Hoshiwatashi-hen Chapter 6

Hoshiwatashi-hen Chapter 6 (第6話, Dai Roku-wa) is the sixth chapter of Hoshiwatashi-hen.

Summary[]

The Watanagashi Festival begins. At Shishibone University Hospital, Rika thinks about last year's curse and wonders what will happen this year. She already knows there is no curse but is sure ill-intentioned people are going to use it to their advantage. This time she's warned Keiichi, Mion, and Kisaku, but she still doesn't have all the pieces to avert the tragedy and thinks Polaris contains one of them. Rika knows Keitarou must be at the Polaris festival by now; she still can't trust them fully, but understanding them may be necessary to avert the tragedy.

At the Polaris festival, Kururu calls out to Keitarou, who's lost in thought about what Marutake told him. Kururu says she and Inori were called to do something, and that Keitarou's about to see something really precious. As Kururu and Inori leave, Keitarou wonders what they're about to do when Kururu's father suddenly appears behind him and introduces himself. Keitarou is intimidated by his presence. Kururu's father mentions Keiichi's influence in Hinamizawa and wonders aloud why his son would come to a Polaris festival.

Their conversation is interrupted by applause. Inori, Kururu, and other girls are doing a folk dance. Keitarou watches and is mesmerized. After the dance, Keitarou praises Kururu and Inori's dancing and outfits. Inori's mom appears, and when she sees Keitarou, her face falls. Inori says he's a guest of Polaris today, but her mom still remains silent and leaves. The Holy Mother then appears and tells Keitarou not to think badly of her. Many members of Polaris are here because they're wounded and lost to despair. The Holy Mother praises another girl's dancing and says everyone clearly practiced hard for it, and says these things take time. She thanks Keitarou for being friendly to all of her children and for trying to understand them. Kururu's father and Keitarou exchange glances, and Keitarou introduces himself as Kururu and Inori's friend. Kururu's father asks Kururu if it's true, and though she's surprised, she and Inori affirm it. Kururu's father tells Keitarou to enjoy himself and then leaves.

The music starts up again, and Kururu takes Keitarou's hand and tells him to join in on the dancing. Inori takes his other hand and smiles. As the kids dance, Marutake happily takes some pictures. Meanwhile, at the Watanagashi, Tamaki, Kihiro, and Sakiko finish playing some stall games, with Tamaki accepting some prizes that Kihiro won. Nearby, Rena, Shion, and Satoshi call out to them and notice that Keitarou's not with them. Tamaki is about to explain when someone suddenly says they heard Keitarou went to the Polaris festival. Kihiro turns and tries to look at who said that, but sees nobody around. Talk of Keitarou being with Polaris starts spreading among the villagers, and they start to believe he's betrayed Hinamizawa.

Back at the Polaris festival, Keitarou, Inori, and Kururu sit together and eat. Keitarou praises Inori's cooking and suggests cooking something for her in return, but remembers that Polaris members can't receive gifts. Kururu corrects him and says they can't take gifts from outsiders. Keitarou still wants to pay them back somehow. Inori thanks him for coming, as she never imagined someone from Hinamizawa could understand them. Inori explains that she and her mom ran away from her dad, who was a terrifying man. They could never get away, but after learning the Holy Mother's teachings, that it was okay to cut ties with your family and escape toxic bonds, they were able to escape. However, once they entered the outside world, Inori and her mom realized they were afraid of other people as well.

A flashback occurs to when Inori and her mom were on a bus at Hinamizawa. An old man talks to them and asks if they're tourists, but Inori and her mom say nothing. The old man thinks they're going to where Polaris is and says they can't be trusted. He wonders if Inori's mom was abused by her husband and asks why she didn't just talk it out with him.

Inori knows there are good people in the world, but she's still scared and isn't good at interacting with other people. Keitarou nods in agreement. Inori felt comforted by Polaris's rule that she didn't need to interact with outsiders but knew outsiders wouldn't understand it, and tries to thank Keitarou for trying but starts coughing. Kururu gives her some tea as Inori says she hasn't talked this much in a long time. Kururu tells her story as well: her mother was extremely abusive, so she and her father ran away. Keitarou can't imagine a guy as intimidating as Kururu's father being an abuse victim, and Kururu says her mother was just that horrible. Kururu then teases Keitarou for wondering why she's so cute and energetic despite being abused, and Keitarou insists he wasn't thinking that at all.

Keitarou thinks to himself that it was true, thought; every time he thought about Polaris's members being abuse victims, he thought about Inori and Kururu both. Kururu says she and her dad became the people they are now after joining Polaris, and Inori says Hinamizawa is a beautiful village and wants to live a quiet life here forever.

Keitarou now understands why Polaris prohibits communication: they don't want to force it on people who've been driven to despair. Society makes a big deal out of communication, with breaking it off still considered a bad thing. People pained by communication live in a painful world, but deep down they aren't rejecting communication since they can still enjoy it, even if it's only on a festival day. Keitarou knows the people of Polaris have been hurt, but they still people, and he believes they really can understand each other.

At the Watanagashi, Tamaki poses for a cotton drifting photo as Kihiro sets the scene and Sakiko tries to get a good shot. A crowd of villagers suddenly appears around the kids as they ask if Keitarou really sided with Polaris.

Hoshiwatashi-hen Chapter 6

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