Artisan
Chapter 6

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The preparations for the Watanagushi festival were in full swing. Rika found her days swamped with practice again, and was missing club activities because of it. Often, in the mind-numbing routines she had to make sure to trip up just enough on, she wished she could show how well she really knew it and then skip off - but she couldn't. That would be rude, and unnatural.

But it held her up. Meant she couldn't keep as sharp an eye on her friends as she wanted to - even if they all showed up, even a Keiichi on crutches, to help out with other manners of preparation.

And Keiichi was finally introduced to Tomitake Jiro.

It wasn't an earth-shattering moment. If it ever was in another world, then Rika had not born witness.

But Rika repeated her warning with the chance she had. Tomitake repeated that he'd be careful - and she wondered if he was taking her seriously at all.

But if they didn't listen, then she'd stop them another way. It had already worked once, after all.

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The days pass by, much the same. The preparations suck up more and more of their time and she was barely able to set up her traps (and credit to Satoko, both past and present, for that) in the Saiguden before the night of the Watanagushi festival arrived.

There was still no Shion in this reincarnation. One less friend to worry about. One less friend to watch out for. One less person to plan for, to try and trip up. One less player on the board to move - but couldn't that be a disadvantage later on as much as it was an advantage now? When she worked out what enemy she had to fight, more people on her side would to be better. It was a complex game and she couldn't see the whole board, let alone juggle all the pieces on it and -

And what? Would I sacrifice any of my friends if I had to?

No was the easy answer, the answer she wanted to give and would have in a heartbeat in the first wall and even in the second one. But after that… How many deaths have I seen? Too many…

'Rika…'

She shook her head at Hanyu. She couldn't give up on them. She couldn't - because then who would fight for them?

But right now was the time to save Tomitake and Takano.

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They were at the Saiguden. At least this time they hadn't dragged Shion or Keiichi or both them into it as well. Just the two of them, with Tomitake picking the lock. Rika didn't stop them. After all, she was about to bring the curse of Oyashiro on them - or she hoped. It depended on how easily they'd be able to read her traps, how easily they'd avoid them.

And she had the scythe in her hand as well. Intimidation factor, she told her shaking hands. Just to drag their attention away. Make them careless. Make them stumble into one of her traps if they didn't do it by themselves.

The lock fell. Tomitake looked one way and then the other, not seeing Rika waiting there.

'I'll go in,' said Takano. 'You coming to or waiting outside/'

'I'll keep a lookout.' And he grinned at her before sitting on the steps.

Rika growled under her breath, but that was okay. She was small and she knew the ritual tool shrine. She could sneak in. Not with the scythe though.

Or maybe the shrine maiden image would scare Tomitake-san away. She could only try.

'Leave!' she commanded, loud enough for the photographer to catch her voice but not Takano within (or so she hoped). 'Trespassers of Oyashiro's shrine, leave before my curse is cast upon you.'

Tomitake straightened up, peering into the darkness, trying to see her in the shadows she hid within. 'Hello?' he asked.

He didn't sound frightened in the least. And I told him he'd die today as well. She growled again. Proof he was simply humouring her. Proof he didn't believe her. Fools, the both of them. And here I am, trying to save their lives.

She could have cried. She could have screamed loud and with abandon but she couldn't do any of those things right then. Had to keep on trying. 'Leave!' she demanded again, loud and low. 'The curse of Oyashiro seeks its payment this night.'

Tomitake stared her way a moment longer, then turned to call out for Takano. Rika slipped away, leaving the scythe in the woods and scaling the wall. She could still hear their voices. Tomitake, explaining that a villager was trying to scare them away - not a problem per say, but concerning in that they had so easily implicated themselves. But Takano didn't seem concerned in the least.

And when Rika was on the roof and could peer through the high window, she saw her touch his arm and smile. 'It's okay,' she said, before spinning on the spot. 'Come, look at all this. Isn't it amazing?'

'Guess I'm more of a nature guy,' said Tomitake indulgently. Like Takano was a child and he was her baby-sitter - and they kind of looked like that, right then. Or a couple on a date with Takano as the more immature partner.

But they were both immature, weren't they? Not heeding her warnings. Not taking care. Sneaking into the Saiguden when they knew - even as outsiders - that it was forbidden. Maybe Keiichi didn't know in this timeline, if it hadn't come up in conversation, but everyone else knew. Tomitake and Takano both knew.

No-one mourned in the worlds where word of their transgression had gotten out. No-one except perhaps for her who knew her own time was too close now and she had no more moves to make and it was more the lack of opportunities and her impending death she mourned. It tended to be days after the fact in any case, when the rest of the town found out. Sometimes, it was the last thing she recalled before it all went blank and she awoke in a new world.

And those two seemed unable to grasp that horror, no matter how many worlds she warned them in.

'Leave,' she demanded again. 'Oyashiro angers.'

Takano looked up and smiled. 'Are you trying to scare us away, Furude Rika-chan?'

How did -? She started, and suddenly there was someone behind her, someone tall and strong. Her heart thudded in her chest. Was that her killer? But no. He grabbed her yes, but carefully and only carried her down and into the Saiguden.

And then there were four people in the Saiguden, and three of them were tresspassers.

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'This is Okonogi Tetsuro,' Nurse Takano introduced with a smile, as though they had met in the clinic or the library or just passed each other on the road. The same tone of voice she'd used in a few worlds, including this one, to introduce Tomitake to Keiichi as well. The voice that made Rika want to grit her teeth sometimes, because it meant she wasn't taking the situation seriously at all.

At least there was no need to smile and act cute here. Rika frowned at all three. 'You're trespassing in the Saiguden,' she said. 'Those who enter without permission from the shrine keepers are cursed.'

'By Oyashiro?' Takano bent down and smiled. Still seeing a child telling a make-believe tale. 'Then could you give us permission, Rika-chan? We mean no harm.'

'Curiosity kills the cat, Takano-san,' Rika replied, still frowning. 'You broke the lock. Permission now is too late.'

'Oh dear.' And Takano straightened up. 'I suppose I should gravel at Oyashiro's feet and beg for forgiveness then.'

Hanyu didn't like her tone. Not at all. Neither did Rika. 'It is respect they demand,' Rika replied. 'Be careful on your way home, or else –'

'We'll be spirited away by the demon?' asked Takano.

Her frown deepened. She was still not listening. What would convince her.

She looked at the other two. Tomitake was looking between the three of them and finally settled on Rika. 'Do you know who carries out the curse?'

The other man, Okonogi who Rika hadn't yet met in any other world, said nothing and simply stood tall, like a bodyguard.

'Oyashiro carries out his judgement,' Rika answered. A truth, but also a lie. Misdirection. Who would be responsible for Takano's and Tomitake's deaths still eluded her.

Takano laughed again. 'Okonogi, think you can handle an angry god?'

Okonogi shrugged. 'I can handle humans, no problem.'

'And so can the rest of the Yamainu.' And Takano smiled at Rika. 'They're the security for the clinic. They'll protect Jiro and me and of course they'll protect Okonogi too.'

Was this new? she wondered. Was this something that could change the tide?

Hanyu was oddly silent.

'Can they save me as well?' Rika wondered aloud, her voice suddenly small.

The three looked at each other, and then it was Tomitake squatting down to her height in an attempt to comfort her. 'What do you mean? Is someone threatening you?'

'I – ' She remembered explaining this before, to a man on the outlook, a man who'd claimed to be a tourist but was in fact from the police. He never did come back. 'I saw a vision – that I die after this year's Watanagushi festival.'

'And Jiro and I die tonight,' said Takano. She was calm, but at least she wasn't laughing or smiling now. 'How about Okonogi here?'

'I don't know.' Rika shook her head. 'I have never seen him before.'

'Flattered, Priestess,' said the man, sounding in part amused. 'But if you want our protection, we would be honoured to offer it to you.'

'The Yamainu?'

That…might change things after all. A small glimmer of hope snuck in.

And then she jumped. Nurse Takano had clapped her hands. 'That's settled then.' She was sounding chirper again. Too chirper. 'Now I think I'll go and enjoy the rest of these festivities. Rika-chan, you have your dance coming up, right?'

She nodded slowly. She was still processing.

Takano waved cheerily and left her there, standing in the middle of the Saiguden with the broken lock still on the steps.

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'What do you think, Hanyu?'

'She is careless and disrespectful,' was Hanyu's reply. 'But perhaps the Yamainu can be a piece for you to play on later boards.'

'Why not this one?' Rika growled at her. 'You speak as if this world's already gone but you still haven't said why!'

Hanyu just looked sadly at her. 'Did you see all your friends at the festival?'

'Of course I did,' Rika snapped back. 'You were there with me.'

'And did you see their families?'

'Of course not.' Rika rolled her eyes at that. Just where was Hanyu going with this line of thinking? 'No Shion in Hinamizawa in this world. And Rena's mother's in Ibaraki. And Satoko's parents and mine are dead. I saw Mion's parents and Keiichi's – ' And then she stopped. 'Keiichi's mother.'

'No father.' Hanyu nodded. 'His father left Hinamizawa for a weekend to attend a funeral.'

'But – ' Her brain seemed to freeze. 'But –' But what? There was nothing to say. Nothing to do.

How could she have not thought somebody other than her friends could have their parasites activate before the Watanagushi Festival of Showa 58?

'It's too late,' said Hanyu. 'The parasite has been awake for a fortnight now.'

'That's – ' And her hands formed useless fists. Useless because there was no enemy she could punch to fix this mess. I'm sorry, Keiichi.

Then shock rippled through her a second time. Keiichi was still in danger! And so was his mother!

'Damn it,' she muttered, her breaths quickening and her heartbeat thudding away in her head. 'Damn it. What –'

'It's too late,' said Hanyu again. 'You can only live to the end of this world, and try again in the next one.' And her voice was as heavy, as defeated, as it had been in almost every other world. It was too hard, going from one possibility to the next and never finding it: never finding the solution they sought.

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She returned the scythe to its rightful place in the Saiguden and closed the door. The lock she left as it was, and perhaps that was the childish, angry part of her that left it as it was. It would be the proof of their transgression – or if she found the ritual tool shrine locked when she next returned, it meant they weren't as careless as they appeared.

But that didn't explain the other worlds. Why they listened to her warnings but showed up dead and victims of that farce of a curse every time.

And then there was the Yamainu. How would they play in to the events of the Watanagushi festival of Showa 58? And why hadn't they been in the previous worlds.

It was also possible that they had been present in those other worlds – but then that meant they were no good at all. Not when it came to preventing Tomitake's and Nurse Takano's deaths. Powerful enough to defeat or get around a team of bodyguards… Just how powerful or clever was this unseen enemy she fought?

And what was their purpose for being in HInamizawa? A small town like them kicking up such a fuss? The researchers she could understand, but the need to protect that information, she couldn't quite. Did someone seek the destruction of Hinamizawa? Was that not just a lovely side-effect of her own repeating death?

But that begged the question as well. Who would want Hinamizawa wiped off the map? And for what purpose?

The board had suddenly gotten a whole lot larger.

Time. I need more time.

But it was the night of the Watanagushi festival. There was no more time.