My name is Maebara Keiichi and life is…great. Or at least, it should be, and it definitely was for a time. Even now, to everyone else, I'm probably the luckiest guy in Hinamizawa. The reason for this is that I was recently engaged to Sonozaki Mion. She's the heiress to the Sonozaki Estate and incredibly pretty; those two reasons alone are enough for anyone to consider me a very lucky bastard.

Of course, Mion has her quirks. Even after we've been engaged, she still calls me 'Kei-chan' as though she were decades my senior even though she's only older than me by a few months. Not only that but she often acts like an old man just to further accentuate her seniority, which is really unflattering for a young lady. Although she acts like an older person, she's definitely not as smart as I am and probably even less mature, and I'm quite immature to begin with, I blame my father's genes for that. Her hobbies also seem to consist solely of torturing me, although I probably deserve it by continuing to engage her in punishment games. But because of her, life in Hinamizawa has always been fun and I am lucky to have her as a friend and now even more, or at least, that's the sort of thing I would've said up until a couple of weeks ago.

Currently, I am staying with Mion at the Sonozaki Estate with her grandmother. It's not my ideal living arrangement but her grandmother insisted upon it. The jokers among you probably think you've figured out why my life is no longer as great, obviously because I have to live in the same roof with Sonozaki Oryou. You're wrong on that front, my problem is much worse. Besides, Mion's grandmother is actually a very kind person once you get to know her. She just sets up a façade to keep Hinamizawa safe, whether it's effective or not, I don't really know but I haven't been scared of her in a while. She's also very kind to children; whenever children come to the house, she always gives them candy. On that note, she probably considers me a child as well. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, well… I'll consider it a good thing.

Reminiscing about all of this, reminds me of better times. But that brings me to my problem. Sonozaki Mion, my best friend and the girl with whom I am engaged is NOT the Sonozaki Mion who is staying with me in the Sonozaki Estate at this moment. This Mion acts the same, talks the same, looks the same, and even her breath is the same. But she is not the Mion I got myself engaged with, I am surer of that than anything else. I'd have to be a moron not to know my own fiancée from an imposter.

I remember the first time I noticed that something was off with Mion; it was during the Watanagashi Festival not too long ago, my second one…

"Damn it Mion! Where are you?" I shouted, as I grew increasingly worried.

The Watanagashi Festival had just finished. Mion and I had met up with the whole gang here; Rena, Rika, Satoko, all five of us had met up prior to Rika's event. Even though this was the second time that I've seen Rika in her miko outfit, she still looked as cute as ever. We all had fun, although we always had fun. Having fun with this after-school club was as sure as my existence in Hinamizawa. My engagement with Mion didn't change any of that. Honestly, if marrying Mion meant that I could no longer have fun with the old gang then there was no way in hell that I would've done it no matter how much I liked her. But right now, the gang was looking for our president. Earlier, she decided to race us and promptly ran off. Then she went missing. I would've expected Mion to return promptly, she was the most capable among us after all. But it was raining and she was missing for too long, so of course the gang and I decided to look for her along with the adults. None of us said anything about it but I was afraid that Mion had fallen to Oyashiro-sama's curse. Aside from Rika, Mion seemed to be the most protected from the curse. Last year, a nurse in Irie's Clinic by the name of Takano had disappeared. No one else had gone missing or died, and Irie's Clinic continued business as usual but it was definitely odd. I feared that Mion would become part of such a strange event.

"Mii-chan, we're over here! Can you hear us?" shouted Rena, her cute voice a stark contrast with the seriousness of the situation.

We were all yelling for Mion, but our voices didn't seem to carry much weight as nothing responded to them. So I decided on a different course of action, something that I would look back on as the catalyst for all of my current troubles. Truly, the adults shouldn't have left us kids alone to look for Mion while they also looked for her. It was a stupid thing of them to do, and we were even stupider for thinking that we could find her without the help of the adults.

"Damn it all. I don't think this is working you guys. I think we need to split up and look for her. We could cover more ground that way," I said. I would later regret those words; clearly I was not the tactician that Mion was.

Rika was the first to offer her opinion on my suggestion. "I don't know Keiichi; it doesn't seem like a good idea. More of us might become lost."

This cute purple haired girl who was the miko earlier that day in the festival seemed unusually apprehensive. Slightly more apprehensive given the circumstances at least. But I pushed it aside, Mion's well-being was more important than me noticing this oddness in Rika's demeanor. But of course, Rika wasn't wrong in her concerns.

"You're right Rika," I conceded but then I came up with another idea just as stupid. "I can look for Mion as a one man group, and the rest of you can look for her as another group. It's still twice the ground cover this way and I can handle myself." Thinking of my logic at the time brings a smile to me as I realize how truly dumb it was. And to think, I was ranked third in my class back in the city. Fortunately, or unfortunately as I would later learn, Satoko saw how flawed my thinking was in my rush to find Mion.

"You're not thinking, as always Keiichi-san," said Satoko. "I suppose it can't be helped, I'll have to come with you or else you'll probably fall in a hole or something."

It was weird how Satoko could be cute even in her arrogance, and that never ceased to annoy me. After staying in Hinamizawa for over a year, I gradually found myself considering Satoko as a little sister. A single child like myself who hangs out with little girls would obviously have such feelings but Satoko, even more so than Rika, just seemed to fit the role easily. She was even annoying like a little sister but I really did care for her.

"All right, sounds good," I replied. "If Mion happened to fall into one of your left over pit traps then you're the best person to have with me." It's funny to think about how I still tried to crack a joke even as Mion was missing. I suppose I still couldn't really believe that anything that bad had happened to Mion; after all, it's Mion. It would've made more sense if she was just testing our responsiveness to a missing club member, but then jump out and punish us all for our poor response, than to have gone missing from a curse.

"It will be me and Satoko, Rika-chan and Rena," I said, finalizing our plan. "But where should we meet up?"

"Rika's and my house is probably the best place," Satoko responded. "It's pretty close by and is probably the best place to bring Mion if she's hurt."

"Hauu. Satoko-chan is so cute when she's making decisions like that. I just want to bring her home," said Rena, her smile seemed to pierce the rain falling in front of her face.

It didn't seem as though the others were as worried about Mion like I was. I figured that they had a lot more faith in Mion's self sufficiency than I did. Frankly, that calmed me down as well. They've known Mion for all of their lives; of course they would be able to gauge her chance of survival out in her own turf. And after all, this was Mion's turf; if anything happened to her she's probably fine anyway. In fact, she probably just holed herself up somewhere because of the rain. That scenario and many others kept my sanity intact; although in retrospect, they were probably also indicative of an unhinged mind. Of course, who could blame me?

It wasn't long before we finalized our plans and our group split up. Satoko and I moved carefully in the rain, continuing to call out for Mion. Without the cheery voices of Rika and Rena, worry once again crept into my mind. Soon enough, I was actually hoping that Mion had sprained her leg and that was what caused her inability to come back to us. This was a better alternative than Mion going missing at least. I couldn't even fathom what it would feel like if Mion had just disappeared, not knowing if she was even still alive. It made me feel sorry for the little trap master walking alongside me. Her older brother had disappeared like that over two years ago, and from what I had heard, they were really close. They had to be, especially since they were forced to live with an abusive aunt and uncle. It was no less than amazing how Satoko could still be a happy child after losing her brother; I selfishly hoped that my presence helped her be as happy as she was. But since I was her favorite person to set off her traps, I knew I had to be of some help at least.

"Mion, where are you?!" shouted Satoko. "We've been looking for you forever, where are you?"

"Hey! Mion! Where are you?" I shouted. "I guess we lost the race, you can come penalize us all now." I can't believe I actually thought such a statement would make Mion show up.

"…Satoko? Kei-chan? I'm over here…" said a voice in the distance. It was small and strained but it was undoubtedly Mion's.

Satoko and I looked at each other for a moment before we both darted to where the voice had come from. Relief was filling my heart; Mion wasn't demoned away after all. The relief I felt was quickly replaced with worry as I saw Mion who had taken cover underneath a rock. I saw blood and I quickly thought the worst as I rushed over to her.

"Hey Mion! Are you all right?" I said as I knelt down next to her, Satoko standing beside me.

Mion slowly opened her eyes, they looked especially weary. "Kei-chan… Sorry but I cut my leg on a rock and I…" Her voice trailed off.

"Ah it's all right, just glad to see you're all right… more or less," I said. The situation was apparent, Mion somehow gotten lost during the rain, cut her leg as she said, and crawled over to this rock for shelter. I looked at her leg, it looked really nasty.

"This is going to be difficult," said Satoko. "We need to find a way to bring Mion to my place." Satoko was already planning our next course of action while I was still savoring the relief that Mion hadn't been demoned away.

"Won't be a problem Satoko," I said, not letting the little imp show me up in moment of heroism. "I can carry her."

"You, Keiichi? No offense, but I'm not sure you're strong enough," replied Satoko.

"I might've been weak a year ago, but after avoiding your traps and undergoing Mion's penalties, I think I can carry a girl," I said self-assuredly.

It was then that Mion finally spoke up, probably due to my mention of her.

"Aha Kei-chan. This old man thinks you can do it, if not then my training of you over the years will have been for nothing," said Mion before chortling lightly.

"Feh. It has only been a couple of years, so don't expect me to be able to do too much," I said before starting to laugh. "Besides, your brand of training is just child's play."

Something seemed to scratch at the furthest part of my mind however. The amount of time it took for Mion to jump into my conversation with Satoko was peculiar, as though it was a second longer than it should've taken. Couple that with the fact that it took me mentioning her for Mion to speak up, it seemed as though she needed to be cued before speaking. But I attributed her slight oddness to her present state. After all, I was still very relieved that she was all right.

"Hehe… So are you going to try to carry me Kei-chan?" said Mion.

I swallowed my spit as I nodded before moving toward her. If I proved unable to carry Mion, I would look like such a weakling. Not just in front of Mion, but in front of Satoko too.

"Wait!" shouted Satoko. "We need to take care of Mion's wound first."

"Ah, right!" I shouted as I slapped myself on the forehead, ashamed that my thoughts had been on other things as opposed to Mion's current predicament. "That should definitely be our first priority…but do we have anything to bandage Mion up?"

"Nothing," replied Satoko simply.

"I have an idea," said Mion. "Kei-chan, take off your shirt."

"What?" I said, not understanding.

"You can bandage me up with it," she explained.

I wasn't sure but I felt as though I had detected just a hint of annoyance in her voice. It didn't seem like Mion, but I shouldn't have been surprised. After all, I was being incredibly inept at the moment. And my own guilt of it probably made me sense an annoyance that wasn't even there to begin with.

"Ah, understood," I said as I took off my outer shirt and fashioned it into a bandage.

After that was done, I realized that I probably didn't have much of a chance of carrying Mion. Even if I was able to carry her, it would've been really bad if I lost my footing and dropped her.

"Mion, can you try leaning on me?" I asked before starting to help her up.

"I think I can do at least that, I'm not that old you know," said Mion.

"What? I didn't say anything about your age," said I. "I meant your-"

Mion playfully stuck her tongue out at me, ending that tangent. There was still the matter of bringing Mion to Satoko's place after all. As I brought Mion up to lean against me, I realized that her weight was definitely too much. I wouldn't have been able to carry her.

"Now that Mion's up, I think we can start moving," said Satoko. "I'll walk ahead; I don't want you to trip in a hole in front of us and bring both you and Mion tumbling down."

"Sounds good, lead the way" I responded.

All the while, Mion remained silent. I was watching Satoko carefully as she walked slowly ahead of us, and if it wasn't for the warmth of Mion leaning against me as we walked as well as the slow pace at which we had to walk because of Mion's injury, I wouldn't have known that Mion was even here. I found it a bit unnerving but not nearly as unnerving as when I feared for Mion's safety. And so I continued onward, a recently rescued damsel beside me and a cute little girl leading the way.

"Achoo!" sneezed Satoko. I cursed inwardly, realizing that Satoko didn't have a jacket or anything warm to wear at all.

"Damn it Satoko, how could you forget to bring a jacket?" I asked her. "You're normally very self-sufficient."

"Look who's talking," she replied. "You're wearing only an undershirt."

She was right, I cursed at myself even further. It would've been nice if I had a jacket that I could've taken off and given to Satoko to wear, I would've seemed like such a resourceful guy, not the pathetic guy who couldn't even carry his girlfriend. So I did the only thing I could think of to give all of us an extra degree of warmth. I grabbed Satoko's and forced her directly in front of Mion and me, we became a triangle of warmth.

"Sorry Satoko, but I don't want Rika-chan and Rena to yell at me for doing nothing to help prevent you from catching a cold," I said.

"Keiichi… I think your level of personal charm has increased," she responded.

"Wha?" I said confusedly. But Satoko became silent. She wouldn't elaborate on what she had said, and to think that she was complimenting me. But I suppose miracles like that don't last very long in this world.

We continued moving slowly towards Satoko and Rika's house. Satoko would slowly guide us by changing directions ever so slightly. It was nice, the three of us like this, my girlfriend, the little sister I never had, and me, all in a nice little triangle formation and Satoko had even stopped sneezing. But frankly, it was also rather awkward so I kept my eyes forward most of the time. But then I finally noticed something in the peripheral of my vision. Mion's eyes were squarely on me even as her face looked straight ahead. I turned to look at her, but her eyes quickly darted to the forward position. Just how long had she been looking at me like that?

I shrugged it off; it must've been the lighting of Satoko's flashlight.

I am convinced, now more than ever. This Mion is an imposter. I don't know where this Mion came from but she is not the Mion I knew. Perhaps there is a new aspect to Oyashiro-sama's curse. Perhaps some dark magic that night replaced the Mion I knew with this imposter. And I can think of no other reason for this fake Mion to be here except one, to kill me.

It's been two months since that night, and now it increasingly feels as though I brought home a monster into my home without knowing it was a monster initially. But now that it's here I am too scared to do anything about it. It walks like Mion, talks like Mion, and everyone thinks she's Mion but I know better. It isn't Mion, it is an imposter. These days, I have to sleep with one of my eyes open. I can't risk it pulling something on me while I sleep.

Sometimes when I lie in my futon in the darkness at night, I see it walking by my door. Mion and I didn't share a room, and I am glad for that now. I couldn't imagine having to watch the thing next to me as it slept beside me, constantly observing me as I tried to sleep. But it's not as though my current situation was much better. She observes me just the same. Several times a night, that thing would walk by my door, observing me. I face myself on the opposite side of my door and I would see its shadow pausing in front of my room on the opposite wall. I always get scared as it happens.

Please go away. Please go away, I'd think to myself. There is no worse feeling of fear. Your loved one being replaced by an imposter and the only option you have is to turn your back against it, leaving yourself wide open for an attack. But it's not like I could face it directly, looking directly into those slightly off eyes. They resemble Mion's but those orbs were not hers. There was definitely something off about them; I'd be a fool not to notice it. And I definitely didn't want to accidentally get myself lost in them, not at night. Losing yourself in the eyes of your loved one is a beautiful feeling, losing yourself in the eyes of a doppelganger borne from some evil magic is a maddening one. Leaving my back open was the only realistic option.

I once asked this thing while I pretended that it was still the Mion I knew, that nothing was wrong, why it was walking around so late at night for.

"Just going to the bathroom Kei-chan," she said.

Going to the bathroom? GOING TO THE BATHROOM?! Who goes to the bathroom several times a night, pausing in front of my door each and every single time? And don't you dare call me Kei-chan, that term is only for Mion to use. You using it, in the unnatural way that I can't put my finger on, only confirms to me that you are not Mion.

I wanted to say these things, but I was too scared. "Ah" was actually all that I said in response. Unfortunately, the late night visits didn't stop after this. It was as though the creature was incapable of higher thought, or perhaps that it took too much pleasure in observing me as I slept as it waited to make its move.

I had wondered why it hadn't yet made its move, why it hadn't killed me yet. These questions, and many others, made me question my own sanity. If this creature was truly intent on killing me, if it was truly not Mion, then why hadn't it killed me yet? Because of this, I was wary of taking any actions. I had once given this creature a surprise kiss on the cheek to see how it would've responded and to compare that with my true experiences with Mion. It acted the way Mion would've but there was a slight hesitation, a hesitation that it seemed to use to determine the appropriate response, a definite oddity for the spontaneous Mion.

There was another time as well. I patted its head, as I very rarely do to Mion. It blushed like Mion blushes when I do that, but it was odd, very odd, creepy, disturbing, NOT FREAKING NORMAL. These are the feelings that were invoked when I patted its head. I think it had its eyes closed for just a second longer than Mion would have. It was as though this thing was attempting to emulate Mion's previous actions but was just a bit off. No emulation is perfect after all.

Events like these allowed me to suspect this creature. No one else noticed these discrepancies; not Rena, not Rika, not Satoko, not even her freaking grandmother. But I was Mion's boyfriend, I was going to marry her, if I didn't recognize that something was wrong then I would've been the biggest moron in the world. But I did notice that something was wrong, so I was smart, very smart even. If not the smartest guy in Hinamizawa since no one else could see that this Mion was fake, only I could see. I was the only one capable of seeing.

I wanted to bludgeon this creature with a metal baseball bat, although I wasn't sure I could do it, it did have Mion's face. But I definitely wanted to make this thing unrecognizable; it shouldn't have Mion's face. It just shouldn't. But still, these questions that I had did not allow me to do anything rash. If there was just a one percent chance that I was insane, then I would not make a move until I could eliminate that one percent possibility.

But then one day, Oryou had to leave the estate for a village council meeting. 'Mion' wasn't coming to this one; it would've been just me and the creature. I had to make my move then, lest it make its own move first. I would need to defend myself and get some answers to my questions.

Oryou had just left and 'Mion' and I were outside the estate watching her go.

"…one there has to make the other one something to eat," said 'Mion'. I had dazed off, still thinking about what I was going to do.

"Ahaha, sorry Mion. Did you say something?" I feigned my usual aloofness.

"Tch. Kei-chan, you should stop thinking about unimportant things, like other girls. I said, 'let's get to the kitchen, last one there has to make the other one something to eat'."

It was so like Mion, down to the very click of her tongue. It disgusted me and scared me too. What if I was unable to do anything because it was so like Mion? What if it did me in first? I wasn't allowed to think further on the matter as the creature had begun running towards the estate, under the façade of a race, when it was surely attempting to reach a tool to kill me. And there were definitely many tools that could be used as weapons in the kitchen.

I sprinted after the thing, but I didn't know what to do. Before I knew it, we were both inside the house and I was right behind her. I needed to think quickly, I needed to find something, anything to stop it dead in its tracks. I saw a vase and grabbed it as I lunged towards 'Mion' to bash it in the head, hopefully knocking it out.

The sound of the vase breaking into many sharp fragments could be heard as it made contact with the doppelganger's head. The thing fell down. Seeing it fall down like this, it seemed a lot less like the monster in my dreams. I turned it over; blood was flowing down the side of its face. Damn it all, it looked so much like Mion like this. And in this state, it looked so at peace. I honestly felt bad.

"Sorry Mion, for marring your pretty head like that," I said. It wasn't for this creature though; it was for ruining Mion's image even if this thing had stolen it.

I made preparations for the interrogation; I tied the doppelganger up to a chair and waited for it to wake up…

"…K-Kei-chan? What's going on?" it said softly, just having woken up.

I finally got my chance to say the things I had always wanted.

"Please… don't call me Kei-chan," I said coldly. "Only Mion is allowed to call me that."

"W-what do you mean?" it asked me in surprise. It seemed that its eyes were beginning to get misty, an obvious attempt to appeal to my sympathies. I wouldn't allow it to have the advantage though.

Under the cold exterior that I displayed to the doppelganger, I was becoming increasingly ecstatic. I would finally get my answers; I would finally know what was going on. At that point, it seemed as though I had forgotten about the real Mion. It seemed as though I only cared about extracting the truth and exacting the appropriate measures.

"I'll say it clearly. You. Are. Not. Mion," I said, pointing at her with an accusatory finger.

"What the hell are you talking about Kei-chan?" it said, its eyes getting really misty. "I AM MION. I was born Mion."

"Come on… you think I wouldn't know that you aren't Mion? I noticed a change in her, ever since the Cotton Drifting Festival. You think I wouldn't pick up all the little discrepancies? What kind of moron do you take me for?"

"Kei-chan… please let me go… We should go to Irie… He can help you," it said emotionally, once more attempting to take the advantage by appealing to my sensibilities.

"I already told you, don't call me Kei-chan. Only Mion is allowed to."

"Kei-chan…"

"DAMN IT! I SAID STOP CALLING ME THAT!" I shouted, slamming the wall with my fist in the process.

It flinched, turning its face away from me, a tear dropping from one of its eyes. What was I doing? Was this really the monster that I thought it was? Maybe I was wrong all along, maybe my suspicions were correct. Not that Mion had been replaced by some kind of doppelganger, but that I had gone batshit insane. Maybe I was the monster. At that moment, I hesitated; I didn't know what to do.

I opened my mouth to speak; it was hard for me to get any words out at that moment…

Author's Note: Actually wrote this a few months ago but forgot all about it. If you wish to see the gripping conclusion then leave a review, a favorite, an alert, anything to let me know it's worth the effort. Criticisms of the plot and/or my writing style are welcome as well as compliments. ;)

If you're curious about Country Maid Outfits. Let's just say I'm working on it.