himatsubushi-hen (time killing/wasting arc)

• intro: summer 1985, our pov character is mamoru akasaka, a cop from tokyo. hes on his way to meet his old work buddy ooishi, who successfully retired and moved out of okinomiya (mentioned in arc2)
• swap to midsummer 1978: the year of the dam protests. the son of the minister of construction is kidnapped, apparently held for ransom; hinamizawas dam project protestors called the "onigafuchi guardians" are suspected
• mamoru's wife is close to giving birth, but he is called to investigate the hinamizawa situation. he makes a stop at the prefecture police department, where hes informed of the hinamizawa unity phenomenon, the extent of their protests and the likelihood of yakuza group involvement; theres a mention of one of the yakuza lieutenants (male) having been adopted into hinamizawa, unclear if this is the sonozakis
• mamoru must keep the kidnapping situation under wraps; the police chief there confirms a kidnapping is totally within the bounds of what the villagers would do
• mamoru meets up with the okinomiya police department's head of public safety hondaya. while conversing, he's introduced to ooishi, whom he understands to be very experienced and sneaky, yet doesnt seem to trust him
• they discuss that the leaders of the protest are members of the three ruling families (most notably kiichirou kimiyoshi, priest furude and oryou sonozaki)
• ooishi takes mamoru for a ride into hinamizawa to show him what the region is like. ooishi has him wear a mask etc. to hide his face. close to the entry, protestors are blocking the way; obstruction of traffic is a crime. one of the protestors says that if ooishi had taken his usual car they would've hidden the barricade away sooner
• ooishi claims that the protestors are working off the excuse that since the police won't do anything about illegal dumping around the dam site, they're claiming to be taking matters into their own hands by blocking traffic and logging who enters the town and when etc. there's no evidence of outside illegal dumping taking place; ooishi theorizes the hunamizawans are doing so themselves, both for this excuse and to pollute the dam