A/N: OK, for all you Len fans who want him in the story, he comes in this chapter…sort of. He's mentioned. Anyway, sorry for the long wait, school is coming up in 2 days and we're in the middle of a hurricane, and electricity is going out, and all that crap. Our other stories are resting in Alice's hands, but she got flooding in her basement so she'll be busy for a bit…*head desk* anyway, so, enjoy the chapter!
Mikuo flipped through the pages of the paper, staring in horror at the report.
"It's true…there was a murder…" Mikuo mumbled to himself.
Miku slowly walked towards him, carrying the hatchet when she stepped on a loose piece of metal, making a loud noise. Mikuo whipped around, seeing the hatchet in her hand, and feeling his blood turn to ice, and his eyes widened.
"AAAAAH!" Mikuo screamed, and fell down the little hill of trash.
Miku ran over to him quickly, a look of worry on her face.
"Are you ok? Are you?" Miku asked.
"I guess…you scared the crap out of me, though!" Mikuo exclaimed.
"Well, you said that you needed an axe or something so that you could get him out, and that's why…" Miku said, holding up the hatchet.
"Yeah, and you brought a big one, too. But, it's getting kinda dark now, how about we do this tomorrow?" Mikuo asked, getting up.
Miku bowed her head sadly.
"Ok, sure…" Miku said.
"Hey, don't get all sad and stuff! We'll dig out the canta doll tomorrow, ok?" Mikuo asked.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Miku said, and giggled.
XxXxXxXxXx
"Festival?" Mikuo asked Haku at school.
"I told you about it the other day, the Cotton Drifting Festival! Yuki's got a spot on the festivals executive committee. Isn't that so?" Haku asked Yuki.
"Yep, it is!" Yuki exclaimed.
"Oh. So what's this Cotton Drifting Festival thing all about, anyway?" Mikuo asked.
"It's when we get to take all our worn out blankets and padded kimonos and, we pay our respects to them by having a memorial service and then we send them floating down the stream." Haku said, putting her hands together.
"Yeah, you know, that sounds like a really boring festival." Mikuo said.
"NO, IT IS DEFINITELY NOT BORING! We can't wait for the-"
"COTTON DRIFTING FESTIVAL'S BATTLE OF THE FOUR EVILS!" Haku, Yuki, Miku, and Rin yelled all at the same time.
"The battle of the huh?" Mikuo asked.
"Well, actually, since you're with us now, it'll be called the battle of five evils!" Yuki said.
"Five?" Mikuo asked, and Rin laughed at him.
"On the day of the festival, you're gonna show everyone in the village all the skills you've learned in our club!" Rin said.
"What she means is, we'll be doing our club activities at each of the street stalls!" Yuki said.
Everyone then started laughing.
"Oh, I get it." Mikuo said.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Kiyoteru aimed his camera, taking a shot of a bird just before it flew away. He started to get his camera ready to take another shot, when he heard a voice behind him.
"Hey there!" Mikuo called out to him.
Kiyoteru turned around, seeing Mikuo with Haku and Miku.
"Oh, hey Mikuo! Nice to see you again!" Kiyoteru called out.
"Nice to see you, too!" Mikuo said.
"Have you taken any good pictures?" Haku asked.
"Yeah, I think I got a couple good ones. Wow, Mikuo, I didn't know you were such a popular guy! I'm jealous! I want to be surrounded by girls, too!" Kiyoteru said.
"HUH? No! It's not like that at all!" Mikuo exclaimed.
"You gonna be here long enough to see this years Cotton Drifting Festival?" Haku asked.
"Yeah, that's the plan! Figure I'd blow off a few rolls of film on the festival and go back to Tokyo the day after." Kiyoteru said.
"Well, I hope that your pictures will win a whole bunch of rewards!" Miku said.
"Huh?" Kiyoteru then started laughing.
"I'll see you guys at the festival!" He said, and walked off.
"See ya!" Haku called to him.
"So you guys know that Mr. Hiyama guy, too, huh?" Mikuo asked.
Both Miku and Haku nodded.
"He comes to Hinamizawa about two or three times a year." Haku said.
"He's always taking pictures of the seasons and the wild birds, too." Miku added.
"Wild birds, huh?" Mikuo said.
A couple days later, the Cotton Drifting Festival arrived right on schedule.
Yuki walked up to the group, dressed in a red and white Kimono.
"Hi everybody! Are you ready for the festival?" Yuki asked them.
"Wow, nice!" Haku said at her kimono.
"You look great!" Rin said.
"You're so cute! I wanna take you home with me!" Miku exclaimed.
"All right, guys, LET'S DO THIS FESTIVAL!" Haku yelled.
"YEAH!" Everyone else yelled, running towards the game booths.
"Looks like those kids are at it again!" Kiyoteru said.
"First up, an eating competition! Who shall be the last one standing!" Haku yelled.
First, spicy food. Mikuo popped it into his mouth, and immediately stuck his tongue out as tears came out of his eyes from the hotness. Miku had a pained expression, breathing out smoke. Haku was smiling widely. Yuki was covering her mouth with one hand and Rin had her mouth wide open with pain.
Next, cold drinks.
"BRAIN FREEZE!" Haku yelled, hitting her head.
Mikuo was gouging it down as quick as he could. Rin had swirly eyes and she was holding her head. Yuki was calmly eating it. Miku was banging her head on the ground.
Next, cotton candy. Mikuo just stood there, staring at Rin.
"I'M NOT GONNA LOSE!" She yelled, scarfing down her cotton candy at full speed.
Haku was nibbling on it and so was Miku. Yuki was for some strange reason licking it.
Next, they started playing games. First was a shooting game. Haku was cheering them on and Mikuo was next to her, smiling at Yuki who was aiming at something, and Miku was pointing at something she found extremely cute, with Rin behind her wanting a turn.
Yuki and Miku slouched over in defeat since they hadn't gotten what they wanted. Rin tried to cheer them up and Haku watched as Mikuo aimed the gun at a teddy bear and shot at it. He shot the gun, and the bullet hit the teddy bear.
"GOTCHA!" Mikuo yelled.
Miku grabbed it and started hugging it.
XxXxXxXxXxXx
A man wearing a Demons mask took a large stick, banging it against the drum making a loud, booming, noise. Yuki, holding a long staff, drew it over a pile of cotton, separating it into chunks. Everyone at the festival watched the ritual, and Kiyoteru snapped pictures of Yuki. Everyone started taking their own balls of cotton from the pile, and walking to the river.
"Cotton drifting, huh?" Mikuo asked as people let the cotton go into the river.
"Yeah, the cotton absorbs all the bad stuff from your body. Then you throw the cotton ball into the stream and that's it, you're all done!" Miku said as Mikuo released his piece of cotton into the river.
"Oh." He said.
Mikuo got up and started walking along the path, and turned around, but didn't see Miku there.
"Hey, where's Miku? She was here a second ago…" Mikuo mumbled, and then turned to see Kiyoteru talking with another woman with long blonde hair.
"Mr. Hiyama!" Mikuo said, running down the hill to the two adults.
"Hey, how ya doing? Where's everyone else?" Kiyoteru asked.
"Guess I got separated from them." Mikuo said.
"So, what'd you think of it, Mikuo? Were you able to enjoy the festival?" The blonde woman asked.
"I guess." Mikuo said.
"Really?" The woman asked.
"Who is this person anyway?" Mikuo thought.
"So, do you think that after tonight you can say you're a part of Hinamizawa?" The woman asked.
"I don't know. I get the feeling I'm still in the dark about a lot of things." Mikuo said.
"What, you mean about Hinamizawa?" Kiyoteru asked.
"Yeah, I guess so. Well, there's that stuff about the dam. I heard Hinamizawa came close to being underwater. That was a big deal back then, wasn't it?" Mikuo asked.
"I think they started planning about the damns construction seven or eight years ago. For a while, it looked like Hinamizawa and other villages uphill were going to be underwater." Kiyoteru responded.
"Man, you're kidding?" Mikuo said.
"Most of the town protested it, and eventually got to the courts, and found all the scandals and corruption around the whole thing. In the midst of all this mess, construction on the dam was canceled." Kiyoteru said.
"What about…a murder where someone was chopped up. Did you hear about that?" Mikuo asked cautiously.
"I heard about that. It happened around four years ago this time of year. I think it was around the day of the Cotton Drifting Festival, too." Kiyoteru said, looking up at the sky.
"All the old folks in town were positive that the murder was a result of Oyashirou." The blonde woman said.
"Oyashirou? What's that about?" Mikuo asked.
"People said it was refined punishment by Oyashirou. The God of Hinamizawa for revenge. For revenge of flooding the village." Kiyoteru said.
"Since that time, it's happened every single year." The woman said.
"What do you mean? What's happened?" Mikuo asked, getting nervous.
"Each year, on the day of the Cotton Drifting Festival, somebody dies." Kiyoteru said.
"Every year?" Mikuo asked urgently, in shock.
Kiyoteru nodded.
"On the day of the festival, a year after the hacked up body was found, a resident of Hinamizawa who supported the dam construction died and fell off a cliff and into the water. Poor guy was on vacation. As for his wife, well, they never found her body." Kiyoteru explained.
"And the year after that, on the night of the festival, the priest of the shrine came down with an unknown illness and dropped dead on the spot. His wife drowned herself in the swamp that very same night." The blonde woman said.
"The following year, also on the night of the Cotton Drifting Festival, a house wife who lived in the neighborhood was found beaten to death." Kiyoteru said.
"Really?" Mikuo asked.
"I know, strange, isn't it? Remember the man who fell off the cliff and died? Well, actually, his younger brother was married to the housewife." The blonde woman said.
"After that first murder, there have been four Cotton Drifting Festivals. The fifth one is…"
"Tonight." The blonde woman finished.
XxXxXxXxXx
What Mr. Hiyama told me really freaked me out. All those mysterious deaths that happened during the Cotton Drifting Festival. And to think, I actually believed I had nothing to do with that.
"I just solved the mystery! The suspect is Yuki! Her weapon was poison! She did it in the nurses office!" Haku said, flipping over three game cards.
"GOD DAMN IT, NO!" Mikuo yelled.
"WHY DIDN'T I GET THAT?" Rin yelled with Mikuo.
"I like using poison to kill, because it's a gentle death!" Yuki said happily.
"Ha! That was too easy!" Haku said as Mikuo head desked.
"Alright, just one more game! Come on! But first, I have to use the bathroom!" Mikuo said, getting out of his seat.
"Have fun making your number 2, buddy!" Haku called after him.
"Ew, Haku, that's gross!" Yuki exclaimed.
"Ha-ha, suckers, this will give me plenty of time to plan my strategy!" Mikuo said.
"Oh, Mikuo, I believe there's a gentleman here who would like to have a word with you. I told him to wait at the entrance, ok?" The teacher asked, coming out of the office as Mikuo walked down the hall.
"I've got a visitor?" Mikuo asked.
The teacher simply nodded and Mikuo walked out of the school to see a man with gray hair in a stubby ponytail, red eyes, and was smoking.
"Are you Hatsune? Mikuo Hatsune?" The man asked.
"Yeah, that's me. Who are you?" Mikuo asked.
"My car's got air conditioning. Mind if we talk in there? I promise it'll only take a minute." The man asked, pulling out a badge.
Mikuo, confused, walked into the car with the man and sat down in the back seat while the man sat in the front.
"So, what do you want to talk to me about?" Mikuo asked.
"The man in the picture. You know him? If you do, I'd like you to tell me anything you can about him." The man said.
Mikuo took the picture, and studied it for a moment.
"Isn't this…Mr. Hiyama?" Mikuo asked.
"Well, then, you probably know the lady in this picture too, right?" The man asked, fishing around in the car and pulling out another picture.
It was the blonde woman.
"Well, yeah…but, I don't know her name, but she was with Mr. Hiyama last night." Mikuo said.
"So, when was the last time you saw both of 'em?" The man asked.
"Last night. Well, I talked with them at the Cotton Drifting Festival." Mikuo said.
The man breathed out some smoke from his cigarette.
"And did you notice anything strange about 'em? I need you to tell me everything you can remember." He asked.
"Wait, did something happen to them?" Mikuo asked urgently.
"Well, for starters, the guy in the picture, he died last night." The man said, opening his window to get the smoke out.
Mikuo gaped at him.
"WHAT?" Mikuo yelled.
"He was killed on the night of the Cotton Drifting Festival. I'm sure you know what that means, don't you?" The man asked.
"What that means? Do you mean the curse of Oyashirou or something? Can you tell me what happened to him?" Mikuo asked.
"His body was found by one of our patrol cars as he was heading back to the station from the festival. The time was…5 minutes to midnight. It happened right where the road starts leading out of town. Y'know, the part where the pavement starts? It was dark, except for one or two speed lights. And so, we found Mr. Hiyama's body on the shoulder of the road. Very dead. All around the body and everywhere else was covered with blood. The autopsy told us he slit his own throat with his fingernails. For some reason, Mr. Hiyama decided he would use all of his strength to claw at his own throat. He kept on digging away at himself until he got to an artery. Dug through that as well. We thought he might've been on drugs. We ran a bunch of tests, and every one of 'em came back negative. We did find something else. His body had other wounds on it. It's a possibility he was attacked by someone. Perhaps more than one person, we don't know…"
"More than one?"
"We've got the time of death estimated at between 9 and 11 p.m. That means he died right after you saw him."
"What about the woman?"
"Yeah, well, the lady's still missing and it looks like she might've been involved somehow in this ugly incident. The way things turned out, people are going to start thinking it was the curse of Oyashirou who killed Mr. Hiyama. To them, they'll think that Oyashirou got upset at Mr. Hiyama, running around during the ritual, taking all those pictures, that's the way people will look at it, anyway."
"You've gotta be kidding! Come on, nobody dies from divine punishments or curses!"
"Well, you definitely have a point there. Hatsune, I need someone from Hinamizawa who doesn't believe in curses to help me out on this one. You can keep me informed, even it it's a rumor, I wanna know about it. By the way, here's my card with my number. Everything we've talked about is confidential, OK? You keep quiet about it, especially around that Yowane girl and her friends." The man said, handing Mikuo a card.
"Yowane girl? Are you talking about Haku? Is she involved?" Mikuo asked.
"Right now, I've got no idea on who might be involved, or just how involved they may be. That's why I don't want you to tell anything to anyone in the village."
"I can't do that!"
"Think about it this way; you wanna keep it a secret because you don't want any of the villagers to believe in the curse to start worrying. So, tell me, does that work for 'ya?"
"I…I guess it does…um…"
"Name's Dell, from the Okinomiro police."
"O-OK…" Mikuo said, walking out of the car and back to school.
Last night…I couldn't get to sleep…I kept thinking about what that cop Dell told me…
"I heard she disappeared on the night of the Cotton Drifting Festival." Haku whispered to Miku.
Miku whispered something back but Mikuo couldn't make out what she said.
"I think they were spirited away by the Demon." Haku whispered back.
Spirited away by the Demon? What's that?
"If it really was Oyashirou…him." Haku whispered, but Mikuo couldn't make out everything Haku said after Oyashirou.
"Am I next? Am I?" Miku whispered to Haku.
"You came back, so you should be fine."
"But…Len didn't, right?"
"That's all in the past, now. Let's not talk about this anymore."
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
"Oh no, I forgot! I promised I'd help my uncle today! Sorry everyone, I can't do the club thing!" Haku exclaimed, bowing to everyone.
"You promised to help your uncle out today? I didn't know you were that accommodating." Mikuo said.
"Heh, sorry everybody! I'm going home for today!" Haku said and left.
"Guess that means club is canceled for today." Rin said, putting her cards down and leaving the classroom with Yuki.
"Man!" Mikuo moaned.
"Have a good rest of the day! See you tomorrow!" Rin called to them.
"Bye you guys!" Yuki called and followed Rin out of the school.
"OK, see you guys tomorrow!" Miku said.
"Careful on your way home, guys!" Mikuo said.
"Man, and I was really looking forward to playing this game today." Mikuo said.
He then noticed a card with a name he didn't recognize.
Len? Who's that?
"Hey, Miku, do you know if there were any students who ever transferred out of the school?" Mikuo asked.
"Yeah, a couple have." Miku said, fixing the chairs.
"Do you know if this Len guy was one of 'em?" Mikuo asked.
Miku stopped dead, her hair covering her eyes.
"Sorry, I really don't know. I think he transferred out around the same time I came here. That's the reason I never really got the chance to talk to him much!" Miku said, turning to face Mikuo smiling.
Mikuo raised and eyebrow at her. They left the school, and started walking down the muddy path from the rain yesterday.
"Hey, Miku, you guys aren't lying or keeping any secrets from me, are you?" Mikuo asked.
"Secrets? We're not keeping any secrets." Miku said innocently.
"You're lying."
"What's that supposed to mean? Huh, Mikuo?"
"You're keeping something secret from me, aren't you?"
"Oh yeah, and what about you? Aren't you lying and keeping secrets from all of us? Aren't you?" Miku asked, the pupils of her eyes now slits.
Mikuo's eyes widened.
"Aren't you? Aren't you keeping secrets from us? Well, aren't you?" Miku asked, smiling wickedly.
"No…I'm not lying…or keeping any secrets, either…" Mikuo said, looking away.
"You're lying."
"But…why do you think I'm lying?"
"Yesterday, when we were doing our club, you said you went to the teachers office when she called you, didn't you? But you didn't, did you? I know for a fact that you didn't go to the teachers office. You were sitting in a car, parked by the gate, talking to someone. A man you don't know. Tell me, just who was it?"
"I…I…I didn't really know the guy…"
"Well, then what would a guy you don't even know talk to you about?"
"Well, yeah, that's what I wanted to know!"
"Fine then, what were you talking about?"
"It didn't have anything to do with you guys, I promise."
"LIAR!" Miku screamed at the top if her lungs.
"Just like you have secrets and things to hide from us, we have secrets and things to hide from you." Miku said, her wicked grin returning as she walked closer to Mikuo.
"U-um, sure, I got ya…" Mikuo said nervously.
Miku backed away, her eyes returning to normal, and she giggled.
"Let's go, it's starting to get cold out!" Miku said cheerily and started walking home.
XxXxXxXxXxX
"Mikuo! You have a call from the bookstore!" Mikuo's mother called to him.
"Bookstore? At this hour?" Mikuo asked.
He then picked up the phone.
"Hello?" Mikuo asked into the phone line.
"Yeah, sorry for calling so late. This is Dell, calling from the bookstore." Dell said from across the line.
"Oh, hey there detective Dell."
"So, anything interesting you wanna tell me about?" Dell asked while other people in the area were playing games.
"Yeah, do you know what spirited away by the Demon means?" Mikuo asked.
"It's an expression unique to that village. But as far as the terminology goes it's not as different as the regular spirited away."
"Really."
"A long time ago, Hinamizawa was feared because it was called the village of the Demon." Dell said, finishing the rest of his cigarette and pulling out another one.
"Demon? Like the ones in Hell?" Mikuo asked.
"Hm…well, more like the man-eating ones. The kind that go down to the village, kidnap people, and eat them. Just some scary old fairytale that's been passed down."
"Miku and Haku were talking about it. Something about Oyashirou and being spirited away." Mikuo said, fiddling with a piece of paper.
"Hatsune, you know about the first murder? The guy who got chopped up?" Dell asked.
"Yeah, and of each of the 6 killers. One is still on the run, isn't that right?"
"What if the one on the run isn't on the run? What if they were spirited away by the Demon?"
"Then what about the accident that happened a year after that? Y'know, the one where the man and his wife who supported the dam construction both died?"
"Well, to tell you the truth, truly only the husband died in that accident. His wife's body still hasn't been found."
"The year after that, the third year, where that priest got sick and died, and his wife committed suicide?"
"Same thing goes for that one, too. We just have a suicide note, the body of the wife was never found."
"What?"
"I'm not sure if I call any of that spirited away by the Demon, but every time there's a case of Oyashirou's curse, one person dies, and another disappears."
"Then what about the housewife that was beaten to death last year? Was anybody reported missing after that happened? You guys did manage to catch the murderer, right?"
"Oh yeah, we caught that guy. Caught him pretty good. Thought he was a drug addict. The thing is, though, it wasn't too long after he was arrested and put behind bars that we discovered one of the dead ladies children had actually been reported missing." Dell said, fiddling with some pennies.
"What? Even after you caught the guy who did it?" Mikuo asked.
"He died at the detention center after the interrogation. So, I guess you could say the truth remains to be told."
"Well, what about the ladies missing kid?"
"Yeah, the kid's about a year older than you or was. Got his name right here. Len Kagamine."
Mikuo's eyes widened, remembering the card he had seen at school.
"Kid went to the same school you do." Dell said.
"You'll be sitting at that desk, one of our students transferred out." Mikuo remembered his teacher say when he had first arrived in Hinamizawa.
"Hey, Mikuo, could you get the door for me?" Mikuo's dad called outside the door.
"I'm sorry, my dad's calling me, I'm gonna have to hang up now, OK?" Mikuo whispered into the phone.
"Just call if anything else happens." Dell said, and hung up.
"Hey, hurry up and open the door!" Mikuo's dad yelled.
Mikuo got up off the floor and slid open his bedroom door. He noticed that his dad was carrying two cups of tea on a tray.
"What's that for?" Mikuo asked.
"Oh, come on, son, wasn't Miku here just a minute ago? I figured the least I could do was bring you guys some tea." His dad said.
Mikuo's eyes widened in horror.
"Did she leave already?" Mikuo's father asked.
"Miku…was…" Mikuo stuttered.
"Oh, don't hide it, weren't you two talking the whole time?" His dad asked.
"Um, dad, did you see her walk up the stairs?"
"Yes, I did. Told her your room was straight up the stairs and first room to the right!"
Mikuo's eyes widened to the point where he thought they were going to pop out of his head. He slid his door shut in his dads face.
"H-hey! What are you doing, Mikuo? You don't have to embarrassed!" His father called.
I was positive Miku was there a minute ago…now I'm sure of it…she'd been standing right outside my room the entire time…she heard everything I said to detective Dell…
Miku stood outside, looking into Mikuo's window with no emotion on her face, her pupils now slits.
A/N: Muahaha! Now things are starting to get exciting! Anyway, you see the little button right there, underneath this message? Review, or Miku will hack you into pieces with her hatchet! *evil laughter*