"Excuse me~."
"Yes yes yes, oh my, good afternoon.... um, who might you be?"
"Ah, hello. We are the Ryuugu family who has just moved in next door. I have came to offer our greetings. Pleased to meet you."
"My my my! Such a young child like you is moving into this backwater village? I see, I see, how nice of you to come! Ma! The new neighbour next door is here to greet us--!!"
"I can hear ya without yer yellin'! By the way, thanks for comin' all the way 'ere to greet us."
"Her name is Ryuugu-san. She said they moved into the empty house next door."
"............Ahhhhh! Yer Reina-chan aren't ya!? Ya got all big!"
"Ah, ahahahahaha. Yes, it's Reina. Your memory sure is good, hau~."
"Wha~, Ma, you knew her?!"
"'course I know her! Ah--, ya probably don't know 'cause ya lived in Okinomiya. She's the neighbour who lived next to us a long time ago.... I see, I see, so ya came back! It must be more comfortable living here in the village than the city after all."
"I don't remember much about this village since I've only lived here when I was little...... but I have always felt nolstalgic about it, it's like this place is where I belong."
"Then you'll get used to things 'ere in no time! If there's anything we can help with, just give us a call! Remember, being unreserved is the rule around 'ere."
"Ah, yes! Thank you very much."
Although I thought that maybe I'll be able remember the past if I walked around the village a little, I wasn't able to remember anything at all.
But I do remember this vividly fresh air and wind, unlike the drowsy kinds in the city, as well as these brilliant greeneries.
Although I don't remember much about the village... I do remember that this is the home town where I belong.
......Red scars still remain on parts of my body.
But they're really light scars, I wouldn't even be able tell they're there if I touch them with my eyes closed.
Chances are, even those scars will disappear too before I know it.
Now that I have returned to Hinamizawa like this, there are times where I wonder just exactly who I was back in Ibaraki.
...No, most likely, from the moment I left Hinamizawa, I wasn't myself anymore.
And then, by returning to Hinamizawa, I have finally regained my true self.......
Even if I try to recall what I was like back in Ibaraki, I can't remember much anymore except in vague images.
......It must be that weird red drug's doing.
That drug has erased my painful memories.
But.........maybe that was a good thing.
Because the me back then must've wished for forgiveness, that's why.
I couldn't forgive mother, I couldn't forgive Akihito-ojisan... and I couldn't forgive myself the most.
I wanted someone to tell me that it's not my fault. I wanted to be forgiven.
......And then, Oyashirosama apologized to me.
This is the fault of Oyashirosama's Curse, so it's not your fault, she said.
That's why I was able to forgive myself.
......That's why, I didn't have to tear apart all the blood vessels in my body and die from losing all my blood.
...I always thought that people who has been dirtied must die.
That's why I have always lived on while making sure my body doesn't get tainted, haven't I?
But, even with a dirtied body, I'm still living on like this. I have been allowed to live.
...Are there still any filth left on me?
Or has everything been cleaned up nicely? ...I don't know.
The only thing I do know is that... The me back in Ibaraki and the me here are two different persons.
And the fact that, I no longer have to worry about giving in to the dirtiness, and tearing myself apart anymore....
Night time. After managing to arrange the some of the furnitures and unpacking some of the packaged boxes, I ate a late dinner.
Even though Hinamizawa is nothing more than a fuzzy memory to me, dad appears to have remembered it like we only left yesterday.
"Although it was also around when we used to live here, that Watanagashi Festival seems to be becoming a really big festival nowadays. They say it's held near the end of June."
"......Watanagashi?"
"Daddy doesn't really know about it since I've never seen it either, but it seems to be an event where you would use cotton to absorb the filth on your body, and then let it wash down the stream."
To wash... the filth.
"......So filth is something you can wash away, huh?"
"Ahahahahaha, of course. Humans are sinful creatures, after all. Just by being alive, we gather filth as we go about our daily lives. So apparently, what we do is use cotton to suck them up once every year, kind of like cleaning your own body, and then throwing them away."
By doing bad things, people become burdened with filth and sins.
Although you can settle your crimes legally with court sentences...... the cross of sin, the filth will never go away for the rest of your life.
In other words... It shows that in the world of man, a man's filth cannot be cleansed by a man's hand.
...Since the filth cannot be cleansed by man, then we can only get gods, who have left this world for another, to cleanse it for us.... That's what I made of it.
But...... this Watanagashi thing really surprised me.
While being in the world of man, a man's filth is cleansed by a man's hand.
The filth is absorbed by the cotton, and then washed down the river.
......That's basically a way of saying "it's alright to live in this world".
Not being able to forgive myself, I have thought of dying.
Facing such a me, Oyashirosama apologized, forgave, and advised me to return to Hinamizawa.
And then, in Hinamizawa, there's a ceremony that cleanses filth called Watanagashi.
...This cannot be a coincidence.
Hinamizawa is... a place of filth cleansing.
It forgives sins.
It's a place of forgiveness.
"And that, is what they call a "Misogi", you know" (note: Misogi 禊, a ceremony of cleansing)
"...Ah... I've heard of that word before, I think."
"The Japanese culture is very strict towards these things called filths, don't you agree? You're not allowed to remain on the front stage if you leave behind some kind of filth. That's also the reason why politicians or company heads usually resign right away once people find out about their dirty deeds, you see. A dirtied person must leave the front stage....... To put it badly, the filth is basically just pushed onto someone and they're held responsible for it."
Sins and filths must be removed.
That's why people would push sins and filths onto some random person, and then try to remove the filth by cutting that person away altogether.
But if that's the case, then everytime filth is created, people would needlessly push around the responsibilities.
...And that is a very ugly thing, it's like watching the demons of this world.
That's why... people thought of pushing the filth not onto people, but onto the cotton instead.
By doing that, everybody would be able to live on without having responsibilities or sins or filths pushed onto them.
......You must go through a sacrifice to push everyone's sins onto someone and then kill that person.
Nobody wants to be a sacrifice.
That's why everyone pushes their sins around, desperately and uglily.
To replace that sacrifice role with something not human, that's the Misogi.
The thing that caused a dramatic change in the Japanese culture, which has always believed that a sacrifice would have to be killed, the Misogi.
In other words... it shows that, even if filth befalls upon us, everyone would be able to live on without having to make it somebody's fault.
A filth is now forgiven by a method other than death.
Only an existence higher than man can forgive a man.
Forgiven by Oyashirosama, I have returned to this place. And here exists a Misogi called Watanagashi.
Have the cotton absorb the filth of my body, and dispose of it by washing it away.
The sacrifice that is my body is not required. Which means, it is alright for me to live.
The filthy me disappears into the river...... So that means, the me here is no longer Ryuugu Reina anymore.
If I'm not Reina... then I'm Ryuugu... what?
Having all the filthy and icky things washed away clean, what is my name now?
.........Floating into my mind faintly, a single name.
That is my name. Although it's just one hiragana pulled from Reina...... It felt kind of cute. (note: Reina is spelled in hiragana as れいな, Re-i-na)
All the "i"cky things are now gone and forgiven. (note: "I"yana koto / "い"やなこと, "unpleasant things")
So, I'm not Reina anymore.
My name is-