The die of fate had been cast.

...Reporting to a public agency, which we'd kept being warned could instead result in something far worse for Satoko if we didn't have the evidence first.

...And just... just like that.

Had I failed... had I let my emotions get the better of me in that moment?

...Maybe I should have stayed silent... and left everything to Mion, since she had been relatively calm.

...I remembered the punishment game where we had to badmouth curry, and how me saying anything would have made it worse, and Satoko told us to leave the talking to her.

...Maybe it was the same thing here.

...I was impulsive, so maybe I should have just shut up and looked at the floor.

...But... it was too late to lament it.

...The die I had thrown wouldn't be coming back into my hands.

All we could do was pray for something good to happen.

"...Keiichi-kun... You did everything you could.

So... leave it to the teachers now.

...Okay?"

"Everything I could...?

...If I really gave it everything I had, if I had really struggled... I would have dragged Satoko out of her home last night and hidden her in some abandoned house.

...I didn't, so that means I didn't do everything I could."

"......Stop thinking about it, all right?

...You're being a little too persistent, Keiichi-kun.

At this rate, you'll collapse."

Just leave me alone.

...I left her with those words and stared lazily up at the ceiling.

...I wondered if I'd really got Chie-sensei to understand.

...Would the public agency intervene... and solve everything within the day?

...Would they acknowledge the abuse... and guarantee her safety...?

...After lunch break, our afternoon classes were mostly self-study.

The teacher came back to the classroom occasionally, but then the phone in the lounge would ring and she'd have a long conversation with the caller.

Everyone in class... got the feeling they knew what those phone calls were about.

Sensei came trotting back into the classroom.

"...I'm really sorry for all the phone calls recently.

Let's call it a day.

President, please lead the class!"

"Everybody stand up!"

...It looked to me like Sensei had been wearing a dark expression ever since after lunch break.

...It wasn't a very relieving expression.

It wouldn't be.

...Even if Sensei 100% understood the situation and passionately explained it to the other person...

At the end, the child consultation center, as a public agency, would be the ones to decide whether to get her to safety.

...Sensei understood that as well as us... and that's why she looked so unreliable right now.

"Kei-chan, let's go home.

...I don't think anyone feels like having the club today."

"Ahahaha.

Mii-chan, it's no fun if someone's not here."

...Rena was right.

...It was no fun for us... if someone was missing.

If the teacher's expression had shown more promise... then maybe we could have gone home more comfortably.

...But I...... couldn't let myself feel relieved.

...I couldn't be naive and tell myself all I can do is pray, now that the dice have been cast.

Just in case... they didn't get her to safety and decided to 'wait and see' again...

I'd need to take further measures.

...We've asked the people who could do something official already.

...Then... there was one more place... that was worth asking for help.

.........She might laugh it off...

...or I might be right... and I could be endangering my own life.

But... I'd try.

"Oh... Mion.

Is it okay if I stop by your place today?

...You've got a lot of manga, right?

I want to borrow a bunch of them."

"Huh...?

.........Sure, I guess."

There was an ominous meaning behind my words, so Mion realized what I really meant right away.

...I wanted to talk about something alone.

...That's what I meant.

"Mii-chan, Keiichi-kun!

Let's go home~!"

Rena already had her shoes on, and was waving to us from the schoolyard.

...Mion's house... was gigantic in every way imaginable.

The house itself was a vaguely old-fashioned, traditional Japanese house, but the yard, I guess—or their plot of land—was enormous.

...It easily convinced me that they really were major landowners, with Hinamizawa under their thumb.

Mion brought me through the guest room and a servant brought us some tea.

"Wow.

You really are rich, huh?

You've even got housekeepers?"

"Grandma and I are the only ones who live here.

I wouldn't be able to do everything myself."

The servant left, telling us it was five o'clock... then withdrew with soft footsteps.

"We have people come in to take care of Grandma and clean two or three times a week.

They come in rotations of three or four, so there's someone here almost every day.

Only until evening, though.

Oh, and if we're having a party or something where we need more help, we call up different people."

...If you had the money to hire all these people, then just take Satoko in.

...I glared at her as I thought that... and Mion seemed to catch on immediately.

"......Oh... sorry."

"It's fine.

...I know it's not a money problem."

"...Just to be clear... My family may be rich, but...

It's not money that I can use freely for myself, okay...?

I don't want you to misunderstand that..."

...It kind of looked like I was bullying her.

...Mion had been apologizing to me a lot lately.

...Was Mion the sort of person who would do that this much...?

Maybe it's just that I've been looking so grim lately...

"...So.

...What's up?

You had something to talk about, right?"

"I have... something pretty serious to discuss, Mion.

...This will be sudden, and you might be surprised... but I want you to hear me out."

"Huh... W-What?"

"Oh... I'll give you a way out first.

...Even if what I say is true, you don't need to admit it.

You're allowed to play dumb.

...But... I want you to listen until the end.

......I have something to say to the next leader... of what's still the most important of the Three Families of Onigafuchi Village: Mion Sonozaki."

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

At first Mion looked like she had no idea what I was saying... but at hearing the whole sentence and putting it together, she reacted.

"......Where did you hear that?"

"...It... doesn't really matter."

I definitely couldn't tell her who told me.

...Takano-san, you told me not to... but please forgive me.

...This was why I asked you about it, after all.

"...I was surprised just that you'd heard of Onigafuchi Village, Kei-chan...

but you seem to know a lot of things, both true and false... about me too."

"...Yeah.

...True and false.

...I really might just have the wrong impression here.

But... I'm okay with that, so listen.

...And, if it really is true..."

"I don't know what you're getting at, Kei-chan...

but let me say this beforehand.

......You've got a big misunderstanding.

...So if it were possible, I wouldn't want to hear what you're about to say.

Because even if you said it, I can't do anything to help you.

......Still...

If talking about it will lighten your burden even a little, I'll listen.

......I'm only just going to listen.

Nothing more will happen.

...Are you okay with that?"

".........Yeah."

Mion... seemed to know what kind of thing I'd be talking about.

She warned me that doing so would be fruitless.

...That much was obvious.

...If what I was going to say was true...

then the Sonozaki family...

would be... the masterminds behind the string of freak deaths that had been occurring every year in Hinamizawa.

"...You know that stuff...

about Oyashiro-sama's curse, right?"

Mion nodded a little.

"......No one knows what it is or why it happens.

...Even if each incident is solved, the string of deaths and accidents as a whole is still a mystery.

...But there's one thing connecting them all.

And that's... how the targets are always enemies of the village."

".........Seems like it."

Mion spoke as if it didn't relate to her.

...That was fine.

She didn't have to admit it.

...For now... I just wanted her to stay quiet and listen to me.

"...The day after tomorrow... it's Watanagashi, isn't it?

...Has the sacrifice for this year's curse... been decided already...?"

Mion didn't answer.

Her expression remained the same, too.

...Like she said... she was just quietly listening.

"Er, sorry.

...The promise was that you'd just listen... so it's weird for me to ask a question, huh?"

Mion gave me a look she'd never given me before... a faraway look... a sympathetic one.

...She didn't nod... she just smiled faintly and listened to me.

"If... this year's curse...

isn't going to be on Satoko's uncle...

then please change it to him.

I mean... last year it was her aunt, right?!

It's in the right order, so it wouldn't be weird!"

"...Ahahaha.

You're right, it seems like there's an order."

"I mean, after her aunt died to the curse last year, he abandoned Satoko and fled into the town for a whole year!

Why wouldn't a guy like that definitely be next on Oyashiro-sama's list?!

There shouldn't be any issue with choosing him for this year!"

"...I see.

If he were to die from the curse this year, no one would see anything unusual about it."

"I... I, er... I heard...

that Oyashiro-sama's curse is... well..."

No matter how I looked at it... I wasn't sure... whether I should continue.

...No matter how I tried... the words... wouldn't come out.

"The string of freak deaths in Hinamizawa...

also called Oyashiro-sama's curse—you're saying they're incidents perpetrated by the village... carried out by the Three Families at the Sonozaki's instructions?

Is that it?"

"I... I wasn't...!!

I don't care one bit whether you have anything to do with it!

I'm just saying!!

If... If you have any way of communicating with whoever decides the targets of the curse...

Then I just want you to tell them... to choose Satoko's uncle...

...Please!!!"

"......Everything you've been saying has been terrible.

If the freak death incidents in Hinamizawa were carried out by the will of the Sonozaki family... that would mean the main culprit would be me, wouldn't it?

I would have chosen the target of the curse,

given the instructions,

killed many people,

and gotten rid of others.

...You're calling me a murderer, Kei-chan."

"...I didn't say that!!

Didn't you listen to me?

...I don't care whether you're the one behind the murders or not... I just don't!!

Even if you were the culprit, it doesn't change the fact that you're my friend!!

It doesn't matter at all!

If the police were chasing you, I'd come to help!

I'd make you an alibi and even help you escape!!

Because we're friends and comrades!!

Aren't we?!"

Mion... looked surprised for a while.

...She was dumbfounded.

"............Now you're declaring yourself complicit?

Kei-chan, that's pretty bold of you."

"Come on, don't interrupt!!!

...Satoko's uncle... Choose him for—"

"Stop right there, Kei-chan.

...I want to start on dinner soon, so I'd like to leave things at this."

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

I then realized... that my cheeks were wet with tears.

...They slid down my chin and fell, drip drop, to the tatami mat.

"......It's like I said at the start.

...You've got a big misunderstanding.

...Oyashiro-sama's curse is just that...

Even if there were people behind those incidents, they don't have anything to do with the Sonozaki family, or me either."

"...Right.

...I understand that, it's just..."

"......It was touching to hear such a desperate plea, Kei-chan...

but that was all it was.

...Even if I wanted to help, I can't.

...You understand that too, right?"

"......Yeah."

"...But now I know how you feel so well it hurts.

...If I really were... like you said, the one controlling the Three Families and choosing the sacrifices every year.

......I'd probably grant your wish."

".........Mion...!"

"But the reality is different. I'm just Mion Sonozaki.

...My family may be the subject of all sorts of bad rumors about controlling Hinamizawa from the shadows,

but we have nothing to do with the freak death incidents.

...We may have been a little extreme during the dam war, but that's all.

...We would never do something...

so insane as to kill people."

"...That's...... Don't say such sad things...

...Right now, at least...

I don't care...

Why can't you just be nice and lie to me...!"

"Kei-chan.

You're free to believe what you like.

If I lied to you now, you'd be convinced Satoko would be freed the night after tomorrow, and you'd be able to shed much of your burden.

...However, reality is harsh—Satoko's uncle will survive beyond that day.

...He'd still be alive next week, and the week after that.

...You need to prepare yourself for that.

...I don't want you coming to me the day after Watanagashi and demanding to know why he wasn't killed."

"............Mion..."

Mion stood up slowly and closed the sliding door, to keep out the wind that had grown chilly...

"...Was it Miyo-san?

Did she give you all those ideas?

...She really likes to misunderstand things about Hinamizawa.

...Well, we can let her have her fun.

...But I don't really want her influencing you, Kei-chan.

...Geez.

This is why outsiders are no good."

"Takano-san... has nothing to do with it."

"...Right, right.

Don't worry.

Even though I know she told you about it, Kei-chan, nothing's going to happen.

...It's not like Miyo-san will be chosen for this year's curse.

...Besides, we don't even know for sure if the curse will happen this year.

...Maybe it was all just a pile of unfortunate coincidences."

"......Thanks for listening.

......If you aren't connected to the serial deaths at all... then that must have been an uncomfortable conversation.

I'll apologize for it."

"I see...

You'll apologize for it...

...Hahahahahahahaha."

...Mion said she didn't have much time, but she still brought me to the gate.

She said she had a meeting or something today about Sunday's Watanagashi festival, so there would be a lot of people from the town council and the festival committee coming.

...Despite her day being so busy, she still listened to what I had to say.

"...If there's a God in heaven...

then he probably understands how strongly you feel."

".........Yeah.

I'm really sorry for being so weird today.

...You can pretend like this discussion never happened if you want."

"...Okay.

I'll forget about it."

"Okay.

...See you tomorrow."

"Bye-bye."

I had really only spent... a short time with Mion.

...Talking to her made me think.

...It was clear that what Takano-san had told me, at least, wasn't a complete fabrication.

If Mion was really, really unconnected to the incidents, then she probably wouldn't have listened to me so quietly.

...She heard me out until I was done without making any quips... and I wanted to think that was proof.

...I did kind of feel like I was grasping at straws.

Of course, thinking back on it... it was a terrible thing to discuss.

I mean, I went to my friend's house, called her a serial murderer, and then told her to kill Satoko's uncle...

I was the only one talking that whole time.

Mion quietly listened to everything I had to say like a pastor listening to a confession.

...She could have gotten angry partway through, told me off, and to go wash my face in miso soup and come back later.

...But she didn't.

Was that proof that Mion's family, the Sonozaki, were the masterminds...

or was she just listening because she felt sorry for me going kind of crazy?

...I didn't know which it was.

But... it was the one effort I could make at the moment.

It was another form of insurance...

should worst come to worst and the public agency decided to 'wait and see.'

It was a completely useless resistance... literally grasping at straws.

Sensei said that if she reported it to the child consultation center, they'd have to respond on the same day.

...Could they already be in the middle of responding to it now...?

If Satoko came to school tomorrow morning all energetic... then everything would be just a needless fear.

Why couldn't tomorrow come faster...

That night was unusually hot and humid... and I couldn't get to sleep.

...I said all that to Sensei.

...They couldn't possibly decide to 'wait and see' again this year.

Satoko... What was it like for her tonight?

...Had she tasted the end of her nightmare, enjoying a night of liberation?

I actually put my hands together... and prayed into my futon.