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fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Jan
is a mahjong-themed spinoff video game. It was first released as an arcade game by AQ Interactive on July 16, 2009 and was rereleased on PlayStation Portable with additional content on November 12, 2009.
See Also.
Two manga have been inspired by this game: the one-shot "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Jan" and the series "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Jan: Tsubamegaeshi-hen", consisting of two volumes.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Jan |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Jan (manga)
is a manga inspired by the video game of the same name. It was illustrated by Chiha Ayami and Maku Iguma and serialized in Comp Ace magazine from August 26, 2009 to March 26, 2010 with a prologue and 6 total chapters. It was later released as a single volume.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Jan (manga) |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Jun
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Jun |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai
, also referred to as , is the second half of the series and contains arcs 5 to 8 of the story. It is also referred to as When they cry 2 in the overall franchise.
Arcs.
Chapter 5: Meakashi.
After escaping from her boarding school in 1982, Shion Sonozaki hides out in Okinomiya from the rest of the Sonozaki Family and tries to live life as normal. She soon meets Satoshi Houjou and falls in love, and as time passes and Oyashiro-sama's curse claims more victims, Shion struggles to find answers.
Chapter 6: Tsumihoroboshi.
This chapter has perspectives switching between Keiichi Maebara and Rena Ryuugu. Rena's divorced dad is dating a new woman named Rina. When Rina tries to break their family apart, Rena takes it upon herself to solve her problems. Keiichi and the rest of the club do their best to help Rena with the aftermath, and things start spiraling out of control when Rena uncovers a conspiracy.
Chapter 7: Minagoroshi.
Rika Furude has traveled through countless Fragments with the help of Hanyuu in her search for a happy ending. This Fragment looks to be the same as any other until Keiichi succeeds in breaking fate. Renewed with confidence, Rika becomes determined to change her own fate until unforeseen events occur.
Chapter 8: Matsuribayashi.
The true culprit's motivations are revealed, and the events leading up to June 1983 are recounted. Rika and Hanyuu bet everything on one final Fragment in an attempt to reach a happy ending for everyone.
Adaptations.
A namesake anime series was aired in 2007 as a direct sequel to the 2006 anime, which already includes Meakashi and Tsumihoroboshi. It adapts a Tsumihoroboshi TIP, Minagoroshi, and Matsuribayashi and includes an exclusive arc.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai/Music
The Music Room is a function that unlocks after completing "Matsuribayashi." It allows players to listen to all of the music used in the story. It is not present in any of the English releases by MangaGamer due to requests by 07th Expansion, as some sound effects and tracks were replaced. This page lists the tracks as they were in the original versions. For specific details on which tracks were replaced, see this page.
The music files can also be found in the game's folders. Information on when each track is played in the story may be found in the Plot Summary pages for each arc.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai/Music |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai (2016 drama)
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai (2016 drama) |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai (anime)
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai (anime) |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kaku
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kaku |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kira
is an OVA series of the series by Studio DEEN. The series consists of 4 episodes that were released in Japan from July 21, 2011 to January 25, 2012. It adapts Batsukoishi from previously omitted in the namesake OVA series, followed by 3 original single episode arcs. The series is followed by a Pachinko-OVA, "".
Introduction.
<tabber>
"A commemorative project celebrating 10 years of "Higurashi" - "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kira""
"Since the original series was released, 10 years have passed as of 2012, and to commemorate the anniversary, a new series commences at long last!"
"With brand new original episodes on the forefront, we present to you a "glittery" new series—split into episodes of happiness (ki), diligence (do), love (ai), and joy (raku). Long time fans as well as those who have learned of Higurashi now, after 10 long years are all welcome to enjoy these plot twists even your imagination can't catch up with, packed with flashing impactful visuals!!"
"「ひぐらし」10周年記念作品 『ひぐらしのなく頃に煌』"
"原作シリーズの発表から2012年で10周年を迎えることを記念し、新シリーズがいよいよ始動！"
"完全オリジナルエピソードを中心に「喜(き)・努(ど)・愛(あい)・楽(らく)」に分かれたキラびやかなエピソードで贈る新シリーズ。従来からの原作ファンは勿論、10周年で初めて「ひぐらし」を知った方でも問題なくお楽しみ頂ける、想像の“斜め上”を突っ走る衝撃映像をご覧あれ!!"
</tabber>
Promotion and Release.
To promote the release of the anime, a short gag manga series titled was released for free on the Higurashi Kira website with 10 total installments. It was illustrated by Taka.
Episodes.
Each episode was released individually over the course of six months from mid 2011 to early 2012.
Reception.
According to someanithing.com. the anime made 97.4 million yen (US equivalent: approx. $1,220,000, taking into account 2011 conversion rates) from DVD and Blu-Ray sales.
As of September 3, 2021, the anime sits at a score of 6.54 on MyAnimeList and an average score of 61% on AniList.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kira |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kira Nipanipa Ondo☆Song CD
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kira Nipanipa Ondo☆Song CD |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kitan Senshuu
is a series of anthology manga published by Ichijinsha with 4 total volumes.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kitan Senshuu |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kitan Senshuu Volume 1
is the first volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kitan Senshuu series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kitan Senshuu Volume 1 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kitan Senshuu Volume 2
is the second volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kitan Senshuu series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kitan Senshuu Volume 2 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kitan Senshuu Volume 3
is the third volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kitan Senshuu series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kitan Senshuu Volume 3 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kitan Senshuu Volume 4
is the fourth and final volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kitan Senshuu series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kitan Senshuu Volume 4 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna
is a series of visual novel ports of on the Nintendo DS by Alchemist. Four games were released in total, each containing four chapters.
This series introduces the Advanced Story, a saga of four arcs based upon and expanding the "Onisarashi" manga, consisting of Someutsushi, Kageboushi, Tokihogushi, and an expanded version of Miotsukushi different from its original debut in (later ports split the additional content off as Miotsukushi Ura). Each game includes one of them. Another new arc, Kotohogushi, is introduced in the fourth game.
The third game introduces the visual novel adaptation of the "Yoigoshi" manga. Since "Matsuri" does not include "Matsuribayashi", "Saikoroshi", and Hirukowashi, this is their first inclusion in a console game.
Development History.
Alchemist planned to only release "Matsuri", but due to demand from fans of the original "Higurashi" who didn't own PS2s, Alchemist decided to port it to the DS since it was popular at the time. New arcs were also added to give old fans incentive to buy the new games. It was split into 4 releases because a single DS rom didn't have enough space to fit everything.
Promotion and Release.
"Higurashi Kizuna" was revealed as early as February 22, 2008 with a Famitsu article detailing how the story arcs from the original and "Matsuri" would be split across 4 releases, with new arcs planned. The article also introduced a new cast of characters including Natsumi Kimiyoshi and Tomoe Minai, and explained the "emotion selection" system that would affect story branches. The games would feature new character art and CGs by rato, who previously did "Matsuri"'s art. Some character sprites were also redrawn to "make them more expressive and keep with the image of the original work".
Another article on February 29, 2008 revealed that the new story arc "Someutsushi-hen", originally based on the manga arc "Onisarashi-hen", would be supervised by the original writer Ryukishi07 and artist En Kito. Additionally, the opening theme for the first game, Tsuisou no Despair, would be produced by Chiyomaru Shikura and sung by Kanako Ito. The BGM would be produced by 5zizz, which also worked on "Matsuri".
"Kizuna Volume I" released on June 26, 2008. Due to its apparent difficulty, a commercial was aired where Alchemist staff apologized for it. The official "Kizuna" website later uploaded walkthroughs teaching players how to get 100% completion.
Structure.
Each game features a choice system based on selecting how a character feels in certain situations, with the story changing appropriately.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna (manga)
is a manga inspired by the console games of the same name that adapts elements from "Tokihogushi" and "Miotsukushi Ura". It was illustrated by Nonoka Hinata and was originally serialized in Comp Ace magazine from September 26, 2010 to September 26, 2011. It was later collected into two volumes.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna (manga) |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna Manga Volume 1
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna Vol. 1 is the first volume of Nonoka Hinata's manga adaptation of the "Advanced Story" saga from "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna".
Publisher's Summary.
<tabber>
"Hinamizawa isn't the only crime scene!!"
"A new Higurashi series begins, depicting the new perspective in the DS game Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna's original story, featuring Ryukishi07's much-lauded Onisarashi-hen!
"事件の現場は雛見沢だけじゃない！！"
"竜騎士０７の書きおろしで話題になった鬼曝し編を含むＤＳソフト「ひぐらしのなく頃に 絆」のオリジナルストーリーを新たな視点で描く、“ひぐらし”新シリーズが開幕！"
</tabber>
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna Manga Volume 1 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna Manga Volume 2
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna Vol. 1 is the second and final volume of Nonoka Hinata's manga adaptation of the "Advanced Story" saga from "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna".
Publisher's Summary.
<tabber>
"A detective and a high school girl. The new sensible Higurashi story conclusion arrives!"
"Tomoe and Natsumi. Their fates gradually entwine, guided by the unseen chains of Hinamizawa. Will Tomoe be able to dispel the darkness in Natsumi's heart...? The comicalization of the Higurashi When They Cry Kizuna original story magnificently concludes!"
"刑事と女子高生。新感覚な「ひぐらし」完結編が登場！"
"巴と夏美。２人の運命は、雛見沢という見えない鎖に導かれ、徐々に絡まっていく。巴は夏美の心の闇を取り除くことができるのか――。「ひぐらしのなく頃に 絆」オリジナルストーリーのコミカライズ、堂々完結！"
</tabber>
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna Manga Volume 2 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna Visual Book
The is a booklet released with the limited edition of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna Volume IV.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna Visual Book |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna Volume I
is the first installment in "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna". It first released on June 26, 2008 and was rereleased in a two-pack with Volume II on December 23, 2009.
Story Arcs.
Someutsushi-hen.
A new arc based off of the "Onisarashi-hen" manga and the first arc in the Advanced Story. It is a new arc taking place after "Tatarigoroshi" and centers on Natsumi Kimiyoshi and her friends living in Kakiuchi City.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna Volume I |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna Volume II
is the second installment in "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna". It first released on November 27, 2008 and was rereleased in a two-pack with Volume I on December 23, 2009.
Story Arcs.
Alternative Hirukowashi.
"Hirukowashi-hen" was originally released with "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei" as an extra arc. This Alternative version has several changes, namely the addition and removal of certain characters and removal of references to plot details not yet revealed in the "Kizuna" series.
Kageboushi.
This arc is based off of the "Onisarashi" manga and is the second arc in the Advanced Story. It once again centers on Natsumi Kimiyoshi and her friends living in Kakiuchi City, with the detectives Tomoe Minai, Mamoru Akasaka, and Kuraudo Ooishi investigating the Great Hinamizawa Disaster.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna Volume II |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna Volume III
is the third installment in "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna".
Story Arcs.
"Yoigoshi-hen" is based off of the manga arc of the same name and features several changes, namely the addition of a new character Miyuki Sorimachi.
Tokihogushi-hen.
"Tokihogushi-hen" is the third arc in the Advanced Story. It centers on Tomoe Minai investigating a murder case with ties to Rena Ryuugu.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna Volume III |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna Volume IV
is the fourth and final installment in "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna".
Story Arcs.
"Miotsukushi-hen" received new chapters in it that act as the conclusion to the Advanced Story.
Kotohogushi-hen.
"Kotohogushi-hen" is an extra arc that functions as a prequel to the entire series.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna Volume IV |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Koiutsushi-hen ~WHEN THEY CRY...Art Record~
is a artbook.
It features artwork from the artists behind the "Higurashi" manga (Karin Suzuragi, Yutori Houjyou, Jiro Suzuki, Yoshiki Tonogai, Mimori, Hinase Momoyama, and Rechi Kazuki), split into seven sections or "Fragments". A short interview with Ryukishi07 is also included.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Koiutsushi-hen ~WHEN THEY CRY...Art Record~ |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri
is a remake of on PlayStation 2 by Alchemist, released on February 22, 2007. It features voice acting, new character art by rato, and new backgrounds by Media.Vision. "Matsuri" includes the first seven arcs of the original series and 3 new arcs including an alternative ending to the main story, Miotsukushi.
An updated version named was released on December 20, 2007 as both a standalone full version and as an append version for the original "Matsuri". "Kakera Asobi" includes some content from Matsuribayashi, an improved flowchart and full voice acting for scenes that were previously unvoiced.
Development History.
Development for "Matsuri" began as early as 2005, shortly after the release of "Meakashi", when Kiichi Kanou was hired to create a remake of "Higurashi" for home consoles. It actually began development in February 2006, when rato was brought on to create new artwork for the characters. Ryukishi07, Kanou, and rato would have weekly meetings at the Alchemist office. Several of the new content introduced in "Matsuri" like new artwork and addition of choices were suggested by Ryukishi. The game had the working subtitle of . It was changed to "Matsuri" since Kanou envisioned themes of a discussion with gods. "Kizuna" would later be used for the subsequent series of "Higurashi" ports on Nintendo DS.
The new story arcs, "Taraimawashi", "Tsukiotoshi", and "Miotsukushi", were presented by Kanou. He wrote most if not all of "Miotsukushi" while he simply wrote the outline for the other two arcs. Koshiko Miyagi was responsible for writing "Taraimawashi" and "Tsukiotoshi" while MIDI Harafuji is credited for writing part of the game's main scenario. Rejected story arc titles included , , , , and . Kanou chose between Yumewatashi and Miotsukushi for the name of the final arc.
Kanou also received some data regarding "Matsuribayashi" from Ryukishi as he was writing it and incorporated some concepts from it into "Miotsukushi". "Matsuribayashi" and "Miotsukushi" were intended to both end with a happy ending, but by following different perspectives.
Supporting characters like Kiichirou Kimiyoshi and Katsuya Kumagai received sprites for the first time. It was planned for other characters like Oryou, Kameda, Okamura, and Keiichi's father to get sprites, however there was no time.
Story Arcs.
Chapter 1: Taraimawashi.
Taraimawashi is an alternate arc meant to represent a "bad ending".
Chapter 6: Tsukiotoshi.
Tsukiotoshi-hen is an alternate version of Tatarigoroshi where Keiichi, Shion, and Rena team up to save Satoko from her uncle.
Final Chapter: Miotsukushi.
Miotsukushi-hen serves as an alternate conclusion to the series, as Matsuribayashi is not included.
Structure.
"Matsuri" uses a route and flowchart system, where different choices determine what arc or ending the player ends up on. Before starting a game, players can choose different protagonists, which lets them read the arcs taking place from their perspective. Keiichi is the only protagonist the player can choose at the start, with more protagonists unlocked as different arcs are cleared.
Keiichi's route is a common route that can lead into Onikakushi, Watanagashi, Tatarigoroshi, Taraimawashi, Tsukiotoshi, or Tsumihoroboshi depending on the choices. However, the player can only enter Onikakushi or Taraimawashi at the start. The choice that leads to Watanagashi requires completing another arc at least once to be unlocked. Clearing Onikakushi will unlock the choice required to enter Tatarigoroshi while completing Taraimawashi will unlock Akasaka as a protagonist, allowing the player to enter Himatsubushi.
Clearing Watanagashi will unlock Shion as a protagonist, allowing the player to enter Meakashi. Clearing both this arc and Onikakushi will unlock the choice that leads to Tsukiotoshi, an arc derived from the route of Tatarigoroshi. Clearing Tsukiotoshi in turn will unlock the choice required to enter Tsumihoroboshi.
After clearing Tsumihoroboshi, Rika will be unlocked as a protagonist, allowing access to Minagoroshi. Clearing this arc will unlock Keiichi and Rika together on the protagonist selection screen, leading into the final arc Miotsukushi.
CGs and Videos.
See the following pages for the CGs added for their respective arcs.
Bonuses.
Those that pre-ordered "Matsuri" received a pen in the shape of Satoshi's bat and an inflatable Rena balloon.
The limited edition bonus came with a postcard set, a booklet with the extra arc Hajisarashi, and a 2-disc soundtrack.
Reception.
According to Famitsu Game Hakusho 2008, the base game sold 112,859 units while "Kakera Asobi" sold 51,666.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri Official Complete Guide
is a supplementary guidebook published by Kadokawa for , the PS2 port of .
Gallery.
"This is only a partial gallery with select images from the book. Contains spoilers."
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri Official Complete Guide |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri Official Guide Book
is a supplementary guidebook published by Enterbrain for "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri".
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri Official Guide Book |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri Opening Theme – Nageki no Mori
"For the song, please refer Nageki no Mori"
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri Opening Theme – Nageki no Mori |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri Original Soundtrack
is a collection of tracks used in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri. It was released alongside the first-run limited edition of "Matsuri" on February 22, 2007.
Tracklisting.
<tabber>
Disc2.
</tabber>
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri Original Soundtrack |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri x Matsuri x Matsuri
is a special "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri" article featured in Comp Ace Vol. 12.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri x Matsuri x Matsuri |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Meguri
is a manga series that acts as a continuation to the "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou" manga. It began serialization on Young Ace Up starting on October 15, 2021.
Synopsis.
<tabber>
"Based on Higurashi Gou and Sotsu, it's the manga version of the answer arc!"
"After overcoming the repeating June of 1983, Rika Furude has proactively decided to live in a future she has yet to see, but... why are these repeating tragedies happening, and how are they occurring? The curtain rises on a new chapter revealing a girl who tries to deceive fate. Countless choices are made, cycling through destiny, as she reaches for an answer. "
"『ひぐらしのなく頃に 業／卒』をベースに再構築された、コミカライズ版としての解答編!!"
繰り返される昭和58年の6月を乗り越え、古手梨花はまだ見ぬ未来を積極的に生きていこうと決意するが――。再び繰り返された惨劇は「何故」起こったのか、「どのようにして」行われたのか……運命を騙る「彼女」を明かす新章、開幕。無数の選択肢を経て、運命を巡り、少女は答えを得る。"
</tabber>
Promotion and Release.
"Meguri" was first teased at the end of the "Gou" manga's final chapter, claiming to have "answer arcs that are different from those of the TV anime, reconstructed by Tomato Akase based on "Higurashi " and ".
After the release of "Satokowashi" Chapter 3 part 2, Akase tweeted that it would mark a gradual divergence from the anime's plot and ultimately lead to a different ending.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Meguri |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Meguri Volume 1
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Meguri Volume 1 is the first volume of the "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Meguri" manga.
Synopsis (Translated).
"A manga version of the TV anime " and ", reconstructed with different solutions..."
"Rika Furude, with the help of her friends, has defeated Takano and broken the loop of tragedy. However, a future in which she is forced to repeat the year 1983 awaits her. This is the first installment in the series explaining "why" the tragedy has resumed!!"
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Meguri Volume 1 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Meguri Volume 2
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Meguri Volume 2 is the second volume of the "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Meguri" manga.
Synopsis.
<tabber>
"Satokowashi-hen concludes. And the curtain rises on the story of Rena Ryuugu despairing and doing her best..."
"Once again, the summer of June 1983 repeats... The tragedy that has been decided and the assassin's blade that guides it has already been made "this" way. Manga artist Tomato Akase reconstructs a different solution towards a completely new final chapter in Volume 2."
"「郷壊し編」完結。そして竜宮レナの絶望と頑張りの物語が幕を開ける――。"
"再び、昭和58年の夏が繰り返されることとなった――。決定づけられた惨劇は、演出された凶刃は、“この”ようにして作られた。漫画家・赤瀬とまとが再構築し、完全新規の最終編へと続く別解、第２巻。"
</tabber>
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Meguri Volume 2 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Meguri Volume 3
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Meguri Volume 3 is the third volume of the "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Meguri" manga.
Synopsis.
<tabber>
"The sisters's love and the twins' punishment melts and sinks together. The chaos of Wataakashi-hen."
"The Sonozakis, of the Hinamizawa Three Families. Mion, who is to be the next head, and her twin sister Shion. Sisters who care about each other step out of line. Because they care about each other, they fall far. Manga artist Tomato Akase's reconstruction and separate solution continues towards a completely new final chapter in volume 3."
"姉妹の恋も双りの罰も、溶け合い、沈んでいく。混沌の「綿明し編」。"
"雛見沢御三家・園崎。その次期頭首たる魅音と、双子の妹の詩音。互いに想い合う姉妹は、踏み外す。想い合うからこそ、深く堕ちていく。漫画家・赤瀬とまとが再構築した、完全新規の最終編へと続く別解、第３巻。"
</tabber>
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Meguri Volume 3 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei
is a mobile game spinoff developed by Smileaxe and originally published by D-Techno. The opening theme "Frustration" was composed by Chiyomaru Shikura and performed by Ayane. The game began service in Japan on September 3, 2020.
Introduction.
<tabber>
"June 1993, ten years after the "Great Hinamizawa Disaster" in 1983, in which about 1200 residents lost their lives due to released volcanic poisonous gas――"
"A girl who lost her family to the disaster, Kazuho Kimiyoshi, visits her abandoned hometown of Hinamizawa. But what stood in front of her were monsters she had never seen before. Kazuho desperately runs away. And at that time when she was forced into the predicament of despair, the mysterious existence "Tamurahime" appears and calls herself a god."
"Kazuho, who obtained the power to fight "Tsukuyami" from her, is guided into the ritual tool shed in Furude Shrine. After entering the shrine, Kazuho came out to Hinamizawa at a time of peace."
昭和58年に発生した火山性の有毒ガスによって、住民約1200名が命を落とした『雛見沢大災害』から10年後の、平成5年6月――
災害によって家族を失った少女、公由一穂は廃墟となった故郷雛見沢を訪れる。だが、そんな彼女の目の前に立ちふさがったのは、見たことのないバケモノたちだった。必死に逃げる一穂。そして絶体絶命の窮地に追いやられたその時、自らを神と名乗る不思議な存在『田村媛命』が現れる。彼女によってバケモノ――『ツクヤミ』と戦う力を手に入れた一穂は、その導きに従い古手神社の祭具殿へ。そして、言われるがままに祭具殿へと入った一穂を迎えたのは、懐かしくも切ない――平和な頃の雛見沢だった。
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Plot Summary.
Kazuho Kimiyoshi is a teenage girl whose family died 10 years ago in the Great Hinamizawa Disaster. After visiting Hinamizawa in 1993, she meets the goddess Tamurahime no Mikoto who sends her back in time to 1983 to battle monsters called Tsukuyami. Kazuho meets Miyuki Akasaka and Nao Houtani, other girls from 1993 with their own goals, and joins with them to uncover the mysteries surrounding this past Hinamizawa.
The story is currently split into 3 parts, with Part 1 consisting of Chapters 1 through 8. Part 2 began with Chapter 9, releasing on March 29, 2021 nd is split into Showa (1983) and Heisei (1993) portions. Part 3 is also split into Showa and Heisei portions.
Concept and Development.
The Heisei Chapter story in Part 2 was inspired by the film , however it was rewritten due to the similarities to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On December 16, 2022, it was announced that ownership of the game transferred from D-Techno to Mynet Games.
Gameplay.
"Higurashi Mei" is a gacha game, where players spend in-game currency to roll for character units with various outfits and arrange them into a party. Battles are automatic, requiring players to have a strong enough party to defeat each enemy before time runs out. Over time, a gauge for each unit fills that can be used to unleash a special attack.
Players complete quests to unlock visual novel-style story chapters and TIPS that can be read through at their leisure. There are also periodic events, each containing their own stories, and character stories associated with SSR units.
Trailers and PVs.
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Characters.
Crossover Characters.
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| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei/Events
This page provides a list of all events in .
Regular Events.
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| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei/Events |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei/Plot Summary
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei/Plot Summary |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei/Plot Summary Part 1
This page provides a detailed summary for Chapter 1 through 8 of "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei", which comprise Part 1 of the story.
Prologue.
Kazuho Kimiyoshi had fond memories of watching the club playing around in Hinamizawa and Okinomiya as a little girl. Board games, card games, tag; the club was always full of energy, and Kazuho wished to join them one day. Unfortunately, that "nightmare" meant she would be unable to fulfill that wish.
In June 5, 1993, Kazuho visits the former site of Hinamizawa and desperately runs through the bushes. She didn't know if she was escaping the village or running deeper into it, all she wanted to do was get away from "that thing". A monster was chasing her, stomping and roaring. A boar-like demon making metal clanging sounds and far removed from anything that would seem living. Kazuho could sense its killing intent and desperately ran away. As she ran she wondered if this was where she would die, unable to understand how or why. Kazuho cries out as the world turns white.
Ever since the Great Hinamizawa Disaster 10 years ago, Hinamizawa had become a no-entry zone. The volcanic gas that was responsible for the incident had dissipated, and it was decided that the area was no longer dangerous. Some people who investigated the area soon after had mysteriously disappeared or became mentally impaired. Kazuho wanted to explore the place for herself and expected to be stopped by a security guard, however there was nobody there; she had no idea a monster would be there instead.
Kazuho runs some more and trips on a root that was sticking out of the ground. Before she could even express her pain, the monster was already looming over her. Kazuho scurries away as the monster slowly inches towards her. It opens its fanged face, and Kazuho briefly accepts her death before calling out for help, not wanting to die without knowing anything. Someone answers her plea, calling her a child of man and telling her to raise her head. Kazuho opens her eyes to see a girl appearing between her and the monster.
The girl asks Kazuho's name, and she responds by asking who the girl is. The girl insults her and calls her impudent, and before Kazuho can snap back a sharp pain fills her head. The girl asks again who Kazuho is, and she replies that she is Kazuho Kimiyoshi. She says they should run away before noticing that the monster is frozen in time. Amazed, Kazuho looks back at the girl, who introduces herself as Tamurahime no Mikoto. Tamura says that Kazuho must be of the "people of horns", judging by her strong aura. Kazuho is confused as to what she means by "people of horns," and Tamura simply says she is of Hinamizawan blood. Tamura then asks to see her hand and Kazuho holds it out, with fog coalescing into her palm and transforming into a card. Tamura expected this to happen, commenting that a person of horns' power can reawaken broken Fragments. Tamura tells Kazuho to speak to the Fragment and tell it her wish; it will be granted if that is what she truly desires.
Before Kazuho can comprehend what to do, the monster starts moving again, and Kazuho screams. Tamura becomes disappointed that her level of power is only enough to stop time for a while. As Kazuho questions her predicament, Tamura tells her again to speak her wish, what she desires to accomplish. Kazuho still didn't understand what was going on, but she has a wish: she wants to live. Just then, light pours from Kazuho's card and envelops her, changing her outfit into that of a fancy dress. Tamura compliments her for drawing out its power, if haphazardly. Kazuho examines her strange new outfit, comparing it to something out of a picture book. Tamura says her outfit is a weapon created from the Fragment and can now freely use its power.
Kazuho doesn't know why Tamura is speaking so strictly despite her apparent age, but after feeling fatigued from running from the monster she now feels a surge of power. The monster charges, and Kazuho prepares to fight it head on.
The monster is defeated, and Tamura congratulates an exhausted Kazuho. Tamura says that she may rest now and prepares to say something else, however Kazuho's card flies out of her chest and disappears, and her outfit changes back into its normal form. Tamura says the restoration must be difficult, as that Fragment was the strongest shining one she had found. Tamura then says she will give Kazuho a charm that will act as a "vessel" and hands her another card similar to the one she had before. Kazuho is confused as to what to do exactly with this card, and Tamura tells her that as she collects new Fragments, the charm will grow stronger, so it would be best to stay alert for them.
Kazuho still doesn't understand but she puts the card in her pocket, deeply sighing after realizing that she really did fight a monster and was saved. Kazuho asks Tamura what the monster and that transformation was all about, and she replies that there's much she needs to know. Kazuho silently questions Tamura's appearance, saying she looks like a miko from a play and has some weird wings sticking out of her head. Kazuho calls her Tamura-san, and Tamura shows discontent at being referred to with honorifics, insulting Kazuho again as Kazuho feels another sharp pain in her head; she figures that Tamura is causing this. She asks if it would be better to call her Tamurahime-sama and Tamura accepts it, asking that Kazuho remember to pay her respects.
Tamura says she is the ruler of the land of Yamato and is what humans would refer to as a god. Kazuho remembers Hinamizawa's history, that it was once known as Onigafuchi Village and was attacked by man-eating demons from hell. Oyashiro-sama was a god who made peace between the humans and demons and helped them coexist. Kazuho determines that Tamura must be Oyashiro-sama, and Tamura angrily shocks her once more, showing disdain that Kazuho would equate her with the chief of the people of horns. Kazuho apologizes as she wonders why saying the name of a god she knew was so wrong. Tamura says she ruled the land long before the people of horns did, and comparing her to "that fool" is unforgivable. Kazuho keeps this in mind.
Tamura asks Kazuho why she came to Hinamizawa, and she replies that she was contacted by someone from the village despite it being destroyed 10 years ago and wanted to know who or what it was. Tamura tells Kazuho to come with her, having something that could help her.
Chapter 1: Kikai (Opportunity).
Part 1.
Kazuho and Tamura walk through the long-abandoned village, which has become overgrown like a garden. Kazuho affirms that this is Hinamizawa, and though it is likely the ecosystem has changed in 10 years she still can't fathom what that monstrous boar was. Tamura asks if Kazuho remembers Hinamizawa and she says she lived in Okinomiya 10 years ago, so she has no real memories of the village. Kazuho explains that she currently lives in a school dorm in Tokyo, and she lives alone since her parents and brother all died in the disaster. Tamura gives her sympathy.
Hinamizawa had always been seen as an evil land because of the worship of Oyashiro-sama, and ever since the Great Hinamizawa Disaster, former residents of the village had become ostracized. This behavior continued even into the Heisei Era, with Kazuho finding solace that the god Tamura didn't frown at the village's mention.
Tamura asks why Kazuho came to the village now and not on the anniversary date. The Hinamizawa Requiem Festival was an annual memorial service dedicated to those who perished in the disaster, held every June 21. Kazuho had come on June 5, sixteen days before it. Kazuho explains that she received a message on her pager, which greatly confuses Tamura as she's never heard of such a device. After giving a short description of what a pager is, Kazuho explains that she received a message from her grandfather, who was the old mayor of Hinamizawa. This was strange because he also died during the disaster, and the message was reported as coming from her grandfather's house despite the village being on lockdown. Not only that, few people knew Kazuho's pager number. Tamura understands that Kazuho came to the village to find out why.
Tamura examines the pager for a bit and uses her powers to obtain a full understanding of it, remarking that the people of Yamato have made great technological advancements. She still doesn't understand why Kazuho wants to investigate this pager mystery, but she finds it convenient since they can benefit each other.
Suddenly, they get attacked by more monsters. Despite the weakening of their charm, Tamura tells Kazuho to do exactly what she did earlier.
Part 2.
Kazuho defeats the monsters and Tamura comments that she truly is a descendant of the people of horns. Kazuho asks what these monsters are supposed to be and Tamura replies that she has no idea, which confounds the girl. Tamura says she's going to call them tsukuyami anyway, as it would be inconvenient to refer to them without a name.
Tamura starts patting around where the tsukuyami were, looking for Fragments. She finds one the size of a grain of sand and holds it up to a confused Kazuho, explaining that it came from the tsukuyami and is presumably causing trouble in Hinamizawa. Kazuho is encouraged to pick up as many Fragments as she can. Tamura also explains that the Fragment she gave Kazuho is her blessing and will help her to not lose control and become aggressive like the tsukuyami.
Kazuho asks what Tamura knows of the disaster, but she knows nothing; she was resting for a while and the next thing she knew, Hinamizawa's guardian deity disappeared and the village was destroyed. Kazuho is troubled that Tamura claims herself to be a god yet knows as much as she does regarding the subject. Tamura says that's Kazuho's job to figure out, and she gets shocked. Kazuho doesn't think she can handle such an important task but she agrees to go along with it, knowing that Tamura will give her another splitting headache otherwise. Tamura appreciates her cooperation.
The duo finally enters the Furude Shrine. Tamura says the tsukuyami are emerging from a portal at the back of the shrine, which may lead to another dimension. Kazuho will be the one sent to enter it and see where it leads. After traversing the shrine grounds some more, they encounter more tsukuyami, which seemed to be guarding the place. Kazuho is determined to rid the beasts from Oyashiro-sama's home.
Part 3.
After defeating the tsukuyami, Kazuho finds that their dropped Fragments are much larger than the earlier ones. Tamura says the strength of a tsukuyami is proportional to a Fragment's size. They reach the ritual warehouse, which Kazuho knows to be a secret storage area for festival equipment and such. Tamura says the tsukuyami are coming from here and tells Kazuho to stay on guard, as she encountered a tough tsukuyami when she first came here.
After seeing the broken warehouse door, Kazuho becomes afraid that there be might be more tsukuyami inside but she presses forth. She sees Tamura isn't following her and asks why, to which the god explains she'll be sealing the portal to prevent more tsukuyami from escaping. Once Kazuho goes through, she must find another miko that Tamura sent earlier, promising to contact Kazuho again once she does.
Kazuho begins to enter the portal and Tamura gives one last message, wanting her to live and prevent more blood from being spilled on this land.
Kazuho readies herself, enters the warehouse, and after a time comes back outside again, confused. It was evening when she entered, and now it was suddenly nighttime. Neither Tamura, a miko nor any tsukuyami were to be seen inside the warehouse. Kazuho decides to go out and find some water, but she suddenly gets attacked by a tsukuyami and falls to the ground. More tsukuyami appear, and as Kazuho tries to defend herself, suddenly a girl runs up the shrine steps and kicks the monster away. The mystery girl confirms Kazuho is okay and then engages the tsukuyami, pulling out a card similar to the one Kazuho has. The girl yells out "Role Card Escalation!" and starts attacking.
Part 4.
The girl finishes off the tsukuyami and helps up Kazuho, giving her a big slap on the back. She asks for Kazuho's name and takes interest in the fact her last name is Kimiyoshi, suddenly giving her a piercing stare. Kazuho was expecting to be treated poorly just like other people do when they find out someone is related to a Hinamizawa, let alone the Kimiyoshi family, and the girl happily asks if it's alright to call her Kazuho-chan.
Kazuho is confused, and the girl introduces herself as Miyuki Akasaka, a student of the Hinamizawa Branch School. Kazuho wonders if there are even any schools running in Hinamizawa in 1993, and then sees Miyuki picking up Fragments. Miyuki asks what's wrong and Kazuho struggles to answer when two girls, Rika and Satoko, suddenly arrive. Satoko asks who Kazuho is and Rika says it's dangerous to be out late like this. Satoko mentions a rumor that Miyuki likes to take late-night bike rides and Rika says she knows all about it since Oyashiro-sama can see everything, giving a "nipah" afterwards. Miyuki nervously laughs at the fact Oyashiro-sama's priestess can see everything, and Kauzho watches the three girls in confusion. Miyuki apologizes for neglecting her a bit and asks Kazuho where she lives, offering to give her a bike ride home. Kazuho says she lives in Okinomiya, and the girls think it's too far. Miyuki remembers that Kazuho is a Kimiyoshi and asks if she's the mayor's granddaughter. Kazuho is about to deny the thought and mention he's dead but says nothing. Miyuki says the mayor's house is nearby and will bring Kazuho there.
Kazuho has no idea why they'd be visiting an empty house but decides to join Miyuki anyway. Satoko stops her for a bit and gives Kazuho a sad look, which she finds strange, though Satoko warns that Miyuki is a very rough biker. Kazuho and Miyuki soon get onto the bike and take off, with the scenery greatly intriguing Kazuho. No longer was the village overgrown, but rather it was alive: houses were lit up, and laughter and music could be heard in the distance.
Kazuho wonders aloud if this really is Hinamizawa when Miyuki suddenly stops the bike and points towards some trees. More tsukuyami were appearing. Miyuki asks Kazuho to help since she also has a Role Card, but she has no idea what she means. Miyuki asks Kazuho to chant along with her and yells "Role Card Escalation!" once more.
Part 5.
The duo defeat the tsukuyami. Kazuho is amazed at Miyuki's strength, wondering what the difference between them is. Miyuki says she's 15 and asks what age Kazuho is, who says she will also be turning 15 later that year. Miyuki changes her nickname towards her from Kazuho-chan to just Kazuho, and the latter thanks her for the rescue earlier.
Miyuki mentions that Kazuho just now asked if this really was Hinamizawa and aims a sharp gaze at her, asking what she meant by that. Stunned by her pressuring glare, Kazuho struggles to answer and starts walking backward as Miyuki steps ever closer to her. Kazuho's mind fills with questions: is this Hinamizawa? Why are the villagers alive? Who is Miyuki Akasaka?
Kazuho suddenly trips and falls over, staring up at the night sky as Miyuki cries out in surprise. Miyuki tries to rouse Kazuho and calls out for help when she sees how feverish she is. Kazuho hears nervous voices in the distance, but her vision and mind fades as she thinks about her brother.
Chapter 2: Souguu (Encounter).
Part 1.
Kazuho reminisces on childhood memories before awakening inside an unfamiliar house. She exits her room and heads downstairs to find Miyuki making breakfast. Kazuho remembers the strange look Miyuki gave her last night when Miyuki tells her to watch TV as she prepares food for them.
As Kazuho eats, Miyuki places a newspaper in front of her. Kazuho reads the newspaper and sees no articles of note when she notices the publication date: June 11, 1983. Seeing Kazuho's shock, Miyuki realizes that she's indeed from the Heisei Era. Kazuho asks where they are and before Miyuki can answer, a clock alarm interrupts them. Miyuki says it's almost time for school and directs Kazuho to put on her uniform, having found it by her side when she checked on her earlier.
Kazuho examines her uniform in confusion, as she left it at home yet has no idea why it's with her now. The doorbell rings and Miyuki tells her to hurry up. Kazuho finishes getting dressed and Miyuki opens the front door to reveal Rena, who's come to go to school with her. Rena sees Kazuho and tilts her head in confusion. Miyuki introduces Rena to her and makes up a story that Kazuho is a new transfer student who will be attending school starting today. Miyuki says Rena should've known that, and as Rena ponders she seems to freeze before happily saying that she knew all along.
This sudden change surprises Kazuho, as she has never seen Rena before at all. She shudders at what this could mean when Rena asks her what's wrong. Miyuki says Kazuho is just nervous from her first day of school and tells Rena to go ahead of them. Rena leaves and Miyuki closes the door, her suspicions about Kazuho continuing to be affirmed. Kazuho asks some questions and Miyuki promises that she'll explain later. The two set off for school.
Part 2.
Miyuki hums as she and Kazuho walk to school. They finally catch up to Rena and another new girl who introduces herself as Mion Sonozaki. Kazuho is surprised to hear this, as everybody knows the Sonozaki family's infamy. Mion is flattered to be attending school with the mayor's granddaughter and comments that the Three Families are now classmates. Rena is surprised that Mion has never met Kazuho before, and Mion replies that the Kimiyoshi family has members scattered all over, so she hasn't met every single one of them. The Sonozaki family also has a lot of members, but they always show up during social gatherings. Mion says her own interactions with the family have ceased for now. The group sets off for school and comment on how peaceful the weather is, which disturbs Kazuho the newcomer.
At school, the teacher Chie introduces Kazuho to the class. Satoko and Rika formally introduce themselves to her. Kazuho is guided towards an empty seat next to Miyuki, and she opens it to find it packed with brand-new notebooks, all with her name written on them. Kazuho is once again disturbed by the strange scene, which seemed to say "this was your desk all along."
Lunchtime begins and Miyuki asks Kazuho to eat with her outside. Rena asks why Miyuki won't eat with the others and she says she has a secret strategy meeting with Kazuho. Mion gives Kazuho a piercing look but then says the group should prepare themselves as well. Rena figures Kazuho will be joining them for club activities after school. A determined Miyuki drags Kazuho out of the classroom.
Part 3.
Kazuho and Miyuki go behind the school to eat lunch. Miyuki gives Kazuho a bento full of sandwiches she prepared earlier. After eating for a bit, Miyuki asks if Kazuho remembers the names of the girls they met that day. Kazuho rattles off the names of Mion, Rena, Satoko, and Rika, and then Miyuki pulls out a notebook. This notebook contains a list of all the victims of the Great Hinamizawa Disaster in 1983.
Seeing Kazuho's shock, Miyuki tells her to be quiet and just read it. Kazuho flips through it and sees that all of the girls she met were indeed victims. Chie and the principal Kaeda were also in there. Miyuki says she didn't figure the book would be so useful after transcribing it herself and confirms that she is also from 1993. Kazuho can hardly believe this is real. She asks if they really did time-travel to Hinamizawa's past, and Miyuki says it's not quite like that. Despite coming before her, Miyuki doesn't quite know what's going on either.
Miyuki knows for a fact that this Hinamizawa is different than the '93 Hinamizawa, as when she first arrived there were tons of tsukuyami prowling around. She also met Tamura and received powers, though she was told that she needs to properly establish her powers since she is not of the people of horns.
Miyuki mentions that there was a tsukuyami guarding the ritual warehouse when she arrived and couldn't defeat it. Kazuho asks how she got past it then, with Miyuki saying she used Tamura as bait. Kazuho realizes that Miyuki escaping at Tamura's expense is why the god was so cold towards her.
Miyuki says she's felt alone ever since coming to Hinamizawa and felt happy when Kazuho arrived. Kazuho thanks her likewise. Kazuho thinks to herself that she still doesn't know why Miyuki came to Hinamizawa but decides to trust her for now. Miyuki asks why Kazuho came to the village when the bell rings, signaling the end of lunch. Miyuki says Kazuho doesn't have to tell her anything if she doesn't want to, knowing full well what she's experienced because of that last name of hers.
As they head back to class, Kazuho thinks about how much stronger Miyuki is than her and sighs.
Part 4.
Afternoon class has the students splitting up for group study, with Kazuho joining Miyuki and the other girls. After doing some math the girls commend Miyuki for her knowledge, and she says it's all about memorization. The secret to her success was her mom being really strong and scary, with Rena seeing that Miyuki's mom must be very strict and instructional.
Class ends and Kazuho wonders what to do now when Mion approaches her and asks if she would like to play a club game. Remembering her childhood memories of seeing the club romp around, Kazuho enthusiastically agrees. As they head outside, Kazuho thanks Tamura for giving her this opportunity.
Kazuho joins the others and asks what kind of game they're going to play. Mion says it's almost time for them to come out and Rika points across the schoolyard, where several tsukuyami have appeared. As Kazuho stands confused, Mion encourages everyone to do their best. Miyuki, Mion, and the other girls then pull out Role Cards and summon weapons. Kazuho asks what this is all about and Miyuki says this is a club game, which just confuses her even more. As the tsukuyami come closer, Kazuho retracts her compliment towards Tamura.
Part 5.
The club defeats all of the tsukuyami, and Mion crowns Kazuho an official member. Kazuho rejects it however, frustrated since this is not at the all the kind of club she wanted to join. She cries as Rika comforts her. Rena begins entering kyute mode at Kazuho's crying, and when another monster suddenly appears and charges at the group, Rena effortlessly punches and defeats it before rushing to embrae Kazuho.
The club parts ways and heads home. Miyuki explains some things to Kazuho: she did a lot of research before coming to Hinamizawa, but she never saw anything talking about tsukuyami. Suddenly, Kazuho's pager starts beeping out with a phone number. They go to a nearby phone booth to call it, where Tamura speaks to Kazuho. Tamura explains she set up a network after studying the pager, and Miyuki takes the receiver to complain to her about being thrown into this world not knowing what to do. Tamura ignores her problems and says she's sending over another miko soon, and that whenever Kazuho's pager beeps, it's a sign they need to speak to Tamura through a phone as soon as possible. Tamura hangs up.
Kazuho gets Miyuki to calm down after ranting to Tamura, and they go to pick up their new miko.
Part 6.
Miyuki and Kazuho go to the Furude Shrine and run up to the ritual storehouse. There, they run into a man and woman, who introduce themselves as Tomitake the photographer and Takano the village nurse. Miyuki teases the two of them for apparently being on a secret date at the shrine.
Tomitake comments on how beautiful the village is and how it contrasts with the grisly incident in the past. The girls are surprised at hearing this and asks what he means. Takano explains Hinamizawa's past as Onigafuchi and their god Oyashiro-sama, and that strange incidents have happened every year ever since the dam war a few years ago. Takano is about to explain the incidents when Tomitake stops her. Miyuki thinks she's talking about murders and asks if any detectives were killed, but Takano doesn't know about that. Miyuki thanks her for the information and suddenly runs off. Kazuho chases after her.
Part 7.
The girls head to the village overlook, with Miyuki telling Kazuho she remembered that Tomitake and Takano were also on the disaster victims list. They lament that in two weeks, this beautiful view is going to disappear, and everyone will die. Kazuho remembers that she came to this same spot a long time ago with her grandfather and wanted to return someday. Miyuki remembers that Kazuho's grandfather is the mayor and had a house nearby. She asks Kazuho to please cooperate with her.
Suddenly, they hear a sound coming from the ritual storehouse. Miyuki heads over there in excitement as Kazuho follows.
Chapter 3: Konwaku (Confusion).
Kazuho slips up when trying to keep up their cover story with Rena, and Rena suddenly starts to 'break through' the mind control the villagers seem to be under. She starts going crazy, realizing that the house Kazuho and Nao live in belonged to "someone else" and that "She should know, but why can't she remember?"
A battle interrupts the breakdown though, and Rena seems to have forgotten it by the end of it, back under the assumption that everything is okay. Something similar happens when Kazuho asks about Hanyuu's horns, with everyone in class freezing and staring at her, nobody speaking a word and the feeling like something is wrong with reality creeping in, until Miyuki manages to break the atmosphere.
Chapter 4: Yugami (Distortion).
Kazuho, Miyuki, and Nao go to the toy store, where they find Rena, Mion, Satoko and Rika fighting in a videogame against a boy they seem to hate. This boy turns out to be Keiichi, who for some reason is a smug, aggressive bully living in Okinomiya. Rena is trying to beat him in the game so that he'll stop hogging the console, but is defeated. Seeing that, Nao challenges him instead. When she does, all of them are suddenly transported to what looks like the Sea of Fragments. Keiichi tells them that the game will be over when they defeat the Tsukuyami in there, and a battle starts. After winning, it becomes obvious that from the point of view of "reality", Nao destroyed "Keiichi" in the videogame instead. Everyone rejoices as Keiichi leaves with a smirk.
They're left asking themselves who that guy was, since they never get his name. A few days later during class, Kazuho is asked to pull something down from the shelves. When she does, a metal bat falls from them. Trying to find who it belongs to, Kazuho sees that the bat has the name "Keiichi" written on the handle. She tries asking Mion who this Keiichi is, only for space to freeze again, the whole main cast staring at her unspeaking. Kazuho starts feeling like she's freezing up as well, unable to move or speak. Mion moves, coming closer to her and whispering in her ear "Forget about that" That's when Kazuho loses consciousness, only to 'wake up' in the same position, the classroom now empty.
Once home with Miyuki and Nao, Kazuho is told for the first time that every room aside hers is packed with cardboard boxes, like whoever used to live there was moving away. Nao finds a notebook in her room, to boot, with a name written on it: "Keiichi Maebara". They realize the house they're in used to belong to this Keiichi, the same Keiichi from the bat that Kazuho was told to forget about, though they have no idea that Keiichi is also the bully they saw at the toy store.
The chapter ends after they walk Rena home (who'd come to make them dinner), and they hear some rustling in the bushes. Miyuki calls out to the shadows, expecting Tsukuyami, only for the bushes to open and reveal Akasaka. Ooishi is with him too, but the weird thing is they don't seem to recognize what the cards in Kazuho and the other's hands are, even though they're supposedly "normal" here.
Chapter 5: Soui (Discrepancy).
Kazuho loses her consciousness in the library because of a mental breakdown after finding out that she doesn't exist in this world. She finds out after Midori takes out a dossier she's investigating (hinting this might be linked to whatever her deal is), in which there is several newspapers from 5 years prior, when Kazuho's entire family died in a murder-suicide. Kazuho thus doesn't "exist" in this world, since she died in her mother's womb with her, making her vision blur and making her feel like she's about to vanish. A voice asks her "Who are you?" in her dreams. After a hospital visit where Takano finds out Kazuho isn't quite "from there", they go to school. Kazuho confronts Mion, asking her about the incident that killed "the Kimiyoshi from Okinomiya", and she's told that the Okinomiya Kimiyoshi House was a mediator between the pro and anti-dam factions at the time.
However, when the dam war ended, something strange happened. The whole house went off on a trip "somewhere", and came back changed. They started avoiding everyone, gradually losing contact with the neighbors, until one day the father set fire to the house with everyone inside. Kazuho thanks her for the info and makes to leave, when she is stopped. Mion tells Kazuho "I asked you to forget about the metal bat in class, and yet...who did you meet in Angel Mort?", telling her that if she keeps ignoring her warnings, Kazuho will have to "transfer schools" soon too. Kazuho is initially intimidated, but it makes her realize something: Keiichi was made to "transfer schools" (literally) because he stuck his nose in something he shouldn't have, but he was instantly ostracized without a single warning. Yet, Kazuho was given multiple already without incurring in any consequences yet. Was it because she's a Kimiyoshi, or...?
Having that realization, she stops Mion as she's leaving. Kazuho steels herself and goes: "Mion, you keep giving me 'warnings', yet you're doing nothing when I break the rules. Is it because I'm a Kimiyoshi, and thus you recognize I exist, or... ...is it because you're accepting my existence as a rule I made?" As soon as Kazuho asks, Mion crashes. Her eyes turn empty, like when she was about to break through her programming in Chapter 2 when she realized Nao's backstory didn't make sense, and she leaves without saying another word. Kazuho realizes through that for some reason she's "invulnerable" for some undiscovered rule of this world, and that the discovery may prove useful now that she knows she can't be "eliminated" thanks to the rules.
Nao gets mad at Kazuho for assuming she's invincible just from that, and tells her it's possible Keiichi just stepped on a bigger landmine and that's why he was kicked out in one shot, unlike her. After resigning to the fact that differences between worlds get "smoothed out" once you find them, they decide to start investigating on what coincides between the two worlds instead. This decision is followed by them soon finding one thing in common between the two worlds: Watanagashi, which is coming soon.
Also, Miyuki's "victims of the Great Hinamizawa Disaster list", which she brought from the future, is now missing Kazuho's entire family, presumably because it was 'adjusted' to match the world in which her family died 5 years before that. Kazuho's own memories seem to be getting forcibly adjusted, since after coming into contact with the 'truth' that her family doesn't exist here, she realizes she can't remember what her family looked like.
Chapter 6: Hakai (Destruction).
Nao reveals she has a big sister she's never met, from a different father before her mother remarried. Kazuho is about to ask her "Nao, that big sister you're talking about...could it be she's-", but then the others come back and interrupt her.
Shion offers her help to Kazuho and the others, explicitly saying that she's not on the same side as "the village". It seems like she's not caught in the same "illusion", and realized the Tsukuyami aren't something that's supposed to exist, and she has no recollection of Keiichi ever being evil. Also, the more the tsukuyami's names are said, the more they solidify into reality; so the group's switching to calling them "that".
Mion attempts to kill Kazuho.
Chapter 7: Matsuri (Festival).
Starts with a flashback to Kazuho talking with Mion, worried about how she might bring the mood down if she's allowed into the club. Mion reassures her, telling her the club is for everyone who likes to have fun. This is juxtaposed with Mion telling Kazuho and Nao that she's going to kill them once the flashback ends. Mion seems covered in a dark haze at some point, reminiscent of the stuff the Tsukuyami are made of, but it's unclear if Mion is possessed by one, or actually one. Nao tells Kazuho to fight but she doesn't want to attack Mion, Hanyuu, and the villagers surrounding them, until they find a weak spot in their circle and escape through the river. They get cornered again in the forest.
Kazuho keeps screaming that she doesn't want to fight, until someone swings a scythe at her head. It's too late to defend, and she is about to get her head lopped off when Keiichi slams into the villager's side, sending him flying. Shion also arrives, using her taser to dispatch the others. Apparently, Shion and Keiichi have been in contact for a while, and were planning to meet Miyuki at the saiguden, but they were attacked by the villagers at the temple before managing to get there. They're ready to share information, but they ask Kazuho and Nao to be honest and ask them if they're from another world. Apparently, they got this information from "that girl", but as they ask who "that girl" is, they get interrupted by more attacking villagers and have to run. They decide to hurry to the saiguden, hoping to find Miyuki. On their way there, they reach the festival. Kazuho once again tries to ask them who "that girl" that told them the truth is, but she falls silent when she sees what the festival grounds are like. Blood everywhere, hacked up corpses littering the ground, and crazed villagers still killing each other, calling each other traitors.
Kazuho gets grabbed at the ankle by a mother with child begging for her to save her, but Nao pulls her away, telling her they can't stop running. Reaching the temple, they run into Akasaka, who is carrying a wounded and bloodied Miyuki, who's also barely conscious. They immediately decide she needs a doctor, but that's when Ooishi jumps out of the shadows. Keiichi tells the others that he's not in his right mind, and that the tsukuyami can "get inside people to control them, and they won't get out until you defeat them completely". Fighting ensues.
They start fighting Ooishi. Keiichi's bat and Shion's stun gun shine like Role Cards, making it clear that they have those powers too. Ooishi's cornered, but he makes his shadow shatter into multiple "bosses" from the previous chapters, amongst which is the tanuki that once kidnapped Nao. Kazuho is refusing to fight, scared that she might kill someone, but Keiichi tells her that if she even comes close to making a fatal mistake, he'll stop her himself. She believes him, and resolves to fight. They beat Ooishi up, and he loses consciousness. Apparently, the tsukuyami have been driven away from his body, and he should be normal once he awakens. Kazuho notices something on the floor, like a Role Card, but pitch black on both sides. She pockets it, figuring she'll tell the others later. They start talking about the mind control affecting people, and Shion reveals the way it seems to work is it convinces you that other people are right, and makes you doubt yourself until you conform. She had completely forgotten about Satoshi, until "that girl" came to her and asked her "Haven't you forgotten something important?", making her return to normal. They joke around a bit, saying there'll be time to explain better later, perhaps over tea and cakes in a perfect girls-only tea party. Keiichi complains that he doesn't want to get left out, and Shion says if he likes she'll prepare a wonderful frilly dress for him too.
They're apparently heading to meet up with Tomitake, who Shion says is helping her and Keiichi. The plan is to get into his van and escape the village, but they must get past the suspension bridge first. On the way there, Nao asks who Tomitake is, since she's never met him. Kazuho says "He's that cameraman that's usually around the village. Remember Rika's dance? He's the cameraman that was filming and photographing her the whole time" "What? There was no one like that" "But...you could hear the shutter and see the flashes the whole time" "I distinctly remember thinking it was really dark and quiet though". Kazuho is wondering how that is possible, when they finally find his parked van. They circle around it, but it's empty. They're at a loss on what to do until Shion flashes her light on the ground, where they see Tomitake dead, bled out from his throat.
While they're pondering about what Tomitake's corpse is about, a grinning Takano comes out of the bushes, followed by the Mountain Dogs. She makes a speech about how they're all going to die, when a Dog falls down unconscious. Takano turns to see who it is and gets punched in the face.
It's Midori, who easily dispatches the Mountain Dogs. She shouts at the others to get into Tomitake's van and run to the clinic. When telling Akasaka "He should know where it is", she muses to herself "Oh, but there's the chance you haven't ever been there in the past. It's be a pain if it was the case "this time"."
Once they've run away, she turns to Takano and summons a Role Card, which turns into a rifle. She points it at Takano, who's completely at a loss on what's going on. She is about to kill her, when she says "It's a pity I have to do this, I kind of liked you. And it's a pity this'll be your 8th...no, is it the 9th time now? that this has to happen." Takano asks her "Who are you? Are you police? Are you from Tokyo?" Midori answers "I'm neither...but if I really had to answer that...I'm not a Mountain Dog, nor a Bloodhound...I'm just a "Hunting Dog"." Midori gives a woof before a gunshot rings out.
The group reaches the clinic to find Irie and find Satoko sleeping there, apparently she felt sick during the festival and was brought there to rest. They explain the situation, and since it's an emergency, Irie tells them "there's somewhere they can hide", so he shows them to a secret basement floor. He tells them they can hide in one specific room, and to promise they won't walk around the floor until he comes back. Shion is amongst them.
Kazuho wakes up in the clinic basement and finds a notice on her pager. Everyone is asleep so she sneaks out looking for a phone, against Irie's orders. She peeks into a room and sees a boy on a bed. For some reason she thinks it's her brother. Then Shion surprises her from behind. Kazuho starts telling her about the boy, but Shion checks the room and it's empty. Kazuho gets another pager notification so they head upstairs to find a phone.
Shion goes off looking for non-canned food while Kazuho calls Tamura and recaps the situation. Tamura says the boundary between these two worlds is wavering, so they need to come back. They don't have enough fragments to open the gate, so they need to get a huge fragment from an extremely dangerous tsukuyami at the dam site. The phone abruptly cuts off there. Then Kazuho notices a burning smell and goes to investigate. She finds Irie bleeding on the floor and Shion standing over him with a bloody knife. Kazuho eventually realizes this is Mion in disguise. She asks where Kazuho is really from and why she keeps saying "this world". Kazuho runs.
Kazuho tries to regroup with the others, but the stairway is barricaded. She also notices the burning smell is coming from the basement. Mion admits to all that and attacks her. Then armed villagers bust through the windows and she ends up surrounded. Kazuho thinks she's all out of options, but then Mion offers to let her join them, arguing that she'd just suffer alone in her old world and she's better off here. Kazuho says that's true, but refuses the offer because she'd rather die fighting to help her friends. Miyuki and the others bust in right then to save her, including Irie who is still alive. Mion asks how they escaped the fire. They wrapped themselves in fireproof blankets and used the emergency exit. Mion attacks.
The group beats Mion and the villagers, then she transforms into a dragon and runs outside, but they beat that form too, turning her back into normal Mion. She calls Keiichi "Kei-chan" and it's enough for him to burst into tears hugging her. Mion apologizes, but apparently even while the tsukuyami was controlling her, she was holding back to avoid hurting her friends. Kazuho finds a black card on the ground. Irie treats everyone's wounds. Satoko slept through the whole fight and is still asleep. Keiichi asks where the rumor about him bullying Rika came from, and Mion says Rika herself told her. Miyuki asks Shion the name of "that girl" she keeps talking about, but she and Keiichi can't remember. But it's the person who introduced them to Midori. The group decides to focus on more pressing matters.
Chapter 8: Kaiki (Revolution).
Part 1.
Kazuho reveals that she, Miyuki, and Nao are from the future, and warns everyone about the upcoming gas disaster. Everyone reluctantly believes her. They want to go back to the future, but that would mean abandoning the people in Hinamizawa to the disaster. Nao suggests everyone should come with them to the future, and maybe they can come back later. Mion says she's in no condition to fight and Satoko is still unconscious, so Irie and Akasaka plan to escort them to the Sonozaki house while the kids head to the dam site. Mion wants to give Kazuho a Sonozaki family treasure when they get back.
Part 2.
They leave the clinic in the morning and head to the dam site. The path is littered with the corpses of villagers. Kazuho wonders if they can depend on "that girl" Shion keeps mentioning, but Nao says not to rely on people who you don't know you can trust. Nao also warns Kazuho not to hesitate, and that she's prepared to kill her enemies even if they're someone she knows. They arrive at the trash heap and find Rena waiting. She summons a bunch of tsukuyami and attacks. Kazuho is losing, but Nao steps in to protect her. Rena continues attacking, so Nao shouts "stop, Big Sister!"
Part 3.
Flashback to Nao in the school home ec room. The teacher starts complimenting her design work, saying she must've learned from her famous designer parents, but Nao says they're never around. Nao's parents divorced when she started elementary school. They got along at first, but by the time she started kindergarten they always fought about work. After school, Nao stops at her grandma's nursing home. Grandma was diagnosed with dementia last year and often gets Nao's name wrong, calling her Reina. Nao asked her relatives who Reina was but they always awkwardly said "I dunno." Nao comes home, but nobody's home. She does some tailoring work and dreams of being a designer like her mom. She sneaks into Mom's study and finds a book on the Great Hinamizawa Disaster, with a photo labeled Reina Ryuugu inside.
Part 4.
Back at the trash heap, Nao reveals Rena is her half-sister and begs her to come back to her senses, but Rena starts strangling Nao. Keiichi and Shion try to reason with her, but that only makes her more violent. The group attacks all at once, and Rena drops Nao. Rena readies another attack.
Part 5.
Flashback to Nao's house, where Mom just came home. Mom says she won't be home again for a while because her company is disbanding and she's trying to find people to start a new one. Nao asks if Dad is going with, but Mom says she despises working with him. Nao can tell they're in a bad spot financially. A few months later, after school, the teacher is complimenting the dress Nao just finished making. She planned to do another project with a classmate, but she's not here. Apparently her dad committed suicide jumping from a building. They discuss the recent recession. Another teacher calls Nao into her office to say her tuition isn't being paid. Nao asks her dad for financial support at their monthly meeting, but he says he can't help because it would upset Mom. Nao deduces he's been seeing another woman, and that's the real reason for their divorce. Dad suggests they use the compensation money the govt paid to families of Disaster victims. Nao refuses to accept that.
At home, Nao finds a letter with a photo of Rena inside and slips it in her pocket. She thinks about her sister constantly and starts talking to her as if she's there. One day Mom comes home and tells Nao to pack her things; they're moving and she's going to public school. Mom also throws away Nao's sketchbook and tells her to give up on becoming a designer because the job pays poorly. Nao refuses and runs away from home. She cries in a park and holds a box cutter to her throat. She realizes she's the reason her mom divorced her first husband, and if not for that Rena would've never moved to Hinamizawa, so she blames herself for her death. Nao decides to go to Hinamizawa and kill herself so she can meet her sister and apologize.
Back at the trash heap, Nao blocks Rena's attack with her box cutter. They're in a deadlock. Kazuho has a flashback to talking with her brother about an ancient sword passed down through the Sonozaki family and how it can cleanse souls. Then Kazuho attacks, and Nao rushes at Rena.
Part 6.
The group defeats Rena and the tsukuyami all vanish. Keiichi rushes over to help her, and after confirming she's all right he gives her a big hug. Kazuho goes to gather the Fragment that dropped, but just then Shion screams. Nao is holding the box cutter to her own neck and saying she needs to die to make amends for ruining people's lives. Kazuho tries to talk her down, then Rena steps forward and convinces Nao she did nothing wrong. They're both glad they got to meet each other and cry together.
Part 7.
Everyone regroups at the Sonozaki house. Mion is surprised Rena is with them, but glad she's safe. They haven't seen any villagers or tsukuyami since dawn, so they think they'll be safe until dusk. Nao apologizes for not telling them the truth about herself sooner, but Miyuki and Kazuho say they already knew. Nao throws a small tantrum over them not telling her. Mion offers to trade little sisters with Rena. Keiichi says Mion and Rena are lucky to be the only club members with siblings, but that stands out to Kazuho. She asks Mion, who tells her everyone else is an only child, including Satoko. They get interrupted there. Satoko is finally awake and brought tea for everyone.
Part 8.
The group is having a strategy meeting. Miyuki tries to give back the sword, but Mion says they may still need it. They never found the Fragment they need at the dump, so they think whatever possessed Rena ran off with it. They're also confused that a black card didn't drop either, like when Ooishi and Mion were defeated. Mion and Rena realize they met the same person right before they were possessed, so the group goes to the shrine to confront the mastermind: Rika.
Part 9.
Kazuho accuses Rika of getting Keiichi kicked out of Hinamizawa, and using some power to rewrite Mion and Rika's memories. Rika laughs at them for taking so long to figure it out. She says she has the Fragment they need, and it's possible to obtain even larger Fragments by infecting someone with Hinamizawa Syndrome a second time. She explains that the whole town is infected and she can manipulate them because she's the queen carrier. She's the one who made everyone go crazy at the festival. Rika finally managed to escape from June 1983 after countless tries, but monsters appeared just a few months later and slaughtered everyone right in front of her, so she's fed up with repeating everything again. She'd rather destroy the world than continue suffering through it.
Akasaka says the Rika he knows would never give up, and never hurt the people she cares about. Everyone offers to help Rika, but she says it's too late. Rika summons Hanyuu and the two fuse together. Everyone resolves to wake Rika up from her nightmare, then they attack.
Epilogue 1.
Rika falls to the ground defeated. The darkness around her dissipates, and she completely vanishes. Kazuho starts freaking out, thinking she really just murdered Rika. She keeps staring at the ground but Rika never reappears. The others try to comfort her, saying they're all responsible because they fought together. Suddenly a voice calls out saying nobody is to blame. Hanyuu is standing where Rika disappeared. She says that was a false image of Rika, and some powerful being took her soul to another world. If they don't bring her back all worlds will be destroyed.
Hanyuu hands Kazuho a magatama and says they'll need it. Mion recognizes it as an old Furude family treasure, the "susuke no tamawari". It's part of a pair, and the other one is in Kazuho's world. Hanyuu tells them they need to leave because the tsukuyami are about to devour this world, then she vanishes.
Epilogue 2.
Kazuho opens the door to the saiguden. They hear the tsukuyami roaring in the distance and realize they have no time. Akasaka tells the others to go ahead and says he'll stay behind to keep the monsters from following them. The others all decide to stay in their world too, to avoid causing time paradoxes. Kazuho says she can't leave them to die, but Satoko says they'll survive as long as they can defeat the tsukuyami and escape.
Rena says goodbye to Nao. Nao clings to her and cries, unable to leave her after finally managing to meet her. The monsters are getting closer, so the '83 gang goes off to fight them. Miyuki tries to stop Akasaka, but he tells her she's a great daughter and entrusts her with a book he found while investigating Hinamizawa, then runs off. Nao is still trying to stop Rena, and vows to stay here if Rena won't come with. Rena says she's glad she got to be a big sister and she loves Nao, then puts her hat on Nao's head. Rena asks Nao to solve this mystery, then pushes her away and charges at a monster. Nao keeps screaming her sister's name as Kazuho and Miyuki grab her and drag her through the gate.
Epilogue 3.
Miyuki wakes up in front of a worn down abandoned saiguden. She hands Nao the hat she dropped, and Nao hugs it. Miyuki looks around to determine if this is their Hinamizawa, and is shocked to see Hinamizawa is flooded by a dam. And they have no idea where Kazuho is.
Kazuho wakes up in front of a less dilapidated saiguden and can't find Miyuki or Nao. She searches the shrine grounds but can't find any people anywhere. She finds a newspaper dated June 1983 with a headline about the final Watanagashi festival. She calls this the worst possible bad end.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei/Plot Summary Part 1 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei/Plot Summary Part 2
This page provides a detailed summary for Part 2 of "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei"'s story, which are split into Showa and Heisei chapters.
Showa Chapter 1: Toraware (Capture).
Part 1.
Kazuho is outside the saiguden, thinking about the flyer that mentioned the "final" watanagashi. She can't find Nao and Miyuki anywhere even though they went through the door together. From the lookout she can see the town is alive and active, so she knows this isn't her world or the previous one. She rushes back to the saiguden, but finds the door closed and locked with a much more elaborate lock than before.
Part 2.
Kazuho is worried Miyuki and Nao might be trapped inside the locked saiguden. She transforms with her Role Card and just as she's about to attack the lock, someone calls out to her. It's an unfamiliar girl about Kazuho's age, in a shrine maiden outfit. She scolds Kazuho and says the saiguden is sacred. But she says the Furude family head can go inside to look for her friends. Kazuho says it's not important enough to drag Rika here, but the girl has no idea who Rika is. The girl finally says she's Ayaka Furude, the head of the family. Kazuho asks what day it is, and Ayaka says June 4th, 1983. That was the same day she arrived in Hinamizawa the first time, so Kazuho freaks out and runs off.
Part 3.
Kazuho decides to head to the Maebara house, since it was important to her in the previous world. She trips and gets scraped up while running. She notices an old lady nearby and recognizes her, but the lady intentionally ignores her, which is weird because she was really friendly in the last world. Every other villager she passes does the same. When Kazuho arrives where the Maebara house should be, the house isn't there; it's an empty lot. Keiichi must not have moved here at all. Kazuho collapses on the spot, distraught that she's completely alone now. She notices a boy in a baseball uniform coming over to help her right as she loses consciousness.
Part 4.
Kazuho wakes up at the clinic. Irie greets her, and she's relieved to see someone she knows. Satoshi Houjou is next to him and says he was worried about her. As soon as Kazuho looks at him, she calls him her brother Rei. Satoshi introduces himself and says he's not her brother. He asks if Irie knows a boy named Rei, but Irie says no and leaves to go ask "the director" about it. Kazuho asks if Satoshi is the one who brought her here. He says he rode her here on his bike, and apologizes for not doing something sensible like finding an adult to help. Satoshi finally asks her name, and she's about to say Kimiyoshi before she hesitates, then just calls herself Kazuho. Kazuho asks about the director and he says it's Dr. Miyoko, who came in on her day off to treat Kazuho. And just then Takano steps into the room.
Part 5.
Kazuho is cowering in fear of Takano. She reaches into her pocket for her Role Card, but it's not there. Takano orders Irie to inject Kazuho with something to calm her down, but right as it's about to happen Ayaka and Satoko enter the room. Satoko completely disregards the situation and rushes hug to Satoshi. Takano and Irie are surprised Ayaka knows Kazuho. She tells them Kazuho is the mayor's granddaughter and she just moved here from Tokyo. Irie freezes for a moment, then starts acting like he knew that all along. So does everyone else, except Satoko who still seems dubious.
Ayaka offers to escort Kazuho home. Takano asks for a moment alone with Kazuho before she goes, so everyone leaves the room. She asks about Kazuho feeling like she has no allies in this world, and Kazuho starts panicking when she hears that. But Takano sounds like she's actually looking out for her after going through similar things when she was young. When Kazuho leaves the clinic she sees the name Takano Clinic above the door.
Part 6.
Kazuho and Ayaka bike back to the shrine, then enter the Furude main house. Ayaka makes tea for the two of them, but Kazuho is hesitant to drink it. Ayaka offers to let Kazuho live here and says she'll be going to the Hinamizawa school starting tomorrow. She also says Kazuho's school uniform and supplies will appear by the next morning, and Kazuho is confused as to how Ayaka knows about that phenomenon. Then Ayaka tells her to make herself at home and goes off to make dinner, but Kazuho stops her to ask what happened to Rika Furude. Ayaka says she died 5 years ago.
Part 7.
Ayaka leads Kazuho to her room and says goodnight. Kazuho is lying there unable to sleep, so she's thinking back on their awkwardly silent dinner. She believes Ayaka was telling the truth about Rika, and she's stressed about all the other weird things in this world, like Keiichi's house disappearing. She thinks back on all the people she's met since coming here, and finally realizes that Satoshi is Satoko's brother, the boy Shion was searching for, who the rest of the kids didn't even seem to know about. Kazuho falls asleep exhausted, unable to make sense of any of this.
Part 8.
Kazuho is dreaming and finds herself at an unfamiliar bus station. There are people moving about all around her, but nobody notices her. She starts to walk and and bumps her toe on something. It's a person with blood flowing from their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Kazuho steps back and bumps into another corpse. Then she hears children screaming, calling for their mom, dad, brother, sister. The entire ground is covered in corpses and the kids are clinging to them. The people around start collapsing, and there's a mountain of corpses and an ocean of blood. It's like the massacre at the shrine in the last world, but a hundred times worse.
All Kazuho can do is scream.
Heisei Chapter 1: Kotonari (Unusual).
Prologue.
Miyuki and Nao are looking over the dammed lake in front them, no longer seeing any signs of the village. They're trying to figure out what happened and what to do, and decide to search for Kazuho. They can't find her anywhere and check the saiguden, but they find it empty except for the sword Mion entrusted to them. Miyuki wants to leave it there but Nao insists they take it. They argue outside about what to do and decide finding safety is their top priority, but the conversation is interrupted by a tsukuyami attack. Miyuki pulls out her Role Card and tries to transform, but the card shatters. The tsukuyami slices Nao's cheek enough to make her bleed, so Miyuki grabs her and they run. They try to flee down the stone steps, but can't because Hinamizawa is flooded. Just as the tsukuyami is about to strike them, Tamura shows up to help. Nao notices something glowing in Miyuki's pocket and pulls out two cards. They're the cards Ooishi and Mion dropped, but they're no longer black. She uses the card and defeats the monster easily. But Tamura exhausted her power and transforms into a tiny fragment, with the sword inside.
Part 1.
Miyuki and Nao spent the night in the shrine and have been hiking since morning. They're now at the suspension bridge. Miyuki wonders if, since this is a completely different world, maybe there are different versions of themselves here. They want to reach Okinomiya and use a phone. Nao hands Miyuki her money and says she'll stay behind. She's taking it really hard that she couldn't help Rena. Tsukuyami show up in the middle of this and Nao is in no shape to fight, so Miyuki gets ready to fight them alone. Just then, Kawata shows up and takes them all out.
Part 2.
Kawata transforms the gun in her hand back into a Role Card. Miyuki is scared that Kawata's card is even more powerful than theirs. Kawata can tell they're suspicious of her, so she reminds them this is the second time she saved them. Nao thanks her for the help and asks what Kawata's reason was for helping them. Kawata dodges the question and says she's crossed between worlds just like them, but many times over. Nao asks if Kawata is the person Tamura sent them to look for, but she says she'd never degrade herself working for Tamura. She says the previous world and this one are somewhere between reality and fiction. Nao wonders if that means Rena and the others weren't real, but Kawata says they should still consider them real. She also says this world will probably be even worse than the last, and suggests they quit while they can and go back to their normal lives.
Nao refuses immediately. She puts Rena's hat on her head and says even if this is fate they just have to change it. She threatens to kill Kawata if she gets in their way. Kawata says not to joke about things like that, but Nao responds "You thought I was kidding? Try me." and pulls out her Role Card. But Kawata is surprisingly happy to see that attitude. Nao again asks Kawata's objective, but she says "someone" would be upset if she talked. She also tells them to search Hinamizawa, then leaves.
Part 3.
Miyuki and Nao are wondering what to do after Kawata left, when they notice a car heading straight toward them. When the car stops, Miyuki's friend Chisame hops out of the passenger seat. She says she came to find Miyuki since she broke her promise and didn't come back or call after 3 days. Chisame and Nao do introductions. Miyuki thanks her and apologizes, but Chisame herself starts apologizing too. Miyuki is terrified when she realizes why she's apologizing. Then the driver's seat opens and out comes Yukie, very sternly demanding an explanation from her daughter.
Part 4.
They stop at the Kakiuchi service area while driving back. Chisame runs into Nao by the vending machine. Nao hands her the shark keychain she apparently dropped while walking here. Chisame is surprised Nao knew it was hers, since they only met a few hours ago. It's her favorite because she loves sharks. She goes into a long rant about how great sharks are, then apologizes for being weird. Nao says it's fine, as her mom taught her respecting other people's interests is just common courtesy. Chisame says Nao must've been raised well, then starts complaining about how her parents always fight and never listen. They both agree Miyuki's mom is a good mom. She made shark shaped cookies for Chisame once.
Miyuki suddenly interrupts their conversation and they're wondering how much of that she overheard. She's angry they left her alone in the car with her mom for so long. While Miyuki's in the middle of complaining, Yukie shows up demanding to know why she's taking so long. They finally depart, driving to the airport and taking a plane the rest of the way back. Miyuki is annoyed that Nao and Chisame were chatting and getting along really well the whole way while she was getting lectured by her mom. Yukie asks Nao for her address and mentions she hasn't called her parents this whole time, but Nao says her mom is always busy and never home anyway. Yukie is really sad to hear that. Miyuki offers to let Nao stay at her place until she can get ahold of her mom, but Nao insists she's fine. They agree meet up again this weekend.
Everyone's about to get in the car, but Chisame really wants to have a private talk with Miyuki, so Yukie leaves to drop Nao off and tells them to be home by dinner. Chisame says she wants to hear everything, and Miyuki agrees but they probably won't be back in time for dinner.
Part 5.
Chisame and Miyuki are at a coffee shop, where Chisame finishes a tense phone call with her mom. She teases Miyuki, saying she should pay for the coffee because this mess was her fault, but Miyuki is flat broke. Chisame asks Miyuki what happened. She can tell Miyuki doesn't know how many days have passed since she left. Miyuki shows Chisame the Role Card and Fragments, and tells her everything. Chisame asks why Miyuki never asked "are you the real Chisame?" She could tell Miyuki was worried about it, that a tsukuyami might be manipulating her. So she's going to believe everything Miyuki said in order to prove it to her. Chisame thinks it must be true because if Miyuki wanted to make up a story she would've gone with something more plausible.
Miyuki says she immediately knew Kazuho was trustworthy because she ate Miyuki's food without a moment of hesitation. Chisame jokes that if she transformed into a monster, she'd want it to be a shark. They decide to give the various worlds names to keep track of them. Miyuki is from "Heisei A", traveled to "Showa B", and is now in "Heisei C". They compare past events and the only major difference between the 2 Heisei worlds is the dam being completed and the disaster not happening. Chisame asks Miyuki if she's feeling well, because there's a "sleeping sickness" going around. Miyuki is confused because there was no such thing in her world.
Part 6.
Yukie is driving Nao home. She wants to properly greet Nao's mom, but Nao insists she let her go alone. Nao thanks her for looking after her and Yukie apologizes for any trouble her daughter caused, but Nao says Miyuki really helped her out. Yukie says Nao is welcome to come over to Miyuki's house to play. Nao has Miyuki's phone number and Chisame's pager number.
When Nao comes home the mailbox is packed and newspapers are piling up. Her mom's shoes are in the foyer, but she's nowhere to be seen. There's a list of Nao's classmates sitting next to the phone, so she thinks her mom might've actually been searching for her. She notices the study door is open and checks inside. Nao finds her mom laying on the ground. The scene jumps back to Miyuki asking Chisame about the sleep sickness. Their conversation is interrupted by Chisame's pager going off. Miyuki thinks it might be Nao's number, so they call it from a payphone. Nao is crying, so Miyuki snatches the phone. Nao tells them she found her mom unconscious.
Part 7.
Miyuki and Chisame take a taxi to the hospital near Nao's address. Chisame goes to call their parents and explain the situation, while Miyuki goes to ask the receptionist if Houtani and her daughter were brought here. The receptionist looks through a list, but then says she can't answer that and asks them to leave. Miyuki meets back up with Chisame. They decide to pretend to leave, then sneak around the hospital looking for Nao. The scene cuts to Natsumi on the phone with someone, talking about how they're doing what's necessary to save people. Then it cuts back to Miyuki. They find Nao sitting by the ICU section of the hospital, sobbing. Nao rushes over to hug Miyuki. Nobody has told Nao anything, so she has no idea how her mom is doing. They also apparently took Nao's blood. Chisame starts trembling when she hears that. Then staff in full hazmat suits show up chasing after them.
Chisame throws one of them to the floor, but the staff manage to capture all three of them. They say they're potentially infected and this is for their own good, then lock them in a room. Chisame explains that the sleeping sickness is an infectious disease that causes people to suddenly faint and fall into a coma. Infected people can go a long time before showing symptoms and they still don't understand how it's transmitted, so anyone in direct contact with infected people is held for testing. Not only that, there's still no cure for the infected. Nao is distraught that her mom may never wake up.
Showa Chapter 2: Ketsui (Determination).
Part 1.
Kazuho wakes up from a horrible nightmare, sweating and shaking. She notices a school uniform hanging by the window, with the exact same repair marks as her uniform in the last world. She thinks back to living with Miyuki and Nao and laments that she's alone in this world. Just then Ayaka enters the room dressed for school. She says she didn't prepare that uniform for Kazuho.
Kazuho and Ayaka walk to school together. There are far fewer people out in the village in this world. Half the rice fields aren't even planted, and full of weeds. All the people they walk past refuse to even greet them. When they arrive at school Ayaka goes off to see Chie, and Kazuho enters the classroom alone. As soon as she opens the door she's hit by a cloud of white powder and trips on a rope by her feet, landing painfully on her knees still bandaged from her fall yesterday. Satoshi rushes over to help and apologizes for Satoko's behavior. Rena brings her a wet handkerchief, and calls as "transfer student". Kazuho is disappointed they don't remember her. She hears a scream and the door swings open, with Mion dragging Satoko inside.
Part 2.
Mion is very forcefully demanding Satoko apologize, but everyone freezes once Ayaka enters the room. Rena explains the situation to her. Satoko reluctantly apologizes, then pouts and goes to her desk. Kazuho thanks Rena and Satoshi. Satoshi refers to Rena as "Reina". Chie comes in asking if something is wrong, but Ayaka insists it's nothing. Kazuho notices there are half as many desks in the room in this world before introducing herself and sitting down. Mion warns her that this could happen again if she's not more careful. Mion says to ask her or Reina if she needs anything.
Kazuho wonders why she's going by Reina, since she hated that name in the last world. She dwells on all the differences in this world for a while. Rika is dead, Hanyuu is gone, Satoko talks different, Keiichi's house isn't there, Rena is Reina, and Satoshi isn't missing. Satoshi comes over to tell her it's lunchtime, and hands her the Role Card. He found it laying by her when she fell yesterday. Nobody seems to know what Role Cards are. Kazuho asks if there were more students in the class. Mion says people have been leaving because everyone is getting evicted next month. Satoko excitedly says she's moving to Nagoya with her mom and dad.
Part 3.
Class is over for the day. Kazuho mutters something about the differences in this world and Reina seems to overhear it, but drops it. School was way less fun today. Kazuho thinks back to lunch. Ayaka brought her a lunchbox and walked away, so Kazuho ended up eating alone. Ayaka has something to do after school, so she gives Kazuho a key and tells her to head home alone.
Mion is about to leave, but Kazuho stops her to ask about the club. Mion tells her there's no club here, then leaves. Satoko and Satoshi leave together. Feeling empty, Kazuho is about to leave, but Reina stops her. She offers to walk part of the way home together. Kazuho is glad that her kindness is one thing that hasn't changed in this world.
Part 4.
Reina is giving Kazuho shopping tips while walking home. A lot of the houses they walk by have the windows boarded up. Reina explains that people are being evicted because of the dam. Some are moving away, and the rest will be temporarily housed in Shishibone while they build a new "Hinamizawa" somewhere else. Kazuho asks what Reina is planning to do. She's still deciding between Ibaraki, where her mom lives; Nagoya, which would be good for work; or Tokyo. Her mom insisted that moving would be better for her education.
Kazuho is surprised Reina's mom is involved and looking out for her. Apparently her parents aren't divorced. Reina is an only child, so Nao was never born in this world. She's proud of her mom and wants to help her become a famous designer. Reina asks Kazuho to forgive Mion. Mion is upset that the Kimiyoshis supported the dam project. Kazuho is surprised her grandfather would support it, but Reina says he's bedridden and the acting Kimiyoshi head is actually his son Minoru, who is also acting as Ayaka's guardian. Kazuho is astonished because Minoru Kimiyoshi is her father's name.
Part 5.
After parting with Reina, Kazuho heads to the dam site. It's not a trash heap in this world, and construction work is actually happening. One of the laborers calls out to the construction foreman, and Kazuho remembers he was the victim of the first year's curse, but he's alive here. In the last world Kazuho's dad was the mediator between the pro and anti dam factions, but in this one he supported the pro dam effort. She considers asking him about it.
Takano is taking pictures nearby and notices her. Kazuho asks about the "Takano Clinic". It was named after her late grandfather; everyone appreciated the effort he put into fighting Hinamizawa Syndrome. Takano's name is written like her grandfather's in this world. She dedicated her life to his research, and was able to fulfill that role this year. Kazuho asks if she picked up photography from her boyfriend, but Takano says she doesn't have anyone like that. Kazuho's neck starts feeling itchy. She asks Takano what she plans to do after the eviction. Takano says this is a secret, but she developed a certain medicine for another disease while working on Hinamizawa Syndrome, and an old colleague invited her to work at a pharmaceutical company. Kazuho thanks Takano and leaves. In the last world Rika said everyone in the village is infected with a disease, and as the queen carrier she can manipulate them. Kazuho thinks learning about the syndrome might be the way to unravel the mystery.
Part 6.
At home, Ayaka and Kazuho are having dinner. Kazuho is struggling to work up the courage, but finally asks her about Hinamizawa Syndrome. Ayaka seems upset and asks where she heard that, so Kazuho admits it was Takano. Ayaka realizes Kazuho would just investigate it on her own if she doesn't answer, so she promises to give her a proper explanation later. But in exchange she demands Kazuho not research it or ask anyone else about it. Kazuho agrees. Ayaka says she needs to discuss Kazuho's treatment with someone else first. Then she moves in very close and sternly warns Kazuho not to break their promise. Ayaka calmly cleans up dinner and leaves the room. Kazuho collapses to the ground, terrified. She notices something hidden between the TV and the dresser, and grabs it. It looks like a Fragment, but not glowing like usual. It's the size of a grain of rice, and it's shaped like the magatama.
Part 7.
For the next several days Ayaka is avoiding Kazuho, staying out late and leaving early in the morning. Kazuho eats breakfast alone. She thinks of her brother and wants to investigate more, but she's afraid of upsetting Ayaka. She finds a newspaper article about problems at a Tokyo hospital, mentioning a history of previous incidents. Including one where loose tiles caused Yukie Akasaka and her unborn child to die. Kazuho panics and runs outside for some fresh air.
Kazuho promised not to investigate the syndrome, but decides she can still research other things. She wants to talk to her dad. She looks at the magatama in her pocket and thinks it might help her. Suddenly Satoshi and Reina rush over. They invite her to a baseball game, since she mentioned being interested in club activities. She agrees, thinking they were inviting her to watch, but they actually need her to play because they're short on people. At the field, Kazuho is worried because she's never played baseball before. Mion insists she'll be fine because she's done kendo and that's basically the same thing. Then the players from the other team show up. One of them is Keiichi.
Part 8.
Keiichi is apparently friends with the Hinamizawa gang. He heard the rumors about a transfer student so he comes to introduce himself, but he's confused that Kazuho already knows him. Keiichi and Satoshi wish each other a good game, then the match begins. It's a tight game at first, but by the fifth inning the Titans realize they can score easy runs by hitting the ball toward Kazuho, so they build up a 6 points lead. Kazuho is upset that she keeps making errors, but the team keeps encouraging her. The Fighters go all out and make a comeback thanks to some good hits from Reina and Mion, plus a grand slam from Satoko. They're now one point behind, and it's the last inning. The Titans switch Keiichi in as the pitcher and he strikes two batters out immediately. Satoshi is the next up to bat, but Keiichi ends up walking him. And next in the batting order is... Kazuho. Satoko argues they should be able to use a pinch hitter, and Kazuho shamelessly pleads for it, but Irie insists Kazuho step up to the plate. Thinking of Miyuki and Nao gives her the encouragement to try. Right as Kazuho is swinging at the ball she's pulled into the Fragment world, with Keiichi standing in front of her. He says last time it was 3 vs 1 but this time it's one on one, then pulls out a Role Card that transforms into a bat. Kazuho pulls out her own card, ready to take him on.
Part 9.
Kazuho is back at the baseball field after defeating the tsukuyami. She sees the ball flying over the fence, so she runs around the bases. Everyone is waiting to congratulate her. Kazuho breaks down in tears, because even though this world is so different, club activities still feel the same. She really wants to see Miyuki and Nao again, and she vows to do whatever it takes to make it happen. As everyone is leaving the field, Kazuho chases after Keiichi and asks to talk to him. She thanks him for going easy on her, but Keiichi insists he went all out because he knows what she's capable of. Kazuho is wondering if he might have retained some memories, so she calls him "Keiichi of Hinamizawa". Keiichi grins. He was waiting until the right time to tell her, but he remembers everything from the previous world.
Heisei Chapter 2: Tensen (Conflict).
Part 1.
Miyuki is being escorted down a hallway by someone in protective gear. The staff member keeps silent no matter how much she tries to provoke them. Miyuki asks them if they're afraid of her, and they twitch. She thinks about this sleeping sickness. It can kill you, and there's no cure for it other than the patient spontaneously recovering. They're treating her more like a plague than a patient. Miyuki is then locked in the quarantine room. Chisame greets her, highlighting things in the newspaper. They recently found out Miyuki's whole school is completely on lockdown. They've been in quarantine for a week even though their results are always negative. The virus incubation period is a week to a month. Miyuki and Chisame spend a long time criticizing Japanese medical care.
Nao interrupts their conversation to apologize, since they only got involved in this because she called them. Nao was lying in bed nearby and they kind of forgot about her. Chisame apologizes too for not telling them about the sleeping sickness sooner. Miyuki apologizes for not knowing more. They all agree to set aside past mistakes and discuss what to do going forward.
Part 2.
Nao's exam came back negative so she's sure the others are not infected. Nao still hasn't gotten in touch with her dad, since he's probably overseas. Her only other family is her grandma with dementia. Miyuki says since the disaster never happened in this timeline, Rena could be alive. Nao assumes Rena cut all ties with her mom so they have no way to contact her. Miyuki asks Nao if she wants to meet the Rena of this world, but Nao says no. She doesn't want to do anything that would make her sister hate her. She thinks Rena was only kind to her in the last world because she didn't know Nao was her half sister. Trying to explain the current situation to Rena would just bewilder her.
Chisame asks what they're going to do when they get out of quarantine. They decide to find a way to help Nao's mom, even if Rena wouldn't want them to. Nao has been acting hesitant, but Miyuki is sure she'll go back to her strong-willed self now that she has a firm goal. The first reported case of the disease was back in August, in an undisclosed village in the Chubu region. They want to investigate this world's Hinamizawa, and think it might be possible to get back to the past Hinamizawa from there. They think Tsukuyami weren't a thing in this world before Miyuki and Nao showed up. As they're discussing this, the door unlocks and Natsumi steps in to introduce herself, dressed in a regular labcoat instead of a protective suit.
Part 3.
Natsumi is working for the Ministry of Health and Welfare. They're shocked she came into the quarantine room unprotected. She thanks them for their concern but tells them she's received the vaccine. The three were also inoculated the day they were caught, and it's effective as of today. Chisame asks if they can leave now and Natsumi says yes. Schools will probably stay closed another month until more people are vaccinated. Miyuki notices Natsumi's wedding ring. Nao asks why nobody told them they were given the vaccine and wonders if they gave them some unapproved drug. Miyuki says they wouldn't do that because that's illegal, but Natsumi immediately goes silent. Chisame follows up saying nobody's reported anything about a vaccine yet, upset they were used as guinea pigs. Natsumi says WHO guidelines prevented them from sharing information about the vaccine, but it'll be revealed next week so they decided it was safe to use it. They'd be waiting a month or two to get it otherwise. Miyuki tries to calm Nao and Chisame down, and Natsumi apologizes for not properly explaining things.
Nao asks how her mother is doing. Natsumi says there's nothing to worry about for now, but there's still no treatment for it. Nao turns to Miyuki and says they have to go back to Hinamizawa. Chisame insists on coming with. They forget Natsumi is there and start making plans. Natsumi interrupts to tell them she used to live near Hinamizawa, and she asks which Hinamizawa they're referring to. Everyone is surprised to learn there's a "new" Hinamizawa.
Part 4.
The government relocated all the major Hinamizawa buildings to a new location as part of the dam project. The new village has a different name, but locals still call it Hinamizawa. Natsumi doesn't know where it is, but she knows someone who might. She wants to know why they're so interested in Hinamizawa. Nao says they're trying to find a friend from Hinamizawa who went missing just before they got quarantined. Natsumi can tell how much they care about this friend, so she writes down the contact info for a former detective she knows. Miyuki is relieved they didn't need to mention their friend's last name is "Kimiyoshi".
The next day, the gang visits the address. It's the police PR center, which is now a museum. Nao came here on a school field trip, and she's surprised Miyuki and Chisame have never come here considering they both have police parents. There's a lady named Akitake and a police mascot named Papipo in front of the building. Miyuki and Chisame think the mascot is creepy, but Nao really likes it. Akitake starts giving an explanation thinking they're here on a field trip. Nao ignores her and thinks back to when they were leaving the hospital. Someone paid for her medical expenses, but the receptionist wouldn't tell her who. Miyuki interrupts Akitake to say they're here to see Tomoe Minai. Then the mascot lifts its head, revealing Tomoe inside. Akitake shouts she can't take her head off in public like that, and slaps it back on her.
Part 5.
The kids are waiting in Tomoe's office while she gets changed. They were escorted by another employee, a man with an eyepatch on his left eye named Higo. Miyuki and Chisame are spooked by Higo, but he politely makes them tea and says it's been weeks since they had guests. He gives Nao a commemorative Papipo sticker, and she's thrilled. Tomoe finally comes back. She can tell the kids are tense so she tells them to relax and enjoy some snacks. Miyuki asks why the museum director was in a mascot costume. Normally Higo wears it, but he can't due to the eye injury. Higo makes fun of Tomoe's dancing in the mascot costume, so she challenges him to a costume danceoff. Then Tomoe finally brings the conversation back on track, about Hinamizawa. She hopes Ooishi is doing well. Miyuki is surprised by that namdrop. She says her dad is Mamoru Akasaka, a friend of Ooishi's, but Tomoe says the name doesn't sound familiar.
Tomoe pulls out a dozen volumes of records related to Hinamizawa. She flips through one and finds the location, about an hour from old Hinamizawa. Only some of the people moved there while most took compensation money and went elsewhere. The shrine personnel and the wardens of the "sacred tree" stayed. Miyuki is alarmed to learn of another important object nobody once mentioned before.
Part 6.
Tomoe goes to take a phone call, so the kids have a private conversation. Miyuki thinks Tamura might be weakened in this world because the sacred tree, or some other source of her power, was relocated to New Hinamizawa. They think the ritual storehouse is connected to the other world, but maybe the link isn't working because the ritual tools were removed, and that's why Kazuho couldn't come through. They decide to head to Hinamizawa, but just as they're leaving Tomoe comes back. She says she can't let kids go to the middle of nowhere alone, so she's coming along, and even offers to drive them. Miyuki is weirded out by how accommodating she's being for total strangers, but they decide to accept her offer. They plan to leave the day after tomorrow. Higo insists he'll handle Tomoe's responsibilities so she can get ready. Akitake mentions that Tomoe also needs to do some prep for a crime prevention course at St Lucia. Miyuki interrupts and asks if she can go to St Lucia with her, and Tomoe agrees. The adults head to another room for a quick meeting. Chisame says it'd cause trouble if she and Nao go with, so they head home.
Part 7.
The group arrives at the Kakiuchi service area around nightfall after driving all day. Miyuki told Nao that she learned nothing at St. Lucia, but she actually didn't want to tell her what she learned. She's waiting until they get back home to tell her. Nao comes back from the vending machine with a can of tea, and it reminds her that the pull tab in her pocket disappeared when they came through the portal. The only things they were able to bring with them from 1983 Hinamizawa were Rena's hat, Mion's sword, and Akasaka's notebook. Tomoe comes back from a long phonecall and tells them it's time to head out.
The next morning, they arrive in New Hinamizawa. Miyuki and Nao are amazed it looks so much like the old town. Miyuki thinks it must've cost a fortune to rebuild all this, but Tomoe says the government had no choice. The dam was necessary to prevent flooding downstream that could cause up to 2 trillion yen in damages, ruin people's lives, or even cause an epidemic. An old man approaches them while they're walking around. Miyuki and Nao can't remember if they met him. His name is Iwamatsu; he's the mayor of Takamaga village, which is New Hinamizawa's proper name. Miyuki asks him why the mayor is no longer a Kimiyoshi, and if the Sonozakis and Furudes are still around. He says they all left to take responsibility. The Saionji family maintains the Furude shrine. Miyuki says they're doing a school report on ritual tools and ask if they can see the storehouse, and Iwamatsu agrees, so they head toward the shrine.
Part 8.
The group is looking over the village from the shrine lookout. It's similar to Hinamizawa, but there are far fewer people and the buildings are poorly maintained. Nao wonders how the Kazuho of this world is doing, and Miyuki tenses up. Chisame interrupts, urging them to keep moving to the storehouse. Another old man approaches them, introducing himself as the head priest Saionji. He hands them the key, which is far bigger than it was in 1983, and leads them there. Then he wanders off, not bothering to escort them inside.
They head inside the storehouse which is covered in thick dust, clearly not maintained. They find a statue of Oyashiro-sama and torture tools. Miyuki is searching for something similar to the magatama that Kazuho received. Chisame finds a box full of black Fragments. Miyuki grabs them and runs outside to get a better look. Nao runs out with another box, full of black cards. Then Tomoe comes out and looks at the cards. She says they're like the black cards Akasaka found. The group is surprised to hear that and Tomoe apologizes for hiding things from them. Chisame suddenly shouts as tsukuyami appear. Miyuki and Nao turn their cards into weapons and tell Chisame and Tomoe to hide in the storehouse. Chisame notices the black card the original Miyuki gave her is now glowing in her pocket, so Miyuki tells her to fight too.
Part 9.
The group finishes defeating the tsukuyami. Chisame was able to keep up in the fight, with her Role Card transformed into a harpoon. Chisame tries giving the card back to Miyuki afterwards, but she insists she keep it. Nao notices that instead of the tsukuyami dropping fragments, they turned into 2 collapsed people: Mayor Iwamatsu and the priest Saionji. Tomoe checks their pulse, seeing they're unconscious but alive. She says this is just like the reports, and looks at the 2 black cards next to them. Tomoe tells Chisame she knows about her father, and apologizes for not making it to his funeral. A friend of her father's named Watanabe asked Tomoe to secretly look into his death. She also knows about Akasaka's disappearance and thinks it's tied to Hinamizawa. And she knows that Miyuki and Nao traveled to the past.
Nao asks where she heard about time travel from, but Tomoe says she promised not to say. Tomoe decided to trust the kids after they accurately described Ooishi, because he died in 1983. Miyuki asks how Ooishi died, since the disaster didn't happen in this world. Tomoe says "that girl" asked the same thing, then starts walking off. She says they need to revive their god companion as soon as possible.
Part 10.
Tomoe is leading everyone through the woods. Nao asks Miyuki why she never told them she was investigating Chisame's father's murder, or mentioned Chisame at all. She says she wanted them to focus on getting home, the incident is classified, and she wasn't sure she could trust Nao back then. She was planning to mention it after getting Chisame's permission. Nao understands why she kept it secret and tells Miyuki she trusts her. They finally arrive at their destination, a massive tree in the middle of a clearing. Tomoe says according to her informant this place houses a god, and that god will be restored if they place a stone at the base and open a book. While wondering who Tomoe's informant could be, Miyuki sets down Tamura's crystal and the book her dad gave her. The book glows as she opens it, and Tamura appears along with the sword.
Miyuki demands explanations immediately, asking if the Hinamizawa they were in before was even real. Tamura says that world should've been the true past, but it was partially replaced with some other past, and that consequently changed the present. Whatever happened, it's far bigger than anything Miyuki and co. could've done on their own. Miyuki asks what happened to Kazuho, and Tamura says she was moved to a different 1983, the past of this world. Everyone is confused, but Miyuki asks how they can bring Kazuho back. They have to open the gate again like last time. Tamura barely has the strength to send one person through the gate, and there's no guarantee that even that one person would make it through because the Sukuse no Tamawari of this world lost its original power. But it can be repaired using Fragments like they've been collecting.
Miyuki holds up their bag of Fragments, but Tamura says it's not enough. Miyuki says they'll hunt tsukuyami to get more, but Nao points out the monsters in this world haven't been dropping Fragments, just black cards. Miyuki points out that their cards were originally made of Fragments and holds a black card out. Tamura says the card is weak so it would take a lot of them. Miyuki and Chisame run off, then come back with the boxes of black cards and Fragments from the storehouse. Tamura says she can purify them and it should be enough to send one person there and come back with Kazuho. Nao volunteers to go and Miyuki thinks they have no other choice. But she grabs Nao before she leaves and says she has something to tell her first. Miyuki hesitates for a second before telling Nao that she found out Kazuho "doesn't exist" in this world.
Showa Chapter 3: Rotei (Exposure).
Part 1.
Keiichi and Kazuho head to a shady coffee shop where they can talk in private, which Keiichi learned about from Ooishi in a previous world. Keiichi explains that he and Shion were investigating Hinamizawa in the previous world, even before he met Kazuho, so he already knew who the three girls were before their first meeting. There were limits on what they could investigate on their own, so they went to Ooishi for help. Kazuho is impressed Keiichi kept going and never lost hope, even as his friends pushed him out of town. Keiichi and Ooishi bonded over mahjong in the previous world, but they haven't interacted much this time because Keiichi feels responsible for what happened to Ooishi after getting him involved last time. Kazuho tells Keiichi that Miyuki and Nao aren't here. Keiichi explains that after the three girls left, terrible monsters appeared that defeated them, then he suddenly woke up in the Okinomiya school. For him it's been 2 weeks since then.
He says this world is very different: Shion doesn't exist; Keiichi's family moved directly to Okinomiya this time instead of Hinamizawa; Mion, Satoko, and Reina are acting like completely different people; Rika died 5 years ago; and Hanyuu apparently doesn't exist. Kazuho is just relieved she has someone she can talk to. From here on, Kazuho wants to figure out how to get back to 1993, because she's sure that's where Miyuki and Nao are. Meanwhile, Keiichi wants to find the truth behind Rika's death. In the last world Hanyuu said the real Rika's soul was sealed away somewhere. Since she was replaced on the day of Watanagashi, the real Rika must've been the one who accused Keiichi of bullying. She may have actually sent him away to get him in contact with Shion, or to prevent him from being targeted by tsukuyami. Keiichi vows to help Kazuho get home, and asks her to help him too.
He explains that the dam project was approved 5 years ago, but there are still both supporters and opponents. The conflict is taking a heavy toll on the Three Families, especially Ayaka, and they're blaming her because she's an outsider. Kazuho is shocked to learn Ayaka is an outsider.
Part 2.
Keiichi explains that Ayaka is not Hinamizawa native but an adopted child from a distant branch of the Furude family. Rika's parents both died a year after she did, so Ayaka was brought in to be the family head 3 years ago. Keiichi doesn't know anything more about Rika. Shion isn't around because she's still at St Lucia. Kazuho mentions that she attends St Lucia in the future, and Keiichi realizes that's why her school uniform looks like Shion's. Keiichi tried calling St Lucia to get in touch with her but they always hung up on him, so he thinks Kazuho might have better luck calling. Kazuho suggests they go in person and posing as family. Keiichi then says he has something else to show her, so they leave the cafe and walk to Okinomiya station. He tells her to go in and buy a ticket. As Kazuho walks into the station she bumps into an invisible wall that prevents her from going further. Keiichi says some force prevents them from leaving Hinamizawa and Okinomiya, but other people are able to go in and out.
Keiichi asks about Kazuho's brother Rei, then says Rei is in another class at the Okinomiya school. But when Keiichi spoke with him, Rei said he didn't have a little sister. Right then, Irie and Satoshi pull up in a car, having finished practicing at the batting cages. Irie offers Kazuho a ride home, so Keiichi gives her his phone number before she goes. Kazuho hears a loud crash as she's getting into the car, but nobody else hears it. During the drive back she realizes she heard the same sound when Nao first arrived in 1983, so she tells Irie to hurry to the Furude Shrine.
Part 3.
They quickly reach the Furude shrine and Kazuho jumps out of the car. She finds Nao on the ground by the door to the shrine storehouse, then rushes over. Nao is happy to see Kazuho, but Kazuho is distraught that she came back after all the effort they went through to get back to 1993. Nao insists she had several reasons for coming back but the most important one was simply that she wanted to, then she hugs Kazuho. Meanwhile, Satoshi and Irie arrive. Nao introduces herself as a dear friend of Kazuho's, then they all head to the clinic.
After diagnosing Nao with light fatigue, Irie leaves to take Satoshi home. Alone, Nao tells Kazuho everything that's happened since they split up. She thinks something that changed in 1983 might be the cause of the Sleeping Sickness. Nao insists she wants to help her mother, even if Rena wouldn't want her to. Miyuki and co. are going to keep investigating in the future, and Tamura might be able to page Kazuho if anything comes up. Nao suggests that since Rika died in this world, that meant she was unable to help Akasaka, and that's why Miyuki died here. Previously, Miyuki explained to Nao that Akasaka headed home after Rika's warning and Chisame's father took his place on the Hinamizawa investigation. In the previous 1983 Rika denied knowing Akasaka every time Miyuki asked about it, and yet Akasaka thanked her for saving his wife and daughter. Nao was hoping to ask Rika about that, but that's no longer an option. Nao also criticizes Kazuho for not investigating more, but Kazuho says she promised Ayaka she wouldn't. Then just as Nao is about to ask who that is, Ayaka steps into the room.
Part 4.
Ayaka asks Takano to give the three of them a ride to the Furude shrine. At the Furude house Ayaka brings out tea, then formally introduces herself. She insists everything she's about to say is the truth, then asks them to promise they won't say any of it to the other villagers. Nao asks what'll happen if they break that promise, and Ayaka responds "people will die". So they both agree. Ayaka brings over a huge stack of files, then asks Nao if she's heard of Hinamizawa Syndrome. Nao lies and says she doesn't, so Ayaka gives a detailed explanation. With Rika and her parents dead, there was no longer a Queen Carrier. Hinamizawa Syndrome was supposedly eradicated by Hifumi Takano, but before his death he said reoccurrence was still possible so the researchers decided a replacement Queen Carrier was a necessary precaution. They searched for distant relatives with Furude blood and found the Saionji family. Their youngest daughter, Aya Saionji, was adopted into the family under the name Ayaka Furude. Three years ago researchers conducted a medical procedure to artificially make her a Queen Carrier. Not even the Three Families know about that, only Takano and Irie. Ayaka mentions that people with terminal symptoms become aggressive, then kill themselves.
Kazuho remembers the bloodbath at the Watanagashi festival. She asks Ayaka if it's possible for the Queen Carrier to control infected people and force them to develop symptoms. Ayaka snaps and demands to know where they heard that from, but Nao says it wasn't someone from this world. Ayaka calms down and says she's never heard anything like that. But there's a similar phenomenon where infected people are drawn to protect the Queen. Nao finally asks why Ayaka is so forthcoming with secret information. She says someone instructed her to tell this to the right person at the right time, but she refuses to say who and ends the conversation there.
Part 5.
When Kazuho wakes up the next day, Ayaka isn't around and Nao is already dressed and eating breakfast. Kazuho apologizes for learning so little during her time here, but Nao reassures her and says she did her best. After breakfast, Ayaka comes back while they're washing dishes and says it's time for school. Kazuho thinks back to last night, where she explained to Nao what all the club members are like now, that Keiichi remembers previous worlds, and that Satoshi is here this time. In the previous world Keiichi said that Mion, Shion, Rena, and Nao were the only club members with siblings. That seems to contradict what this world's Keiichi is saying, but Kazuho hasn't had a chance to ask him about it.
Everyone heads to school together. Ayaka goes to the principal's office, while Kazuho and Nao head toward the classroom. Kazuho warns Nao before she enters the room that Satoko probably set a trap, but when she opens the door there's nothing. Nao starts walking toward Reina and almost calls her Sis, but stops in her tracks and trembles when Reina introduces herself under the name Reina and says "welcome, new transfer student". Nao forces a big smile and introduces herself, then says she needs to use the bathroom and rushes out of the classroom. Kazuho tries to stop her, but she feels a stabbing pain in her back. After checking that there's no wound and nobody there, she chases after Nao.
Part 6.
After school Reina asks Nao if she'd like to do something together, but Nao says she's busy and leaves the classroom. Reina is sad and thinks Nao hates her, but Kazuho tries to play it off as her just being nervous on her first day and asks Reina to bear with her. After heading out, Kazuho finds Nao crying on the edge of the school grounds. Nao apologizes for getting flustered twice today. She finally understands how Miyuki felt meeting her dad in the previous world, and feels really bad for being so harsh on her. Kazuho says she didn't understand how hard things were for Miyuki either until she came to this new world all alone, and they vow to apologize to her next time they see her.
On the way home, Kazuho is telling Nao about how Reina's family is living happily in a world without her, and Kazuho's family is doing the same. Nao says they shouldn't dwell on it, and should focus on moving forward. They want to learn the cause of Rika's death, find out if Hinamizawa Syndrome is related to the Sleeping Sickness, and find a way home. Kazuho is far more motivated to do all this now that Nao is with her.
Part 7.
At the clinic, Kazuho and Nao ask Takano about Hinamizawa Syndrome, telling her they heard about it from Ayaka. Takano is surprised Ayaka trusts them this much, and re-emphasizes this is confidential information that they can't tell anyone. Nao asks why Hifumi was interested in Hinamizawa Syndrome in the first place, and Takano explains it's because the microorganism causing the disease may have a will of its own,s similar to toxoplasma. The Queen Carrier gives orders to the regular viruses. If the Queen is gone, any infected people become aggressive trying to come in contact with a new host. Nao asks if the Queen can command the infected to kill others or themselves, but Takano says that's impossible and the government would never allow something so dangerous in the wild. Takano also says the Queen is no longer necessary and they only made Ayaka one to be extra cautious.
Nao points out they were only able to dam the village and scatter the residents because the disease is allegedly eradicated. Nao also asks if this parasite can live inside animals or other things. Takano says animals are possible but wonders what she means by other things. After thinking back on the tsukuyami they've encountered, Nao says things like household appliances.
Part 8.
Takano says the virus has never been tested on non-humans, but it does emit electrical waves that might be able to move electrical devices. Kazuho starts to ask if that's the true nature of the tsukuyami, but Nao quickly stops her. There's a knock at the door and Satoshi steps in, followed by Reina. Watanagashi is going to be more crowded than usual this year since it's the final festival, so they came to ask about making the first aid hut bigger. They also ask Kazuho and Nao to help out.
Kazuho is wondering if Nao could handle spending time with Reina. Nao thinks it over for a second and agrees, then Reina hugs her. Takano says it would be cute to call Tomitake in to take pictures, and Reina teases her, calling Tomitake her boyfriend. Kazuho is confused because she thought Tomitake didn't exist in this world. She glances at the calendar and it reminds her the day of Watanagashi is coming soon.
Heisei Chapter 3: Mashou (Diabolical).
Part 1.
Tomoe is driving everyone home from Hinamizawa. The girls are in the back seat with their heads down because Tomoe warned them they could get ambushed. They commandeered a car parked on the side of the road with the keys left inside, because Tomoe was worried someone might've tampered with hers or even put a bomb in it. Tomoe says she has authority to do that in emergencies, but Miyuki has her doubts. They find a drivers license on the dashboard with the mayor's picture, but there's a different name on it. Miyuki asks Tomoe where she learned so much about the cards and tsukuyami, but Tomoe says she's not allowed to say. They summon Tamura, who tells them Nao did reach Kazuho, then says she's tired and disappears. Chisame is still thinking about how there are no clues for her father's murder, even 3 months later. She was really broken up about it and only got better because she and Miyuki agreed to investigate both their fathers' incidents together. Miyuki asks Tomoe for more info on Kurosawa's incident, but Tomoe says she won't until the girls show her everything they have. Miyuki thinks of a certain journal entry with "AIV" and "110" written in it.
The girls agree to disclose everything. Tomoe tells them that in June 1983, the Hinamizawa villagers all began attacking one another, and most of them died. The Three Families likely all perished. The government covered it up and the survivors were quickly moved to New Hinamizawa. Conspiracy theorists have been calling this the Great Hinamizawa Disaster. Miyuki explains that in her world the GHD was a gas disaster that killed the whole village. They quickly shift topics. Tomoe says a cure for the Sleeping Sickness is going to be approved soon. Natsumi told them before that there's no cure, but she was lying because she's not allowed to discuss it yet. Miyuki asks Tomoe where she learned about it. Tomoe can't say, but she insists it wasn't Natsumi. Miyuki is sure Tomoe only told them something this confidential because it's related to Akasaka's incident. The company producing the cure is Takano Pharmaceutical, owned by Miyoko Takano.
Part 2.
Miyuki is confused that Takano's name is written with different kanji, but a magazine photo clearly shows its her. Takano's parents died in an accident when she was young and she was raised by the famous Hinamizawa Syndrome researcher Hifumi Takano. She was a candidate for the Nobel prize after eradicating the Syndrome. After Hinamizawa was shut down she and her colleagues started a pharmaceutical company named after her grandfather; she's the majority shareholder but not the president, because she still wanted to be a researcher. Chisame points out that drugs usually take 10-20 years to develop, so it's odd this company grew so much in just 10 years. Tomoe says someone investigated it for her and found nothing illegal, but many of their drug developments have seemed miraculously lucky. Miyuki suggests that developing a cure would be simple if these are manmade diseases, so maybe Akasaka and Kurosawa were eliminated for getting too close to the truth. Tomoe's main motivation for helping is because Watanabe asked her to. He's a trainee she taught at the police academy, who was also friends with Kurosawa.
Tomoe asks the girls what they plan to do now. Miyuki agrees investigating her father's disappearance is too dangerous, so she suggests they investigate the Kimiyoshi family to learn more about Kazuho. Tomoe is surprised hearing that name, and tells them Natsumi's maiden name is Kimiyoshi and she's from Okinomiya. By the time they arrive back in Tokyo, it's now evening. Miyuki is dwelling about her conversation with Nao right before she left this world. When she told Nao that Kazuho doesn't exist in this world, Nao argued maybe she's still out there and just doesn't attend St. Lucia. So Miyuki decides to trust Nao and keep moving forward.
Part 3.
A few days later, Miyuki and Chisame are chatting at a cafe. The outbreak has now reached people at their school, and some people are blaming the two of them for it. Tomoe called Miyuki last night to share more info about the Kimiyoshis: Minoru Kimiyoshi isn't a biological family member, rather he married the mayor's daughter. He and his family moved to Gogura when Hinamizawa was evacuated 10 years ago. His son Rei is now attending college in Tokyo, and his daughter Kazuho was likely sent to a boarding school. Natsumi even met her when she was a child. Since Kazuho's family is alive in this world, it's unclear why they'd bother sending her off to boarding school, and it doesn't seem like something she'd choose for herself. Miyuki regrets not getting to know Kazuho better, because it's making it hard to guess what this world's Kazuho is like. In the last world, there were cases where the relatives of GHD victims went on to kill their families, or other people around them, and the resulting media coverage caused Hinamizawa natives to face harsh discrimination. Miyuki thinks that might be where Kazuho's habit of constantly apologizing came from.
Just then, Chisame's pager goes off. It's from Tomoe, so Miyuki goes to a payphone to call her. Tomoe found a girl at St Lucia who says she used to hang out with Kazuho all the time. Miyuki notices how she said "used to". Tomoe wants to discuss it in person, and reminds them to be careful. They leave the cafe and head toward the meeting location.
Part 4.
Miyuki and Chisame arrive at the meeting place, an Angel Mort location in the Tokyo area. They find Tomoe already at a table, with a mountain of empty plates in front of her. Tomoe tells them she met a girl named Yuu Tsukumi who claimed to be Kazuho's roommate. Kazuho helped her out when she got lost on campus one day, and they became close friends who did everything together. Tsukumi has been hospitalized since spring with some disease. According to her, Kazuho died back in April. On the day before the start of their third year of middle school, Tsukumi came back to their dorm after club activities. A sudden flash of lightning illuminated the room enough to see that Kazuho hung herself, and Tsukumi immediately fainted.
Miyuki is upset because even if Kazuho does come back to this world there's no place for her here, but she vows to help her friend. Miyuki questions if it was actually suicide, but there were no signs of a struggle according to the autopsy report so it likely wasn't murder. They didn't find a suicide note, and Tsukumi has no idea why Kazuho would've done it. A few days before the incident Kazuho left campus saying she was going to visit her family in Hinamizawa, but detectives later questioned her mom about it who said there were no such plans. Kazuho was brooding a lot after coming back, so Tsukumi regrets not doing more to help her. Tomoe also says she has pictures of Kazuho from last year, looking happy while putting on a stage production of "Les Miserables". Miyuki flips through the photos, but none of the girls look like Kazuho. She asks which one is Kazuho, and Tomoe points to a girl Miyuki doesn't recognize.
Part 5.
Still in the restaurant, it's now dark and Miyuki has finally calmed down. Natsumi arrives and takes a seat, and Miyuki asks her if the girl in the photo is really Kazuho. Natsumi hasn't seen Kazuho in the past 10 years so she can't say for sure, but she did bring a photo album from home. There's a photo dated September 11, 1982, of teenage Natsumi with little Kazuho, but it's blurry so Miyuki can't tell if it's the Kazuho she knows. Miyuki panics after accidentally making a comment about Heisei A vs Heisei C, but Tomoe says she already told Natsumi about the time travel stuff.
Natsumi suggests comparing their memories of Hinamizawa to spot differences. In her world, the dam plan was approved in 1979. Rika went missing a year before that, and her parents suddenly died. The Furude family didn't die out because they adopted a distant relative from the Saionji family. Mayor Kimiyoshi fell ill around that time, so his son-in-law Minoru (Kazuho's dad) became the family head. Natsumi moved out in 1982 so she doesn't know much after that. She starts rubbing her neck with her fingertips.
Miyuki asks if the villagers attacked one another at the festival in 1983, but Natsumi denies it. A lot of the people living in New Hinamizawa aren't even from original Hinamizawa. Natsumi gets peeved about all the rumors about people from Hinamizawa back then. Tomoe's pager goes off, so she leaves for a phone call and comes back: Tomoe secured an appointment with Takano thanks to her school connections. She wants Miyuki to come along because she's curious if Takano will recognize her. Natsumi asks to come too.
Part 6.
Miyuki is waiting for Chisame in a park. She summons Tamura and asks what will happen if they bring Kazuho back here. Tamura says it'll be like when Miyuki and Nao came back, with their souls taking over the bodies of their counterparts here. Miyuki explains that Kazuho is dead in this world, but Tamura insists if no replacement body exists then a new one will be created for her. Miyuki asks if it's possible to contact Kazuho on her page and Tamura says maybe after getting some more rest, then quickly vanishes.
Chisame finally arrives, and they head to Takano Pharmaceutical. They meet Takano in a fancy looking reception room. Takano recognizes Natsumi and they have a nostalgic chat, but she doesn't seem to recognize Miyuki. Tomoe says they were patients of hers 10 years ago, then she begins questioning Takano. Irie helped with her research back in Hinamizawa, specializing in brain surgery. Her grandfather's friend Koizumi is the one who introduced Irie to her. Irie went overseas 10 years ago to provide medical care for needy children, but Takano fell out of touch with him. Tomoe asks if her company finished a drug for treating the Sleeping Sickness. Takano admits it, but asks they keep it a secret. Takano says she has an appointment with someone from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and just then a man dressed in a nice suit and white gloves barges into the room.
Part 7.
Takano is clearly displeased with the man who just entered the room. He introduces himself as Kitajima, from the Ministry of Health and Welfare's pharmaceutical affairs bureau. Miyuki immediately doesn't like him. Kitajima and Natsumi are coworkers so they're both surprised to see one another here. He was supposed to be transferred to America, but it got postponed. Kitajima hands Takano a pharmaceutical review report, and she gets upset as soon as she reads it, as her company's Sleeping Sickness drug got rejected.
Kitajima says modern Japanese people won't accept medicine unless it's proven 100% safe and effective, that rival companies would use the media to discredit it, and that they want to avoid the risk of lawsuits. Miyuki is getting really upset because she's concerned about Nao's mom, until Chisame calms her down. Tomoe starts urging them to leave, but right then the whole building shakes. Natsumi looks out the window to see the building next door manufacturing the Sleeping Sickness medication is now on fire. There's a tsukuyami attacking it. Miyuki and Chisame rush out of the room.
Part 8.
While running outside, Miyuki is wondering what tsukuyami are doing so far from Hinamizawa. She and Chisame head into the factory, and it's swarming with tsukuyami. They run into Kawata inside the building. Miyuki asks what's going on here, and Kawata says this facility is being targeted because it's producing the Sleeping Sickness medicine. She's completely calm as she says sometimes she's a reporter and sometimes she's a terrorist bomber. Another explosion goes off inside the factory. Kawata opens her eyes and they're deep red. She urges the girls to leave because it's dangerous.
Miyuki asks how they can save the factory, but Kawata says the world is better off without this medicine. Miyuki can't believe she doesn't care about all the people who will die from it. Kawata raises her gun at Miyuki and fires, but it hits a tsukuyami behind her. A bunch more attack the girls all at once, and Kawata shoots them down. Miyuki asks if Kawata is their enemy, but she says she's their senpai. The girls finally take her advice and run. Outside, Miyuki is watching the building but Kawata never comes out.
Part 9.
Tomoe enters the now abandoned factory. She inserts a floppy disk into a nearby computer and reads something. She says the information Kurosawa left behind is accurate, and she understands the true nature of the Sleeping Sickness and Hinamizawa Syndrome. She suddenly hears a sound and turns around to find Natsumi pointing a gun at her. Tomoe isn't surprised, and asks Natsumi who she really works for: Natsumi's a special drug enforcement officer for the narcotics control office at the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Natsumi went to school for pharmacy and nursing, but being medicated for chronic illness all her life changed her perspective. Natsumi knows that Tomoe's official title is fake too.
Tomoe lunges at Natsumi and knocks the gun away before she can react. She criticizes Natsumi for not being more prepared, grabs the gun, then places Natsumi under arrest and demands she confess everything. Natsumi just says "shoot me", as she'd rather die than be Tomoe's enemy and bows down on the ground. Tomoe can't bear to look at her so she turns away. But in that moment Natsumi knocks Tomoe to the ground and grabs the gun. She stomps on Tomoe and readies the gun, calling her naive. Tomoe can see the madness in Natsumi's eyes. Natsumi gleefully laughs as she places her finger on the trigger.
Showa Chapter 4: Omowaku (Expectation).
Part 1.
Kazuho, Nao, and Keiichi are chatting in the coffee shop. They're worried the Watanagashi festival will end up a bloodbath like the last world, but Keiichi thinks that only happened because of the fake Rika so it'll be okay. He also wonders why that incident happened on festival day when Rika theoretically had the power to do it any day. Kazuho thinks the Rika who called her just before they went to the festival was the real one, so she must've been switched with the fake right after that. Maybe it happened because Rika witnessed or realized something. Keiichi says comparing it to this world's festival may help. He insists if anything happens at the festival he'll handle it, and Kazuho thanks him for his support. Keiichi admits that all these good ideas actually came from Reina. He asked her for advice by framing it as an idea for a manga story. Nao points out that was also a nice way of determining if she had looper memories. Reina doesn't though, and Keiichi is sure Satoko and Mion aren't loopers based on their personalities. Keiichi wishes he had a little sister like Nao.
Kazuho thinks back to Satoshi, and asks Keiichi why he said Satoko was an only child in the previous world. Keiichi is confused for a while and says he doesn't remember saying that, which is weird because he remembers other stuff from that same conversation. His memory is fuzzy, but he remembers that in a world where he distrusted everyone Satoshi definitely did exist, and he disappeared in the 4th year's curse. Shion told them the same thing. That may have been 2+ worlds ago, and Satoshi didn't exist at all in the previous world. But Keiichi wonders, how could Shion know about Satoshi if he didn't exist in that world? Unfortunately Shion is in St. Lucia in this world, and Keiichi tried calling the school but couldn't get in touch with her. Plus it's impossible to physically go there. Nao thinks they may get through if they call her dorm building directly instead of the main office, since an unlisted number would have less security. Kazuho remembers her dorm number, and says the building was ancient so it probably exists with the same number. They all begin forming a plan for contacting Shion.
Part 2.
In the evening, Kazuho and Nao enter a phonebooth in Okinomiya while Keiichi stays outside on lookout. They came up with a specific strategy for the call: Kazuho would introduce herself as a relative of Shion's and say she urgently needs to talk to her. Nao and Keiichi would shout in the background to make it feel like she's under a lot of pressure, and Kazuho's tendency to get flustered would naturally make the whole thing feel realistic and not suspicious. The plan works, and the receptionist connects them. Shion answers sounding annoyed. Kazuho introduces herself as Kazuho Kimiyoshi and asks if Shion remembers her. Shion is dubious and cites the fact that Kazuho is in kindergarten. Everyone panics, convinced she doesn't remember. Right as Kazuho is about to hang up, Shion laughs and says gotcha. She gripes it took them long enough to contact her. Judging by her laugh and the way she talks, Kazuho asks if she's actually Mion. She says yes, she has Mion's memories from the previous world, but she's Shion in this world. She got her memories back about a week ago. She's glad to hear Keiichi and Nao too.
Kazuho asks if that means Mion has Shion's memories too. Shion actually sent Mion a letter talking about the previous world as soon as she got her memories back, which she should be receiving around now. Shion is confident Mion will remember. She also gives them Kasai's number and asks them to tell him "The date of the operation hasn't changed. Continue as planned."
Part 3.
Several days later at the Furude house, Nao is asking Ayaka if they can use the assembly hall for a private discussion. Ayaka reluctantly gives them the key, under 3 conditions: Don't make a mess, lock it up afterwards, and don't lose the key since it's the only copy. Ayaka starts to leave, but Nao interrupts to ask if the reason Ayaka always retreats to her room after dinner is because she dislikes talking to them. Ayaka says that's not their concern, then walks off.
Kazuho and Nao head toward the assembly hall and meet Keiichi waiting outside. Then Shion arrives. She was able to escape St. Lucia thanks to help from Kasai and someone at the school. They head into the assembly hall. Shion tells them after she reached Okinomiya she felt the barrier pushing her and she couldn't go back, and that Mion never got the letter she sent. They want to talk to Mion in case she has looper memories and is afraid to speak up, but argue about who should tell her. They settle on Shion, but she says she wants to wait a little while because Mion seems to have something on her mind.
Kazuho says if Hinamizawa Syndrome is actually eradicated like Takano says, the tragedy at the last Watanagashi won't happen this time. But Nao is dubious. They ask if Shion has any more info about Rika's disappearance 5 years ago. Shion isn't sure, but she questions if Rika actually died since her body was never found. Her disappearance lines up with the early dam construction discussions, and after she and her parents were gone people started supporting the dam. Kazuho's dad also convinced people to support it with scientific arguments about flood risks. Ayaka was brought in after the dam was approved. Ayaka is not as well respected as Rika, and the villagers are deciding who she'll marry without giving her any say. Kazuho's dad is her guardian, so Shion thinks he's worth investigating.
Shion and Keiichi need to go home, so everyone heads outside. Keiichi wants to talk to Kazuho's brother again, but they tell him it's too risky. Kazuho asks Shion why she said Satoko was an only child in the last world. Just like Keiichi, she doesn't remember that, and she says Satoko has Satoshi. Kazuho and Nao see Shion and Keiichi off, then head back only to find Ayaka waiting by the shrine gate.
Part 4.
Ayaka asks if that was Mion with them. She's upset they're getting other people involved, and asks what they were talking about. Nao says that was Shion and they were discussing Watanagashi. Kazuho asks Ayaka what she thinks of Hinamizawa. She complains about nobody seeing her as anything but the substitute family head and says she hates it here. She's glad the dam is destroying the village, and wishes it'd take out the people too. Nao steps forward and says at first she wasn't sure if she could trust Miyuki and Kazuho, but now she regrets that mistake. So she will trust Ayaka, even if Ayaka doesn't trust her.
Ayaka is upset they're saying all this when they barely even know her. Kazuho says she wants to know her better. Ayaka is about to storm off, but Kazuho interrupts to ask one more question: Who told her to tell them about Hinamizawa Syndrome? Ayaka won't say who, but says they'll meet this person when the higurashi cry, and then she leaves. Just then, Kazuho's pager goes off with another signal from Tamura.
Part 5.
Kazuho and Nao head back to the assembly hall to call the number from the pager. Miyuki answers. She tells them that the factory creating the Sleeping Sickness medicine was destroyed, and that Kawata was there with tsukuyami. Also, Takano's research led to the medicine. Miyuki thinks the changes in their respective worlds are related. There are other facilities still manufacturing the medicine. They recap other details. Tamura still doesn't know how to bring them back to the future. Miyuki says she'll try to contact them again later, then the phone cuts out.
Kazuho and Nao wonder if there's something odd about Miyuki. They're tired so they lock up and leave the assembly hall. Walking back, Ayaka is waiting for them outside the front door. She asks if they really want to know more about her. When Kazuho says yes, Ayaka leads them inside. A huge pile of pills is sitting on the desk in the living room. The reason Ayaka disappears after eating is because she needs to take all of those after every meal. She was born with an autoimmune disorder and used to live in a sanatorium. Kazuho is deeply troubled by the fact that Ayaka has to eat less food to leave room in her stomach for all those pills. The villagers told Ayaka not to let people see her take her meds. Kazuho thanks her for sharing and Nao apologizes for misjudging her.
Part 6.
Watanagashi preparations begin the next day, but there are fewer people helping out in this world. Keiichi arrives to help with a bunch of kids from Okinomiya. Reina shows up bringing lunches for everyone. She's surprised Nao knows Keiichi, but Nao says she knew him before she transferred here. Satoshi and Satoko arrive a little late. Mion isn't coming because the Sonozakis are collectively refusing to support a festival sponsored by the dam supporter Furudes. Ayaka arrives and says the Sonozakis have done this sort of thing before, but she's sure it wasn't Mion's idea. Shion pops in. Satoshi and Satoko don't know her but Reina figures it out. Shion says she's in Hinamizawa for the final Watanagashi. Ayaka asks if it's ok for Shion to be here, but Shion says it's fine since she's a social outcast anyway. As everyone goes off to work, Shion whispers in Kazuho's ear that she couldn't meet her dad.
They all do festival prep. Kazuho overhears villagers criticizing Ayaka for staying inside. Kazuho goes to Ayaka to get the warehouse key. Satoshi asks Ayaka to check on the ritual hoe. They haven't done the ritual dance since Rika died, but they're doing it for the final Watanagashi, Kazuho's dad's idea. Ayaka asks Kazuho to do the dance instead, since she's an actual member of the Three Families. Kazuho panics. Satoshi asks if Kazuho even knows how to dance. Nao says Kazuho might accidentally fling the hoe into the audience. Ayaka says people don't care about the quality of the performance, just who does it. Satoshi gives a motivational speech about how Ayaka should do what she wants to, tying it back to Satoko's long history of putting up with things. Everyone encourages Ayaka to do it, so she finally agrees.
Part 7.
Ayaka is practicing her dance outside the shrine. Her version of the dance feels totally different, but it's very skillful. She's been practicing for the past 3 years even though they haven't been doing it. Reina remembers 3 years ago Oryou fell and was driven away in an ambulance, so Watanagashi was cancelled that year. They didn't even bother to tell Ayaka it was cancelled. It was cancelled the following years too.
Ayaka breaks down crying, upset that she can never live up to Rika in the village's eyes. They even blame her for the dam construction, which was all decided before she even came here. Nobody knows what to say. Reina steps forward and apologizes. Ayaka says Reina didn't do anything wrong, but Reina still wants to apologize for not noticing her struggles. She thanks her for finally opening up and offers to be friends. They hear a noise. Mion was watching in hiding the whole time, and Shion is pushing her to speak up. Mion says Ayaka wouldn't have done the ceremonial dance so perfectly if she truly hated the village. The villagers hate Ayaka because she symbolizes the dam project, but she only ever nodded to the idea because she was afraid she'd get expelled from the village if she disobeyed. Mion holds out her hand and says they should all make great memories together at the final Watanagashi. Ayaka grasps her hand.
Part 8.
It's the day before the festival. Mion and Shion convinced the Sonozakis to help out. Kazuho, Nao, and Reina help Keiichi with more setup. Reina talks about how nice it would be to go to school with Keiichi. Reina asks Kazuho and Nao for their new addresses so they can keep in touch after Hinamizawa closes. Kazuho worries they need to find a way back home before the village closes. They head to the shrine and find Ayaka talking to Takano. As Queen Carrier she was getting a regular checkup. Ayaka trusts Takano. Kazuho and Nao ask if there's anything they can do to help Ayaka. She's worried that nobody will come to her dance, just like 3 years ago, so Kazuho and Nao promise to be there no matter what. Ayaka says she knows their objective and what they're searching for. It's something Kazuho picked up when she first came to the Furude house, however Ayaka can't say anything more and she goes back to practicing, so the girls leave.
The next evening, the whole gang is together at the festival. Keiichi is glad Satoshi could join them. Mion suggests a boys vs girls competition. Keiichi gripes that would be 2 vs 7, but Satoshi's fine doing whatever makes people happy. Satoko trashtalks Keiichi so he threatens to wash her mouth out with goldfish scooping game water. During that, Reina tricks him into agreeing to 2 vs 7. Kazuho is glad to finally see Ayaka having fun.
Part 9.
A huge crowd is gathered watching the ceremonial dance. Even villagers who badmouthed Ayaka earlier are impressed with her performance. Kazuho and Nao talk about Rika. Nao has a hunch that Rika is still alive somewhere in the village. The villagers can't accept Ayaka because Rika's death was never confirmed, so if someone wanted to kill Rika they would've let her body be found so the village would eventually move on. Nao can't think of a reason to move her somewhere else, so she must still be here. It might also be related to the cure for the Sleeping Sickness being found here in 1993.
Ayaka's dance ends. Kazuho looks around and notices some people are missing. Satoko was feeling sick so she left before the dance. Reina is gone too. Mion walks up on stage and congratulates Ayaka, then tells her to begin the climax. She says they're going to perform the Watanagashi ritual as an offering to Oyashiro-sama, and take back their homeland. Ayaka seems confused, but the crowd goes wild with murderous cheers.
Showa Chapter 5: Nageki (Sorrow).
Part 1.
On stage, Mion gives the explanation about how Watanagashi is actually about sending organs adrift. She says they're sacrificing the Furude priestess to appease Oyashiro-sama's anger for forsaking the village. The villagers all attack at once, so Kazuho and Nao rush on stage and draw their weapons. Ayaka is too dazed to move. A villager approaches with an axe, but he gets taken out by Keiichi with a bat. Shion creates an opening for them, and signals everyone to come over. Kazuho and Keiichi grab Ayaka and jump offstage. Meanwhile, Shion rushes over to Mion and confronts her, calling her "Shion". Mion realizes both of them swapped, then lets her hair down. She promises not to harm Shion and Keiichi if they stand down, but they refuse. Keiichi says she's being controlled by a black card and they just need to beat it out of her. Mion insists she's sane and doing this on her own volition. Keiichi rushes at Mion, but Shion stops him. She tells him to help Ayaka and the others get out of here, as it's a direct order from the club leader. They do as she asks and run. Keiichi and Nao fight off villagers to clear a path for Kazuho and Ayaka. They make it down the shrine staircase, but villagers are still chasing. Keiichi stays behind to fight them off. He promises to meet up with them later at the Okinomiya coffee shop, then the girls run. Back at the stage, Shion is insisting Mion isn't in the right mind. Mion says she'll kill anyone in her way, then the two charge at one another.
Part 2.
Kazuho and co. are still running from the villagers who are going mad. One manages to cut Ayaka's arm. Kazuho realizes this is like the previous world, but the Queen Carrier Ayaka can't be the one controlling them this time. Nao says the worst person they could run into now is Rena. They only beat her in the last world using the Tamahajiki sword, which they don't have anymore. Ayaka stops running and bursts into tears at the fact that the town never viewed her as anything but a sacrifice. She wants to just go back to the shrine to give the others a chance to escape. Nao gives her a heart to heart speech about how she found a reason to live in the previous world, and she doesn't want to lose a friend. By now they're surrounded by villagers. Nao tells the others to flee to the Houjou house, and goes off to fight. Kazuho gives a passionate speech of her own and convinces Ayaka her life has value, then takes her by the hand and they both run off.
Part 3.
Having shaken off their pursuers, Kazuho and Ayaka are exhausted when they arrive at the Houjou house. They bang on the door and Satoshi answers. Kazuho wonders why the villagers didn't attack here. Satoshi can tell something must've happened so he lets them inside. He apologizes for the mess and clears a place to sit, then brings tea. They both gulp it down immediately, plus 2 more refills. Satoshi says he left before the dance because Satoko wasn't feeling well. Kazuho explains the current situation to him, but he struggles to accept it. He suggests they hide here overnight and ask Irie in the morning to drive them out of town. Satoko is sleeping in the other room. She's had a fever since the day before. Kazuho notices Satoko avoided the festival slaughter in the last world because she was sick too. Satoshi's parents are out of town and there's no way to call them. Ayaka is falling asleep leaning against Kazuho. Satoshi brings pillows and blankets, and says he'll keep watch so the two of them can sleep until morning.
Part 4.
After parting with Kazuho and Ayaka, Nao laments that Reina never got her memories back. Reina disappeared right before the dance, just like the previous world. The scene abruptly cuts to Nao waking up in the clinic, and Reina is beside her looking after her. Nao asks Reina what she's doing here. Back at the festival Keiichi told her he heard about an ambulance in front of her house, so she rushed home. But her family was fine so she headed back, and on the way she found Nao collapsed on the ground alone, and brought her to the clinic. Nao wonders if Keiichi lied to Reina protect her. Irie comes in and is glad to see Nao awake. He says she should rest here another day, apparently oblivious to everything that went down at the shrine. Nao is worried the clinic will get attacked like in the last world, but she suddenly feels extremely drowsy. While her consciousness is fading away she tries to tell Reina to get out of here, but she can't say it properly, so Reina thinks Nao is asking her to stay here. Reina tucks Nao in and says not to worry because she'll be here with her.
Part 5.
Nao feels like she's floating in darkness, when a voice pleads for her to wake up. As soon as she hears that, she sees a scene of the clinic basement playing out like a video on fast forward. Then she wakes up in the clinic in the middle of the night. Reina is sleeping nearby. Nao quietly sneaks out of the room and through the secret passage to the basement. Just as she opens the large door at the end of the hallway, Irie emerges and says this area is off limits. Nao peers into the room but it's too dark to see. In a reflection, she can see Irie is holding a scalpel behind his back. Nao finally remembers what happened before she fell unconscious. After she took out all the possessed villagers, Irie bonked her on the head. She accuses Irie of that, and he starts grinning and acting crazy. He says he's found a scientific way to control and manipulate people, and goes on a rant about how he's creating a utopia where human conflict and disagreements are no more. Nao says Irie caused the incident at the shrine too, then points her Role Card weapon at him. Irie raises his hand and men burst from all the doors in the hall, armed with crowbars and wrenches, moving in to attack Nao.
Part 6.
Nao is fighting the men in the hallway, but more keep coming as fast as she can take them out, and she's getting tired. Irie kneels in front of Nao on the ground. He says he knocked her unconscious instead of killing her because he wanted to make her a test subject, since she's the same height and age, but Reina showing up foiled that plan. Nao asks what he plans to do to Reina. He says he won't harm her as long as Nao does as he asks. He starts choking her, and her consciousness is fading out. Just then Reina shows up. She rushes over and demands Irie release Nao, but he swats her away, knocking her unconscious. The desire to protect her sister gives Nao the motivation to kick Irie and break free.
She charges at the attacking men, who are now roaring like tsukuyami. Then the room fills with black fog, strengthening the men. Irie says it's the result of his research. Nao is really struggling, and just as Irie is about to capture her, Keiichi bursts in and knocks them all away. He saw Reina carry Nao to the clinic but wasn't sure if she was trustworthy so he took a longer route to sneak in here. His support gives Nao strength to keep fighting. Keiichi says Irie is a kind person so he must've had a reason for doing these things, but vows to never forgive him for hurting Reina and Nao.
Part 7.
Irie can't keep up with the combined attacks from Keiichi and Nao, and he collapses. Smoke releases from his body and a black card falls to the ground. Reina is waking up, so Keiichi and Nao rush over. Keiichi apologizes for lying to Reina earlier and thanks her for helping Nao, then he gives Reina a big hug. Nao says explanations can wait until later, then opens the door at the end of the hall. Inside is a bunch of electronic equipment connected to Rika, who is laying in a bed. They find an emergency manual nearby and follow the procedures to wake her up. Rika recognizes everyone and thanks them for saving her. She's scrawny and malnourished, and doesn't even have the strength to sit up. Keiichi thanks Rika for saving him in the previous world. Reina is confused by the exchange.
Keiichi says they need to escape to the shrine storehouse, right away. Keiichi is carrying Rika on his back as they take a back route through the mountains to the shrine. Nao asks why they're heading there. Keiichi reaches into his pocket and hands her the Susuke no Tamawari. He says he got it from Kazuho, and that she and Ayaka are hiding at the storehouse. Reina asks what's going on, and Keiichi tells her they can escape through a secret passage in the storehouse. Reina is upset they don't have time to go back for her parents. Rika wakes back up, and Nao gives her an explanation of the circumstances in this world, then Nao asks Rika what she knows. Rika regained her memories 3 weeks ago, but whenever she woke up they'd drug her back to sleep. She did overhear Irie's plan to control the villagers. She tells Nao how she looped through 1983 for 100 years and finally escaped, only for tsukuyami to kill everyone. And circumstances are very different in these new worlds, with Role Cards, plus Nao, Kazuho, and Miyuki showing up. Rika says helping Satoko was always Irie's primary motivation, but since she has a happy home life in this world that might've made him different here. Reina is brooding. Rika falls back asleep. Keiichi asks Reina to carry Rika so he can have his hands free in case anything happens.
They reach the festival grounds, and there are no people anywhere. Nao quietly asks Keiichi why he lied about the ambulance. It was partly because he was afraid to have Reina as an enemy. But also, he noticed that only some people went crazy last time, and it might be because of how close they were to the shrine. They eventually reach the main shrine and find Shion dead, laying in a pool of blood. There's no time to mourn because shouts are coming from the forest, so the group rushes forward to the storehouse. Kazuho and Ayaka are nowhere to be found. Keiichi forcefully grabs Reina and Nao by the arm, and says the three of them should escape without him. Nao finally notices Keiichi has been fighting with a black Role Card. Even though "that girl" told Keiichi to only use it as a last resort, he thought he needed the extra power to save everyone. Reina bursts into tears and begs Keiichi to come with them. Keiichi apologizes, then kicks the storehouse door open. He promises to remember them in the next world and tells them to trust Kazuho. Then he shoves the three of them through the doorway.
Part 8.
Kazuho suddenly wakes up and barely avoids a kitchen knife that Satoshi is swinging at her. She stumbles as soon as she tries to get up, realizing the tea she drank was drugged. Ayaka is still sleeping nearby. Kazuho hears giggling and sees Mion (who is actually Shion). Kazuho asks why she's doing this, and Mion says she finally found a world where she and Satoshi can be together, so she doesn't need anyone else. Satoshi is in a daze. Mion says killing Kazuho is the only way to keep this world going. Attempting to sacrifice Ayaka was a ploy to get Kazuho away from her friends. "That girl" gave her the idea. Satoshi grabs Kazuho and begs him to come to his senses. He's muttering something about protecting Satoko.
Mion grabs the knife. Right as she's about to swing it at Kazuho, the knife is sent flying by Ayaka, who was waiting for an opening to fight back. She built up a tolerance to drugs thanks to the medication she's been taking all her life. Ayaka pulls a stun gun out of her sleeve and threatens Mion with it. She pulls Kazuho away from Satoshi and says they should run. Kazuho is still too weak to move, but Ayaka refuses to leave without her and drags her out the front door. Outside, the house is surrounded by villagers. Kazuho uses what little strength she has to grab her Role Card. Just then a voice calls out from the rooftop telling her to stop. Countless bullets strike all the villagers precisely in their heads. Kawata jumps down from the roof. She greets Kazuho, and addresses Ayaka as Aya Saionji. Kawata then raises her rifle and shoots Ayaka straight in the chest. Kazuho screams as Ayaka collapses in a pool of blood.
Final Part.
Flashback to Ayaka's early days in the hospital. She's sickly and weak, and can't even leave her hospital room. She regrets being a burden for others. One day she's recovered enough to be able to walk, so she leaves her room. She hears her parents crying in another room and listens in. The doctor is telling them she's unlikely to live past 7 years old without an organ transplant, but they still can't find a donor. They're keeping Ayaka's condition in check with medication but it's causing other problems. Mom offers her own organs but she's not a compatible donor. Ayaka has a unique genetic makeup so they'll probably never find a donor. Her parents cry while Ayaka heads back to her room. She tells herself that dying is better than dragging out her painful way of life. But then she starts crying, saying she wants to live, to find out why she was born. During this, Ayaka met "that person" who granted her wish.
The scene cuts back to Kazuho shouting as Ayaka is bleeding out. Ayaka says that her real parents died in a tunnel collapse while driving to the hospital. Her remaining relatives called her a money-grubbing leech and told her to pay for her own medicine. That's why she came to Hinamizawa, but coming here brought all this misfortune. Kazuho says none of this was her fault. The last thing Ayaka says is, if they meet again she hopes they can be friends. Kazuho shouts Ayaka's name and shakes her, but she's already gone. Kawata interrupts to say she didn't know they were so close. She calmly apologizes and says she should've shot her in the head to end it with less suffering. Kazuho draws her Role Card and asks how Kawata can be so calm after doing something like this. Kazuho is enraged and ready to kill, but Kawata says to accept it because this is fate. Kazuho says she'll never forgive her but Kawata retorts she doesn't need her forgiveness. Kazuho attacks, but Kawata smacks her with her gun and Kazuho falls to the ground. Kawata presses her gun against Kazuho's throat and puts her finger on the trigger. She opens her eyes to reveal red pupils and says this too is fate. The scene fades to black and two gunshots ring out.
Epilogue.
One month later, Miyuki is on the way to meet Chisame at the station. Their investigation has been on hold since the Takano Pharmaceutical incident (which the public thinks was an accident). Tomoe is still hospitalized and they can't visit her yet. According to the newspaper, the sleeping sickness cure is progressing well and patients are waking up. The vaccine has been approved, too. They're about to head to the hospital to check on Nao's mom. They haven't been able to talk to Tamura or get ahold of Kazuho and Nao since last month. As Miyuki is thinking about how to help Kazuho, suddenly people all around her start collapsing, screaming in agony, and coughing up blood. Miyuki notices someone in the crowd and runs over to find Chisame on the ground. She's already gone. Then even Miyuki starts coughing up blood nonstop, and she collapses beside Chisame. All her senses are gradually fading out. The last thing Miyuki sees before losing consciousness is a young girl standing there.
Some higher being is looking down on the bloody scene, saying they deserved this, and it's their fault the blue flowerbed withered. This Fragment is as good as dead. The being they're talking to sighs and responds "Une-sama".
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei/Plot Summary Part 2 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei/Plot Summary Part 3
This page provides a detailed summary for Part 3 of "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei"'s story.
Prologue.
Miyuki wakes up in the Sea of Fragments and sees Tamura there, who is blurry and weak. The horrific scene Miyuki saw was a vision of one month in the future that Tamura used the last of her power to show her. Tamura explains that there is a lifeform from space taking on a human-like appearance, named Une. She's the cause of the Sleeping Sickness. Tamura didn't mention it before because she wasn't sure until now. She entrusts Miyuki with finding Une and vanishes since she ran out of power.
Heisei Chapter 1: Saiki (Recovery).
Part 1.
Miyuki wakes up in the meeting room at her apartment complex. She's relieved to see Chisame alive. It's the day after the explosion at Takano Pharmaceutical and Miyuki can't remember what she's doing here. They were chatting about what to do about their stalled investigation. Miyuki remembers going through police questioning after the incident, using Tamura's power to call Kazuho and Nao in another world, and a foreign company releasing a vaccine for the Sleeping Sickness. Chisame confirms none of that has happened yet and wonders if Miyuki hopped between worlds again, but Miyuki says that's not the case. She thinks it might've all happened in that prophetic dream. The vaccine is their best lead, so they decide to talk to Natsumi. But in an effort to do things differently from the dream world, Miyuki chooses to call her alone. She's still not sure if any of this is real.
Part 2.
Miyuki comes back to the meeting room and tells Chisame about the call with Natsumi. She was super busy so they only talked a minute, but Natsumi promised they'd meet up later. Unfortunately, Natsumi made the same promise in the dream, but couldn't make it on the scheduled day. Miyuki is panicking that things will play out the same way, and that nobody will believe her about the premonition. Chisame convinces Miyuki to open up to her, so she tells her everything.
Part 3.
By the time Miyuki finishes telling the story, it's now dark. Chisame understands why she was so reluctant to share it. Miyuki thinks that world ended poorly because she did nothing. She tells Chisame not to get involved as she wants to handle it on her own. She asks Chisame to flee somewhere safe with their moms. Chisame tries to protest, but Miyuki gets really passionate and shuts her down, saying that attitude is what got her father killed.
Part 4.
Miyuki is brooding on her father dying in the Hinamizawa disaster. He was declared killed in the line of duty, and that's why they're still allowed to live in police housing. Fellow officers looked out for her, especially Chisame's dad. They constantly told Miyuki stories about her late father. Miyuki was pretty introverted at the time so Yukie convinced her to join girl scouts, even though she didn't really want to. Chisame's dad forced Chisame to join martial arts around then, so the two girls began spending less time together.
Interacting with people at girl scouts, Miyuki opened up more and learned lots of stuff. She wanted to be her own person, not just her father's daughter. When middle school started, a bunch of girls left the troop and a bunch of new girls joined because a new residential district was built nearby. The newcomers hated it because their parents forced them to join and treated it like a day care. The new kids also bully each other for things like getting government assistance. They learn about Miyuki's dad from a magazine about the Hinamizawa disaster, and ask her insensitive questions about it. Their questions make Miyuki want to know more about the incident, so she asks Chisame's dad. He's drunk so he tells her about Rika's prophecy that saved Yukie from a fall. Miyuki starts investigating Rika, but her mom finds out and begs her to let it go, so she decides not to make things harder on her and drops it.
A year later, a girl scout asks Miyuki to talk to a boy scout the girl has a crush on. She does, and a month of interactions later the boy confesses to Miyuki instead. Miyuki doesn't know what to do and runs away, telling nobody. 2 weeks later, she's surrounded by girls, including the one who liked the boy, who is crying. One girl steps forward and accuses Miyuki of badmouthing the girl to the boy she liked.
Part 5.
Miyuki denies the accusations, but they don't believe her. She realizes nothing she says will ever convince them. The next day, she knows her mom will worry if she comes home looking depressed, so she goes to the park. She runs into Chisame there and shares the whole story. Chisame tells her to quit the scouts because these girls just hate her and there's no helping it. Miyuki doesn't want to run from her problem. Chisame reminds her how some officer they knew intervened in a bar fight, took a bad hit, and died from it. Chisame says Miyuki isn't even obligated to respond to the boy's confession. Chisame suggests they both enroll in cram school, which would give Miyuki an excuse to quit girl scouts. That means Chisame would have to quit martial arts too, but she's okay with it. Miyuki reluctantly agrees, because the guilt she feels running from a problem is smaller than the guilt of worrying a friend. A week later, Miyuki musters the courage to ask her mom about quitting. Yukie is actually supportive, and glad her daughter will be spending more time on her studies. Quitting scouts also meant Miyuki and Chisame now had more time to hang out together. Six months later, Chisame's dad finds out she quit martial arts. He took pride in his daughter taking martial arts and thought it was her future calling. She was sure he'd object and that's why she never told him. It causes a huge fight, and she storms out after saying mean things to him. Chisame's father was murdered three months later. The last time they ever spoke to each other was the day of that fight. Miyuki blames herself for that, since she was the reason Chisame quit martial arts. Chisame tries to calm Miyuki down, insisting it was her own fault for saying stupid things before parting with her father.
Miyuki is still worried the world will end if she does nothing, but Chisame says any sane person would feel the same in her position. Chisame asks Miyuki what her biggest regret would be if the world did end next month. Miyuki thinks back on all the friends she met in Hinamizawa who helped her, especially Kazuho, who was the one person she was always 100% sure she could trust. Miyuki is crying as she says she wants to see Kazuho again before she dies, so she can thank her for always being by her side and always believing in her. Chisame wipes away her tears and says they should go see her again. Miyuki still wants to do this alone, but Chisame threatens to break into the aquarium if Miyuki leaves her, because if the world is ending anyway, why not swim with sharks. Miyuki finally gives in and says she can come along. She feels a lot better now that she has a more manageable goal: to meet Kazuho again. And to do that, they need to find Une. Right as they're about to head out, the door swings open to reveal Yukie standing there.
Heisei Chapter 2: Henei (Change).
Part 1.
Yukie is struggling with wondering if it was right to become a police officer's wife, since it's a dangerous and stressful job that requires you to be on guard at all times, even on days off. One day she asked Akasaka if it was too much, but he insisted it's necessary to help people in need, and it's better do something instead of regretting that you didn't. Yukie doesn't want Miyuki to become a police officer, to endure that lifestyle. It got Akasaka killed, and a fellow officer looking into his incident died too.
The scene jumps back to Yukie barging in on Miyuki and Chisame's meeting. Miyuki can tell she's upset. Yukie says she got a call from a police officer Akitake and heard about everything that happened at the pharmaceutical factory, so she left work to come here. She's impressed they managed to get other police officers involved, but upset they never told her about any of this. She tells Miyuki they need to stop this since they're dealing with dangerous things even adults can't handle. It's not a request but an order, something Yukie has never done before. Yukie doesn't sound angry during any of this but instead terrified for her daughter's safety, so Miyuki can't say anything back. She has a flashback to her dream earlier. In the dream, Yukie made the same ultimatum, and Miyuki lied and said she would. But Yukie had all her acquaintances in the neighborhood help out monitoring Miyuki and Chisame, so they couldn't go anywhere or do anything. The one time she left home a month later was the day everyone coughed up blood and died near the train station. Miyuki doesn't want things to end up like in her dream, but she has no idea what she should do.
Part 2.
Miyuki is still struggling with how to answer her mom. She decides she needs to see Kazuho again, but lying to her mom would never be sustainable long term. Unlike in the dream world, she finally finds the courage and directly tells Yukie "No, I won't stop." Yukie asks if this is something she absolutely must do, and Miyuki says yes with no hesitation. Yukie turns to Chisame and says her father was killed for investigating Hinamizawa, so the culprit won't go easy on children. Miyuki passionately says she's long since accepted this might get her killed, but she still needs to do it to avoid a terrible tragedy. Yukie tries to interject but Chisame tells her to keep listening. Miyuki insists they can't leave it to others. She gets passionate and talks about what she saw in her dream. Yukie is confused. Miyuki asks for just one month to do this, and after that she'll listen obediently to her mother. Chisame chimes in saying she doesn't really understand the situation either, but she trusts Miyuki on this, and insists that doing something is better than regretting for the rest of your life that you didn't. That line gets to Yukie. Chisame also says she'd rather die than abandon Miyuki.
Yukie finally speaks up. She's struggling to say it, but she says after how much courage they showed to fight for what matters to them, she won't try to stop them. She doesn't want them to endanger themselves, but she also doesn't want them to be haunted by a lifetime of regret. Yukie says Chisame's mom approves too, and that they discussed it beforehand and she was willing to go along with whatever Yukie decided. Yukie also sets some firm ground rules: Always keep her informed about what they're doing and who they're with. Don't trust any shady people. And come home alive. Then she hugs Miyuki tight. Miyuki is moved to tears that her mother is willing to endure so much to respect her choices. Then Yukie says they need to change locations since she wants to tell them something about Hinamizawa Syndrome.
Part 3.
Yukie, Miyuki and Chisame take a taxi to Nao's apartment. Yukie has a key because she made a copy back when Nao was staying at their place. Yukie is being extra cautious. She tells them not to turn on the lights, and not to stand near the windows. They got out of the taxi far away and walked here so the driver wouldn't know where they went. Yukie wants to talk here because her and Chisame's apartments are both probably bugged. Miyuki is shocked how thoroughly her mom thought this through this. Chisame finally asks Yukie what she knows about Hinamizawa Syndrome. She says according to secret records Akasaka and Kurosawa kept, it's a parasite that can induce thoughts in people. A virus that can take over people's consciousness, and control their speech and actions.
Part 4.
What Yukie is telling them lines up with what Rika and Takano told them before. Yukie can tell from their reactions that they already knew all that. Miyuki wonders why Takano was so willing to talk openly about the syndrome. Yukie and Chisame's mom incinerated their copies of these documents. Yukie then tells them that until recently, the government had budgeted a huge amount of money toward Hinamizawa Syndrome research. The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Defense Agency were both interested. Miyuki remembers that Irie's basement felt like a military facility.
She then wonders why Akasaka's department, Public Security, was investigating Hinamizawa if it was state sponsored research. Yukie thinks Tomoe might be able to look into that, but she's injured. Chisame asks why Yukie is so willing to trust Tomoe if she's being this cautious. Yukie explains that Tomoe helped Akasaka investigate a murder after Hinamizawa was blockaded. Miyuki is baffled and asks, if Akasaka went missing in June 1983, how could he have been investigating something after the village was sealed off? Chisame and Yukie are both shocked. They say Akasaka was killed in the line of duty, stabbed to death by someone from Hinamizawa. Realizing this world is different from hers, Miyuki panics. She decides she needs to finally tell Chisame and Yukie the whole truth about where she came from.
Part 5.
Miyuki explains what happened in Hinamizawa, and that in her world Akasaka disappeared in the disaster. There was a disaster in this world, too. Tomoe told her that the villagers went mad and started killing one another in June 1983, just like Miyuki experienced there. The government covered it up and the whole area was buried by the dam. Miyuki can't remember if she ever said anything to Chisame in this world about her dad disappearing. She says Akasaka may have been a different person in these different worlds, but he always cared deeply for Miyuki and Yukie.
Yukie believes Miyuki's story, because it all sounds exactly like something her husband would do. Yukie is sobbing but trying to force a smile. She understands why they were hesitant to tell her the truth. Yukie explains that in July 1983, Akasaka was investigating an incident where a former Hinamizawa resident went around indiscriminately killing people after being relocated to the new village. Akasaka was stabbed in the chest with a kitchen knife while trying to subdue the assailant. Miyuki thinks back on Nao, and hopes that anything that might've changed for her in this timeline isn't this painful. Yukie then shows them a message Akasaka left behind before he died. "110 AIV". That was the same final message Chisame's father left behind.
Showa Chapter 1: Soushitsu (Loss).
Part 1.
Nao is dreaming of a light in the distance, then she pictures her Mom. She wants to see her Mom again and try to work things out. Then Nao wakes up near the shrine at sunset, clinging to her head in pain. It's the same pain she felt the first time she traveled between worlds. Rena and Rika are nowhere to be found. She hears footsteps, but when she turns to look it's a tsukuyami. She hasn't seen one in a while since they were absent in the previous world, but she doesn't hesitate. She holds up her Role Card, but it shatters immediately. Her body is still too weak to dodge, so the tsukuyami thwacks her and sends her flying into a tree. She tries to run, but a bunch of smaller tsukuyami cut off her escape route. Nao is surrounded and thinks her only way out is to jump over the smaller ones. Just then, a voice calls out to Nao and tosses her a new Role Card. It's Rika, looking far more healthy in this world. Rika vows to pay Nao back for everything she's done.
Part 2.
After Nao and Rika finish off the tsukuyami, Nao asks about the circumstances in this world. Rika is alive and well here, but her parents are alive too so she's not the Furude family head. Then Nao asks about Rena. Rika explains that Keiichi transferred to the Hinamizawa school and is living in his old house with his parents. Mion is in Hinamizawa but Shion is not. Satoko and Satoshi are living happily with their parents, but they'll be moving away in a few months as part of the dam settlement. Hanyuu is gone. Rena's parents got divorced and she moved back here. Nao can tell there's something more that Rika isn't saying. Rika woke up in this world about a week ago. Keiichi and Mion both have their previous memories. Rika hasn't been able to see Rena since she got here, because she's sickly and never leaves home.
Nao takes off running toward Rena's house as soon as she hears that, but Rika stops her. She says meeting Nao would break Rena's heart, or worse. This is the "Reina" from the previous world, who never experienced and worked through her parents divorce, so having this situation suddenly forced on her is crushing her. Rika tells Nao she can stay at Keiichi's house since they already planned for the possibility she might show up. Before they head out, Nao asks about Ayaka. Rika responds "Who?" She realizes that was her replacement in the previous world and that she heard about it from Keiichi. Rika offers to help Nao investigate. Then Nao asks about Kazuho. She's not here, she never came through the doorway. Nao points out this world should have a 5 year old Kazuho too. Rika says Kazuho's brother and parents do exist here, but Kazuho herself is nowhere to be found.
Part 3.
At Keiichi's house, his Mom made a big fancy meal and is encouraging Nao to eat. The food is way more extravagant than the meals Nao had here with Kazuho and Miyuki. Nao thanks Keiichi's family, and they're impressed with her politeness. Mom suggests trading Keiichi for Nao. Nao feels guilty because they're treating her like a princess. She struggles to eat with her arm injured and some pain in her throat, but forces herself so they won't worry. She thinks this atmosphere is similar to meals here with Kazuho and Miyuki, but back then she was only ever focused on her sister, so she regrets not appreciating it more. Keiichi apologizes for his family making such a fuss, but Nao says it's fun. Even though they're eating the same miso soup Nao had in the first world, it tastes different this time, somehow.
Part 4.
Keiichi and his Mom are upstairs preparing a room for Nao, and Nao is downstairs discussing art with Keiichi's Dad. Nao refers to them as 'Mama' and 'Papa', at their request. She offers to help but they refuse. Mama and Keiichi come down and say the room is ready, then Keiichi leads Nao up to check it out. Nao asks Keiichi what he said to convince his parents, but he dodges the question. She remembers that Miyuki's Mom was just as hospitable, and wonders if this is what normal parents are like. Before Nao can head to sleep, Keiichi says he wants to talk about Rena. He reassures her that even if this is the 'Reina' from the previous world, she's still strong and did so much to help out in that world. Nao feels responsible for Reina's situation. She asks Keiichi what happened to him at the end of the last world, but he doesn't remember. He says they just need to do their best in this world. Keiichi can tell she needs space, so he heads out. Nao cries into her pillow. She really wishes Kazuho and Miyuki were here.
Part 5.
Later in the night Nao gets up, regains her composure, and vows she won't cry again until she sees her sister. Keiichi comes in to chat. He says Shion in this world is trapped in St Lucia. She had an escape plan, but it fell apart because Mion tipped them off and had them tighten security. It's unclear if Shion got her memories back, but it's safer to keep her locked up. Nao asks why Shion caused the tragedy in the previous world, and Keiichi says probably so she could be together with Satoshi. Keiichi says Shion is still his friend and he's willing to forgive her, but Nao calls him naive and won't accept it. It's late and Keiichi is about to head out, but Nao stops him. She asks why he lied about Kazuho waiting at the ritual storehouse in the last world. He says she wouldn't have come with if he hadn't. Then she asks how he got the 'Sukusenotamawari' since Kazuho was supposed to have it. He says he found it on the ground somewhere, and didn't say anything about it because he promised "that girl" he wouldn't. Nao still wonders who that is. She asks why the last thing Keiichi said before pushing them into the ritual storehouse was "trust Kazuho". He dodges the question. She asks when the last time he saw Kazuho was. He says when he split up with everyone at the stairs. Keiichi heads out for the night, and Nao goes to sleep.
Showa Chapter 2: Taisho (Contrast).
Part 1.
Nao wakes up at 4 in the morning, unable to sleep. She's gotten used to having other people around, so sleeping on her own felt lonely. As she gets up, a missanga bracelet falls out of her pocket. She worries those don't exist in 1983 so she ties it to her right ankle and hides it under her sock. Keiichi knocks at the door, he came to make sure she's doing okay. Today is Sunday, June 5th. After breakfast, Keiichi and Nao head toward the Sonozaki house. The dam project was only recently approved in this world, so the village still has plenty of people around and feels more hospitable. They run into Rika in front of the Sonozaki house and they all head inside. Mion comes in with tea and snacks. It's a meeting of all the loopers. Mion tried to invite Rena too, but couldn't get ahold of her. She has "Reina's" memories, Mion says she knows for sure but couldn't say anything sooner. The order they got their memories back was Keiichi, Rika, Mion, then Rena. Nao wonders if there's some rule to the order. Mion says she's been doing some investigation of the village and wants to report her findings. Nao sets aside her worries about Rena and Kazuho, and listens in.
Part 2.
Mion says this world is like a mix of the previous two. The curse is different. The dam manager was murdered like usual 4 years ago, but the later year incidents never happened, so people are less afraid of Oyashiro-sama. Rika is about to say something else but stops. There's less of a pro/anti dam conflict, so the villagers are less openly hostile to Satoko and Satoshi. Like in the previous world, the acting Kimiyoshi family head is Kazuho's father, Minoru. Nao ask about Kazuho, but Mion promises they'll discuss that later. Mion is suspicious of Minoru. Minoru comes over to talk with Rika's parents nearly every day, but when Rika asked what they talk about, they refused to tell her. Mion is concerned they're leaving the Sonozakis out of these discussions. Minoru still lives in Okinomiya, so it's odd that he's coming all the way to Hinamizawa every day. Rika offers to eavesdrop on their meetings. Nao finally speaks up. She asks everyone to tell her everything they know about the Great Hinamizawa Disaster.
Part 3.
Nao explains her understanding of the gas disaster from the perspective of 10 years in the future. Rika is surprised and asks how Nao knows all this stuff. Nao realizes Rika wasn't actually there when she explained that she's from the future to everyone before. But Rika confirms that yes, what Nao said about the disaster is true. Rika calls the disaster an inevitable fate, and says it was actually a man-made incident. Even Nao is surprised by this. Rika continues, saying she experienced it countless times, and that Takano is the one behind it. Keiichi says he knew it. He remembers how Takano attacked them in the first world and thinks it makes sense, then Nao says it's a good thing Kawata was there to save them back then. Mion has no idea who Kawata is. Keiichi says he had a dream about Takano and her men shooting everyone. In the previous world, the clinic was named the Takano clinic after her grandfather, and since his work got recognized she seemed to be a more compassionate person in that world. Rika explains she knows these things because she's looped through this time period hundreds, maybe thousands of times. Everyone banded together to create a miracle that let her move into the future. But in July, on the way back from the pool, everyone got slaughtered by tsukuyami. Then she looped back to June 1983 again, and was terrified to be in a world with tsukuyami. Then later her body got taken over and she was transported to the world where she was locked in the basement. Rika met 5 year old Miyuki on the night of Watanagashi in the Matsuribayashi world, so she knew who 15 year old Miyuki was the moment they met, but she pretended not to. Miyuki, Kazuho, and Nao showing up confused Rika so much she panicked. Rika thinks the previous world was her punishment for not trusting them, and she apologizes. Nao grabs Rika's hand, then says she understands and forgives her. She wishes Satoko and Hanyuu were around to comfort Rika.
Part 4.
The conversation was dragging on, so they take a break with some tea and sweets, then they resume. Rika explains they need Tomitake's help to stop the conspiracy, as he's the point of contact at Tokyo. But it'll be really hard to convince him since he trusts Takano and he always gets killed on the night of Watanagashi. Nao remembers how in the first world Tomitake was going to drive them out of town, but they found him dead, and she realizes Takano was the one who did it. Nao asks how Keiichi and Shion convinced Tomitake to help out in that world. Keiichi only knows Shion did what "that girl" told her to do. Keiichi still can't remember who "that girl" is. Mion offers to ask next time she writes Shion a letter. They wonder if she's another Role Card user. They talk about how Irie and Takano's roles were reversed in the last world. But Rika insists Irie is a good person, and Keiichi says something must've changed him. Mion brings things back on track and says they just need to find a way to persuade Tomitake.
Part 5.
Mion says she wants to talk with Keiichi and Rika about school stuff. Nao can tell they don't want her here for the conversation, so she heads out. She's sure school was an excuse, and they're actually talking about Kazuho. When they split up in the previous world, Keiichi said "Trust Kazuho." Nao decides it's best not to do anything that might upset Keiichi while living in his house. She wants go gather more info. The sweets Mion served had the same distinct flavor as the ones Tomoe served at the public relations office, so Nao wonders if even Tomoe is untrustworthy. Nao heads to the trash heap, thinking it's the only place she might run into Rena, and sure enough she finds her inside a car there. Rena invites her in. She heard from Mion about all the differences in this world, like how her name is "Rena" not "Reina" here. She points out how Nao often accidentally called her Rena before. Nao apologizes for getting her caught up in this situation. Rena tells her not to apologize, and she's glad to see her again. Nao wonders if Rena would still treat her this kindly if she knew she's her sister. Rena apologizes for making Nao worry. Nao wishes she could be more like Rena, able to force a smile for the sake of others. Rena says she needs some time to sort out her feelings, then she'll talk with everyone later. Nao says she'll wait as long as it takes. They walk out of the trash heap, holding hands. Nao vows to protect Rena this time. Rena asks Nao if she met this world's Mion, and Nao says yes. Rena questions if that's actually Mion, then walks away before Nao can even respond. Nao worries what might happen if the real Mion is trapped in St. Lucia and the "Mion" here is actually Shion.
Heisei Chapter 3: Icon.
Part 1.
Miyuki reaffirms her mission to identify the differences between this world and her original one. She meets up with Chisame at a cafe, and Natsumi is there too. They chat about what happened after the factory accident. Natsumi hasn't seen Tomoe since the incident either. Miyuki had told Akitake to pass word on to Natsumi that they were interested in meeting up, but Higo was the one who let Natsumi know. Chisame doesn't remember Higo. Miyuki asks Natsumi what other companies might benefit from Takano Pharmaceutical's cure for the Sleeping Sickness getting rejected. Natsumi mentions a major foreign pharmaceutical company, Yupmirna, that was also developing a sleeping sickness drug, but their application got postponed in favor of Takano's drug. Natsumi says Takano's drug may have side effects, but then asks them to pretend they didn't hear that. The government is now accelerating the push for the Yupmirna drug. Natsumi says in her personal opinion this is a good thing, because Yupmirna is a bigger company that can get the drug distributed far faster. Miyuki wonders if everyone coughing up blood in her premonition might've been caused by that drug, but she'd need more concrete evidence to convince Natsumi. Natsumi thinks the sleeping sickness is less severe than the media lets on, because all the people who died of it had other health conditions.
When Natsumi is about to leave, Miyuki stops her and asks what she knows about the murder of Mamoru Akasaka. Miyuki heard from her Mom that Tomoe came to his funeral along with a high school girl, and Miyuki had a hunch it was Natsumi. Natsumi looks terrified, but sits back down. She explains that Akasaka was killed by an elderly person at a nursing home while protecting a girl working there part-time. That was Natsumi.
Part 2.
Chisame is shocked, as she didn't know about the incident either. It happened in July, 1983. Akasaka, Ooishi, and Tomoe were investigating people from Hinamizawa acting violent out of fear of Oyashiro-sama. Natsumi explains the incident: she was working at the care center when she heard a commotion in the next room over. When she went in she found Hatakeyama stabbing another resident over and over with a knife. She was too scared to even move. Hatakeyama rushed toward her, but just then Akasaka burst in and pushed Natsumi out of the way. Hatakeyama stabbed Akasaka in the stomach, then collapsed. Ooishi and Tomoe came in to help, and Akasaka was taken to the hospital, but the blood loss was too severe. He was already injured from an earlier incident in May and was supposed to be resting, but he insisted on joining this investigation anyway. Miyuki can't recall any incident in May back in her world. Tomoe brought Natsumi to his funeral, but advised her not to tell anybody who she was. Now, Natsumi vows to do whatever she can to help Miyuki, in order to pay back the favor of Akasaka saving her.
Part 3.
Miyuki and Chisame part with Natsumi and head to a payphone. They call up Tomoe's subordinate Akitake and set up a meeting, then head toward the police museum. Chisame asks Miyuki if she resents Natsumi for what happened to her dad. Miyuki says no, but thinks to herself that's assuming Natsumi was actually telling the truth. Miyuki asks Chisame if it's all right to even call her Miyuki, considering how different her life is from this world's Miyuki. Chisame asks if she remembers going to the aquarium together when they were little. Her dad promised they'd go to the Osaka aquarium to see whale sharks if she won a competition, and she did, but he canceled last minute because of work. Before that, her grandma's dog got killed and the culprit was hardly punished for it. So Dad suggested the aquarium thing to smooth things over, but it ended up making things worse, and she started to hate him. Their parents decided to let Chisame and Miyuki go to the aquarium on their own. The reason they were able to do that was because Miyuki was reliable. And that's why, even if her memories are a little different, she's still Miyuki to Chisame.
They finally arrive at the police museum. The place is closed due to the Sleeping Sickness, but some employees notice them on the way back from lunch, give the girls some juice, and then Akitake comes over to greet them. Chisame thinks one of the men looks familiar. Akitake says there's actually someone here who wants to see them, then leads the girls inside. They take the elevator up to the director's office, and waiting inside is Kawata.
Part 4.
Miyuki asks Kawata why she's here. She says she's related to this. Akitake points out that Tomoe wasn't surprised by Miyuki's time travel story, and that's because she already heard the same thing from Kawata beforehand. Kawata explains that her power comes from someone other than the so-called god they know. She tried getting Tomoe's cooperation before, but it didn't work out, so she did all sorts of things for a while. Kawata heard there could be other people with the same power, so when she met the girls in 1983, she immediately had a hunch what they were. Kawata says she's not their enemy, at least in 'this' world. She admits the occult writer thing was a lie and sternly tells the girls not to bother asking Urara or the people at Public Relations about her. Miyuki asks who that is. Akitake waves and says that's her first name.
Kawata asks Miyuki what they came here for, so they get back to their original subject. Miyuki asks Akitake if she has any info on a murder at a nursing home in Aichi Prefecture in July 1983. Kawata flinches, then asks why they're interested in an incident caused by a former Hinamizawa resident. Miyuki decides to tell them that her father was the officer killed in the incident. Akitake is hesitant to share police records with outsiders, so she offers to listen to their version of the facts and point out inconsistencies. Kawata asks if she can join in, and Miyuki agrees, since she did help them in the past.
Part 5.
Miyuki finishes explaining the incident as Natsumi told it. Akitake says that lines up with the information she heard. She adds that the killer died shortly after his arrest, allegedly of heart failure. Kawata seems amused that's how it played out in "this" world. Chisame asks Kawata for her version of the story. She says the culprit killed a resident and a staff member, not a detective, and the staff member wasn't Natsumi. Miyuki thinks Kawata's version of events matches her memories better, so Kawata must've come from a world like her original one. Failing to stop the incident caused Tomoe to be demoted from her assistant director position, and that's how she ended up at this museum.
Chisame asks if Oyashiro-sama is really something to be so afraid of, as magazines have published rumors that the Sleeping Sickness was caused by Hinamizawa's god. Miyuki asks if there's anyone else who knows about the incident in Aichi that she can talk to. Just then Akitake gets a call from Higo and has to leave. She tells Kawata to wait here because A-chan is coming back today. Kawata is stunned, thinking they wouldn't be back in the country all summer. After Akitake leaves, Kawata looks Miyuki in the eyes, extremely close, but Chisame pulls her away. Kawata pulls a file and a pastry box from a paper bag and hands them over, calling them a parting gift. Then she walks over, opens a window, and jumps out. They're on the third floor. The girls look out the window but she's nowhere to be seen. Miyuki wonders what Kawata is doing and if she's their enemy or not.
Chisame opens the file Kawata left them. It's a list of people connected to Hinamizawa, with addresses. The pastry box is from a shop in Okinomiya, and based on the date Kawata must've gone there after the Takano Pharmaceutical incident. Miyuki is worried what might happen to Kazuho if she comes back, because the Kazuho of this world already committed suicide. Trying to figure out what to do next, Chisame flips through the address book. They notice the name Reina Ryuugu, age 23, currently living in a mental health rehab facility.
Showa Chapter 3: Kaiten (Revolution).
Part 1.
Nao and Keiichi head to the shrine grounds after dark. They got a call earlier asking them to meet up with Rika and Mion. Nao did some smooth talking to convince Keiichi's family to let them go out this late. Tomitake is there too. He and Nao haven't met in this world, and she didn't interact with him much in the first world either. She remembers how Kazuho claimed to hear shutter clicks and see Tomitake nearby during Rika's dance, but Nao didn't hear or see any of that. Takano, Irie, and even Rika's parents don't know that they're meeting here. Rika asks Tomitake to tell them everything about "Tokyo". She says she already learned about it from another Tomitake. She warns him that if they don't do something, he'll be the first victim of Takano's "final operation."
Part 2.
Tomitake is speechless when he first hears the explanation, but after giving it some thought he doesn't seem too surprised. He thought something was going on behind the scenes. He asks to make sure nobody but Rika and her friends know about the "final operation." Rika emphasizes that they don't want to deceive him and they don't feel contempt toward Takano, they just want a happy future. Tomitake mentions that Rika's parents have been saying she's acting like a different person lately. Takano noticed Rika acting different too, but she assumed Rika was just changing herself to suit the tastes of a boy she liked. Nao asks Tomitake what he plans to do now. He says he wants persuade Takano to drop her plans. Nao tells him that's impossible and he shouldn't bother, but he insists on trying anyway. Rika says it's his choice to make, and Mion and Keiichi back her up. But Rika tells him to still consider what he'll do if Takano can't be persuaded. Then Tomitake tells Rika her other friend in hiding can come out. Rika is confused, turns to the shadows, and calls out. Akasaka emerges.
Part 3.
Rika explains to Tomitake that Akasaka is a detective from Public Security. Keiichi quietly asks Rika why she's so surprised to see him, and she says he never comes here this early. Akasaka says he needs to talk to the kids, so Tomitake steps back. He tells Rika he came here on his own to investigate Tokyo, and asks them to agree to work together. Everyone is surprised how pushy he's acting. Keiichi asks how they can agree to something without a proper explanation. Akasaka says he can't share full details, but he's doing this because he's indebted to the village. He does say that Takano's plan will go in a different direction than expected, with the villagers undergoing an outbreak of Hinamizawa Syndrome and going wild. Takano's research was actually being largely accepted, but someone wants to sacrifice her and take it for themself. They think if they can find evidence of this, Tomitake will have an easier time persuading Takano. Everyone wants to do what they can to save Takano. Nao is wondering if this world's Mion is actually Shion. Mion asks Akasaka how this arrangement benefits him, but he won't say. Instead, he swears on his wife and daughter. Nao realizes that means Miyuki is alive in this world. She approaches Akasaka and quietly asks him if he currently lives in police housing, and he says yes. Nao is still a little unsure but she decides to trust this Akasaka.
Part 4.
The next morning, Nao wakes up at the Maebara house and gets ready for school. She and Keiichi head out together and meet up with Mion. Keiichi and Mion are quietly discussing something but Nao can't make it out. Rena wasn't at the usual meeting spot. They agree to go see her after school today, and Nao offers to bring Rena food to cheer her up. They suggest dressing Nao up in cute outfits too, and decide to make it a competition of who can pick the best outfit, with a punishment for the loser. Nao is trying really hard to act cheerful and hide how worried she is. Suddenly they hear a shout, and Rena comes running this way, coughing from running so hard. She seems really energetic. She says she didn't want to fall yet another day behind on classwork. Nao freezes, at a loss for what to do. Rena gives Nao a head pat and apologizes for making her worry. Nao can't stop herself from crying, and they hug. Mion reminds everyone they're running late, so they all rush to school.
Part 5.
After school, everyone gathers together for a club game. Satoshi is concerned his parents will be upset if they don't head home right after class, but Satoko convinces him it'll be fine. The game this time is Uno. Mion is surprised Nao is familiar with it, since it only came to Japan last year. They explain the rules and begin. Everyone is out except Satoko, Rika, and Keiichi. Satoko and Rika work together and show each other their cards to ensure Keiichi loses. Keiichi whines, but Mion says it's technically not against the rules. So Rena and Nao decide they should team up too. Then Keiichi teams up with Satoshi. With no one left to partner with, Mion forms a trio with Satoko and Rika. They try to get Satoshi to ditch Keiichi for them too, but he won't. With teams settled, they resume playing. Nao is glad to see Rena acting cheerful, and vows to protect her this time.
Meanwhile, at the Okinomiya police station, Kumagai is telling Ooishi that Rina wasn't at her apartment. Also Teppei hasn't been home for about week and his wife doesn't know where he is. The police were investigating the badger scheme those two were involved with. Ooishi thinks the man they were targeting is a suspect in their disappearance, so he requests a warrant for the Ryuugu household.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei/Plot Summary Part 3 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei/Roles
This page provides a list of roles reoccurring outside of a single banner or event in .
Student.
There are role cards for most of the main characters with their default school appearance.
All units under this section have a rarity of R.
All units under this section have a rarity of SSR.
Angel Mort.
There are multiple role cards named after Angel Mort featuring characters with the waitress uniform. While the role cards of the "" characters from the event Wetting Season are not named after the restaurant, they are explicitly featured after it nonetheless. The event Half-Dream Story also features units wearing Halloween-styled Angel Mort uniforms
All units under this section have a rarity of SSR.
Oyashiro Infection.
is a series of role cards. Most of them are named Infection Outbreak and involve character succumbing to the Hinamizawa Syndrome; the characters related to the Furude Family have role cards named Oyashiro instead; there are also two other special cases included under the series.
All units under this section have a rarity of SSR.
True Oyashiro Infection.
is a new series of role cards themed after Hinamizawa Syndrome.
Dark Awakening.
This series of role cards have its origin in the Higurashi Outsiders event.
All units under this section have a rarity of SSR.
Magical Girl.
Illusion? Oyashiro Wars introduced units themed after Ayakashisenshi in . More role cards with the same theme were releases afterwards.
All units under this section have a rarity of SSR.
One-Day Wedding.
Calling Love...K?! and Wedding Bells on the Battlefield feature wedding themed units of the same visual style.
All units under this section have a rarity of SSR.
Remembrance Fragment.
Remembrance Fragment is a series of role cards themed after scenes from the original story, including its .
All units under this section have a rarity of SSR.
Oiran Dochu.
Red-Light Sisters and Ankoro Princess feature oiran themed units of the same visual style.
All units under this section have a rarity of SSR.
Monster From the Dark.
This series of role cards have its origin in the Corrupted Guardian Spirit event.
All units under this section have a rarity of SSR.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei/Roles |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei/Seals
"Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei" features , items that can be equipped in unit subslots to give them stats and abilities. Seals take the form of artwork, usually screenshots from Higurashi Gou and episodes or promotional artwork. This pages lists all of them.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei/Seals |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei/TIPS
This page provides summaries for the TIPS in "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei."
Part 1.
Chapter 8.
TIP 1.
Akasaka has the sword and will get it to the others.
TIP 2.
This TIP is from the perspective of Rena's mom. She had a dream to become a clothing designer ever since she was little. Inherent sexism in the industry made it impossible for her to advance in her career so she abandoned her dream and settled on raising a family. Years later, a coworker actually supported her work and she realized she should've never given up on her dream. Time passes and she ends up pregnant with that coworker's kid, so she decides pursuing that dream again means more to her than her family. But she knows that makes her a terrible person and vows to be a better mother for her second child.
TIP 3.
Ooishi wakes up under the shrine confused about what is going on. Midori suddenly shows up and shoots him in the leg. She demands the card that turned him into a monster, but he doesn't have it anymore. She says this world is already over, and she plans to kill him to prevent him from turning into a monster again. Miyabi suddenly appears and saves him. Then Midori responds "About time you showed yourself. Long time no see, "Death God" Miyabi Saionji".
TIP 4.
Tomoe receives a call from a policeman named Watanabe. He's asking for her help investigating the dismemberment murder case of another policeman named Kurosawa. Tomoe says she's the director of the police museum now so she has no authority to help, but she agrees to have tea with him and have a long chat about other matters.
Part 2.
Showa Chapter 4.
Return to Hinamizawa.
Kasai arrives to pick Shion up in the middle of the night. They chat while driving back. Kasai hands her a letter from Kazuho explaining their circumstances. He asks Shion how she escaped. She bought an escape plan from a smart, eccentric first-year middle school student she was friends with. After looping back in she told this girl everything, and the girl told her everything she knew too. The girl says to leave everything to her. Shion says the girl reminds her of Rena, not in appearance or personality, but in conviction. She's helping because she likes stories about sisters. Half-sisters, even more. She accepts some cute stationery of Shion's as payment for her cooperation. During the drive back Shion wonders how Mion is doing.
Heisei, After the Call.
In 1993, Miyuki and Chisame finish up their phone call with Kazuho. Tamura faded away right after the call finished. Miyuki thinks it's her fault Tomoe got hurt in the factory. She and Chisame plan to visit Tomoe in the hospital.
Dinner at the Furude House.
Kazuho and Nao are having dinner with Ayaka. She talks about life at the sanatorium. Lots of kids misbehaved there and she would often scold them for it, so she received the nickname Otsubone-sama.
Reina's Request.
Keiichi and Reina are taking a break during festival prep. He says Ayaka looked especially cheerful, and it's all because Reina took the initiative to apologize to her the other day. He thinks even if Reina and Rena are different people, they have the same strength. Keiichi asks Reina to help him if he's ever in a tight spot. She agrees.
Part 3.
Heisei Chapter 1.
Heisei TIP 1.
Excerpt from a news article talking about new housing developments in the suburbs that were hurt by the economic recession. One development built poor quality houses for the residents and they've been fighting for compensation. One of the residents they interviewed was referred to as A-san.
Heisei TIP 2.
News report saying there are lots of construction defects at this new housing development. Parents are constantly complaining about it, and that attitude seeps through to their kids, so they misbehave. It's causing conflict with the local residents.
Heisei TIP 3.
Chisame is on the phone with a girl named Mayu (真由). She recommended a cram school to her. Chisame told her about Miyuki's girl scout incident. There were rumors at one point about why Miyuki's mom never moved out of police housing and that maybe she was having an affair with someone, like Chisame's dad. Yukie managed to shut those down quickly. Mayu thinks the kids from the new housing development just didn't like Miyuki from the start. Chisame says she's not going to let them get away with it. She thanks Mayu for the advice then hangs up. Chisame wonders if even the confession itself was part of a plan from the new housing development kids to harass Miyuki.
Heisei Chapter 2.
TIP 1.
"This is unlocked after Heisei Chapter 2 Part 2."
After talking with Akitake, Yukie goes to chat with Chisame's mom. Chisame's mom is being medicated for some illness but she's doing okay. She regrets looking at her husband's corpse. It's been 3 months since he died, but Yukie says it takes far longer than that to get over a husband's death. Yukie was trying to make amends for Akasaka's death by looking out for Miyuki, but she was so focused on keeping her safe that she neglected how she felt. She acknowledges that Chisame has been doing a lot to look out for Miyuki. Chisame's mom knows that as long as Miyuki is pursuing this, Chisame will go along with her. There's nothing she can do to stop her, she's just like her father. She tells Yukie she's willing to trust her to make the right decision here, and promises not to blame her if things go poorly.
TIP 2.
At the police museum, several officers are chatting about mundane things like the weather, and the building being non-smoking. A phone call came in for Akitake, but she's out of country. Another call comes in from Higo, saying their hunch is right and it's time to move.
TIP 3.
After sending Miyuki and Chisame home, Yukie stays behind at Nao's apartment, because if anyone saw her it would blow her cover story. She's not actively being followed these days, but still wants to play it safe. She's thinking back about the girl scouts incident. Chisame actually told Yukie everything but told her not to tell Miyuki.
Yukie cracks open a beer. She's been occasionally drinking since then. She starts crying out to Akasaka, asking if she's a bad mother for not noticing her daughter's problems, wishing that they could've raised Miyuki together, and lamenting that she couldn't stop Miyuki from doing something dangerous. She apologizes to him and begs god to protect Miyuki and Chisame. She hears Akasaka respond "It's okay, Yukie" and drops her beer.
Showa Chapter 1.
TIP 1.
Rika is consulting with Keiichi about Rena's situation, and he's trying to reassure her. Keiichi thinks there must be a factor causing only certain people to remember previous worlds. He believes Nao and the others will appear soon. Rika thanks Keiichi for all his help in this world and the previous, but Keiichi said he didn't do it alone. Rika says she'll thank Nao too. Then Rika suddenly asks Keiichi if he's hiding anything. He says of course not, and this is no time to be doubting people. After they split up, Rika calls Keiichi a liar.
TIP 2.
In a dorm at St. Lucia, a first-year student is talking to Shion about some kind soldier in another country named A-san who looked out for her uncle. After Uncle left that country, war broke out. Years later, Uncle met A-san again but he'd changed and become more violent. The girl wonders how it must've felt to him, to finally come back from war only for his neighbors and family to say he's like a different person. The girl says this story is a lot like Shion's current situation. Rumor is she's acting like a different person. The girl wants to write down Shion's story, but promises she won't share it. The girl laughs with a very distinct laugh, 'yupui' (ゆぷぃ).
TIP 3.
Reina wakes up at the trash heap. The last thing she remembers is Keiichi pushing her through the portal. She noticed a large, well stuffed black trash bag behind her back. Nobody else is around so she concludes she must've put it there. Inside are several smaller trash bags tightly duct taped shut. She grabs a nearby box cutter and slices into a bag. A fishy aroma leaks out. Cutting it further, she can see human eyes.
Showa Chapter 2.
TIP 1.
Keiichi and Mion head to the bathroom, leaving Rika and Nao alone. Nao points out that Rika has switched back to talking in her child-like tone. Rika says even if it can be tiring, she does her best to act that way around the club members. Nao says there's nothing odd about that, and Rika thanks her for understanding.
TIP 2.
After the meeting, Nao heads home. Rika and Mion tell Keiichi they've been hiding something about Rena from him. They know he's a terrible liar (which they say is normally a good thing) and they wanted to be sure Nao wouldn't find out. Keiichi says it's fine, he won't ask any questions, he just wants them to tell him after everything is resolved. He trusts Mion and Rika to handle Rena. After he leaves, Mion tells Rika that Keiichi seems to be hiding something too. Rika feels the same way. They don't know what he's hiding, but they think they know who it's about. They decide they'll just have to trust him and do their part.
TIP 3.
Kasai is meeting with Mion. She apologizes about the trouble with Shion, then they get in a car. She asks if he knows anything about "Midori Kawata." He's surprised to hear the name. He says Kawata works in the same trade as them, as a higher-up at a foreign business in the Kansai region. And Kawata has a back tattoo of Enma, the Shinto god of hell. Mion is surprised that a lady would have a tattoo like that, but Kasai says the Kawata he knows is a man in his 40s, so it must be an unrelated person with the same name.
Heisei Chapter 3.
Mother and Daughter Kurosawa (黒沢母子).
Chisame is chatting with her mom before heading out to meet up with Natsumi. Mom dealt with the wiretaps in her bedroom and Chisame's room, but not the one in the living room. Chisame says part of the reason she let Miyuki go to Hinamizawa alone instead of going with her is because she didn't want to leave her mom alone. She apologizes for underestimating her mom and now regrets not going with Miyuki. Chisame blames herself for her grandparents' dog Hohojiro dying. She promises not to let Miyuki die like Hohojiro.
Miyuki Akasaka's Evaluation 2 (赤坂美雪の人物評２).
The other staff at the police museum are chatting about Miyuki and Chisame. One of them has drinking buddies that live in the same apartment complex as them, so they heard they're respected by the adults in the area. They know Chisame quit martial arts to focus on studying, and that Miyuki is aiming to become a police officer. They also know that something strange happened just before Miyuki was born, and that her father would often say while drinking that his daughter was being protected by something. They wonder if maybe it's not a typical god or an angel, but a cursed god.
Arriving at the Narita Airport Lobby (成田空港到着ロビー).
At Narita Airport, a mother asks a young woman to look after her daughter and luggage while she goes to the bathroom. The woman is explaining to the girl that pandas were originally carnivores. The girl asks the woman if she's a good person, and she says that's a matter of perspective. Mom finally comes back, and the woman leaves. The girl asks Mom what yupui means. She says it's something the woman said.
Showa Chapter 3.
TIP 1.
At St Lucia, a girl is telling Shion a story about her uncle's friend, H-san, whose life was completely changed by a single 2 hour movie. He was the only son of strict parents. After watching that movie, he stood up to them for the first time ever. That argument led to him leaving home and moving to America. She's impressed how easily humans can change. Shion interrupts to ask her what "yupui" means. The girl dodges the question and asks if Shion is ready to talk about what happened. She says nothing, so the girl says she'll keep working hard to make her able to talk.
TIP 2.
Tomitake is talking with Akasaka about a highway tunnel collapse in Kanagawa. A friend of Tomitake's was admitted in a nearby hospital at the time, and heard a rumor there that someone predicted the collapse. The person who predicted it was a hospital employee who died in the collapse. Tomitake is still skeptical of Rika's predictions, but that incident is why he decided to investigate them instead of laughing them off. Tomitake asks if Akasaka has met Nao before. He says no, and Tomitake says he's never seen her before either.
TIP 3.
Some men are talking about "Tokyo" at a political banquet. They make an analogy about how tools will rust if they're not used. They reminisce about what the organization was like when it was first founded. They mention the organization got weaker when a more moderate faction took control, after Koizumi died 10 years ago. One of the men addresses the other as Kitajima. Kitajima says he heard a rumor that the other man is still active in Tokyo, but the other man dodges the question. He says he's surprised Kitajima is single, and offers to introduce him to his daughter.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei/TIPS |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei/Units
This page compiles every unit's battle sprite from "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei". Units are grouped by character.
Kazuho Kimiyoshi.
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Miyuki Akasaka.
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</tabber>
Nao Houtani.
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</tabber>
Keiichi Maebara.
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</tabber>
Rena Ryuugu.
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</tabber>
Satoko Houjou.
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</tabber>
Rika Furude.
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</tabber>
Mion Sonozaki.
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Jirou Tomitake.
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Shion Sonozaki.
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Hanyuu Furude.
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Miyo Takano.
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Kyousuke Irie.
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Mamoru Akasaka.
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Kuraudo Ooishi.
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Tamurahime no Mikoto.
All roles under this section have a rarity of SSR.
Natsumi Kimiyoshi/Natsumi Toudou.
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</tabber>
Chisame Kurosawa.
All roles under this section have a rarity of SSR.
Satoshi Houjou.
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Miyabi Saionji.
All roles under this section have a rarity of SSR.
Eua.
All roles under this section have a rarity of SSR.
Teppei Houjou.
All roles under this section have a rarity of SSR.
Double Units.
These are units featuring two separate characters. The first named character is considered the "main" character for gameplay purposes. All cards under this section have a rarity of SSR.
Crossover characters.
These characters are from events or banners advertised as crossovers with other works. Each character under this section has exactly one role card.
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SSR.
All roles under this section have a rarity of SSR.
All roles under this section have a rarity of SSR.
All roles under this section have a rarity of SSR.
All roles under this section have a rarity of SSR.
All roles under this section have a rarity of SSR.
</tabber>
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mei/Units |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mujirushi
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Mujirushi |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Nagomi Library Series
is a series of parody novels released by harvest-inc. with 3 total volumes.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Nagomi Library Series |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Nagomi Library Series Volume 1
is the first volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Nagomi Library Series released by harvest-inc.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Nagomi Library Series Volume 1 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Nagomi Library Series Volume 2
is the second volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Nagomi Library Series released by harvest-inc.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Nagomi Library Series Volume 2 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Nagomi Library Series Volume 3
is the third and final volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Nagomi Library Series released by harvest-inc.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Nagomi Library Series Volume 3 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Novel Anthology
is a series of anthology novels published by Ichijinsha with 2 total volumes.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Novel Anthology |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Novel Anthology Volume 1
is the first volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Novel Anthology series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Novel Anthology Volume 1 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Novel Anthology Volume 2
is the second and final volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Novel Anthology series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Novel Anthology Volume 2 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Official Character Guide
The Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Official Character Guide, also called the is an artbook released by Ichijinsha sometime after the release of "Meakashi".
Galleries.
"These are selected pages from the book."
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Official Character Guide |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Official Character Guide/Interview
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Official Character Guide/Interview |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Official Character Guide Interview
This is a translation of an interview included in the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Official Character Guide in 2005. 07th Expansion talks about how their members first met, their difficulties in creating "Higurashi" and their plans for the future.
The interview was translated by rockmor and sourced from here.
Transcript.
"Higurashi no Naku Koro ni" keeps conquering hearts of fans with an explosive power ever since it was “discovered” through Comiket and a download service last summer. To fulfill a promise to hold a “Review Session” for the staff that was made during the production of "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Special Chapter. Private Files: Hinamizawa Serial Murder Case (temp)" that was published by our company last year, we gathered members of 07th Expansion to talk about troubles of production and further ambitions.
Starting point of 07th Expansion and its change.
"Today we are holding a “Review Session” for the staff of 07th Expansion. Let’s talk about the struggles of each of you, as well as your special memories."
Ryukishi: …I’ll better stay silent today.
"What are you saying all of sudden? *laugh*"
Ryukishi: I always talk too much and make everyone angry *bitter laugh*
"Let’s go in chronological order. How did you begin your doujin activity?"
Ryukishi: I think the very first time when I found out about "doujin" was in middle or high school. It was the heyday of "Gamest"… There was not even the word “"doujinshi"” yet, wasn’t it? There were advertisements like “Recruiting members for "copy-shi"“. So, for no reason, I applied to one of those. I liked to show my friends manga that I was drawing on the back of my notebook. I was writing down lecture notes from the first page and drawing manga from the last *laugh* In the end, notes and manga run into each other. At first, there were like 3 pages of a manga, but then it kept going, and I hated to give out my notebook to the teacher *bitter laugh* That was the beginning, I guess?
The gap in drawing abilities starts coming out in your later 10s. At that time I wanted to become a game maker and entered a special school. However, I didn’t have a clear vision of what I need to learn in order to become a game maker, so I chose art. But if you ask me what I’ve learned there… I couldn’t say *bitter laugh* All I remember is that it was fun. I studied different things, but I don’t have an impression that I’ve learned any particular technique… Ah, I’ve learned Photoshop. However, you won’t become a game maker just because you’ve entered a special school. You have to be able to apply some skills from the start, not just study there… You will need to put them into immediate use, that’s what I’ve learned. In the end, it didn’t make me a game maker.
After that, I entered an industry that has nothing to do with my "otaku" interests and stayed there for some time. However, I still had that core passion to create things in me, and after working there for several years I mentally burned out… By accident, I picked up a doujinshi that was laying in Yatazakura’s room, and there was a recruitment advertising in the afterword. It was really an accident. And that was the beginning.
"Did you start making things right after you entered a circle?"
Ryukishi: No, my upperclassmen were drawing, and I just was there as a support. There was one person who has worked in the "seinen" manga industry, and who didn’t do coloring, so when I decided to start taking part in games development, I began coloring that person’s drawings, as I had some experience with computers. It was time before Windows, so it was a huge pain. You had to use just 16 colors for the whole game, 4 of them for the system, if there were two characters on the screen, then it’s 6 colors for each one… Etc. Such a world it was.
Everyone: Huh… *surprised voices*
Ryukishi: Right now it’s an age of full-color, so everyone seems to not care much about such things, but at that time things were made with a great balance in mind. We had to think about things like making color of hair close to color of clothes or not having to use black or white because they were reserved for system… You couldn't just make something half-transparent, because “transparent color” had to be one of the colors itself. Anyways, at first, I was busy with such chores and even when I drew and proposed something, it all ended up turned down. Frankly speaking, in the end, I didn’t do any creative work at all. After all, I wanted to do something as an illustrator… or rather as a creator. There was that one thing for which I was doing the scenario, but after 2 years of work, the project itself collapsed. However, at that time I became convinced that I really want to do things that I want to do.
"In the end, how long have you been in that circle?"
Ryukishi: …I don’t really know, but it was 3 or 4 years, I guess. It was my assistant era. At that time, I’ve published an offset "seinen doujinshi."
Yatazakura: I think one of those is still lying somewhere in my room.
Ryukishi: They are all packed away in a different place. …It was a terrible fiasco. We printed 200 copies but only 5 of them were sold. The printing cost was somewhere around 80.000 yen. Nothing hurt me as much as receiving bills back then.
Yatazakura: It was rough.
Ryukishi: In a financial sense, it was a difficult period. Giving away 80.000 yen was painful. At first, I thought that maybe we can get back half of that money, but the reality was way harsher than that. After that, we began thinking about going away from that circle to do our own stuff, but the only thing I could do was drawing, or so I thought back then. Card games were really popular at that time, so we decided to try making our own. We teamed up with some old friends and started making them. For 2 years we went to different events to sell our original cards. Little by little, we increased the number of cards we printed out. 30, 50, in the end, there were 200 or so. At that time, I’ve met BT…
Yatazakura: How it happened?
BT: At first, I came upon Ryukishi’s booth at Comiket and decided to buy something from him because it looked cute. At that point, everything was sold out though.
Ryukishi: Really? So, the first contact was by mail then?
BT: Yes, when I ordered something. It was delivered safely, so I sent you my happy impressions. And then, a person called 4U wanted to introduce your card deck on his site, so I asked you if it’s OK for him to do so.
Ryukishi: Yes, yes… It was the first time I gave someone my permission. It brings back memories. After then, we talked for some time, and you offered to make a homepage for us *laugh*
That’s how I met with 4U and BT. 4U served as administrator of the first homepage, and then BT took over. In the end, after 2 years of selling cards at different events, we began thinking about switching to some other genre. At that time, Yatazakura came to me saying: “I am learning Nscripter now. The same one in which "Tsukihime" was made”. So, we took sprites from "Renai Novel Tsukuru" (恋愛ノベルツクール) and other things and put together a demo to see if we could make it work. As I saw that we could make a lot of things in it, I became more and more excited.
Then, we started to think about the scenario. Which became "Higurashi", but we have to rewind here a little bit. That game that ended up scrapped at our previous circle, we wanted it to be full-voiced. The kids that were gathered to do the voice-acting were from a small theatre troupe. In small theatres, the audience is very close to the scene, and it’s very exciting. Under their influence, I tried writing some plays. One of those plays was "Hinamizawa Bus Stop", which, after some cleaning up, we decided to turn into a game… The notebook with our conversations back then…
Yatazakura: Was it a notebook?
Ryukishi: Maybe it was your little pocketbook?
Yatazakura: Yeah, something like that…
Ryukishi: I remember that we wrote out there many things about the story, like motives, etc. At that time it was still going to be a normal novel game with choices, where you had to clear a number of scenarios in order to get access to further ones. The idea was that you could start freely with "Rena-hen" or "Mion-hen", and after clearing both you could proceed to the next one.
Yatazakura: Right, the next one was "Satoshi-hen".
Ryukishi: Did we already come up with the name Satoshi back then?
Yatazakura: No, we only knew that he was going to be a high-school boy. Even many things about Satoko were not decided yet. Then we decided to expand Satoko’s character, make her suffer more and come up from the bottom, and that’s why she became a sister of a disappeared boy.
Ryukishi: I am surprised you remember all that… But yeah, that’s how it was. That’s how Satoko’s story turned up that way… And when did we come up with Shion?
Yatazakura: Like, when we were struggling with whether Mion will have a sister or not?
Ryukishi: However, we came up with her much later, didn’t we? Somewhere after "Onikakushi-hen"?
Yatazakura: Well, strictly speaking, yes. But we were thinking about giving Mion a sister even before that. Her name was Tamane (魂音) at first.
Ryukishi: Ah, right, right.
Yatazakura: After that, we were thinking about having a granny appear when there will be a talk about Sonozaki family in the story. And if we were going to create Mion’s sister, it would be better to make them twins.
Ryukishi: At first, there was going to be a looong conversation with the granny at Sonozaki’s, and it was really boring.
Yatazakura: Granny’s accent was so strong, that I couldn’t understand what she is saying. To be honest.
Ryukishi: It was pretty difficult to translate.
Yatazakura: But in reality, Sonozaki grandmother, Oryo, was going to be a rarely appearing gag-character.
Ryukishi: “The grandmother is outside the window!” “But it’s 5th floor?!”, she was that type of mysterious character. Never appearing before the main character’s eyes.
Yatazakura: She was a really comical granny back then.
"It’s hard to imagine that now…"
Ryukishi: Yeah, I guess.
Yatazakura: Sonozaki family wasn’t that bad news at first…
Ryukishi: I am suprised you remember all that…
Yatazakura: Well…
"Yatazakura, have you been together with Ryukishi07 from the very beginning of his doujin activity?"
Yatazakura: How would I say…
Ryukishi: Strictly speaking, from the beginning of "Higurashi"?
Yatazakura: I guess so. However, I was at the backstage since that collapsed project.
Ryukishi: He is the brain of developing games.
"BT, you’ve known those two thanks to card games, but have you felt any moe from Ryukishi07’s drawings?"
BT: Well… "Puni-moe", I guess.
Everyone: *roar of laughter*
"Puni-moe, huh?"
BT: I love cute squishy drawings *laugh*
Ryukishi: What’s the first one you’ve bought?
BT: It was an "AIR" card set.
Ryukishi: That one… I like that one too. It’s 1st or 2nd in my rating.
BT: It was all sold out at the event, so I had to order by mail.
Yatazakura: It’s because we didn’t know how much to print at first.
Ryukishi: We struggled with it every time. “Is it OK to bring 100 sets with us? If the demand will be higher, will leave it to the mail orders”.
"One of my friends has also bought your cards."
Ryukishi: It’s embarrassing. However, I have a feeling that my drawing skills were higher back then. It’s because I could focus just on drawing. In "Higurashi", there are no sprites at the early stages of development. It’s when we decide on the structure and when the scenario is finished, I can first ask Yatazakura about necessary face expressions for every character. If the new character appears, he often uses sprites from "Sound Novel Tsukuru" at first for showing character’s emotions like laughing or crying, and then I draw my own versions of them.
BT: In beta-version of "Onikakushi-hen" there was Tomitake in school uniform.
Ryukishi: That was completely a male character from "Sound Novel Tsukuru".
Yatazakura: Tomitake had an appearance of such a young man back then?
BT: I was very surprised when he suddenly turned from a skinny young man to a macho guy when the real sprite was input *laugh*
Ryukishi: While we at this topic, the reason Mion has such large boobs is just because the temporary sprite from "Sound Novel Tsukuru" for her had them *laugh*
Yatazakura: I don’t remember that… Do you like big boobs?
"So you are saying that she wouldn’t turn out that way if you used a different sprite *laugh*"
Ryukishi: There was a lot of trial and error back then. There was an idea to make it 18+ in terms of disturbing content, for example.
Yatazukura: Yeah, you talked about that.
Ryukishi: I also researched stories by "Key" a lot. Like, “Because "Key" games go from ordinary life to tears, let’s try to go from ordinary life to fear”. If you think about this, we are here now because there was that direction. Chilling out in the first half and then having all the twists in the second one. There are people who say that "Higurashi" is very original, but in terms of mechanism "Maeda" from "Key" and others have already created it before.
"There is a special thing you do with the eyes in some places where the story makes a sudden turn. What it that way from the start?"
Ryukishi: (Pointing at Yatazakura) It was that man’s suggestion.
BT: Rena’s eyes, right? They surprised me…
Yatazakura: I filled her eyes with flat blue color and touched a bit with an airbrush, and the result shocked even myself. “What’s that?! What’s that?!”
Ryukishi: He is the creator of so-called “"Higurashi" eyes”. I liked them and did my own version, which is now in the game. However, now they are too polished and don’t have the same impact. Yatazakura’s eyes were way scarier. Just having them blue is scarier! So yeah, he is the one who created them. I just thought out how to use them in the game. BT, what about you? What was your impression when you first saw them? It was in beta, I think.
BT: It was really scary…
Ryukishi: To tell the truth, even I was very scared when played the first time. Even though I made it *laugh*
"Why, in your opinion, a character changes so much when you change their eyes?"
Yatazakura: After analyzing many games, I noticed that characters with beautiful eyes tend to be smart and logical. And cloudy eyes usually indicate some abnormality. However, when the eyes are cloudy, but the mouth is laughing, it looks unnatural and scary… After studying for some time, I came up with those eyes. Suddenly the eyes become cloudy, and you understand that even though the appearance is still normal, on the inside something is wrong, which causes in you a strong unbalanced fear…
Ryukishi: Yatazakura is very knowledgeable about novel and adventure games. His room is full of unplayed ones, though *laugh* So, we put this knowledge to use in the development of "Higurashi".
Yatazakura: The only ones that Ryukishi played that time were mainstream games, like "To Heart." Not enough to count it as “research”.
Ryukishi: Either way, the idea with eyes really surprised me. For example, if you compare characters from "To Heart" with "Shizuku", the characters in "Shizuku" are way scarier. Especially Ruriko!
"She is scary, isn’t she."
Ryukishi: If you ask, what’s the difference, I’d say it’s eyes.
"That’s true. Whether it a real person or a 3D-character, you look into their eyes when they talk. In 2D things like manga too, there is a big attention to the eyes, which is the first thing that people look at. When you combine it with the shock factor, the impact is huge."
Ryukishi: Right. So, all the temporary effects in the game are made by Yatazakura. After that, I look at them and do the fine-tuning. At first, it was super hard to balance our visions of the game and characters, but now it requires just a little bit of fixing.
The road from "Onikakushi" to "Meakashi", it’s light and darkness.
"Let’s talk about each arc separately, starting with Onikakushi-hen."
Ryukishi: The production of "Onikakushi" was the longest. Everything was for the first time, groping on through every step. We didn’t calculate anything. However, even if we moved blindly and unsurely, nothing critical happened. There was no pressure of deadlines, we could release it anytime we wanted. On the other hand, we didn’t know at all the level of quality we needed to aim for. All we had was uncertainty. It was the first time I was going to show a scenario to people, well, there was that project that I worked on for 2 years, but really "Higurashi" was the first. And also there was a problem of not having any music…
Yatazakura: We really struggled with that one.
Ryukishi: At first we were introduced to a music circle by a person we knew. However, when we brought the beta-version to them, they said that they won’t work on a game that isn’t 18+ and turned us down. And the other one said: “I can’t give my music to someone who makes "doujinshi"” after taking a look at our website that had information that we are selling cards. It seems he was a person who even rejected all secondary works… Then we began looking for some copyright-free music and found some good stuff.
Yatazakura: Right. In beta-version, we just used music from other games.
Ryukishi: We didn’t have any other method of creating the imagery of the game then temporarily using existing music. Of course, we couldn’t release it that way, though.
Yatazakura: I had my portion of problems without Ryukishi07 knowing *laugh* For example, burning CDs before Comiket was a struggle. Just so happened that my PC that was working for several days straight began malfunctioning, and same with the CD-R drive. I tried to cool it with a fan while saying: “Damn, burning keeps failing! Will I be on time?!” *laugh* I had some struggles with it, but overall, it was the laziest time for me.
Ryukishi: It sounds like a funny story now, but we were working with a thought that it’s impossible for "Higurashi" to become a hit. We treated it as a training before the next product, that will become a hit, after which people will discover "Higurashi", and it will become a late hit too… That was the plan! “"Higurashi" will definitely become an unknown masterpiece!” *laugh*
Yatazakura: “It doesn’t have to become famous now. They say that even that super popular "doujin" game didn’t sell more than several copies at first. Even though they have a popular girl cosplaying for it!”. We had such conversations back then, though it’s funny to remember now.
Ryukishi: We had a resolve about our future. Well, to be honest, if there wasn’t any reception at all, we would probably just quit and returned to card games *laugh*
"Ehh *laugh*"
Yatazakura: He became hooked on "Koumakyou"…
Ryukishi: "Touhou Koumakyou (Embodiment of Scarlet Devil)" has just come up, so, if "Higurashi" failed, I was going to make "Touhou" original cards. To be honest, I was excited to make a "Koumakan" deck using our system from when we were a card circle *laugh*
"BT, had you any similar experiences during production of Onikakushi-hen?"
BT: I was in charge of the logo that appears on the loading screen, "Rena-pan" and some other things, but I didn’t know the right methods at all and had a lot of difficulties. I couldn’t make 07th Expansion logo spin right, so it moved like a hula hoop, I couldn’t set the right speed for "Rena-pan", so it exceeded the normal human speed and moved with the speed of god *laugh*
However, the thing that I am worried the most in "Onikakushi" is debugging… It took a lot of time, so it probably couldn’t be helped, but I have a feeling that it wasn’t done properly…
Ryukishi: I’d say it wasn’t done at all.
"Is that so?"
Ryukishi: We didn’t do debugging and other such stuff properly.
"But you’ve done at least a test play, right?"
Yatazakura: …To some extent, yes.
Ryukishi: In the end, we’ve done it only at the state before master-up. It was okay at that point, but later all the true colors began to show.
Everyone: *laugh*
Ryukishi: Since "Watanagashi-hen" BT started saying: “Debugging, debugging”.
"…Because you didn’t do debugging properly in Onikakushi, BT decided that it couldn’t continue that way?"
Yatazakura: No, it wasn’t back then. After that double seminar incident, BT was like: “Here, you see?.. We have to do it”. But back then he didn’t started talking about debugging yet, I think.
BT: No-no, I started right after "Onikakushi".
Ryukishi: Is that so? Then, it probably wasn’t reaching our ears. Sorry *laugh*
Everyone: *laugh*
BT: And about burning discs too…
Ryukishi: BT was putting a lot of attention to this. He said things like: “CD-R have to be of high quality” or ” Because there would be errors, we have to check every disc”. That’s why we started only using CDs by "Taiyo Yuden". We didn’t really care about cost performance. BT was also against label seals. There are labels on CDs, aren’t there? “If a CD will spin at high speed and the label will come off and destroy a computer, we can’t take responsibility”. I said: “Let’s fight with our visuals”, to which he answered: “If this would happen even to one person out of 100, we are out”, and then I went: “It can’t become a product if it occurs even in 1 case out of 100!”. We had some hot discussions *laugh* In the end, it’s good that nothing happened, but we decided to fight with visuals. …By the way, I don’t remember struggling with "Watanagashi-hen" scenario.
Yatazakura: The deadline day was pretty rough. It was 28th of November, wasn’t it? There were no sprites, no All-cast Review Session, no TIPS…
Ryukishi: Only the scenario!
Everyone: *laugh*
Ryukishi: I gave the scenario to Yatazakura, and was writing TIPS while doing the clean-up. But I don’t think it was a crisis situation. What was really hard is to burn CDs, the last 48 hours or so. 48 hours before Comiket, we finished the master-up, and after that, we didn’t have time to sleep or rest. Everyone had to go to work, so we used every minute to burn, and burn, and burn…
Yatazakura: It’s something that I didn’t tell Ryukishi as well, but before that my PC has finally broken in September. But because I didn’t know anything about computers, I couldn’t understand what’s wrong. At first, I thought that maybe it’s the hard drive, so I replaced it with a new one, and little by little I changed all the insides before I figured out that it was the CPU. It was already the middle of November at that point.
Ryukishi: You were always saying that it wasn’t working good…
Yatazakura: After that, I hastily finished all the job that accumulated during that time and started fixing different little things…
Ryukishi: The second part of our CD burning days was really rough that time. In the end, it led to that thing…
Yatazakura: Right…
Ryukishi: At that time, we did debugging before archiving. And master-up after that. We didn’t think that bugs could appear after archiving! It’s not possible that there would be no bugs before archiving, and then they suddenly there, we thought. On the first day of Comiket BT came to my room, launched "Watanagashi-hen"… “Pon!” That was a sound of an error…
BT&Yatazakura: Uwaaaaaa…!!!!
Ryukishi: “It’s because we fast-forwarded it?” “No, it’s not the case” …We really didn’t understand what’s wrong. And it’s at the time when Mion was going to do a confession! “Pon”!! The message that “semi.WAV can’t be found” has appeared. What’s thaaaaat?! It can’t be true, can we make it appear again? Try it, try it, “Pon”…
Yatazakura: It was when we came back after the first day at Comiket and tried to found out the reason until 3 p.m., wasn’t it?
Ryukishi: …Well, we somehow managed to make it work before the second day. It’s when BT had a realisation that “debugging is important”. After that, doing the second debugging after archiving became the norm… Other then that, everything went pretty good.
Yatazakura: Did anything bad happen during "Tatarigoroshi"? I can’t really recall.
Ryukishi: Writing the scenario for "Tatarigorishi" was pretty fun.
Yatazakura: There was a schedule managing problem. Basically, I kept saying that we won’t be ready before the next Comiket at the pace we had.
Ryukishi: Right, I have moved to an extremely busy workplace at the end of "Tatarigoroshi" production, and even though we somehow managed to finish in time because I had some text ready at my previous job, I didn’t actually write anything at the new one. “It can’t continue like this”, I thought. The fact that we can’t release a new Higurashi chapter every half of the year has became obvious . The actual work on scenario went pretty well, though.
Yatazakura: It was somewhere in July or August.
Ryukishi: But, you know. I have a feeling that the clean-up went smoothly and we finished master-up in about less than 72 hours, right?
Yatazakura: Right, in less than 72 hours…
Everyone: *laugh*
Ryukishi: We all have lost our sense of danger.
"From 48 to 72 hours is just a day of difference, isn’t it?"
Ryukishi: We put those extra hours into debugging…
Yatazakura: However, we found out on the last day that we couldn’t install the thing because the installer didn’t run properly.
"*laugh*"
Yatazakura: Then BT said: “I’ll fix it myself, so use it”… In a great rush. We all thought that it will be hard to continue this way while having jobs, but the scenario for "Tatarigoroshi" went very well, and we got a lot of positive feedback, so we started to feel that maybe we could make it with doing novel games.
Ryukishi: “There is a response! We are doing good!” That was the feeling.
Yatazakura: …Though we couldn’t imagine that it will go this well *laugh*
"So, Tatarigoroshi is when you first felt that it may be your thing?"
Ryukishi: Until "Tatarigorishi" our audience consisted mostly of fans that were with us since card days, and in fact, our circle was a card games circle with a bit of "Higurashi" on the side. Most people were buying it out of pity… but didn’t actually play. However, those who have played started saying that it’s interesting. We had a homepage for "Higurashi", but there was no demo-version back then, so it just said: “Please, consider buying it on the next Comiket”.In winter that year I had troubles with finishing the manuscript in time. I wasn’t sure, should I go with "Meakashi" or "Himatsubushi", so I started writing "Meakashi" little by little, but… Then I thought that Sonozaki family at that time wasn’t suspicious enough and decided to put more plot-points that would make player suspect them, so I hurried to start writing "Himatsubushi", but I was very busy at work… And there was a lot of alcohol. I was drinking 3 times a week. For the whole year.
"Like, on meetings or parties?"
Ryukishi: I think that were more guest receptions then parties. Either way, when you are drunk your brain doesn’t work well. I didn’t have the opportunity to work on the scenario at all. Besides that, there were no consecutive holidays, and also Saturday was a workday at that job, and weekly holidays were all over the place. Before that, I was always focusing on writing on Sundays after having a rest on Saturday, but I couldn’t do it on a new job. Because of that, our plans for Winter Comiket completely collapsed. We had a lot of people asking about the new product but were able to only sell reprints that winter… It was disheartening. After that, we used accumulated material to release "Himatsubushi-hen" in summer… but at that time we already understood that it was a bad situation. You probably know, but "Himatsubushi" is half the amount of text compared to previous arcs. If you think about it, I started writing right after finishing "Tatarigoroshi". Half the amount in a whole year. At that time, I was seriously lost between putting "Higurashi" aside for 3 years and quitting my job to focus on writing… Then, BT suggested putting a demo-version online.
BT: Ryukishi was in terrible condition at that time… When I heard that he fell off the stairs because of dizziness, I thought that he will break down if the things continue this way… It was very worrying. I heavily suggested that if he was so good at writing, it would be better for us to focus on the game.
"Did you have such conversations?"
Ryukishi: We talked about often in a messenger. “I am busy. I can’t do it anymore. It’s over!” And each time I said that I heard the news that one of the scenario writers that I was looking up to, quitted their job in order to concentrate on writing… People started saying: “Ryukishi, maybe you should quit your job too?”
Everyone: *laugh*
Ryukishi: Well, even if they were saying that. It was a decent life, you know…
BT: It’s because he is saying such things… Of course, I couldn’t help Ryukishi with his work, so instead, I did my best to keep his motivation at least somewhat high. Uploading a demo was one of those things. I wanted to make the game more popular, even if just a little bit, so I tried to squeeze "Onikakushi-hen" into an archive, somehow put it on the server and presented it to some free game sites. "Higurashi" was on hold and could fall apart any minute, so I was desperate to keep it alive.
Ryukishi: In terms of mental health, that time was the roughest. I was extremely busy at my job and didn’t have time to work on the game, all while "Higurashi" was becoming more and more popular, and the expectations for it were rising. I didn’t know what to do. Besides that, even if the popularity was increasing, it was not that much, so I was worried about all sorts of things. I think that was the most difficult time for "Higurashi".
"According to your Production Journal, 2004, before Himatsubushi, was your most difficult year."
Ryukishi: I was talking almost exclusively about my work back then. I wasn’t able to refuse any orders there. Even if I said: “Ah, that day is a bit…”, my superior would go: “Hey, you are coming, aren’t you?”… My answer would instantly change from “I don’t know” to “Sorry. I am coming!”. To “Let’s overcome this hurdle together!” I would answer: “Roger that!”. If there is a scary superior, I only can response with: “I’ll do my best” *laugh* I was updating Production Journal from my phone, while laying on a futon at the office…
Yatazakura: Every time we met back then the conversation went this way: “What about the scenario?” “Scenarioooo~!”.
Ryukishi: “Look at the schedule, it’s stuffed!”
Yatazakura: “Should I send it to you myself after calculating remaining days then?”, etc.
Ryukishi: Well, on the other hand, we were able to polish "Meakashi-hen," which turned out very good.
"Were there any other troubles with Meakashi-hen?"
Ryukishi: Time was the biggest struggle. Creating "Higurashi" isn’t only writing a scenario, it’s a lot of different work. And my hands were full already. Because of that, I had to resolve to not accepting any unrelated work if we wanted to be ready before Summer Comiket. Otherwise, even 8 months weren’t enough. In reality, it was April already, so we had 4 months left. In other words, in terms of time, it was like Summer Comiket was already over. Step by step. Other than music, time, job, what troubles will come next?
Yatazakura: Checking manga manuscripts?
Ryukishi: It’s fun, so it wasn’t trouble.
Yatazakura: I guess. You get to be the first reader too.
"What was the reception of the characters appearing in Meakashi-hen in visual terms?"
Ryukishi: It was pretty good. Keiichi, who has finally got his own sprite, started gaining some popularity. He wasn’t that popular before that. Akasaka was scary. Even without a sprite, he was already successful, so I feel that it will get out of control if I give him one *laugh* Keiichi and Akasaka are especially popular among women, so they can’t be looked down at. …In fact, there is a demand to see Keiichi in short pants. I wanted to make Keiichi short, because I like when a protagonist isn’t tall.
"However, he can’t pat a girl’s head if he is short. I have an impression that both guys can do it."
Ryukishi: Yes. One does it roughly, another gently. In these type of games, protagonists are like air, so they can’t usually become a standard of popularity… But I am glad that they have grown into characters who are somewhat popular.
"You see, it’s because you draw them properly without hiding their eyes."
Everyone: *laugh*
Staff’s favourite characters?
"Does each of you have a favourite character?"
BT: But of course… It’s Rika. She is like a cute tanuki, I just can’t help it *laugh* I want to be tricked by her.
"Like getting stealthily shot with a syringe?"
BT: Yeah *laugh* I even created "O-sanpo Rika-chan" (Rika-chan on a walk) by momentum *laugh*
Yatazakura: For me it’s Ooishi. I like how rough he is. His words always have a double meaning, you can interpret them in different ways. However, even if his actions are mysterious, they are understandable. If you think about his position… It’s like: “Ah, I get it”. He is an interesting character.
"There are a lot of interesting detective characters in fiction. They often appear to be intrigants. It’s very fitting to the story."
Yatazakura: Yeah, very fitting. However… He is not a pure ally, he has some very dirty part to him, and this is his strong appeal. Like, having conversations about public morals at work…
Ryukishi: Everybody does that~
Yatazakura: But, you know, police workers in games usually don’t talk about that, do they?
Ryukishi: I wanted to depict police properly in "Higurashi". In various manga and anime of similar themes police usually doesn’t do anything, right? For example, if there is a kaiju rampaging in the middle of the city, often police don’t move, and I always found that surprising. So I became determined to do the police right in "Higurashi". An official institution that is under pressure and that can’t move exactly because of that… For example, I made sure to depict a child consultation center properly in "Tatarigoroshi", so the story will feel more real. There is a government office and the police in that world as well. I think we’ve managed to make the police very real.
"Is Ooishi based on a real person?"
Ryukishi: He is based on my seniors from previous work. Not on one person, but on several. There were a lot of pretty wild people among my seniors. There was one person who is probably already retired because of old age by now whom I really admired. One day, I went to the printing room to print out some papers, but I couldn’t because there was no seal by the manager. However, that senior had the same surname as the manager, so he helped me by putting his own seal instead.
Everyone: *laugh*
Ryukishi: I thought that was extremely cool. When I asked him is it okay, he answered: “Don’t worry”. Shouldn’t you ask the manager in such cases? “Don’t worry”. He was way too cool. Ooishi’s catchphrase “Have a nice year” comes from that senior too. For a conversation between Ooishi and a medical examiner, I copied one of the conversations between that senior and his friend exactly. Reading horse racing newspapers openly at work, talking about horses on a public phone in a lobby. I didn’t ever see him wearing a tie. He was always wearing working clothes so you could think that he was a worker, but he actually was a chief. He also had a lot of influence and was well-known in mahjong circles. There were even directors among his mahjong friends. As he said with a laugh once: “That guy is a traitor. While everyone was playing mahjong, he studied and passed an exam”. Because he was that way, he was very influential. The spitting image of Ooishi.
"So, you are using your work experience to deepen your characters."
Ryukishi: After all, I probably started with "doujin" too late. It’s normal to have a debut while you are a student or just starting working. As I was 10 years late, I feel that if I don’t use the experience I accumulated at the company during that time in the game, it will be my loss. That’s why I am using it as much as I can.For example… The way the old Sonozaki family is ruling their land is based on things I experienced at work. Though, it probably doesn’t come through my poor writing. It’s not fantasy. It’s something that happens just next to us, in 23th District of Tokyo. That’s why I was able to depict Oryou’s behaviour very realistically. To the point that I hope a certain person won’t find out about it *bitter laugh*
Well, "Higurashi" isn’t that complicated of a story. “Rena is scaaary” is probably enough for it. Really, if only I could write better prose, maybe I could depict that world more beautifuly, like Yokomizo… Like in "The Village of Eight Graves".
"Do you have any ideal or rival?"
Ryukishi: It’s more like my goal as a scenario writer, then a rival… but I want to write something as absorbing as Nasu Kinoko… And if you ask about works… Hmm, I wonder. My head is full of creating my own works. In some sense, my rivals are my previous works, I am just running forward as I like. You can’t create anything decent if you are too conscious about other creators, so the best thing is to do what you want to do.
A breath of fresh air: mini-games and Angel Mort.
"There were not any mini-games in Meakashi-hen."
BT: I want to make them, though. My hands right now are full with managing home-page, user support, etc.
Ryukishi: You’ve made some during "Meakashi"… Are they shelved for a time being?
BT: Those messed up during server transferring.
Ryukishi: There was one game with falling blocks you’ve shown me a long time ago… The one that looked like "Puyo Puyo"… What’s up with that one?
BT: I was working on it, but if I’d finish it, it would look exactly like "Puyo Puyo", so I scrapped it.
Ryukishi: What about that simulation game? You’ve shown some screenshots of it, it looked fun.
BT: I stopped working on that one too… I’d like to start over with it if I have time but at this point…
Ryukishi: The puzzle one looked so similar to "Puyo Puyo", “Oh, "Puyo Puyo" is fun”, I thought.
Yatazakura: We can have 3 black blocks merging into Mickey Mouse and disappearing, or something like that…
"I feel that it’s a bit dangerous… Without a doubt, it will summon from America an assassin in a black suit *laugh*"
Ryukishi: There is also a story that is going on through that mini-games, so what’s up with it? It seems that it has paused in "O-sanpo Rika-chan"…
Yatazakura: Did you spend all your passion on Rika?..
BT: If I only had a little more time… I still have a lot of ideas left.
Yatazakura: Ryukishi, you wrote the story for "Rena-pan", right?
Ryukishi: Because of Soul Brothers.
Yatazakura: Yeah, Soul Brothers!
Ryukishi: However, it’s BT who created Irie and others. Mini-games were becoming better and better, and little by little they started to corrode the main game, so if you don’t break loose in mini-games I won’t be able to return to the main scenario. So… I am waiting for an even more shameless game from you this time.
BT: I want to do them again.
"So, you are saying that there will be a mini-game in Tsumihoroboshi-hen."
Ryukishi: So, you are saying that you are starting working on it today.
BT: No-no-no… It’s impossible…
Ryukishi: We are waiting for letters that will fire up BT’s soul! Please write that you are looking forward to a new mini-game!
BT: No-no-no, it’s not about my feelings, I just don’t have time. I have to manage the home-page and there is other stuff… If you ask what’s the most important, I think it’s to make the user experience good… Mini-games will have to wait…
Ryukishi: In fact, the fact that BT started working on the web-site has been incredibly helpful. It always needs maintenance, and we can’t just do it in our free time. BT made it so we could forget about it and focus on the game. Even though he isn’t involved in making the game directly, he helps to create the environment for us, so in that sense, BT is definitely one of "Higurashi's" developers. If he falls sick, this will definitely be damaging to the quality of "Higurashi".
BT: Managing home-page is fun, you know. I become happy when there is a nice round number on the visitors counter. And various memorial days.
"Like Nii-nii day."
Yatazakura: Sounds like some department store.
Ryukishi: If it’s fun, then it’s the way to go.
"Let’s finally talk about something cheerful."
Ryukishi: We don’t have anything besides troubles and gloomy stories, though *laugh*
"I recall there has been an Angel Mort Day" "recently."
Ryukishi: It was great~ It seems that ohagi were instantly sold out. To think that a product will be sold out before the shop opens…
Yatazakura: The line to that shop was already larger than the number of ohagi. The rumours say that the line was going up the spiral staircase…
BT: It had ohagi and other stuff, the menu was great.
Yatazakura: I was drinking only tea the whole day… I wasn’t able to eat anything either.
Ryukishi: Ah, me too. What else, the music was also from "Higurashi".
Yatazakura: Yes. When you hear old Higurashi songs, it feels like you are doing debugging. Like you are in the middle of a clean-up.
Ryukishi: It was the same at Angel Mort Day Only Event. Constant debugging flashbacks *bitter laugh*
Yatazakura: Like you are holding a notebook in one hand and repeating: “This is no good, this is no good”… *laugh*
Ryukishi: “Here the song stops and the rain sound starts” or “Cicadas sound until here” or “Here starts suspicion2 track”… Songs are heavily associated with debugging.
Yatazakura: “Here the position of the sprites is wrong”, etc.
Ryukishi: I understand well why game developers hate debugging. After you’ve done it so much, even if you buy a game that you’ve made you never unpack it. Playing it will be the last thing you’d want to do. It would feel like you are doing the debugging at home, they say *laugh*
Future of "Higurashi" and future of circle.
"Do you already have any ideas about your next work?"
Ryukishi: Well, there is that unfinished project for which I did complete the scenario. The game I was working on at my previous circle, it was dropped because the artist has left. Everything besides art was finished. However, if we’d release it now, it will require all sorts of small changes. Many of the characters from there moved to Higurashi. The protagonist is a complete Keiichi…
Yatazakura: There are a lot of different characters in that game. I can’t talk about it much, though. If we are going to release it, I can’t talk, and if we aren’t, I can’t talk either because it’s embarrassing.
Ryukishi: It’s not like we’ve decided to go with it, though. Either way, there are a lot of things that I want to do other than "Higurashi", so we’ll be busy.
"I’d like each of you to say something that keeps you moving forward."
BT: Well, I am going to work hard from now on. Especially on the web-site, I am going to properly manage it and keep support "Higurashi" together with everybody. I will keep supporting "Higurashi" from the back from now on.
Yatazakura: My goal is no bugs!
Everyone: *laugh*
Yatazakura: Which is obvious, so I also want to do different kinds of directing. Every day I have thoughts like: “It would be cool to make this scene such and such, but I don’t have time”. For example, when someone executes their plan during a club event, I’d like to show it with a cut-in with just their eyes. I want to do many of such effects in the next game.
Ryukishi: I am going to do a lot of research in preparation for the next one. I kinda started learning HSP (a simple programming language) for the next game. In the end, when you have time, you should learn.
Yatazakura: That’s true. We will also need someone who will beat Ryukishi’s ass.
"It seems that, in the end, your role is to make sure that the production is moving forward."
Yatazakura: Rather than that, that part of the work that appears towards the end is a bit tough.
Ryukishi: Yeah, it’s a type of work that you can’t get to until it’s done on my side.
"Please say the last word."
Ryukishi: I am always competing with my previous works. For now, I am going to do my best in order to not lose to "Meakashi-hen". I’ll be running forward until the end. There is no meaning to leave things unfinished, so, if the things go smoothly, we will be ready in half a year, though we shouldn’t become too relaxed. We are going to work hard, so we all hope for your support. "Higurashi" is made possible thanks to all of you. We will do our best to not betray your expectations, so please forward to the new game this Summer.
"Thank you very much for today."
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Official Character Guide Interview |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Oni
is a prequel manga series illustrated by Asahi that began serialization in Gekkan Action magazine from February 25, 2022.
Synopsis.
"Taisho year 12 (1923). A tragedy occurring in Hinamizawa changes the fate of a lone girl and her friends. The turbulent early life of Oryou, head of the Sonozaki family, one of the Three Great Families, who would later be feared and known as Empress Sonozaki. A missing link connected to the original Higurashi story revealed now."
Promotion and Release.
"Higurashi Oni" was first announced on December 24, 2021 by the Gekkan Action Twitter account, stating that Asahi was also in charge of the original draft. More details were revealed in the March 2022 Gekkan Action issue released on January 25, 2022.
On Janaury 24, 2022, Asahi tweeted that the story would focus on Oryou Sonozaki and the grandparents of the "Higurashi" characters, set in the past in the .
Concept and Development.
Ryukishi07 had received many requests from fans to do a story set in the Taisho era, but felt it was difficult to do because of the fragmentary nature of the setting, the background research of the turbulent era, and whether or not it could be an interesting drama.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Oni |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Oni Volume 1
is the first volume of the "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Oni" manga.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Oni Volume 1 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Original Soundtrack
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Original Soundtrack is a collection of music tracks composed for the 2006 "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni" anime. It is predominantly composed by Kenji Kawai, Tomoyuki Nakazawa, and Hiroyuki Oshima.
Many of these tracks were later reused in the .
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Original Soundtrack |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Original Soundtrack Vol. 2
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Original Soundtrack Vol. 2 is a collection of music tracks composed for the 2006 "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni" anime. It is predominantly composed by Kenji Kawai.
Many of these tracks were later reused in the .
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Original Soundtrack Vol. 2 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Question Arcs
, also referred to as and to distinguish it from the full series, is the first half of the series and contains arcs 1 to 4 of the story. It is also referred to as When they cry in the overall franchise. It is succeeded by , which consists of the last four arcs.
Arcs.
Chapter 1: Onikakushi.
In June of 1983, Keiichi Maebara moves to the rural village of Hinamizawa and makes some new friends while learning of the villages' culture and their guardian deity Oyashiro-sama. After hearing that annual deaths and disappearances happen because of "Oyashiro-sama's curse," Keiichi begins to uncover dark secrets about his new friends and his new home.
Chapter 2: Watanagashi.
Keiichi Maebara enjoys life in Hinamizawa and has fun playing games with his friends at school. During a chance encounter he meets Shion Sonozaki, the supposed twin sister of Mion Sonozaki. Keiichi and Shion develop a friendship, and during the Watanagashi Festival they sneak into the ritual storehouse and learn about Hinamizawa's horrible past, soon setting off a chain of events and earning the wrath of Oyashiro-sama's curse.
Chapter 3: Tatarigoroshi.
After a failed attempt to make dinner, Keiichi Maebara gets help from Satoko Houjou and begins bonding with her in a brother-sister relationship. When Satoko's abusive uncle returns to Hinamizawa, Keiichi becomes determined to protect Satoko at any cost and soon makes a harrowing decision.
Chapter 4: Himatsubushi.
In 1978, the village of Hinamizawa fiercely protests the government's plan to build a dam and destroy their home. When the Minister of Construction's son is kidnapped, the policeman Mamoru Akasaka visits Hinamizawa undercover to investigate the villagers' supposed involvement. He soon meets a young girl Rika Furude, who gives Akasaka an eerie warning: "Go back to Tokyo."
Adaptations.
A namesake anime series was aired in 2006. It adapts the entirety of Question Arcs along with Meakashi and Tsumihoroboshi from "Kai".
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Question Arcs |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Question Arcs/Music
The was a function that unlocked upon completing the "Himatsubushi" All-Cast Review. It allows players to listen to all of the music used in the story. It is not present in any of the English releases by MangaGamer due to requests by 07th Expansion, as some sound effects and tracks were replaced. This page lists the tracks as they were in the original versions. For specific details on which tracks were replaced, see this page.
The music files can also be found in the game's folders. Information on when each track is played in the story may be found in the Plot Summary pages for each arc.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Question Arcs/Music |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Re
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Re |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei
is a collection of 3 extra arcs of the series. It is officially subtitled When they cry 2+.
The arcs has been released in English by MangaGamer under the title Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Rei.
Arcs.
Saikoroshi.
An epilogue to "Matsuribayashi". Rika wakes up in a strange world different from the one she knows and as she explores is faced with the choice of staying there or returning to her old one.
Hirukowashi.
An extra arc not considered to take place within the main story. An ancient artifact in the Furude Shrine bestows love upon whoever holds it, with chaos ensuing as it changes hands.
Batsukoishi.
An extra arc that originally served as the All-Cast Review for "Meakashi".
Release History.
Comiket 71.
"Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei" first released at Comiket 71 on December 31, 2006.
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Hou.
"Rei" was rereleased with "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Hou" on August 17, 2014.
English Release.
MangaGamer translated the entirety of "Rei" and will release it on June 2, 2022. Changes include:
Adaptations.
A namesake OVA series was released in 2009 as a direct sequel to the "Kai" anime. It adapts Saikoroshi, Hirukowashi, and a story from a booklet; Batsukoishi-hen is omitted but later included in "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kira".
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei/Music
The Music Room is a function that unlocks after completing every arc. It allows players to listen to all of the music used in the story. This page lists the new tracks that appear in "Rei".
The music files can also be found in the game's folders. Information on when each track is played in the story may be found in the Plot Summary pages for each arc.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei/Music |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei (disambiguation)
could refer to:
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei (disambiguation) |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei (manga)
is a manga series that consists of the arcs "Oniokoshi-hen", "Hoshiwatashi-hen", and "Irotoutoshi-hen". The series takes place approximately 35 years after the original story in 2019 during the , and is to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the " Higurashi" series.
Promotion and Release.
"Higurashi Rei" was first announced on September 24, 2021 by the Big Gangan Twitter account. "Oniokoshi" would be illustrated by Natsumi Kei and serialized in Gangan Online while "Hoshiwatashi" would be illustrated by Tokiya Seigo and concurrently serialized in Big Gangan. The third arc "Irotoutoshi" was announced in the releases for Oniokoshi-hen Volume 2 and Hoshiwatashi-hen Volume 2 to begin serialization in Gangan Online in spring 2023. "Oniokoshi-hen" Volume 2's afterword also revealed that Kei would be illustrating the final arc as well.
Story Arcs.
"Oniokoshi" and "Hoshiwatashi" are considered to be Question Arcs while "Irotoutoshi" is the Answer Arc.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei (manga) |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei Official Guidebook
is a supplementary guidebook for the "Higurashi When They Cry Rei" anime.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei Official Guidebook |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rin
is a tabletop murder mystery game. It is the second tabletop mystery game to be published by Studio OZON after .
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rin |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu
is a series of anthology manga published by Ichijinsha with 10 total volumes.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu Volume 1
is the first volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu Volume 1 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu Volume 10
is the tenth and final volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu Volume 10 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu Volume 2
is the second volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu Volume 2 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu Volume 3
is the third volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu Volume 3 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu Volume 4
is the fourth volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu Volume 4 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu Volume 5
is the fifth volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu Volume 5 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu Volume 6
is the sixth volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu Volume 6 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu Volume 7
is the seventh volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu Volume 7 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu Volume 8
is the eighth volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu Volume 8 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu Volume 9
is the ninth volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Shin Kitanshuu Volume 9 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Sotsu
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Sotsu |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Special Edition Hinamizawa Village Serial Mysterious Death Case Private Investigation File (Temporary)
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Special Edition Hinamizawa Village Serial Mysterious Death Case Private Investigation File (Temporary) |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Sui
is a port of on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita by Kaga Create, featuring new character and background art and CGs. It released on March 12, 2015.
"Sui" contains all arcs from "Matsuri" and "Kizuna". New content includes an adaptation of Hajisarashi, which was originally released as a booklet with the first-run limited edition of "Matsuri".
Promotion and Release.
In anticipation of the game's release, a campaign was held by Kaga Create where videos showcasing each story arc were uploaded to their Youtube channel and taken down after some time. Each video ended with a different Japanese character, with players encouraged to combine the characters seen in other videos to figure out the full message and reply to the Higurashi Sui Twitter account. After 19 total videos (the same number of arcs in "Sui"), the complete message was revealed to be Winners received a letter and autographs from Ayane and Kanako Ito, the singers for several "Higurashi" console openings.
Story Arcs.
"Sui" keeps the format of "Kizuna" overall. The arcs are divided into four groups based on the four installments of "Kizuna" with an additional new extra arc "Hajisarashi".
Scenario 1:
This group includes all arcs from "Kizuna Volume I" and the two arcs previously exclusive to "Matsuri". Similar to "Matsuri" and "Kizuna Volume I", the group starts with a common route that can lead to all arcs other than "Someutsushi" depending on the player's choices.
Scenario 2:
This group includes all arcs from "Kizuna Volume II". The version of "Hirukowashi" included is the same as the "Alternative Hirukowashi" in "Kizuna".
Scenario 3:
This group includes all arcs from "Kizuna Volume III".
Scenario 4:
This group includes all arcs from "Kizuna Volume IV". Similar to "Kizuna Volume IV", the group starts with Connecting Fragments that can lead to each of the arcs. The version of "Miotsukushi" included in "Kizuna" was split into two different arcs: "Miotsukushi-hen Omote" is similar to the arc's original release in "Matsuri", but with some changes made to it; "Miotsukushi-hen Ura" consists of the extra chapters added to the "Kizuna" version that served as the conclusion to the Advanced Story. Despite being listed separately on the Scenario screen, both arcs are apparently treated as one single arc given that "Sui" is advertised as having 19 arcs.
Hajisarashi-hen.
"Hajisarashi-hen" is an extra arc adapted from a story included in a special edition of "Matsuri" where the main cast has fun at a pool.
Structure.
Various arcs feature choices that determine how the story will go, with various bad endings included. There is also a minigame added called "Quiz Oyashiro Shock" where the player can answer trivia questions about the series and unlock art galleries and new arcs early.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Sui |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Trading Cards
has had many trading card sets released for it over the years.
SP TIPS.
The Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Trading Card Box featured nine cards with exclusive SP TIPs written on them.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Trading Cards |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Web Radio
There have been several online radio shows hosted by Mai Nakahara, voice actress of Rena Ryuugu, and Satsuki Yukino, voice actress of Mion Sonozaki. They were all broadcast on animate.tv and have been rereleased as drama CDs.
Sarumawashi-hen.
was the first online radio show that originally ran from February 1, 2007 to August 2, 2007.
Saramawashi-hen.
was the second online radio show. It ran from August 2, 2007 to January 23, 2008.
Minamawashi-hen.
was the third online radio show. It ran from April 10, 2008 to December 10, 2008.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Web Radio |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Wiki
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Wiki |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Wonderful
is a one-shot anthology manga released by Earth Star Comics.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Wonderful |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series
is a series of anthology manga published by Ichijinsha with 8 total volumes.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series Volume 1
is the first volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series Volume 1 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series Volume 2
is the second volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series Volume 2 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series Volume 3
is the third volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series Volume 3 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series Volume 4
is the fourth volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series Volume 4 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series Volume 5
is the fifth volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series Volume 5 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series Volume 6
is the sixth volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series Volume 6 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series Volume 7
is the seventh volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series Volume 7 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series Volume 8
is the eighth and final volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series released by Ichijinsha.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Writer's Choice Series Volume 8 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni Anthology
is a series of and anthology manga published by Ohzora Publishing with 3 total volumes.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni Anthology |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni Anthology Volume 1
is the first volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni Anthology published by Ohzora Publishing.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni Anthology Volume 1 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni Anthology Volume 2
is the second volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni Anthology published by Ohzora Publishing. It is a compilation of artist Kaname Uchimura's work from previous anthologies.
Stories.
The stories are divided into 4 sections, with new 4-koma comics preceding each one.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni Anthology Volume 2 |
fandom.07th-expansion | # Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni Anthology Volume 3
is the third and final volume of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni Anthology published by Ohzora Publishing.
| Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni Anthology Volume 3 |
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