A/N: Hello! Second chapter! Woo hoo! The reason why this took SO LONG to upload was due to the fact that I lost the file during a computer formatting. I thought I'd have to cancel it, but then I found it on a random memory stick, so I was very happy! I hope you enjoy this chapter, and it's a little lighter than the last ^_^.

There will be no arc changes in this, and it should be quite long...

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it ;D

I dedicate this chapter to my good friend, Danmaku, since he inspired me to write this chapter, haha XD.

DISCLAIMER: The basics apply. Check the first chapter for the FULL disclaimer.

Chapter 2 – Docile

"I'll see you later!" called Rena, cheerfully shutting her house door.

It was a bright, warm day in Hinamizawa. The cicadas were screeching in their usual tones, the sun was covered by a light covering of clouds and the gentle trickle of a stream was hidden in the background.

Rena set off in a brisk walk on her way to school. The dusty trail leading to the center of town was surrounded by abundant wildlife; green trees blowing gently in the breeze, an insect hopping from one flower to the next.

This is what Rena liked about Hinamizawa. It was calm, tranquil and the weather was, relatively speaking, quite nice.

"Keiichi-kun!" called Rena, as she noticed the brown haired boy walking ahead on the path. Keiichi turned and smiled, as Rena set off in a slow jog to catch up with him.

"Good morning, Rena," Keiichi smiled at the bright haired girl. He was slightly taller than Rena, and had short hair, which didn't really have any style to it.

He wasn't really sporty and didn't have any special talents, but Rena thought he was a very kind boy.

He had been in Hinamizawa around a month, and had moved here because of his fathers business contract.

"It's a nice day today, isn't it? Isn't it?" Rena looked towards Keiichi.

"I guess, but it's almost always nice in Hina... Hiza..." Keiichi stuttered. Rena stopped and smiled. "Hinamizawa," she giggled.

"Hey, it's hard to pronounce with my accent!" sighed Keiichi, scratching his head.

"That's not an accent, it's a speech impediment!" laughed Rena. Keiichi glared at her.

Rena and Keiichi rounded the corner, about 10 minutes later, and the small town school came into view. It wasn't like your average school. Because of the size of Hinamizawa, all students, no matter what age or grade, were all grouped into one class. That meant a lot of the time, students were helping each other, as the teacher had to deal with different level work for almost every student.

Opening the door, she was greeted by Rika and Satako, younger classmates of hers.

"Good morning, Rena and Keiichi-san," said Rika, her long blue hair bouncing as she spoke.

"Good morning, Rika," smiled Keiichi.

"No greeting for me!?" cried Satako.

Satako had shoulder length blonde hair, and looked rather innocent, but she was known to be particularly devious to Keiichi.

"Nope," pouted Keiichi, dodging a swipe from Satako and running for the classroom. Satako span round, and chased him, shouting.

Rika sighed, and followed shortly behind.

The only girl left in the hallway, Rena, smiled and walked towards the classroom. When she had started here, she didn't have any friends. She was happy that Keiichi had started off his time in Hinamizawa better than she had.

Rena reached the classroom door, but before she had a chance to even reach for the handle, the door slid sideways and on the other side appeared Mion.

"Good morning, Rena-chan!" chimed Mion.

"Good morning, Mii-chan!" sang Rena back to her. Mion... Mion and her twin Shion had used to bully Rena almost all the time. It was extremely hard to tell them apart, both had the same extremely long green hair, usually tied in a ponytail (in Mion's case, anyway), both were the same height and both of them talked the same.

Shion had moved away from Hinamizawa sometime last year, but was only in the neighboring town.

I'm so glad that Mion is my friend now... It was rather odd that she'd suddenly change though... Maybe it had something to do with-

"Rena-chan, Rena-chan!" Mion sang, "Stop daydreaming and get into class!"

"Ah!" Rena snapped back into reality. "Sorry!" she called, following Mion who had already set off for her seat.

The teacher rang the bell, and all the students started packing up and setting off home.

The sun was still shining in the sky, and there was not even the slightest of cloud covering.

Mion yawned, standing up. "It's a nice day... What do you say we meet up at the shrine later?" Rena, who had just finished gathering her stuff, turned to Mion.

"Sounds like a good idea!" she smiled.

"Hey, Rika, Satako!" called Mion, "We're meeting at the shrine later, want to come with us?" The two girls turned, and agreed.

Keiichi walked up to the group, "Count me in!" he smiled.
"Nobody invited you, idiot." Satako glared at Keiichi.

"Hey, you didn't even arrange this, so I don't think you can decide who goes and who doesn't!"

"Shut up, idiot," she laughed, as the group set off for their homes.

"You can sure tell it's the start of summer," sighed Mion, as she and Rena walked along the path heading towards their homes.

The cicadas were still persistently humming, and the sun was, slowly, sinking into the horizon. Keiichi had gone to buy some dinner (his parents were away for the evening), so that just left Rena and Mion walking home.

Rena walked along silently, deep in thought, staring straight at the sky.

"Are you okay, Rena-chan?"

"Wha-? Oh, yeah. I'm fine, hehe." Rena smiled, and continued walking. A few moments of tranquil silence ensued, before Mion raised her voice again.

"Rena...? Are you sure you're okay...?" Rena stopped, staring at her feet. The cicadas were screeching, and the sound of running water, most likely from a stream, could be heard in the distance. Mion stared at Rena.

"R-Rena...?"

"Why did you become my friend, Mion!?" Rena panted, seemingly exhausted from just pushing the question out of her. Mion, on the other hand, was hanging her head, but remaining defiantly silent.

"I'm sorry, Mii-chan..." sighed Rena. "That wasn't very nice, and Rena is usually a nice girl." The silence that followed this comment was stiflingly eerie.

…?

"Rena shouldn't ask questions that could make Mion angry."

Rena stared, taken aback by Mion's outburst. The green haired girls eyes had become milky, as if they were focusing on something in the distance.

Rena hiccuped, sobbed, then ran off down the path.

"I-I'm so sorry, M-Mii-chan!" she cried.

Running down the path, she held her hand to her face, to stop the tears which were dripping down her eyes.

Why did I ask her, I made her angry!? I should have just left it.

She continued to run, until she noticed a patch of trees. She stumbled into the dark shrubbery, and slipped to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.

At first, when she opened her eyes, she thought she'd gone blind. It was only when she saw a little light in the distance did Rena realize that she must have fallen asleep among the bushes and trees.

She pushed herself up, brushed the twigs and dead leaves off, and walked back out onto the path.

I really have to get home now, it's very late...

She set back off in the opposite direction to what she was running early, realizing that she had blundered off on the complete wrong way from the shock of the earlier events.

The events in question still hung in her mind, and would not go away.

Those eyes... I think she was really angry with me...

She came to the area where Mion and her had stood earlier, and stared at into the distance. What had made Mion act that way? Something must have annoyed her, but Rena could only think it was her choice of words.

'Why did you become my friend?' How tactless..

She stared at the spot where they had stood for perhaps a little too long, as she had begun to imagine those eyes glaring at her through the foliage surrounding her.

Shaking off this bizarre thought, she turned and took the other path to her home.

"I'm home," called Rena, as she entered her house with a bang of the door.

"Rena!? Where were you!?" Rena's father called from the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, I decided to do some studying at the community library," It was a lie, obviously.

"Well, Mion called," (Rena froze), "You were supposed to meet her at the shrine today. You must have forgotten? That's not like you."

Rena gasped. She'd forgotten to go to shrine!? How would that look with Mion, who she had already annoyed earlier?

She was frightened to imagine how Mion would react tomorrow at school.

"I don't feel too good, I'm going to go to bed early," gulped Rena.

"But, you haven't eaten yet!?" But it was too late, as Rena had already bounded upstairs and bolted her door shut.

Inside her room, it was dark, and it unnerved Rena. She stumbled towards the light, and after turning it on, collapsed onto her futon. She sighed deeply, and closed her eyes.

"Rena has had a long day, huh?"

She let her eyes close slowly, listening to the distant call of the cicada.

BRING~ BRING~

Rena bolted upwards, and reached over to the phone.

Could it be... Mion?

"Hello, Ryuguu residence?"

"Rena? This is Rika, nano desu. You didn't come to the shrine today. I thought I'd ring to see if you are okay?"

Rena sighed. It was only Rika. Loosening up, she held the phone closer to her ear.

"Oh, Rena is fine, just a little tired."

"That's good then, nipa~."

Rena gave a unenthusiastic giggle.

"I can bring some sake if that would make Rena feel better?"

"It's fine, Rika-chan. I should probably go, though, and get some sleep."

"Okay, I hope you feel rejuvenated soon, mii~"

And she had hung up.

Rena's phone call with Rika had at least made her feel a little more at ease. For some reason, she felt close to Rika, like she could count on her. She mulled it over for a while, but ended up concluding that it was something to do with how cute she was.

She stared at the ceiling for a while, before falling asleep surrounded by her stuffed toys.

…

"Nee-sama... I feel so sorry for Rena. What can I do? I'm still not sure whether... I can trust her. I don't think she knows about then, but... The stories scare me."

"She brought it up today, and I didn't know how to reply. It was just a blank from then on. I hope I didn't get too upset."

"She didn't show up at the shrine earlier. I was going to apologize, but, I know you wouldn't have wanted that... I'm sorry, but I couldn't carry on what you had started. I couldn't after what happened..."

"Nee-sama... I don't know what to do... Help me?"

…

Bnnnnnnn-.

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Be careful when talking to strangers.

They may not be as 'strange' as you think.

The pain may hurt now, but think strong, and you can win the coming days.

Next time: The face of the stranger.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni.

Can you believe in it?

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Wheee, I'm happy I got this chapter finished. I really liked the start, but I think Rena got a bit too angsty towards the end. I hope you're confused and wondering what's coming next, haha! That was my plan!

Look forward to the next chapter, 'The face of the stranger'!