Matsuribayashi-hen

Matsuribayashi-hen (祭囃し編) is the eighth arc of the series as well as the fourth and final arc of. It is told from a variety of perspectives due to its unusual style of story progression. Matsuribayashi-hen serves as an answer to the entirety of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni.

Plot
Matsuribayashi-hen opens at the an orphange and follows four girls, Eriko, Tomomi, Kikuko, and Miyoko, as they attempt to escape from the facility and seek refuge in the Yurigaoka House of Love and Mercy. During the escape, Miyoko stumbles across a phone booth and uses it to call Hifumi Takano and begs him to help her. Shortly afterwards, Miyoko is found by orphanage workers and is returned to the facility. She quickly realizes that the other three girls had been captured as well and all four of them are tortured for their disobedience. Hifumi eventually shows up at the orphanage and rescues Miyoko. Hifumi adopts her and Miyoko takes the name Miyo Takano.

After this prologue, Ryukishi07 speaks directly to the reader who is then taken to the "Connecting pieces" screen. In the "Connecting pieces" screen, the reader goes through several specific TIPS scenarios, some of which are immediately available to read and others which can only be read after a certain other one is read. Below are all of the connecting pieces and their prerequisites.

After completing "Leftover pieces", "A piece from the Matsuribayashi episode" changes to have a broken overlay. By clicking once again on "A piece from the Matsuribayashi episode", the player can advance to the true game board.

The game opens with Hanyuu being introduced to the class of the Hinamizawa school as "Hanyuu Furude". After her first day at school, Hanyuu asks to join the club and undergoes an initiation similar to the one Keiichi Maebara undergoes in.

Meanwhile, Mamoru Akasaka is working on a special operation with the Tokyo police force. Upon the mission's completion, Akasaka obtains several important documents regarding corruption within the Japanese government. While looking through the documents, Akasaka sees one regarding the Irie clinic, which floods him with memories of his brief time in Hinamizawa 5 years prior. He remembers the predictions of Rika Furude and her requests for help. As a result of this, Akasaka decides to return to Hinamizawa and try to help Rika.

Despite her efforts in, Rika still cannot remember that Miyo Takano kills her. Hanyuu, however, does remember and desperately attempts to convince Rika of the truth. Eventually Rika understands her predicament and orchestrates a plan to avoid her impending death. Unlike every previous arc, Rika only has one week to fight Miyo instead of two weeks, a result of Rika's waning powers to turn back time. Rika meets with Jirou Tomitake, Kuraudo Ooishi Mamoru Akasaka, and Kyousuke Irie. She convinces Tomitake to investigate Takano and has Akasaka move into her house to keep the appearance of daily routines constant. Meanwhile, Rika and Satoko will move to the underground Sonozaki torture chamber and live there for a short time. Rika later recruits the rest of the club to help her fight Miyo, explaining the entire situation to them. The group develops the 48 Hour Plan, a strategy to debunk Miyo's theories of a queen carrier and thus nullify the Emergency Manual. By discrediting Miyo's research, the group can avoid both Rika's death and the extermination of Hinamizawa.

The plan begins several days in advance. Rika and Satoko move into the Sonozaki Estate while Mamoru Akasaka moves into Rika and Satoko's house to make it seem as if the pair are still living there. Kyousuke Irie periodically "visits" Rika and Satoko's house for checkups to further solidify the ruse. Satoko later sets up traps all along some of the nearby mountains. Jirou Tomitake moves hotels and plans on calling on the Watchdogs during his routine check-in with his handlers in Tokyo. On June 19, 1983, Ooishi "leaks" that a body that has been dead for over 48 hours has been identified as Rika Furude. The Mountain Hounds pick up on this information and relay it to Miyo Takano. Takano is outraged by this rumor and demands that the Hounds confirm themselves that the body does indeed belong to Rika. The Mountain Hounds attempt to use their police mole, Ohtaka, to identify the body. However Ooishi, along with Akane and Saburou Sonozaki, prevent him from doing so. After this, Takano turns to Kyousuke Irie and asks him about his recent visits to Rika's house. Irie maintains that he saw Rika recovering in her house to further confuse Takano, though Takano can tell that he's lying. Takano has the Mountain Hounds follow Irie and find Tomitake.

The Mountain Hounds quickly find Tomitake's hotel and manage to break into his room before he can call the Watchdogs. Tomitake jumps out the window and attempts to escape but is eventually subdued. Irie sees Tomitake get brought into the clinic and gets worried. Irie calls Akasaka to warn him that Irie is in imminent danger and then attempts to escape to the Sonozaki Estate in his car to find help to rescue Tomitake. The Mountain Hounds chase him and shoot his tires, causing Irie to spin out and crash. Miraculously, Shion Sonozaki and Tatsuyoshi Kasai drive by and see Irie's crashed car. The two help Irie into their own vehicle and drive him to the Sonozaki Estate. The Mountain Hounds follow the car via a tracking device on Irie's collar. A lengthy struggle between the Mountain Hounds, led by Okonogi, and the club members ensues. By escaping to the mountain laced with Satoko's traps, the club members manage to lure the Mountain Hounds into dangerous unfamiliar territory. A majority of the Mountain Hounds end up incapacitated by Satoko's traps. While the Mountain Hounds fights the club, Shion, Kasai, Akasaka, and Irie return to the clinic to rescue Tomitake. After a brief struggle with a few remaining Mountain Hound guards, the group manages to free Tomitake. While at the clinic, Irie reveals to Shion that he has kept Satoshi Houjou alive in the basement of the clinic. During the escape, the group takes Satoshi's unconscious body with them and join the club members on the mountain. The rescued Tomitake calls in the Watchdogs, who soon surround the Mountain Hounds and force them to surrender. Okonogi and the remaining Mountain Hounds confront Takano and tell her to shoot herself, allowing all the blame from the failed mission to fall on her shoulders. Shocked by their betrayal, Takano runs through the mountain forests in an escape attempt. She runs into the club members and holds them at gunpoint. After a short argument, Takano fires the gun at Hanyuu. Rika, finally fully understanding her power of miracles, grabs the bullet and nullifies its momentum, thus saving Hanyuu. Takano collapses, defeated, as the Watchdogs surround her. Just as they move to make their arrest, Tomitake interferes and claims that an investigation is being made into whether Takano is afflicted with Hinamizawa Syndrome and how that might have affected her actions. Tomitake comforts Takano and takes her to the Irie Clinic, thus saving her from arrest and persecution.

After the ordeal on the mountain, the club members manage to join the Watanagashi Festival and take part in the Festival's revelry. Hanyuu reflects on the journey to this perfect world and comments on the unprecedented future ahead.

Villagers

 * Rika Furude
 * Hanyuu Furude
 * Satoko Houjou
 * Satoshi Houjou
 * Rena Ryuuguu
 * Keiichi Maebara
 * Mion Sonozaki
 * Shion Sonozaki
 * Akane Sonozaki
 * Saburou Sonozaki
 * Ichirou Maebara
 * Rumiko Chie

Outsiders

 * Miyo Takano
 * Eriko
 * Tomomi
 * Kikuko
 * Jirou Tomitake
 * Kyousuke Irie
 * Kuraudo Ooishi
 * Mamoru Akasaka
 * The Mountain Hounds
 * Ohtaka

Mentioned

 * Hifumi Takano
 * Koizumi
 * Haruyama
 * Mochizuki
 * Colonel Oka
 * Karasu

Deaths and Disappearances
All deaths and disappearances are listed only as they are told in  and apply only for the individual arc, not the overall series.

Deaths

 * A janitor at the hospital Yukie Akasaka stayed at, slipped on a loose tile and fell down a flight of stairs June 1978.
 * The dam construction manager, beaten to death with a shovel and disembered June 1979.
 * Construction worker, dissected alive by Miyo Takano and Kyousuke Irie June 1979.
 * Satoko and Satoshi's stepfather, pushed off of a cliff by Satoko Houjou June 1980.
 * Satoko and Satoshi's mother, pushed off of a cliff by Satoko Houjou June 1980.
 * Rika's father, killed by the Mountain Hounds June 1981.
 * Rika's mother, dissected alive by Miyo Takano June 1981.
 * Tamae Houjou, beaten to death by Satoshi Houjou June 1982.

Disappearances

 * Satoshi Houjou, disappeared June 1982. It is revealed that Satoshi had been kept in the basement of the Irie Clinic since his disappearance.

Secret Ending
After completing the game once, a secret ending can be unlocked through the "Connecting pieces" screen. By reading the pieces in the order below, a 52nd piece can be unlocked.

Screen 1: 21　　23　　29　　13 11　　19　　26　　34 Screen 2: 3　　 8　　24　　 7 10　　22　　27　　33 Screen 3: 6　　 5　　14　　37 39　　25　　 4　　12 Screen 4: 35　　 1　　 9　　20 17　　15　　32　　31 Screen 5: 38　　36　　28　　40 30　　18　　16　　 2 Screen 6: 42　　41　　48　　43 44　　45　　46　　47 Screen 7: 49　　50　　51　　52

The ending follows Miyo as Miyoko Tanashi, before her parents' death. An unseen character, Frederica Bernkastel in the anime, approaches Miyoko on her way to a friend's house and asks her if she wants to live or die. Miyoko initially says she wants to live but inquires about what it means if she says she wanted to die. The unseen character says that, if she opted to die she would receive the 20th flag souvenir that Miyoko wanted to complete her collection. This statement leads Miyoko to believe that her parents are going to the mall without her, causing her to rush back home to join them. As a result, a miracle occurs and Miyoko's parents don't die on the train. Thus, Miyoko is never orphaned, never becomes involved with Hinamizawa Syndrome, and never becomes the villain "Miyo Takano".

Trivia

 * Matsuribayashi-hen is the chapter with the greatest number of different perspectives in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Virtually every major character narrates some part of the story.