Irotoutoshi-hen Chapter 3 (第3話 Dai San-wa) is the third chapter of Irotoutoshi-hen.
Summary[]
The club leaves Rika's room and worry if they can get Hinamizawa back to its normal way of life. They wonder if Polaris can go so some other land, but Mion says that the only undeveloped land in Japan is in the mountains or wilderness, so sending Polaris there would be cruel. Mion thinks it would be easier if the two groups could talk to each other, and Rena says she understands how Polaris feels, as opening up about your feelings is difficult and takes courage, and causes you to remember painful things you've locked inside your heart. Rena feels it's the same for everyone, and is fortunate that her divorce wasn't like that; she may have joined Polaris otherwise. Mion still dislikes how the people of Polaris are unwilling to greet people.
Keiichi is asked for his input. He says the phrase "do as the locals do" is just a way to use peer pressure to make people follow the majority, and it doesn't even work when Hinamizawa and Polaris's residents are equal in number. The club is surprised, and Keiichi adds that this is Hinamizawa's version of an immigration conflict, which is happening all over the world. Japan and Hinamizawa are suffering declining birth rates, and the young have all moved away leaving just the villagers who have lived in Hinamizawa their whole lives. If they didn't accept Polaris, Hinamizawa would have become a ghost town. Thanks to Polaris growing crops and paying taxes, the local government hasn't abandoned Hinamizawa and continues to provide infrastructure maintenance. If the population declined, the government would stop maintaining it and investing in it, and so the village would die out. Satoko sees that it's all thanks to Polaris that Hinamizawa is thriving. Mion realizes that Polaris can't go anywhere else to work as subsistence farmers, and feels they owe them more gratitude.
The club considers what they can do to help the groups get along better, but Keiichi says it may be unreasonable to assume they can get along. It may take a long time for Hinamizawa and Polaris to fully merge into a single culture, and says that coexisting with people they can't get along with may be the challenge of the Reiwa Era.
At the Irie Clinic, Irie sees Kisaku's aide for a checkup. The aide gushes about his infant daughter to Irie and shows him a picture. Irie asks what his problems are, and the aide says he's been feeling off lately and has been losing hair. Irie asks about anything that's burdening him emotionally, and the aide complains about Polaris. He goes on about how he doesn't like their reclusiveness and scratches his head as he says this, shocking Irie. The aide worries about his daughter's future with them around, and Irie assures him things will be fine. The aide says he'd die fighting to protect her. Irie prescribes some sleep medication and orders him to stay home from village meetings for the time being. Irie then sees a Polaris patient, who complains about fevers and an itchy neck sometimes. Later, Irie pores over the many patient papers he's taken, who've all complained about itchy necks or hair loss. The shocked Irie fears his hypothesis may be correct.
At school, Keitarou's friends talk about an ad video for Smile Shop that Sakiko made recently. Kururu appears and psyches herself up a bit, and then greets them. Kururu shows interest in what they're doing and Keitarou offers to invite her to the club. She teases Keitarou, but when he sees Inori walking by, Keitarou tries to talk to her instead. Keitarou suddenly remembers his teacher talking about Polaris having trauma from communication and stops, and Kururu intercepts him. As she distracts Keitarou and the club, she sends Inori a look.
Keitarou says he wants to apologize to Inori for startling her yesterday, and Kururu says he shouldn't get involved with Polaris. As Keitarou and Kururu fool around, Kihiro coldly watches them.
After school, Kururu is by herself outside. She thinks abut going home to purify herself and laments that she doesn't have enough stamina to keep playing around, and wonders why Keitarou's so obsessed with Inori. In a flashback, Kururu and other Polaris residents find vandalized laundry threatening that Oyashiro-sama will curse them. They assume Hinamizawans were responsible. Inori faints at the sight, and Kururu prepares for her to get a Hypnos Flute.
Canopus promises that the Ring of Stars will take care of things. They burn the vandalism, and Kururu says that they need to stop taking this one-sided abuse from Hinamizawa. Canopus tells her to calm down and says they have no proof that Hinamizawa was responsible, and that by taking action they give even more reason for the village to attack them. He reminds his daughter to keep an eye on the children and to report if anything happens. As Kururu clenches her fist in anger, some Polaris people report to Canopus about another defamatory video being uploaded, and are told to send a takedown request.
In the present, Kururu thinks about how she wants to be useful to Polaris and to everyone, and needs to protect Inori while keeping watch on Keitarou. Kururu tries to stop herself from thinking she's not good enough, and starts recalling memories of her abusive mother. Kururu calms down by pulling out a Polaris necklace and praying, and asserts that the enemies of Polaris won't be shown mercy.
Kihiro then arrives, having called out Kururu to meet him privately. Kururu teases him and asks why he called her here, at the same time wondering just who Kihiro even is, as he's a normal kid and isn't related to the Three Families. Kihiro coldly tells her to stop getting closer to Keitarou.
Characters[]
- Mion Sonozaki
- Rena Ryuugu
- Keiichi Maebara
- Satoko Houjou
- Shotarou Kimiyoshi (memory)
- Kyousuke Irie
- Kisaku's aide
- Tamaki Sonozaki
- Sakiko Kimiyoshi
- Kihiro Ryuugu
- Keitarou Maebara
- Kururu Isshiki
- Inori Mikazuki
- Canopus (flashback)
Gallery[]
|