Lies

Synopsis[]

Prologue[]

In the classroom, a number of young students fearfully whisper to one another. Rika suggests that "maybe he got lost," like she once was. Rena shrugs, turns chibi, and thinks being lost would be "nice." She immediately enters into her Cute Mode to お持ち帰りぃ Rika. Keiichi suggests that since "he" is "old," "he" might be wandering around due to senility. Satoko insists that the village headman is lively and teaches both calligraphy and kendō. Keiichi ask them and Mion if it is Oyashiro-sama's curse. She looks down. To himself, Keiichi notes that the headman left for a meeting at the Furude Shrine's meeting room at half-past noon the day before, and the meeting ended well after sunset. He has not been seen since.

First Half[]

Later outside the school Keiichi waters the school garden and thinks about how Oyashiro-sama curse has occurred for five straight years. He recalls Takano Miyo with Tomitake Jirō asking if he believes in curses, then Shion claiming that if people are behind it, they come from Hinamizawa. Keiichi worries that if the curse is real, then he and Shion, who entered the Saiguden may fall to it. As he wipes his brow, he sees Rika sitting on the ground with tears in her eyes. He asks if she fell down, but she wipes her eyes, tells him not to mind her, then gives him a hug. "Before that," she asks, “Did you do something bad on the night of the festival?” Shocked, with his heart pounding, Keiichi cannot answer, but Rika insists. She releases him, smiles, then apologizes for asking him such a strange question, requests that he forget it, then runs off. Keiichi calls out to her, and she turns and looks at him. As he remembers what he saw of her ritual dance, he tells himself that he wants to tell her the truth, but he fears that because she is the shrine maiden, she will never forgive him.

While he contemplates, Rika tells him a cat slipped into the Saiguden on the night of the festival. What the cat saw frightened and surprised him, and the cat ran out and keeps shaking and mewing. Keiichi asks her what the cat should do. Rika responds with a questioning "Mi?". Keiichi explains that the dog watched the mischievous cat enter, and now dogs take turns questioning the cat on whether or not he snuck in. Rika promises that she will protect the cat, since some dogs may have simply misunderstood. While it will be tough, she promises to do her best. "However," she continues, "the elder sister cat is very angry. The younger sister cat did a bad thing, so she’s very angry." A drop from the faucet strikes the basis, and Rika suggests that they do not have club meetings starting that day as the wind blows. "I want the older sister cat to be left alone for some time," she explains. In a serious, but still child's voice, Rika instructs that if the mistaken dog that bit the village headman tries to bite the cat, he should let her know.

At home in bed, Keiichi regrets confessing to Rika, even metaphorically. He wonders how she spoke in detail as if she was there. His father knocks on his door to tell him he has a call from "Sonozaki-san." The other voice identifies herself as Shion. He apologizes for his previous blaming her for their predicament; she forgives him if he regrets it. She suggests that from now on they should inform one another of each of their concerns since they share the same destiny. She mentions the disappearance of the village headman and reveals that the night before she confessed to him what happened. She cries that it is her fault he disappeared. While she repeats that he was "killed because I told him everything," there is a grainy montage of Rika's hair moving in the wind, a blood drop bursting as it hits a surface, Rika's left hand behind her back with her index finger pointing downward, then Rika lying with blood staining the left side of her school shirt and skirt. Keiichi confesses he, too, is at fault since he told Rika, and he stands up.

Ryūgū Rena's father calls her while she is in the shower to tell her that she has a phone call from Keiichi. She meets him outside with their bikes and that he tried calling Rika's house but received no answer. Concerned, Rena feels there is no way neither Rika nor Satoko heard the phone. Mion shows up to help them. At the foot of the steps to the Furude Shrine, Rena notices that Rika and Satoko's bikes are not there. Neither answer when Rena calls out to them at the house then pounds furiously on the metal security doors. She finds the house locked, and Keiichi suggests that they try an upper window. Mion finds a ladder. As Keiichi climbs, Rena offers to check the main Furude house. Mion explains that Rika has lived in this smaller house ever since her parents died. Satoko joined her after her parents fell off of the cliff "due to Oyashiro-sama's curse, and her brother Satoshi went missing."

Shion Helps Hold a Ladder — Mion calmly helps hold Keiichi's ladder steady by shaking it violently.

Shion is Happy with Rena's Save — Mion is delighted with Rena's "save."

When Keiichi remarks that "it must have been hard on them," Mion's voice grows severe as she retorts, "She's cursed." Enraged, she violently shakes the ladder as she rants that Satoko is a child cursed by Oyashiro-sama. Satoshi worked hard for his only sister, she continues, yet he "got erased." She then declares that it is Satoko's fault that Rika "disappeared." "It must be!" she repeats as she shakes the ladder. Keiichi calls for Mion to calm down, but Mion continues to chant, "it must be!"

Rena arrives with some villagers and the key to the house. Suddenly, Mion regains her composure and compliments Rena on a "good save." Keiichi stares down in shock at her sudden changes in mood. He wonders to himself if there is a "different Mion" he does not know about. He adds, at that moment, this was the first time that he suspected that.

Second Half[]

Rena, Keiichi, and Mion walk inside the house to find it empty. They see the condiments on an empty table which includes an empty bottle of soy sauce. When Keiichi wonders where the two went, Mion corrects him and suspects that their disappearance is connected with the disappearance of the headman. Keiichi wanders outside to an area with a full view of Hinamizawa from above. He sees various men searching for Rika, and he breaks down blaming himself for what has occurred. Rena comes to comfort him, and he claims that it is all his fault. She repeats that she knows it is not his fault. Shocked at these words, he asks her if she "knows." Inwardly, he knows he never told Rena. She asks if he fears that she might disappear, then soothingly promises that she will not. In despair, Keiichi asks how she can be certain.

The next day, Rena and Keiichi wait for Mion by the waterwheel. Rena concludes that Mion is presumably fatigued from searching for Rika throughout the night, and Keiichi agrees that she had also been searching for the village headman two nights previously. As they make their way to school, Keiichi wonders where Rika and Satoko went.

Rena adds that a older lady from the Tomita Tofu Shop claimed Satoko purchased some tofu on her way home from school the day before. Rena continues that she noticed a pot on top of the gas cooker with miso soup inside. When Keiichi does not understand, Rena explains that you only add tofu to miso soup at the very end as in just before serving dinner. She concludes that Rika was standing there cooking until just before it was time to eat. She continues that the nearby rice cooker contained enough for both girls, and their refrigerator contained several untouched side-dishes in plastic wrap, including tofu. Keiichi understands that that means there was no need for them to eat dinner. Rena adds that the change in plans must have been sudden else they would not have bothered cooking. She concludes that they both disappeared after finishing cooking around seven o’ clock.

When Keiichi still fails to understand, Rena recalls the empty soy sauce container on top of the table. She reveals she checked under the sink but found the large bottle of soy sauce usually there missing. Rena guesses that meant Rika went to get soy sauce from the neighbors as the scene depicts Rika leaving on her bike with the bottle in her front basket. Rena continues that since Rika did not return, Satoko called the house of the neighbor Rika visited. Rena suspects that the neighbor indicated that they already prepared dinner and invited Satoko to come over as well. Satoko then wrapped up the other dishes, placed them in the refrigerator, then biked to the neighbor to join Rika for dinner with the neighbor.

Rena does not know who this neighbor is while confessing her theory is just speculation as they reach the school. There Ōishi waits, and upon seeing them, he calls Keiichi into his car. Keiichi denies to Rena that he is the "culprit," and she laughs and states that she knows he is not. He bids her to go on ahead. When Keiichi asks if Ōishi is taking him to the station, the detective responds that the car is more comfortable than standing around. Keiichi sits behind Ōishi and asks him how the investigation is proceeding. Ōishi smiles and sarcastically asks him which investigation given that there have been "too many lately." Keiichi insists "all of them."

Ōishi pulls out his thick book as he announces that Jirō and Takano's cases "went cold, unfortunately." As for the village headman, in the morning that he disappeared he visited a proctologist at a university hospital in Shishibone which he kept a secret from his family and others. A train accident delayed his return, so he went directly to the Furude Shrine. He notices that Keiichi stares blankly and asks him if something is wrong. Keiichi denies this as he remembers Shion claiming that she told the village headman what she did that day. He then recalls her telling them that she heard Jirō and Takano died the previous night. He reasons that since the village headman disappeared two days ago and Shion heard about Jirō and Takano in the morning, yet the headman secretly went to the hospital, then how could she tell him that day?

Ōishi interrupts his thinking to assure him the he does not necessarily think Keiichi is the culprit. He knows the four of them snuck into the Saiguden: "it was already a rumor by the next day." For that, he muses, Keiichi should be interrogated for trespassing, but what interests Ōishi is what was in the Saiguden that would explain why those who sneak in keep getting killed. Keiichi confesses that he only saw old torture devices. Ōishi presses him on whether or not there was "something horrible hidden" that would force Keiichi's silence. When Keiichi cannot think of anything, Ōishi sighs and suspects that maybe there was something Keiichi could not see. However, what he really wants to know is why Keiichi is safe "while the other three were harmed." When Keiichi asks what he means about "the other three," Ōishi laughs then explains severely that Jirō and Takano died and Shion has gone missing. Keiichi can only repeat that Shion has gone missing as the higurashi cry.

Later that night, Keiichi sits curled up on the couch in his house, alone, replaying what Ōishi told him. The phone startles him. He picks it up to hear Shion identify herself.

He asks her if she has heard about Rika and Satoko. She begs him not to feel bad and starts to sob. To himself, Keiichi notes that the more he believes that it is Shion on the other end of the line, the more afraid he becomes. He knows that the sobbing person cannot be Shion. Finally, he asks her when she confessed to the headman. When she does not answer, he asks if she know he had hemorrhoids and went to the hospital. Shion replies that she knew of his problems since he was in pain when he sat. When Keiichi asks her if she knows which hospital he went to, she claims that she does not know. She asks why it matters, but Keiichi pauses in shock at her admission: if she does not know the hospital, she could not have told him at the hospital, which means that she could not have confessed to him as she claims since he only barely made it back in time for the meeting do to a train accident. He finally asks her when she confessed to him. She responds by asking why he would ask her such a thing. He reveals that she could not have talked to him in the morning. He then asks if she also attended the meeting, but then answers it himself that that would have been impossible since, "Sonozaki Shion went missing the day after the cotton drifting!"

Shion pauses for a moment, then starts laughing maniacally, and the phone hangs up, much to Keichii’s concern.

Post-End Titles[]

The adult voice of Rika observes:

"A regret you cannot end. A story that will never apologize. What is engraved there is the other me."

after reading the next episode's title, then over the severe stare of Shion, she asks:

"Can you believe it?"

Characters[]

In order of appearance

Referbacks and Forewards[]

The claim that Satoko is cursed.
Mion blaming Satoko for what happened to Satoshi.
Mion scolded Keiichi for not reading the Hinamizawa newsletters.
Ōishi suspects that the Saiguden contains something Keiichi cannot see.

Trivia[]

When They Cry Wiki reminds that hemorrhoids are no laughing matter.

Cultural References[]

Kendō
Japanese Calligraphy (書道・shodō)
When They Cry Wiki hopes it does not have to explain telephones to the Kids These Days.
Soy Sauce (醤油・shōyu): because When They Cry Wiki cares.

Memorable Moments[]

Rika knows what Keiichi did.
Rika vows to protect Keiichi.
There is no tradition that confessing a misdeed condemns the hearer to Oyashiro-sama's curse.
Mion implies that if one goes near a cursed person one will be taken by the curse.
Mion's behavior.
Rena caring for Keiichi.

Quotes[]

"It'll be alright. I'll protect the cat." – Rika
"Satoko Hōjō is a cursed child with Oyashiro-sama's curse!" – Mion
"Maybe there's a different Mion I don't know about." – Keiichi
"Something that explains why those who sneak in keep getting killed." – Ōishi
"The more I think the person on the other end is actually Shion, the more scared I get." – Keiichi