Higurashi Oni Chapter 19 (第19話 Dai Jyuukyuu Wa) is the nineteenth chapter of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Oni.
Summary[]
In the present day in 1984, Kiichirou arrives at the Sonozaki residence to give canned food to Oryou. Mion teases Shion for still being afraid of canned food, and Shion says it's because she kept being told scary stories. Oryou assures her that the claims of canned food having human flesh are all lies spread by people with grudges against the Sonozakis, and that Souhei's canned food saved the village long ago. She reminisces on how Kiichirou bringing food over reminded her of back then.
In 1944, Kiichirou meets with Okai to thank her for helping in the memorial service for Heishichirou, who passed away. Kiichirou says that his grandfather left him and his father a message to help out the Sonozakis before he passed. Okai hopes that Souhei will come back soon since it'll snow, but Kiichirou says that he won't come home until spring since work was busy. Okai is still thankful that Souhei's sending food home to help the village.
Kiichiror brings up Oryou's condition. Okai says she got better when she heard Souhei was coming home and thinks it would've been better to say he died in battle, but Kiichirou admonishes her for this and assures her the next message that comes in will be Souhei saying he's coming home for real.
Kiichirou takes some canned food from Okai and thanks her. He mentions his father having a hard time moving supplies around as the new Kimiyoshi family head and wonders if Okai is scheming something, since the Sonozakis could become the head of the Three Families thanks to Souhei sending food. Kiichirou says he's fine with the idea but he feels that something is worrying Okai. Okai says it only matters that the Sonozakis have the power to protect the village. The Sonozakis should do the dirty work while the Kimiyoshis handle the politics, so Okai wants Kiichirou to become mayor soon. He says not to do anything that would incur Oyashiro-sama's wrath, and Okai suddenly gets angry at him for suggesting she'd be cursed when she sacrificed everything. Kiichirou calms her down and says he's just worried, as he heard from his grandfather in his last moments about Seiji and the ritual storehouse being invaded over and over again. They're sure Oyashiro-sama is merciful since Seiji hasn't become a demon yet.
Okai asks what happened to Ritsuka, as she hasn't been seen lately. Kiichirou says the head priest is keeping her inside since she hasn't found a husband. Okai plans to visit and asks Kiichirou to deliver some canned food to her. As Kiichirou leaves, Okai sees that the head priest fell for her nonsense. At the shrine, Kiichirou meets Ritsuka, who says her father believed a baseless rumor that she was leaving the house to have secret meetings with a gentleman, and wants Okai to come talk to him about it soon. Kiichirou tells Ritsuka that Oryou and Okai will have to be patient a little while longer, and shares his concern that she's hiding something since she got mad for talking about the curse.
Kiichirou leaves and is met by Souhei, who had secretly returned to the village. He tells Kiichirou about what happened to Takeshi, claiming that he had died in battle, and that he was delivering his belongings to his house but there was nobody there. Kiichirou says that after Takeshi's death, the rest of his family died from malnutrition. Souhei cries and laments that he'd never come back sooner. Kiichirou asks why he doesn't see the Sonozakis, and is told that a former senior officer escaped from the sanatorium and is following Souhei since he stole supplies. Souhei is planning with some comrades to distribute supplies in the Kansai region, and doesn't want to get arrested until they're finished. Kiichirou is exasperated to hear they've been eating stolen army supplies, but Souhei says he talked about it with his superiors and so it shouldn't cause any trouble for the Sonozakis.
Souhei begins to leave but Kiichirou tells him about Oryou getting depressed, and that the doctors can't cure her. Only Okai and Ritsuka with Oyashiro-sama's blessing can see her, which makes Souhei worry. He apologizes since he still needs to leave, and entrusts Kiichirou with looking after the Sonozakis until he comes back and doing something about his former senior officer. Souhei also says the rumor about human meat in the canned food is speculation, and leaves.
Kiichirou returns to the Sonozaki residence to tell Okai about Souhei. Kiichirou thinks that Oryou's depression made Souhei realize something and that Takeshi may not have actually died in battle, and figures something happened in Manchuria. Okai tells Kiichirou to go to Okinomiya and tell Souhei's people to come to the residence; they're sure to come since it's important. Meanwhile, Seiji's cell in the underground ritual storehouse has been unlocked and left empty.
Characters[]
- Shion Sonozaki
- Mion Sonozaki
- Oryou Sonozaki
- Miyo Takano (Fragment)
- Kiichirou Kimiyoshi
- Okai Sonozaki
- Heishichirou Kimiyoshi
- Ritsuka Furude
- Souhei Origuchi
- Chief
- Takeshi Nakamoto (memory)
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