[Matrim]

Spoiler:

You know, after reading the TIPS for this epiosde my belief in the natural explanation was strengthened. With many villagers often expressing their belief that Rika is Oyashiro-sama's reincarnation, it's possible she herself had started to believe it, consciously or not, which would be the explanation for her Oyashiro-sama mode so to speak. The other option as LostBlue mentioned is that Rika deliberately made a scary prophecy as a means to make Akasaka remember her. The question then is - whose plan was that and how did Rika know about it? Maybe she does have prophetic abilities but that's the limit of the supernatural events in the story?

It's interesting that the kidnappers wear exactly the same type of clothes as the I’m guessing Higurashi is not much different. Rika is in the Whoopie role, knowing that she dies, and when she does, just loops back and starts over… so she tries a different tactic to avert death, failing each time. She’s also the only character to appear in all the arcs, so it makes more sense that she’s the real protagonist and not K1.people who chased K1 in the forest in episode 4. Not that these type is so rare but still it's an interesting peice of the puzzle.