Hinamizawa erupted in flames, house being torn down by spikes that rapidly grew out of the ground while bodies of men, women, and children were inpiled. The ground was covered with bodies and blood. Amoung the destruction, stood one man who's face was covered in shadow while his eyes shone a very bright red. People began running towards the lone man with various weapons but were all incinerated before they even got in attacking range. Their skeletons crumpled to the ground and their weapons turned to ash. The man continued to violently murder anyone in his line of sight. The man was suddenly struck by lightning, but it didn't seem to affect him in anyway. The shadow turned around to look at the source of electricity, his eyes narrowed when he saw another person covered in shadow with shining blue eyes. The mysterious blue eyed figure released an endless stream of electricity, the raw power ripped through houses and wrapped around powerlines. The man just stood there and let himself get electricfied. It was as if the lightning itself was devouring the village whole. The blue eyed entity seized fire and waited the dust to clear. The figure's blue eyes widened in shock as it saw the shady man stand as if nothing had happened.
"No..." The blue eyed figure said with a distorted voice, "You should be dead!" The man stood silent and raised his right hand, and released electricity of his own. His lightning didn't shine a bright blue like the other shadowy figure, instead, it was a corrosive black with a rudy outlining. The dark lightning ripped through the blue eyed shadow like a large sword. The blue eyed figure fall to their knees breathing heavily. The man walked up to his weakened by and grabbed them by the neck.
"Foolish child, your powers are indeed strong. However they're not strong enough to harm me." His voice was distorted as well but held no emotion, he gripped the blue eyed person's neck even tighter. He then mercilessly beat the other figure until their face was swollen and covered in bruses. The man threw the beaten up shadow to the ground next to other distorted shadows. When the shadow's blue eyes looked at the other shadows it screamed, "No...No!" They were in so much shock they didn't notice the red eyed man picked up an ovan that was struck by a large tree of spikes. The man lifted the ovan his head and launched it at his unexpecting target. The blue eyed figure turned around just on time to see the kicthen appliance just mere seconds away from their face. "NNNNNOOOOO!" it managed to yell out before its head was crushed.
I shot up in a cold sweat, "Jesus!" I shouted just barely below a whisper, I wiped the sweat from my brow as I sighed. "These dreams are getting ridiculous..." I whispered to myself, I looked at the alarm clock Rika gave me last night. It was 4:13 in the morning. I put the alarm clock down and walked down the stairs to get something to drink. Halfway down the stairs I heard whispering come from the girl's room.
"But Rika...what if he tries to kill you again?" The worried voice I identified as Hanyuu,
Someone is trying to kill Rika? I stood near the bedroom door to listen more,
The dialouge below appiles if you did the following actions: Convice her, Shockwave, Bring back the cure, Talk down.
"Hanyuu, he's different in this world. He's friendly and kind hearted, nothing like he was before. For instance, when he first arrived here he chose to help Oryou Sonozaki instead of causing her harm." Rika sounded...off to me, like she had an older woman's voice,
"But, back when the Reapers were still around he had a lot of black tar on him...what if he's being controlled?"
"He did have a lot of tar on him. But, he's shown no signs of being controlled by it."
Are they talking about...me? And what's this of 'nothing like he was before'?
"Besides...the tar cant control him since he helped Irie develop a cure for it." Rika added, "He also decided to save Satoshi instead of killing him."
"I'm still not sure...in a few worlds he was doing everything right but suddenly acted violent for some reason..."
"Hanyuu...I know he's going to be different in this world. This time we'll beat fate, I just know it."
There was a long silence between the two. I heard someone pick up a glass bottle and start walking towards the door. I tiptoed upstairs to avoid being caught easedropping. I silently shut the guest room door and sighed in relief.
Does Rika think I'm going to kill her?And how do they even know I did all those things? I yawned suddenly feeling tired. I lied in the bedroll and tried to sleep, but Rika and Hanyuu's converstation echoed in my head.
The dialouge below appiles if you did the following actions: Zap the old hag, Overcharge, Bring back the tar, Zap Satoshi.
"Rika, ever since he arrived people have been dying."
"Sure people have died because of his actions...but he was justified." Rika sounded more...adult for some reason,
"But, about Mion's grandmother? When he first arrived he tried to kill her.
"Oryou was going to kick him out of Hinamizawa and leave him to rot. What else was he supposed to do?"
Are they talking about...me?
"Au...What about the tar the Reapers were infecting people with? When he reached to the top of that apartment building he infected everyone."
"It was either that or become infected himself."
"What about what happen to Satoshi?" Hanyuu sounded serious now,
"What about him?"
"Shion begged him to let her talk to Satoshi and calm him down but instead he tried to kill him."
"Satoshi had the syndrome...he could of hurt Shion."
"But he hurt Shion in the process."
"So? she needs to learn to get over him."
"He hurt two of your friends and you dont seem to care! His actions tell me he doesn't care about us!" Hanyuu rised her voice a little,
"But when Rena was in the clinic he admitted he felt guilty over Rena's injuriy."
"That doesn't excuse all the trouble he's caused."
Something was shuffing inside the room, "We should go to bed, otherwise we'll wake Satoko."
I tiptoed back upstairs when I heard their converstation was over. I quietly shut the door behind and sighed.
Why does Hanyuu think I'm trying to kill Rika? And how do they even know I did all those things? I suddenly felt tired, so I lied back down on my bedroll trying to get back to sleep. But Rika and Hanyuu's words kept echoing through my head.
"_! _!" Someone was whispering loudly in my ear,
"Mmmm..." I groaned covering my face with the covers,
"_, wake up!"
"Just give me five more minutes..." I yawned,
"The police department called, they say they need you."
I sat up and cracked one eye open, "What for?"
The person I can now identify has Satoko stood up and walked towards the window, "I dont know, all they said is that they need you." She opened the blinds to let the painfully bright sun rays flood into the room.
"Grrrrr why so early?" I whined as I rubbed my tired eyes,
Satoko patted my shoulder, "You better hurry. If the cops called for you it must be important."
"It better be..." After Satoko left I got dressed and went downstairs to put on my shoes, I gripped the front door knob, but I suddenly smelled something really good in the kicthen. In a trance I followed the smell into the kicthen to see breakfest laid out in front of the three girls.
"Good morning sir!" Rika greeted me,
"Good morning." I replied, "What are you guys eating?"
"Eggs and bacon, you want some?"
"Sure." Rika handed me three crispy stripes of bacon, "Thanks. I'll see you later." I walked back to the door,
"Ok, see you!"
With that I stuffed the beacon in my mouth and climbed up the nearest powerline and rode it all the way to Okinomiya.
Upon my arrival every cop at the front desk ran over me and...said things to me in japanese. Even though I couldn't understand them their facial expresstion imply that their priasing me. Did they call me here just to congratulate me?
"Ah Mr._." Ooishi called out, "You've finally made it." He smiled with a lit cigarette in his mouth,
"Yea...why'd you call me over here?" I said as I pushed through the crowd,
"Just to remind you that the Cotton Drifting Festivel is tonight."
"Yes I know..."
"And I suppose you've heard of Oyashiro's curse?"
"Yes, what about it?"
"Well there's never been feigner taking part in the Cotten Drifting before, let alone one with powers." Ooishi put out his cigarette and frowned, "Some folk may not like it."
"Are you saying someone will attack me of I go to the Cotton Drifting? Look, I can look after myself...I mean...I did fight an army of gas masked madmen who were trying to take over Okinomiya."
"Maybe your right, but still keep an eye out. And have fun at the Cotton Drifting!"
"Aren't you going to be there as well?"
"Of course, I'll be there making sure no one goes missing this year."
"Do you really think the curse will happen this year?"
"It happens every year, and with you here...it will definitely happen again."
I rolled my eyes, "Come on, no one's going to cross the Hero of Lightning." I smirked at the name these people gave me.
"Who knows, a lot of crazy things have been happening ever since your sudden appearance." He chuckled, "Crazy gunmen, a plague, and a handful of nutjobs with powers."
"Tch, and I stopped it all. If anyone tries anything I wont heistate to kick their ass!" I raised my fist in the air,
Ooishi laughed, "Always up for a fight huh? Well I guess if your so eager to get into a fight tonight then I guess everything will be fine."
"Yea, no one's going to kill me."
"You better pray it's not another person with powers."
When Ooishi spoke those words I remembered my fight with Shiroi tomorrow. What if she decides to attack tonight? What will I do? There'll be people all around the Furude Shrine. My friends will also be there. Images from last night flashed in my head, Rena risked her life to save my life and she ended up being horribly hurt...I dont want that to happen again.
"I'll catch you later Mr._." Ooishi shook my thoughts away,
"Yea, see ya."
I spent a few more minutes in the police station being worshipped by the men of the law. They gave me gifts such as food and money. I couldn't understand what they were saying until Akasaka saw me and translated their praises for me. Despite all the thankful words coming out of the cop's mouths, my mind was on the Cotton Drifting tonight. I couldn't stop thinking about Oyashiro's Curse. Will the curse continue tonight? And if so, who will die? And who will disappear?
After leaving the OPD, I went to Angel Mort I ordered what I wanted to go. I didn't want Shion bugging me about Yoshimi. I ate my food peacefully on top a building. It was relaxing, no one tried to kill me, no one was constantly praising, no one tried to put me in a dress, no one was around to disturb the sweet bliss of silence...
"Hey, _!" Yoshimi shouted from behind an opened door,
...until now.
"What are you doing up here?" She sat right next to me,
"Eating." I said with food still in my mouth,
"Oh."
"What are you doing here? Are you stalking me?"
"N-No! I just...come up here to relax sometimes!" She snapped,
"Calm down Yoshi, I was only kidding." I resurred her,
"Oh...ok..."
"So you said you come up here to relax?"
"Mmhmm." She nodded, "Sometimes my neighbors can be noisy so I come up here until they quiet down."
"You live here?"
She nodded again,
"Ah I see." I said as I continued to eat quietly, Yoshimi looked out into far off in the distance. A few minutes passed and I ate everything in my to go box. "Ahhhh, that was delicous."
"Um...would you...oh no no." Yoshimi spoke just above a whisper,
"What? Did you say something?"
"W-Would you like to see my apartment? My neighbors are probably gone now anyways."
I put my hand under my chin looking like I was deep in thought, "Sure, why not"
Her face lit up, "Really!"
I nodded,
She stood and grabbed my arm and dragged me all the way to her apartment.
I was sitting Yoshimi's living room waiting for her to get changed taking in everything that surrounded the room. There was a picture on top of a nightstand of Yoshimi when she was younger with a group of other kids, I looked at the picture more closely. I could identifiy Yoshimi among the crowd, she was the only child with black hair. She was standing in the middle of the four other children. The one on her left was a girl with brown hair and green eyes, she wore her hair in a ponytail. She wore a green short sleeve shirt and brown cargo pants. Next to her was a boy, with wavy long red hair and blue eyes, he wore a black long sleeved shirt and knee high blue jeans. To Yoshimi's other side stood another girl with blonde hair wrapped in pig tails and bright blue eyes, she wore a pink tank top and short blue jeans. Next to her was another boy, He had short brown hair and very dark brown eyes, he wore a short sleeved blue shirt and blue jeans. Another picture rested on the nightstand, this one was of an obese man wearing a suit wrapping his arms around the children.
"Those are my friends." I turned my head to see Yoshimi changed out of her shirt and baggy pants and wore a white tank top and shorts, a sad smile was palstered across her face.
"Did something happened to them?"
"No, before my mother adopted me I lived in an orphanage." She grabbed the photo of the man in the suit, "The orphanage was run by this man, Tushi Goto."
"Were you close to him?"
"We all were...he was the closest thing to family we had back then..." Her smile faded,
"What's wrong?"
"Oh...nothing, I just miss them is all."
"Um...What are your friend's names?" I handed her the picture so she could point them all out to me, "The girl with brown hair is Saya and the boy next to her is Tomo. The girl on the other side of me is Reisan and next to her is her brother Mokoto." She started smiling again,
"If you miss them so much why not just visit them?"
"It's been years, they've forgotten about me."
"Oh come on! no one can forget a beautiful girl like you." I realized what I just said and turned beet red, Yoshimi turned scarlet and looked away trying to hide her blush.
(The dialouge below only appilies if you saved Satoshi)
The doorbell suddenly rang, "I'll get it!" Yoshimi ran for the door her face still ablaze. I sat down on the couch and waited for Yoshimi to get back, "S-Shion!" oh no...
"Hey Yoshi, why's your face all red?" She asked concerned,
"U-um...well..." Before Yoshimi could muster up something to say Shion glanced over Yoshimi's shoulder and grinned when she saw me,
"Oh get it! You two were getting intimate!" She shouted loud enough for the whole damn building to hear,
"N-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-no it's not like that!" Yoshimi threw her arms up, "H-he he was on the roof and looked kinda lonely."
"Aw so you wanted to keep him company! That's so sweet!" Shion giggled,
"Yes. No! Not like that!"
"Yea yea yea." She waved Yoshimi off, "Anyways I thought you'd be hungrey so I brought you some leftover steak we had."
"Oh, thank you." She took the bag Shion had given her,
"Can I come in for a little bit?"
Yoshimi blinked, "S-Sure."
Oh no. "Hiya _!" Shion greeted me,
"Hi." I muttered,
"What brings you here?"
"I was eating on the roof until Yoshimi invited me to her apartment."
"Oh? Why was she on the roof with you?"
"My neighbors were being noisy so I went to the roof like I always do to get some quiet." Yoshimi responded for me,
"But then why would you want to invite him back to your apartment?"
"Um...I...hm..."
"And dont you think your little underdressed?" Shion pointed to Yoshimi's shorts that showed a lot of her leg, Yoshimi blushed and tried to cover some of her thighs with her tank top. "I just changed into something more comfortable..." Yoshimi whimpered,
Shion tried to hold back her laughter, "Okay, that's enough Shion. Leave the poor girl alone." I said,
"Alright..." Shion whined, "Oh, you know the Cotten Drifting is tonight right?"
"Yea I know, everyone's been talking about it."
"Do you think the curse will happen this year?" Shion's smiling face to that of concern,
"No, but if it does happen I'll be there to stop whoever it is that's been killing and kidnapping people."
"But what if it's not a person at all?" Her expression darkened, "What if it's a demon?"
"A demon?" I repeated,
"_ can stop them." Yoshimi answered for me, "He's overcome an army that was trying to take over Okinomiya. I doubt one demon is going to stop _."
Shion had a slight smilie on her face, "Maybe your right." For a while everyone was silent, no one wanted to talk about the curse anymore, "Anyway, I should probably leave you two be."
"Okay, I'll see you tonight." Yoshimi said,
"Yea! See ya!" Yoshimi lead Shion out the door, "Mmmm, this smells really yummy."
I laid down on the couch with my hands behind my head, "You really dont think a demon is killing people during the Cotton Drifting do you?"
"Hmmm...I dont know...could be." She replied, then she continued to devour the steak.
I thought back to the nightmare I had last night. Are my dreams trying to warn me of a demons arrival? That man in my nightmare...was he the demon that continues the curse every year? Whatever, if that demon sets foot in Hinamizawa I'll put an end to Oyashiro's curse. However...in my dream the demon was unaffected by electricity...so how do I stop him?
"_? Are you okay?"
"Huh? Oh yea I'm fine." I sat up to looked at her, "Why do you ask?"
"You were just quiet all of a sudden."
"I was just thinking that's all."
"Are you worried about what Shion said?"
"Um...no why would I be?"
She stood up and walked over to me, "Well, I saw the look on your face when she said demon."
"Wh-What look?"
"Is something bothering you?"
I couldn't hide it from Yoshimi, she knows I'm worried of this demon coming to Hinamizawa. "Well...something is bothering me..."
I spent sometime telling her my dream. I told her every detail, the demon, the blue eyed figure, the corpses impiled on spikes, the village covered in fire, I even descirbed the deaths I saw.
"Wow...what an awful dream..." she whispered, "But it could be just a dream."
"But, it felt so...real...I could even feel the fire surrounding the two shadows."
She put her thumb under her chin, "Who do you think the blue eyed shadow was?"
"I'm not sure, they're voice was distorted it was hard to tell who it was."
"I have blue eyes, maybe the figure was me?"
"But they were shooting electricity out of their hands."
"Oh that's right..."
We were both quiet for a few minutes trying to come up with answers. I tried replaying the dream in my head to find something I missed. But, it was no use.
"I wouldn't worry too much though..." Yoshimi begun, "Your strong, you've proved that ever since you came to Hinamizawa. You single handedly stopped the Reapers, a plague, the First Sons, and a crazy woman with powers. I dont think one man can stop you, not when you get stronger with each battle."
"You sure think highly of me..."
She giggled, "Of course, you've done things nobody could possibly do!"
"You know you've helped me beat the First Sons, yet you dont take any credit for it."
She looked down on her feet, "I-I just dont want all the attention..."
"Why? It's great people just hand you food and money."
"I...just dont want the attention..." She repeated,
"Why?"
"I dont want to talk about it..."
"Is everything okay? You know you can tell me if something bothering you. If someone is trying to find you I can get rid of them with a-"
"I SAID I DONT WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!"
I flinched at Yoshimi's sudden burst of anger. Did I say something that offened her? I kept quiet waiting for Yoshimi to yell something else. Instead, she glared at me through her bangs. "Uh...um...I'm sorry..."
She didn't say anything, she continued to glare daggers at me. "Uh...I guess I should go..." I stood up and walked to the door, "I'm really sorry Yoshimi..."
Yoshimi shot up and stomped over to me. She pushed me out the door and slammed the door in my face. I was dumbstruck, I've never seen Yoshimi angrey before. It's...frightening to say the least. I wanted to see if she was okay, but I know she needs time to vent.
I signed, "Nice going _..."
After Yoshimi kicked me out of her apartment, I decided to head back home until the festival started. What was with her anyway? I just wanted to help her. And the way she reacted...if she is running away from someone she must really care about them. I signed and continued to walk the dirt path. I didn't use the powerlines like I usaully do, I needed time to think. I suddenly bumped into someone, I looked up and saw Tomitake. "Sorry _, I wasn't paying attention."
"It's fine..." I said nonchatlantly,
"Is something wrong?" He asked,
"Yoshimi's mad at me..." I answered,
"Yoshimi? But she's such a sweet girl! And you two are so close!" I didn't reply, I looked at the ground feeling horrible. Tomitake noticed this and patted me on the shoulder, "Hey, dont worry. I bet you guys will forget about the whole thing by tomorrow."
"I'm not so sure...she was pretty steamed..."
"What happened exactly? Do you guys get into a fight?"
"Well, that does sound non like her..." Tomitake put his hand under his chin deep in thought,
"I think your right though. If someone is trying to find her, it's someone that was close to her."
I remembered the photo of Yoshimi and her friends, maybe Yoshimi is trying to hide from them for some reason. Or maybe that old guy, maybe their trying to drag her back to the orphanage...but she was adopted by someone. Why would they want her back? Did they know Yoshimi's adopted mother was killed?
"What's on your mind?"
"Huh? Oh, I just remembered Yoshimi had a picture of her friends and another picture of a man in her apartment. Not only that, but they all lived in the same orphanage."
"I see..." Tomitake closed his as he thought silently, "But I honestly wouldn't worry about to much. Yoshimi is the type of person not to hold a grudge, you'll see tonight at the Cotton Drifting she'll forget the whole thing happened."
"I hope your right..."