They were mowing the grass near the fence, which was probably a cover to monitor the surroundings.

Just in case, I tried to escape from the school.

...But they must have been thinking that would happen only after school was over.

They seemed to have no idea that I'd already noticed their plan and was trying to run away right at that very moment.

I couldn't use the front gate, since they'd find me easily.

I moved behind the school building, made sure nobody was around the curry garden, ran through it, and dashed into the forest.

I walked through the dense undergrowth, stepping on dead wood and climbing over fallen trees.

After walking through the forest for a while, I came to a small road.

I know many back roads in this village because of our club activities, and that knowledge had finally come in handy.

So, what should I do now...?

I'm sure the girl already passed on my message to Chie-sensei.

Those men must be going crazy by now, knowing that I ran away.

"Did anyone else talk to Ryuugu-san before she left school?"

Everybody in the class looked at each other and shook their heads.

Chie-sensei looked a bit upset that Rena left school early without telling her in person.

"Rena-san has been feeling sick these days."

"......Meep."

"She left her bag here.

...What happened to her?"

"............I have a bad feeling about this."

"What?"

I think I know what's going on.

...I'm not sure, but I have a very bad feeling about this.

She must've taken another ridiculous story seriously or something... I hope she won't do anything crazy...

I hurried home.

My father might be at his new job, or he might've gone shopping.

...He wasn't around when I got there.

Now that they're on the move, I'm no longer safe in my house.

They're very dangerous people. They're trained to be capable of attacking the Ministry of Construction, and they actually pulled off the kidnapping of the grandson of the Minister.

Locked doors and windows don't mean anything to them.

In fact, it'd be like I was hiding in a box, which they could just open up to get at me.

...I could no longer stay at my home.

It's very sad, and very frustrating.

I killed Rina and Teppei, and finally regained a peaceful life with my father.

How could this happen to me?!

I remembered what Keiichi-kun told me before. It expressed my feelings better than anything.

"Takano-san left us a huge parting gift...!"

Why did she give me those terrifying scrapbooks?!

Why did she tell me the secret of that unthinkable conspiracy?!

She got me into this.

I didn't do anything. It's all Miyo-san's fault!

But who was interested in her stories? I was. Who let her continue talking? I did. I did that out of curiosity.

Who let the memories of Ibaraki return and told Miyo-san about them? I did.

I depended on Miyo-san, hoping that she could somehow save me from the memories I'd been trying to forget.

I shouldn't have remembered anything about that bizarre incident!

If I hadn't, I wouldn't have gotten involved in that unthinkable conspiracy, and I could've just played around with my friends today!!

...But even if I didn't know about the conspiracy, it'd still continue behind the scenes.

I would've been one member of the mob running in a panic, not knowing what's going on, on the Day of Oyashiro-sama's Revival. I would've been just swallowed up in their conspiracy anyway.

Would I be happier if I faced that day without knowing anything?

Would I be happier if I struggled, knowing about it but ending up swallowed by it?

...If I'm going to end up the same way no matter what I choose to do

...I'll fight.

I'll choose to fight.

Because that's how I seized my happiness before.

...When Rina invaded my home, seducing my father,

I felt like it was the end of the world. I lived on the verge of despair every day.

I thought that was the worst misfortune that could befall anyone.

But the way things are going, it wasn't really that bad at all.

I had only two enemies, Rina Mamiya and Teppei Houjou.

I knew my enemies, and I knew how many they were. I lured them out one by one, and I attacked them in the dark. It was a very easy problem to solve.

But what about this one?

I don't know who my enemies are, and I don't know how many or how strong they are.

Even the people I once trusted might be my enemies!

I can't possibly be sure!

It's totally different from the previous problem.

This might be the end of the world.

This time, it really was the worst thing that could possibly happen.

But is that really the case...?

With Rina, I felt like it was the end of the world, but I no longer think it was that bad.

So, this might turn out to be an easy problem to solve in the end, and I might be able to laugh about it someday.

...I know that day will come.

I know it for sure!

So, I shouldn't think that this is the end of the world.

Let's fight.

I can fight.

I can still struggle!

I'd eat grass and drink mud if I needed to.

I'm going to bet on the 1% chance even though it's unbelievably small.

If Miyo-san didn't leave me the scrapbooks, I wouldn't even have been able to sit at the table to bet.

I was lucky that I received the scrapbooks because they gave me the chance to choose my future.

If I don't fight, they'll spread the terrible parasite, and this village will face a great disaster.

According to the legend, when the "demons" first came out of the swamp, people became demons right after being infected.

And it happened while they were inside the village.

These days, symptoms appear only when infected people leave the village, but that only applies to the later, weak parasite.

The original parasite can reenact "the curse of Oyashiro-sama" even when the infected are in the village!

The legend of Oyashiro-sama will be reborn.

Humans and demons will start killing each other... and "Oyashiro-sama" will come down to pacify the disaster.

That's what they want!!

They want people to prostrate themselves before that miracle, and only the people who truly worship Oyashiro-sama will be saved.

...I see... I know their true intention now...

They're going to reenact the legend of Oyashiro-sama!

After all, the villagers always say that Rika-chan is his reincarnation.

The stage is all set!

They're going to use the parasite as the "curse".

So... how are they going to make it look like Oyashiro-sama came down to pacify everyone?

I get it!

They must have some kind of medicine,

a specific cure for the parasite!!

When they recreated the stronger form of the parasite, they found a cure for it at the same time.

They're going to use this cure to save only those people who believe in Oyashiro-sama, and as a result this village will only have those fervent believers.

They're going to make themselves the absolute rulers of Hinamizawa!

Wait... I still might be underestimating them. Are they going to carry out that horrifying act of bioterrorism only inside Hinamizawa...?

History proves that, when their goal is to control others, people desire to spread their religion across a wide area.

I'm sure that they conducted research not only to bring back the primitive form of the parasite, but also to overcome its weakness--namely, that it only thrives in Hinamizawa.

According to Miyo-san's research, the parasite doesn't like its hosts to be far from the region.

Its weakness is distance.

If they could extend the distance...

If they could extend the area where it can live...

I wonder how far along their research is.

By now, the parasite might be able to live not only in Hinamizawa but in Okinomiya as well.

Or maybe even in the city?

...Maybe the whole prefecture?

It might be able to cover nearby prefectures as well!

This is too serious to just call it a conspiracy.

It's horrifying enough, and its scale large enough, to call it a revolution!!

The Day of Revival is probably not far off.

I can tell by how they killed Miyo-san and by the extent of their pressure they're putting on me.

They're trying to get rid of the small fish bones stuck in their throat by any means, because that day is coming ever closer!

I'm the only one who can stand up against their revolution.

I can't trust anybody.

...I think I can trust Keiichi-kun.

But no one else!!

Mii-chan is out of question.

I can't trust Rika-chan, either.

Satoko-chan and Rika-chan stick together like superglue, so I can't trust Satoko-chan, either.

I can't trust any adults. I can't trust anybody!!

No one is on my side.

I have to stand up against them alone.

The clock is ticking towards that day, and the ticking noise made me frustrated.

How should I fight against them?

What should I do?!!

I needed time to think.

I needed a place, a "safe area," where I could concentrate on thinking.

Fortunately, I had such an area already.

My hideout at the garbage dump!

Nobody ever goes there, so it's safe.

Even if they found out about that place, I'm familiar with its surroundings. I know escape routes and places where I can hide.

But it has a big shortcoming, as a hiding place.

It's not hard to imagine what that is.

I don't have any stock of food there.

That's why I came home.

I opened one of my father's drawers, and took out his cash box.

The contents haven't changed since the last time I looked inside.

There were many new 10,000 yen bills in the cash box.

I took them all.

I couldn't tell how many bills there actually were, but it looked to be about 80 of them.

This should be... plenty.

If I evaded them long enough to use all of this money, that would mean that I did pretty well.

Plus, I might use it to buy someone off.

You can never have too much money, especially in a situation like this.

I didn't take the bank book.

If they were waiting in ambush at the bank, I'd be done for.

It's too risky to withdraw money at the bank.

I grabbed my backpack.

I took the key for my bicycle.

I put everything I think would be convenient to have into the backpack.

I didn't care if it got heavy.

I'd choose what was necessary to carry around later at my hideout. If there ended up being something I didn't need, I could leave it there.

I looked at the clock.

It had been 30 minutes since I came home.

I stayed here too long!

I rushed out of the house.

I went to a small convenience store, and bought as much sweet bread and canned food as I could fit in my backpack.

An old lady was at the register. Probably suffering from dementia, she showed no interest in the extraordinary amount of food I was buying.

...But as soon as the manager of the store checked the sales that night, he'd find out.

...The idea didn't bother me, because I can no longer walk around the village in the daylight anyway.

My backpack was full, and the cans hurt my back as I walked.

But that didn't bother me either.

I got to my hideout, still carrying the heavy backpack.

I organized the stuff I brought.

...It was very heavy to carry, but now I had sufficient food.

The abandoned construction office still has running water, so I could get some from there.

I'd wanted to get some vegetables, but in a situation like this, I could hardly complain.

After I organized things, I took out the scrapbooks I hid here, and put my brain into top gear, flipping through the pages.

So, now what?

How am I going to stand up against this gigantic conspiracy?

I needed to calm down, stay cool, but also to think fast!

There might not be a lot of time, so I'd have to hurry, but I don't know what to do!

It's easy to run to school in the morning when I oversleep.

It's easy because I know where I should go!

But now, I don't know where I should go to or what I should do!

Now that I've come to this point, I should tell Ooishi-san everything.

...It's highly likely he's an enemy.

But that doesn't matter anymore. If it was true, I'd just declare war!

But if he was on my side... he'd be my only remaining hope!

I'm far too weak to stand alone against the terrifying scale of this conspiracy poised to instill fear throughout Japan!

I'd have to use a public phone to make the phone call.

...There's only one public phone in this village that stands at a place where it's hard for people to spot you...

That phone booth!

It stands in the middle of nowhere where nobody really comes around. Many bugs gather around the light when it's dark, and it's not a pleasant place to go to.

But I can't think of any other public phones I can use to contact Ooishi-san without being seen.

Even though it stands in the middle of nowhere, it's still dangerous to use in the daylight.

...I should wait until nightfall and take advantage of the darkness.

I heard that Ooishi-san has been holed up in the station since Miyo-san's murder case, so I should be able to reach him anytime.

I have the number for the direct line to his office too.

The sky was still bright.

Even though I had no time, I still had to wait for it to get dark!

Frustrated, I glared at the sunset.

I should find something to do.

I couldn't waste any time that I had, so there must be something to do!!

After I thought about what I could do, I found there was something I wanted to confirm. Something I've been worried about.

I couldn't do anything else before it got dark anyway.

Staying here doing nothing would just make me more frustrated.

I made my decision, and left the hideout.

Rena's father paced up and down restlessly in front of his house.

A bicycle appeared, its rider ringing the bell.

"Police officer!!

Here! Over here!!"

A police officer from the Hinamizawa police station had shown up.

Having rushed to get there, he was breathing hard.

"Haah, haah!

I hope you didn't wait too long. Please tell me what happened."

"I know I locked the door before I left.

But when I came back, the door was left open and..."

He led the police officer into the house.

"And... look... my cash box was left open in my room..."

"Is this how you found it?

You didn't touch anything?"

"I didn't touch the cash box itself because I thought they might have left fingerprints.

I did touch the contents a little bit to check what was missing..."

"Hmm. And what did they take?"

"They didn't take my bankbooks or my personal seal, but... they took the cash."

"They didn't take your bankbooks or personal seal, huh?

You were lucky.

...Professional thieves today don't take bankbooks because they know how easily they can get caught by using them.

...This might be a professional cat burglar.

...Instead of taking the cash box with him, he opened it here. He has to be a pro.

So, how much cash was in there?"

"...Umm... I haven't counted it for a long time... but I believe there were about a hundred 10,000 yen bills."

"Ah... I see...

Did you tell anybody that you had that much cash in here?"

"...No, I didn't. But... they probably knew I kept some cash in the house..."

"They? Who are 'they'?

Can you tell me more about them...?"

"...Well, it's kind of an embarrassing story...

Her name is Rina Mamiya, and..."

Just then, the phone rang.

"...Oh, excuse me. I'll just go get that.

Please give me a minute."

He grabbed the phone.

"Hello. This is the Ryuugu residence."

"Ah!

...Umm, hello.

This is Maebara. Is Rena-san there?"

"No, she hasn't come back from school yet."

"She hasn't?!

...Umm..."

"I'm very sorry, but I'm in the middle of something right now.

Can you call back later...?

I'm sorry. Bye."

He hung up after that.

I was stunned.

It didn't look like anything had changed on the surface.

It was hard to find this place at all, because it perfectly blends in with the surroundings.

I only found this place again because I remembered there was a tree with a big lump of wood on it nearby.

The spot where I buried the corpses was perfectly camouflaged, as if nothing had happened.

That's why, at first, I thought I came to the wrong place.

But I could make certain once I stick a shovel in the ground.

I should be able to tell right away whether this place was dug up before or not.

After several false starts, I found the exact spot where I buried the corpses.

.........But the biggest problem of all...... is that there are no bags in there at all!

Why?

How come?!!

Did I bury them deeper than this?

No, I didn't.

I remember exactly how deep I buried them.

I know I didn't bury them deeper than this!

...I wasn't expecting this.

I came here to check the corpses... I just wanted to do that to kill some time.

I didn't want to stay in my hideout doing nothing, so I came here to check if the corpses I buried were still there.

I'd make sure that they were still there, and I'd feel relieved.

It was supposed to go like that!

This was such an unexpected turn of events that I broke out into a cold sweat.

What's going on?

What's going on?!

I don't need to calm down to think about what happened.

Corpses can't come back to life and crawl out of the ground.

Someone must've dug them out!

Who did it, and for what purpose?!

Did anyone happen to see us burying the corpses here, and did they dig them out after we left?

What if they handed them over to the police...?

No, it can't be.

It's been quite a while since the day we buried them here.

It was before the Watanagashi festival.

So if the police did find the corpses... when Ooishi contacted me, he had to know about Rina and Teppei.

But he didn't tell me anything about them.

I don't think he was hiding anything on purpose, either.

So, that means the police don't know about Rina and Teppei yet!

Then, why are the corpses gone?

That would leave only one answer.

...Who knows about this place?

One of us came back here, dug out the bags, and took them away!!

The first person who comes to mind is Mion, I mean, the Sonozaki family. But I can't think of a reason why they would do that.

The murder of Rina and Teppei has nothing to do with them.

I'm sure they don't want to get involved either, let alone be falsely accused.

They must want to stay as far away from this case as possible.

Why would they want to keep the corpses? It's like keeping a joker even though you'll lose if you have the joker by the end of the game!

...If I was Mii-chan, what would I do?

What would I do if I was club president...?

The joker is a card that you want to get rid of, at least in the game I mentioned earlier. But it becomes a powerful card in other games.

...What kind of game would that be...?

An electric shock ran through my spine.

...At the same time, I realized it--they are one step ahead of me...!

The Sonozaki family got the corpses to use them as a joker, as a wild card. They're trying to use them to sell me out to the police!

The Sonozaki family is trying to kill me using their death squad, but they want to have insurance just in case they fail.

The thing they're afraid of the most is that I might work together with the police.

If they could prevent that from happening, I'd have no one to work with.

If that happens, I can no longer run away from them. I'd still be a fish in their pond!

They're going to use the corpses...

to sell me out to the police for the murder of Rina and Teppei!

If the police started seeing me as a suspect, they'd never listen to my story.

...They could have been my last hope, but this will certainly turn them against me!

But I'm sure the Sonozaki family doesn't want to use their joker unless absolutely necessary.

After all, Mion Sonozaki helped bury the corpses.

Plus, they don't want the police to hover around Hinamizawa when the Day of Revival is so close.

...I'm going to call Ooishi tonight, and I'm going to ask him for help.

...I'm going to tell him everything, including the things I haven't even told Keiichi-kun.

I don't know if Ooishi will believe me... This is a gamble, and my chance of winning is very small... Plus, my worst enemy has the joker, the bags with the corpses inside...!

...I'm impressed with Mion. That's just what I'd expect from the leader of our club.

...This is a battle that I'm betting my life on, but to Mion, this is like a board game, taking place across Hinamizawa itself.

I grinned, repeating to myself that it's just a game.

...I put my life on the line for every club activity we do, because I don't want to suffer the punishment.

This time, that's become the literal truth.

There could be only one reason why they're trying so hard to drive me into a corner.

It's because... they're afraid of me.

I assumed I was just a little girl with no power, running about in confusion.

But my enemy must not be thinking that way.

If they didn't think I was a threat to them, they wouldn't take risks like this to drive me into a corner.

That means... the scrapbooks Miyo-san left me... must be way more dangerous to them than I think they are.

...I see.

They have a joker,

but so do I.

The joker I have is so deadly and so powerful that it can break their plot into pieces.

......That's why they're so eager to find me!

Ah ha ha...

A cornered mouse really can bite a cat.

I felt my fear towards my enemy fade away all of a sudden.

Just as I fear them, so do they fear me, too.

...So, this is an evenly matched game.

I don't have as bad a hand as I thought I did!

I was right to come here.

I found out about the card my enemy was holding. This is a big deal.

I felt myself shiver with excitement. I grinned to encourage myself.

I don't need to be here any longer.

They know this place. They might come here to find me.

...It's not safe for me to stay here for long.

I decided to go back to my hideout.

On the way back, I passed close to my house.

I noticed something different right away.

I hid behind a bush, and looked at the front gate of my house...

...My father was talking to a police officer.

...I strained to catch their conversation.

"Yes.

She usually parks it there..."

My father pointed to the place where I usually parked my bicycle.

"Hmmm...

Okay.

Please let us know whenever your daughter comes back.

We'll try to find her as well."

...Mii-chan, you're good...

Did you already play your joker...?

Mion always starts a battle by attacking without hesitation, and wins.

It seems like the police are already after me.

...My chance of being able to explain the conspiracy to Ooishi was already small, but this makes it even smaller.

No...

That's why I'm going to talk to Ooishi.

He sees the Sonozaki family as his enemy, and he's trying to expose everything about them before his retirement.

That's why he'll be on my side. He's not going to fall for their trick...!

Of course, there's a very high possibility that everything was part of their trap from the very beginning.

It's possible that he claimed the Sonozaki family was his enemy in order to make me believe that he's on my side.

...But their joker is actually giving me hope.

If Ooishi is one of them, it would be too early to play their joker.

Ooishi isn't one of them.

That's why they got the joker, so they can play it before I go to the police.

...No, wait. That might be a trick to make me think that way in order to make me trust Ooishi...!

When Mion gives me two choices to choose from, it's usually better to choose the one I like without thinking too much.

Mion, after all, likes to guess people's intentions in order to confuse them.

...So when you think about a choice too much, you're already in her trap.

I'm going to do as I planned.

I'm going to call Ooishi after it gets dark.

If he's going to become my ally, we can talk about the future.

And if he isn't?

...That, I realized, was what I had to think about before it got dark.