Synopsis[]
Prologue[]
Keiichi speaks on the phone with Ōishi where he claims it seems someone is trying to kill him. He repeats the warning from Rena that he will follow in Satoshi's footsteps as a finger rings his doorbell.
First Half[]
Keiichi ends his call with Ōishi Kuraudo to answer the door. When turns the doorknob, the door swing open only to be stopped by the security chain. Rena smiles and greets him. When the visibly shaken Keiichi asks why she has visited, she brightly asks him if he has had dinner yet. When he responds that he has not, she offers him some side dishes she made that she can warm up in his kitchen. Keiichi lies that his own dinner will be ready soon.
Rena turns serious and asks Keiichi is lying to her. When Keiichi tries to deny it, Rena screams, "LIE!" She then details the type of ramen he purchased and which store he purchased it from. She reminds him he needs vegetables and begins to pull on the chain. Repeatedly screaming "go home!" Keiichi slams the door on her fingers as she cries out and begs him to stop. She apologizes for "fooling around," but he merely continues to scream. She finally frees her fingers, and Keiichi closes and locks the door.
He runs from the sound of Rena's cries to his room where he calls back Ōishi. He informs Ōishi about Rena's attempt to visit, then he asks Ōishi to tell him about Rena. Ōishi agrees if Keiichi will agree to tell no one else and accept that "there are some assumptions." With lightning outside, the lights in Keiichi's home flicker, then go out, as Ōishi remarks that he is truly suspicious. He explains that he talks about Oyashiro-sama as Keiichi's eyes widen. Ōishi confesses that he wonders if the curse actually exists. Referring to the story he told Keiichi about Rena breaking all of the windows in her school, Ōishi adds that she beat three male students to whom she was close severely with a bat. Keiichi stares at Satoshi's bat in a corner while a shadow of a girl appears on the ground outside of the house as the rain begins to fall. Ōishi continues to explain that the victims never prosecuted as Keiichi closes his windows. He sees Rena standing outside his home holding her box of side dishes she brought him while repeatedly saying something. Keiichi asks out loud "what is she saying," which confuses Ōishi. He finally realizes that she is repeating, "I'm sorry."
The following day, Keiichi returns to practicing his swings outside of school. Rena appears but walks past him without saying a word. Mion greets him instead, but Keiichi tries to ignore her. Undaunted, Mion asks if he likes baseball, but he angrily orders her to leave him alone. In turn, Mion snaps back and orders him to stop swinging. After a brief back-and-forth, Mion reminds him that he is using someone else's bat. Keiichi notes that the owner disappeared, but his sister did not. Mion is surprised that Keiichi knew. Keiichi makes clear he knows the whole story, then asks, as Mion looks away if his practicing swinging a bat like Satoshi is a warning for Oyashiro-sama's curse. Mion interrupts that "everyone" is afraid and demands that he stop acting "like Satoshi." Keiichi stops, declared he does not know anything about Satoshi because everyone hides the truth about him from him. When Mion protests that they were not hiding it, Keiichi angrily accuses her and the rest of excluding him. He reminds her that when he asked if something happened at the dam site, she lied about it. When she tries to apologize, Keiichi angrily reminds her that friends do not lie to one another which means she is not his friend. He then claims that the ohagi she gave him were good: "so good they made me bleed!" When he asks which of them, her or Rena did it, Mion looks completely stunned. He points the bat at her and declares that she cannot get rid of him as easily as Satoshi. He then reveals that he knows Mion and the Construction Manager fought.
Keiichi you bastard! You made Mion cry!
As the class bell rings, the stunned Mion asks him how he could know. Keiichi ignores her question, advises her to go to class, and walks past her as she begins to cry. Through her tears, she calls what "Kei-chan" did "was cruel." However, as he walks away, her voice sounds more sinister. She concluded that the one who told him everything "was that guy." Keiichi turns to see a livid Mion ranting through her tears that she should have killed "that guy," and he forgot that she forgave him since he planned to retire this year. She vows that she will "definitely kill him." Keiichi asks the obvious question: does she refer to Ōishi? Mion merely shakes in anger as the higurashi cry.
After school, Keiichi walks home with Satoshi's bat. He stops when he hears an extra step as he walks. He rushes behind a tree and eventually sees Rena approaching with her axe. He turns away wondering why she has it only to then look back and not see her. She is behind him. "I found you, Keiichi-kun," she says sweetly. When he demands to know why she is there, she calmly reminds him that her home is in the same direction. He demands to know why she carries an axe, but she merely stares at him.
An Internet Meme is born!
When he insists, she laughs then asks him if something is bothering him. She quietly suggests he is scared. When he denies it, she ignores him and states that when Satoshi transferred she really regretted it, particularly her failure to listen to what bothered him. Keiichi responds by claiming that when she says "transferred," she means "spirited away by the demon." He demands she tell him who got rid of Satoshi. Rena merely smiles and claims she has no idea what he is talking about. He insists, but she claims he misunderstands: the suspect is not human. She then happily exclaims that Oyashiro-sama decides everything. When Keiichi insists that the "curse" is a superstition, Rena asks him if someone has apologized to him "for a long, long time." She then insists that Oyashiro-sama visited her, which is why she transferred back to Hinamizawa. Because of this, she insists, only she can listen to Keiichi's problems. Ambling towards him and raising her axe, she vows that she will not allow Keiichi to "transfer." She draws close to him and asks him to talk to her while vowing to save him. Her lips nearly touch his, then she suddenly retracts and laughs maniacally.
And another. . . .
Keiichi pushes her to the ground and runs away. Her laughs seem to follow him as he escapes through a woods. He eventually encounters two Men in Grey uniforms. They chase him. When they catch him, Keiichi, swinging the bat, demands to know what they want. Another appears behind him, and knocks Keiichi out with a large branch.
Second Half[]
Keiichi awakens with a start to hear Rena say, "I think you should remain lying down," and she has called the doctor. Keiichi demands to know why she is in his room only to hear his doorbell ring and Mion call out. Rena explains that since his parents are absent, she called Mion. Mion downplays Keiichi's condition and makes sure Rena called "the Manager (監督・kantoku)."
Rena and Mion laugh at Keiichi's ignorance.
An increasingly frightened Keiichi demands to know who this "Manager" is, but Mion teases his ignorance then talks about how Keiichi seems interested in baseball which will please "the Manager." When he insists, Rena also laughs, answering that the "manager is the manager" (監督は監督さんだよ・Kantoku wa kantoku-san dayo!). Both join in continuously laughing at him.
Mion then announces that they should finish the "punishment game" before the "the Manager" arrives. Rena explains is concerns the ohagi homework. She then steps behind him and restrains his arms as Mion commands him not to move and produces a syringe. As Keiichi protests, Mion merely replies that "he knows." Keiichi has a flash-back of Jirō's body as Ōishi remarks that they "suspected drugs" but could not detect any. Mion kneels in front of him and playfully commands him to "give up." As the syringe nears his arm, Keiichi screams to stop. Keiichi looks outside and sees it is the same type of van that drove at him. A person in lab coat and two of the Men in Gray get out.
After a montage of flashbacks, the bat shatters Keiichi's ceiling light, and his shadow is projected on his wall as he repeatedly beats Mion and Rena to death with the bat. A speeding white van comes to a halt outside his house. Keiichi grabs his wall clock, which reads 8:00 P.M. exactly, and hastily adds to the note he hid behind it: "Rena and Mion are suspects. There are more than four or five adults who own a white van. Tomitake-san's death was from an unknown drug. The proof is this syringe."
As a man rings the doorbell, Keiichi places the note and syringe behind the clock. He then looks at the bodies of Rena and Mion and starts crying. He flees outside a side door with the Men in Grey pursuing him.
Ōishi paces inside the Okinomiya Police Station. Komiyama, a police officer, informs him that he has a phone call from a payphone. Ōishi takes a call from a clearly hysterical and incoherent Keiichi. He discerns that Keiichi is calling from the payphone in Hinamizawa and passes a note back to the officer to send a cruiser to it. He tries to calm down Keiichi and promises he will also be there soon, but Keiichi dismisses this help as "probably useless," and "too late." The officer hands back to Ōishi a note stating that Hinamizawa has only one phone booth, and a car will arrive in five minutes. Frustrated, Ōishi orders another detective, Kumagai Katsuya, to prepare a car for him. In the meantime, he tries to talk to Keiichi, promises to be there within two to three minutes, then demands to know who the suspect is. Keiichi haltingly replies with apparent difficulty that Oyashiro-sama exists and keeps following him. Ōishi asks him if Oyashiro-sama is behind him right now. Keiichi replies, "right behind me."
Ōishi tries to convince Keiichi to look behind him to determine who it actually is, but only hears Keiichi crying and gagging with a wet tearing sound. He demands to know if Keiichi is clawing at his own throat; however, Keiichi already has blood on his hands that smear the glass of the phone booth. He sits on the floor and says, "Sorry. . ." The phone goes dead. Ōishi asks "sorry?"
Epilogue[]
As with the the first episode, words appear in white typed on a black background: June 1983. Ōishi opens a casebook that contains pictures of Keiichi, Rena, and Mion. His voice speaks over the scene: In Shishibone City, Hinamizawa, female students were murdered. The suspect is Maebara Keiichi. Inviting two classmates over, Ryūgū Rena and Sonozaki Mion, he beat them to death with a bat.
Over the scene of the police investigating the blood smeared phonebooth: He fled and was found collapsed in a phone booth by officers, dying 24 hours later at the hospital. The autopsy said death was caused by shock from blood loss. By slitting his throat with his own nails, he died from losing too much blood. Over the scene of police vehicles outside the Maebara home: No sign of drugs was found. Over the outline of Rena and Shion's bodies: Later, a handwritten memo was found in the suspect's room. It was made of two sheets of B5 college-ruled paper cut in half and taped behind the clock on the wall. That memo must've originally been one B5 page. which was torn to remove a few lines in the middle of the page. From the large amount of tape residue behind the clock, it could be assumed that something else was taped. Over Ōishi rising from his desk and a focus on the two pieces in the casebook, his voice reads: The following is the memo: "I am Maebara Keiichi, and my life is in danger. I don't know why or who. The only thing I know is that it has something to do with Oyashiro-sama's curse. Rena and Mion are suspects. There are more than four or five adults who own a white van." The following is the second page: "I don't know how things turned out like this [Keiichi's voice begins to say the lines over Ōishi's] I'll probably be dead by the time you read this. To the one reading this, please uncover the truth. That is my only wish. Maebara Keiichi"
Post-End Titles[]
Rika's Adult Voice states:
- "I want you to stare at the real me. I want you to forgive the whimsical you. I want you to understand the other me."
Over a flash of Sonozaki Shion looking down sad in her Angel Mort costume she asks:
- "Can you believe it?"
Characters:[]
In order of appearance:
- Maebara Keiichi
- Ōishi Kuraudo
- Ryūgū Rena
- Sonozaki Mion
- Tomitake Jirō (body in flashback)
- Furude Rika (flashback)
- Hōjō Satoko (flashback)
- Irie Kyōsuke
- Komiyama
- Kumagai Katsuya
- Sonozaki Shion (preview)
Referbacks and Forwards[]
With a link that contains major spoilers for this and the entire series, much of Keiichi's behavior as well as his view of the behavior of others makes more sense given the ending to this arc. Subsequent arcs further explain this.
- Rena is a very enthusiastic cook.
- "LIE! (嘘だ・Usoda!)": note that Keiichi also uses this expression when he accuses Mion of lying.
- Rena needed an axe to free Kenta-kun.
- Rena claims that Oyashiro-sama visited her.
- 監督 (kantoku): Irie Kyōsuke is also the school's baseball team manager and is frequently called that in the arcs.
- In retrospect, the identities of the Keiichi's victims are obvious.
- Tomitake Jirō also clawed out his throat.
- Following Links Contain Major Spoilers for the Entire Series:
- Men in Grey: without clicking that, they are same who tried to hit Keiichi with a white van.
- Keiichi senses Oyashiro-sama following him.
- Hinamizawa has only one payphone.
Trivia[]
- Cup Ramen: Keiichi's brand is grilled ginger pork, which he bought at Seventh Mart, since When They Cry Wiki cares.
- In the opening to the original Sound Novel, as Keiichi wields his bat, he narrates that "the girl" keeps saying, "I'm sorry!"
- Keiichi's Addition:
- Rena and Mion are suspects. There are more than four or five adults who own a white van. Tomitake-san's death was from an unknown drug. The proof is in this syringe.
Memorable Moments[]
- "Who's Sorry Now?": Rena keeps repeating "I'm sorry!"
- Keiichi's dressing down of Mion which causes her to cry, and her to call him "Kei-chan."
- "Walking in Your Footsteps!": Keiichi hearing an extra step behind him: this is a major spoiler for the entire series. Arg.
- Rena asks if someone has apologized to Keiichi, "for a long, long time."
- Rena vowing to protect Keiichi.
- Keiichi's paranoia leading him to utterly misunderstand why Rena and Mion find his ignorance of who the "Manager" is and what happens next.
- Keiichi's Montage:
- Keiichi's last words are "sorry."
Quotes[]
- "Go home! Go home!" – Keiichi
- "I'm sorry!" (ごめんなさい・Gomennasai!) – Rena
- "Friends don't hide things from each other, right? Isn't that right? That's why you're not my friend!" – Keiichi to Mion
- "The ohagi you gave me were good. So good, they made me bleed!" – Keiichi to Mion
- "That's cruel, Kei-chan!" – Mion
- "I should've killed him back then! He forgot how I forgave him since he was going to retire this year!" – Mion
- "Why does she have an axe?" – Keiichi
- "The suspect isn't human." – Rena
- "I-I also thought at first that the suspect was human . . . but actually . . . Oyashiro-sama seems to exist." – Keiichi
Gallery[]
