Keiichi Maebara has settled into the quiet mountain village of Hinamizawa, but the calm cracks around the annual Watanagashi festival, held for the local deity Oyashiro. For four years running, the festival day has brought a death and a disappearance, which the villagers blame on the god's curse. In the nearby town of Okinomiya, Keiichi mistakes a stranger for his friend Mion Sonozaki and instead meets Shion, her near-identical twin sister, whose existence nobody had mentioned. This is the second question arc of the Higurashi mystery saga.