COTE: When They Cry

Arc 1 - Prologue: The Certainty of Fate

A/n: Check out the A/n at the end for important information.

Arc 1: Dorei-ka no sho (奴隷化の章)

Was the world beyond the well, where the seasons meld together into a swirling world of color, truly wonderful?

Was it worth the severing of every tie, the breaking of every promise, and the screaming whispered in the silence?

Was the world beyond the well, a tapestry woven with threads of alien origin, a dream realized in brutal, blinding light, truly expected?

Was it worth the agonizing turmoil in the heart, with the echoes of the past lost in the silence?

Was the world beyond the well, vast as it was, truly liberating?

Was the memory of enslavement, however miserable, simply a price to pay for this blighting light?

- Frederica Bernkastel

* * *

Fate. The word is quite simple, it's a noun defined as: the will or principle or determining cause by which things in general are believed to come to be as they are or events to happen as they do.

Some view it as a beautiful thing, saying that the destiny before them would never let them down, that it was destiny that brought about their current position. Or even that the lover they find themselves dedicating their life to was their fated person.

And then there's another side, those who don't believe such a thing is real. They believe that they carve their own future through free will. In other words, because of their choices, they reached where they were at.

However, I can say with certainty: fate is real, and it is far more cruel than one could imagine. The reality is, even if we choose our actions, none of it actually matters. Free will only exists for meaningless choices at best, adding nothing of value to one's existence, altering nothing about their fate. And at worst, all their actions are predetermined. In the end, whatever fate had created for them, regardless of their possibly free choices, it would arrive all the same.

People can struggle and thrash all they want, they can vehemently deny that fate isn't real, but when fate's time has come, no matter the choices one has made, none of it matters. Fate in that sense is very much like a force of nature, a matter of course for the entire world.

Even if someone had the power to try and change their fate, it is impossible. There is no such thing as creating miracles. There is no such thing as breaking through fate itself. In the end, fate will still crush all those naive hopes. No matter the changes and the attempts they make, none of it actually matters. Their end is set in stone without any way to break through it.

That is fate, the cruel, ever powerful force that governs this twisted world. Maybe for some it may become a beautiful thing, but for me, I was stuck with a terrible fate. No matter how many times I rolled the dice, hoping for some sort of miracle to occur, it never did. The dice couldn't create a miracle, no matter how much I wished for it. It would always give me false hope, making me forget my place, until fate crushes it all again to remind me that miracles do not exist.

Even with my power to hop between fragments, from one to another, none of it mattered. Each fragment was predetermined from the beginning. No matter when I hopped into the fragment, my existence was already too late.

In a deterministic sense, every action determines the next action. In other words, the cause of one thing was caused by the previous. In other words, before I even came into existence, the future was predetermined. Even as a being separate from the universe, I lack the power to change anything at all. The reason is likely because the universe corrects itself with the sudden introduction of an alien variable, forcing its path back on the correct course.

After spending over a hundred years trying to fight that fate, nothing came of it. Time and time again I watched the tragedy unfold, being powerless in its wake. Even when I thought I could overcome my fate, the tragedy occurred again and again. And then, I had no more rolls. The dice had died. Leaving me to finally succumb to the tragedy.

And so, I find myself alone with Hanyuu. Hinamizawa is gone, never to return. For if I died, I would cease to exist, leaving me in that grave for the rest of eternity. So, I wish to live as long as I can in order to not squander the gift they gave me. Even if I am powerless against the time my end comes, I will live my life with as much happiness that I can.

A/n: Hello everyone, this is my first time writing a fanfic, so any suggestions are always welcome.

Anyway, now into business.

If you are a COTE fan, you do NOT need to read the Higurashi: When They Cry visual novel (even if I do recommend it). Nor do you need to consume one of its various adaptations. However, if you have any confusion about the Higurashi lore, I can compensate.

If you are a Higurashi (or When They Cry in general) fan, you do NOT need to read the Classroom of the Elite light novel (even if I recommend trying Year 1 of the LN). Nor do you need to consume one of its adaptations. However, the same as with what I said earlier, you can ask about anything regarding the COTE lore to avoid confusion.

I should also note that the Bernkastel of this story is the Higurashi Bernkastel, in other words, she had not yet reached the point of the Umineko Bernkastel.

One other note, some of the Higurashi canon has been somewhat altered to fit how the story works. And this is also a divergence from the main timeline in Chapter 7 (Minagoroshi). All alterations will be covered later in the series when they become important, if you want to know now, feel free to ask.

Anyway, until next time.