"Aya-chan..." Mion coos as she lightly touches my cheek. I really want to bite her finger off right now. She killed Rika, Rena, and Shion. She doesn't deserve to live anymore. I can't believe she hasn't been caught yet. There are so many clues that lead to her being the killer. I guess the policemen are just too stupid to piece all of the evidence together.

"You ready?" Mion asks me. I glare at her. I hate her so much. I wish I could kill her, but I can't, because I'm tied up to a cross. The exact same cross both Rika and Rena had been tortured and killed on.

Rena suddenly appears in front of me with a knife in her hand. She stabs me in the chest with it. But, even so, I don't die. Then Rika appears, taking Rena's place, and slits my throat open. But I'm still alive, even while a lot of blood is flowing out of both of my wounds. Shion's now standing in front of me. Although, instead of having a knife in her hand, she has an axe. She swings the axe at me and chops off my head.

I wake up screaming. For a second, I don't recognize where I am. But then everything comes rushing back to me, and I suddenly remember. As I sit upwards, I close my eyes and sigh in relief. That dream had seemed so real, even though Rika, Rena, and Shion are dead.

Yes, they're dead. There's no way to bring them back. They'll never be able to come back alive. Just thinking about that makes my eyes to water. I wish they could be resurrected, though. That'd make me very happy.

I lean backwards into a lying position, but accidentally hit my head on a rock. I rub my head and sit back up. I turn around and look at the medium-sized rock, which is gray with a little bit of black specs on it.

Then I get an idea. If I want to get out of here, I need to first get out of these handcuffs. I start hitting the rock with the chain that connects the two cuffs. It makes a loud noise but I don't care. All I care about right now is getting out of here. I repeatedly strike the rock with the chain, until, finally, the chain breaks in half. I pick up the rock and heave it at the cell's bars, but it only dents them a little. I do that over and over until the cell's bars break. With app my strength, I pry two of the bars away from each other to make an opening big enough for me to fit through. Once I'm on the outside of the cell, I run towards the double doors. I open them and head outside, quietly shutting the doors behind me, so they don't creak, because I don't want anyone to hear me existing. Although, I doubt that'd even be possible, since no one ever heard any of Rika's or Rena's screams from when they were being tortured.

I quickly run down the street and towards the pathway that leads to the Furude Shrine. When I get there, I pound against the door and then wait for someone to answer. No one does, even after I pound against the door a second time, so I head towards Keiichi's house.

I knock on Keiichi's door, hoping someone will be there. When the door opens, I see Keiichi, who looks very tired. His hair's a mess and his clothes are all wrinkly. He seems like he can barely keep his eyes open.

"Kei-chan!" I exclaim.

His eyes widen. "A-Aya-chan, you're alive!"

I nod my head and smile. "I need to tell you and Satoko-chan something really important," I say.

"What about Mion-san?" he asks.

I shake my head really fast. "No, she's who I need to tell you guys about! Where's Satoko-chan?"

"Ever since Rika went missing, Satoko-chan has been staying at my house," Keiichi replies.

I match past him and into his house. I instantly see Satoko curled up on the couch, sleeping soundly. She looks so cute and innocent while she's sleeping.

I lightly shake her. "Satoko-chan... Satoko-chan..." I repeat until her eyes slowly flutter open.

She moans a little and then sits upwards. She rubs one of her eyes with a balled-up fist and yawns. "What time is it?" she sleepily asks. I guess she's still so tired that she doesn't exactly realize who I am.

"It's me, Aya-chan. It's past midnight right now," I reply.

"Aya-chan...?" she says. Her eyes open wide. "Aya-chan!" She wraps her arms tightly around my neck. "We thought you were dead!" she exclaims.

I hug her tightly and frown. "There's something I need to tell you guys…" I say bluntly.

Keiichi sits down on the couch next to Satoko and I. I explain to them about how Rena and I had found the hand at the dump. I went on, saying how I had passed out and had woken up in a cell. I tell them about Rena's torture and death, which causes Keiichi to start tearing up. When I mention Rika's torture and death, Satoko bursts out crying. Keiichi puts his arm around her and she starts sobbing into his shoulder. I go on, saying how Shion was decapitated by Mion, which causes Keiichi to start tearing up even more. Then I tell them about how I escaped. When I'm finally done explaining everything, both Satoko and Keiichi have lots of tears running down their red and puffy faces. That's when I realize that I had been crying, too. I was so busy explaining the story that I never even realized that I was also crying.

"I'm sorry," I mutter after wiping my tears away with the back of my hand. I know it's not actually my fault, but for some reason I feel like I could've prevented everything that had happened, even though I had been trapped in a cell during all of it. Maybe I could've stopped all of this from happening. There are so many scenarios I could've done that could've possible changed everything. For example, maybe, instead of walking into the classroom that day, hoping to help Satoko and Rika set up a trap, and ending up falling into a trap that was intended for Keiichi, I could've prevented everything. You see, if I hadn't of fallen into that trap, Satoko and Rika wouldn't have had to make a new one. If they had never had made a new trap for Keiichi to fall into, Rena and Mion wouldn't of had anything to fight over. Then, possibly, none of the following events could've happened.

There are other scenarios, too, but just thinking about everything I could've done to stop all of this from happening just makes me feel foolish. I had so many chances to change things. But, instead of changing the future like I should've, I just kept missing my chances and let all of the bad things happen.

"It's not your fault," I hear Satoko say.

"Yeah, blaming yourself won't do anything," Keiichi says.

I sigh. I just can't shake off the fact that I could've done something to stop this mess. Without thinking, I say, "The Watanagashi Festival's tomorrow…"

Satoko and Keiichi both nod. I look down and sigh again. "I got to go," I say, standing up. I leave Keiichi's house and head towards mine. While I'm walking, a police car pulls up nearby. Detective Oishi exits the vehicle and walks over to me.

"I'm going to need you to come with me," he says. I nod my head and follow him to his car. Once I'm buckled in, he drives towards the police station. When we get there, he leads me into an interrogation room. As I'm sitting across from him at a table inside, I see, through the giant window, 2 other officers, and my parents, who're crying of joy, since they learned that I'm still alive.

I tell Detective Oishi everything that happened. When I'm done explaining, I notice that I hadn't cried this time. Detective Oishi leaves the interrogation room and tells the 2 other policemen to head to the Sonozaki Manor and arrest Mion. After that, the 2 officers leave. Then Oishi comes back into the interrogation room and sits back down.

First he tells me that the name "Watanagashi" means "intestine drifting". Back then, centuries ago, on the days of the Watanagashi Festival, during the rituals, people used to cast of their sins by sacrificing someone. The miko or priest tortures the person by the torture tools that are hidden away in the Saiguden, a small shed that's behind the Furude Shrine. They'd usually finish off the person by ripping open the person's stomach with a torture tool that looks like a hoe. Then the miko or priest would do a traditional dance.

But, later on, the rituals became too violent to be done anymore. Because the "Wata" in the name "Watanagashi" also means "cotton", the people of the village formed the "Cotton-Drifting Festival". Now, the miko or priest would do a traditional dance and then tear apart some cotton with the hoe. Then the people of the village would take a small piece of cotton and sets it adrift on the river, so their sins and sadness would "drift away".

Apparently, I had been trapped in one of the cells of the Torture Chamber, which is another place the torture was done back then. It's underground, below the Sonozaki Manor, which is why no one was able to hear any screaming. Knowing that the Sonozaki family used to torture people back then makes me feel a little uneasy.

After Oishi finishes explaining everything, I'm able to leave the interrogation room. I go home with my parents, who're so happy that I'm still alive. That night, I easily go to sleep, despite everything I have learned today.

A/N: I just want to say that there's only going to be 4 more chapters after this, along with an epilogue XD