Higurashi: When They Cry

After losing a bet, Keichi, Mion, Rena, Satoko and Rika parade around the town in costumes. When they come to a fork in the road, they decide to go to Yagouchi, a nearby abandoned village. Once there Keichii and Rena learn the mystery of a strange haunted quarry as they debate whether or not to check it out.

Realizing that he forgot to pack his bathing suit while rushing to meet his friends at the pool, Keiichi borrows a pair of trunks from Mion's uncle, who claims that these trunks have the magical ability to make women attracted to whoever writes their name on them and wears them for three hours. Later, Mion hears from her uncle that he had made a mistake in describing the abilities of the trunks, revealing that the person whose name is written on the briefs will fall in love with the wearer, meaning Keiichi, who had written his own name on them, will fall in love with himself.

Now that she and her friends are finally free from the eternally repeating tragedies of June 1983, Rika has a new lease on life. While biking with her friends, Rika carelessly collides with an oncoming truck and is apparently killed; when she awakens, she finds herself in another Hinamizawa. However, this world is quite different from other worlds in the past: Keiichi, Takano, Irie, and Hanyuu are nowhere to be found; she is no longer close friends with anybody, Satoko being particularly hostile; the dam project that threatens to flood the town is still underway; and none of the successive tragedies she witnessed countless times happened at all, meaning Satoshi and her own parents are still around. For the first time in her life, Rika is at a complete loss for what to do.

Keiichi Maebara, a student who recently moved into the village of Hinamizawa, is invited by his new friends at school to join their club. But while searching for treasure at a garbage dump with Rena Ryugu, he discovers the village is not as peaceful as it seems.

The annual Watanagashi Festival finally starts, and everyone has fun feasting and playing games. However, in the following day, Keiichi is interrogated by chief police officer, Oishi, about a crime that occurred at the night of the festival, and he starts fearing the villagers might be involved in this and other similar incidents, like Oishi suspects.

Delving further into the mysteries surrounding the village, Keiichi's paranoia grows after he starts to suspect that someone might be after his life.

Mamoru Akasaka, with an assistant, visits the abandoned town of Hinamizawa in the year 2007, and meets with Officer Oishi. They still wonder about the Great Hinamizawa Disaster that decimated the town and the connection to Miyo Takano's File No. 34. Rena shares with them the little knowledge she has about Rika's strange behavior, shortly before the supposed "gas leak", and Akasaka recalls his meeting with the young Rika as well.

Back in June 1983, the club participates in a game of "zombie tag". On their way home, they run into Irie, Tomitake, and Takano, who tell Keiichi about the yearly murders known as "Oyashiro-sama's Curse". However, he understands why his friends hid it from him and doesn't resent them for it. Regardless, this fails to reassure Rika, as she grows progressively depressed as the day of the Watanagashi Festival approaches.

Satoko worries about Rika's depression and tries to confront her about it, but Rika continues to deny anything is wrong. In the middle of the night, Satoko is woken by Rika arguing with a mysterious voice, and telling her she will soon be murdered, and there is nothing that either of them can do.