Wataakashi-hen Part 3 (綿明し編 其の参 Wataakashi-hen Sonosan, Cotton-Revealing Chapter Part 3) is the third and final chapter in Wataakashi-hen, and the eleventh chapter of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Meguri.
Summary[]
Shion kills Rika and disposes of her body in a school septic tank, confident that she's killed everyone she needs to, and that things can go back to normal. Satoko goes home to find that Rika isn't home yet since her shoes aren't there, and begins to get concerned. Satoko wonders if Rika was hiding or was killed by Mion, but doesn't want to say for sure and doesn't want to die carelessly. She calls Mion's house and asks her to search for Rika, aiming to get her away from the Sonozaki main house so she can check the underground torture chamber. Shion promises to call Rena for help, and Satoko then calls Keiichi. She prepares her gun and a soy sauce bottle and heads out.
Satoko heads to the underground torture chamber and peers into the secret tunnel, but it's too dark to tell if Rika was really thrown down there. She considers asking Mion herself but realizes she can't trust someone showing terminal symptoms and risks getting killed. Satoko continues searching the underground chamber and thinks about the tunnel leading out to the mountains, meaning Rika could be hiding anywhere; Satoko decides if she can't find her, she'll have the police file a report and search everywhere in Hinamizawa.
Satoko then hears movement and hides, as she hasn't finished searching. Shion shows Keiichi into the underground safehouse, worrying that "they" have gotten to Satoko and wanting to properly tell Keiichi how she feels. Shion thanks Keiichi for the doll from the tournament and begins to say she loves him, but then recalls memories of Mion and Shion hanging out. Shion keeps thinking about Keiichi and how she wants to protect him until she dies, finally saying she loves Keiichi with a crazed look in her eyes.
Shion is interrupted by alarms coming from the security system, and she sees Satoko running around the torture chamber on the cameras. Satoko tries to leave the torture chamber, determining that Rika isn't in the Sonozaki basement, but is stopped by "Mion" calling out to her. Shion mentions how weird it is that Satoko disappeared after the phone call, and asks if she's also been cursed by Oyashiro-sama. Satoko holds up her bottle and claims she went to get some soy sauce, but then throws it to the ground since she knows it won't convince her. Shion raises her revolver and asks what she's really here for when Satoko draws her own gun and shoot her in the stomach.
Satoko walks up to Shion with her gun raised and demands to know where Rika is. Shion looks into her eyes and determines she's not really Satoko. They start fighting, lading to Shion pinning Satoko to the ground and aiming her revolver. Before she can shoot, she recalls Satoshi calling her on the phone a year ago and telling her to look out for Satoko. Shion falters, and starts crying as asks the girl on the ground to give Satoko back to her so she can fulfill her promise.
Realizing that she injected Shion, Satoko commends her strength and says that Satoshi isn't coming home, and thinks it's much happier now that she's accepted that. Satoko kicks herself away from her. Shion gets angry, believing that she really isn't Satoko but a demon since she's insulted Satoshi. The two raise their guns at each other, but Shion fires first and shoots Satoko in the head, killing her. Shion starts crying some more and recalls many memories of being with Satoko, clawing at her throat and finally killing herself. Shion laments that she failed to keep her promise again.
Satoko wakes up in surprise in the Sea of Fragments, and after seeing Eua, they both laugh. Eua reminds her that she would be unable to loop if she died before Rika, and Satoko realizes how lucky she was. Satoko peers into a Fragment and sees Rika's corpse in the septic tank. Satoko is pleased that all her planning went well until then, but is surprised that Shion's symptoms developed differently than in Rika's journey. Eua says that the more Satoko loops, the more the loops change, and that small variations and effects that cannot be undone are accumulating around her.
Characters[]
- Shion Sonozaki
- Rika Furude
- Satoko Houjou
- Keiichi Maebara
- Mion Sonozaki (memory)
- Satoshi Houjou (memory)
- Eua
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