Disclaimer: I do not own Higurashi the anime, the manga, or the merchandize… do I even have to say that anymore?

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Chapter 9: Leave a Message...

Hinamizawa School; 6 Hours Before Oishi's Murder

The school day had just ended for the students attending Hinamizawa's one and only school and the room had emptied itself of all students except for that one group of kids that always hung around as the other children darted home eagerly.

Keiichi decided that today they would let Ryuu join the club however not everyone was seeing eye to eye with him on this matter. Mion, Rika, and Hanyuu were strongly against the idea. The very second Keiichi had suggested it Mion shot it down with Rika and Hanyuu backing her up while the rest of the club had sided with Keiichi and Ryuu. So he had decided to give Mion and the other two girls some space and had Satoko fill his cousin in on the finer points of club activities.

"…and the winner can make the loser do anything they want," concluded Satoko.

Ryuu looked absolutely delighted by this rule which he demonstrated with a wide smile reaching from cheek to cheek. "Quick question. Do my demands have to be legal?" he asked impishly.

"Uh oh… Ru-kun is having dirty thoughts," teased Rena.

"I am not!" he protested with a flaming blush, "I just wanted to clear that up in case one of you asks me to do something against the law."

Rena gave him an adorable smile and took a seat on one of the desks.

"So what kind of stuff do you guys normally do?" he inquired further, trying to regain his composure.

Shion shrugged. "Just stuff," she said plainly, "On days like today we usually do some outdoorsy things like hide-and-seek, zombie tag, tag, races, water gun fights, the works."

"Sounds like fun," said Ryuu with an intrigued grin, "So am I in?"

"We have to vote on it," answered Satoko, "I think your chances are pretty good though." Mion thought otherwise.

"Hey!" she snapped, "I'm club leader! I decide if he's in or not!"

"Since when did this become a dictatorship?" sneered Keiichi.

"I don't know. When did it become a democracy?" she replied crossly.

"Awwww… why won't you let Ru-kun join Mii-chan? Why?" Rena asked with a sideways stare.

She was going to answer when Keiichi shot her a silencing glance which she obeyed reluctantly. "B-because the club is too big as it is! It was risky enough letting Kei-chan in but another member is completely out of the question!"

Ryuu looked hurt and frustrated with himself, trying his best to keep his angry eyes focused on something other than Mion.

The next thing Mion knew Keiichi was leading her out into the hall by her arm. "Hey! Keiichi! Let me go!" she demanded, trying to wriggle her arm loose.

"We need to talk," he answered severely, "In the hall."

The remaining club members followed the two of them with their perplexed eyes until the classroom door shut and all they could hear was Mion's protests and Keiichi's silencing remarks. He led her down the hall, despite her struggling, to the entrance where they would be out of ear shot from the others.

"Mion, I've already told you it would be very unlikely for me to be talking to you right now if Ryuu was a murderer," he scolded with his brow furrowed.

"Keiichi, I heard it from Oishi himself! He said Ryuu was the prime suspect and that he killed all those people in the asylum! Why won't you believe me?"

"Because it doesn't make any sense!" he retorted, "I let him in my house before anyone knew he was here. He could've killed me and just skipped right out the door without anyone every knowing he did it. Last night he was more afraid of me than I was of him. After what you said on the phone I grabbed the kitchen knife just as he walked into the room and he asked me if I would ever try to kill him! Does that sound like a killer to you?"

"I don't know!" she answered, stomping her foot angrily, "Keiichi, I'm just worried about you. He sleeps in your house… I just don't want to see you get killed." The flame of her anger was doused a little bit as her shoulders dropped and she hugged herself with her head hanging down sadly.

"Mion… trust me, I'm fine and I'm going to be fine. I'll come to school tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, and so on and so forth. No one is trying to kill me and no one is trying to kill you and if they are I'll snap their necks before they have time to breath. I won't let anyone hurt our mighty club leader! Without you what would we do after school?"

Mion smiled lightly when she saw Keiichi's eyes overflow with confidence and suddenly her tom-boy side showed itself once more. "Hah! You'd probably end up spending your evenings helping Rena dig out some cute trash at the dump or helping Shion pick out clothes or something girly like that!" she laughed heartily.

"Which is exactly why I need you," Keiichi snickered, "Life would get too boring if you weren't here."

Mion's boyish front faltered for a moment as a soft smile replaced her sharp playful one but she quickly collected herself. "That's what I'm here for," she laughed.

"So you'll let Ryuu into the group then?" he asked expectantly.

Mion's smile turned upside down. "Back to that again huh?"

Mion sighed in defeat, knowing this was a battle she could not win. Besides, Keiichi might be right, maybe Oishi really was wrong about Ryuu. "Fine, fine…" she said, "I'll let you guys vote for him."

"Good," said Keiichi happily, "That'll make Ryuu's day."

"I don't know," she shrugged as they began moving back to the classroom together, "I think him acing that pop quiz today might tower over this."

"Don't be stupid," laughed Keiichi, "There is no higher honor than to become a member of the Hinamizawa brigade!"

"We're not a brigade."

"But that has a nice ring to it," offered Keiichi.

"True, true. But I can't help but feel that's not very original."

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"All in favor of inducting Ryuu Maebarra into our proud ranks say 'aye'!" announced Mion briskly, back to her old, loud self again.

"Aye!"

"Aye!"

"Aye!"

"Aye!"

"Aye!"

There were only two girls that remained silent in the far end of the club's meeting table. Those two girls were Rika and Hanyuu, still sitting silently in their chairs and looking very cross.

"Guys?" said Mion slowly.

"No," they stated at once.

Everyone looked taken aback by their response. Usually those two were so happy and kind to everyone. At least Mion had a good reason for trying to keep Ryuu out of the group; she could not understand why these two were determined to ostracize him.

Keiichi looked at Mion with a raised eyebrow.

"I didn't tell them anything I swear!" she insisted.

Keiichi didn't look convinced but he didn't want everyone asking questions so he just dropped it.

"Rika, what's wrong with you two?" Satoko asked.

Ryuu was wondering the same thing ever since he met those two his first day here. Rika was especially interesting to him. He could see behind the innocent front she put up when around her friends. He hadn't even spent two class days with her and he could already tell there was something dark and sinister about her. He was still deciding whether or not it was something he should be worrying about.

Suddenly Ryuu noticed Rika's eyes locked with his and he shrunk back slightly under her surprisingly fierce gaze. All eyes had followed Rika's line of sight straight to Ryuu and they all were wondering what he could have possibly done to upset her this much.

"Well you're overruled anyway guys," Mion informed, "Sorry."

"Since when was this a democracy Mion?" contradicted Rika darkly.

Everyone exchanged worried looks, especially Ryuu who was new to Rika's odd mood swings. But they all silently agreed that this was abnormally strange behavior even for her.

"You're right Rika," Keiichi chortled, "This isn't a democracy. I think that the final decision should lie with Mii-chan!"

Rika finally tore her eyes from Ryuu and turned to her club leader, her grim and stern face instructing her to deny Ryuu entrance into their club. Mion had already agreed to let him in but under all this pressure she didn't feel so sure any more… At least with everyone else voting if Ryuu did turn out to be a serial killer she wouldn't be the only one to blame for letting him in. Keiichi was smiling at her keenly along with most of the group excluding the two girls at the end of the table who still wore their concentrated and solemn frowns.

Ryuu saw her hesitation and felt as though he had already lost the vote as he hung his head glumly, apprehensively awaiting her verdict.

Mion looked at all her friends helplessly, not knowing the right course of action. If Ryuu really wasn't a murderer it would destroy him if he was shunned from the group for some unknown reason. But she still felt uneasy about allowing him to be so close to her… after all she was supposed to be the one he was trying to kill.

"Damnit Keiichi! Why did you have to put me on the spotlight like this?!"

Ryuu already knew he wasn't going to be allowed to join. He couldn't blame Mion though after what he did to her, he would probably do the same if he was in her shoes.

"Yes!" she exclaimed, a tiny hint of hesitance still in her voice, "Ryuu Maebarra is now an official member the club!"

The girls that had sided with Ryuu exploded with cheers instantly while Rika cast both Mion and Keiichi disappointed looks.

Ryuu could hardly believe it! Did Mion actually remember what he did to her all those years ago? Was she really that forgiving? Butterflies fluttered inside Ryuu's stomach as a happy smile appeared on his face. "Whatever god is out there watching over me… thank you so much for this second chance." Ryuu could imagine that to most people being accepted into some afterschool club like this wouldn't be a very big deal. But to Ryuu it felt like Mion and all the people he had hurt had finally forgiven him for all his crimes even though deep down he knew most of them never would have that chance.

He looked up at Mion who was standing on her chair, overlooking her merry club members with a pleased smile, and he caught her eye. For a moment the excitement in her eyes faltered when their gazes met but her smile returned shortly along with a little wink in Ryuu's direction.

And so, the club's roster expanded to a grand total of eight members and their meeting moved from the classroom to the school's tiny campus outside where Ryuu's first club game would take place.

"So what do you guys feel like doing today?" Mion asked after everyone had changed into their gym clothes. Ryuu's eyes constantly wandered off towards Rena's bare legs and he would have to shake himself before they ventured off into more personal areas.

"How about zombie-tag?" proposed Satoko.

"Nah we played that last week," rejected Keiichi, "You know I don't think we've ever played hide-and-go-seek the entire time I've been here."

"Kei-chan, that's a kid's game," Mion chortled.

"Have you got any better ideas?" he retorted.

Mion really didn't have any better ideas and she couldn't conjure any no matter how hard she racked her brain. They had already played every other game in the book and the more she thought about it the more fun it sounded.

"All right but who's gonna be it first?" she asked.

As she expected, no one volunteered.

"All right then I'll have to decide for you! New guy," she snapped her fingers at Ryuu, "you're it."

Normally Ryuu would have complained about Mion's selection but in light of her gracious act of voting him into the club he accepted.

"What should I count to?"

"Better make it one-hundred," answered Shion.

Ryuu groaned irritably. "I do not have the attention span for that," he objected in his mind. But once again he accepted his charge and walked back inside the school, sitting by the exit as he counted.

The one-hundred seconds he spent sitting there counting felt like one-hundred years to him. Finally he stepped out into the campus and called, "Ready or not here I come!" in a non-enthusiastic kind of voice. He didn't mind being it but having to sit down and count for over a minute nearly bored him to tears.

"Gee, he sure sounds excited," whispered Mion sarcastically to herself, peering out of the small window inside the school's supply cabin where she was hiding. She watched as Ryuu began his search, walking in the opposite direction from her. She relaxed and slouched down, anxiously awaiting for something to happen.

Suddenly, the door swung open and she jumped in her skin with a small yelp which her intruder returned with an equally shocked gasp. "Christ!" breathed Keiichi, "Don't do that!"

"Don't do what?" she whispered dangerously, "You're the one breaking into my hiding place! Get out!"

"I can't. Ryuu's too close!" he whispered.

"Hell if I care! Out, out!"

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ryuu emerge from behind the school building, luckily his back was still turned to them so he didn't notice Keiichi standing right in front of her hiding place like an idiot. Quickly and quietly she motioned him to get inside and shut the door. "In! In!" she whispered, "He's right over there! No don't look he'll see you! Hurry up!"

Keiichi stepped inside and shut the door as silently as he could before tip-toeing next to Mion and crouching down to hide himself. "Is he still there?" he murmured.

"I don't know, you check."

Keiichi tilted his head upward and peeked out of the window. "No he's gone," he informed as he returned to his crouched position.

Mion checked for herself and sat back down once she had confirmed it. "All right, now you leave," she hissed.

"What?! If I leave he'll find me!" he objected, forgetting to use his "inside-voice".

"Shut the hell up!" she snapped in a threateningly low whisper, "He'll hear you."

Snap!

That was the snapping of a twig… and it sounded close.

"You idiot! He heard—" Mion was cut off by Keiichi's hand being pressed over her mouth tightly.

There was a rustling of leaves outside, coming from directly behind the two of them. Mion instinctively grabbed the thing closest to her which just so happened to be Keiichi and held on to him as if she intended to beat Ryuu with him should he discover their hiding place. Her hands were yanking on his shirt nervously as the rustling grew louder. Suddenly, the light leaking in from the window above them died down and they could see someone's shadow looming over them. Keiichi had gone numb with dread, so much so that he couldn't feel Mion's arms quickly latch on to his torso as their fearful eyes lingered upon the ominous looking shadow. The shadow grew in size as the person creating it neared the window until the shadow drowned out nearly all the light.

A hollow knocking sound was heard from the window that caused Mion to flinch involuntarily. If it weren't for Keiichi's hand still pressed over her mouth she would have screamed.

"So you're trying to scare us out eh? You have to get up pretty early in the morning to-"

There was an ear curdling screeching sound, like nails scraping across a black-board, and they could see movement in what they could still see of the shadow. Whoever was behind them was running their nails down the window slowly with one hand. Keiichi was starting to get worried… Ryuu was really getting in to this. He would have stood up and revealed himself just to get him to go away if he weren't so scared stiff. The two of them couldn't do anything but close their eyes and wait for him leave.

The scratching continued for what felt like hours, causing Keiichi to legitimately believe that the next time he looked outside it would be night time. However a quick glance at his watch revealed it had only been twenty seconds. And finally, after forty agonizingly long seconds Ryuu or whoever that was left. The scratching stopped and Keiichi finally opened his eyes, relieved to see the light fully pouring back in from the window now that the shadow was gone. His feeling came back to him and the first thing he felt was Mion's head on his lap and her arms around his waist.

He couldn't help but notice she had become a lot more… grabby with him lately.

It didn't take long for Mion to notice her position either because she shot up instantly and scooted a few feet away from Keiichi, burying her face in her knees to conceal her lava hot blush.

Keiichi didn't know what made him do it or even think about doing it, but at that moment he decided he'd try something…

"What's wrong Mion?" he asked, as if he had found nothing strange about her former position, "He's gone you know. You can come back over here if you want."

She lifted her head slightly, revealing her reddening face to him. "I'm fine…" she said in an unusually soft voice that recently was becoming more and more common.

Keiichi scooted closer to her, gradually inching towards her until their shoulders were brushing up against each other. Keiichi was feeling nervous now too as he became aware of just how close he had gotten to her. He tried to scoot away but he didn't want to offend her… plus he had gotten himself sandwiched right in between her and the wall.

Mion let gravity pull her a bit closer to Keiichi as she straightened out her legs and let her hand gradually wander toward Keiichi's. Their hands were only centimeters apart when Keiichi shifted slightly, pulling his hand away in the process.

"He didn't scare you did he?" he whispered in a soft voice.

"No," she lied.

Keiichi let the warmth of her shoulder brushing up against his to draw him closer to her until their legs were also touching.

"Why are you getting so close?" she asked suddenly.

"The walls are old and splintery. I was getting poked," he said quickly.

Mion had been hoping for a different answer. "Oh…" she said with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

There was a small silence.

"Why? Do you want me to get closer?" teased Keiichi with a grin.

"I wouldn't mind…" she murmured. Both of their faces flushed simultaneously as those words tumbled from her mouth. Keiichi wasn't expecting to hear that and Mion hadn't meant for him to hear it. She wanted to kick herself for saying something so… so creepy.

But to her surprise, Keiichi complied. His arm reached around her soft shoulder and he pulled her in closer to his firm chest. Mion could hardly believe her luck! This was the second time this week Keiichi had done something like this. She had to be dreaming… but she didn't think she would be able to bear it if she woke up.

And while she may not have been dreaming, fate had other ways of tormenting her.

The door flung open and immediately the two separated from one another. This time Ryuu stepped through the door with Satoko in tow, their faces glowing in triumph.

"Oh ho ho ho! What luck! We got ourselves a double catch!" snickered the blonde haired girl.

"So it would seem," agreed Ryuu, "But one has to wonder what these two were doing in here all alone… together. Very curious…"

"N-nothing happened!" stammered Mion, "Keiichi just barged in here when I was trying to hide and blew my cover."

"Hey!" he protested, "If you had just let me in in the first place he wouldn't have seen us!"

"Well, if you had just found the proper hiding place then maybe he wouldn't have got us!"

"You guys sound like an old married couple," cooed Shion who had just appeared in the doorway.

"We're not married!"

"Hauu~! Their faces got so red and cute! I wanna take them home!" chimed Rena who had also just arrived.

The game ended thirty minutes later after Ryuu and the others combed the school for the only two remaining club members: Hanyuu and Rika. However they eventually discovered they had just gone home in the middle of the game. Satoko was infuriated as she stormed back to her house with Shion following her. She had started going home with her everyday now to help her with her homework, help her clean, cook, bathe. She had become more of a maternal figure than a sisterly one.

The older club members went home and parted as always at the bridge. On the way home Keiichi turned to his cousin and gave him a stern look.

"Hey Ryuu," he said, "I'm glad that you got into the game today but don't go around trying to scare us out of our hiding places like that! You really freaked Mion out!"

Ryuu gave his cousin an inquiring look. "Huh?"

"You know what I'm talking about!" he snapped.

"Uh… no."

Ryuu stopped walking when he noticed Keiichi was standing motionless several feet behind him, looking terrified.

"T-that wasn't you?"

"What wasn't?"

Icy cold fear swelled in Keiichi's stomach, churning his insides and making his head spin. None of the other club members would have done that! Who the hell was scratching at the window!?

"Psyche!" laughed Ryuu, "I knew you guys were there the entire time! I just thought I'd have some fun and scare you guys out! I could hear you sniveling from outside! Ha, ha, ha, ha- oof!"

Keiichi socked his cousin in the shoulder in a bit-more-than-playful kind of way. Ryuu spun around, still laughing as Keiichi pursued him with his fists flailing.

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Hinamizawa School; 5 minutes after Oishi's murder

Eric was still staring at the window of the storage cabin, looking completely mystified. He had been there for the whole thing, watching today's club activities with keen interest. Eric had been on the roof, observing him from there and had noticed something very strange about Ryuu. As Ryuu was searching for his classmates he could have sworn he saw him sniffing the air like a blood hound trying to pick up a scent.

At first he thought he was just being theatrical but that kid's nose actually led him to all of his friends' hiding places. Could he actually smell them out?

"What the hell is this kid?" he said aloud to himself.

And then there was the window he scratched at. From a distance it seemed harmless but when he got closer the scratches looked like they had been carved into the glass with a particularly sharp knife. He was surprised Ryuu's fingers didn't suffer any damage… If they had he didn't see anything.

And his face as he was carving away at the glass… it was unnerving. It was trance-like, almost like he was sleepwalking.

Beep, Beep! His pocket was ringing loudly. "The PDTM!" he exclaimed, "Oishi must be alright!"

He removed the small gadget from his pocket and saw a message flash up on the screen. "94 new pictures. 2 new voice recordings."

He checked the pictures first and saw the many photos his mentor had taken. Most of them were pictures of some creepy drawings of demon like monsters. However, two of the pictures were of some kind of Russian transaction form he couldn't understand. But he would worry about that later. He opened up the voice recording files.

The first recording was of poor quality. He could hear voices but they were muffled and distorted. And then his heart skipped a beat… "Why are there other people?"

He heard gunfire… screaming… heated shouting… none of which he could understand. Finally the message started to become clear.

He heard Oishi's voice first.

"Happy now? It's just a camera!" he said, his voice slightly distorted by the static.

Who was he talking to?

He heard another voice but whoever was speaking was too far away for the PDTM to pick up.

He stood there in horror as the message played back to him. Everything that took place in Jack's hotel room was replayed before him, ending with the shattering of glass and a sickening Splat!

Eric lowered the PDTM slowly, unable to believe his own ears. "It couldn't be…"

The second message began playing automatically and Eric held the PDTM back up to his ear when he heard Oishi's voice speaking, much more clearly this time. In the background he could hear an electronic dinging sound leading Eric to believe he was standing in an elevator when he was recording this.

"Hello? Akira?" Why was he calling him Akira? Oishi knew his real name… "It's me, your dad. Listen… I know I'm not your real father Akira and I know you're not my real son. It's just...heh… I know I already told you this earlier today but… I don't want to say you replaced Daiichi after he died. You didn't. But when I looked at you I saw so much of you in him I couldn't help but treat you like him. I just want to let you know… I'm really proud of you son. And I wanted to remind you of that promise you made to me this morning. Remember? No matter what happens to me don—"

Suddenly Oishi was cut off and Eric could hear the sound in the background completely change. Now he heard the sound of cars zooming by and a swarm of muffled voices.

Someone had recorded over Oishi's message…

And then he heard his voice. That sickening, vile, sadistic low-life: Jack Lanyon.

"Hello? Hello?" came his pompous voice. Eric could hear a lot of commotion and even a few passing cars. He could guess where that Jack was standing in the streets, probably over Oishi's body. He had taken the PDTM from his dead hands and had the nerve to send him a message…

"Testing 1,2,3. Are you listening?" there was a short pause, as if Jack had actually expected someone to answer him through the PDTM, "That was a truly touching message. I'm guessing you're Oishi's adopted son? Akira? Interesting… I never knew he had one. Well, now that I know your name things will get a lot easier for me. Oh but I seem to have left you with a disadvantage. You don't know my name do you? I am Jack Lanyon. There, now we're getting to know each other."

Despite the poor recording ability of the PDTM the arrogance in Jack's voice was still easily detected.

"I'm sending this message for two reasons. Number one: I wanted to personally inform you of your beloved foster father's death. Yes, yes, the stupid son of a bitch fell from my apartment after sending you those pictures. Number two is, I wanted to give you a fair warning. You see, those pictures you got were very personal and now that you've seen them well… me and you are going to have a problem. I don't know where the hell you are or what the hell it is that you do but trust me… it won't take long to find out. And as soon as I do I'll find you and kill you. Plain and simple. Oh and another thing. Don't bother trying to use this recording as evidence against me. I programmed this message to delete itself after you finish listening. That's right. That means your daddy's precious message will be gone too. And you didn't even get to hear the ending. Let me just say it was a very sentimental and heart-felt message… I'm sure all the demons in hell are going to be laughing at him when they learn you never got to hear it. Oh look at that! I'm running out of recording time. Well I guess this marks the end of our introduction. I can't wait to finally get to meet you in person… chow."

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A/N: Woot! My tenth chapter! Woot! So yeah… fun chapter. I enjoyed writing it but as usual it matters what you people think so leave a comment and share with me your thoughts and feelings on it. It'd be much appreciated. :D