Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Fan Fiction ❯ Shiori (Part one in the Rejected Rei Arc series) ❯ Arrival ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter 1: Arrival

 

It was a beautiful summer afternoon in the rural village of Hinamizawa. The temperature was perfect for being outside. Keiichi Maebara lay on his couch, sound asleep. A copy of one of his favorite manga books lay open with the pages down, on his stomach. Some soft snores escaped his lips.

 

“Yeah…that's it, Mion…” he mumbled between snores, “That's how I like it…”

 

Keiichi rolled over in his sleep and fell off his couch with a loud thud. The impact woke him instantly. His eyes shot open and he looked around fervently. He realized he was in his house. Don't you hate those realistic dreams? The sudden sound of his telephone made Keiichi jump. He stood, streached, and went to answer.

 

“Yelo, Maebara residence. Keiichi speaking.” He answered groggily.

 

“Hello, Keiichi.” A deep voice said from the other line, “Is your father home?”

 

Keiichi lowered the receiver and placed a hand over the speaker.

 

“DAD! PHONE!!” he called.

 

A couple minutes later, Mr. Maebara entered the room and took the receiver from his son. Keiichi went back to the couch and fell asleep almost instantly, trying to return to his good dream. Mr. Maebara's eyes opened wide in fear as he heard what the deep voice had to say. He nervously looked at Keiichi and gulped. Well, this day had to come eventually…

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The next morning was pretty normal for Keiichi. He got up, ate breakfast, got dressed and headed for school as usual. But one thing was different for him today. He had spent all night practicing how to place his words and had actually raked a brush through his messy hair that morning. He had made up his mind. There was no turning back now. Along the way, he met up with Rena. Always happy, peppy, cute Rena. One question from Keiichi, and she started rambling off about the so-called cute things she found the other day in the dump. It wasn't long before the two met up with Mion, who cracked her daily joke which always revolved around Keiichi or what was below his belt. It was now that Keiichi opened his school bag and pulled out something he kept hidden from Rena, for the time being: a tennis ball with two plastic googly-eyes he glued on last night.

 

“Hey Rena?” Keiichi asked.

 

“What, Keiichi-kun?”

 

“See the cute thing?”

 

Keiichi held out the googly-eyed tennis ball. He moved at around. Rena's eyes were glued to it.

 

“It's cute! CUTE! Please, can I have it Keiichi-kun???” Rena pleaded, hopping around.

 

“Go get it!” Keiichi laughed.

 

He threw the tennis ball to the school with all the strength he had. Rena took off, shouting happy things. She won't be back. Once she got the tennis ball, she would run into Rika and Satoko and attempt to kidnap them in her “take-home” mode. Keiichi had plenty of time.

 

“What was that, Kei-chan?” Mion laughed, watching the cloud of dust that followed Rena's feet.

 

“Getting rid of her.” Keiichi smiled.

 

Mion just gave him a confused stare. She tilted her head a little. Keiichi could feel his throat start to choke up. After all his practicing, he was beginning to forget the words!

 

“Hurry it up, Kei-chan! School starts soon!” Mion said, annoyed.

 

Ok, forget the rehearsals. He would just have to wing this and hope it doesn't make him sound like an idiot.

 

“M-Mion, I'm just gonna say it…” Keiichi said quietly. His chocolate brown eyes bored into her green ones. “I…I really…” Keiichi gulped. “I-I really li-like you, Mion…I-I mean…seriously, I really do.”

 

Mion blinked a couple times. Were her ears working right? He had just confessed to her! Mion had been dreaming of this day for a while! It was the exact same as she imagined it.

 

“Kei…Kei-chan…” she said in disbelief. Mion shook her head to clear it. “I…I never knew you actually liked me too…”

 

Keiichi approached her and gently took her hand in his, blushing slightly.

 

“Come on, let's get to class before it's too late.” He smiled.

 

Mion nodded quickly and half-ran to school with him. Keiichi's hand was so warm…was this all a dream? No…this was too real to be a dream. It wasn't too long before the two reached the school. Sure enough, Rena was standing outside, swinging Rika around and squealing. She even carried Rika into the school building with her. Rika just went along with it, knowing she'd be put down eventually. Mion offered to go in the classroom before Keiichi so she could disarm Satoko's daily traps.

 

“No. I don't want you getting hurt.” Keiichi replied sternly.

 

He threw open the door, ready to jump over, dodge, or hit away anything Satoko had set up. Nothing happened. Satoko hadn't finished filling up the washbin with water yet. Keiichi triumphantly entered the room and took his seat, feeling pretty good that he wasn't soaked, covered in chalk, or hurt in general. Mion followed him and sat on his desk. She had just finished saying how she would pick on him less when Satoko re-entered with the washbin in her arms. She threw a small hissy fit when she discovered Keiichi was already in the classroom. Their small spat was cut short by Chie, their teacher, entering the classroom.

 

“Ok everyone. To your seats.” She mumbled.

 

Her face was buried in a heated romance novel. Right now, Chie could care less about her students. She took her seat at her desk, her eyes darting fervently across the pages. Sudden;y remembering something, Chie took a brief pause from her book and looked at her class.

 

“Oh right. We have a new transfer student coming in today. They should be here shortly.” She announced.

 

Chie returned to her novel, tuning out her students excided chatter. Satoko hastily set up her washbin trap anyway, and stretched a trip-wire taught by the door for the newcomer.

 

“So, who do you think the new kid is?” Shion asked, leaning her cheek on her fist.

 

Deep inside, she wished it was Satoshi. On her last daily visit, Irie had reported that Satoshi's brain wave lengths were almost back to normal. But, at the same time, Shion didn't want to get her hopes too high. The odds the newcomer was Satoshi were pretty low.

 

“Rena hopes it's someone cute!” Rena squealed.

 

“Mi, whoever they are, I hope they're nice.” Rika smiled, “Ni-pah~!”

 

Not too long after the 6 friend's discussion, the classroom door opened slightly. All 16 students went silent as the door opened all the way. A nervous-looking girl entered the room. She wore a pale pink shirt with loose sleeves that stopped at her elbows. Around her waist was a pale navy blue skirt. One section of her short tan hair was braided with a red-purple ribbon twisted in the braid itself. Her aquamarine eyes looked around nervously. Her complexion was near perfect on her pale skin, and her chest rivaled Mion's.

The second the nervous teen was fully in the classroom, she triggered Satoko's washbin trap. The surprised girl was now soaked from head to toe. Her face was hidden by the washbin. The girl wobbled a little and her red sneaker snagged on Satoko's tripwire. She fell over on her backside. The class would have laughed if it didn't look so pathetic. All the students ran over to help. Keiichi somehow got closest to her.

 

“H-hey, are you alright?” he asked.

 

The girl lifted the washbin enough to see who spoke to her. The instant her eyes rested on Keiichi, her face lit up like a Christmas tree.

 

“Kei-Kei! It's you!!” she smiled.

 

Keiichi froze. There was only one person who called him “Kei-Kei”…

The strange girl removed the washbin all the way and jumped on Keiichi, embracing him. Before Keiichi knew it, the girl had pressed her mouth to his, passionately kissing him. Keiichi didn't know who was more shocked: the onlookers or him.