The second game, released on December 29, 2002. Adapted into the 2006's anime Episodes 5-8. Meakashi-hen provides context for this arc.
It is Sunday. Keiichi, who prefers to use Sundays for sleeping in, is awoken by his mother who tells there is a phone call for him. Turns out it is his friends from the Games Club, who have planned a Sunday activity and asks Keiichi if he wants to join them. Keiichi says that he will gladly join them, he has nothing planned anyway, and cheekily adds that he figures that if he should refuse, Mion will just declare him the loser by default and force a penalty on him. Mion replies that he is absolutely correct and that she is still itching to avenge her loss the other day. Keiichi reminisces about the past Friday where he narrowly won the Game Club's poker tournament; when all points were counted up, Mion ended up in the second place, just one point behind him.
Keiichi meets up with Mion and Rena, who inform him that the club's game tournament will take place at the larger neighboring town, Okinomiya. While Keiichi is only really familiar with Hinamizawa and the area around Okinomiya station, Mion turns out to be quite knowledgeable about the town. She guides Keiichi and Rena to a toy shop, where Satoko and Rika are waiting for them. The rules are explained; the participants may compete in whatever they want, as long as it is something found in the shop. The winners will move on to the next round until there is only one man standing. Also, there is a price for the winner of the tournament: 50,000 yen in cool cash. Mion explains to Keiichi that the store owner is a good friend of hers, so he occasionally helps her with setting up tournaments like this to expand his costumer base.
All of the club members win their games and are bound to face each other in the next round, but Mion declares her the final showdown will have to have to wait to a more opportune time, as she has a part-time job to attend today. Her uncle called in and said that it is a busy day at the family store, so she has to show up and help out. Rika suggest that maybe they should stage the second round at the Watanagashi festival, to which Mion agrees. Keiichi, being an newcomer to town, doesn't know what this festival is (and, notably, this is quite different from how he learned about it in last arc).
The store owner (who is revealed to be another uncle of Mion's) then shows up to thank the Games Club for making a good show at the event, and to show his gratitude he gives them each — except for Mion — a small present from the store. Keiichi discovers he has ended up with a doll in a frilly dress. Deciding that it is too girly to be his kind of toy, he gives it to Rena while Mion is looking at it. Keiichi, sheepishly basking in Rena's gratitude, admits that he was thinking about gifting it to Mion for moment, since she didn't get anything, but he reconsidered, since she isn't exactly the girly type either. Mion laughs it off and banters a bit with Keiichi over the fact she might act a bit boyish at times. Keiichi jokes that it is probably for the best that she is a girl, because if she was a boy he would have killed her a long time ago over the stuff she has pulled on him. She replies that he had better kill her as soon as possible, while he has still has the chance (despite their mutual joking tone, Keiichi internally admits that he finds this line of conversation a bit disturbing).
The next day at school, Mion suggests a word association game for the after school club activity. Keiichi proceeds to completely tank at the game, embarrassing himself in the process by outing himself as a bit of boring stiff in front of his friends with his rather insipid answers. Even more to his embarrassment, as a penalty for losing, Mion, who is the winner, orders him to carry her backpack home while dressed in a frilly maid outfit, and proceeds to rub a little salt in the wound by prodding him over the fact that he actually makes for a rather good-looking girl. Keiichi vows revenge for this humiliation at the second round of the game tournament.
Much to his relief, Keiichi doesn't encounter any other people on the way to Mion's house or on his way home. He attempts to quietly slip into his family's house to change back to his regular clothes, only to open the front door and encounter his dad. Keiichi immediately tries to explain that this is Not What It Looks Like and that is related to the club thing he has at school. His father just puts a gentle, but firm hand on his shoulder and quietly tells him to come into his studio, saying that they need to "have a little talk" about this man to man.
In the evening, Keiichi's mom comes home late from a hard day's work and is too tired to cook dinner, suggesting that he goes get some to eat with his dad instead. Keiichi's dad says that he knows a good place and proceeds to drive with him to Okinomiya. Turns out that the place his dad knows is a little Cosplay Café, named Angel Mort. Keiichi takes a look at the cars park outside, and from the licence plates he notices that the place seems to be pretty popular, with some guests having come in from several towns over. Keiichi and his dad are seated, and begin their dinner in earnest. Keiichi notices that the food severed is pretty average, and points this out to his dad. His dad slyly replies that the food is not the reason why he comes here. Keiichi immediately figures out what he is hinting at; the place might brand itself as "family restaurant" but the clientele is predominately younger men, and he guess the waitresses and the elaborate costumes they are wearing might have something to do with that. Keiichi's dad is quick to insist up and down that he isn't coming here with any "impure" intentions, but rather for "inspiration" for his artistic endeavours.
Keiichi's dad flags down a waitress and asks for his dessert. Keiichi takes a bit to realize that he knows the waitress, because she isn't extruding the confident attitude he is so used to, but it eventually dawns on him that the girl serving his table is in fact "Mion". He is at first surprised to see her working in a place like this, but once the shock settles, he decides use his position as customer to humiliate her a bit to get back at her for what she did earlier today, and when his dad excuses himself to use the bathroom, he strikes, commenting at length on how cute and sexy her outfit is and how refreshing it is to the see the high and mighty Mion in such a state. The waitress is at first utterly flummoxed at his comment, but eventually gathers herself enough to correct him, telling him that she isn't Mion, instead introducing herself as Mion's younger twin sister, Shion Sonozaki, and comments that he must be the Keiichi from her sister's class, telling him that she often talks about him. Keiichi is quite convinced that this claim of being a twin is only some kind of flimsy cover story, since "Shion" knows quite a bit of stuff that only Mion should know. But he reasons that "Shion" must be Mion trying to be girly in secret, and it makes him a bad friend if he mocks her for wanting to explore another side of herself. Instead, he decides to go along with the "Shion" ruse.
After the strange encounter with Shion, Keiichi tries to do a bit of investigation into her story, but is unable to find any clear answers. He learns that Mion has a quite large family, most of whom lives in the local area (something he already suspected), but also that Mion herself lives alone in Hinamizawa with her grandmother. As for her twin sister, she seems to be a rumor. It turns out amongst his classmates, Rika is the only one who has heard of Shion, but she apparently hasn't seen her and Mion in the same place at the same time. When he asks Mion herself, she acknowledges Shion's existence, but also turns uncharacteristically flustered at the mentioning of the subject (very much like Shion did at the café) and claims that they aren't all that close, so she hasn't spoken to her for a long time. She also stresses that Shion is a "conceited" and "cold" person and if he ever meets her, he shouldn't trust her no matter what she might tell him. Her reaction only further convinces Keiichi that Shion might be a fictional persona of hers.
In school, Keiichi eventually learns more about the local Watanagashi festival from Mion and Rena, and is told that it will take place the following sunday. Meanwhile, he continues to have several more encounters with Shion, who is very much the opposite in personality the though and brash Mion, being quite polite and gentle. Keiichi, however, still finds it all a bit too convenient that the two of them never appear together, and always seem to have a pretty good idea of whatever the other has been up to, despite Mion's claim of them not being close.
During a visit to Okinomiya, Keiichi have a tense run-in with some rather violent local delinquents, only for Shion to intervene on his behalf and scare them away by using her presence to rally the townsfolk against them. The delinquents are arrested when the local police show up, lead by a certain detective Ooishi. Shion exchanges some brief formal pleasantries with Ooishi, but Keiichi can tell from their tones that their relationship is anything but friendly. Ooishi takes his leave, and the townfolk all calm down, and greet Keiichi as if he have lived in town for years, all due to him being on good terms with Shion. Keiichi is quite impressed by the incident, being more than a bit awestruck by how Shion's kind surface hides a much stronger personality, as well as the status her family holds in the local community. Keiichi thanks Shion for helping him out, but she tells him to Think Nothing of It, saying she if should ever find herself in trouble, she hopes he will return the favor. She ends up inviting him for a pancake lunch at Angel Mort.
Keiichi and Shion end up having a pleasant conversation over lunch, and discuss how Shion was able to rally the Hinamizawa villagers. Shion says that Hinamizawa is a pretty close-knit community, especially with the kind of battles they have had to fight together, and asks Keiichi if he has heard about the government's dam project from a decade ago. Keiichi says that he has only ever heard about it passing, but don't know the details, so Shion fills in him on the history. She tells him that she was involved in the protests against the project too, despite being just a child at the time, and she actually ended up getting seriously hurt when the riot police got called in to crack down on one of the protests. But in the end, the villagers prevailed and won over the government, which fostered a great sense of solidarity. Something Shion takes great pride in. Shion is eventually called back to work, and Keiichi takes his leave, telling her hopes he might be able to return the favor she did for him today at some point.
That evening, Keiichi gets a phone call from Shion. She tells him that Angel Mort are holding a dessert tasting event tomorrow, and she happens to have a ticket for him if he is interested. Keiichi says that there is no way he would say no to an offer of free desserts. Shion, elated by his answer, tell him that if he comes by tomorrow after school, she will give him the ticket, and since also she is off work early, she wonders if he would maybe want hang out with her once the event is over. Keiichi realizes that she is quite obviously flirting with him, and with him still quite convinced that "Shion" is actually Mion, he notices that he finds it a bit weird that someone he sees as a friend is hitting on him, but he also thinks that another opportunity to be around Shion sounds quite pleasant, so he accepts. After bidding her goodnight and hanging up, Keiichi ruefully thinks on the fact that Shion has only seemed to be doing favor after favor for him ever since he was introduced to her, and so far he hasn't really been able to do anything for her in return.
The next on the way home from school, Rena discusses with Keiichi how Mion seems to have been in a better mood lately. She is relieved by this, because Mion called her up a couple of nights ago and was crying. Keiichi is a bit shocked to hear this, noticing that there is a clear implication to her telling him this, but he cannot quite figure out why.
Later in the afternoon, Keiichi shows up for the event at Angel Mort. He encounters a crowd of people waiting outside, begging him to let them with him inside, as his ticket turns out be good for four guests, at which he regrets not inviting Rena over for the event. He enters the cafe and notices that the crowd and atmosphere in the place is remarkably different than it has been his previous two visits, with many young men, many of whom are very obviously Otaku, filling up the restaurant. Some of these event customers begins openly sexually harassing Shion, something which Keiichi finds himself quite perturbed about. One of the older waitresses explains the situation to him; these Otaku are quite infamous for these kind of antics, but the experienced waitresses are wise to their tricks and knows how to keep them under control. Shion, however, who is only a seasonal hire, doesn't, and they have noticed that weakness and are exploiting it for all it's worth. Keiichi realizes that this is an opportunity to help Shion out in return for the time she helped him and jumps on it, telling the Okatu to back off her or he will have to get violent with them. But to his surprise, the Otaku, while not exactly athletic-looking, turn out to be no pushovers, with one of their number being a practitioner of obscure martial arts, who lays Keiichi out with two punches and a throw.
After that embarrassing beatdown, Keiichi recovers in a booth. Shion comes over, and apologize for him having to go through that for her sake. Keiichi, in turn, apologizes for not being much help, noting that he has never really won a fight in his life. Shion replies that she appreciates the gesture nonetheless. Keiichi, however, is still determined to get back the Otaku for harassing Shion, and decides to use his four guest spots to call in some assistance, making a phone call to Rena, Sakoto, and Rika. He explains the situation to them, telling them that Mion's sister is in need of help. The three other club members promises him that they will take care of it; nobody messes with a member's family unpunished. One Laxative Prank and a couple of blocked bathrooms later, and the Okatus is send packing, with their tickets not being valid for re-entry. Shion, and the rest of the waitresses, express their gratitude at the club for getting the unpleasant customers to leave. Keiichi notices that it is pretty awesome to see some more of that famous Hinamizawa solidarity in action for himself.
Rika and Sakoto take their leave early, with Rena and Keiichi still lingering a bit at Angel Mort, with Shion bringing them coffee. Rena is happy to meet Mion's sister in person, and greets her in an affectionate manner, which leaves Shion a bit flustered and she excuses herself a bit. Keiichi is nervous that she might be able to see through the Shion ruse and embarrass Mion, and in an attempt to be candid about the subject, he instead brings up what Rena talked earlier, about Mion calling her and crying. He has figured that Rena was trying to imply that he was the reason why Mion cried, but he cannot figure what he might have done to hurt her feelings. Rena gently assures him that she herself is not mad at him and doesn't think he hurt Mion on purpose, but he will still have to figure it for himself if he truly wants to apologize. She will, however, give him a hint. She points to Shion, and notices how physically similar she is to Mion, wondering if Shion and Mion is really the same person. Keiichi, noticing internally that Rena really is much sharper than people tend to give her credit for, asks why Mion would pretend to be someone else. Rena laconically replies that it is this what he will have to think about. Rena heads home, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
Keiichi waits for Shion, who finally gets off the clock just as it has gotten dark outside. The two of them decide to go for an evening stroll. Shion tells him it is time that the two of them they got properly introduced. She playfully gives him a formal greeting, saying that though she closely resembles her older sister in her looks, she herself is more composed and methodical where she is brash and hotheaded. Keiichi thinks back to what Rena told him, and asks Shion what Mion has told her about him. Shion admits that Mion really seems to have taken a liking to him; she tells her all kind of "boyish" stories about how her and Keiichi compete in games and prank each other, but in spite of this competitiveness it is obvious that the two of them are close. Keiich is caught on the choice of the word "boyish" and notices that Mion did seem upset when he said that she wasn't very girly, and wonders if that was how he hurt her feelings. Shion soon starts link her arm with him and turns overtly flirty and playful in her conversation with him. He tries to ask her if she is sure she isn't Mion pretending to be Shion, because it would be just like Mion to make him feel flustered like this. Shion pokes him at bit about this, asking him if he could walk arm in arm with Mion like this, to which he admits that if it was her, he would probably be worried about her trying to start a fight or competition with him. Shion says this is typical of her sister; she has never been that good at expressing more tender feelings, especially not with boys, and that she has a rather awkward lifestyle, being unable to decide whether she wants to seen as a girl or a boy. Keiichi notices that since the subject started focusing on Mion, Shion's tone has grown somewhat harsh and cold, so he asks her if she doesn't get along with her sister. Shion assures him that the two of get along well enough, but there still some things Mion has done to her that she is not sure she will ever really forgive her for.
Shion changes the subject by turning his attention to the same toy store the Games Club visited last Sunday. She admires the dolls in the window, noting how cute they are. Keiichi tells her, that as a guy, he doesn't really get the fascination girls have with dolls and other cute things. She tells him that these dolls, however, are special; they are imported from England. Even Mion, tomboyish though she might be, has expressed admiration for them. Keiichi realizes that these are the same dolls before that were gifted to the Games Club members that Sunday. And something clicks into place. He realizes that back then, Mion was actually bad that she didn't get anything, and that she really wanted the doll he got, but he it gifted to Rena, with the excuse that it seemed too "girly" for Mion. He realizes now even though Mion was laughing it off and behaving flippant back then, she was just trying to hide her hurt feelings. He thinks back to all the times he has contrasted the "girly" Shion and the "boyish" Mion, and how they reacted strangely every time. He is now convinced that this was the point of the whole "Shion" ruse. Mion did this whole thing, so she could be comfortable with show him a more gentle and feminine side of himself and bring him back to the toy store, so he could gift her a new doll as a gesture of apology.
Just then, back in the present, Shion carefully asks if there could be a chance he would buy said doll for her. Keiichi reasons that he really should, as it would make everything better. Shion is taken a bit back, noticing that it is pretty pricey. Keiichi replies that this isn't a matter of money, but of emotions. Shion tells him that she is grateful for everything he has done for her today. She says that she can understand why Mion likes him. Keiichi realizes that he kind of likes her too, but he is too overwhelmed by emotion to say anything right now. He quickly takes her inside the store and hastily asks for the doll in the window.
It takes him a moment to recognize that the clerk is none other than Mion, in the flesh. Turns out Shion is actually real. Mion is equally surprised to see him, and is even more at loss for words, when Shion informs her that her and Keiichi is here on a date. Shion, now very confident, tells her that she got rather curious about this Keiichi person that her sister was so infatuated with, and now that she has gotten to know him she understands what Mion sees in him. With this, Shion declares that she cannot stay and chat, she wants the doll and she needs to follow Keiichi home.
Shion calls for a car driven by a butler-looking type that arrives to pick up her and Keiichi, and his bike. During the ride Keiichi tries to ask her about, well, everything from the past few days. Shion giddily tells him that her and Mion has done this whole Twin Switch act several times in the past, but she sure managed to sneak this one past Mion. The driver, who name is Kasai, has a private moment with Keiichi expresses his sympathies, saying that he probably finds this situation difficult to navigate, but he assures him that sooner or later Shion will grow tired, so he will just have to endure this for now. Keiichi can clearly tell from Kasai's tone that he has had to deal with a lot of these kinds of antics from the Sonozaki sisters over the years. Shion then bids Keiichi goodbye, saying she will probably check in on him again sometime soon.
The next day, Keiichi notices that things between him and Mion are miserably awkward in school, with them spend most of the time trying to avoid eye-contact with each other. Rena eventually talks to him during recess, telling him she has talked to Mion and she would like to pretend that the past few days didn't happened and that he should too. She also ask him to give her some space today. Keiichi asks her if it is really that simple, to which Rena replies that it really isn't, but Mion needs some time to get her feelings in order, so it is the best they can do for now. She adds that, if nothing else, Keiichi hopefully has learned from this whole mess that Mion can get her feelings hurt too. As long as he remember that, maybe the past few days can just something the three of them can laugh about in the future.
The next day is Saturday. The day before the Watanagashi festival. Mion seems to be somewhat back to normal, so Keiichi tries to small talk a bit with about the festival. She explains that the festival takes place up by the shire, functions as a kind of regional cultural site and community center, and most of her family are up there today, busy at work preparing the festival. Keiichi asks if they are looking for any volunteers to help out, since it seems like a good opportunity to learn a little more about the local community and form some stronger ties to it. Mion says that they could always use more hands, so he heads to the shrine after school. Keiichi spends a few hours working with the villagers; though it is hard work, he kind of enjoys as he gets along well with everyone else. He spots Rika practising the festival ritual at the shrine, and realizes that her family name is after all Furude, the same as the shrine's name, so there is obviously some family history there. Of the adults mentions in passing that it was sad her father die so suddenly and wasn't able to see his daughter taking over the family tradition. The man changes the subject before Keiichi can ask further questions.
Keiichi spends the rest of the afternoon working. As evening begin to fall, Keiichi finally sets down for a well deserved rest and someone, who he thinks is Mion, brings him some barley tea. He quickly realizes that it is actually Shion, and that he is still rather mad at her for what happened two days ago. Shion playfully defuses his anger, pointing out that she has never lied to him about who she is even once, and adds she wants to make up for what she did by bringing him tea. Somewhat reluctantly, Keiichi decides to hear her out. But before they can talk, Mion shows up, and is none too pleased to find her sister near Keiichi again. Shion, meanwhile, decides to use the opportunity to needle Mion a bit. Keiichi finds it rather disturbing just how good Shion is at pushing her sister's buttons, and realizes that she was just playing up the helpless maiden act when he met her the other day. Just then Keiichi, Shion, Mion meet Tomitake and Takano, the latter of which is revealed to be a nurse at the local clinic and knows the twins pretty well. Just then Ooshi also shows up, with Keiichi recogizing him as the cop from the other day, and exchanges some quick pleasantries with Tomitake and Takano. Keiichi notices that both Mion is staring daggers in Ooshi's general direction while he is there.
As Ooshi moves on, Takano mentions in passing that she hopes there will be nothing for the police to do this year after the Watanagashi. Tomitake adds that says he is also hoping that Oyashiro-sama's curse won't strike, with Shion musing out loud who will die and disappear this year. This piques Keiichi's interest, but Mion quickly asks him if he wants to join her at the drinks tent, nervously saying that what the three of them are talking about is something silly any way. Shion decides to push the issue, asking Mion if she hasn't told Keiichi about the curse. Mion coldly replies that she makes it a point not to spread those kinds of stories. She moves to leave, telling Keiichi he really ought to go with her to the drinks tent, but he is intrigued by this curse talk and he promises to join her in a bit.
Tomitake says that it is kind of a disturbing story, but Keiichi says that he doesn't like being left out, so he wants to know. Shion adds that as a newcomer, he has a right to know, and overtly uses it as a point against Mion that she hasn't told him. And so Tomitake, Takano, and Shion tell him everything about the Oyashiro-sama's curse, and the more rational explanation behind it too, namely that its a local conspiracy carrying out the crimes. Shion adds that this why Ooshi has been sniffing around so much lately; he hopes to expose a human culprit. This time, because Shion is also around to fill him in, he learns about Satoshi Houjou and his disappearance too, instead of finding out later. Keiichi also get the impression that Shion appears to have known Satoshi very well, judging from the slightly pained tone of voice she uses when mentioning his disappearance. He also notices how Shion learns more towards the village conspiracy as the cause for the deaths, and gets the impression that, unlike Mion, she doesn't hold Hinamizawa in very high regard. He notices that is a point where the twin's personalities truly differ.
Shion, Tomitake and Takano eventually realize that their story have held up Keiichi for some time. Shion says she'd better not make her sister jealous, and goes home, promising that she will come say hello to Keiichi tomorrow at the festival. Tomitake and Takano promises the same. Keiichi goes to the drinks tent, but Mion is nowhere to be found. He is told that she followed some relatives home, so he decides to go home as well, with a head full of questions regarding the so-called curse and a sting of regret over not being there for Mion this evening, just when they got talking again.
The next evening, the Watanagashi starts. Keiichi attends alongside the other members of the Games Club. Mid-festival, however, Mion suddenly gets uncharacteristically tongue-tied, signalling Shion's arrival. Her mood doesn't get any better when Shion starts to shamelessly flirt with Keiichi. The rest of the club, however, cannot help but find her usual confident and brash attitude turning into almost childish embarrassment quite a funny sight. Rika is then called by her duty away to perform the festival's ritual. Keiichi loses sight of the others, and finds it hard to get a good vantage point. Shion appears and tells him she knows a great spot, and guides him a ways a away from the crowd. But she reveals that she is not here for the ritual; she instead directs his attention towards to Tomitake and Takano who are fiddling with the padlock to the doors to the shrine's storehouse. Shion confronts them and Tomitake and Takano take being caught in breaking and entering in stride. Takano explains that the storehouse is where the tools used in the local religious rituals are kept, and her and Tomitake just wanted to have a look at them. Tomitake is able to pick the lock, and Takano invites the two kids to join them for a "tour". Keiichi is reluctant at first about the idea, by Shion admits to be curious, and is able to appeal to his sense of curiosity too.
While Tomitake stays outside to keep watch, Keiichi, Shion, and Takano head inside. Keiichi is shocked when they suddenly encounter a buddha-like statue staring down at them. Takano introduces it as "Oyashiro-sama himself". She comments with bit of disappoint on how some of the ritual tools in the inner chamber seem to be in disrepair and poorly maintained. Keiichi, meanwhile, fails to see what is so "ritualistic" about the tools; he notices how the place reminds him more of an artisan's workshop than a holy place or a cultural site. Takano notices his boredom, and tells him a bit about Hinamizawa's past — back when it was still known as "Onigafuchi Village". There is a legend that some of the villagers are partially descended from man-eating demons, who settled down in the village back in ancient times. Shion turns out to be quite familiar with this part — with Keiichi noticing that she seems weirdly amused about the idea. Takano believes this story to be the basis for the local folklore about cannibalism, ritualistic killings, and mysterious disappearances, which is what she is trying to research. Keiichi cannot help but notice that Takano seems just a little too excited about this rather macabre tale and feels somewhat disturbed. Shion, matter-of-factly, asks Keiichi, that in light of the story he has just been told, if the tools really seem so boring after all. He feels a cold shiver as he now realizes that they are actually implements for restraining, torturing, and dissecting people.
Shion, now quite serious, says that she has figured that Takano wants to know if these bloody old rituals are still practised in the present day. Takano doesn't confirm it, but doesn't exactly deny it neither. She says, half-jokingly, that if someone where to find she was in the storehouse this evening, Oyashiro-sama's curse might strike her down, and asks Keiichi and Shion to keep what happened here as their little secret. Keiichi is insistent that all this human sacrifice stuff must be things of the past, but Takano suggests that she has found traces of rumors of these practises taking place as far up as the immediate aftermath of World World II. They are interrupted when Tomitake appears, telling them that the ritual part of the festival is almost over, so they should get out of there. Takano wants to stay inside and take pictures, but Keiichi has had enough and asks Shion to leave with him. Outside Tomitake candidly apologies to Keiichi and Shion if Takano have creeped them out, saying that she sometimes gets a bit too excited about this kind of scary stuff. He also asks them if they messed with something, because he thought he heard the sound of someone jumping up and down. Keiichi says didn't notice something like that. After a bit Takano reappears, stating that they have lingered for long enough.
Tomitake and Takano decide to go down to the stream, to see if they can still participate in what is left of the festival. Keiichi exhaused by the terrifying stuff he just took in, hangs back for a bit with Shion. Shion tells him he should go see if he can find his friends while there is still some of the Watanagashi left. She will stay and rest for a bit, since she doesn't feel like mingling with the crowd right now. She also reminds him to keep what they were doing tonight a secret, and not just because Mion would get jealous about the two of them hanging out. Shion has one thing more to add, however; she heard the same weird noise Tomitake talked about. She then casually admits that she was just pulling his leg and bids him a hurried goodbye. Keiichi is not entirely convinced if her claim about just kidding him was true.
Keiichi thinks back on what he has just learned about the Watanagashi, but he is not alone for long. Mion, Rena, and Rika find him asking where he has been, and if he has seen Satoko around. Keiichi quickly claims that he went up here to get a better look at Rika's ritual, but he manages to give away that he missed it. Apparently, Rika made an embarrassing misstep while carrying it out. Mion, suddenly grows deadly serious and asks him if he has seen Shion lurking somewhere around here. Keiichi lies that he might have seen her, but he also might just have mistaken her for Mion. Mion, still serious, wonders how that could have happened, since the two of them are wearing different clothes. Keiichi stumbles over his words as Mion glares at him a bit. Suddenly, she casually laughs it off, commenting that her sister is always up to mischief and she will have to do something about it one of these days.
The next morning, Keiichi is exhausted, having had trouble sleeping as he kept pondering the terrifying stories about Hinamizawa's past. On the way to school, him and Rena is a bit alarmed when Mion shows up unusually late at their usual meeting spot, being out of breath and appearing to be running a low fever. Mion insists that it is really not that bad and that she can go to school just fine. During class, Keiichi suffers from sleep deprivation and so steps out of class for bit to splash some water on his face, where he finds Mion during the same. She admits that her own drowsiness isn't due to being sick, but being hung over, admitting that she went partying with some of her relatives after the Watanagashi. She tells Keiichi that she has been allowed to go home early, so he asks him to fill as the leader during club today. Keiichi says that there will be no club activity then, because they are one man down.
Before Mion leaves, however, she asks him if saw Tomitake or Takano around near the end of the festival. Caught off guard by the question, Keiichi stumbles a bit, before claiming that he maybe saw them, but he isn't sure. She then presses him on whether he saw Shion. Keiichi gets a bit scared at the sudden grilling Mion is subjecting him to, and points out that she already asked him that last night. Mion says that she is asking again now, because she was hoping for a different answer, and Keiichi notices that is rather something scary about the look in her eyes. Disturbed by this, he ponders if she maybe knows that the four of them broke into the storehouse last night, but he tries to play it cool and asks why she is asking these questions. Mion replies that she has overheard "people" who were "talking poorly" about the four of them, but she claims to not know exactly what was being said. Of course she doesn't want to think that Keiichi has been up to something bad, but she still wants to know if he has maybe seen anything strange. Keiichi denies to know anything, and Mion is happy to hear he is not involved with something, and she will make sure to spread the word. He wants to ask her what she means by this, but the teacher calls him back inside, and Mion leaves while he is distracted.
After class, Rika points out that Keiichi doesn't look too well today, and Satoko replies that he looks down right miserable. Keiichi, annoyed, spits back that he wasn't the one who got lost last night and was eventually found red-faced and nearly in tears. Keiichi catches himself and realizes that they are only sensing his bad mood, and are trying to cheer him up, but it just isn't doing it for him right now. He comes home after school, and his greeted by his mother, who wants him to run a little errant for her; returning some books to the local library over in Okinomiya. Keiichi reluctantly agrees, but before he leaves, he gets a phone call from Shion, who says she needs to tell him something. Keiichi replies that he is coming by Okinomiya within the hour, so maybe they meet and she could tell him in person. Shion agrees to meet him at the station.
Keiichi bikes to Okinomiya Station and finds Shion there already waiting for him. Keiichi notices how Shion seems to be a bit unsteady on her legs, just like Mion was, and comments that in some regards the two sisters aren't that different. Shion slyly replies that she still smarter than Mion; she stayed at home the whole day. Together, they go to the library, where Keiichi returns the books. As they find a seat in the cafeteria, Shion muses that she would like to be a librarian some day, or get some other similarly quiet job. Keiichi comments that he couldn't imagine Mion having a quiet job, and Shion says that they might be twins, but their circumstances are quite different. Mion is the main heir to the Sonozaki family after all, so she is living apart from Shion with their grandmother, who is training her to be the head of the family one day. Keiichi notices that it makes it sound like the Sonozaki family is some sort of nobility, and Shion explains that around these parts they pretty much are. Their family is one of the oldest and most storied in Hinamizawa and the surrounding area. Her grandmother is the current head of the family and she sort of runs it like a corporation, with the Sonozakis controlling the majority of the businesses in the area and are also being ready and able to exert a lot of political influence if need be.
Just then, Ooishi shows up and reveals that he has been listing a bit in on their conversation, and confirm that the Sonozakis are indeed quite famous. Keiichi notices that Shion doesn't quite seem to share Mion's intense dislike towards Ooishi. Ooishi slyly comments that Keiichi indeed seems to be pretty lucky, what with going on dates with both of the Sonozaki twins. Keiichi frantically denies that he is doing something like that, and looks to Shion for support, only to notice that she merely seems very amused by the situation and doesn't feel like intervening. Shion then excuses herself by saying that she is running late for her job and moves to leave. Keiichi notices that she didn't get around to tell him the thing she wanted to talk about, and thinks it might have something to do with the fact that Ooishi is listening. Shion promises to call him tonight, after she is off work.
Keiichi is now alone with Ooishi. Keiichi notices that Shion sure left in a hurry and ponders if she really just used him as bait to get Ooishi off her back. The cop buys a coffee for himself and ice tea for him, and plops down in the seat across from him. Keiichi has a hard time phrasing Ooishi's strangely casual behavior, so much so that he doesn't at first realize that Ooishi is overtly trying to pump him for information. He starts by asking him what he knows about the Sonozaki family. Keiichi replies that aside from what Shion just told him, nothing really. Ooishi says that she sugar-coated it quite a bit: it's true that the Sonozaki are an influential family, but he thinks they are much better described as an region-wide mafia, as they in thick with the Yakuza. And Mion is about to inherit all of their business and political influence. He also tells him, that Mion, despite her young age has already accrued quite a rap sheet with the local police, and wonders aloud what she would use the Sonozaki family's power for once it is handed to her. Keiichi is more than a bit peeved about the cop making these insinuations about one of his friends, but Ooishi claims that he just doing his job and he wants to clear some suspicious about Mion's involvement in certain incidents.
Keiichi realizes that Ooishi never said that he was suspecting Mion of anything specific, and demands that he tells him what is going on. Ooishi asks him if saw Tomitake and Takano at the Watanagashi last night. That Mion asked him the same question earlier today isn't lost on Keiichi. He hesitantly tries to give the cop the same vague, non-committal answer he gave her. All the while, Keiichi suspects that that Ooishi can probably sees right through him, as he is admittedly doing a bad job of hiding his guilt. Ooishi then leans in close and asks if he happened to see Shion then. Again, Keiichi gives the same non-committal answer he gave Mion, even as he realizes that his demeanor only makes him look guilty and that Ooishi seems to know more than what he immediately gives away. He wonders how so many people could already know about the break-in he participated in. Keiichi is then literally saved by the bell, as the library closing time comes around, and Ooishi's colleague, Kumagi, show up to tells him they'd better get out of here. Ooishi begins to leave with Kumagi, but not before making sure to tell Keiichi that they will talk again. He also tells him that there actually is one more thing... Ooishi personally saw him with Shion, Tomitake, and Takano at the Watanagashi, so he had better rethink his answers next time they talk.
Returning home as evening falls, Keiichi nervously ponders how he seems to be in big trouble for what was really just a bit of mischief. As he is about to go to bed, he gets the promised call from Shion. He says that he is still annoyed with her for leaving him to face Ooishi alone. Shion replies with the half-excuse, half-joke that she clearly gave him the cue to leave with her, and Keiichi, clearly in spite of himself, finds his anger disarmed by her demeanor, so he instead says there was something she wanted to tell him back then. Shion's voice turns low and serious, as asks him if he saw Tomitake and Takano after the four of them went their separate ways at the Watanagashi. Keiichi, now quite annoyed at getting asked this question again, says he didn't. Shion thanks him for being honest with her, and she informs him that Tomitake and Takano are dead. Takano's burned body was found by the police and Tomitake died from what appears to be an unusually violent suicide, namely from tearing out his own throat.
Keiichi, quite shocked by the news, asks if Takano's death was also a suicide. Shion replies that its unclear; apparently her body found in an oil drum that had been set alight and she was identified from dental records. Shion is quite convinced that it is Oyashiro-sama's curse at play. She speculates that with the "tradition" being one corpse and one missing person, with two corpses being found, they are probably targeted as the next ones to go missing. Keiichi trying to make sense of it all asks if these unusually violent deaths won't attract plenty of outside attention from the national press. Shion replies that she doesn't think it is likely. She knows that the Sonozaki family has already used their influence to pressure the local authorities into keeping a tight lid on the case. The police might be investigating the deaths, but it has been imposed upon them to keep it as a confidential investigation. Shion claims that it has always been like this; in Hinamizawa, you can essentially get away with murder once a year, as people will simply chalk it up to being Oyashiro-sama's curse. Keiichi finally breaks under the stress and fear, and angrily accuses Shion at length of dragging him into this whole thing, as it was her who suggested they go see what Tomitake and Takano were up to. He eventually regains his composure, only to hear Shion hang up on him. He realizes that Shion was probably scared as him, and he acted rashly, and is beset by regret.
As Keiichi ponders how he is going to apologize to Shion — he doesn't know her phone number and he can't really talk to Mion about any of this — another call comes in from a young girl who identifies herself as Kimiyoshi, asking to talk to the head of the household. Keiichi asks if she wants to talk to his dad, but Kimiyoshi that she can also ask him. She says that it might be a strange question, but she wants to know if her "old man" is visiting them right now. Keiichi replies that there aren't any visitors at his house right now. Kimiyoshi quickly apologizes for bothering him and hangs up. Keiichi, confused what the call from Kimiyoshi was about, resolves that he should wait for Shion to call back, so they can talk about this calmly and rationally. But even as he waits a while by the phone, another call doesn't come in.
Keiichi goes through another sleepless night, but still shows up for school, despite looking haggard from his lack of sleep. A concerned Rena comments that he is not looking very well today. Mion then shows up, also looking quite sleep-deprived. Rena asks her if it is cause of the missing mayor. It turns out that the local mayor, Kimiyoshi, have gone missing the previous day, and the Sonozaki family are heading the community effort to find him, which of course means that Mion is involved with the search. Rena also privately informs Keiichi that Mion and the mayor were pretty close when she was a child, so his disappearance weighs extra heavily on her. During the morning greeting, the teacher even shares a public annoucment about the mayor, telling anyone who might have seen or know something about his disappearence to report to the nearest adult. Keiichi meanwhile, overhears several rumors from the other students during the day, namely that it might be the curse which has claimed the mayor.
Later that day, Keiichi is on class duty, and is tasked with watering the vegetable garden near the school's supply shed. There he suddenly encounters Rika, who looks very grim and serious, like she has been crying, and with her clothes being unusually dirty. Concerned, he asks her if she has been hurt. Rika, instead, hugs him tightly and, speaking in an uncharacteristically glum voice, asks him if he did something "bad" on the Watanagashi. Keiichi, despite feeling even more guilty and even a bit sad this time, tries giving a non-comittial answer again. Rika lets go of him and expression goes back to her normal smile as she apologizes for asking him a strange question, and begins to walks off. Keiichi, however, feels the guilt getting the better of him and stops her, but still cannot quite bring himself to confess. Seeing his hesitation, Rika instead broaches the subject for him; she asks if he has seen the storehouse at the shrine, telling him that she knows about this cat that snuck inside it and was scared by what it found there. Catching her drift, Keiichi asks about what, "hypothetically", that "cat" of hers should do now, because there is this "dog" who is bothering the "cat" and trying to make it confess that it snuck inside. Rika brightly tells him what the "cat" did is not that bad and it should not be afraid, because she will protect it. He asks her if she can really do that, and she replies that she has to do something, or else the "dogs" will suffer too.
Seeing her resolve, Keiichi begins to confess that he and Shion might indeed have done something bad, and says that he is sorry about it but he cannot help but be afraid, with what happened... "To Tomitake and Takano?" says Rika, finishing his sentence for him. Rika says that he really ought to forget about those two and try not to constantly think about them, because it will only make his problems worse. Keiichi asks her that means she knows that they are dead. Rika just calmly assures him that their deaths had nothing to do with what he did or didn't do. Keiichi tries asking her about where Shion stands in all of this. Rika says that Shion did something very bad, and Mion is mad with her. She adds that she thinks that it is for the best neither her or Keiichi get in Mion's way for the time being. Rika finally adds if the "misunderstanding dog" should come along and tries to bite the "cat", that he doesn't hesitate to tell her. Keiich asks who this "misunderstanding dog" would be, and Rika replies that it was the same "dog" who bit the mayor. She cryptically says it doesn't know why it did that. It should have gone for the "tricky cat" first. Keiichi realizes that he doesn't know to feel about this whole, is Rika acting as his friend who is trying to protect him or is she just trying to make him confess. Rika notices his expression, and apologizes; she thought she would make the "cat" feel better, but it has only gotten more scare.
At home, Keiichi recieves another phone from Shion. He apologizes for yelling at her the other night and says that it appears that they see to be in this thing together. Shion accepts his apology and agrees, telling him they should share what information they have, so they might get to the bottom of all this. Shion starts out by saying that she thinks someone is stalking her, and advices him to watch out too. She also says that Mion has been acting strangely lately, having asked her some of the same questions she asked Keiichi. Keiichi explains that Ooishi was leaning on him, because he saw the two of them with Tomitake and Takano at the Watanagashi; Shion says it makes sense, as it would mean that they were the last to see them alive. Keiichi asks if they should just tell the police what they know. Shion explains that the way Ooishi sees it, the Sonozaki family are to blame for orchestrating the deaths for the past few years and believes that everyone in Hinamizawa are helping them covering it up. She confesses that he is not really wrong to think this. The Sonozaki family holds considerable power over the local police, which means that she and Keiichi cannot trust them.
Rika and Satoko go missing and Keiichi, Rena and Mion go investigate. Mion with glowing eyes starts muttering that Satoko's family is cursed as each of them have become victims every year.
Ooishi tells Keiichi that Kimiyoshi was last seen outside the village when Shion claimed to have talked to him, and Shion herself is also already missing. Next call, Keiichi and "Shion" vent how unreasonable the village is being, before Keiichi asks to cut the crap and is met with hysterical laughter.
Rena and Keiichi go to Mion's residence to interrogate her, who admits to everything, it being the "Sonozaki's responsibility". Mion wants to turn herself in, but after showing only Keiichi where Shion is kept captive, and Keiichi gets captured himself. Before Keiichi is tortured, Rena with the police rescue him and Shion while Mion flees, asking to never talk to her as she can't control herself.
The Sonozaki family arrange for Keiichi's family to leave the village. Keiichi sees Mion outside, and as a final apology gives her the doll she wanted despite all warnings. She promptly stabs him and runs off laughing. In the hospital Ooishi tells Keiichi that Shion has died near her apartment, Mion in own dungeon have broken her neck while escaping, the burned body doesn't match Takano, and Rika had a syringe on her person. Alone, injured Keiichi sees Mion's zombie and passes away.
Tropes:
- Absence of Evidence: After Rika and Satoko go missing, the remaining club members visit their house to look for clues. Rena notices that their bottle of soy sauce was missing, and with some other circumstantial evidence, deduces the possibility that Rika could have visited the Sonozaki estate to borrow soy sauce and was abducted there, with Satoko taken with her.
- Alternate Timeline: While the chapter initially appears to be starting off as some sort of flashback, it soon becomes very apparent that some events from the previous chapter now play out differently, and some can't happen chronologically. This should tell the players to expect all other scenarios in the series to diverge from each other.
- Arc Villain: It's assumed by Keiichi that Mion have killed Tomitake and Takano for breaking into the warehouse. At least she explicitly kidnaps Keiichi and Shion.
- Ax-Crazy: Mion struggles between being the heir to the head of the village and needing to punish Keiichi for trespassing, and being deeply in love with him. In either state, she is too dangerous.
- Dragged into Drag: Mion suggests being forced to wear a French Maid Outfit as the penalty for losing the word association game, and she follows through with gusto when Keiichi comes in last. Reading between the lines, it is obvious that it is at least partially about her still feeling slighted about Keiichi's previous comment that he doesn't consider her very feminine.
- Gainax Ending: After it looks like Keiichi has managed to survive this time, Mion appears to be Back from the Dead and in his hospital room.
- Foreshadowing:
- When seeing Rika dressed in her Miko outfit, both Rena and Keiichi has a major "kyute!" moment. Rika is creeped out by this and dryly comments that she feels she gonna end up being locked inside a basement. Three guesses as to what happens to Rika later on in this story, and the first two don't count.
- Of course, there is a lot towards the Twin Switch Shion has pulled on Mion, as revealed in Meakashi-hen:
- Mion doesn't like speaking about Oyashiro-sama's curse and treats like an ugly rumor of sorts. Shion believes it to be true, if only in a mostly metaphorical sense, and has no problem openly talking about it. Later in the story, "Mion" has no problems speaking about the curse and even believes its true.
- Mion has a general dislike for the police and an intense personal dislike for Ooishi in particular. Later in the story, "Mion" agrees with Keiichi's suggestion that they should try to get the police on their side by telling Ooishi what he knows.
- Mion likes to act like a cultural ambassador for Hinamizawa and clearly takes great pride in the local community and their sense of solidarity. Later in the story, "Mion" criticises the village's respect for ancient traditions and disparages the local community for enabling and even aiding the Sonozaki family's more shady activities.
- Mion and Rena are best friends, and Mion would therefore defintely know that Rena is much sharper than her somewhat airheaded demeanor tends to give away. "Mion", meanwhile, is caught completely off-guard by how Rena managed to figure out her trap for Rika.
- When "Shion" desperately begs "Mion" to spare Keiichi's life, "Mion" mocks her for being able to beg in a "cute" voice, telling her that it suits her much better than the "unnatural bravado" she kept putting on. Which one of the sisters though the other one was acting "unnatural" again?
- In-Universe Factoid Failure: During the word association game, Keiichi has the word "Fish". He picks "Sushi", while Mion and Rena picks "Whale" and "Dolphin" respectively. Keiichi immediately complains that their answers makes no sense, since whales and dolphins aren't fish, but sea mammals.
- Irony: After Shion brings Keiichi a lunch box as a compensation for his own lunch getting ruined, Keiichi, not really convinced that Shion isn't simply Mion in a disguise, ruminates on if she has tampered with the food in some way, since it would be right up Mion's alley to put hot sauce or a maybe even a needle into it to prank him. Keiich immediately catches himself and wonders where that last thought about the needle came from, since Mion definitely wouldn't anything that messed up. This was of course, a plot point in the previous episode.
- Raging Stiffie: When Keiichi is Dragged into Drag, Mion decides pushes him a little bit extra by getting physically close to him and whispering seductively in his ear. He quickly realizes what she is doing and that is unfortunately working, as he feels his "manhood" shift a bit, something he realizes to his panic will be very auspicious now that he is wearing a dress.
- Second Episode Introduction: Mion's twin sister Shion joins the cast, but she wasn't even mentioned in the last arc.
- Tomboy Angst: Keiichi gives a doll he won at the game tournament to Rena instead of Mion, citing that it wouldn't suit a tomboy like her. It's what starts the domino effect for this chapter.
- Too Dumb to Live: Keiichi and Rena interrogating Mion while Ooishi is standing by very far away with no communication is already bad. Then Mion invites Keiichi into the Torture Cellar alone after admitting to being a Serial Killer. He was pretty much asking for it for still trusting her. Then, Keiichi manages to escape and Mion explicitly tells him to stay away from her. The following day he notices her outside the house, goes out to ask how she's doing and gets knifed for it.
- Twin Switch: Keiichi figures out that at some point, Mion has already kidnapped Shion and pretended to be her.
- The Unfair Sex: Discussed. Rena manages to convey to Keiichi that he has somehow hurt Mion's feelings, and Keiichi asks her to tell him what he has done, since he is terrible at these kind of things. Rena says that she can't — as it is not her place, and she feels she would seriously betray Mion's trust if she just straight up told him. It is something he must figure out himself if he wants to apologize properly. She also muses that when looking objectively at the thing Mion is upset about, it is maybe kind of unfair to blame Keiichi for what happened. But on the other hand, it is also the kind of thing that would be also unfair to blame a girl for being upset about.
- Yakuza: It wasn't explicitly stated in the previous chapter, but the Sonozaki family are shown to be a very traditional, rich and ruthless, with many subordinates and government connections.
