"I should apologize, Rena.

...I don't think I believed you.

I'm really sorry about that."

"It's okay, Keiichi-kun.

.........I'm just glad we didn't get caught."

"Who are they?!

...Are they pawns of those religious fanatics who are trying to revive the cult of Oyashiro-sama?"

"...I think they don't realize that they're pawns,

but I'm sure the masterminds are using them as such.

...They must be the ones who have been pulling strings behind the scenes, ever since the dam conflict."

"......I heard that people working for the Sonozaki family did something similar during the dam conflict itself."

"Yes.

Everyone knows that.

...Ooishi-san told me that

there was a kidnapping incident during the dam conflict.

The case hasn't been disclosed to the public... but anyway, someone kidnapped the grandson of the Minister of Construction and coerced the Minister into promising to put a halt to the dam construction."

"The grandson of the Minister was kidnapped?!

Hey, I've never heard about that before!"

"The Minister submitted to their demands and they made a deal behind the scenes. That's why the incident never went public.

Ooishi-san only knows about it because he was in charge of the case."

"......Hm, okay...

...and...?"

"According to Ooishi-san, between kidnapping the minister's grandson and blackmailing him, their tactics were frighteningly advanced.

The police know that the Sonozaki family gave orders to the kidnappers, but the case still remains unsolved.

...At that time, the head of the Sonozaki family, Oryou, had announced a plan to fight against the dam project by force. She even formed a special attack corps using the yakuza group that's under the Sonozaki family's command.

She was very serious about this plan to put the Ministry of Construction down by brute force if she couldn't stop the construction."

Everybody knows that the Sonozaki family had tried to stop the dam project even if it meant breaking the law.

So I wasn't so surprised to hear that she had a dangerous plan like that.

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if it was Mion who came up with the idea. The plan sounded just like her.

"In the end, the plan ended up as nothing more than that. But the special attack corps actually did undergo training, and very high-level training at that."

Ooishi had uncovered the information right after the dam conflict ended.

At the time, Oryou even said that if the village was going to be submerged,

all members of the Onigafuchi Guardians would choose to stay in their houses and drown.

So because Oryou was behind those things, I couldn't just laugh off the idea of an armed assault on the Ministry of Construction.

According to the information Ooishi seized, she planned a suicide mission as a last resort when the dam conflict started to heat up, in case their resistance wasn't successful.

She had actually obtained weapons and put people through training for the sake of that plan.

The special attack corps were flown to America, having received a huge amount of money from Oryou for the operation.

In the southern desert of the United States, some retired military soldiers gave them highly professional training.

While the plan was never carried out, the special attack corps became a death squad under the direct control of Oryou after they came back from America. They were involved in many unsolved terrorist incidents, and they succeeded in kidnapping the grandson of the Minister as well.

"...I-It sounds like it's from a movie or something..."

"Do you remember how Mii-chan said that she could do anything, from flying helicopters to using wireless radios?

It's actually all true.

It seems like Mii-chan joined in their training."

"So that was all true?!"

"...Well, let's put that aside for now.

Anyway, you have to at least believe that the death squad actually exists in Hinamizawa. And they're capable of kidnapping the grandson of a government minister."

...I didn't take a close look at the four men in the white van today... but thinking about it, they did look professional in a way.

They were pretending to just be taking a break, but I could tell they were tense the whole time.

"So... are they really trying to kill you...?"

"...I don't think so.

If they really wanted to kill me, I'd be dead already."

"So... what do they want...?

...Are they after...

Takano-san's scrapbooks...?"

"Like you saw yourself, the group is very cautious. Unless we show them an opening, they won't resort to force.

...If they were the type to use force outright, they could've attacked me in my sleep."

"They haven't done that yet, so that must mean they're taking it cautiously."

"They're probably not sure that I have the scrapbooks.

They killed Miyo-san and tried to dispose of them...

...But they found out that the most important ones were missing.

They thought she gave them to someone because she knew her life was in danger.

Now they think I'm the one who has them.

...But they're not sure, so they can't resort to violence."

"...Rena...

it sounds like...

you're playing a dangerous game..."

"Yeah.

...I'm a bit scared.

But... they won't be able to erase me so easily.

After all, I'm cooperating with Ooishi-san.

I've been frequently contacting him in case something happens."

"What did he say about them?"

"He said he'd keep an eye on the Sonozaki family so that he could catch them right away, if they were working behind the scenes."

"...Did you tell him about the scrapbooks?"

"No.

...I didn't."

"I think you should. He's an officer.

I'm sure the police will help you...!"

".........Keiichi-kun.

I can't even tell you the secret of this village because I'm not sure you would believe me.

...I don't think Ooishi-san would believe me if I told him any of this."

"Rena,

let's not make it more confusing than it already is.

Just tell me.

What is it?

What's written in the scrapbooks?

What's the secret that killed Miyo-san?!"

"Simply put............ if the things written in the scrapbooks are true, the god they worship will be dethroned."

"Their god...? Dethroned...?"

"Yes.

The sanctity of Oyashiro-sama will be lost.

That's why they want to conceal the truth. They want to resurrect people's belief in Oyashiro-sama."

"Rena, can you explain it, uh, a little more simply than that?

I'm confused..."

"In other words, Oyashiro-sama isn't a god."

"...He isn't?"

I had no idea what she read that made her so certain, but whatever it was, it'd be sacrilegious for people who believed so strongly in Oyashiro-sama.

"There are many teachings of Oyashiro-sama, but the essence is as follows:

'Don't leave the village' and 'don't let anybody into the village'.

One could even say the rest of his teachings were developed to maintain those two fundamentals.

It really wasn't until later on that they added aspects like 'love your neighbor' or viewing him as a god of marriage and domestic prosperity."

In other words, Oyashiro-sama existed solely to stop the villagers from going outside the village.

Oyashiro-sama doesn't bless the villagers or protect them from disasters.

The people believe that Oyashiro-sama does all that for them, but the truth is that the people abused his name for that purpose, generation after generation, and nothing more than that.

Why did Oyashiro-sama descend in the first place?

Because demons came out of Onigafuchi Swamp and attacked people.

"In fact... that was the wrong interpretation.

Demons didn't come out of the swamp and attack people.

People became demons and attacked others when they were possessed by whatever came out of the swamp."

"...Whatever came out of the swamp...

What do you mean by that?"

Whatever came out of the swamp possessed people, crawled into their blood, controlled them, and turned them into demons.

People had no resistance against whatever it was that came out of the swamp. They became demons, attacked the other villagers, and turned them into demons as well.

That's right.

...It was a weird infectious disease that broke out from the swamp.

It made the infected people go out of control.

The villagers saw this disaster and explained it like so.

Evil demons came out from the bottom of the swamp, possessed people, and turned them into demons as well.

That is the truth of the story of the demons that came out of Onigafuchi Swamp.

"...It actually...

explains the legend...

...So... was Oyashiro-sama...

a doctor

who came from a foreign country?"

"Yes.

That's not exactly correct, but... he was something like that.

He came to Onigafuchi, and he treated the infectious disease.

But he couldn't cure it for good."

All his treatment could do was reduce the symptoms of the infection.

...Villagers could have their symptoms suppressed, but there was no way to kill the parasites that had infested them.

After a while, the village was divided into two groups.

One group was made up of the people who were already infected, and the other consisted of the people who weren't.

Without a cure for the disease, the uninfected looked down on the people who could only suppress their violent symptoms.

They even talked about drowning them in the swamp.

But they knew killing the infected people wouldn't solve the problem.

The parasites came out of their water sources, including Onigafuchi Swamp.

They couldn't fill them all in, for if they did that, they would lose their access to drinking water.

They could've chosen to leave the village, but that was hard for them, for that was the location of their ancestors' graves.

Under the power of "Oyashiro-sama," infected people could live without showing symptoms.

So, both those who were infected and those who weren't decided to live together equally and to coexist with the parasite.

"Oyashiro-sama" was impressed by the villagers' decision. He decided to stay there and continue to treat them...

"...That's the true identity of Oyashiro-sama, the benefactor who stayed in the village to protect the lives of both human and demon..."

"That's right.

And Oyashiro-sama made rules in order to ensure the symptoms of the infected people would remain suppressed.

The rules were to never leave the village and to never let anybody into the village."

"I understand why he didn't want to let anybody new into the village.

...It was to prevent the parasite from infecting anyone else.

But I don't understand why he didn't want people to leave."

"It seems like the parasite can only live in Hinamizawa because of the climate here.

It causes an outbreak of the symptoms in order to prevent the hosts from leaving the village when they try.

...That reaction is the truth behind 'the curse of Oyashiro-sama'."

The strongest symptoms of the infectious disease were violence and delirium.

The infected people acted just like demons, and the impact of seeing them in the throes of the disease was strong enough to make others describe them as such.

They couldn't even let people leave who had just come to the village.

If they had left after being infected, they might go crazy in a faraway land, turn into a vicious demon, and cause a disaster.

Infected people were never allowed to leave.

When an infected person left the village, they brought him back by any means necessary.

That was what it really meant to be "demoned away".

"Wait a second, Rena.

...That means everybody in this village, including you and I, are infected.

But nothing happens when we leave Hinamizawa.

In fact, many villagers move far away after getting married or something.

I've never heard of any villagers who went crazy and turned into demons after they left Hinamizawa."

"You're right.

That's because things went as Oyashiro-sama thought they would.

Do you understand?

He isolated the village for a long time in order to weaken the power of the parasite."

Hosts are very important for parasites. If something happens to the host, the parasites that live in the host have to share the same fate.

In other words, if the host went crazy and attacked people, the host would be captured and killed, which means that the parasites would die with the host, too.

"...I see.

...You're talking about natural selection...!"

"Good thinking, Keiichi-kun.

...That's exactly right.

As a result of living in this village under such strict rules for a long time,

people who were hypersensitive to the parasite went crazy and got killed.

The strong parasites that made the infected people go crazy were also killed off due to the host's violent behaviors.

As a result, only the parasites that acted nice to people lived on.

...And that's the explanation behind 'the mix of human and demon blood' that's written in the legend of Oyashiro-sama."

"So...

that means the parasite... is almost harmless now."

"Yes.

According to Miyo-san's scrapbooks, there are actually many people who are infected by harmless parasites.

It depends on the local food culture. For example, about 80% of the people who live in a country where meat is a staple food are infected by parasites.

But because the parasites coexist with humans without doing any harm to them, nobody notices them, treats them,

or tries to get rid of them."

"............I see."

"In olden times, Watanagashi was called Harawata-nagashi, harawata meaning 'guts'.

It's said the people back then used to eat the guts of infected people who went crazy.

It sounds awful, but it was something they had to do."

"...Eating the infected people...

Are you talking about a vaccine?"

"Ahaha, you're very smart, Keiichi-kun.

Miyo-san also interpreted it just like you did.

In the legend, it says people cut open and ate the infected ones alive, but it actually wasn't anything gross like that. They did it in a scientific way.

They created a vaccine from the infected people who died from the extremely strong parasites, and that helped the uninfected villagers boost their immune system."

"...Who was Oyashiro-sama?

A scientist...?

...He must've been from a very advanced country...

Was he German?

Is the true identity of Oyashiro-sama a foreign doctor who survived a shipwreck?!"

"I think that'd be the most likely answer.

...He wasn't German, but he was a doctor of some sort."

"It's kind of interesting to reveal the truth behind old legends...

Heh heh heh."

I don't think that Rena's story is too crazy to be true anymore.

It still sounds crazy, of course, but I've never heard any theories that explained the legend of this village better than this one.

".........I'm infected by the parasite too, right...?

I feel itchy all over now..."

"A person is like a universe.

We have countless numbers of bacteria in our bodies.

Some of those bacteria are essential to us staying alive."

"Oh, like bacteria in yogurt, right?

...I see."

"This is also what Miyo-san wrote in her scrapbooks. You know termites, right?

They eat wood.

But they actually can't digest it themselves.

They have unique bacteria that decomposes the wood fibers. As a result, termites can absorb what they eat.

That's just one example of a species coexisting with parasites."

I didn't know that.

...When I hear the word parasites, I feel creeped out almost instinctively. But now I know some of them aren't so bad to us.

"So, the weird infectious disease that broke out from Onigafuchi swamp has been exterminated by now.

Well... I shouldn't say exterminated.

I should say it's harmless now."

"I thought it was a crazy story at first...

but now I feel like I just saw the trick behind some crazy kind of magic. It's interesting."

"It is to us.

...But for the cult of Oyashiro-sama, this must be a very annoying theory."

Of course.

...If Takano-san's theory is correct, Oyashiro-sama isn't a god.

And the punishment by that god, namely 'the curse of Oyashiro-sama' that people have been so afraid of, will turn out to have just been the symptoms of an infectious disease.

I see......

That's what 'dethroning god' would mean...

"...So... if the pathogen of this infectious disease was identified and announced to the public... the power of Oyashiro-sama would be completely lost."

"That's right.

That's what they're afraid of.

Miyo-san was going to identify the pathogen.

...And for that, she was killed..."

"So, that must mean she identified it...!"

"Maybe she did.

...But she's gone, and she didn't say anything about that in her scrapbooks.

That's the only reason I can think of, though."

"But... it's the end of the 20th century.

I'm sure the villagers have been examined by a lot of different medical institutions by now, right?

I've never heard about anyone discovering a weird parasite like that."

"I know.

It's true that the pathogen hasn't been found yet.

But in fact, there is evidence that there is some kind of parasite involved."

"What?

Really...?"

When a parasite enters a human body, that body's immune system cells (eosinophils and macrophages) try to kill the parasite.

They secrete an antibody called\nimmunoglobulin E (IgE).

The most common way of checking if a person is infected by a pathogen is to look at the levels of this secretion.

According to Takano's research, people from Hinamizawa have a very high level of IgE in their blood.

That's not all.

They also have obvious symptoms of being infected by parasites.

They don't have any allergies.

IgE stimulates mast cells, and they secrete histamines and serotonin as a result. These cause an allergic reaction.

That allergic reaction isn't pleasant for humans, but it's necessary for the body to kill the pathogen.

But the parasites don't want to be killed, of course, so they secrete substances that counteract IgE.

As a result, IgE stops stimulating the receptors of the mast cells, which stop secreting the chemical compounds.

As a result, the antigen-antibody reaction, namely the allergic reaction, doesn't occur.

In other words, a human body that was infected by a parasite secretes a high level of IgE, but doesn't display allergic reactions.

For your information, a human body that's infected by a parasite doesn't suffer from hay fever.

You get hay fever due to your body secreting a large amount of IgE, because it's mistaken pollen for a parasitic invasion.

As a result, a large amount of stimulants like histamine will be secreted, but your body can't contain the parasite that it's attempting to kill.

That's why your body continues to secrete IgE.

As a result, the stimulants keep causing allergic reactions. That's how hay fever works.

If you have a parasite in your body, it'll deactivate your IgE and suppress the secretion of stimulants.

As a result, you don't have an allergic reaction.

In other words, there's no hay fever in Hinamizawa, and you can cure your hay fever by moving here.

"...So we haven't been able to identify the pathogen, but there's no question about its existence."

"Yes.

That's right."

"If that's true... the scrapbooks are a big threat to the believers in Oyashiro-sama.

They don't identify the pathogen, but they clearly prove its existence."

"Yeah.

...It poses a big enough danger to them to make them think it's worth killing Miyo-san."

"This really is... a scary secret.

I believe it because you took the time to explain it to me... But if you had skipped the details and told me only the conclusion, it really would've sounded too crazy to believe."

"I told you!

I couldn't believe it at first, either. So, I thought you definitely wouldn't."

"...So, what's important right now is that there's a dangerous organization acting in the shadows to try and cover up the truth, right?"

"Yes.

That's the most important thing."

The fanatics who want to revive the sanctity of the god they worship.

Reviving the majesty of their god means reviving the power of that god.

And the power of their god is... the infectious disease.

...This infectious disease can't spread nationwide, unlike other infectious diseases.

So from now on I'm going to start calling it an 'endemic disease'.

That fits better, since it only affects this region.

Anyway, the endemic disease of current-day Hinamizawa is different from the one of old times.

It's been through a process of natural selection, and it's harmless now.

In other words, it doesn't do any harm to human bodies.

That harm was once interpreted as a "curse".

A "curse" is "the power of a god". So, a harmless endemic disease means that the god is powerless.

That means the only way to regain the majesty of that god is to revive the curse.

In other words, they want to bring back the primitive endemic disease, namely the harmful, strong version of the parasite.

"Wait a second!

These fanatics want to deny the fact that their god was actually a parasite.

But you're saying that they're researching the parasite.

That's contradictory, isn't it?"

"I know it is.

I think that this research is a secret that only the head of the fanatics is aware of.

From the outside, they look like they're praising their god, but they actually understand its true identity, and they're trying to revive its supernatural power with their own hands."

"...I get it now.

...Oh my god, this is getting crazier and crazier..."

"It didn't say in the scrapbooks, but... I'm suspicious of the clinic the manager owns."

"The Irie Clinic?

...Why?"

"The facility is too big and fancy for Hinamizawa.

Miyo-san was working there.

The manager might be a bacteriologist the Sonozaki family recruited..."

"...It can't be..."

"I think Miyo-san was murdered because she knew too much.

The reason why the manager hasn't been murdered yet is because he's working for the fanatics in the first place."

"And... he's researching the primitive form of the endemic disease...

It's hard to believe that the Coach we know is capable of doing things like that."

"...I'm sorry.

He might be totally irrelevant.

It's just a wild guess.

But someone is doing the research somewhere, that much is certain.

And after five years, the research has finally been completed."

The first case was the dismemberment murder by the dam construction workers.

Their quarrel had turned into a lynching. They might've had the primitive infectious disease, and the symptoms, the aggression and delirium, might've kicked in.

The victims of the second year were Satoko's parents.

There were no witnesses, so the whole event is veiled in mystery. But there's a theory that someone might've pushed them over the cliff, since the fence of the observation deck that they fell from was quite sturdy.

What if one of them was infected by the primitive parasite? He or she might've become violent and pushed the other over the cliff.

The Shinto priest died from a disease, and his wife drowned herself in the third year.

He might've died of shock because of a hypersensitive reaction to the infection.

His wife might've gone crazy and committed suicide when one of the symptoms, delirium, kicked in.

In the fourth year

... Satoshi Houjou's aunt was beaten to death, probably by Satoshi himself.

Everybody who knew Satoshi-kun remembers how he changed at that time.

He showed signs of being both aggressive and delirious.

And the fifth year.

For the first time in five years, the victim experienced the "maggot disease" described in the old scroll of the Furude shrine.

The reason behind that is unclear, but the stronger primitive parasite could've given its victims a delusion of maggots.

This means that they finally managed to duplicate "the curse of Oyashiro-sama"

after five years of research.

Tomitake-san is the victim of the fifth year. He died in an extremely abnormal way. And I'm the only one who understands his death, because I experienced the same thing.

He kept clawing at his throat to get rid of the maggots, and died as a result.

With all that explained, I finally understand the 'maggot disease' I experienced in Ibaraki.

I left Hinamizawa, and it made the parasite in me uncomfortable.

As a result, it tried to resist, even though it wasn't very strong, and it tried to make me homesick.

But with my parents' divorce, I grew mentally unbalanced, and I completely lost the power to resist for a period of time.

The parasite was weak and harmless, but my mental instability allowed it to worsen my symptoms dramatically.

As a result, I went crazy and became violent.

...The delusion of Oyashiro-sama appearing to me in the bathroom was probably the terminal phase of my delirium.

I created the supernatural existence, Oyashiro-sama, that I was instilled with when I was little. Then I persuaded myself to go back to Hinamizawa, based on that delusion.

Some of the transcendents of Onigafuchi must have had the same kind of experience.

They must've passed their experiences down as the acts of a god.

I remember I once saw on TV that the indigenous people in South America used some kind of natural drug in order to have a mystical experience,

and that they called it a ritual to communicate with their gods...

"So... what the fanatics are trying to do... is to spread the primitive parasites throughout Hinamizawa!"

"I think that's their goal.

But I don't think they'll do that without letting people know about it.

Religions need ceremonies.

So if they created what they wanted to create and if they decided to spread it...

I think they'd name it 'The Day of Oyashiro-sama's Revival' or something, and they'd perform some kind of ceremony.

It would be in celebration of the revival of Oyashiro-sama."

"...That's...

a bad thing, isn't it...?"

"I think you can say that

because

they're trying to spread a very dangerous pathogen."

"Hey, isn't that bioterrorism?!

...Geez, this is very bad!!

They used it on Tomitake-san, confirming that they succeeded in duplicating the curse of Oyashiro-sama. So, that 'Day of Revival' might be really soon!!"

"I don't know.

It could happen in a few days, or it might take a year..."

"This is way out of your league, Rena...!

This is a very serious conspiracy!!

There's nothing we alone can do to stop them!

We have to report it to the police!!"

"Do you think they will believe us?"

"It's their choice whether to believe us or not!

No matter what, we have to tell them...!"

"Keiichi-kun.

Telling Ooishi-san about all this means... telling him that I have the scrapbooks."

"...Do you think that'd be a problem...?"

"Ooishi-san came to me after Miyo-san was murdered.

When they killed Miyo-san, they found out that her scrapbooks were missing. They also know that she met me at the library a few days ago."

"...No way...

You mean..."

"Yes.

Ooishi-san could be one of them.

It's possible that Ooishi-san thinks I have the scrapbooks, and he might be trying to find out.

In fact, he looked very suspicious, and it seemed to me that he didn't really tell me everything he knew.

He only told me things to make me suspicious of the Sonozaki family. He could have just been trying to look like he was on my side, and that he's actually their minion."

"B-But... the police are our only hope..."

"Keiichi-kun, you know about the case of the fourth year, don't you?

Satoko-chan's aunt was murdered.

I believe Satoshi-kun did it. But... the police fingered a drug addict as the murderer.

What do you think about that?"

"...Some of the fanatics are with the police...

and they fabricated the murderer...?!"

"It's the same with the autopsy of the Shinto priest, who they claim died from disease, and the inspection of the accident site where the Houjou couple died.

...If the police are on their side, it opens the door to many perfect crimes.

The Three Families have been maintaining pressure on the police since the dam conflict.

...You've heard from Mii-chan that they also have considerable power over many organizations in Okinomiya, right?"

"Y-Yes, I have.

It's not only Mion who told me that.

Many people did.

They told me the Sonozaki family holds influence over the whole city..."

"......That's right.

You can't necessarily trust the police around here."

"Rena, please!

I want to make one thing clear before we go on... Are the Sonozaki family the masterminds behind all this?!

Does that mean Mion is involved, too?!

Please tell me!"

"...I don't know if Mii-chan or Rika-chan are directly involved or not.

All I can say for sure is that the fanatics have the power to control the nerve centers of all the Three Families, including the most powerful family of all, the Sonozakis.

...I'm not sure if the fanatics are controlling the Three Families or if the Three Families are the fanatics themselves."

"As long as we're not sure about their involvement... it's better for us to be extra careful around them... Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes.

...I'm not saying that I don't trust Mii-chan.

She's usually very reliable, and I'd ask her for help with any problem, but not this one.

This one is a little different.

...I don't know if you've seen it before, but...

Although Mii-chan jokes around when she's with us, she can be a very cold person when she's acting as the successor of the Sonozaki family.

...Plus, even if she wasn't involved, we would put her in danger if we told her about this."

"If she was on our side, that'd be really encouraging...!

I think we should tell her..."

"No, we shouldn't!

We shouldn't tell her until we confirm she's not one of them.

Sure, it'd be great if we could pull her to our side, but what if we couldn't?!"

"So... how are we going to fight against them?"

"Well,

this is a battle we don't stand a chance of winning to begin with.

...That's why I didn't want to get you involved."

"...Damn it!

...Takano-san left us a big parting gift, didn't she?"

"But because of that, we know about the conspiracy.

I believe this is her will."

"Two kids challenging the mastermind who controls the village.

...This is going to be tough...

Ordinary methods won't work."

"...But... Keiichi-kun, I'm glad to have you on my side.

We can talk about it and plan things together."

".........Of course.

I've always been on your side, and I'm your friend...!"

"......I know.

...Thank you.

You're very reassuring."

"Two heads are better than one!"

"Yeah, I agree.

We can come up with a plan for how we're going to fight against them together.

I skipped school today because I wanted some time to read the scrapbooks again, but I'm going to school again tomorrow, and I'm going to act normal.

They might sense something is wrong with me if I act different.

You should do the same, Keiichi-kun.

Please be careful with Mii-chan... she's sometimes very perceptive."

"Okay.

I'll act normal, as if I know nothing.

......But damn! I'm a bit scared...!

A huge conspiracy is right around the corner, and it might already be counting down to zero.

...It's hard to act normal knowing that."

"I don't think it's going to happen very soon.

Like I said earlier, if they really are religious fanatics, they need a religious ceremony.

They need the help of the whole village to hold something like that.

I can't think of any event other than Watanagashi."

"...So... you're saying that we have time at least until the next Watanagashi festival?"

"I can't promise.

...But I just can't think of any event other than that."

...I think we have a year, at least.

But... I also feel like we don't, because of how they killed Miyo-san.

I might not know... but there might be a bigger "religious event" than Watanagashi...

It might not be long until that day.

On "The Day of Oyashiro-sama's Revival" they're going to spread a dangerous parasite, and that day might be just around the corner...

"...Reina.

Are you still on the phone?

Wrap it up soon. It's getting late."

My father stuck his head out from the living room, telling me I need to hang up soon.

I thought about telling him so many times.

It's natural to think that your parents will be on your side no matter what.

But... I know just how weak he can get. So, I couldn't tell him.

I don't think he'd believe me anyway. Even if I told him, he'd just tell me to call the police.

It's better that I don't tell him.

They might get close to my father to get me.

If he didn't know anything about anything, including the scrapbooks, there'd be nothing to squeeze out of him to begin with.

"I'm sorry, Keiichi-kun.

I have to go now. It's getting late.

I'll see you at school."

"Okay. See you tomorrow."

"......Be careful, okay?

You're not an outsider anymore."

"...Y-Yeah, I'll be careful."

I remembered the suspicious men in the white van, and felt a chill run through my spine.

They looked like villagers, but they weren't.

...They had the village accent, but they were just pretending.

The more I thought about it, the more suspicious they became.

...It let me know that Rena and I aren't safe.

If Rena is right, they're just suspicious of her, and they're not sure if she has the scrapbooks or not.

...But it's still creepy!

Rena had probably experienced the same creepiness I felt when I saw the van several times up until now. She must sense the danger more than I do.

However... the fact that they weren't attacking--that they were merely observing us--was disturbing.

If they attacked her, she could've done something, like going to the police.

But all they're doing is just watching her from a distance. She can't do anything about it. She can't talk to anybody about it.

She probably just wants to stay in her house all day.

...But if she acted different, they might take it as proof that she has the scrapbooks.

We have to think about how to fight against them... without making it obvious.

I told myself that there was no going back, and I put the phone down.