Keiichi Maebara

Keiichi Maebara is a teenage boy whose family settles in Hinamizawa after trouble back home. His father is the painter Ichirou Maebara, his mother is Aiko Maebara; their oversized house, nicknamed the "Maebara Mansion," is really just large enough for his father's gallery. Outgoing and quick with words, Keiichi settles in fast, joins the school "Club," and becomes close with Rika Furude, Satoko Houjou, Rena Ryuuguu, and Mion Sonozaki.

In Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, Keiichi is the protagonist of several Question Arcs. Hinamizawa Syndrome pushes him into paranoid delusions that his friends want him dead, and in his panic he kills Mion Sonozaki and Rena Ryuuguu, and later Satoko's abusive uncle, Teppei Houjou. Across the story's repeating worlds, he slowly learns to trust his friends instead — his stubborn belief that fate can be broken becomes the strength Rika Furude and Hanyuu lean on to fight Hinamizawa's curse.

His friends call him the "Magician of Words" for his gift of persuasion, a talent that repeatedly saves the Club from falling apart. Domestic skills are another story — he can barely cook and once nearly set his own kitchen on fire. In the Club's games he usually fights with the baseball bat that belonged to Satoshi Houjou; the two never actually meet, but Keiichi feels an odd kinship with him regardless.

Keiichi's protectiveness toward Satoko Houjou, whom he treats like a little sister, traces back to guilt from his old hometown: frustrated that his good grades no longer earned his parents' praise, he began firing an air gun at children walking home from school and accidentally shot a girl in the eye. That guilt is part of why his family left for Hinamizawa, and why Keiichi wants to become someone worth being proud of.