After reliving the events leading up to the tragedy in Hinamizawa again and again, Rika notices that things are strikingly different this time around. Key events that drove her friends to madness and self-destruction in earlier incarnations are resolved, and Rika suspects that her classmates are beginning to remember the horrors that resulted from choices made in those previous lives. Though the change in her friends gives Rika hope, some people in town will never change. When Satoko's uncle returns, the bruises on the little girl's body are proof of his cruelty. Will a tragedy Rike did not forsee rekindle the madness in Hinamizawa?