| Summertime. The lazy time of year when the weather was just perfect for shorts, tank tops, and picnicking under a nice shade tree. It was the perfect Sunday morning for such preparations, and the six girls that made up the only club in Hinamizawa’s only school were at that very building, working together in a makeshift kitchen to put the finishing touches on the afternoon’s prepared feast. “S-stop teasing me! I don’t know, alright! I admit it!” Satoko Houjou was on the verge of tears. Her surrogate elder sister, Shion Sonozaki, was smirking cleverly, dangling a broccoli sprout in front of the younger girl in one hand, and a cauliflower one in the other. “That’s what you get for playing Ms. Know-it-All!” Shion giggled playfully. She hadn’t meant to hurt the child’s feelings, but she had sworn long ago to the man she loved that she would care for Satoko like a little sister, and that meant putting her in her place every now and then. Besides, Satoko was just so cute when she cried, it was hard to resist. “Hauuuu…! Shi-nee, that’s mean!” Hanyuu Furude, much like the other girls, was wearing an apron over her warm weather attire. She had a knife in one hand and a radish in the other. That was the same radish they gave her an hour ago, but she had insisted upon making every slice even and uniform. It wasn’t a very timely thing to do, but it certainly made for ‘pretty’ food. “Hanyuu, how long have you been doing that? You were supposed to help me with the stew. I’d rather not get it all over me trying to lift that pot all by myself, you know.” Rika Furude smirked a bit, even as Hanyuu emitted another ‘hauuuu’-ing noise, verbally upset at being the second person to be teased this morning. “It’s not a science, you know. Here,” Rika unceremoniously nabbed the knife and vegetable out of Hanyuu’s hands, “let me show you.” “W-wait! I’m supposed to do that! Everybody’ll be upset if I don’t—h-hey! Are you listening!? Hauuuuu!!” Everybody enjoyed a little chuckle at Hanyuu’s expense. The school, though a Spartan building, had a lot of good rooms for this sort of thing. The girls had considered all meeting at one person’s house to make final preparations for the cooking, but it was eventually decided that if they were all going to help out, it would be best to bring some portable appliances to a larger space. “Do you think Keiichi-kun will be there on time, kana?” Everyone mouthed a silent prayer of thanks that Rena Ryuuguu was too distracted by her own cooking to have noticed Satoko’s outburst. Had she seen it, she would have been out the door, carrying the girl home with her in a fit of cute-inspired madness. Given that the meal couldn’t be left alone for long, she might have gotten away with it if she’d tried that. As it stood, Rena was diligently dicing a roast into cubes, to use as meat for the stew. Her preparations seemed so simple and masterful, that she had already blushed several times in the past hour at comments about what a wonderful bride she was going to make one day. “He better be there before us!” Mion Sonozaki, Shion’s twin sister, spoke up, “if a bunch of cute girls are going to get together to cook a meal that he gets to enjoy without helping, I told him he better have everything set up just perfect before we get there, or—“ “Or we doodle on him, sis?” Shion cut Mion off, smirking as she tossed the vegetables she had been utilizing for abuse into the pot. Mion grinned, “He thinks he’s been doodled on a lot before! He has no idea what he’s in for if he doesn’t do his job!” “Isn’t love grand?” Shion practically cackled, unable to contain herself from inserting that comment into the conversation. Satoko looked between the Sonozaki sisters with a look of complete confusion on her face, having no idea what was going on. It only made Shion grin all the more. “L-love…? I-I’m not in…!!” Mion couldn’t even finish her sentence, and scowled at her playful sister, allowing the colander she was using to wash fresh fruit to clatter into the sink unceremoniously. The scream that came afterwards was enough to cause everybody to forget all the festivities and stare in Rena’s direction. The large butcher knife that Rena had been using was on the floor, and the high pitched shriek had clearly emitted from her. Without a thought, Mion was by her side in two quick strides with the first aid kit. Rena held her hands before her, which were bloody…but this was not to be unexpected, considering the roast was very bloody, as well. She had a shocked look on her face, so Mion took the girl’s elegant hands in her own and began to probe and search, looking for the place Rena cut herself. “D-did she just…?” Satoko spoke up, but let her words trail off after a reassuring glance from Shion. Mion was the class leader, she knew what to do, and it was best to just stay back and let her do it. “Rena…” Mion eventually spoke up, “…Rena, hey. Calm down. You didn’t cut yourself. Everything’s fine. This is all blood from the roast.” “B-but….but there’s so much of it….” Rena began to look a little ill, staring at her hands as she turned them over once and again, “….there shouldn’t be so much of it. I….” Rena began to chuckle nervously as she stared, “….I really should go wash it off. B-but you know, blood doesn’t wash off very easily. You have to scrub at it, and if you scrub too hard, well….you’ll just bleed more.” Faces glanced at one another throughout the room, exchanging looks of worry and concern. “Shhhh, Rena,” Mion chimed in, taking the girl’s hands out of her field of view and covering them with a towel, “it’s okay. I’ll help you clean up, okay? Rika can finish fixing the meal.” Mion began to guide the absent Rena towards the girl’s room in the hallway. “But…but what if two of us aren’t enough to…to get it all…?” “Now, now. We’ll be more than enough. We’ll clean everything up, and there’ll be no more blood, okay? C’mon, now…” Rena walked along slowly as Mion guided her out of the room. The rest of the preparation continued without a word from any of the participants, and Rika took over Rena’s part of the cooking immediately. Everyone had something to say about their poor friend, but nobody spoke. Only Hanyuu chose to just stand in the corner and stare at the restroom door. She thought back on what Rena had done to herself in Ibaraki, and she wondered if images of the girl’s slit wrists had forced their way into her head while she was working with the blood of the roast. Hanyuu may have been a god, but she prayed for peaceful days to continue, all the same. |
 |
| The girls continued preparing the meal until the sound of Rena and Mion's returning footsteps caught their attention. Rena looked a lot better now and had finally managed to calm down. Mion stood next to her grinning, "You guys better not be slacking off." Rika replied, "No, we've finished most of the preparations. All that's left are the finishing touches". Rena and Mion helped the rest finish up and soon they were heading to the agreed meeting place. Upon reaching the hill by the Furude Shrine, the girls were surprised to see Keiichi actually waiting for them. "Yo, Keiichi you're actually early! Didn't want the penalty game I suppose." Mion stated. "Haha, Nee is sad that she didn't get too doodle on Keiichi" Shion said while laughing. "Like I would let you guys doodle all over me! My mom laughed every time she saw me for a week after that!" Keiichi exclaimed angrily. "More importantly, I wouldn't pass up a chance to eat Rena, Rika, and Hanyuu's cooking!" he continued, eagerly eyeing the food that had been brought before him. Mion was visibly discontent while Satoko exclaimed, "Are you, a primitive savage that does not know the meaning of true taste, implying that my cooking is unworthy of being served?". "Anything you made is definitely unfit to eat. The food is probably riddled with traps" Keiichi responded while carefully poking the contents of the pot that Satoko had brung. ""Keiichiii..." Shion said in a seductive voice, "are you saying you won't eat the food I prepared especially for you?" she blushed, batted her eyes, and turned away while concealing a grin. "Ah! That's not it. I just don't know whether the Sonozaki twins are capable of producing anything edible is all. I'm sure your cooking will be fine Shion" Keiichi stated exasperatedly. Mion's face was now aghast and Shion burst into laughter. Regaining her composure, she stated, "Ah that's right! Keiichi, each of these Ohagi was made by one of us. You have to figure out who made what, otherwise it's the penalty game!". Keiichi stared at the ohagi wide-eyed for a second. Noticing his respone, Rika said, "Keiichi, I made mine especially sweet". Coming to his senses, Keiichi smiled, "Ah, I'm sure Rika's will be delicious". "Ohohohohoho" Satoko laughed, "you'll have no such luck with mine Keiichi! You will be sure to be in tears after eating it!" smiling smugly as she said it. "I'm sure Satoko's is this misshapen one over here" Keiichi said, pointing to a not quite round ohagi, obviously the work of an amature. Going red, Satoko stammered in embarassment as everyone burst into laughter. Keiichi had hit the mark dead on. Continuing with the challenge, Keiichi managed to both Rika and Hanyuu's ohagi and was nearing victory. "If I win, I'm going to make you all dress up as maids and call me master!" Keiichi said, brimming with confidence. "I wouldn't be too sure of that if I were you Kei-chan, ne Onee-san?" Shion smiled knowingly to her sister. "It will be a challenge to tell our cooking apart" Mion agreed. Keiichi paused to think. There were 3 ohagi left and they all looked the same. The only way to judge them would be to go off of taste. Rena's was sure to be delicious, but the other two would surely taste almost identical. It was then that Keiichi noticed a single green hair lying next to one of the ohagi. Aha! If one of the twins made that one, then I can be sure that the one remaining that doesn't taste the same is Rena's! unless... aha! That was it! Mion and Shion had purposely tricked him into thinking that theirs would taste the same! If that was the case, then the hair would have been purposely placed there in order to trick him into thinking the ohagi was one of theirs when in fact it was really Rena's! Those sisters are crafty, I wouldn't put it past them to try to pull something like this. But I see through the deception. In that case... "This one is Rena's!" Keiichi shouted pointing at the ohagi with the green hair next to it. "A-Are you sure you want to pick it without tasting it first?" Mion stuttered. Keiichi's eyes narrowed and he hid a smile. Perfect! Judging by Mion's reaction, Keiichi was certain of his victory. "There's no need for that, I can already tell it's Rena's" Keiichi stated smugly. Mion was visibly disappointed and Keiichi felt a growing sense of confidence. Everyone was silent for a while, and then "Bzzt! Wrong!". Mion continued, "Keiichi you fell perfectly into our trap! We assumed you would think far enough to see that the green hair was a trap. If you hadn't and had deduced Rena's to have been one of the others you would have been correct." "Wait, one of the others, but wouldn't only one of them belong to Rena? I would have to choose from the two" Keiichi questioned. "Ah, that's because I actually didn't make one," Shion confessed, "I swapped another one of Rena's in instead. So if you had thought that both mine and Nee's were the same, then you would have picked Rena's by mistake". Damn those twins, Keiichi cursed under his breath. Mion finished, "We were one step ahead of you Keiichi, so now," everyone but Keiichi grinned, "it's time for the penalty game!". The girls held him down as they took turns scribbling on him. Keiichi tried to resist, but to no avail. His assailants stripped his face of any integrity and Keiichi was left, defeated. Before they knew it, the sun was setting and everyone departed to their homes. Walking in the dark, Shion saw her sister's depressed face. "Poor Nee," she thought, "Keiichi didn't end up eating her ohagi after all". As moonlight poured into Hinamizawa, the town became quiet except for the faint cries of the Higurashi. |
"Cicadas, even though their lives last only a few weeks, fall in love and disappear" ~Heed the roar of the mighty ocelot~ |
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