Disclaimer: I own nothing of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni.
Morning, one of the most peaceful times in Hinamizawa. The sun shining down brought not only a physical, but also an emotional brightness to everyone. The children of the village all scurrying about and playing happily across town. The adults working hard and doing what they could to preserve the village for the generations to come.
Kyousuke Irie, better known as 'Manager' to the children of the village, arrived at his designated location. His daily occupation, field researcher in the development of a cure for Hinamizawa syndrome. Of course, only few knew this.
Dr. Irie stepped into the building and stopped in the doorway. He took a deep breath and smiled as he walked inside.
"I think I might have a little coffee before I start work today." he thought to himself as he shoved his hand in his pocket. "Although, I wonder if Takano-san is here yet." He stepped up to his office and unlocked the door. He stepped inside and set his things down. "Well, it looks like I have a moment for some coffee." He said after he glanced at a clock hanging on the wall. "I'll be able to get back to my work afterward; besides, I'm looking forward to that appointment with Satoko-chan later today." He grinned a bit after saying that.
A few moments later Dr. Irie had prepared his brew for the morning. "Ah, it smells so fresh. I think it might have a bit early." He waited and tried to resist his temptation, though it was no use. He must have the coffee now. Thus, he slipped the handle to the pot after taking a mug out. He lifted the pot and poured the energy filled liquid in the direction of the mug.
Unfortunately the top to the pot fell and the hot coffee splattered onto Dr. Irie's torso, a splotch of it dripping onto the floor as well. He felt a shearing pain on his stomach and cringed, trying to hold in any exclamation of pain. In his moment of pain, he dropped the pot on the floor and the glass shattered into many small shards.
He cursed under his breath and readjusted his bifocals on his face, neatly positioning them as they were. "I suppose I'll have to see if I can't change in my office." He removed his stained shirt and lab coat. In the midst of his unwanted ruckus, he hadn't heard the front door to the clinic open.
Tapping sounds were moving across the floor tile towards his location. "Irie-san? Is that you?" Takano's voice called to him softly as she rounded the corner. She harshly halted almost immediately. Her mouth gaped as her eyes exploded in sheer shock. "Irie-san!" she adverted her gaze from him, covering her eyes with her hands. "Excuse me, I need a bit of a break at the moment." Takano opened a space between her fingers so she could see as she fled.
After a brief moment of shock, Dr. Irie came to. He quietly took off into his office while gently shutting the door behind himself. "That was most unexpected... I hope Takano-san isn't feeling too embarrassed." He loosely shrugged off and opened a nearby supply closet in the room and found nothing but a sleek, plastic raincoat. For a moment he felt foolish, but he had no choice. He tossed his coffee stained clothes into his chair and slipped the raincoat over himself as he quickly and carefully buttoned it up.
He turned back to the clock and barely gasped. "Satoko-chan's appointment is in about an hour. I suppose I can make a run to her house and take her supplements to her today. That's not much of a problem." He lightly chuckled to himself as he packed up some of his things and headed out the clinic's heavy front doors. While walking further into Hinamizawa he could hear the booming clasp of thunder in the distance. He laughed again, this time with a more optimistic tone. "It seems luck is beginning to turn my way. Putting on this raincoat was fortunate. But I suppose walking into a heavy storm won't be such a good idea." He turned back as the cool droplets of rain gently drizzled from the sky and carefully stepped into his vehicle as he drove cautiously into the small mountain town.
His first action while driving was to turn on the windshield wipers. The constant repetitive motion of the rubber wipers continued to bat away the grueling rain as it horribly blurred Dr. Irie's vision of the road ahead. He slowly released his pressure on the gas pedal so he could wipe away the thin fog from the lens of his glasses. He carefully readjusted his glasses for a second and the car gave a heavy bump. Dr. Irie harshly jerked in his seat belt and cursed under his breath once he heard the heavy sound of his vehicle's engine stalling. It seems he'd gotten himself stuck in a pothole and the car was only throwing damp clay behind it, not daring to move an inch.
Dr. Irie calmed himself and grabbed the case that contained the supplies. He carefully stepped out of the car making sure not to fall in the mud as he walked off into the village. He had to keep going, not matter how terrible his luck was turning out. He had to keep pushing until his work was finished.
After about a mile of careful walking through the now heavily pouring rain, Dr. Irie reached the small two story house that Satoko and Rika lived at together. He felt a joyous wave of accomplishment wash over him as he beamed himself a smile. With a new found victorious strength in his step, he marched up to the house; that is until his foot caught a small stone and he fell forward into the thick mud. At the moment his face rashly impacted with the ground, his glasses flew off of his face and landed nearby. One of the lenses had cracked from the force of the fall. Things once again were taking a turn for the worse.
Dr. Irie coughed profusely as he struggled to stand. His voice had become hoarse and raspy from the fall. He crawled over to the remains of his bifocals and places them on his face. He stands and weakly steps towards the house. He couldn't be beaten, not like this.
From the inside of the house, Rika was staring out of the foggy window into the dark depths of the storm. Her eyes furiously narrowed as she tried to focus her eyes on a blurry figure nearby. She became curious. Stepping down from her position at the window, she passed by Satoko who was in the middle of preparing lunch and approached the front door. The young girl swung the door open and called out. "Who's that? Who's out there?"
Dr. Irie weakly held out his hand. "Rika-chan..." he called with his raspy voice. His mud covered body and raincoat combination making him look as if he was a murderer out of a poorly made horror film. He continued to walk towards the house slowly with his hurt legs.
Rika took a short moment to soak in all of the information she could gather from her perspective. Once it had all been gathered in the young girl's brain, she screamed. The shrill cry of the prepubescent child made Satoko jump and fall onto her bottom. She rushed to her friend and lightly grasped her arms.
"Rika-chan, what's the problem?" she quirked in a worried tone. "You screamed, what's wrong?"
"There's some mysterious person outside with a suitcase. He know who I am, and he's got this creepy voice. We need to lock the door!" Rika viciously scrambled and struggled to lock the door in place and keep it from opening.
Satoko nodded a bit and dragged Rika upstairs. "You go call Keiichi-san, tell him to have Mion-san and Rena come help him take care of the person outside. I'll stall until then." She quickly dashed to a supply closet and pulled a few things out of it to construct one of her known for traps.
Back outside, Dr. Irie finally reached the door. He took a moment of pause before he grabbed the handle and tried to open it, but to his surprise it was locked. He was puzzled for a moment before he began to try harder to open the door. He looked up to the second story window and squinted, with only one lens of his glasses he noticed a bucket being hoisted by a rope. After a split second, it fell and for Dr. Irie, everything went black.
Once Dr. Irie regained consciousness he saw Keiichi, Mion, and Rena standing over him. He tried to move but noticed he was tightly constricted by a thick rope. With no luck, he tried to speak and find out what had happened, but he'd lost his voice. If there was anything he didn't have at the moment, it was luck.
"Looks like he's come to. Rena, go check on Satoko and Rika, make sure they're alright." Mion demanded in a bit of a rash tone.
Rena nodded and stepped away into the house.
"So; you though you could come stalking and preying on small innocent children? You make me sick. I should take care of you myself! But, I'll just let Keiichi here handle it." the green haired tomboy stated as she glared down, not knowing that they'd captured Irie. "Do it..."
Keiichi nodded without question as he pitched up a metal baseball bat over his shoulder. "With pleasure..." He took a moment before he brutally swung the bat down and everything again went black.
Dr. Irie jumped and huffed from the seat of one of the waiting room sofas in the clinic. He looked around with a puzzled face and sat there, taken aback by what happened. He looked down and noticed that he was back in his stained lab coat and shirt.
Footsteps approached from around the corner as Takano's voice chimed in and the smell of warm coffee filled the air. Takano approached him in her usual work outfit and handed him the cup. She smiled briefly and spoke softly to him.
"Ah, Irie-san; you're alright! You took a nasty spill to the head after slipping on the floor. I came in and found you lying down and unconscious so I set you out to rest before I decided if I needed to call a hospital or not. You'd best get ready, Satoko-chan's appointment starts in half and hour." With that, she chuckled and calmly walked away after the solemn gesture of her hand.
Dr. Irie held the almost searing cup in his hand for a moment. He placed his open hand over his forehead and winced softly at the thought of hitting his head. After a short sigh, he let it pass and decided to return to work. He stood up and the moment after he opened his eye, he noticed the one of the lenses of his glasses was damaged.