After dinner, without the energy to watch TV... I climbed into the futon in my bedroom... and let my head be overtaken by gloomy thoughts...
I told Rika-chan anything and everything.
...She had seemed trustworthy at the time... but had that really been the right choice...?
The more I looked back on it... the less I understood what Rika-chan was saying.
......Not only did she know about Takano-san and Tomitake-san's deaths... but she spoke of them as if she were a concerned party.
...After all this time... in my futon... I began to tremble fiercely...
Had I been... lured in by Rika-chan's sweet smile... and told her things I shouldn't have...?
...I should have continued to feign ignorance...
I shouldn't have shown her such a weak side of me...
My emotions are a mix of regret and fear... and it colored the darkness of the night with an additional layer of terror.
Suddenly, a knock!!
......I might have yelped.
That's how surprised I was.
"Keiichi!
I've been calling your name for a while!
You have a phone call.
...It's from Sonozaki-san."
It was Dad.
I reached out for the cordless phone through the gap in my door.
"S-Sonozaki-san...... which one?
The older sister, or
the younger...?"
"...I don't know.
Ask her yourself."
...I took the receiver... and buried myself in my futon again.
"......H-Hello...?
......Mion?
...Or is it Shion?"
"It's me.
...Shion.
Good evening."
I practically jumped out of bed.
...It was Shion—who I hoped so desperately would call me back last night.
"Shion! ...Umm,
...Sorry about... last night.
...I got all riled up..."
"............"
I heard what sounded like a deep sigh on the other end...
"...You and me are in the same position, aren't we?
...I shouldn't have blamed you for everything like that.
...I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, so please, cheer up..."
"I called you because I'm in a better mood.
...If you're sorry, then I'll forgive you, so please stop apologizing."
Shion's tone still sounded a little angry, but for the moment, she said she'd forgive me.
"...You're right, too—we're tied to the same fate.
Making sure the other is alright is the only way to guarantee our own safety."
"...Yeah... I agree."
"...We absolutely need to share whatever information we have.
...So that we don't die, like Takano-san and Tomitake-san did."
...Gulp.
...I forced myself to swallow a solid drop of saliva.
"Then... let's continue from where we left off.
...You'll listen without getting angry this time, right?"
"...Yeah.
...I'll be fine."
"Firstly.
......It seems sneaking into the ritual storehouse was... more of a taboo than we thought."
............Takano-san and Tomitake-san's miserable ends, terrible enough that you could call them a warning... they were more than enough to make me believe that...
"......The culprits killed those two, the ones responsible for sullying the storehouse... and they'll come for us next.
...I know you want to deny that... but please accept it.
...It'll be too late to believe me after you've disappeared, okay?!"
"I-I got it.
...You can never be too careful, after all."
"I don't... want to accept it either.
...To think that sneaking a peek at that museum of torture devices deserves a death like that... I don't want to believe it...!"
......That's what a taboo is.
...For those who honor it, if one breaks the taboo... no matter how small or innocent their intentions were... they wouldn't be forgiven.
"...Let's report anything we noticed that seemed strange.
...If we connect all the tiny pieces that we have... then just maybe we'll find out who killed them... or maybe even the truth behind the incidents of the previous years.
We could find the key that'll resolve everything."
"...Mm... you're right.
...You're right about that."
All I was doing was waiting in fear... but Shion had already thought that far ahead...
...Given how trustworthy she felt, I became embarrassed over how passive I was being...
"...Then I'll start, since I suggested it.
...I feel like somebody has been watching me lately."
"What...?!?!"
"......It might be my imagination, but...
I'll tell you anyway.
...I think it's just me, but... if you feel like you're being watched too, Kei-chan, then...
...Maybe it's not just my imagination..."
"W-Well... Don't worry.
......At the very least... Everything's been fine for me."
...I think.
......As I spoke with Shion, I thought back on today.
...I had no grounds to say that everything was fine...
"......I see.
...Then I suppose it was my imagination... but you be careful too, Kei-chan.
Be especially careful when you're by yourself in public.
...I'm in Okinomiya, so I won't be alone very often, but you live in Hinamizawa.
...There will be a lot of times you'll be alone.
...Please be extra careful."
"......You're right.
Yeah... I'll be careful."
"...Also... about my sister...
Has she been acting strange lately?"
"Your sister... oh, Mion, right.
...What do you mean by... 'acting strangely'...?"
"...Well, yesterday, I... she came to me and asked me where I was on the night of Watanagashi."
"What?! Th-That's... She asked me, too.
...The day before yesterday, I think... Mion asked me..."
"......I see.
......I told her I wasn't there.
...What did you say?"
"I did the same thing.
...I just dodged the question."
...Both of us gave a quiet sigh of relief.
"...Ever since the night of the festival, my sister has been acting strangely.
...We can't be too careful... so just be aware, okay?"
......Mion was acting strangely...
.........Aside from her asking me about the night of Watanagashi...... she hadn't seemed too out of the ordinary.
...At least, from my point of view.
...Her twin sister, though, was saying she was acting weird.
...Maybe it was such a slight change that a stranger like me wouldn't be able to notice...
"......Got it.
...I'll start being careful.
...I'll always have Rena with me on my way back from school, so I shouldn't end up alone with Mion very often..."
"Please, be careful.
...If there's anything that's bothering you, you can tell me."
"All right."
"...Okay, then is there anything you want to tell me, Kei-chan?"
......My turn.
......That's right. Maybe I should report on Ooishi-san asking me the same question at the library.
"...Oh, that time when you were too slow to escape?"
"Yeah.
Ooishi-san asked me pretty forcefully...
whether I was with Takano-san and Tomitake-san that night, and whether I had seen you.
...Ooishi-san seemed to have seen the four of us together."
"...From the police's point of view, that would make us the last people who had seen them.
I suppose, given that, it's only natural that they'd be interested in us."
"...I evaded the questions then, too... but that might have just made them more interested."
There was no way I could have tricked that sly old fox Ooishi-san.
......My troubled countenance would have only made him even more certain...
"Hey, Shion.
...Since they're the police... shouldn't we just tell them...?
I mean, considering our situation, I think having them on our side would be a good thing..."
Shion didn't answer right away.
...For a few moments, all I could hear was her breathing as she thought about it.
"...Now that I think of it, Ooishi-san said there was something possibly shady about Mion... At least, I think that's what he said.
......Yeah.
...Yeah, he definitely did."
"...As I explained yesterday, the Sonozaki family holds a lot of influence over Hinamizawa.
......Ooishi is under the impression that the whole village, with the Sonozaki family at the center of it all, is responsible for the recurrent freak deaths."
"...The whole village is behind them... with the Sonozaki family at the center...?!"
...Please, don't get angry like you did yesterday, and just listen.
I hammered that home before I got too upset.
"...During the Hinamizawa Dam Wars, the priest who everyone was anticipating to lead the anti-dam movement acted as though he were unrelated, so the Sonozaki main house rose up to take charge.
...My sister told you about all the battles that happened, right?"
"...Yeah.
All of Hinamizawa got together and fought as one.
They held protests, brought it to court, and even appeared on TV..."
"In reality... there were many things that happened that were far more extreme.
Under the surface... the Sonozaki main house was doing all sorts of illegal things to oppose it."
"......They were acting illegally...?"
"For example, they would sneak into the construction site in the middle of the night and steal equipment, or break it, or put sugar cubes in the gasoline tanks of the construction vehicles."
"...Sugar in their gasoline tanks??
Why would they..."
"You don't know?!
It's practically the representative guerilla tactic. It was used by underground organizations in France in WWII, for one.
When you put sugar in, the engine gets burned out and breaks down."
......That's... that's pretty bad, though, isn't it?
It was destruction of property, and nothing less...
"When they beefed up the guard at the construction facility, the family turned to attacking important construction personnel who worked there.
...The government officials who had given permission for the construction, for example, received all kinds of threats.
Not just people from the prefectural office, either—apparently this reached as far as the Ministry of Construction.
...As far as I've heard... they even kidnapped a child once."
"K-Kidnapped?!?!"
"Yes.
The child of an important person in the Ministry of Construction who was in charge of the Hinamizawa dam got spirited away.
...Then, one day, all of a sudden, he was rescued in the Takatsudo Mountains, which are upstream from Hinamizawa.
...Apparently there were never any criminal accusations... but people whispered that it had been a threat to stop the dam construction from happening.
...Besides that, there are stories about so many different threats that I couldn't possibly list them all."
"...That's... wow, that's... sort of bad, isn't it...?"
"Right in the middle of the whole thing...
...the first incident happened.
...That's when the dismemberment of the construction manager occurred.
...People whispered that the Sonozaki family had bought out the principal offender... but of course, he fled and they still haven't found him."
......When she put it that way...... the Sonozaki family definitely seemed suspicious.
"Ooishi-san even seems to think that the criminal was 'erased,' so he wouldn't talk.
...Which is pretty reasonable of him.
...It's even enough to make me think...
...that the Sonozaki main house is doing some really shady things behind the scenes, even though I'm related to them."
"......Are you telling me... to believe that...?
...That the Sonozaki main house, where Mion lives, has done all those bad things... you're telling me to believe it...?"
"Even if you don't, Kei-chan, the villagers do.
...While they opposed the dam in upright and lawful ways, the Sonozaki house did the dirty work for them.
...Everyone believes that—that they fought at the front, so they'd take the brunt of the criticism.
...So they're respected as sort of heroes of darkness."
"............"
"I think I only really know one part of it.
...For example, the really bad stuff, like the kidnapping—I think only a handful of people even know about it, including Grandma.
...The Sonozaki family is secretive, after all."
"......Secretive, huh..."
......A family so unforthcoming that even Shion, who is related to them, doesn't know everything about them.
The Sonozaki family.
...Unlike Shion, her older twin, Mion, was deeply involved with everything... and that was not a fun thought to entertain...
"My sister, though young, was the one who acted as the center of the illegal resistance movement."
"Mion was...?!
Wh-What do you mean...?"
"Well, our dad is a big-shot yakuza.
...Even when she was little, my sister managed to subjugate a bunch of young street rats.
Then she played all sorts of tricks on them and just generally got in their way."
"......Mion did... that...?"
"...Now she's pretty laid-back, so it might be hard to imagine.
She did everything, from property damage to threats and even acts of violence, and she was picked up for it countless times.
...Though since she was a kid, they could get her released pretty easily.
...She learned that her age could be used as a weapon."
...It may have been indiscreet... but I couldn't help but chuckle dryly.
...She may have been young... but she was certainly still Mion.
Even back then, she had already been known for her craftiness...
"It's nothing to laugh about!!
Please, take this seriously!!"
"Ah, ...sorry. ...I didn't mean to..."
Shion had gotten pretty angry at me.
"...Well, her delinquency soon got her into a position of authority in the Sonozaki main house.
...It's not unthinkable that Ooishi suspects them for the dismemberment incident, and the later ones too."
............For a few moments... I was dumbstruck at the tales of Mion's past.
None of them matched the image I had of her.
...A younger Mion, dirtying her hands with all sorts of crimes, giving the dam construction project hell.
...As the successor to the Sonozaki main family,
she was always right at the center of the vortex of strange incidents occurring year after year...
...Was that... really the Mion I know...?
Maybe the one I know... isn't the real Mion?
I couldn't figure it out.
...I couldn't bring myself to accept these images of Mion I was hearing from another person.
"Well, back to the main subject.
...I just wanted you to know that my sister is someone worth being cautious around.
...Please, be careful."
.........I didn't want to understand.
......Mion was a fantastic friend.
...She would never do something to back me into a corner like that...
...She did ask me pretty harshly about the night of the festival... but even that... it wasn't like she'd said it in a mean way or anything......
............
"......All right.
...I'll make sure to be careful."
"We're sisters related by blood... but within the Sonozaki family, we're basically of a different class.
...I want you to recognize how distant my position is from hers.
...Please."
......The more Shion tells me about Mion... the less I understand who Mion is.
...The Mion I know... wasn't a dangerous person...
...She joked around... smiled a lot... and was full of passion............
Now that I'd realized I held such a view towards her... Shion was telling me to change it.
.........To be careful around the best friend ever.
...To doubt her.
...The idea was very sad... and painful...
"Now, about Ooishi.
...If you think it's a good idea, then I think we should give him the information he needs.
...I think getting the police on our side will work in our favor."
"...You thought so too, Shion...!"
"...It's just... at the moment, like I explained, the police have their eyes on the Sonozaki family already.
Ooishi in particular completely believes that they're the masterminds behind the serial incidents.
...That includes me, of course.
...So... I don't really want much to do with Ooishi."
......I see.
...If Ooishi-san had found out about the Sonozaki family's strife-filled history... then he probably wouldn't be very happy with Shion, either.
...At last, I understood Mion's instinctive dislike for Ooishi-san.
"...It's probably out in the open at this point, but try not to give my name to him.
...If you agree to that, then I don't think there's a problem with you telling him anything."
"I got it.
...I won't mention your name."
"...The police's investigative ability should be quite a reliable weapon for us right now.
...If Ooishi tells you anything interesting, then let me know as well."
"Yeah, of course.
We'll share information and investigate together.
......Who killed Takano-san and Tomitake-san?
...Who was after us?
...Until we know... we need to defend ourselves..."
"...Anything else?
Besides what Ooishi told you, I mean?
...If anything has happened, no matter how minor, please tell me."
...Aside from my discussion with Ooishi-san?
...Oh,
...should I tell her... that I revealed everything to Rika-chan?
...Rika-chan was acting like she knew something I didn't.
......She told me to leave it to her...... but what.........
Ah, that's right...
When I was talking to her... I mentioned Shion's name, too.
...Was that a mistake...?
......I felt like Shion would get angry...
"...Nothing else?
...Kei-chan?"
I had remained quiet for a little while, so Shion encouraged me to speak, unable to bear the silence.
"...Ah, ...ummm..."
As I struggled with what to say, Shion addressed me instead.
"It doesn't sound like it, so can I ask you something?
...I just heard this myself......
Is it true... that old man Kimiyoshi went missing?"
...The old man Kimiyoshi?
...My gut told me that was the name of the mayor.
"You mean the mayor...?
...Wait, Shion... you haven't heard?"
"I don't know anything!
...I just overheard my dad talking about it on the phone again."
I realized I shouldn't have said that.
......Here in Hinamizawa... the things that happened around this time, when Oyashiro-sama's curse would recur... would all be covered up.
"...Yeah.
Actually... last night, after a meeting, he didn't come home, so all of Hinamizawa was confused.
They searched all through the village, but if they've found him, then I haven't heard...
The police should be searching for him as well......"
"Wh-Why didn't you tell me something that important right away???!!"
She shouted angrily at me, bringing all her emotion to bear...!
"S-Sorry... I thought you already knew...
I didn't want to hide it or anything...!"
The receiver was silent.
...Did Shion... get mad again and hang up...?!
"Hey, Shion! Hello?!"
"............Kei-chan...
...What...
.........What should I do...?"
Shion's tiny, confused voice sounded like it belonged to a different person than the one yelling a few seconds ago.
"...What's wrong?
...Tell me.
We're not keeping secrets from each other, right...?"
Shion hesitated for a long while... but then she confessed.
"...I'm sorry.
...I... well, I didn't mean to hide it.
...It was just that, well, the conversation got turned around and..."
"...We're on the same side, right?!
I won't get mad, so tell me honestly..."
...Shion still hesitated for a few moments.
...Then, in a resigned voice, she continued.
"I...
.........
Old man Kimiyoshi, I...
...I told him everything."
Shion seemed to think I would yell at her right after she said that, so I heard her catching her breath.
...Contrary to what she thought... I was a little relieved.
...Shion had done the same thing I had when I confessed everything to Rika-chan.
...So... in as gentle a voice as I could, so as to not set her off, I responded.
"......Old man Kimiyoshi... he's someone you feel comfortable confiding to, Shion...?"
".........Yes.
...He would... when I was little, he was really nice to me..."
......Shion felt the same pain as the rest of us from the mayor's disappearance.
...She had a different kind of strength from Mion... and as she continued, her voice sounded truly sad and pained.
"...All I did was play tricks on him... but he would always just smile...
...He listened to anything I had to say...
...He was such a kind person......"
"...C-Calm down, Shion.
...It's not like he's dead, right?
Don't lose heart so easily..."
......Shion didn't answer.
...Even as I said it myself... I didn't think we'd ever find the missing mayor again.
...We probably... wouldn't even figure out if he was alive or dead.
...Shion must have been thinking the same thing...
"......That night...
...I told the mayor...
that we snuck into the ritual storehouse.
...Also that someone saw us... and was out to get us."
"...Does the mayor know how absurdly Takano-san and Tomitake-san died...?"
"......Yes.
...He knew about it.
...I told him that they died by Oyashiro-sama's curse... and that I could be made a sacrifice to calm his anger.
...I just said it straight out."
"......Right.
...What then?"
"...Old man Kimiyoshi... didn't get angry.
......He smiled, then told me that if I was properly sorry about it, there was no way I'd be demoned away...
...He was really...
...smiling...
...and he told me to leave it to... him......
...ngh...!!"
Until Shion stopped sobbing... I was unable to find any words for her.
I couldn't imagine what kind of person the mayor was, nor what Shion's relationship with him was like.
...Words of comfort, however, mean so much to us when we're about to be crushed by anxiety...
...Today, Rika-chan taught me that, too...
If someone who gave me such a sense of security were to disappear......
...Then I could guess what kind of shock Shion was in...
"............It's my fault.
...Because I... I revealed everything..."
"...Stop it, Shion...
...It's not your fault."
"No!!
It is my fault!!
I... I told him everything...!
Old man Kimiyoshi found out about everything...!
So... he has to have been killed!!
...It was right after I told him, after all!!
He disappeared the same night that I confessed... and he told me everything was going to be all right!!!"
He found out,
so he became involved.
"I should never have told him!!!
All of this... should have just been our fault! Only the four of us!!
It wasn't something I should have told to someone else!!
He got killed because I told him!
He got killed because he knew!
He got killed... because I revealed it!!!!"
"Hey, stop!!
If they were doing that... then they would obviously have killed you before killing the mayor!
The order is all wrong!!
You or I should have been killed first!!
Why the hell would someone else get killed first?!!"
"No, it's in order!!
They must be planning to kill us last of all!!"
"...Hah...? Wha...
...What?!"
"...They're not killing the first people who come to mind... they start by killing those we're close to... and then after they've caused us so much pain, they'll kill us... That must be what they're doing!!"
"I said, calm down!!
Shion, you're in shock! You're panicking!!
The mayor's disappearance has nothing to do with you!
It's unconnected!
It's not related to Takano-san and Tomitake-san dying at all, either!!"
...My words came out as a scream... as if I were shouting them at myself.
"No!!
It is connected!!
It just has to be!!
I told him, so he was killed!
He got killed because he knew!
I confessed it to him...... so he got killed!!!!"
She repeated the same thing as before as though she were in a delirium.
...Despite my trying to console the crazed Shion... for some reason, the shadow at my feet began to freeze...
From that shadow... a cold arm reached out, so cold it seemed like it would freeze even my heart just by touching me... and grabbed my ankle.
......The heat generated by my body... the arm was absorbing it...
It was a horrible... chill.
...A freezing cold, numbingly frigid.
...It was an inviolable... chill of fear.
...Though I sympathized with Shion, I had been naive in thinking it was something only she had to worry about...
...In my head, Shion's eerie words repeated again and again.
He was killed because I told him.
He was killed because he found out.
I confessed everything...
so he was killed.
Those words echoed through my head like a monotone mantra... and finally, those even repetitions took on meaning.
...The quiet shaking that had already overtaken me... turned into a violent shiver that shot up my spine!!
"...Ri...... Rika-chan!!
It's Rika-chan!!!!"
"......What?
...What did you say just now...?!"
"I... I, well...
...The truth is...
...I...
...I told her about it.
...I told Rika-chan...
...today!!"
"Rika-chan... You mean Rika-chama?
The one from the Furude Shrine?"
"Yes, Rika-chan!
...I felt... I felt so scared and uneasy... that I did it.
...I told Rika-chan."
"......When you did...... what did she say...?"
...The cat is worrying too much.
I'll do something about it for sure.
That's what Rika-chan said... and then she smiled.
...She smiled, just like the missing mayor had when he encouraged Shion...
"......I-I'm sorry, Shion!
I-I-I... I'm a bit... I'm worried about Rika-chan...!!"
"Ah, right!
...If you're that concerned, then don't worry about me.
Please, go find out whether she's safe."
"...Y-Yeah!! I'll do that!"
"I'll call you again tomorrow at the same time.
When I do, you'll know I'm still alright."
"...I got it. I'll be waiting.
Okay, bye!
Sorry!
I'm hanging up!!"
I put down the receiver without waiting for Shion to say goodbye.
...The danger to Shion and myself was secondary at this point.
......My sixth sense was blaring alarms in my head.
...I don't like this feeling.
It's really bad.
...It's definitely, definitely bad!!!
"...Damn it... Please be safe...
...Rika-chan!!!"