Whose personality mask's power comes from the heroic spirit?

"Oh my God! You have no idea how easy the witch is to talk to today!" In the reception room next to Mion's room in the Sonozaki house, Sonozaki Mion, who had successfully obtained the response of 'permission to stay temporarily' from Sonozaki Ryo, slapped her hands on the table and shouted with a surprised expression.

"It seems that the witch is in a good mood." Sonozaki Shion said with a curl of her lips.

The fact that Sonozaki Ryo actually took action for Hojo Sadoko somewhat changed Sonozaki Shion's impression of her.

"Meion, sit down first. We are going to hear the secret that Rika has been hiding until now!" Rena Ryuuguu reminded.

Chapter 8: Be honest, Rika Furute!

"In this place called 'Hinamizawa', there is a special endemic disease, the so-called 'Hinamizawa Syndrome'."

Sitting around the long table, Rika Furude began to talk about Hinamizawa Syndrome and how her life would be in danger next.

"Endemic disease?" Rena Ryuguya blinked in confusion, then turned to look at Sonozaki Mion.

Sonozaki Mion shook her head.

"I've never heard of such a thing."

"No one in the village knew about it," Furute Rika explained. "The disease was discovered during the war."

"Because the soldiers who set out from Hinamizawa began to behave strangely one after another."

"Once this disease strikes, people will start to become suspicious." Furute Rika lowered her head with a gloomy look in her eyes, "They will regard everyone around them as enemies."

"Surrounded by hallucinations and auditory hallucinations, the behavior becomes extremely violent... until the end, they will die from scratching the lymph glands with their hands."

"And the research on this disease has been inherited and continues until now."

"According to the research, it seems that all the people living in Hinamizawa are infected with this disease."

"However, as long as you live in Hinamizawa, you can avoid getting sick and live a normal life."

"The condition for the onset of the disease is leaving Hinamizawa and accumulating too much pressure in the heart, which causes delusions and paranoia."

“Depending on the circumstances, sometimes the onset of symptoms won’t be so obvious.”

"But once this disease breaks out, it generally cannot be cured even if you return to the village."

"There is no method that can completely cure it yet."

"The residents of Hinamizawa seem to have noticed this phenomenon a long time ago, but at that time, people did not regard it as a disease, but believed that it was caused by something else."

Rika Furude's gaze shifted slightly.

The 'Awuawu Alien' that was supposed to be floating there was not there at this moment.

"For example, there is a legend that evil spirits emerged from the Oni-no-Abyss Swamp and attacked humans."

It was a swamp on the edge of Hinamizawa village.

"This can be seen as a situation where many people became ill at the same time and the villagers started killing each other."

"Those rumors that angering the shrine god will bring about hauntings, and that those who disobey the rules will be severely interrogated... these may all be countermeasures thought up to prevent people from getting sick."

"By making everyone fear the god of the shrine, we can stop the fighting and conflicts."

"In this way, people will not doubt each other, nor will they have excessive stress, and the number of people who get sick will decrease as a result."

Except for Taichi, who already knew about Hinamizawa Syndrome, everyone present looked pale.

She was obviously frightened by the disease described by Rika Furude.

"But why hasn't such a horrible disease been published?" Keiichi Maehara asked nervously.

"On the one hand, there is no definite treatment yet, so even if it is published, it will only cause meaningless anxiety." Furute Rika looked around at the people with grim faces and explained, "And the other more important reason is that some people intend to use this disease as a bacterial weapon."

"Hey?"

"Bacterial weapons!"

The faces of everyone present turned horrified.

Oishi Zangren clenched his fist and slammed it hard on the ground.

"Those guys..."

"The place that conducted this research was the Irie Clinic... No, it should be called the 'Irie Agency', or the 'Takano Agency'. It was the place that studied Hinamizawa Syndrome and secretly turned it into a biological weapon."

"Hey? Wait, wait a minute!" Keiichi Maehara stretched out his hand to interrupt Rika Furute, "You mean, the Irie Clinic is actually a research institute that develops biological weapons? But why is it called the 'Takano Institute'?"

"Is this true?" Sonozaki Mion asked in disbelief, "The supervisor would actually be..."

"Irie and other employees of that clinic are researchers of biological weapons who were secretly sent here. Although Irie is the director on the surface,... based on their intelligence, the real head of that clinic is Takano." Rika Furude said and turned to look at Taichi.

"Them? So, they are also insiders? Or, they were also sent here secretly?" Sonozaki Mion looked warily at Taichi and Yukinoshita Yukino and Akane Shinjo who were sitting next to him.

"Sent? Where were you sent from?" After glancing at Taichi, Sonozaki Shion turned to look at Furute Rika and asked.

Since Rika-chan agreed to bring them here and to narrate publicly while they were present, it meant that they had obtained Rika-chan's approval. Sonozaki Shion felt that these people were worthy of vigilance, but it was not appropriate to show hostility at the moment.

"A secret organization called Tokyo," replied Rika Furute, "and that organization is also the sponsor of the Irie Organization."

"It was a secret organization formed by politicians, businessmen, military strategists and bureaucrats during the war years."

"Because there are few connections, I don't know much about those people. I just know that the organization seems to be involved in the complicated party and privilege disputes in the financial world."

"Those people really want to get this kind of biological weapon... Of course, this is a violation of the Biological Weapons Convention, so this kind of research is carried out secretly under extremely secret conditions."

"However, Director Irie is more interested in researching treatments for this disease. Thanks to Irie, Level 5 patients, which means patients with very serious conditions, can also suppress the occurrence of symptoms through injections."

"The bigwigs in Tokyo have enormous power, and the Irie Organization seems to be the product of their work with agencies at all levels."

"However, very few people know about this. In order to prevent the secret from being leaked, a special force called "Mountain Dog" has been monitoring the Irie Organization."

"This is the truth about the Irie Clinic."

Rika Furude slowly stood up and walked to Hojo Satoko, who had realized what she was injected with every day and was showing a look of horror. She held her in her arms and gently patted her shoulders and neck.

"Next, this is why my life is being targeted."

Everyone swallowed almost at the same time and looked at Furude Rika nervously.

"I just said that the condition for the disease to occur is to leave the land of Hinamizawa." Furute Rika looked sad, "But this statement is not accurate."

"In fact, my presence is preventing everyone from getting sick."

"If someone leaves my side, the Hinamizawa syndrome in that person will take effect."

"No matter what era, there will always be a 'Queen Infected' at the center of this disease's patients."

"That's the Furute Shrine clan."

"The queen infected is like a queen bee, able to release a special hormone that can act on the people around them and suppress the onset of their symptoms."

"Perhaps the residents of Hinamizawa know this subconsciously, so they value the women of the Furute family so much."

Rika Furude took the cup of water handed to her by Taichi and took a few sips to moisten her throat.

"Ah, wait a minute, so all the residents of Hinamizawa, including us, have been infected with this disease, right?" Keiichi Maehara asked, "Then, if Rika-chan was killed..."

"All residents will get sick," Furude Rika slowly closed her eyes and answered, "and then, just like the legend of evil spirits emerging from the Devil's Abyss, the whole village will kill each other."

"Ahem, let's move on to our topic." Taiyi cleared his throat with a few dry coughs, then said, "I think everyone should be curious about our identities... or rather, very wary."

All the members of Hinamizawa's protagonist group turned their attention to Taichi.

The vigilance in his eyes increased gradually.

"Well, first let me tell you about our origins."

"My name is Taichi Naruto, and the two people next to me are my companions, Akane Shinjo and Yukinoshita Yukino." Taichi first introduced the names of everyone on his side, and then put his hand on Oishi Kuratō's shoulder, "This person who looks exactly like the officer Oishi you know is called Oishi Kuratō... Yes, the Oishi Kuratō you know."

"We are from the future."

Except for Rika Furude, who already knew the origins of Taichi and the others, everyone's mouth slowly opened.

“Hey? Hey——!”

The first person to exclaim was Sonozaki Mion.

"Future?" Sonozaki Shion looked at Taichi and the other three in disbelief. "You four, are you?"

"Yeah." Tai nodded and replied, "Well, for some special reasons, I can't just say we are from a few years later."

"But what I can tell you is that in our time, Hinamizawa will be killed a few days after the cotton festival this year due to some 'unexpected factors', resulting in more than 99% of the people in the village being wiped out."

"Although the official explanation was that there was a gas explosion in the 'Demon's Abyss Swamp', this explanation was regarded as a hoax when the dam project was officially implemented two years later."

"Perhaps because of this reason, at our time point, the organization "Tokyo" no longer exists."

"Of course, these are all things that happened at 'our time point.'" Taichi patted Oishi's shoulder and continued, "In fact, according to Mr. Oishi, the person involved next to us, what is happening here is completely different from what he experienced."

"What happened to Hojo Satoko regarding her uncle did not happen in his experience, and Hojo Teppei never returned to Hinamizawa."

"Well, although I'm getting older and some of my memories have started to blur, I can say for sure that I remember Hinamizawa's memories of the period before the disaster very clearly." Oishi Kurando narrowed his eyes slightly and replied, "Because that was my last gaffe before I retired."

"At the same time, it was the most horrific scene I have ever seen in my police career."

"In the Hinamizawa disaster, more than 1,800 people died, and only more than 20 people are missing."

"Among them, Ryugu Rena's body was found in the woods the day before I retired after the disaster. Furude Rika's body was found behind the shrine's money box after the disaster."

"As for Hojo Satoko, she died of acute heart failure in the ward in the early morning of the day after the disaster due to a sudden deterioration in her condition. But now it seems that it was the "Mountain Dog" unit that massacred the survivors of Hinamizawa."

"Rena-chan, Rika-chan, Satoko-chan..." Sonozaki Shion covered her mouth and murmured in horror.

"So, we were all killed after a few days?" Sonozaki Mion stared at Oishi Kuratō and asked with some difficulty.

"Well... to be precise, it should be you at our time. After all, the development of events is different. I think our future should not be on the same line as yours." Oishi Zangren nodded and replied, "And I have seen your names on the list of victims."

"Although I don't know what method the Mountain Dogs used to kill more than a thousand people in the village without any external injuries in such a short period of time, now I think it should be the biological weapons they are currently researching."

"Then, what about the supervisor?" Hojo Satoko asked tremblingly in Furuto Rika's arms, "Was it him who did it?"

"No." Oishi Kōto shook his head and replied, "Before the great disaster, Irie Kyōsuke's body had already been found in the clinic. The cause of death was poisoning caused by sleeping pills."

"Although I don't know whether it was an internal conflict or some other reason."

"Because he was an opponent." Taichi interrupted Oishi's words, "Takano Sanshi's plan to kill all the villagers of Hinamizawa was opposed by Irie Kyosuke, so his life was arranged in advance."

"Then, Mr. Tomitake should have died for the same reason." Oishi Zangren narrowed his eyes. "In this way, some of my confusion has been resolved."

"Why was it that when Takano Sanshi's body was found, it was found that she had died the day before the Cotton Festival? Maybe she found a substitute to fake her death and escaped."

"Those guys! Just what do they want to do..." Sonozaki Mion slammed her fist on the tatami with a ferocious look on her face.

"So, within two days after the Cotton Festival, all the villagers of Hinamizawa will be killed." Kei Maehara said in a gloomy tone.

"Well, let's move on to the next topic." Tai nodded, then looked at Furude Rika, "About the deeper secret you've been hiding."

"What? There's more?" Rena Ryuguya looked at Rika Furude in surprise and asked.

"Well, next, we will touch upon a deeper secret." Rika Furude nodded and replied, "It's about how I want to protect everyone in the infinite reincarnation."

Chapter 666 Taiyi: I will attack, you guys will shout from behind

"...So, this is your nth reincarnation?" Pursing his lips, after listening to Rika Furude's story about her own reincarnation, Keiichi Maehara looked at Rika Furude in a daze and asked.

"...I can't remember anymore." Rika Furude shook her head and replied.

Sonozaki Mion looked at Furude Rika with some confusion, then shook her head, trying to give up the idea of asking other reincarnations.

After all, Rika Furude has already made it clear that the prerequisite for her reincarnation is her own death.

Seven out of ten deaths are caused by intestinal bleeding.

Sonozaki Mion felt cold in her hands and feet just thinking about how painful that kind of death must be.

"I didn't expect that everyone would believe what I said so quickly." Furude Rika looked around and found that her companions all had expressions of reluctance and confusion on their faces. None of them showed any distrust. She felt touched.

"What are you talking about?" Maehara Keiichi looked at Furute Rika and said, "If you don't even believe your partner, then you're doomed."

"Yeah!" Ryuuguu Rena nodded in agreement. "Just like Rika-chan believed in us and told us these things, we also believe in Rika-chan. It's that simple."

"Oh wow, the issue of mutual trust among young people, that's really good." Oishi Zangren said with a smile.

"Well, let's discuss the battle plan next." Maehara Keiichi clenched his fist and shouted, "After all, we have to stop them before this happens!"

"The plan is very simple." Taiyi spoke first before everyone was about to express their opinions, "You just need to get the permission of the head of the Sonozaki family, set up various traps inside the Sonozaki family, and turn it into an impregnable defense place to prevent sneak attacks."

"Leave the initiative to me." Taiyi tugged at his collar and replied, "Also, don't contact anyone else. After all, the final plan sounds too ridiculous. No one will believe it except the few people present here."

"Wait, you want to act alone? That's too dangerous!" Sonozaki Mion looked at Taichi in surprise and said.