Whoo, back again! Higurashi Month 2019, because it has become one of my lowkey life goals to keep perpetuating this until it becomes a proper tradition for all three-and-a-half people in this graveyard of a fandom. And then keep doing it anyways, because tradition. If you wish to check out the prompt list, its on my tumblr page under the same username.

June 19th, 2019

Keiichi sighed heavily beneath his hockey mask as he adjusted his vest under the enveloping leather of his too-large jacket. He supposed that he shouldn't be surprised Mion managed to dig up an actual bullet-proof vest from her family somewhere, but the fact that it was already red and tangentially in the same style as his usual vest gave him pause.

Oh well.

He hefted his bat and prepared to look menacing, knowing that hordes of Hinamizawa youngsters would be pouring into the haybale maze at any moment.

…

…any moment…

…any…moment…?

Keiichi lowered his bat and scratched his head.

In retrospect, perhaps it hadn't been such a good idea to let Satoko design the maze.

Proudly seated atop her crackling throne of old twine-bound hay, Satoko grinned at the small crowd of young Hinamizawans and Okinomiyans milling about, baring her additional plastic fangs.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, boys and ghouls, welcome to the Hinamizawa Hay Maze!" she chirped as angelically as she could manage, clapping her hands together and trying a beatific smile. Perhaps it was offset just a tad by her ominously-flapping, high-collared, red-lined black vampire's cape, but really, who could blame her for trying? She forged onward valiantly, gesturing towards the gate below her. "Behind this doorway lies a ghastly concoction of delight, horror, fantasy, and terror! Yes, designed by yours truly, this hay maze holds a vast array of ghoulish delights, traps, and treats! The first group to find their way to the center gets the greatest prize of all –otherwise, everyone who finds their way out without assistance by our inhabitant monsters gets a whole bucketfull of candy!"

The crowd below her cheered excitedly, and Satoko beamed, whipping out her arm as her oversized cloak flared dramatically. "Now go forth, my minions of darkness, and enjoy my maze!" she crowed, and the assembled youths gave varied whoops of excitement as they flooded forward into the haybale maze.

Satoko's pointed teeth all but sparkled as she rubbed her hands in glee while the last few trickled in, smirking diabolically. She was so glad Mion had assigned her to the "maze creation" portion of the club's impromptu Halloween festival. Poor Keiichi-san and Shion had to be the monsters, and she was pretty sure by day's end at least one of them would be coming home with bruises from panicked maze-goers throwing defensive punches.

She was betting on Keiichi, with or without his extra assurance of a Kevlar vest and functional hockey mask. Shion's yūrei, with her white kimono and long bedraggled black hair, was absolutely terrifying, and Satoko doubted anyone would get close enough to punch her. No, they'd be running in the opposite direction the moment they saw her, squealing in terror.

Satoko loved this Western-style Halloween.

"Carve, carve, carve, carve out the eyes~!" Rena sang happily, chipping away at the yellow flesh of her pumpkin with the small knife she'd gotten from her dad's toolbox. All around, the younger members of Hinamizawa echoed her faithfully, grinning and squealing at the cold, sticky feel of the pumpkin juice on their bare hands.

Gathered around the auburn-haired teen like ducklings around a mother, these costumed children were all carving out jack-o'-lanterns of their very own under her august supervision, reproducing some of the ghoulish and the giddy designs Rena had drawn out and pricked onto the hard outer layer of the pumpkins herself.

"There!" Rena said with satisfaction, finishing out her latest example and turning around in her lap to show to her rapt audience. "Isn't he cute?"

The children all oohed and aahed over the droopy-eyed pumpkin face, and Rena grinned as she placed it on the wooden fence near the Furude Shrine and gave her most-recently-finished jack-o'-lantern a fond pat, looking at her other examples, several of which bore rather more gruesome and frightening expressions than the innocent chibis she and this latest group were carving out.

She couldn't wait to see these lit with candles and lining the paths of the wagon ride.

"Mew, what a cute little bat." Rika hummed as she finished the last delicate line of black, drawing her slender paintbrush away as the fidgeting boy in the chair leapt up and grabbed a mirror, squealing excitedly at the chibi nocturnal mammal painted across his cheek. He scampered off into the autumn sunshine, and another youth plopped herself down on the plastic chair as Rika sighed and reached for her paintbrushes again, laid alongside the artist's pallet Keiichi had swiped from his dad.

"Hau, your hair looks so lovely." Hanyuu complemented her latest victim alongside Rika, brushing the dye-loaded comb through the excitedly-bouncing toddler's shoulder-length locks, leaving an orange and black streak behind. "Would you like some purple, too?"

"You're enjoying this a lot, mew." Rika commented around her angelic smile, starting on the requested pumpkin as her client pointed excitedly at the laminated folder, babbling incoherently. An irk mark throbbed at the side of her temples. "Perhaps one of my brushes will slip and poke you in your stupid excited eye, Hanyuu. Nipah~!"

"Hauhauhau…" the lilac-haired miko whimpered, shoulders sinking as she brushed a purple streak through the other toddler's hair. "Rika, you don't have to be so grumpy about facepainting…"

I've been doing this for four hours! The Furude shrine maiden shrieked internally, sending her latest project off with a smile and a wave.

"Mew, its hard to paint every single person in Hinamizawa, sir."

"Alright!" Mion shouted over the ominous rumble of her four-wheeler, looking behind herself to see the host of excited children clinging to haybales atop the rickety flatbed trailer hitched up to her vehicle. "You guys ready to have some spooky fun!?"

"YEAH!" the younger residents of Hinamizawa cheered, and Mion grinned, turning and revving the engine with one foot.

"Get ready for the Hinamizawa Trail of Terror, then! Whoo-hoo!" she cried excitedly, the entire contraption picking up speed as she drove towards the distant, twinkling lights of the jack-o'-lanterns laid out along one of the more obscure paths. Her club waited there, waited to scare the pants off the delighted children bouncing on the haybales in the back, waited in an array of costumes both childish and practical.

They were so doing this again next year.

AN: Its my birthday today! I'm turning twenty! Also, I stole, and tweaked, most of Satoko's introduction speech from the opening to Greatest Show Unearthed, a song by Creature Feature. I was also going to have Shion dressed as Sadako from The Ring, but then I learned The Ring was a remake of Ring, which in turn was a Japanese film made only in 1998, based off a book of the same name, written in 1991. So none of the Higurashi cast have any concept of The Ring, which saddens me for some reason. So I made her a yūrei, which is apparently the type of ghost that Sadako is. Fun!

11.20 AM, USA Central Time