Prologue (Onisarashi-hen)

Prologue is 139th chapter of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni manga and serves as the prologue to Onisarashi-hen.

Summary

Haruko Kimiyoshi scolds her daughter, Natsumi Kimiyoshi, for staying up too late. Natsumi says she just wanted to watch a movie and recommended buying a video tape recorder. Her mother tells her that she'll buy a VTR if Natsumi makes good grades in the first semester. Her daughter says that it's a promise and starts to walk to school. Natsumi's father comes into to living room and is surprised she had already left. His wife scolds him for being in his pajamas and tells him to hurry and eat breakfast. Outside, Natsumi passes her grandmother, who is weeding the garden. Natsumi is surprised that her grandmother is weeding so early, but she says that weeds grow faster in the morning. Natsumi says to herself that she has a very strict mother, an easygoing father, and a nice and gentle grandmother. Even if she can't say it all looks like a picture, it's close enough, because they're her beloved family. She continues by telling herself that school is boring, but her friends help her through it just by being with her. She says that she's a normal, happy girl.

On her way home with Chisato and Tamako, she passes a television. It says that the head of a mutilated corpse was found. The reporter says that the head is said to belong to a 70-80 year old woman. Tamako asks what happened, and Natsumi tells her that a rolling head of a granny was found. Tamako says that there must be a ripper on the loose. Natsumi says that rippers don't just cut off heads, and Chisato says they probably chop the entire body into pieces. Tamako says that Natsumi and Chisato are talking about it as if it was funny. Natsumi jokingly asks what she's talking about. Chisato says that more and more cases like this one are popping up recently. In Tamako's opinion, the people who do things like that should get the death penalty and can't be rehabilitated. Natsumi tells herself that things like this only happen on TV.

The scene changes to a girl sitting in the middle of a room. There are three corpses near her, and the room is covered in blood. Natsumi continues and says that sad tragedies like those only happens in movies. On a fuzzy television screen, someone says, "The rescued firstborn daughter of the family, Miss Natsumi, was found seriously wounded. She miraculously recovered, but due to a deep psychological trauma she...".

The scene changes to Natsumi laying in a hospital bed. A man approahces Natsumi and asks her if she remembers anything.