Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kan
Tsukisenu-hen (The Eternal Chapter)
Rest now,
This world is no place for you.
Rest now,
This is your final breath.
Rest now,
There is no need to struggle any longer.
Rest now,
Go find peace.
Prologue
The computers illuminated the van with a dismal light. The men punched in keys, called out status updates, and their computer screens flashed various images of the village. They were all in black and white. We could see the rice patties, the grassy hills, the forests, the school, the hospital, markets, and many of the residential buildings. We could see everything. Nobody could do anything that I didn't know about. I pretty much was Oyashio-sama, watching over his village and tending to his flock.
I hung outside the van, taking in the bright morning sun up above. The clicking of the keyboards, the buzzing of the monitors, and the monotone updates of the drones working the tech stuff got to me. I needed some air. There were a few clouds, but it was a lovely day. I heard the birds chirp, the crickets sing, and the sounds wildlife scurrying about the forest where we set up shop. I had to admit, Hinamizawa was a beautiful village to live in. Once you take away all the nonsense of curses, Oyashiro-sama, and sacred religious taboos, it was an alright place. It was a shame that such a beautiful place like this was, in reality, a rotten husk.
The whole place had a foul stench that permeated the very air I breathed. It was sickening. The village was a cancerous growth on humanity, and how fitting it was that Hinamizawa was the birthplace of demons. A rotten village where demons copulated with human beings to give birth to monstrosities. It was absolutely sickening. Such a disease had to be contained and properly quarantined. That was my job.
"Sir!" a soldier, dressed in those dapper black overalls and cap, saluted me.
"What have you got to report?" I asked as I folded my arms.
"We have the targets under complete surveillance, sir. We have them up on one of the feeds now. Come take a look."
I walked past the soldier and climbed into the back of the van. The soldier led me to the main terminal and pointed out the different High Value Targets.
"Everything is accounted for, sir." He gestured to every single one of the camera feeds we placed all round the village. "We know the H.T.V.s' residences, their frequent commuting routes, meet up spots, and their school."
"That's good work." I took a look at one of feeds. I saw six children walking over a small bridge. They had satchels in their hands and two of them had backpacks. "School's in session, huh?"
"Yes, sir. This is the road they take every day."
"So who am I looking at here?"
The soldier picked up a couple of folders and flipped through their contents. Each folder had a recent photo of the targets as well as some very interesting biographies. Real page turners.
"The boy in the white shirt is Maebara Keiichi," the soldier read from one of the files. "He and his parents are from the city; they moved in not too long ago. He's the son of that famous artist, Maebara Ichiro. Those are the girls he spends all his free time with outside of school."
"What's a city boy doing all the way out here in the boonies?"
"Before moving here with his parents, he ran into some trouble with the law. He shot some children at his previous school with an air gun. His folks paid his bail and they came here to protect him."
"This boy sounds like an upstanding gentleman of society," I said with a small grin on my face. "What about the rest of the kids? They felons too?"
The soldier flipped through some more documents.
"Actually, yes to an extent. The redhead is Ryuguu Rena. She was born in Hinamizawa, left, and then came back. She was afraid of that curse which led to a mental breakdown at her old school. She beat several students with a metal baseball bat. After that incident, she returned here.
"The two girls with the same hair color and facial structure are the twins, Sonozaki Mion and Shion, both daughters of the Sonozaki yakuza family. There's not much to say about Mion, aside from the fact that she's next in line to become the family's head and that she's fond of Maebara. Shion is a different story though. She was involved with a boy, Houjou Satoshi, a suspect in a recent murder here in the village. She's another one that has a few screws loose, especially when something endangers the well being of Houjou's sister, Satoko."
"That's the blonde, right?"
"Yes, sir." He pulled out Satoko's file. "Her and her brother aren't exactly popular in the village because of that curse thing again. Both their parents are dead and the only person with custody is their uncle and aunt. The uncle is serving a sentence for a child abuse case involving the girl, while the aunt is dead. She was reported to have done similar acts of abuse to both children."
"This ties in with the Houjou murder? He got sick of it so he killed one of relatives?"
"That's most likely. The Houjou girl lives with the final target nowadays while the boy is in an unknown location."
The soldier handed me the last document. I opened the folder and ran my eyes over the target's photo.
"Furude Rika," the soldier went on, "the priestess of the village. She's the last of the Furude Family. She's assisted by a man named Kimiyoshi, one of most influential members of the village's government. Furude is the supposed 'Queen Carrier' as described in Takano Miyo's reports."
I took the photo from the folder and studied every detail of her face from her hair to her neck. I wouldn't forget that face. How could I not? She was the reason I was here.
"This is the one Takano tried to apprehend but failed?" I asked. "The last job TOKYO screwed up?"
"Yes, sir. That little girl, and her friends for that matter, stopped the entire operation cold. It's hard to believe that a bunch of kids stopped a military trained force."
"As unbelievable and impressive as that is, I'm not making the same mistake she did. I treat every enemy the same way."
I slammed the folder down on the console's panel. I took a look at one of the monitors; the camera feed closed in on Furude's beaming face. She laughed at something the Houjou girl said.
"Listen up!" I shouted.
Everyone within the van turned to face me.
"This is going to be like every mission we've ever done. We observe, study, gather intelligence, plan, and execute. There's no room for mistakes. We find out everything we need on the H.T.V.s, the village itself, and those in the social hierarchy. We isolate, contain, and exterminate."
My eyes burned red. I tasted blood.
"There will be no hesitation. Do not underestimate the enemy here. Each of one them is unstable in their own unique way. We use it to our advantage and we eliminate them one by one. When the operation begins, you will all be responsible for each other. Kill who you have to kill, hide any traces of your existence, you move as I move, do as I do, and handle anything that may be traced back to yourselves or to me. We're ghosts here. We leave no trace. Is that clear?"
"SIR, YES, SIR!" They all saluted me.
I returned their salute. My grin returned back to my lips; it got a little wider.
"Captain," someone called for me at the door to the van.
A woman climbed in and acknowledged me. She brushed a few locks of her scarlet hair behind her ear. She held a small radio in her hands.
"Everyone is in position for the next phase of the operation, Captain Hanzaemon. I suggest we prepare for our roles as soon as you are ready."
"All right, good work, Akane. Let's suit up."
Akane led me to another car that was parked right next to the van. She opened the trunk to reveal a stockpile of weapons, clothing, and body armor. She picked out a nurse's uniform while I swapped my military jacket for a dress jacket and a red tie. I strapped on a shoulder holster for my revolver as she readied a knife to be concealed in her stockings. Once she finished grabbing all of her clothes to change into, she handed me a small ear piece.
"Put this in your ear so we can communicate at all times," she said. "I'll give you whatever information I can uncover from the clinic when Irie is away. I'll be discreet, you don't need to worry about me."
I smiled. "Why should I have to worry about you? I trust you completely. You're the one who helped me get this far. Without you, I'd be nothing."
Akane returned my smile. She took my hand into hers. She gently brushed her finger against my skin.
"After this is over," she whispered, her eyes sparkled under the sun, "we can be together, right?"
"Of course." I kissed her forehead and took my hand back. I spun the cylinder of my revolver and checked the iron sight. "Whatever you want."
"It's not what I want. All that matters to me is that you get what you desire, Lord."
"I'll get everything I want and more."
I turned my head to the direction of the village. I could just make out the rice patty fields and the stream, where villagers were joking and going about their days. My smile faded. I could taste blood in my mouth again. My eyes burned that hideous golden red.
"We are go for operation."
