Disclaimer: I don't own Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, related characters, trademarks, etc. in any way, shape, form, or color. I also don't own The Giver, and I've forgotten who it's by. Skye is my own character, and Kira and Katsumi belong to my friends and are being used with permission.

Hey everyone. Sorry it's been so long. I've had school projects, then exams, then a school trip...and of course I've had a bad case of the Laziness. Yeah. Gotta watch out for that XD And Charlie the Unicorn 2. It's addicting... o.e

For anyone who forgot who Kaori is...she's in Touchaku-hen Part 4.

--

Life progressed as normal (if that's what you call it) for another week, with painfully early mornings, boring school, and club games afterwards. I insisted on cooking meals, as Kira refused to eat anything of Katsumi's after mysterious sharp objects appeared in the food she prepared for her. Katsumi took two days off work one day after she came home one day with her hair a mess and a haunted look in her eyes. Kira lost a game of Old Maid one day after school and was forced to wear frilly maid outfit in the punishment game; as a result, she spent the night at Rena's house, and would have stayed their longer if I hadn't called Rena and reminded her that kidnapping was illegal.

On the sixth morning, though, when I walked into school, I had a feeling that something special was going to happen. This was mostly due to the fact that Mion had jumped right in my face when I walked in and yelled, "Hey, guess what's happening tomorrow?" Huh. Strange how those things work.

I immediately thought of what Kaori had told me a week ago. "There's only one time I'll need to be awake, and that'll be the night of the Watanagashi festival."

The Watanagashi festival. That was a week from that day. As in, tomorrow.

"Cultural Festival?" I responded to Mion, playing dumb.

"Nope! The Watanagashi Festival!" She made a pose as if she were praying. "It's a day where we put cotton balls into the river and thank them for keeping us warm in the winter as they drift away." I blinked.

"Sounds boring," Keiichi groaned. But I was no longer paying attention.

As Mion explained about ultra-club-games and doubly-evil punishment games, my mind was elsewhere, reliving the day exactly one week ago, when I had first met Kaori, my... guardian... god... spirit... thing.

"I'll just sleep, dormant within you, while you go about as normal. There's only one time I'll need to be awake, and that'll be..." Tomorrow night, from sunset until sunrise the next day. For a reason I didn't know of.

My eyes shifted uneasily to Kira and Katsumi, who returned my nervous gaze. So the deal was the same with them.

"So, Skye-chan...?" came Mion's voice, and I jumped.

"Nn?"

"Are you and your friends going to go to the festival?"

"Uhhhh...I dunno," I said, glancing once more at Kira and Katsumi. "I'll have to check with them. We might be...uh...busy, y'know?"

She didn't.

"Well, y'know, Katsumi-chan has her job..."

"Oh, that's right," Mion realized. "It does tend to get very busy there during the festival."

I blinked, realizing that I had never asked where Katsumi worked. "Tends to get busy...where?"

Mion giggled. "Oh, nowhere." She took a seat as Chie-sensei walked into the room and announced that class was beginning. "But think about it, okay?"

I nodded as school began.

--

"Hey, guys," I called, waving to Kira and Katsumi as the bell that signified the end of the school day chimed. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Kira and Katsumi nodded. I started to bring them out into the hall, where we could speak in private, when Rena spoke.

"Are you going to stay for the club games today? Are you?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but Katsumi beat me.

"I don't know. We figure we'll get some rest for all the excitement at the festival." After a pause, she added, "If we go."

"Okay, well, we hope you come," Satoko said, grinning. "Kira-chan in a maid outfit is a lovely image!" She laughed her signature laugh, while Kira blushed angrily.

"Don't get mad at Satoko-chan," Rika said, smiling sweetly. "Nipa!"

Lastly, Keiichi smiled at us, and with my heart beat oddly quickening, I waved and we walked outside.

--

"So...are we going or not?" I asked my two friends once we were out in the hall. "It's really up to you..."

"I don't know," responded Katsumi. "The festival is pretty much an evening event, and none of us knows what will happen at sundown when..."

"Skye-chan." That was Kira-chan, but I barely heard her.

"But what if the night that our guardians...come out...is the Watanagashi festival night for a reason? What if they have something important to do there?"

"Skye-chan..."

"If we decide to stay in that night, and it turns out that they have something to do at the site of the festival, they can easily walk there. It's not far, they'd get there in 20 minutes, certainly before sunrise."

"But then how would we explain it to everyone else? 'Oh, yeah, we were gonna stay home, but we decided to come at the last minute.' Or rather...how would our guardians explain it?"

"Skye-chan?"

"You make a good point..." Katsumi put her hand to her head. "Our guardians don't know the other club members very well... We'd probably get a lot of 'you were acting kind of strange last night' in the morning."

"Well," I sighed. "I think it would be best to go to the festival. See what happens, y'know. Learn from experi-"

"Skye!" The urgency in Kira's voice startled me, and I looked down at her. Her eyes were deeply troubled, and she was grabbing onto my sleeve tightly.

"I really, really, don't think we should go to the festival." She looked dead serious.

"Why?" I asked.

Kira looked guilty for a moment. "I think something really bad is going to happen at the festival. Something that wouldn't happen normally. Not just Keiichi killing...y'know. Something bad to us." She looked up at me. "To me," she stated more specifically.

"What do you mean?" Katsumi asked, peering curiously at Kira.

Kira flinched under our older friend's gaze, but recovered quickly. "Well, haven't you noticed how... disturbed... some of the girls have been acting. Particularly Rena-san and Mion-san..."

I shook my head in disbelief.

"Like, today in class," Kira explained wildly. "Didn't you notice Rena staring at me? She had the craziest look on her face..."

"Ugh." I sighed. "She probably thinks you're something cute to take home and put on her wall. I'll talk to her..." I said, and began to turn away, meaning to go back into the club room and speak to Rena, but Kira grasped my hand.

I was surprised. Kira rarely made physical contact with anyone. She didn't want anyone to take it the wrong way and give her the dreaded Hug.

"No, Skye-chan, it was a different look." She shook her head, attempting to recall the incident. "Like, she wanted to see me suffer, but at the same time, like she saw me as a threat, someone who would get in her way. Someone who would have to be gotten rid of at all costs...

"I couldn't take it anymore. After class, I ran outside to the bathroom, and I... was sick." She blushed in embarrassment.

"But, even this morning, didn't you see? The way Mion was talking to you about the Watanagashi festival. It was like you two were...conspiring about something. And like Rena was asking if you'd show, or chicken out."

I almost laughed. "Don't be ridiculous, Kira-chan." I started to turn away, but then turned back. "But, wait...what are you getting at?"

"It's just...what if Keiichi was right? What if he doesn't actually have Hinamizawa Syndrome, but Rena and Mion are dangerous?" I was taken aback. This was Kira. Kira, who laughed at Keiichi's plight when we watched DVDs and probably laughed at the end of The Giver. She wasn't scared of anything. And even if she was, she probably only took it 20 percent seriously.

To see her so serious, so haunted, so terrified, was startling, if not disturbing.

But what struck me most was not what she said about Keiichi. Her last sentence was barely audible, as if she were talking to herself, but I'm certain I made it out correctly:

"And what if you're dangerous too?"

--

icydragon14- Yes, it IS fun...and fun is fun -heart symbol that FF won't let me make consisting of a less than sign and a 3-

Kira35- -gasps- Your fangirls send you GIFTS? That is TOTALLY not fair...XD And yes, I'm totally shaming you...come back from the middle of freaking nowhere already!

Neokage Tokage- Nyaa, if I told you about Katsumi's family I'd totally spoil the next arc (there's a little preview for you).

japaneserockergirl- Lol, ok, glad you thought it was ok at least. I'll totally read your fic when you write it :)

Voron79- X3 Thanks for the compliment. I originally was going to make my fic a bit more serious, too, but the humor and other stuff, like random conversations crept in because I watched too much Lucky Star XD. So I guess it's staying true to Higuashi... Horror + Girls + Humor and Cosplaying. Weird formula, come to think of it... o.O

Ayumi Elric- Same to you! :P

Also Sprach Mina- Yeah, you pretty much just have to stick with Higurashi, the confusing parts will all become clear soon. When I first started watching, I kept switching back and forth between episodes 4 and 5 going "Wait...wasn't he just dead...and now he's alive...but then he died...and now he's walking around...DX" XDThe translator I used is on freetranslations (dot) com. But that only translates into hiragana, katakana, and kanji, so to romanize it I use (okay, here it comes...)

animelab (dot) com (forward slash) anime (dot) manga (forward slash) translate

Just sub in the symbols for the words and eliminate the spaces and you're good! :)

If it doesn't work, though, just go to Google and search "anime romaji translator" and it should be the first one.