Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni SAI
When They Cry Again
Disclaimer
I do not own Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (Kai) or anything like that. My characters are obviously mine, though. That's Mikan, Nanaha, Nina, Kain, and Ayu..
Note
Ummm.. not much to say. Sorry. ;
. A R C . O N E .
The Blood Tears Chapter
C h a p t e r 0 0 3 : Ogres
Nina had had to go home early.
Since she had no parents to pick her up, Ayu had volunteered to walk her friend back home and make sure she got there safely. Because Ayu, the club leader, was not there, the Games Club did not meet and the others went home shortly afterward.
The next few days were event-less. Nina was fine and everyone acted like it had never happened, aware of the fact she was probably extremely embarrassed by her outburst. She blamed it on working herself but worked overtime anyways.
The happy times were back.
Kain yawned, waking up to the usual sound of summer birds and bugs. It was the day he'd been waiting for.. eagerly? He couldn't decide. After Nina's outburst the 'original' plans for the Watanagashi festival had been completely redone.
"Ne... Kain." It was Nanaha. After Nina had been taken home by Ayu, class had returned to normal. However, Kain had been left with the task of dealing with Nina's "children". Even though they were teens, Mikan and Nanaha had become family to Nina, to the point that you could swear they were somehow blood related. So, after the supporting pillar of their family had gone crazy and been taken away, both girl were a bit upset.
"Yeah, Nanaha? What's wrong?" Kain asked, smiling, despite how worried he was. He had only known her for under a year but Kain had never seen Nina flip out in front of people. She seemed like the type to hold her emotions in.
Nanaha hugged Kain, whimpering a bit. "I know I won, but I think Nina needs the date with you more than I do."
"Heh?!" Kain had been very embarrassed. The date with him was some sort of treat? And it was really cute Nanaha would give it up for the sake of Nina... She was such a cute kid!
"Besides, I only asked you out because then I wouldn't have to play the punishment game..."
It still hurt to look back on that day when Kain's ego had been repetitively shattered.
But it was the Watanagashi Festival now. June 19th. And he had a date, despite the fact it had been a prize he never wanted to give tossed around like a hot potato. It would be his first date... ever. That was pretty sad for a boy his age.
"Ah, you're up." Ayu was awake already, busy cooking breakfast, "Everyone I coming over to eat with us, Kain, so please be ready."
He moaned and sat up. Ayu had some sort of 6th sense that allowed her to always know when you were awake, or wake-up-able. Once up and dressed, Kain went over to help Ayu set up their table and chairs.
"Good morning!" Mikan called, opening the door, "I picked open your lock! Hope that's ok!"
Ayu laughed. "It's fine. No need to lock your doors in Hinamizawa anyways! There's no one here to hurt you!"
"Really." Mikan chirped, now skipping over to the table, "What's for breakfast?"
"Crepes, right?" Nanaha seemed to appear out of no where next to Mikan, smiling and giggling, "I smell crepes."
"And Pancakes." Nina added when she walked in. Spotting Kain the girl flashed a friendly smile and little giggle, obviously aware of their 'date'. Kain just blushed. He didn't know whether to be happy or depressed.
"Nina got it. She wins!" Ayu announced, pointing the flipper at her, "So Nina gets some of Nanaha's share for punishment."
"Awww... That's ok..." Nanaha said with a sigh, "Nina needs to get up for when she performs tonight."
"Huh? Performance?" Kain repeated. Nina nodded.
"I'm Oyashiro-sama's miko." Nina explained, walking over to take her seat at the table, "I have to do a ritual to break up the cotton to float downstream."
Kain still looked confused, so Nanaha piped up.
"Oyashiro-sama is the god that protects us." She explained, "A little into the first year he made himself known."
That didn't really answer any questions but just made more come up.
"Oyashiro-sama is a kind God who protects our town from the sin and evil of the world outside. Because of him, we can get rid of the ogres in our hearts. No impurity can get in and nurture our natural sin. Oyashiro-sama will save us, that's why we're here."
Kain rose a brow. It did, at the very least, explain the odd ceremony he had had to attend to 'wash away his sin' before he got into Hinamizawa. And now that he thought about it, he had been thanking this Oyashiro-sama for food and safety and stuff, but that was out of habit and his parents had nailed the habit into him.
Nanaha continued, seeming to be in her own little world. Kain guessed she was very religious.
"But we have to obey certain rules. We cannot leave Hinamizawa for more than a week unless we serve our time here, otherwise our inner demons will take control again. And if we try to leave, Oyahiro-sama will curse u-"
"Nanaha!" Nina interrupted her 'daughter', smiling brightly, "Wash your hand so we can eat."
The girl seemed to return to reality and giggled. "Ok, Nina-mama!" She chirped, rushing off to the sink. Kain glanced over at Nina and noticed something odd.
She was trembling.
"Nina? You ok?" He whispered. When she turned to look at him, Kain could clearly see that she was scared; her face was pale and eyes like those of a frightened animal.
But she simply smiled and nodded. "Of course I'm ok... I'm looking forward to showing you around today."
He nodded slowly, though uncertain as to whether or not to believe she was 'ok'. When she broke away from his stare, going to wash her hands, Kain glanced over to Ayu. She had been watching, as he'd assumed, and looked quite worried. When Nina was out of earshot, Ayu scolded Nanaha for bringing up Oyashiro-sama.
Breakfast started as it always did. The small fold-out table was crammed with plates around the perimeter and more plates and glasses took up the center of the table. After giving thanks to their protective God, the citizens of Hinamizawa went straight to eating.
"So! Is everyone excited about the Watanagashi festival?" Mikan asked cheerfully, "We'll have to meet up after that date to play games."
"Yeah! I want to get a goldfish! Can we have goldfish, Nina-mama?" Asked Nanaha cheerfully. Nina smiled and nodded.
"If you can win one. We can probably win a fish bowl too." She said calmly, reaching out to take another pancake off of the center plate, "But remember, a fish is a big responsibility. We'll have to take good care of it."
The two younger girls cheered and began chatting together about what to name the fish. Mikan seemed to be winning with her argument to name it after her missing brother.
While the younger two discussed the fish, the older three went to talking about other matters.
"So, Nina, what do you think about my plan?" Ayu asked. Nina lifted her head from focusing on the difficult task of dressing her pancake with syrup and raspberries.
"Huh? Oh. You mean about moving in together?" She repeated. Ayu nodded. Kain looked very confused.
"What's this about?" He asked. Ayu giggled and winked.
"Nina and I have been counting up our savings. We found that if we pool the founding from the orphan charity Hinamizawa gives her, the money her family left behind, the money my parents give me and the money we earn working, we could probably buy a house and live there no problem for at least five more years."
"Ah.." Kain looked mildly surprised, then grinned and gave them a thumbs up, "Count me in! I can get a job to help."
"With all of this money it's a wonder we didn't do this sooner, huh, Nina?"
Nina blushed a bit and nodded. "Yes... We should start looking at houses."
"Gotcha covered!" Ayu exclaimed happily, "I thought you'd say yes, so I talked to grandmother about it. She says that if we can wait a few months we can get a new place in July, probably. She says some people will leave after the Watanagashi festival and that they're building new houses for new citizens anyways. We could get first priority."
"Wow!" Nina exclaimed, clapping her hands together. She exclamation brought the younger two back into the conversation.
"Oh? We're moving?" Nanaha asked. She was pretty good at eavesdropping. "We're going to live with Kain and Ayu?"
Nina nodded. "Isn't that great? We'll have more room and we can buy real beds and a real table..." She seemed awfully excited, though her voice went to almost a whisper when she murmured, "Like a real family..."
Ayu smiled proudly, quite pleased to see Nina's spirits going up again. The meal seemed to be drawing to a close so she eventually got up and began taking up plate.
"Nina? Why don't you and Kain go on down to the festival? We'll catch up later." She promised with a smile, "We'll stay and clean up."
"Eh? I couldn't, I should help-" A stern look from Ayu convinced Nina not to help. Though they were close in age, Ayu held a lot of power over Nina.
Minutes later, Nina and Kain were both dressed for an outing. They only had time to wave and wish everyone luck before the three girls shoved them forcefully out the door and into the hallway.
They stood silent for a moment, then Nina laughed nervously and looked up at Kain. "Well... Shall we go?"
He laughed nervously right back at her and nodded, "Yeah. Let's go then?"
Nina nodded, hurrying ahead. Though he was falling behind, Kain kept his slow relaxed pace, letting the energetic miko practically run laps around him. It took them five minutes to get out of the apartment, at which time Nina realized he was purposefully being slow.
"HEY! Ka-in!" She snapped, though there was some playful anger in her tone, "You're going slow on purpose!"
"Your point?" He replied teasingly. Nina frowned and waved her arms like a child.
"I want to get some alone time with Kain you know! It' my prize!"
Kain turned bright red and looked away. "Oh... I... didn't realize."
"So you'll hurry up?" Nina asked. He nodded and took her hand, speeding up his pace as he dragged her along.
Nina fell silent, enough so that Kain began to worry. She seemed to have spotted something a few yard off and was straining to hear something.
Kain slowed down.
"Hey...? What're you looking at?"
She didn't reply at first, just began muttering to herself.
"No... no no no... That's not true. It's a lie! I can't... I..."
"Nina!" Kain had to raise his voice to get her attention, "Nina, what're you talking about?"
She gasped and turned to Kain, brought out of her little world. Seeing him, Nina smiled weakly.
"Oh. Kain. It's just you... Sorry, what were you saying?" She was talking like nothing had ever happened.
He frowned. "You spaced out... What's a lie?"
Nina laughed. "Oh, you heard that? It's nothing. I'm just talking to myself..."
"Liar. Tell me." His voice was much firmer now, enough so that Nina's smile promptly fell off her face and she looked a bit hurt.
"I-I told you... It's..."
"Liar!" He repeated, grabbing Nina by her shoulders quite roughly, "Some thing's wrong! You freaked out in class and now you're always spacing out and talking about liars..."
Nina looked away, but a shake from Kain forced her to look him in the eyes.
Her own hazel eye began to tear up a bit and she whispered, as if she was afraid someone else would hear, "I'm cursed."
Kain loosened his grip a bit, making her feel comfortable enough to continue.
"Ever since I said I wanted to leave Hinamizawa... Oyashiro-sama keeps coming to me. He tells me I'll die tonight, when everyone is celebrating... I'll die..."
The thought was making her tremble and turn pale.
"He'll kill me... I sinned. My demons are taking over. I'll be killed. Killed..."
Maybe bringing this up had been a bad idea. Nina continued to shake for a few seconds while Kain while silent, then she jumped and turned around sharply.
Whatever she thought he saw made her scream and topple back.
"NOOOO! No, that won't happen!" She shrieked at the top of her lung, loud enough that Kain had to step back, or else he felt his ears might fall off. "That won't happen! Liar! LIAR!"
"Nina, what's-"
"Stay back!" Kain's attempt to pull her into a hug (girls calmed down if they were hugged, right? Like in that chick flic Ayu made him watch) ended with Nina smacking him hard across the face. She was breathing heavily, eyes wide and her whole body shaking.
"You... You..! Just stay away!" She yelled, her tears making her voice crack, her yelling becoming strained, "Or else... or else... You'll be the second! We'll be the two to die this year!"
And then, just like that, Nina turned and ran off. Though Kain started after her he soon found that she was far too fast... How embarrassing, being out run by a girl like this...
"Nina! NINA!" He called desperately. But she was either out of ear shot or just ignoring him.
Well, that was a smooth first date.
"Kain? Kain, where's Nina?"
Returning to the apartment and having Ayu blow up on him only made it worse. It was like being scolded by a girl's mother after a bad date. When Ayu found out Nina had run off she ranted Kain out for a good five minutes on how awful he was. Then, when she calmed down, she told Mikan and Nanaha to go ahead to the festival and look for Nina and to give her a huge hug when they found her.
Kain stayed back in the apartment with her.
"I'm really sorry..." Kain started, embarrassed. Ayu sighed and shook her head.
"Kain... Have you heard about the Curse?"
He shook his head, so Ayu continued calmly.
"Ever since Hinamizawa was founded five years ago, one person has died and one has vanished on the night of the Watanagashi festival. Nina's mother, Oyashiro-sama's old miko, told us it was to keep our inner demons asleep."
"Inner demons...? The ogres? What Nanaha was talking about?"
Ayu nodded."We were chosen to live here to deal with demons we are cursed with... And..." She took a deep breath, "I think Nina is going to be demoned away this year."