Keiichi Maebara
Keiichi is the main protagonist in the first three "question" arcs. The son of a famous artist, his family recently moved to Hinamizawa after an unfortunate event involving him in their hometown. His charisma and remarkable talent for rhetoric, which earns him the nickname "Magician of Words," allow him to easily make new friends and become popular in the village, not to mention win some of the club activities. Early in the story, in the Onikakushi-hen arc, he is affected by paranoia and driven to commit murder; however, the inner strength and unshaken belief in his friends he acquires in the other arcs are one of the keys to solving the mystery. Eventually, he is even able to recall some of the events of the past repetitions. When he is in need of a weapon, he wields Satoshi's old baseball bat. It is later revealed in the story that before arriving at Hinamizawa, he grew weary of school and was the perpetrator of a series of crimes involving shooting children with a BB gun.
