#higurashi when they cry onikakushi

[ebonysquib]

[dawn-in-the--adan]

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Onikakushi-hen | Light Novel Edition

[luvbowe]

But it wasn’t as if she was actually reading my mind. If it was being read, then she was a demon. No, not a demon. Things like that… they couldn’t possibly exist.

redraw of this :3

[trashcan-train]

[evilkitten3]

apparently the first chapter of higurashi is on steam for free so that's what i'll be up to for the next hanyuu knows how long

[uebermacht]

I finally started reading the Higurashi VNs (a decade later, currently in the middle of Chapter 2) and just wow... I had kinda high expectations and they were actually met and sometimes surpassed.

The creepy and tense atmosphere as well as the intense feeling of paranoia and isolation was almost palpable, it gave me literal goosebumps a few times and invaded my dreams (which almost never happens mind you). At some points, it reminded me of the general eeriness found in Stephen King novels I read before.

What surprised me was how well it implemented the fact that it is a VN instead of a regular book, the sound design (those damn cicadas!) and musical cues were really well implemented and the comparably simple sprite changes were effectively scary (also the brief pauses in the text progression).

Also, from the mystery aspect, for all the information provided and how densely it was written, it had just enough gaps that no possible theory could be discarded.

I'm definitely hooked and will keep playing.

[rosycheekies]

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Onikakushi-hen by Ryukishi07

[shiginopeart]

keiichi on the phone just like that one time

this is from some months ago i think

[helpinghanyuu]

鬼隠し編 – ONIKAKUSHI-HEN (SPIRITED AWAY BY THE DEMONS) DAY 01_001

Even though we were approaching summer, the morning air still had a frigid bite.

Although, in exchange, you could fill your lungs up with crisp, clean air.

Flipping open the window, I was greeted with a verdant expanse.

Nothing but trees.

The neighboring house was far away on the other side, so I was probably the only one enjoying that view and that air.

I filled my lungs with another deep breath.

Since I started living in Hinamizawa, I learned that even air had its own taste.

I quickly finished getting ready for school and headed downstairs for breakfast.

My mother was the only one there. My father was nowhere to be seen.

He was probably up working until the early morning.

Dad had a rather unconventional job as a painter.

It's such a laid-back profession.

Get up when you want, sleep when you want, and work when you want.

I was so jealous of that easy-going lifestyle,

I even wrote for school that I wanted to be a painter when I grew up. Dad was ecstatic about that.

It was just because it looked easy. I'd never tell him that, though.

Mom laid breakfast out on the table.

Seaweed, pickled vegetables, raw egg, and grilled salmon.

My mom was such a good cook, it was scary.

A perfect, immaculate, ideal breakfast.

Unlike my dad, who didn't even know the meaning of the word schedule, my mom never squandered any time or effort.

She hummed a little tune as she brought over the miso soup. It seemed like she was in a good mood today.

“I'm so happy you've been waking up early since we moved here, Keiichi.”

“If I don't wake up early, I won't have time to eat breakfast.”

I thought I was being cute, responding with a wise-crack after being praised for being good.

“Full bowl of rice? Or will half be enough?”

“Pile it on.”

First, I savored the steaming hot rice with the seaweed.

After that, I covered it with the egg.

Between bites of rice, I enjoyed the crunch of the pickles.

Not bad at all.

Excellent, as usual.

Watching me clean my plate, Mom gave me a warm smile.

“I'm so happy you haven't skipped breakfast ever since we moved here, Keiichi.”

I was not a morning person when we lived in the city.

I slept right until the last minute before school and rarely ate breakfast.

Boycotting the breakfast Mom made me each morning... that was probably the only way I could protest being forced to attend cram school.

...I guess that was what you'd call my rebellious phase.

I wouldn't so much as look at the breakfast she woke up early every day to make.

If I could go back in time, I'd slap myself.

Mindful of the time, Mom rushed me along with a wide grin.

“Isn't it about time to meet up with Rena-chan?

Hurry, hurry.”

Mom really seemed to enjoy the fact that her son was going to school with a girl.

Rena is one of my classmates.

She really loves looking after people, coming to meet me every day without fail.

The way I looked at it, a guy my age walking to school with a girl was just lame...

But, well, keeping a classmate waiting for me every day wouldn't be very considerate.

...Seriously, though, how long does Rena wait there for me every morning...?

Taking one last gulp of miso soup, I raced for the door.

“Please thank Rena-chan for the pickles~!”

Come to think of it, those pickles weren't store-bought, were they?

...If I'd known that, I would have savored them a bit more!

“Mornin'!”

“Keiichi-kun~!

Good morning~!”

Her cheerful greeting was as fresh as the morning itself.

“You're always so early.

You should try sleeping in sometime.”

“If I sleep in, I'll keep you waiting.”

...She's so conscientious, and such a good person.

“If that ever happens, I'll just leave you behind.”

“Keiichi-kun, you're so cold.

I wait for you all the time…”

“I'll leave you in the dust.

Without looking back.”

“Why are you so mean?

...Why?”

Rena had a slightly troubled look on her face.

Toying with her was rather fun because of how quickly her mood changed.

“I'm kidding. I'd wait for you.”

With those words, Rena seemed to relax.

Her face flushed bright red.

“...Ah ...Th-Thank you…”

“I'd wait forever until you came, Rena.

No matter how long.”

“...Ah-ah, ah...

...For...

Forever…”

Rena turned bright red, steam rising from her head as her brain short-circuited.

She's especially weak to this sort of talk.

It's quite rare to find someone this fun to tease.

“Have you ever read a romance novel, Rena...?”

“...Huh...

...Ah ...I haven't.

N-Never read any before.”

From that response, I gathered she was interested in them but was too embarrassed to actually buy one.

I couldn't imagine what would happen if she did read one.

She'd probably turn red and pass out...

“Oh, yeah, message from Mom. She says thanks for the pickles.”

“I-It was nothing. You're welcome~.

How were they?

Not too salty?”

“They weren't that salty.

Actually, they had a pretty light flavor to them.���

...It would have been fine to just be honest and say they were good, but apparently I couldn't be that forthright.

...I'd like to ask something before that.

“Were you the one who pickled them, Rena?

Or was it your mom?”

“Huh?

...Huh? Why do you ask?

Were...

Were they too salty...?”

Her attitude completely changed as she began to panic frantically.

“Was it you, Rena? Or was it your mom?”

“...Wh-Why are you asking who made them?

...Why!?”

“Depending on who made them, my opinion of them might change drastically.”

“...Huh, huh uh...!?”

She counted frantically on her fingers, trying to remember the amount of salt she'd used to pickle them.

...It wasn't like I was trying to tease her, but I couldn't stop myself.

Guys who take pleasure in this kind of thing are probably the worst.

...Guys like me.

Rena nervously opened and closed her mouth over and over, trying to muster a response.

“...I-It was me…”

“Delicious.”

“Huh?”

“Pretty good, just like the last ones. They went perfectly with the rice.”

Her face went bright red again.

She was completely spacing out.

It truly was a lot of fun to tease her.

I pray that Rena never gets taken advantage of by some lowlife.

Keep at it, Rena. I'll train you until you handle it like the average person!

...Or so I decided for myself.

“Let's go! If we keep Mion waiting, we'll never hear the end of it.”

Seeing as she'd just keep spacing out otherwise, I called Rena back to reality so we could make our way to school.

This strange, easily flustered girl is Rena Ryuugu.

I've only known her for about a month, but I've come to realize it's not just her name that's strange.

“Mii-cha~n! Good morning~!”

Coming up to the next rendezvous point, we saw another person waiting for us.

Noticing us, she waved.

“Ah, finally, finally. You two are late~!”

“Usually, you're the one who's late!”

In sharp contrast to the diligent Rena, this one marched to the beat of her own drum.

She's Mion Sonozaki.

For what it's worth, she's our senior and head of the class.

“Morning Rena. And it's been a while, Kei-chan!

How many years?”

“I was only off two days!”

“Ah haha!

You don't say.

You were so much cuter back then!”

Mion's gaze started at my chest then dropped straight down, focusing on the point between my legs.

...So she was saying it was my crotch that was cuter back then.

Before you ask, just to be clear, I've never actually tried to show it to her.

“I've grown quite splendidly.

You'd be surprised.

Not only is he bigger, but he has a little moustache now~☆

Being so *engorged* with energy every morning is quite a problem, though.

I'll introduce you next time, so be sure to greet him properly.”

“Don't say 'next time.' Right now is just fine.

How about letting the little guy get a breath of fresh morning air?”

“I don't think I've ever heard talk so dirty you could smell it fouling up the morning air before.”

Mion sure does act like an old man sometimes.

“Gotcha.

Time for the big reveal.

Hope you don't regret it...!!”

As my hand reached for my fly, Rena began to ramble in a near panic.

“...Hey,

hey hey...

What are you talking about?

What're you talking about!? What're you talking about...!!”

Red-faced and flustered, Rena tried to play dumb, but it was obvious she knew exactly what we were talking about.

“How was it?

Seeing the city again.”

Mion switched gears, dropping the dirty talk and changing the topic to something more befitting the pleasant morning.

“I only went for a funeral. I didn't have much time.”

“So yeah! Did you look for iiit?

...That thing I asked for?”

“You're... not listening... at all.

I just came back from a funeral!

I didn't have any time to look around in toy stores!”

“Tsk tsk tsk.

Toy stores and hobby shops are completely different, you know? 

It's really difficult to get western stuff around here, after all.”

“Is this about games again, Mii-chan?”

Mion nodded proudly as Rena giggled.

“Yep! I wanted Kei-chan to bring me back a 'west port' catalogue, you see.”

West port was short for western imported games.

Using that abbreviation did make it sound pretty geeky.

“You can just get them to send you one in the mail, can't you?”

“Well, guess I have to now.

I'm going to get another game full of hot action!”

“...Th-This time, I'd like a game that's easy to understand…”

Mion is a board and card game enthusiast, and I hear she's collected quite a lot of different ones.

According to Rena, Mion's room has kind of become a museum for domestic and foreign games.

If there's a game you think I'd understand, let me play too.

“Heh... of course!

If Kei-chan is up for it. I should warn you though, we're pretty tough.”

“Just what I want.

I play all sorts of games. I don't intend to lose!”

“...Whoa...

Then we'll let you in the group this time, I guess.

...I guess!”

Bristling with joy from head to toe, Rena looked back and forth between me and Mion.

Mion gave her an affirmative wink, and her expression perked up even further.

“I thought boys preferred playing outside more, so... I figured you wouldn't want to.”

Rena laughed happily.

From such a friendly conversation, you wouldn't think I had moved here less than a month ago.

I understood that they did all they could to make a transfer student like me feel at home.

I'll have to try harder to fit in, so they won't feel like they have to try to make me feel welcome.

I felt like if I acted a bit more open than I usually am, it should probably be about right for this place.

Hinamizawa was a really small village. Not only was there only one school, but there was only one class.

That class encompasses all different grades and ages.

There are about 30 students at different levels, and they all study in the same class.

I'm told that, long ago, there used to be a bigger school building and they had actual separate classes.

However, it seems something happened that made it become a single class, and now it stayed that way out of tradition.

I was shocked at first, but humans adapt pretty quickly. I've already gotten quite used to it.

The sound of children playing started right from the morning.

With such a lively mood, it felt more like a kindergarten than a proper school, not that that was a bad thing.

Mion, who had been walking in front of us up until then, suddenly let me take the lead.

Right in front of the classroom door.

So I was meant to slide the door open and enter the room first.

“Heh…”

Too bad. I wasn't going to fall for that again.

“...To think you'd give up the lead here.

You meant for this to be a test of my skills.”

Mion chuckled with a haughty smirk on her face.

“Wh-What is it... you guys...?”

“Step back, Rena. It's dangerous.

...She's here!”

“Huh...?

Then... Satoko-chan is...!?”

Her name was Satoko Houjou.

She was a disrespectful, impudent, bossy kid.

The way she talks was annoying, but it would be immature to get worked up over just that.

The real problem... was this...

...Quite the obvious trap. A blackboard eraser wedged in the door.

“...It's too obvious! Satoko!”

A haughty laugh came from beyond the door.

“Excellent, Kei-chan! ...I guess that means you win this round?”

...No, this is Satoko we're talking about.

I doubt this is it..!

After falling for such intricate traps since the day I transferred, I no longer let my guard down.

Satoko liked to combine a variety of traps: traps that were simply there to bait you into the main one, traps that relentlessly kept coming at you like a sadistic Rube Goldberg machine, the list goes on.

As well as being clever, they almost never misfire.

When you least expect it... she strikes!

No escape. No time to relax.

“By the looks of it, this eraser is normal.

No rocks or anything in it.

I took a pretty heavy hit from a blackboard eraser loaded with rocks on my first day.”

“So then why don't you just open the door and let it drop...?”

That's what it is!

That's what Satoko was after.

Making me focus my attention upward. So as I lifted my hand to the door...

There were thumbtacks stuck to the sliding door handle with tape; a frightening trap.

A potent and terrifying trap.

Concealed by using the blackboard eraser...

An impressive combination, Satoko!

But in the end nothing more than the trivial machinations of a child!

Assured of my victory, I threw the door open and stepped into the room.

I felt something strange at my ankle.

It was similar to the sensation of a jump rope catching on my leg.

By the time I realized she had me—hook, line, and sinker—it was already too late.

I began to fall in an almost picturesque manner.

“Kei-chan, watch out!!”

Instinctively reacting to Mion's shrill warning, I twisted my body in midair before I landed on the floor.

“...Ow ow... ow!?”

An ink stone, filled to the brim, was placed right where I would have landed...!

I shuddered, imagining the situation had I landed square on it.

“My, my, what do we have here?

A fair morning to you, Keiichi-san. Aren't we a lively one this morning~!”

Still sprawled in an awkward position, I was greeted by a mocking voice.

“That was a step up from your usual traps, Satoko!!”

“I haven't the faintest idea what you mean.

You're quite unlucky this morning.”

“You little~...!!

...

...

...Owowow…”

It seemed I'd inadvertently sprained my back a little when I'd landed.

...Better than landing on that inkstone.

A small hand gently rubbed my head.

“...Pain, pain, go away.”

The small, dainty hand continued to gently stroke my head.

“...You didn't sprain your back or anything, did you...?

If you rub it like this, the pain disappears…”

I thought about asking how rubbing my head would help my back, but I didn't.

It's not so much about what you actually do, it's the thought that counts.

“Y... Yeah, thanks Rika-chan. The pain's going away now.”

“Yay~! ...Rika-chan! Good mor~ning!”

“...Good morning to you, Rena.

A good morning to all.”

Rika-chan greeted each of us with an adorable little bow.

It was infectious. Rena, Mion, and I all bowed back.

“You're such a good kid, Rika-chan...

So much better than Satoko...!”

I glared over in her direction. Satoko was whistling while rather deliberately trying to avoid eye contact.

“I am the very model of a good girl.”

“A good girl wouldn't set those nasty traps!”

“Nothing but lies and slander!”

“Exactly what proof—

...Uwah!”

I picked up Satoko by the back of her collar.

She looks like a misbehaved cat when I do this.

But a cat wouldn't be setting traps.

...She's much harder to deal with!!

“I-M S-O-R-R-Y.

Try saying that.

If you won't say it...!”

I cocked my index finger on my thumb, letting it tremble as I brought it closer to Satoko's forehead.

“I-I'm against violence!!

You don't even have any proof!!”

“Just so you know, my forehead flick really hurts.

It can split plywood right in half!”

“Eeeeeeeek...!!!!

Stop! Get away from me, you beast~!!!”

“Don't say that in a way people will misunderstand!!”

A small hand tugged on the back of my shirt.

“...She's been lonely since you were gone for two days.”

...Rika-chan really is just so...

How could I do anything more after being told that?

I gently released my grip on Satoko, who at this point was on the verge of tears. She still had her eyes clamped shut as she braced herself for the forehead flick.

“...U-Uwaaaaaaa...hnn!!

It doesn't bother me!!

Uwaaaaahn!”

“...You mustn't cry, Satoko.

Keep on fighting,

yeah.”

Rika gently petted the head of her prankster friend.

You would never guess those two are the same age.

I think Satoko could learn a thing or a million from Rika-chan.

“...Next time, set an even more amazing trap.”

...Waiiit a minute...

As she observed the scene, Rena's expression grew ecstatic as she began to swoon.

“...Hao~... Satoko-chan is crying…

Sho kyute…”

“You can't take them home.”

“...Huu!

...But, but... they're sho kyute?”

“You can't, no matter how 'kyute' they are.”

“But... just for a bit... is fine?

Is fine?”

Rena kept a cutesy face even as outrageous ideas spewed from her mouth...

According to Mion... Rena is ridiculously weak to cute things and always tries to take them home.

Object or person...!

“Stealing is bad, but abducting people is even worse.

Give it up.”

“Then I can just look. Just looking...

that should be fine, right? Right?”

Rena swooned over Satoko's crying form.

If a girl ever goes missing in Hinamizawa, I'll be forced to turn Rena in to the authorities.

Forgive me, Rena.

I'll be sure to bring you care packages when they put you away!

“The teacher's coming.

Quickly, clean everything up!

Satoko! That inkstone is yours, right?”

Just from Mion's single statement, the entire mood of the room shifted back to normal.

The inkstone was bad, but the thumbtacks stuck to the door handle were an even bigger problem!

I pulled the tape off carefully, making sure not to skewer myself.

Even though Satoko was the one who set it up, everyone had to pick up after her.

By the time the teacher entered the room, the bedlam from before had been neatly tidied up.

Ahahaha, we made it in time!

“Rise, attention!”

Mion gave out the morning commands.

It's difficult being the teacher for all these different grades in one classroom.

She has to teach something different to each one.

But naturally she ends up spending all her time with the younger kids.

Rena and Mion, being in the highest grade in the class, end up mostly doing self-study.

They even end up helping teach the younger kids, so it seems like they can never get to their own studies.

They're actually way behind where my studies have progressed to.

As a result, I'm pretty much taking over for the teacher and helping Rena and Mion with their studies.

“You're a pretty good teacher, Keiichi-kun.

Easy to understand.”

Rena took a breather after finishing highlighting an important section.

“Teaching is making me lose confidence.

It makes me aware of how shallow my understanding of the subject is.

They say that to teach someone something, you need to understand it backwards and forwards.”

“So while you're teaching us, you're getting in your own practice.”

“In contrast, this person over here is quite laissez-faire about things.”

For one, isn't she supposed to be in a higher grade than me!?

“Look Mion, this is for your own good.

If you don't take this seriously there'll be trouble later on.

With these marks…”

“It's not like I'm aiming to go on to a prestigious school.

I'll be fine as long as I pick up what I need to know for the entrance exams a little at a time!”

Her staunch defiance was really something else.

This was a different type of relaxed than somebody who already knew what was going to be on the entrance exams.

“Mii-chan, Keiichi-kun is doing his best to teach us.

We need to try hard, too.”

“You're such a good and honest kid, Rena.

I'll make sure you guys get accepted into a good school.”

“...Wh-Wha...

Th-Thanks so much…”

“Especially you, Rena.

Private lessons... just the two of us.”

“...Pr-

...Private...le-

lessons…”

A puff of smoke shaped like a halo...

Popped out of Rena's head.

Exactly what kind of private lesson is she fantasizing about that's making her turn so red...?

I'd like to hear the play-by-play about that next time.

While Mion was flipping through her vocabulary flash cards, she threw out a casual question.

“So, in the city, do you have to study this much?”

“If you don't know at least this much you can't get into university.”

“So you study just to get into a university?”

“Well...

Yeah, basically.

While knowing that this stuff won't ever come in handy in the future.”

“Out here, you can get into university as long as your attendance is good enough.”

“...R-Really...!?”

Study = Entrance Exams. Having that basic law of the universe so easily overturned sent me into a state of shock.

“That is right.

There aren't really enough people around here to warrant weeding them out with an exam.

If anyone can get into university, then there's no need to be all uptight about this stuff, right?”

“...Well, that's true... but you should at least know stuff that's common knowledge…”

“This old geezer thinks that, instead of wasting time studying pointlessly, you should be spending your precious teen years doing more meaningful things.”

It was too profound of a statement to simply laugh off.

But since it was Mion, it probably didn't actually have that deep of a meaning.

In place of a chime, the sound of the principal waving a hand bell drifted through the classroom.

“Kei-chan, we're done! We're done!

It's our wonderful lunch time!”

In a complete 180 from her unmotivated state, Mion gave the commands that signaled the end of the morning period.

“...Keiichi-kun, let's have lunch.☆”

I might have been making a very troubled face.

Rena smiled brightly at me.

“Awright!

Let's eat!”

There seemed to be different cliques, even within the class.

Most of them were divided up by gender and age, but our group was different.

Our ages were different and we had both boys and girls.

But we weren't reserved around each other.

This level of openness makes a transfer student like me pretty happy.

Rena and Mion pushed their desks together so they were facing each other.

At the same time, Satoko and Rika-chan were slowly lugging their desks over as well.

“Keiichi-kun, hurry, hurry!”

Rena waved her chopsticks in an unrefined manner, trying to hurry me along.

Unless everyone was together, they wouldn't even open their lunch boxes.

“Keiichi-san's lunch box is most assuredly filled with nothing but bread crusts like some sort of destitute plebeian~!

Why don't you just show it to us? Come now!”

Even though Satoko was hurling insults at me, she still wouldn't open the lid to her lunch box until I was there.

I pulled out my lunch box swiftly and dragged my chair over to join the circle.

“Hey, sorry to keep you waiting!”

“...Well then, Representative Mii, please give the signal to start!”

At first, this was kinda embarrassing, but I got used to it pretty fast.

At this point, I probably wouldn't even open my own lunch box if someone else was too slow.

Our ages and genders may have all been different, but we were all friends.

“Let's eat!!”

The sound of our little five-part chorus echoed beautifully throughout the classroom.

Really, though, I've gotten pretty used to this group made up of all girls.

Of course there are other boys in the class, but they were a lot younger, so they were scared to approach me.

Well, that's to be expected.

Younger boys just see older boys as scary.

Compare that to girls... Well, at least these girls aren't picky.

We put all the side dishes in the middle where everybody was free to pick at them.

I thought girls would mind sharing a meal with a guy, so I was a bit flustered joining in. However, Mion noticed that and teased me quite a bit.

As the fruit of my efforts(?), I can now reach over and take sides from anybody's lunch.

“My, my. Isn't Sir Keiichi's lunch extravagant today?”

“My, my, isn't Madam Satoko's lunch extravagant as well?”

The stewed stuff has a nice look to it, rather trendy.

Buying into the fight that Satoko was starting, our chopsticks locked in a cross-counter, stabbing into each other's lunch.

“My, how delicious!

Oh, this taro is good.”

“The stewed stuff is good too, even cold!”

After seeing my happy face, Rika-chan's expression broke into a little smile.

“...I saved some from dinner last night.”

By the way, Satoko and Rika-chan's lunches are always the same.

It seems that Rika-chan makes it for both of them every day.

“Rika-chan made this too?

...These taste like Mom's home cooking!”

I was honestly impressed.

The carrot rosettes weren't from a mold; they were done by hand with a knife.

That's not easy to do.

I guess Rika-chan's just good at this sort of thing.

She's really good at sewing, laundry, and stuff like that.

Amazing, right?

Amazing!

Rika is quite exceptional in many ways.

“Ohhohohoho!

That's nothing for you to boast about!”

“...Rena's actually better at cooking than I am.”

“...Huh,

ah,

...well... you know.☆”

It seemed that the topic of conversation switched to Rena when she wasn't expecting it, making her blush and trip over her words.

Rena's lunch really was the star of the table.

Not only did it look good, it tasted good!

Everyone else pulled from Rena's lunch box constantly.

“Everyone liked this one so much before, so I made a lot this time.

...It's good, I hope?

...I hope?”

“It's got high marks from me!”

“Ah, Mion, you're taking too much!”

Knocking Mion's chopsticks aside, I reached out, trying to secure my own portion. Satoko and Rika-chan reached over at the same time and a struggle ensued.

Everyone shoveled in mouthful after mouthful while praising it, and Rena's lunch box was soon empty.

It was kinda bad that no one thought to leave any for Rena.

But Rena seemed rather satisfied as she looked on.

“How did you like it? Isn't Rena-san an extremely good cook too?

Quite different from Keiichi-san!”

“I said that's nothing for you to boast about!”

“You're not much different from Kei-chan, Satoko.

Can you tell the difference between broccoli and cauliflower yet?”

Satoko's face went pale.

“...Hey, hey. Even I can tell the difference between broccoli and cauliflower, you know?

O-Of course I can!

...I really can!”

It's really hard for her to lie.

“Keiichi-kun, both taste good when they're boiled and topped with mayo, right?”

“You shouldn't be picking on her…”

“Mii-chan too!”

Rena hurriedly tried to follow up, but Mion laughed haughtily as she drew closer to Satoko.

“Well, well, just pretend it's a little home-ec lesson.

...Now then, Satoko...

What's this?”

Mion lifted up her chopsticks. Between them was a piece of green stuff wrapped in bacon.

“...But that's... asparag...mngh.”

Mion made eye contact with me and within .3 seconds, I had Rika-chan's mouth covered.

Holding a piece of bacon-wrapped asparagus and giving her two choices... She's pretty terrible.

“Uum, well!

Uhh...

The yellow one is cauliflower... No, wait... the green one is cauliflower…”

“So which!? Hmm?”

“Probably... the yellow one is broccoli and the blue one is cauliflower...

But the green one is...

um...

uu…”

“Do you really know which is which? How about you just give up~?”

I'd expect no less from the class representative.

The oldest.

The way she drives people into a corner just shows how much experience she has.

This is just a hunch, but being brought into the Sonozaki household must be quite the ordeal...

“I do know...!

I really do!!”

“Then answer the question!”

“...I know... I know...

Uwaaaaaahn!!”

She finally broke down and started crying.

When she acts like this, she actually starts to seem her age.

“...Ha...

Hao~... K-Khyuute…”

Rena entered a state of euphoria as Satoko bawled her eyes out.

Rena was in a state of bliss as she rubbed her cheek against Satoko's head and smothered her.

...Really... a very content face.

One that wouldn't care if the world ended right then—it was that kind of smile.

“Rena, Rena~!

MiiMii is picking on me-!

Uwaaaaahn!!”

“Khyute khyute...!

It's okay, Rena-oneechan will take care of all those bad people who tease my little sister!”

FWISH BOOF BAM!!

It was like a flash of lightning.

“...What...

was that...

just now...?”

Both of Rena's fists shot out at supersonic speeds, striking Mion and me squarely in our faces.

Before we knew it, Mion and I were sprawled spread-eagle on the floor, staring up at the ceiling with matching welts on our faces...

“...This is the first time you've gotten one, right?

...Today... she went easy on us…”

“...E-Easy... You mean, there's something harder than this...?”

With that, Mion and I both slumped our heads back to the floor in unison.

From now on, I'll be careful when I'm within striking distance of Rena...

“See, Satoko-chan? I took care of them.

...Mmm, khyute~!

I wanna take you home~!”

Making sure Rena couldn't see it, Satoko stuck her tongue out at us.

Tsk, damn it all~! Using Rena like a puppet!!

Rika-chan massaged our bruises without saying a word...

No matter what the day had held, the last school bell always came too soon.

Our shadows stretched off into the distance.

“Hey, Keiichi-kun. Tomorrow, do you have plans or anything...

...or anything?”

“Huh...?”

It was such a direct question from Rena I inadvertently blushed.

I-If it was for a date, then wouldn't you do it more subtly??

Rena saw me lost for words and realized that I'd misunderstood, and turned red as well.

“...Uh, ...ah, ...N-No, ...I didn't mean it like that... you see...!”

So apparently that wasn't what she meant.

But since it's always fun when Rena's in a panic, I went along with it a little.

“Oh, really... So... it wasn't meant that way…”

“Huh...!? Huuh!?”

Playing it up, I slumped my shoulders, feigning dejection.

“...K-Keiichi-kun, why are you so disappointed, why?

Why!?

...Mii-chaaan!”

“...Pfft.

Aahahahahahaha!!”

Unable to hold it in any longer, Mion slapped me on the back.

“I see! This old geezer never knew you could push her buttons like that.

Wahahahaha!!!”

“...Huh? ...Huh? What? What!? What is it!?”

Mion was rolling on the floor clutching her stomach while Rena flailed around, completely bewildered.

I couldn't help but start laughing as well. Feeling just a bit guilty, I ruffled Rena's hair.

“Kidding. Sorry, it was a joke... That was my fault.”

She really is a cute one.

“...Huh? ...Huh? ...A joke? Since when!? Since when!?”

“Huh, ah... about halfway through.”

“...Halfwaaay?”

“So Kei-chan, that means you weren't acting when you blushed at the start?”

“...Huh...? ...Th-That means...?”

It was only a momentary lapse, but there was no way Mion would let such a delectable detail slip by her.

“Uh, well, you see…”

Saying anything more was also a bad idea...

In my bewildered state, I slipped further into an unfavorable position.

After that, Mion continued to tease me about it for a while...

“...So, why were you asking if I'm free tomorrow, Rena?”

“Huh...? Oh... What were we talking about...?”

It had been so long that Rena had forgotten. That's how long Mion had teased me.

“It's just, Kei-chan... you probably can't find your way around Hinamizawa by yourself yet, can you?”

That was true.

I hate to say it, but if you blindfolded me and spun me around three times like we're playing pin the tail on the donkey, I wouldn't be able to tell up from down here.

“...Yeah. I don't think I know how to get anywhere besides back and forth from school.”

“Yes, yes. So you see, tomorrow, we were thinking that Mii-chan and I could escort you through Hinamizawa and show you around…”

That would be a godsend. Frankly, I was happy about the offer.

“You'll come of course, right?”

“If I'm free.”

“You're being invited by a girl, you know!?”

“If I'm free.”

“You're probably free anyways.”

“If I'm free.”

I was being stubborn so as not to give a clear yes or no.

Even though I thought it was a godsend, I'm too much of a scamp to say so up front.

“...Keiichi-kun... you're not free, perhaps?

...Perhaps?”

While Mion and I had our rather sour back-and-forth, Rena peeked over at me hesitantly.

Figuring I'd been a bit too rough on her, I just gave in.

“...Sorry. Forgive me. I apologize.

I'm free.”

“...Great!”

The trepidation disappeared from Rena's face as it blossomed into a smile.

“Hey now, hey now!

Seems like there's quite a difference between how cold you are to me compared to Rena, isn't there!?”

It seems Mion didn't care for how rude I was to her, compared to how quickly I agreed with Rena.

But her being annoyed was very interesting.

So I pushed Rena forward, speeding up our pace to leave Mion behind.

“Let's go, Rena.

Maybe it should just be the two of us tomorrow, leave grumpy ol' Mion behind.”

“...Huh,

woah...

If Keiichi-kun... is okay with that, then…”

“I'm the one who came up with the idea to take him around~!!

Don't ignore me, Keiichi Maebara!!”

“It'd be great if the two of us could go on a picnic together! Should we bring a basket, Rena?”

“...I-If we're bringing a basket...

I'll...

make all the food, maybe...

Maybe!”

“Don't you ignore me too, Rena! I'll tell everyone that you two disappeared into the hotel district together!”

“Well then... I'm going home right now to start making it...!

Tomorrow is going to be so fun~! Later Keiichi-kun, Mii-chan! Bye!”

Rena bounded off like she was walking on the moon.

After the dust settled, all that was left was me standing next to Mion sprawled out on the ground. There was a welt on her face.

“...Are you all right...?

There was over two meters between you guys…”

“...S... Since you came, they've become sharper...

This old geezer's body can't handle it…”

“...Maybe it'd be easier if you stopped saying stuff that makes Rena want to hit you…

Or else this will end up being Mion's Slapstick Comedy Hour.

If that happened, the results might be fatal...

Don't feel bad, Mion. You're probably the only one who can dodge her jabs!”

“...It felt like it was her knee, though...

...Could it be that we were hanging around with an unrivaled martial arts master?

Maybe someday we'll see her debut in an extreme contact sport…”

“You can't lose to Rena! You need to train up and have a rematch!”

“Kei...

Kei-chan, you should...

This old geezer will root for you…”

Mion and I reaffirmed our determination to discover a way to counter Rena's infallible technique...

[nezumiva]

"AND WHY ARE THEY CRYING? (A When They Cry Podcast)" Episode 1: Oyashiro Certified Forklift Operator

Episode 1 of a new When They Cry podcast I'm making with my housemates and one of our other friends is out!

This episode focuses on the first arc of Higurashi: When They Cry, "Onikakushi-hen", it features full spoilers for that arc. Check the shownotes/YouTube description for content warnings. Spotify Link. Apple Podcasts Link. YouTube Link.

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 7 Minagoroshi pt. 1

I know I'm probably giving it way more thought than I should but I wonder why the MangaGamer release of Higurashi calls them Higurashi Hou. I seem to recall reading somewhere that Kai means answers (maybe Umineko? I don't remember), so I just wonder why the Steam/GOG releases call them Hou. According to a quick googling Hou means way or method? Then there's Hou - Rei, Hou+, I don't really want to go deep diving into it at the moment because I've still got these two chapters at least to go.

This might sound sarcastic but I genuinely like that this is how this chapter opens. I'm certain it'll go back to the formula of the club doing their usual shenanigans, then eventually the terrors, but I like how this opens with a frank discussion about Rika and the time loop.

I wonder why the universe, or whatever you want to call it decided to use Shion as the murderer twice. I want to theorize that there's some sort of importance for the fact that of the five chapters set in 1983 it used the same killer twice, but I can't really come up with a way to explain it.

I don't know why I never really thought about the fact that Ooishi is near constantly the instigator of the murders and events. It's easy to try and posture that with the explanations being given that I totally and completely called and figured this out. But the truth of the matter is while I did sort of notice that Ooishi seems to start the plot towards its eventual conclusion I never really did anything with that information. I was about to argue that he wasn't really that big of a part of chapter three I remembered that a lot of the stuff involving Teppei and Satoko's abuse never really came to the fore until he showed up to question her about Rina's death in that chapter.

The thing about Takano is I don't really know how much of her own bullshit she buys. I know that in the scrapbooks she goes out of her way to paint the Sonozakis as the central pillar of the conspiracy of the day, but how much of that is genuine belief? I don't have much to base it on but I get the vague impression that her attempts to pin it all on the Sonozaki family/Three Families is all a red herring that she's trying to mislead people into believing for some reason. The why and the what eludes me, assuming of course that's right, and it's not just she's bonkers and just writing whatever. I do get the impression that her entire reason for explaining/mentioning the Onigafuchi Swamp, the curse, all of that is entirely just for her own personal amusement. She's trolling the cast for reasons.

This I find interesting, why doesn't Rika possess any knowledge about what happens during the curse killings of 1980-1982? Is whatever's ruling over the timeline of 1983 able to suppress her memory of it? Or does it tie in to the fact she doesn't remember anything around the time of her own personal killing? I can't explain to you why I'm so much easier going with the aspects of the Hinamizawa mystery here being potentially explained away with magic bullshit than I was with the shown to be blatantly untrue parasite/aliens explanation but I am. Maybe because the mystical aspect has been established a lot longer than the sudden appearance of parasites and aliens? Maybe I myself am slightly spoiled due to having read/played Umineko first so the idea that witches are behind the fantastical crimes doesn't bother me as much. That's not idle speculation on my part, there's a screen relatively soon that mentions the idea of Rika being a witch.

So with this I think it's safe to assume that shortly after the events of Onikakushi Rika did get killed. What entity is constantly killing Rika? I doubt that it's the same person getting Tomitake and Takano. At some point around their deaths in Tsumihoroboshi I started thinking that Takano is probably behind Tomitake's death. I have no real basis for this assumption, I just think it's highly likely she would be one the one to inject him with the drug that makes you kill yourself. It feels more plausible than a group of cultists ambush him, then inject him, and then just let him go. It also makes sense if you assume that Takano's belief about the parasite is based even slightly on reality because this way she could verify the effects of the infection with her own eyes. The fact she dies almost immediately afterwards is kind of irrelevant to this, because I don't think she ever expects to be gotten on the day of Watanagashi.

[evercaptor]

“Nine People you want to know better” tag game

Tagged by @sarenhale, appreciate!!

Last Song: Escaflowne SoundTrack - Kanno Yoko - Shadow Of Doubt if it has to ahve lyrics; Grimbeard - I'm In a Blanket With You and We're Watching the Series Finale of Lost and You Like It

Favorite Color(s): Pumpkin Orange, Pastel Pink, Emerald Green

Last Movie/TV Show: Kamikatsu: Working for god in a godless world; it's cursed, oh so cursed, but so good! shout out to Sasaki and Peeps, too!

I think the last film I watched was Star Wars a year or two

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: Yes! I'm a polytaste! that's not a word, but I appreciate most food I guess I like Savoury most if i had to pick!

Relationship status: 🔶

Last thing I googled: "how to contact the police, full number" some customer tried to emoptionally blackmail us with suicide 💀

Current Obsession: I'm between obsession right now. I'm drawing at the moment though! Drawing squids (splatoon)!

Last Book: i can't remember the alst time i held paper... does When They Cry Higurashi: Onikakushi count?

Looking forwards to: Germany next week! off to see the partner! good times inbound!

Tagging @phoenix-lich @spell-fox @zettelkaestchen @aroceu @togekissies @druvjelly @xx-k1tsun3-k1d-xx @vvitchering @sarcasrnspasrn

Feel free to ignore this if you don't want to! Just for funsies and because I wanna know more of mutuals/friends/ people I see in my notifications! <3

[dawn-in-the--adan]

"I am Maebara Keiichi, and my life is in danger. I don't know who or why. The only thing I know is that it has something to do with Oyashiro-sama's curse." Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Onikakushi-hen (2006)

[onewholivesinloops]

Episode 22 of Gou is really interesting to me because this the episode a lot of people leave with the takeaway, “I can’t believe Satoko watched Rika’s one hundred years of tragedy but instead of having any empathy she immediately jumped on torturing her” and decide she’s irredeemable when this isn’t exactly how things play out. I think it’s much more nuanced than that.

It’s true that Satoko watched all of the original Higurashi, but it’s specifically through the lens that Eua has filtered it. It’s pretty telling that Eua immediately jumped to showing her the end of Onikakushi which is Keiichi bashing the corpses of Rena and Mion. None of the club games, just murder. The reason Satoko’s loops are more angry and violent is because this is a story where she gets indoctrinated through that by Eua, where she lived through not just Rika's trauma, but also relived her own and worse. It’s one where Satoko is only made to feel like she has an objective understanding of everything that happened where she finds out everything that was previously hidden from her, and so she feels like she perfectly understands the Hinamizawa gameboard.

Except she actually doesn’t, because she didn’t experience the original Higurashi the same way Rika did. What she had was Eua’s edit. And that’s part of her tragedy, because this only served to hurt her even more.

The tragedy is in the fact that she is forced into the role of witch. Hatred and disgust and sin are pushed onto her instead of people attempting to understand her. It’s her swords of hatred. Satoko is Anthy. A girl who could have never been an ideal victim made into a monster by the abuser. A girl who cannot become a princess is doomed to become a witch.

Satoko comes out of Rika’s loops with the belief that Rika doesn’t care about her and only cares about the possibility of leaving Hinamizawa because she witnessed Rika constantly lying to her about practically everything including things she had the right to know about (e.g. her illness, what happened to Satoshi, etc etc). Rika no longer or ever from Satoko's perspective saw her as a real equal friend. Satoko is a victim of life long abuse with abandonment issues who found out that everything about the one person she believed always loved her unconditionally is a lie after being betrayed twice already. There’s a reason during the watanagashi torture ritual she breaks down crying about how the thought of the days she spent with Rika in Hinamizawa meaning nothing to Rika is too unbearable. She has every reason to believe this is the case.

She also watched Rika becoming increasingly detached and indifferent to the point of messing with her friends while they were having psychotic episodes instead of making genuine attempts to help them (e.g. Rena in Tsumihoroboshi). And considering everything Satoko went through with Rika before, she obviously went in looking for reasons that Rika sucks. And Rika is kind of a jerk. All of this only served to further cement her desire for payback for the initial betrayal, confirmed her biases, and convinced her of the righteousness of her cause.

[nyctinasti]

... Isn't it alright to take the easy way out? Besides... I'm not throwing it away. I'm leaving it behind, with her. .... Like flowers by a grave.

Ch.1 Onikakushi-hen (鬼隠し編) - Higurashi When They Cry

[agathathetransmechapilot]

Congrats to all Silent Hill fans!

Your franchise was dead for ages and now its back! Now,with all that said, who is Ryukishi07? I'm glad you ask imaginary reader! Ryukishi07 is mostly known as one of the biggest visual novel writers ever mainly known for his when they cry series, specially Higurashi no naku Koro ni(chapter 1,onikakushi is free on steam go check it out if it is for you and there is a mod with console sprites and voice acting).

Higurashi and Umineko(the second one in the wtc series) are mysteries mainly and then have horror elements, they have a heavy emphasis on relationships, their sins and how it affects them related to the mistery and the horror aspect(sound familiar?). Now,why I think Ryukishi might be a fit writer for silent hill(vague spoilers for some of his works): -Ryukishi has a background as a social worker and has seen some stuff when it comes to traumatic experiences specially children(see Higurashi and umineko for domestic violence and Higanbana for bullying and suicide ideation) which I think his perspective might work for different arcs in a SH game. -Representation,probably most of Higurashi and Umineko readers will confirm that both Maria and Rena are somewhere in the autism spectrum and he has a background or writing lgbtq characters(most popular a couple of evil lesbians in umineko) -He doesn't spoon feed his readers,Umineko episode 8 was a bit controversial in the Japanese fandom for how vague it was in some of his answers(source is people on discord told me,sorry) but thats what made umineko a really great experience, how he played with mystery tropes and inviting the readers to solve the puzzle for themselves. -He doesn't hold back, the representation of cycle of abuse in umineko,the mental downfall of Higurashi characters, the aspect of bullying in higanbana can get pretty hard for readers to stomach, I personally have to stop my reading of Higurashi chapter 3 for how it represented domestic abuse and how no is being able to help. Overall,i think writing wise you are in good hands for Silent Hill F and hope this post doesn't age badly.