounds, so I should sleep.

"...I'd like to go to the bathroom, though."

"...Ah... S-S... Sorry."

Rena couldn't say anything else.

While Rena stayed in the room, I quickly went downstairs to get the phone receiver in the living room.

When I approached the front door, the doorbell rang—ding-dong.

It must have been the doctor Rena had called.

It was strange for a patient to welcome in the doctor who was making a house call.

But it would be incredibly reassuring to have him here for the considerable time it would take Ooishi-san to get here.

I carelessly opened the door with that simple assumption... and regretted it almost instantly.

"M... Mion...!?"

"Oh, you look just fine.

I heard you collapsed, so I came to check up on you."

"...H-How did you know I collapsed?"

"I heard from Rena over the phone.

Do I need any reason other than that?"

I understood why she would call a doctor.

But... why Mion, too!?!?

Rena was descending the stairs behind me.

"Rena, doesn't Kei-chan look pretty all right?

Sheesh, you made me worry for nothing."

"That's true.

Maybe I worried for nothing, as well."

They both began laughing.

...It appeared to be cheerful laughter... but I couldn't shake the feeling that there was a darkness looming over them...

"...Whoa, what's up with this shoe rack?

How did it get like this?"

The shoe rack that I'd smashed to pieces had been like that since yesterday...

"Ah... um... I fell, you see.

And the bat I was holding at the time slammed into it."

"This is what happens when you swing around something you're not used to handling."

...I kept the fact that it was none of her business to myself.

"But leaving it like this will really startle your parents when they get home.

...I'll fix it up for you later!"

"Now, come on, Kei-chan.

The terminally ill need their rest.

Come come, back in bed, back in bed!"

Both of them urged me up the stairs.

...I had no chance to call Ooishi-san.

I was pushed into my bed.

As it was the first time Mion had been in my room, she began searching around it intently.

She fiddled around my room and was scolded by Rena... You can imagine how it went.

It was uncomfortable having my room poked around, but the conversation was so benign that it was heartwarming.

During that innocent conversation, Mion said something as though it was perfectly ordinary.

"...Rena.

Did you call the Director?"

"Yup.

Right after I called Mii-chan.

He said he'd be right over."

Director?

That out-of-place word gave me a bad feeling.

Rena called a doctor...

Then called Mion...

and after that... she called a "director"?

...Who was this director?

Since Rena and Mion's conversation was so peaceful, it only felt slightly odd.

"...What are you two talking about?

Who's this 'director'?"

"Ahahaha, didn't you know, Kei-chan?

We mean the Director when we say 'director.'"

"Like the director of a movie...

Or, like a foreman of a construction site.

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha."

I dug through all of my memories for a 'director' who might have business with me.

...Only one thing came to mind.

What Rena had just said...

The construction site foreman.

The very first victim of the first incident, the dismemberment at the dam construction site... the foreman?

But that was strange.

He was supposed to be dead.

There was no way they could call him.

"...I don't understand what you guys are talking about.

What does that director have to do with me?

...You said he was coming... did you mean to my house?"

I asked one obvious question after another.

But... all the two of them did was smile coolly at each other.

There was a huge difference between how the two of them appeared and how my suspicions were playing out.

...Slowly... I felt discomfort and panic welling up inside me...

...I couldn't understand what Rena and Mion were talking about.

"...Kei-chan, you've gotten into baseball lately, haven't you?

Pretty sure the Director will be happy to hear that."

"...So who is this Director?"

"Ahahaha. The Director is the director.

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha."

"...So who is this Director!?"

""Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...""

Rena and Mion looked at each other... and laughed haughtily.

That disturbing cackle unpleasantly resounded around me.

""Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.""

That laugh, long enough to be unsettling, ended abruptly.

"Oh, yeah.

We should finish up before the director comes...

You remember, don't you, Kei-chan?"

Her face was laughing... but Mion's eyes told a different story.

"...Remember... remember what?"

"Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Keiichi-kun, had he forgotten, I wonder?

About the penalty.

About the penalty!

...Did you really forget?

...The homework with the mochi?

The 'homework' where you were supposed to guess which one Rena made?

...You forgot about that homework, didn't you?"

I certainly did have that 'homework.'

But I had thrown away the rest of the mochi after I found that sewing needle.

So I wasn't able to answer which one Rena made...

The penalty... for that...?

Why now!?

""Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.""

No doubt my question was written all over my face.

Their answer to my question was that dry laughter.

I could no longer make heads or tails of anything.

I began to think that this entire day... was somehow insane.

Strange.

Incomprehensible.

Being chased by Rena...

Attacked by strange men...

The penalty Mion and Rena were talking about.

""Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.""

What... were these two laughing at...!?

It didn't take that long for me to realize I had been dragged into an abnormal situation.

...Who were... these two!?

Who were these people...?

Who were these doppelgangers of Rena and Mion!?!?

Rena had gotten behind me at some point.

Why was she pinning my arms behind my back!?

"Wh-What are you doing!?"

"Don't move.

This is your penalty.

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha."

My body was already very sluggish... and Rena pinning my arms made it that much harder to move.

I seriously tried to struggle, but she wouldn't even budge.

My panic began to well up, and I realized this was well beyond the realm of jokes and pleasantries.

This freakishly monstrous strength... it would have been impossible for the Rena that I knew...!

Then... these thin, frail arms grasping me firmly... whose arms were they!?!?

"...Kei-chan, no struggling~

Club rule number... ah, it doesn't matter which one.

You can't fight against the penalty~!"

Mion... no, that thing that looked like Mion... spoke to me like how Mion would speak to me.

But... I was certain... that this was not Mion.

...Someone who wasn't Mion... someone who was just pretending to be Mion!!!

"Heheheh...

Need to finish this up before the director comes."

Mion fished into her pockets and pulled out something bizarre.

...I could tell what it was just by looking, but for such a thing to be in her pocket... my mind wouldn't accept it.

"...What is...

that...

...?"

It was

...

a small...

syringe...

It was a small, clear syringe, the kind a doctor might use if you went to them with a high fever...

Rena held me even tighter.

And I could hear that clattering laughter that no longer sounded like laughter blaring into my ear.

That eerie laughter... It wasn't something that the Rena I knew could ever produce from her own throat.

...This thing that was pretending to be Rena... was this their real laugh...!?

Unable to defend myself... the syringe Mion was holding... drew closer!!

And that needle tip was waved in front of my face countless times.

"Don't worry, don't worry.

It won't hurt, it won't hurt...

heheheheh...!!"

"Wh... What are you planning on doing...?

What kind of sick joke is this!?!?"

"...What are you saying, Kei-chan?

...You know exactly what's going on, don't you?"

"About what!?

I don't understand any of this at all...!!"

"...I know you know.

No use playing the fool this late in the game."

"Stop talking nonsense to try and confuse me!!!"

"...You're going to have done to you what happened to Tomitake-san."

"...Wh... Wha!?"

The same as... Tomitake-san...!?

I didn't really understand what she meant.

What did that have to do... with this syringe...!?

"...You're playing dumb, Keiichi-kun.

You should have realized it by now."

Rena whispered into my ear, laughing as if to admonish me.

...But even the way she spoke was repulsive beyond compare.

Playing dumb?

Me?

About what!?

What do you mean... the same as Tomitake-san!?

"Everyone thought at first that it was a hit and run.

Except when the officer got closer to check if he was still alive, he soon noticed it wasn't a normal situation.

...His throat was scratched out."

"F-From a knife or something...!?"

"No.

Nails."

Nails!?

Nails as in fingernails!?

With those... Gouged through!?

That's right.

...Tomitake-san... had clawed out his own throat with his own nails and died.

There's no way someone could die like that!!

So then, for that to happen...!!!

"We thought drugs were to blame, but nothing of that nature was detected."

That's right.

The police didn't find any drugs in Tomitake-san's system.

"Th-The police told me... they didn't find any drugs... in Tomitake-san's body!"

Gweh gweh gweh gweh gweh gweh gweh...!!!!!

The two of them laughed together with that sickening laughter.

Of course they'd laugh.

...To assume that such a medicine didn't exist just because the police didn't know about it... was completely foolish...!

Meaning... The drug that caused Tomitake-san to die in such a bizarre manner... did exist!?

If Mion injected this into me, then that would probably be all the proof I needed...

That would basically mean I'd end up the same as Tomitake-san.

...Become hysterical, scratching out my throat in my last moments... then die!

For such an outrageous drug to exist...

For Mion to be holding it...

And that I was about to be injected with it...

...At that moment, I did not feel there was any need whatsoever to question it.

What kind of idiot, when he's trying to dodge a ball flying straight for his face, has time to think of a reason as to why it's flying at him?

"...Just give up.

Alright then."

Mion's actions lacked any gravitas, and that made it even more terrifying.

There was none of the ceremony like when someone is sentenced to death.

...There was no hesitation at all, as if she were brushing her teeth.

Mion reached out with one hand and grabbed onto my chest...!!!!

It felt like electricity had run through the back of my head and the entire world had gone dark.

Did I stand up too fast?

Or... did someone hit me really hard in the back of the head?

Having lost my sense of balance, I was assaulted by a wave of dizziness.

...I squatted down for a bit... When I came back to my senses, my entire room had changed drastically.

The numbness in my head was gone, and slowly... I could tell blood was flowing to my extremities again.

How long... had I been squatting here...?

How many minutes?

Or has it been hours...?

...It was almost as if the hands on the clock had stopped moving the entire time my eyes were closed... that's how little time passed.

...Really?

The air in the room wasn't filled with that madness from before... only a dull silence.

Rena wasn't there pinning my arms and Mion wasn't there about to inject me with a needle.

...No way...

Could it be...?

All of it...

was a hallucination!?

There was no other presence in the room besides my own.

It was the weirdest experience I'd ever had.

...I was certainly... with Rena and Mion...

I doubted my sanity for a moment, but I was also seized with some sort of comfort.

Hahaha... I guess... that terrible ordeal... was a hallucination.

Neither Rena nor Mion... they wouldn't ever do... something so terrible...

My head... grew hot.

I could tell my emotions were welling up...

Why...?

That wasn't a reason to cry.

Why...?

...It was... sorrow...

...Why was I sad...?

I don't understand.

...I don't understand...

Kind to everyone... not discriminating against age or gender.

...Mion.

...That Mion was sprawled by the window in an unnatural pose.

Blood stained her a deep red from her head down to her chest.

The bright crimson smeared on the walls... that splatter had undoubtedly come from Mion.

She always had that bright smile and was kind to me from the day I transferred.

...Rena.

...That same Rena was slumped at my feet and was making the same pool of blood as Mion.

...

I couldn't comprehend what had happened.

...Did someone come to save me?

Then they beat these two down!? ...With... this metal bat...?

I finally noticed the weight in my right hand.

How long had it been there?

...It was Satoshi's metal bat.

It was covered in a deep red... There was no doubt that this was the weapon used to mutilate both of them.

And I was holding that weapon.

I was the only person in the house.

"Wha...

...

I..."

Looking at this objectively, I couldn't think of anyone other than myself who could have done it.

"I... did this...?"

...That's right.

Keiichi Maebara.

Of course I did it.

I... told myself gently... as if coaxing myself.

Hey, me.

...There is no reason for you to remember it, nor is there a need to regret it.

...Eat or be eaten.

You get that, don't you...?

"But... the blood...

The blood...

There's so much...!"

Neither Rena nor Mion had moved an inch.

It wasn't just a split forehead and a trickle of blood, nothing that simple.

...The entire room was splattered with red and that told me it didn't end with just two or three strikes.

"...Are they dead...?

Both of them...?"

The depths of my mind were calm, but on the surface, I was panicking and agitated.

Calm down, Keiichi Maebara.

What happened to your usual calm self!?

Come on, now...

Do like you always do... throw your head back and take a deep breath.

Come on...

...Once.

Twice...

Breathe deeply...

...

Calm down.

Calm down...

I chanted that over and over in my head, and relaxed...

Color came back to my vision and smells reinfused the air.

At the same time... I remembered what happened when I blacked out...

Rena and Mion had attacked me.

They were about to inject me with whatever caused the same symptoms as Tomitake-san.

But right before that happened... I fought back.

I twisted my whole body and threw Rena as she was pinning my arms.

Then I followed through with my spin and rammed my foot as hard as I could into Mion's torso.

It was soft...

Rena tried jumping on me, so I tackled her as hard as I could and slammed her against the wall.

I didn't let that brief moment of having them off-balance slip by.

Satoshi's bat that was left carelessly by the side of my desk...!!!

...Bweep...

At that moment, everything went pitch black.

There was nothing recorded past this point in the video tape of my mind...

No... that wasn't right.

...It wasn't that there was nothing recorded.

It was recorded just fine.

Just... the Other Me inside myself... had told me not to look and had turned off the TV.

Just because the screen had gone black and I couldn't see it... didn't mean that the video tape within me hadn't recorded it.

The TV was just off... the video was still playing.

The tape within me... creaking along... still playing.

On the other end of that pitch-black screen... that horrifying video was still playing on...

Compared to this, though...

...This, the scene right before my eyes... was still so difficult to take in.

There was blood splattered everywhere on the walls, the two of them in these unnatural poses.

...Not a sign of movement from them.

...I couldn't even tell if they were breathing...

No matter what the circumstances were...

My friends,

these girls,

I had...

I had attacked them...

...I may have even killed them.

But... if I hadn't done this, I would have been the one done for.

Balancing that out on an imaginary scale... it felt odd that I'd even feel bad about it...

Even if it was a bit excessive... this was justifiable self-defense.

The proof was all here.

The two of them collapsed here and Mion's syringe.

Mion's syringe filled with some unknown drug would certainly solve the mystery surrounding the incident with Tomitake-san.

And from the fact that both of these two were involved, they'd be able to pick out the criminals one after the other.

Still, I might be suspected for this.

But that was just fine...

Anyway, now this should be a police affair.

This wouldn't fade into the darkness like Rena's past incidents.

As long as the police were involved... that should bring this to a close.

They'll probably revisit their investigation on the chain of incidents.

...Ooishi-san would... definitely get to the bottom of it.

Meaning... my wish...

...of not wanting to die...

of wanting to know the truth... That would be fulfilled in its most basic form.

It was all a matter of time now.

The doctor Rena called should be getting here soon.

I'll confess everything to him.

I needed to contact Ooishi-san...

At that moment, I remembered.

Besides the doctor, a "director" had been called.

It was easy to imagine that they were someone deeply involved with the incidents judging from Rena and Mion's conversation.

...The ache in my chest, caused by the gruesome deed I'd done, dissipated rapidly.

It was... not over yet.

This place... was no longer safe.

Stay calm, Keiichi Maebara.

...It's not over yet.

I needed to live long enough... to tell the police of this incident...!!

...At that moment, I felt like I heard someone's voice from outside.

Since people were speaking, it must mean there was more than one person.

I moved the curtain ever so slightly and peered outside.

...It was a bizarre sight.

About four or five grown men were all gathered at the gate.

They very much resembled the two men who had assaulted me at the dam site today.

...Those two might even be among them.

There was one person there wearing a white coat.

...But he didn't look like a doctor at all.

My gut told me he was in disguise, only posing as a doctor.

That guy would probably ring the bell and get me to open the front door.

Pretend to be a doctor to get me to open the door... and then the rest of them would all rush in at once...

At that moment, I saw the car parked behind the men and my heart nearly skipped a beat.

...The... white van!!!!!

No mistaking it.

That van... the one that had tried to run me down...!?!?

The man in the white coat entered the gate and headed towards the front door.

The rest of the men hid in the bushes and watched him.

I probably couldn't pretend that I wasn't home.

...Undoubtedly, they'd just break the window and enter...!

...I needed to get out of here somehow.

Then... use a public phone to contact Ooishi-san.

Then meet up somewhere.

First of all, I need a weapon!

Then shoes!!

But before all of that... there was one thing that I had to do...!!

...I had no intention of dying.

I'd live... and reveal the truth about this nonsensical 'Curse of Oyashiro-sama'...!!!

But... what would happen from here on, regardless of how determined I was... may bring about my demise.

...And that was why.

...There was one thing more important than getting out of here right now.

I need to get that clock out quickly and take down the note hidden behind it.

...Damn it...!

The tape was sticking to it fast...!!

It'd be fine if it was torn a little.

I opened up the slightly torn note and began writing another passage with a ballpoint pen.

If I wasn't able to inform Ooishi-san...

Then the only thing I could rely on was this note.

...I'd never thought a piece of torn, college-ruled, notebook paper could be this reliable before.

I had no time. I'd only write what I knew right now.

I needed to leave some sort of information that would lead them to uncover the truth!!

"Rena and Mion are conspirators of the perpetrators."

This was an undeniable fact.

...I still didn't want to believe it.

But it was a fact!

Anyway... I'd leave all the information that would help lead them to finding the perpetrators.

"There are four or five adults, maybe more.

They have a white van."

...This was everything I was able to see from the window...

There may be more.

Also... there was that unidentified person known as the director.

...To begin with... The term "director" didn't even mesh with Hinamizawa at all.

...If... they were going to include the directors from the past incidents... then the only one is the construction foreman, the victim from the first murder.

The very first victim in the chain of incidents.

Killed in a lynching, his body divided into six pieces.

His right arm was never discovered.

...The police should have confirmed that death...

But Rena and Mion did both call him "director."

They said "director."

They wouldn't use that term to refer to someone who was dead.

...The police would never even conceive that someone who was deceased could be involved.

...Could that be... some sort of oversight??

I didn't know.

But... even if I didn't know... it could be a big hint for Ooishi-san.

...That's right...

...They needed to start fresh from the first incident.

It wasn't just a simple dismemberment, but the start of this string of mysterious deaths that would follow...

...

So, then...

there must be something hidden there!

"Please reinvestigate the victim from the dismemberment incident.

He's alive."

His death should have been established after an autopsy.

Logically you would think as much...

But was that really the case?

Could it have been some sort of ploy that they were able to deceive the police with...?

I shouldn't jump to conclusions.

But... he may still be alive...

I had no time to ponder that right now.

...Oh, yeah.

There's something even more important I needed to write...!

"Tomitake-san's death was from an unknown drug."

That's right.

That drug... it was an irreplaceable piece of evidence!

No doubt... just by having this, everything would be uncovered!!!

I couldn't just leave that vital clue lying on the floor.

"This syringe is proof."

Writing that down, I stuck the syringe onto the back of the clock with plenty of tape.

So it absolutely would not slip out and fall to the floor... firmly...

Firmly!!

Ding dong...

The bell rang.

...They were here!!!

I couldn't write any more.

...But even still...!

There was one last thing that I had to write.

"I have no idea why it has become like this."

...

This may be the closest thing to the truth out of everything I wrote on this note.

"If you are reading this, then I am probably already dead.

...Though you may or may not find my body."

...If I was going to write out everything that could happen...

Either dying from the curse...

Or being demoned away...

"You, who are reading this.

Please uncover the truth.

That is my only desire."

With this... my last will and testament was complete.

It wasn't certain that I was going to die.

...But... it was my final plea...

Just in case...

I folded the note, stuck it back onto the back of the clock, and returned the clock back to its usual spot.

I couldn't help but pray.

...Ooishi-san...

...If something happens to me... I leave the rest to you...!!

After that, I gazed down silently at Rena and Mion.

...This was probably the last time we'd ever see each other.

Rena.

Mion.

"I...

really had thought...

all of us were friends..."

But... why did it end up like this...?

I never had any fun in my previous school.

I only worried about standardized test scores; about if the school I hoped to get into was where I really wanted to go or a safety net... that was all I talked about.

...It was a dull life.

The people I called friends were also my rivals in studying, in competitions, in personal records, and standardized test scores.

Everyone here taught me how unhealthy that lifestyle was.

This month was really fun...

Making a fuss over lunch, making a fuss over the club, making a fuss over the festival...

Something hot began dripping from my face.

...Uncontrollable... tears.

I should have had no obligation to shed tears for them.

...But they wouldn't stop...!!

Even if they were after my life.

Even if they were trying to kill me.

Everything that happened this month... I wouldn't forget it...

Or could it be... those happy days... were all a facade as well...?

Was it all a trap... meticulously orchestrated up until today... to ensnare me?

Could it have been that I had just arbitrarily assumed that they were my friends...?

That... couldn't have been the case!!!!

Both Rena and Mion... They really were my friends!

Those happy days... There was nothing fake or unclear about them...!

Someone probably... forced them to try to kill me.

Or... their minds were taken over, possessed by the supernatural entity known as Oyashiro-sama!

Regardless... both Rena and Mion... they were the best friends ever!

And... when they were coming after me... it wasn't of their own volition!

But... they weren't the kind of people to sell off their friends, no matter what means were employed to force them.

And there was no way such a thing as being possessed by Oyashiro-sama could happen in reality.

Then... did the real... Rena and Mion... come after me...!?!?

What... was I thinking...?

What a silly, dumb idea.

...Having beaten down both Rena and Mion...

I was still debating if they were the real ones or fakes.

There was no real or fake...

Only the reality that was before me.

Rena and Mion were sprawled out at my feet... that was the only truth...!!

I was only trying...

trying to twist the facts to my benefit, that I had beaten my friends to death...!

No matter how I spun it... it wouldn't change reality... Rena and Mion were both dead...!!!!

It felt like there was a crack in the dam of strange emotions I was holding back.

...It felt like my calm state, which was nothing more than a bluff, had receded, and in that opening... insanity was leaking out...

I killed them.

I killed them.

...Rena and Mion...

I killed them...!!

The door bell rang again.

The unrelenting echo pulled me back into a state of composure once again.

I didn't have a moment to spare!

Quickly... I needed to get away!!!

I didn't want to die.

I would uncover everything after that.

The identity of whoever or whatever had pushed me this far...!!!

Even if I had to drink mud and eat grass...!!

I would survive.

I would survive.

I would definitely survive!!

I killed Rena for that very reason.

I also killed Mion.

I went that far just to keep living.

...So I can't die.

For my sake, and for the sake of the late Rena and Mion...

I have to survive!!!!

I ran towards the door and grabbed my shoes. The doorbell rang again, as if to urge me on.

...Behind this single, solitary door... they were there!!!

Keeping quiet... I headed towards the kitchen...

Headed towards the back door.

Before opening the back door, I put my ear to it and checked for people outside...

No one...?

After I put on my shoes... I opened the door slowly so as to not make a sound...

"There he is!! The back door!!"

A piercing voice echoed out.

...That voice stabbed through me... setting my hair on end!!!

I had to run!!!!!

Get out of here, Keiichi!!!!!!!

One after the other, I felt stuff like rationale and intelligence, those things you use when you have time to spare, spill out of me...

I didn't feel any pain from the branches scratching my arms and forehead.

My autonomously pulsing heart also felt neither fatigue nor pain.

My entire being just wished to live...

There was nothing else it desired.

It probably had no complaints whatsoever...

So of course I wouldn't feel fatigue...

I just... ran.

Just recklessly rushing in the direction I was already heading.

...Even if nobody was chasing after me, I'd still be running like this...

There wasn't a thought in my mind about where I was headed.

Turning around, I felt a presence right next to me.

That presence was, without a doubt, chasing me like my shadow.

If I took even one misstep

...

I would be devoured.

That's what I thought.

So I didn't turn around.

I didn't stop.

I ran...

at full speed...!!!

Kwakwakwakwa...

That was the chirping of the higurashi telling me it was evening.

...Trying to tell me something... And then I finally heard it...

The wailing cry of the victims who didn't make it.

Would I... be joining them?

Kwakwakwakwakwa...

Only the higurashi knew.

...They knew everything.

They definitely knew.

So... I ran towards where I could hear more of the higurashi's chirps.

But the farther I ran... the farther away their chirping became.

I couldn't get near them...

Why are you all running away...!?!

Was it my fault?

Was I the one to blame!?

Then I'll apologize!!

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry...

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry...

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry...

I felt that only the higurashi knew...