***Escape***
When I was fifteen, not too long after the spring term started, I ran away from the St. Lucia's Boarding School, where I had been trapped since the start of high school. I can't say if there was a single triggering event or not; for the past four years, I had been slowly building my self-confidence and a positive sense of identity. I had always been an individualist, with no particular desire to lead, but a very particular aversion to being led by others. Tradition and rules were not as important to me as self-expression and freedom. The good of the greater whole could be, at times, equally or less important than the good of the individual. In terms of oppression, St. Lucia was almost as bad as living at home.
So, I finally decided that enough was enough. I wasn't going to keep attending the schools that the old Hag chose. In fact, maybe I wouldn't attend school at all. I certainly wasn't going to stay away from my own house just because Oryo didn't want to have to see me. I had already decided to run away, when I received a letter from Mion that encouraged me further. She said she and our parents had moved back into the main estate in Hinamizawa, so that Mion could learn village leadership from Oryo. My parents' smaller house in Okinomiya had yet been offered for sale. It should still be empty for a while, I figured. I might even find a way to pay some rent on it.
The escape was only possible thanks to my dear partner-in-crime. Good old Tatsuyoshi Kasai; in my mind, he was the absolute coolest of all the armed agents hired by the Sonozaki family. What's more, he treats me like I'm his own bratty little sister. Although he claims loyalty to Oryo, Kasai disagrees with some of her decisions, and helps me out behind the scenes. He took to protecting me and Mion when we moved out of Oryo's estate and into the Okinomiya house with our parents. As we grew, however, it became clear that Kasai was much more interested in protecting me than Mion. You see, Mion had a whole host of bodyguards and servants who followed her every whim, but none of them acknowledged me. Kasai argued and convinced Oryo that I needed at least one capable agent. Thus, Kasai became my bodyguard—and something like my older brother, too. Kasai and I planned the escape together over a secure phone line.
(Well, on second thought, I won't give Kasai ALL of the credit for helping me achieve freedom. I knew that sneaking out at night would involve a lot of tough physical feats. Generally, I was more delicate than Mion, who enjoyed sports. I had refused to learn kenjutsu too, and Oryo let it fly because, after all, only the heir had to know the art. In preparation for my escape, therefore, I worked hard in PE, and hired a personal women's trainer for strength-building and development of agility. I also joined the rock-climbing club, and practiced climbing trees whenever I could.)
The chosen night came at last. I climbed from my dorm hall through the window, down an oak tree, and out of the academy. Then, by climbing up a smaller tree on the edge of the lawn, I reached the top of the old stone wall surrounding St Lucia's girls' dorm. From there, I jumped a full twelve feet down onto the road below. Kasai's black car was waiting there, just as we had discussed. The headlights came on as soon as he saw me. He pulled up to me and rolled down the window.
"Excellent work, Miss Shion," he said, wearing his dark suit and sunglasses as usual, even at night.
"Ah, it's been a while since I tasted freedom," I sighed happily, getting into the passenger seat.
The car took off at a fast but steady speed. Kasai stayed quiet as usual. I asked after my sister, and the agent told me she had settled in with Oryo very well. To be honest, this worried me. I wondered if, in my absence, Mion had become more like Oryo. Would she be happy to see me? Would she agree to my plan to keep my identity hidden? I drifted off in thought.
"If you stay in Okinomiya," Kasai said at last, "you will likely be seen by a relative. The main family will find out eventually."
The implication was that Oryo would find out. She would probably try to punish me. But I laughed, saying that I wasn't afraid of the "shitstorm" to come. I was no longer the meek little girl that I used to be. I refused to let Oryo have her way. The most I would do for her was conceal my presence, so at least she didn't have to trouble her ugly head thinking of me.
To my surprise, Kasai brought me to a tall apartment building in a well-populated part of Okinomiya. The room in which we stayed was leased under his name, and used instead of a hotel every time he had business in the city. In fact, he had often stayed there on his way back from visiting me at St. Lucia's.
Kasai made breakfast for me the next day and told me I could stay at this apartment. I thanked him and disclosed my plan to get a part-time job to pay the rent myself. When the agent began to protest, I assured him that I already had a plan for concealing my presence from the main family. The plan would be to work in Hinamizawa and, when anyone asked, I would claim that I was Mion. (Mion and I had often pretended to be each other in the past, to the point where even we were not entirely sure who was who.)
This plan would only work if Mion played along, and stayed in close contact with me. I worried over whether she would help me. So I decided to break the tension and call right away. Mion picked up the phone and I heard her give a cheery good morning. She asked if I was Kasai, and for a moment, I stayed silent. Then I decided to break the news using some humor.
"Do you know… who I am?" I asked in a deep, grim, and menacing voice.
Recognizing my voice at once, Mion let out a small gasp. "Oh my god," she whispered. "Did you run away from school?"
I dropped the act and broke into laughter. This had become my way of saying that I feared nothing.
"There was no way I was going to stay at such a stiff place," I stated.
"You finally escaped?!" Mion sounded happy. "Awesome!"
She laughed, and I joined in. I felt genuinely pleased that she still treated me like her dear sister. Then we started chattering, like—well—like sisters that hadn't heard each other's voices for a few months. In the end, she agreed to my plan. I was sure Mion was talking her heart out in perfect sincerity. As for me, though, I gave replies of forced happiness, because I could only half-focus. Listening to Mion brought back a lot of memories. If it wasn't for the customs of the Sonozaki family, we would be a couple of normal, close twin siblings. As things were, we had to live apart, leading completely different lives. That saddened me. It also depressed me to think how our parents had gone along with this lifestyle without protest. So many people just went along with Oryo, living in fear of her, or in some cases agreeing with her.
Of course, there were some people who didn't blindly follow the Hag. The Kimiyoshi and Furude families possessed as much power in the village as the Sonozaki family. They often agreed with and supported the Sonozaki house, but now and then veered away from it completely. (Less than three years ago, for example, the Furude Shrine sheltered a family which was considered an enemy to the Sonozakis and Kimiyoshis.) A small fraction of the Hinamizawa populace was reluctant to follow orders from Oryo, and an even smaller fraction despised her. The police, according to Mion, did not seem to dislike the Sonozaki house, but they refused to recognize its authority or show it any undue respect. I didn't know them yet, but the Hojo family was also one of the few families that didn't grovel in front of Oryo.
Besides those villagers, there were several relatives of mine who took a stand against the Monster concerning smaller issues. One of those people was my uncle Yoshiro. He rarely stayed on Oryo's good side. The man had always thought it unfair to condemn me to live apart from the rest of the family. He also owned a small restaurant called Angel Mort, which had never been approved by Oryo.
***Oyashiro's Curse***
I decided to seek help from Yoshiro. The next day, I came and explained my situation, telling him I needed to find a job right away. I explained my plan about pretending to be Mion if asked. He agreed to hire me at Angel Mort. Waitressing at a maid café may not be considered ladylike by the uptight aunties of last generation, but to me, it was a chance to have more freedom with my body.
"It must have been really rough," Yoshiro said, exhaling a beam of wispy cigarillo smoke. "I mean, being trapped in that place for almost two years. I was against it, but…"
"If were you were against it, why didn't you come to help me?" That was what I wanted to ask. But I remembered that now he was definitely helping me, and, well, better late than never. "It's fine," I told him. "Oryo Sonozaki made up her mind, so there was no helping it, right?"
Yoshiro had enough grace to still look guilty. "Anyway, I'll give you my full cooperation," he said, rubbing the back of his head ruefully. "You can start working here, and you'll have nothing to worry about."
"Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu," I said sincerely, bowing my head. "So, I haven't visited Hinamizawa since my fourteenth birthday. Has anything big happened in the last two years?"
This was my chance to acquire some information on a subject of interest. Hinamizawa was a tiny country town, and perhaps it was in my country blood to want to know its events and happenings. I was especially interested Hinamzawa's murder mystery, since I dreamed of someday being a cop or detective. Statistically speaking, reported violent crime should be low or nonexistent in a sparsely populating Japanese village. Despite that, a construction worker had been brutally murdered and dismembered. It happened three years ago in June 1979. The culprit had never been found, and the people took to calling the crime "Oyashiro's Curse" because the construction worker was an enemy of the village. (And hence, an enemy of the village's god.) Mysterious deaths continued afterward, too. A man and his wife fell off a cliff into the river and died in 1980. Both years' incidents happened on the night of our festival, Watanagashi. No explanation was discovered. I wanted answers.
"No, nothing much has really happened," Yoshiro shrugged, taking another puff.
It was surprising to hear from a local man, usually bursting with gossip, that "nothing" had happened. I had expected one of the villagers to be arrested and found guilty for the murder by now. I had good reason for suspecting a villager rather than an outsider. It was because of the dam. Four or five years ago, the government planned to build a dam that would force the residents of several small villages, including Hinamizawa, to relocate. Their historic homes would be flooded. Hinamizawa fought back, and after intense lobbying and petitioning, they won the case. The dam construction was canceled, and everything should have ended there. But an unknown someone came and hacked a dam construction worker to pieces on July 17th, the Watanagashi. Actually, it wasn't just any construction worker; it was the foreman of the construction site. Anyone in the village who had opposed the dam, I reasoned, would at least have motive for that horrible crime. So I pushed for information.
"What about 'The Curse of Oyashiro'?" I inquired, sipping at my coffee.
"You mean the crime where the foreman was cut up?" Yoshiro killed the last of the cigar on his white-marble ashtray. "No, the perpetrator still hasn't been caught. No news about the next year, either."
"You mean when the dam supporters fell to their deaths," I said. I thought it deserved to be pointed out that the couple who died in 1981 also happened to have been supporters of the dam project. At the time, the name Hojo meant nothing to me, but… "Hojo," I said out loud. "That was the name of the couple, right? And isn't it true that they died on June 15th, the night of Watanagashi? 'It's a curse,' or that's what people say about it."
Yoshiro nodded, confirming what I'd heard. Then he leaned forward as if say something important.
"There was another case after you started high school," the man admitted. "It happened June 21st, 1981, the night of Watanagashi."
I couldn't hide my surprise. "Another one?! Then… this has happened three years in a row?"
"I'm afraid that's correct. The head priest of the Furude Shrine died. From what I heard, he died from some unknown illness. And his wife jumped into Onigafuji Swamp the same night and drowned herself."
Disturbed, I tried to change the subject. I finished my coffee, again thanking Yoshiro for his help. He described my work duties and gave me a uniform while smoking another cigar. Soon, the time came for us to go our separate ways.
I left Angel Mort with a strange feeling like a rock in my gut. It was fear: the fear that someone in this town was organizing these mysterious deaths. I decided that the only way to ease my mind was to start researching this matter and maybe even contribute to the police investigation, if there was still one underway. I had no significant hobbies and no friends with whom to spend the summer, so I might as well engage in my detective fantasies for a while. Besides, I needed something to focus on besides learning how to please customers at Angel Mort. My strong sense of justice spurred me on, and I decided that May 1982 was going to be the beginning of my best summer yet.
***Meeting Mion***
Mion and I came up with a way to meet in public. We would meet at the public library. We would sit at two separate tables with our chairs back-to-back, whispering, so that nobody suspected we were meeting. I would style my hair differently from Mion, as well as wearing a hat (a cute blue cap) to hide my eyes, in case we were seen together. We dressed in identical outfits, though, so that either of us could claim to be Mion if either of us was seen without the other. We only risked meeting this way on occasions where one of us had something important to talk about.
This time, I requested the meeting. I wanted to talk about the series of mysterious deaths. In particular, I wanted to know more about last summer's death. I hoped it would disprove my theory that some of the villagers were organizing these deaths against perceived enemies. When we met at the library that Sunday May 16th, I asked Mion if Priest Furude had really died from an unknown illness.
"Yeah, it's true he died suddenly," Mion said, pretending to read a book about gardening. "But calling it an unknown illness is an exaggeration. I think it was one of those sudden heart failures that can happen if you get overworked."
Pretending to read a mystery novel, I turned my head slightly so my low voice would reach my sister. "Even if the illness isn't strange, it's still weird that he happened to die on the night of the festival. That's three years in a row where someone has suddenly died on Watanagashi. And all of the victims were easy targets for Oyashiro's Curse. Wasn't the head Priest hated by the anti-dam committee?"
Mion nodded. "He publicly defended the Hojo family. You know about them, right? Because they accepted the dam project, the Hojos were tormented, and labeled as traitors by most of the village." (She briefly described an occasion when a group of dam protesters threw rocks at the young Hojo couple just for showing up in the center of town.) "Everyone pointed their fingers at the Hojo family in contempt. The head Priest was the only one who didn't see them as enemies."
"But didn't he have the power and backing to get away with that?" I asked. "He's a Furude, one of the Three Great Families of Hinamizawa."
Shaking her head, Mion explained, "Sonozaki and Kimiyoshi leaders used the Hojo family as their scapegoat to unite the villagers in their anti-dam cause. Not only was the old man a Furude—he was also Priest of the Shrine to Oyashiro. He was Hinamizawa's religious leader. He should have been a symbol of the town's dam protest. Accepting the treachery of the Hojos… it caused a bitter feud between the Three Families."
"I can't believe the head families were so bullheaded," I said, cursing my heritage. "It should be obvious that the Priest was the mature one because he maintained neutrality."
Lowering her book, Mion briefly turned toward me. "If Furude was really mature," she said with one eyebrow raised in disapproval, "then he would have followed along with everybody and cooperated. As a member of one of the Three Families, he should have set an example for Hinamizawa. Can you really call him mature when he just screwed around causing conflict for everybody? I don't get him at all."
My insides jumped when I heard that, and I turned back to my book before responding. "Onee, you're suddenly starting to sound like the head of the village. I guess you've been taught to be a leader."
"It's nothing like that," Shion said, giving a happy-but-modest laugh, as if she actually thought I had complimented her. "I've just been training to take over for Grandma one day. You can do it, you know. You could pretend to me on some days and learn some lessons from Grandma firsthand."
I laughed to hide the fear that suggestion made me feel. "I wouldn't even want to try that. Babysitting the old Hag is your responsibility, Mion. Just don't overwork yourself. Okay?"
Closing up my mystery novel, I stood up to leave. I paused to smile at Shion, but she told me to wait a second. She was looking up at me with her sincere blue-green eyes, a furrow of worry between her thin eyebrows. Clearly, she had caught on that I might not have been complimenting her… that I might be hurt and angry on the inside. She stared into my eyes sympathetically, struggling for words.
"Listen, Onee," I said, keeping on a false face of friendly confidence. "I don't blame you for anything that happened to me. There's no reason for you to feel ashamed. Don't worry!" I clenched my fist and flexed my arm in a childish show of bravado. "You do your best, Mion! I'll do my best as Shion, too."
I nudged her forehead affectionately, and Mion smiled, "Thank you, Shion."
