June 22, 2:00 AM, Assembly Hall Part 3 (6月22日午前2時 集会所③ Rokugatsu Ni-juu-ni-nichi Gozen Ni-ji—Shuukaijo: San) is the seventh chapter of Yoigoshi-hen.
Summary[]
Mion pays no heed to Arakawa’s insinuation and says if she really were the culprit, she could effortlessly kill everyone and swings her wrapped katana near his head. Arakawa is startled and claims he knows martial arms when Otobe grabs him. Otobe then calls Arakawa suspicious, questioning if he really is a magazine reporter. Arakawa tries to calm down and looks at his notes, remembering the curse of Oyashiro-sama and how punishment is supposed to be given for those who invade the ritual storehouse. He also mentions how an alien was said to be in the storehouse and a theory of how the Great Hinamizawa Disaster was caused by humans, and he asks if Mion knows anything.
Arakawa also remembers something about Oyashiro-sama's messenger and asks if Mion is that messenger, but she stands up and exclaims that Oyashiro-sama’s curse isn't as lame as this. She then asks Otobe why only his phone was broken. If the culprit knew only Otobe’s cell phone was working, they would also know that the battery was dead. Even though Mion and Otobe had the same model, Mion’s phone was out of range while Otobe’s was; the entire village is outside cell range, as it’s located in a ravine and there’s no relay device. Otobe says the antenna on his phone worked earlier, and Mion decides to agree before pulling out a bank card and asking whose it is. Otobe dropped it when he went to get the blanket, and the name on the card doesn’t match Otobe’s at all. Mion then grabs Otobe’s head and looks into his eyes, asking what he’s really hiding.
Otobe starts crying and thinks about his past. He used to live in the countryside and ran away from home, thinking he was meant for better. He went to Tokyo and wanted to enter Tokyo University and enjoyed his freedom. Otobe worked hard but wasted all of his money, soon quitting college after less than six months. He was deep in debt and kept borrowing money, and in no time Otobe began to realize he hit a dead end in his life. He considered going back home but couldn’t face his parents and decided he was better off dead. Otobe thus arranged with some people to die in Hinamizawa, having known it as a suicide village. Akutagawa, Machi and Chiaki were all planning to commit suicide with Otobe and had stopped in the village to make the arrangements. While going there, Machi talked about how she wanted to see her dead family members, since Hinamizawa was supposed to be a village of the dead. Everyone then began to tell their personal stories of why they wanted to die, and Otobe realized he was pathetic. He then noticed that Chiaki had a bank card, a memento of her dead husband. Otobe thought he could fix his life if he got that card.
Everyone except Otobe took sleeping pills, and during that time Otobe took the card. Arakawa realizes that the suicide car he saw earlier was that same car, and Otobe apologizes to everyone for lying. He wanted to withdraw the money on the card before letting the police know about it, and he lied about his phone having service, and admits to destroying it himself. As Otobe bows his head, Mion admonishes him for being a coward. Arakawa then asks if Otobe killed Takumi, and Otobe swears that he never did such a thing. Mion believes in Otobe’s innocence, as a coward like him couldn’t kill anyone.
Characters[]
- Mion Sonozaki
- Ryuunosuke Arakawa
- Yae Towada
- Akira Otobe
- Akutagawa (flashback)
- Chiaki (flashback)
- Machi (flashback)
References[]
| ||||||||||||||