Premonition (予感 Yokan) is the second chapter of Onisarashi-hen.
Summary[]
The news continues talking about the Great Hinamizawa Disaster and how the SDF is facing many difficulties in recovering victims. Reports of strange smells are also appearing everywhere, probably a reaction to the incident. Natsumi's grandmother keeps saying it was a curse and that the Kimiyoshi family will be affected as well since they left Hinamizawa. Natsumi heads to school and ruminates on her grandma’s words. Her family is in a slump because of the disaster, but she believes they'll get along just fine together. Natsumi happily joins her friends. Chisato and Tamako hear that Akira confessed to Natsumi and want to know more, asking what her answer is while mentioning that today’s Saturday. Natsumi realizes that her parents were going to meet with their extended family that day, and she forgot her keys to the house.
Ooishi and Akasaka arrive at Natsumi's house
Natsumi heads home, feeling hungry since she skipped breakfast and her parents aren’t coming back until that night. She decides to go to her friends’ house but is stopped when it suddenly begins raining. Two men with umbrellas approach her house.
Natsumi sits on her porch waiting for the rain to let up when one of the men goes up and asks if she lives here, introducing himself as Mamoru Akasaka from Okinomiya Books. Akasaka publishes books related to regional history and interviews elderly people, having heard that a Hinamizawan grandma lived here and wanted to see her. Natsumi says her family is out and she forgot her keys, and Akasaka’s companion Kuraudo Ooishi says they can get lunch nearby as they wait for the rain to stop.
Seated at a restaurant, Ooishi tries to make friendly talk as Natsumi asks what they wanted to talk about. A strange look appears in Akasaka’s eyes, and he asks Natsumi what she knows of Oyashiro-sama and the beliefs of Hinamizawa. Shortly after the Disaster, former residents of the village, especially the elderly, began to act strangely and were committing murders in the name of religious rituals. They were also committing suicide in unexpected ways, either by jumping in front of trains or slicing their own throats open. The police were investigating all of this secretly. Many horrible murders were occurring in such a short time span, and they were all committed by former residents of Hinamizawa or Okinomiya.
Ooishi intimidates Natsumi
Natsumi begins to question if the two are really publishers and looks downwards, and Akasaka asks if things are alright at home. Natsumi is about to confirm it when Ooishi suddenly grabs her and makes her look up at him, and accuses her of lying. Ooishi says there’s a lot of things that don’t match up with the Disaster, including the brutal murder of Rika Furude, said to be Oyashiro-sama’s reincarnation. Akasaka gets concerned as Ooishi asks Natsumi again what she knows when Akira suddenly arrives and slams the table. Ooishi cleans up the spilled drinks and lambasts Akira for interrupting their conversion. Akira says students aren't allowed to enter restaurants with uniforms on, then leaves with Natsumi. Akasaka begins to chide Ooishi, but he says they’ll have more opportunities later.
Natsumi washes her hands in the park and blushes when she sees Akira watching her from a nearby bench. She thanks him for his help and tells him who those men were, with Akira smiling at her safety. Akira offers to walk her home and Natsumi goes to a nearby phone booth, calling her house and hearing her grandma pick up. Natsumi tells Aki about why she wasn’t home while thinking about Akasaka’s statement that elderly Hinamizawans were committing bizarre crimes. Aki confirms that everything is fine at home and apologizes for making her worry about the curse.
Natsumi looks at her house's grotesque decorations
Natsumi walks with Akira and thinks about the confession and the time she met Akira as a kid, having had a crush on him for a long time. Her reminiscence is interrupted by Akira asking if they’re home yet. Natsumi points out which house is hers but is horrified to see her house and yard covered in deranged scribbling and charms, with paper effigies hanging everywhere with her family’s names written on them. Nearby neighbors are watching the scene. Natsumi then notices Akira staring at the bizarre sight and gets worried. She says it's not what he thinks but Akira just says he’ll see her at school and leaves.
Natsumi enters her house, afraid that Akira will see her as a weirdo. She hears the sounds of a puppy barking and follows the sound. Meanwhile, Akira walks home and stops to watch a news report playing on a TV in an electronics store window, learning about the bizarre murders and incidents being carried out by Hinamizawa people; Akira sees that one culprit's house was decorated similarly to Natsumi’s house on the TV.
Natsumi tracks the barking sounds to a bathroom, where her grandma is drowning a puppy inside a bathtub. Aki casually talks with Natsumi about lunch as other cages full of dead puppies are shown inside the bathtub and charms are shown covering the walls. Seeing Natsumi’s confusion, Aki says these are all good-luck charms to protect against Oyashiro-sama’s curse, as the puppies will take the misfortune from them. She directs Natsumi to hand her another puppy cage. Natsumi thinks back again to Akasaka’s earlier conversation where elders were committing bizarre crimes. She reluctantly hands Aki the puppy, who begins drowning it while offering a prayer. Natsumi rushes off to call her mom and tell her what’s happening, and as Haruko warns her that all their older relatives have gone crazy, Aki appears behind Natsumi and tells her not to worry.
The next day at work, Touji tries to deflect comments from his coworkers about the strange decorations on his house and says that Aki’s just old. Natsumi heads to school, having been given a reminder from her mom to not tell anyone she’s from Okinomiya; Natsumi thinks to herself that she doesn’t want to leave town. She meets up with Chisato and Tamako again, and they talk about the weird curse incidents and express relief that nobody from Shishibone City is living there. Chisato sees that Natsumi looks unwell and asks what’s wrong, with Natsumi saying she was just watching a movie late last night. Tamako wants to ask Natsumi something weird and Chisato tells her to shut up. Tamako mentions that Chisato was also bothered about the city Natsumi used to live in, and before she can say the name Natsumi nervously laughs and says it’s a misunderstanding, as her hometown has a similar name and so people mix them up. Tamako apologizes and Chisato expresses more relief that Natsumi isn’t like the other weirdos from Hinamizawa.
Natsumi continues expressing her desire to stay in town, and she approaches Akira and tells him that her senile grandma is responsible for the decorations. She begs him not to tell anyone else and swears that she doesn’t come from Hinamizawa and has nothing to do with curses. Akira smiles with understanding and takes her hand.
Characters[]
- Natsumi Kimiyoshi
- Haruko Kimiyoshi
- Touji Kimiyoshi
- Aki Kimiyoshi
- Chisato Saeki
- Tamako Makimura
- Akira Toudou
- Mamoru Akasaka
- Kuraudo Ooishi
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