3Ls, Hinamizawa Horror

by WarrenW

This story is about L, Light, and Hiruma as detectives trying to solve the mysterious murder cases in Hinamizawa. It is a crossover between Eyeshield 21, Death note, and Higurashi no naku koro ni.

3

HINAMIZAWA

HORROR

By:

Warren

Widjaja

Characters

Characters

Table of Content

Chapter 1…Entering the Village

Chapter 2…The Watanagashi Festival

Chapter 3…Chaos in Hinamizawa

Chapter 4…Leaving

CHAPTER 1

ENTERING THE VILLAGE

Three men were gazing down a village. It was Hard to believe that a village so peaceful can have many mysterious murder cases unsolved. These three men were about to try their best to put an end to the horrific terror that has haunted the village for so long. The first man wore a baggy white t-shirt and blue jeans. His messy black hair seemed untaken care of. The second man's appearances were in high contrast of the first man. He wore a neat shirt and his hair was combed in the most delegate way possible. The third man wore a black jacket and had golden spiky hair. From the judgment of an average man, one can say that the third man's appearances made him look kind of evil. Or maybe because he was carrying a machine gun and a belt made out of grenades. These three men were none other than L, Light Yagami, and Hiruma Yoichi. These three men are known as legendary detectives who had solved many difficult cases regarding anything associated with crime. They are going to face their greatest challenge yet in this tranquil village of Hinamizawa.

Light Yagami was the first one to start up a conversation and said, "So Hiruma, where are we going to stay in this village?"

"I haven't made any arrangements for anything like that." Hiruma said calmly.

With a shocked tone light said to Hiruma, "what? Can you please explain why you didn't reserve a hotel or anything?"

"First, there no hotels or lodging services in this village. And second, the villagers here are really concerned about outsiders and take them seriously in an ill way. Here we are known as transfer students. That way we can blend in with the natives as if we were one of them."

"But then, where are we supposed to stay?"

"We will think of something. But for now, we have to go to the native school here and get to class."

Despite of being legendary detectives, the three men were actually still very young.

Both light and L were seventeen years old while Hiruma was only sixteen years old.

L has a really serious sweet tooth and he can't live without consuming sugar. So when he found out that the village didn't have a candy store, he started to cry out blood. The three men started to rush to their destination and they talked about their plans along the way. The path they crossed was filled with trees and they could feel the warm breeze of the wind rushing through their body. It was without a doubt that Hinamizawa was a very beautiful village. After running for fifteen minutes, they arrived at the school. The school building was rather small, it looked very old but the walls of wood looked strong enough to protect the students inside. The three of them walked inside and met the teacher. There was only one class mixed with students of all ages. The teacher was quite young and had short blue hair. She warmly welcomed Hiruma and his partners and said that class would be starting soon. Her name was Miss Kyoko.

Miss Kyoko entered the noisy class which later became quite after she started to make her announcement.

"All right class, I am happy to tell you that we will have three new friends in our class from now on. In a very short while I will introduce them to you all."

"This is so exciting! I hope they are cute girls!" said a boy named Keichii. Keichii was also a student who transferred to Hinamizawa a year before. He had short brown hair and he was very smart. He was currently in the first year of senior high school.

"Don't get your hopes up Kei-Chan!" The one who said that was a girl named Sonozaki Mion. Mion was in the second year of senior high and was also the class president. She had long green hair which was tied up into a horse tail style. The Sonozaki family is known as the leader of the village, Mion was destined to be the next head of the Sonozaki family. She was later replied by a girl named Ryuguu Rena. Rena was in the same year as Keichii and she had short orange hair. She has an addiction to anything that is related to the word "cute".

"I hope they are cute!" said Rena…

"All right class! Please give a warm welcome to our new friends! Come in you three!"

Hiruma and his friends entered the class and introduced their selves with their own way of speaking. The students judged them by their appearances and one could question a man walking in a classroom with a machine gun in his hand.

"My name is light Yagami and I am pleased to meet your acquaintances. Let us sail together in the sea of knowledge in order to pursue our dreams in the later future."

L doesn't like to say his real name so in this case, his name is Ryuzaki.

"Hello everybody, my name is Ryuzaki and I like anything sweet."

Hiruma started to shoot the ceiling with his machine gun which was loaded with plastic bullets and said,

"YAAAA-HAAAAA! My name is Hiruma Yoichi and don't you forget it damn brats!"

Light made a good impression to everybody and he looked like some kind of a rich man or something. Everybody but Rena thought that L was a little weird. Rena found L to be quite amusing but most importantly, she found him cute! And if you're asking about Hiruma, one or two of the little boys in class started to piss their pants. Keichii was just very disappointed by the fact that none of the new students were girls.

"I find the new students quite interesting." Mion said to Keichii.

"I find them quite weird actually."

"If you ask me, they look like a bunch of idiots!" said Satoko. Satoko was a very energetic little girl and she had this talent of making booby traps. She had short but neat yellow hair.

"Don't say that Satoko. They seem to be very nice!" Rika beamed. Furude Rika was a cute little girl who had long blue hair. She is the last descendant of the Furude family and was said to be the reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama, the God who protects the village.

"Umm….Uh…..Does anybody want to ask some questions to our new friends?" said Miss Kyoko. She was beginning to fear Hiruma as a normal person would. A little boy raised his hands and asked,

"What is your favorite thing to do?"

Light: "read books and study"

L: "eat sweets and answer riddles"

Hiruma:"Play American Football and I have the tendency to look for slaves!"

The whole class shivered when they listened to Hiruma's answer. Keichii raised his hand and asked,

"What was the worst thing you have ever done?"

The whole class started to laugh because of Keichii's joke but the trio took the question quite seriously and said,

Light: "I've once lied to my mother to buy a portable DVD player"

L: "I ate fifty pancakes in one minute."

Hiruma: "I threatened my principal to make me a tremendous fancy club room and half of the school budget goes into my hands. I am also currently using a high school girl as my slave and I already have fifty thousand slaves worldwide."

Because most of the little kids started to cry, Miss Kyoko asked Hiruma and his friends to take an open seat and told them that class was about to start. Hiruma sat down near the window. Light took interest in Mion's beauty and innocently sat down next to her. L sat down next to Rena because he found her very sweet. Class was running nicely and the teacher wrote down a math problem on the black boars.

"Alright, this question is for the junior and high school students. Can anybody solve this problem?"

After five minutes somebody was able to answer Miss Kyoko.

"The answer is 2 x-y!" said Keichii. The whole class was amused of Keichii's math skills and he was also praised by Rena. This really got L's attention. Let's just say he was kind of jealous.

"Good work Keichii! The next problem is,"

After 0.001 second, L answered "

"Uh...that is absolutely correct. Good work Ryuzaki" Said Miss Kyoko.

Everybody thought that L was some kind of an advanced species. Rena was amused and she praised L for his intellect. L nearly cried out of happiness.

After another few minutes, Miss Kyoko spotted Hiruma typing on his laptop and it seemed that he was wearing headphones. Miss Kyoko didn't tolerate that kind of behavior and said, "Hiruma-kun, I know you're new here, but that doesn't mean you can do anything you please. As punishment, try to solve this problem in fifteen minutes. If you are unable to complete it in the given time, I'm afraid I have to ask you to stand up in front of the class. How much is ?"

Everybody thought that Hiruma was done for. Miss Kyoko isn't a bad teacher who gives students intolerable questions, she only wants her students learn the meaning of respect to others.

But Miss Kyoko did not know anything about Hiruma. After 2 seconds Hiruma answered "1.25301325". I would like to tell you that Hiruma did not use a calculator.

Miss Kyoko told the class that Hiruma's answer was correct in a shocked and disbelieving tone. My question is who wouldn't?

The lunch time bell suddenly rang. Students started to combine their desk to have their afternoon meal. Five desks could be seen combined and there was Mion, Rena, Keichii, Satoko, and Rika together. They were just about to have their lunch when they spotted L at the corner. L didn't know that he had to bring his own lunch. And to make a long explanation short, he was hungry. Rena stood up and approached L's desk. With a warm and kind smile, she said "would you like to join us Ryuzaki?"

"But I didn't bring my lunch."

"That's okay! I'll give you half of my lunch! Come and join us!" Rena said.

L took the chance to have lunch with Rena and the others. He was happily gulping down Rena's homemade chocolate cake. Light was then later invited by Mion. Hiruma was pulled by everybody to get him to join. They had their cheerful lunch together in class. After having their meal, everybody went out to play. L approached Rena to thank her for the lunch.

"Ryuguu-san, I thank you for sharing your lunch with me."

"Eh? Don't be so formal! Were friends right? Call me Rena!"

"Um…okay…Thank you Rena…" L said with a blush.

Rena giggled a little when she saw L's expression and said, "Teehee, no problem Ryuzaki. Now let's go play outside!"

"Um…Okay" L joined Rena outside and they joined the others in a game of tag. Somehow, Hiruma was the one who had to chase everybody. According to the rules, once the chaser gets hold of someone, that person would have to help the chaser capture the other players. The people, who manage to escape until the class bell rings, will be the winner. Hiruma caught Satoko and Rika after a few seconds since the game started. What do you expect from a star quarterback? He chased down Mion but Mion was also a fast runner. Sadly her speed was no match for the star quarterback. Light was hiding on top of a tree that was later bombed by Hiruma. Light fell down and he was caught. L was worried that Hiruma would chase after Rena, so he instantly pulled Rena into the storage room out of reflex. Before he realized it, L had pulled a girl inside a stuffed up and dark storage room.

"I'm sorry. I Acted out of instinct. Please don't think I'm some kind of pervert or something."

Rena giggled a little and said, "At least were safe here." The situation was really quiet in the storage room. They couldn't hear the sounds of the others outside. Suddenly, L heard footsteps outside the storage room. He then whispered to Rena, "Look out, someone's there."

L wanted to move to his left side a little but he accidently touched Rena's hand,

"Ah…" L pulled his hand away and started blushing like crazy. Rena was also blushing with a smile.

"Um...I wasn't using this situation as a chance to touch you but…um…It's not that I don't like touching you but….um…I mean…" By this time L thought that he sucked at talking. Rena only giggled and said, "It's all right Ryuzaki. Calm down."

The door to the storage room suddenly opened. L was shocked to find Hiruma in front of him. Hiruma smiled evilly and said, "YA-HA! Looks like you two lovers are my last victims! Now be prepared to…"

L suddenly tackled Hiruma in the stomach. For Hiruma it was like a safety blitz. L told Rena to run away while he holds Hiruma down. It was a good example of someone who disobeyed the rules. After a few seconds, the class bell rang. That means Rena was the winner thanks to L. L started to run while having a psycho with a machine gun chasing him from behind.

Time passed by and class was about to come to an end. The Students said goodbye to Miss Kyoko and ran through the hallway to go home. Five students left behind though. They were setting up a few tables together and one of them took out a pack of cards. It was Mion, Keichii, Rena, Satoko, and Rika. Hiruma and his friends were about to go out but they were interrupted by Mion asking whether they wanted to join her game club.

"What do you do in this club?" L asked with a confused tone.

"We play many kinds of games and the winner gets to order the loser to do anything the winner desires!" said Mion.

"Today we are playing old maid. Come play with us!" Rika beamed with her cute and cuddly voice. Rika was so cute it could make a cheerless person join the cheerleading team.

"Kekekekeke! Sounds like a lot of fun, Sure we will join!" Hiruma said. Light and L was just happy by the fact that they can spend more time with Mion and Rena. Hiruma glanced over the cards. They were kind of old and had cuts on them. Some of them were even colored with crayons.

"We will play! But, we will be using my cards!" Hiruma said while taking out a fresh deck of cards from his pocket. Mion kind of gulped but she agreed to Hiruma's condition. The atmosphere throughout the game was very intense. Maybe it was because of the weather. Maybe it was because of the tension. Or maybe it was because Hiruma kept taunting the players throughout the game. Hiruma only had two cards left. One of his cards was an ace heart while his other card was the joker. Mion still had three cards and one of her cards was an ace diamond. She took her time in picking a card from Hiruma.

"Kekeke, my left card is the one that will make you win. While the right card is the one that will make you experience hell! Or is it the other way around?"

Hiruma had defeated all the other players and if he wins, only God knows what he is going to do. Mion was the last player standing to face the devil.

"Ugh…I pick this one!" Mion screamed.

"Kekekekeke! Thanks for picking the joker! Now the only card I have left is an ace heart."

Hiruma touched one of Mion's cards and he paid attention to Mion's facial expression.

"Is this the ace card?" Hiruma asked with a devilish tone.

Mion tried to keep a straight face but the card that Hiruma was touching was in fact the ace card he needed to rap this game up! Mion kept her face straight but Hiruma's sharp eyes noticed a sweat drop on Mion's face and her eyes showed a little sense of terror. Hiruma knew that it was the ace card and he took it out of Mion's hand.

All hope has been lost…

"Kekekekeke! I've won! Now as the winner, I ask you Mion, to let me and my friends stay at your house from now on!"

"What? No way!"

Hiruma whispered into Mion's ear and said, "If you don't, I'll tell everybody that you like Keichii."

"What? How did you know about that? That was supposed to be a secret! Nobody knows about that!"

"I didn't know. You've just told me. KEKEKEKE!"

Mion could feel blood rushing through her veins as she was tricked by the devil himself. So she reluctantly allowed Hiruma and his friends stay at her house.

In their room, Hiruma started to review the case they were working on.

"Smart move you made their Hiruma. The Sonozaki house is the perfect place for our investigation because The Sonozaki family is informed of anything that happens to the village." Light said.

"I told you so! Now L, please review our case."

L started to take out some documents and pictures. He organized it neatly and he sat down in his usual knee hugging position.

"Many murder cases happened in this village. The funny thing is; it only happens once a year on the same day which is the day after the watanagashi festival."

"The watanagashi festival? But that's tomorrow!"

"Yes and the villagers take these cases as a form of Oyashiro-Sama's Curse. The village was once threatened by an underground governmental company called TOKYO. The government wanted to turn the village into a dam. Many villagers stood up to the idea but some of them actually supported the government. The villagers won in the end though. The dam project was cancelled and no other news was received from TOKYO. The thing that perks my interest is that the murder cases happened to specific people who are characters of the village."

"What do you mean by that?" Hiruma asked.

"The first incident started four years ago. It was the murder of Rika's father. He was the head of the Furude shrine. The next year, a man from the dam construction site was massacred and his body parts were separated in different places. On the third year, Hojo Satoko's parents were killed near the woods and Satoko's older brother mysteriously disappeared the next year. The Hojo's were known as traitors because they were the ones who supported the government about the dam construction. "

"And this year will be the fourth year."

"My point exactly."

Hiruma took out his futon and he tucked himself into bed.

"There won't be a fourth year. It is our mission to prevent that. Tomorrow school will be cancelled because of the preparation for the festival. We will meet up with Keichii and the others and we will also pay a visit to the police station for some questions."

"Wouldn't that be suspicious?" L asked.

"Don't worry. Only the police commander knows that we are detectives."

"Hiruma…"

"What?"

"We will save this village and protect our new friends' right?"

"What are you talking about L?"

"Nothing…just forget it."

Hiruma turned off the lights and went to sleep.

CHAPTER 2

THE WATANAGSHI FESTIVAL

It was one windy morning at the Sonozaki estate. The sounds of bird chirping could be heard around the house. The mellifluous wind was rushing through the little space from the window L opened. Light was still sleeping comfortably in his warm and cozy futon. The sounds of a tapping keyboard could be heard from Hiruma's laptop. That is when L decided to break up a conversation.

"Have you found out anything new?" L mumbled while brushing his black messy hair. Hiruma glanced at L for a while and said, "Did you know that there is a company who is against TOKYO?"

"I think that's Tajo right?"

"Exactly, Tajo never agreed upon the decisions made from TOKYO because it always caused misfortune for other parties." Hiruma dragged his mouse through the screen and clicked the internet browser he made. "If you find anybody from TOKYO in a certain place, you have a high chance of meeting some people who work from Tajo." Hiruma said.

Light woke up and joined the conversation as if he had joined it from the start. This doesn't make light a nosy person though. "If these murder cases have anything to do with TOKYO, we might as well find some people from Tajo. They can be beneficial for us in this mission."

"It seems that TOKYO has not given up on this village." L mumbled.

"I agree, so here is the plan." Hiruma said. Hiruma took out a piece of paper and started drawing on it. His drawing resembled a map. It was a map of every important location of the village. L and light were paying attention rather seriously and wondered how this guy managed to tour around the village in such a short time. "For today, light and I will go to the police station to meet up with the inspector. You L, will go to the festival construction site and meet up with Mion and the others."

"But we are going to meet her for breakfast right now. How are you going to explain your going to the police station?" Just then, a voice came up calling the three detectives.

"L, light, and also the devil guy, hurry up and eat! We are going to be late for the meeting if you don't hurry!" Mion was fixing up her tie and busy making a bento box which she was planning to enjoy with her friends later on. She sat down on a chair and started to eat her breakfast. One could expect a fancy breakfast at the Sonozaki estate. And Mion was having a quite fancy Japanese type of breakfast. She was having a bowl of rice, stir-fried salmon, and a bowl of high quality miso. If you sum it up, her breakfast caused five thousand yen. Back at the room of the three detectives, Light was talking about his plan.

"I know what you mean L; it would be suspicious if Hiruma and I were the only ones who did not show up. But you can trust my acting skills later when we face Mion. Hiruma is also a master actor so this shouldn't be a problem."

And so the three detectives went down the stairs to meet up with Mion. Light was walking stiffly and he was covering his mouth, coughing a little a bit. Mion couldn't help but notice then she said, "Oh my, are you all right? You don't look to good." Light sat right next to Hiruma and then he said,

"Ugh…I don't feel so good. I think I have a slight fever."

"Would you like to go to the doctor? I can take you there if you want."

Right after Mion offered her help; Hiruma interrupted her offer and said, "I'll take him. The others would be worried if you don't show up Mion. And don't worry. I asked the villagers the locations of many important places so to make a long explanation short; I know where the clinic is."

"Um…all right then. I should hurry. Come on Ryuzaki" Mion said while running to the door. L walked out the door to follow Mion. Hiruma and Light smiled victoriously and they headed to the police station five minutes after. Mion and L were getting near to the festival construction site and L was wondering why he wasn't the one chosen to go to the police station. After a few seconds, he recalled that light said things about acting skills which were possessed by both Hiruma and Light. Then L concluded that the reason he wasn't chosen was quite simple. He sucked at acting. What do you expect from a guy with a poker face?

Hiruma and Light rushed to the police station and after a short while, they encountered someone taking a picture of the junkyard with a classic professional camera. The man noticed Hiruma and Light and he started to make a conversation. "Ah, you must be the new transfer students I heard about. I heard you guys were quite smart." Light stopped his foot and approached the man. "Thank you for the compliment. May I have the privilege to know your name? Are you a native of the village?"

The man shrugged a little and then he answered, "My name is Tomitake Jirou. As you can see, I'm a professional photographer. I take pictures of birds and other kinds of animals. And about me being a native, I can't really say that. I moved here a few months ago from Osaka. This village is quite the beauty isn't it? Well enough about me, can I know your name please?"

Light put up on a warm smile and said, "My name is Yagami Light and I see you are aware that I am a transfer student. This guy behind me is my good friend Hiruma Yoichi, he is very smart and he is also interested in the art of photography."

Hiruma pulled out his hand to offer Tomitake a handshake. "My name is Hiruma Yoichi. Pleased to meet your acquaintances." Tomitake shook Hiruma's hand and introduced himself as well.

"I see you have a nice camera there. It's the X-800 right?" Hiruma said while pointing his finger at Tomitake's camera. "You are absolutely right! You have quite the knowledge for cameras."

"May I see the camera for a while?"

"Sure. I don't see why not."

Hiruma took Tomitake's camera and he clicked the display picture button. He observed the pictures and then he checked the settings. After taking his time, Hiruma gave back the camera to Tomitake. The two said goodbye to their new friend and rushed to the police station.

L was gazing at the clouds. He was wondering whether his friends have succeeded in obtaining new information. Mion and the others were having lunch while watching the construction of the festival take place. Rena took a few fish cakes and headed to L's place.

"You should eat. I made these fish cakes just for you. Here, try some."

L blushed a little and accepted Rena's sweet offer. He began to tear the cake and started to suck the sweet red bean paste inside." Rena giggled and said, "When you said you liked sweets you weren't kidding." L smiled a bit and continued to lick the bean paste. Rena licked her thumb and wiped off the paste that was sticking on L's lips. "You got something on your lips." Rena giggled. L was blushing again like crazy this time and then he said, "Thank you for the food. You are really nice Rena. You will make a good mother."

"He he, then who will be the daddy Ryuzaki?" Right about now, L was probably thinking something like, I'll gladly be the daddy but that wasn't the point.

Rena sighed and said, "I always wanted to be a teacher like my mother used to be. But I'm afraid I'm not smart enough."

L looked at Rena in the eyes and said, "Nothing is Impossible. You are capable of doing anything you want Rena, as long as you put your heart in it. And I think you will make a great teacher. You're kind, nice, funny, and you are smart too!"

Rena blushed and said, "Thank you Ryuzaki, you are very sweet."

"Hey you two lovers! Come here and join us! We're going to play a game!" Mion called out.

Rena's face turned red and she held L's hand. "Let's go Ryuzaki!" she said with a smile.

L followed her and joined the game. It was the first time He felt this warm and cozy feeling.

Let's go check up on Light and Hiruma.

Hiruma and Light arrived at the police station and met the Inspector. The station was a little small but many workers could be seen working real hard. It was your typical type of police station. The Inspector introduced himself to Light and Hiruma. "Greetings my friends. My name is Oishii Watabe and I will assist you in any way on your mission." Hiruma shook the inspectors hand and said, "That would be very helpful. I thank you Oishii." Then the three of them walked to Oishii's office and they sat down in front of Oishii's desk. Oishii offered the two some tea but they refused politely. Hiruma took out his black notebook and started to ask questions. "Are there any more results of your investigation?"

"I'm very sorry to say that there has been no unusual event recently. We are still continuing our investigation around the clock."

"Do you happen to know anyone who works for the Tajo industry?"

"Hmm…I do know one man. He works as a doctor at the village's local clinic. But why about Tajo?"

"We suspect that the culprit of these murders is connected to TOKYO."

"You mean the company who wanted to turn the village into a dam? I thought they gave up long ago."

"We don't have proof that they gave up. Besides, it is unlikely that a big government company like TOKYO will give up just because a few villagers fought back. TOKYO is known for their ways of using violence in order to achieve their goals. And I am afraid that dam project was just a ruse for something bigger. We hope to find someone from Tajo for some answers."

"You have done your research well I see. I believe in your hands, this case is as good as finished."

Light looked at his watch and found out that it was already two o'clock. So he asked Hiruma to get on with the investigation. Hiruma and light both thanked the inspector and rushed off to the clinic. Light paused his feet for a while and said, "We really are going to the clinic in the end. But wouldn't it be suspicious if we went there without any health complaints? We can't just say we have a cold, they will check on us." Hiruma told light that he had thought everything up already. So he pushed light off the hill and light was rolled down in a funny way. He earned some cuts and bruises from the fall. "Kekeke, now we have a complaint right?" Hiruma laughed. Light started to curse the world.

They continued to walk and finally reached the clinic. There, they met the doctor and Hiruma told the doctor that his friend had an "accident".

"My name is Doctor Irie and I am pleased to help you. Takano-san, would you please get me the bandage on top of my desk?"

"Certainly doctor." Takano Miyoko worked as a nurse at the clinic. She had long yellow hair and was quite slim. Doctor Irie applied some disinfectant on light's wound and wrapped it up with some bandages. Light felt better afterwards. "It's done. You are free to go now."

Hiruma closed the door and sat down on Irie's chair. The situation became silent and a voice can hardly be heard. Irie looked confused but his confusion didn't last long after Hiruma started to talk.

"So you work for the Tajo company right?" Irie was shocked to hear that question from Hiruma and he nearly escaped through the door. Luckily light was prepared and he caught Irie just at the nick of time.

"Please, do not be alarmed. We are on your side. From your actions you must have thought we were from TOKYO right?" Irie let a big sigh of relief and he started to talk. "You must be a detective. I am glad to hear you are on our side."

Light shrugged and joined the conversation. "So is it true? The murder cases were the doings of TOKYO?"

"We don't have significant proof yet. There are only two people from Tajo currently in the village. The first One is me and the other is…" Hiruma interrupted Irie and said, "Tomitake Jirou."

"What? How did you know that? Did you meet him? He wasn't supposed to tell anybody his true identity!" Hiruma sighed and continued to speak. "The only information we got from him was his name and about him being a bird photographer. But bird photographers don't take pictures of junkyards, generators, and laboratories. Nice acting back there light!" Light knew that if he could get Hiruma to check Tomitake's camera, He could find out about more data for the mission. Luckily, Hiruma really did have a thing or two about photography. Irie couldn't do anything but stand amazed of the great minds facing him right now. Irie continued his explanation. "The first reason why Tajo sent us here was because they found out some Yamainu activities going on. "Yamainu?" Light asked.

"The Yamainu is a special force owned by TOKYO. They are specially trained people and they usually have one commander. The Yamainu are trained to do Terrorist-like work such as snooping in places and installing dangerous contraptions. They are brainwashed soldiers and would kill without hesitation. Their uniform is a normal gray long sleeved jacket and long gray pants. If you meet up anybody with that kind of clothing attire, run immediately." Hiruma noticed it was getting late and the Festival was about to start. The festival was the time when Hiruma and light must go back and meet up with L.

"We appreciate the information you just shared with us Doctor Irie. You must also be careful to."

Light and Hiruma went out of the clinic and started walking to the woods. The woods were the only way to get to the festival from the clinic. "Light, you better be careful out here. A group like the Yamainu must have a decent commander and they are all likely trained to be like assassins. "I understand."

They continued to walk step by step, slowly but surely. Suddenly, Hiruma stopped he steps when he heard little crackling sounds near the bushes. Everything was in silence for a while.

"Light, prepare yourself" Hiruma said softly.
"Huh?"

Light was oblivious of his surrounding that he didn't notice the bush crackling.

A few seconds later, many people started coming out from the bushes. They were wearing a gray jacket, long gray pants, and a gray cap. They were the Yamainu. The creepy thing is that they were armed with knives. Light started to crack his knuckles and Hiruma took out two machine guns out of nowhere. The Yamainu attacked first with their knives but light had good reflexes and dodged every strike without fail. He then punched one of the soldiers and sent him flying to another soldier. A soldier nearly stabbed light from behind but luckily Hiruma shot the guy just in time. Don't worry; Hiruma's bullets are hard plastic bullets.

It won't kill a person, but it would be enough to make them really stiff. Not to mention very painful. It was a machine gun for God's sake. Hiruma threw a smoke bomb to the ground and smoke started to fill the area up. Hiruma took out his gas mask and grabbed light to run away. Hiruma and light succeeded in escaping the Yamainu and they met up with L and the others at the festival.

"Hey look! It's Hiruma and Light!" Satoko beamed when she saw the two men. Mion looked relieved to see light in a healthy condition. L was munching down Manju cakes with Rena. Light was kind of irritated to see L. Maybe he was just jealous of L. He'd rather play around with some cute girls like L was doing for the past few hours instead of being chased by middle aged men who wanted to kill him. Hiruma was wondering how the Yamainu found out their location just after they left the clinic. But he was interrupted by the others who were pulling him to the festival booths. They first booth they tried out was the shooting parlor. Mion was the one to go first but she missed all of the targets.

"Hahaha! You suck Mion!" Keichii laughed while mocking her. Mion took the toy gun and shot Keichii with corks. Hiruma took the gun and shot every single target in one try. Everybody thought that Hiruma was some kind of professional sniper or something. Hiruma put the gun back and he obtained a gigantic penguin doll as a reward. He gave it to L but L didn't want it.

"I don't really need this Hiruma."

Hiruma walked away and said, "You can thank me later."

L was a little confused but then Rena appeared to call out L. Rena couldn't help but to notice the gigantic penguin L was holding and said, "Wow! Did you win this Ryuzaki? It's so adorable." Rena's eyes were beaming and she was blushing like crazy. "This is for you." L said while giving Rena the penguin. Rena smiled a big and cute smile and said, "Thanks a bunch Ryuzaki! I'll never forget this!" Rena pulled L to take him to another booth. L saw Hiruma walking and he said in his mind, "thanks a bunch Hiruma."

Hiruma noticed and he put up an ok sign to L. Everyone was having fun with their activities of pleasure. Suddenly, Tomitake and Takano appeared. They were walking around the festival together and they really looked like lovers. Hiruma approached them quietly without anyone noticing.

"Ah, Hiruma! What a pleasant surprise." Tomitake called out. He was still holding his camera in his hands. He must've used it to take pictures of the festival.

"My my, you must be the boy who went to the clinic today." Takano said with a smile. Hiruma had an uneasy feeling when he heard Takano's voice. She was at the clinic when Hiruma questioned Irie. Hiruma couldn't help but be suspicious that Takano was eavesdropping the whole time. If that was the case, the one who sent the Yamainu was her. Takano told Tomitake that it was the time for them to leave. Tomitake looked at his watch and left with Takano. Hiruma felt that he had to do some meticulous research on Takano and the village. He knew that he was lacking data to rap the case up. Light suddenly called out and asked Hiruma to join in with the others. It was almost time for Rika's ritual. The ritual was an important part of the festival; it was a sacred ritual to bring peace upon the village. Rika would be the one to perform the ritual since she was known as the reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama. By the time Hiruma and the others arrived at the platform, the ritual had already started. Rika was wearing a white kimono that was meant for Mikos (traditional Japanese priest). Rika was dancing gracefully on the platform. L was paying attention to the dance rather seriously. One can say L had a feeling for art. And if L were to make a comment, He would say that the dance was beautiful. But on the other side, it showed a little sense of fear and sadness. Some people actually cried while watching Rika's dance. The festival was about to be closed. The festival ended with another ritual which was participated by the entire village. One person would take a ball of cotton and release it in the river. It was a sign that the grief of the village would be washed away by the river. L and Rena took one ball of cotton and released it in the river. The two were sitting together on the riverbank. They were alone near the river since everyone else went back to the festival. L gazed upon the cottons flowing down the river. Fireflies were flying around near the river. The sounds of the festival could still be heard like someone whispering.

"It's really beautiful and peaceful here isn't it?" Rena said while smiling.

"Yeah it is. And being together with you here makes everything perfect." L said with a plain face.

Rena giggled a little and stayed silent. Her eyes gave the impression of grief and glum. A few tears started coming out from her eyes. L was shaken when he noticed this and said, "Why the gloomy face?"

"No…it's just that…I remember my mother. She usually takes me to this place every year. She would always chat with me and comfort me if I had a problem."

"Really? Where is she now?"

Rena sighed and struggled to answer L's question. Then she finally said, "My mother died out of leukemia a few years ago. Nobody expected her to leave so soon."

L stayed silent for a while and then he said, "Oh…I'm very sorry."

"It's okay. My mother wouldn't want me to be sad forever anyway. If she were here, she would say to me that I have to get it over with and live my life to the fullest."

L had the urge to say something nice but nothing came up to mind. L stayed quiet for a while and then he finally said,

"Don't worry Rena. I…I'll be there for you." L started to blush a little and continued to speak.

"If you have any problems, I will gladly help you. I will do anything to keep that beautiful smile on your face and I would never do anything to make that smile disappear." Rena blushed and her eyes showed a sense of happiness although there were little drops of water coming from her eyes.

"Thank you Ryuzaki, for comforting me."

Rena gave a little kiss on L's cheeks and L felt that he had accomplished something.

"Let's go back to the others!" Rena said while pulling L's hands.

"Okay!"

So they went back to the festival to join up with the others. Light was watching L all that time and felt kind of jealous since he couldn't do the same with Mion. The festival finally came to an end. A lot of workers started to tidy up the place. The once filled with fun festival had returned into a plain empty ground. Everybody had already gone home to rest.

Back at the Sonozaki estate, Hiruma was tapping down on his laptop browsing from site to site. He encountered many interesting facts during his research. Light and L were sliding through a few manuscripts. The manuscripts were very old and worn out. It was obtained by Hiruma from the Sonozaki sacred chamber. Light was interested in how Hiruma got the manuscripts in the first place. But all that Hiruma answered was, "I am Hiruma Yoichi".

"Hey Hiruma, after I've gone through these scripts, I discovered one undeniable fact." Hiruma glanced over to light and said, "What did you find out?"

"There was a legend that Hinamizawa was once attacked by cannibal demons. These demons carried around a virus which was able to turn somebody else into a demon. The village was in a hopeless state of hiding and escape. But then, Oyashiro-sama granted one of the villagers a power to cure the natives from the virus. It turned out that the man who was gifted by Oyashiro-sama had his body turned into an immune body from the viruses. His body also had the power to cure the whole village permanently. There was only one condition though; none of the villagers were allowed to leave the village. If one was to leave, he or she would have the virus spread throughout the area."

L thought about light's explanation for a while and then he said, "So that means that the virus wasn't actually terminated. The hostess of the immune body acted as a shield for the whole village. It's as if the hostess was the one to actually receive the virus from the other villagers. But thanks to Oyashiro-sama's gift, the hostess didn't catch the effect of the virus."

"You are absolutely correct L. However the interesting point is where they mentioned the name of the hostess."

"What is the hostess's name?"

Light paused for a moment and then he said, "Furude Houko, The founder of the Furude family. And I don't think this is just another child's story."

The room was in silence for a while. But then Hiruma closed his laptop and began to tell Light and L the data he discovered. "Back at the clinic, I got interested in the black scrapbook that Takano was holding since it was entitled Hinamizawa Syndrome. There were a few things that I found out about her. Her Grandfather was a great professor known around Japan.He wrote a report regarding the town and its disease plaguing its residents and called it Hinamizawa Syndrome.His goal was to make the disease public, with an eye securing funds for its treatment and increasing the awareness of the general public. However, the higher officials didn't accept his report on the matter. His research was treated as trash and discarded by the people from TOKYO. His life's work was humiliated and discredited by his superiors. After his death,his adopted granddaughter Takano Miyo decided to take over the research on Hinamizawa Syndrome.The disease may be related to some sort of parasitic organisms that live in all the Hinamizawa residents."

"What are the effects of the diseases?"

"According to Takano's scrap book, Hinamizawa Syndrome has five different stages, ranging from LV1 (weakest) to LV5 (strongest). The First and second level are the weakest stages. Almost all villagers and residents of Hinamizawa are infected, although they are at the lower stages of either LV1 or LV2. The syndrome does not cause apparent changes until its later stages. Beginning at LV3, the mental condition of the patient will start to deteriorate and they become mentally and emotionally unstable. Paranoia and hallucinations start to appear surrounding the onset of LV4. level five is the Strongest level; this is when people will begin to hear 'Oyashiro-sama's footsteps', and patients are known to start clawing at their own flesh, trying to dig out "maggots", often tearing open their throats and killing themselves in the process. The activation of each stage will depend on the mental conditions of the people."

Hiruma's explanation really hooked both Light and L's interest. The Syndrome was really interesting in ways they couldn't imagine. Suddenly, L blurted out a question.

"One question Hiruma. How did you manage to read Takano's Scrap book?"

"When I was waiting at the clinic room to meet Irie, She left her scrap book near her desk. I managed to flip around the pages when she was calling Irie."

"How many pages were there?"

"About fifty three pages."

L scratched his head and asked, "You remembered all the information inside by flipping over the pages for a few seconds?"

"Kekekekeke, you're absolutely right! Did you forget that I have the ability to memorize everything I read?"

"I'm more interested in how you read all the pages just by flipping it."

The three detectives continued with their research. Each one of them felt that something big was just behind the corner. Sadly, they didn't have enough proof to base on their conclusions. Meanwhile, Tomitake was a t Irie's clinic. He was filing up a few documents on the table. Takano appeared from the door in a black dress and she was smiling in an unusual way.

"Jirou-san, I would like to make a proposition to you if I may." She said with a grin. Tomitake didn't understand what she meant and asked her to explain it with more detail.

"I am about to realize a dream that was left long ago by my father." Takano held up a syringe filled with a strange looking purple liquid. Tomitake shivered when he saw the liquid meaning that he knew the object that was in Takano's hands.

"I see you are knowledgeable of this little thing I have here. By tomorrow evening, I'm going to spread tons of these liquids in forms of gas throughout the village. The contraptions for the spreading of the gas have been installed throughout the village. My plan to become God of this village is about to reach in reality." Tomitake angered than ever, screamed to Takano.

"You tricked me! You are one of those bastards from TOKYO!"

"Oh my, what an energetic man you are. I'm only making a proposition."

"I'll never join you! I'll stop your plan even if I have to die!"

"Then you shall…DIE!"

The Yamainu forces started to barge in the room and they held down Tomitake on the floor.
"I'm very sorry Jirou-san." Takano injected the syringe into Tomitake's body then she loaded him in the trunk of a car. She commanded her men to send Tomitake to the woods and release him there. Tomitake was released in the center of the woods and he began to scratch his neck until blood started to flow from his neck. Needless to say, the photographer Tajo sent to Hinamizawa was dead.

"We succeeded in killing Tomitake Takano-san" one of the Yamainu reported.

"Good! Now proceed with next plan!"

The sounds of the wind blowing through the woods cried out to the crescent moon.

CHAPTER 3

CHAOS IN HINAMIZAWA

A day had passed since the Watanagashi festival and it was another normal day at the Hinamizawa School. The school was having a special afternoon program where the students had the chance to study from noon to evening. The students were getting ready for their afternoon class and the sounds of people talking could be heard all around. L was stacking a pile of sugar cubes on his desk. He planned to eat them during class sessions. Hiruma was tapping down his laptop; he didn't seem to care about his surroundings. Suddenly, a ringing cell phone broke through the surrounding voices. Hiruma shoveled down his pocket to answer the call. "Hello?" he said in a lightly voice. A sound of an old man replied Hiruma's greeting. "Hiruma-san, this is Oishii of the police force. I have something interesting to tell you." Hiruma sat down to think for a while and said, "What is it?"

"A photographer was found dead in the woods last night. It appeared that his neck was scratched out by his own hands. His body was analyzed and our researchers found out a trace of unknown drug in his veins." Hiruma was moderately surprised by the news. He was sure enough that it had something to do with the nurse he met the other day at the festival but he gave it a second thought when Oishii told him the second news. "And another thing Hiruma-san, we found Takano's body inside a barrel near the woods. It may seem that it was burned in the barrel. Our researches our still analyzing the body as we speak."

Hiruma told Oishii that he was going to head to the police station right away. When he was about to leave, he heard a rather interesting conversation which caught his attention.

"Hey Satoko, I wonder if Rika forgot that the class today was changed to the afternoon. Because the fact is, I don't see her anywhere." Keichii said while placing his bag on the table. Satoko glanced around for a while and said, "I know. I've been looking for this afternoon. I wonder if she's sick. I'm going to go to her house and check up on her." Satoko took her bag with her and she headed to the classroom door. Hiruma noticed this and he pulled light out of his table.

"Ouch, what's the matter Hiruma?"

"Light, I want you to go with Satoko. I have this uneasy feeling about her going."

"Hmm…Okay, I'll go!" Light said while he headed to the door. Light caught up to Satoko and got her to agree his coming. Light and Satoko walked through the school path heading to the Furude shrine.

"L, we are going to the police station!" Hiruma said while taking his laptop. "I knew you were going to say that. Let's go!" L and Hiruma excused themselves from the teacher and they ran to the police station.

Satoko was humming about during the way. Light couldn't help to say something to break the silence. "So Satoko, I see you care about Rika so much." Satoko looked back at light and said, "Isn't it obvious? Rika is my best friend! And also, she was the first friend I had."

"Oh really? When did you guys first met?" Satoko continued to walk silently and she began to tell about her friendship with Rika. "When it was my first day of school, nobody would talk to me because I was known as a Hojo." Light recalled back that the Hojo's were the family who supported the dam construction plan.

Let me tell you a bit about Satoko's past.

It was a sunny day at the Hinamizawa School. Students were running about freely in the classroom. The class was as lively as ever. However, there was one little girl who was sitting in the corner of the class. Her face was a bit gloomy and showed no force of life whatsoever. She was Satoko. Having the burden to carry the blood of a Hojo, Satoko was the only person in her class who couldn't get a friend. But everything was about to be changed. It was recess time for the class and everybody went out to play in the fields. Satoko was breathing heavily on a swing nearby the school. The diminutive sounds of children playing could be heard together with the sounds of creaking metal from the swing. A little girl approached Satoko from a far. The girl was wearing a green dress and she had long beautiful hair.

"Hi there! You must be Hojo Satoko right?" The little girl beamed with a big smile.

"Umm…yes I am…is there something wrong?"

"Well first of all, what are you doing here alone playing swings?"

"Umm…well…"

"I'll be joining you then!" Rika took the other swing on Satoko's right side and they began to play together. The soft wind was blowing through the grassy fields and the sounds of chirping birds could be heard from afar. "Why are you playing with me? Aren't you disgusted by the fact that I'm a Hojo?" Satoko said out of the bloom.

"Why should I be disgusted by you? You're not a monster. You're a very cute girl."

"It's easy for you to say. You don't know what it's like to be hated by all the grownups around the village. That includes the kids at school"

"How can you say that the other kids hate you? You hardly talk to them."

"But I just know it! I'm a Hojo! Everybody hates the Hojo family! We are the people who supported the government in destroying this village!"

"I don't hate you." The little girl said with a warm and friendly smile. Satoko felt comfortable when she saw that friendly smile. It was a smile she could count on. But unfortunately, a smile she would never be able to see again. "But what if I can't make any friends? What if they hate me?"

"Don't worry Satoko! In a short time, you will have dozens of friends. Because you already have one now right?" Satoko smiled a very big smile and a few drops of tears started to come out from her eyes.

"My name is Furude Rika. It's a pleasure to meet you Satoko."

"Y…Yes!" Rika took Satoko to the field where everybody was playing tag. The other kids noticed Rika's and Satoko's arrival and everything went silent. Rika nudged Satoko a bit and she smiled as if she was saying, go on. Satoko walked forward and said, "Um… can we join you guys?" Everybody seemed to be shocked after hearing Satoko's words. But they all smiled and said, "Of course. The more the merrier!" Satoko smiled and she looked at Rika. Rika smiled too and they both played tag happily with the others. From that day on, Satoko was never alone again. She could talk to everybody and every single person at school liked her. In addition, some of the boys even had a crush on both Satoko and Rika.

When Satoko finished her story about her past life to Light, they've already arrived at the Furude shrine. Light could tell that Satoko had been through a lot. The shrine was in complete silence. Light and Satoko went inside to check on Rika But her voice couldn't be heard at all. Satoko went to Rika's bedroom to find that the bedroom was completely empty. Light had the same luck when he was searching in the kitchen. The two spent thirty minutes searching for Rika. Since they didn't have any luck searching inside the shrine, Light suggested that they searched outside the shrine. They both looked around the shrine grounds. Rika's presence couldn't be sensed anywhere. Finally, the two went to the shrine's main gate. That was the place they kept the offering box. Satoko walked to the gate and she was getting closer and closer to the box. From a few feet away, she could see three or four crows swarming around behind the box. Satoko took a deep breath and leaned her head to see what took the bird's attention. She couldn't believe her eyes. Her body felt so weak that she could collapse any second. Her body shuddered in fear and distress. Light noticed the sudden change in Satoko's expression hence, he ran to Satoko's place to see what's wrong. Light was in awe of the scene before his very eyes. It made him recall the story Satoko was telling him about a few minutes ago. The school's first class had started an hour ago. It was getting late. The Bright sun was beginning to hibernate behind the mountains. Satoko and light had to hurry back and bring Rika with them. The teacher was really strict about unexplained absence but it was impossible to bring Rika anywhere. Satoko kept staring at the person behind the shrine box. Why?

Furude Rika was dead

Satoko screamed out in agony as hard as she could. She stood near Rika and she hugged her as hard as she could. Rika's blood began to stain Satoko's shirt. Satoko could not believe that she lost an important friend. Tears kept flowing through Satoko's eyes. Her heart was crushed facing the death of the one who was so dear to her.

"Why did this happen light?" she cried. "Now I won't be able to see her smiling face again. I won't be able to enjoy the warm friendship I used to have. The smile that kept me going has disappeared. What did she do? What did she do to deserve this?" Satoko's condition was in the worst possible state. Her eyes were filled with tears flowing down her cheeks. Light also began to cry after seeing the bizarre event in front of him.

"Rika, Rika, can you hear me? Why did you have to leave so soon? You said we would always be together. We've gone through many problems together. We've been together through thin and thick. Why did you have to leave?"

Light only stood quiet. He couldn't find the right words to comfort Satoko. The grief of losing an important friend was too immense to describe. All of a sudden, men with gray uniforms started to appear before Satoko and light. Their arrival was unexpected even by Yagami light.

"How cute, the little Hojo girl was crying over her friend's death." One of the Yamainu said.

"We are also sorry about her death you know…"

"We should! Since we are connected to her murder!"

All the Yamainu started to laugh around. The maniacal laugh disdained the ears of the people who cared for and loved Rika. Satoko stood up with the eyes of a feral beast. "You…You did this! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! YOU BASTARD!" Satoko charged the man who mocked the death of her best friend.

"You pitiful fool. Don't worry. You'll join that blue haired girl soon enough." The man swung a knife towards Satoko but Light pushed Satoko away before the blow could hit her. Light punched the man's face really hard and sent him flying towards the woods. Light carried Satoko and ran to the woods himself. "Let me go Light! I'll never forgive them! Never!"

"Satoko, do you think this is what Rika wanted? Did you really think she wanted you to avenge her death? No. She would want you to live on a happy and lively life. Killing the man who killed Rika makes you no different than them." Satoko began to calm then and she started to cry. "But…Rika…Rika…"

"Don't worry. Once we get out of this, I will personally take care of these hoodlums. I will avenge Rika's death by capturing the real culprit." Light knew that Rika's murder had something to do with Takano. He reached down his pocket to get his cell phone. But he later found out that his cell phone was completely dead. "Damn it! Without my phone, I wouldn't be able to contact Hiruma or L. I have to tell them what happened." Light thought. Meanwhile, Hiruma was discussing the matters with Oishii at the police station. They were still waiting for the body test to finish. L took out his sugar cubes and began gulping it down one by one. Oishii felt that it was the worst possible time to have a snack but Hiruma didn't budge one bit. He knew that L was on to something. In fact Hiruma was right; L was wondering that there was a missing peace in the puzzle. Takano's death seemed a bit out of the script. There wasn't any significant basis of Takano's murder. "Mister Oishii, if I may, I would like to have a look on Takano's corpse for a while or better yet, let me be the leader of the body investigation team." L said. Oishii didn't have a problem with L's request so he took L and Hiruma to the laboratory. "Did something come to your mind L?" Hiruma asked.

"Yes, with this I would be able to fix the puzzle."

"Humph, you were always the best in reuniting and relating the pieces of the puzzle."

Hiruma and L reached the laboratory. The laboratory was equipped with some decent experimental equipment and it had a hint of malodorous scent. It could be because of the burned body on the table.

"A one day old dead body will produce an unpleasant smell but its texture wouldn't be like this." L thought. L looked around for a while then he asked one of the researchers a question, "what have you been analyzing so far?"

"We've been trying to analyze the drug that was found in Tomitake's body. It seems that the same drug was found in Takano's burned body and…"

"Halt all activities related in the research of the drug. Start a test to determine how long this body has been dead." All the researchers were confused about L's orders. They all assumed that Takano died one day ago along with Tomitake but they didn't actually go through the proper process of determining the age of the dead body. Everybody started to run several tests to determine how long the body has been dead. "It would take a while to determine how long a body has been dead. I hope it will finish soon."

L said. Hiruma glanced at his watch and found out that it was already five o'clock pm. He thought that light must've arrived at the school together with Satoko and Rika. Hiruma sat down on a wooden chair waiting for the test to finish. It was getting darker and darker. Light and Satoko were hiding in the bushes. The woods were filled with the sounds of the Yamainu searching for Light. It was too dangerous for light to directly confront the Yamainu. He was extremely outnumbered by twenty to two. Satoko began to tremble. The pressure of getting killed was too much for the poor girl. Light knew he had to think up something quick. It was only a matter of time before the Yamainu discovered his hiding place. His chance came when one of the Yamainu was separated from the others. Light took a quick look of the person and he was shocked to see that it was the same person he punched earlier at the shrine. The man was approaching light's position. He was holding a flashlight to help him see better in the darkening area. When he least expected it, Light came out of nowhere and he planted his fists right into the man's head. Again. The man fell on his back and went unconscious. Light took his chance to take away the man's cell phone. The phone appeared to be a special phone that was equipped with a special password which could only be opened by the user. The Yamainu special cell phone had a really nice CPU and RAM. It was really a perfect phone for the TOKYO special force. Light opened up the man's phone and began to analyze it then he took out his phone and started to connect it with the Yamainu's specially designed mobile phone. "What are you doing light?" Satoko asked quietly. "I'm hijacking the communication the bus between the CPU and the RAM of this little embedded device to some circuitry on my mobile phone. I'll just recompile a custom version of the kernel to run a little buffer overflow on his mobile phone, overwriting its main loop with something that will open the password. The troublesome part is writing the patch using my phone's keyboard. It's very simple actually." Light said while wiring in his mobile phone. Satoko got a little dizzy after listening to light's explanation. Her brain wasn't ready to indulge light's hacking skills. A few seconds later, light succeeded in hacking the Yamainu's mobile phone. Satoko didn't know what to say. It could be the fact that she was facing a genius who could hack a system in a few seconds. "Light, I think you should ask the other soldiers to retreat. Look at this man's badge. He must be the captain of the other men. You can use his phone to get rid of the others." Satoko said quietly. "Hmm…your right, you are very smart and cunning to notice that Satoko."Light said with a smile. Satoko gave away a little blush and said, "Save the compliments for later! We have to do this!"

Light smiled and patted Satoko on the head. "That's the spirit!" he said. Satoko stood still and remembered her lost brother who did the same thing long ago. Satoko let out a tear and softly said, "Nii-nii."

Light covered his mouth with a cloth and contacted the whole squad. "Change of plans, we were ordered by our boss to retreat back and do nothing until further orders. Over." A few minutes later, the squad replied back and said they were on their way back to headquarters. Light let out a big sigh of relief he grabbed Satoko by the hand. "Let's go Satoko! We have to hurry back to the village." Satoko felt the warm grip on light's hand and she said, "Okay brother."

"Huh?" light said in an awkward tone. Satoko realized that she called light her brother and she was swaying her hands in front of her face in panic. "Um…Uh…forget that last part! I just thought that you were older and it came out of the bloom so…"

"Hahaha, I don't mind. Let's go Satoko!"

The two ran through the woods as quickly as they could. They approached a bridge headed to the village. There was a river flowing under the bridge. It seemed to be connected with the river nearby the festival site. The water was rushing rapidly breaking through the rocks in the middle of the river. The length between the bridge and the river was about thirty meters. So falling down would be extremely terrible. "I can see the village from here! Let's go Satoko!"

"Right!"

Light ran followed by Satoko from behind. The bridge was quite intact so crossing together shouldn't be a problem. The two were in the middle of the bridge. The bridge was about twenty meters long and they didn't want to make a ruckus by running too fast. The two were still running together. Satoko was starting to breathe heavily. Her stamina was starting to run down and could no longer keep her up. But she kept trying hard to follow light's momentum. A few seconds later, light was startled by a terrifying noise. How he hoped that the noise didn't have anything to do with his situation. But he was wrong. A gunshot was fired right at Satoko's back. A titanium bullet was implanted in Satoko's little body. She began to lose her balance and consciousness. Her steps trembled around the bridge.

"SATOKOO!" light screamed out. He reached out his hand to grab the little girl's hands but it was already too late. Her feet tipped over the edge of the bridge and her body started to fall down.

"Light-Kun...save me" was the last thing that Satoko said on the bridge. Satoko fell over from the bridge and her body was pulled down by the earth. Light could still see her dying and trembling eyes as she was falling down to the river. A hard splash occurred after Satoko reached the river. The river currents were so powerful that Satoko's body couldn't be seen again.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Take that you cocky brat!" said a man within the woods. The man's appearances were still concealed over the dark shadows of the trees. He came out with a gun in his hand and he said, "I compliment your skills of hacking in my mobile phone. But your punch wasn't good enough to stop me from killing you!"

Light was both grieved and shocked to see the same man again. His eyes were filled with tears witnessing the death of his friend. But his heart did not give up. Disregarding his own logic, within his heart, he had hope for Satoko still being alive. But his anger was consuming him little by little. In spite of his wrath bursting in tears, light stayed calm, sitting on the bridge. The Yamainu captain approached light with his gun grasped between his hands. His boastful face showed signs that he was certain of victory. He stood in front of light with his gun raised to light's head. He grinned and started to say, "Any last wishes brat?" Light stayed silent for a moment. He reached for his watch and gripped it tightly with his hand. He started to press the stopwatch button on his watch over and over.

"What's wrong? Are you so scared that you're clicking your watch?" The Yamainu captain said. Light stopped after the fifth click. A sliding compartment under his watch opened to reveal a small needle and a piece of paper glued to the watch.

"My last wish is; I would like to know the name of the person who is going to kill me.

"What kind of a wish is that? Well no matter. The one who is going to kill you is me! The head captain of squad four in the Yamainu. The person who is right under the commanding captain! Raboto Hago!"

Light quickly wrote down the name on the little piece of paper and he slid back the sliding compartment in his watch.

"Humph! What good is it to you writing down my name? After killing you, I'm going to burn down your corpse together with that fancy watch of yours!"

It has been thirty seconds since light written down Hago's name on the paper. He then took a look at his watch, watching it ticking by.

"Why do you keep looking at your watch? You are going to die soon anyway." Hago said while cocking his gun. Light let out a smirk and said, "Why? It's because of KIRA!"

Hago suddenly felt a huge massive pain in his chest. He fell down and started to hold his chest.

"URGHH…GUHHH…AGHHHHH!" Hago's last words were the words of his pain. His death was caused by a sudden heart attack. Light stood up and hurried to climb down the hill. He followed the river currents and found Satoko hanging on to a rock. Light quickly jumped in the river to Satoko's rescue. He took Satoko out of the river and gave her mouth to mouth resuscitation. Light planted his ear on Satoko's chest and he heard a faint heart beat. Satoko was still alive! He quickly carried Satoko on his back and ran to the nearest hospital he could find. He reached a hospital near the Hinamizawa district and headed to the emergency room.

"HELP! I NEED A DOCTOR!" he screamed out. A few nurses appeared and took Satoko inside. Light waited outside Satoko's room. The dead silence and fear of Satoko's condition began to haunt his mind. Suddenly, the doctor came out of the room and called out light's name.

"How is she doctor?" light asked in panic.

"Are you the patient's friend?"

"Yes I am!"

"Then please come in."

The doctor welcomed light inside the room and there he saw Satoko lying down. Her eyes were pale and empty. Her breathing had to be supported with an oxygen mask. Light couldn't bare the sight he had to see and faced the doctor.

"How is her condition doctor?"

"She's in a serious state of tantrum and her lungs aren't working properly. We managed to extract the bullet in her body but her vitals aren't stable yet. Were doing everything we can to save her."

"Would she be all right?"

The doctor stayed quiet for a few seconds and said, "All I can say is that she is in a very critical condition. Her being alive is already a miracle alone. I cannot make any assumptions yet but I will do what I can."

Light thanked the doctor and went out of the room. He didn't want to get in the way of the doctors work. Light took out Hugo's cell phone and called Hiruma.

It was quiet at the police station. L and Hiruma were still waiting for the test result to finish. Their eyes showed a hint of anxiety to reveal the truth behind Takano's death. Oishii offered them a cup of tea but the two were in no mood for snacking around. The silence was broken when the laboratory door opened. One of the policemen appeared from the door and appeared to be really shocked. L knew that they found out something.

"We've completed the analysis! The body turned out to be dead two days ago! It was already dead before the Watanagashi festival!"

Hiruma was in a state of shock because he was sure enough that he met Takano at the festival.

"I knew it." L said. Suddenly, a phone call came to Hiruma. It was light calling from the hospital. Light told Hiruma everything that occurred to him on that day including about Furude Rika's murder at the shrine. When L found out about it he pulled Hiruma to run with him back to the village. They left the police station as fast as they could. Hiruma knew that L had figured out something. L started to talk about the case while running through the path to the village.

"Takano must have faked her death in order to throw off the suspicion on her so she could act more freely with her true plans. Her goal is to annihilate the whole village. The death of Furude Rika proves so. By killing the queen carrier (Furude Rika) which is an essential part of the village's survival, the village would be thrown into a paranoid state where they will start to act on the Hinamizawa syndrome. Remember the data we collected from the Sonozaki house? The daughters of the Furude clan are destined to carry the burden of being the immune medicine for the whole village to survive. Without Rika, the disease will begin to spread out to other areas. Rika doesn't only act as a medicine for the village; she is also a shield to prevent the disease from spreading around the country."

"But what is her basis of killing the whole village? What does she want?"

L took a few a seconds to think and said,

"Remember about her adopted grandfather who was humiliated about his theory? For Takano to continue his grandfather's research, she must have had a really tight relationship with him. From my own opinion, I think Takano's true goal is to prove her grandfather's theory to the world. His grandfather's theory was that the village posed a threat of spreading the virus to the country. By killing the whole village she would later be able to do research on the bodies. The researchers will definitely find out about the disease and she and her grandfather will be recognized as a hero."

Hiruma was rather impressed by L's analytic skill but his mind was more concentrated in reaching the village. "This is really bad! We have to warn the village!"

Things were quiet at the school. Miss Kyoko was teaching in front of the class. Some of the students looked tired since they were studying the whole day. Keichii was taking some notes while listening to the teacher. Mion was worried by the fact that Light and Satoko had been gone for a really long time.

The class was in complete silence with only the sounds of students writing on their note books. Mion leaned over to Keichii and whispered. "Hey Keichii, aren't you worried about Satoko and light?"

Suddenly, there were small sounds of a car engine approaching.

"Do you hear something?"

A big explosion suddenly occurred in front of the school. It wasn't a destructive type of bomb but this one leaked out a massive amount of gas. Miss Kyoko knew that the gas was a dangerous type of gas. She ordered all the students to make a run for it. Mion, Keichii, and Rena helped the little one to escape through the back door. Rena was using her gym clothes to cover her mouth and nose. The students successfully went out through the back door followed by Miss Kyoko guiding them. But The Yamainu was well prepared. Right after The students escaped from the back door, Soldiers equipped with gas masks and guns shot the students in the head. All the students and the teacher were killed outside the school. Keichii and Mion were still inside. There body felt extremely weak and they fell down on the floor. Rena tried to help them but Mion screamed to Rena, "RUN RENA! WE CAN HARDLY MOVE OURSELVES ANYMORE! JUST GO!" Rena ran out of the window with tears filling her eyes. Mion took a look at Keichii who was already lifeless due to poison in his lungs. She gripped Keichii's hands tightly and leaned on him. "I guess this is it eh, Kei-Chan."

Mion's eyesight began to blur when she saw the Yamainu coming in. She took her last look at Keichii's face and said, "I love you Kei-Chan". Then she closed her eyes and began her eternal sleep.

Rena was escaping through the forest. The sight of her dying friends was still planted in her. She could still see Mion and Keichii's death in her eyes. Her attention drifted to the following footsteps behind her. The Yamainu were hot on her heels. When she reached a certain area, another few Yamainu men appeared from up front. Before she noticed, she was surrounded by a whole squad of Yamainu soldiers.

The Yamainu soldiers wielded their knives. They began to approach Rena step by step. Rena was trembling in fear. She could feel the intense murderous aura coming out from the soldiers. Two men held her hands from behind and a few men started to come near her at the front.

"She's actually quite cute. Why won't we have a little fun?" said the one of the soldiers.

Rena started to cry and fear started to consume her. "Please…don't…"

The soldiers ripped of Rena's clothes and they began to stab her in different areas. Rena screamed and whimpered out of pain. Blood poured out of her body. "Huff…huff…please…stop…" Rena pleaded. But the soldiers became worse. One of them stabbed Rena in stomach and a few others started to break her bones. They crashed Rena's head into the ground and started to kick her numerous times. After a few minutes, The Yamainu left Rena in the woods. "Let's leave her! She's as good as dead".

Rena was on the ground. Her body was severely injured. Blood was pouring from her body turning the grass into a crimson red color. She was having trouble breathing since her chest was impaled by the Yamainu. She knew her life was drifting away. But she tried to stay strong. She hoped to see that face one more time before she leaves. She stayed on the ground quietly without uttering a single sound. Then she finally said…"Ryuzaki…"

Light and L began to approach the village. The first place they spotted was the school. Hiruma was a little agitated and hurried to see what had happened. When they reached the school grounds, they couldn't believe what they saw. Dead bodies were everywhere around the school grounds. Hiruma looked inside the school and he found the dead bodies of Mion and Keichii. Hiruma never had this kind of feeling. It was the feeling of defeat. Never before that was he completely defeated by the opponent. And never before he felt, there was nothing he could do.

"We were too late..." Hiruma said in an eerie tone. L looked around in panic and he noticed someone wasn't there. "Rena…Rena isn't here! She may be still alive!" L ran to the woods to search for Rena.

Hiruma searched the whole village for survivors. But his search retuned fruitless. The whole village was already annihilated. The Yamainu had cleaned their tracks real good. Hiruma tried to contact Irie's clinic but nobody answered. It seemed that Irie was already killed. Hiruma's cell phone rang all of a sudden. It was a call from Oishii, He had just received information that Takano had already left to TOKYO. It seemed that her plan was a success and the people from TOKYO will make everything she done legal. This Mass murder will be seen as a "Parasite extermination program" in the eyes of the country. The last thing that Oishii said to Hiruma was, "Hiruma…I'm very sorry…" Hiruma closed his cell phone and returned it to his pocket. Without saying another word, Hiruma ran to the hospital where Satoko was being treated. His face showed an expression of dejection. He only hoped to see the well being of the last soul of Hinamizawa. His steps were getting faster by the minute. Sweat started to come out and slide down his head. Although he has a high and first class stamina, his emotions got the better of him and started to make his breath heavy. When he had reached his limit, he could already see the Hospital. The hospital was only a few feet away from Hiruma's position. He directly went inside and headed towards the Information center.

"I'm looking for the patient Hojo Satoko."

The woman in the information booth opened up a few files and began to slide her finger down to find the letter H in her patient data. She found the name Hojo and directed Hiruma to the room at the end of the first hall. After taking a few steps, Hiruma noticed that the room he was headed to was none other than the ICU room. He opened the door of the room he was instructed to. After taking one step inside the room, He saw a doctor and a nurse side by side. The doctor was facing downwards. You could hardly see his face from upfront. The nurse was holding a clipboard between her arms with her head also faced down. And near the bed was light Yagami. He was holding Satoko's hand with his face planted in the bed. The sounds of light crying filled the whole room. Satoko's eyes were closed. Her little and fragile body was still warm. The doctor had taken off Satoko's oxygen mask since she didn't have a reason to still be wearing it. Her heart beat had stopped. The doctors were incapable enough to change the fate of the poor little girl.

"You left so soon…Satoko…" light cried softly. A heart failure had taken Satoko's life away. The whole room was filled with misery and agony. It wasn't after Hiruma left the room that light realized that Hiruma was standing in front of the door the whole time.

"Hiruma?" he said softly. He hurried out of the room to catch up with Hiruma. He wanted to know what happened at the village. He caught up with Hiruma outside the hospital. Hiruma was staring at the infinite blue sky above him.

"Ugh…"

"Hiruma?" light said softly.

After light called Hiruma's name, Hiruma cried out something that light had never expected to happen.

"AAARGHH! WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME? WHY CAN'T I EVEN SAVE A SINGLE LIFE IN THIS WHOLE VILLAGE? WHAT'S THE USE OF GREAT INTELLIGENCE IF I CAN'T EVEN DO SOMETHING THAT SIMPLE?"

Hiruma cried out hopelessly to the sky. It was the first time Hiruma had ever let out his emotions. The feeling of an absolute defeat was overwhelming. Hiruma couldn't face the harsh humiliation he had to swallow. To him, Takano must've been laughing at his incompetence. But what's worse, it was the feeling of being unable to protect his own friends. Hiruma punched his own fist to the ground and he ducked his head facing down.

"Hiruma…I'm sorry." Light said. Light noticed that L wasn't there. He then quickly said that he was going to look for him. But Hiruma stopped light at his tracks and said, "Leave him. He will come back on his own after he finds out…"

Light knew what Hiruma meant. The two of them returned to the Sonozaki house to have their final night in Hinamizawa.

Meanwhile, L was running in the woods. His mind was only focused in searching for Rena. His footsteps left a trail on the grassy grounds of the woods. The sounds of bushes rustling followed every step L made. His breathing was done improperly. He didn't care about anything else in his search. Crows were flying around the area, making L uncomfortable. The squawks of the birds made the situation far more horrible. L was running out of breath. He needed to fasten up his pace. L saw a body near the riverbank.

It was a girl with short orange hair. Her body was gravely injured and blood could be seen flowing from her body. L shivered in fear and approached the body. His tears burst out when he realized who the girl was. It was Rena.

"Ryu…zaki…" Rena whimpered softly. L hugged Rena tightly and apologized to her immediately.

"Why are you crying Ryuzaki…?"

"I'm sorry Rena…If only I noticed earlier…you wouldn't be in this sad state…"

"It's not your fault Ryuzaki…Don't apologize."

Rena softly touched L's hair. Her eyes were still beautiful even in the brink of death. Fireflies were flying around near the river. The river was flowing softly through the woods.

"I've wanted to see you before I depart from this world Ryuzaki…"

"NO! Don't say that! You're going to be okay Rena! I'll carry you to the hospital immediately and…"

Rena touched L's hands and shook her head. L refused to believe that the girl in front of him didn't have long to live. He sat there side by side to the girl he loved. His hand was holding her back. Rena's head leaned on his chest.

"I thank you Ryuzaki…Although you've just known me. You cared for me so much. I'll never forget you."

"Rena…I…I…"

Rena's eyes began to close slowly but surely.

"The fireflies are really beautiful aren't they?" She said softly.

"I'm happy Ryuzaki, to see this beautiful scene for the last time with you."

"Rena…please…don't say that…"

The fireflies were still flying about. The grasses were shaking due to the wind. Rena was enjoying her final moments with L when she finally said,

"It's time for me to go."

L quickly grabbed Rena's arms. His eyes were filled with tears. He could no longer keep his straight face. All the emotions that were built during the past three days began to show.

"No…Rena! Please…please don't leave me…I…I love you Rena…"

L couldn't handle himself from crying no more. He held Rena tightly and said.

"I love you Rena…Please don't let it end like this."

Rena smiled back at L. Her eyes were also filled in tears. All the emotions of happiness and sorrow combined. She held L's hands tightly and said,

"I love you to Ryuzaki…Thank you…and goodbye."

Rena's hand slid from L's. Her eyes finally closed, never to be opened again. She had let out her last breath. Her heart had stopped beating. Although she died a horrible death, a smile could be found on her face, the smile which she did for her beloved.

"Ugh…No…No…this can't be…REEENNAAAAAA!"

L cried out as hard as he could. His heart was crushed facing the death of his loved one. L cursed himself for being incompetent in protecting his beloved. His tears dropped on Rena's calm face.

"I said I would protect her…I promised that…I'm…sorry Rena…I'm really sorry"

L's cry could be heard throughout the woods. It nearly reached the village grounds. He carried Rena back to the village. The feeling of losing a beloved was a really great toll for L to withstand. He walked back to the village with Rena in his arms. He was still crying. His voiced torn the silence of the soundless night.

CHAPTER 4

LEAVING

Everything appeared to be blurred. Darkness was surrounding the whole area. Soft warping sounds were heard around it. Hiruma opened his eyes slowly. He was lying on the ground and was surrounded by floating purple crystals. The crystals were eye catching and exquisite. Above him was not a blue sky which he thought so. The sky was turned into a purple aura, coating the whole place. It felt like another dimension. Hiruma was rather interested in what he was witnessing. When he was about to take another step, a soft heavy but beautiful voice called out.

"This place is really beautiful isn't it?" the mysterious person said.

Hiruma quickly turned his attention to the voice behind him and saw a little girl with long blue hair. The girl resembled Furude Rika in many ways. Heck, the girl was exactly like Rika. It was nearly impossible to differentiate the two. Despite their high similarity, there was one thing that made the girl different from Rika. Her eyes were as sharp as a knife. Its color was blood red; her smile was devilish yet extremely beautiful and elegant. She was like a mature version of Rika. Hiruma couldn't believe his eyes because of what he saw. He couldn't find the logical explanation to explain Rika being alive. With a confused tone, Hiruma said to the girl, "Are you Rika?"

"No, I am not Rika. I am Rika's true form. My name is Frederica Bernkastel."

Hiruma was in disbelief to witness the girl who looked exactly like Rika. But he was also interested in finding out his exact location.

"Where am I? Who are you? What do you mean you're the true side of Rika?"

"Humph, for a genius you really ask a lot of questions now do you?" The girl said with a slight mocking tone. Luckily Hiruma was hard to agitate so he didn't really care. What he cared about was to find the answers for his questions. "Do not worry Hiruma. I shall fill your curiosity with the blinding truth I'm about to release." She said.

"First of all, I would like to ask you to pay attention in this single crystal."

Hiruma followed the girl's order and leaned his body forward to take a look inside a crystal. In that crystal, Hiruma saw himself running through the woods, He also saw L who was crying over Rena's death. The death of Furude Rika also appeared in the crystal. Hiruma pulled his body back. He was stunned to witness his failure. The girl took another crystal which was floating around. He asked Hiruma to take a look in the second crystal. There, he saw Keichii holding a baseball bat. His eyes showed the eyes of a murderer. Then it was shown a part where Keichii was beating up Mion with the baseball bat. Keichii ran away from his house to a telephone booth. There, he scratched out his own throat and ended his life.

"In the one you just saw, at that time, Keichii had just transferred to Hinamizawa. He then found out about the dam construction involving the mutilation of one of the site workers. His mental later became unstable triggering the disease in him to progress, the Hinamizawa syndrome."

Hiruma was bewildered to witness the second crystal. After a short while, the girl started to talk.

"Each crystal resembles a single life. In total there are ninety nine crystals floating about. Each one of them contains a story of Hinamizawa before the first of July. Each story has different mysteries and tragedies. But only one thing is certain to happen in each story. Rika's murder in front of the shrine gates is the symbol of the end of the story." Hiruma could not believe the girl's story. If what she said was true, that could only mean that Rika had the ability to repeat her life numerous times.

"You are right detective. Rika does have the ability to repeat her life."

"Chi, so you possess the ability to read minds huh?"

The little girl only smiled. She walked around the area and appeared to be looking for something. She then took a crystal which was floating nearby. The crystal was different than the others. This one was completely empty. Inside didn't reveal any kind of past.

"I told you that there are ninety nine crystals right? This is the one hundredth crystal. Rika has the ability to repeat her life numerous times. This crystal is the last crystal I have, meaning that this is going to be Rika's last chance in reaching her goal. Her goal is to break through the horrible barrier of June Showa. She wants to continue her life normally with her friends. Passing the month June."

Hiruma started to talk, "Why are you telling me this? Are you the one who gave Rika the ability to repeat her life?"

The girl stayed silent for a while. Only the sounds of floating crystals could be heard. The little girl started to answer Hiruma's question,

"No, I did not grant Rika that power. Didn't I tell you? I'm just Rika's inner thoughts. You and I are in a separated dimension which shows all the lives she repeated. I myself do not know where Rika got the ability to repeat her life. Only Rika knows. I told you I'm the inner side of Rika right? You better not lose your guard in front of the cute and pure impression Rika makes in front of you."

Hiruma took out a piece of bubble gum and began chewing it. His face showed that he needed to know one more thing.

"Why are you telling me all this?" he said.

Frederica turned around facing her back to Hiruma. Her beautiful long hair was swaying through the crystals.

"You know what Hiruma? There was this one time where Rika nearly succeeded in defeating Takano."

Hiruma was shocked to hear that statement. It really caught his attention.

"Rika managed to tell Oishii about everything she found out that day. Sadly, Oishii was killed by the Yamainu when he was about to call reinforcements. Rika and her friends stood firmly on the ground to fight the Yamainu. They were progressing nicely when all of a sudden; Takano appeared and shot Keichii in the chest. Keichii's death really plumped down everyone's morale. One by one, they were later all killed by Takano's gun. Rika was then taken to the shrine to face her death."

Hiruma wanted to say something but he didn't know what to say.

"Hiruma, when you appeared in the ninety ninth crystal with your friends, I could feel that this was what Rika needed to reach her goal."

Hiruma was angered by what Frederica said. He then shouted, "Don't screw with me! You know what happened! I failed to even save a single life in the whole village! How am I supposed to help Rika?"

"You appeared in a really bad time you know." Frederica said.

"The time where you appeared was a mere two days before the whole incident happened. But you managed to find out about everything in that short time. For you to appear again in Rika's last chance of life cannot be certain. You probably won't appear again in Rika's last life. But the possibility of you turning up again isn't a full zero percent. Hiruma, if you do appear again, I only hope it would be sooner than last time. If only you appeared sooner, you could have formed a team work with Rika and her friends. You won't be able to remember anything in next life. Not only wouldn't you, but even Rika wouldn't remember who killed her. She could not remember the short time what happened before her death. "

Hiruma was actually really interested in what Frederica said. He really wanted to put Takano behind bars. Frederica stood there and faced Hiruma.

"Hiruma, your time here is up. I can only hope you will appear again in the next life. I do not have the ability to tell Rika anything I know. She could only remember what happened to her friends in her previous lives. Hiruma, if you can, please save Rika."

"Kekeke, you can bet on that one! I will appear again! I'll do what I can to remember everything."

"Humph, as cocky as always, goodbye Hiruma."

Hiruma woke up in his room; He looked around for a while to find himself back at the Sonozaki house. He could still remember Frederica crystal clear. "Was it a dream? But it was so clear. It wasn't a dream." Hiruma thought. Hiruma gazed around the room and headed to the window. There he saw L and light outside. They were in front of a tomb stone. Their eyes were really empty and cold as snow.

L stood in front of Rena's grave. He cat down on his knees and placed a flower on the ground. Tears started to come out from his eyes again. The soft wind was blowing. The grass flowed and Sakura petals were flying alongside the wind. L was mourning over Rena's death. He felt a tremendous empty gap in his heart. But everything was too late. He would no longer be able to see Rena's warm smile. He was only limited with the picture of his once beloved. Light tried to comfort his friend, but he knew that his friend needed some time alone. The five friends were buried in the same grounds. That was what they all wanted. Hiruma walked down the stairs to join his friends. When he left the front door, he saw a few men in a limo. The men came out from their vehicle and they were all wearing hazard gears. Hiruma didn't need to think to find out that the men he saw were from the underground company TOKYO.

"Well, this village is finally finished."

"That Takano really did it! Her theories were proven. Now this wasteland is totally ours."

"We will make a lot of cold cash here all right."

The men started to laugh around of their success. That was when one of them saw L and Light at the burial grounds. "Are those villagers?"

"Nah, they must be visitors. But why are they mourning over a grave in the village?"

The captain of the whole team appeared from his limo and said, "A grave? We can't have that in our business. Order some dirty workers to dismantle the grave! Remind them to wear hazard gears when removing the bodies. I don't want any parasite in human form polluting my land!"

The captain was a manager at TOKYO industries. He was a very wicked man who would do anything to get what he wanted. Hiruma appeared before the men in suits. One of the men recognized Hiruma's face.

"Y…You, you're the star quarterback of the Sakyodai Wizards!"

"I've heard he was also a great detective. He must be the one who failed to capture Takano. Too bad everything she done was already made legal."

The captain laughed when he heard the talk of his men. He then approached Hiruma and said,

"Too bad you were incompetent of saving a few worthless souls. These things aren't really human. They are just parasites in human form. And you…"

Before he could finish his sentence, the captain was punched really hard in the face by Hiruma. Hiruma then pointed his rifle at the captain's head.

"Ah…agh…what do you think you're doing you brat! I ought a sue you!"

"Cih! The villagers here were more human than the likes of you! You're nothing but a disgusting and despicable creature!" Hiruma shot the ground with his rifle. A hole on the ground located right beside the Captain's head. The captain pissed his pants and was trembling in fear.

"This is my defeat. I can't do anything about you bastards destroying this village. But if you dare to lay a finger on that burial ground, I'll kill you all myself."

Hiruma left the men who were terrified in horror. He called out to L and Light that it was time for them to go. L said his final goodbye to Rena's grave and he set off to Hiruma's place. The three were picked up by Watari and Kobayakawa Sena. The three entered the limo and drove off.

It was complete silence in the car. Light was still trying to comfort the sad L. Sena looked at Hiruma and said, "Hiruma-san…I'm very sorry about everything. I…" Sena knew that it wasn't the right time to talk about it. He only stayed quiet and enjoyed the view of the Village.

Hiruma was still thinking about the little girl he met in another dimension. Was he really going to enter a new life? Will a new story be made? Can he change Rika's tragic fate?

No one knows.

We will have to wait for now.

The sound of the car engine could be softly heard in the Limo.

Hiruma smiled a tiny smile and said, "In the next life, I'll definitely win."

L and light got interested and asked what Hiruma meant.

Hiruma only smiled and said,

"I'll tell you when the time comes."

Authors

Note

I know you readers are probably thinking, what the heck? These are HIRUMA, L, and LIGHT were talking about! There's no way they can lose to someone like Takano!

Yes, I do agree fully on that.

I just wanted to make a story with a twist of the detectives first failing and succeeding in the next life.

I will make a second volume of 3L where Hiruma and his friends will succeed.

I really loved the Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni series. It was a great anime with a superb plot and interesting characters.

With the magnificent plot of the anime, I wanted to combine it with the smart and interesting characters of Hiruma, Light, and L as detectives who tried to solve the mysterious crime.

In the story, I made some romantic parts like the love between Rena and L. I just thought that they would make a great couple considering their cute personalities of one who liked cute things and one who liked Sweets. The love scenes between Rena and L were one of the parts I liked to write about. If you ask me why, I guess because it's a new experience since I only wrote stuff about action and mysteries before.

This is the first fan fiction I've ever created and I hope you liked it!