I do not own Higurashi. The credict goes to the author. Also Merry Christmas everyone.

Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni: Hatahoresatsujin-hen

When They Cry: Secret Affection Murder Chapter

ひぐらしのなく: 傍惚れ殺人

[ Obsession Arc ]

Ni-hen: Shobatsu Yuugi

Chapter 2: Punishment Game

I tried to cover my head. I tried to cover my neck. But I couldn't cover my body that was sporting an embarrassing cosplay outfit that Sonozaki-san picked for me. The humiliation of have to wear this dress made me as red as a tomato. I felt the tiers of ruffles sway in the back of the dress. The lace in the bodice emphasized the medium size breasts. The three bows that adorn in the front made me slightly like a small doll, due my size. The large bow in the back was tight, forcing my body to be more slender. And from insult to injury, a pink bow was tied on top of my head and the lacy thigh length socks scratched at my legs while the heels were stabbing my feet from the long walk. The ribbon choker with it sterling sliver pendant heart laid burning against my fire blazed skin. How could Sonozaki-san do this to me?

"What's wrong, Miya-chan~. You're not going to tell us your answer?" Mion asked, coy. Cho-Han was something I really was not into. I tried it only once and lost. I swore never to do that again. Now, I have to worry about the dice being either Cho or Han…again. Grudgingly, I cautiously consider the chances of it being Cho. I had glanced at Mion, hoping that she could at least give me a forthcoming smile with a little innocent teasing. How wrong was I. Instead of the girl that welcomed me to her class and group, I glanced at bizarre stranger wearing Mion's face. Mion was grinning madly that it sent a shiver down each end of my spin. It wasn't just her; it was the others as well. Their face had smiles that had a silent threatening willpower that was screaming for my loss.

"We're waiting~" Mion mocked, having mischievous determination in her eyes.

"U-um…I…"

"What's wrong, Miya-chan, you're not getting scared of little old us are you?" Satoko taunted.

Rena soon jointed in with, "Yeah, don't you want to win?"

"After all the rule of the club is to win at all cost, ne." stated Rika.

"C'mon~, tell us your answer." commanded Keiichi-san, in slight perverted tone. I made a loud gulp sound, forcing everyone to grin at me.

I made one last swallow before presenting my answer. "A-alright, um…Ch-…Han." Sonozaki-san grinned. Her fingers drummed dramatically on the little hoary clay bowl. In my mind I was chanting the same phrase over and over again. Please, chance, be on my side… Please, chance, be on my side…Please, chance, be on my side. The gray bowl finally lifted slightly in the air, hovering over the soon to be revealed dice.

"Are you sure about your answer?" Mion-san, questioned. I nodded doubtfully at her.

"Alright~"

Mion-san hand had fully lifted the gray bowl. As I looked at the results, I felt the corners of my mouth raised in joy. The dice had taken my side. It was the odds that I was looking for. I threw my fist in the air, proudly with a large grin on my face. Mion and the others face closed in the dice, ensuring that they were right.

"Yes, I won!" I smiled at the others, before noticing something. Keiichi was grinning while the others were looked crested fallen at the little dies.

"Ha! I knew I would win, Mion!"

"Aww, man. I thought I had it!" yelled Mion-san, frustrating depression written on her face.

The scene made me seem dumbfounded—which I was—at what they were saying. "Um, what happen?"

Mion looked up mournfully. "We had a bet that of wither you get the next roll right. But Keiichi won!" she whined. Rena, Satoko, and Rika nodded in agreement with what Sonozaki-san said. It took a moment to have something dawn on me.

"You all betted against me!" I shrieked, slightly hurt. They all nodded. "Even you, Rika-san?"

Rika let a nervous chuckle out, "Gomen, Shy-chan, you were doing poorly so just assume you loss."

I pouted at them, "I may have been losing, but doesn't mean I was going to lose every time." Rika gave a compassionate smile. Rika's hand patted the top of my head in apology.

"Gomen, I should have known better than to doubt someone." Rika replied, almost as if she had an experience something like this before. I smile, feeling better thanks to Rika, and glance at the clock. It was starting to get late and I had to get home before it was completely dark.

I stood up from my seat, preparing to go home. I reach for my bag before I felt a quiet hand resting on my shoulder. I looked over my shoulder, finding Sonozaki-san.

"What are you doing, Miya-chan?"

"I'm about to go home…" I answered, feeling the odd anxiety from the beginning.

Mion-san smirked. "That's not possible. You see, there's this thing that we do everyday of the end of our game. It something we have to do or we'll get something worst. You remember what I called it earlier, right?" I nodded.

"You mean…about the punishment game thing?" I asked.

"Yup and it would be nice if you take your punishment."

I looked at her confused. I had to glance at the others to make sure they were all serious. They all were. "How come, I'm being punished?" The others brought out a notebook with a chart with our names in their own individual boxes. It even hand slashes that seem to represent scores. Everyone had the amount of 5-8 slashes. My little box had nothing in it. Rena had gasped and grabbed a pencil to place a one slash to it. Like it would help in any way.

"You see, we were scoring since the beginning. And as you can see, you didn't do too well. But luckily for you, you're not…" she let out a huff. "…suffering the punishment alone." she stated. My eyes narrow and eyebrows furrow at her.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"The bet. The deal was that if you got it right the winner would decide the punishment and we would suffer the punishment with you."

"With the exception of Kei-kun." finished Rena, equally depressed.

I looked at Keiichi-san, awe-struck and baffled by him. Keiichi's hair overshadowed his eyes, but his grin was clearly visible. A chuckle was seemingly creeping into his throat. Those little chuckles sneaked its way out of his clenched teeth, making them selves known. As his chuckle came out one by one, a laugh erupted from him. Keiichi's voice sound teasingly evil with cruel intention laced into it. Everyone was looking at him with curiosity and apprehension. The question that was bouncing into my head was: what was the Keiichi-san punishment had deemed for us?

"Now, that's out in the air" Keiichi-san finally said. "Let's see, who should I punish first?" Keiichi fell into deep thought. As minutes passed by, Keiichi smirk knowingly. "How about you, Mion?" Mion gave a gulp, but tried to hide the embarrassment she felt. "You are to be my waitress," that doesn't sound bad. "Oh, and lets not forget, that your an Angel Mort waitress." Maybe it not that bad, but from the look on Mion-san's face it made almost seems like end of the world. "Satoko, you're a puppy with love of her master, which is me. Rika is the cute kitten that fights for the love of the master." Satoko and Rika were pitifully distress to hear this. They looked at each and let sighs. "Rena is my personal maid that always calls me 'master'." Rena murmured something along the lines of "that it would have been cute for the others, but I wouldn't like it for me". Regrettably, I had to be the last. His eyes gazed over to me, sly thoughts slowly stoning through. "And last, but not least Miyako-chan…" he said, pacing to towards me. Though, abruptly, he was actually smiling kindly to me. "I want you as my special doll." I gasped, my blood filling my cheeks with a brilliant red. Then, Keiichi thought about. "I don't think I have an outfit that type of cosplay, though."

"Um, Keiichi," Mion stepped in. "I have a few outfits that would be prefect for her. If you could change the outfit you want to me to wear." Keiichi thought about and gave a nod. Mion smirked and stared over to me remorsefully. She mouth the word 'sorry' to me. I didn't care at the moment; I was too busy glaring at her. Mion had gone over to the closet. It made me jump to see the different style of cosplay that was poking out. Mion examine the different dresses that were lined up, settling on which to pick in order to avoid the horrible fate of wearing the Angel Mort outfit. Then, the dress came. The little light pink dress seems like something that Keiichi could like. She pulls it out of the bundle of clothing and presented to him, awaiting his comment. Keiichi stare at the gown from ever point and angle, feeling satisfied at the choice.

"This is perfect," he said. "Now the first one to be dress sh-" Keiichi was cut off by the sight of me. I regrettably looked over my shoulder, realizing that I was caught. I was trying to escape through the window while Keiichi was analyzing the dress. The silent ominous feeling that was pounding at my back made me grasp that I was caught in the act. If I had looked back, I would have escaped. If I hadn't looked back, I would have been home free. If I hadn't looked back, well, I wouldn't have been grabbed, clothes pulled, and forced to wear the outfit. But, there are a lot of things that I wish I hadn't done.

I glared at Keiichi-san, the whole way from where we parted from Rika and Satoko. If anyone saw this, I swear that I would make sure Keiichi-san suffer the punishment next time. Keiichi was chatting away with Mion-san and Rena-san before even glancing my way. After seeing the angry flushed face, Keiichi gave a little nervous chuckle.

"Aww, c'mon Miyako-chan. Don't get mad at me." he said.

"Don't worry, Keiichi-san," I said, hiding the obvious irritation. "I learned something from first time playing the punishment game…"

"What's that?"

"I shouldn't get mad," I smile. "I should and going to get even with the person I'm mad at." Keiichi chuckled nervously again while Sonozaki-san laughed with him. Mion-san's laugh subsided with a grin on her lips.

"Well, Keiichi, looks like you better watch you're back from now on." Sonozaki-san chuckled. Before Keiichi could retort back at her, Sonozaki-san waved her goodbyes. Next to leave was Rena-san, stating that she had forgot something at her secret place—whatever that means— before it could get really dark. Leaving the glaring me with the now nervous Keiichi. It was a silent that nearly lasted the whole way.

"You shouldn't have tried to run…" he mumbled. I went on ignoring him. I didn't even bother to acknowledge him.

"Are you going to be angry at me the whole way…?" Keiichi asked, finally deciding to break the silence.

"Until I get you back for making me where this outfit," I said, short. "That's when I'll forgive you."

Keiichi-san heard the distain in my voice that he flinched. He looked over my way, seeing that I put my concentration in the road. He let out a sigh, depressingly. I could tell by the way he did it; he was starting to regret it. I was actually starting to feel sorry for him.

"Look," he started. "It's nothing personal. It's just I wanted to get back at the others for having me go…through what you're dealing with now." I looked at him, confused. Keiichi-san than told me all about the times when he was to wear different cosplay that were for females. If I didn't feel guilty before, I did now.

"Oh," I blurted out. "I…" I couldn't think of any thing to say to him at the moment. It was so conflicting.

"Hey, I don't blame you. I get mad at them every time they make me do it."

"True, but your motives were…" as I thought about it would be funny to see Keiichi-san in costume play that I let a laugh come out.

"H-Hey!"

"Gomen, I didn't mean to let that happen."

Keiichi looked away, bitterly. "Yeah, yeah." he said. I simply giggled at his stubbornness. I soon noticed that we weren't far from my house. I was about to say my goodbyes until Keiichi beat me to it.

"Huh," I blurted out. "What you mean by sayonara?" I asked, stopping in my tracks.

"Because…we're at my house…" I looked to the side seeing the large house with blue tiles darkened by the sunsets glare. The tag with the surname Maebara was plastered next to the door.

"This is your house…" Keiichi nodded. He rested his weight on the side of his leg, watching my reaction. It wasn't like I had my mouth open, but I was a little impress. A little.

"Well, I guess, we're neighbors." I said. He looked confused until I pointed my house down the road from his. Unlike his house, my house was white with red tiles. But his house was larger than mine. At the moment, I thought of how ironic it was that I was the neighbor of the person that made me dress like a Lolita doll.

"Wow, this is unexpected?" Keiichi-san said. I nodded while rubbing my arms; it was a little breezy for me. Keiichi-san notice that I was shaking slightly.

"Oi, are you okay?" he asked, his voice hinting with concern.

"Hai, I'm fine," I said. "I get cold easily. Anyway, I have to get home and make dinner for myself." The concern went from his voice to his eyes as he gazed at me. The unexpected attention I was getting caused me to blush, without realizing it. Curse my shyness…

"Yourself…? What about your parents?"

"Okaa-san is at her job. She works at a museum in Okinomiya."

"Oh," he let out. "What about your Otou-san?"

I looked at the ground, the shadow of my bangs hiding the slight hurt in my eyes. "I-I…I have to go home." I said, briskly as possible. I just met him; I didn't need to tell him anything. At least, I don't think, right? …Of course, I don't have to tell him any thing. I gave a small bow, turning towards home until something pulled my arm. I looked over my shoulder; Keiichi was keeping a tight grip on my arm. I started to blush again and I held my breath for a moment.

"Um, Keiichi…"

Keiichi gazed at me, his eyes still holding that look of worry. His lips pressed into a thin line, thinking decisively. "Um, Miyako-chan," he started. "Since you're going to be probably eating alone, why don't you come eat with my family?" I was lost for words. Keiichi-san wanted me, a stranger, to eat with him and his family in his house.

"I- Keiichi-san, I can't do that. Arigatou, for your concern." He held on tighter as I attempt to move away. I looked back him, my face slightly pleading for him to leave me alone.

"It's okay, my parents won't mind. C'mon, just come." I thought about it. I have my doubts, but it maybe nice to have someone to eat with.

"A-Alright…" I don't think I met a boy yet that smiled like he did that moment.

Thank you for reading the Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni: Hatahoresatsujin-hen. It would mean a lot if you could comment and tell me what you think or what should be fixed. Thank you.

Glossary(for those who don't know) that were used:

Gomen/ Gomen Nasai- I'm sorry

Sensei- Teacher

Hai- Yes

Ohayou- Good morning

Oi- Hey

Nani- What

Fuku- Japanese school uniform

Okaa-san- Mother

Otou-san- Father

Sayonara- Good-bye