Disclaimer: I do not own When They Cry Higurashi no Naku Koroni, it belongs to its original creator.

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When They Cry Higurashi no Naku Koroni

Tachiagari-hen

Hyakunenmai no Hatsukoi

Chapter 2 "Start of Love"

"Miii…" Rika weakly gave her trademark childish moan as she sat in her seat while she laid her head on her desk.

Ever since this morning, she had not been feeling well. However, despite the fact that there was a slight fever, she decided to disregard it since it was only a slight one. Furthermore, she couldn't let Satoko do all of the housework and ruin the club activity just because she was feeling a little bit uncomfortable.

Just as Rika decided to close her eyes to rest a little bit, a voice called.

"Rika-chan, it is time for club activity." Keiichi said as he approached Rika's seat and as he got nearer, he felt that something was wrong.

"Rika-can, daijobu?" Keiichi asked as Rika forced herself up to respond to Keiichi.

"Daijobu nano desu." Rika replied as she got up and slowly walked towards where the others awaited them while pretending to be normal.

"I must be paranoid." Keiichi then scratched the back of his head and shrugged as he followed Rika to where the others were.

"So everyone is here." Mion said as she looked at everyone with a satisfying smile on her face.

"Well, we will begin today's club activity." Mion said as everyone around her watched intently.

"First of all, let me explain the rules." Mion then gave her explanation

"The game is simple. The club members are to be divided into three teams. Each team will come up with a question and the other teams will have to answer after completing certain tasks. Also, the task has reasonable to able to be done in school." Mion explained as she looked at everyone and made sure there were no questions about the rule.

"Then shall we?" Mion then took out a dice and no one knew what happened in this day would shape their fates eternally.

Moments later….

"Yoroshuka na Rika-chan." Keiichi said as he joined Rika and Rika gave her trademark smile as she hid her conditions. On the other hand, Shion was paired with Satoko and Mion with Rena.

Moments later after they all joined up with their partner, the game began.

"The first round, I, Sonozaki Shion and Ryugu Rena team will be presenting the task and the question." Mion said as the others enthusiastically awaited them to give the task.

"The task is… the team as run twice from this classroom through the corridor to the principal's office and back." Mion instructed as Rena added with a smile on her face. "Rena, will be watching at principal's office, to make sure everyone do get to the office."

Rika and Keiichi then looked and nodded towards each other before they readied themselves near the classroom door, while Satoko and Shion also positioned themselves near the door.

"Yoie." Mion said as she readied her hands for the start motion and as if time slowed down, everything seemed to move in fraction of their original speed as they awaited the starting signal.

"Hajime." As soon as the starting sign was given, the flow of time returned to normal; then Shion and Satoko dashed out immediately followed closely by Rika and Keiichi.

As they neared the first corner, Satoko nodded to Shion, and noticing this, Rika knew something was wrong. But just as she was about to tell Keiichi, what she feared came.

"Eat this." Satoko said evilly as she kicked the mop and bucket nearby over onto the floor and Rika was able to avoid tripping by jumping over it, but Keiichi was not so fortunate.

"Ite." Keiichi said as he attempted to get up while feeling the back of his head to check for any injuries and seeing that her partner was on the floor, Rika stopped and came back.

"Keiichi, dajobu nano?" Rika asked worriedly as she offering her hand to pull me up.

"Gomen, Rika-chan" Keiichi replied as he took of her hand and stood up.

"Let's go then." Rika then said with smile as they dashed out again.

When they finally reached the principal's office, Satoko's team had already begun their run back.

Although they tried their best to catch up, Rika and Keiichi were still unable to catch up in the end and lost the round.

"Kei-chan, I was going to give a really easy question for you, but you wasted it." Mion said as she pouted.

"Sorry, Mion." Keiichi said as he scratched the back of his head and seeing this Rika felt a little uneasy.

"It's nothing." Rika told herself as they readied for another round.

The game went on and despite their hard effort, the gap between Rika and Keiichi with the other teams continued to exist. And as the game went on, Rika began to feel weak. Still, she carried on, believing that she would spoil everyone's mood if she dropped out now.

Finally, the final set came and everyone readied themselves to win the final set.

"This is not good, my vision is becoming blurry." Rika thought to herself as she tried her best to prevent herself from collapsing as she panted for breath. The hard physical exercise had not help, but in fact made her worse and weaker. But just as she was about to take another towards where the others were, her vision went black and the last thing she remembered was the pain of hitting the floor.

Hearing the thud sound, everyone turned to only find Rika on the floor unconscious while her breathing became shallow.

"Rika-chan!" Keiichi immediately rushed to Rika's side and tried to shook her. But as soon he felt her skin, even he could tell that she was in really bad situation with the fever she had.

"I will take her to Irie Clinic." Keiichi said as he quickly put Rika on his back so that he could carry her on his back. Soon afterwards, Keiichi left the room while Mion and the others went to phone the clinic informing the Irie about Rika's situation.

She did not know how long had passed as she opened her eyes. She still felt weak headed and it felt like that as if her brain was on fire; but she could still hear the panting as the man who carried her ran.

Then she heard the voice as she leaned against the back of the man carried her as the sounds of the countryside surrounded them.

"Dajobu Rika-chan?" The man said and Rika could tell that it was Keiichi who carried her.

"We are almost there at the hospital." Keiichi informed her as the journey continued.

"When you get well, we will continue today's game!" Keiichi added as a gentle and warm smile appeared on his face.

"Even though I slowed you, who teamed up with me, down, Rika-chan." Keiich paused for a few seconds before going on. "Next time, I will definitely give you victory as a present."

Hearing that, Rika smiled as well, knowing that someone cared for her. But before she could give any reply, her consciousness faded away again as her eye lids felt heavy and then closed up.

The next thing Rika saw was the white ceiling and soon she also felt the softness of the bed below her.

"Mii…." Rika then tried to get up and just as she did so, the door to the room opened up.

"Oh, you are awake." A man dressed in white lab coat greeted her as Rika watched him walked in.

"Irie…what happened to me?" Rika asked as she rubbed her forehead with her right hand and just as she did so she moved her left hand to better support herself. Just as she moved her left hand Rika felt something on the bed and to her surprise she found Keiichi asleep as he leaned his head on the bed while he sat next to the bed.

Noticing Rika's surprise, Irie decided to tell her what happened.

"Maebara-san had been taking care of you for the past two days since you were brought in after you collapsed from a cold." Irie then paused for a while and smile before continuing on. "What a nice boyfriend, right?"

Hearing that, Rika's blushed and her entire face's color became a shade of red that even tomato would be no match for it. Rika then once again turned her gaze back towards Keiichi

"Arigato nano desu, Keiichi." Rika said gently as she felt warmness in her heart, in a way that she never felt before in her twelve years old life while she gave a happy and shy smile on her face that would appear before no one else, but him, who would accompany and be with her always in the days to come.

To be continued…

Completed: February 7, 2009

Edited: February 14, 2009

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Author's Note: Well, this chapter actually is the real core of the story. This chapter is actually inspired by a scene from one of the manga for Kataribanashi-hen, which is kind of like a side / supplemental story to the original story (Manga is 百年目の病, I read a Chinese scanlated version so don't know how to translate it into Romanji). However, it is approved by the original author, Ryukishi as canonical, thus this story can be considered true to the original story to some extent. The actual scene referenced here is the part when Keiichi carried Rika to the hospital. The rest of the chapter is original meaning that I made it up to match the story. Anyway, and yes this is a Rika and Keiichi pairing story. Well, that is it for this chapter. See you again

Translation:

["Rika-can, daijobu?"] translates to "Are you okay, Rika-chan?"

["Daijobu nano desu."] translates to "I am fine."

["Yoie."] translates to "Ready."

["Hajime."] translates to "Start."

["Ite."] translates to "That hurts."

["Keiichi, dajobu nano?"] translates to "Keiichi, are you okay?"

["Arigato nano desu, Keiichi."] translates to "Thank you, Keiichi."