Suspicion

Synopsis[]

Prologue[]

The episode opens with the scene from the previous episode with Keiichi sitting at his desk on the phone with Ōishi discussing the disappearance of Satoshi only to be disturbed by his father. Outside his house, Rena watches.

First Half[]

Keiichi's mother opens the curtains of Keiichi's room to reveal a sunny day, and she asks her quiet son what is wrong, and he explains it as a cold. The doorbell rings, and his mother suspect Rena has arrived. Keiichi looks at his clock to discover it is 8:05 A.M. He begs off going to school and collapses back onto his bad.

At the Irie Clinic, he is seen by Dr. Irie Kyōsuke. Irie diagnoses him with a cold and gives him a shot. As Keiichi leaves by passing through the waiting room, he hears four elderly women gossiping about whether Takano Miyo was "spirited away by the demon." One of the elderly women suggests Takano "eloped" with Tomitake Jirō, and Keiichi realizes she was the woman he met with Jirō. As he walks home, Ōishi approaches him in his car from behind. After Keiichi explains he is skipping school because he is sick, Ōishi invites him to come with him to lunch in Okinomiya. Ōishi takes Keiichi to Angel Mort and begins to explain he felt something suspicious was happening when Satoshi disappeared the year before. He reviews the victims of the supposed Oyashiro-sama's curse to stress that all are connected to Keiichi's group of friends.

Keiichi shouts his refusal to believe Ōishi's theory, which startles other customers and the waitresses. After he calms Keiichi down, Ōishi notes that Rena lived in the Ibaraki prefecture suburbs until the previous year. Keiichi cheers up and declares that Rena must be "different" from his other friends, but Ōishi sadly informs him that his research reveals the Rena was suspended from school a few weeks before returning to Hinamizawa.

Rena School Rampage — Rena smashes the windows of her school.

He further explains that she smashed all of the windows of her previous school. A neurologist who examined her recommended medication and therapy. Ōishi recalls that "Oyashiro-sama" appears frequently in the neurologist's report. Specifically, Rena claimed that Oyashiro-sama stood by her pillow every night and looked down at her, and she then returned to Hinamizawa. When Keiichi wonders why Oyashiro-sama would bother an "outsider," Ōishi explains that her family use to live in Hinamizawa, and they moved to Ibaraki when Rena entered grade school. When Keiichi asks about Jirō, Ōishi reminds him that Jirō was connected to "everybody." He then declares that the one in danger is Keiichi.

That night while sleeping on the couch, Keiichi is awakened by the doorbell. Rena and Mion visit. Mion remarks that he does not appear fully recovered, while Rena gives him a package of ohagi that Mion's grandmother made. Rena happily informs him that one of them she made, and she wonders if he can guess which one it is. Mion declares this his homework for skipping The Club that day. There are letters on each ohagi, and Keiichi better have the answer by the morning. As Keiichi comically fumes that they only visited him for Club activities, Mion declares he has improved.

Rena Mion Let's Do Lunch — "Choose your next witticism carefully, Mr. Maebara, it may be your last!"

As Rena and Mion prepare to leave, Mion suddenly becomes cold and asks Keiichi what he ate for lunch. When he answers he "went out," Rena becomes as cold interested. Mion remarks that Keiichi went to lunch with "some old man." Keiichi drops the package in surprise as Rena rhetorically asks if he was the same man Keiichi met before. They ignore his question on how they know; Mion asks what they talked about. She even mentions that it appeared that he became excited. Visibly shaken and sweating, Keiichi insists that he did not discuss Rena or Mion. Rena coldly declares that something is "suspicious" while Mion sternly warns she will know whatever Keiichi does. Rena, returning to her more concerned voice, notes he looks pale and suggests he lie down. Still cold, Mion agrees and roughly hands back to Keiichi the package he dropped. Before the door closes, Mion stops it, looks through the crack, and warns him not to be absent the next day.

Ohagi Needle — Rena's special ingredient.

Keiichi stares at five ohagi marked from "A" to "E." He wonders why Rena and Mion did what they did, then tries the "E" ohagi. After one bite he gags and painfully spits it out into his hand. Staring closely at it, he discovers a sewing needle in it. Keiichi shakes, screams then throws the rest of the ohagi against the kitchen wall. He then digs into the rest, throwing them against the wall, then collapses to the floor in fear.

Second Half[]

Staring at his ceiling light from his bed, Keiichi wonders why Rena and Mion tried to kill him. He vows not to allow them to erase him and rushes to his desk to write a cryptic description of what happened to him. He then tapes this note to the back of his wall clock.

The following morning, an old lady with a dog notes that he is both early and alone. As he walks determining what to do, a white van passes him. The van stops, reverses suddenly, then tries to run him down. Keiichi sees in the van's side-view mirror a man in a gray uniform with a gray hat curse and the van then speeds off. When he reaches school early, Keiichi vows to protect himself and retrieves Satoshi's baseball bat.

Dressed for physical education, Keiichi washes in a basin as Rika and Satoko greets him. Satoko happily remarks on how early he is. When asked why he is dressed the way he is, Keiichi picks up the bat and declares that he felt out of shape and decided to practice swings with the bat. Satoko becomes quiet and quickly walks away. Rika looks at her with concern, then assures the confused Keiichi that she believes the taking care of his health is a really good thing. She then looks at his bat and asks him not to lose it, then runs off.

Outside, Keiichi repeatedly takes violent swings with Satoshi's bat. Mion and Rena approach him. Mion finds it surprising that he went to school without them. Unlike the night previous, Mion and Rena are merely confused that Keiichi violently swings the bat. When they leave, he starts cursing while he slams the bat repeatedly on the ground. After school, Mion triumphantly gathers everyone for the Club, but Keiichi silently packs up his things, including the bat, and leaves. A shocked Mion asks why he is leaving, and he only replies that he does not "feel up for it." Rena asks if Keiichi does not like playing with girls. Keiichi angrily replies that that is not what he means. Rena, Mion, Rika, and Satoko sadly watch him storm off.

As Keiichi walks from the school, he hears extra steps behind him. He angrily turns and asks Rena what she wants. Rena meekly claims she does not want anything as Keiichi holds the bat up and demands to know what happened to the Club meeting. Rena replies that she was worried about him. Keiichi angrily turns and demands that she does not follow him anymore. He turns again to yell at her, but she protests that her home is located along the same road. Keiichi demands she walk ahead of him. She says she will if he will put the bat down since he is scaring her. As she passes, she turns darkly serious and stops. Keiichi demands that she keep walking, but Rena meekly responds that she wishes to ask him a question: why does he have Satoshi's bat? Keiichi is surprised to look and find Satoshi's name carved on the pommel of the bat. He claims he borrowed it, but Rena knows this is untrue and demands to know why he does everything Satoshi did. Rena explains that Satoshi joined a team but never played any sports. Like Keiichi, Satoshi suddenly started walking to school alone, then suddenly started practicing swings, then carrying a bat with him. Keiichi begs to know what happened to Satoshi. When he grabs her arm, she looks at him with a blank expression, then quietly reminds him that she already told him: he transferred. Keiichi backs off and trips, falling to the ground. Rena then quietly rhetorically asks him that he will not do the same: "transfer."

At home, Keiichi is awoken by a phone. His mother tells him that she and his father had to travel to Tōkyō for his work. They will return the following night. Keiichi turns on the lights of his home and the television. He closes and locks all of the doors. The phone rings and Ōishi calls to ask him if anything strange happened. Keiichi replies that he thinks someone is trying to kill him. He mentions the needle in the ohagi. When Ōishi asks if he still has it for evidence, Keiichi searches but cannot find it. The kitchen has no evidence of the ohagi he threw on the walls or the needle in the trash. As a shadow of a person appears on the ground outside, Keiichi describes his encounter with the white van, but he cannot recall the license plate. As Ōishi chain-smokes, Keiichi tries to offer that Rena knows about Satoshi being "spirited away by the demon." When Ōishi does not understand, Keiichi continues that Rena is afraid that he will suffer the same fate as Satoshi: "transfer."

As Keiichi tries to clarify, the shadow reaches his door, and a finger rings his doorbell repeatedly.

Post-End Titles[]

Rika's adult voice advises:

"Don't fear what's beyond tomorrow. Don't injure your heart. Don't apologize for everything that happened yesterday."

After introducing the next episode along with a flash of Maebara Keiichi's regretful face, she asks:

"Can you believe it?"

Characters:[]

In order of appearance:

Referbacks (and Forwards)[]

Many of the events make sense after the next and final episode of Onikakushi-hen. Still, others become clearer after subsequent arcs. When They Cry Wiki believes in avoiding spoilers and will referback to them in the episodes in which they are explained.
Sonozaki Oryō makes ohagi.
It is implied in the first episode that Keiichi is usually late when walking to school.
White Vans and Men in Grey
Rena's concern that Keiichi does not like being around girls.
Keiichi somehow does not realize he took Satoshi's bat.

Trivia[]

Connections between Victims and Keiichi's Friends:
- Construction Manager had fights with Mion a few weeks prior to his death.
- The Pro-Dam Couple were Satoko and Satoshi's parents, and Satoko was with them during their accident.
- The Priest and his wife were Rika's parents.
- The Housewife who died was Satoko and Satoshi's aunt.
Keiichi's Letter:
- I am Maebara Keiichi, and my life is in danger. I don't know why or whom. The only thing I know is that it has something to do with Oyashiro-sama's curse.
Keiichi bats right-handed.

Cultural References[]

Ohagi

Memorable Moments[]

First depiction of Maebara Aiko.
First appearance of Irie Kyōsuke
The apparent changes in Rena and Mion's behavior.
Keiichi's reaction to events around him.

Quotes[]

"It seems like you were with some old man." – Mion to Keiichi
- "Is he the same man as last time? Is he?" – Rena to Keiichi'
"Well, no matter what you hide, I'll know what you're doing." – Mion to Keiichi
"Can't drop my guard. I have to protect myself." – Keiichi
"But please don't lose that bat." – Rika
"Keiichi-kun, so you don't like to play with girls, do you?" – Rena
"Why are you doing everything the same as Satoshi did?!" – Rena
"Uh, it seems like someone's trying to kill me." – Keiichi