A: "Okay, let's check it out." B: "This is unrelated. Let's go on."
A: "Okay, let's check it out." [X] B: "This is unrelated. Let's go on."
YUKARI: "You're right... It might actually be related to all this."
YUKARI: "Let's go inside."
CHISATO: "Right."
YUKARI: "The air in here is cold..."
CHISATO: "But not just cold... It also feels really... crisp, doesn't it?"
YUKARI: "I wonder what this shrine is for?"
CHISATO: "Me, too..."
YUKARI: "Mika's... not here, though, huh."
CHISATO: "Yukari, look, over there."
YUKARI: "What?"
CHISATO: "There's a notebook, see?"
YUKARI: "Ah, this? It says: «1963, Sakura Himegami»..."
YUKARI: "...Wait a second! This belongs to Sakura Himegami?!"
CHISATO: "Probably..."
CHISATO: "Yukari. Let's read it."
CHISATO: "Perhaps it'll help us understand why she took Mika here."
A: "You're right. Let's take a look." B: "Let's leave it be."
A: "You're right. Let's take a look." [X] B: "Let's leave it be."
YUKARI: "You're right... After all, right now, we know nothing about Sakura Himegami."
CHISATO: "Yes..."
SAKURA: «Today marks the second anniversary of my older sister's death.»
SAKURA: «To think so many years have already passed since it happened...»
SAKURA: «Soon, I will be 17 myself.»
SAKURA: «The day draws near...»
SAKURA: «The day on which I will have to fulfill the same role as Hinashiro's maiden, just like my sister.»
SAKURA: "Mika..."
SAKURA: "Do you know anything about the maidens of Hinashiro?"
MIKA: "Can't say that I do..."
SAKURA: "They are young women, destined to appease the misfortune that accumulates in the O-Dairi River."
MIKA: "...?"
MIKA: "Wait. Is this something like that recent reincarnation and suicide thing? Cause in that case, I pass!"
MIKA: "That kind of fantasizing is just weird and creepy!" [It's difficult to summarise here what this refers to, so please see the video description for more info.]
SAKURA: "No..."
SAKURA: "I'm not talking about any kind of fantasies."
SAKURA: "A long, long time ago..."
SAKURA: "...they really threw girls into this river."
SAKURA: "They say the first girl was offered as a sacrifice to the river, asking for a different girl's illness to be cured in exchange."
SAKURA: "The girl they chose to sacrifice had done nothing wrong."
SAKURA: "She was chosen simply because she was an illegitimate child."
SAKURA: "She kept crying and apologising, even though she hadn't done anything, but they threw her in the river, anyway..."
SAKURA: "...and it is said that in exchange the other girl, the sick one, was indeed blessed with good luck and health afterwards."
SAKURA: "What was the worth in all this?"
SAKURA: "I do not see it."
SAKURA: "The sacrificed girl was robbed of her right to find happiness."
SAKURA: "What had she done to possibly deserve this?"
SAKURA: "Did the worth of her life only amount to serving as a replacement for another girl to live?"
SAKURA: "I find that..."
SAKURA: "...unacceptable."
SAKURA: "In the end..."
SAKURA: "...the sacrificed girl's sadness disrupted the flow of the river..."
SAKURA: "...and thus brought calamity to this land of Hinashiro."
SAKURA: "The girl's spirit was filled with grief and loneliness, and in order to calm it..."
SAKURA: "...the people called for more sacrifices."
SAKURA: "This is how the maiden of Hinashiro were born."
SAKURA: "And I... belong to such a family lineage of sacrifices."
SAKURA: "Every daughter born in such a family..."
SAKURA: "...carries a natural spiritual power since birth."
SAKURA: "In order to appease whatever sadness or trouble befell the rest of Hinashiro's young women..."
SAKURA: "...and to prevent the O-Dairi River from getting disrupted and causing a calamity again..."
SAKURA: "...they have to sacrifice their own lives when the time comes."
MIKA: "......"
SAKURA: "I still remember it clearly..."
SAKURA: "That summer when I started the desk correspondence with you..."
SAKURA: "When in the late hours of the setting sun..."
SAKURA: "...I would watch the mountains behind school from the library's window."
SAKURA: "In moments like that, I clearly heard them..."
SAKURA: "The voices of numerous young girls, calling me..."
YUKARI: "I can't believe it..."
YUKARI: "I mean... I thought the custom of Hinashiro was just about letting dolls float down the river, wasn't it...?"
CHISATO: "It's possible that the sacrificial ceremony has changed over time..."
CHISATO: "At some point they started using dolls, but originally... they used human beings."
YUKARI: "But nowadays the river is underground, anyway! There is no need for any of this anymore!"
HISATO: "Even if you buried the river, that doesn't mean you also buried the pain of these girls."
CHISATO: "The sadness they feel makes them constantly call out to new girls and lure them here..."
CHISATO: "And so they keep piling up emotions of grief and suffering in this place..."
CHISATO: "These emotions also are what called Mika here."
YUKARI: "This is insane..."
YUKARI: "Hm? Chisato, what are you looking at all of a sudden?"
CHISATO: "Look, Yukari... There, outside the window..."
YUKARI: "Outside the window?"
YUKARI: "That's... Mika! What is she doing there?"
CHISATO: "And the person with her..."
YUKARI: "That must be Sakura Himegami..."
CHISATO: "Oh, Mika..."
YUKARI: "Mika! What the hell are you doing there! Mika!"
"Mika!"
MIKA: "Yukari...?"
SAKURA: "Mika..."
MIKA: "Sakura, I'm sorry, but I have to go home now."
MIKA: "I just heard... my friend's voice."
SAKURA: "Why?"
MIKA: "Huh...?"
SAKURA: "Why are you going home?"
SAKURA: "This place is where you belong."
MIKA: "What do you mean?"
SAKURA: "I..."
SAKURA: "We..."
SAKURA: "We all don't want to be separated from you."
SAKURA: "Don't go..."
MIKA: "But..."
YUKARI: "Can she not hear me...?"
YUKARI: "Should we step outside?"
CHISATO: "No, Yukari, try to remember..."
CHISATO: "This place was right in front of water. There's no way a window in that direction would show such a scenery."
YUKARI: "Then what is this?!"
CHISATO: "I think this shrine and that forest we see are connected."
YUKARI: "But if our voices don't reach the place on the other side of that window, then what should we..."
SAKURA: "My dear Mika..."
SAKURA: "Do you not... like being around me?"
MIKA: "H-huh?! No, that's not it..."
MIKA: "But, you know... My friends are going to be mad!"
SAKURA: "They have a lot of other lights in their life."
SAKURA: "As for me, on the other hand..."
SAKURA: "The only light I have here... is you, Mika..."
MIKA: "But... Why..."
SAKURA: "And it's not just me..."
SAKURA: "Here..."
SAKURA: "Listen closely..."
SAKURA: "Everyone is saying they don't want you to leave..."
SAKURA: "Everyone is..."
MIKA: "...!!!" VOICES: "That girl..." "That girl is the right one..." "That girl came for our sake..."
"Come closer..." "I don't want you to go..." "Please don't leave..."
"I won't let you leave..." "Why do you want to leave us...?" "Stay with us..."
"Stay with us forever..." "Stay here..." "Don't go away..."
SAKURA: "Dear Mika..."
SAKURA: "Please..."
SAKURA: "Stay here!"
SAKURA: "If you were to leave us..."
SAKURA: "...we..."
SAKURA: "...might end up causing something sad to happen again."
MIKA: "......"
YUKARI: "... Wait, can she actually hear us?"
CHISATO: "I think so. The place she is in now is very far away, but in a way, it is also very close."
CHISATO: "This window is no indicator of the actual distance to her."
CHISATO: "If it's really necessary, then our voice will reach her."
CHISATO: "Yukari, please... We've made it this far. Don't give up now, no matter what!"
YUKARI: "But... I'm not confident that I really can..."
CHISATO: "Don't say that! The voice that is most capable of reaching her, that is your voice, Yukari!"
YUKARI: "But... I might fail..."
CHISATO: "Believe in yourself... Please!"
CHISATO: "If you lose confidence now, your voice will stop reaching her!"
A: "Understood. I'll believe in myself." B: "I'll try, but I'm not very confident."