The Curse of Oyashiro-sama (1)
A few days had passed since the Watanagashi Festival, and everybody was back in class again. Chie wanted to make sure everyone was safe and sound, making sure nothing bad happened to them. Meanwhile, Keiichi hadn't noticed Rena nudging him into talking to her. Their friendship could still be mended since his appearance at the club's baseball game a few months ago.
"Keiichi-kun, Keiichi-kun!"
Rena continued to poke Keiichi in the back, distracting him during class.
"What? Stop doing that! What do you want, Rena-chan?"
"…"
"Are you bothering me on purpose now?"
Mion looked at them and giggled from their interactions with each other. Satoshi and Satoko didn't look at them much as they tried to focus in class. His neck had become worse since last time, and Keiichi noticed that he had become gloomier and quieter. He didn't say much and kept leaving the class early. Satoko didn't look like she was bothered by his behavior.
What's up with them? Shouldn't Satoshi-san see a doctor?
Keiichi turned to face Rika, who was seated in the corner of the classroom. She turned to face him and waved. He waved back at her before he went back to focus on his schoolwork. The days ahead were long, as summer had just started.
Later that day, after Keiichi finished helping Mion with her schoolwork, she grinned and nudged him forward. Whispering into his ear, she tried to tell him something.
"Kei-chan, Rena-chan wants you to meet up with her after school. I think you should go."
What's going on this time? Did I do something wrong again?
Keiichi scratched his head at Mion's request. It sounded strange and came out of nowhere, but since Rena had been bothering him these past few days, there must be something to it. He didn't want to look weird again, so he decided to take the chance.
"If she wanted to talk to me, couldn't she have said it herself instead of through you? You're not playing any tricks on me, are you?"
Mion chuckled at his remark and flicked his forehead with her fingers. Keiichi yelped in pain as he rubbed his forehead, slightly annoyed.
"Oh, come on now. You can't be that afraid of her, right? She saw you watching us from the baseball field last time and wanted to talk to you. Too bad you left so quickly."
That time. So, it had something to do with that, huh? And since I ignored her since, it took her a while to want to talk to me again. Maybe there's something to it…
Keiichi sighed and put a hand on his chin. Maybe this was another chance to reconcile with her. This couldn't be a coincidence. This could be fate.
"Fine, I'll do it. Hopefully, Rena-chan won't try to pull anything on me…"
He looked up towards the school window and spotted Rika outside. She was near the trees, looking back at the students play with a ball. He couldn't see her expression at all but felt like she was being gloomy again.
Rika-chan also wanted me to do it too. And I lied to her about it…
This was a chance. He can't mess it up this time.
After school had ended for the day, Keiichi spotted Rena near one of the abandoned forest tractors around the school. She was looking around, clicking her feet, and checking her surroundings. She looked like an airhead to him.
She doesn't seem angry from the looks of it, but it's been a few months already. I wonder what she wants to talk about…
He slowly began walking towards her. Gritting his teeth, he hoped for the best.
"Keiichi-kun, you're here!"
Her voice sounded soft-spoken and kind now. It really seemed like she might really let him be friends with her again. Rena smiled and waved as he came closer towards her.
"So, what did you want to talk about, Rena-chan? What is it?"
Keiichi looked away from her for a bit, slightly embarrassed.
If this ends up as a love confession, I don't know what to do! That would be too sudden! After all that I have done…that sounds impossible. Calm down. We're just going to reconcile with each other…
Rena looked at him, red in the face. He really felt like he was in for the wrong sort of conversation. Her orange hair and sparkling blue eyes made her look extremely beautiful, with the curves of a womanly figure. Her sailor uniform gave her such a cute charm, especially with her style of simplicity.
Stop! Stop! Don't think such thoughts! I need to be serious here!
Keiichi blushed and tried to remain calm. She can't just be tempting him all of a sudden. He was probably overthinking this.
"Keiichi-kun! I—"
Here it comes!
Rena quickly bowed towards him.
"I'm sorry for ignoring you! I shouldn't have let you alone, not knowing what to do around here. I'm so sorry for being angry with you! Rena won't do something so terrible to a transfer student ever again!"
Wait. Did she really apologize to me when I should have done it?!
"Rena-chan?"
"Yes, Keiichi-kun? Did I say anything wrong?"
Keiichi scratched his head.
"Shouldn't I be saying that to you? I shouldn't have listened in on your conversations like that. I was just curious, that's all…"
"It's fine! Rena understands!"
Rena smiled and hugged him, surprising Keiichi. He didn't expect anything good to come out of it but was relieved that he could be friends with her again. Everything was coming together. He won't be lonely anymore.
Did Rika-chan cause this? She knew about my issues with Rena-chan to begin with…
He looked up to the sky.
I've to go ask her later. Thank you for helping me reconcile with Rena-chan.
Later the next day during break, Keiichi found Rika by a tree, reading a book. Her eyes gazed back and forth between her book and Keiichi as he approached her. She sighed as Keiichi was about to ask a question.
"So, you wanted to ask me if I was the one who helped you reconcile with Rena-chan?"
Did she just read my mind?!
"How did you know?"
Rika smirked as she got up and touched his shoulder. Keiichi was too surprised to notice it as he looked down on her short stature. She is smarter than she seemed. What is she playing at?
"Mii. It's written all over your face. You're easy to read, Keiichi. You should work on being more unpredictable."
What is she talking about? What does it have to do with what I was going to say?
Keiichi sighed and scratched his head. Maybe she was just playing around again. she always does. Teasing him was something natural for her to do.
"By the way, I need to tell you something."
"Does it have something to do with Rena-chan again? We already reconciled. I wanted to thank you for it."
"I'm not talking about that, Keiichi."
Rika shook her head. Her expression immediately changed from a happy-go-lucky face into a gloomy one. He saw her show that expression before, and now she was doing it again.
She gripped his shirt really hard, creating a small wrinkle on it. Keiichi saw her hands shaking a bit and he gently grabbed them, hoping it would make her feel better. The sound of cicadas was buzzing around them.
Rika looked up to the sky before she turned to face Keiichi.
"Keiichi, please leave Hinamizawa. This is for your own good."
What?! What do you want me to leave Hinamizawa for? Is this a joke?
Keiichi thought about her words. Her expression seemed serious. But she wasn't telling him anything either. Her vague explanations and polite demeanor sometimes made him unsure whether she was an adult or a child.
"What are you talking about? Is there a reason for asking me to leave?"
Rika looked down on the ground, her eyes sullen.
"It's best that you don't know, Keiichi. Something terrible will happen soon. You shouldn't get involved in this."
All this time I have been with her…and now she wants me to leave. Just when I reconciled with Rena-chan and everything was going well. Rika-chan really is a strange girl…
"Rika-chan, I don't know. I don't understand. Why do you think something bad will happen?"
But Rika didn't say anything to his question. She just remained silent.
"Are you trying to scare me with your stories again?"
After a moment of silence, she looked up to Keiichi and smiled. She happily gripped his hands back after he held hers during the conversation. The atmosphere immediately changed.
"Nipah! You really got fooled by me! I'm sure everything will be okay, just like you are being friends with Rena-chan again."
Silly girl. So, she was trying to scare me all along. Her expressions changes so fast I can't tell if she was joking or not.
Keiichi laughed and patted Rika on the head.
"You really fooled me there. I thought you were being serious. Now, should we play together? I can try to convince Rena-chan to join us sometime."
"Of course! Let's try to get the ball to ourselves, Keiichi."
"Sure thing."
And the two of them played together, enjoying themselves. Keiichi gave in to the impression that Rika was joking, but deep down, something wasn't right. The blissful summer of Hinamizawa might not last very long. There was something truly creepy going on.
A potential curse of Oyashiro-sama. The Fifth Years' Curse.
One morning, Keiichi noticed that Satoshi's and Satoko's seats were empty. They later started to not go to class for at least a week, worrying everyone. Their constant absences were suspicious, leaving no note or anything on why they weren't coming to class.
Chie tried to get them on the phone line, seeing if they were alright. Something bad must have happened to them. The news didn't come that quickly, due to Houjou's reputation in the past for supporting the dam project.
"Should we try to get someone to their house?" Rena asked, "This could be serious."
"Satoshi-kun hasn't been answering my calls either," Mion muttered, "We really need to check up on them. They haven't been in our club activities for a while now."
Keiichi glanced back and forth and noticed Rika pondering in the corner. Her eyes weren't focused at all on the commotion between the class and the teacher on their absences and disappearances. Despite everyone's suggestions, one thing didn't seem to be talked about at all.
Have they been spirited away? Is the curse real? Was what Takano-san and Tomitake-san said true?
He put his hand towards his chin, trying to think. He didn't want to talk about something as creepy as this due to how real it seemed now. Despite a festival dedicated to him, Oyashiro-sama still chose to sacrifice people anyway. Keiichi looked back at Rika, who was now glaring back at him.
Her face looked like what she just had said to him beforehand was true.
Something terrible could have already happened.
No! This can't be! What's wrong with this town? Why is there such a scary thing as a curse here?!
"Keiichi-kun, are you worried too?"
He turned around to find Rena looking back at him, touching his shoulder. Her gentle face helped him calm down as he scratched his head and grabbed a book near him. Everyone seemed too distracted by Satoshi's and Satoko's absences to focus on their schoolwork.
"Yes, I am. Thanks for asking me, Rena-chan."
Keiichi shook his head and he tried to think up some ideas on how they could check to see if they were alright.
"Maybe we can check if they took anything with them."
Rena smiled back as he said that.
"Keiichi-kun, that's a good idea. Let's check after school."
As the class began for the day, everyone else had been discussing on what happened to the Houjou siblings. Keiichi looked back and forth between Rena and Rika, making sure the two of them were okay. They still needed to investigate what was going on.
After class was over, Keiichi and Rena walked over towards the student lockers inside the school. Rows and rows of worn and used lockers filled the aisle, with some stickers and books sticking out. He looked around and found one of the lockers that were cleaner than the others. Rena came forward and pointed out whose locker it was.
"That looks like Satoshi-kun's locker. Should we really open it?"
Keiichi looked around to see if anyone else was watching them. The school seemed relatively quiet for the moment. Apart from the possibility of Rika snooping around, there wasn't much chance with the others spying on them.
"Don't think anybody is watching us, Rena-chan. We're doing this to see if they took anything from their lockers, remember?"
Rena looked worried before nodding to Keiichi's remark. He gripped his hands as he checked to see if the locker was locked. If it were locked, he would have to think up a way to break it open. Hopefully, it won't come to that.
Here goes. Please let us check if there's anything inside his locker.
With one strong budge, Satoshi's locker opened up. The contents inside his locker were filled with baseball equipment. A worn baseball mitten lay at the bottom of it. Rena took a closer look and gestured to Keiichi to take a closer look.
"Keiichi-kun, his bat isn't there. Maybe he took it."
His bat? Why would he bring his bat back to his house?
Keiichi remembered Satoshi carrying his bat and mittens during the club's baseball game a few months ago. The same mitten was lying there inside his locker, but the bat is missing. Based on Rena's reaction, it looked like it wasn't something Satoshi would normally do.
"What about Satoko-san? Does she have a locker?"
Rena shook her head.
"She tends to keep her things along with Satoshi-kun's together. So, I believe what we see from his locker is what we get, Keiichi-kun. Sorry about that."
Better than nothing. I'll take any information we can get.
Keiichi then gently closed Satoshi's locker. He turned around to face Rena, who was looking back at him. They quietly walked back into the school hallways to get their belongings from the classroom. But as Keiichi approached the door to open it, it wouldn't budge.
"Hey Rena-chan, is it normal for the doors to get jammed? These are hard to open sometimes."
"I don't know, Keiichi-kun. The building is pretty old."
He pulled on the door for a moment before it gave out. After struggling for a bit, the door finally opened. Keiichi sighed with relief. The two of them went to grab their school bags. As they got out of the classroom, Keiichi looked up to see something dark dangling above them. Thinking he was too tired, he rubbed his eyes and walked with Rena towards their homes.
"Rena-chan, do you think there's a curse in Hinamizawa?"
Rena's eyes suddenly turned dark.
"There's nothing like that, Keiichi-kun. Are you tired from worrying too much?"
I guess I can't ask her that sort of question immediately. Rika-chan already acted strange last time. I'll ask something else…
"N-Never mind. Does Hinamizawa have any public phone booths to use?"
Rena's eyes reverted back to normal as she was thinking about what Keiichi asked about. After a few minutes, she happily answered Keiichi's question.
"There is one, Keiichi-kun. We can probably use that to call the police in case anything happened to them."
Keiichi thought about the Okinomiya Police Station that he saw when he went to the baseball game to apologize to Rena that time. He didn't notice any police stations in Hinamizawa, but with Okinomiya being in close proximity to it, they would have to come here to see what happened to Satoshi and Satoko.
"Thanks, Rena-chan. Let's hope they're doing okay."
Rena smiled at him as they walked home together. The sun was setting. They can check again tomorrow.
The next day, there was still no news about Satoshi's and Satoko's whereabouts. However, the school started to have a strange smell that permeated throughout the building. Everyone seemed to cover their noses as they walked into class that day.
Where is this smell coming from? It smells like gasoline or some sort of fuel…
Keiichi covered his nose with a piece of cloth as he walked into the classroom. Chie came forward to the class to discuss what was going on with Satoshi and Satoko.
"One of the police officers from Okinomiya said that a crime had occurred inside the Houjou household. Satoshi-kun and Satoko-chan are still missing, but I hope they are still alive somewhere in Hinamizawa. Let's hope for the best."
A crime? It's probably another murder that happened. Chie-sensei isn't telling us what happened there…
Keiichi looked around and spotted Rena and Mion huddled around a newspaper. He went closer to see what it was, but they hid it from view from him. There seemed to be more details about the crime that happened there.
"Not now, Kei-chan. The teacher will notice!" Mion muttered quietly at Keiichi.
After a while, Chie calmed the class down and told them to study as she helped them with their schoolwork again. It was a self-study period, so everyone split into their own groups to work on their studies and homework. Rika was still by herself during the self-study periods, but she wouldn't let Keiichi help her.
"Don't mind me, Keiichi. I'll talk to you later."
In the meantime, Mion took out the newspaper article again and let Keiichi read it. Apparently, the uncle that Satoshi and Satoko were living with was found dead. His head had been battered in by a blunt object. The weapon wasn't found at the scene of the crime. There was a possibility that the siblings could have murdered him.
"Wonder what caused it…"
Keiichi thought to himself what might have started the killing instead of just a curse.
I know that Satoshi-san had some sort of neck infection lately. Just no one commented on it since Satoko-san didn't seem to mind it. Maybe it had something to do with that…
"Mion-san, do you think Satoshi-san had any sort of illness? I mean, he had a-"
Mion immediately covered his mouth.
"Shh. Don't say something like that. Let's just keep quiet and hope for the best."
She then covered her own mouth and nose with some tissue.
"And also figure out what is causing this smell. Was there a gas leak in the building?"
The smell eventually got to Chie, as she went to call the forestry department to see if there were anything leaking in the building. That left everyone some time to self-study, so Keiichi took the chance to talk with Rika as they went to the bathroom together.
"Rika-chan, you really want me to leave Hinamizawa?"
Rika looked back; her face still sullen.
"It is up to you. I can't force you, Keiichi. You already read about Satoshi-san's and Satoko-san's disappearance. Things will get worse from here."
She walked towards the girls' bathroom and gripped the door.
"Leave while you still can. The curse could fall upon you next."
And she went into the bathroom, leaving Keiichi to wait for her as he stood near the bathroom. Crossing his arms, he thought about what was going on.
Does it have something to do with this strange smell? What's going to happen to this school?
Keiichi looked through the windows. The sound of cicadas and summer was still upon them. Could the time of innocence and fun continue? Or will it be halted by tragedy?
Where did Satoshi-san and Satoko-san go? Did they really get spirited away?
After school had ended for the day, Rika came forward to talk to Keiichi again. He was about to go back home with Rena when she approached him. Gesturing him to come closer, she whispered into his ear.
"Keiichi, I'll give you a chance. Meet me at the school around 10 pm. I'll show you something."
10 pm? Is something going to happen so late at night?
"Sure. I'll definitely come. Thanks for telling me, Rika-chan."
After she was done telling him their meeting place, she turned to Rena and smiled.
"Nipah! I'm glad that the two of you are friends now. Treasure the moment while you still can. See you later."
Afterward, she left and walked the other way to go back home, leaving Keiichi and Rena by themselves near the school. Mion had already left the school grounds to deal with the Houjou murder incident.
What's up with Rika-chan lately? What's with this town and its mysteries? No one is telling me anything…
Rena touched his shoulder, with a pouting face.
"Keiichi-kun, is there something going on between you and her?"
Keiichi smiled back, trying not to look worried.
"I don't know. But no one is telling us what is going on. I'll take the risk to find out."
Rena may be an airhead sometimes, but she understood that something wasn't right either. She wouldn't give him any details on the previous years, which Takano and Tomitake had told him about, but what will this year bring?
They quietly walked home together, not saying anything that day.
A couple of hours later, Keiichi met up with Rika near the school. Nighttime had fallen and the temperature dropped as the sun went down. He brought his vest along, hoping that it would keep him warm. It took a while to convince his parents to let him go so late at night, but he persisted, hoping to find a clue to Satoshi's and Satoko's disappearance.
What did Rika-chan found near the school? Is it something so scary I had to come at night to found out?
Feeling anxious about what Rika was going to show him, he held his breath as he approached the school once again. During the day, the school looked plain and peaceful, with abandoned forestry equipment nearby and a shallow field for break and recess. But now that it was nighttime, it suddenly looked creepier and darker under the moonlight.
Rika was hiding among the trees that were near the school. She gestured Keiichi to come forward and watch with her.
"Keiichi, be careful to not make any sound. They could hear us."
What? Is someone messing with the school while they weren't there?
"What are you talking about, Rika-chan? Could that explain the strange sme—"
Rika quickly shushed him. A shadowy figure was approaching the building carrying something. It looked like a small tank of some sort. Keiichi couldn't make out what it was.
"What's going on?"
He now lowered his voice, hoping that Rika would answer him this time. The shift movements of the shadows made it seem like more than one person was involved, but they only noticed one person the whole time. He also kept hearing a clanking sound as the figure moved back and forth.
Keiichi started to move forward towards the figure. His movements created shuffling sounds, making noise.
"Are you going to stop them? Shh. Keiichi, don't do that. We'll get discovered!"
The figure turned around and saw Keiichi. In an instant, Rika grabbed Keiichi by the shirt and dragged him back into the forest. They ran and ran until they reached a small hill, where they rested. Keiichi didn't have much time to see who the figure was, since it was so dark.
"What was that for, Rika-chan? We could have stopped them!"
Rika turned around, her face dark and serious.
"More like get us killed. Keiichi, I let you see what was going on at night so that you could make a choice. Can you convince the class to avoid the school?"
Avoid the school? Is something going to happen to it?
"What were they doing at the school? Why won't you tell me?"
"It's best that you don't know. Please, you should probably leave Hinamizawa before things get worse…"
Rika's words were vague and mysterious. Nothing made sense to him. Keiichi felt like she was just giving hints than outright telling him what was going on. There were too many things going on. Keiichi looked back from the hill they rested on. The rural town of Hinamizawa was in view.
"Rika-chan, I'll do my best to save everyone. We won't be cursed…I hope."
"Hope? I just showed you what was happening. But since you chose to stay, I'll let fate decide. It was nice knowing you Keiichi. Goodbye."
Rika walked towards Furude Shrine, leaving Keiichi alone by the hill. The moonlight reflected over Keiichi's shadow as he stood bewildered by her actions. She went through all this trouble to show him something only to give up so easily. Something really did seem off about her.
"Why is no one telling me anything? What is truly going on?"
The darkness of Hinamizawa had only just begun.
The next morning, Keiichi walked with Rena as they went to school together. He didn't say anything during their walk, which made Rena confused. She poked Keiichi, trying to get him to focus on her and see what happened last night.
"Keiichi-kun, did something happen last night? You look tired and exhausted. Did you get enough sleep?"
He looked the other way as Rena tried to look at his face more.
"I-It's nothing. Nothing really happened last night…"
"Are you sure?"
Her worried expression made him feel even more disappointed in himself. He regained Rena as a friend, but he didn't want to talk to her about anything lately. Rika's behavior was also strange as well, with her words trying to push him to do things without explanation.
I'm sorry, Rena-chan. Let's not get too deep into what could happen to us. I don't want to think about the Curse of Oyashiro-sama right now…
"Yes. Let's hope everything goes well. Nothing bad will happen to us, Rena-chan. We'll make it through this and find Satoshi-san and Satoko-san!"
Rena smiled as he said that. Maybe they could find out what was causing the smell and the person who near the school that night. Rika might tell her if he could convince her somehow.
Let's hope everything goes okay. I hope nothing bad happens to the school…
But as he walked closer and closer towards the school, he felt something eerie and strange to it. Was the person from last night still here? Someone definitely was around the school, but he couldn't see them. The abandoned forestry equipment was moved slightly, but there was nothing strange about it.
"Keiichi-kun? Is something wrong?"
Keiichi immediately looked away from Rena, trying to appear calm. He didn't want Rena to worry about him even more. He should try to warn the class if he could, but he didn't know if Chie would believe him either.
"Nothing. There's nothing…"
Rena looked confused but didn't say anymore after that. They walked into the classroom as everyone took to their seats with their books and schoolwork. Keiichi didn't feel like doing anything this time, so he just looked around the class to see if Satoshi and Satoko came back.
They hadn't.
Wonder if I can talk to Rika-chan again. Let me see if she's still seated in the corner…
He turned around and noticed that her seat was empty this time. Rika wasn't in school today. Chie was busy trying to get everyone else to self-study as she helped the younger kids in the class again. Keiichi sighed, thinking about where she went.
Can't believe she ditched me like that. I should probably tell the teacher about what's going on right now…
He got up, but Rena stopped him by clinging onto his shirt.
"Keiichi-kun, where are you going?"
He hesitated for a moment.
"I'm…just going to the bathroom. I'll be back, I promise."
After a while, Rena let go of his shirt. Keiichi felt bad about it, but he just didn't want to say anything to her right now. The feelings of regret and guilt were too much at times, so he decided to just take a break from studying.
But Chie stopped him as well before he was about to leave the classroom.
"Where are you going, Keiichi-kun? Is something wrong?"
"I-I'm okay, I'm just going to the bathroom, Chie-sensei."
"Does it have something to do with the smell? It's not as bad today."
The smell? That's strange. Wasn't it really smelly before?
Keiichi left the classroom and walked towards the bathroom. But before he left the classroom, he noticed something hanging near the door. He couldn't see what it was, so he decided to leave it for now. Tired and frustrated, he looked out of the window, hoping Rika was alright.
Where did she go? She couldn't have gotten spirited away like Satoshi-san and Satoko-san. Rika-chan, you can't just throw all your responsibilities at me! I don't understand what's going on here!
He scratched his head, trying to think. Rika's behavior was strange to him sometimes, but he wanted to mean well. He really didn't want anything bad to happen to her regardless. She had helped him reconcile with Rena before and tried to push him to do it.
But with all this curse talk and warning him to leave Hinamizawa, what is there to it?
I don't want to leave Rena-chan here either. Why doesn't Rika-chan consider that?
After a while, he went to the bathroom and washed his face. He could try to tell the teacher about what happened last night if he could. But as he got out of the bathroom, he noticed a strong smell near the classroom.
It was the same smell that kept permeating throughout the school a few days ago.
"What's going on with this school? I should tell Chie-sensei…"
In the corner of his eye, Keiichi saw a small figure near the forest. The figure came closer and closer towards him from outside the school, freaking him out. The flowing hair of a demonic girl dressed in a shrine maiden uniform came running towards him. She had horns that those of a demon.
She seemed to be screaming something, but he couldn't hear her. The form started to disappear as something went off inside the school building.
Who was she? She looks like a ghost.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
"Keiichi!"
He could barely hear someone call out his name. And all went black.
The pain felt too real. The smell of burning fire and smoke itched Keiichi's eyes as he slowly woke up from the rubble that fell near him. He looked around and saw himself inside the burning school building. In an instant, something exploded near him, and he got knocked out.
What just happened? How am I still alive?
He tried to get up but there was a sharp pain in his legs. Ignoring it, he limped towards the school classroom, hoping everyone didn't die in the blast. He was barely lucky enough due to going out of the class for a moment to go to the bathroom but didn't think it would save his life.
Where is everyone? I hope Rena-chan is okay!
"Rena-chan! Mion-san! Anyone! Please be alive!"
In front of the door was some rubble, and there looked to be a lot of smoke and fire near the classroom. Holding his breath with his shirt, he tried to open the door, but it was stuck. His strength had plummeted since he decided to look for his classmates instead of escaping the building. The smoke got thicker and thicker as he pulled on the door.
Nothing. There was nothing budging.
"K-Keiichi-kun?"
A soft voice could be heard from the other side of the door. It was Rena. She sounded barely alive.
"Rena-chan! You're alive! I'm coming to get you out of there, just wait!"
Keiichi continued to pull at the door, hoping something would move. Instead, more smoke and dust came towards him, making it harder to breathe. Clutching onto his shirt, he tried and tried, to no avail.
"W-What are you doing, Keiichi-kun? You should call for help. Go to the phone booth."
Rena seemed to have heard him budging the door.
"I'm okay! I should get you and any surviving classmates out if I could. Just wait!"
He heard Rena cough again, with the smoke and heat so close to them. Keiichi felt his skin and clothes burning, but he didn't want to leave them behind. Rika disappeared, and he didn't want to lose Rena as well.
Then he heard something. The sound of footsteps. Someone was lurking inside the building. Keiichi was too distracted to notice them at first until Rena told him.
"Please leave! I don't want you to die along with us, Keiichi-kun!"
"But Rena-chan, I could still save you! There are probably others that are trapped in with you inside the class!"
Rena didn't say anything for a moment.
"Keiichi-kun, I'm sorry that we weren't friends for very long. I wasn't able to feed you enough food and bring you to more places around Hinamizawa. Maybe someday, we could do it together in another life. I'm so sorry about this…"
Her voice grew fainter and fainter behind the jammed door.
"Rena-chan! Please, don't die on me! No!"
But he couldn't hear her anymore. The fire and smoke were still blazing around him, making him feel dizzy. He still had his injury to take care of and there was someone roaming around the building. It was best to just follow Rena's instructions and get to the phone booth as soon as he can.
I'll have to leave here too, or else I'll suffocate to death as well. I wonder who that girl was…
The demonic-looking figure ran towards him before the explosion knocked him out. He limped and ran as fast as he can out of the building. Through the thick smoke and fire, he managed to get outside of the school. Someone was lying on the ground next to the school, her face covered up with blood and bruises.
Who is she? Why does she have horns on her head?
Keiichi went towards her and turned her face over. It immediately turned into Rika, with her blue flowing hair strewn about, revealing her face. She seemed to be barely breathing.
"R-Rika-chan, what were you doing here? Why were you outside?"
She barely opened her eyes.
"I-I just wanted to warn you one last time. You really shouldn't get involved in this, Keiichi…"
He quickly checked her pulse. She was still alive, just looked shaken up and beaten. If he could get towards the nearest phone booth as soon as possible, he could try to call for help for Rika and the school. Rena is probably already gone, but the other students could still be alive.
"Don't worry. We'll get out of here and get you to safety."
"N-No. You will get killed, Keiichi. Don't do this for me. You don't need to play a hero!"
"What do you mean?"
Rika pointed towards something behind him. There was a figure nearby, watching them from outside the school building. The school had begun to be engulfed in flames, ravaging the rest of the building. If Keiichi hadn't escaped sooner, he would have died by then.
Whack.
He suddenly saw red flashing through his eyes. Gripping onto Rika, he tried to protect her as he fell to the ground. The dark eyes of someone were holding a bat as he continued to beat them. Keiichi tried to see who it was but could barely make out a figure.
It looked like Satoshi, who looked wild and rabid. His neck was full of bloodied scratches as he went after them with his bat. Keiichi closed his eyes as he held on to Rika, hoping that she wouldn't die.
A sharp light was coming from Satoshi's neck, almost blinding him.
Then everything went black.
Police Report #1: In the aftermath of the Hinamizawa Branch School fire, the remains of the students and the teacher were found inside the classroom. Police have discovered a broken dust bag near the entrance of the classroom door. A lighter was found nearby, suspecting that it was used to cause a small explosion inside the school, setting off a spark. Two students were found dead outside the school, beaten to death.
After searching for a few nights, they found Houjou Satoshi dead near a phone booth, with a bloodied bat beside him. Houjou Satoko is still currently missing.
It is believed that the Houjou siblings were the ones that killed their uncle and set off the school fire.
The people of Hinamizawa believe that it is the Curse of Oyashiro-sama. This tragedy will never be forgotten. The tragedy of the June 1983 school fire.
Thus, ends the First Loop.