Author's Note

I'm going to go right ahead and confess that this chapter almost didn't happen. Not that I was going to drop the story altogether or anything like that, but it came to the point where I'd finished this and I had a whopping 25,000 words and I was considering actually rebooting the entire arc because of how poor the pacing was in the first two episodes.

This chapter is basically a drastically altered version of that. The rest of it is being retooled for arc 4, the fate of which is something I need to bring up at the end of this chapter.

So yeah, going into this chapter – if you thought at any point in this story that things were over-the-top before now, you were wrong. Dead wrong. This is where things get over-the-top.

So that being said, enjoy.

Glorious Days Chapter, Episode 3

31 Days Remain (May 31st, 1983)
Satoko Houjou

There was a time when I'd believed my fate to be inescapable. I had thought that the only path I had to take in life was the endless road through my uncle's abuse – but I had Nii-Nii to save me from that. And all that time I'd hid from that simple truth – I chose to ignore Nii-Nii's sacrifice because I'd never really known his suffering at all. When I lost him, it was all my fault. There was never anything I could do about it, or so I had told myself over and over again.

When Nii-Nii disappeared, I became so afraid of my uncle I had no choice but to move in with Rika – I was going to drive myself insane, and in the end I wouldn't be able to have an even remotely peaceful life under those circumstances. My uncle ended up moving out of Hinamizawa altogether, though, with my aunt dead and the Jack the Ripper case still unresolved with the Sonozakis simply becoming 'highly suspicious' as opposed to 'infallibly guilty.'

If I couldn't understand a simple truth like that, how could I ever have hoped to bring Jack to justice?

I could finally have something that resembled a normal life – but the way things concluded, was this the sort of solution I'd been looking for? A solution where all I'd done was stop thinking and take the easiest way out? It was a solution, at any rate, but it was a solution that had cost far more than what needed to be given up.

All the while I'd been obsessed with the idea that subduing Jack was impossible, even if I'd gone to extremes to prove that it wasn't true. But the moment I'd set everything in stone he'd just appeared out of the blue, revealing himself to me as casually as possible. He wasn't larger than life. He wasn't some exotic criminal who covered every loose end. He didn't give off any indication of the sort – he was a hired killer and nothing more. There had to have been something. Something I missed. Something I overlooked. Something I wasn't looking for that presented it to me at some point.

But it was too late now. Shin was now dealing with things in Okinomiya. He'd make the best of things, even if the situation was gradually getting worse. I just had to go back to the way things were.

And so I did. I went back to school and spent as much time with Rika as was possible. I tried to act as though I'd been able to recover from all of it, even if the truth was something entirely different. There was nothing more that I could do – everything was said and done. The rest was in Shin's hands. So I had to make the most of the respite I'd created.

But like Jack had said, it was all only temporary. The end would soon come. And being how I was back then I didn't realize just how soon the end was going to be. I could almost feel it, though, when the tension reached the breaking point. I'd been in and out of Okinomiya with Rika and the others multiple times over the year that followed – I didn't even have to look very hard to see that the positive change that I had caused was starting to undo itself. It was always somewhere in the back of my mind, but as a whole year went by after everything had dissipated I made myself forget, little by little.

It was the end of May, right around the time tension in the village would start to build up. The Oyashiro curse had proven its own existence the last few years and chances were it would go on, at least from the villagers' perspective.

The only thing I was concerned with at this time was the notion that there was now time – time for everything I'd forced myself to shun while I'd been chasing after Jack. I spent the bulk of my days up to this point with Rika, and today wasn't particularly different in any notable way. There was some more sameness today, just as there had been the day before and the day before that. Rika had convinced me to let everything that had happened go – she'd done the same to preserve her sanity after her parents' deaths, and all it took for me to do the same was to follow her lead.

But even then I noticed – everyone seemed a little bit more hollow after Nii-Nii vanished. There was a certain charge he'd given our club, likely because he was the only boy that had ever been a part of it. Eventually it just became a normal facet of things, but I still kept note of it. Every time I'd wonder how things would be different if Nii-Nii were still around, I'd be pulled off somewhere by Rika, though – it was like she could read my every thought, and it was something she took advantage of all the time. I managed to go on for long enough without any of those hypothetical situations hindering me much almost completely thanks to her.

Today we were actually waiting on the Sonozaki sisters for once, as opposed to the other way around as was usually the case. There wasn't much to do around this time without them, considering how the Watanagashi festival wasn't that far off. Some of the kids at school that weren't burnt out because of the sudden conversion to summer were talking about that new game one of the stand runners had apparently teased the other day based on Mion's favorite TV show, the adults seemed to be occupied with who was going to spend however much money and when – it was all typical of our village around this time, as was the twins' habitual consistency of being late for everything. The family was much more involved in the brighter side of the village than what seemed appropriate – especially considering what had only temporarily resolved itself not that long ago.

But at the time I didn't take any notice of any of it. I was just glad that we were all having fun on a consistent basis.

While we waited, Rika pointed out every stray cat that happened to cross our path whenever I stopped paying attention to what she was saying to let my mind wander. It was very typical of waiting around for things with Rika – of course it would get a little annoying after she mistook a squirrel for a cat for the seventh time that afternoon. But I could always manage.

Eventually the twins come into view in the distance, both of them carrying bags full of things. Rika does the greeting as usual while I indulge in my bad habit of reading Shion's face for some sign of distress – at this point I just did it purely out of habit, although back when Nii-Nii had disappeared I found myself doing it almost twice a day.

"Mark this as the last time I do anything for that Oni-baba when we have club things to get done." Mion says with a sigh.

"Don't act like it was anything bad. You remember how we had to do all of this in one night last year, don't you?" Shion points out something that Rika found funny enough to laugh at – I suppose I did sort of ignore everything pertaining to the festival last year, so I was out of the loop for this one.

"Rena's not with you?" I decide to question that – getting into one of Rika's huge stories wasn't something I was in the mood for.

"Nope, she's taking care of our other matter of business today."

Shion looks confused for a moment before her expression lights up. "Ah, right. I was wondering why she looked so nervous this morning."

This was wonderful – there were two things brought up within a few seconds of each other that I knew nothing about. But Rika at least seemed to be in the dark about this one – I couldn't imagine what would make Rena all that nervous, though. I suppose that I'd find out before too long.

"I'd be willing to bet she screws it up." Mion breaks her silence on the matter. "She was never good at dealing with guys anyhow."

"Ooh, is Rena asking someone out on a date?!" Rika suddenly lights up. I find myself more curious than I'd ought to be – oh, who am I kidding? This is the kind of stuff I live to sabotage. I've ended enough relationships abruptly in the past, but they usually didn't involve people over the age of ten. Or involve anyone from the club. I wasn't stupid enough to even try something like that.

Rika and I start questioning them both immediately, but they seem to brush everything off. For a short while, I feel some of my old flare back in action – it was being able to aimlessly interrogate the twins this way that made everything feel that much more natural.

"Look, it's really not that important." Mion finally resigns with a sigh. "Rena's gone to help someone move into their house. Two parents, one kid, a son, roughly our age."

Rika sighs with disappointment. "Another old kid… Oh well."

I snort at that. "Come on, like you'd go after anyone. You're ten."

"I thought Rika's smile was supposed to make anyone who looks her way fall in love with her." One of the twins, I didn't pay attention as to which, eggs me on while Rika tries on her million dollar smile. All she had to do was follow up with a well timed 'nipah' and just about anyone our age would fall head over heels for her.

"In any case," I clear my throat. "Rena already has a head start on both of you." I'm not even fully facing Mion, but I can almost feel the radical drop in temperature as she falls silent. Shion doesn't seem to care anywhere near as much.

"I'm not interested." Mion speaks flatly. Shion only laughs at her. "H-Hey, what's so damn funny?"

"You're about as bad a liar as they get." Shion then drops her bags on the ground next to her and walks off down the road. "If you're not interested, then you can bring those home with you. I'm gonna go check things out."

"There's no way your serious…!" But as Mion speaks in retaliation, Shion is already down the road. "H-Hey, you get back here!"

With that, Rika grabs me by the arm and we follow Shion down the road, leaving Mion to her own inadvertent penalty game.

Evidently, Shion already knew the way to this new boy's house – something that he'd probably be better off not knowing if we even got acquainted with him any time soon. The house we were headed to turns out to be fairly big – the boy's parents must've been at least somewhat wealthy if they could afford a place like this.

Once we got close enough, we finally took notice of the people standing outside the house – one of them was familiar, in all likelihood Rena, while the other wasn't that much taller, if taller at all. In a few moments I realize that this was the boy that we'd been talking about.

As we continue to approach the house, a stray cat suddenly crosses our path, and as usual Rika has to chase after it. I try to calm her down, but as I do so Shion seems to start talking to herself.

"Anne was right. The resemblance is uncanny." She looks at me, realizing that I might've heard her. "It's settled. If he ever joins the club, he's wearing my uniform."

Rika laughs while I stare towards the boy, somewhat puzzled –

And then what she had said registers.

We get close enough where Rika and Shion both greet Rena.

I finally get a good look at the boy's face –

He's the spitting image of my brother – the only thing that made them physically different at all was the color of his hair and his eyes.

…But at the same time –

Haven't I seen this boy before?

But where?

"Ah, right, I was just hearing about you." The boy speaks in reply to whatever it was Shion had said. "I'm Keiichi Maebara. It's nice to meet you."

At any rate, his name wasn't familiar. I decide to put it behind me before I introduce myself as casually as possible. I got the hint that acting weird was a no-go for today, especially considering how we know virtually nothing about this boy yet.

Rena seems very comfortable around Keiichi, at any rate. That had to mean something at least. Of course it was very likely that she'd seen my brother in him right away as well – that could've had something to do with it.

After the others had finished introducing themselves and were about to head back home, I decide to just straight out ask him about it.

"Say, Keiichi-kun." I try to act as friendly as possible. "Have you… Ever been in this village before? Or maybe in Okinomiya?"

"Hmm…" He mulls over my question for a few seconds. "Not in the village, that much I can tell you. I might've been to Okinomiya once or twice, though."

He might've been in the city? Then I must've seen him there. But where…?

I take too long trying to come up with something else to say and he turns away from me. "I'd hate to cut this short, but I kinda have things to do."

"O-Oh, right. Sorry."

"It's not a big deal." With that he disappears into the house, leaving me in an awkward moment.

I decide that questioning something so stupid wasn't a particularly smart idea, especially if I was going to make a big deal out of it. I leave things at that and head home, not entirely sure of what had made me ask him that question in the first place.

Maybe I'd just wanted to hear him talk again. Just to make sure that there was no chance of him being my brother. Because I didn't want to have to go every day looking at him and being reminded of Nii-Nii. I don't think I could put up with that, not after everything.

I put it all out of my mind – I wasn't supposed to be thinking about these things anymore. Nothing good would ever come of any of them.

I return home and after a usual evening I fell asleep, letting all of my concerns and extra baggage go for the time being. If there was anyone in the world who could pull me out of even a potential rut it was Rika – if things were the way they used to be, there was no chance in hell that I'd have been able to pull through the way I have.

But there was always something – always something that I tried my best never to question, but it was always something in the back of my mind, along with the rest of my troubles.

Tonight was like most nights living with Rika. Rika always seemed to be more hyperactive when I was going to stay put for an extended period of time – every night she would almost burn dinner, almost trip and fall down the stairs, almost chase a cat out our window, almost do a lot of things that some people would find absolutely hilarious provided that she didn't actually do them. I could always stash my concerns away, no matter how small they were, every night, just because of how much fun Rika always was.

But at the same time, every night, although half the time I'd be out cold and wouldn't notice, she'd always seem to vanish.

But at the same time, she wouldn't exactly leave the house. Or even leave the room. Her radiant presence would just spontaneously die, even if she was still sleeping soundly right next to me. Sometimes she'd get up, probably to use the bathroom or something. I'd be too tired to see what she was up to – it wasn't as though Rika would spend all night drinking at a bar or something when I wasn't awake.

Tonight I actually woke up very early in the morning, around one, perhaps. I wasn't exactly startled, but was curious to know why she'd vanished again – perhaps it was the event with Keiichi earlier in the day that had set me off, but I was somewhat wide awake at an hour where I'd normally be out cold.

Rika was sitting by the window, a bottle of wine in one of her hands, gazing out at the moon.

The look on her face was just so vacant – it was as though I was looking at someone entirely different who just looked a lot like her. I felt as though her lack of presence at night was a result of whatever it was that she was doing right now.

"Rika…?" I speak, my voice still somewhat slurred.

She doesn't respond to me at first. But eventually the silence is too much, even for her. "You're up early." There was clearly something wrong with her voice – it sounded radically different from what her voice normally sounded like.

There was something seriously off here – something I should've noticed a long time ago.

"Tell me something, Satoko." She continues speaking. "Did you give my question any thought?"

"What…question?"

"What would you be willing to do…" She takes a swig of the wine before continuing, "…To make two people love each other?"

I vaguely remember this line of questioning – it was back on Bloody Christmas. I didn't quite have a response for her then, and I don't have one now.

"It depends." I answer seriously.

"Depends on who you want to love each other?"

"I guess."

"…What if you had to make everyone love each other? What if everyone needed one other person to confide entirely in?"

"Would that be more like 'what would you be willing to do to make everyone happy with their lives'?"

"I guess so…" She sighs. "The point is people hate each other. People live without love, and that destroys them."

"So is love the source of all our problems, then?" I wasn't exactly sure why Rika would be thinking about something like this so seriously. But right now Rika wasn't being normal – not in the slightest. So I couldn't just brush off what she was saying. If she was like this right now, then this whole topic had scarred her somewhere deep down.

The conflicted look in her eyes only then reveals itself to me – and I realize almost instantaneously that I'd done it again.

I'd taken advantage of supreme kindness. I'd used it to hide all my problems away and failed to notice how the person protecting me had been slowly rotting away underneath. But this time I'd noticed it before it was too late.

"There are people who live without love. There are people who live always with the fear of losing it. There are people who desperately search for it even though they'll never find it. At the same time there are people who live with love that are oblivious to it all. Even to love itself." Somewhere in her monologue she'd described me perfectly. But on top of that, she'd described the dilemma I was faced with. People live without love. People live desperately trying to defend their love. People will be at their weakest when love is taken into account.

Love is gentle, love is kind – but love is the one true weakness that we have. The people of the city, and to just as large an extent, the people of Hinamizawa and even Jack the Ripper were all at the mercy of it. It was because of this vulnerability that people like the man who'd attacked me at Primavera and people as completely closed off as Shin exist.

"Then how do you do it? Never mind if you wanted to – how would you do it?" I eventually ask her.

"It's impossible to unite the world. Because one can only know a finite number of people in their lives. It's probably impossible to unite an entire city. Or even a place as small as our village." She sighs again. "But surely, it must be possible. To bring together a group as small as ours… isn't it?"

"You mean the club?"

"But even then, it seems so impossible. Can't even just the five of us be happy? Can't there be some way to save just five of us?"

"What're you saying? We're all fine the way things-"

Rika smacks the wine bottle against the wall, shattering it into a thousand tiny pieces, both cutting me off and scaring me half to death.

"I'm done pulling the wool over your eyes, Satoko." She speaks coldly, her gaze only somewhat fixated on me. "Everyone in our club's a liar. Shion's on the verge of losing her mind. Mion's isolation is going to grow until she loses her mind. Rena's only a few weeks away from slitting someone's throat and neither of us are particularly safe from any of it either. Everyone's filled up with nothing but hate for everything around them and it's all going to explode sooner than you could ever imagine."

"But as long as we-"

"The club never did us any good before. It didn't save Satoshi. It isn't going to save any of us, either." She then points the cracked neck of the bottle in my general direction. "And your friend from the city isn't going to do us any good either."

"Then what? What do we do?"

"We die." She throws the remnants of the bottle out the window. "That's all we've ever been able to do. We just keep dying – that's how it always works. That's what happen to my parents –" She throws an entire bottle of wine out the window this time. "And to your parents-" She chugs down half of another bottle before tossing the rest as well. "And it's going to happen to you, me, and everyone else."

"Rika-"

"Come near me and I'll throw you out too." She hisses, facing fully away from me as she grabs another wine bottle, proceeding to drink somewhat more normally. "…And it's the same thing. Happens to everyone, everywhere. Over and over again. Forever. Repeating." She drinks again. "It doesn't matter who's the hero or who's the villain. Everyone suffers the same way."

Against my better judgment, in that moment I forcefully embrace her. Despite her previous threat she doesn't resist me in any way.

I have no reason to deny her. I probably couldn't deny her. But this was Rika. This was someone I'd known to be entirely different from the girl before me – I had to deny her. Because no one should ever have to live with this sort of thing weighing them down. For my brother it had been his deep-seated fear of his dysfunctional family disintegrating. For Rika it had been this seemingly alternate personality buried deep inside her.

"It's not going to be that way." I tell her.

"There's nothing you can do."

"What makes you say that?"

"It's simply impossible. It's impossible to avoid human nature. Even if it's put off, it'll all still inevitably explode."

"You don't have faith in anyone, do you?"

"Faith…" She sighs. "You might have faith in the people who saved you. But faith won't save you from the guillotine."

"You can't even trust me? The way I trust you? Aren't we best friends?"

"For what it's worth." She speaks flatly before she shakes me off and returns to her futon without another word.

I didn't find that to be a good enough note to end on – but once I come up with something else to say, I find that Rika is already fast asleep, as though nothing had happened.

But something most certainly had. Something that I was better off forgetting, but never could.

It was more along the lines of forcing myself not to forget.

Because now I knew.

Now I knew the true face of despair. There were no bandages or markings of any sort in my way.

Now I could do it. Now I could see the truth.

I could see the truth for what it was –

The Recollection of Satoko Amasuka

"To this day," I continue after clearing my throat, "I'm fairly certain that from that moment on I'd become a completely changed person. Watching Rika become a completely different person before my eyes was enough to set my thoughts straight."

"So then you'd overcome your greatest obstacle?"

"Precisely. If I'd done so much earlier, I would've been able to see through Jack right away. But now it was the start of June and, as I'm sure you're aware, it was a little too late by then."

"I see… But the way I understood it, Keiichi joined the club."

"That's right, but in doing so, he brought chaos of his own to the table."

"He…I'm sorry, what exactly do you mean?"

"I'm sure you're familiar with his story, if you knew he was a part of our club. In the sense that he had no real story to begin with."

"…?"

"Keiichi's arrival in Hinamizawa was, despite how ironic it seems, nothing short of a miracle. Everyone found his entrance into their lives nothing short of miraculous – after all, he was able to solve everyone's problems, even though he was mostly a total stranger."

"So that's why he became such a central part of everything so quickly? Because he was the answer to everyone's prayers?"

"Of course. Think about it – Mion and Keiichi were both extremely close, and Mion was infatuated with him. He wasn't bound to the village like she was, and if she'd gone with him, she could finally be free from her growing isolation. Shion needed a medium to move on from my brother, and Keiichi fulfilled that role far too well. Rika needed someone to tell her she was wrong more than anything else, and Keiichi was set enough in his ways that he could do that without fail – I could go on, but you get the idea, right?"

"But if that was the case… Then why didn't his appearance solve everyone's problems?"

"The answer to that question is far more obvious than it seems… But I'll leave it up to you to reason it out."

"Hm… That's fair, I guess." For a moment she seems as though she was going to object to that, but she caves in rather quickly.

"Anyhow, we move on to a few days later… I'm sure you're aware by now of how everything in Okinomiya is set off…"

15 Days Remain (June 15th, 1983)
Satoko Houjou

It was only a few days after that when Rika's words finally kicked in. I found out purely through chance, as Oishi had passed the shrine on his way out of town after questioning Mion. It took very little work to get him to mention the body, and the moment he did I knew everything had started, just like Rika had said, and as she'd also predicted there was nothing I could've done about it.

I took today off from school to head into the city – the girl's body was left in an almost unidentifiable condition. It was nothing like the original Jack cases – they were torn apart by a far more carnal sort of anger than Jack's. But who else could have been behind it? Maybe Jack had become enraged. Maybe his killing methods were affected by some inner turmoil he was suffering from.

All the information I had received was second-hand, but it was all accurate enough. So, with my thoughts in order, I paid a visit to Shin for the first time in a good while.

It didn't matter what condition the body was in. The people didn't care about consistency. They only cared about the act of murder itself and reacted on their own fear of said act. The family would once again be targeted – but this time, things would be much worse. After all, the people had already built up enough tension over the course of a year – much like Shin had warned me before, everything I'd done was only temporary and it was all going to explode, like Rika had said.

I really should've started listening with my ears a long time ago.

But even knowing my fault, I still beg Shin to do something to resolve it all.

"Is there really nothing you can do?" I try to plead with him – but he doesn't seem as if he's going to suddenly resign and give me what I want.

"No matter who it is that's pulling the strings, there's nothing we can do about them until they show themselves. And they simply won't show themselves."

"Then can't we sniff them out? Can't we do anything to find them?"

"No… No, we can't. There's no way around it – the people are united against the Sonozaki family. And it'll only become more extreme from here."

"Then…"

"It's a shame, but to get where we are, we had to offer them up as sacrifice – either the Sonozaki family burns, or someone else has to burn in their place."

But if the Sonozaki family were to burn, all of Hinamizawa would be engulfed in the same flame. Order would cease. We'd lose the entire village and likely most of Okinomiya in the process.

But there wasn't any other way. Even if Jack was involved, he simply couldn't be caught, not with my mindset from back then. I had to do what I did – otherwise things would've been a lot worse for everyone.

"Then who's gonna get hurt when the time comes?"

He sighs. "Everyone."

"That can't be right."

"You can leave the village, you can flea to Tokyo. You can even hop on a plane and fly to Australia – everyone will burn. It's only a matter of when and where. I'm sure I don't need to explain to you why."

I find myself about to say something, but I shut my mouth at the last minute –

I was about to say it –

Just five, then?

Can't I save just five people?

I cut my meeting with Shin short at that point – I had nothing more to say to him, and he likely had nothing more to say to me. He couldn't offer words of encouragement because there was nothing to encourage.

He knew as well as I knew that things were spiraling out of control and that it wasn't even a matter of time before things went south. It was happening now.

This was the result I'd ensured when I turned over all of that evidence against the family. I'd only put off the disaster – Shin knew this, likely from the start, and so he'd prepared for it.

He was a completely different person now – his name wasn't even Shin anymore. It was Saturn Anne, perhaps representative of the new face he had to wear – the face of someone who despises the idea of maintaining appearances having to do so in order for his ambitions to have a chance to live on. He knew as well as I did that Hinamizawa was a lost cause, but at the same time for some reason he cared enough to exhaust every possibility before raising the white flag.

His gaze was dark. He had the power he needed to change people – but he couldn't use it. And no matter how close we were he wasn't going to help me, because he couldn't.

Of course there was still the notion in the back of my head. Either the Sonozaki family burns or someone burns in their place.

It didn't matter who they were united against. As long as they were united against someone.

I'd been obsessing over the idea of catching Jack as my only alternative, but he just said –

Of course, the moment I stop in my tracks, Shin knows just what realization I've come across.

"If you want to save your village, there's one person and one person only that you can kill to do so."

"And who's that?"

"Bring me the head of Keiichi Maebara, and Hinamizawa will be saved." My eyes meet his – and never before have Shin's eyes seemed so empty and cold. "Of course it'll only be saved from the people of this city. There's only so many problems you can solve with one man's life, I'm afraid."

I'm stunned for a moment.

He wants me to kill Keiichi – and Keiichi only?

But if I were to do that…

"I'm not surprised you won't. Sonozaki-san refused as well."

"M-Mion's been here before?"

He shrugs his shoulders. "Yes, she came of her own free will, asking for… Well, it's not important. The point is… I know that none of you will ever give him up, no matter what's at risk if you don't."

"Then why give me the option?"

"Because you have to understand why none of you will give him up… But I'm sure it all makes sense now."

"…"

"You all rely on him, even though you've known him for such a short span of time. To the lot of you he's a miracle. He's someone that fulfills every aspect of your personal needs down to the dot. You won't let him go because if you do, all of your concerns and worries have nothing keeping them from getting inside and eating you away, bit by bit. You can't rely on each other, no – and I'm not the person who has the right to say why. You need to rely on him. Because he's just so perfect in every way imaginable… If only you could see the truth. But it's too late for that now."

"…You know him personally, don't you?"

I search his eyes for some hint of emotion – but I see none. All I see is that same emptiness.

He hates keeping appearances. But right now he's forced to.

"It's complicated."

At that point I know that I'll get nothing more out of him. I leave immediately afterward, his words still resonating in my mind.

We're all relying on Keiichi for something. Each and every one of us is. And we aren't capable of letting him go.

I'd never seen him as much before. But knowing him as well as I do now… I can't disagree.

He's like another big brother. And with regards to that, would watching another boy with the same face suffer and die at my own hands achieve anything?

More importantly, if I were to kill him, what would happen to the others?

Mion had become extremely attached to him. That much I knew for certain. Shion probably saw as much of my brother in him as I had. Rena probably felt the same way about him that Mion did. Rika didn't seem to particularly dislike him, but her aside –

If I took Keiichi away from all of them, what would happen?

I already knew things weren't as they seemed with the twins. Rena had her own share of problems too.

Without Keiichi, they wouldn't have anyone. Because they couldn't trust each other.

Would they explode like I had? I couldn't ever take the chance. Even if I set myself aside, it wasn't enough.

Rika's words keep coming back to haunt me.

What are you willing to do to make two people love each other?

What CAN you do to make two people love each other?

I return to the village via the bus, but on my way towards the Shrine I see Mion –

She's hurrying off somewhere, not in the direction of the estate, nor in the direction of anywhere she'd normally be heading to.

She's heading for the tree line. She's leaving the village…?

I follow her on impulse. If there was anyone who would break form and start wandering around random places, it wasn't Mion. On top of that, she was moving awfully fast – she wasn't paying any significant attention to what she was trampling over as she made her way further and further away from the village to the point where I wasn't even really sure where she could possibly be headed.

I follow her, trying my best to keep up but having a hard time doing so. It comes to the point where I doubt even she knows where she's going – but eventually I realize that we're following the river. She was following the river and heading north, further and further away from the village and into relatively unexplored territory. But as long as she followed the river, there would always be a way back to the village. Perhaps she did know where she was going.

Eventually, after what seems like an hour of this senseless running, we stop in a clearing, along the wall of a cliff that seemed to be at the base of the mountain a few miles from the village – had we really run that far? In such a short amount of time? The river seems to go on into the distance, but Mion stops here, at this rock wall.

I then notice it – there's an opening in the wall, not particularly large, but not all that small either – it was the entrance to a cave, a large cave at that. How Mion knew that such a place was here was beyond me.

"You're not bad at this kind of thing. I'm a little surprised." She suddenly calls out – I realize she was calling out to me.

"What're you doing, going all this way?"

"I should ask you the same thing."

"I was following you. I thought something had happened and you were –"

"Everything's fine… I just came out here to think."

"Oh…" I trail off.

"I heard about your new balcony from Rika. It's a pain in the ass when people can't finish their work on time. When were they going to install the screen door, again?"

"On the thirtieth…" I trail off again. Mion takes the hanging silence as a sign that her small talk wasn't going to go anywhere.

Silence fills the air. I'm still curious of what she was doing out here, but it occurs to me very suddenly that I have no business asking her to spill her secrets. Especially considering what I'd done to her family, even though it was anonymously.

It then occurs to me that Oishi had questioned her this morning.

"…Mion, I'm –"

"If you're going to apologize for breaking into my room, you don't have to."

My eyes widen. She knew? The whole time? She knew what I'd done, but even then she'd –

"For all that rummaging you did through my closet, you did a pretty bad job at checking for a live person hiding under the bed."

"…" I don't know what to say. I can't come up with any sort of response that could keep me on friendly terms with her.

"I'm just more surprised that you managed to fool everyone with a couple of names and a list. Then again, people are incredibly stupid, so it's not that unrealistic."

"…Mion, this isn't-"

"The truth is the whole deal with the Guardians wasn't something I'm proud of. There was more to that list than just the names-"

"You don't need to-"

"The Oni-baba told me to get people to join our cause no matter what I had to do. After a few people outright refused we started taking people down to the tunnels under the estate to convince them. None of it was pretty. None of it had to do with your uncle and his friends, though."

"Mion, I'm not-"

"I know what you were trying to do. I'm not going to hold it against you… But you have to be curious. Why would I go out of my way to do something I knew was wrong?"

Mion's question could've had a thousand different answers to it. People do things they know are wrong for all kinds of reasons. But for someone like Mion, who would do anything for the Sonozaki clan –

"Because you wanted to protect your family." I answer plainly.

"Right… I don't let people close to me suffer. That's something I've always lived by… You know, as far as any of us knew, Satoshi was doing alright… But in the event that he wasn't you could've come straight to me."

"…It wasn't that simple. No one else could've helped him… That's why I…"

"And you were so sure of that?"

"Because he was seeing someone…"

Mion hesitates to respond. So it would seem that she didn't know everything that had gone on with regards to my brother and those days before he disappeared.

"He was seeing someone and I knew if Shion ever found out, really bad things could've happened. He wasn't himself at all, but… But I didn't notice. I just thought he was the same. But he was suffering underneath and I never noticed."

"Shion's better than-"

"No… No, it's not like that. It doesn't take a genius – I know, Rika knows, and Shin – Saturn Anne – knows too."

"…You've been to see that guy too, huh?" She says with a sigh.

"I'm not stupid. I can't trust Shion. I can't trust Rena, either. A few weeks ago I figured out that I couldn't trust Rika either. I can only take what you say with a grain of salt on top of all of that. If we can't trust each other, then all the promises in the world mean nothing…"

"But does that mean that I'd leave you hanging if you needed me?"

"…"

"Do you know anything about this place?"

"…No, I've never seen it before."

"In the history of our village, this place was some kind of a battleground. There was a huge fight with a demon and in the end they sealed the demon in that cave over there."

"…Really? Then why is the cave open?"

"Well, it is just a story, I suppose. We never kept records, I guess? But all of that aside, they weren't just protecting the outside from the demon when they put them in there. They were protecting the demon from itself. Because the demon, all along, was just lost and confused. It thought that killing was the only way it could do anything. By sealing it away, it couldn't harm anyone and couldn't harm itself… So, if you ever get lost and confused, just come back here. I promise that I'll be here waiting for you when you do."

"Mion…"

She softly grabs one of my hands. "Everything you've said is true. I trust you, just because you understand how we all feel… I know it was difficult. I know I should've tried to do something. You say that you can't make amends for the things you've done, but neither can I… Just do as I said and come here, whenever you're lost or confused. That way I can make things up to you, bit by bit. It doesn't matter what you think… I know I can help you. All you have to do is let me."

At that point I lose control of myself and embrace her tightly.

"I'm sorry." I whisper into her shirt.

"There might not be a way out of this, but at least it won't matter if we stick together."

"Right…"

But right then, at the very end, when I affirmed everything she'd said, I didn't believe her.

I didn't. I truly didn't.

Because I'd looked into the face of despair.

And I'd seen the truth for what it really is.

3 Days Remain (June 27th, 1983)
Satoko Houjou

The entire estate – engulfed in flames, condemned to a fate that I had ultimately been the catalyst for.

I could see the bodies. I could see the burning carcasses. The mowed lawn set aflame. The buildings collapsing and the blood hungry Okinomiyans surrounding the pyre. It was like some sort of a demon ritual – the mob surrounding the chaos, seemingly dancing in how frantic their movements were. There was no describing the feeling – I was responsible for all of this.

All of it.

Was my fault.

I'm just an idiot. A blind idiot who couldn't understand anything.

At one point I wanted to believe Mion. I wanted to believe that she'd keep her promise no matter what. She was the sort of person who lived by that sort of direction – but that was in of itself her single shortcoming. She was just a person. She couldn't perform miracles.

She couldn't stop her family from suffering, as I couldn't stop mine. She couldn't keep this from happening.

I frantically search the grounds for some sign of the twins. Part of me wants to believe they both survived this, although my gut tells me that neither of them did. There was just so much fire – there was no way anyone could escape the grounds alive. That would include me as well if I didn't move fast enough.

But as I reach a small clearing in the center of the pyre, I'm stopped dead in my tracks.

Standing a few feet away from me is Shin, in his white lab coat, choking Oyrou Sonozaki to death.

In a voice I never knew he had, he coldly condemns her. "Your blind ambition ends here."

Despite her condition, Oryou manages to grin at him and tell him off at the same time. "You know it's only a matter of time… Or did your father tell you nothing?"

He releases her, dropping her to the soot covered grass beneath her. "What my father told me, quite frankly, is none of your business."

Oryou gasps for air before speaking in a hoarse voice. "You were born into this world for more than this, you know."

"And what could you possibly know of my birth?"

"Why, I was there when it happened, child. After all, it's not every day that an illegitimate child is born to a family as prestigious in our village as –"

With a loud grunt, he stomps on her, driving her back into the ground multiple times. "You want to know why I came back? You should know the gun that killed my mother by heart now – I felt the need to return it. Ah, you figured it out! Right – that same gun. The very same gun – I killed your daughter with it no more than five minutes ago. Funny how vengeance works out."

"I see… So you've taken your revenge on Akane. Will you take Mion's life too? Or Shion's?"

"They don't have to shoulder the blame."

"Yet you leave them with nothing in the end? With this?"

"If they suffer, it's because of the lot of you… You do realize that I wanted to avoid all of this."

"Then why are you here? Why have you ensured that there will be no survivors?"

"Because this was the only way. The only way you could truly pay for what you've done."

With that, he pulls a pistol out from his coat pocket and aims it straight between her eyes. "What bigotry… I'd have taken your head instead of your arm back then. Be grateful – your death will be clean. Unlike mine or anyone else's."

With that he pulls the trigger and Oryou is no more.

"I'm sorry you had to see all of that." He calls out to me. I'm not surprised he knew I was standing there, but at the same time –

"Everything burns." He speaks again before I can even come up with something to say. "Everything burns, no matter how important it is to us. Everything burns – but once the fires die down, and only once the fires die down, man can truly begin rebirth."

"This wasn't the answer." I call out to him.

"I know it wasn't. But this was the only way we could bring them to justice."

"But this isn't justice!"

"We're in hell, Satoko. In hell, this is what justice amounts to."

But before I can say anything else, before I can question his personally driven motives, out of the flames appears Jack the Ripper, both of his katanas at the ready, lunging at Shin with a great battle cry.

He moves out of the way, blocking the first blade with his pistol and grabbing the other with his bare hand. The blade digs into him, but he doesn't even so much as flinch. Jack backs away just as Shin pulls the trigger on his pistol, but is forced to let go of one of his katanas. Shin fires another round in Jack's direction, and another – but after that third shot the pistol needs to reload.

Jack realizes this and makes another break towards him before he has the chance to reload – but in that instant Shin rams the hilt of the katana into Jack's stomach before closing the distance between the two of them and ramming into him with his shoulder.

Grabbing the hilt of the katana, Shin swings downward – but Jack blocks the swing with his other katana as he loses his balance and slips. Shin has an opening, but Jack recovers so quickly that he's unable to make use of it.

The two are at least three feet apart now.

"Well now," Shin taunts him. "It would seem that Jack is back. How peculiar that we haven't even met until now. Both of us being hired hands, I figured we'd have crossed paths much sooner."

"You've been aiming to kill my employer. Now you've gone ahead and done so. I'd say this meeting was inevitable."

Shin shrugs his shoulders. "If you say so… But I have to know. Did they mark you up too?"

Jack raises his right hand – imprinted upon the front of his hand were two English letters – the letter J and the letter R. "Judicial Rex. Only fair if you show me yours."

Shin raises his left hand – on the front of his hand were the letters S and A. "Subliminally Anonymous. USSR. I didn't expect anything flashy from you. You're only Hinamizawa bred, so it makes sense."

"Ah…" Jack finds Shin's display amusing. "So you were the Russian boy they always talked about."

"Well, when Japanese yakuza, no matter how small the branch, do deals with the KGB to solve territorial problems, outcasts like me tend to pop up from time to time. The Sonozaki family owes my father for their extended lifespan. Didn't seem to owe me anything, though."

"So you came to collect?"

"I came to change the world, believe it or not."

"So you deserted. Good to know, I definitely don't need any KGB knocking down my front door…!" Jack makes another move towards Shin, but his seemingly impervious fighting style is countered at each move. "How big is this world you're talking about?"

"A hell of a lot smaller than you'd ever imagine."

With that they both start fighting again – with each clash of metal their fighting seems all the more impossible.

"You don't fight like a Russian." Jack suddenly speaks.

"Hah, acting as though you know how a Russian fights… You're right though." He grunts as he locks blades with Jack again.

But in that moment, he puts all of his weight against one of his arms to steady his guard and draws what seems to be a tactical sai from the inner pocket of his coat. IN one quick motion he stabs Jack in the chest with it. "I've been living on the streets ever since my father's execution. I picked everything up from your people."

"How convenient…" Jack grunts, clearly feeling the pain of the strike. "…Then I've already won."

Despite the searing pain Jack grabs a solid hold on Shin's arm before he can let go of the sai – and in that moment he runs his katana through him. "…After all, anyone in our line of work never expects cheap tactics from a samurai."

Shin's blood sprays. It was over.

I consider going to his side, even though I had no place in this battle to begin with.

He slumps to the ground and collapses altogether, never even uttering the final words that with his personality he would've definitely had prepared.

Just like that Shin was dead – and then Jack turns towards me.

"This is as far as you go." He calls out to me. "If you give yourself up now, the bloodshed will stop. If you persist everything as you know it will end along with you. That I assure you."

"Never." I speak confidently and defiantly. "I might've caused all of this, but I'm not going to let myself die before I can make things right."

"And still, still, despite everything, you still can't comprehend the meaning of meaninglessness. There's no point to any of this anymore. Just give up."

Before I can make any sort of response, someone behind me calls out to me.

"Listen to a word that prick says… And it'll mean nothing!" I turn around – it's Keiichi, running towards me, his head evidently cut deeply if the blood running down the side of his face was any indication, my brother's baseball bat in his hands.

I turn back towards Jack – but he's gone.

Keiichi grabs me by the arm. "Before that guy comes back – we've gotta get out of here right now."

"But Shion and –"

"They'll be fine. Rena found the entrance to the tunnels wide open. We can hide down there until this all blows over."

I stare somewhat absentmindedly at Shin's corpse.

"Look, I know this is a lot to deal with. But we need to get moving. Now."

I look back toward Keiichi and nod my head. "Right…" I trail off as Keiichi leads me into the darkness by the hand.

I catch one final glimpse of Shin's body as his coat catches fire –

Now – now I knew. Now I understood. Now I could tell without a doubt in my mind that it was far too late to do anything. Now I knew that I'd run out of time – I'd run out of time and everything had fallen apart in an instant, a single, cruel, and calculating instant when all the pieces I'd been completely unaware of up to then moved into place.

I wasn't sure why I thought that someone like me, with no purpose in life greater than a homeless man's, could achieve anything.

There's no meaning to any of this. Not anymore. And we all know it. That's why we're hiding, deep in the bowels of the Sonozaki estate, waiting for our judgment to arrive. At this point there was no sense in continuing. There was only sense in waiting for our inevitable deaths. That was what spending hours down in the Sonozaki dungeons felt like.

Apparently, Mion had been hiding people down here for the longest time – apparently back during the dam war she was sheltering people that were very likely targets down here completely against her family's wishes. Of course I'd already figured out at this point that she'd been indoctrinating people into joining the Guardians, and that she'd been using these dungeons to do it, but I never really felt that questioning her motives would ever amount to anything, not that doing so would've gotten me anywhere to begin with.

Once we'd been able to verify that all of us were present, we got to work on making the catacombs inhabitable – it didn't take very long, but we'd have probably gotten done a lot sooner if we weren't in the condition that we were in.

I could even imagine what was going through Mion or Shion's head at that point – hiding underneath their razed home, waiting for death to claim us –

This is something that no one should ever have to experience. But despite that both of them were forced through it. For Shion, she'd already been through the less intense version of this once before. As for Mion, given what she'd been forced to do in the past it was very likely that she'd been through something similar as well.

I find myself tired and unable to think straight anymore. I decide to turn in – we'd managed to clear out an entire hallway of rooms in a few hours and I was exhausted.

I open one of the doors, only to find a pile of assorted objects, from torture devices to magazines in the center of the room.

"That's the storage room." Someone from behind me calls out. "I thought you'd have this whole place mapped out by now." I turn around – it's Rika, staring at me somewhat solemnly.

"R-Right, I'm just a little out of it right now, that's all –" I try to walk past her, but I find myself tripping as I do so. Rika manages to hold me up before I tumble over.

"I know none of this is easy to deal with." She whispers to me. "It's not going to be much longer. I promise."

More promises, eh?

"I'll hang in there." I grunt.

"You're better off just staying out of everything from here on out… Just stay in your room as long as you can, okay?"

"…I can't think of anything better to do." I manage to regain my balance and walk on my own to another room in the hallway. I hesitate to open the door, at first, because –

"…Rika, can't you come with me?"

She shakes her head. "There's no sense in trying to look after me. Just stay safe, okay?" She then gives me her usual smile before turning away and walking off before I can say anything more to her.

I decide to leave it at that – Rika had her own agenda, and in the end I couldn't keep her from doing anything, even if I tried to. I turn the rusted knob on the door and I'm met with a small and somewhat cramped room with nothing more than a bed stuffed into the corner, an air vent in the ceiling, and a lonely, dim light hanging from the ceiling.

As I step inside, out of the corner of my eye, I see the twins –

Mion is on the ground and in pain. I do a bit of a double take before I almost head over to them.

I take a few steps in their direction, Mion's injured area coming into full view.

Shion was tending to the injury with ointment and bandages. But –

On Mion's chest, there were three large gashes, likely gained during whatever miraculous stunt let her survive the attack on the estate – it was a wonder that she could perform all of that manual labor with such injures. I hadn't noticed any sign of fatigue coming from her whatsoever. She'd done a large bulk of the work as well.

This pattern seems to go on forever. I sigh with frustration before I head off to my room again.

Once I'm inside, I have time to mull things over. I lock the door and sit on the bed, finally able to put all of my thoughts together while the Okinomiyan mob's reign of terror continues above.

Shin was dead. The bulk of the Sonozaki clan was dead. Jack the Ripper, however, was still out and about. He'd gone after Shin because of what he was doing – but at this point, did Jack the Ripper even pertain to anything anymore? He'd been killing for the clan, likely for Oryou herself. But now it was all over. What purpose did he serve by killing Shin? Wasn't he just some hired hand?

His boss was dead. So why would he care?

…Ah, because he'd been killing out of love.

He was being manipulated by the family.

That's right. Back when this all began…

He was being manipulated. They took advantage of his love.

But love for the clan?

How could anyone have such love for the Sonozaki family?

…

Love for the Sonozaki family.

Love that could overcome any trial.

Love that was infallible.

Love between family members.

That must have been it.

But who?

Who could Jack the Ripper have been?

More importantly, the family appeared to have been taken completely by surprise.

But Jack the Ripper, who I can say almost without a doubt is a Sonozaki by blood –

How could he have known?

How could he have known that there was going to be an attack?

And why didn't the rest of them know?

…

…

And in that moment, I knew.

I think back to only a few moments ago in the hallway. I think back to Shin's death -

A wave of terror washes over me –

My heart skips a beat. My eyes glaze over.

Fear. Terror.

This feeling –

It's just like –

And suddenly, out of nowhere, a man appears before me, standing in the corner of the room. I don't shout, I don't make any sudden movement – I just look at him.

His hair is blood red. He wears a white suit and a black cape with a gold hemming. He looks upon me, almost with pity, but his loose grin seems to suggest otherwise.

That's right – it's been a very long time since I've been to Irie-sensei's clinic…!

This has to be some kind of hallucination…

Or maybe, it's the Oyashiro curse come to life? To punish me for what I've done?

"Figured it out, have you?" He speaks in a very condescending tone of voice.

"…" I don't respond to him with anything more than a light grumble in my throat.

"And if this Sonozaki knew what was going to happen, if they knew what you'd done and who you'd tipped off and that things were going to escalate… Then why didn't they say anything?"

"…Because they were protecting me… Like they…"

"Like they promised…" He sighs. "Promises are fiendish things. But for someone like her to exist… To keep every promise she's ever made or die trying – she's special in her own right. Don't blame her. But if you don't act accordingly, it's all over. For you as well."

"It's already written… I've let all of this happen."

"If there is one miracle that anyone can make, it's the miracle of redemption. But you won't be redeeming yourself – that's not as easy."

"I have to… redeem her."

"You don't have much time. The cicadas aren't going to quit singing so you can play catch-up. If you go now, it'll be possible."

I stand – and with that, the man disappears. I take a deep breath – my condition, for the first time since I've had it, was under my control, at least for the time being.

I had one final move to make.

Because now I knew.

Because I'd stared into the face of despair.

But now, I'm not afraid.

I can look that face in the eyes and tell it –

I pull open my door and step out into the silent hallway.

And something seems off right away.

Several of the doors are wide open. There's no sign of anyone wandering out and about in the halls –

I race to one of the doors – and instantly I'm greeted with the copper smell of blood.

I hesitate to look inside – but I force myself to.

And on the floor is a headless corpse – but the clothing more than suggests that the body is Keiichi's.

But if Keiichi's dead… Then –

I move back into the hallway and run to one of the other open doors – and on the bed inside, her throat slit, is Shion.

I make a move to another one of the open doors – this door was evidently Rika's room, as made clear by necklace on the bed – Rika had been wearing it earlier. But she was nowhere to be seen – she had vanished altogether.

I turn around – the door behind me, which was previously shut, is now wide open. I step out into the hallway.

And down the hall, with an unconscious Rena over his shoulder, is Jack the Ripper.

"Stop!" I shout.

He actually complies, turning to face me –

His face is no longer obscured by the bandages. But I no longer need them to hide away the truth beneath them.

"There's no more time." He says curtly. "You were right – one cannot truly trust another."

"But I don't understand, why have you-"

"There is meaning in this. You might not understand but there's meaning in all of this." He then turns away and walks down the pathway, into the darkness and out of sight, leaving me to nothing more than my thoughts.

Jack had killed them. He'd killed all of them. I was the only one left.

It didn't make any sense –

Or…

Or perhaps it did.

Perhaps there was meaning in all of this.

But what could I possibly do now?

Jack could be anywhere…

…

But…

No, there is one place that he will be. One place where I can find him, no matter the time.

I couldn't stay down here for much longer. I could perhaps spend a night or two, but that would be it. It would be wisest to wait for the activity up above to die down before making a move.

He had made his escape.

But he would be at that one place, no matter what.

After all, we made a promise…

"It's almost over, Mion…" I whisper to myself. "Only two more days… Then you'll finally be free…"

At the Edge of the River, No Days Remain (July 1st, 1983)
Satoko Houjou

I found signs of her presence near the cave in the cliff side, the small boat that meant salvation for the two of us tied to a tree stump nearby. I knew she'd be there – she'd never broken a promise we'd made before, even if she had no reason to keep any of them. She had no reason at all – yet she still chose to. There was no logic behind any of the things she'd done – it made no sense for her to defend me, my brother, or even stand up for her own sister. After all, no amount of kindness or good will made her anything more than what she was – that would've been the case even if she weren't guilty of at least thirty accounts of murder.

But still, here she was, like nothing was different.

But everything was different. Because one of us wasn't going to head back downstream alive. At this point, neither one of us had much of anything left. But even then, here we were, at what I knew was going to be the end of the road.

I, therefore, head into the cave without any regret whatsoever.

And inside I find everything I'd secretly been praying that I wouldn't.

Remnants of human shapes, scattered haphazardly across the cave floor. The walls stained with long since dried blood. Skeletal bits and pieces of people I likely knew, wedged into cracks in the rock, some of which stained with seemingly fresh blood. A wide circle of torches, surrounding the dead center of the room. And Jack the Ripper, sitting in the middle of all of it, clutching her katana as if it were her child, donning her practically trademark ouedan styled uniform, ironically enough spotless like it'd just been bought yesterday. Aside from the hachimaki – the hachimaki was dyed crimson.

On the floor in front of her, somewhat unsurprising, was Rena, entirely motionless and likely bleeding, although the lighting was poor enough that it was impossible for me to tell. I'd rather not seen any more of my close friends gutted, to be perfectly honest.

"You're here."

"I'm here." I reflect her obvious statement. "So what am I here to do? You could've just killed me before… Like you killed everyone else."

"Think what you feel like. Free thinking got you into this mess in the first place – just like with her."

"Is that what you think?"

"She knew that Kei-chan was mine from the start. She refused to let him go."

"Because she knew you were crazy enough to slaughter innocent people in front of a police station. You kept her alive longer than the others – she did know, didn't she? You were supposed to be best friends, after all."

"It didn't matter if she knew or not. She couldn't make a difference in the end anyhow. But being who she was, she thought there was a way out – and just like everyone else, she gave up, and used Kei-chan as her last line of defense."

"And you killed him, too?"

"He never deserved any of this. I suppose it was all of our faults that led to his own suffering, but was there any chance that he could go on after all of this? He's not like us – he's different. He's not the sort who should suffer."

"Putting him out of his misery wasn't-"

"Do you have a better solution?"

I fall silent.

"…Tell me something. Have you ever made a deal with the devil before?"

I don't respond immediately – or at all, once I realize that her question makes no sense.

"You might not remember this as vividly as I do, but there's a certain thing about family ties. They're strong, and in a world like ours we can't live without them. You'd think of life without those ties – you'd be willing to do everything to keep them strong. You wouldn't want to lose them – not for anything. Your bond with Satoshi has to at least resemble this to some degree."

I understood that, at least. But I didn't see where she was going with this.

"There's a time when people like us, who live in families like our family, wonder – just what are we willing to do to keep our family bonds strong? But even if we think we can do anything, how can we really hold on to ties that are under so much strain that they can break at a moment's notice? The answers are simpler than it might seem – we are willing to do everything. Because without those ties, people like us are truly nothing." She looks towards me. "And we can only protect those ties through destruction. It doesn't matter what – if our family is preserved we destroy, again and again, until our last breath."

"What do you mean, our family? I'd certainly never resort to any of this."

"Hm… Not even if it was for your brother?"

I hesitate to respond. And she laughs at me.

"I wasn't ever referring to you in the first place… but it's funny – you can't deny anything I've said, can you?" She finally stands, her katana still sheathed. "There's something else you're seemingly unaware of. I'm sure by now you're familiar with the ritual of my clan – the demon sealing ritual."

"Somewhat."

"You see, the tradition of sealing a demon within the heir to the clan – such a tradition was founded on a lie."

"Interesting. You want me to care all of a sudden?"

She turns around, facing away from me, removing her coat – she's not wearing anything under it, but her chest seems bound with bandages, likely to hide her true gender while running around as Jack. But more importantly were the innumerable scars on her back – scars that almost obscured the dragon tattoo that she received many years ago.

"This tattoo – this tattoo was devised as the Sonozaki family's last resort. For almost two thousand years, there's been a secret passed to the elders of our clan – that in desperate times, when circumstances are most dire, the head of the clan may turn to that which is not of our world."

"…What?"

"To seek the soul of a demon – and by seeking that demon, turning dream into reality, but at the same time turning law into chaos. This place – as I've already told you once, this place sealed that demon since the days of our ancestors."

"And you came here… And with the tattoo –"

"We became one." She pauses briefly. "This is what I am willing to do for my family… But even then, after we'd killed once, then twice, then perhaps twice more, I knew it was never enough. I knew it would never be enough."

"…"

She covers herself with the coat once more. "But I had a ray of light shine through all of that fog – Kei-chan, the only person who could've just taken me away from it all."

I suddenly put things together.

"And…"

"Stopping me from taking your life away that day in front of the station for the sake of your brother wasn't enough. Rena had to keep striving for perfection that was never achievable. And when it call fell apart, she had to take him away from me as well. That's the only reason why I killed her. Because she's just an ignorant abomination that never deserved to be born."

"Everything… Was for your family?"

"And all of it amounted to nothing. And now I'm going to kill you. Because I'll be damned if I can't leave Hinamizawa behind me after all of this."

She only wanted to escape. She desperately clung to her family while she secretly wanted to leave them behind – she was used by her own kin, turned against everyone else around her. She was willing to kill me. She was willing to speak ill of Rena even though she was already dead. She loved Keiichi and wanted to run away from everything with him. And here she is, the soul of a demon entwined with her own, already having fallen of the edge of despair and wanting nothing more than to live for crimes she felt forced to commit.

Mion became Jack the Ripper because she adored her family. But the feeling was never mutual. She was always a tool, sent to collect my uncle's money.

But I'm not dying either. Maybe because I feel the same way –

Shin gave me what was left of his life to live, likely from the moment we met. And I'm not about to throw that away, even if Mion's gone through so much worse.

"I'm not letting you get away with any of this, if that's what you think." I speak with at least a somewhat solid resolution in my heart.

"I didn't expect you to." She then tosses me her katana. I look at her in bewilderment.

"What are –"

"We're going to fight. You're going to die fighting me."

"You're twice my size, you know."

"That hasn't stopped you before, has it?" From within her coat sleeves, two more katanas suddenly appear, both unsheathed and splashed with fresh blood – likely Rena's.

"This isn't exactly a club activity…" I try to maintain my resolve as I struggle to even hold the katana straight.

"Then let's make this a penalty game." She speaks words that were typical for her – but there's no life in any of them.

With that she finds it fit to run towards me. I'm already struck with fear, but with some manner of luck I raise the katana in such a way that when she swings at me I manage to block her – but the katana is sent flying from my hands a moment later. I don't have the reflexes or the physical strength to dodge the swings of a trained killer, but I can't exactly just stand still and expect for her not to hit me.

I run – it was the best thing I could come up with at the moment.

I pass Rena – I find that she has a cleaver in one of her hands. Hearing Jack behind me, I quickly pry it from her fingers and run off into the darkness. This was a much more conventional weapon, at least in the sense that I could carry it and probably swing it without too much trouble.

But the moment she lunges towards me I can't help but think that it won't have any use whatsoever.

So I was certainly surprised when I manage to wave off her first katana with the cleaver – the second one, however, is free to stab me at any moment. But she twists her wrist and rams me in the head with the hilt of the blade.

I knew this wasn't going to work. But I was still going with it. In my daze I manage to swing the cleaver with all my might – and I manage to scrape her, even if only slightly. She backs away and while I grip my head in pain she rushes in for another strike.

But at this point I've gotten a good enough feel for how fast she moves. There's little chance I'd survive any substantial damage, but as long as I wasn't hit…

She grazes me again, once again just barely missing me. I once again retaliate, but I can't swing the cleaver hard enough to do anything to her. She pushes me away and takes a single swing – in my confusion I trip and fall, avoiding the attack. I manage to get away fast enough to put some more distance between us –

Sure, I could probably get away with avoiding her strikes, but there was the simple reality that this fight had to end. There had to be something I could do – some sort of weakness that I could exploit. But she seemed too perfect. There were no holes for me to punch through to get at her.

"This has gone on long enough, I think." She suddenly speaks before in seemingly a single movement draws and throws a dagger towards me – my eyes widen as I barely register what's headed straight towards me. There's no way of avoiding this – she was too close to miss.

And so she hits me – but only in the arm. I still shout in pain, but I grit my teeth and try to pull through – the only thing driving me at this point was my promise to Rika. I pull the dagger out of my arm with my free hand – even if only for that promise, I couldn't lose.

She moves towards me again, her katanas at the ready – this time she shows no sign of pause. She simply swings at me, each swing with more force than the last. I manage to deflect some of them with the cleaver, but it would never be enough.

Eventually it comes to the point where I can barely even stand. I'm too exhausted to be able to reliably avoid anything else she threw at me. My open wound made it somewhat difficult to swing the cleaver around on top of that. I had to make my last stand now – I wouldn't have another chance to if I didn't.

She steps towards me again, her cold and ruthless gaze unchanging as she moves to finally strike me down. I have no way of physically overpowering her. She's showing no signs of exhaustion, while I'm coming close to fainting.

She swings both katanas at the same time, the slash coming from my right –

I hold the cleaver purely to block – I have no intention of ever swinging it again. All it can do now is serve as a shield. I hold it to shield my shoulder and I shift my weight against it.

The katanas collide with the cleaver as planned. I'm unharmed for the moment.

For the next two seconds, she's completely open. In the time it takes for her to shift her stance and swing from the opposite side, I can theoretically do whatever I want to. My brain seems to slow down – I can see her slowly shift as if two seconds had become twenty – I know my own death is near.

I can't even hope to swing the cleaver in this small window of time –

So I move forward, and having finally recalled the small object in my pocket, I make my final move.

With Shion's taser in my free hand, I ram the cleaver into her stomach and ram the small weapon into her side.

"What…" She feels the shock resonate through her whole body –

But this isn't the end. In order to block the full force of a blow like the one I'd just narrowly shielded myself from, I had to ensure that I wouldn't let go of the hilt – so I used the dagger's hilt as reinforcement.

And dropping the cleaver, I flip the dagger in my hand and stab her twice – once in the stomach, and –

"…I didn't think you had such an obvious weakness… But I'm short. And I don't think samurai are trained to protect their lungs from attacks like this…" I gasp as the hilt sinks into the lower part of her side. I hear her katanas drop to the floor as I pull the knife free.

But that still wasn't the end. I stand behind her and push her forward – when I dropped the cleaver, the hilt became stuck in a crag in the cave floor. It landed facing up – and so she falls forward, but manages to regain control of her body long enough to turn around midair – and so the blade of the cleaver sinks into her back and pierces her chest entirely.

And she falls silent – before she laughs. I look down on her sadly – I don't understand why things had to turn out this way, but…

"I know you were willing to do anything for your family – but this is what I'm willing to do to avenge mine."

She looks upon me with a different sort of gaze – I can't really understand the emotions going through her as she dies, but that's just as expected. I can't understand why she'd do this, only because…

Only because I'd never given back to my family. I never did anything for my brother. I was never truly his sister – just someone who took that role and felt cheated when that role was taken from them.

I wonder for a moment if Nii-Nii could've ended up like this – if I wanted something badly enough, would he get if for me, no matter what he had to do? I had to assume that he would have. After all…

It isn't until now that I realize that everything I'd called my brother foolish for had no such meaning – he succumbed to the desire for escape. Escape that I could've tried to provide for him that ended up being left up to others. Mion and Irie had both offered him distractions. Yomi offered him love and a different sort of cherishment. I gave him nothing – and here I am, alive and well.

I try to switch the roles around –

"I understand…" I begin. "I understand if you hate me. After all…" After all, I'm the very thing that denies her – someone like me is an incarnation of everything she stands against.

I almost expect her to say that our friendship meant absolutely nothing. I expect her to call me a hypocrite, a waste of space – anything. I expect her to vent her true feelings all at the last moment possible.

But instead, she reaches for her katana, struggling to hoist it into the air. I consider killing her right then and there- but she deserved a better final moment than that.

She lifts the blade and cuts off her own arm, all in one motion.

And she only says one thing.

"You're Jack the Ripper now…" She smiles at me, her eyes finally losing their focus as she is lost to the darkness.

Recollection of Satoko Amasuka

From that time onward, I managed to find the means to keep on living after all of that. It took some serious work, but I managed to get out of the village and made my way south – I was found by the police who had been searching the area – I was the only survivor of the whole incident, although in reality there's no telling how many people made it out of the supposed natural gas attack alive.

I was hospitalized for a few days – it became clear in the days that followed my bout with Mion that I was inevitably going to lose my mind – after all, I still carried symptoms of the Oyashiro Curse, and it would only be a matter of time before my paranoia caught up with me. In almost all cases, the only way to overcome the curse, as far as Shion had believed at any rate, was to face yourself and throw away every fear you could possibly have.

I realized that even after realizing how much of a fool I'd been my whole life, there was still no concrete way to affirm that understanding. I was still afraid of everything – everything that my brother had shielded me from my whole life. I realized that the only way I'd keep myself from falling off the deep end would be if I really accepted that I had to change.

But I'd already killed my dear friend. What more could I possibly do?

Everyone's already dead. There's no way I could possibly atone for any of it.

Aside from one thing, of course –

"You cut off your arm?" My eyes widen. This girl, who knew nothing about me, yet had ties to my village – she'd come to the right conclusion before I'd even explained it at all.

"Y-Yes, that's right… But how did you –"

She points to my right shoulder. "What you've got there is clearly prosthetic. Your left shoulder moves differently from your right."

I laugh, impressed with her rock solid deduction. "Well I suppose it does. Yes, I did cut off my own arm – but three years later."

"You survived under Syn… Ah, I mean, the conditions of the curse for three years?"

"It wasn't simple… In fact, it never would have worked out if the government's protection program hadn't placed me in that orphanage."

"An orphanage? Any relation to the murders?"

"Oh, no, not at all – but I was able to tear myself away from my past life – you see, I was more or less hired as a maid for a rich family about a year after everything happened. I was given a different name as part of my role – it was as if I'd been reborn as a different person. I managed to hide it all away until I returned to the orphanage one summer, and –"

"The cicadas?"

"Hm… Right again. The cicadas." I sigh. "And so I went through with it. Much like my brother had I learned that even the most peaceful respite doesn't last forever – your phantoms chase you until the day you die. And so I decided then that I would accept my failure as a human being by paying my brother back."

"To suffer enough pain to reflect the pain he'd fought in your place for all those years…"

"Right. That was why I did it – of course I wasn't able to return to my new duties, but at that point I could manage well enough on my own – I'd get paid for all of my past service the day I turned sixteen, and I'd have enough to get around for awhile."

"So then you just started over?"

"Yes, for lack of a better phrase. I never forgot what Mion told me when she died – upon her death I was named Jack the Ripper."

"And what exactly did that entail?"

"I'd do what she did – from that moment onward I'd do anything to preserve my family's bonds. No matter the cost. Of course my husband, Juusa Amasuka, didn't come along until I was in my early twenties… But from then on I did what was expected of me."

"Wait… That name sounds familiar… If I recall correctly, wasn't he –"

"Yes, he was the man that was found dead on a stranded boat near… Rokkenjima, I believe it was. He was shot at point blank, the poor man. I'd bless his soul, but he wasn't exactly in the best line of work to be getting into heaven any time soon." I laugh.

"So you've been a single mother?"

"Yes, that was the case… You sound skeptical. It's not as if I didn't finish my primary schooling. I ended up collecting everything he owned – and all of his money, at that." I laugh. "I won't say there wasn't a struggle at first. But my brother had gone through so much worse for my sake – and now, I had two twins to take care of. I had to show them the same love and care that my brother had shown me. That was my job as Jack the Ripper – that was the job that Mion had given to me in her dying breaths."

She falls silent, contemplating all of it. "So in the end… Mion was the one responsible for everything?"

"Well, I don't know about that."

"But… Didn't you just –"

"Believe me, for the longest time I wanted to just leave it at that – but I've had many years to think about it, and since that time I've had… Some reserves about what really happened to my hometown."

"…"

"Don't get me wrong – Mion was most definitely Jack the Ripper. But the more I think things over, the more I find the murders in 1983 – prior to the gas leak, of course – to make little sense if she was the one."

"…After all, she did everything for her family. So why would she deliberately repeat the actions that had drawn suspicion to her family in the first place?"

"Exactly. Mion wouldn't intentionally frame her family. When the first body was found in Okinomiya she must've realized that things weren't going to end the way she needed them to. So she took matters into her own hands."

"Then the answer… What's the answer?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that, my dear. At this point, the truth is with Mion's heart – I've already shared the only piece of it that I kept within my own. There's no one who can know the answer now. The truth is in the past."

She sits there in silence, staring into her cup of coffee – before she suddenly comes to some kind of realization. "…There isn't anyone, is there?" She then stands. "I'm sorry, but I've got to go. I'll try to pay you back for the coffee somehow."

I shake my head. "That won't be necessary… But I have to ask – where exactly are you going?"

"I thought there was nothing left there, but I was wrong… I have to return to Hinamizawa."

"Are you sure that's wise?"

"I'm not. But… You spoke of avenging your broken bond with your brother. Of the bond that Mion killed people to preserve with her own family… You see, I share a similar kind of bond – with everyone in that village. Everyone in Hinamizawa is important to me so… So I have to do everything possible to save that bond before it's too late."

I wasn't quite expecting reasoning quite like that. "Hm… Very well, then you go do that. Just don't do anything you might regret."

She nods her head, thanks me for my time, and leaves the booth, heading towards the door, only a few feet away. She swings the door open, her eyes now filled with some sort of arrogant determination. Something that was just so familiar to me –

I then see a flash – it was just an instant, but as her figure was enveloped by the sunlight –

I felt like I knew. It's like in that moment I could see deep into her heart. It was something I'd done in the past, but only with my own children… Only with people close enough to me that I could understand them inside and out.

I feel the need to speak. I feel the need to recognize that bond – a bond that I had thought had long since been severed. But this feeling was simply too primal to be misplaced. There was no doubt in my mind –

"It was good to see you again… Goodbye, Rika." I fall silent for a moment. "…You're Jack the Ripper now." I'm not sure why I felt the urge to say either of those things, but… it felt right to. I stare at her as she seems to have frozen in place, unsure of what to say in response.

But eventually she speaks. "…Goodbye, Satoko… I'll do my best." And with that, she disappears behind the door, heading out to face her responsibilities and desires at their crossroad.

I knew not of her purpose. I knew not of how or why the miracle that allowed us to meet like this had even occurred in the first place.

All I knew was that whatever she was going to do, she was going to succeed in doing it. Because even without our promise she would never give up – not ever.

(BREAK)

From Beyond the Looking Glass

The Endless Sorcerer

Well, it would seem that things have come to quite the climax. Without a doubt, you should now be able to perceive the truth from the lies – there's little more for us to unveil, and it would seem that the way things are right now the conclusion is drawing ever closer. I can only hope that you find your light in the darkness and come to the right conclusion…

Without a doubt, the reality of a 'demon' is ever prevalent. But don't we all have our personal demons? Or don't most of us, at least? Unfortunately, as you may have already figured, the 'demon' of this tale isn't quite as conventional a demon. It can't be explained through any sort of normal logic – there's simply too much that sets the world as it is apart from the world that we're expected to know and understand. But even then, there's a truth to it all.

Only a demon can be the one true culprit. That much remains true. After all, no 'human' is capable of the Okinomiya Murders, just as no 'human' is capable of orchestrating the Hinamizawa Disaster.

But observing this tale – this tale perhaps redefines 'human' and 'demon' altogether.

But even as everything around us changes and our world becomes more and more distorted as this final twilight approaches us, our rules, as they always have been, remain constant.

A killer is defined as one who kills intentionally, with the motive to kill not including defensive exercise. A killer may kill accidently, but the majority of their murders must be intentional.
The detective is not the culprit.
At the start of all tales, the school girl's death goes unresolved.
At the end of all tales that take place in 1983, Miyo Takano erases Hinamizawa and its inhabitants.
At the end of all tales, every resident of Hinamizawa is dead.
Until conflict with Okinomiya begins, no visitors from Okinomiya are present in the village on any day or evening of any attack.
Okinomiya citizens are not conspirators. The mob is not a collection of culprits. The culprit may, however, be amongst the mob.
Starting on the eve of the Watanagashi Festival, Miyo Takano will disappear and will be inactive for two days.
The one true culprit is capable of all killings.
Only the detective and their assistant can confirm a dead body.
The Hinamizawa Syndrome, when administered, is administered by injection.
Only Irie, Miyo, and Mion are capable of administering the injection.
The man with the black hat is not the culprit.
I am not the culprit.
Miyo Takano is not the culprit.
Satoshi Houjou is dead.

The fact of the matter is… There is a degree of truth in the foundation of this tale all on its own.

In all fragments, the events leading up to 1983 are identical to Satoko's recollection. I'd get into the specifics about different cat-boxes, but I don't believe it's necessary.

Furthermore, there is the reality that at the end of all tales, every resident of Hinamizawa is dead, despite Satoko's clear survival. Does this tale put this fact into question? Of course not. You're just not reading into it enough if you think so.

But enough of that…

…Surely, you must want to know about the Truth of Jack the Ripper.

Of course, there is no faulty in this fragment's perspective. Mion Sonozaki and Jack the Ripper are two names associated with the same person. And Jack the Ripper is the mind behind both Bloody Christmas and the Okinomiya Murders of 1982.

Of course given this, one could assume that Mion is the culprit of the murders in 1983.This cannot be assumed. That is all there is to it.

And on that note, there is something far more peculiar that needs to be addressed.

There is great similarity between Jack the Ripper and Mion. But are the two necessarily the same? In all reality, we need to examine the persona that became 'Jack the Ripper' from a slightly different angle to truly understand it.

The Sonozaki family gave birth to Jack the Ripper. Perhaps he was their greatest flaw of all, at that. But the matter of how Jack the Ripper became to be remains to be seen. Perhaps he was born during the Dam War. Perhaps he was the result of the growing tension between the two sisters that we see explode in this tale. Perhaps he was Mion's way of giving up on living a normal life and accepting her resignation of her humanity.

But think of Jack the Ripper this way – think of Mion and Shion as two siblings, destined to tear each other apart. Think of Jack the Ripper as a third sibling – an intermediate entity that mediates between the two, taking Mion's desperate but quiet hatred for everything around her and Shion's unshakeable will and turning them both into something awe inspiring, but terrible at the same time. A third sibling that serves no other purpose than to stand as a testament to the reality both want to reject so badly – Mion's reality of her eternal solitude and Shion's reality of her unrequited love – and at the same time their despair over one another – given tangible form. Tangible form that wants nothing more than to see everything burn for the sake of seeing everything burn.

But now, from the other perspective, the perspective of the observer of that time long since past –

Yes, Jack the Ripper, the Sonozaki Demon, is the will of Mao Sonozaki, bound to Mion Sonozaki's own will. Or rather, what's left of it after nearly a thousand years. Mao Sonozaki found death to be the one true solution to everything, and so Mion went to him in her time of desperation and took on his will – but ultimately death solved nothing.

And in the same vein as this acknowledgement, it's also peculiar to note the lack of the Furude Demon in this tale. Perhaps this was the acknowledgement of a Sonozaki Demon that perhaps exists alongside it, or perhaps there is more to the existence of these two demons than is perhaps made clear. I'd be expecting the latter, if I were you.

But now for the main event – the Sonozaki Tunnel Murders.

This will likely be the hardest obstacle for you to overcome yet. But rest assured – the future holds even greater trials for you. As the conditions of these bodies become murky, I will provide for you the basic facts of the tale.

Shion Sonozaki is dead.
Keiichi Maebara is dead.
Here, being dead is classified as not leaving your room after Satoko does. It would be lovely if you could figure out the reason why it's like that for this scenario specifically.
The detective is unable to identify the possibility of a body for Rika Furude. Therefore, Rika goes eternally missing.
When Jack the Ripper is witnessed, Mion is still alive.
'Jack the Ripper' did not kill any of the children.
'Jack the Ripper' merely injures Rena.
'Jack the Ripper' is not treated as the culprit, and therefore does not have to abide by any of the rules of a culprit.
In order for Mion Sonozaki to be the culprit, it must be possible for her to kill Shion, kill Keiichi, and injure Rena in the allotted time.

I'd say it's about time that we played another time game, don't you think?

All of the murders in the tunnels happened over a period of 30 minutes.
Satoko's perspective is solid – none of the victims made any kind of noise.

All doors were locked. Not that this needs to be said.

There are seven rooms that were part of this string of murders. There are more rooms, but none of them are relevant in any way.

A relevant room is considered to be a room that was used by the culprit to either kill a victim or reach a room with a victim. In other words, if the culprit was in a room at any time, it is considered to be a relevant room.

There are no more than four secret entrances connecting no more than two rooms less than one room away from each other together (in other words, there are secret passages that go through no more than eight of the rooms). When a secret entrance is opened it stays opened.

As all doors were locked, if the killer is human, they must have made use of these secret passages.

None of the doors were touched until Satoko left her room.

At that point all doors cannot be considered locked. But does this mean that at that point none of them were locked?

The layout for these rooms is as such:

Rika(Missing) Rena (Injured by Jack)
(Empty Rm.) Keiichi (Dead)
Mion's Rm. (Empty Rm.)
Satoko's Rm. (Storage)
Shion (Dead) (Empty Rm.)
(Empty Rm.) (Empty Rm.)

Any secret entrance going into the storage room can move the culprit two rooms over (in other words, the culprit can move to the storage room and then to another room at the time cost of only one room) and still be considered as one passage. Think of it as skipping over the storage room. Any passage from the storage room to the room that the culprit skips to will close, and you would have to re-open the passage, which would count as one of the four passages taken.

The peculiarities here mainly revolve around two things, at least in my opinion. There's the notion of when Rena was injured by Jack, and at the same time when Jack entered her room. What combination of four secret passages takes your culprit of choice to the victims also comes into play here, considering how the door behind Satoko, the door to Rena's room, had been locked when she entered Rika's room. Even then there are still only four passages.

But now we get to the overcomplicated part.

If the culprit is human, the culprit must have been in their own room when Satoko opened her door.

30 minutes passed between the start of the murders and the end.

It takes 4 minutes to pass between rooms.

Therefore, the culprit could not have moved back and forth between rooms more than seven times.

Ultimately there is only so much the Sonozaki demon is capable of. After all, it's already been established here that it is most certainly not the killer. But at the same time, what of the previous tale, where the murders are only possible by a 'demon'? Could the Furude Demon Nebiros be responsible for the murders in this tale as well? Then what of the

And so ends this tale… Hm? The final battle? What final battle? I tend not to take interest in things that happen after June 30th…

Hm….

Well, if you insist.

Rena Ryuugu is dead.

Mion Sonozaki is dead.

And the one true culprit killed them both.

Author's Note

Well, then, it would seem that I've finally run out of things to write about in this chapter. That's got to be a miracle all on its own.

On a quick note, for the room layout at the end, it's advisable if you copy it into some word editor and space things out to make it look better. doesn't permit extra spaces, so it looks strange because of that. The whole idea is that in the hallway there are rooms on both sides, the first room listed in a line being on the left and the second room listed being on the right.

Moving on, despite there being a fourth arc that follows this one, as it is now, the mystery is solvable.

And on the topic of that fourth arc – I don't think the fourth arc is going to contribute all that much to the overall mystery. I'm almost considering not even finishing the fourth arc now, taking this into consideration. But, if it comes to the point where a fourth are IS needed, aka if neither of my readers can figure out what the solution is, I'll make some changes to what I have planned for that arc and make it a standard thing instead of the one episode chapter that it's most likely going to be otherwise. The thing is, with the bulk of missing information that was going to be in the third arc taken into account, I might need to make a full fourth arc regardless, unless having one big 20k word chapter is under certain circumstances a good idea. I'm probably going to need some input on this, so rev up those reviews :P

There are only so many more hints I can give, though.

Up next is what I feel is far and away the strangest chapter in the entire story, if only because of how it pretty much takes a complete departure from everything even remotely Higurashi related. Hell, it's mostly not even WTC related in general.

And yes, I'm taking into account how this chapter reveals Saturn Anne to be a former KGB agent when I say that (And don't worry, that's something I plan on addressing in the fourth arc no matter what form it takes).