• The Screaming Cicadas of Hinamizawa

    Chapter Two: Visit

    "We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears. We must not demean life by standing in awe of death."-Sarnoff

    I pushed her hand off of my face. "Who are you talking about Alina?" I asked her "Who is watching us?"

    Now I was confused. There was someone watching us. I didn't understand why we couldn't just go back inside the house to finish the conversation, it didn't make any sense to me at all. Ever since I arrived at the village the only things I was feeling was fear and confusion.

    Once again Alina covered my mouth with her hand.

    "Ryu, shut up and listen to me!" she said, "Once you're in this village it is impossible to escape him so please, no matter what, I want you to be careful."

    Then the expression on her face changed. It seemed as if all of her worriers suddenly drifted away.

    I agree that my sister not being concerned for my actions is pretty normal for her. However the sudden change from being worried to losing all of her worries freaked me out a bit.

    She wasn't making any sense. Although there are a few things that I wouldn't find surprising about the things she said. For example the fact that she said that the village was dangerous. It would take a complete moron not to realize that. The village had a creepy factor that scares even the little cicadas in the lifeless trees.

    "Alina are you okay?" I asked her

    She nodded and stood up, "Don't leave this village under any circumstances," She walked towards her minivan, entered the car, and started the engine.

    "Why are you leaving so soon?" I asked her.

    "Business," she said not letting me finish my question. She floored the gas pedal of the car and left the house.

    I never expected for my sister to be so open with me about her feelings, and then suddenly leave. It also wasn't pleasant to hear the cicadas cry as soon as she left.

    A few days after Alina had left the house, things were very quiet. It was a very quiet village and not much was going on. I was not very open with my neighbors and I never bothered meeting them. It would have felt pretty awkward if I walked up to a randoms persons' door introducing myself, so I stayed inside my house most of the time, only receiving the bitter feeling of loneliness.

    The mailman had arrived and left a strange letter lying on my front porch. I noticed the letter when I was fixing the gutters in the morning. To my surprise the strange letter was important. I opened the letter and began to read it:

    Dear whoever this may concern,

    We were informed that Alina Hakai is a member of your residence or your family. We are sorry to be the ones to pass this information to you, but Alina Hakai passed away two days ago. Doctors confirmed this information at the Okinomiya Hospital. If you would like to find out the cause of death please turn to the second page for a police report.

    Thank you,

    Dr. Irie

    I flipped to the next page:

    The name of the victim is Alina Hakai and she was located dead in an alley in the city of Okinomiya. The cause of death of the victim appears to be suicide as the slits and cuts on her throat appear to be from her own nails, although surgeons of Okinomiya hospitals discovered that the victim may have been drugged. Another suspicion is that investigators found out that she had been dead for a day before her body was discovered. Even though her body was located in Okinomiya, detectives and investigators have concluded that she died in Hinamizawa, not Okinomiya. Investigators are working on the case, however accurate investigation may take a while.

    Thank you,

    Detective Oishi

    I was speechless. I didn't know what to say and even if I did I wouldn't know how to say it. My sister, my only true friend and the only person I truly cared about was dead and I couldn't do anything about it.

    A few days passed since I heard about the death of my sister. I was lonely and terrified of this village, and wished there was someway I could leave. Every time I think about leaving I always remember Alina's warning.

    There was a knock on the door.

    I walked up to the door and opened it and a girl with brunette colored hair was waiting. She appeared around the age of fifteen, and seemed to be a bit shy.

    "Hello," she said, "My name is Rena Ryuguu and I am your neighbor".

    I didn't respond because I was still speechless from the awful news that I had received a few days ago about Alina. I was not even smiling, just emotionless expressions.

    A green haired girl walked up from behind Rena and punched me in the stomach "She was talking to you jerk!"

    I fell to the ground covering my stomach and stood back up still in pain "Hey that really hurt..."

    The green haired girl was very bossy, that was my first impression. When I got a good look at her she was actually very beautiful. She appeared to be around my age as well, seventeen years old.

    "I'm sorry," I replied. "I'm just not myself today. And that really hurt."

    It was an odd way to meet new people. Since I was coming from the city of Okinomiya, I didn't understand their welcome. I used to live in a tall complex building in Okinomiya and I was never greeted or welcomed by anybody.

    The green haired girl looked at me with a grin "Sorry about that, sometimes I can be a little aggressive." She smiled and held out her hand "My name is Mion Sonozaki and this is Rena Ryuguu and we are both here to welcome you to the village of Hinamizawa"

    They came to my house to welcome me? They seemed to be a lot more mature than the teenagers back in Okinomiya High School. Although it was such a big change, I kind of liked it. The feeling of being welcomed to a new place is very relieving.

    I shook Mion's hand and let go.

    "You guys came here to welcome me to the village?" Ryu asked "I find that a bit peculiar..."

    Mion and Rena laughed and it was kind of creepy. There wasn't anything I said that was funny and they began burst out laughing like there was no tomorrow.

    After they stopped laughing they become emotionless, and still just like Alina had right before she left me. Rena looked at me "Hey what's your name, we introduced ourselves shouldn't you introduce yourself as well." She stepped forward closing the distance between us, making me a bit uncomfortable.

    Originally I had no intention of telling them my name because they lived in the village and the village was creepy, but I had too or I would look like the creeper. "Sure" I told them.

    I noticed that there emotionless looks had faded and they were smiling again.

    "My name is Ryu Hakai" I said, "It's a pleasure to meet the both of you."

    Once again the emotionless looks upon their faces had returned. It was very odd and very weird but every time I had said something they would suddenly become emotionless and creepy.

    "So you are related to Alina Hakai?" Mion said

    They knew my sister because my sister used to be a resident of this village. If I had known that this village was as creepy as I found it, I would have never moved there.

    "Yeah she's my sister," I looked at the ground and listened to the crying cicadas "She died a few days ago…"

    Rena smiled and looked at Mion "But the cotton drifting festival hasn't even arrived yet. Oh well maybe Oyashiro is choosing his sacrifices early this year. After all she did leave even with the warning I had given her"