...Disposing of the corpse.
The ultimate way not to create a "beginning"... was to not let the corpse be found.
It was even more important than killing him.
Thinking on it vaguely... the first thing that came to mind was the swamp.
...Onigafuchi, the dreadful bottomless swamp revered even now... that appeared in the legends of Onigafuchi Village.
Yes, the swamp called Onigafuchi was here first... and then the village took its name to become Onigafuchi Village.
...In other words, this swamp... was the origin of Onigafuchi Village.
No one, no matter who it was, would float back to the surface of this bottomless swamp... Everyone would be swallowed down into the land of the demons below the earth.
...That was how the stories went.
If I was trying to copy Oyashiro-sama's curse, then I felt that theory demanded I discard the remains and the weapon into the swamp.
But... They may have said it's bottomless, but I didn't actually know.
And people say large creatures like humans produce a lot of gas when they rot, granting a lot of buoyancy.
It was why using fairly heavy objects to hold people down didn't work.
...Come to think of it, with the curse the year before last, Rika-chan's mother drowned herself in this swamp.
...And the criminal behind the dismemberment that went missing the year of the first curse too—it was rumored he'd tried to discard the body in the swamp and accidentally drowned in it.
...I never heard of the corpse coming back up or them finding it.
...Then... shouldn't I choose to discard the corpse there, too...?
............I could discard the weapon there.
...And then... for example, if her uncle came out on a motorcycle and attacked... it would be convenient to get rid of the bike, too.
(I knew that Satoko's uncle generally used a motorcycle for transportation.)
But... as for the corpse......
After a lot of worrying... I decided not to discard the corpse in the swamp.
...The drowning suicide and accident were both rumors... Nobody knew if they'd actually happened.
There were no lack of false rumors about the drowning suicide anyway, and it was possible the murderer hadn't drowned there and was still on the run.
...That meant... no one had ever confirmed a corpse being dropped in there and then not coming back up.
Then what would I do with the body...?
I thought it might be interesting to go with the first incident, cut him to pieces and hide him... but the preparation and work for dismembering a human body would be difficult given the amount of time I had.
...With that out of the question... I arrived at the conclusion... to go with the more orthodox method of burying the body.
Then where I would bury it... was a question related to where I would kill him.
Of course, I wanted to keep my time in proximity to the body at a minimum.
With that in mind, I would want to dig the hole to dump the body in beforehand, and to make the location of the act and the hole close together.
...The choice of where to plan the crime... That, I needed to be absolutely careful and thorough with.
It had to be somewhere nobody would witness it... and a place with hiding places for a sneak attack.
...I could dig a hole for the body right there.
...I go over the possibilities in my head of the various destinations her uncle would head to from Satoko's house.
I imagined a map of the area in my head... and then I found a place that fulfilled those conditions so easily it was almost unbelievable.
......A bit of a back road that went through the woods.
I didn't think her uncle would go deeper into the mountains of Yagouchi on a whim... If he was going somewhere, he'd pass through these woods first...
And nobody used this back way unless they had something to do at Satoko's house or one or two other places.
...This path was fantastically ideal... as few people used it.
I would wait for him... in these woods.
...Would an ambush actually be possible?
I went into the trees and tried really hiding myself in a few places.
...It was extremely quiet.
...My senses could be sharpened here to their maximum amount.
I didn't know when he'd come... but I'd wait right here... for Satoko's uncle.
......I actually had some trouble coming to that decision.
The question arose of whether I should somehow call the man out.
...Was there a risk I'd be taking by luring him here?
...That man made Satoko do all the shopping and errands.
...He seldom left on his own business.
...He wouldn't leave... unless I worked out a plan to force him to, would he?
...That was the question.
Tomorrow was the Watanagashi Festival.
...Would he go out for the festival or would he stay inside?
If he stayed inside... how would I drag him out of his house?
...That's right.
......Wouldn't he... make Satoko go to the festival?
Satoko would go to the festival.
...Meanwhile, I would call the man.
...This is the Okinomiya police station.
We have the young lady from your house—could you come and pick her up immediately?
...It didn't even have to be the police.
This is the clinic—the young lady from your house has been injured.
Please come and pick her up—yes, that would work too.
...If I claimed to be the police or the hospital, told him to come and then hung up on him... He'd rush there trying to figure out what was going on, wouldn't he?
And just the other day, he was visited by a probation officer.
...He wouldn't suddenly grumble about having to get his niece and not go—it would look like child neglect.
...The man had no skills useful around the house... Satoko, his slave, was an essential part of his daily life.
Conclusion.
...If he went out to the festival... I would attack him here on his way there or back.
If he didn't... I would lure him out by phone.
If luring him out by phone was my first step, I needed to be sure Satoko would go to the festival, leaving the house.
...It would be convenient if I could make Mion take Satoko to the festival.
...She said her aunt was a district welfare officer.
...In other words, an ally to the probation officer.
...If I somehow incited Mion to take Satoko to the festival with her... Well, being who she was, she'd use that fact and get her there...
...Satoko should just... take a break and have fun at the festival with everyone.
...She should have a good time, reminisce on our former, peaceful days... and when she went home, everything would be over.
...Yeah... That would be the best outcome.
With that decided... I needed to dig a hole somewhere in the woods to hide the body.
...So it wouldn't stand out, so it wouldn't be found.
...Some place nobody would see me while I was completely exposed as I buried the corpse.
...I had wanted it to be close to the scene of the crime... but it naturally grew farther away.
Deep in the bosom of the black forest.
...The voices of the higurashi were the only sounds here, informing me that people shouldn't indiscreetly set foot in this place.
".........Digging a hole... huh..."
Digging a hole with so many tree roots crawling around the ground... would be far more difficult than I'd envisioned.
...I snuck a gardening spade out here in my bag... but that wouldn't be enough.
Still, as I looked into various approaches, I managed to find a place I could dig into.
...Tomorrow I'd bring a real shovel from the storeroom at home.
I'd manage with that.
I wondered how big a hole would have to be to fit a human all the way into it.
...I'd probably have to dig pretty deep down.
...But if I was slipshod in these efforts, I'd let a "beginning" occur.
...I absolutely couldn't allow that.
...Use any amount of time you need to.
...I mustn't spare any effort to utterly erase him...
I glanced at my wristwatch.
...It was a little past six.
This was probably all I was going to get done here for today.
...I really wanted to dig the hole in advance tonight even if it got dark out, but Mom would be upset if I stayed out that late.
...It wouldn't be good to come off as suspicious to my parents.
I needed to go back home and give Mion a call soon.
I needed to get her to promise Satoko to take her by tonight.
...After that, today would be done...
...Done.
...Would it be, though?
......Was this really everything I could do to prepare right now?
...I decided where to kill him.
...I decided how to kill him.
I decided, of course, how to dispose of the body.
...I didn't decide on a time, but I would play that by ear.
I didn't have a way to decide that.
......Was that really all?
Was this really all right?
Have I overlooked anything?
Would this really go how I planned?
After all this, worries started welling up one after another.
...It was only natural I'd be anxious.
...This would be... the first and last big job of my lifetime.
I could not allow failure... and I had no experience, as this was my first time.
I didn't have the know-how, the knack.
...So it was only natural I'd be anxious...
The dark clouds of unease... told me doing nothing would be the easiest way... a truly pathetic suggestion this late in the game.
...Have you forgotten how miserable Satoko looked?!
...From the outside, it may have looked like I was resolute... but deep in my heart, my knees were shaking loudly.
...I've never actually won a single fight to my satisfaction... Could I really kill someone...?
I may have been planning an ambush... but my enemy was large and far older than me.
He had a scary face, and he looked like he was well-accustomed to fighting.
......Could I have...
...All the pieces before and after the murder were perfectly planned...
but was the actual murder, the most important part, what unsettled me the most?
All my preparations, all of my perfectly-concealed machinations... If I didn't successfully murder him, they amounted to nothing.
...Damn it...!
After coming this far... You're pathetic, Keiichi Maebara!
If you start to have these kinds of second thoughts, your ulterior motive will be obvious.
...Let's go home... Go home and calm your mind.
Tomorrow... will be a juncture in your life... the likes of which graduation, employment, marriage, and childbirth couldn't hold a candle to.
...A day of murder...
to kill someone...
for someone else's sake.
With that day behind us... we would take it back again.
...Those mild, spring-like days we never thought would stop—those safe, peaceful, fun times.
I pedaled my bicycle hard to get back home.
...I felt somehow unsteady.
...Like my body and soul weren't in alignment.
...A subtle shift between where the tips of my hands and feet really were and where I felt them to be.
My vision was a little distant and narrow.
...As if the great barrier I risked my future life on... had nothing to do with me.
...An unreal sensation.
...How could I put it... Everything was so far away.
......Fine.
...Feel your unease permeate you, Keiichi Maebara.
...If that will turn your timidity into meticulousness and allow you to act with greater caution...
then it's actually an important emotion to feel.
This feeling I had... never went away that night.
It was the first time I'd be calling Mion's house.
I searched for her in the phone book the school gave me... then dialed a short phone number, the kind unique to remote places...
It was around dinnertime.
She would probably be home.
............But just as I started to think nobody would respond...
Someone finally picked up the receiver.
"...Hello, this is Sonozaki."
"............Oh, I'm sorry for calling so late at night.
...Umm... Is this Mion?"
"...Huh? May I ask who's calling?"
"It's me... Keiichi."
"Ah... oh, Kei-chan.
It's pretty late. What's uuup?"
She seemed to be in a weirdly good mood, and she drew her syllables out.
...Right—it's the night before tomorrow's festival, so she's probably with her family having some drinks.
"Sorry for the late call.
...Do you have time right now?"
"Sure.... What is it?"
"It's about Satoko."
I heard her draw in a small breath on the other end.
"...Satoko... She's in a pretty bad spot.
...I hope she's okay..."
The "scent" of sake had completely disappeared from her voice...
"She can't be okay.
...You saw too, didn't you?
What she was like?"
"..............."
"...She was completely worn out from all the abuse.
...We failed her all this time, and now she's become like that."
"......We didn't fail her.
...Everyone tried their hardest to help her."
"But we didn't come up with anything... and we couldn't save her.
...In the end... we couldn't do anything about it, and now she's become like that."
".........I guess... you're right.
...All I did... was watch, after all..."
"...So, well...
At least...
Couldn't we at least let her have fun for one night?"
"Huh? Let her have fun...?"
"...She's been so battered lately, you understand...
That's why.
...I want you to take her... to the Watanagashi Festival tomorrow."
"......I don't mind.
...But why?"
"Why...?
...I want to give her a breather at least for the festival night, you know?
...Even if it's just one night, if she can get away from her evil uncle... then I think she'll be happy, even if it's only for a little while."
"............Yes, but... why?"
"...Why...? ...Why what?"
I was having a little difficulty understanding what Mion was asking me...
"...Why...... well...
...I mean! ...W-Why don't you bring her, Kei-chan?
Why do you need to ask me to do it...?"
Mion was... persistent about odd things.
...No... maybe it'd be better to say that she was sharp.
"I, well... I actually have something to do tomorrow.
...I can't make it to the festival.
So I wanted you to take Satoko there for me."
"......Something to do...?"
"It's nothing major.
I'll probably finish quickly... but I might not be able to meet up with you all tomorrow."
".................."
"Hey, Mion.
...Could I leave Satoko to you, just for tomorrow night...?"
Mion took a long time to give her reply.
...I got the feeling... that Mion had been acting weird for a while now.
...Like she was flustered by emotions, or something...
"............No...
......hic..."
Huh...?
Was that a sob?
...Mion...?!
...Are you... crying...?
"......I... said no... I don't want to...
I don't want you... to push this onto someone like me...!"
"...I... I'm not trying to push anything onto you.
...It's just for tomorrow night."
"That was a lie!!"
...What...?
...Mion... What was she... talking about...?
"Saying it's just for the night of Watanagashi...
and then it was... forever...
Liar...
hic...
......aha... ahahahahaha.
But I guess... we're even, huh?
...I couldn't... couldn't keep the promise I made with you.
...I left her alone... alone, all this time..."
...I had no idea what to say to that.
...Mion was clearly... now talking to someone other than me.
...I didn't... know who.
All I could do... was listen to her in a daze.
"......You never... came back after that... And now you called me again... to push her onto me.
...You're so... unfair...
...hic...
..................Hey, you're
.........Satoshi-kun...
aren't you...?"
"...Mi...Mion... What are you... talking about...?"
...When I said her name... whatever spell was on Mion was released...
"...Ah... Ahahahahahahahahaha...
...I... I'm sorry...
It's nothing.
...It's just that... I got a phone call a lot like the one you're making now... a long time ago."
"......Was it... from Satoshi...?"
...Mion didn't answer.
...All I could hear were sobs coming through the receiver.
"S-Sorry.
...I think I'm still a little tipsy.
...I got all weirdly emotional.
...Ehehehe... Sorry, I probably scared you."
......I had no idea how it happened.
...But I was pretty sure that last year, on this very day...
Satoshi had called Mion.
......And told her to bring Satoko to the festival.
And when she asked why he needed her to do it...
He replied the same way I just did.
"...Satoshi...... didn't go to the festival... did he?"
"......Yeah.
...He said he had something to do, and couldn't make it.
...And he told me to take Satoko there in his place."
..................
"...At the time... Satoshi said it, too, didn't he?
...That he'd leave Satoko to you?"
".........Yeah.
...He did.
Just for tomorrow night.
...The way you said it... was just like how he did... Ahahaha.
...I just got a little upset, caught up in a memory and all."
I didn't expect this.
...Satoshi had given her the exact same phone call... one year ago today.
...After that, Mion had said more.
...That I—that he—was lying.
...That he told her it would only be for the night of the festival.
"......I get it.
...A few days later... Satoshi...... he disappeared."
"Disappeared" might have been a rather vague way to put it.
...Whether he ran away or not... Satoshi left, abandoning Satoko.
"......Yes.
...He didn't transfer, or run away from home...
He disappeared."
...And then... an idea far more indistinct than even fog crossed my mind.
Satoshi made exactly the same phone call as me last year.
...Why... would Satoshi make the exact same call...?
If... in the truest sense... he really made the exact same phone call as I am right now......
then the incident where their aunt was beaten to death...
...............That's...
...could it...
......
"......Was...... Satoshi."
"...Huh?
...What was that...?"
...Last year.
...Satoko had been constantly abused by her uncle's wife, their aunt, too.
...Her aunt abused her the most...
And on that night, in the name of Oyashiro-sama's curse...
she was taken from this world...
...If I thought about that... everything made perfect sense, didn't it?
"...Last year, Satoko's aunt was beaten to death, wasn't she?
...Would it be... impossible... for Satoshi to have...?"
...No, but... That would mean...
...But then... Satoshi... He was a coward who abandoned Satoko and ran away, wasn't he?!
How could Satoshi... resolve himself to kill a person... to save Satoko...? It was unthinkable...
"......I... I actually considered that as well.
...Though it'd be mean to Satoshi..."
...A few days later... he disappeared.
On Satoko's birthday.
When I first heard it, I flew into a rage... What a cruel day to have run away on.
...But......
now that I thought about it like this...
the story changed completely...
Satoshi... had probably been even less calm than I was now.
...He was her big brother, related by blood, watching his little sister be abused day in and day out... Maybe that's why he couldn't keep calm.
...And that was why... the corpse of their aunt, beaten to death, was so easily discovered.
Satoshi lost himself in his anger and hadn't hidden the corpse.
He'd permitted a "beginning" to occur.
If the police conducted a full-blown investigation... it was easy to imagine they wouldn't take long to pin down Satoshi as the culprit.
Satoshi... He wished for a return to peaceful days with Satoko, and though he achieved it for a time...
he had been steadily driven into a corner.
And then... he wanted to at least hold out until Satoko's birthday... but finally... they nailed him.
...At the time, Satoshi had been carrying the savings he'd amassed to buy Satoko a giant stuffed animal for a birthday present.
He would buy the stuffed animal as her gift... and then get caught.
...Or he could use the money and disappear... That was the choice he had been forced to make.
...And he... decided... not to make Satoko the sister of a murderer...
...If that was the case... then it must have been an unspeakably bitter decision.
...All that money he'd saved wanting to see Satoko happy... He had to use it to make her sad.
...And he used the savings...
and disappeared... to Tokyo, if the rumors were true.
"......Was that how Satoshi... disappeared........."
"...I... I don't know.
...That Ooishi guy seems to think that way, though."
Ooishi...
...Had he been slowly driven into a corner by that repulsive man's pigheaded pursuit...?
"The circumstantial evidence is all there... but I think your deduction is wrong.
...They caught some lowlife somewhere in the prefecture and he apparently turned himself in for the crime."
.........That was right.
...The deviant had confessed... and the incident was solved.
"They said he really was just a crazy person, and that he had no ties to Hinamizawa.
And no relationship with Satoshi, of course.
...I mean, I have a pretty hard time believing the guy would lie in Satoshi's place..."
...You couldn't just arbitrarily decide like that.
...You never know where or how humans are tied together...
...If that guy took the blame... then it was the perfect crime.
...Of course, if it was really a perfect crime... there would have been no reason for Satoshi to vanish.
"Plus... I don't think Satoshi had the kind of money to run away.
That day he withdrew all his savings...
...No matter who I tell this to, nobody believes me, but...
That stuffed animal he said he was buying for Satoko...
It was gone from the display, sold.
...It must... have been Satoshi."
"...Wait a minute.
...If he didn't use the money to flee and bought the stuffed animal instead... He would have gone back to Satoko, wouldn't he?
...It seems unbelievable he'd buy it and then disappear without having given it to her."
"...Yeah.
...So... now I don't know what happened.
...It would be one thing if he had the money... but if he used all his savings on it, he'd be totally broke.
...You can't live a life on the run without money in this world."
"..............."
I didn't get it.
...After all that... I was understanding Satoshi less and less.
The two of us... fell silent.
...I couldn't remember how we even got on this topic.
"Ahahahahaha... Sorry.
...I think we got off topic.
...Satoko, right? Don't worry.
I actually already invited her."
"...Huh?!
...You serious...?"
"...When everyone went to the shrine to prepare for the festival, we started talking about getting Satoko to the festival itself.
So then I used the phone at the assembly hall to invite her.
Her uncle was acting distant and didn't seem to care at all, but in any case, we got the OK from him.
We decided to all meet up and go together tomorrow.
...You okay with that?
Satoshi~?"
"...Stupid... I'm not Satoshi..."
I was a little relieved.
...I hadn't needed to make the phone call... Satoko had already been invited to the festival.
And not in a way that smelled of blood, a way to leave her uncle alone to create time for me to kill him...
They purely wanted Satoko to enjoy herself... so they invited her.
In the end, it was the same... but I was happy for that slight difference.
"...Sorry.
...I guess I didn't need to call, then.
...First yesterday, now today... Sorry for, uh... saying such weird things.
Just forget about it."
"......No, I'm the one who should apologize.
Losing it like that isn't like me.
I'm really sorry."
We apologized to each other for a little bit.
"All right, I'll be going now.
...Good night."
"...What did you have to do?"
...As if interrupting our parting words... Mion struck straight where it hurt.
"...Or is it like... with Satoshi...
where you can't say?"
".....................Stupid.
...I keep telling you... I'm not Satoshi."
".........Yeah.
...Yeah, I... I know that."
I deflected her... with a response that wasn't really an answer.
...Mion didn't hound me anymore after that.
"All right, this time for real... Good night."
"...I don't know why you're giving me the same phone call as Satoshi-kun did, but...
...............Yeah... Never mind.
...I'm sorry. Good night."
"......I'm hanging up."
...Click.
Satoshi Houjou.
...Just who are you...?
...I scorned you as a coward who ran away, abandoning his sister.
I always thought... you didn't have the right to call yourself her Nii-nii.
But...... Now I didn't know what to think.
Oyashiro-sama's curse on the fourth year...
...Their aunt's death... and Satoshi's disappearance.
......And now... me, trying to carry out Oyashiro-sama's curse on the fifth.
Oddly enough, what I was going to do... overlapped perfectly with Satoshi—the day before the curse.
No, that wasn't all...
...If we start... back from Satoko being abused... then I'd been overlapping with Satoshi for days already.
When I talked to Mion before... she asked me if I was Satoshi.
...If that was the first impression a third party like Mion got... then it was probably true.
Then as Satoshi had accomplished... I would succeed in the murder.
But that was the extent to which we overlapped.
I was far calmer than Satoshi... and more calculating.
...I could actually grow calmer... the more enthusiastic I became.
...That's why I wouldn't follow in Satoshi's footsteps.
I would snip him cleanly out of the world... and then get our peaceful life back.
...Maybe Satoshi has been with me ever since I chose to use Satoshi's bat as my weapon.
...No... maybe even longer than that.
...When I decided I'd be her Nii-nii... Maybe Satoshi had been residing within me then, too.
...Satoshi.
......Were you really... a coward?
...Or... are you a true Nii-nii even now... the kind worthy of Satoko's love...?
I'd never met him, never spoken to him... didn't even know his face... and yet I felt so connected to him... I'd never felt that way before.