Apparently, after Ms. Chie left the room, Rika had told Mion that she was being unfair towards Rena, which had obviously made Mion mad. What had really confused me was that Ms. Chie called Dr. Irie, the village's doctor, to pick up Mion instead of Rika. I had then learned from Rena and the others that Mion had most likely been infected by the Hinamizawa Syndrome, the disease that Detective Oishi had told me about. I remember how there are 5 different stages of the Hinamizawa Syndrome. Level 1 and 2 are the levels that that most of the villagers, including me, have. I find it kind of creepy and weird that, right now, I'm infected with a disease that could kill me. Level 3 is when the victim of the disease starts to become psychologically ill and sort of unpredictable. Level 4 is when the victim starts having hallucinations and becomes very paranoid. Not being able to tell what's real and what's not frightens me a little. Last, level 5 is when the victim starts clawing out their own throat, along with hearing the voice of Oyashiro-sama. I think that committing suicide by clawing out your own throat is really scary. What bothers me is that fact that, sometimes, the victim doesn't even realize what he or she is doing to themselves. It's as if they're sleep-killing or something like that.
Rika, in private, told me how Satoko used to be at level 5. I find that odd, since she's such a happy and sweet little girl. But then Rika reminded me about Satoko's dark past. The reason that Satoko's now at level 3 is that she's taking these shots that reduces the levels of the disease. Rika also told me that the shots were produced from a part of her own blood. I remember how Oishi had called Rika the "Queen Bee", which is the carrier of the Hinamizawa Sydrome. It's known as a fact that if you leave her, or, in other words, the village, you'll be infected with the disease.
Also, Rena was infected with the disease, too. Rika had told me that Rena had once transferred away from Hinamizawa to Ibaraki. She had then become infected with the disease, causing her to slit her wrist open and think that maggots were crawling in her blood. Also, she had attacked 3 students and had smashed all of her school's windows. Apparently, she had heard Oyashiro-sama, who told her that if she wanted to live she had to return to Hinamizawa, which is why she's here today.
I find it a little hard to believe that Rena would've done something like that. She seems so sane. But I know for a fact that Rika wouldn't lie about this. I'm just surprised that Mion would suddenly be infected by the Hinamizawa Syndrome. I don't know what it was that caused her to become infected. Did it have to do with Rena? She did seem normal until that little argument with Rena about Keiichi stepping into a trap. I guess I'll have to talk to Rika and the others about it tomorrow.
Right now, I'm at home. My parents aren't home from work, yet, so I have the house all to myself. I really wish there was something I could do, though. I'm very bored. I know I could probably just call someone and ask them if they'd want to hang out, but, considering what had happened at school, I don't think that'd be a good idea. I'd like to visit the clinic and check up on Mion, who was submitted there and put on sedatives to calm her down, but I was just there. I guess all I can really do right now is stay here and watch TV to pass time.
Or maybe I could go to the dump. I bet I could find something fun to do there. Rena's always there, looking for cute things to take home. Maybe I could find some old toys to play with or something like that.
I slip on my shoes and head outside. Since it's still about noon, the sun is high in the sky, shining proudly down on the village. I run down the path that leads to the dump. When I get there, I start searching through the nearest pile of junk. I throw pieces of trash behind me as I dig through the heap of garbage.
"What're you doing here?" I hear someone ask.
I look behind me and see the figure of Rena towering over me. Recalling what Rika had told me earlier, I shrink back away from Rena in fear. But then I remember that Rena's not like she was back in Ibaraki and that she'd never purposely hurt her friends. So I gather up my courage and stand up. Because I'm younger than her, I only come up to her chest.
I look up at her and smile. "Hello, Rena. I was just looking for something to do," I say sweetly. "Would you like to help?"
Her face brightens up at the idea of helping me. I guess she really wants to find something cute right now.
"Sure!" she exclaims cheerfully. I hope looking for something cute will take my mind off of everything that's going on right now. I don't enjoy thinking about how one of my friends is infected with a disease that could cause them to kill themselves.
We begin looking through the trash pile that I had been working on before Rena had showed up. I use a crowbar to heave the heavy stuff out of the way. Rena uses her axe to chop up some of the wood and metal materials that are in the way. We search through many different areas of the trash heap, throwing debris and scraps behind us.
"Aya-chan, I found something!" I hear Rena exclaim. I look over at her and see her holding up a stuffed rabbit in front of her. It's a light pink and has a few holes in its side. The right eye is hanging by a thread, while the top half to the left ear is missing. To me, it's both cute and ugly.
"Awww! It's so cute! I'm taking it home with meee!" Rena yells out, tightly clutching the toy to her chest.
"That's great, Rena," I say.
"Oooh, what's that Aya-chan?" she asks me, nodding her head towards a small, light gray box that's near my feet. I pick it up and hold it in front of me so Rena can get a good look at it. It's about the size of my head and is locked shut. I shake it a little and hear something rattling inside of it.
"Set it down for a second," Rena says calmly. I set the box down onto the ground between us. Rena picks up her axe and swings it down onto the box. The box cracks open a little, although not enough for us to be able to completely open it up. She swings at it again, opening it up even more. She swings a third time, breaking the box in half. She drops her axe and bends down to see what's inside the box. I do the same and then pull out a cloth-covered object.
"What do you think it is?" I ask her. She shrugs her shoulders in reply.
I place the object onto the ground and start to carefully unravel it. When a part of the last layer is off, I see some skin. I rip off the rest of the cloth and see what the object is: a hand. Not a fake hand; a real hand.
"Oh… my… gosh," I hear Rena mutter.
I run away from the hand and throw up into a nearby bucket. I wipe my mouth off with the end of my sleeve. I stumble back towards Rena and plop down onto the ground. "W-We have to tell the police about this…" I say. I can tell it's not a hand from a murder committed back then, because the blood that's around it and on the cloths isn't completely dry yet.
The last thing I hear before the blackness encloses me is someone laughing psychotically.
