History Recap / HigurashiOnikakushi

Keiichi is then surprised to wake up in his room. He finds Rena sitting next to him, back to her old self and very clearly worried about him. He quickly reasons that if she would nurse him back to health, she clearly isn't trying to kill him --- not right now at least -- so he allows himself to relax in her company. Rena tells him that she has called for a doctor, and asks him if he is feeling alright. Keiichi remembers being at the dam site and being grabbed by the two strange men, but Rena says that she found him there alone. Keiichi asks her how she was able to carry him home on her own, but she tells him that he kept insisting that he could walk by himself and she only propped him up on her shoulder. But Keiichi doesn't recall that, he only remembers falling unconscious and then waking up here. He considers pressing the issue, but quickly thinks better of it, fearing that it will only cause Rena turn into "Scary Rena" again, and he much prefers talking to the nice one. Even so, he thinks he sees a shadow passing over her face for a moment, seeing it as an omen that it could still happen. He concludes that he should contact Ooishi. He quickly tells Rena that he needs to use the bathroom, and heads downstairs to get the house phone.

The story is closed out by a police report about the case written one year later. Keiichi was found unconscious near the phone booth he made the call from, with a heavy injury to his throat, believed to be self-inflicted. He died in the hospital 24 hours later, without ever regaining consciousness. Keiichi is the main suspect of the murder of Rena and Mion, but the case remains unresolved, mostly due to how the police cannot entirely determine whether Keiichi's act was impulsive or premeditated, due to him showing several signs of clear mental instability in the days prior to the killings. Due to Keiichi's death closely resembling Tomitake's, the cases are being investigated as clearly connected, but out of respect to the community of Hinamizawa and the whole tragedy surrounding it, the investigation has been kept low-profile. Keiichi's journal was recovered in the aftermath, but it appears that a couple of lines have ripped out later by someone who was not Keiichi (unbeknownst to the police, but clear to the player, the lines mentioning the dam foreman and the syringe was removed and so was the syringe itself). Ooishi, who was the first police officer to arrive at the crime scene at the Maebara residence, has voluntarily agreed to undergo interrogation in connection to the case, but he has denied having any forehand knowledge about the journal and the tampering with it.

The story is closed out by a police report about the case written one year later. Keiichi was found unconscious near the phone booth he made the call from, with a heavy injury to his throat, believed to be self-inflicted. He died in the hospital 24 hours later, without ever regaining consciousness. Keiichi is the main suspect of the murder of Rena and Mion, but the case remains unresolved, mostly due to how the police cannot entirely determine whether Keiichi's act was impulsive or premeditated, due to him showing several signs of clear mental instability in the days prior to the killings. Due to Keiichi's death closely resembling Tomitake's, the cases are being investigated as clearly connected, but out of respect to the community of Hinamizawa and the whole tragedy surrounding it, the investigation has been kept low-profile. Keiichi's journal was recovered in the aftermath, but it appears that a couple of lines have ripped out later by someone who was not Keiichi (unbeknownst to the police, but clear to the player, the lines mentioning the dam foreman and the syringe was removed and so was the syringe itself). Ooishi, who was the first to arrive at the scene where Keiichi was found, has voluntarily agreed to undergo interrogation in connection to the case, but he has denied having any forehand knowledge about the journal and the tampering with it.

Just as suddenly as he passed out, Keiichi comes back to himself. He is confused at first, feeling as though time has passed, and he believes that what just happened must have been some kind of dream. He chides himself for ever thinking that Rena and Mion would kill him. But then he first realizes that he for some inexplicable reason is feeling extremely sad, and then that his room is a bloody mess. Then he spots Rena and Mion, clearlyinjured and unmoving, lying in unnatural poses in pools of their own blood. He then realizes that he is holding Satoshi's bat in his hand and it is stained with blood. The horrible truth hits him all at once; he did this. He killed Rena and Mion. Freaking out, he tries to make sense of it all and calm himself down. He might be horrified at what he has just done, but reasons that if nothing else he did it in self-defense. After all, Mion had a syringe and was going to inject with him the drug that killed Tomitake. He even starts to consider that though he will probably, and justifiably, face some kind of punishment for killing two of his classmates, this event might be the thing that finally exposes the conspiracy, once Mion and Rena's involvement with it becomes clear to the police. In the end, he has ultimately made it out of the ordeal alive and once the doctor Rena called for arrives at the house, he will confess everything that happened to him, and then everything will be resolved.

During the evening, Keiichi and the others get up to several hi-jinks as they participate in several games at the festival's booth. The group come across Tomitake who is taking pictures of the festival, and decide to make him an honorary member of their club. They then have him participate in a shooting gallery game with them. Keiichi ends up winning at the shooting gallery, and gifts his prize, a large teddy bear, to Rena, while Tomitake comes in last, and is made to wear a t-shirt signed by the other members of the club.

Keiichi's parents have to leave for a couple of days and Keiichi, due to a combination of mental and emotional fatigue from the recent events and feeling genuinely ill decides to call in sick for school. Expressing concern for his well-being, Rena and Mion come over to visit him and bring him some mochi "for recovery". During the visit, however, both Mion and Rena starts acting weirdly out of character as their friendly tones suddenly turns overtly threatening as they both imply that they are aware that Keiichi has been talking to Ooishi and that something bad might happen to him if he should say something "unnecessary", before once again ominously bidding him goodbye as if nothing is wrong.

The two of them insist that he should go back to bed, and Keiichi reluctantly does so. In passing, Mion asks Rena if she called the "Director", which she confirms that she did. Keiichi is alarmed by their use of that word. A place like Hinamizawa has no "directors"; the closest thing he can think of is the dam foreman who was killed. He asks who this "Director" is and why he would have any business with him. But they only coyly reply that he is a "director" and it has something to do with Keiichi's recent interest in baseball and start laughing. Keiichi finds their sudden laughter and refusal to answer his questions very unsettling. Then suddenly, Rena grabs him from behind and holds him still. Mion then pulls out a small syringe and tells him that what happen to Tomitake will happen to him now. Keiichi, quite convinced that he is going to die in the same manner as Tomitake freaks as Mion brings the needle closer too him. Eventually, his panic reaches a fever-pitch and his mind goes blank.

* ShooOutTheClowns: Satoko and Rika, who was present for many of the wackier scenes in the beginning of the story gradually stop appearing as it grows more serious and increasingly does a GenreShift into a murder mystery with strong FolkHorror trappings during its second half. By the last fourth, though Keiichi occasionally mentions them, they have no more lines.

* ShooOutTheClowns: Satoko and Rika, who was present for many of the wackier scenes in the beginning of the story gradually stop appearing as it grows more serious and increasingly does a GenreShift into FolkHorror during its second half. By the last fourth, though Keiichi occasionally mentions them, they have no more lines.

* ShooOutTheClowns: Satoko and Rika, who was present for many of the wackier scenes in the beginning of the story gradually stop appearing as it grows more serious during its second half. By the last fourth, though Keiichi occasionally mentions them, they have no more lines.

The story is closed out by a police report about the case written one year later. Keiichi was found unconscious near the phone booth he made the call from, with a heavy injury to his throat, believed to be self-inflicted. He died in the hospital 24 hours later, without ever regaining consciousness. Keiichi is the main suspect of the murder of Rena and Mion, but the case remains unresolved, mostly due to how the police cannot entirely determine whether Keiichi's act was impulsive or premeditated, due to him showing several signs of clear mental instability in the days prior to the killings. Due to Keiichi's death closely resembling Tomitake's, the cases are being investigated as clearly connected, but out of respect to the community of Hinamizawa and the whole tragedy surrounding it, the investigation has been kept low-profile. Keiichi's journal was recovered in the aftermath, but it appears that a couple of lines have ripped out later by someone who was not Keiichi (unbeknownst to the police, but clear to the player, the lines mentioning the dam foreman and the syringe was removed and so was the syringe itself). Ooishi, who was the first to arrive at the scene where Keiichi was found, but though he voluntarily agreed to undergo interrogation, he has denied having any knowledge about the journal and the tampering with it.

That evening, Keiichi gets another phone call from Ooishi who asks him if he has any updates. Due to his parents' absence, Keiichi confesses upfront that he believes that Mion and Rena are threatening him, that someone tried to run him over, and that he is fearing for his life. He implores Ooishi to help him, saying that he doesn't want whatever happened to Satoshi to happen to him. Ooishi says that it indeed sounds concerning, and asks Keiichi if he has any evidence of what he is talking about. Keiichi, much to his own embarrassment and anger, realizes that he doesn't know what happened to the needle he found in the food, nor did he get a look of the license plate of the truck he had an encounter with that morning. Ooishi says that it is hard for him to intervene directly without any proof, and Keiichi more than ever feels resentful of the cop, believing that he is only using him as bait to draw out his suspects, even if it means Keiichi's own corpse will be the final evidence against them. Keiichi, in turn, says that it will be very difficult to get any proof if he doesn't know what he is up against, and begs Ooishi to at least tell him a little more about Rena and her previous incident. Just then the door-bell rings...

The next morning, Keiichi goes to school, guessing that it is his best bet of finally find some kind of proof for Ooishi. To maintain his cover, he goes to pretend to practise his swings in the yard again. On the way he passes Rena, who has bandages on the hand that got stuck in his front door. She gives him a short, sad glance, but doesn't say anything to him. In the yard, he is confronted by Mion. She hesitantly, but firmly says to him that everyone is concerned and even a bit freaked out about his recent weird behavior and asks him to stop using Satoshi's bat, telling him it doesn't belong to him and it upsets people that he uses it. Keiichi, feeling defiant, in turn confronts Mion with all the stuff she and Rena hasn't told him, including the dam incident, Satoshi's disappearance and the curse.

Keiichi barely has time to process this, before Rena calls out for him, asking if he trying to play hide and seek with her. Though scared, Keiichi decides that he has to confront her head-on. He steps out in the open, bat in hand. He demands to know what she is doing here, to which she replies that she going home, just like him. He then demands to know what the axe is for. She turns the question back on him, asking why he is carrying a bat. Keiichi tries to insist that he is merely practising baseball, to which she replies that she is hunting for treasure, and laughs at him. Keiichi tries to calmly retreat, but quickly realizes that she is following just behind him, giving the same eerie laugh all the while. Frightened, he asks why she is following him, and she replies that he has something he wants to ask her after all. He begins to set into a run, with the situation turning into a chase. As he runs, she mentions Satoshi, telling him that Satoshi looked so sad and worried back then too. She promises him that this time, it will be different, because this time she will listen to him and try to save him.

Attempting to get his mind together as he frantically tries to escape Rena, Keiichi realizes that he has ended up in the forest. He promises himself that he won't end up as Satoshi. All the while, Rena, still laughing maniacally, calls out to him, asking him talk to her and let her help him, so that they can all be friends again. Keiichi stumbles over a root, and Rena is almost on him, raising her axe over her head. Trying desperately to distract her, he asks her to tell him what happened to Satoshi. When Rena tells him once that Satoshi was "transferred". Keiichi tells her that he knows about the curse, asking her if it really means that he was taken by the demons. Rena replies that she has no idea what he is talking about. Keiichi grows upset and directly demands to know who are behind all the deaths and disappearances in Hinamizawa. She patronizingly tells him that he must be confused, there is no human perpetrator. All of it is Oyashiro-sama's own doing. Baffled, Keiichi presses her on this, asking if she really believes the local superstition too. But she insist that is not about belief, Oyashiro-sama is real, and asks him if he has no heard his calling out to him too. He then tries asking her if the curse affected her, Satoshi, and now himself, what will happen to him. Rena insists that she will save him, and drawing closer to him, she asks him to speak to her. Using the opening, Keiichi pushes her away with both hands and flees.

Fleeing from Rena in blind panic, Keiichi finally pauses to get his bearings, and realizes that he has ended up at the old dam site. Keiichi considers if he could maybe should stop here and rest for a bit, but spots two adult villagers in the distance. He is spooked to see that they both are looking straight at him and heading in his general direction. He decides to run from them. The two men start giving chase, and Keiichi attempts to ward them off with his bat. He is still, however, just a kid against two grown men, and ends up losing the fight. The men grab him, and hold on tight to him, and he loses consciousness.

Keiichi is then surprised to wake up in his room. He finds Rena sitting next to him, back to her old self and very clearly worried about him, which causes him to relax. She tells him that she has called for a doctor, and asks him if he is feeling alright. Keiichi remembers being at the dam site and being grabbed by the two strange men, but Rena insists that she found him there alone. Keiichi asks her how she was able to carry him home, but she tells him that he insisted that he could and she only propped him up on her shoulder. But Keiichi doesn't recall that, only remembering falling unconscious and then waking up here. He considers pressing the issue, but quickly thinks better of it, fearing that it will only cause Rena turn into "Scary Rena" again, and he much prefers talking to the nice one. Even so, he thinks he sees a shadow passing over her face for a moment, seeing it as an omen that it could still happen. He reasons that he should contact Ooishi. He quickly tells Rena that he needs to use the bathroom, and heads downstairs to get the house phone.

As Keiichi has gotten downstairs, the door bell rings. Believe it is the doctor Rena call for, he goes to open it, but finds Mion standing outside. Concerned by her sudden appearance, Keiichi asks what she is doing here, and she tells him that Rena called her over the phone and told her that he had collapsed, so she wanted to see if he was alright. Both of them express relief to see that Keiichi appears to be feeling somewhat better, telling him that he has really scared them with his recent streak of strange behavior. Keiichi notices that their concern seem genuine, but he still feels that something is off.

The two of them insist that he goes back to bed, and Keiichi reluctantly does so. In passing, Mion asks Rena if she called the "Manager", which she confirms that she did. Keiichi is alarmed at the use of that word. He asks who this "Manager" is and why he would have business with him. But they only coyly reply that he is a "manager" and it has something to do with Keiichi's recent interest in baseball and start laughing. Keiichi finds their laughter and refusal to answer his questions very unsettling. Then suddenly, Rena grabs him from behind and holds him still. Mion then pulls out a small syringe and tells him that what happen to Tomitake will happen to him now. Keiichi, quite convinced that he is going to die in the same manner as Tomitake freaks out, and then everything goes dark.

Keiichi suddenly comes back to himself and realizes that he was out for a bit. He chides himself for ever thinking that Rena and Mion would kill him. Then he realizes that he for some reason feels extremely sad, and his room is a mess. Then he spots Rena and Mion, clearly gravely injured and unmoving, lying in pools of their own blood. He then realizes that he is holding the baseball bat in his hand and it is stained with blood. The horrible truth hits him all at once; he did this. Freaking out, he tries to make sense of it all. He reasons that if nothing else, he did it in self-defense. After all, Mion had a syringe and was going to inject with him the drug that killed Tomitake. He even starts to consider that this event might even blow the conspiracy wide open, once Mion and Rena's involvement becomes clear to the police. In the end, he has made it out of the ordeal alive and once the doctor Rena called for arrives at the house, he will confess everything that happened to him.

But something gives Keiichi pause. That "manager" that Rena and Mion also mentioned. He hears someone outside the house, and peaks out the window to the front lawn. He spots four adults, and notices that two of them resembles the men who attacked him at the dam. There is also one in a white coat, but Keiichi is immediately convinced that he must one of "them" and only disguised as a doctor. He also sees the white van that tried to run him over parked outside. He decides that he cannot stay in the house; he has to flee and find some way to contact Ooishi. He takes a look at Rena and Mion's bodies and wonders if they were ever really his friends. The truth, however, is clear to him and he starts to cry at the thought. Fact is, they ''were'' his friends and he killed them. Even if he thinks he had no choice to but to strike them both down in self-defense, he also doesn't believe that they were trying to hurt him out of their own volition. Someone ''made'' them do it. He concludes that has to survive and expose the conspiracy behind the curse, for their sake too. He quickly jots down a few extra lines in his journal hoping to explain what happened, and includes the syringe as evidence, asking the police to analyse it. With that he quickly slips out the back door. Keiichi hear the men spot him as he exits the back door. He makes a run for it and heads towards the forest. Evening begin to fall and he keeps running...

Elsewhere, at the police station, Ooishi sits in the cafeteria, passing the time by playing games with one of his colleagues. He is told that there is a call for him from a payphone. He greets the person on the other end, and hears that it is Keiichi, who sounds clearly distressed. Ooishi notices that it is first time Keiichi has called him instead of the other way around and asks what he wants to talk about. Keiichi stammers out an incoherent reply, clearly not knowing where to begin. Ooishi tries to calm him down and explain himself slowly, telling him that he will see to it that a couple of officers come around to pick him up. Keiichi replies that it doesn't he think it is going to be possible, and stammers something once again. Ooishi is told by one of his colleagues that there is only one public phone booth in Hinamizawa. He quickly orders as many available officers over there as quickly as possible and prepares to head out himself, not knowing what kind of trouble Keiichi is in.

Keiichi is then surprised to wake up in his room. He finds Rena sitting next to him, clearly worried about him. She tells him that she has called for a doctor, and asks him if he is feeling alright. Keiichi remembers being at the dam site and being grabbed by the two strange men, but Rena insists that she found him there alone. Keiichi asks her how she was able to carry him home, but she tells him that he insisted that he could and she only propped him up on her shoulder. But Keiichi doesn't recall that, only remembering falling unconscious and then waking up here. He considers pressing the issue, but quickly thinks better of it, fearing that it will only cause Rena turn into "Scary Rena" again, and he much prefers talking to the nice one. Even so, he thinks he sees a shadow passing over her face for a moment, seeing it as an omen that it could still happen. He reasons that he should contact Ooishi. He quickly tells Rena that he needs to use the bathroom, and heads downstairs to get the house phone.

The two of them insist that he goes back to bed, and Keiichi reluctantly does so. In passing, Mion asks Rena if she called the "Manager", which she confirms that she did. Keiichi is alarmed at the use of that word. He asks who this "Manager" is and why he would have business with him. But they only reply that the "Manager" is, but they only coyly reply that he is a "manager" and it has something to do with Keiichi's recent interest in baseball and start laughing. Keiichi finds their laughter and refusal to answer his questions very unsettling. Then suddenly, Rena grabs him from behind and holds him still. Mion then pulls out a small syringe and tells him that what happen to Tomitake will happen to him now. Keiichi, quite convinced that he is going to die in the same manner as Tomitake freaks out, and then everything goes dark.

Keiichi suddenly comes back to himself and realizes that he was out for a bit. He chides himself for ever thinking that Rena and Mion would kill him. Then he realizes that he for some reason feels extremely sad, and his room is a mess. Then he spots Rena and Mion, clearly gravely injured and unmoving, lying in pools of their own blood. He then realizes that he is holding the baseball bat in his hand and it is stained with blood. The horrible truth hits him all at once; he did this. Freaking out, he tries to make sense of it all. He reasons that if nothing else, he did it in self-defense. After all, Mion had a syringe and was going to give him the drug that killed Tomitake. He even starts to consider that this event might even blow the conspiracy wide open, once Mion and Rena's involvement becomes clear to the police. In the end, he has made it out of the ordeal alive and once the doctor Rena called for arrives at the house, he will confess everything that happened to him.

But something gives Keiichi pause. That "manager" that Rena and Mion also mentioned. He hears someone outside the house, and peaks out the window to the front lawn. He spots four adults, and notices that two of them resembles the men who attacked him at the dam. There is also one in a white coat, but Keiichi is immediately convinced that he must one of "them" and only disguised as a doctor. He also sees the white van that tried to run him over parked outside. He decides that he cannot stay in the house; he has to flee and find some way to contact Ooishi. He takes a look at Rena and Mion's bodies and wonders if they were ever really his friends. The truth, however, is clear to him and he starts to cry at the thought. Fact is, they ''were'' his friends and he killed them. Even if he thinks he had no choice to but to strike them both down in self-defense, he also doesn't believe that they were trying to hurt him out of their own volition. Someone ''made'' them do it. He concludes that has to survive and expose the conspiracy behind the curse, for their sake too. He quickly jots down a few extra lines in his journal hoping to explain what happened, and includes the syringe as evidence, asking the police to analyse it. With that he quickly slips out the back door.

Keiichi hear the men spot him as he exits the back door. He makes a run for it and heads towards the forest. Evening falls and he keeps running...

The story is closed out by a police report about the case written one year later. Keiichi was found unconscious near the phone booth he made the call from, with a heavy injury to his throat, believed to be self-inflicted. He died in the hospital 24 hours later, without ever regaining consciousness. Keiichi is the main suspect of the murder of Rena and Mion, but the case remains unresolved, mostly due to how the police cannot entirely determine whether Keiichi's act was impulsive or premeditated, due to him showing several signs of clear mental instability in the days prior to the killings. Due to Keiichi's death closely resembling Tomitake's, the cases are being investigated as clearly connected, but out of respect to the community of Hinamizawa and the whole tragedy surrounding it, the investigation has been kept low-profile. Keiichi's journal was recovered in the aftermath, but it appears that a couple of lines have ripped out later by someone who was not Keiichi (unbeknownst to the police, but clear to the player, the lines mentioning the syringe was removed and so was the syringe itself). Ooishi, who was the first to arrive at the scene where Keiichi was found, but though he voluntarily agreed to undergo interrogation, he has denied any knowledge about the journal and the tampering with it.

Getting increasingly obsessed with the idea that his classmates and most of the village are out for his blood, Keiichi starts writing a journal in case something happens to him and considers arming himself with a weapon. He resolves to wake up early to walk to school alone, in order to avoid Rena and Mion's questions, but as he does this he is almost hit by a truck. Further rattled by this experience, he finds a metal baseball bat at school, which he takes for self-defense, reasoning that if anyone asks why carries it around, he can pass it off as merely being for practicing his swing. He finds himself wondering at times if he is really just imagining things and jumping at shadows, but he quickly squashes these doubts; the people who are out to get him are waiting for his guard to go down so they can dispose of him, so he cannot allow himself to relax.

The next morning, Keiichi goes to school, guessing that it is his best bet of finally find some kind of proof for Ooishi. To maintain his cover, he goes to pretend to practise his swings in the yard again. On the way he passes Rena, who has bandages on the hand that got stuck in his front door. She gives him a short, sad glance, but doesn't say anything to him. In the yard, he is confronted by Mion. She hesitantly, but all but outright says to him that everyone is concerned and even a bit freaked out about his recent weird behavior and asks him to stop using Satoshi's bat, telling him it doesn't belong to him. Keiichi, feeling defiant, in turn confronts Mion with all the stuff she and Rena hasn't told him, including the dam incident, Satoshi's disappearance and the curse.

Mion is clearly scared when Oyashiro-sama is mentioned, telling Keiichi that he shouldn't mention the curse so lightly. Though clearly overwhelmed by what he is telling her, she nevertheless begins to apologize to him, saying that her and Rena didn't mean to lie to him. Keiichi, angrily rebuffs her, saying that friends doesn't lie to friends. He then brings up the mochi she and Rena brought for him the other day demanding to know which of them tampered with it. Mion admits upfront that it was her. Keiichi asks how she could do that a friend, saying that she could have killed him. Mion reacts weirdly flippantly and even a bit confused to this accusation, saying she was just playing a harmless prank on him. Her strangely blasé reaction sets Keiichi off. He grabs her by her collar and tells her that she isn't his friend and should leave him alone. He also spitefully tells her that he knows of her involvement with the dam and the police is onto her. Mion starts crying at Keiichi's overt hostility, and while he feels a prang of guilt at seeing this, he still begins to walk away, leaving her like that. However, as he begins to walk Keiichi realizes that Mion is muttering to herself and smiling creepily even as she is crying. Mion says that she realizes that now that Keiichi must have learned all of this from Ooishi and that she now regrets not killing him when she had the chance, saying that she was trying to show him mercy with his retirement coming up.

But something gives Keiichi pause. That "manager" that Rena and Mion also mentioned. He hears someone outside the house, and peaks out the window to the front lawn. He spots four adults, and notices that two of them resembles the men who attacked him at the dam. There is also one in a white coat, but Keiichi is immediately convinced that he must one of "them" and only disguised as a doctor. He also sees the white van that tried to run him over parked outside. He decides that he cannot stay in the house; he has to flee and find some way to contact Ooishi. He takes a look at Rena and Mion's bodies and wonders if they were ever really his friends. The truth, however, is clear to him and he starts to cry at the thought. Fact is, they were his friends and he killed them. Even if he thinks he had no choice to but to strike them both down in self-defense, he also doesn't believe that they were trying to hurt him out of their own volition. Someone ''made'' them do it. He has to survive and expose the conspiracy behind the curse, for their sake too. He quickly jolts down a few extra line in this journal hoping to explain what happened, and includes the syringe as evidence, asking the police to analyse it. With that he quickly slips out the back door.

The story is closed out by a police report about the case written one year later. Keiichi was found unconscious near the phone booth he call from, with a heavy injury to his throat, believed to be self-inflicted. He died in the hospital 24 hours later, without ever regaining consciousness. Keiichi is the main suspect of the murder of Rena and Mion, but the case remains unresolved, mostly due to how the police cannot entirely determine whether Keiichi's act was impulsive or premeditated, due to him showing several signs of clear mental instability in the days prior to the killings. Due to Keiichi's death closely resembling Tomitake's, the cases are being investigated as clearly connected, but out of respect to the community of Hinamizawa and the whole tragedy surrounding it, the investigation has been kept low-profile. Keiichi's journal was recovered in the aftermath, but it appears that a couple of lines have ripped out later by someone who was not Keiichi (unbeknownst to the police, but clear to the player, the lines mentioning the syringe was removed and so was the syringe itself). Ooishi, who was the first to arrive at the scene where Keiichi was found, but though he voluntarily agreed to undergo interrogation, he has denied any knowledge about the journal and the tampering with it.

The story is closed out by a police report about the case written one year later. Keiichi was found unconscious near the phone booth he call from, with a heavy injury to his throat, believed to be self-inflicted. He died in the hospital 24 hour later, without ever regaining consciousness. Keiichi is the main suspect of the murder of Rena and Mion, but the case remains unresolved, mostly due to how the police cannot entirely determine whether Keiichi's act was impulsive or premeditated, due to him showing several signs of clear mental instability in the days prior to the killings. Due to Keiichi's death closely resembling Tomitake's, the cases are being investigated as clearly connected, but out of respect to the community of Hinamizawa and the whole tragedy surrounding it, the investigation has been kept low-profile. Keiichi's journal was recovered in the aftermath, but it appears that a couple of lines have ripped out later by someone who was not Keiichi (unbeknownst to the police, but clear to the player, the lines mentioning the syringe was removed and so was the syringe itself). Ooishi, who was the first to arrive at the scene where Keiichi was found, but though he voluntarily agreed to undergo interrogation, he has denied any knowledge about the journal and the tampering with it.

But something gives Keiichi pause. That "manager" that Rena and Mion also mentioned. He hears someone outside the house, and peaks out the window to the front lawn. He spots four adults, and notices that two of them resembles the men who attacked him at the dam. There is also one in a white coat, but Keiichi is immediately convinced that he must one of "them" and only disguised as a doctor. He also sees the white van that tried to run him over parked outside. He decides that he cannot stay in the house; he has to flee and find some way to contact Ooishi. He takes a look at Rena and Mion's bodies and wonders if they were ever really his friends. The truth, however, is clear to him and he starts to cry at the thought. Fact is, they were his friends and he killed them. Even if he thinks he had no choice to but to strike them both down in self-defense, he also doesn't believe that they were trying to hurt him out of their own volition. Someone ''made'' them do it. He has to survive and expose the conspiracy behind the curse, for their sake too. With that he quickly slips out the back door.

As Keiichi starts probing further into the mystery of Oyashiro-sama's curse, he feels burdened by feelings of guilt and paranoia, as he feels that he is both betraying his new friends by collaborating with the police, while also being unable to entirely trust them in turn as they are obviously keeping a lot of stuff secret from him. He decides to try to confront Rena about this feeling that he has that her and the other members of the club are hiding something from him. Rena at first denies it, much in the same avoidant way she tried to dodge the subject of the dam project, but when Keiichi insist on pressing the issue, she gains HellishPupils and, without changing her happy tone of voice, tells him that he has been hiding things from them too, and she knows everything he's been doing, before she screams at him that he is a liar. Then without skipping a beat, she slips back in to her usual cheerful demeanour and takes her leave as she bids him a good day. Keiichi is shaken to his core by her sudden transformation, not recognizing this apparent stranger wearing Rena's face.

Keiichi's parents have to leave for a couple of days and Keiichi, due to a combination of mental and emotional fatigue from the recent events and feeling genuinely ill decides to call in sick for school. Expressing concern for his well-being, Rena and Mion come over to visit him and bring him some food "for recovery". During the visit, however, both Mion and Rena starts acting weirdly out of character as their friendly tones suddenly turns overtly threatening as they both imply that they are aware that Keiichi has been talking to Ooishi and that something bad might happen to him if he should say something "unnecessary", before once again ominously bidding him goodbye as if nothing is wrong.

On edge from this and the previous experience with Rena, Keiichi attempts to ponder if there could be a rational and less sinister explanation for why his friends would suddenly act like this, and starts to consider if maybe the these strange incidents could just be a of result of paranoia, emotional stress, and Ooishi's stories messing with his imagination. In a moment of strangely intense anger he even curses his own curiosity and Ooishi for making him this feverishly distrustful of his own friends. But his misgivings are not made any better when he sits down to eat the food Rena and Mion brought for him and finds a needle in it. He eventually confronts Mion over this, but she reacts weirdly flippantly to his accusation and insists that she was just playing a harmless prank on him. Her strangely blasé reaction convinces Keiichi that he has become a target of the village conspiracy.

Rena has also been walking around with an axe. After a struggle with her, he gets surrounded by unknown adults and is suffocated.

Keiichi wakes up in his room with Rena and Mion sitting nearby, who then inject him with something Keiichi believes was behind Tomitake's death. Keiichi sets free and kills the two with the bat. Running away from adults, Keiichi eventually finds a telephone booth to call Ooishi, but opens his throat mid-conversation.
----

Getting increasingly obsessed with the idea that his classmates are out for his blood, Keiichi starts writing a journal in case something happens to him and considers arming himself with a weapon. He resolves to wake up early walk to school alone in order to avoid Rena and Mion, but as he does this he is almost hit by a truck. Further rattled by this experience, he finds Satoshi's baseball bat at school, which he takes for self-defense. Rena has also been walking around with an axe. After a struggle with her, he gets surrounded by unknown adults and is suffocated.

Getting increasingly obsessed with the idea that his classmates are out for his blood, Keiichi starts writing a journal in case something happens to him and considers arming himself with a weapon. When he is nearly run over by a truck, he goes finds Satoshi's baseball bat at school, which he takes for self-defense. Rena has also been walking around with an axe. After a struggle with her, he gets surrounded by unknown adults and is suffocated.

On edge from this and the previous experience with Rena, Keiichi attempts to ponder if there could be a rational and less sinister explanation for why his friends would suddenly act like this, and starts to consider if maybe the these strange incidents could just be a of result of paranoia, emotional stress, and Ooishi's stories messing with his imagination. In a moment of strangely intense anger he even curses his own curiosity and Ooishi for making him this feverishly distrustful of his own friends. But his misgivings are not made any better when he sits down to eat the food Rena and Mion brought for him and finds a needle in it. He confronts Mion over this, but she reacts weirdly flippantly to his accusation and insists that she was just playing a harmless prank on him. Her strangely blasé reaction convinces Keiichi that he has become a target of the village conspiracy.

Keiichi is nearly run over by a truck and finds Satoshi's baseball bat at school, which he takes for self-defense. Rena has also been walking around with an axe. After a struggle with her, he gets surrounded by unknown adults and is suffocated.

On edge from this and the previous experience with Rena, Keiichi attempts to ponder if there could be a rational and less sinister explanation for why his friends would suddenly act like this, and starts to consider if maybe the these strange incidents could just be a of result of paranoia, emotional stress, and Ooishi's stories messing with his imagination. In a moment of strangely intense anger he even curses his own curiosity and Ooishi for making him this feverishly distrustful of his own friends. But his misgivings are not made any better when he sits down to eat the food Rena and Mion brought for him and finds a needle in it. He resolves to go back to school the next day, where he confronts Mion over this, but she reacts weirdly flippantly to his accusation and insists that she was just playing a harmless prank on him. Her strangely blasé reaction convinces Keiichi that he has become a target of the village conspiracy.

On edge from this and the previous experience with Rena, Keiichi attempts to ponder if there could be a rational and less sinister explanation for why his friends would suddenly act like this, and starts to consider if maybe the these strange incidents could just be a of result of paranoia, emotional stress, and Ooishi's stories messing with his imagination. In a moment of strangely intense anger he even curses his own curiosity and Ooishi for making him this feverishly distrustful of his own friends. But his misgivings are not made any better when he sits down to eat the food Rena and Mion brought for him and finds a needle in it. He angrily confronts Mion the next day at school over this, but she reacts weirdly flippantly to his outrage and insists that she was just playing a harmless prank on him. Her strangely blasé reaction convinces Keiichi that he has become a target of the village conspiracy.

Keiichi's parents have to leave for a couple of days and Keiichi decides to skip school, but Rena and Mion visit him to give food "for recovery". Keiichi finds a needle in his food and concludes he has become a target.

* Rena is a Hinamizawa native, and had to return from the city due to HearingVoices and her violent behavior there.
* Prior to Keiichi's arrival in Hinamizawa, the Games Club had a member named Satoshi. He is Satoko's brother and one of the people who went missing last year.

* Ooishi also tells him that due to the strange circumstances of Tomitake's death, the police suspects that the most plausible explanation is that he had been drugged with some kind of hallucinogenic just prior to his death. But it does seem like the most promising lead, no one involved with the investigation can think of a drug that would induce such a violent reaction in such a short time span and no traces of drugs where found during the autopsy of Tomitake's body.

As Keiichi starts probing further into the mystery of Oyashiro-sama's curse, he feels burdened by feelings of guilt and paranoia, as he feels that he is both betraying his new friends by collaborating with the police, while also being unable to entirely trust them in turn as they are obviously keeping a lot of stuff secret from him. He decides to try to confront Rena about this feeling that he has that her and the other members of the club are hiding something from him. Rena at first denies it, much in the same avoidant way she tried to dodge the subject of the dam project, but when Keiichi insist on pressing the issue, she gains HellishPupils and, without changing her happy tone of voice, tells him that he has been hiding things from them too, and she knows everything he's been doing, before she screams at him that he is a liar. Then without skipping a beat, she slips back in to her usual cheerful demeanour and bidding him a good day. Keiichi is shaken to his core by this sudden transformation, not recognizing this apparent stranger wearing Rena's face.

* Rena has been tailing him for a while.

* Whenever the "curse" strikes, there are always two victims; usually a man and a woman. But the body of the second victim is never found, and sometimes the authorities even remain unaware of the existence of the second victim. This second victim is rumored to have been taken by a demon.

* From Ooishi he learns a bit of local history, namely that Hinamizawa has always been associated with demonic activity in local folklore. Apparently, the village's history starts centuries ago from a demonic swamp Onigafuchi.
* Rena is Hinamizawa's native, and had to return from the city due to HearingVoices and her violent behavior there.