Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Kamen Rider Aegis

In the Beginning

Disclaimer – I do not own anything from either Higurashi no Naku Koro ni or Kamen Rider. Higurashi is the property of Ryūkishi07 07th Expansion and Studio Deen and Kamen Rider is the property of Shōtaro Ishinomori, Tōru Hirayama and Mainichi Broadcasting Systems Inc. Also anything based off characters, enemies etc. from other works or any characters from other works, the things that they're based on and those characters are the property of their respective creators, companies etc. Also this fic was inspired by the fic, Kamen Rider Shōwa, which is the property of Kamen Rider Chrome and following a similar setting. It is not my intention to plagiarise from him and after discussing the idea with him, I have permission to do this fic.


Summery – Daisuke is a boy without memories. Somehow finding his way to Hinamizawa in the year, 1984, he's discovered by the Gaming Club and given a place to stay and quickly befriend him as he makes an effort to fit in and becomes incorporated into the village. However, all is not peaceful as during the Watanagashi Festival, the villagers are attacked by evil demonic creatures known as Shadirā and Daisuke discovers that he has the power to fight them, the powers of a Kamen Rider and so, Daisuke becomes the protector of Hinamizawa under the name, Kamen Rider Aegis. However, pretty soon, Daisuke's unknown past starts to rear its head and Daisuke finds himself wrestling with shocking revelations over things he's done in the past under the command of one, Kagemaru Bunshin Hakase (Doctor Bunshin Kagemaru) and not only that, but Daisuke also has to deal with clones of former comrades that he had been ordered to kill, who're determined to get their revenge for the originals and if things could not get any worse, the sinister organisation TŌKYŌ, which is known to the Gaming Club turn out to be Kagemaru's employers and Daisuke and his friends suddenly find themselves dealing with a rather huge conspiracy to rebuild Imperial Japan and have Japan established as the world's only superpower. Between dealing with the Shadirā and dealing with Kagemaru, can Daisuke and his friends bring an end to TŌKYŌ's ambitions once and for all or are they doomed to failure as TŌKYŌ makes plans to utilise kaizō ningen, kaijin, nuclear weapons and Hinamizawa Syndrome and plan to wipe Hinamizawa off the map in order to cover up the Syndrome's origins?


Unknown location, Unknown Prefecture, Japan – Monday, 21st June, 1982

It was rather dark over the wasteland as dark clouds occupied the sky overhead. However, it was getting dark anyway and the clouds made it seem darker than it actually was. The clouds had been close to bursting point and were now in the process of depositing their contents that fell down to the ground as heavy torrential rain. The rain came down so quickly that the water droplets bounced off the ground as they made contact before dispersing. A flash of lightning appeared in the sky that briefly lit up the wasteland and revealed a lone figure standing in the centre of the wasteland with the bodies of four others surrounding him, all lying in pools of blood and each one wore a suit of armour with helmets that were styled after the heads of insects with antenna. Their armour was damaged in various places and some of their limbs were bent in awkward positions. However, as quickly as the flash came, it was gone, leaving the lone figure in darkness once again, with only the sound of the raindrops beating off the ground and his own body as well as the loud boom of the thunder that accompanied the lightning flash assaulting his ears. He was dressed in the same type of armour as the four that lay dead round him and had the same type of helmet as the others as well.

He looked around, not really that bothered about the darkness, though, another lightning flash briefly lit up the area once again. Darkness was nothing to him. The electronic equipment that was built into his helmet gave him perfect vision. He could see his surroundings as clear as day, though, due to the redness of his helmet's "eyes", everything he saw were various shades of red. If one could see his face at the moment, the expression they would have described would be one of pure shock, for he had been the one who had done this. He had been the one who had killed the four people surrounding him and to him, now that he had done the deed, he felt nothing other than guilt and disbelief that he had actually managed to carry it out.

"D-d-did I do this?" he whispered to himself, as he continued to stare at the bodies surrounding him; saying each person's name as his eyes fell on them, "Yūsuke-san, Suyaka-chan, Chiharu-chan and Takeru-san."

However, the last one, Takeru, he almost resisted the urge to snort, as he could honestly say that of the four people he had killed, he cared for Takeru the least. Truth was, neither he nor Takeru particularly liked one another all that much and he remembered when he had attacked his unsuspecting comrades, Takeru had been the most ecstatic and was actually quite thrilled that he had attacked them because as he put it, "I'd been looking for the perfect opportunity to kill you ever since I first laid my eyes on you". He honestly had no idea why Takeru had wanted him dead and neither did he care. He was dead now and could no longer bother him. However, aside from Takeru, the other three had been his closest friends for as long as he could remember. They had trained together, gone on missions together and had fun together and now they were dead; murdered by his hand.

"No… this can't… what have I done?" he said, as he fell to his knees and tears started to well up in his eyes.

"Congratulations, Shishigō," a voice came, causing the armoured boy, now identified as Shishigō, to turn and look behind him as a flash of lightning lit up the area and revealed a man standing behind him with a rather triumphant smirk on his face, "You've done well."

The man behind him had shoulder-length black hair that was tied into a small pony tail at the back and parted at the front exposing his forehead, which had a blood-red tattoo of the kanji symbol for the number, seven in the centre. He also had sharp and intelligent black eyes that seemed to ooze of sadistic glee as he witnessed the four dead bodies in front of him and wore black shoes, black trousers, a black waistcoat, a grey shirt and an orange tie and a white lab coat over his clothing that was open at the front.

Shishigō suddenly felt a wave of anger and fury flood through him as he shot the man a rather ferocious glare.

"You!" he spat angrily, with venom dripping from his voice, "You made me do this!"

That much was true, he could definitely say. He had only been following orders when he had murdered the others. This man, whom he knew as Kagemaru Bunshin, had ordered him to kill the others, though, he did not know why and, despite his misgivings, he had followed through without question, but now that they were dead and the rush had worn off, he found himself wondering why.

"Why?" he demanded furiously, "Why did you make me kill them? They were my friends… well three of them were and I could honestly care less about Takeru-san, but the other three…"

"Oh, come now," Kagemaru scoffed in a dismissive tone, "They've served their purpose and were of no further use to us. You on the other hand… congratulations, you've passed the test."

"Test… what are you saying, Hakase-san?" Shishigō said in shocked disbelief, as he absorbed what Kagemaru had just told him.

"The experiment is over," Kagemaru went on, either having not heard or choosing to ignore Shishigō's question.

"Experiment…?" Shishigō said in absolute shock, as his eyes widened from underneath his helmet, before narrowing as they focussed on Kagemaru, burning with fury.

"Yes, this was all just an experiment, a test," Kagemaru explained in a gleefully triumphant tone, as his expression gave out a rather triumphant… and somewhat mocking smile, "And you passed. You see, Shishigō, we've been trying to create the ultimate warrior for quite some time; someone capable of fighting quickly and efficiently and who can kill if the need arises, and you have just proven yourself as the best candidate for the job."

"What?" Shishigō said in pure disbelief, as a rather shocking realisation came over him, "You mean to tell me that I'm a living weapon?"

"Of course," Kagemaru conformed with a gleeful laugh, "You are the perfect soldier, capable of fighting and killing your enemies and as you've just proven, unhindered by petty attachments to others."

"They were my friends!" Shishigō protested as he stood up and glared at Kagemaru with murderous fury, "My only friends!"

"Yes, that was part of the experiment," Kagemaru boasted with a rather arrogant and somewhat taunting smirk; like he knew of Shishigō's mood and was daring him to lash out at him, "They were introduced to you and put through the same procedures you were put through in the hopes that you would all befriend one another, as well as form bonds with one another. We set up the Shisenshi to encourage those bonds to grow and then, eventually, you would be ordered to dispose of your colleagues when those bonds reached a certain point, all for the purposes of creating a single super-soldier."

Shishigō felt his mind go numb as he heard this. At that point everything ceased to matter to him. From what he had been told, he had been chosen to become part of an elite fighting force charged with going on really extremely dangerous missions for Kagemaru's employers, though, Shishigō did not know who they were. They were charged with dealing with their enemies and were promised a great life in return, and for a while, it seemed as if they had kept their word, but if what Kagemaru had just told him was true, then it meant that it was all nothing more than a big lie. The Shisenshi or Death Warriors had all been a ruse; a trick intended to lull the others into a false sense of security, while he had been ordered to eliminate them. Shishigō was not even his real name; it was merely just a codename meaning Death Number Four. Takeru had been Shisangō, Death Number Three; Suyaka had been Shinigō or Death Number Two; Yūsuke had been Shiichigō, Death Number One and Chiharu had been Shireigō, Death Number Zero.

"I know what you're thinking," Kagemaru went on, though, in his frozen state, Shishigō was no longer listening, nor did he make any indication that he had even heard, "And yes, I will admit that it was all just a big lie. My employers only need one super-soldier. The Shisenshi were nothing more than a ruse designed to encourage your friendship with the others and then, when their usefulness expired, we wanted to see if you were capable of suppressing your emotions in order to get the job done and it was successful. You've met all my expectations. To a soldier, emotions are a weakness; a weakness that needs to be eradicated."

For a few seconds, Shishigō just stood there motionless, as still as a statue, still making no indication that he had heard Kagemaru, but then before Kagemaru could blink, Shishigō's arm rose up and shot out, as Shishigō grabbed Kagemaru by the neck, and hoisted him up into the air.

"You lied to me!" Shishigō growled dangerously in a low and feral voice, "You lied to me! You lied to me!"

He then applied more pressure to Kagemaru's neck, making it impossible for him to utter a reply, though, if Shishigō had not been consumed in his anger, he would have noticed a spark in Kagemaru's eyes. Kagemaru, for his part, had been taken completely by surprise at his creation's actions, but once getting over the initial surprise, he felt rather intrigued by Shishigō and wondered just exactly what he was going to do. Of course, he was not stupid. He knew that he was not going to come out of this alive and yet, he was not in the least bit bothered by that.

"You lied to me!" Shishigō went on repeating, as he applied yet even more pressure to Kagemaru's neck.

In truth, Shishigō could not really remember how he came to be in Kagemaru's care. That part of his life was lost to him. All he could remember was being in Kagemaru's care and how he had been made into a cyborg, or a kaizō ningen, as Kagemaru liked to call him. He also remembered on being trained in the art of combat and weapons use, as well as everything there was to learn on being a soldier. He also learned the importance of following orders and had been conditioned to obey orders without question, which was why he had killed his friends despite his misgivings. It was clear what Kagemaru wanted to know. He had been interested in whether or not his conditioning was capable of winning out over the bonds of friendship that he had formed with the others… well, everyone aside from Takeru, but even then, Shishigō had not wanted to kill him despite his infuriating attitude. Anyway, in the end, Kagemaru's hypothesis had proved to be correct. He had been rather torn over his loyalty to his friends and loyalty to Kagemaru, but in the end, his loyalty to Kagemaru had won out in the end.

However, now that he knew that everything he thought he knew was a lie, and that Kagemaru had only been using him for his own twisted ends, he felt nothing but raw passionate fury flow through him as a fire raged within his soul as it called out for absolute vengeance. He then released Kagemaru, while still hoisted in the air, causing him to fall to the ground.

"RIDER UPPERCUT PUNCH!" Shishigō yelled, as he clenched his right fist and delivered a rather vicious uppercut to Kagemaru before he landed on the ground, sending him flying high into the air.

"RIDER JUMP!" he then yelled, as he brought his feet together and appeared to lift up onto his tiptoes, only to be propelled high into the air as if he had jumped on a springboard.

He went up till he was level with Kagemaru, who was now in the process of falling back down to Earth.

"RIDER ROUNDHOUSE KICK!" Shishigō yelled, as he delivered a ferocious roundhouse kick that hit Kagemaru right in the stomach and sent him flying horizontally into the darkness.

Once he landed back down on his feet, he looked around the area once again, studying the dead bodies of his fallen comrades. Unsure of what he was going to do next, he fell to his knees and let out a rather loud cry of frustration and anguish and balled up his fists, before slamming them into the ground.

"Damn it!" he cursed to himself, "Damn it all to Hell!"

However, unbeknownst to Shishigō, one of the bodies behind him twitched slightly, indicating that its owner was not quite dead.

"Dai-kun…" a rather weak female voice crocked, though, the volume was so low that, added with the thunder that accompanied the lightning flashes, that Shishigō didn't hear her.

However, she had been conscious when Kagemaru had appeared and congratulated Shishigō, or Dai-kun as she knew him as.

"Kagemaru Hakase, anata kusatta yarō!" she cursed in her thoughts, being too weak to speak aloud, as she felt herself slipping into unconsciousness and her eyes started to close under the weight of her eyelids, "We trusted you…"

However, before she could continue with her thoughts, she lost consciousness, as Shishigō stood up and took one last look around.

"Gomenasai, mina," he said with a sigh, "If only I had known the truth, I…"

He then trailed off, unable to finish his sentence, as tears started to flow down his cheeks as the dam that had been holding them back finally burst and he allowed himself to become overwhelmed by his grief, anguish and guilt.

However, the sound of a footstep on the ground suddenly caught his attention, and immediately, he was on the alert as he turned round and another flash of lightning lit up the sky and highlighted a silhouette standing atop a nearby hill.


Meanwhile, not all that far away from where Shishigō was, inside a top secret facility that had been built inside a mountain, there was a bustle of activity. The facility itself was rather impressive and if one were to venture inside, they would have been forgiven for coming to the conclusion that they had stepped into the future. On the outside though, there was nothing to suggest the presence of the facility, as it just resembled any other ordinary mountain range. Even if anyone were to venture up close, they could spend years there and not come anywhere close to discovering any of the facility's secret entrances. However on the inside, there was a vast array of corridors and various rooms that had designated functions and there were even floors that ran underground as well as underground evacuation passages and supply routes so that no one could discover the facility's existence. However, if anyone had ventured into the facility, then they would have been shocked to discover that all members of staff all appeared to be the same man and each member of staff also had a blood-red tattoo stamped in the centre of their foreheads and each tattoo was a kanji symbol or a set of kanji symbols depicting a number. They were all identical in appearance and even wore the same clothes aside from the different colours of each individual's tie and they all looked identical to Kagemaru Bunshin, the man that Shishigō had supposedly killed. In essence, they were all Kagemaru.

"Nanagō has been killed," one of the Kagemaru clones stated simply, as the rest all nodded, knowing that their colleague had been referring to the Kagemaru Clone that Shishigō had dealt with.

"So, who gets to be the one who'll inform Reigō-sama about this?" another asked curiously.

"That's really pointless," a third clone spoke up, "We practically all have the same mind, so whatever we know, Reigō-sama is also sure to know."

"True, but it would just seems normal just to inform him of Nanagō's demise anyway," the second clone replied.

"There's no need to inform Reigō-sama," a fourth clone spoke up, "Ichigō-san already has it covered, though, since we're all of the same mind, we all already know that in which case, it's pointless for me to tell you, isn't it?"

"Quite true, Sanjūgō-san," the first clone said with a nod of acknowledgment, "But informing one another on things we all already know makes for good conversation, plus, it gives this place a sense of normality."

"How right you are, Jūkyūgō-san," the clone identified as Sanjūgō complimented, as he brought his hands together with a happy expression on his face as if he were an excited toddler, "Lack of conversation and silence makes for a boring work environment."


Meanwhile, in the lowest basement level underground, the Kagemaru clone that the others had identified as Ichigō stepped out of the elevator before the doors closed behind him, and he walked down the corridor towards a pair of big grey doors with the kanji symbol for Zero in black painted over the entire length of the doors. Each door had half the symbol painted on it with both halves meeting in the centre where the doors opened and came apart. Like all the other clones, Ichigō was dressed in the same clothing, only he had a black tie as opposed to Nanagō's orange tie.

Anyway, the corridor he was walking down had a grey metal floor, grey metal walls on either side and a grey metal ceiling with circular lights lighting the way. At both the bottom and the top, the walls bridged outwards at diagonal forty-five-degree angles with additional albeit smaller circular lights halfway between the floor/ceiling and where the walls started to go straight and the floor was also made up of segmented rectangles.

As Ichigō reached the end of the corridor, the two doors slid apart and he then proceeded to walk inside to a huge darkened room with rather dim lighting that was just bright enough for Ichigō to make out a silhouette in the centre of the room sitting on a rather uncomfortable looking chair and if that was not enough, the silhouette also had a metal ring with a variety of multi-coloured lights flashing round his head and the ring also had a variety of wires attached to it that went high up towards the blackness where the ceiling was.

This was Kagemaru Bunshin, the original Kagemaru Bunshin, and as such, since he was not a clone, he was given the title, Reigō, Number Zero, and led his army of clones from the confines of his room, and like his clones, he was also part of their hive mind and therefore knew everything his clones did and since his clones had been programmed to worship and revere him, they all took to calling him, Reigō-sama, since it gave him a feeling of importance.

In any case, Ichigō dropped to one knee and bowed respectively.

"Reigō-sama, I bring you news of great importance," he said in a very polite and respectable tone, "Unfortunately, Bunshin Nanagō has been killed and Shishigō has… shall we say…"

"Gone rogue," Reigō spoke up, interrupting his clone before he could finish, "Yes, I am aware of that. Don't forget, I share the same experiences you all do in case you've forgotten."

"Gomenasai, Reigō-sama," Ichigō said, still maintaining his respectable tone, "I just thought that you ought to be informed anyway, since it would seem normal."

"Uh huh," Reigō said dismissively, with a wave of his hand, "Yes, I'm aware. In any case, I feel the need that I should inform you that despite Shishigō's orders to terminate his colleagues, it seems that Shireigō is still alive."

"Yes," Ichigō nodded, as he already knew this, "Shall we send someone to terminate her?"

"No," Reigō said, as he shook his head, "We will not terminate her, yet. Despite Shishigō's failure to eliminate her, I find her survival rather interesting, don't you agree?"

"Oh yes," Ichigō said with a nod, "So we'll be retrieving her, I take it."

"You already know the answer, so why are you asking?" Reigō asked, as a hint of slight annoyance in his tone, "Even if she did overhear Nanagō and Shishigō, it would be foolish of her to turn against us. No doubt, she'll probably play along with us, waiting for us to drop our guard before she strikes. Well, we'll let her believe that, and should she betray us, she'll be in for a rather nasty surprise. As for Shishigō, we'll leave him be for now. I don't know how, but according to our scanners, he's disappeared. No use wasting precious time and resources on trying to find him. We'll simply wait till he rears his head again before we deal with him."

"Understood, Reigō-sama," Ichigō said without protest, as he bowed even lower, before getting up and turned to walk out the door.


Between Hinamizawa and Okinomiya, XX Prefecture, Japan – Saturday, 19th May, 1984 (Roughly one year and eleven months later)

It was a sunny day in the area of Shishibone City. There was hardly a cloud in the sky and the sun shone down, as it bathed the mountains in its glorious splendour. There was also a cool breeze in the air that caused the leaves on the trees as well as the grass to gently sway to and fro harmlessly from side to side. As usual round about this time of year, birds were chirping as they went about their normal business and the sound of cicadas filled the air in a rather almost deafening crescendo. However, whereas newcomers would most definitely find the cicadas rather annoying and off-putting, the locals were not in the least bit put off by the noise, since growing up in the area, they had long since gotten used to the loudness of the cicadas and even managed to drown it out at night before going to sleep.

Anyway, the Hinamizawa Gaming Club, a group that consisted of Sonozaki Mion, Ryūgū Rena, Maebara Keiichi, Hōjō Satoko, Furude Rika, and most recently, both Rika's distant relative, Furude Hanyū and Mion's identical twin sister, Sonozaki Shion, were currently cycling their way back home to Hinamizawa from Okinomiya after a day of fun and games or Club Activities, as Mion liked to call them. However, unfortunately for Mion, she was not in a good mood due to the fact that she had ended up losing and ended up in last place, which meant she had to partake in a Punishment Game, and Keiichi was feeling rather pleased with himself and wore a triumphant smirk, as it was clear that he had been the overall winner, which for him was pretty rare. Usually he was the one who lost the most and Mion was the one who won most of the time; mainly due to cheating, but one of the club's rules were that club members had to do whatever it took to win, which meant that cheating was not only allowed, but also encouraged.

"Damn it," Mion huffed aloud, still fuming over the fact that she had lost. "I can't believe that I lost… and to Kei-chan of all people."

"Well, there's a first time for everything," Keiichi said in a rather boastful tone, "Maybe Lady Luck's finally decided to shine down on me."

"Or maybe Mī-chan's just having an off-day," Rena put in, as she was curious as to what Punishment Game Mion was going to be put through, "I wonder what you're planning on having her do, Keiichi-kun. Will you have her dress up in something really cute? Haū~, Mī-chan, kawaī, omochikaerī~."

"Shut up!" Mion snapped, as she shook her head and glared at her friend, though, she did have to admit that she found Rena's explanation for her string of bad luck more believable than Keiichi's.

However, Rena just chose to ignore her, as she fantasised over Mion being in a variety of embarrassing outfits that made her look cute and each fantasy always ended with Rena running towards Mion before picking her up, and then taking her home with her and keeping her in an imaginary dungeon for the rest of her life. Before Keiichi arrived in Hinamizawa and joined the Gaming Club, Rena had been the one who had lost the most and she remembered that each time she lost, Mion, who mostly always won even back then, would have her dress up in rather cute and embarrassing clothing and since then, she had always dreamed of someday beating Mion and exacting some revenge. Even after Keiichi came and took her place as the "biggest loser", she still hoped that one day; she would defeat Mion and have her dress up in the same clothes that she had forced her to wear. However, despite not having won herself, she was happy to know that Keiichi had won instead of Mion, and just seeing Mion in a humiliating outfit, even if it was at the behest of someone else was good enough for her.

"Or perhaps the world is just working in reverse today," Shion spoke up in response to the first part of Rena's last statement with a rather cheerful boast.

"Don't you start!" Mion growled, as she glared at her sister, though, she also found her explanation believable.

"You know that I have a point, onē," Shion spoke up, as she decided to tease her sister, "Usually you're the biggest winner and Kei-chan's the biggest loser."

"Yeah, a change would be nice," Satoko spoke up, putting in her two cents.

"Not you to, Satoko," Mion groaned, as she resisted the urge to bang her head against the handlebars of her bike.

"See, even Satoko's on my side," Keiichi taunted with a laugh.

"Though, I would have preferred it if you'd lost to someone who isn't Keiichi-san," Satoko finished, causing Keiichi to almost fall off his bike as he instinctively tried to face vault, but thankfully, he managed to catch himself and regain control of his bike.

"Hey," he protested, glaring at the blonde-haired pre-teen.

Rika and Hanyū both chuckled as they both watched the other members of the Gaming Club, while they brought up the rear. Both of them remembered what had transpired the previous year, in which Takano Miyo had conspired to kill Rika, and then destroy the entire village in the hopes of proving that her adoptive grandfather, Takano Hifumi's research on the local disease, Hinamizawa Syndrome, was correct. Takano had been thwarted, though, Rika remembered how in the beginning she had been killed and Takano had won. However, thanks to Hanyū, her soul was able to jump to another dimension that Hanyū created, in which, she would live out events again and try to prevent her own death, but unfortunately, each time she tried, she was always met with disaster and disappointment, causing Hanyū to create yet another world, in which, she would try to avert her death yet again, only to meet with disaster time and again.

Rika had no idea how long she had been hoping dimensions, though, Hanyū estimated that it was probably about a century, but neither she nor Rika could really say for certain. However, Rika did remember about a month later after she had finally "defeated fate", as she called it, while on the way back to Hinamizawa from Okinomiya, that she decided to have a race and bumped Satoko to provoke her. Despite Hanyū's warning that she had been going too fast, she ignored her and ended up getting hit by a truck. Since she had managed to live past the June of 1983, she had believed she was safe and felt that she was pretty much invincible. However, unlike Takano and the Yamainu, the truck driver had not been intending to kill her, and it had just been a rather unfortunate accident that she had brought on herself with her own stupidity. In any case, she found herself in yet another world, but unlike the other worlds, this world had none of the tragedies that had occurred in all the others. Keiichi was not present and neither was Shion, Satoshi had not disappeared, Rena still kept her original name, Reina, and she and Satoko were not best friends, and in fact, Satoko had taken great pleasure in bullying her, which caused Rika to eventually take a page out of Shion's book and hit her with a chair when her bullying became too much to bare. Anyway, aside from that, Takano was nowhere to be found and neither was Irie Kyōsuke, the local doctor, and the Dam Project that had caused such an uproar in all the other worlds was going to go ahead, since the dispute had been resolved peacefully. Also, the Irie Clinic had been called the Takano Clinic, which had caused her to panic at first, but she relaxed when she learned that, despite the name, there was no connection to Takano Miyo, and that the Takano in the name was in fact, Takano Hifumi, a man that Rika knew had been Takano's adoptive grandfather.

Nonetheless, despite the happy atmosphere, Rika could honestly say that it sickened her and she felt as if everything had become stagnant and empty. She honestly could not stand the happy attitude and felt as if she had entered a world that did not know the meaning of the word, tragedy, and she remembered that it had scared her. Everyone was just so happy and Rika had felt like screaming. However, she eventually grew to accept it and learned that her counterpart had been a particularly manipulative and cruel girl that had taken advantage of the boys in her school's crushes on her and got them to do things for her, which had led to her becoming rather isolated and two of her schoolmates, Tomita Daiki and Okamura Suguru, ended up moving out of the village. Also, she managed to forge a bond with her mother, who was still alive.

Her relationship with her mother had been rather strained before Takano had killed her. Thanks to Hanyū teaching her everything she needed to know, combined with the repeated worlds, Rika had grown rather distant from her parents. Between the years of 1980 and 1981, Satoko had come down with Hinamizawa Syndrome, which had caused her to kill her mother and stepfather during the 1980 Watanagashi Festival, since she believed that they were trying to kill her and Rika had volunteered to be a test subject since she was the "Queen Carrier", whose job it was to keep the syndrome in check. Her father had agreed to it, but her mother had misgivings, and despite their strained relationship, Furude Hikari did indeed care for her daughter and reluctantly agreed. However, Rika remembered not long afterwards, she had come down with a fever and her mother used that as an excuse to pull her out of the research program, but Takano retaliated by poisoning her father and kidnapping Hikari during the 1981 Watanagashi Festival, taking advantage of the local folklore surrounding the local Shrine God, Oyashiro-sama, and despite that, Rika found herself being rather cold and indifferent to her parents' fate, believing that they had brought it on themselves, knowing that the Yamainu were probably responsible, and believed that her mother should not had tried to withdraw her cooperation from the research program.

However, while in the new world, she had reconnected with her mother and had come to realise that she really did care for her mother, and that her indifference and cold attitude towards the deaths of her parents had in fact been a coping mechanism, since she had seen it happen many times before and had been powerless to stop it. Things did get complicated when she learned that in order to get back to her own world, she had to kill her mother, which had torn her up inside, but she managed to do it and in the end had learned that it had all been a dream that Hanyū had created to teach her a lesson on how one had to work past their tragedies to make life worth living.

"Hey, Rika, what's wrong, you're awfully quiet," Hanyū said, giving her friend a look of concern.

"Huh?" Rika said, being brought out of her thoughts, "What, no, I'm perfectly fine."

However, despite Hanyū's claims that it had been a dream, it had done nothing to alleviate the sense of guilt she felt after she had killed her mother. She felt like a murderer and remembered on how waking up, she had almost cried. She had spent her whole life, or a fairly good portion of her life convinced that her parents had meant nothing to her and after seeing them both alive, she had suddenly come to realise that she had been deceiving herself and had started to bond with her mother, but then, she learned that she had to kill her, otherwise she would have been stuck in that world forever. She just could not help but wonder what would have happened if she had chosen to stay in that world. Would she have just died or remain comatose for the rest of her life? Those thoughts passed through her mind and she could not help but wonder.

"Anyway," Keiichi's voice came, bringing her out of her thoughts, "Once we get back, Mion, you're mine."

Mion just groaned in disapproval.

"Punishment Games are fun, aren't they, onē," Shion laughed teasingly, "Unless of course you happen to find yourself on the receiving end, that is."

"Shut up!" Mion growled, as she glared at her sister.

She supposed that she should feel glad that she could not be forced to go through with her Punishment Game back in Okinomiya. However, the reason behind that really infuriated her. Before, Punishment Games were given out on the spot, regardless of location. Unfortunately, with Ōishi Kuraudo's retirement from the local police force, that had become an impossibility. Ōishi's replacement, Yūkimoto Ginjurō, unfortunately, was not a nice character to say the least, and suffice to say, he had a problem with the Sonozaki Family due to their connections with the Yakuza and he always seemed to go out of his way to make Mion and Shion's lives miserable whenever he saw them, and if that was not enough, despite the truth of the Watanagashi Murders and Disappearances being made public, he acted as if he was still convinced that the Sonozaki Family had a hand in it somehow. Despite the truth, he was convinced that the Sonozakis had managed to cover their tracks well and managed to destroy the evidence that linked them to Takano, and no matter what, he just refused to listen to, or even acknowledge evidence to the contrary. In his mind, it was as if the Sonozakis were guilty because he said so; that's what his attitude amounted to.

Mion had put Keiichi through a Punishment Game while in Okinomiya, when Yūkimoto first started and he almost arrested her, but Keiichi refused to press charges, much to his disgust, and so, he had been forced to release her, though, he did warn her that if he caught her or any of her friends doing something similar in future, then he would arrest the whole lot of them, and he even had the audacity to call Rika a "freak of nature". However, Mion was thankful that Yūkimoto was not that well-liked by the majority of people living in Okinomiya either, including his own colleagues. In fact, Ōishi's former partner, Kumagai Katsuya, was the most vocal in expressing his dislike for Yūkimoto, and as for Yūkimoto, himself, it seemed that, as far as he was concerned, the feeling was mutual. He did not look like he liked anyone in Okinomiya either.

Like Yūkimoto, Ōishi had first been convinced of the Sonozaki Family's guilt, but unlike Yūkimoto, he did not make such a big deal out of it and did not go out of his way to make her and her sister's lives a misery, and when it came to Punishment Games, Ōishi had been quite tolerant despite his hatred of the Sonozaki Family back then. He never bothered her if he believed he did not have to, whereas Yūkimoto seemed determined to provoke her into retaliating, just so he could have a valid excuse to arrest her, and all just because she was a Sonozaki.

"You're just mad because you're on the receiving end this time," Keiichi boasted with a playful taunt.

"It's not the first time I've lost, you know," Mion pointed out as she had to admit that there were times in the past in which she had lost before.

"And it's not the first time I've won either," Keiichi shot back with a triumphantly boastful smirk.

That much was true. Despite being the biggest loser in the club, there were the odd occasions in which he had come out on top and Mion lost, but those instances had been few and far between, and so, with each time he did win, he made the most of it and milked his victories for all they were worth. After all, he did not know when he would be able to pull off a win again and took immense pride in the games that he did win. As for Punishment Games, he normally would have the girls wear the outfits he had been forced to wear. After all, it was proportionate. A club rule was that the winners could do anything they wished with the losers, but with no limits in place on what the winners can and can't do, Keiichi feared that eventually he or one of the girls would be made to suffer a Punishment Game that would go too far and cause great damage, whether physical or psychological, and what he feared the most was that he would be the one who would cross the line. He did have a lot of ideas on what to do with Mion, but he decided to go with ones that were proportionate to the Punishment Games he was put through. Many of his ideas, he would admit, clearly bordered on, if not went straight into the territory of disproportionate retribution, and despite being a downright pervert at times, he did care for the girls as people, and as such, treated them well whenever he put them through a Punishment Game.

"Well, onē, look on the bright side, at least you didn't lose to me," Shion said boastfully.

"Oh, and what, pray tell, would you do to me if you have won?" Mion said in a tone that made it clear that she felt insulted, though, somehow, she felt as if Shion was challenging her.

"You'd love to know that, wouldn't you?" Shion replied with a sinister looking grin, and then, she winked at her sister, causing Mion to blush before her anger returned.

"Hah, like you could ever beat me, Shion, that's a laugh?" Mion said boastfully, as she puffed out her chest, as if trying to present herself as someone important.

"Oh really?" Shion challenged with a grin, "Wanna wager on it?"

"Huh?" Mion said looking confused for a moment, but then, she shook her head and glared at her sister, "Okay, you're on!"

"Just how confident are you that you'll win?" Shion asked as she could not stop herself trembling with excitement.

"Oh, so it's like that, is it?" Mion said with a smirk of her own, "Very well, I'm so confident that I can defeat you that should you manage to prove me wrong, then once Kei-chan's Punishment Game is over, starting Monday, I'll be at your beck and call for the week."

Shion's face transformed into a rather sinister looking grin and Mion's eyes widened upon realising that that she had walked right into Shion's trap.

"Okay then, and just so you know, onē, I have plenty of chores for you to do when we get home," Shion went on, as the excitement in her voice became apparent, "First one back to the village wins."

No sooner had she finished talking, she turned her head and pedalled off rather quickly before Mion or any of the others could even react.

"Hey, no fair, you got a head start!" Mion called out to her sister, as she sped after her.

"Do whatever it takes to win, that's one of the Club's rules!" Shion called back, reminding her sister of the rules she had established.

"Hey, you're not leaving me out of this!" Keiichi called out in protest, pedalling off after the twins, "I'm in to."

"Hey, wait up, Keiichi-kun!" Rena called out as she pedalled after him, "Rena wants in to!"

"Might as well join in," Rika said as she sped off, leaving Satoko and Hanyū confused.

"Hey, Rika, remember what happened the last time!" Hanyū called out, as she followed her.

"Last time?" Satoko said in confusion, before realisation washed over her, "Oh, the truck, of course, Rika did get run over by that truck."

However, as she came to this realisation, another realisation hit her.

"But, hold on, Hanyū-san wasn't even there," she said in confusion, as she remembered that incident quite clearly, and she did not remember seeing Hanyū there at all, "That's strange."

However, she dismissed it and came to the conclusion that Rika or one of the others must have told her what happened. She remembered last year that not long before Takano had been exposed and defeated, Hanyū had come and joined their club and for a while afterwards, Hanyū had to leave for some reason and the incident with the truck happened after she had left. However, a while later, Hanyū returned, and Satoko did not recall ever telling her about the incident with the truck, and so, she decided that one of the others must have told her about it. She then started to increase the rate of her pedalling and sped off after the others.

"Ha, ha, ha, eat my dust, Mion-bāchan!" Shion called out in mocking laughter.

"That's Mion-ojisan to you and there's no way I'm letting you beat me!" Mion shouted back, as she started to gain some of the distance between her and her sister.

"Gee, Mion, sometimes I wonder if you like to fantasise that you're a guy," Shion taunted in response to Mion's statement.

"I'll get you for that!" Mion shouted in frustration.

"But Kei-chan's also a guy, isn't he?" Shion went on in mock realisation, unaware that Keiichi and the others had decided to join in and were gaining on them, "And you like Kei-chan, don't you?"

"Shion, don't you dare!" Mion warned, fearful for what her sister was going to say.

"Well if you were a guy and you liked Kei-chan, that would mean that you'd be gay," Shion finished with a laugh, causing her sister's face to light up red in anger and frustration.

"SHION, I'M GONNA FUCKIN' KILL YOU!" Mion shouted as she sped after her sister, who continued to laugh boastfully.

"What's wrong, you know it's true," Shion went on, as she turned her head, taking her eyes off the road to look at her sister, "Or if you were a guy and not my sibling, would I end up being the target of your affection?"

Mion opened her mouth to reply, but suddenly, her eyes widened upon noticing the road in front of her.

"For god's sake, Shion, keep your eyes on the road!" she shouted in a serious no-nonsense tone.

"Ha, like I'm gonna believe that," Shion scoffed, not realising the seriousness in her sister's voice.

"No, seriously, Shion, just look in front of you!" Mion said, as she shot her sister a serious glare.

"Shī-chan!" Rena called out, getting Shion's attention, "Look out!"

"Huh?" Shion said, as she turned her head back in the direction of the road and her eyes widened as she noticed a boy staggering around in front of her, "Kuso!"

The boy in question was staggering around in the middle of the road and from what Mion could see, he looked as if he was lost, as he looked clearly disorientated. However, he did notice Shion as she came rushing towards him and moved to the side, since it was clear that Shion was going too fast and would not be able to stop in time before hitting him. Unfortunately, Shion, upon realising that she was not going to be able to stop in time had decided to veer to the side, and both Shion and the boy moved in the same direction and Shion went crashing straight into him.

"Shion!" Mion called out, as she stopped and got off her bike and ran over to where her sister was.

Keiichi, Rena, Satoko, Rika and Hanyū all stopped and followed suit.

"Ouch," Shion said after recovering from the collision, "Stupid brat, that hurt."

"Oh, how very considerate of you, Shion," Mion said sarcastically as she glared down at her sister, "Considering that this is your fault in the first place for taking your eyes off the road."

"Well, at least she didn't crash into a truck," Rika said with a shudder as she remembered her experience and how similar Shion's current experience had been.

However, unlike her, Shion had crashed into a person and not an oncoming vehicle, so she supposed that Shion should consider herself lucky in that regard, since if it had been a vehicle, then she would most certainly be dead, if not seriously injured, and like Rika with the truck, she would have had no one to blame but herself.

"Yeah, that could've been a lot worse," Rena said, as she looked down at the boy, "But what about him? We can't just leave him."

"Who is he?" Keiichi asked, as he examined the boy who had messy shoulder-length dark reddish-brown hair that was covered with twigs and leaves.

He wore white and grey tattered trainers, blue jeans that were torn in various places, a strange looking white belt with a horizontal oval with a thick silver outline and a pure black centre at the front, a white t-shirt that was stained with dirt and mud and a red jacket with a black outline. His clothes looked old and tattered, and from the looks of it, he looked as if he had been wearing nothing but the clothes he currently had on for weeks, maybe even months, and they were all stained with dirt and mud, and looked as if they were wet. Twigs and leaves also clung to his clothes just like with his hair.

"I wonder what happened to him," Satoko said curiously, as she looked him over.

"He clearly needs help," Hanyū pointed out, as she looked around the area and looking down at the boy, and noticing the area they were in, "Seeing how his clothes are wet, I'm guessing that he must've been in the Onigafuchi Swamp."

"The Onigafuchi Swamp!" the others aside from Rika all exclaimed somewhat fearfully, as they shuddered.

The Onigafuchi Swamp was said to be the home of the demons that were involved with the local folklore. It was believed that a thousand years ago, demons came up from the swamp and kidnapped humans and took them into the mountains to perform strange ritualistic sacrifices. Onigafuchi was the original name of the village of Hinamizawa and the swamp was the only area that retained its name after the village's name was changed to Hinamizawa due to the legends surrounding the swamp. It was still widely believed, even to this day, that the demons still dwelled at the bottom of the swamp, and so, very few villagers dared to venture near it for fear of being "dragged under" by the demons. It was also where Furude Hikari was believed to have committed suicide after Takano had had her kidnapped, after she forged a suicide note and dumped her slippers at the swamp's edge. Anyway, it was believed that the swamp had a suction that caused anyone unlucky enough to fall in to be dragged to the bottom, which was probably where the whole "Home of the Demons" folklore came from, and true, anyone who had been unlucky enough to fall in usually did not come out alive. The water in the swamp was thick with mud, and as such, getting caught in it was similar to getting caught in quicksand. How this boy managed to get out was a mystery.

"It's a miracle that he's even alive," Mion spoke up, "You know, before Shion crashed into him, I couldn't help but notice that he looked rather disorientated and lost."

"I wonder what his story is," Rena said, as she stared down at the boy with concern evident in her eyes.

"Who knows, but we can't just leave him here," Keiichi pointed out, as he walked over to the boy and picked him up, "I say we take him to the Irie Clinic. I'm sure Irie-sensei will fix him up."

Everyone nodded. However, Shion walked over and slung one of his arms over the back of her head.

"I'll do it," she said with a rather guilty sigh, "After all, I'm the one who ran him over."

"I'll help," Keiichi said with a nod.

"S-s-so will I," Mion said with a bit of a stutter, as she levelled a glare on her sister and then glanced at Keiichi, motioning for Shion to follow her gaze and then turned back to focus on her sister as if to say, "You're not doing anything with Kei-chan while I'm around".

Shion just nodded, silently, indicating that she had gotten the message. However, despite still being miffed at having crashed and having her wager with Mion silently called off for the time being, Shion did possess enough intelligence to realise that the whole thing had been her fault. She had not been looking where she was going when she should have been, and despite having plausible excuses that she could use to at least try to vindicate herself, looking at the boy and seeing his current state had filled her with concern and all those excuses no longer mattered, neither did Mion's silent threat in regards to Keiichi. All she was concerned about right now was getting this mysterious boy to the Irie Clinic ASAP. He definitely did not look as if he was in the best of shape health-wise. Looking at him, she saw that as well as his dirty appearance, he also looked rather malnourished and smelled of BO, indicating that he had not bathed for quite a while, though, she had to admit that the water, dirt and mud did lessen the effect of the smell.

"Come on, let's get you some help," Shion said to the unconscious boy, "Then perhaps when you recover, you can tell us who you are and what you were doing out here."

Everyone all nodded in agreement, as they all decided to help in taking him to the Irie Clinic.


Author's Notes – This is my newest project and as mentioned in the disclaimer, it's based off Kamen Rider Chrome's Kamen Rider Shōwa and like I said, I'm not intending to plagiarise off him and have discussed this with him and I have his permission to do this fic. The only thing I realise I may be wrong about is the part about the Onigafuchi Swamp. I watched Higurashi and Higurashi Kai all the way through earlier in the year as well as the middle three episodes of Higurashi Rei and so, in regards to the Onigafuchi Swamp, my memory's a bit hazy, though I do recall something about demons coming out from the swamp and also something about kidnapping and the mountains, so forgive me if I'm wrong.