In the final 'answer arc' of the New York Times bestselling series, the final pieces of the mystery in Hinamizawa fall into place! When her parents are killed in a terrible train accident, a young Miyo Takano is sent to live at an orphanage deep in the mountains. Little does she know that her parents' deaths are just the beginning of her hell, as the institution is run by a group of greedy, cruel men who care nothing for the grief-stricken girl. Subjected to abuses beyond imagining, Miyo and her roommates plan to escape, despite rumors of the terrible punishments that have befallen past runaways...

It's been almost a year since Natsumi and her family moved from the town of Onigafuchi. Her grandmother, a native of Hinamizawa village, fears that they will be cursed for abandoning the mountains, but Natsumi has never been happier, making new friends and enjoying school life. When a terrible gas explosion in Hinamizawa wipes out everyone in the village, her grandmother is convinced it is the wrath of the village god, Oyashiro-sama. Natsumi's family has never taken Grandmother's beliefs seriously, but her devotion to Oyashiro-sama has taken a frightening turn. Have the old woman's fanatical convictions gone too far?

One year after his disappearance, the police are no closer to finding Satoshi or solving his aunt's murder, and Shion is quickly running out of patience. Dressing alternately as "Shion" and "Mion," she positions herself as close to Keiichi as possible. Given that he too entered the forbidden Saiguden with this year's victims, Shion suspects he will be the next to be "demoned away." Shion hopes her actions will spur on the true murderer, so that when the serial killer does attack Keiichi, she will be ready.

In the twenty years since the Hinamizawa disaster, the small village has become a literal ghost town. Terrible rumors about the mysterious gas leak that claimed hundreds of lives have kept even the most curious at bay. But on this night, fate has led five strangers to the abandoned mountain hamlet-among them a certain Mion Sonozaki. As the footsteps of the living echo through the abandoned halls of Furude shrine, the sleeping demons of Hinamizawa stir once again...

After a year at boarding school, Shion Sonozaki flees the oppressive institution and secretly returns to her hometown in the mountains, telling only her twin sister Mion of her arrival. Though the Sonozaki family has kept the sisters apart to prevent conflict over who would become the next family head, Mion and Shion have remained close - enough so that Shion can easily impersonate her identical twin. When Shion encounters Satoshi Hojo in town, he is completely taken in by her "Mion" disguise. And Shion is quite taken with him...

Up until now, Keiichi's been having the time of his life with his new friends in Hinamizawa. But when their good-natured pranks take a deadly turn, Keiichi grows more and more suspicious about their involvement with the so-called "Oyashiro-sama's Curse." Turning to Ooishi-san for reassurance only confirms Keiichi's worst fears as dark secrets about Rena's past are revealed. Is it just his imagination? Or do his friends really mean to kill him?

Over the course of a hundred years, Rika relived her brutal murder over and over again through countless fragments before finding the world where she could live in peace. But even without the threat of certain death hanging over her head, this world is fraught with dangers. When she's in a terrible accident, Rika wakes up to find herself in the nurse's office-however she's not in her peaceful new world, but rather in an alternate June 1983 Rika is desperate to find a way back to her ideal fragment, but it may require her to do something drastic... The thrilling continuation of Higurashi WHEN THEY CRY

When her parents are killed in a terrible train accident, a young Miyo Takano is sent to live at an orphanage deep in the mountains. Little does she know that her parents' deaths are just the beginning of her hell; the institution is run by a group of greedy, cruel men who care nothing for the grief-stricken girl. Subjected to abuses beyond imagining, Miyo and her roommates plan to escape, despite rumors of the terrible punishments that befell past runaways.

When the minister of construction minister's grandson disappears amid protests against the dam project in Hinamizawa, detective Akasaka is sent from the Tokyo Police to investigate. Posing as a tourist, Akasaka becomes fast friends with Rika Furude, and the little girl almost makes him forget that he's on a mission to find a kidnapper But the sightseeing tour takes a sudden turn when Rika delivers a grave warning: Leave Hinamizawa...before you come to regret it...

The long-awaited 'answer arc' to the Higurashi WHEN THEY CRY Cotton Drifting Arc: Unable to provide an alibi for the night of the Cotton Drifting, Satoshi becomes the prime suspect for the murder of his aunt! As her friend is hauled away by the police, Shion steps forward as a witness to Satoshi's whereabouts that night, exposing her true identity in the process. Shion may have saved Satoshi this time, but her actions have put her in serious danger. What will the Sonozaki family do to Shion when they learn of her association with Satoshi Hojo? And what will they do to Satoshi?

After endless cycles of tragedy, Rika at last finds herself in an incarnation where she knows the true culprit behind her murder. With only a week before the Cotton Drifting Festival - and her demise - she and Hanyu are going to have to work fast to devise a counterstrategy. The past has shown that Rika can count on her friends for support if she is open with them about her fears. Even so, if she wants to unravel the plot that will ultimately destroy Hinamizawa, she's going to need help in higher places - but what evidence would convince an adult that the little girl's fear of death is founded?

Keiichi Maebara has just moved to the very small town of Hinamizawa. ?He's making friends and generally enjoying his life, until one day, when he learns of a grisly murder that took place in the little village. ?His friends won't tell him any of the details, which only adds to his uneasiness. ?At the town's yearly festival, he learns that there has been a death on that night every year for four years, and they're all attributed to the Curse of Oyashiro-sama, a punishment for those who supported the dam project that would have put Hinamizawa underwater. ??Another death occurs, and a policeman asks Keiichi for his help investigating what he suspects to be murder. ?He informs Keiichi that not only is there a death every year, but someone goes missing. ?He warns him not to tell anyone, especially his friend Mion Sonozaki, whose family was heavily involved in the anti-dam protests. ?Keiichi only becomes more suspicious, especially when he overhears Mion talking with his friend Rena about how the Oyashiro-sama's Curse would demand one more person. ?He confronts Rena about hiding things from him, and she acts like a completely different person, accusing him of lying, as if she knows he's helping the police. ?As Keiichi's paranoia mounts, he learns that Rena was listening in on a phone call between him and the police officer.

Following a lead on the kidnapping of the construction minister's grandson, Officers Ooishi and Akasaka spot a secluded outpost station that shows signs of recent traffic. A little poking around brings them face to face with the boy's abductors, and the criminals aren't going down without a fight. Once the boy is recovered, the dam project is put on hold, and it seems to be a happy ending for everyone. What could Rika's warning possibly have been about...?

Driven out of her mind by the murderous plot exposed in Takano's scrapbook, Rena is on the run from the police and her friends. When Officer Ooishi confronts Mion about the Sonozaki family's invovement in the murder conspiracy, Mion reveals a number of other scrapbooks, detailing even more outlandish theories to explain the string of murders in the village. But will this new development be enough to calm down Rena? Or, in her panic, will her next move put all of her classmates in danger?!

The Curse Killing Arc...The Time Killing Arc...As each incarnation of the terrible events in Hinamizawa unfolds, Rika Furude must watch as her friends descend into madness and despair, knowing the only fate that awaits her is death. With the unique ability to see all of these worlds, Rika desperately searches for the common links between them that will help her stop the cycle and give her and her friends a happy future beyond June 1983. But with less than a month before the cotton drifting in her current life, will Rika be able to change destiny in time?

Rena has taken extreme measures to protect her and her father's happiness, but such drastic actions have terrible consequences. When her friends learn of her crimes, they feel no revulsion toward Rena, but rather a sense of regret that they hadn't been able to help her and avert this tragedy. But even if they had sensed Rena's desperation, would her classmates' pity have transformed itself from sentiment into action? Hadn't they had the same opportunity to prevent tragedy a year earlier, when Satoshi Hojo was suffering abuse at home, and failed to prevent his desperate act of murdering his aunt? How much can Rena afford to trust in a place like Hinamizawa?