Onisarashi-hen After (鬼曝し編 after Demon-Exposing Chapter After) is a Higurashi When They Cry manga chapter that takes place several years after Onisarashi. It was originally released in Onisarashi Premier Book and then in the Utsutsukowashi tankobon volume.
Summary[]
Akasaka is in a phone booth talking with his wife and is scolded for having to take on an urgent job over the weekend. Akasaka’s call is cut off when his phone card ejects.
Akasaka goes to a store and sees no workers around when Akira appears and asks the cashier for change. They both recognize each other from long ago. Akasaka gets a new phone card, and Akira calls somewhere on the phone and tells the other end he’ll be there soon. Akira and Akasaka reconnect, where Akira reveals he’s since graduated university, and they start talking about Hinamizawa and Oyashiro-sama's Curse. Akasaka laments that he was going about the investigation all wrong and feels like he’ll never reach the truth. Akira then says it’s taken five years to find out Natsumi’s whereabouts after everyone was keeping quiet about Hinamizawa. Akasaka is surprised to hear that Natsumi Kimiyoshi is in this town, and Akira corrects him: she is now Natsumi Toudou. Natsumi’s killing of her family is recounted, where it was seen as proof that the residents of Hinamizawa were truly demons; the Kimiyoshis, one of the Three Families, had demon’s blood among them.
A flashback occurs. Akira is invited inside a building by an old lady, a distant member of the Kimiyoshi family from a different branch. The lady guides Akira to a door locked with a heavy chain, and she pulls out a key. She asks Akira not to misunderstand, as they weren’t imprisoning Natsumi but rather heeding her wishes; Natsumi never wanted to leave that room in the first place. The lady then shows disdain for her neighbors gossiping that her family will be killed by her next, and she opens the door while saying Natsumi will shoulder all of Oyashiro-sama’s curse. Akira enters the room to see paper talismans and effigies hanging everywhere, and rushes inside to find Natsumi, much to the lady’s caution. Natsumi profusely apologizes, and Akira hugs her.
Akira tells all of this to Akasaka. He took Natsumi out of that house and married her, taking her name out of the Kimiyoshi register. As Akira began to live with her, he realized that Natsumi blamed herself for killing her family, and she was heavily restrained to protect those around her. The two of them then go to the mental hospital to meet Natsumi, who’s finished her examination. They talk some more, and Akasaka asks Akira what made him go so far. Akira says Natsumi’s realized the truth and has stopped considering suicide for killing her family. Akasaka begins to realize what Akira did: he told Natsumi that he was the one who killed her family. Akasaka is surprised, but Akira says it was a necessary truth for Natsumi to live and is sure that this will let her stop getting hurt. However, even Akira is unsure of why he did that. If it were six years ago, before the incident happened, maybe his answer would be different. Akira truly loved Natsumi and wanted to save her, but at the cost of messing up his own life.
Akira thanks Akasaka for taking the time to meet him, and Natsumi runs up and hugs Akira. Akira quickly spins her around to greet Akasaka, then goes off to retrieve her coat and talk to the doctor. Akasaka and Natsumi go outside to talk for a bit, where Natsumi reveals that Akira is always lying to her. She’s aware that she killed her own family and ruined Akira’s life, but even so she wants to make up for it. If the demon possesses her again, then she will die alone; the demon may actually kill Akira this time if it gets out. Akira returns and takes Natsumi’s hand, and they go off smiling. Akasaka returns to the phone booth and leaves a message for his family, asking his daughter where they should play.
Characters[]
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