Higurashi Nikki

Chapter 1: Install Program

In the heat of summer, a teenage boy could be seen dragging a heavy metal baseball bat behind him. Behind him, it dragged along; creating a track in the dirt road. Sweat covered his brow and he was breathing hard. He wiped the sweat off his brown hair with the back of his hand and stopped by the side of the road. The higurashi, a species of cicada, sang around him and he sat on the grass bank. He dropped the bat and stared upwards at the sky. His arms hurt, in fact, his whole body did. A twig snapped behind him and a girl about his age walked out of the forest. The second the boy saw her, he drew a short breath in shock and tripped over himself. She was shorter than him and had soft orange-red hair. In her hand, she held a large cleaver. Despite a harsh expression plastered on her face, her eyes were wet.

"Rena…" the boy began, "Don't do this." He felt around for his metal bat, but the girl kicked it away and stood over him. As she did, his eyes grew wide in fear. She held her cleaver above her head and tears began to flow.

"Keiichi-kun…" she began to bring the cleaver down. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry… I'm sorry." As her apologies trailed off in a fervent storm, the cleaver's arc stopped.

"I'm sorry."

Keiichi Maebara rolled over in his bed, mumbling in his sleep. Slowly, he opened his eyes and squinted as the morning light filled his vision. It was another day in the rural village of Hinamizawa. Cicadas chirped loudly as he began to stretch and get dressed for the day. Just because it was a weekend, didn't mean he could slack off. The club games are a full time job, after all. He cracked a grin and slipped on his red singlet-vest. Picking up his new cellphone and his baseball bat, he threw open his bedroom door and dashed out of the house with just a rushed greeting to his parents. Getting on his bike, he began pedalling for all he was worth. Miss even a second of a club meeting and you're dead.

"Morning, Keiichi-kun."

A cheerful voice greeted him just as he tore around the corner. Framed by her red hair, Rena Ryuugu's smiling face appeared in Keiichi's vision.

"Are you heading to the club? Are you? Are you?"

As Keiichi's bike screeched to a halt, she walked over with a little spring in her step. Keiichi shot her a thumbs up, and let out a chuckle.

"Well, where else would I be heading in such a rush? There's no way Mion's letting me get off easy if I don't get there on time."

Rena's smile grew a little wider, and she began to walk along as Keiichi began to slowly ride his bike again. The summer heat warming up the air around them, they began their usual chatter.

"You know, Keiichi-kun, I found the cutest thing when I was treasure hunting yesterday. But it was too heavy to carry home."

"Well, that's no good. Do you remember where it was? Maybe I could help you carry it."

Rena nodded happily and pulled out a notebook from her pocket. It was a small pink book with a crude, chibi drawing of herself on the front.

"This is my special notebook, I use it to keep track of where cute things are so I can take them home later on."

This kind of conversation went on for the duration of the journey, two friends just happily chatting and laughing together. Eventually, they pulled in at a little toy shop in the middle of Okinomiya City and looked in the window. Almost immediately, a girl with green hair and a mischievous grin ran out to greet them.

"There you are! Uncle Mion was getting bored waiting for you. We almost decided to kick you out of the game all together."

"Hey!" Keiichi raised his fist and pointed to his watch. "We're ten minutes early. There's no way anyone else is here yet."

Mion gave a laugh and pointed into the shop with a wink. Inside two little girls of around 8 sat next to eachother at a table. Keiichi was clearly shocked. With a smug grin, Mion put her hands on her hips.

"No dice, Kei-chan. Rika and Satoko have been here for about 20 minutes now."

As the words left Mions mouth, one of the girls turned around. She had blue hair, big eyes and wore a light green dress. As soon as she saw Keiichi and Rena she tilted her head and beamed.

"Nipah~."

Rena shot into the building like a bullet at the sound. Picking the little girl up, she began rubbing her cheek against the girl's face.

"Haaaaau~" she sighed "I'm taking you home today, Rika-chan. I am, I am!"

The other girl, a blonde in a pink shirt and shorts, stood up and smirked as Keiichi and Mion joined the group at the table.

"Ohohohoho~. So, you decided to show up. How brave of you, Keiichi-kun. I was so sure you were going to chicken out."

Keiichi responded to this by flicking the girl in her forehead with his fingers.

"Yeah, right. There's no way I was going to pass up an opportunity to beat you in a game like this, Satoko."

Rika finally managed to squirm out of Rena's grip and returned to her seat. With a defeated expression, Rena took one as well. With a slightly clueless look around the table, Mion stood up and grinned widely.

"Right. This is a club game like no other. I'm not exactly sure what it's about myself, actually I don't know anything about it, but the village elders are making a huge deal about it so it must be pretty impressive."

Rika smiled and nodded. "That's right, sir. They even said something about the winner becoming a god at the last meeting."

Besides Mion and Rika, the group practically fell back on their chairs in astonishment.

"Seriously, Rika?!" Satoko's eyes began to shine with a sharp light, "Imagine the kind of things you could do if you were a god. You could get away with anything."

Eyes closed and smirking, Keiichi chimed in. "Of course. You could even look up women's skirts and no-one would even notice."

His crude comment was, naturally, met by a flurry of hi-speed punches from across the table. The owner of the onslaught, simply smiled with a sweet ignorance.

"If one of us becomes a god, we should make sure that the peaceful days we have now can continue forever. Though…" Rena's smile darkened a little, "I don't think that's likely. Only Oyashiro-sama is god here."

Rena's comment set an awkward silence through the room. Most of the group just decided to look around the room. After all, when you're dealing with someone as fanatically crazy as Rena, you don't want to say the wrong thing. Eventually, Rika piped up.

"It's okay, sir. As Oyashiro-sama's miko, I can guarantee that they're fine with this game."

Somewhere, a little girl with purple hair and two horns on her head sneezed.

In any case, Rena seemed satisfied with the response and nodded happily. The group gave a collective sigh of relief under their breath.

"Alright, then." Mion slammed her hand against the table as leader's do. "It's settled. We'll all take part in this game as our newest club activity. Any objections?"

Nobody said anything.

"Good." Mion grinned widely and pointed to the Furude Shrine at the top of Hinamizawa. "Rika told me the registration desk is up at the shrine so let's head over there. Last one up has to do a penalty game, alright?"

With a wink she strode out the door and got onto her bike.

Panting Keiichi finally managed to climb up the stairs. At the top, the rest of the group was waiting for him in front of a purple tent that had recently been set up.

"Yo, Kei-chan. Looks like you're last." Mion threw an evil smile which practically spelled out 'Punishment Game'. Satoko laughed and Rika began to pet Keiichi's head.

"You should really get more into shape, sir. Mii~." Despite her harsh words, Rika beamed innocently. Keiichi grumbled a little, but picked himself up and rejoined the group.

"So, we just register in the tent?"

"Uh-huh." Rena gave a happy smile. "All you have to do is go in and answer a few questions."

"Yep. Uncle Mion just finished herself." Mion laughed happily and began to push Keiichi in. "They say they'll let you know if you're in as soon as possible so hurry up and get in there."

With a final shove, Keiichi stumbled into the tent.

The tent was much bigger than it seemed. Dark purple fabric surrounded the two people inside the tent, sunlight filtering through and making them seem purple too. Behind a small desk, resting on a set of cushions was a little girl in a strange costume. She was tan, with long white hair that was done up through two large white cylinders. For clothes she wore a pink uniform and really short, white shorts. On her feet, she wore two white, large boots. As soon as Keiichi entered, she put down a manga she had been reading and sat up.

"Hey, there. Are you signing up for the tournament?" She grinned and whipped out a sign up sheet. "Because there's only one spot left, you know. Can't have too many players."

Keiichi looked at the strange girl behind the desk. She seemed… almost otherworldly. And the way she spoke…

"Hey, uh, strange question. How old are you?"

Feigning shock, the girl settled into a mischievous grin.

"Heh heh. You're asking because of how pretty and youthful I look, right? Well, too bad. A girl's got to have secrets, you know? Oh, the name's Murmur, by the way."

Keiichi sat down uncomfortably. On one hand, this girl gave him the creeps. On the other hand, he couldn't back out. Mion would kill him.

"Right. So, um… Where do I sign?"

He pointed to the sign up sheet in Murmurs hand. She sat up and put her fist against the palm of her hand as if she had a great idea.

"Oh, yeah. Just sign wherever you want. That should be enough for the boss."

Murmur giggled as she slid over the page. It was, funnily enough, just a blank sheet of paper. With a second of hesitation, Keiichi signed it in the middle. 'Keiichi Maebara'.

"Yeah, yeah. That looks good. I can read it and everything."

Murmur folded up the paper and put it in her pocket. Crossing her arms, she nodded to herself in satisfaction.

"Yep, it looks like we've got everyone we need now so I'll be heading off. You'll probably get all your stuff tomorrow if everything works out."

And then, with a cheery wave, she pushed Keiichi back out of the tent.

"Can't have you hanging around too long. I need to go do stuff now. Bye."

And with a final shove, Keiichi stumbled out of the tent.

Authors Diary: Slow Starts

Slow starts are a mixed bag, don't you think? Sometime's they're just long winded and boring, other times they can be a great way to set up the story. Sometimes the pacing has to start off slow to gain speed, you know? Stories are kinda like cars or trains, in that sense. Some are steam trains that pick up speed and some are bullet trains that speed into things from the very start. I'm jealous of those bullet trains. I have no idea how to start things slow. Oh? I'm rambling? Sorry, I better stop. Well, that's all from Higu Nikki for today. Next instalment will have our first battle and the reveal of some of the character's future diaries. Of course, it would be nice if you tried to guess what they will be. Actually, guess who the other characters will be while your at it. In any case, the tournament in Hinamizawa begins now.

~Diary Holder Zero: Author~