meakashi (eye-opening chapter)

pov character: shion

• opens with shion running away from the catholic boarding school St. Lucia for the rich that "produces ladies"; she strategically planted a rumor that she was dating a male teacher so her escape would seem like an elopement scandal that could ruin the schools reputation
• she's picked up by her chauffeur/bodyguard, kasai to return to okinomiya. they chat; mion began living with oryou and taking over successor duties just a year prior (conflicts with himatsubushi?), around the same time shion was sent to this school. kasai is a semi-retired driver for of the twins' father the gang leader, whom hes close with; he has a very affectionate relationship with shion, as he raised her and now serves as her butler
• shion reminisces about the dam protests; shes fond of how much mischief she got into thinking of it as childhood misbehavior. she notes there was a rumor that the sonozakis kidnapped the minister of construction's grandson as blackmail; he was found in yagouchi in decidedly not a demoning-away incident
• sonozaki family tradition dictates the successor take the "demon" kanji character in their name; mion has the character for "demon", while shion has the character for "temple". another tradition is should twins be born into the family, the younger one must be killed; oryou allegedly tried to choke shion immediately after birth. the choice to keep her alive and lock her up in a boarding school is seen by the sonozakis as the merciful option she needs to be completely grateful for. oryou detests shion and sees her as a walking bad omen
• shion hates oryou. she has no attachment to hinamizawa, instead adoring her hometown okinomiya. she discusses the potential consequences of her escape with kabai, who mentions the main sonozaki house has a torture room in the garden. shion wishes to "not end up as a victim of that place" (...bro). she mentions being more afraid of her parents' reaction than of oryou's. she mentions her parents and kasai were in some sort of love triangle, with kasai privately keeping affections for the twins' mom, which may spill into how he treats shion (...but seemingly not a creep)
• her gambit is to try and use sonozaki family members/goons that were opposed to her having been sent to st lucias (either when it was decided before her birth, or when it was time to send her off) to stand for her return in the face of oryou
tips:

• The Notebook's Beginning
• unknown pov; notebook calls to mind miyo's notes but it closes with "please help this powerless young girl". details satoshi's june 1982 disappearance and potential reasons, from the perspective of trying to solve who's orchestrating the recurring deaths
ch2

• its 1982, the fourth year of the curse and one year prior to keiichi's transfer. =shion awakes in her apartment; its nearly vacant due to having been foreclosed by her dad's gang dealings. shion calls mion via kabai; they feign their "intended" malice then laugh together. mion is proud she escaped; he wishes she could take over his role, as if thats something they had considered in the past
• shion requests he get a part time job at a specific uncle's (yoshirou) business and time their outings so it looks like mion has the part time job; requires a lot of precise scheduling. the uncle is jovial and happy to help shion, giving her an unusual temp job with more flexible schedule. its of course angel mort, and the uncle is a bit of a creep, but doesnt hurt shion
• shion says she was at st lucia's for two years, shortly after the dam protests concluded. the grandon was released, then it took a year for the construction to fully halt, then the project was still not formally cancelled, so tensions lingered in the village. the uncle reports the onigafuchi guardians formally disbanded with a ceremony about a year after the construction ended
• shion keeps comparing the protests to a festival from a kid's perspective. she kinda flippantly discusses the recurring murders she knows of thus far (implying she went to school around 1980). she details that the murders scared the villages kids into respecting oyashirosama, when previously he was considered flippantly. the uncle then informs her that the curse continued and caught the furudes, which shocks her
• the twins meet up in the library and discuss the curse. they share a moment of disagreeing over whether mr furude deserved it, which gives them pause; mion has grown into the successor role while shion has grown into her own independance. shion encourages mion to accept their difference and stay close despite of it, as mion is, in older sibling fashion basically constantly looking out for shion and often hesitant towards his own growth out of wanting to make sure shion will be ok with it
• shion goes back to her apartment; has a meal with kasai. its revealed shes terrified of eating canned food because as a kid kasai would torement her with stories of unidentified dubious meat in cans; heavily implied to be related to the human meat cans mentioned at the end of watanagashi. kasai tells her that the news of her return has reached her mother, akane, first, and will reach her father than oryou within a few days. shion is relieved as akane is more on her side. kasai gently reminds her that his life is also on the line here, as a close friend of her dads helping the locked up daughter escape could end up with his death
• a few days later, mion tells shion over the phone that oryou indeed heard of her escape. the twins' parents are still together despite akane's excommunication; shion briefly narrates that akane was stripped of the successor title for having fought with oryou many years ago over not wanting to follow sonozaki traditions.
tips:

• A Smudged Diary
• pov satoshi (voiced!); hes trying to protect satoko from a round of their aunt screaming at them. shes completely distraught and crying, but has satoshi to rely on and feels better under his care... whereas he has no one to rely on, and is having serious bouts of dizziness from the stress impeding his basic taking care of himself