Higurashi Ch.3 (Pt 6): Neo's First Meeting With Ooshi Produces An Interesting Reaction From Keiichi
17[BLIND LET'S PLAY]
When Neo and Keiichi go to school the next day, both of them can't help but notice Satoko's absence from class. Apparently she is staying home sick, but with some information Neo recently acquired from some Tips about Satoko's uncle apparently coming out of the woodwork ever since his mistress disappeared, he can't help but think that there's a correlation between this event and Satoko suddenly being absent from school, even with little hard evidence to actually support it.
But what Neo can't help but find even more interesting than Satoko's disappearance is Keiichi's first proper meeting with the one and only detective Ooshi, who shows up during school hours and begins asking questions about Satoko of all people. What Neo finds interesting in particular about this encounter is the very strong feeling that Keiichi gets in the pit of his stomach upon seeing Ooshi that the man's very presence will somehow bring both him and everyone he knows misfortune the longer he's around, and this feeling quickly becomes so strong that Keiichi attempts to shoo Ooshi away. Ooshi doesn't take too kindly to Keiichi's attitude, to put it lightly, but luckily Coach shows up before the confrontation between Keiichi and Ooshi became something truly serious. Afterward, Coach takes Keiichi to the nurse's office, where Keiichi and Coach discuss some of the rumors surrounding Ooshi.
With Keiichi's intensely negative reaction to Ooshi at the mere sight of him despite not having met him before the events of this episode for Chapter 3, Neo decides at this point to really begin considering a theory surrounding the events of ALL the events of the three chapters he's experienced thus far that he's been thinking about at the back of his mind as early as the beginning of Chapter 2: That the main characters may be caught in some kind of time loop. If this is true, it raises several questions: What is the source of the timeloop, and how can everyone get out of it? Whatever is the meaning behind the various similarities between these chapters, as far as Neo's concerned these similarities simply CAN'T be a coincidence at this point...