Chapter Text
The four kids had biked to Okinomiya and had been searching for the last few hours. They mostly focused on going around the various businesses the Sonozakis owned, and Mion would ask if anyone had seen Kiryu. Most were dead ends, but a few had confirmed they’d seen or thought they saw Kiryu around.
They even asked Shion at Angel Mort, but she said she hadn’t seen him. She would have joined the search herself if she didn’t have to close the cafe that night. She wished her friends the best of luck and that they’d find Kiryu soon.
Hanyuu was separate from Rika and the gang flying over Okinomiya, trying to sense and find anyone that could be Kiryu. Thousands of people lived in the town, so it wasn’t exactly an easy task. Still though, she was trying her best and searched where she could trying to cover as much ground as possible.
Unfortunately, neither Hanyuu nor Rika and her friends were having much luck. While they now knew Kiryu had been seen in Okinomiya within the last 24 hours, they had no clue where he was precisely. Even if every hotel and business in Okinomiya provided the names of every client that had been there recently, there was always the chance of him using an alias.
Rika sighed as she continued down the sidewalk. Keiichi noticed and tried to cheer her up. “Please don’t fret, Rika. We are making progress. We have at least a few sightings of him.”
Mion caught on and continued saying, “Yeah, it’s only a matter of time before we find him. My family has this entire area covered.” I… hope at least. She decided to keep that last part to herself.
Rika still felt frustrated but appreciated her friends trying to comfort her. “I’m sorry, I’m just worried about him.”
Rena had been observing Rika carefully and had kept mostly silent. She had been hesitant to ask her somewhat bold question, but for everyone’s sake, she felt now was as good a time as ever to ask. “Rika, did something happen between you and Kiryu?”
Rika nearly lost the balance on her bike and had to screech to a halt. This caused the other three to have to stop quickly, lest there be a four-bike accident on the news later that night. “R-Rika?! What’s wrong?” Keiichi blurted out.
Rika didn’t face the others, and she stood still on her bike. … Of course, Rena of all people would see through me.
As the silence continued, Rena spoke up. “Rika, I don’t want to accuse of you doing something wrong, but you’ve been skittish in regards to Satoko and to an extent Kiryu. I just… don’t think it’s a coincidence something has happened to you three all within the last day or so. You trust us enough to tell us if something happened, right?”
Those words hit Rika like a brick. … Is there even a point in hiding it from them? I was only able to come this far recently by trusting my friends. I know I’m used to lying cuz they haven’t believed me in past loops, but that’s not the case here. I don’t know if I can tell them everything, … but they deserve to know at least about Kiryu and Satoko.
Rika got off her bike and leaned it against a nearby wall. “You’re right, I’m sorry Rena.” She turned to face her friends. No fake happiness, no little girl act, but herself. The real, far too mature for her age Rika only rarely showed her friends. But now was no longer the time for false appearances. “This will sound crazy, completely and utterly absurd. But I need you to trust me on this.”
Years of attempting to explain and cry out for help to others had made Rika rather concise and efficient at explaining her dilemma. She talked about Hinamizawa Syndrome, about the general effects of it, and how the Irie Clinic had been secretly doing research on it with Satoko and Rika.
She left out details on the truth of the Watanagashi murders, and how it tied back to Takano and the Mountain Dogs being her murderer, if only because she desperately feared something like the ending of the last loop. She wanted to make sure everyone including Kiryu hadn’t been affected by the syndrome yet, and was on her side before she planned to take on Takano.
She did trust in them, but In the current situation, telling her friends everything would most likely lead to everyone dying again. This was especially likely with the unknown factor of Takano meeting with the Tojo and what that entailed. The only way she could now save her friends and herself in this loop was to cure KIryu from the syndrome. That was the only path forward she could see at this point.
She did explain though, how Kiryu was most likely suffering from the syndrome. While she knew what truly happened between Kiryu and Satoko because of Hanyuu, she had to say it as a “guess” due to not actually seeing it herself and for it to make sense to her friends. She explained her “theory” was that maybe Kiryu had asked Satoko about the Watanagashi deaths. This caused Satoko to freak out, which in turn caused Kiryu to freak out. She reasoned that while she did truly find Satoko passed out on the ground, she lied and said that she heard Satoko mention Kiryu’s name in her sleep and that she had acted like how she did shortly after the death of her parents.
She then explained how after she left the clinic, she went to Kiryu’s house to confront him only to see him run away from her in the trees behind his house. How she chased after him and “lost track” of him afterward avoiding talking about the events at the bridge, if only since that would complicate things even further. The main point she wanted to convey was that KIryu was most likely in danger of succumbing fully to the syndrome, and it could cause him or someone around him to die from it.
After saying everything, the three looked at her with a mix of emotions. It wasn’t rocket science for the three to connect the syndrome to possibly being the cause of at least a few of the Watanagashi murders. Rena in particular made the connection in how it might have affected Satoshi or herself. However, that wasn’t their focus. Instead, they were now doubly determined to find Kiryu and help him. If only so nobody else died on Watanagashi ever again.
Rena would be the first to speak, “Is there a way to cure this syndrome?”
Rika nodded her head. “It’s not exactly a cure, but Irie has made a vaccine called C103 that keeps Satoko’s effects at L3. If we can inject Kiryu with that, it should keep him from becoming critical. And yes, we would most likely have to do it forcefully. I don’t see him consenting to it.”
The other three nodded their heads. “Do you think he will be at the festival tomorrow night?” Mion speculated.
“Most likely, yes,” Rika confirmed. “He didn’t need to stay in Okinomiya. If he wanted to truly get away from here, he’d be back in Kamurocho by now. The fact he’s been spotted in town recently makes me believe he’s going to do… something at the festival. I don’t know what, but I’m leaning toward something extreme.”
“Then what should we do?” Keiichi asked, puzzled. “Watanagashi gets a minimum of a few thousand people every year, I’ve heard. Do we just search all of Hinamizawa for him?”
A smirk appeared on Mion’s face. “Not a bad idea, Kei. I think we can do that.”
The others look confused, but Rika was the most so. “We… can?”
“Yeah, in the morning I’ll just ask my grandma if she can announce that Kiryu is missing and that if anyone sees him please report to her. I can maybe even wrangle in Ooishi and the police’s help by promising him to be ‘helpful in his investigation’ for once if they keep an eye out for Kiryu.”
Keiichi and Rena were beaming. “That’s a great idea!” They both said in unison.
Rika was slightly stunned, but a soft smile eventually appeared. Ah, how silly of me. Of course, the Sonozakis would be the greatest asset I could ask for right now. “Thank you, Mii. We’ll need all the help we can get.”
Mion paused thinking about something and then asked Rika one final thing. “Should we tell Satoko about all this too? It’s not that I want to keep this from her and lie, but… I don’t want her to freak out again.”
Rena and Keiichi faced Rika to see her response, and she nodded her head. “That’s probably for the best. If she is feeling well enough to be at the festival tomorrow, I don’t want her to be under unneeded stress. And even then, I don’t think she’s going to feel well enough to go.”
The other three nodded their heads. “Should we head back home now?” Keiichi wondered.
“Yeah, let’s do that,” Rika replied. “We have a plan of action and need to start preparing for tomorrow.”
Keiichi then held out his hand. “For Kiryu and Hinamizawa?”
The other three put their hands on his and raised them at once. “For Kiryu and Hinamizawa!!” They all said in unison, perhaps a little too loudly for those nearby wondering what the kids were even up to.
“Did you hear all that, Hanyuu?” Rika inquired.
“Yes, it sounds like the best shot we have now.”
The four then started to bike home. As they were biking, Rika happened to glance over at a tall blonde man wearing sunglasses and what looked like a vacation get-up. He was staring back at her, though his expression was hard to read. What the hell is up with that guy? Is he from somewhere out of town? … Nevermind, who cares if some punk is giving us a dirty look. I have more important things to focus on.
She faced away from the man her eyes on the sidewalk, and prioritized heading back to HInamizawa as efficiently as possible.
~~~~
Rika looked away and passed by Kiryu as if he hadn’t even been there. It wasn’t until they were out of sight that Kiryu gasped for air. He dared not breathe, lest it somehow give him away. Rika however was a little human girl, and not some creature whose eyesight was based on movement. He was just lucky that his disguise was effective in doing its part, not that that kept him from nearly having a heart attack.
Fuck, that was close. What the hell are they even doing around here? Were they…
A multitude of answers filled Kiryu’s head, but none felt conclusive. In the end, he wasn’t sure why they had been in Okinomiya. All he knew is that it felt ominous. Rika hadn’t given a stare any different than the other people that had looked at him before, but it still greatly unnerved him. As if somehow she knew, it was him.
The paranoia was beginning to overflow, so he shook his head to refocus. Look, it doesn’t matter why they were here. Even if they were outright searching for me, none of them recognized me in this get-up, and that’s the best thing I could have asked for.
Kiryu once again started walking back to his hotel, entered, and went to his room. As he locked it, he laid down in bed to go to sleep. He figured he’d need all the rest he could get, and went to bed a little earlier than normal. As he tried to fall asleep, his throat started to itch. He forced himself to ignore it, and just focused on getting rest.
I promise, kids. I’ll explain everything once I’m done, but I’m going to make sure no more murders happen on Watanagashi if it’s the last thing I do.