Chapter 11: Festival Time
I awaken feeling extremely refreshed. I no longer have to wake up worrying about Satoko. We have finally been able to free her from her "fate". My whole body is flowing with energy. I feel like sparks with go off if I let my fingers move too close together. I can't wait to meet the day. This day will be my first Watanagashi Festival, and I expect it to be filled with fun.
Sensei takes note of my enthusiasm during training. The reason for my energy is obvious. She knows quite well that I am happy for my friend's safety. She doesn't seem too upset with what had happened earlier as well. I am glad that she hasn't decided to take it out on me.
Today is a swords day, so Shinji and I are sparring with each other for most of training. My body feels as light as a feather as I fight with him. My sword feels like a twig in my hand. I am nearly able to deliver three blows in a single second to my opponent. He has begun to take a defensive stance, but it isn't helping him. My blows are coming from all directions and from all angles. He tells me that my blows are "like a raging hurricane". There isn't going to be anything that stops me today. I'm determined to win at everything.
My goal is to make Mion be the victim of today's punishment game. I heard from her that today is a special day, so the punishment is double. Hehehe, I can't wait. I think as I wear an evil grin on my face. I saw a cute maid outfit in the clubroom the other day. I bet it would look wonderful on her. I begin imagining Mion in the outfit. A large grin crosses my face as I imagine her trying to cover herself up, and blushing wildly. If I remember right, I also saw a pair of cat ears and gloves that would go nicely with the outfit. I reform my image to add in the cat ears, tail, and gloves. I fantasize about her moment of embarrassment. Y-yes Master. As you wish Master. N-nyaa! She would have to say to me. I chuckle to myself. "Excellent."
When training has finished, I head back to the mansion for some breakfast. I find Mion cooking in the kitchen. She doesn't notice me when I come in, so I come up from behind her and give her a kiss on the cheek. She giggles and greets me. "Morning Mike. You ready for today?"
"Heck yeah I am! You ready to get your butt kicked at club activities today?" I reply enthusiastically.
"Ha, hardly! I'm going to make you eat your words. Remember, its double punishment today, so you just be ready to take your punishment."
We playfully continue our smack talk until breakfast is ready. Mion didn't prepare as much as she usually does. She explains that there will be a lot of good food at the festival, and that we need to save room for that.
Makes sense to me.
After we finish our breakfast, I grab my weapons, and we head out together. We meet up with Shion. The two sisters begin talking about random things without including me. I feel a little left out, but I think that they're doing it on purpose to get a reaction out of me. Thankfully, Rena and Keiichi show up pretty soon. A little while later, Satoko and Rika show up. Satoko has a few bandages and bruises on her, but she seems to be back to normal. Seeing her smile brings warmth to my heart. I walk over to rub her on the head, but she pushes my hand off out of embarrassment.
Rena begins going crazy over Rika, who is dressed up as a shrine miko. We are trying to get her to calm down, but we aren't really making much progress. When she gets like this, there's almost no stopping her. It's hard to keep from laughing at her antics.
When we have finally calmed her down enough, we decide to begin our club activities for the day. Mion explains that our activities will consist of speed eating food from all the stalls at the festival.
"Ha. This will be easy. Speed eating is my specialty. I already eat fast normally." I brag.
"Yeah right, Mike. I see you eat all the time. You aren't as fast as you say." Mion counters.
"That's only because I eat politely when I'm around you. Not like I want you to think that I'm a slob." I reply.
She frowns as she sees my point. "Even so, Mike. You can't count us out just yet. We haven't even started."
"Alright, let's get started then."
Everyone agrees and we head out to the nearest stand. We all grab our food from the stall and begin our competition. I notice Keiichi having a little difficulty.
Hehe, he must have grabbed the food that's still hot. I was about to myself, but I thought better of it.
No one seemed willing to inform Keiichi of our strategy of grabbing the cold food. It's clear to them that I wasn't lying about my ability to consume food quickly. I am first to finish at every stand. At this point, it's a battle to not be in last place.
It's beginning to look like Keiichi is going to be the one who has to suffer from my punishment. I give off a small sigh. I was really looking forward to having Mion do the punishment. If not Mion, then one of the other girls would have been find too. I don't really have any desire to have Keiichi do anything. These punishment games are really meant to be done against the opposite sex.
When are games come to an end, it has been confirmed that Keiichi is to be the victim of the punishment of my choice. I am disappointed. The girls eagerly wait to hear what Keiichi's punishment will be.
"I think I'm just going to let Keiichi off the hook this time."
The girls nearly start screaming at me.
"Come on, Mike! That's not fair!" Mion complains.
"You can't just forfeit. Remember rule number one? You have to go all out!" Satoko adds in.
"Aww, I was looking forward to Keiichi-kun's punishment." Rena broods.
I sigh. "Fine. How about I give my right to choose the punishment to Mion? Would that be sufficient?"
They consider my proposition for a second.
"That would be fine," they agree.
"Ah, man." Keiichi complains. It's clear that he was hoping that he was going to be let off the hook. Looks like the girls are out for blood though, and they won't be satisfied till the punishment has been fulfilled. Mion puts on her evil grin as she thinks about Keiichi's punishment.
Before she can come up with something, Rika announces that she has to leave. "Mii, I have to go get ready for my dance tonight. I'm sorry."
"It's ok, Rika. We'll be watching you perform. We'll see you later." I see her off.
With her gone, we decide to find a place to stand, so we will be able to see her performance well. Looks like Keiichi is actually going to be let off the hook.
Lucky him.
After we have found our spot, Mion whispers to me. "What was up with you earlier? I understand that it's more fun for you guys if it's a girl that has to do the punishment game, but you usually think of something for Keiichi to do."
I decide to be honest with her. I start to blush as I explain myself to her. "Ah well, I was just looking forward to having you do the punishment game. I remember seeing a maid suit and cat accessories back at the school. I just kind of wanted to see you in it."
She snickers at me. "Don't you have a perverted mind."
I scratch my head in embarrassment.
"Bet you wanted me to call you "master" and end every sentence with "nyaa".
"Haha, yeah. Pretty much." I reply.
She smiles at me. "Well now I know what I'm going to make you do next time you lose."
I frown. Ah great. Me and my big mouth.
"Haha, if you get lucky though Mike, you might get me. If that happens then you can make your perverted dream come true." She teases.
"It's no more perverted than you wanting me to dress up in it and do the same to you." I rebut.
"That's different. We aren't dressing you up to make you look good. We're dressing you up because it's funny. That's totally different." She responds.
"That's not what it's about. The whole point is to cause embarrassment. For guys, it's dressing up in girl's clothes. For girls, its dressing them up so they draw attention and have people stare at them."
"So you want people to stare at me?" She asks.
"No. I want to stare at you."
She chuckles. "At least you're honest."
"I don't think that you'd like me very much if I wasn't."
"You're right about that." She pauses for a second. "I really love how honest you are with me. You try to tell me everything, even if it is embarrassing or painful. I know that I can really trust you…"
I smile at her compliments. She continues on, "…but I think that you should probably keep some things to yourself."
My smile instantly disappears. I begin to feel a small pain in my chest. I feel like I did something horribly wrong. She notices the worry on my face immediately.
"No, I didn't mean it like that! You haven't done anything wrong. I'm not upset with you."
My expression softens.
"What I meant was that you don't need to tell me every little thing. It's ok to keep some secrets from me. I'm sure that there are some things that you won't want to tell me, and I'm ok with that. There will be some things that I won't want to tell you, so I hope you will allow the same for me."
"Of course I will, Mion. I understand what you mean. I just kind of felt bad about keeping secrets from you."
She smiles at me, and I return her smile. I reach out my hand and she takes it. Rika's performance is about to begin.
A man in a mask hits the drum, signaling the beginning of the ceremony. Rika appears on stage. She begins her dance. Her movements are quick, but fluid. Each step is timed. Each swing of the staff is in sync with the rest of her movements. I can tell that she has practiced for this dance quite a bit.
When her dance is over, the crowd claps quietly. She leaves the stage, and the villagers start the second part of the ceremony. Since neither Keiichi nor I have been to the festival before, Mion walks us through what to do. It's pretty simple really. We just grab a tuff of cotton, roll in up into a ball, and let it flow down the river. The cotton is supposed to absorb all the badness inside of our bodies, and we place it into the river, so our evil will be washed away.
We all release our cotton, and complete the ceremony. I can't honestly say that I feel any different from before, but I enjoy the experience. After we have finished, we head over to the shrine to hang out and talk.
Our talk consists mostly of our favorite parts of the festival. Keiichi and I are asked if we enjoyed our first Watanagashi.
"Of course. I don't know how you wouldn't have fun. Especially since we have all of our friends here." I reply. Keiichi agrees.
Rika returns to us after a little while. We greet her and she joins in our talk. She looks like she has something that she wants to tell us though.
"What's wrong Rika?" I ask.
Everyone stares at her, waiting for her reply. She finally gives it after a short wait. "Takano-san and Tomitake-san are going to be killed tonight."
I can hardly believe her words. Is this supposed to be Oyashiro-sama's curse? I don't really care much for Takano, but I don't want Tomitake to die.
"Are you sure about this Rika?" Keiichi asks her.
She nods.
"We should probably do something to help them then." I say.
Everyone nods in agreement.
"Alright, it will probably be impossible for the entire night, but let's guard them till the end of the festival, at least." Keiichi suggests.
We all agree with him, and head out to find the two. If they are attacked, we would probably be able to fend them off. It would be pretty foolish to attack the two if we are around though.
When we find them, we explain that we wish to stay with them till the end of the festival. They agree to let us tag along. We then begin walking to the clinic. No attempts are made during our walk. We make it to the clinic peacefully. Tomitake thanks us for accompanying them. Takano explains that she will drop him off in her car so they should be fine from here on out.
Before we head back home, Rika warns the two, one last time. "Please be really careful tonight."
Satoko tells her that she probably overreacting.
Tomitake tells us that we'll probably meet again next fall.
"If we don't get killed, right?" Takano adds in.
I don't like the tone of her voice. She seems to think that this is some sort of game. I don't think that she's taking Rika seriously. So far, the only reason I have to even put up with her is that she and Tomitake came to help out Satoko when she was in need.
At least Tomitake seems like a nice guy. I would truly be sad if he really did die tonight.
We wave goodbye and head back home. When we have separated from the rest of the group, Mion tells me that she forgot something at the festival. I offer to walk with her, but she tells me that she'll be fine on her own. We decide to meet up in my room later tonight. With that, I go to the mansion ahead of her. I take my bath, and head to my room to wait for my love. She enters about half an hour later. After we have hugged, we go over the day.
I explain that I really enjoyed my time at the festival. Mion tells me that this has been the best festival that she has ever had.
"Why's that?" I ask.
She blushes.
"It's because you were there." She replies.
I smile. "I'm glad I was able to make the festival so enjoyable for you then."
We continue our talk about the day. When we get to Takano and Tomitake, Mion asks a question.
"Do you think Rika is just being paranoid or something?"
"I think Rika truly does have something special about her. Her words aren't to be taken lightly." I reply.
"That would make this the fifth year then."
"I'm sure they'll be fine." I try to reassure her.
We continue our talk. When we reach the end, I become curious about when she forgot at the festival. She just tells me that it's a little trinket that she forgot. Her answer is pretty vague, but I let it go. We have finished our talk, so we get up and give each other our goodnight kiss and hug. She then heads off to bed.
As I fall asleep, I think about the fun I had today. I was a great experience and I can't wait to do it again next year.
I just hope that there won't have to be any deaths this year or any of the years after this.
The next day goes by smoothly. We aren't informed of the deaths of Takano and Tomitake so we assume that they are all right. We are able to have a fun day like all the rest of our days. The only thing that I noticed was that there was a white car, waiting for Rika when we got out of school. No one seemed to think much of it though.
After work, Mion and I walk back to the mansion together. She seems to be in an extremely happy mood. When I question her about it she says it's nothing. She is almost pulls me the entire way home. She is quite energetic. I laugh it off as nothing.
When I finish my shower, I head over to her room. I knock on her door like I always do, and move my hand to the handle expecting her to say "come in". I am surprised to hear, "Hold on for a moment." I drop my hand back down to my side and wait for my permission to enter. I am half tempted to peek inside, but I restrain myself. After a few moments, I am granted my permission to enter.
I am astonished to find Mion, standing there in a maid outfit. She has cat ears and gloves on as well. I can also see a cat tail behind her.
"W-welcome m-master. How are you to-today?" She pauses for a second. Her cheeks turn cherry red, as she finishes her sentence. "Ny-nyaa!"
She can't even meet my gaze. She is too embarrassed. I am amazed that she would do this for me.
"Mion, what's all this? You didn't have to do this for me."
"I-I know. You said that you wanted to see me like this, so I decided to do it for you…nyaa."
I can't deny that she looks amazing in the outfit. It suits her well and she looks very cute in it. I can't help but to smile. I walk over to her and hug her. She hugs me back.
"Thank you, Mion. You really didn't have to do this for me, but I am glad that you did."
We hold each other for a few moments and the release each other. I decide to compliment her.
"You know, you look really cute in that, Mion."
"Uhh, thank you, master…nyaa." She replies.
I chuckle. "It's ok, Mion. You don't need to call me "master", and end your sentences with "nyaa" anymore."
She lets out a sigh of relief. "Okay, thank you." I pull her close again for another hug, which she responds to with a giggle.
We then proceed to go over our day. I am unable to keep from smiling, because of the outfit she's wearing, and she is unable to keep from blushing, for the same reason. We finally finish and we stand. We exchange our hug and kiss and I leave for my room. Before I exit to room I tell her, "I'll have to get something good for you now."
"No, please don't." She replies.
I am a little confused at her reply. She continues what she's saying.
"We don't need to get things for each other just because the other has got us something. I don't want this to turn into some sort of competition."
"I understand what you mean. It doesn't mean that I don't still want to get you something. If I do though, it's because I wanted to; not because I felt obligated or anything, okay?"
"Okay." She agrees.
I head to my room and quickly fall asleep. My dreams that night are about a world full of cat people.
The next day at school, Rika is absent. Satoko explains that she felt like she had a cold and couldn't come. She asks us if we could come by after school and come to check up on her. We all agree to.
School goes by pretty quickly. We are all a little worried for her. So we decide to hurry over to their place. Halfway to their house I remember something.
"Ah crap!"
Everyone turns around.
"What's wrong, Mike?" Mion asks.
"I forgot. I have an appointment with Irie to get an x-ray of my back today. Ah, whatever. I'll just skip it today."
Everyone puts on a worried expression.
"Rena thinks you should go Mike-kun, you should." Rena tells me.
"She's right, Mike. It's pretty important that you get your back checked out." Mion adds. "We can tell Rika that you had something important to do and you couldn't come. Don't worry about it."
"Alright, alright. I'm going to head right over after I'm done at Irie's though."
They acknowledge me and I turn to head the other direction. I decide to jog over to the clinic. I want to make there as fast as possible.
The five remaining friends continue on to Rika and Satoko's house. Satoko unlocks the door when they arrive. They all walk upstairs to check on Rika. When they see her, she is talking on the phone with someone. It would be impolite to interrupt her, so they wait and listen to what she's saying.
"Yes. An anonymous call…Yes. There seems to be someone planning to kill me. It could be the same people who killed Tomitake and Takano!..." She hangs up the phone.
Keiichi calls out to her. When she turns, the members begin to ask her about her phone call.
"What do you mean someone is planning to kill you?" Rena asks.
The others add in their questions, but she is too stunned to answer. After a moment she begins to explain.
"I have never told this to you all until now. The Hinamizawa Syndrome and how my life is being threatened."
She begins to explain about the syndrome.
"In Hinamizawa, there is a regional disease. This is the Hinamizawa Syndrome."
She explains about how the syndrome is activated if the one infected either moves away from Hinamizawa, or becomes extremely stressed out. She tells the story of how the disease was discovered back in the time of the war. The soldiers were suddenly becoming wild. They could not tell friend from foe, and saw everyone as a threat. Their lives were usually ended by them committing suicide, by clawing out their own throat.
"According to the research done by the doctor who discovered the disease, everyone in Hinamizawa is infected with the disease."
She explains that if everyone just lives a normal life, the symptoms never show up. The people of Hinamizawa noticed the phenomenon and created "Oyashiro-sama's curse" to scare the villagers. They were told that if they were to anger Oyashiro-sama, that they would be cursed.
After Rika has finished explaining the disease, Keiichi asks her why such a disease hasn't been publicized. Rika tells him that there is no known cure for the disease so it would only cause a panic. She then goes on to explain that the second reason is that there are some who are planning on using the disease as a bacteriological weapon. She tells them that the ones conducting the research are the ones at the Irie clinic. The clinic is known as the Irie Institute. The workers there are working to develop a bacteriological weapon. The only one who isn't is Irie, who is working to find a cure for the disease. Irie and his staff were deployed by a group known as "Tokyo", which is composed of many politicians and old war generals. They sponsor the Irie Institute. Their only goal is the creation of the bacteriological weapon.
"Hearing this so suddenly…it's only natural if you don't believe me."
"We believe you, Rika. Your story may be outrageous, but we believe you." Keiichi tells her. Everyone nods in agreement.
Mion seems a bit worried though. Shion is the one to notice her.
"What's wrong, Onee?"
"I was just wondering. Rika said that the clinic is a weapons research facility. I was just wondering if Mike is okay."
Rika finally realizes that Micheal isn't in the group. "Why is he going to the clinic?" She asks.
"He had an appointment to get an x-ray on his back." Shion explains.
"I'm sure he'll be fine, Mion." Keiichi tries to comfort her. "Just because we have learned what the clinic really is, doesn't mean that it is a dangerous place for Mike."
She calms down a bit. "Ah, I guess you're right."
Keiichi then turns to Rika. "Rika-chan, you said that you were about to be killed. How does this story relate to that?"
"I said that one of the triggers for the syndrome is leaving Hinamizawa, but that isn't exactly true." She pauses for a second. "I am the one hold back the disease."
She begins to explain that in every generation, there has been a "Queen Carrier". The Furude family has been the ones who have been carrying it. If a villager were to leave her side, that would trigger the syndrome. The carrier seems to emit some sort of pheromone that prevents the outbreak of the disease.
"Hold on a second." Keiichi says. "You said that everyone, including ourselves, is infected with this disease, right? What happens if you get killed?"
"The disease will be triggered in every citizen. All the villagers will go wild and a horrible killing spree will occur. I don't know why someone would want this to happen, but if there is some who would benefit from it, they will come after me."
"You also said that Takano and Tomitake were killed?" Keiichi asks Rika.
"Yes. Ooishi stopped me the other day. Tomitake-san was found with his throat clawed out, and Takano was found burned in a steel drum. The only thing that is strange is that the autopsy report tells that Takano died the night before the Watanagashi. Ooishi thinks that she might actually be the culprit."
"That makes sense. It's too suspicious that the times of death, for the corpse found, doesn't match."
Rika seems to be astonished.
"What's wrong, Rika-chan?" Keiichi asks her.
"Ah, well, I didn't really think that you all would believe me so readily."
"What are you talking about?" He asks her. "If you can't believe in your friends say, it's all over."
"Just as you believe in us, we believe in you." Rena adds.
With that, the club members begin planning. They have to find a way to save Rika. As they are thinking about what they can do, the phone rings. Rika picks it up. She asks whoever is on the phone if they could hurry of as fast as possible. After hearing the response, she hangs up the phone.
"Was that…Mike by any chance?" Mion asks. She asks with a worried expression.
Rika frowns. "No, it was Ooishi. He will be here soon."
Mion begins to look a bit worried again. Shion puts a hand on her shoulder.
"Ooishi and the police can be trusted right?" She asks.
"Yes, but I…feel more secure with all of you here with me!"
Everyone smiles. Even Mion, who is still worried about Mike.
Once Ooishi get there, Rika should be safe and she can head to the clinic to look for him.
It's only a matter of time.
When I arrive at the clinic, I find it nearly empty. I'm guessing that I'm the only one with an appointment today. I walk into the exam room and find Irie talking with a tall man.
"Mike-kun? What are you doing here?"
Isn't it obvious?
"I'm here for an x-ray, remember?" I reply.
"OH! Right, I forgot. Sorry, Okonagi. I need to take care of him for a sec."
The man doesn't seem to take offence. Irie and I head down to the x-ray room. We go through the procedure of taking an x-ray of my back. When we finish, we head back to the exam room to take a look.
We compare the x-rays from today, and last visit.
"Hmm." Irie says.
"What's it look like?" I ask.
"Well, it seems to have grown a little."
I frown. This is not the news that I wanted to hear.
"Do you think it will cause any problems?" I ask.
"I'm not sure. The only thing I can tell you from these x-rays is that the bones in your back have seemed to form some shape."
I look at the two sheets on the board. The newer one does seem dramatically different. Instead of a blob of bone in my back, I seem to have long rods running down it. Irie can't seem to figure out what it all means. I can't blame him. It's not like he as ever seen anything like this. He puts the x-rays back into their envelopes and leaves to put them in the store room. When he returns, I thank him for his time. Just as I am about to leave, the door opens and a few men walk in. The last one to enter the room is Takano.
"Takano?!? This can't be! They told me that you were dead!" I hear Irie say.
It takes me a second to register what he is saying. From what I can tell, Tomitake and Takano really were killed on the night of the Watanagashi. For her to be here now can only mean one of two things. She is a ghost, or she is really the one behind this. The correct answer is obvious. The shadows surrounding Rika's murderer in my dreams have dissolved away to reveal Takano.
"My my, who do we have here? Didn't expect to see you here Mike-kun." She taunts.
I have to do something!
I reach for my sword. At the range I'm at, it would be the most efficient weapon. Just as my hand reaches the hilt, I feel a sharp chop hit the back of my neck. My senses dull. All I can tell is that I am falling, and that my world is turning to blackness.
Everyone…forgive me.