The smoking room was filled with a cloud of cigarette smoke.

The expensive smoke filter gave off some crackling electric noise, but it didn't seem like it was doing anything at all.

Why do smokers have to be shoved so far down this corridor where the sun didn't even reach?

...I recalled hearing that the tax revenue from tobacco was about a tenth of the municipality's revenue...

We were the most heavily-taxed members of this municipality, so I really wished they'd show us a little more respect...

"...Hrm, why would you discard the 5 manzu there?

It's just decreasing your options."

One of the younger detectives was having a staring contest with the Mahjong magazine called "Next Turn."

"You're still in tenpai if you cut the 5 manzu."

"If you're betting on a Haitei, then shouldn't you be going into it with a Mangan?"

"Kuma-chan, look at the pond.

They all discarded a 5 manzu. It's a safe tile.

You'd hate if, at end game, someone was sitting on a tenpai on the last turn, wouldn't you?"

The kid let out another groan, put out his cigarette, then took out another one.

"...I just don't agree...

Why would you reduce your own options?"

"By the way, you can't call ron with your winning tile in that haitei."

"What!? Why is that!?"

Just then, I heard a voice coming from down the hall.

"Are you here, Ooishi-san?

You have a call from a civilian."

"Whoa, ain't that something? Welp, see ya soon!"

"W-Why can't you call ron on it!?

H-Hold on for a second, Ooishi-san!"

The man sitting in the seat Ooishi-san was heading towards waved at the telephone receiver.

"Outside line.

From a payphone."

"Oh, why thank you!

...Sorry to keep you waiting, this is Ooishi.

Who is it?"

"Ah, Ooishi-san!?

Hello!?"

"If it isn't Maebara-san.

Why, good evening...!"

From the tone of Maebara-kun's voice, I already knew he was in a predicament.

...This was the first time Maebara-kun had phoned me.

And he was calling from a payphone.

"Please calm down.

Did something happen?"

"Uh,

well

...Ahh...!!!"

His voice was erratic over the line, he had completely lost his sense of composure.

After checking that nobody else could hear, I prompted him in a hushed tone.

"What happened!?"

"UhhhUhhm... I... I... I..."

"...Calm down, Maebara-san!

I can have the local officers head to your location.

I'll be there soon, too!"

"...Ah, um...

...

I think that's

...impossible."

His voice was quivering and hoarse...

...He wasn't surrounded by people even as he was making this call, was he!?

"Maebara-san, you're calling from a payphone right now, right?

Where is that payphone!?"

There were no other sounds besides Maebara-kun's voice.

It had to be a phone booth.

I scratched out a note and thrust it at my colleague sitting across from me.

(Hinamizawa, phone booth!!)

He understood quickly and hastily started on the internal lines.

"...Calm down, Maebara-san!

What is your current situation...!?"

It was best practice to avoid flustering someone panicking... but this was an urgent case.

...Maebara-kun didn't just get in trouble, get away, and then call me.

...He was in the midst of something dangerous right now...!

But... yelling at Maebara-kun right now would just needlessly cause him to be even more frantic.

Maebara-kun wasn't just calling to seek help.

...He was trying to tell us something more than that.

And whatever that was...

If I didn't get it from this call, I was certain there would never be another chance...!

My colleague pushed a note in front of me.

(There's only one booth in Hinamizawa.

A patrol car is on the way.

Five minutes.)

"That's too long.

How many officers are in there?"

"Two."

Not enough.

...If it was as I imagined... there were likely quite a few people surrounding Maebara-kun.

Five minutes was too long!

"Did you call the officer stationed in Hinamizawa!?"

"He's scheduled to be on patrol.

They're currently out, and it'll be impossible to contact them."

"God damn!

Kuma-chan, bring the car around."

"Understood!!!"

"...Hello?

Ooishi-san...?

*Cough cough*!!"

"Hello!

It's all right.

I can hear you loud and clear!"

There was something wrong with Maebara-kun...

That wasn't a normal coughing sound.

...Vomiting?

Or was it... blood!?

Had he already been attacked!? Was he injured!?

"Maebara-san, the police are on their way.

They'll be there in a couple of minutes, so hold on somehow!

Hello!?

Can you hear me!?

Maebara-san!?"

I could hear on the other end of the line that he was having a coughing fit.

...The worst possible situation popped into my head.

"Maebara-san!!

Who is the culprit!?

How many are there!?"

"...I...

I thought...

at first the culprit was human...

*hack*!!"

I couldn't tell if that was a cough or vomiting.

"Are you all right!? Maebara-san!!"

"I thought that

the culprit was a person

and not Oyashiro-sama's curse...

Up until right now.

But...

...

I guess... in the end...

*hack hack*...!!"

It was an intense bout of coughing.

Then vomiting.

"...But...

I guess...

Oyashiro-sama

does exist...

No, he's...

here."

"Maebara-san, please, just please calm down..."

"I had been thinking it was strange for a while now...

It's been following me this whole time...!!

I run and run and run and run...!!!

But it just sticks to me like my shadow!!

But slowly... so slowly...

It's digging itself into my back..."

"...Maebara-san...

Are they...

right now...

perhaps...

right behind you...?"

"...Behind me.

Right... behind me..."

"Please, Maebara-san...

I can tell you're scared.

But please!!

...Who is it... that's right behind you!?"

"I can't just... look behind me...

If I do... I'll...

I'll..."

"I understand that you're scared!!

But please tell me!!

You just need to turn around a bit!!

Who is it...?

Who is behind you, Maebara-san!?!?"

Right after I said that, I could hear him vomiting intensely.

What followed was a nightmarish sound.

"...Maebara-san...

It couldn't be that you're...

clawing out... your own throat...?"

There was no answer.

But... I could hear something like scratching...

There was a bang, as if something was being hit!

...Maebara-kun had probably dropped the receiver.

I could hear groaning and vomiting over on the other end, and a repeating... abnormal noise.

"Hello?

Hello!?

Maebara-san!?

Helloooo!?!?"

I knew how far away my voice would sound on the other end.

But... I couldn't help but shout.

At that moment, I heard whispering... coming from the other end.

I couldn't tell what he was saying.

...From the way he was saying it, was he... talking to himself?

Or was he... talking to someone there?

"Hello...?

...Maebara...san...?"

Rather than whispering... it was some kind of mantra he was chanting over and over.

I focused my senses... trying to pick up what he was saying...

What was he repeating...?

What... exactly...!?

Beep!

Suddenly, the line went dead.

Did he use up his time...!?

It was because it was a payphone...!!

"...Ah."

It was because it cut out so abruptly...

The last thing he said came out so clearly in my mind.

"Ooishi-san, the car is good to go!!!

Ooishi-san...!?"

"...It was... I'm sorry."

"Ooishi-san...??"

That's what he was repeating over and over.

...He said, "I'm sorry"...

I had a gut feeling...

There was no longer a need to hurry.

...I could hear the chirp of the higurashi... spilling in from the open window.

Kwee, kwee, kwee, kwee, kwee...

I should have been able to hear them this entire time...

I just wasn't paying any attention.

Why did I focus on them all of a sudden?

Kwee, kwee, kwee, kwee, kwee...

Were they trying to tell me something?

Only the higurashi knew.

...That's how I felt.

June, 1983

In Hinamizawa, a remote village near Shishibone city, there was a murder involving two female students.

The suspect is: Keiichi Maebara (Aged 1x)

The suspect called over his two female classmates

(Rena Ryuugu, Mion Sonozaki) to his house, and beat them to death with a metal bat.

The scene of the crime was the suspect's room on the second floor of his house.

The inside of the room was covered with a significant quantity of splattered blood, and there were signs of a struggle with the victims.

In addition to the scene of the crime, the entryway, living room, and kitchen, all had traces of a struggle.

At the entryway, the shoe rack and wall had evidence of being impacted by a strong blunt force.

It is believed to have been the same bat as the murder weapon.

Having no traces of blood, it is believed the destruction occurred before the murders.

There is the possibility that the suspect overpowered his victims to keep them from fleeing.

In the living room, the rug had been pulled back, then thrown aside.

It is hard to believe that this had a connection to the struggle with the victims, and thus the reason for this remains unknown.

In the kitchen, the garbage bag was torn apart, and its contents were spread out on the floor.

Garbage was strewn about in the surrounding area, and handprints believed to belong to the suspect were discovered.

It is believed that the suspect had for some reason taken out the garbage and struck it with his fists.

The reason for this remains unknown.

In addition, there was a note stuck to the fridge. The words "Was there a needle?" were written on it.

The meaning behind this remains unclear.

Just in case, the garbage was searched, but a needle was not discovered.

Though the garage door was functional, it had been left open ever since the suspect moved in. The garage door was found closed.

The suspect's fingerprints were discovered on the garage door.

The reason behind this remains unknown.

The suspect fled the scene of the crime.

However, a patrolling officer (Hinamizawa Local PD) found the suspect collapsed inside a phone booth.

At the time of discovery, the suspect was unconscious in critical condition.

He was rushed to the local hospital for treatment, but did not regain consciousness and died 24 hours later.

The results of the autopsy indicate the immediate cause of death to have been hypovolemic shock.

It was determined that the suspect had clawed at his own throat with his fingernails, and the resulting bleeding caused his death.

With the similarity to the death of Tomitake-san the prior week, the police believe there to be a connection and have opened an investigation.

(However, due to the wishes of the local authorities, it will be a confidential investigation.)

Due to the abnormal nature of the death, it was suspected that drugs were involved. But as with Tomitake-san, no traces were discovered.

What prompted all this remains inexplicable. As such, this case is being treated as an act committed on impulse.

However, with several accounts of the suspect's bizarre behavior leading up to the incident, it is possible that this was premeditated.

Separated from his group of friends. Isolation. Inexplicable behavior.

Several days before the incident, the suspect began carrying around a metal bat.

The suspect was observed displaying aggressive behavior, as well as talking to himself at school. His classmates have actually heard portions of what he was saying.

Two days before the incident, the suspect declared to his parents the possibility of his death.

Due to these circumstances, the police have begun an investigation on the possibility that this crime was not committed on impulse, but was instead planned several days in advance.

Afterwards...

A note was found in the suspect's room that he had written himself.

The note was written on two sheets from a B5 college-ruled notebook that had each been torn in half.

And as if trying to conceal it

was stuck hidden behind a clock on the wall.

The contents are as written in the appendix.

The police believe it to be strongly related to the incident.

The police changed their line of investigation based on the possibility that the suspect was involved in some sort of incident himself.

However, no further clues were found, casting doubt on the credibility of the note.

Was the crime impulsive or premeditated?

With the situation unclear and no further developments, the case has been labeled as 'Unresolved.'

However... the following year,

suspicion arose regarding the nature of the note.

The note was not written on two halves of B5 paper from two separate sheets...

but was originally a single sheet of B5 paper.

In order to erase several lines from the middle, someone had...

torn them out.

Judging from the size of the letters, the missing section is estimated to be 2-3 lines.

It is highly probable that the person who eliminated the lines in question is not the suspect.

In addition, judging from traces of large quantities of cellophane tape being stuck to the back of the clock,

speculation that something other than the note was stuck there, has arisen.

The person who first discovered the crime was a detective rumored to have a connection with the incident: Kuraudo Ooishi.

He underwent voluntary questioning, but denies involvement in any damages to the note.

The suspect's note:

I, Keiichi Maebara, am in fear for my life.

I do not know why they are after my life.

The only thing I do know is that it has to do with Oyashiro-sama's curse.

Rena and Mion are conspirators of the perpetrators.

There are four or five adults, maybe more.

They have a white van.

(This is all on the first sheet. The section below this has been ripped out.)

(This is from the second sheet. The section above this has been ripped out.)

I have no idea why it has become like this.

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

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

You, who are reading this. Please uncover the truth.

That is my only desire.

Keiichi Maebara