matsuribayashi (festival-accompanying chapter)

question arc: all

pov character: everyone

timeframe: all

reading time: 23/10/25 - 07/01/26 it just would not end

• third person pov; miyoko helps her grandfather sort hinamizawa syndrome research papers. they get along very well and miyo is very academically inclined
• research on parasite theories like that concerning this disease are being stalled for the fact they will up-end the world by proving the push to further ideologies such as converting people to a religion or expanding a nation's borders are caused by parasites (???)
• hifumi outright suggests what makes people turn towards committing crimes against humanity like genocide is brain parasites (... so like. eugenicism)
• miyoko is concerned her grampa's work won't be recognized before he dies. he reiterates the matthews verse to her
• grampa explains that jesus did not literally resurrect, but that his teachings will live beyond his death. hifumi affirms that just like jesus his research will eventually be recognized and bring him a godhood status (can't verify if this approach is accurate to calvinism, i thought explaining the resurrection as a metaphor is typically heresy lol...?)
• miyoko pov; she has no family past her grandfather and is very concerned with his natural death approaching
• hifumi noticed hinamizawa syndrome while working "with" the japanese military during wwii and decided to dedicate himself towards researching it. miyoko really wants to continue her grandpas research after his death so that he can achieve godhood and thus stay with her after his death
• scene swap; four teen girls (only eriko is named; a fredrikaling?) failing to unlock a key that would help them escape from an orphanage, then getting caught
• miyoko pov; her parents died in a train accident. her father briefly survived, very injured; he lost the hand he had used to beat her; miyo was not allowed to cry as a child
• her parents died on a mall trip they went to without her; she had plans to go to a friends house that afternoon, but wasnt allowed in, then when she got home she found her parents had gone to the mall without her, then they never came home
• miyoko is particularly resentful as getting food from the mall that came with little flags from kids meals and collecting them was a hobby of hers. her collection was nearly complete
• the family's relatives all died in wwii; the dad's last words is telling miyoko to seek his former teacher hifumi takano
• miyoko is sent to a very strict civilian-run orphanage where the kids are not allowed to speak to one another, forced to study non-stop, with the sound of kids being tortured echoing down the hall
• the kids are engrossed in rumors that the orphanage across the river is kinder and better than this one as the mythical "house and love and mercy"
• in a previous orphanage escape attempt, three out of four kids in a group made it out and went to the neighbor orphanage
• the kid that didn't make it out was thoroughly tortured as punishment; he was killed in the orphanage's boiler room
• eriko is the leader of miyoko's room's group. her chores give her access to keys that the kids think can be used to escape
• eriko, miyoko, tomomi and kikuko decide to try and escape
• snaps back to the escape scene from earlier; miyoko gets the door open
• the rest of the girls make a decent break for it, but miyoko is briefly caught; she bites on the staff member's hand violently (possibly broke his pinky finger?)
• miyoko trips and is captured
• miyo suddenly awakes; she was having a ptsd memory nightmare. she took a short nap in the middle of her doomsday operation (timestamp: while her corpse is being prepared); being awoken startled her and made her scream like back when she was captured as a kid
ch2

• third person pov; far-right nationalist hotel banquet event featuring a particular alma mater clique of japan's seven imperial universities
• focusing on how schools have started teaching anti-japanese sentiments teaching the kids to "self-hate" regarding japan's role in wwii and in general the history of imperial japan
• an adult miyo is present; presents that miyo nor the politician promising nationalism-based education reform "actually hold any prejudiced beliefs", they're simply acting in according to what the majority wants to hear (phrased similar to the logic behind satoko's scapegoating in arc7.....)
• miyo is likely present due to nepotism connection to hifumi
• compares the syndicate to a cult and shadow government; its the tokyo group
• scene swap; miyo meets with colonel koizumi in a lavish mansion
• they discuss that japan needs weapons on par with nukes
• koizumi hands her 3 briefcases full of millions of yen, an inheritance towards recognizing her as the successor of hifumi's research
• his associates were hesitant to give her the inheritance whereas koizumi is sure of it
• this official powerful influence and budget is the final step towards her continuing hifumi's research
• hifumi was a military physician in the kwatung army (that lead unit 731.......)
• koizumi is from the same hometown as hifumi; they became close while invading manchuria together
• tangent on how the marco polo bridge incident of 1937 and it's kicking-off of the second sino-japanese war is effectively what kept germany and japan from succesfully invading russia
• koizumi explains that the allegedly missing japanese soldier that lead to the bridge incident was from hinamizawa and had been experiencing terminal stage infection; he had likely been the instigator (becoming a bit too much)
• the real reason hifumi's research into hinamizawa syndrome was overlooked and not given credence was to cover up that the bridge incident had been kickstarted by a hinamizawan soldier attacking the chinese army, as both armies were pinning the blame on the other (and then immediately escalating)
• miyo uncharacteristically is very upset; koizumi affirms he wants miyo to continue the research and prove its importance for use as a bioweapon. he closes on telling her to be extremely careful on her mission
• there's a bit of banter where miyo teases him about having molested her "a bit" when she was a kid?
• scene swap; miyo is meeting with five nationalist gov/military officials in a very fancy restaurant. they're eager to grant her funding and permission on her operation
• miyo keeps her relationship with hifumi secret, presenting her case as having met him once and stumbled into his research post-humously and then wanting to see it completed
• she's allowed to work under "the alphabet project"; tokyo's program to develop weapons of mass destruction to relinquish american control of japan (atomic, biological, chemical weapons)
• the project's cover story is research into identifyig other nations' bioweapons for self-defence rather than creating bioweapons
• miyo recognizes hinamizawa syndrome would not be the most effective potential bioweapon to research; the reason tokyo is helping her is because they receive kickbacks in embezzlement when diverting funds towards the alphabet project, which is secretly sponsoring miyo
• the defense agency doesn't trust miyo to lead the project; instead her sponsor gets to choose a lead researcher who could then be used as a scapegoat: its irie
• ministry of health and welfare is also giving significant resources
• miyo (who is a proper doctor despite all this) is then placed as a field medical officer, a major of the sdf
• her new rank matches hifumi's; he was a lieutenant commander in the japanese army. she sees this as providence approving of her work
• hifumi's will stated she must become a god where he failed to
ch3

• miyo meeting irie for the first time as a candidate lead researcher; she ascertains his interest in the pathogen and that while he's very capable and ambitious, he has too many reservations towards making bioweapons and thus will not be a threat to her
• he's the only candidate she gets along with so she's eager to get him on board
• irie had previously been prestiguously studying psychosurgery (the field responsible for lobotomies) but was kicked out of the field for his pet theory of an individual's mental illness and antisocial behavior being the result of a parasite; that affected individuals need to be nurtered rather than punished (metaphor for environmental psychology? but steps into eugenics)
• his theory culimantes in emotional/mental illness is the result of physical brain illness
• irie was a lead researcher of lobotomies. (!?!??!?! just outright) despite the immense ethical problems (was satoko lobotomized???); he was treated like a war criminal following the surgery being banned nationwide
• irie was part of a research institute that was performing lobotomies often without consent to gather further study data and prove the surgerys efficacy(?!!?!?); ambiguous if this is before or after patient consent was a widespread concept post-wwii
• miyo tells him he'll be granted a rank above her as both director of the clinic and lieutenant colonel within the sdf as a medical officer
• irie signs the contract; in another meeting, miyo meets her auditor tomitake and bodyguard okonogi as her sdf backup
• miyo takes a break from drinking at her congratulatory party to soak in the rain; scene swaps to her childhood escape from the orphanage
• drenched, miserable, in a lot of pain, miyoko succeeds in running away from the guard staff member she bit the finger of
• miyoko thinks of her luck in life as having continuously rolled 1s on the dice (contrast rika's 6s). she curses god, then lightning strikes beside her; she begs him to end her misery and bring her somewhere happier
• her birthname is miyoko tanashi; a feminine voice (hanyuu?) pities her, and lightning strikes the tree beside her rather than hitting her as she wished
• feeling guided by god, she makes her way to a telephone booth along an asphalt road
• she suddenly recalls that part of her dad's dying words were hifumi's phone number; she calls him with a miraculous 10 yen coin but can only manage to introduce herself and yell for help before being disconnected
• she walks along the road trying to get ahold of a local to ask for directions towards the kind orphanage, but instead her orphanage staff catch up to her via car
• shes brought back into the orphanage to be tortured as punishment. inside she sees other kids being tortured; none of the four of her group escaped at all
• one was rolled into a gym mat while staff members beat her, another was locked into a locker in the shower while being hit, while eriko is locked in the henhouse being unclearly very violently hurt (pecked?)
• miyoko is threatened in the staff bathroom; not fully clear how she will be tortured as the voicelines cut out and words are censored
ch4

• a slightly older miyoko awakes screaming and crying from a nightmare; her grampa comforts her
• she's determined to help him with his research as she grows up to repay him saving her
• she decides to change her name from miyoko to her grampa's nickname for her miyo to carry a part of him and extend his life (hifumi is 1-2-3, miyo is 3-4)
• scene swap; colonel koizumi visiting hifumi. miyo is very concerned with being useful to hifumi, but sneakily wants to listen in on their conversation
• hifumi's "takano method" involves just getting a lot of sleep and using a particular breathing method to relax; hinamizawan soldiers that followed these directions during wwii had no further infection
• hifumi wants to wind up like hideyo noguchi, though without contracting the disease he's studying
• hifumi visits hinamizawa often for research and is probably infected himself
• in 2 weeks, a decision will be made on sponsoring hifumi's research based on an essay he's about to publish
• miyoko has piano lessons
• the day arrives; the meeting proceeds without koizumi, who had to suddenly call out
• hifumi's role in the japanese army during wwii was moreso developing measures against malnutrition and ration shortages (sure it was)
• the presentation doesn't go well as the audience is not open to the belief the parasite can influence ideology, saying that's blasphemous
• a key point is the lack of large-scale study on hinamizawans, which would be unethical so there's no merit to such an idea
• koizumi had presented hifumi's research to the potential sponsors declaring it potential basis for eugenicism; it could be research that furthers the use of lobotomies
• in the middle of koizumi's meeting, he was strongarmed into putting an end to that research by someone higher up (for reasons he way later revealed to an adult miyo)
• thus hifumi's rejection at today's meeting is not genuine, it's out of government/military pressure to save face
• his essay is thrown about the room and scattered; miyo tries to stop the sponsors from trampling it
• hifumi slaps a crying miyo for the first ever time, then apologizes for their hard work having gone to waste (set up as he isn't allowed to cry whereas she is, and he needs to stop this open expression. its not good)
• he resolves further into his calvinist attitude, that things would've gone better if he had simply worked even more tirelessly
• he intructs her to leave him alone; he cries. miyo resolves her purpose in life is to further his research and vindicate him
• miyo excels academically and socially. she gets into a top school but doesn't celebrate; inherited her grandpa's work ethic by now
• she works in a parasite research centre; she graduated best of her class and thus was granted a seat in the alumni clique that became tokyo
• her mission is to create a fated outcome so perfectly calculated that even god could not obstruct it
• some time later, the irie clinic construction is complete and miyo has relocated to okinomiya
• there's rumors of the ministry of construction trying to build a dam that will flood the village; miyo's contacts wouldn't have much influence with that section of gov
• miyo heads to the furude shrine and soaks in the view; it's the same view rika shows mamoru in arc4
• she gets into studying local folklore, calling it a researcher of the pathogen's history in its own right
• within wanting to defy god and become a god, miyo wants to erase oyashirosama, calling her nothing but a delusion born of the parasite
• she goes to "return" the 10 yen coin from her childhood to oyashirosama at the shrine, calling it her only debt to god, but the coin supernaturally misses the offertory box
• hanyuu suddenly appears before her and glares at her; miyo, unafraid and fully recognizing she's the village's god, says her very strong will shall control fate and she shall be recognized as a god for working hard to redirect her misfortune
• hanyuu responds applauding that miyo has indeed reached a level on par with gods with her willpower, but her own willpower will break the loop this time
• miyo challenges her saying she will drag god down from her pedestal; hanyuu's pov is shown
• title drop
ch5

• in the same void as arc7's opening, player is welcomed and told to reconstruct the story from hanyuu's pov using fragments
• must collect and assemble 50 fragments and put them in correct order; rika is our only ally (but doesn't appear or say anything)
• no longer follows the chapter format: a new tip-like menu called "connecting fragments" shows up with ~50 labelled scenes and notes from hanyuu on each event's relevance
• (this is THE dnf-er; it is absurdly long and exhausting. took at least 6 sessions to complete)

connecting fragments

• going to connect the first fragment shatters it no matter what; there's specific unlock order in the scripts
• (ill list the precise order alongside the reading order i went with as < encountered / order >)
• 01 #9: Dam construction operation withdrawal
description: This Fragment is required first.
my notes: quick greeting between irie, tomitake and miyo before tomorrow's formal meeting. the "risa" nickname from arc7 is explained as tomitake mispronouncing irie's military rank nisa (lieutenant colonel); irie dislikes being called that but finds the mispronunciation funny
the dam project was formally announced leading to uproar in the village. tomitake explains tokyo is also against the dam project and trying their best to apply pressure
irie is concerned about mass hinamizawa syndrome flareup from the commotion. tomitake and miyo assure him they will intervene if needed, as if the dam project being called off is already decided
scene swap; irie later realizes while examining the minister of contruction's grandson (arc4), just what that intervention entailed
• 02 #18: Kyousuke Irie
description: This Fragment is required first.
my notes: irie pov; the clinic conducts group checkups of elderly villages on occasion; it also has the right to autopsy them
irie owes a lot to his assistant-watchdog miyo, thinking she should've been director of the institute instead
the pathogen, thought to be a virus at this stage, is so far not visible via electron microscope as recommended by hifumi (very expensive, specialized tool he didn't have access to that the clinic secured)
research has hit its first snag; irie theorizes it might be a case of the parasite dying immediately with the host.
miyo suggests operating on an alive late-stage infected person's brain but irie objects
(the lobotomist has ethical concerns?)
irie internally monologues that he doesn't believe his studies into lobotomization were ever wrong, but recognizes it was unethical on some level (...??)
miyo interrupts him explaining she will just find a villager near their natural death and declare them dead, performing an "autopsy" on someone still alive. irie's earlier trust of her is disturbed
irie feels like a hypocrite; miyo is handing him illicit specimens, which he's against, but is doing nothing to stop any part of the process, and he feels like this research is not any different from the lobotomies he's performed until recently, which he doesn't even disavow (okay....)
• 03 #17: Irie's background
description: Kyousuke Irie's reminiscence is required.
my notes: irie pov; he grew up poor with the hopes of becoming a doctor to support his family. he worked very hard to get accepted into a tokyo public medical university
one day, a letter from his mom described his dad, who did not deal out corporal punishment, suddenly getting very violent with her for no apparent reason. eventually, mom suddenly moved in with irie in his dorm to escape dad
his dad grew paranoid, thinking his wife was having an affair; he started getting into arguments with anyone and everyone locally, leading to his arrest and eventual being beaten to death in a street fight
relatives/locals describe to him that his dad was having very violent mood swings following a head injury at his construction work
irie, encouraged by a professor, resolves that his dad was suffering some sort of brain injury rather than having gone mad
irie's mom grew senile and eventually died in his care; up until the end, irie tried to prove his dad's supposed innocence to her
irie decided to focus on studying the brain after hearing about lobotomy, wanting to spread psychosurgery as a solution to cure mental illness caused by faulty/injured brains (...okay...)
• 04 #12: Requesting assistance from a queen
description: The research needs to have hit its first snag.
Instructions for the kidnapping operation of the Minister's grandson are required.
my notes: third person pov; the furude family has it's first ever formal meeting (comparable to kimiyoshi and sonozaki meetings, except the furude family is down to just them 3)
rika's dad sits them down and explains the disease and that the dam conflict is making it flare up en masse
rika's mom is in disbelief, calling this theory that oyashirosama's true identity is just a disease is sacriligious; the dad has been shown related research documents by the clinic in an official context
he reasons the research is being conducted in secret to avoid discrimination against hinamizawans for being infected
he explains the furude bloodline carries the "queen" parasite. the clinic has asked for rika to be studied to potentially produce a cure
rika wants to help especially for the sake of satoko, but mama completely objects
• 05 #23: Jirou Tomitake
description: This Fragment is required first.
my notes: tomitake's pov; he's hanging out with miyo on their day off, right before he has to return to tokyo from the current auditing meeting session. they get stuck at the bus stop in heavy downpour
he's falling for miyo. he also has a slight fever...
he wants to lend her his old camera to get her into bird photography. miyo asks about his background; he was a military instructor but had an eye injury and has since been placed in bureaucratic postition
he got into photography during one such job and he thinks cameras are "hopeful" devices. he teaches her how to use his current camera
• 06 #30: Satoshi Houjou
description: This Fragment is required first.
my notes: satoshi pov; rika tells him satoko is playing secret base up in the mountains behind the shrine which concerns him a bit
he gets caught in a trap; he's come to get satoko home for a family dinner, but she's scared of their stepdad citing misc mistreatment
satoshi corrects that that happened with previous stepfathers, not the current one
satoko has called the child abuse hotline on the current stepfather as a prank
the kids' mother realized she needs to watch after satoko more, but satoko is overall refusing to cooperate with any father figure
satoshi's taking extreme care to be gentle with her as he's the only person she trusts. she agrees to come home with him after he negotiates that she can decide if she wants to go to dinner with their parents or not on the trip home. extremely tender
• 07 #26: A local explanatory meeting
description: This Fragment is required first.
my notes: hanyuu pov; auditorium of government official trying to explain the dam project but only being met by shouting and threats from the locals. police stand between the stage and audience
the villagers are falling into deep anger that may reawaken the disease. hanyuu is shouting for them to calm down but it isn't having any effect
a fight breaks out as papa houjou disrespects oryou and declares the government compensation towards relocating is the best option for his financial situation
hanyuu begins repeatedly apologizing for how this is how the sonozaki-houjou feud began
• 08 #13: A murder with a dismembered body
description: Repetitive apologies are required.
my notes: it's 1979: six construction workers got into a verbal dispute with their foreman, but the foreman suddenly got extremely aggressively violent and they wound up killing him in self defence
the foreman seriously injured one of them with a shovel; the six guys were overcome by the same madness after that and thus killed him
the leader of the group loses it a bit more than the rest, threateningly suggesting they all take part of the foreman's body to keep anyone from turning themself in
• 09 #10: At a quarry in Yagouchi
description: The queen carrier must be willing to participate.
my notes: miyo's notes; hifumi's research indicates the village will go terminal within 48 hours of the queen carrier's death
compared to cult mass suicides (dude...)
one of the clinic's main directives is ensuring rika's safety as the entire village is very concerned for her wellbeing
miyo has written an emergency manual draft for what to do in the event of rika dying in an accident
(neurotoxin?) gas to be used in case of emergency 34 is kept in yagouchi
to prepare emergency measures, miyo has to prove to her sponsors the amount of destruction rika's death would cause. she's strongly on the side of executing all villagers for the sake of keeping the research secret
miyo takes a lot of pride in how her grandpa's research is directly being taken seriously in a meeting
• 10 #5: The first sacrifice
description: A live specimen for research is required.
A tragedy at the dam construction site is required.
my notes: irie receives a call at 2 AM from miyo
he rushes to the clinic; her dogs have secured the construction murder group's leader in the clinic's basement, who is in a deranged state but restrained
miyo gleefully shows him he was carrying the foreman's right arm. irie is very disturbed
irie assumes this is related to local body dumping (??!?!) but miyo thinks its a fresh murder
irie's mission with this clinic is to prove violent crimes are committed due to brain disorders that can be treated, but he doesn't completely discredit natural human emotions and malice leading to crimes
he received clearance to conduct unethical experiments and was informed of it repeatedly before signing the contract, but is in the moment hesitant to open this guys skull
he resolves to conduct the dissection as he thinks of it as a necessary sacrifice towards medical progress and a way to vindicate his lobotomy patients (some of which died... bro)
• 11 #4: Research is going well
description: An L5 stage patient's dissection is required.
The queen carrier must be willing to participate.
my notes: third person pov; it's 1980. rika's dad brought her to the clinic following her enthusiastic approval to help with research as the queen carrier
irie explains infected villagers generate a calming hormone when near rika; they're trying to isolate and study this substance to reproduce it
rika is part of tests every sunday, typically donating blood
irie asks for permission to collect rika's cerebrospinal fluid and drill into her skull for brain examination
irie and miyo explain the severe amount of danger involved; miyo is giddy at the prospect of a queen carrier death event but irie tries to speak over her
afterwards, miyo probes into iries lingering guilt at live dissection, saying it's no different from his lobotomies. he tries to get away; she goes on, saying he needs to get over himself and accept the unethical experiments are necessary to advance the field and that his hangup on wanting to be forgiven for the lobotomies is in conflict with him agreeing to get involved in hinamizawa syndrome research in the first place
she admonishes him for not having a strong enough will. she offers him the chance to quit as he technically isn't needed anymore
irie fights back saying he feels responsible to unearth the disease in atonement if nothing else
• 12 #19: A routine inspection
description: Prior consent for the collection of cerebrospinal fluid is required.
my notes: third person pov, a successful clinic meeting where they secured further budget via proof of the pathogen and a plan towards developing a cure
tomitake tells miyo tokyo wants to hear a presentation directly from her in tokyo; he clumsily flirts with her
miyo receives a call from colonel koizumi congratulating her. she's very happy; explains that this research that will conclude with explaining all of human thought, culture, religion etc is the work of parasites will have tremendous impact
koizumi has sent a bottle of the type of wine hifumi was saving for the day his research was recognized to miyo. miyo feels warmth she hasn't felt since her granpa died, and addresses koizumi as an uncle
hifumi had become estranged from his wife following his complete devotion to his research. miyo met the rest of his family after his suicide (!) following him developing dementia
hifumi's will was actually a suicide note; only miyo was named, none of his blood relatives
miyo was able to get hifumi's research and specimens from his family without needing to go to court
• 13 #24: The old guy
description: The death of the dam construction site manager is required.
my notes: ooishi pov; discussing with the coroner regarding the foreman's death. the foreman was like a father to ooishi; he's at a loss for words
ooishi's actual dad was a factory worker that died in an air raid in nagoya during wwii
ooishi as a cop was involved with catching black market food buyers (not sellers) following wwii
the sonozakis made a lot of money through that black market
ooishi met the foreman while trying to catch people who had desperately bought price-gouged rice; the foreman hit him, and ooishi thought he looked like his father, so was overjoyed by being punished (getting hit again = dad isn't dead anymore)
ooishi explains himself to the coroner a bit. he resolves the culprits cannot be anyone other than the sonozakis
• 14 #39: Satoko Houjou
description: This Fragment is required first.
my notes: satoko introduces herself and that she's had a rotating surname, not used to "houjou"
because of her mom's frequent remarriages, she never wants to be a bride (!)
her mom has had verbally abusive outbursts towards her, while she has hated all of her stepdads
satoko's narration text gets pink: she thinks of herself as a nuisance in contrast to satoshi, with whom the stepdads always get along with
text gets redder: she thinks her parents are looking to get rid of her asap and will murder her towards that goal
text gets redder: she sometimes hears repeat apologies and resolves to not be anything like the apologizer
text gets bright red: more apologizing
• 15 #40: Rika Furude
description: A conflict between the Houjou family and the Sonozaki family is required.
my notes: rika pov; she bumps into satoko on the way to the grocery store and the two go together
the store owner gives rika a strawberry milk candy
she notices people gossping about satoko; the whole family is being harrassed by the entire village even more, as their trash is no longer accepted in the town dumping grounds, instead returned ripped onto their house, people are blocking them from taking typical road paths, etc
people are very cold to satoko unless rika is with her, so rika feels obligation to be around her and help her whenever she can
initially having intended to tease satoko that only she got a candy, rika tries to give it to her instead, but satoko refuses; rika is left feeling awful
• 16 #38: Mion Sonozaki
description: Strawberry milk candy is required.
my notes: mion pov(!); rika visits the sonozaki main house to pick up a watermelon. mion carries it for her instead
mion sneaks rika some rock candy from oryou, which mama furude wouldn't allow
it's tradition for hinamizawans to give candy to kids on errands. rika is troubled by satoko never getting any treats from anyone
it's 1981 or 1982; the houjou kids are living with their aunt and uncle
mion explains it's very difficult to have the village forgive the houjous; their best bet is someone boisterous moving to the village
rika with deeper register affirms someone is on his way who will break one of three locks that keeps the village stuck in the past
• 17 #27: Depression of a Shinto priest
description: Rika and Satoko's shopping trip is required.
The Shinto priest contacting the Irie institution is required.
my notes: rika's dad pov; following a guardians meeting at the shrine, he resolves to speak up and try to stand by the houjous from the perspective of oyashirosama being a god that united humans and demons + his daughter being close with a houjou
oryou and other elders are furious. he assures the dam project will fold soon anywas, based on what the clinic has told him
he's immediately gossiped into a fence-sitting opportunist. rika comes over to comfort him, affirming someone who can help is on his way
• 18 #29: The Houjou siblings
description: A conflict between the Houjou family and the Sonozaki family is required.
The self-introduction of Satoko Houjou is required.
my notes: irie pov; satoshi visits the clinic due to developing physical symptoms from high stress
realizing his condition could only improve by a better environment, irie suggests satoshi joins his baseball team to have an outlet and time away from home outside of school
irie failed to reach out to satoko in this way; she collapsed following her parents' deaths, which happened in front of her. she was briefly hospitalized for infection
irie was hopeful the removal from stepdad would help satoko, but was horrified to learn they were placed with abusive relatives
• 19 #1: C103 dose experiment
description: Satoko Houjou's detailed test result is required.
Kyousuke Irie's decision is required.
my notes: irie pov; plans to dissect satoko during her ongoing hospitalization are progressing. rika visits and asks; irie confirms satoko is terminal
irie has developed a series of trial medicine for HS but it's not at a stage where it's confirmed safe to give to patients, especially one in a state as fragile as satoko's
rika convinces him to administer the medicine (without asking for satoko's permission), calling off the dissection
• 20 #6: The second sacrifice
description: The death of the construction site manager is required.
The hospitalization of Satoko Houjou is required.
my notes: irie pov; satoshi is visiting satoko in the hospital every day
irie is determined to shield satoko from ooishi's questioning; she's a key witness in her parents' deaths
miyo steps in and asks to see irie privately; irie notes her nurse outfit is more of a costume since she's a licensed doctor
in his office, she tells him satoko is L3 if not L4. they look into using her as their next dissection candidate
satoko's test results state she's already L5. irie doesn't want to dissect satoshi's dear sister but can't object to miyo's orders
last year's foreman was kept alive for months for continuous dissection
• 21 #2: H170
description: The discontinuation of Satoko Houjou's dissection plan is required.
Kyousuke Irie's motive to become a doctor is required.
my notes: miyo's research notes diary: satoko's C103 trial is going well
irie's deep internal moral conflict lead him to work above and beyond towards getting satoko to a state where she could survive at L5
miyo doesn't care for satoko nor irie's hangups, but appreciates that he's suddenly being driven towards producing results
satokos' aunt and uncle will be heavily compensated to ensure satoko is allowed to take 3 daily shots
while irie perfects C103, miyo has developed the H170 series, which instead infects patients terminally (the two of them discuss)
miyo ultimately doesn't care about bioweapon applications of her work, she just wants to get her grandpa recognized (similar to the "guys she totally isnt ACTUALLY fascist" line of thinking earlier im ... perplexed. it wants her to be evil but also toothless in the face of naming and explaining how crimes against humanity come to be)
• 22 #28: Suffering of a big brother
description: Rock candy as a treat is required.
Satoko Houjou's detailed test result is required.
my notes: irie pov; the baseball team is training in okinomiya. satoshi tags along with irie to pick up juice from the store
satoko has been in the hospital for over two weeks; satoshi had been visiting daily but was now advised against it for her sudden further instability. he asks irie how she's doing on the drive there, who assures him she's healing
in reality, satoko is doing very bad as expected of L5 patients
satoshi requests satoko be allowed to stay at the hospital for a bit even after her recovery as their new home environment is not good. irie is surprised to hear this but is understanding; he lies, saying the clinic will try to keep her extra even though she's recovering, and for satoshi to not worry about the medical bills
satoshi admits that his role as protecting satoko wears him down a lot. her being out of the picture offers a bit more peace with his aunt; this is "his sin" (bro...)
irie feels he's in a unique position of supporting both of them but not being able to materially help much
• 23 #14: An accident at the Shirakawa park
description: Satoshi Houjou's sister must refuse his visit at the clinic.
Satoshi Houjou's sense of responsibility as a big brother is required.
my notes: irie pov; satoko's dissection plan has been scrubbed from records and the clinic is getting ready to test C103
the medicine cuts off hormone (IgE?) production related to countering the pathogen's overtaking of a patient's frontal lobe
C103 would only cut off the hormone flow, not cure the disease completely, nor stop paranoia
the clinic planned to wait until satoko emotionally stabilized to try the drug for fear of risks of brain damage should they stimulate her brain with experimental drugs at the same time as the virus attacking her is at its peak, but, ooishi's recurring visits to probe satoko for information on the accident are making her worse
ooishi discusses with irie, explaining that satoko is a potential suspect for having the "flimsy" alibi of having been asleep at the time of the couple's death
ooishi relays the shirakawa park officers report of the event is that satoko refused to go to the viewing platform with her parents as she was sleepy, fell asleep in the car, then awoke and cried when they were not back. local patrol found her crying, claiming her parents had fallen off the cliff *before* the park officers discovered the accident, with no way of having seen the accident from the car's viewpoint
ooishi implies satoko may have committed the murder herself. irie internally realizes she definitely did, as L5 symptoms manifested far earlier than he though
irie thinks satoko's logic was that she was convinced her parents brought her to the cliff to throw her off it, so she was acting in self-defence
for the first time, irie turns to miyo asking for the murder to be covered up as an accident
• 24 #11: Distrust of the mother of a queen
description: Results of the research on C103 and H107 are required.
The truth about the Shirakawa park accident is required.
my notes: mama furude's pov; rika has developed a very high fever and she suspects the clinic experiments are related
rika is already a late bloomer, so mama thinks she needs to rest. she visits the clinic with rika and tears into irie
mama has been trying to verify this clinic's legitimacy and hasn't been able to find anything, made even more suspicious by the clinic claiming its research is not widely known in the government records
she's noticed the mountain dogs as well. irie isn't able to give adequate excuses
miyo appears to help diffuse; mama is startled by her composure and lack of fear compared to the sputtering irie
miyo gets harsh explaining that the clinic is compensating the furudes for rika's involvment in experiments. mama is surprised by this
miyo and irie assure her it's just a cold but mama is completely right here. satoko was recently discharged and a basic drug has been produced; irie wants to further experiment on rika to "fully uncover the disease's mysteries"
pov clinic; miyo apologizes for losing her cool (never before seen expressions for her)
• 25 #7: The third sacrifice
description: Rika's father being marked as an opportunist is required.
Rika's mother's suspicion is required.
my notes: miyo's notes/monologue; the clinic is in a panic as rika's dad has sided with her mom to withdraw rika from experiments. he's given the clinic 3 months to wrap it up, which wouldn't be enough time
maintains that rika's fever is unrelated
irie is opting to prioritize parental consent which is another major barrier for miyo. she's extremely frustrated with this situation, particularly because irie isn't even needed for the research; irie was only called on to be director out of sexism
irie seems satisfied with shutting down the operation now that he's produced a cure, but miyo needs deification
she regrets not having secured rika's mom's trust until now
she's extremely stressed but mulling over what to do alone, drinking tea
she's extremely cautious to ask anyone for help, then realizes she can ask the mountain dogs
she meets with okonogi who affirms they can carry out a hit. she's startled by this but has no qualms; she asks for the dad to be eliminated as well
miyo realizes that the murder can be slotted into the curse rumors; this is framed as if she's realizing she has hitmen for the first time but she was literally having them cover up the houjous' double homicide just a couple scenes ago...
the foreman murder-disappearance and houjou murder-disappearance were isolated cases, but having a third mysterious murder occur this year will make miyo enact the curse, thus becoming oyashirosama
she resolves to have papa killed and mama kidnapped to be dissected alive
• 26 #22: One, two, three, four
description: Rika Furude's high fever is required.
Jirou Tomitake's slight fever is required.
my notes: tomitake pov; hanging out with miyo during their time off. she's gotten into photography but her true passion (in jirou's eyes) is folklore
tomitake is disturbed by the gorey fairytales but is entranced by miyo's passion
she loosely mentions hifumi; tomitake has caught on to her admiration for him. he pieces together that she chose her name to match hifumi's
she admits she's hifumi's granddaughter to tomitake. she says "miyo takano" is not an alias, and that she swapped one of her surname's kanji to not resemble how hifumi spelled his so as to set herself apart academically and thus boost her chances of getting funding
her love for folklore comes from it being research related advice hifumi gave her
they note the 1-2-3-4 pattern of hi-fu-mi-yo
they flirt, but miyo suddenly becomes a bit paranoid and has tomitake promise and swear he won't tell anyone that she's hifumi's granddaughter, almost threatening him
tomitake surmises her passion as a researcher and convinction to complete hifumi's work are only 2 parts of her drive; the third part is a deep wound of hers that he will not disturb
• 27 #25: A roll of a one
description: A bottle of wine for a toast is required.
Jirou Tomitake's promise is required.
The draft of an emergency manual is required.
my notes: miyo pov; colonel koizumi suddenly passed away from a heart attack without warning
at his funeral, she suddenly cries. she realizes he was exceedingly warm to her the way her actual grandpa wasn't fully (...?), and regrets how little time they had together
she realizes he was also her grandpa and the best way to honor his memory would be completing the research (miyo....)
shortly after, tomitake lets slip that now that a key supporter like koizumi is dead, tokyo is re-evaluating the clinic's budget entirely
the next audit meeting suddenly has far more officials present. they're looking to put the alphabet project on hold as a whole
presented as finally giving up on militaristic goals of returning to empire status, as those are ideals held by the previous generation rather than the new one replacing the old
miyo considers this change in luck as on par with the rolling of a 1 on the dice, comparable to her failed escape attempt as a child
an official explains the clinic will be allowed to continue researching a cure for the disease, but bioweapon research must be halted immediately and have everything related to it destroyed
the clinic's work must be wrapped up within the next 3 years with a gradually descreased budget; irie objects and the goal is swapped to getting the illness eradicated via cure in complete secrecy
miyo wants the bioweapon research as unlimited research grants her more data to quicklier usher her grandfather to infamy, not for the actual bioweapons. having the disease stay secret even within curing is a worst case scenario for her
• 28 #20: Disappointment
description: The death of Koizumi-sensei is required.
my notes: tomitake pov; out with miyo. she's been depressed since the board meeting re-audit
tomitake is regretful for not having been able to do much via his position as auditor
internally monologues it as miyo, a normal woman, had gotten involved with the dark world just for the sake of research and was struggling being left alone in it without koizumi (lol)
tomitake really wants to show support to her, and clumsily goes to do so but she stops him saying talking about her feelings doesn't help her
he's been taking photos of her in secret for a long time in trying to "uncover her heart" (this lands as sweet rather than creepy. the tomitake-miyo romance manages to be genuinely cute)
• 29 #15: Mysterious death of the Furude couple
description: An execution order for the third year's curse is required.
A declaration of war from Kuraudo Ooishi is required.
my notes: ooishi pov; wary of a potential third murder under the guise of the curse at the festival grounds
rika's dad is suddenly not doing well; thought to be a heart problem. irie is called over and takes both parents to the clinic
the festival traffic delays ooishi from tailing them; within the 20 minute gap, the priest died and his wife disappeared
local rescue team (non cops) finds evidence of mrs furude's suicide by the swamp. ooishi believes the heart attack may have been real, but there's no way the mom would kill herself even for potentially religious reasons (supposedly suicide to quell oyashirosama's wrath), so as not to leave rika alone
all that occurring within 20 minutes is also impossible
doesn't suspect irie, who is probably just a pawn
ooishi's conclusion is the curse crimes are all related and being done in the name of restoring faith/fear in oyashirosama; the sonozaki family must be to blame
ooishi's main motive is avenging the foreman
• 30 #3: A red capsule
description: The third year's curse of Oyashiro-sama is required.
my notes: rena pov; the psychiatric medication she's on numbs her down completely and she's trying to sneakily get off it
she blames herself for her family falling apart, turning her anger towards destroying the furniture her mom picked out and then self harming
eventually self harming morphed into the maggot delusion; she tries to drain her blood in the bathroom
she's striving for self-forgiveness, which she can't grant and is instead hurting herself to atone; she receives her vision of oyashirosama apologizing to her, which convinces her she doesn't need to self-harm anymore
in the hospital, she recalls she had lost a protection charm meant to keep hinamizawans who move away from the village safe
she "realizes" that the curse of oyashirosama is the reason her family fell apart, that if they had stayed in the village none of this had happened
rena is incredibly unstable; the hospital starts giving her injections as she started refusing her pills (hence her arc6 medical trauma)
• 31 #37: Rena Ryuugu
description: A red capsule is required.
my notes: rena pov; settling back into hinamizawa
over dinner, her dad explains the watanagashi festival operates to help humans expel their sins and be cleansed
prior to the adoption of stand-in cotton effigys blessed by gods, rituals like the festival would be the place to pin all sinful responsibility onto one person and sacrifice them to cleanse the village (vis a vis rena wanting to kill herself to absolve of the guilt of tearing her family apart)
she decides to go by rena instead of reina (without the "i"cky things)
• 32 #34: New wind
description: The Ryuugu family's move is required.
A watermelon from the Sonozaki family is required.
my notes: mion pov; catching a meeting between oryou and an uncle about real estate
a lot of land owned by sonozakis was put up for sale
mion immediately got close with rena when she moved back to the village
keiichi's dad has expressed interest in moving to the village. oryou is surprisingly on the side of tourism and selling hinamizawan land, comparing it to ventilation
mion surmises the implication is oryou wants newcomers to come and soften traditions like the ostracization of the houjous etc
oryou sends mion to get a housekeeper to put the tea set away. she then turns and says, a recent incident of mion going to oryou for help regarding satoshi's disappearance is what made her realize the hatred against the houjous needs to end (arc5; is that the reason why mion got fingernails removed...?)
• 33 #35: Formation of a club
description: Satoshi Houjou's awareness of his sins is required.
The mysterious death of the Furude couple is required.
my notes: mion pov; she vows to let the classroom be free from the village's rules and thus not mistreat the houjou siblings
but as a sonozaki she's careful to not interact with the houjous too much, fearing they hate her as the successor
satoko never smiles in this state, even trying to push rika away
satoshi comes to thank mion for trying to help satoko, asking her for help towards helping satoko make friends
they come up with the idea of the club as a means to keep the houjou kids at school for a little bit longer in a way that won't cause their aunt to take it out on them
satoshi's starting a part-time job
• 34 #32: Footsteps in the fourth year
description: Satoshi Houjou's awareness of his sins is required.
The forgiveness of Rena Ryuugu's sins is required.
my notes: satoshi pov; he's tormented with thoughts that he would be better off without satoko
the routine is satoko fights with her aunt through tears, then turns to satoshi for help, but continues to fight with the aunt with satoshi in between. he can't bear it for much longer, and has started to imagine killing satoko
he's torn between his feeling of obligation as a big brother and wanting to be free of satoko, but obviously does not want to hurt her. he's started to view his intrusive thoughts as another him threatening to take over, which he must keep at bay
he's started hearing extra footsteps, thinking it's someone chasing after him to replace him
he bumps into rena in a school hallway; he admits to thinking he's being followed, which rena affirms is oyashirosama's curse
he's scared he will be this year's curse victim
• 35 #21: Deja-vu
description: Completion of the medicine C117 is required.
my notes: miyo pov; meeting with alphabet project directors in formalmeal setting
she's prepared a pile of simplified documents to convince them into granting the clinic a full budget
she presents her case, then is asked to leave; she hangs behind the door and listens in to hear them ridiculing her research
in particular the emergency plan to gas the villagers is condemned
miyo's papers are scattered and accidentally stepped on; she freaks out and enters the room screaming, thinking she's reliving the scene from her childhood
• 36 #31: A notice of leave of absence
description: Satoshi Houjou's part-time job is required.
Footsteps following Houjou Satoshi are required.
my notes: irie pov; satoshi resigns from the baseball team to instead focus on his part-time job
the child consultation centre was called on the houjous' aunt, which only made the abuse worse
satoko is getting worse. her birthday is june 24th
irie offers to help pay for the birthday present to try and make it so satoshi doesn't further stress himself out with a job, but he refuses
satoshi suddenly asks to borrow a bat; he carried it around in self defense as he was terminally paranoid of the curse being out to get him next
after the fact, irie realized satoshi had been L5 for some time now
• 37 #16: Death of Satoshi's aunt
description: A bat to beat her to death is required.
my notes: ooishi pov; on the scene of tamae's murder immediately
he suspects satoshi, who was strangely frantic and calm at the same time when questioned
believes satoshi was set up by the sonozakis to kill her for their own purposes
a separate culprit was suddenly confirmed as he supposedly divulged information only the culprit could have known, then died
satoshi disappears right after watanagashi
ooishi immediately notices the way this case is being handled resembles the houjou couple case's abrupt handling after mountain dog interference, but concludes only the sonozakis could have this influence over the cops
ooishi wants to recover the foreman's missing arm and make oryou bow before it; 1983 is ooishi's last chance to solve the case before retiring
the current rumor is tamae was killed for not participating in the festival, which will increase next year's turnout
• 38 #8: The fourth sacrifice
description: The death of Satoko Houjou's aunt is required.
my notes: irie pov; he immediately knew satoshi was responsible when he saw tamae's body
satoshi suddenly calls him asking for a ride from a toy store; he's not at the one owned by mion's uncle but at once by a dentist's office (? arc5 conflict?)
they stuff the teddy bear in the trunk. satoshi is acting strange
irie offers to bring him to the clinic; he gradually grows paler and weaker
satoshi begins hallucinating tamae. he's close to attacking irie but suddenly calms down (resisting? surrendering?)
satoshi feels as if he's being punished for having considered running away up until he bought satoko's gift
as they arrive at the clinic satoshi starts to scratch his throat
clinicians knock him out. he asks irie to take care of satoko in his absence
miyo checks out the situation, excited to work with another live specimen (implication she may have played a part in aggravating satoshi's infection)
• 39 #33: Preview of lots for sale
description: The Ryuugu family's move is required.
The fourth year's curse is required.
my notes: maebara ichirou(!)'s pov: came to a hinamizawa tour to consider buying vacation home but got lost (arc6)
spots hanyuu (material?) and rika dancing together in a field and is stunned by the beautiful scene, seeing them as the epitome of innocence and that adults love innocent scenes because they're sinners etc etc
pervert jokes
papa wants to move here and have keiichi mingle with innocent children to help him after his breakdowns
blames himself as a parent for keiichi's shooting incidents
the girls try to convince him to definitely move here, comparing stagnation to swamp water like onigafuchi vs hinamizawa is a clear stream being purified by movement
the realtor organizing the tour finds papa and brings him back; when he looks back to the field, the girls have vanished
• 40 #36: Keiichi Maebara
description: The tea set on the veranda being put away is required.
Ichirou Maebara inspecting a vacant lot is required.
my notes: keiichi pov; his first reaction to the village's mixed-grade tiny school
chie shows him around; he's warned he will be the oldest boy in the class and will need to set an example for the younger students
keiichi picks this school over the okinomiyan one. he's behind on socializing but is feeling more hopeful after being depressed
hanyuu and rika are peeking at him through the window; they call him a six on the die. they warn him satoko will prank him on his first days
• 41 #42: An invitation to an end
description: A raw sea urchin and vitamin A are required.
A big teddy bear is required.
She needs moral support.
my notes: raw sea urchin refers to formalmeal served in miyo's latest meeting
miyo pov; it's raining. she's depressed, suicidal and alone, realizing the only reason her research progressed was koizumi's backing, not other officials genuinely believing in her work
she's devastated that she's failing to devote her life to hifumi; she's day drinking
her conclusion is ideology isn't completely driven by parasites, but it can be guided to extremes; that's what hinamizawa syndrome is. she's shocked that the officials are all hung up on humans being unique rather than another type of animal that can be influenced by a parasite
the crux of the theory would be proven true if the village went mad after rika's death
irie disposed of everything surrounding H170; miyo is certain he will dispose of everything surrounding the rest of their thus far research once he perfects the cure
a car approaches miyo; she feels a mix of ptsd paranoia and paranoia that she'll be disappeared on short order for her involvement with the project (and maybe a bit of hinamizawa syndrome persecution complex...?)
she's politely asked to meet with someone inside the car; she's reluctant as she's drunk and despairing but a young woman her age reassures her they're here to help
mystery woman explains she's part of koizumi's faction and the struggle to re-fill his position has caused some chaos, and the other factions have "lost sight of the ideas that made japan so strong and noble"
emphasizes that miyo is the biggest victim swept up in this tempest
she explains miyo's research is being scapegoated for having been the biggest alphabet project project; they're more determined to shut down anything attached to koizumi and related nationalism, rather than miyo's parasite theories being wrong
she suddenly turns to miyo asking if her true purpose is to fulfill her promise to hifumi; claims this is info koizumi imparted with with her but it borders on being things he could not have possibly known. miyo is unnerved but doesn't let herself express it
she's testing miyo's honesty and trying to get her into asking/agreeing for her help...?
as if under a spell, miyo suddenly realizes for the first time her true goal has always been revenge. the other woman giggles like rika (is the woman fredrica???)
giggling in between, mystery woman passionately leads miyo towards the conclusion the only option is to go nuclear. hearing all this strains miyo physically, who is offered chances for the conversation to stop, but miyo presses on (it gets kinda sexual)
she promises to help miyo towards enacting revenge. miyo resolves this woman did nothing but open her eyes (she's definitely a witch????)
• 42 #41: June 1983
description: The revenge of Miyo Takano is required.
Keiichi Maebara changing schools is required.
my notes: rika pov; an overview of connected fragments thus far highlighting each crucial event
rika's two events are getting in touch with the irie institute to get help, and ensuring keiichi moves to hinamizawa
keiichi is the key to breaking rule z
mion vowed to protect the houjou siblings but only started taking action the night satoshi disappeared, getting into an argument with oryou for the first time
thus oryou allowed the realtor project, which allowed hanyuu and rika to attract keiichi's dad with their idyllic scene
rena uniquely mirrors/supports keiichi as she had gone through the same depression and desire to restart life he went through before moving to hinamizawa (hers is infection-induced, his wasnt)
compares the cast to game pieces like chess doing their best with their limited information; them recalling memories from another fragment is a miracle that aids their choices
satoko's contribution is "overcoming herself" and asking for help (BRO!!!!!!!)
irie is key to defeating rule x; labels him a very important game piece
presented as the connecting fragments session the players did until now was rika for the first time emphathizing with and understanding miyo + irie
thinks of herself as a not super valuable piece for having failed to participate/act for so long, having resigned to fate (and alcoholism... but thats her sole coping method...?)
ooishi would be a valuable ally if rika can figure out how to dissuade him from the belief the sonozakis are behind everything
unclear how mamoru can help; he might be able to break rule y wherein miyo is being used as someone else's very strong game piece
• 43 #43: A Fragment of Himatsubushi
description: The game board must be set up.
my notes: rika explains this fragment. it's clouded and unhelpful as it doesn't directly pertain to june 1983. she resolves that mamoru's help is somehow needed
• 44 #44: A Fragment of Onikakushi
description: The game board must be set up.
my notes: rika's commentary: keiichi can only function as a useful game piece if he learns to trust his friends
a timeline where keiichi loses it is necessary as it teaches him something
• 45 #45: A Fragment of Tsumihoroboshi
description: A Fragment from the Onikakushi chapter is required.
my notes: rika's commentary: this fragment is crucial as it proved it's possible to poke a hole in a timeline's otherwise premeditated outcome, even slightly
• 46 #46: A Fragment of Watanagashi
description: The game board must be set up.
my notes: rika's commetary: this fragment makes rule z apparent; in particular shion notices it
shion isn't a central piece to rika (im so sad...), but could become one
• 47 #47: A Fragment of Meakashi
description: A Fragment from the Watanagashi chapter is required.
my notes: rika's commentary: this fragment is tragic but further proves rule z and contains lessons shion needs to learn (bro!!!!!!!!!)
rule z can only be defeated if satoko is saved
• 48 #48: A Fragment of Tatarigoroshi
description: The game board must be set up.
my notes: rika's commentary: this fragment is close to catching onto rule y, but keiichi carrying out a murder gums up the works
murder is wrong (okay...)
• 49 #49: A Fragment of Minagoroshi
description: A Fragment from the Tatarigoroshi chapter is required.
my notes: rika's commentary: this fragment uncovers that miyo has been rule y as well as the path towards destroying rule z
the missing piece is hanyuu, as in the final fight the kids were outnumbered by 1 as 7 to 6 (with miyo's surprise appearance adding +1 to the baddies' side, similar to hanyuu's surprise reveal)
thanks the player for making it this far, saying let's create the final perfect fragment together out of miracles
• 50 #50: A Fragment of Matsuribayashi
description: Seven Fragments are required.
my notes: rika's commentary. she's assembled the final fragment, but is pausing before looking into it, like schroedinger's box
she's too afraid to look into the box until she secures mamoru's help
• 51 #51: Leftover Fragments
description: Do you need the final miracle?
my notes: rika's commentary: she notices a cracked stray fragment; fragments crack when their fate can no longer be believed in
it's himatsubushi's fragment
rika peeks at a part in it that takes place in 1985, long after her death
third person pov; a police raid is about to occur on an underage sex trafficking gang
a foreigner with diplomatic immunity is involved; this case had come to a standstill until the gang was discovered to be preparing to sell classified sdf equipment and paperwork
mamoru infiltrates the gang's nightclub: the raid begins
mamoru rushes to lone-wolf it a bit on his side despite orders not to. his punches are unmatched; he beats up the wall beside the (russian?) diplomat to threaten him
their only target was the diplomat; they set up this incident to look like an fight between two opposing gangs
mamoru's unit calls him a demon; his fighting power delivers physical justice equivalent to what the evildoers deserve (ok...) (the music is kickass though)
scene swap: mamoru training; he's using karate to achieve enlightenment
he started karate after yukie's death to deal with the ensuing depression, mixed with feelings of having failed rika
taking a break, he despairs. for the first time in his life he prays: to be given another chance to save both yukie and rika
the fragment scene fades in (unclear voice?), thanking mamoru (whose consciousness is waning)
(its rika...?) the final link is for mamoru to reach out and grab rikas' (plural?) hand as she's begging for help here
• 52 #50 2nd: A Fragment of Matsuribayashi (again)
description: Seven Fragments are required.
my notes: rika's commentary: everything is assembled and this is hanyuu's last chance to operate as a game piece
hanyuu hesitates; her refusal to hope, to "gamble" on the possibility of a good ending, is what's causing her non-existence to most people
this is her "last coin" to bet with, herself

ch5

• scene swap; keiichi's pov: hanyuu furude is introduced as a transfer student in school (rika's unclearly distant relative(
• (the music is chemically engineered to be a tearjerker reward for making it this far, it got me really bad)
• during lunch, the class crowds around to ask hanyuu questions. rena sticks back with keiichi and tells him she feels like she's seen hanyuu before, thinking she's always been among them
• mion hasn't had time for club games lately since she got busy with a part time job. hanyuu interupts the club games prep to timidly ask if she can join
• this is a big deal for hanyuu to admit that she wants to play games even if there's a risk of her losing
• pov swaps a bit to show all characters sprites conversing. this afternoon's club activity will determine if hanyuu can join the club
• they play old maid card game like in arc1: mion sabotages keiichi a bit to help hanyuu win. fades out with dramatic goofy battle sound effects
• third person pov; banquet scene similar to earlier miyo flashback. its the alma mater clique spouting nationalism; mamoru and a colleague are secretly here, keeping tabs on an older lady present at the event who requested to meet with mamoru
• scene swap; her older, bedbound husband was scapegoated and framed by his politician friends. she provides the cops with a lot of top secret documents belonging to the husband
• mamoru is leading a corruption investigation regarding misappropriation of government funds
• back at the hq in tokyo, mamoru's case is abruptly transferred to another branch from outside pressure
• while putting the paperwork away to head home, mamoru spots an individual paper detailing the alphabet project's budget: he catches the irie institute clinic's name and reminisces
• he recalls rika and her omen; feels as if he'd forgotten to repay her the debt of predicting yukie's almost-death until just now and needs to go save her
• watanagashi is on the last sunday of june (revealed this late into the game????)
• mamoru calls ooishi to verify if rika's prediction of mysterious deaths has been true. the two catch up
ch6

• keiichi pov; a few days have passed and hanyuu has immediately woven into the club friendgroup
• hanyuu never gets tired, but passes it off as wanting to make up for lost time
• keiichi offers hanyuu to take off her horns and watch them for her so she doesn't drop them, which makes her self conscious; the kids reassure her her horns are cute and normal (thinking they're accessories)
• rika pov; grabbing him so they're alone, she explains to keiichi that hanyuu arrived at the village a very long time ago. internally she monologues that whereever hanyuu originated from is a place she's told rika that rika wouldnt understand
• hanyuu was part of a nomadic group that had to leave some other place and eventually settled on hinamizawa for its swamp
• hanyuu's group was attacked by the villagers; hanyuu took her current form to quell the dispute. no matter what she does, she cannot hide her horns
• per furude family scrolls, an older furude priest tried to reject hanyuu's group, fearing intermingling will cause hinamizawans to adopt demon blood
• that priest's young son fell in love with hanyuu and had a baby with her, causing the demons to definitively mix with humans
• paranoia brew; the priest decides to line out strict rules for coexistence between the groups
• preamble saying humanity's greatest sin is it does not own up to its actual sins, it continuously tries to pin the blame elsewhere
• the demon (hanyuu...?) responds offering the chance for a world where blame is never cast onto another
• she offers to bear all of mankind's sins and act as the ultimate sacrifice
• a separate furude document lists the story instead goes that the villagers were suffering unrest due to the swamp demon mocking them. they thus kidnapped the demon from the swamp, then the priest disembowelled her (like in cotton drifting), and peace was restored
• rika surmises the two documents aren't in conflict, instead it's that hanyuu was forced to act as a sacrifice, but the story was "softened" to describe it as willing on her part
• the foundation of faith in oyashirosama is for her having taken on people's sins to mend conflict
• the watanagashi festival thus morphed towards individuals using cotton to symbolically cleanse themselves rather than shifting the blame onto any sort of sacrifice (human, demon, or substitute object)
• these documents were sealed away to hide the fact the villagers had killed their god in the past
• when asked about it, hanyuu explained that her role in the village is a ghost that keeps humans' systems functioning in secret (by taking on their sins in cases where they're too much to bear, hence her apologies)
• rika vaguely explains a bit to keiichi so he never mentions the horns again
• monologues that hanyuu could be a divine mother entity, or just a normal girl who was scapegoated for her unusual horns
• rika is the eighth-born daughter; only she could see hanyuu, and the number 8 is incredibly lucky
• hanyuu is genuinely a part of the furude bloodline; rika's theory is it took 8 generations for all the sins hanyuu took in to be cleared for her to then finally communicate with humans again
• hanyuu is the village's mother; "furude" is written as horns added to "fortune teller"
• flashback scene of past hanyuu and her daughter, who is distraught hearing of hanyuu wanting to take in all of humanity's sins. the daughter exclaims her mother is human even if she has horns, which is a huge deal to hanyuu
• rika is snapped to reality by hearing of hanyuu getting injured by rolling down the hill
• tomitake and miyo catch and tend to hanyuu at the foot of the shrine; introduce themselves
• miyo asks about hanyuus horns; she suddenly, as if offhand, calls hanyuu a monster (very dramatic pause)
• rika firmly says she's not a monster; hanyuu looks as if shes about to choke. miyo apologizes then leaves
• hanyuu snaps up, realizing; she panickedly points out to rika that that was takano, but rika has no memory of her disembowelment from last loop
• rika is still a witch but she's "failed to inherit the memory of the fragments"
• scene swap; ooishi and mamoru reunite in okinomiya
• they go out to a restaurant drinking alongside kumachan and a few other cops, stay til late
• suddenly serious, mamoru from ooishis accounts realizes rika's predictions of the curse have all been spot-on and her life is definitely in danger (interspersed with rika quotes)
• the cops presume mamoru's tokyo division of police has more information than they do hence his on the nose knowledge, but he up front explains he heard rika's omen
• late at night at home, hanyuu explains to rika that miyo is her ultimate threat
• rika has a week left to live. she has no memory of the minagoroshi fragment whatsoever (from having chosen to stay with satoko)
• hanyuu resolves this is their last loop, hence why she's decided to descend to corporeal form to participate. explains the "game pieces" situation
• rika resolves to do everything she can rather than sit idly and drink as she typically does during her final days
• scene swap; nomura watanabe in her car (the mystery woman?) thanking miyo over the phone for transferring documents, reassuring this will reach up to the prime minister
• once hinamizawa is executed, miyo will be able to research for as long as she wants at a different branch within the sdf where she will be director
• she makes another call; the 22nd is orchestrated as the perfect date to request emergency sanctions as anti-tokyo factions are on vacation, leaving tokyo as the primary government contacts to the pm, ensuring emergency manual 34 is enacted
• another call; introduces herself as codename "maizawa", calling chief defense secretary
ch7

• rika pov; the next morning at school she's very tense. wants to ask club for help but isn't sure how they'll react
• irie is at school; rika in private asks him about her queen carrier status and what would happen if she died. he explains that that's miyo's domain
• she tries to probe and see if executing the village would benefit miyo in any way, but irie has no insight
• he explains emergency manual 34 to her. rika starts to piece together that miyo is probably trying to make sure research into hinamizawa syndrome can go on past 1986
• concerned, irie tests rika for syndrome development but it comes back negative
• she relays the information to hanyuu, but is nervous to bring it up with the club. hanyuu explains to her the best way to get through to mion (not shown)
• during lunch, rika explains everything under the guise of she's making a manga and needs help figuring out how to develop the plot
• mion and keiichi clock the political motivations and reason there's a worse villain behind the current villain
• they deduce miyo's motive must be preserving her life's work by at least blowing it up herself; tokyo's inner agendas can use her as a scapegoat (in the other direction compared to earlier suggestion)
• they think an agent was dispatched to intercept the despairing villain and affirm her, setting her onto the path of revenge that'll ripple effect onto tokyo's power struggles in a particular direction
• the disaster's timing has to do with finding the most opportune moment, not that there's 3 years left
• rika asks how the protagonist could survive; mion suddenly with a lot of military planning knowledge explains her expertise plus satoko's traps would guarantee success
• later, rika asks to meet with tomitake; irie tags along, concerned
• they're in disbelief that miyo could ever pose a threat to rika. tomitake explains rika is the institute's absolute person of interest, mentioning that miyo's merely continuing her dear grandpas research (!!!!! she specifically told him to not tell anyone!!!! tomitake?!?!?)
• irie and tomitake keep saying it's "impossible", which rika starts to take to mean is a reflection of miyo's absolute will
• tomitake is slowly won over; he gets a bit unnerved. he explains colonel koizumi recently passed, leaving a power vaccuum in tokyo, with talks of shutting down the clinic to make an example of doing away with koizumi's leadership
• rika realizes that that would make the current leftist leadership trying to oust koizumi's funded projects have to take the blame for the alphabet project suddenly going disastrously wrong, therefore guaranteeing nationalists overtake the organization(/government?)
• rika's goal is to make tomitake suspicious of miyo, not necessarily win him over fully
• she asks the guys to act like she's gone missing as she's going to use the sonozaki bunker as a hideout
• tomitake takes her warning about his assassination to heart, but also makes them concerned he may be L3 or above
• ooishi suddenly steps in from behind the group; they think he's about to interrogate them for their suspicious conversation but he instead brings along mamoru
• rika's near tears; mamoru explains he feels like he left her waiting for a very long time after her warning
• she realizes the miracle of him remembering an alternate timeline's bad ending for him. she cries in his arms
• hanyuu appears only to rika and they converse telepathically; hanyuu affirms more and more miracles will happen the more rika asks directly for help
• mamoru meets tomitake; he comments that mamoru's police division (case records room 7) is so top secret it's basically secret police. rika reveals tomitakes connection to tokyo to speed the conversation up
• mamoru's document on the alphabet project as a funnel reveals the nationalism goal was another layer of dishonesty; the masterminds were just using it to embezzle government funds. he accuses irie of being in on all this
• irie and tomitake relent and explain it all to the cops (who are off duty). mamoru immediately buys it whereas ooishi is having a hard time digesting it, thinking this sounds like a novel's plot
• tomitake offers to investigate miyo himself. mamoru requests ooishi stand down from this case so as to not risk his pension
• ooishi dramatically resolves to never back down from this case. irie decides he's open to confessing his passive involvement with the curse
• this is framed as ooishi bravely choosing to continue to be a cop.... hanyuu in miko garb appears to grant him divine permission for this
• rika explains rule z to a shaky ooishi. emphasis is put on how hanyuu is uniquely perceptive for having observed everyone for a thousand years; her words reach ooishi best
• the mountain dogs' activity surrounding wiretapping rika's landline can be used as a barometer for potential threats on rika's life; the problem is rika's about to go into hiding and the dogs would catch onto reduced household activity
• hanyuu coyly suggests the solution would be having mamoru stay in rika's house during her and satoko's absence, which makes her raise a fuss. one-sided romance between rika and mamoru is teased...
• later at night, rika is worried about explaining all this to satoko. hanyuu goads her saying she doesn't trust nor value satoko; rika retorts she's closer with satoko than she is with hanyuu, trying to slap hanyuu (but failing)
• in the house, satoko has already cleaned up and is preparing for the trip. it's the 16th. the girls cook dinner for mamoru
ch8

• keiichi pov; at school, the teacher announces satoko and rika are staying home sick
• unusually serious, mion asks rena and keiichi to come over to her house after school so she can tell them something important
• irie pov; during lunch break at the clinic, irie is eating alone so as to not intimidate his underlings. miyo steps in to his office to swap their takeout orders, as he retrieved the wrong one
• irie offhandedly comments that kids meal flags would make it easier to distinguish their similar orders, which delights miyo
• he inner monologues that he hasnt actually ever hung out with miyo (???). they discuss kids meal flags; miyo is nostalgic, hoping kids forever collect those. irie teases her a bit; she explains she got close to collecting 20 flags until her parents suddenly died
• she reveals to him she's hifumi's adoptive granddaughter. this is not believable lunchtime coworker smalltalk
• irie reflects on how big a deal making the research renowned is to her. he tries to vaguely comfort her on them only having three years left, but this is akin to her finding out her grandpa has three years left to live
• hifumi started to develop dementia and attempted suicide before he became too ill so as to not be able to research anymore. he fell into a coma and was on life support. its ambiguous if miyo pulled the plug because she was considered his family, or his actual family never showed up to make the decision
• she says hinamizawa syndrome is like her family and she will certainly be there for its final moments
• irie is called to get back to work. he reflects that maybe he shouldve always been there for miyo (the fragments scenes of them experimenting on people together with ideological friction are weirdly going unacknowledged)
• third person pov; miyo sits in the office contemplating. she calls okonogi and requests they begin watching rika closer than usual immediately rather than on the 20th
• okonogi pov; it's a hot day and he'd rather not start this operation, but has to obey the princess' orders
• he's in the gardening dummy company which does do gardening from the unmarked van
• he calls in his mountain dogs to speed up their planned schedule; they all have bird codenames. one operant is being called in from a vacation which may mess up planning
• okonogi is the only dog that's actually very trained in combat. he was the one that shot mamoru in arc4, which was the last time he's done any actual combat. he's bored with how little action his unit gets; he wishes he was instead part of the "bloodhounds" combat unit
• suddenly, nomura is handed to him on the phone
• mamoru pov; he hears satokos traps going off, signaling the mountain dogs are spying on rika's house closer/earlier than usual
• the plan is for irie to swing by posed as a check-up on the sick girls for mamoru to communicate the surveillance severity
• tomitake has started an investigation into miyo, allegedly focusing on proving her innocence
• irie arrives with snacks. the dogs know the girls skipped school; miyo asked irie to check on them
• its 2 days before watanagashi
• irie relays the personal backstory info miyo confided in him (2 for 2 the men in miyo's life are betraying her)
• irie assures that the bloodhound operants can most likely help against the mountain dogs (under the idea that miyo is committing mutiny)
• mamoru reasons that even if emergency 34 is invoked the bloodhounds will prevent a massacre
• mamoru hands him a sheet with phone ringing lengths as passcodes to communicate over their bugged phone lines in case of an emergency. in particular irie is to leave the phone ringing indefinitely and leave if his own life is in danger
• keiichi pov; at mion's house, she's just finished explaining the situation. they cheer up and strategize as if it's a club game; jirou has run back to tokyo for his investigation
• they plan to use rika as slight bait to have miyo's forces chase her t function as proof rika is in danger, then retreat into the bunker
• the kids discuss the queen carrier status, calling into question if the village would actually go insane 48 hours after rika's death (!!!) (always bet on meakashi relevance)
• the kids' achilles' heel is jirou getting murked whereas tokyo's achilles' heel is the kids neutralizing manual 34: they will disprove the queen carrier theory
• they will have a corpse posed as rika's tomorrow morning (via ooishi) to disprove the manual
• ooishi arrives to discuss the matter; he asks to discuss the proposal with a trusted colleague before fully deciding as this is even riskier for his pension. hanyuu is revealed as even sneakier than rika when it comes to negotiating
• rika pov; she's still holding out hope miyo isn't the culprit but is eager for the plans to succeed
• third person pov; jirou is making calls trying to do a typically months long investigation overnight
• an investigator through the phone relays that the higher ups have requested a full investigation into the irie institute rather than just into miyo, seemingly in support of jirou's probing
• he explains there's already disrepancies in the institute's budget statements that suggest a slush fund embezzling scheme and/or unapproved sponsorships
• jirou reasons illicit funding may be used for keeping the mountain dogs' under miyo's thumb
• additionally a live report suggests miyo received 1 billion yen from koizumi directly; this places her as extremely capable of steering operations in her favor, such as bribing the mountain dogs towards ensuring the village is destroyed. jirou gets paranoid as he places two and two together
ch9

• irie pov; watanagashi is tomorrow. irie discusses with the villagers as they set up at the shrine grounds; he affirms rika and satoko are very sick but getting better
• oryou is there; she dispels fears that the girls will be this year's curse victims. she emphasizes she wants satoko to get better too, that the dam conflict is over
• pov swap; ooishi convenes with kumachan and the coroner/forensics guy and tells them everything. kuma is thrilled to be part of dangerous operations and forensics guy is old, wants to help the greater good before he dies
• in private, ooishi leaves flowers on the foreman's grave. he comes to terms with the sonozakis not having been behind it all
• it turns out akane and shion also visit this grave yearly, though typically before ooishi does. oryou makes ohagi for them to place on the grave
• ooishi is in shock; the sonozakis coyly admonish him for not understanding the war is long over and they had nothing to do with the foreman's murder
• he makes up with akane. she declares she's no longer a "demon princess", just a "lady" (mafioso's wife). she asks him to do away with her speeding ticket (and shion is very spirited, i miss her)
• miyo pov; she's on the phone with nomura explaining her entire plan. nomura explains her side is forging documents to force irie into looking absolutely guilty of trying to desperately continue the research
• miyo hesitates a bit; killing jirou is the first step for the plan, but she's secretly hoping he would join her on the evil side. nomura explains he'd be nothing but a liability if he is not killed
• miyo dials to reach jirou's hotel room; he's not there and hasn't gotten any of her voicemails. she misses him, and goes to their typical meeting spot: the shrine grounds cliff with the best view
• she realizes this latest visit from him has been different and is worried as she can't contact him
• she reflects thinking jirou has no attractive or interesting qualities, but she is in love with his eagerness to hang out with her. she suddenly yearns for him and thinks of this operation as her running around wildly in emotional frenzy, seeking someone to go to for comfort. she wishes he will "forgive" her 😑
• she pinpoints her yearning as a desire to have someone like a parent to rely on and feels horrible that she's still immature. she nostalges that she would've preferred a childhood where both her grandpa and parents survived together in one house, never exiting that house
• she thinks of her situation as the ruined tower of babel; rather than let the tower stand on its own as proof of an incomplete feat, she's violently destroying it on her own terms as if that would surpass the original feat
• she realizes her efforts would not result in immortalizing her grandpa and despairs. she backtracks thinking of where it all went wrong but winds up in a ptsd flashback
• she gets itchy and paranoid of infestation... she wishes to turn back time and make it so she never met her grandpa, sparing both him and herself
• the narration suddenly swaps to a dialogue, similar to rena's mental breakdown vision of hanyuu in the bathroom: miyo's wish will be granted once she realizes the wish's true nature and exemplifies the will necessary to carry it out. miyo then misinterprets (..?) this as she hasn't stooped low enough yet
• irie pov; he meets up with mamoru as another faux checkup. they eat snacks together. it turns out jirou has swapped hotels in okinomiya so miyo can not contact him rather than return to tokyo fully
• irie shares the bait plan and mamoru agrees it's a good idea. they're waiting on communication with ooishi and jirou to decide to stage it all tomorrow, supposedly before the festival (it'll definitely happen during the festival...)
• heading back, irie bumps into miyo; she's a bit unnerved (lonely) and asks if he knows where jirou's gone to, which irie misinterprets as her being a bit onto the kids' plans; he says the wrong thing, upsetting her
• they both resolve that there will be a grand festival tomorrow (dual meaning)
• kids pov: ooishi gives the green light
• rika is hopeful, resolving that they will change fate together
• they will initiate their attack at dawn to pre-empt miyo's nighttime attack
• hanyuu narrates that now she will look into the final june 19 1983 fragment, together with rika
ch10

• third person pov; 2 guards in the mountain dogs' shell company receive an emergency call: they meet with miyo in the surveillance room
• they report rika's 48+ hour old corpse was found in okinomiya at 04:15 am. the police station was under a supposed temporary gag order specifically to pre-empt potential religious impact on the villagers
• miyo is in disbelief; the villagers are meant to exhibit terminal symptoms as early as 36 hours after her death. enraged, she deduces its the same type of ploy she was planning to carry out tonight with her charred false corpse
• she sends her dogs to observe the corpse immediately; receives a call from nomura
• okonogi gives orders to standby to invade rika's home mid-festival and confirm her presence there, but the logistics will not sort out
• he deduces jirou must've turned on the clinic, sends someone to confront him in his hotel room
• scene swap to cops; kumachan will hold down the fort at the precinct, the morgue guy will protect the morgue, and ooishi heads to the precinct's communications centre to discuss incoming calls
• the chief inspector ootaka is on the mountain dogs' side as he's probing forensics
• forensics guy warns cop factions will be on their way to look for the corpse
• scene swap; its 6 am. jirou receives confirmation the mountain dogs are making moves and is informed of how manual 34 has yet to be invoked
• jirou pieces together this is the kids' ploy rather than actual counter evidence to miyo's work
• he requests the bloodhounds be placed on standby and irie be checked up on
• dog report; they have no audiovisual contact with jirou in his hotel room. they pick the lock: he's not there, nor any trace of his belongings
• okonogi realizes the operation is completely compromised and calls for miyo to be informed
• he deduces jirou is likely at another hotel still in the area and requests contact with a tokyo mole who's involved with internal investigations
• the plan is to capture jirou and verify rika is still alive
• jirou and okonogi both will receive further news at 9am
• mole informs that the bloodhounds and tokyo chief of staff are on jirou's side
• okonogi is keeping relatively calm knowing it all relies on jirou's 9am report, whereas miyo over the phone is going berserk
• scene swap to cops; its 08.30. forensics guy defences are staying strong rebuffing phone requests from higher and higher ups
• ooishi readies to greet ootaka directly in person as soon as the precinct formally opens for the morning. he's immediately maximum slimey to call in a favor from his superior
• ootaka is prefectural police over gogura rather than okinomiya, claiming he's here for a top secret sensitive investigation he can't give the details on
• ooishi explains that rika's autopsy report is not complete, and has leaked due to a slip-up on his part
• their conflict is presented as a conflict of strong wills; ooishi's is superior
• he levels with ootaka, explaining his superiors are planning to harm the village and that a "policeman's spirit" should see through the guise and do what's right
• ooishi restrains ootaka from moving forward, tossing him to the ground
• a crowd gathers, conflicted; the two cops fight
• ootaka goads him saying he's here to verify rika's death, called upon by a sonozaki parliament member directly
• civilians in the lobby are shocked by news of rika's death
• from the crowd, akane and the sonozaki parliament member saburou emerge to question ootaka. they're here for akane's speeding ticket LOL; ooishi dispels them saying he'll handle it
• ootaka interjects saying they still need to pay the ticket; akane and saburou grab him. akane proclaims she's the demon princess and attacks him
• turns into a kendo "battle". they drag him out and beat him up
• irie's pov; miyo in the moniter room is panicking interrogating irie who is lying through his teeth about this circumstance being "impossible"
• he's now certain her goal is to execute the manual. he interprets miyo's panic as panic that she's about to lose jirou (BRO)
• miyo's losing composure; nomura calls, so she expells irie. he notices that she's been scratching herself...
• miyo stalls for time saying she can't give nomura an update until her men give her the update. nomura is calm and explains her superiors are cancelling the operation due to this sudden signs of the plan being compromised
• nomura goads her towards seeing the hiccup is resolved by saying this is as if her grandpa's work has been nonsense all along...
• miyo is in a blinding rage but resolutely calm; she deduces that irie has been on jirou's side and deceived her. she orders rika's house be broken into, but the operants explain it's far too risky to do on the festival day; miyo wretches
• its 08.45: a phonecall comes in from tokyo: they have jirou's number. the dogs mobilize to catch him as the hotel is nearby
• jirou pov; he's in his awful hotel room awaiting the call. suddenly, he hears screams down the hall; all exits are now blocked
• he jumps out the second floor window and books it; fights only to evade. the strength on display is reminiscent of descriptions of terminal symptoms (compared to a locomotive train)
• jirou is captured. miyo orders for him to be brought to her for interrogation rather than killed
• the report call reaches jirou's hotel room, but goes unanswered...
• at the clinic, the dogs and miyo surround irie, carrying a sedated and gagged jirou. miyo announces he's in the terminal stage
• irie's pov; he realizes he's the only person who could rescue jirou, who is necessary for tokyo communications. the scenario is impossible as there's more dogs than usual in the most guarded area of the clinic
• hanyuu suddenly appears before him, reminding him of mamoru's phone passcode signals plan (a bit unclear if he left the signal right before or right after the dogs brought jirou in)
• pov swap; the dogs put irie's call on speakerphone expecting proof that rika's been home all along but it never connects. an operant interjects saying irie has escaped the clinic!
• car chase ensues. okonogi's group tries to intercept from opposite direction equipped with a silenced machine gun on another car (??)
• iries tires are shot and he veers offroad, down a forest cliff
• scene swap; mamoru receives the signal and books it out the sonozaki main house at 10 am. miyo immediately orders for his capture
• mamoru sprints; he weaves, trying to lose his pursuers; he turns and defeats them with karate
• scene swap; irie miraculously survived but is being searched for by dogs trying to verify his death
• he's too beat up to run and is immediately noticed
• pov swap; shion is singing in the car with kasai🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
• kasai stops at the sight of iries wrecked car; they immediately find him and bring him into their car; he chokes out that he needs to be brought to the main house rather than the clinic
• kasai surmises he's caught up in trouble; shion surveils for pursuers
• in the dogs' surveillance room, kasai's car was noted as the next target. irie is to be caught alive but they're allowed to open fire on the civilians
• the dogs have a tracking device on irie's coat collar
• in the sonozaki bunker, mion and rena are watching the entrance via security cameras. shion isn't in the loop, but holds irie up to the gate's camera: the older kids rush out to meet with them, with instructions that rika absolutely cannot leave the bunker
• as the two groups convene right outside the main house, mion realizes shion was tailed: dog cars approach and operants spill out, initially falling into traps
• rika is secured in the bunker's secret room as the kids clamor to re-enter the bunker. in miyo's surveillance room, jirou is tied down, splayed on the ground where miyo is jeering at him
• the kids make it into the bunker, but are spotted
• okonogi pov; its 10 am. they're planning to break the bunker door down with explosives
• mion goes to call the cops, but the line is cut; the power is also cut. satoko and mion deduce the power was cut to prevent the kids from seeing that the dogs have explosives
• the door will be blown up the moment fireworks are lit to signal the start of watanagashi (this concept is brandnew): the kids clamor to take the escape route
• shion has mion go down the well first... shion and kasai take rear guard positions of going in last before mion can offer to. (noted as shion "atoning" for the guilt of having lost the heiress position. ???) they unlock the armory
• mion makes it down the perilous well tunnel; rika follows and immediately slips a bit, resolving she will make it and finally get to grow up🥺
• shion sends off the last climber keiichi as she wields a machine gun; makes him promise to tell mion that she hopes the two of them are still twins in their next life. a grenade is thrown as keiichi runs away
• in the catacombs, mion is screaming for shion. rika starts to panic; she absolutely doesn't want shion and kasai sacrificed for her final world. a loud bang is heard
• an operant bellows below that all they want is to secure rika and irie; they assure shion and kasai are alive but being taken as hostages
• mion lashes out on her group explaining they're really going to throw shion down the well to make them cooperate (hehehe)
• satoko and mion begin to cry. satoko suddenly calls shion her big sis (nickname that mirrors her nickname for satoshi...)
• rika is pressuring hanyuu to do something; hanyuu slaps her... and suddenly with unseen seriousness and a red tint to her gaze, tells rika she knows how to perform a final miracle
• rika explains she'll turn herself in while everyone else escapes. she ascends the ladder in black text: she's absolutely certain they will succeed
• rika is enveloped in heavenly light; her gambit is she will kill herself by dropping if the dogs don't let her friends escape
• with a simultaneously heavenly and demonic tone, hanyuu tells the dogs to accept rika's current bargain as they would be overstepping otherwise. the negotiator is terrorized and backs off once miyo approves
• on the surface exiting the bunker, rika goes with okonogi. immedatiely the rest of his men clamor down the bunker to chase after her friends. they move to administer a sedative, which rika knows would spell her doom...
• suddenly: the operant restraining rika is mamoru in disguise, who dramatically claims he's here to save her and fends off the rest of the operants
• okonoki and mamoru face off one on one. mamoru misses his final attack, which destroys okonogi's van and will to keep fighting
• the dogs scramble to retreat; the club members had climbed back up from the well to help kasai and shion counterattack. the group convenes in the torture room
• its 10.30 am. shion's left eardrum is damaged from the explosion so irie privately looks it over. irie reveals to her that satoshi is alive but resistant to treatment
• shion finds the tracker on irie's coat. the plan is for the kids to serve as decoy in the hills surrounded by satoko's traps while the adults+shion secure jirou
• surveillance room pov; the retreated dogs are awaiting for the (decoy) group to surface to attack and capture rika. the entire village's phone lines are shut off. nomura calls for okonogi over the radio
• scene swap; its nearly 11 am. miyo is trying to convince a restrained jirou to swap sides
• she admits nomura is most likely merely using her as a pawn, confessing that deep down she actually wants jirou's comfort (ok...)
• jirou deduces that miyo plans to kill herself after the operation succeeds. she realizes her true wish is to have him by her side to support her, but fails to grasp it; jirou grows silent
• the phone rings: the decoy kids unit has been re-tracked. miyo runs back to the surveillance room
• all operants including miyo leave for the mountains. jirou is left behind with some armed guards
• miyo in her villainess outfit announces the order is they're all dead or alive save for rika. they think the kids are trying to reach okinomiya to alert the police
• in conversation with okonogi, miyo realizes they're at a severe disadvantage
• the kids are hiding out in one of satoko's secret bases surveilling the dogs' movements. they're being severely hurt by traps
• the dogs are in complete panic as satoko lures them around. the other kids are helping activate traps
• keiichi is also using a bat? the dogs are nearly retreating
• scene swap; the adults unit is sneaking in. its 11.30am
• the main clinic guards are subdued; shion locks them in a bathroom then stages security footage of herself and irie being captured
• this initially fools the basement surveillance unit, but their surprise attack fails. the main alarm is sounded: the basement will be gassed with emetic diphenylcyanoarsine (kasai calls it "red agent" per bioweapons used by japan during wwii but googling around im not finding a lot of info). the guards board up in the surveillance room with gas masks
• kasai fires a slug through the door as a warning shot. he goes full yakuza voice and shoots at the guards, charging in. the guards disarm the alarm
• shion and irie book it to rescue satoshi; mamoru realizes one guard is missing and probably is in the clinic halls
• shion is ambushed on her bad ear's side; irie stabs the dog with a pencil then bluffs that its H178. devolves into a misogynistic maid rant while the other adults come and catch the guard
• shion finds the comatose, heavily restrained satoshi. irie makes her promise to not wake him as he's still in terminal condition and very violent
• shion despairs; through tears, irie promises he'll bring satoshi back and has her promise to not tell satoko until he's stable
• the huge teddy bear is there; shion vows to read to him and be near him as he's comatose. mamoru returns with jirou; he says all phone lines are disabled and the roads leading to okinomiya are probably blocked (and armed)
• new objective: get jirou to okinomiya to call the bloodhounds in. irie splits off to take satoshi someplace safe (not elaborated on??)
• scene swap: miyo is on the mountains herself, still screaming at her dogs over the radio. she's scratching herself a lot, with her grandpas research papers in hand
• the kids are bullying the soliders. okonogi is terrified of mion's capabilities as a general
• the dogs are convinced they're being demoned away
• over the intercom, hanyuu gives intense admonishing dialogues about having messed with the demon world, with keiichi supplying screams in faux pain as if she's torturing him
• an operant privately contacts okonogi to inform the clinic has been breached. their priority is now protecting the road blockade
• approaching noon, kasai's car approaches the blockade at top speed; theyre trying to hit the van directly
• shion and kasai are sniping at the dogs from a blindspot (the dam dump?), preventing the dogs from using heavy armature
• it's revealed shmion's military training lead by kasai in the usa from earlier arcs is 100% real !!?!?
• mamoru breaks through the blockade; turns into a chase. jirou is revealed to have been a marksmanship instructor capable of threading insane needles prior to his eye injury
• jirou makes his call in a telephone booth right outside okinomiya: formally requests the bloodhounds are sent in
• an arrest order for miyo and okonogi rolls in; the bloodhounds have been on standby and can be there within 20 minutes
• mamoru is getting hungry; he notes that it looks like it will rain tonight... they decide to return to the village for rika and miyo on helicopter
• scene swap; okonogi, miyo and the very few remaining exhausted dogs trek to the kids' base. the kids, also exhausted, come out to greet them
• okonogi goes to surrender and celebrates mion's capabilities as a commander. emphasizes that miyo, still barking orders, is the only one not aware of how dire it is on the dogs' side
• they engage in one on one combat without weapons to determine the victor. at okonogi's final attack, it begins to rain and lightning strikes. mion perfectly counters
• the bloodhounds descend onto the scene via helicopter. the dogs retreat, dragging a kicking and screaming miyo with them
• mion feels as if she's suddenly forgotten something important regarding how the club doles out the punished loser position in club games; hanyuu is notably absent from the modest victory celebrations
• jirou and mamoru descend from their own helicopter to gather the kids and explain the kids' involvement to the bloodhounds
• mamoru slantly mentions satoshi; rika resolves that satoko's smile will return properly. she reminds her to take her afternoon shot, resolving that she will be there to help her get better for good
• satoko then points out hanyuu is nowhere to be found: rika panics
• scene swap: miyo's pov; 4 dogs including okonogi remain, who have all resigned to getting caught soon where the rest have surrendered. nobody told her jirou escaped the clinic; she feels compeltely left out and unheard amidst everyone ignoring her (useless) orders
• okonogi announces their surrender, while miyo spirals explaining they still have a chance to win if they contact nomura
• she goes to pull up the page explaining her grandpa's hypothesis of queen carrier death; okonogi pushes the notes out of her hands and steps on them
• he explains to her tokyo merely used her; they do not care about the disease and its surrounding theories in the slightest
• he recommends she shoot herself to help cover up evidence as part of surrendering, which for the first time freaks her out. when she refuses, he points his gun at her, explaining how her the scenario will be explained to tokyo to save both their asses
• okonogi explains miyo's death has always been part of nomura's orders. the units' codenames are fully explained; nomura is "cuckoo", intended to take over then eliminate miyo "baby bird", who will be eaten by the "mountain dogs"
• miyo is given the scrapbook back; she wails and almost descends into ptsd flashback, but still refuses to shoot herself. bloodhounds catch up and capture okonogi
• miyo's pov; she's running through the mountain in despair, similar to her childhood escape attempt
• she hides in a hollow tree. the helicopters above bellow for her to surrender. she swaps between wailing and scratching herself, wailing that she really does not want to die
• hanyuu appears before her asking if she's still trying to steal god's position. miyo surrenders; hanyuu says she can still achieve godhood by killing herself (LMAO????)
• miyo refuses as she doesn't want to be scapegoated as a pawn in a larger power struggle unrelated to her; hanyuu counters that miyo's plan always involved the scapegoating of rika. miyo is at a loss; she feels like she fell out of her perfect world with her family as a child (similar to satokos descriptions of going L5 in ch3) due to committing a sin that she cannot be forgiven for, but rejects suicide as a means of being forgiven
• hanyuu pov; the scapegoating method of forgiveness is that of demons, not men. she spent a thousand years becoming a god so she could grant man forgiveness without the need for scapegoats. miyo allows hanyuu's embrace...
• faux scene swap: miyo encounters the human hanyuu and points her gun at her. the kids are nearby, shouting as they look for hanyuu; they find this scene and approach, horrified
• miyo goes to shoot mion who's fearless to protect her friends; hanyuu takes the blow, but also stops the bullet from reaching her. its more about miyo transferring her sin onto hanyuu as a blame sponge
• seeing the bullet be blocked, she screams out that hanyuu is a monster; time stops as the bullet is about to pierce hanyuu. this is extremely drawn out and convoluted
• hanyuu accepts this as she's not "supposed" to be part of the human world. suddenly, rika moves within stopped time to catch the frozen bullet, calling this her true miracle
• rika explains rather than hanyuu being an element "mistakenly" added onto the set of playing cards like old maid's joker, she is in old bachelor a card that was intentionally taken out, now being added back in (this is what mion realized earlier then instantly forgot)
• rika's answer is a world where sin is accepted and worked on towards forgiveness, rather than hoisted onto others in pursuit of individual "purity"
• "welcome home, mother" displays
• rika's wish-miracle surpassed self sacrifice as she additionally pre-forgave miyo for firing the gun at all, wanting to spare her the sin of having shot a kid
• the bloodhounds finally reach the group, as miyo trips and scatters her grandpas work. she desperately recollects it, which they interpret as resisting arrest
• suddenly, jirou "showered in divine light" appears to take over the arrest. he points out she's suffering from severe hinamizawa syndrome and needs rehabilitation before her arrest; possibly to weasel out of the situation, he suggests her conspiracy may have just been born from the disease (as metaphor for her plan to avenge her grandpa stems from her severe unresolved childhood trauma)
• miyo cries into his chest. he affirms he'll stay with her to help her bear the weight of her sins; says he will let her reclaim her original name miyoko, free from the expectations of continuing her grandpa's name
• at 3pm miyo is taken to the clinic in handcuffs, but with her beloved journal in tow, cleaned up by jirou
• the festival starts at 5pm. the kids head down to it
• rika affirms hanyuu's continued existence among them is the true miracle, and hands her the bullet. the game was solved without a proper "loser"; everyone wins, and everyone is allowed to live
• scene swap: hanyuu enjoys her first proper festival, lead by rikas hand. no curse murders occur this year
• the operation and counter-operation both went completely unnoticed by the villagers, w misc stray threads of unusual occurrances but no sign of any violence. the kids have a great time at the festival

EPILOGUE: HANYUU POV

• rika excitedly, for the first time in 100 years, has a lot of summer break plans
• it's mion's last summer break before she has to do entrance exams. keiichi is asked to be the next class representative and club leader, but refuses the latter. rena looks out for everyone in the class; she's called motherly (NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). satoko is re-setting up her mountain traps and was asked to teach lessons to the bloodhounds. hanyuu is teaching her to cook
• shion excitedly visits the comatose satoshi as often as she can. she's been trying to get satoko to nickname her...
• irie's clinic remains open, but he part-times proselytizing maid shit. hinamizawa syndrome is now better known and being more actively researched. down the line, he publishes a paper that namedrops miyo and her grandpa
• jirou continues to visit hinamizawa, mostly hanging out in the clinic. miyo hasn't been seen since the festival, but hanyuu monologues one day she'll re-emerge to tell kids about scary folklore
• mamoru's yukie and miyuki ambushed him at the festival, where rika was calling him papa. rika and miyuki get along sister-like
• ooishi is back into mahjong, now joined by akane. he will retire soon, now less heated about all this
• kasai is unphased by the events lol shion begs for more stories of his tough guy side but he refuses
• hanyuu has taken over keiichi's position as the newest club member subject to the worst tricks. she's gullible but getting sharper
• june 20th 1983: hanyuu savors every festival activity immensely. she tries to assume oyashirosama's position during rika's dance, but prefers to sit with her friends. at the end, they all wash cotton down the river together
• closing: we will be even more happy in the near future. ends on a fredrica poem...
• credits: coup d'etat report written by nomura with all the worst parts struck out. unclear who she reports to. the clinic studies will continue for the alloted 3 years, and miyo will only be investigated after her condition is stabilized (she's pre-terminal)
• tips:
The forbidden treasure: onigari-no-ryuou
notes written by a furude family member
a sacred treasure of the furude family: a blade that defeated the demon god
it has not been seen for 1000 years; its said to have been sealed inside the oyashirosama statue seen inside the ritual storehouse
according to legend, one ouka furude received divine instructions to defeat the demon god with that sword
implies that ouka was hanyuu's daughter, the first human-demon hybrid, and that this sword originally killed hanyuu, who IS the demon-god
the point of this cult is to prevent the demon god's return via worship and comfort, which conflicts somewhat with how oyashirosama's cult evolved (the way this is written makes me wonder if this is a set of miyo's notes, but it describes sensitive rika-only info)
a lot of information on the furude matriarch is fully sealed away from the furude bloodline, seemingly to promote the image of oyashirosama as loving rather than oyashirosama as the source of evil. and away from matricide
the point is if the village descends into pointing fingers for scapegoats rather than accepting and forgiving blame, the demon blade/god (hanyuu) will re-descend. the point is to seek to have her banished as she's symbolic of needing to pinpoint sins (thus the story's ending of accepting her corporeality as-is rather than letting it be solely defined by her attempt to absorb miyo's sin)

• the author says this chapter was a duel between the reader and writer; the victor is whoever came up with the best resolution in the reader's eyes
• concludes the story's worldview is murder is best avoided even for the worst people, and everything can be resolved with conversation. acknowledges this isnt realistic lol but this is his hope for a better world
• wants to emphasize miyo is human too, and simply defeating her or getting rid of her wouldn't resolve her issues and what made her do all this. he wanted to address all possible sides of the conflict and not shy away from resolving them all (except shion and rina i guess)

• Flags from kids' meals
description: ...She needs to be rescued too.
my notes: getting this unlocked is obnoxious
third person pov; as miyoko leaves to go to her friend's house, she doesn't hear her dad tell her they're planning to go to the mall
the train crashed due to operation negligence
an adult rika (!!!!) appears before the oblivious miyoko and asks her if she wants to live or die
miyoko says she wants to live. when asked, fredrika explains that if she had asked to die, she would've been given the 20th flag she wanted so badly
miyoko decides to run home after all. she boards the train with her parents; the accident still occurs, but doesn't kill them
cuts out: a (tr)ascendant (fred)rika is playing with fragments, using her power of inserting miracles to change outcomes. she's excited to try every possible outcome for her own entertainment. mario coins are mixed into the jubilant music
closes with the author saying the game goes on, with alternate outcomes now in the readers' hands to ponder and play out (aww)