The Most Reliable Chapter

Time marches on, but for those who dwell within the confines of the Hollow Forest certainly cannot tell. For those who are fighting for what they believe to be their destinies time is the least relevant concept to them. Day and night are a negligible part of a day to day routine that all of them have effectively abandoned. But now, as time forces them to recognize it, everything shall finally reach that flashy climax I may have mentioned. Of course it isn't over yet, not by a long shot. But where we are now, I suppose you could consider all questions answered. Of course, this excludes the great mystery that my old competitor has left intangible and indistinguishable from the series of lies she has woven to preserve her existence. But as I owe said lie my very life I cannot be so ungrateful as to demand an answer to that as well.

Anyhow, no matter what relevance I may have to the situation, I can say with certainty that this is your climax. I can grant you that much. The question is a matter of whether or not said climax is truly worth what is going to be sacrificed in return. But I'm sure our little liar has already prepared enough truth for you at this point that you can come to a conclusion fairly quickly.

~Dr. Saturn Anne

The Pivotal Actors are as follows (bolded character gets the perspective):
Saya (Age Undefined; Hair: Undefined)
Yoko Narukami (Age 15; Hair: short, silver; Eyes: Red)
Irie Kyosuke
Shion Sonozaki
Satoshi Houjou

I entered the clinic with my wits about me. I had nothing to fear anymore – Yoko was safe, at least for the moment, and I could finally resolve everything I needed to.

Now is the time. Now is the time that I finally come out with the truth. Because I have lied to you – all of you, for quite some time at that.

At this point you must be suspicious. Clearly I have not been truthful with you, and because of that I may have made things harder for you all to understand. I apologize first and foremost for that. But I cannot help myself – deceit is simply a thing I am proficient in. But I assure you, I no longer have the desire or the motive to lie – simply because everything has changed.

I will not mince words here. I woke up without a single clue as to who I was. I regained what memories I revealed to you all when I regained them. But there was still some deception involved – I didn't explain everything. And instead I brought about an inconsistency that did not occur to me at the time. If you had discovered it then you already know the primary focus of my deception.

My memories as a whole – I remember a far greater deal that I originally let on. Put simply, the majority of my memories returned as you saw them return – when I encountered that man. That man, for whose sake I was willing to deceive everyone around me to protect. I could never tell a soul about him – not even Yoko, my beloved younger sister.

In my state when I stumbled upon Yoko, in all practicality I would have stabbed her on sight. But with a single look at her, I knew. I knew everything about her. Simply because I knew her once before. It saddens me that she simply doesn't remember. But in the end I suppose it was better for the both of us that things stayed that way.

In the end I never told her about him. I never so much as mentioned a single detail about my encounter with him, if only for the hope that Yoko would never be able to remember him.

I didn't know the details at the time. That was why I protected him. But once I stumbled upon Yoko everything changed. Now, I fully intend to kill him. Because of the terrible things he did – not only to me, but to everyone around him.

I know now, no matter how kind he had once been to me, no matter how loving a father figure he may have been, that he must die. Because he betrayed me and left me for dead, but most importantly because he is the one who set all of this in motion.

And because of what happened to Yoko.

I reach into the pocket of the jacket I had been given to by that strange woman earlier who had been a member of that resistance group. Inside was the cellular device she had given to me. Apparently these were relatively hard to come by, but they could emulate a phone call over a long distance without any sort of wires being needed.

I opened the phone and dialed the number that the woman had told me to. I knew there was no one around me, so this call couldn't be overheard.

The call was answered by a man. A rather weak sounding man, but a man none the less.

"Are you inside?" His greeting was straight to the point.

"Yes. I was told to –"

"I know what you were told to do. They were my orders in the first place."

"Who exactly are you?"

"That is of no concern. More importantly you have a job to do."

"What exactly am I doing? I haven't been told quite just yet."

"Your job is to break into the lower level of the clinic. You should be able to do that. After all, you spent how many years rotting away down there?"

"…You know who I am?"

"I know plenty of things. More things than I would ever want to know. I know things that even you can't even dream about."

"A bold statement."

"A true statement. Regardless, you should be capable of opening that door."

"I'd think that there would be plenty of resistance in a place like this. This is their home base."

"Remember, illusion to illusion. I'm sure you're familiar with that phrase?"

"…But I'm not sure that I can manage all of that."

"The bottom line is that there are no observers from the outside to observe what happens in that clinic. No one even observed the coat you were wearing or this cell phone outside of our controlled environment. The only reason why this call is even happening is because I'm on the outside... Well, there are other conditions that apply hear but those aren't quite as important at the moment."

"That theory sounds familiar. But I don't think I need to point out more than once that it's just a theory."

"There is no other way. Rely upon it. No one has observed your person. No one has observed anything about you – you can be carrying any amount of firepower on you. The reality may be entirely different, or it might not have. No one observed otherwise – therefore it is all possible. More importantly…"

"No one ever observed that I was…"

"I see you have the right idea. Then you must remember now. You can do it. You and only you can do it, because you are different from the rest of them." With that the call disconnected. It ended rather abruptly, but I assumed he didn't have all the time in the world to talk.

He had a point. He was right about what he had said.

Even though I said I would not lie to any of you anymore, I'm afraid I have to lie one more time. I'm not even entirely sure what will happen, but my memories – they are mostly intact. I must lie again, for the sake of remembering.

Or will I be lying? Can you trust what I'm saying?

From the stairwell nearby, four men emerge. Apparently I had made enough noise that they had heard me coming.

And so, in the moment they were upon me, my eyes once again took on that haze of purple.

All four of them stopped in their tracks, observing my transfiguration firsthand. But they were not true observers. Because they were trapped down here, just like I was.

In a matter of seconds what appeared to be black antlers seemed to grow out of my head in an incredibly painful process. In the next my eyes took on the purple haze entirely, and my vision became remarkably…red. My vision seemed to resemble that of a black and white photo, with the only difference being that all traces of white were blood red.

My eyes flashed. Memories continued to flash before my eyes. That man appeared once again. Many of my flashes involved that man. But these flashes seemed to go even further back in time.

In my hands, a long golden sword appeared. The blade itself was shaped very strangely – it was as if it were a large golden tree branch with seven smaller branches.

And then I knew. And then I knew everything there was to know.

This weapon was the Onigari no Ryuou. This weapon belonged to…

Hainiryun Leasomuru Jieda. My…mother?

No, perhaps an extension of her. Perhaps what she left behind. She might as well be my mother, although it is more accurate to say that we are one and the same.

That had to be correct.

Yes, that's right.

With a single swing of the massive weapon all four of the men drop dead on the floor. I take a step forward to find my ability to walk remarkably unchanged. I assume that the stairwell those men had emerged from would be my ticket to where I needed to go.

I made my way down the stairwell. I hear more footsteps, and so I evade the men by hiding behind a tall cabinet that was off to the side. They pass me without an issue and I am able to proceed further.

Oh, I'm sorry. I lied.

I faced the four of them head on and with a single swing of the Onigari no Ryuou I sever the heads of all four of them. They drop to the floor and I walk over their dead bodies.

I continue down the hallway. Another man approaches. Once he stares at me for a few seconds he realizes that I'm not supposed to be there. But he simply runs straight forward at me, and with the small weapon I had on me I was able to get a running jump and stab him between the eyes.

Oh, I'm sorry. I lied.

He takes one look at me and then turns away, running in fear in the opposite direction. But with my inhuman speed I manage to catch up to him and I thrust the Onigari no Ryuou through his chest. I wrench the blade out of him, but with the seven branches it takes a bit longer since the blade had wedged itself through most of his ribs and his heart at the same time.

On the other end of the hallway is another man who apparently takes notice of me. I quickly run out of his line of sight and as he comes down the hallway stab him in the knee. He kneels over and I quickly send the weapon through his back approximately where his heart would be. He falls over and I step over him and quickly head down the hallway, assuming that I was heading in the right direction.

Oh, I'm sorry. I lied.

On the other end of the hallway is another man who apparently takes notice of me. He turns away at the sight of the Onigari no Ryuou, but as he turns I somehow manage to stop time altogether. I rather slowly walk up towards him and strike along his neck. As time resumes, my blade has already returned to my side and his neck essentially explodes from the inside. His blood sprays but I pay no mind and I continue onward.

I find another stairwell. As I proceed down it I get an uncanny feeling that I've been here before – but of course I've been here before. I spent most of my life down here. At the bottom two more men are waiting. They apparently hear me coming down the stairs but I manage to hide as they turn around and head upward.

Oh, I'm sorry. I lied.

I find another stairwell. As I proceed down it I get an uncanny feeling that I've been here before – but of course I've been here before. I spent most of my life down here. At the bottom two more men are waiting. Without even giving them the chance to run for their lives I kill them both on the spot with the Onigari no Ryuou.

I finally reach what I believe to be my destination – the rather large and well built doorway that would lead to the lower level of the clinic that I now had very little trouble remembering. The doorway itself was sealed very tightly.

I get the door open. Does it really matter how I did it? All that matters is that it was opened. Either I discovered by some stroke of luck how to get the door opened or I slashed it in half with the Onigari no Ryuou. At this point I could care less.

Going into this closed off area of the clinic I was finally able to slow down and take in everything. I knew there would be no one at all in this section – the only person I would find would be him.

The clinic's lower level was very poorly maintained. It was teeming with rodent life and most of the lights seemed to be broken entirely. The entire area was very dimly lit. I could barely see where I was going.

With each step I took I saw flashes of this very corridor – the only difference being that it was in the state it was years ago, while I lived here under his care. I was almost brought to tears. I had only ever been living in the outside world for about a year before that disaster happened – this place had always been my true home.

My mother, Hainiryun, was never around. I doubt I saw her more than once, but that was even further back in time. I can barely even remember the details of back then but as it was now I barely remembered what she looked like. I'm telling the full truth – I never saw her as a mother figure. In fact, I only remembered her name just before.

My father was the man who was always living here. That man wasn't my father by blood, of course, but he was the closest thing to a father that I ever had. Doubtlessly he was still here. Doubtlessly he was the one responsible for everything that had happened.

I continued down the hallway I knew by heart. I was fully prepared for what was about to happen. But considering how he already knew that I was here, he certainly knew that I was the one who would go after him. As a result, he certainly would make it impossible for the possibility of me being the child of a goddess to remain unobserved. It would be observed – and that would be my greatest weakness. That would remove all traces of my power – a power that I could barely even understand.

I proceeded down the hallway and into the room that I had spent the majority of my life wasting away in. Although from my perspective at that time I hadn't been wasting away at all. I didn't even know there was an outside world for the longest time.

I took one step in that room and all my doubts were cleared. My memory was crystal clear. I remembered everything – everything, including things I didn't want to remember.

I remember growing up in this room. Its once white walls were now stained green and brown.

But that man was here, as he always had been.

Irie Kyosuke stood across from me. His eyes were similar to those of the deranged men that blindly followed him. His lab coat was severely dirtied and despite the fact they were broken he still wore his glasses. This was a shell of a man – a man who raised me like a daughter and not only cast away myself but his real daughter as well. He abandoned her to a life she had no opportunity to choose and abandoned me in a shack in the middle of nowhere.

He smiles. It is a smile that is so familiar but it is a smile that I despise.

"I knew you'd be back…Saya."

"I'd knew you'd be down here. Rotting away with the rest of this terrible place."

"This is your room. Surely you r-remember." His voice seemed to skip over octaves as he spoke.

"I remember. I remember everything. Including how you left me to die."

The smile on his face seemed to deteriorate. "But c-certainly you have to remember who raised you."

"There was once a person I thought I could call a father. That person is standing before me. But then you betrayed me. But not even just me – you betrayed her as well."

"Who a-are you t-talking about?"

"You can't hide from your mistakes forever. I'm here to ensure that."

"W-Whatever do you m-mean?"

"I'm here to kill you. I'm here to make sure you can't harm anyone else. I know you're the one behind all of this. And I'm going to make sure you pay for your crimes."

"S-Surely you d-don't mean that…" As he spoke those words, he suddenly shouted and lashed out at me with what appeared to be a machete. He was about to bring it down upon me but then a sudden gunshot rang out. As it was aimed in Irie's direction I assumed that it was Yoko.

She really came. She really came to help me.

I stabbed his extended arm in his daze with my dagger like weapon, causing him to drop the machete. I had to release the weapon, but I grabbed the machete and therefore ended up with the better of the two weapons. I back up immediately and find myself almost falling over. But Yoko grabs me.

"I'm glad you came."

"I wasn't going to abandon you halfway." She speaks. I relax for the moment.

"This is d-disappointing, Saya. I thought you would've b-been better than this. W-Why can't you f-fight me like the demon you a-are?"

"Because I don't need to."

"B-Because you can't." He laughed as he said that. Apparently he knew the answer to the question he had asked me. "All because of your friend. Because unless she dies you just can't d-do it, can y-you?" He continues to laugh.

"…"

Yoko tightens her grip on my shoulder. "I don't need to know. All I plan on doing is getting you out of here. But first off…"

Irie suddenly moves into action.

"Shall I kill her for you?" He suddenly wrenches the weapon out of his arm and tried to lash out at Yoko, who tries to pull the trigger. But apparently the gun jams and I am forced to move into action. But this time he effortlessly shoves me out of the way as he had before and manages to slash across Yoko's cheek, missing his intended target – that being her neck.

She tries to move away and figure out how to fix the gun, but in the process of doing so he knocks it out of her grasp and grabs her by the neck, lifting her into the air.

"Weak. To be expected of a woman – especially a woman like you. You go to that boarding school, don't you? That uniform – you're as worthless as anyone else who wears that uniform. I've seen it before – many times before. She wore it. That other girl w-wore it too. That girl…Yes, that girl who threw herself at my feet because…"

Yoko stares at him with a look of intensity.

"You- who are you? I don't recognize you."

She doesn't answer.

"Answer me, or I'll kill her." He directs the blade towards me for a brief moment.

"…Yoko Narukami."

He looks at her for a few seconds before he spits in her face.

"You disgust me. You aren't even worth killing." He throws her against the wall and she crashes down.

"Is that the way…" I try to speak. "That a father treats his daughter?"

Yoko sends me a look of confusion, while Irie walks over to me and lifts me into the air. He uses the dagger and cuts along my healing leg wound. I scream in pain as it reopens and as quickly as he had hoisted me into the air he tosses me off in a random direction.

"If you keep running your mouth I'll have to kill you too, Saya."

I black out as I hit the floor, but not before I see Irie once again turn towards Yoko. I pray that he spares her. But I know my praying wouldn't do any good.

As I sit there I can't help but wonder what the hell just happened. But staring this man down – it was as if something horrifying that I had repressed years ago had been coming back to me.

This man – Saya called him my father. But my father –

My father was an asshole, but he wasn't…He's not this man, let's just put it that way.

I was born into a rich family. My parents generally ignored me for a good deal of the time. Eventually they decided that placing me in someone else's hands would be the best path to take and they decided that they would spend the money to send me to St. Lucia's. My entire life up to that point was nothing worth discussing. Then again, I didn't even remember the majority of it.

This man – certainly I had seen him somewhere before.

But I didn't give a damn. He was trying to hurt Saya – that was enough reason for me to want him dead.

"It's a s-shame you had to find out t-this way. I was h-hoping you'd just die and we'd never have t-to meet."

"What are you even saying?"

"It's the truth. I-If you are who you s-say you are, then it's the t-truth."

I didn't respond.

"But I don't e-even care. Who c-cares if you were my k-kid? I n-never gave t-two shits about y-you to begin with…!"

Now this man was saying that I was his child. What is this world coming to?

"Saya was t-the only one. My p-prized experiment. B-But it's all her fault anyhow."

"Experiment? What are you even saying?" My anger towards this man seemed to release itself whenever he bad mouthed Saya.

"S-She was the only one I cared about. S-She was proof that s-science was w-wrong. S-She was my c-child, raised so I-I could be famous."

He pointed the dagger at me once again. "Y-You, you w-weren't even supposed to exist. Y-You're just the problem I e-ended up with w-when I knocked up that w-woman. B-But I didn't g-get rid o-of you right a-away. I let y-you be her little sister for a l-little while. I s-should've just had you killed. Y-You turned her against me…You…You….You…!"

He threw the dagger at me. He missed by a large margin but he ended up just walking up to me and started to choke me again.

"You-You're the demon here…She was a miracle that came from heaven…You're just a-a bitch that wasn't aborted!" He continued to choke me. "Y-You caused me…Do you have any idea…I…I would've….I still feel it – getting beaten up by…I swear to god I'll…" He continued to strangle me. I couldn't breathe in the slightest.

I managed to kick him firmly in the stomach, causing him to let go. I shoved him as hard as I could, but he just got right back up.

I didn't want to hear any of this. It wasn't true.

"You're a liar. You're lying to me."

"Y-Your father? T-hat misguided politician? Yu Narukami? That old bastard? I t-tricked him i-into taking you. He n-never wanted you either. B-But he had you l-legally. S-So I was free." He started laughing. But then his face turned into a deep scowl . "B-But now you're here…You've taken her from me…Why? Why the fuck do you exist?" He stomped down on my face multiple times before kicking me off into another direction.

He said my father's name. I couldn't counteract his statements anymore.

It was true, wasn't it?

I was the product of this deranged lunatic?

"…A-and even then, I still did everything they said…Why? Why did it have to be me? Why couldn't I just…!" He kicked me once again. I was wondering why he hadn't just outright stabbed me at this point. "Fuck everything! Fuck you! Fuck you why won't you just roll over and die?" He continued to kick me. The pain became worse and worse with each kick. As he kept going I eventually snapped.

"Well if you hate me so much then why not just kill me?" I scream. "Or are you too much of a coward to do it yourself?"

He more or less brought all of his weight down on my face with his foot. My nose easily could have been broken at this point and I never even would have noticed.

"Fuck you!" He continued his motion.

This man was my real father – he had forced me upon my father, hence why he never seemed to give a damn about what I did. My life up until this point has been influenced too greatly by this man. Maybe things would have been different. Maybe he wouldn't have been given the chance to screw up Harumi as badly as he did.

Maybe my friends would still be alive.

I stood up after he stopped trying to stomp my face in. He had the dagger in his hand and he ended up stabbing me in the arm. But I pulled out the dagger and rather shakily tried to point it at him.

"Trying to kill your old man now? A bit braver than that other girl, sure, but not good enough." He seemed to grin. "At least that other girl was more subservient. She came running and threw herself at my feet begging because she wanted her sister back…Ah, I'm glad I drugged them both. After all, it set all of this in motion. More importantly…"

I had a very good idea of what he was about to get at. I didn't let him say another word slandering Harumi.

I ran at him with the knife.

I don't give a damn who this fucker is.

I swear to god I'm going to kill him.

He managed to grab it.

"Ah, it seems you're very easy to taunt. I never touched your friend. Her sister on the other hand might not be the same story."

I tried to wrench the dagger out of his grasp again but it proved to be no use.

"Fuck this shit, I'm done with you…!" He forced me to the ground and brought the dagger over his head.

He was about to bring it down.

"Goodnight, you dumb bitch…!"

I prepared for the death I was certain I was going to be dealt.

But then I hear a loud pitched scream.

He brings the dagger down.

But then suddenly, before I even had the time to register what had happened, Saya had jumped in front of me and took the dagger herself. The machete from earlier was now solidly wrenched into Irie's side. He howled in pain while I screamed in fear.

He stabbed me. He stabbed me. He really did stab me. I'm so happy. But I'm so sad at the same time. I'm happy because I saved Yoko and I can finally set myself free of him. But I'm sad because I've stabbed him too. Or maybe I'm not either. I've deceived so many at this point that I might as well be deceiving myself too.

I betrayed you all. I betrayed the person most important to me. I betrayed so many people, and all of it was to protect him. I didn't warn them about anything. I hid Yoko's identity from her. I hid her father's identity from her as well. I hid so much from her. I was a complete fool, but in the end I achieved my goal. This machete that I've lodged in his side has yet to fall from my hands, and every second it slides further into his side. He betrayed me, but I was ready to betray him from the start.

But back to my current situation. I'm dying. That much I know.

Or maybe, because I am a liar by nature, that I'm just tricking myself into believing that I'm dying. And so I'll die, because I believe I am going to die. This curse works both ways, although I'm certain my mother is far more adept than I at maintaining such a thing.

This place, where I am dying – it was a place of security for me once, as I grew up in this village as a common child, even though I was demon by blood. This hospital, now the heart of this corrupt movement through the village, was once home to many kind people who helped me adjust to my life as a human.

It's about time I told the whole truth, and therefore nothing but the truth.

Doctor Irie – he was essentially my father. That was why I was so willing to protect him. Because it is only natural for a child to want to protect a parent.

I was always tolerant of blood. I simply hid from you the signs that would point to him – I avoided the trail of blood because he was the one painting the objects. I lied about the files, but that turned out to be my undoing. I established a character – so I could hide the truth from you all.

But flash forward twelve years later. I don't have a father, and I have effectively killed and have been killed by whatever semblance of one there was left in this doctor. Is it the curse? Surely. Is it my fault? Surely.

Irie manages to force me away from him as I stand there in the daze from the wound. The machete is ripped out of his side as I refuse to let go of it, but he seems practically immune to the ridiculous amounts of pain that are doubtlessly surging through his side.

"I s-see…Saya, you've disappointed me. B-but you've made me p-proud at the same time." His gaze was still as empty as it had been then. Now, with his attention off of Yoko and now fully on me, perhaps she can escape.

I tried to make some sort of noise, but he had stabbed me roughly in the stomach and I found myself unable to make a sound. He proceeded closer and closer, likely preparing to finish me off. At this point I've tried to back up, but I've already fallen over onto the floor. Crawling away backwards certainly wouldn't accomplish anything.

"I l-lost everything to get here. I-I never had anything to show for the things I-I'd accomplished. I s-suppose that in the end i-it was all my fault. I d-did go with that woman's plan, after all. But no matter how hard I seemed to try I-I would always just end up losing something. B-But you were different. You were the symbol of my hard work – you were an alien, yet you were able to live amongst real people, a-and I could take pride in you. But n-now you've gone and betrayed me t-too." He took a massive breath before essentially throwing the knife at me. It managed to lodge itself in my left shoulder, effectively ruining that arm altogether.

He inhaled and suddenly began to speak a tad more normally. "They said I could do something with my power. They said I could make a difference. And they told me that I'd inherit this place, after all of these years. Hinamizawa is mine. It will always be mine. And no one can take that away from me. Not even you, Saya."

He walks closer, likely to stab me with whatever it was he was going to stab me with. I couldn't even remember if it was a dagger or a knife or if I had the dagger and he had the machete. My mind feels so empty.

But as he does so, I see Yoko stand behind him. She pushes him to the ground and reaches for the weapon that has fallen from my grasp. With a single swing she lodges the blade into Irie's skull.

And just like that Irie Kyosuke was no more.

Or so I wanted to believe.

He was so inhuman I couldn't even believe it myself.

He stood up, the blade apparently not having gone far enough through his skull. He pulls the blade out of his scalp and stands at the ready to kill Yoko. It seems that he no longer has any sort of hesitation left. I doubt he can even register who it is he is about to kill. The father definitely would not kill the daughter. That much had to be true.

But it seemed like the daughter who never knew her father couldn't kill him either.

So that means that I had to be the one to do it.

I reach for the dagger that Irie dropped and with what little energy I had left I ran it through where I believed one of his lungs to be.

He bled superfluously. That must have been where I had hit.

He stopped and turned towards me, dropping the machete as he stumbled in my direction. Yoko tried to move into action but I signaled her to stop.

He stumbles forward as I back up. I fall over, having little to no energy left. Irie stands over me, a look of sheer terror on his face. His mouth moves as if to say something.

But then he falls over on his side and at long last he expires.

And I am soon to join him.

Yoko runs over to me. She isn't hurt. I silently thank whoever's hand had prevented her death for their hard work.

She calls out my name. At least that's what I believed that she said.

"I don't have any time left."

Her mouth moves again. I still can't hear her.

"I'm sorry. I can't hear you…I can't…"

My vision starts to swim. My stomach is still in so much pain.

I suddenly realize. He hadn't stabbed me in the stomach. He'd stabbed me in the heart. That was why this was so painful.

"Yoko, please…You have to live… I have to give you at least that much…"

She says something. Her eyes are filled to the brim with tears.

"I'm sorry…I stole your father from you. He went crazy because of me… I'm so sorry. Maybe things would have been different."

She shakes her head. She says more words – words that I desperately want to hear but simply cannot.

"I have to tell you…Everything. I lied…I'm so sorry. I hid everything from you…That I knew you. That we were…almost related…I knew what would happen, but I still brought you here…Because I didn't know what I would do if I had to face him alone…I'm so sorry…"

She says more words. Her face is stained with her tears now.

"I told you everything…But I lied. I was always lying to you…I'm so sorry."

She continues to speak. I would give anything to hear her.

Then my vision swims. I can't even see her now.

I have to make this quick.

"I love you, Yoko. I wish we could have been sisters for a long time…"

I can't even make her out anymore from the mesh of objects that form a cloud of dark green. I can't see anything anymore.

The strange thing is that I'm dying.

But since I've been lying to you this whole time, can you trust me?

Or should I have Yoko tell you instead?

"Yoko…Please, I want to you squeeze my hand if you say yes."

I hesitate for a moment.

"Will you go back? Will you go back home and live your life as best as you can? Will you put all of this behind you? Will you try to start things over? If you do, then maybe my life can have some meaning."

I feel a soft squeeze.

I was sure that I smiled.

I couldn't even feel her hand anymore.

I had lost all of my senses.

I waited for the inevitable black void to swallow me whole.

I can't save you, can I?

It had begun to pour rain as the small war in the village continued to rage on – and as it did I found it all the more difficult to keep up with Shion's incredibly fast pace. It was as if nothing had changed. I was struggling to keep my eyes open while she hadn't so much as even recognized that it was raining. She didn't seem to care – everything about her gaze, aside from the rather apparent lust for blood – seemed entirely void of everything.

I was losing – slowly but steadily. One wouldn't be able to tell looking at the two of us fighting the way we are, but I was certainly getting weaker by the moment. This hadn't happened in our last fight, even though the circumstances haven't changed all that much. Perhaps it was my lack of will to kill her. Perhaps it was knowing that no matter how hard I tried the girl who felt so strongly about me would forever be lost to the shadow of her younger sister that had made me suddenly lose all fighting poise. I wasn't even remotely sure how to go about beating her now, especially without killing her. But with each sword blow and with each opening I pass up completely it gets closer and closer to the point where subduing her will be completely impossible.

Shion takes another running leap. These tend to hurt the most.

She misses this time, but before I can properly counter she rolls out of the way, her robe now more or less covered in mud. The rain seemed to wash it off but it wasn't as if she had any concept of how hard it would be to move around coated in mud. She didn't seem to take any mind – mentally or physically at that.

I see another opening. This time I go for it. Against her left shoulder, I manage to barely graze her. So far I still have yet to hit her – I'm not even sure exactly how or why she's managed to live up to her word so far, but that needs to change sometime soon. That is, if I manage to survive long enough to break her seemingly impenetrable guard – which probably isn't even all that impenetrable. It's as if Mion Sonozaki knows I won't touch her sister – it's as if she knows everything.

I suddenly get really pissed off. What if that was the case? What if she knew the entire time and just played dumb about it? What if she knows what she's doing? What if she isn't crazy? What if she was a evil as I had originally believed her to be? What if she was doing this so her sister would have to suffer in her place?

I suddenly let out a loud cry. I then go on the offensive for the first time in the duration of this fight. I swing my sword somewhat wildly before I settle for just trying to punch her in the face. My fist was met with steel, and she took the opening to shove me with her elbow – a move that led me in the perfect position. Her right arm was essentially stuck in that position for the next few seconds and I had been able to stomach the pain rather nicely.

Her sword was still in contact with my fist. She had moved to elbow me, and in the process left her side – the side closest to my sword – completely unguarded. All I had to do was grab her sword right now and get a stab in. I would try to aim somewhere non-vital, but at this point just getting any sort of hit would prove impossible. I would have to end this right now if I wanted any hope.

My extended hand closes around the blade and I go for the stabbing motion. Apparently she sees it coming but doesn't make any movement to avoid it. She doesn't even struggle.

I see the trap about a fraction of a second before it hits me. She has a dagger in the hand closest to me. I back away before she is able to sink it into my stomach and she laughs.

"I thought I had you that time."

"Your acting performance was weak. That was all I needed."

"Oh well." She instantly moves toward me, with the dagger in one hand and the katana simply being held with a single hand.

She moves in with the knife first. My blade will block it instantaneously. The sword will be swung at an improper angle and won't be able to do much damage while one-handed. She's making things too obvious again. Now if only I could figure out what she was going to do…

There we go.

She attempts to drive into me with the dagger and seems to lag with the sword. She isn't putting any emphasis on the sword. Her arm isn't tense enough. The dagger here is the main source of the problem. She misses entirely, but she was supposed to miss.

She lazily swings the katana. I move to block it, but she ends up jamming it into the wet soil.

I see it now. She's getting lazy with that other hand. I can finally see the hour or so of constant combat tearing a hole in her.

She let's go of the katana.

I drop mine as well.

As she tries to go for a backstab with the dagger, I grab her forearm and force her out to the side. I fasten one arm around her neck, pulling her into a headlock of sorts. The dagger goes flying and for the first time I have the upper hand.

"Not bad…" She speaks in the same condescending tone of voice.

"I knew I'd get it eventually. But you got a bit too sloppy. Now if only I had a weapon hidden on me, then I could wrap things up right now."

"But you're too classy for that."

"Is there such a thing as classy sword fighting?"

Instead of trying to come up with a response, she settles for kissing me, given the close proximity of our faces. I don't react to it in any positive sort of manner. She's plotting something, obviously. She doesn't stop, however. She tries to deepen the kiss as much as possible.

My mind wavers for a moment. I remember the limited number of times we did this before coming to this village. But then I remember how she more or less did all of that because I looked like someone else.

I strengthen the head lock. But as I do so I figure out that her left arm wasn't as restrained as her right arm.

Once again I see it coming. Although this time I can't do anything about it.

The needle – what I believe to be a needle is suddenly forced into my skin. The needle grows tight as I try to struggle, but as I do so her right arm becomes free and she forces me down. The needle grows even tighter and I am finally able to see what it was she had stabbed me with.

A syringe. A syringe that clearly had something inside it.

She laughs before trying to back away from me, nearly tripping over her sword as she stumbles over towards the bridge. I try to get closer, ignoring my sword completely as I grasp my arm in pain. I see black fluid of some sort oozing from my arm.

"I take it that wasn't marker ink?" I still find the time to be witty as I stumble forward onto the ground. My head was searing with pain and I only barely managed to make it to the bridge.

"Sadly, no it wasn't." She laughs with that same malicious smile plastered on her face. "That's about the heaviest dose I could find. The director has all kinds of things in that clinic. Antibiotics, coloring books, dead bodies – suicide drugs…" She starts laughing as if she's the most hilarious person in the world.

"So how long do I have here?"

"Five minutes. Then you start clawing your throat out."

"What a cheap trick."

"You would've had me. I wasn't going to lose – no matter what."

"I guess you always did cheat, didn't you?"

She cocks her head slightly to the side as if in questioning. Her face seemed as bored and uninterested as ever, although every few seconds her mouth would break into a twisted smile before instantly reverting back to the stoic look she was giving me.

"You were never as good at games as you wanted to be. So you would cheat all the time. Am I remembering right?"

"Eh, those club games? What a waste of time."

"So then you never did give a shit, did you?"

"About what?"

"About any of them. Any of the people who died because of what your family was trying to hide."

She laughed more. That sickening laugh was about all I could take. "All I care about is killing people. Killing people who look down on me. People who betray me. People who pretend to love me and end up just using me for self gratification. All I care about is killing. Because when I kill, I know I'm alive. I know I'm me. That's why I'll kill everyone. So I can keep on living."

I couldn't come up with anything to say to that. I just groaned in more pain. My throat was becoming very hot. That was probably the drug settling in.

She suddenly walks over to me.

"I suppose I'll give you an easier death. Since you almost managed to finish me off and all."

"Tell me something."

"What?"

"Will you let Shion go?"

"What are you saying?"

"Will you let your sister go?"

She hesitates before speaking rather quietly. "Never. Because then I won't be able to kill anymore."

In that moment she hoists me into the air and in one quick motion throws me over the edge of the bridge. All I am able to see is the terrifying water below – the water so heavily disturbed by the storm. There was no way I could possibly make it out of this one.

I am allowed one final glimpse of Shion as I plummet to my death.

Everything goes black. All I can see is the burned image of Shion's face.

She was crying, wasn't she? That wasn't the rain, was it?

She was crying. She definitely was.

If I can die knowing that some semblance of that girl still exists, then I can die slightly less pissed off.

All I can see is black. I never even felt myself collide with the water. I'm so sure I'm dead.

I couldn't save you. No matter how hard I tried.

I'm sorry.

I can still hear the rain. The rain, and the ever present sound of the cicadas. Their cries once again ring out through the torrent of water. They will cry. They will cry forever. Because there is simply no hope. Not for me, not for Shion, not for Rai, not for anyone.

I can still hear them, even now. Even when I'm pretty sure I've been neatly slipped off my mortal coil. They continue to cry, forever and ever.

I can't even begin to count the number of times I've heard the same repeating noise. I've heard it enough times for two people. But no matter how irritating or how redundant that sound seems to become, the message it brings to those who hear it is the same.

The cicadas know. They know everything. And they want everyone to know that. Because even if people die, the cicadas will remember them until they too die. And then they will be replaced by more cicadas that will carry the same message.

The cicadas are everywhere. And so they know everything.

The cicadas are everywhere. And so they see everything.

The cicadas are everywhere. And so they remember everything.

Maybe they'll remember me as well. Maybe they'll remember Satoshi Houjou. Or Rai Sumidera. Or whoever the fuck I'm supposed to be.

Maybe they'll remember everything about me. Maybe I'll have a place in their mantra as well. Maybe I can finally join the others – the others who died. Maybe I'll remember who I'm supposed to be completely this time. I wonder, did they go to heaven? Or did they go to hell? I don't even know.

The cicadas probably know. Yeah, it would be just like them to know something like that.

I wonder, will there even be a heaven or a hell? Will I just stay like this forever? Is this my afterlife? Is this what it all amounts to?

Maybe I should ask the cicadas. They'll probably know. After all, I can hear them. They're all around me. So they know everything.

I wonder, maybe I've become a cicada myself. Maybe that's why I can hear them even now.

Then maybe I'll know everything one of these days.

But I don't want to. I don't want to know everything.

So maybe… The cicadas don't want to know either?

I know something now.

Because the cicadas know everything.

It's hopeless. There is no hope.

There is no way to save anyone.

Fate will not allow it.

And fate is truly absolute.

That is why they cry.

Because not even the cicadas can defy fate.

So then how could I?

This was simply

My destiny.

Author's Note

Thus concludes this chapter. A bit overall dreary and depressing, but hey, I rated this story M, so I've got to start cranking out that dark and disturbing content again. This will be the last chapter that draws heavily on it, though, so if it turned you off at all you won't have to worry about it in the remainder of the story. This chapter in particular was especially hard to write; given how I needed to gauge which chunks of content were too overboard and which I could keep. In fact, I ended up censoring quite a bit. So you can imagine what this chapter was originally going to be like. The next chapter, the final chapter of the story, will be yet another multiple character perspective one. And this one will pretty much answer everything that needs to be answered. Well, mostly everything.

Also, in the event that you had absolutely no idea what all of the scenes with Saya were about, then I don't blame you. The next chapter will make things a little bit easier to understand. A bit. Hopefully it won't detract all that much from the overall story if you still don't understand it.

So far the death count is pretty high for the main cast. Sadly I'm not going to stop it where it is. I'm still contemplating whether or not I have to kill off certain people. But there's someone I've tried to kill in the last two chapters that simply didn't work out correctly, and so they still haven't died just yet. You'll probably guess who. In fact I've probably already said too much.

Following that chapter, there will be a second Wrap Party. This one will be a bit more interesting and a bit less confusing and potentially irrelevant sounding. Of course this last chapter explored the nature of the relevant and irrelevant material overall. This one will additionally clarify some stuff about Astaroth. Or Saturn Anne. Or whatever name I settled on.

In addition, I will make a quick sort of announcement at the end of the Wrap Party. Might not be a happy one, but we'll see.

Anyhow, that's all for this chapter, and I hope the remainder of you will stick around for the last two.

…Alright, maybe I'm not quite done with this chapter just yet. But only a little bit more. I promise.

I never could protect you. I was always so weak. Now I'm no different. I can kill so many people, but I can't protect you. Death for the sake of death is meaningless. Maybe you helped me understand that, even if you were misguided the whole time. You and I are too similar. So then I can't stop killing either.

Saving you is all I desire. All I can do now is kill. But maybe I can give death meaning.

So I'll kill you. I'll kill you so I can save you.

Cicadas. Cicadas.

Cries. Cries.

Cries.

More cries.

When the cicadas cry there are no survivors. When the cicadas cry people die. Every second of every day someone dies somewhere and the cicadas know. They cry out, in agony, in joy, and in fear. They cry out with emotions – emotions that they cannot express in any way other than their cry. They can cry. Because they are allowed to cry. They deserve the choice to cry. Because they know everything. And they don't want to.

They don't want to. Even though they must.

I didn't want to kill Shion. Even though I had to.

Are those comparable? I don't even care.

But they keep on crying. So maybe they're saying yes, or maybe they're saying no.

Cries. Cries.

Cries. Cries.

But then another.

Another sound pierces the sounds of the cicadas and the ever roaring wind and water.

A sound – a ringing noise.

Is that a phone?

I feel something. A soft vibration of sorts. I could feel – I could feel something, something warm. Something tangible. My shapeless form finally had shape. I could feel. My body – my human body. I could clearly feel everything. I could feel the wind, the water, and the ground beneath me.

The ground? The wind? The water?

My eyes suddenly snap open. Rain still falls upon my face and the cicadas continue to cry. But I can see the dark and dreary sky, painted a nearly black shade of grey.

I'm alive.

I'm sure that even by some miracle that caused me to survive the fall, it was well past five minutes. I should've been dead by now. But my throat no longer carried that irritating sensation. I no longer had strange impulses in my brain.

I suddenly remember the sound and the vibration.

My pocket apparently had something inside it that I wasn't aware of.

Before even trying to determine where I am, I pull out a small black device of some sort.

I recognize it – it was a cell phone. A hard thing to come by, but a thing none the less.

I turned the phone on the side with the buttons on it. I saw a small green phone button. I decided that pressing it would connect me to whoever on earth was calling this phone that I didn't even know I had. But I decided to take my chances – I doubt I would've had this on by mistake. This was here for a reason.

I press the button and the phone connects.

"Satoshi Houjou." A dark and musty voice calls out from the other end of the connection.

Well someone knows exactly who I am.

"Who are you?"

"Ah, the question of the day, isn't it?"

"Just tell me who you are…And why do I have this phone?"

"You have that phone because I arranged it so it would be planted on you."

"Planted? Who planted it?"

"One of your own. Who just so happens to be working for me."

Was there really one of the former villagers who was a mole on the inside for someone?

"Why? Why go out of your way to do this sort of thing?"

"Because this needs to be done. You are the only one who can be entrusted with this task."

"What task? Can't I just get out of here?"

"The task of killing Mion Sonozaki. It's unfortunate, but you are the only one who can kill her in that village."

"…Just who the hell are you?"

The man sighs before giving a rather belated response. "Call me K-One."

The man calling himself K-One… It was a strange name indeed, but clearly this man was more involved in all of this than I had initially expected. I had to trust him. I had no choice in the matter.

"And what do you mean, I have to do it? Just get someone to bust a cap in her ass or something. There are plenty of people with guns."

"It's not as simple as that. The conditions of that village are beyond the natural scale of things. The devil himself might as well be involved this time around."

"And what the hell does that mean?"

"Hinamizawa was a home for a demonic race. That demonic race, while rooted in the history of that village, can both exist and not exist at the same time. They are capable of twisting reality to their liking and provide two equally existing truths – two truths that ultimately end in the same result and in the same way but for two different reasons. The village is now in their hands – and before the fog lifts the fate of the village and all those within its clutches are left up to them. Mion Sonozaki shall not die by anyone's hand but yours. There will always be a rational and irrational explanation for that fact."

"And why does the irrational explanation even matter?"

"It doesn't. Not to you. Because you are human. That is why you must ignore the possibilities and aim for a singular end point. Earth to earth. What happens simply happens, and there isn't anything else influencing it. That is why you must kill Mion. Because the stakes are too high if anyone else tries to."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. But what do I have to do?"

"Hm?"

"What do I have to do to stop her? She can't be left to suffer like that any longer."

"I see… Very well then, I shall give to you the rational explanation. That girl is still as much of Shion Sonozaki as she's ever been. But years of isolation in whatever hell hole she crawled into made her contract the syndrome. She believes she is Mion Sonozaki. The alternate explanation for that being that she is being possessed by her."

"The syndrome…? The Hinamizawa Curse and the syndrome are the same thing?"

"Indeed. And the only way to break the syndrome without at the stage she's stuck in is by corrupting the cause from the inside out. The syndrome is purely psychological. And so the only way to break it down is through psychological means. Do that, and you can end her life."

"And how do I go about doing that?"

"You have to find her. Find her and tell her everything you feel. Convince her that she doesn't have to rely on her insanity to live. She is beyond saving, but if you can stop her for just a moment that would be all you need. Don't read this the wrong way, though. There's no saving her with the power of love or some bullshit fantasy crap like that. You simply have to make her believe in something, even if for just a moment."

"Okay." I nod my head slightly. I sort of knew what he was saying. I didn't even have the slightest clue as to why it would work. But I had to trust him. K-One was the last chance I had.

"Are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

I would go back. I would find her again. And I would have to convince her of one and only one thing.

That she didn't have to kill to live. That Shion Sonozaki could exist because someone could exist with her.

And then I would betray my very words.

Or perhaps there was a way.

I had the hope that there was. And so I stood up and walked off – off towards certain doom.