Synopsis[]
Need we warns ye that there be:
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This article contains spoilers.
If you are sensitive to spoilers, proceed with caution. |
Arg!
Prologue[]
At 2:20 A.M. in the Maebara House, Keiichi sleeps fitfully. The magazine he found at the dump lays open to the article "Construction Worker Lynched, Murdered, and Dismembered at Hinamizawa Dam Construction Site." He awakens and turns to look at his closet door which is slid ajar. In the dark space he suddenly sees Rena's eye staring at him. He screams in panic.
Turning on his lights, he inspects his closet only to find it empty. With the lights still on, he tries to go back to sleep.
First Half[]
The calendar reads, "Thursday, June 23, 1983." Keiichi sits on the floor next to his bed. His mother calls to him to get up. He looks at his digital clock and sees it flip to 7:58. Sleepy, Keiichi emerges and surprises his mother, who worries about how awful he looks. Keiichi explains it away by claiming that he has a fever and has probably caught a cold. While his mother asks him if he is well enough for school, the bell rings. She brightens as she announces that it is probably "Rena-chan." This provokes a shocked look from Keiichi as the clock flips to 8:02 while his mother cheerfully explains that she probably came to get him since he is late. Keiichi declares that he will stay at home, and his mother volunteers to tell Rena. As she walks away, she suggests that he go to the clinic.
Shown: GPS in 1983
Keiichi walks outside in his school clothes while holding a map drawn on a small piece of paper. He reaches the Irie Clinic, but finds a number of men dressed in kaki uniforms loading cardboard boxes into white vans. He approaches one, but the man apologizes that the clinic is being remodeled, and he suggests that he go to another one. Keiichi walks away complaining to himself that it is not as if there are any other clinics. At the school, he enters the classroom, and Mion happily rejoices that he is still alive.
When Keiichi complains about her suggestion, Mion dramatically declares that it is due to what Rena told her as she immitates her. Rena panics and complains but then admits that she was worried about Keiichi. She asks if he feels better, and Keiichi gives a simple yes. Satoko and Rika enter with Satoko gleefully scolding Keiichi for his absence. Keiichi retorts that she should know what they say about morons and colds: they never get them. Satoko starts to retort that she is not a weakling like he is, then Rika happily zooms between them to separate them. Keiichi does laugh a bit as Satoko protesting to Rika about being lumped in with Keiichi.
His musings are interrupted by Rena calling to him twice. He startles, then apologizes for spacing out for a moment due to his fever. Rika, how is molifying the irritated Satoko, looks at him sadly and with concern. Mion seriously asks him if he is sure he is feeling well. He assures her that he is just a little under the weather, and should not worry. As they talk, Rika stares at Keiichi. Mion eventually declares that they will hold off on club activities.
As Keiichi walks down the school corridor, he hears Rika call his name. The scene changes to outside the school where Keiichi asks her what is wrong and observes that he never sees her alone during lunchtime, since she is usually with Satoko. In her Child Voice, Rika explains that she wanted to talk to him alone. When he asks her what about, she asks him if there is anything worrying him. Keiichi has a sudden flashback of Rena's sad face at the dump. Somewhat startled, he stammeringly asks why she would ask him about it so suddenly. Rika persists and claims she can sense that he is worried about something. She then very pleasantly tells him that she wants him to tell her about it. Keiichi pauses, his eyes narrow, but he answers: "Sometimes . . . Rena . . . is scary." Still smiling, Rika asks him if he is afraid of Rena. Keiichi admits that it may sound weird, that Rena is his friend and he cares about her, but, he stammers, sometimes when she looks at him her eyes appear "creepy" and disturbs him.
嘘だ!
Because 嘘だ!
Rika suddenly snaps 嘘だ! When Keiichi startles, Rika happily explains that if Rena told that to him, it should have happened only once. She pleasantly suggests that he may have just been a little tired when Rena said it, or perhaps he is making it into a bigger thing than it is. Keiichi startles again and recalls himself accusing Rena of lying and hiding things from him. Back in the present, he admits that Rika is correct, and he was horrible to doubt his friends. Rika suggests that when he feels afraid of Rena, maybe he should not doubt her but himself.
Keiichi repeats "myself," but Rika just stares back at him with a small smile. He relaxes, closes his eyes, and lowers his head in acceptance, then recovers to smile and thank Rika. Excited, Rika declares that she knew Keiichi could win.
With the higurashi crying, back at his home, Keiichi returns to find it dark and empty. His searching does not reveal his parents, and he eventually ends up laying on his bed with his magazine still next to him. As he looks at t, he has a recollection of him asking Rena at the dump if anything happened there. He picks up the magazine, but he declares that Rika is correct. He rationalizes that if Rena was born in Hinamizawa, she would not want to talk about a horrible murder that happened in her home town, and he tosses the magazine into his wastepaper basket. He realizes that he still pressed and accused her which would naturally make her uncomfortable.
Feeling that he know understands, he rationalizes that when she came to his door while he talked to Ōishi on the phone, she simply left since she did not interrupt. He castigates himself for imagining her staring at him when she was not actually there. He then has a flashback of her staring at him, which frightens him and causes him to swear, grab his head, and shake.
Shown: "Irony"
He walks downstairs in his dark home and hears the telephone ring. It is his mother who first asks him how is he feeling and if he went to the clinic. He responds that he is feeling better. She explains that she and his father had to travel to Tōkyō suddenly for work. When he asks when they are leaving, she explains that they are already there and will be back the next day. She asks if he will be okay until then. He sarcastically replies that he will not die on them. His mother happily replies that she has made arrangements for food for him. Sweating a bit, he asks her what she means. She replies that "she" should be bringing it over soon. Keiichi shouts what does she mean by "she," and his mother chirps back, "Who do you think? Rena-chan!"
This stuns Keiichi. The scene focuses on his front door as the bell begins to ring. With a flash transition, Rena is seen on the other side of the door. She holds a large box wrapped in a cloth.
She smiles.
Second Half[]
Heeeeerrrrrrreeee's RENA!
Keiichi walks toward the front door, moves to grab the door handle, but he then withdraws his hand quickly. He stares at it, sweating. Sudden very loud knocking breaks the silence, and he recoils in fear. He quickly brings down the chain lock. Still pounding on the door, Rena repeatedly calls to him to let her in.
He stammers her name, and she replies that his mother called her to bring him dinner. He again stammers the lie that this is the first time he heard of this. She continues to pound on the door as she declares that she made a lot of food so they could eat together, and begs him to let her in. Keiichi swallows. He tries to lie that he cannot eat so much, and his fever has killed his appetite. Undaunted, Rena continues her pounding and attempts to open the door as she insists that the food is delicious and contains nutrients he needs to recover from his cold. When he agrees but still does not open, she starts to whine for him not to be "mean" to her and just let her in. Keiichi pauses and asks himself why he is so unsure. Outside, Rena continues to whine asking why he is being to mean to her. Keiichi urges himself to remember what Rika told him. He tells himself that he is making Rena into some imaginary monster. As the music crescendos, he imagines her opening the door until stopped by the chain and peering in at him.
Keiichi screams, grabs his head, then suddenly experiences a flashback of bludgeoning Rena with the metal bat. Back in the present, he gasps her name, then remembers Rika telling him that she knows he can win.
Crisis averted...?
He walks toward the door, removes the chain, unlocks it, then opens it. Rika looks surprised then appears to enter Cute Mode as she excitedly notes that he finally let her in. As she says his name, he walks towards her, then embraces her to her shock. She stammers asking him if he is that hungry.
Inside, the lights come on revealing the living room. Off screen, Rena thanks him for letting her in, and he responds that she is welcome. He encourages her that they are alone. This makes her definitely enter Cute Mode that borders on Take Home Mode. He interrupts her to pleasantly observe that she brought a lot of food. He admits that without her he would have had to rely on instant ramen. She eagerly replies that she can get everything ready for him and asks if she can use his kitchen. He starts to reach for her wrapped box offering to help, but she turns away bubbling that she can handle it herself.
Keiichi sits down to watch television as he waits for Rena. He calls out to her that she must be good friends with his mother if she asked her to do this for him. Inside the kitchen, Rena drops a heavy bag on a table then starts to unwrap her box as she responds to Keiichi that she and his mother always run into one another at the grocery store. Her eyes are shadowed as she chirps her pleasant response while separating the box into its component individual trays.
Shown: Rena preparing to make yakisoba . . . probably.
Keiichi asks when she says "grocery store," does she mean the Seven Mart. He pleasantly notes as he watches a quiz show that he has never seen her there. As Rena unpacks twine and a saw, she responds that she has seen him buy the instant ramen there: "you like ginger pork flavor, right?" Still watching the show, Keiichi pleasanty suggests that if Rena saw him in the story, she should have greeted him. He rises just as the host of the show says, "next question." He switches the channel to a cop drama. One detective asks another if there are any clues as to who killed and dismembered the victim. This causes Keiichi to pause. He switches off the channel, then calls to Rena that he should apologize to her. When he asks her what for, he explains that he said things to make her mad. He walks towards the kitchen as he states that he now realizes that it is a subject that she does not want to discuss.
Okay, THIS is different...
When she asks again for clarification, he walks in talking about the murder only to see her scratch her neck deeply and draw blood. She smiles at him.
Shown: "A Cunning Plan, Keiichi-kun!"
As she continues scratching, she explains that she has to protect her father. She will kill him, and then she will disappear. Excited, she declares that they will be the ones Oyashiro-sama will curse this year. He asks her what she is talking about then sees her impressive array of tools on the kitchen table. She grabs a knife with her left hand and reiterates that she will kill him, then she will be demoned away and disappear. Then her father can live in Hinamizawa in peace.
As she starts to stagger towards him, he spies a golf club. As he warns her to stand back, she continues that she is already under Oyashiro-sama's curse. She springs at him; he deflect her blow. She falls back to strike the table with her back which causes the twine, saw, and a box to fall to the floor. She makes a viscious swing that sends his club flying away. She chases after him, cuts his cheek when he turns, then knocks the clock radio to the flow with another swing. She pursues him while laughing maniacally.
He brings his arms together, rushes her, and sends her backward. She drops her knife as she impacts a table with her head. She seemingly falls unconscious under the table.
Shown: Keiichi Fails the First Rule of Horror Movies
Failing the first rule of horror movies, he approaches her calling her name. She, naturally, comes alive, grabs the knife, and drives it into his right chest. She leaps on him and repeatedly stabs him in the chest and belly as he screams in a fashion and severity that When They Cry Wiki suspects means the authors never studied basic anatomy. While thusly being punctured and covering the floor, walls, ceiling, and Rena with his blood, Keiichi grabs the clock radio and slams it into Rena's left temple. This seems to stun her a bit, but after she cackles maniacally, she resumes her exploratory laparotomy of Keiichi disappointingly censored in the release with abandon. Taking exception to this, Keiichi repeatedly strikes her on the side of her head with the clock.
Shown: "'Tis but a scratch!"
After a Fade to Black, the scene reveals blood dripping from the table, then the two lying on the floor in their respective pools of blood of a capacity that compels When They Cry Wiki to suspect they never bothered to look up the average human blood volume. Nevertheless, neither Rena nor Keiichi move. The only sound is that of the blood dripping onto the floor from the table . . . and walls . . . and ceiling . . . and pretty much everywhere else. Keiichi lies still with his eyes open. Tears well in both of them then run down his cheek.
Fade to Black.
Keiichi's vision returns as he sees florescent lights above him. He hears his scream his name and his father declare that he will get the doctor. He starts to ask, "did . . ." but his mother interrupts him to tell him it is fine and he should rest. He continues his question: "Did I kill . . . Rena?" His mother sadly tells him that he does not have to worry about anything now. His father rushes from the room calling the doctor. Keiichi closes his eyes as the scene fades.
He opens his eyes to see Ōishi staring down at him. He greets him and asks if they may have a "little chat." When Keiichi agrees Ōishi sits on a chair beside the hospital bed as he promises to keep it short. He asks him if he can tell him what happened. Keiichi confesses, to Ōishi's surprise, that he is not srue that he can. When Ōishi asks if this means Keiichi cannot remenber, Keiichi calmly insists that he remembers everything: "How it felt to hit her. . . ." As Ōishi closes his eyes, Keiichi continues that that is why he cannot explain it to him. Becoming disturbed, he declares that he cannot explain to him how or why it happened as tears start to flow. Ōishi stands and promises to visit him again.
Hinamizawa's Official Higurashi
As a single higurashi cries as it clings to a tree, the scene shifts to a fruit basket on a tray. Mion happily greets him with the traditional "long time no see" greeting, then jokes that it has been years. Keiichi asks if it has been just two days. Less bubbly, Mion confirms that it has been. She then looks sad as she explains that she wanted to come to visit sooner, but a lot of things have happened.
Keiichi asks if he may ask her something and will she answer truthfully. When she agrees, he asks her what happened to Rena. She looks down as he explains that his parents and others will not tell him. She admits that they could not save Rena, but then insists that it was a miracle that they could save him. Keiichi looks at his hands.
"But it wasn't just Rena," she continues. She starts to say that a day after the incident, "Rika-chan and Satoko, . . ." Shocked, Keiichi asks what happened. Mion explains that after the incident someone went to their house at the shrine and found them both killed with the same knife. The scene shows the knife on the floor with blood on it and around it. As the scene shows the bodies of the two, Mion says that they were both repeatedly stabbed in the neck. When Keiichi asks why would someone do that to them, Mion responds that the police think it was either a murder or a suicide. Even Keiichi wonders why they would kill themselves. Mion admits that she does not know which is why she feels it is more likely that their murders resulted from somelthing liek a robbery.
A cart roles on the floor, and a nurse enters stating that it is time for Keiichi's check. Mion rises and takes her leave. Smiling, she encourages Keiichi that given what happened to everyone else, he has to get better. Keiichi stares at her as she leaves.
The nurse places a syringe on her tray next to scissors, forceps, and rolls of tape.
"Carry on, Nurse!"
She states that she would like to ask him about his symptoms before they start. When he asks "symptoms," with her eyes obscurred, she asks him if his neck feels itchy. This surprises Keiichi, who suddenly recalls, without sound, Rena scratching her neck deeply. As the higurashi cry, he reaches for his neck, digs into it, and screams as the scene quickly pans to the sky.
Post-End Titles[]
Adult-Voiced Rika announce the first part of the new arc Watadamashi-hen.
Characters[]
In order of appearance
- Maebara Keiichi
- Ryūgū Rena
- Maebara Aiko
- Sonozaki Mion
- Hōjō Satoko
- Furude Rika
- Rena's Father (mentioned)
- Oyashiro-sama (mentioned)
- Maebara Ichirō
- Ōishi Kuraudo
Referbacks and Forwards[]
- This episode beings directly after the ending of the previous.
- Keiichi hugs Mion in Tsumihoroboshi-hen, depicted in Invasion of Earth, after he remembers murdering her.
- This episode explains how Rena knew Keiichi did not have dinner as well as his favorite type of ramen in Onikakushi-hen.
- Instant Noodles: In a similar situation in Tatarigoroshi-hen, depicted in Older Brother, Satoko comes to save Keiichi as he tries to burn down his kitchen.
- Men in Kaki: Spoilers there be! Arg!
- Rena similarly disarmed Keiichi in Tsumihoroboshi-hen, depicted in Retake.
- "The Chief's Dead! Murdered! And Someone's Responsible!": stealing a line from what has been considered one of the greatest worst films ever made, Plan Nine from Outer Space, When They Cry Wiki will note that the general tendency in previous arcs for the police to prove utterly useless continues in this one as they deduce that two young girls repeatedly stabbed in the neck was, probably, not the result of natural causes or even listening to the Hip Hop! Beyond When They Cry Wiki taking a Moment of Snark, there is – Arg! – spoilers in that observation, laddy! Keiichi's question as to why Rika and Satoko would commit suicide is another potential spoiler – Arg! – though there is an infamous scene from Cold Hands of Meakashi-hen where Rika does precisely that. Arg.
- "Hello, Nurse!": In the episode The Great Hinamizawa Disaster of Yakusamashi-hen a nurse assists poor Satoko across the River Styxx. It may even be the same nurse based on the hairstyle.
Trivia[]
- The Left Hand of Darkness: Rena appears left-handed in this adaptation.
- Censorship!: The scene of Rena stabbing Keiichi is censored. When They Cry Wiki is disappoint.
Cultural References[]
- [Keiichi's Anime HERE]
- Audition: Rena's utensils suggest this infamous film.
Memorable Moments[]
- Talk to Her: Unlike previous arcs, Rika takes the initiative to talk to her friends about what they are experiencing. This being Higurashi, it works as well as you should expect.
- Keiichi hugs Rena after overcoming his paranoia.
- Keiichi on the receiving end of Rena's murderous insanity.
Quotes[]
- "Sometimes, when she looks at me, her eyes look so creepy. . . ." – Maebara Keiichi to Furude Rika about Ryūgū Rena
- "嘘だ!" – Rika
- "You finally let me in, Keiichi-kun!" – Rena
- "I'll kill you, and I'll disappear." – Rena to Keiichi
- "Yeah, that's it. That's how it should be." – Rena to Keiichi
- "Did I kill . . . Rena?" – Keiichi
Gallery[]
