Chapter 1-Shiki

A typical summer day, the trees rustling in the wind, long days, hot weather and cicadas crying. Ryogi Shiki was staring at her apartment ceiling knowing the fact that it was a beautiful day. The sun was peeking through her drawn back curtains, but she still didn't want to get up. Her head was aching. Shiki turned on her bed and faced the wall, the only thing that she could hear was the clock ticking. After she had a strange dream the night before, she couldn't go back to sleep. It was a vague memory, whenever she tried not to remember it, it would suddenly come back. The only thing that would come back was the vision of a village and hearing cicadas. That was it. Shiki finally was able to doze off for a second, but was abruptly awaken by the sound of her doorbell. When she opened her eyes, her head was on the floor with half her body still on the bed.

"Ugh…The door's open." She said getting up.

"Good morning, Shiki!" Kokuto Mikiya called. He came in carrying a bag of things. "What are you doing on the floor?"

"I don't know, I woke up like this." Shiki answered.

"Well, that's the first!" Kokuto laughed.

"Hmm…You're pretty early." Shiki said as she picked up her blankets and threw them on the bed.

"What are you talking about? It's almost noon!"

Shiki looked at her clock and didn't realize how much time passed since she dozed off. Shiki went into the bathroom to wash her face. The cold water felt good. It was such a hot day. When Shiki came out of the bathroom, Kokuto was loading her fridge with water bottles and passed one to her. She opened the bottle and took a sip while opening the curtain with her right hand. The sun covered the entire room with light almost blinding Shiki. She made a mental note to not keep her room so dark. When she stepped out into the balcony, the warm wind flowed through her and she heard the cicadas. The sound reminded her of the dream she had.

"Wow! The cicadas have already come out?" Kokuto asked.

"Yeah, I guess they have… Don't you think they sound a little sad?"

"Sad?" Shiki looked at Kokuto waiting for an answer. "Well, I guess…I don't really know."

"Huh." she turned back into the apartment and grabbed her red leather jacket. "I'm gonna go out."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"No." Shiki said as she slammed the door. Her kimono was flapping in the wind as she started down the street. Shiki was walking towards no destination but it gave her something to concentrate on. The streets were crammed with people going to work or little kids playing on the street. The sun was blazing in the middle of the sky. Cafes were also filled with people reading, or talking with friends. Some people started pointing and commenting when they saw Shiki in her kimono and red jacket. The crowd was bothering, so she turned at the first alley way that she saw. As she continued down the narrow street a small park came into view as she stopped, Shiki noticed that no one was there. That's weird she thought I would think that there would be kids around this time. It finally struck her as strange when she realized that both streets were empty, she turned around to face the street she had come from but Shiki couldn't spot anyone. I have a bad feeling about this. Shiki put her hand behind her obi and clutched a small blade that was hidden inside.

She tried assure herself that everything was okay, but her senses told her otherwise.

"Hello." A voice called from in front of her. Shiki snapped back around to see a little girl standing in front of her. She had bright purple eyes and dark blue hair, and was wearing a green summer dress. She was smiling brightly at Shiki. Shiki backed up a few steps.

Why couldn't I feel her behind me?? I could have sworn that no one was at the park. Shiki released her grip on the blade but she didn't let her guard down. The girl walked into the park and motioned Shiki to follow her. Shiki first thought about turning around and leaving but something about the girl bothered her, so she decided to follow. The girl smiled, she sat on a swing and stared at Shiki. Shiki sat on a bench under the shade and took off her red jacket, she didn't look back.

"It's weird that the cicadas have started coming out so early isn't it?" The girl said.

"Is it?" Shiki said calmly

"It is actually." She answered looking at the tree above her. "There are so many different kinds in the world. But there is one kind that dies in a day. Do you know what they are called?"

"No."

The girl looked back at Shiki. "They're called Higurashi. I saw a lot of them when I went to this really nice village…Hinamizawa."

Hinamizawa?

"Hinamizawa is this small, peaceful village. It's a great place to go to get away from the city. The villagers have a festival every year in honor of their shrine god, Oyashiro-sama." The girl slowly started to swing back and forth. "I know a person who lives in Hinamizawa, that lived through it all. There were a series of mysterious deaths there and the villagers were really scared. For the past years on person has been murdered and another goes missing on the day of the Watanagashi festival. Everyone in the village believed it to be the curse of their shrine god. My friend supposedly found out the source of all the madness. It was a woman named Takano Miyo…we thought that after she was gone, maybe they would stop…but I feel that something unknown is haunting the village. There have been more deaths recently, but…we don't know why." Shiki listened intently as the girl talked. She talked as if she had been there every time it happened.

"Ryogi Shiki." The girl said. Shiki flinched, she stood up and took out her blade.

"Who are you?" Shiki demanded. "How do you know my name?"

"I'm Frederica Bernkastel." The girl said. "I know everything about you…About you almost died in that car accident, your Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, how you were a murder, that you're split personality died in the car accident, that you work for Aozaki Touko, and that you might be the only person who can help me." Shiki stared at Frederica in the eye and finally brought herself to trust her, she put her knife back into her sheath.

"What this have anything to do with me?"

Frederica stared at the ground and said. "You and I are probably thinking the same thing. Whatever's killing the people in Hinamizawa now is not human."

"Yeah, I would think so." Shiki answered. Frederica smiled.

"My friend is convinced that it's probably a coincidence."

"Alright, this is something interesting to look into." Shiki responded as she put on her red coat. She started to make her way towards the gate. As she stepped into street, there was a strong gust of wind. Frederica got off the swing and went to the balcony looking over the city. "Rika, help is coming."

"Thank you." Shiki heard Frederica said, when she was some distance away. When Shiki turned around, the empty street was starting to fill with people, and when she looked back towards the park, Frederica was gone.