Invitation Chapter
In the following volume you will be treated to a perspective of a character on the opposite end of the spectrum- a character who, without this tale, would be deemed entirely meaningless. While this character is in herself a goat (of the highest order, mind you), she has been given a role in this tale to deliver a certain message to you- that curiosity most certainly kills the cat. Whether that old saying will be adhered to or not….Well, you already know the answer, don't you?
~ Dr. Saturn Anne
The Pivotal Actors are as follows (perspective character gets the bold):
Naoto Sakagami (Age 16; Hair: shoulder length, violet; Eyes: Yellow)
Harumi Edogawa (Age 15; Hair: long, red; Eyes: Blue)
Yoko Narukami (Age 15; Hair: short, silver; Eyes: Red)
Ange Ushiromiya (Age 15)
Yomi Sumidera (Age 15; Hair: long, blonde; Eyes: Blue)
The Situation is as Follows:
Roughly two weeks have passed since the most recent incident in Hinamizawa. Out of the people involved in the Watchers occult group, two of them- Rai Sumidera (the original who was pronounced dead only days before the bodies in Hinamizawa were found) and Hatsune Edogawa, had siblings who were sent to St. Lucia Academy that were unable to attend their funerals, or more specifically outright denied the ability to. However, the incident and the village it involves soon strike close to home.
I'd introduce myself, as well as my friends and all of that standard introductory crap, but at the moment I'm far too enraged at this stupid girl to think of anything else.
I watch coldly as Harumi slaps her across the face. All we wanted her to do was to write an apology note because she scored a humiliating grade on an exam. Was that so damn difficult? We're all worse off because of her. She humiliates all of us with her presence here. She makes so many mistakes, and I guess this won't be all that different.
"You're worthless, Ushiromiya!" She screams.
The girl we were currently occupying ourselves with didn't make as much as a sound. She was still staring motionlessly at the half-assed apology note she'd written. She had failed to admit her own worthlessness at everything she did. We continue to chew her out, but before I even realize it Harumi takes things a step too far.
She reaches for those prized bands that Ushiromiya held her hair up with. I knew just how important to her those were, so I figure that letting Harumi have her way would be the best course of action.
"What's the point in living if you're going to be such a burden? If I were you, I'd die!"
But then Ushiromiya yells at us. Actually, it's more of a shriek.
"Why…Why don't you just die?" She stares straight into Harumi's eyes. It's the most frightening stare I've ever seen in my life. I almost begin to regret putting her through this, but I suddenly snap at her.
"Ushiromiya, shut your mouth! How dare you…." I'm fuming at this point. Who the hell does she think she is….?
She crumbles the paper and chucks it at me. I'm frozen with shock. She was never like this. She'd usually just sit and take our verbal abuse, never so much as batting an eyelash, like we were just bugs to her… Sure, she'd fainted once when we did this before, but now…?
She rises and storms off. She leaves the room and slams the door behind her. Harumi is frozen with shock, but she suddenly goes off on a rampage of her own.
Oh hell, that's right. I'd completely forgotten.
"Ushiromiyaaaaaaaa!" She howls as she almost starts to storm off after her.
"Edogawa!" I grasp her shoulder and call her by her last name- the only thing that really seems to get to her. She freezes on the spot. "Don't do anything stupid."
"…" She doesn't respond.
"Look, we'll let her go. It won't fix anything if we go after her anymore." I don't believe myself as I say this, but I realize maybe I do feel somewhat sorry for her, somewhere deep down. I try to disregard it as much as possible.
"….Y-You….You're right…." Harumi gradually calms down. I find myself cooling off as well.
"…." We stay silent for a few moments as the awkward moment passes through the room. All the other students, who up until now had been reveling in Ushiromiya's disgrace, had been staring our way ever since Ushiromiya stood up to the point where Harumi had nearly stormed out of the room.
"Come on, let's go find something to eat. That'll help you cool off." I ignore the fact that she should have received disciplinary action for her outburst.
"…Okay." She nods her head, trying to keep herself under control. I lead her out of the classroom by the hand, since it almost seems like she'd take off in the opposite direction at any moment.
I lead her off down the hallway, primarily just trying to get her as far away from where Ushiromiya had run off as possible. Her face is a complete mess. She looks angry and distraught at the same time. I wouldn't blame her, though. I feel terrible now for overlooking something so simple and deciding to take Edogawa with me to yell at Ushiromiya.
I'd nearly forgotten what had happened only a few days ago. It was in the newspaper and later on the television that only displayed the news that was situated in most of our rooms. Several bodies had been found nearby and inside a sealed off village called Hinamizawa, all of which had been horribly mutilated by the culprit. As unfortunate as it was, Harumi's older sister Hatsune was found amongst the corpses, her head completely severed from the rest of her body- which still has yet to be found. On top of that, someone she considered to be one of her best friends, Shugo, was found dead in a similar matter. As if the situation couldn't get any worse, her parents, who sent her to this school to get her out of their hair as permanently as possible, refused to let her attend the funeral.
I failed to remember how distraught she is right now. I'll smack myself later for this, I'm sure.
But she's not the only one in this situation who is involved with my small group of friends here at St. Lucia.
I suppose now I should introduce the lot of us. I am Yoko Narukami, one of the highest ranking members of the student council at this school. As you'd probably expect at this point, I'm a bit of a perfectionist- no, a bit isn't quite powerful enough. Something is done incorrectly? I'll go through hell and back to amend it. I've never gotten a score on a test below a 95, and that 95 was amended to a perfect score after I proved the teacher wrong. Despite my outward appearance, I have been told that I'm a relatively caring person. Although you'd never be able to tell if you ever watched me chew someone out even once. Of course you can probably tell from just that why I hate Ushiromiya so much. She's the one mistake I can't correct. But really it's more like she's the embodiment of my greatest fears- the mistakes that people make that I can't correct no matter how hard I try.
Along with me in the student council is my senpai, Naoto Sakagami. She's been an important friend of mine for a very long time. I'll put it this way- if there's ever a mistake I haven't corrected, it was because she told me not to. I trust her fully and completely. She's incredibly responsible, and seems to want to involve herself in everyone else's problems (although this is more of a drawback sometimes). She's even stood up for Ushiromiya on more than one occasion. I believe I'm starting to see why, now that one of my closest friends was dumped into a situation that is relative to hers, but I'll never admit it out loud. In that sense, I suppose my hatred from Ushiromiya partially comes from the fact that she's never thanked senpai even once. I doubt she even really cares. But senpai doesn't seem to mind too much. It's not just Ushiromiya either- a lot of people seem to blow off her assistance. I know most of the girls at this school have a false sense of pride (myself included, but my sense of pride is very real. At least that's what I've been told), but it still angers me to no end.
I suppose now I should reintroduce Harumi Edogawa, so I can at least salvage some of her image from the train wreck from before. Harumi is an example of someone who isn't overly nice. She won't walk into the classroom with a huge smile on her face. She's far more calm and collected and tends to speak when spoken to. She's Harumi isn't as overly obnoxious as she might appear in a situation like this. In fact, she's quite the opposite. She generally just minds her business, but much like I she hates Ushiromiya, but for a reason that's probably completely different from mine. She won't fume at someone just for the sake of boosting her own ego, but when she does fume at someone…I'll just say she's about as nasty as she appeared earlier. Although today was a bit more concentrated than her usual anger fits. She's essentially as average as a girl should ever be who has to put up with her terrible parents. She really shouldn't be here (unlike someone as irrational as I am), but she has no choice. Now with her older sister dead she must be in terrible shape, but I haven't really been trying to make things any easier for her, so I suppose it's partially my fault. So much for being a perfectionist, eh?
But now I get to someone who's in the same boat with Harumi. Yomi Sumidera, a usually nice girl (I'll emphasize nice for you) who despite the outward appearance spends most of her time handling some very shady business. Now before you get the wrong idea, she mostly sneaks out letters and such, using the rather large amount of money that she had embezzled from her father's bank account over the years to cover her tracks. She's like a modern ninja, except she can make up for her mistakes with money. We met originally when I caught her sneaking a letter outside the school. I nearly turned her in for disciplinary action, but for some reason I found her actions somewhat admirable- once I found out who she was sending her letters to.
You see, years earlier, about seven years ago to be precise, Yomi's parents disowned her slightly older brother, Rai- when he was only ten years old if I recall correctly, she's told me the story about five times, I should know this stuff by now. Having loved her older brother much more than her parents ever did, Yomi was heartbroken after the incident. She was sent off to this school to ensure her parents that she wouldn't turn out like he did. Of course once she ascertained his new address after being released by child protection and sent off to high school, she started sending letters to him left and right. It was partially what kept her going through her terrible year- last year, where she'd been the only one in our class to fail an exam and had to go through the ramifications of doing so. It was unfair morally, but the school had a strict segregation policy against black sheep. I'd actually seen the encouraging letter her brother sent her.
But then he stopped sending letters entirely. And only about five months later- the present time- his body was found in a state of post-death decay, buried on a hill somewhere to the north. He wasn't even involved in the Hinamizawa Incident, although his pack of friends that he mentioned a few times turned up dead in the village. Since then….Well, she's lost most of the light in her eyes. That's the only way I can really describe it. She recently served detention for smacking a teacher who yelled at her, and even though her parents were notified they didn't act upon the news. Perhaps they had some shred of feeling for her after all.
I hadn't seen Yomi today, but I figured I'd run into her around lunchtime. That was when we met for the most part. I was planning on heading to lunch with Harumi shortly after she calmed down. She'd spent an awful lot of her time in the mail room, most likely part of her relapsing- waiting for letters that would never arrive.
But now back to the situation at hand. I continue to lead Harumi, not really caring where we go for the moment. Despite wanting to get the usual group together for lunch, I figure that now all I can really do is get her to calm down. Eventually she comes to a halt, refusing to move no matter how much I tug on her hand.
"…Dammit, I really screwed up this time, didn't I?" She said in a dejected tone.
"Look, don't worry about it. I was just as mad as you were." Not the best choice of words. But I continue to try to comfort her, never noticing the look in her eyes. She's about to burst again.
"Like hell you were! I flipped out. I was completely out of control. I let that bitch get to me and I had a temper tantrum. Why the hell aren't you of all people writing me up for this? So many people saw! You'll get punished for this!" She directs her anger at me this time.
"Don't worry. I can explain the situation. I'm sure senpai will understand. So don't worry." I try to calm her down. I tell her things she probably already knows.
"I got you dragged into this too, huh?" She sounds more miserable now.
I decide the best course of action is to embrace her. So that's what I do. She shakes slightly in my soft grasp, but she calms down slightly as her burst of sadness passes by.
"Don't worry. I told you, everything will be fine. We don't have to worry about Ushiromiya for the rest of the day. So let's just go get some lunch, okay?" I speak softly. I'm about as helpful as Ushiromiya right about now, but hell, I can't let her go storming off on her own.
But to my surprise she breaks my grip on her and stands up straight, having regained most of her composure.
"Okay…I guess that's best for now."
We continue down the hall, no longer holding hands. It gets to the point where we reach the stairwell leading downstairs to the lunch room where Harumi's favorite bread was being served. Apparently she also realized this and her move suddenly improved. I suppose that even the smallest things can take her mind off of the situation. I feel somewhat relieved, as we proceed down the stairs. Halfway down, we meet Yomi who had most likely just left the mail room.
"Ah, Edogawa and Narukami. It's good to see you this afternoon." One thing I forgot to mention about Yomi was she acted overly polite to people when she was in a bad mood. It goes without saying she's been like this for the last several days.
"Oh, good afternoon, Yomi-chan." I try to force a smile, but given how her facial expression doesn't change I assume that it didn't work out.
"Good afternoon." Harumi is more brief than usual.
"Ah, right. I'm sorry I went through your mail box without permission, but there's a letter for you, Edogawa-san." Yomi reaches into her pocket and draws a letter addressed to Harumi.
"Oh…Okay, thanks. Don't worry about going through my stuff; if you're there you might as well." She almost immediately stuffs it into her pocket. She clearly wasn't interested in the contents of the letter. It was probably just something from her parents regarding her sister's death.
"So…" Yomi suddenly breaks into a smile. She must've only now registered that she and Harumi were in more or less the same situation and that the letter had brought about some bad thoughts. "Are we going to find Naoto-senpai and get something to eat?"
"That's the plan." I chime in, trying to keep the more pleasant atmosphere alive as long as possible. "Come on, let's go." I tug on her sleeve and she suddenly snaps back to reality. She nods without a word and smiles slightly.
We head into the lunch room and senpai is already seated with lunch purchased for the three of us. Despite the fact that most of the students got their lunch for free as part of the tuition, our parents were slightly less willing to fork over money and we were forced to buy lunch. Most of it was pooled out of Yomi's collection while the rest was received in portions of 1,000 yen- about ten dollars for comparison- sent to us on a monthly basis. Luckily senpai was about as rich as Yomi was and manage to acquire food for all of us. She'd even bought Harumi's favorite bread, already considering her weak state of mind. I still can't figure out how someone could be just so nice.
"Ah! Naoto-senpai, you're the best!" Yomi somewhat cheers, trying to suppress her own bad mood as much as she can. I'm utterly amazed at how she can say something so lighthearted with such a vacant look in her eyes.
"So I'll pay you back for this tomorrow, okay?" I ask her, already knowing what the answer will be.
"With interest." She smiled. It was a running joke we had, so I made sure not to overlook it. Making the scene as normal as possible was the only way I could fix this situation.
Naoto-senpai hands the bread to Harumi, beaming at her. Harumi succumbs to the overwhelming positive radiance senpai was emitting and ended up smiling genuinely herself.
Much to my delight the rest of lunch goes almost completely typically. Harumi actually made some input into the conversation, although I later figured out that she was just drowning out the chatter about her from the table behind us. Once I figure this out I promptly turn to yell at them, and Harumi appears to appreciate the gesture.
By the time classes resume, Harumi's more or less completely calmed down. We head back to class together, while I secretly hope she won't snap at Ushiromiya when we run into her, undoing everything I've been trying to do the whole morning.
Apparently she noticed this. "Don't worry, I'll be fine." She says, lightly patting my shoulder. "I don't want to make all your effort go to waste, after all."
We head back inside the room without a word. The rest of the class promptly turns and stares at us with looks of disdain, amusement, and in the case of the four girls I yelled at earlier, fear. I promptly send them another death glare, and the four of them instantly turn around, killing the feelings of suspiciousness the rest of the class seems to emit towards us. Damn, that felt good.
Ushiromiya is nowhere to be seen, however. Class continues on and she never shows up. Normally I'd hunt her down and interrogate her but today was as bit of an exception.
During one of the breaks, I hear more chatter regarding Harumi. It's far more sympathetic than the rumor spreading that was going on earlier.
"Hey, you heard about that serial murder, right?" The first girl whispers, as to not alert Harumi who was sitting five desks away. Unfortunately they didn't take me into account. But at least I could eavesdrop from here. I just have to keep me
"Of course I did. We can't watch anything besides the news here, remember?"
"You do know that village was that one that got destroyed twelve years ago, right?"
"Oh, Hinamizawa, correct?"
"Yeah…I haven't been doing much of this myself, but there was this cult group on the internet that made people interested in it again. A lot of girls who go on the internet in secret go to their website."
"A cult group?"
"Yeah, the Watchers. They all went to this one school and they all went to that village for some ritual or something. That's what it said on their main page before it got shut down."
"Really? A ritual? How crazy is that?" the girl seems to be in disbelief over this story she was being told.
"They were probably all crazy. Why else would you go to such a dark and dangerous place?"
"…Wait a minute, then was Edogawa's sister in that cult?"
"I don't know…Maybe…"
"But anyway…" She tries to shift the line of discussion, just in case Harumi had heard her. "That village- the name is a bit familiar."
"That's because a girl who went to this school a long time ago lived there. She turned up dead there back when the whole village got wiped out."
"Ah, right, the Devil Student, right? Sonozaki Shion?"
"Yeah. I'm surprised you heard about that old legend. It died out years ago."
"I heard someone talking about it in the lunch room yesterday."
"Really? I guess that place is making a comeback after all." Harumi rose to walk over to me, so their conversation promptly ended there. I'm not entirely sure if they knew I could hear them or not.
"So are you heading back to your room after class?" From the sound of her voice I would say she'd recovered rather nicely.
"Yeah. I don't have much else to do." There were no student council meetings today and the lunch room closed at three. There isn't anything else to do but to go back to my room and study.
"Okay, I guess I can talk to you about it some other time." Harumi apparently had something she wanted to talk about. There weren't too many places we could just sit and talk about something important though. My room certainly wasn't one of those places. Especially after today.
"Can't you talk about it now?"
"Nah, it's a bit important. I guess we could talk about it at lunch tomorrow." Apparently it was something important as I had predicted. Talking about it amongst our group was one of the safer methods, so I agreed and waved her off as class was about to resume.
Harumi wandered back to her seat while I went back to mulling over what I'd just overheard.
The Devil Student? It was the first I heard of such a rumor. But later that day on my way back to my room I heard two more people talking about her.
Shion Sonozaki, a student who transferred out of this school in a short period of time after her arrival. She apparently hated it here, and as rumor had it she was involved in some sort of shady business. Apparently her family was a former Yakuza branch, although it had become far more humane and less of a mafia family and more of a high class ruling family that maintained a certain amount of power over its home village.
She left the school for an undisclosed reason, and in 1983 she reportedly died along with the rest of the village in a natural gas leak. Apparently most of this information was being pulled from the Watchers page, which had more than enough details on the incident. Supposedly a number of girls who were following the whole thing and were in to the occult (even though such things were strictly forbidden at this school and should be punished severely) had managed to salvage the entire site before it was pulled down by authorities.
Of course the rest of the legend was passed down from senpai to kohai over the past twelve years until it became a school legend.
Shion Sonozaki was simply the polar opposite of a girl that this school would produce. She was far too rebellious to have been sent here to begin with. This school was suppressing her very nature, and in the end it was rather easy to tell why she'd want to leave this place- and why what occurred went down on this school's grounds.
Around the spring semester in 1980, a girl in Sonozaki's class suddenly stopped showing up. After about four weeks passed, she reappeared and was penalized according to the school's rules-which were now more like laws after I took the disciplinary position (promptly becoming rules again when I was promoted to a higher position. I never forgave senpai for that one). But that week she suddenly turned up dead in the school's courtyard. The death was attributed to a heat stroke, but given Sonozaki's reputation for being the cruelest woman in the world, having managed to break down some of the most intimidating figures at the school, the death was attributed to her- she was known to never have liked the girl who turned up dead.
But things took a turn for the worst when Sonozaki started to bully one of the people who started spreading the Demon Student rumor in the first place. She made her life miserable for a period of time before she stopped entirely. But rumor has is that she tortured her in private in some of the worst ways imaginable. This mainly sprung up due to her roommate's request to transfer rooms. But she never divulged any details as to why.
The girl Sonozaki was reportedly torturing? She jumped off the roof of the school on the first day of summer.
From there on the Demon Student legend picked up steam. There was never any evidence that Sonozaki was involved- no signs of abuse, fingerprints, or anything else on the corpse pointed to Sonozaki. But it was always a topic of discussion- after she left the school, of course. Prior to that, however, she was feared by many. That was probably how the rumor picked up so much steam.
I'd been eavesdropping for well over a half an hour behind a tree. I didn't know what came over me. Perhaps it was because the rumor had some connection to Harumi and I wanted to know as much as feasibly possible so I could help fix things with her.
I decide that I wanted as much information as I could get on this person. Despite the fact that I had no connections to any of the occult obsessed girls, I did know someone from outside this school who was well versed in that village. After all, he'd been assigned to investigate the scene after the disaster.
I make my way towards the nearest phone booth. Normally a student would not be able to access these, but with my student council position and senpai's trustworthy nature I had one of the keys to the phone booth I was currently heading toward.
I hope I remembered the number correctly as the phone rings. A few moments later a rather tired sounding man picks up.
"Hel-"
"Oishi-san?" I instantly ask without so much as waiting for his greeting.
"Ah, yeah, that's me. Who is this?"
"You still remember that little girl who almost shot you with your gun at your office a few years ago, right?" …What's with that face? Shut up, I wasn't trying to kill him or anything. It's a long story, but I'm not going to explain it to you.
"…Ah, Yoko-chan! It's been years!" He sounds pleased to hear from me.
"Ah, good. You remember. Yeah, it's been awhile."
"So what seems to be the problem? You wanna break out of school?" The man laughs. He was well aware of my situation and tended to make fun of me for it. We'd spoken about a year ago under similar circumstances as right now, although back then I was angry and tried to get him to send me a revolver so I could shoot someone. I was mainly venting- don't get the wrong idea.
"You were covering that village crisis back in 1983, right?"
"Ah, you must mean Hinamizawa. Yeah, I was. It's a shame it's started up again. What about it?"
"What do you know about a Shion Sonozaki?"
He pauses slightly before he answers. "…Not as much as I'd like. Are you saying that she's related to something?"
"I don't know. But I have a feeling."
The old man chuckles a bit. "….Tell you what- I know you well enough, I know you hate rumors and stuff like that. So what I'd like you to do is gather as much as you can on Sonozaki-san and I'll personally pay you for whatever you give us."
"You'll…pay me?"
"Yeah. Within reason, but I'll pay you for whatever you get. Hell, if you can get us something pinning the crime on that girl we'll credit you for the case."
"….But Oishi-san, you're avoiding that one really important point."
"…That Sonozaki-san's been dead for years, right? Well, you're the one who found information on it, weren't you?"
"Ah, right. I'll tell you what I know." I said, suddenly remembering what I was trying to accomplish by talking to him
I spend the next ten minutes going over everything I'd heard over the last thirty minutes. He was apparently taking notes down, although I suspected that he was only taking down some minor details.
"So that's everything? Well I guess it's a decent start. I won't pay you until we get something a bit more concrete. Of course the only way you could ever get more is if you went to the village yourself. Of course that's not really possible." The old man laughs as he says that.
"Eh, well at least you can start investigating, right?"
"Of course we can." He was lying through his teeth.
"Well, whatever. I'll call you if I figure out anything else."
"Alright, that sounds like a plan. I'll talk later. Bye now." He hung up shortly after he said that.
Being paid to go out of my way to right a wrong? Could this situation be any better?
I'm somewhat excited. But I realize that the only way to actually go out of my way and investigate was to leave the school, which I knew was completely impossible as it was. Perhaps there was another way that I hadn't reasoned out yet…
I head back to my room shortly afterward. The walk takes about ten minutes and by the time I get to my room my roommate should have returned. We had things to talk about.
I opened the door to our empty room. It appeared that she still had yet to return.
"…I'll yell at her later." I sigh as I land on my bed. Today was a tad more tiring than usual. Of course Ushiromiya didn't make anything easier for me. In fact she was the source of my problems.
"…Eh, whatever. I guess I can go easy on her today."
I glance over to the side at the opened drawer. It seemed she hadn't come back, considering how that diary of hers was still on the floor near her bed. She really can't leave something like that lying around. After all, someone wanting to pick on her might wander in here and grab it and use it against her.
Speaking of my roommate, I hear the door open. I assume she returned just now. She walks into the room, her hair completely messy given the incident earlier.
"There you are. Don't go wandering out late at night."
"Ah…Right." She speaks almost expressionlessly.
I think now is as good a time as any to mention that Ange Ushiromiya is my roommate. She never bothered to move into one of the rare private rooms, of which there were two in each dormitory, before they were both taken. If I were to move out of the room, she'd probably turn up dead somewhere and I'd be partially blamed for it. So I was stuck with her. But I don't think 'stuck' is the right word to use. After senpai stood up for her, I figured I'd give her a chance. Just from pure observation, I'd managed to learn more about her.
"You left this lying around. You shouldn't be so careless." I hand her the diary labeled as belonging to a Maria Ushiromiya. She did this sort of thing all the time, but she was usually more protective of this diary.
"Right. Sorry." She states as she sits down on her own bed and opens that diary. She proceeds to space out for a good forty minutes- a common occurrence with this girl.
I don't know the details. I really don't. She doesn't ever explain what happened to me. I just know that she was one of the two survivors of the rich and in-famous Ushiromiya family, which was wiped out on their private island in 1986. And now she's like this. I'm not sure why her current legal guardian sent her to a place like this. But she's hated by quite a few people. I am included in that list of people- at least, that is the public image I'm expected to take.
She eventually closes the book and I'm free to speak again. I reach into my pocket and draw that hair band that Harumi pulled off of her earlier.
"You left this behind earlier."
"Oh. Right." She takes the band from my extended hand and fixes her hair. Her voice can't be any more emotionless.
I suddenly blurt something out. "Did you even study for that test?" My voice is more mildly irritated than it was earlier today.
"No, I didn't." She never answers questions with more than three words. It's infuriating.
"Maybe if you did things like today wouldn't happen."
"Maybe."
"…Are you even mad?"
"I'm not."
"But you said you wanted us dead. Didn't you? You even threw that apology note at me."
"Did I?"
"Yeah…You did…You really need to start standing up for yourself more often."
I get up and walk over to her, seating myself next to her.
"Look, just be a bit more careful. Lord knows what would've happened if I didn't stop Harumi from attacking you."
She doesn't respond.
"…Dammit, why are you even here to begin with?"
"I don't know."
Beyond the point of reason I force her into an incredibly rough kiss. Don't worry, I'll explain later.
As usual, there's no feeling in it whatsoever. It's as if there's no one even there, as if all there is to this girl is a mindless husk. I try to make it last as long as possible so I can calm myself down. Eventually, having my fill of this girl's perfectly shaped mouth, I break off.
"…God, I can't stand you, you know that?"
"Sorry."
"Whatever. Just go to sleep."
"Okay." I'm beginning to think she doesn't want anything to do with me. Wow, I wonder were that conclusion came from.
As for what just happened- I didn't lie when I said I hated her. She is the only mistake I can't correct. But I find that way too intoxicating for my own good. I can't stop myself at this point. I haven't done anything worse than just this. But it's still a bit over the top. I mainly just make out with her primarily to calm myself down. Why that? Because she's far too attractive for her own good. Really, most of the girls who bully her on a constant basis are mainly just jealous of that on its own. Of course the bulk of the girls at this school are completely straight. So I'm the outlier there. But at least she doesn't seem to mind much. Dammit, why the hell am I so fucked up? Wait, no, it's only natural. After all, this girl is impossible to deal with. It's not my fault, it's not my problem, it's hers!
Dammit, I'm pissed off again. This girl causes so much trouble….!
Ah hell, might as well just accept it at this point.
Now on top of her, I force her into another kiss. This time I manage to slip my tongue in her mouth. She's forced to move her mouth this time, even though she probably still isn't registering what I'm doing. After about two minutes I break off and move off of her bed.
It wasn't even just because of her failures. If I was ever stressed out about pretty much anything I would relieve my tension like this. It had become a tad too habitual for the perfectionist side of me, But then again, I'm a bit obsessive compulsive when it came to a lot of things. Therefore it fits perfectly with my personality.
But I'll make something clear. I only think that Ange's incredibly good looking. I don't think anything higher than that of her. But I am closer to her on the inside like this than I am in public (rather obviously). I'll address her as Ange. If I ever went further than just kissing her, I'd probably address her as Ange then.
I decide to wander off to sleep myself. Harumi had something important to discuss at lunch tomorrow so I had to make sure I wasn't going to nod off around then by going to sleep late.
Even though I'd pushed it to the back of my mind, I could still recall the Demon Student rumor. I had a feeling that it was somehow involved in the fate of Harumi's sister, but for now I simply had to let time pass before I could continue on my rather futile crusade to amend Harumi's progressively breaking heart.
She'd tried to force her normal personality on me ever since we returned to the classroom from lunch. But I could see straight through her. She's still hurting- and hurting far too much.
The next day, Ushiromiya (as I will resume calling her) reappeared in class. We ignored her for the most part, although I did send her a nervous glance when she entered the room. She didn't make a single noise that entire day.
Lunch eventually came around, and so I decide to head off with Harumi to the lunch room.
"So you wanted to talk amount something?"
"Yeah…Let's gather everyone first and then we can talk it over." I don't question her choice of words.
Once we reach the stairwell, Yomi appears pretty much out of nowhere.
"Good morning, Harumi-chan!" She joyfully embraces her friend from the side. Her face was beaming, however. It was like she had studied senpai's face from yesterday down to the last detail and spent all night trying to perfect it. It's incredibly uncharacteristic of her, but at least she's trying.
"Eh?" Harumi was a tad surprised by the sudden display.
"I wonder if Naoto- senpai bought us lunch again today." She releases her, clearly having made her entrance count.
"I doubt it. Even senpai has funds." I speak, knowing that Harumi would still be reeling from that awkward entrance.
"Then I'll buy us lunch then." Yomi continues her cheerful display.
"You do that way too often. We do have money, you know."
"Aw, you guys never let me do anything for you when I'm in the mood."
"Anyway…" Harumi suddenly interrupts, trying to get the two of us back on track. "Let's go find Naoto-senpai before our table gets taken."
"Oh, that's right." Yomi suddenly heads off down the stairs. Harumi and I follow her down.
We find senpai in a similar situation as yesterday.
"Twice in a row? Do you think I like freeloading off of you all the time?" I complain to her.
"Yeah." She smiles somewhat mischievously.
"…"
"What, you don't have a comeback for that one?"
"S-Shut up." I respond, my generic tsundere reaction kicking in.
"Anyway, we're all here, so I want to get this out of the way."
"Oh, right. Harumi-chan wants to talk about something."
I nod my head and turn towards her. If my usually correct intuition was telling me anything, it was that this had to do with that rumor.
I couldn't have been more correct.
She draws that letter she received yesterday from her pocket.
"Okay, so this might be a bit of me panicking and a bit of me still being sore over the whole mess, but I want you guys to read this letter with me."
"So it's about…" Yomi's voice died a bit when Harumi pulled the letter out.
"Yeah." She unfolds the letter and places it on the table for all of us to see. I begin reading it, and at the very first line I find myself wishing I'd never have looked at it.
To the beloved sister of the rightfully deceased Hatsune Edogawa
Do you wish to see the face your beloved sister held as she died?
Perhaps you want revenge on the man who did the deed.
Or maybe you just want to make it all go away and never think about it ever again.
Or do you simply want your sister back?
If you desire any of these things, you must free yourself from the binds of that place.
You must come here.
Here, to the place where your sister, along with countless others, met their ends.
Here, to the forsaken village.
Here, to stand in the presence of a deity long forgotten.
Here, to the last place on Earth you'd ever want to be.
Here, to Hinamizawa.
The letter wasn't signed, nor was there a return address. How this made it through the mail service without being confiscated I would never know- unless it was hand delivered.
"It's probably some sort of sick joke." Yomi spoke after she'd finished reading the letter.
"Yeah…That's what I thought at first." Harumi had apparently ruled out the prank factor a long time ago. That was probably why she decided to bring it up in the first place.
"Is there something special about this letter?" I ask, already having a few ideas as to what could be so special about it.
"Yeah…It's who wrote the letter."
"But there isn't any sort of signature or anything like that." Senpai spoke, apparently having finished reading last. The usual pleasant tone in her voice had completely vanished. Another trait she had when going from a relaxed atmosphere to something incredibly serious.
"However…I know who wrote this. It was my sister."
"What?" I blurt out. Her…sister wrote this letter? Aside from the fact that such a thing was impossible-
"How do I know it was my sister? The handwriting."
"The…Handwriting? But can't that just be forged?" Yomi asks; confusion apparent in her voice.
"Normally but…My sister's handwriting is a bit different. It's the way she writes these letters. You see, whenever she wrote letters to me she would write them in a very specific form. She'd write "Edogawa" in romaji, "sister" in some really improper hiranga- the word scheme is very exact and was exclusive to the letters she wrote to me. It was so I would always know that she was the one sending them and not my parents in an attempt to fool me. My dad is amazingly skilled in forging documents, so that's why she wrote them that way. The last sign- she would always use the word sister a total of four times. This letter follows all of those signs. I know without a doubt that my sister wrote this."
I was a bit dumbfounded. I could understand it for the most part. I didn't see this coming when I mulled it over earlier, that's for sure. Hatsune Edogawa, Harumi's deceased sister, had sent this letter to her, written as if it were from the person responsible for her death, telling her to go to the village where she had died.
"So then how is that possible?" Senpai spoke. She seemed to believe the story.
"I don't know…" Harumi's face falls.
"…" I couldn't make any further input.
"So…Do we listen to the letter?" Yomi suddenly spoke.
"It depends on what Harumi wants." Senpai brings the situation to its core.
"Right. Harumi, what do you want to do?" I take the hint from senpai and ask her.
"…I'm not sure. I want to know why this happened. I…I really just want to know why she died and who killed her."
"…I'm in a similar situation." Yomi spoke. "My brother was involved with the group, and even though he didn't die in the village I'm sure they're connected."
"Are you both sure about that?" I ask them. I already had an idea as to where this was going.
"Yeah….But I doubt we'd be able to get out of this school."
"Hehe….Leave that to me." Yomi grins. That's right- she's the one with connections and money. "So are we doing this, Harumi?"
"Yeah. I guess we are." She nods her head.
Oh no they don't. Doing something so incredibly wrong in front of two student council members.
And refusing to take them along. Deep down I knew that I was only really interested in verifying the Devil Student rumor, as well as fulfilling Oishi-san's offer. But the fact that two of my best friends would be in danger might have been more prevalent. I'd like to think so.
"You're not going alone, you idiots." I speak up. They aren't sure what to make of my sudden outburst. I'm not sure what to make of it either. "You'll probably screw up and get yourselves killed if I'm not around."
"A-Are you sure?" Harumi asks in disbelief.
"Sure, why not? You're my best friends, after all. I'm not going to let you break the strict rules of this school unless you plan on taking me along."
"Hold it." Senpai suddenly speaks. "You're all too young. You need someone older to look after you all."
"You're only a year older than any one of us." I point out.
"Still, I'm coming along."
"But Naoto-senpai, don't you have the student council to take care of?"
"I've got it covered. I've had things prepared in case something like this ever came along." I was a bit shocked at senpai's revelation. For being someone so adherent to our establishment's rules, as well as being the second highest in power on the student council, I had no idea she'd be so thoroughly prepared to break the rules and forgo her position.
"You're covered too, Yoko. So in case you were concerned about that don't be." Senpai gave off her familiar radiant glow. It was so out of place for something like this.
"D-Don't look at me like that! Saying something so juvenile…"
"But really- this isn't just some random trip. It's dangerous. Are you two still sure you want to come with us?" Harumi asks, the uncertainty that we have no idea what we're getting into hanging in her voice.
We both nod our heads without another word.
"Then it's settled." Yomi smiles, rising from her seat. "I'll get everything prepared. We'll get out of here in two days. That should give everyone time to mull things over." I had to give her credit. She had been amazingly optimistic this entire time. She ended up leaving the lunch table, but not before suddenly remembering something.
"Oh, Yoko-chan, could you come with me?"
I rise from my seat and follow her out of the room. We head outside and towards the staff-only payphone, one of seven across the school grounds.
"I'm just going to make this call, okay?"
"Wait, but how are you going to-"
She grins, pulling out a key. Apparently she'd nabbed the key to the payphones. I knew that senpai never would have given her a key, so she must have stolen it or something.
"How did you manage to get your hands on that?"
"…Don't tell anyone, but I let Kanamori-sensei have his way with me. I picked this off of his clothes."
I stopped dead in my tracks.
"Are you serious?"
"Of course not." She laughs. I feel a bit embarrassed for believing something so ridiculous. "I did pick this off his clothes, though. He was asleep at his desk one day and he left his master key in his chest pocket."
"That's still wrong, but a bit more practical." Kanamori-sensei was known for being one of the worst men alive. To his fellow staff members he was a well-rounded individual, but he actually tried to hit on senpai. That was the first and only time I've ever seen her genuinely angry.
Yomi opened the door to the phone booth and quickly dialed a number. I suppose that she knew the person on the other line. The phone rang for a few moments before I heard someone pick up on the other side. I could hear the entire conversation.
"Yo. You want something?"
"Ah, yes, is this Juusa-san?"
"Yeah, that's me. How secure is your end?"
"I'm the only one here."
"Ah, okay. That's good. So what's up?"
"Oh, right- I'm Yomi Sumidera. I ran into your boss Okonogi awhile back."
"Heh. He told you he was my boss, did he? So anyway, lady, what's the problem?"
"Here's the thing. I'm a student at St. Lucia Academy, and I'm looking for a way out."
"Heh. You're not the only one. I know a girl there, actually. She's probably just as desperate as you are."
"So here's the thing. I want you to break me, along with three other girls out of here in two days."
"Alright lady, but it'll cost you a bit for four."
"What's your price?"
"Eh, make it 20,000 yen."
"I can go 30,000 if you can drive us somewhere."
"30,000, eh? How rich are you, kid?"
"Enough that I can stick a wad of cash in your face, toss it over a bridge, and not even feel it." I can't believe she just said that.
"Ah, alright. Where to then?"
"Hinamizawa. I'm sure you've heard of it."
"Hinamizawa, eh? I hope you don't want me to stick around and wait for you lot to show up- that is IF you show up- for 30,000."
"Eh…I can do 35,000."
"40,000 and I'll buy you all dinner on the way back."
"Oooh. Done." I almost lose it there, but I suddenly realize she was probably planning on having him raise the price on her anyway. I had to remember that she's an expert at money-dealing.
"Alright, so two days, right? What rooms are you all in?"
"Just take care of 11C. The rest of them will be with me."
"Alright, so that's taken care of. But one last thing I need to take care of…"
"I'll hand you 10,000 when you show up at the door, 10,000 when we're clear of the school, and other 20,000 when we're on our way back."
"No can do. I've gotta assume you'll die in there. I want 30,000 before we get there."
"Alright, I'll do it."
"Okay. So I'll see you all then." The man hung up.
"How the hell do you know a guy like that?" I ask her somewhat in disbelief.
"Eh…I've had people do worse before, actually."
"…." I wasn't sure how to react to that.
"Oh, that's right." Yomi reaches into her pocket. "I wanted to give you this. I found it in your box in the mailroom."
She hands me the letter. The state of the letter is eerily similar to Harumi's letter.
I open it without a second thought. My eyes scan the page to only find a single sentence.
You were unwise to accept.
I fold it up immediately and head off to my room, offering a quick thank you to Yomi. Before she reacts I'm long gone.
Someone was watching. The person who sent the letter to Harumi was there in the lunch room. The goddamn killer was watching us.
But who the hell is it?
If it were a man, they would have stood out. So it was in all probability a woman. It had to be someone relatively close to our age group on top of that. The teachers didn't socialize with students at all.
Could it really have been her older sister?
Perhaps it was her spirit, or something completely unrealistic like that. I'm not one to believe in youkai, but I have to clear out every option. I had no idea who or what it could have been, if they could have blended in so well.
But then something strikes me. Yomi had apparently ascertained this letter before lunch. So that meant that the killer might not have been in the room, but had somehow anticipated my reaction. So I was being stalked on top of that.
I flee to my room, knowing that Ushiromiya would already be there. I had no classes this afternoon due to festival preparations and I knew senpai would be able to cover for me.
That evening I think I might have gone too far with Ange- No, I don't think it went quite that far. All I knew was that when I suddenly snapped back to reality Ange was underneath me, with most of her clothing either missing or scattered around her and marks doubtlessly left by me around her neck. Everything beneath her waist was still intact, however. Her face was as unexpressive as ever.
"Mammon." She calls out. That's right- she'd started calling me that at random moments awhile back.
"Yeah?" I respond as if it's the most usual situation in the world.
"Do you love me?" A rather intelligent question.
"…Not really." I say as I force her into yet another kiss. "…But I love…Everything else…About you…"
"Oh. I see." She doesn't make any sound afterward.
Eventually I grow tired and move off of her. I fall next to her, far too tired to continue moving. I decide to simply sleep there, next to her.
"Don't you dare move until morning."
"Okay." That was all that she said.
I eventually dozed off, trying to keep the contents of the letter out of my mind.
The next day passes by ridiculously slowly. I'm simply not in the mood, since I know I'm being watched. Lunch comes around and I more or less fall asleep. Yomi has a letter for one of us and they take it. I'm not even in a good enough mood to care what the contents of the letter are, and I nod off before too long. I'm actually looking forward to just being able to sleep adequately. I spent too much time last night abusing Ushiromiya. I knew I'd probably do the same thing tonight, but I'd also have to tell her that I was leaving the next day.
Eventually it gets to the point where Harumi has to wake me up.
"Are you okay?"
"Uh-Yeah, I'm fine. I just didn't get much sleep."
"You're sure you'll be good for tomorrow, right?" I see, so she was still concerned about what they were going to do.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." I try to fake a smile.
"Just be careful, alright? You should take the rest of the day off." She says as she helps me stand.
"I'll be fine, don't worry." I reassure her.
"Ok. I'll trust you." She smiles as she grasps my hand to pull me along. That smile was far more genuine than any she had made the past several days. She was rather obviously grateful for what I was doing.
I actually felt a tad bit relieved after that, so the rest of the day went by at a much faster pace.
Around the time classes ended, senpai called for me. She brought me to the empty student council room. There wasn't a meeting today, so I was a bit curious as to what this was about.
"Did you need me to do something?" I asked her as she shut the door behind us.
"Not really… I just wanted to ask you something."
"Oh, alright. What is it?"
"…Why do you really want to go to that place?"
"Huh?" I tried to play dumb. She'd already read me like a book, though.
"You're not taking this seriously enough, are you?" Her face was completely serious.
"Why wouldn't I take something like this serious?"
"You're just in on this to stop the spread of that rumor, right? You're trying to correct a misconception that's been spreading around this school."
"Eh? Why would you say that?"
"Because I know you. You want to resolve this rumor and keep it from being spread. You hate rumors, so naturally you wouldn't pass up an opportunity to debunk what's practically a legend."
"…" I really had no counter for that. She was completely right, wasn't she?
"Look, you need a better reason to do something like this."
I figured there was no point in denying it at this point.
"…Yeah, I know….I know that I can't be getting myself killed over something so stupid…I just don't like admitting it."
"So then skip it completely."
"…No, no I won't."
"Why not? If you don't have a good enough reason-"
Oh she did not just say that.
"I won't! I'm not going to let my best friends go wandering into some scary place like that without me! I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you all!" I'm fuming at senpai for the first time in years.
She smiles at me. "There's your answer."
"Huh? What the hell are you-" I stop myself short, realizing what she was getting at.
"You want to protect us, right? You don't want to leave us alone in a place like that. That's your reason."
"…"
She walked over and hugged me. She hadn't done that since grade school.
"You're really growing up, aren't you?"
"Hey, you're only a year older than me. You can't say that." My voice lacks its usual vibrancy when I say that. Eventually she lets me go.
"So then, we'll be counting on you." She leaves the room without another word.
That evening I had to tell Ange what was going to happen.
"Ange- listen, I'm going to be leaving the school for awhile."
"You are?" Was that emotion I heard in her voice?
"Uh, yeah. I am. It'll be a few days."
"I see. Be safe." She didn't say a word past that. But she'd somehow wanted to tell me to be safe.
I suddenly realized something.
I'd done terrible things to her, and she was innocent of all of it. My pride would never allow me to apologize, but I understood now.
She wasn't the mistake I could never correct- I was.
I was constantly breaking rules, even going as far as to abuse my roommate on a regular basis. I was using a phone booth for private calls, and I was going to break the most important of all the rules the school had. As much as I attacked people for their failures, I never so much as tried to reconcile for my own. I kept trying to fix everyone else's problems without so much as glancing in the direction of my own.
Ange was never the failure. I was. I'm the one who shouldn't be alive.
So perhaps if I did die tomorrow, I'd have some peace of mind.
I fell asleep a few minutes later, fully prepared for what was ahead of me.
It was around five in the morning when Yomi suddenly woke me from my sleep. Ange was still fast asleep.
"Wake up already. Geez, you aren't a light sleeper, are you?"
"Are we ready to go?" I completely ignore her dumb remark.
"Yep. We just have to wait in my room for another hour or so. He'll be on time, so don't worry."
I quickly change into my only other set of clothing and I head downstairs, glancing one final time at the sleeping Ange before I leave the room.
We swiftly move across from my dormitory to Yomi's, being careful to avoid the evening patrol. If this Juusa person was as skilled as Yomi said he was, considering how she was willing to spend 40,000 yen on the man, he shouldn't have as much trouble getting past them as we were having.
Eventually we made it inside and upon reaching her room I find that senpai and Harumi already there.
"Someone didn't get enough sleep." Senpai smiles at me.
"Shut up." I curtly respond. I still played the tsundere role that senpai enjoyed so much. It was the only reason I'd kept doing it, in all honesty.
"At least we're all here now." Harumi had apparently decided to spare me of further teasing. "So how much longer until this guy shows up?"
Just as she said that, as if he was waiting for someone to ask that question, the man in question emerges from the doorway. His silver hair is tied into a braid that you wouldn't be able to see from the front. He wears a rather old looking hat and what could be a bartender's outfit.
Whatever it was, it didn't make him look too much like a skilled stealth expert.
"Okay…So that's all four of you."
"Ah, Amasuka-san." Yomi smiles at him, handing him the 10,000 yen bill. He accepts it.
"You're lucky I'm doing this for so cheap. I go overseas; I get no more than 400 dollars out of this job."
"But if you didn't, I could just tell your boss." Yomi smiles at him, despite the light malice in her words.
"He's not my boss, you know? I'm freelance. But anyway, we'd best get going. I tried not to kill anybody, so they won't be out cold forever."
"Wait- you incapacitated the entire patrol team?" I was a bit skeptical of this man's abilities.
"Yeah. That was the plan, right? I don't charge as much to incapacitate guards. School patrol? Practically baby shit. Anyone else would charge you 100,000 outright for something like this."
"So why don't you?" I inquire.
"Repeat customers. Not necessarily you lot, but my reputation goes around."
"Really…" I let my skepticism leak out into my words.
"Look lady, you don't think to highly of me; you drop out now."
"Yoko-chan, don't worry. He's as good as they get." Yomi reassured me.
"Come on, let's get going already." Harumi chimes in, reminding me that we have a limited amount of time.
We hurry out of the building and across the courtyard. As he claimed, we find several of the school's patrol staff unconscious on the ground. We follow him across the rear side of the school, where I notice that one of the cameras was malfunctioning. Amasuka was apparently bold enough to park right in front of the school gate, so once we were off the school grounds we didn't have to go too far to reach his car.
The way the seating arrangement worked out, Yomi sat between senpai and Harumi while I sat in the front with our driver. It didn't take me very long to realize that I did not like this man. There was something about him I simply didn't like. Sitting next to him for an extended period of time wouldn't make things any easier.
"Alright, so getting to Hinamizawa will take around ten hours by car. So you ladies might as well just sleep until then."
"Ten hours? Can I…possibly hand another 10,000 your way to make it go a bit faster?" Yomi's deceptive tone was a bit unnecessary.
The man laughs. "Sorry lady, but I can't stop time. I'd still take the 10,000 if you're still offering it."
Yomi moaned. It was so strange for someone as shady as she was to be acting like a normal teenage girl.
Amasuka drove off into the distance. It was right around now that I suddenly realize the gravity of what I was doing. But I'd already made peace with everything. If I do indeed turn up dead I'll at least have no regrets.
About five hours passed by. It was well into the day. Amasuka kept driving with no signs of stopping or slowing down. I myself couldn't really sleep, whereas Yomi and the others were fast asleep. Apparently they'd been up all night. If I had done the same then maybe I'd be asleep like they were right now. I leaned against the window, staring at the road that rolled past us. It seemed that we were heading into a more rural section of the countryside.
"Can't sleep, lady?"
"…No, not really."
"You nervous or something?"
"Why'd you think that?"
"It's not every day some high school kid gets tossed into something like this."
"I'm just trying to protect my friends. That's all."
"You really want to throw that kind of responsibility on yourself? Are you really taking this seriously?" He looked at me with a sort of pitiful expression.
"You're not taking me seriously."
"Eh, you've got a point there." He laughed a bit. "But you should know…Bad things are gonna happen. You should know that by now."
"What makes you think that I don't?"
"You can't be serious if you do know, given how you're taking things."
"You mean I'm not aware that I'm probably going to die? Can you read anyone efficiently? I'm pretty much an open book."
"I'll admit…" He turns his head to the side, gesturing towards Yomi. "I can't read that girl. Not one bit. But you I figured I'd have an easier time with."
"I know the risks. I'm willing to take them…After all, I shouldn't even be alive. Given failure I am." My face falls slightly.
He gives me a rather dubious look before laughing. Harumi almost stirs from the sound.
"Wow, you know lady? You're exactly like some other girl I know."
"Hm?"
"I swear she told me the exact same thing. But you know what, if that's how you've made peace with yourself, it's fine by me. Just don't chicken out at the last second."
"Did I make any indication that I was going to?"
"No, I'm just saying…Calm down, lady. Just don't do anything stupid is all. And who knows, you might live to tell the tale."
I mull over what he says as my eyes finally start to give way. I hadn't actually decided where I would go from here if I lived. But really, how great were those odds? This was obviously a trap of some sort and there was little chance a pack like us would be able to overcome whatever would be in our path. I'm fairly certain that Amasuka knew this. But now I knew. It was just as senpai had said. At first I believed myself to be solely interested in verifying some dumb rumor. But I realized now that I decided to do this for Harumi and Yomi, and so I'll stick around for Harumi and Yomi. Maybe if I could keep them out of danger, then maybe my death would be worth it. Perhaps there was some goodness in me after all.
That was my final resolution. And so I finally managed to close my eyes, ready for whatever would await me when I opened them.
In all honesty, Hinamizawa was far worse a place than I ever could have imagined. The very earth beneath my feet made me understand just how forsaken this place was. It was roughly around noon, on a cloudless day, yet the sun over Hinamizawa was completely obscured by the dark veil in the sky. It was as if a cloud of death hung over this place. The wind howled much like a wolf's cry and the cicadas hummed without end in the distance.
"Well, we're here. Just head right up the path, through the woods, and you'll be in the village. Go have your fun and be back before tomorrow morning." Amasuka returns to his car and backs up, parking on the side of the road. Not that anyone would be driving up this way any time soon.
"Alright, let's get going. We're supposed to follow the river as far into the village as we can. That's where nee-chan's body was found." Harumi decides to take lead of the pack, with Yomi following behind her. Senpai and I hang back and talked things over for awhile.
"How far do you think this path goes?" I ask her, trying to break the silence that settled in a few minutes into our traveling. At this point the number of bugs and the heat were overwhelming us and taking our mind off of the rather harsh state we were in was for the best.
"I'm not really sure. I don't think we could really get too close to the village itself by car though. There are probably still authorities from the last incident around."
"Ah, I guess that makes sense." I can't seem to salvage the conversation from there.
My mind wanders back to the Devil Student rumors. I knew that this place was the hometown of Shion Sonozaki, as well as the town that killed her. Only now did it occur to me that perhaps Sonozaki Shion had survived the incident and had been involved in this whole situation from the beginning. I decided to keep my mouth shut, since she was found and confirmed dead years ago.
Maybe I should go back to my youkai theory. Yeah, like that'd do any better. Youkai- at least as far as I'd like to care- don't exist anymore than aliens or demons or anything else of the sort.
As we went deeper into the woods the cicadas grew louder. I wasn't sure how or why, but I almost felt like they were welcoming us into this place. It wouldn't be the strangest thing in the world, given how they don't have much company around here until recently- wait, am I insinuating that cicadas have feelings?
Senpai eventually grasps my hand. I'm not entirely sure why, and I almost try to make a joke out of it. But the look on her face is far too serious for that.
Eventually we got far enough into the woods that it became ridiculously hard to see. I almost tripped, but senpai's firm grip kept me from falling over. From the look in her eyes, it seemed that now she sensed immediate danger. I wondered if we'd even make it into the village before we were attacked.
As we go further in we lose sight of Yomi and Harumi in front of us.
"Hey, are you both alright up there?" I call out to them.
"Yeah we're-" Yomi's voice is suddenly cut off.
"Yomi, are you alright?" I call back.
"I heard something behind us. Stay sharp." Senpai whispers to me.
Senpai quickly turns around to find a strange figure looming towards us at a fast pace.
"Go find Harumi, I'll stay here!" She shouts urgently. What the hell was she thinking?
"What the hell are you talking about? You'll get killed!"
"I can at least hold him off long enough for you two to get out of here. Just keep following the river into the village. You can't escape from here this way- hide out in the village and try to flee north. If I can get at him with this I'll meet up with you all." Senpai brandished a knife- no, it was more of a dagger.
"Where the hell did you grab that?"
"You'd be amazed to know what kind of stuff that Juusa guy has in the back of his car. Now go!"
I actually decide to listen to her.
"If you die, I swear to god I'll kill you."
"That sounds fair. Now get going." She smiles at me with her usual smile.
I finally decide to turn and run as far off as I can. I'm not particularly good at running, especially in this shitty uniform, but at least I'm able to get far enough away from senpai that I won't get in her way. It occurs to me that she actually had taken some form of self-defense lessons a long time ago, although I'm not too sure how those would help with trying to kill someone who was already a natural killer. I doubt she'll come out alive, but I had to abandon her.
I'm not sure where Harumi went but Yomi was probably with her. I continue running blindly in the direction I think will take me to Hinamizawa, but in the end I'm not even remotely sure where I'm headed. I can still hear the river, so I assume I'm going in the right direction. The river leads to the north, so following it up would be my best bet of finding the others.
I continue to dash through the woods as fast as I can. I absolutely can't get caught at this point. I've decided that I would accept my death, but I would keep myself from such a fate for as long as possible.
Eventually I'm certain I'm far enough away that I can slow down and take in what just happened.
We were attacked.
Senpai stayed behind to fight our attacker.
I had no idea where Yomi or Harumi were.
Senpai was probably dead by now.
I was probably next.
I decided it would be best to keep moving. I continued onward through the brush as the day passed on by.
I wasn't sure how long I had been walking for, but the lack of the sun in the sky didn't make figuring out what time it was any easier. As I cut my way through the disorganized shrubbery I end up tripping and landing flat on my face. I'm really not cut out for this sort of thing.
But I find that I tripped not on a branch or log or anything- but rather a decaying corpse. I cover my mouth to keep myself from screaming as to avoid drawing any more attention to myself. Judging from the clothing the corpse is wearing, this man was a police officer. I'm about to turn and leave before I suddenly notice something.
His gun is still holstered.
I free the gun from the holster and search his pockets for any spare ammo. I'm not sure what possessed me to do this, but I guess having a weapon I have no experience in using is better than having no weapon at all. I just have to remember to hold it with both of my hands when I shoot it or else my wrist will break.
As I'd nearly shot Oishi-san with one of these, I was able to verify that the safety was indeed off already. Why this pistol was holstered with the safety off I wasn't entirely sure.
I decide to strap the holster to my thigh. It would hide the gun and I would have some element of surprise. It fit rather well, but it made running feel a bit odd.
I continue onward, now with a small chance of survival strapped to my thigh.
As I made my way through the woods with some sort of newfound confidence in the fact that I could effectively shoot someone to death, I eventually made it into a very small clearing. It was large enough that I could see the slightly darker clouds above me. It seemed that the sun was starting to set.
Suddenly my eyes snap back to the scene in front of me. I hear a strange sound. It was most likely my assailant. God, how stupid can I be to stop in an open area?
But it is in fact Harumi who appears from the woods.
"Yoko-chan!" She runs over to me and embraces me.
"Harumi, where's Yomi?"
"I don't know…We were separated awhile ago. What if she's already-"
"We can't assume the worst yet. We did know that this would happen, right?"
"Yeah. I know, but I didn't want anything to happen to her…If it were me, then I wouldn't really mind as much."
Apparently Harumi and I had a similar mentality. We wanted to save everyone else, even if we ourselves ended up dead in the process.
"W-What about Naoto-senpai? Where's she?" Her head shot up.
I shook my head. "Probably either looking for us or dead already. She stayed behind so I could find you guys."
Harumi's face fell.
"We should find the entrance to the village. Senpai said she'd head straight there if she could get away."
"…Okay. Let's go. I found the entrance about an hour ago and went looking for you. It's this way."
"…Actually, since we haven't been found yet, maybe we should rest for a bit." I suddenly have that idea. I'm almost certain from the look on her face that she hasn't stopped moving for about as long as I have.
"…Okay. We can do that."
We both sit on an edge of the clearing for awhile so we could run at any given moment. Harumi stands up to stretch for a moment. I decide to speak my mind.
"I really just want to know who would do this sort of thing to us. Killing people for trying to get into the village? I mean, I found a dead cop a few hours ago, so chances are whoever it is wants no visitors at all."
"…I still think it's my sister. I can't seem to think of anyone else."
"Is it still just because of that letter?"
"Yeah…There's absolutely no way that anyone could've forged that letter. She's the only one who would be able to write a letter intentionally like that. I'm absolutely certain."
My own mind wanders back to the letter. Indeed, the letter was written perfectly. Hatsune Edogawa would be the only person who would be able to write a letter in that incredibly strict form. The letter that I received, which apparently predicted my decision, was most likely written by the same person- someone who was apparently stalking me in the lunch room that day and probably days earlier. Case in point- it was someone who could both stalk me without being noticed and be able to write that letter. Perhaps my youkai theory that I've been bashing this entire time was true after all.
"No one else fits the bill, huh?"
"No… She's the only one. There's only one person in the world who could have written that letter. That's why I believe she's still here."
I stand up to stretch myself.
And in that instant I suddenly knew everything.
Private letters sent from Hatsune Edogawa to her little sister, Harumi Edogawa. Only Hatsune could ever write such a deliberately strange letter. My letter, written in anticipation of my actions and handed to me by Yomi hours later, most likely written in the same form. Someone who could stalk me without being noticed and anticipate my response.
"…No, that's not quite true."
"Hm? What's not quite true?"
I pull the concealed weapon out of the holster on my thigh and point it straight at her. Her eyes widen as she's about to protest.
"There are two people who could have written that letter."
She looks at me in disbelief.
"The person on the receiving end is just as capable of forging an otherwise unique letter. Well, am I correct?" Secretly I was praying that I was completely wrong about this. I don't know how I would react if she really were behind everything.
Twenty three seconds passed. They felt more like twenty three minutes.
Her eyes are still widened, but her face of shock turns into a smile. And then in a matter of seconds she breaks out into a sickening laugh. My heart sinks instantly. It's the worst feeling in the world for me.
"Stop laughing, you damn fool." I command her. Dammit, that hurt worse than I thought it would.
She eventually stops. "You know, I'm more surprised that it was you who figured it out." Her voice is filled with a mixture of malice and what appeared to be wickedness. It was as if she were bullying Ushiromiya. Perhaps that was the real side of her all this time.
"You prepared that second letter. From there it was just listening to you say the same thing a few times."
"I guess that was my mistake. But you did turn down all the warnings I sent you, so I figured an ominous letter would be just the thing. Poor Yomi- making things go by a whole lot faster by being ignorant throughout the whole thing. But it's not like you or Naoto-senpai ever clued in either." At this moment I'm feeling incredibly betrayed.
"You want to keep talking like that? Remember I have a gun trained on your forehead."
"Ah, right. I almost forgot. So what do you want to know?"
"Everything. What the hell did you think I wanted to know?" My voice is about to crack but I manage to keep it as low as possible. I can't lose focus now- after all, who knows what sort of weapons she could have on her.
The smile on her face becomes less demonic. "I'll be honest with you. I didn't intend for you or senpai to be dragged along in this. But you both insisted, and I had a feeling that you would. So I wrote up that letter and placed in the mailroom before classes started. It's unfortunate that you're way too stubborn. You probably wanted to help me just for the sake of fixing things, didn't you? You wanted to come here because of that Devil Student thing, right?"
"I'm not as heartless a bitch as you are. Keep talking." God dammit, how the hell did she get it so spot on? But then again, she is my best friend. And the fact that she didn't want me involved might have been one of the last signs of the Harumi I knew.
"Yomi was ignorant the entire time as I've mentioned. But I spoke to her the night before. I told her about the letter, and how it was directly connected to her brother's death. Needless to say she was more than willing to join me."
"So why this whole incident? Why were you planning to come here in the first place? Was it really to just find your sister's head?"
"Not quite…You see, I myself am a former resident of this village."
"What?"
"My sister and I lived here with our parents until the dam incident that led to families that supported the building of a dam that would destroy this village being persecuted by the rest of the townsfolk. My family supported the dam being built, only because we believed that the Kimiyoshi family, as well as the Sonozakis, were far too powerful for their own good."
"Sonozaki-"
"Right. The Devil Student rumors? They were true, for the most part. But as for why I returned to this village? With the more recent crop of sacrifices…Let's just say that things are going to get a bit…lively…around here." Her voice is filled with malice as she says this.
"So how involved are you in this whole mess?"
"Not too involved…You see, I needed Yomi to get out of the school in the first place, but letting her go free would be far too troublesome. So I wanted to take Yomi along as a welcoming offering. But she managed to flee before I could get into the village. So now she will kill me on sight. It's unfortunate, but it's something I have to accept. I never had a backup plan assuming that you figured things out, after all. "
"Is that really everything? Are you not even sad about your sister's death?"
"Did I ever say I wasn't? But she was a sacrifice. In her and her friends' deaths, this place will be revived." Her eyes displayed a bit of lunacy in them. Whatever was left of my dearest friend, it was gone now.
"…This is ridiculous."
"It's the truth. I can't tell you anything else."
"…" I wasn't sure how to react. I'd been pulled into this purely out of feelings towards my friends. But now, I'm not sure why I'm even here.
Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, we hear a strange sound in the brush.
"Damn, already?" Hatsune looks in the direction of the noise. "I guess it's too late now."
The noise grew louder and I frantically search for its source.
And out of nowhere, a figure shoots out of the black, swiftly grabbing Harumi and disappearing into the black.
Despite the fact that she was evil in nature, she was still my friend.
And now she was gone, like all the others.
The figure re-emerged in the treetops. Now that I have a better look, it appears to be a woman. I immediately go with the first choice as to who it could be.
"…So is it you? Are you the Devil Student? Well? Answer me dammit!" I point the gun in its direction despite the fact that my hands are shaking in a mixture of fear and anger.
"You know what? Don't answer me. I'm gonna kill you anyway!"
I take the first shot. She avoids the shot with seemingly inhuman speed. She runs up toward me on my left side but I manage to get away fast enough before she can grab me. She flies up into the trees and comes crashing down on top of me from above. How she'd managed to get directly above me like that in a matter of seconds I'm not sure, but I managed to force her off of me for long enough that I can fire another round, the last one I have in the pistol. I graze her somewhere given her hesitation when she comes at me with a sword. I know that in the time it takes me to reload I would be finished.
I suddenly cut back to what Amasuka said earlier.
"Just don't do anything stupid is all. And who knows, you might live to tell the tale."
I take off running into the woods. I didn't care where I was going, I just run.
I can hear the sounds of my assailant becoming progressively louder. I'm certain that she'll catch up in no time.
I eventually become too tired and am forced to slow down. I suppose that I was bound to run out of energy sometime.
The Devil Student lands in front of me, and stalks closer each second. I know that the end is at hand, but at least I managed to hold out this long. But now I'm ready. I'm ready to die.
"Go right ahead. Do it."
The Devil Student stands before me, never so much as making a move.
"Well? What are you waiting for? Kill me, like you killed everyone else already!"
But she still did not move.
"Are you just going to stand there?"
Why the hell isn't she going to kill me? Isn't that her goal?
"You know what, fuck it, I'll do it myself!" I point the gun to my head.
But in that instant she moves and removes the gun from my grasp. She stands there before me, not so much as making a sound. But in a matter of seconds she disappears to leave me to myself.
I'm all alone now. I have no real way of killing myself- well, sans the more obvious method. But my fingers are too filed down at this point to be viable enough for me to scratch my throat out.
I have no way out. I have no idea where I am, so moving around would be pointless. I crash onto the ground. I might have broken my leg but I don't see a reason to care.
The Devil Student indeed. Leaving me here to rot and die all alone.
I was alive, however, even for just the moment. I couldn't give up hope that the others were still alive. After all, I hadn't seen a single one of them be killed. I abandoned senpai before I could watch her die. Yomi was missing. Harumi had been taken by the Devil Student, but there was still a chance she was alive.
But in the end, as sleep overtook my tired body, I realized something. I was being far too optimistic. Perhaps if I admit the truth now, I'd die faster in the end.
They were all dead. And I would soon join them.
There was no escape from this terrible place.
After all, it was as it is said:
When the cicadas cry, there are no survivors.
Invitation Chapter Result:
Naoto Sakagami- Missing.
Harumi Edogawa- Missing.
Yoko Narukami – Missing.
Ange Ushiromiya- Lost and alone, with no one, not even her precious delusions, to comfort her.
Yomi Sumidera- Missing.
