Chapter 0 (第0話 Dai Zero-wa) is the prologue chapter of Yoigoshi-hen.
Summary[]
When it came to places of occult interest being determined by the number of victims who died there, Hinamizawa was surely one of them. At the Weekly Seven editorial department, Arakawa's editor praises him for an article about Hinamizawa he wrote for an occult magazine. The editor remembers it was a big deal when he was a student 20 years ago, and Arakawa sees he's talking about Hinamizawa Syndrome: a phenomenon where, after the Great Hinamizawa Disaster killed the villagers with poisonous swamp gas, relatives started to die or go insane, all claiming that the event wasn't a natural disaster but Oyashiro-sama's curse. Arakawa says that another theory's been going around the Internet, and it seems credible, so he plans to visit Hinamizawa. The editor is shocked since Arakawa himself said not to go in his article, but Arakawa wants to go anyway since he's a journalist. He tells the editor to assume that if he doesn't return, that he's been demoned away. Arakawa thinks Hinamizawa is more than just a ghost village since the 20-year-lockdown after the disaster is ridiculous.
Meanwhile, a woman tries to convince her resting boyfriend to come with her to Hinamizawa. He gets up and asks if she'll do the driving, and she happily agrees.
A boy sits on a bench and looks at an article about Hinamizawa, saying that it's only path left for him. He gets a notification on his cell phone and looks at it, then buries his head and tries to assure himself it will be okay. He looks at the sky as it's raining and says it will all be over soon. A woman in a kimono walks through the woods.
Everything will be over when the higurashi cry.
Characters[]
Notes[]
- There are several callbacks to the original story in the background:
- The newspaper Arakawa's reading shows that Kameda became a top baseball player.
- One of Arakawa's books was written by Ooishi, with another titled Higurashi When They Cry, possibly being Akasaka and Ooishi's book from Himatsubushi.
References[]
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