Satokowashi-hen Part 6

Satokowashi-hen Part 6 (郷壊し編其の六, Village-Destroying Chapter Part 6) is the twenty-third episode of Higurashi: When They Cry - GOU and the sixth episode of Satokowashi.

Synopsis[]

Japanese[]

途方もない時間をかけて、雛見沢村を取り巻くすべての因子を理解した沙都子。しかし、沙都子の知らないところで、カケラには小さな歪みが生まれ始めていた…。

English (Translated)[]

Over a tremendous amount of time, Satoko has come to understand all the factors surrounding Hinamizawa Village. However, unbeknownst to Satoko, a small distortion has begun to form in the Fragments...

Preview Gallery[]

Plot Summary[]

Prologue[]

June 12th, 1983. At the Okinomiya toy store Da Vinci, Satoko, the club, and many other kids are gathered as Mion explains that they'll be having a games tournament and drawing names to split into groups. Keiichi notices Satoko's blank expression and asks if she's bored, as she's looked like that all morning. Satoko says they've done this same thing in club before and shrugs. Keiichi is excited since this is his first time doing this, and that they never know which groups they'll be paired with. Satoko says she does know however, confusing Keiichi; she says all five of the club members will be split apart, with Satoko playing Concentration while Keiichi plays the Game of Life. Keiichi says her prophecy makes him feel he's talking to Rika. Satoko agrees, though she can use her prophetic ability for far more entertaining things. Keiichi still looks confused.

The games begin, with Keiichi noticing as Satoko makes a mismatched card pair, an ace of spades and a jack of spades. One of the boys at the table begins to call her out when Satoko suddenly snaps her fingers. The game resets, and Satoko giggles and announces that she'll uncover the ace of hearts, proceeding to do so. The other boys are shocked at her foresight, with Rika taking notice at the commotion. Satoko pities the boys since they won't get the chance to play.

Satoko makes another mismatched pair and snaps her fingers. She repeatedly resets the game, making perfect matches until she comes out with a complete victory. The other boys are shocked at Satoko's supposed psychic powers. Satoko says it was actually a clever trap, one that they entered the second the game started. The club members express their awe, with Rika excitedly asking Satoko to show her that trick. Satoko says this is well within Rika's abilities and laughs.

First Half[]

In the Sea of Fragments, Satoko stands before the horned woman once more, who says she is much more resourceful than Rika thus far. Satoko says she has a much different approach to problems than Rika, comparing it to dice: Rika relies on charm and luck to hope the dice will roll in her favor while Satoko ensures that the winning result is rolled with certainty. Satoko has infinite time to prepare, so she will not lose to Rika. The horned woman giggles.

Satoko changes the subject and asks if the horned woman has a name, finding it difficult to speak with her otherwise. The woman says she is not one to be named, nor does she have a name; she merely appeared on this Fragment upon Satoko's touch. The woman allows Satoko to decide a name for her, with Satoko surprised at her brashness. She struggles to think of a name and audibly grunts, saying "eh, ooh, uh". The woman laughs and says that will do, confusing Satoko. The woman says that Satoko never changes and declares that from now on, she will be referred to as "Eua". Satoko says that's not a name, but Eua laughs even more.

Satoko tells Eua that she's encountered something strange during her Fragment journey, being that non-looping humans can remember events from other Fragments. A scene from Tsumihoroboshi is replayed, where Keiichi cries after remembering the events of Onikakushi and how he killed Rena and Mion. Satoko doesn't understand what's happening and Mion tells Keiichi to calm down since she's alive and well right now. Rika walks up and sees that Keiichi's remembered other worlds, with Keiichi admitting that he killed Rena and Mion because he became paranoid.

Satoko says that not only Keiichi, but Rena, Shion, and others have been affected by events in other Fragments. Eua says her abilities are too powerful for this world to bear and explains that when loopers use these powers, their influence causes small changes to appear within Fragments, which Rika always referred to as "miracles." Satoko says it's no coincidence that these strange events happen on every Fragment then. Eua says the accumulation of memories is irreversible, and that once someone's memory has been changed because of a looper's influence, no amount of loops can erase it. Furthermore, the more loops a looper lives through, the stronger that influence becomes.

Satoko realizes that those closest to the looper are the most affected. Eua affirms her since her close bond with Rika is what brought her to the Sea of Fragments in the first place. Satoko ponders if a looper's direct relatives would also be affected by these changes, and Eua says it would, without a doubt. Satoko finds the idea laughable.

Back in Hinamizawa, a police officer takes a statement from a woman, who says that "he" wasn't a very neighborly person, and that everyone complained about the smell of garbage from his apartment unit, which has gotten worse the past few days because of the heat wave. The police officer heads inside the apartment, where another officer is crouched down looking at the occupant's corpse. The first officer plugs his nose at the smell, lamenting that this guy died alone with nobody to find him. The other officer says the victim was tearing up the tatami, apparently suffering from a painful seizure and unable to control himself. The corpse is shown to belong to Teppei.

Teppei jolts awake, wondering what that dream was all about. Another man calls out to him before kicking him in the face. He and several other men are accusing Teppei of trying to get away with something, with Teppei confused and getting beaten up some more. Teppei calls for help as the other men lay into him, saying they need to "finish the job."

Teppei wakes up again, quickly locking his apartment door and taking his prescription pills. He remembers the dream of him dead and wonders just what he's doing.

Second Half[]

Teppei goes to a pachinko parlor, blankly staring at the machine as balls fill the tray. He looks next to him and sees a daughter smiling at her father getting a big reward from their own machine. The father notices Teppei looking at them and asks if his daughters bothering him, with Teppei saying no. He mutters to himself that he can't really say it's bothering him.

Teppei begins to cash in his earnings and sees the father and daughter again, the daughter happily holding several prizes as her father pats her head. The two leave, and Teppei is called next in line. He still has some pachinko balls left over and decides to spend them on some donuts. Teppei goes to rest at a park, where many kids are playing and having fun, He sighs.

Teppei drives to Hinamizawa on his moped. He stops for a bit and listens to the higurashi cry, saying that the noise used to anger him in the past, but now they don't sound so bad. He smiles and begins walking with his moped. Teppei ends up at the Houjou residence. He looks at the dilapidated state of it before trying to open the front door, which is stuck. He figures that nobody's been living in the house now that Satoshi was gone. He begins to get on his moped again before realizing that there's nothing waiting for him at his apartment. Teppei walks through the village instead.

As Teppei walks, some old ladies whisper about him behind his back, Teppei finally runs into Satoko, who's on the way home from the store and drops her groceries in shock. Satoko puts on a smile and says it's been so long, stepping back as Teppei walks towards her, a strange look on his face. He picks up Satoko's grocery bag. Satoko is still frightened, and Teppei says he earned some donuts as a prize from the pachinko parlor and puts them in the bag. He says his doctor told him to cut down on the sweets as he hands the bag back to Satoko, asking if she likes sweets. Satoko looks between Teppei and the bag, taking it back still scared.

Teppei says Satoko must have outgrown the sweets and says she can give them to her friends at school or throw them away if she wants. Teppei asks if he could come by to give her more snacks that he wins at pachinko, and Satoko nervously agrees. At night at the shack, Satoko stares outside the window, holding Teppei's box of donuts.

The next day, Satoko rides her bike into Okinomiya when a wall of delinquents appears to block the road. Satoko rings her bell to get their attention and asks them to get out of the way. The delinquents insult Satoko and walk towards her menacingly when Teppei suddenly steps in and punches one of them. Teppei acts defensive of Satoko as she and other villagers watch, with the delinquents soon knocking him down and kicking him. Satoko is confused by the sight, and police officers appear to break up the fight. Satoko looks down at Teppei's bruised form.

At the police station, the delinquents give their side of the story and are sent off by an officer. Meanwhile, Teppei confesses to Kumagai that he was just teaching some punks a lesson. Ooishi walks in and welcomes Teppei, wondering what's going on after he's stayed out of trouble for a while. Teppei looks away and Ooishi asks Kumagai to switch with him.

Ooishi says this is very out of character for Teppei; they spoke to several witnesses and Satoko, who all confirmed that he jumped in to save Satoko from that gang. Teppei says its nonsense and that he isn't the kind of guy who would do that sort of thing. Ooishi agrees, as a criminal like Teppei would never beat up delinquents to save his precious Satoko if he weren't getting anything in return. Teppei says he was just in a foul mood, and Ooishi laughs and says he'd better thank Satoko when he gets out. The detective puts his face close to Teppei's and says that if Satoko never told the officer at the scene that he was protecting her, he'd be in a lot more trouble.

Teppei leaves the police station, where Satoko is waiting with her bike. They walk on the street together, with Satoko wondering why Teppei did that since the uncle she knows never would've tried that. Teppei is also wondering why, explaining that he's been having lots of bad dreams recently where he lives a horrible life. He's been mistreating his body and realized that if he didn't do something, he'd wind up dying alone.

Teppei sees that Satoko stopped walking, who figured that Teppei just wanted someone to take care of him for free. Teppei nervously agrees. Satoko says it's a lot to ask, and Teppei admits that he has no right for a family to take care of him after everything he's done. Teppei wants to make up for the pain he's caused and live without bothering anyone else. If Satoko ever said she wanted to try again with him, Teppei wouldn't mind visiting at times and going out to dinner with her. Satoko says that's also a lot to ask, and Teppei promises he'll stop hanging out with his asshole friends and never hit Satoko again.

Teppei holds his hand out; he doesn't want forgiveness, but he wants to at least be on speaking terms with Satoko. Satoko looks at his hand and is about to take it when she remembers a previous time of Teppei insulting and hitting her. Satoko drops her bike and holds her head in anguish. Saddened, Teppei apologizes, realizing that a handshake wasn't appropriate after everything he did. He tells Satoko to take care and leaves, hoping they can have another nice chat if they meet each other again. Satoko watches him go and then looks down at her own hand, trembling.

Soundtrack[]


Start Time	End Time	Track	OST	Description
2:45	4:15	I believe what you said	I believe what you said	Opening
6:16	8:12	N/A	N/A	Tsumihoroboshi flashback
14:15	15:18	N/A	N/A	Teppei acts nice to Satoko
19:49	21:20	N/A	N/A	Teppei wants to make amends with Satoko
22:15	23:44	Fukisokusei Entropy	Fukisokusei Entropy	Ending

External Links[]

Official anime website with preview images and synopsis

Trivia[]

A wanya plush appears as one of the pachinko prizes held by the girl.