#ooishi x irie

[thegreatsolaris]

Higurashi doodle collection hehe

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 3 Tatarigoroshi pt. 7

You know, there's something that I was forced to remind myself of during Chapter 6 of Tatarigoroshi here. It was also something I kept forgetting during my time with Umineko, but it's really more applicable here. I forget that Keiichi Maebara is himself a child. Much like how I kept forgetting that Battler is only 18 or 19, and Ange is 15 or so. I keep forgetting the protagonist of these series are in fact teenagers. So I'll rail against the character because I forget that this is a literal child, and maybe I should relax a smidge.

Before diving into that however I want to mention briefly that I took a quick peek at the manga version of Higurashi. Not too terribly far into the manga, just the adaptations of Onikakushi, and Watanagashi (also a brief glimpse into one of the later arcs, but that's only because I misread the title). I don't think I'll really go back and skim the chapters going forward, but it is interesting seeing some of the scenes recontextualized in manga form. Another Higurashi fan @felixcloud6288 has an interesting thread where they're going through the manga. The manga is interesting because it cuts a lot of the filler out of the visual novel and is a more streamlined interpretation of events (including introducing characters who haven't made an actual appearance in the VN yet).

Also you get stuff like this:

Which is just fun to see.

In the TIPS section after chapter five there's a brief interlude where Shion and Irie have a small chat about Shion being the manager of the baseball team, and what a cad Satoshi is for abandoning his girlfriend to mysteriously vanish a year ago. Then there's the police discussing the murder from the start of the chapter. This woman seems to have been brutally murdered, theoretically by the Sonozaki group, for having stolen millions of yen from the organization. And the woman's lover is Teppei Houjou who seems to have run back to Hinamizawa.

I don't know Keiichi, this is three times it's happened. Sure it seems like it's just a wild coincidence, but you always seem to say something that just makes the world flip the switch into weirdo horror time. Eventually you have to realize the common X factor is you buddy.

I read part of the chapter two manga, so I do have some thoughts about what that unpleasant load might be.

I think this is in reference to when she went off her trolley and smashed up those windows and also her classmates. The fun times ending overnight bit, not the living life to the fullest. Although who's to say, maybe being a violent psychopath is great fun?

Trade Offer. They receive: their ball back. Keiichi receives: nap times in class.

After this last moment of lighthearted fun detective Ooishi shows up to try to find Satoko. This leads to a whole lot of back and forth about how Keiichi is instantly distrustful of Ooishi, and how Ooishi seems a lot more physically violent this time around. Irie eventually intervenes and tells Keiichi about how the townsfolk have a general dislike and distrust of Ooishi. Irie then brings up and confides in Keiichi an idea that was brought up once, in the TIPS section of chapter one: that Ooishi is viewed as an emissary of Oyashiro who picks the person who is to be cursed this year.

Is this technically a title card? I know that the Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni screens show up a lot, but would the white screen Tatarigoroshi technically be the title card showing up roughly seven hours into the chapter? I assume these are written by Rika, because I assume the one she wants to protect is Satoko. No one else really comes to mind for wanting the best for Satoko other than Rika. And that she is willing to do whatever it takes to protect her. After all Rika and Satoko have a very similar life circumstance that would bring them together closer than anyone else in Hinamizawa. I also assume the person behind these screens is Rika because of the ones from Watanagashi talks about how she unintentionally drove people who were on edge deeper into fear (paraphrasing). Given how Rika acts in the upcoming section I can't help but believe that she's the one who destroyed the day-to-day life she wanted to protect. The why of it I haven't quite shook out yet.

Satoko's uncle left Hinamizawa a year ago. Doesn't that fly in the face of Rena's earlier arguments that Satoshi got taken because he "was planning to abandon Hinamizawa"? If their uncle Teppen was able to leave and have nothing bad happen to him her manic argument that Satoshi got swept away by the curse just falls apart. Unless Oyashiro's curse is now classist. This does also call into question the idea that Mion is a hatchet man for the cult, if she views Tepig Houjou as a useless social parasite who preys upon Satoko why not use him as one of the Watanagashi victims?

Also, I apologize in advance if this offends, given the insinuations Rena and Mion made about how her uncle is abusive I was suddenly reminded of a small throwaway line from chapter 2. During one of their games Mion and Satoko gave an answer to some quiz thing that Keiichi mentions was basically just old men drinking and carousing. Is there some small implication that Taipei Houjou is not only physical and emotionally abusive, but also potentially sexually abusive as well? If that's the case, and Satoshi was more defensive of Satoko than previously implied why then does Mion seem so keen to accept the notion that Satoshi just ran away? Or is she really just trying to mentally shield herself from the idea that Satoko, and the cult of Oyashiro had something to do with his disappearance. In chapter 2 she tells Keiichi that she thinks Satoko is cursed, and that people related to her die. Is she just trying to use Satoko's cursed nature as an excuse why Satoshi "transferred" and not her useless parasitic uncle? Or is it part of some hitherto unknown idea that maybe Mion thinks uncle Houjou used Satoko to kill Satoshi, or use her alleged curse nature to quell any rumor that he had anything to do with it?

This does raise some questions about the idea of the curse of Oyashiro. I think there's a deeper motive for the killings and disappearances than just "they were proponents of the Hinamizawa Dam project." With the first two, the dam project manager, and Satoko's parents they were obviously chosen for their association with the project. But after that it gets a bit hinky. There's a line in the tips in chapter two that the person researching Watanagashi thinks that the chosen sacrifices were chosen due to political reasons. Initially I thought that was silly, but thinking a bit more about it the fact that the Furude patriarch and his wife were chosen supports this idea. After all, they were part of triumverate that rules Hinamizawa, so why would Oyashiro choose them to be sacrifices? Unless it's not Oyashiro who chooses the sacrifices. The Kimiyoshi's or the Sonozakis could have claimed it was the will of Oyashiro and sacrificed the Furudes in an effort to get someone more easily manipulated for their schemes. Someone, a young child for instance, who they could theoretically control more easily than an old priest. Thinking more about it they haven't really explained how or why people get chosen for Watanagashi. It's pretty easy to assume that it's just a sinister cabal pulling the strings of a bunch of country bumpkins. Until you remember that one of the people who leads Hinamizawa is Rika, who is friends and lives with the surviving relative of a past Watanagashi sacrifice. Rika would probably be fully aware of the living situation Satoko and Satoshi were in, and as such wouldn't you know it Oyashiro says the aunt has to be one of the sacrifices. The other sacrifice I'm willing to bet was supposed to be the uncle Teppei Houjou, but when some "unknown deviant" beat the aunt to death he went into hiding, and the cult decided they just needed A Houjou so Satoshi would probably be alright. Unless it was an elaborate con, and were trying to scare Satoshi into revealing the hiding place of Teppei. But eventually he "transferred" away and they decided it was close enough and washed their hands of the affair.

Keiichi is very clearly out of his depth here. It gets extremely infuriating shortly.

Rika is very strongly putting out the vibe of she really doesn't want to be involved with this conversation. Especially with how unhinged Keiichi gets.

I have never so strongly wanted to have someone just fucking deck a character as hard as I wanted someone to hit Keiichi here. He goes from zero to piece of shit annoying so fast it was making me wish I could hit this bastard. He's being so self-righteous it's astonishing, and I can't help but give kudos to Mion for just taking it. She would be well within her rights to just swing at the guy.

I once again adore Rena. She might have some severe issues, but I love her ability to just call out people for their bullshit. Last chapter when she called out Mion for killing people, and Keiichi for being a hypocritical jackass in this one. I am extremely glad that she exists to cut through the noise and point out how utterly unfair Keiichi is being here.

I would not be surprised if someone got Keiichi to commit a murder for them by just feeding him a line about how "if they were true friends he'd do it" or something along those lines. Based on some of his extremely emotional reactions you wouldn't even have to do that much, you could just sigh exaggeratedly and he'd guilt trip himself into doing it for you.

Anyway, Keiichi's off to pay a visit to Satoko's house to see if he could muster up some courage to expose the uncle as the vile abuser he clearly must be. Only to lose his nerve around the house. Which is when Irie and Satoko show up.

Whereupon Keiichi is incensed and outraged that Teppei sent the small child out to buy booze and cigarettes while he drunkenly plays with his friends. It goes on a while. Irie and Keiichi leave Satoko to her miserable fate for now and have a conversation in Irie's car about how Keiichi's youthful idealism is basically worthless in the bureaucratic society they live in. And here I was forcefully reminded that Keiichi is only fourteen or so. He is, in fact, a child, and I really need to keep that in mind when I get annoyed with his actions in this series. I forget that he's not an adult and does make rash decisions and let his emotions get the better of him. Not that adults don't do that too, but it's more common in younger people. Not that this gives him a free pass mind you. I don't think I'm being too unreasonable if I point out that I think he's being a horses ass and making bad decisions.

Can you tell which parts were written hours apart?

[felixcloud6288]

Higurashi: Massacre Chapter 18

It's wild how all the little details about Takano have all come together here.

We've known since Curse Killing that Takano drove down the main road with Tomitake's bike in the back, and we've known since Cotton Drifting that Takano's autopsy time-of-death was a day off. And now we know she was taking an unconscious Tomitake to where he would be found and Takano faked her death.

Since this isn't my first experience with the series, I don't actually get to enjoy trying to find the little clues and try to piece together everything. But I did have fun seeing all the little hints along the way that a reader could use. There was definitely enough evidence along the way to figure out most of the big reveal.

Takano straight up changed into a villain costume after the reveal.

I've been playing the part of someone who doesn't know what's going on when putting the pieces together and one speculation I offered was Takano, Tomitake, and later Irie were killed because of their affiliation with "Tokyo".

Well now we see that idea was partially correct. There is a rogue faction in "Tokyo" and killing Takano and Tomitake was done to frame Irie as the rogue unit instead. But we're cut off from what the reason for all this is.

Takano had a genuine moment of shock and I would say fear when Rika's prediction was right. She's a big occult fan and she loves the bloody stories about Hinamizawa and Oyashiro. And now she has a light reason to believe the god is real.

What was the original direction of Irie's research that they made something that could artificially induce Hinamizawa Syndrome and then decided to destroy it? Is this the "bomb" Takano said some people in "Tokyo" wanted to set off? Do they want to turn the research toward biological warfare?

And since part of the attempt to frame Irie involves claiming he's sold off his research, that can give the rogue "Tokyo" a way to justify acquiring this research even though it's officially ended. They could secretly fund the continuation of it and if it's ever found out, they can just claim the researchers are a black market organization that got the research from whatever avenues Irie sold it through.

That's some Umbrella Corporation stuff right there.

Ooishi is super competent when he's not trying to blame the Sonozakis for everything. He was completely on-point with everything in regards to Tomitake's murder. That's why he's Detective Delicious Ooishi!

But he is also kind of accidentally playing the old role that he always has with the Three Rules. He's not tying anything to the Sonozakis, but his interactions with Rika are beginning to have the same effect on her that always has happened to everyone he speaks to about the murder.

Operation Apocalypse is running as planned. Irie is fighting allegations against murdering Tomitake and Takano. And when Rika brought up Ooishi's speculation, Okonogi is quick to brush him off and tell Rika to trust him instead.

Rika says the Wild Dogs protecting her after Takano's death is a first. Of course, we know they're acting on Takano's orders to do so.

In every other timeline, Rule X always resulted in the destruction of Rika's support network if it didn't just cause her death. This is the first time Rika actually has people she can rely on to help her. And Okonogi is attempting to isolate Rika from them.

Just a reminder, despite having lived 100 years worth of time, Rika is still actually a child. She doesn't have the wisdom or emotional maturity that comes with age. And she's lived the same events so many times that this entirely new set of information is a bit overwhelming for her.

Rika has operated under the assumption that Takano was always killed due to Rule Y and Ooishi was always giving incorrect information due to Rule Z. These would combine to form Rule X.

If we go back to the Three Rules, we have an interesting inversion of them at this moment. Rika may be experiencing the suspicion and paranoia that normally accompanies the Rule X victim. But instead of it manifesting due to Rules Y and Z working as expected, it's manifesting because Rules Y and Z are not working this time.

Regardless, it would appear that Rule X or some variant of it is targeting Rika this time as she's starting to spiral into that fear that makes her unable to trust others.

(Psst. Rika. Your enemies are the people telling you to not talk to anyone.)

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[ao3feed-ateez]

by Meaningless_Aesthetic

Azeez AU in Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni(When They Cry) Universe. All Ateez members live in a small Village Called Hinamizawa, where a series of unknown murders happen but no one gets to the end of the mystery. These murders happen in many different universes connected to Hinamizawa. Each Hinamizawa has a different outcome. No matter what decision is made, Fate can't be changed. Death is mush upon them.

A\N: For those who are confused Higurashi No Kaku Koro Ni is an anime that have 7 arcs. This n]book Distorted Wonderland is inspired by this anime. The concept is the same as the anime but will make changes to suit the situation for every character. I will not closely follow the timeline of the Higurashi arc in case you decide to watch it. o(=•ェ•=)m

Words: 1992, Chapters: 1/32, Language: English

Series: Part 1 of Distorted Wonderland; Ateez Horror AU Pt.1

Fandoms: ATEEZ (Band), Higurashi no Naku Koro ni | Higurashi When They Cry

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage

Categories: Other

Characters: Kim Hongjoong, Park Seonghwa, Choi San, Choi Jongho, Kang Yeosang, Song Mingi, Jeong Yunho, Jung Wooyoung, Park Eden, Bak Chohee, Irie Gun, Yeon Jiwon, Lee Minho, Furude Rika, Houjou Satoko, Houjou Satoshi, Sonozaki Mion, Sonozaki Shion, Ryuuguu Rena, Maebara Keiichi, Takano Miyo, Chie Rumiko, Irie Kyousuke, Akasaka Mamoru, Ooishi Kuraudo, Tomitake Jirou, Ahn Bongcha

Relationships: Kim Hongjoong(Ateez) | Furude Rika, Park Seonghwa(Ateez) | Houjou Satoko, Choi San(Ateez) | Sonozaki Mion, Choi Jongho(Ateez) | Sonozaki Shion, Jeong Yunho(Ateez) | Ryuuguu Rena, Song Mingi(Ateez) | Maebara Keiichi, Kang Yeosang(Ateez) | OC Added, Jung Wooyoung(Ateez) | OC Added, Park Eden | Houjou Satoshi, Ahn Bongcha(OC) | Takano Miyo, Bak Chohee(OC) | Chie Rumiko, Irie Kyousuke(OC) | Irie Gun, Yeon Jiwon(OC) | Akasaka Mamoru, Lee Minho(OC) | Ooishi Kuraudo

Additional Tags: ATEEZ - Freeform, kim hongjoong - Freeform, Park Seonghwa - Freeform, jeong yunho - Freeform, song mingi - Freeform, Choi San - Freeform, choi jongho - Freeform, jung wooyoung - Freeform, Kang Yeosang - Freeform, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Freeform, Anime, K-Pop - Freeform, Anime x K-pop

[magicalgirlelsa]

Some conclusions and headcanons about Miyo, because I just spent the last few hours researching Japanese adoption laws and the like. I struggled to find information on legal name changes outside of marriage and on adoption laws outside of present day, so if someone is aware of any of these conclusions being faulty, I would appreciate if you let me know! :>

Well, my starting point was a question of: Irie says that, at least in Showa 58 (1983), single people are not allowed to legally adopt children. However, Hifumi (Miyo’s grandfather) was a single adult. And at the same time, Miyo changes her name not once but twice by early adulthood.

This brings up a couple possibilities. Maybe Miyo was never legally adopted, and it’s just that the people of the orphanage didn’t want to raise a fuss and risk being exposed for their cruelty so she was allowed to live with Hifumi. I’m not sure what kinds of documents the school would require, but even if they generally would want a parent/guardian’s permission, the fact that she was an orphan means Hifumi probably could have found one that would allow it. Thus, Miyo could have changed her own legal name when she was old enough. Alternatively, she never legally changed her name, but uses Takano Miyo for research things while her legal name remains Tanashi Miyoko, which is completely allowed, and that’s what she tells people when she introduces herself so we have no reason to know it’s not her legal name.

However, I started reading about “adult adoption” in Japan. Apparently this, at least currently, entails adopting a person who is at least 15 years old. I don’t think this requires the adopter to be married, and the “adopted adult” is able to consent to it themselves (despite 15 being well before the age of majority). Thus, when she turned 15, Miyo could have consented to the adoption. At that time, Hifumi could have allowed her to legally change her name, and until that point she was going by it unofficially.

As I mentioned earlier, she changes the spelling of her name once again, after going from Tanashi Miyoko to Takano Miyo. Initially it’s 高野 (Takano), like Hifumi’s, but she later changes it to 鷹野 (Takano, different first character) for her research so people don’t think she’s doing the research out of sentimentality. There are two possibilities for this as well, which are that she has legally changed it, or that she has only changed it unofficially as an academic pseudonym while she does this research. While the “official documents” we’re shown (like with the list of deaths) list her as 鷹野三四, if memory serves, Jirou’s name is still given as Tomitake Jirou, and yet it’s brought up (by Ooishi I believe) that this is probably not his real name. (And in fact, I do believe that ジロウ -- which is written in katakana -- would be a pretty unusual name for that time period. Correct me if I’m wrong, though.)

The one motivation for her to legally change the spelling of her last name is that when she signs legal documents, she would presumably still be using 高野 if she hadn’t legally changed it to 鷹野. However, there’s little reason for the academics to see her legal documents -- until the Irie Institution and all that gets started, but both Koizumi and Nomura (who are the ones pulling the strings in ensuring she has funding and all that, at varying times) are already aware of her having been adopted by him, so there’s not much point in trying to hide that.

As for how Nomura creepily found out about her adoption, it actually wouldn’t have been that hard if Miyo had been legally adopted (which is part of why I think she was, when she was 15). All she would have to do is look into Miyo’s family registry (koseki). (Koseki were a thing since the Meiji Era, so before Showa.) Creepy, but entirely possible. I don’t know if the average person can march in and look at a random person’s koseki, but certainly with Nomura’s connections we can assume she would be able to pull it off.

Incidentally, regarding years. Higurashi takes place primarily in Showa 58 (1983), as is mentioned many times. Miyo’s age is given as “3X” (in the same way the club members’ are given as X or 1X) iirc, meaning she would have been born somewhere between Showa 18 (1943) to Showa 28 (1953). WWII ended in Showa 20 (1945), and it seems she was born after the war. She was probably 8-10 when she was adopted (keeping in mind Rika and Satoko are presumably 9, with their ages given as X, and she seems to be roughly the same age), so she would probably have been adopted somewhere Showa 35 (1960) give or take a few years.

[thegreatsolaris]

Shout out to the one fic these two have on ao3. You're god's bravest soldier.

[felixcloud6288]

Higurashi: Massacre Chapter 17

I can't believe I've pulled this off. I am going over this chapter on the third Sunday in June 2024. In other words, this comes out "On the Night of the Cotton Drifting".

This is the first time since all the way back in Abducted by Demons Chapter 2 where the festival itself was the focus itself rather than a backdrop for something else.

For the first time since before we even knew anything that was going on the point of the festival is to give our cast time to have fun and enjoy themselves.

The scars from the Dam War are finally beginning to heal. The villagers come to Satoko to apologize for how they've treated her and promise to be there for her if she needs help.

And Keiichi and his dad have garnered a great deal of respect in the village. It's a far cry from how the council elders were calling Keiichi a disrespectful brat and acting like Ichiro is a failure of a parent.

Is that Makino-san!!?

This shot is so amazing because the more you look at it, the more you realize these are people who helped save Satoko.

I can't tell if any of the people on the left are anyone of note, but this shot includes Irie, Akane, Oryou, Kimiyoshi, the Angel Mort Otakus, Tomita, Okamura, a few classmates, Kameda, Chie, and Kaieda.

And Chie is eating curry of course.

Just to further emphasize how we're supposed to enjoy the festival itself, this is also the first time since Abducted by Demons Chapter 2 that we see Rika perform the ritual.

Congrats Akasaka. You have dethroned Keiichi as the biggest screw-up in the series.

Rika doesn't hold his absence against him though. After everything that's happened, she realized she shouldn't be relying on some single individual to save her.

And really it's better that Akasaka didn't help. He's completely unconnected from the village, its people, and its history. If he had been responsible for saving Satoko, the village wouldn't have been forced to confront the stagnation and scars left behind from the Dam War and Satoko would still be a mistreated outcast.

Akasaka has a role to play in all this, but rescuing Satoko was not it.

Rule X is utterly shattered. Rule Z is defanged. All that's left is to guard against Rule Y. Rika has brought her friends and Ooishi in on protecting Takano and Tomitake but despite everything that's happened, Hanyu is still going on about unshakable destiny.

The Schrodinger's cat paradox is a thought experiment involving placing a cat and a vial of poison in a box. Depending on some quantum conditions, a mechanism will shatter the vial and release the poison, thus killing the cat. It's not possible to know whether the condition was met until you open the box and check.

It was originally made as a critique to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics because by that interpretation, the cat would end up both alive and dead but we would only be able to observe it being in one state or another.

Frederica Bernkastel's poem said no one knows if the cat is alive or dead until someone looks in the box. When she looked in, the cat turned out to be dead.

Rika is frequently compared to a cat.

This chapter is a celebration of everyone coming together to overcome what was thought to be an unbreakable fate. But it ends in an utterly cruel fashion as we're shown we fell right into the enemy's trap.

It turns out that Takano and Tomitake aren't killed by some unknown assailant. Takano is behind it and the Wild Dogs are part of her conspiracy.

Rika's never been able to find her killers because they were a group she'd trusted this whole time led by someone she always thought was dead.

Rika's friends called Oyashiro-sama's curse a fear within the village of upsetting someone who doesn't exist. Keiichi said the curse wasn't because of a deity, but because of people. They spent this arc breaking that curse, but now Takano has stepped in and she intends to set a new curse on the village.

We've seen it before how Takano only sees Oyashiro as some cruel and evil god, and she revels in spreading that idea. She writes horror stories based on the village's history. Her interpretation of Oyashiro-sama's curse is just another aspect of that.

It turns out that "Tokyo" is behind everything, though Takano's words imply this is happening because of some internal dispute. This faction's end goal is to bring about some grand catastrophe related to Hinamizawa Syndrome. In other words, they're likely behind the Great Hinamizawa Disaster. And Irie and Tomitake will be killed to get them out of the picture.

Whether it's fear of a non-existent being or the utter destruction of the village, it turns out that Oyashiro-sama's curse truly is just the work of people.

The kidnapper is finally named. He's Okonogi.

This chapter started with the highest highs and ends with the lowest lows. Going forward, this will just be another dead-end timeline. I hate that Hanyu was right.

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[felixcloud6288]

Higurashi: Massacre Chapter 5

Takano don’t make a creepy face for one panel challenge: Passed!?!

Honestly, the anime did this better cause she also shouted "NIPAAA~" when she did this.

In Cotton Drifting and Eye Opening, Takano talked about the bloody history surrounding Hinamizawa and Oyashiro and her word was given great authority. But now, her words are more pompous and obnoxious. She's trying to tell the priestess of Oyashiro who Oyashiro is while Oyashiro is in the room screaming at her.

Seeing Hanyu's reaction to being called cruel, bloody, and accursed makes me think that Arakawa was far closer to the truth back in Beyond Midnight. He speculated the torture devices were meant as a deterrent to force the villagers to follow their precepts rather than being used for religious ceremony themselves.

Rika mentions that Takano and Tomitake try to break into the Saiguden in every timeline, not just the ones we saw. If that's the case, it would definitely cause Rule Y and Rule Z to be way more tangled to each other. No matter what timeline, the break-in could always be used to explain why the Sonozakis would have Takano and Tomitake killed.

And now we know what the noise Shion heard in Cotton Drifting/Eye Opening was.

We cut to the next scene without any resolution about if Takano and Tomitake believed Rika. It helps align the mood with Rika. She's uncertain at the start of the scene but is far more confident after. And then we cut to Tomitake, Takano, and Irie discussing with each other and assuring that confidence.

Rika asked for a sign for how things will turn out and said it doesn't have to be big. Enter Detective Delicious Ooishi.

But instead of causing problems, he and Keiichi have a friendly chat and play mahjong together.

Ooishi's role in the Three Rules is to always try tying Rule Y and Z together and subsequently trigger Rule X. At this point, Rule X is mostly invalid and if Rule Y doesn't happen, then Ooishi has no purpose in the tragedy either.

I'd argue Ooishi is lightly affected by the same power that's made Rika's friends recall their actions in previous arcs. In Atonement, Ooishi realized how foolish he could get with his obsessive belief that the Sonozakis were behind all the murders. And that obsession very nearly caused the tragedy that would have played out if Keiichi hadn't stopped it.

While he probably still distrusts the Sonozakis, that experience is loosening him up a bit. He's subconsciously realizing his obsessive approach to trying to solve the series of murders is only fueling more tragedies.

At the very least, even if he won't be an asset, he could be treated as a non-threat.

And in response to Rika not knowing if Ooishi's appearance is a good or bad sign, another sign appears.

Again, I think the power of this timeline is affecting more than just Rika's friends. Rika is acting to defy her fate and is doing things that have never been done, and it's causing everyone else to be affected as well.

I'd say Ooishi and Akasaka are being impacted by Rika's attack on Rule Y. Because Rika is working to make Rule Y invalid, it has a knock-on effect that made Akasaka return to Tokyo and stop his wife from dying.

Gotta wander how the kidnapping event changed though.

And while Ooishi's support is questionable, Akasaka made it absolutely clear that he will help Rika.

Despite everything happening, Hanyu doesn't seem to think this will turn out well.

I've been bringing up how Takano and Irie are connected to "Tokyo" for a while and speculating that Tomitake must also be and now we have a proper assurance to both. Yes, the three of them are connected to "Tokyo" and Tomitake is an inspector and liason between Irie clinic and "Tokyo".

He looks so different without his hat.

As the three of them are talking, Irie brings up that "Oyashiro-sama's curse" is actually a disease they've been studying. The disease is called Hinamizawa Syndrome.

So the instances of Keiichi, Rena, and Shion going mad is due to a disease. But I do want to connect some dots here. In Eye Opening and Cotton Drifting, Shion heard Hanyu's stomping in the Saiguden. And in the first chapter of Abducted by Demons, Keiichi said it was a girls' voice saying "I'm sorry". So the sensation of someone following you might actually be them becoming aware of Hanyu's presence.

So if Tomitake heard Hanyu's footstomps as well, that means he has contracted Hinamizawa Syndrome.

While Tomitake had his doubts about Rika's claims, Takano insists on believing her. And she says they'll deploy the Wild Dogs to protect her.

So yeah, everything is coming up Nipaa~. But then the chapter ends by revealing that there's still one possible timeline that hasn't been shut out.

Curse Killing is an arc where the Three Rules didn't matter. The series of murders was a footnote in that timeline and the Three Rules barely applied. No one was investigating Takano and Tomitake's murder. No one was trying to pin the murders on the Sonozakis. No one was instilling paranoia in Rika's friends.

Everything that happened in that arc was because of Teppei.

Teppei is a variable in each timeline, but I'd argue he's actually a force far greater than the Three Rules. And his presence completely supersedes anything the Three Rules might cause.

One last note. I'll put it in this chapter since this is right after it. There's a bonus comic showing that Rika and Hanyu's senses are linked. Hanyu can taste anything Rika tastes and Hanyu has 0 tolerance to spice or alcohol.

I don't think this is going to come up at all in the main story and Hanyu doesn't seem affected by Rika's drinking at all. But in the anime, there's a scene where Rika ate kimchi and chugged alcohol because she got tired of hearing Hanyu's nay-saying and I wish that scene had happened here as well.

NIPA BEAM!!

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Spoiler Discussion

I'm gonna stick with Ooishi and Akasaka being impacted by Rika bringing Tomitake and Takano to the Saiguden. Ideally, this action would break Rule Y, but in reality it's only going to shake it and reveal how Rule Y actually works.

And similarly, Akasaka and Ooishi manage to slip out of their usual roles of tragic victim and instigator, but they're not going to be able to play their proper support roles in this arc because the true enemy is unknown.