Woman
Episode 3: "Being a Mother. And Being a Daughter"
Sister.
Nice to meet you.
This is kind of a strange feeling... yeah.
A feeling of shyness... Something like that...
The flow that comes from meeting your own Onee-chan.
Aoyagi-san!
Mom, it's Riku!
Excuse me, I have to go.
Riku!
Ah... thank you.
I'm sorry for worrying you.
Hot, isn't it?
There.
Ah...
There's that, isn't there? There's some way of putting it...
...but he's a happy-looking person, isn't he?
- You can't see dead people, can you? - I can't.
Was it an illness?
It was just an ordinary morning...
At the time he left?
I didn't have any premonitions at all about it.
We ate a normal breakfast together of an omelet and salmon.
He took his bento and waved at me.
"Bye!"
On that day I took Nozomi to the public pool.
When we came back that evening...
...I then made dinner.
But, it was getting late and he hadn't returned.
"Is it because of work?" I thought...
So I wrapped up his dinner and put it in the refrigerator.
I put Nozomi in the bath.
And then I got a call.
It was from the police.
"Are you Aoyagi-san? Are you his wife?"
"Come to us right away," they said...
And so I went...
"Your husband is a molester..."
"...and when he tried to escape..."
"...he fell onto the tracks," they said.
"He died after being run over by a train."
This child was sleeping...
I held her in my arms and put her face here.
I could hear the sound of her breathing.
I could smell the sweet odor of her strawberry toothpaste.
Sorry, I got up.
But you're late.
Yeah.
What is it?
Though they said that...
...I'm not sure what occurred.
They said that on the train...
...he was suspected of groping a high school girl.
Seems the passengers around him tried to drag him down.
Then the pears he had with him fell out...
...and while he was trying to pick them up...
...someone pushed his back from behind.
After the incident occurred...
...both the high school girl who first said, "He's a molester"...
...as well as the person who had pushed him disappeared...
...so that it became nothing but this vague...
...unbelievable story.
The only thing that could be said was that he had died over there.
I thought how he had died was just a lie.
I thought his death was just a lie, too.
Do you know this man?
He was someone who had come to our house once before, wasn't he?
He was Aoyagi Koharu-san's marriage partner, wasn't he?
Shiori, you said you had gone over to a friend's house that day...
Because all of you were getting along so well together...
...I thought it'd be wrong of me to disturb you, so I didn't call out.
Getting along well, huh...
You had prohibited me from Aoyagi-san... And by saying "prohibited"...
I wondered if there wasn't a feeling of tacit approval behind it.
You had no reason to meet him, now did you?
- I didn't meet him. - Then why did you draw this?
I saw the newspaper...
...and I thought, "Ah, he's dead."
I didn't know about that until just recently.
I saw it by coincidence and thought, "Eh?"
"Should I draw him?" Could you call it curiosity?
That's just in bad taste, isn't it?!
He was my brother-in-law.
- He was someone unrelated to you. - He was, wasn't he?
- Through my Onee-chan. - Don't call her "Onee-chan"!
Yes...
Don't draw such pictures.
I was shocked by this.
I'm sorry.
You didn't think of looking around for them?
I mean the persons who were involved; like the high school girl...
...or the person who pushed him from behind.
Even if I had done that, it wouldn't have brought Shin-san back.
If I had met those people...
...I couldn't have gone on being their mother.
Because I think I would have become uncontrollable.
Just in case, let us perform a bone marrow test.
What I call "bone marrow" is the system that creates blood.
That functionality has decreased in you, Aoyagi-san.
Yes.
It's just that when I heard about your case, Aoyagi-san...
...I thought it was simply from malnutrition.
Yes.
This is your consent to having anesthesia and for collecting your bone marrow.
- Please bring it with you the day after tomorrow. - Yes.
Um...
- How much money will all this cost? - How much?
Because you bear 30% of the burden, will it be about 15,000 yen? ($150)
Yeah. About that much.
Ah...
I'm sorry but I guess I'll have to go without the exam.
I'll be fine.
You won't be fine.
This is about your health, isn't it?
If this is a disease and if you were to collapse...
...would you still be sorry over that 15,000 yen?
Yes...
I'm sorry.
Are you heading out?
Eh?
Ah, why?
Well, um...
I thought I'd go to Abiko-san's place and finish that round of Shogi with him.
Abiko-san's been hospitalized and is under ventilation, isn't he?
That's true.
In that case, I'll pay him a sympathy visit.
There are no Shogi boards in the hospital room, are there?
I'll bring it along with me.
Geez... It's only natural I'd have to bring that along!
Ah, then take it in this. Here, here.
Here.
This...
Ah, while you're at it, return these to Abiko-san's wife.
What is it?
Volumes 1 to 25 of the manga "Glass Mask."
When you come back, borrow Volumes 36 to 49 from her for me.
Couldn't this wait till some other time?
You're all dressed up, aren't you?
Koharu-chan?
Koharu-chan, are you in?
Ah, I'm sorry.
- Ah, go ahead, go ahead. - Excuse me.
Let me get through. Yes, I'm sorry.
Ow... That hurt.
Ow... Ow! Ow! Ah, that hurts...
- Nozomi-chan. Nozomi-chan! - Eh?
Don't you remember this Oji-san?
You're Sloth-san, aren't you? What is it?
"What is it"? Let's see...
I came to visit you.
- I've got homework. - Ah, I see...
Wait, just now I had something happen to my hip...
For the time being, could I come up to your apartment?
Look, I promised I wouldn't do that with strangers.
Ehh... I'm not a stranger, now am I?
I know you, but you're not a member of the family, are you?
I have to be practical.
You could say that letting me in there would be practical.
Then if just one person is okay, then any number of people would be even better, right?
Yes, yes...
Then until your Mother comes home...
...I'll wait here.
Bye-bye!
Ah... Ow, ow...
Your police car turned out well, didn't it?
- It's a cow. - A cow?
A cow, huh... Ah, it is a cow, isn't it?
I'm fine, I'm fine.
I'm much better now. Thank you.
Here...
Is that cake delicious?
It's delicious.
Riku, your mouth.
Umm, you've had your fill...
Ah, it went in!
- That's Mom's special skill. - It's not a special skill.
It is a special skill.
It's not a special skill at all.
Yes. Ow, ow...
Look, a massage would be good, wouldn't it?
It would.
- Shall I give you one? - No, no...
- I'll give you one. - Nozomi, no you don't!
Then, can I ask you for one?
Yes!
Unn!
Wait, stop! You should stop.
It's okay, it's okay.
Unn!
Mom! Oji-san makes a sound when you push him!
An "Unn!" sound!
- Nozomi, get off him. - Riku, come push him.
Hey, you...
Unn!
When I was a middle school student...
...Makita-kun and I decided to have a contest on just how many crayfish...
...we could stuff into our underwear.
We had both put in 1, 2, 3 of them when...
Ala? I noticed they were getting in-between things.
But Makita-kun looked at me and then grabbed up a 4th one...
...and then a 5th one, shoving them both down with his hand!
I got impatient and didn't want to lose...
...so I put in a 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th one in.
Makita-kun saw that...
...and if that Makita-kun didn't go and stuff 10 of them in his!
Then, right at that time!
Makita-kun went "Kyaa!"...
...in a loud voice and then, greatly excited, he pulled down his underwear...
...and on his balls...
I'm sorry, ma'am.
By chance, three of those crayfish...
...were swinging from them...
Those three had caught hold there and were swinging back and forth.
Ah, thank you very much for the meal.
It's all I can make.
Chikuwa with fried rice, huh? (tube-shaped cake made of fish paste)
Sacchan makes that a lot, too.
Usually on Saturday afternoons.
Eh? Eh?
Ah, no...
Koharu-chan...
I'm strong at this.
Ah, I see. Sorry about that.
Ah but, even at this stage you can easily tell that...
...you'll lose.
Well... Thank you very much.
Where did you learn this?
I played with my father.
Ah, with Takamura-san.
Takamura-san loved Shogi.
Yes...
Ah, I see.
Ah, yes... I wanted to play against him once.
Well... I'm sorry.
When did your father...
More than 10 years ago, when I was 18.
That was at age 8, so you lived with your father for 10 years.
And it's been another 10 years since then.
Koharu-chan...
When it's busy for you at work...
...could I take care of these children at my home?
I'll speak honestly.
If you're angry at me, then please be angry.
Please hit me.
Even throwing things at me is fine.
But Koharu-chan...
I want all of us...
...to live and get along well with one another now.
I can understand those feelings of not wanting to forgive.
But...
To go on like these last 10 years...
...for yet another 20 years would just be sad.
No matter what, you're parent and child.
Even if we have to force ourselves, even if we hate it...
...even if it's only for appearances...
...I think we should live getting along with one another.
For the sake of these kids.
So I'll please ask you for this.
Here goes.
Let's hurry.
Tsuwan, Go!
Three, two, one!
There!
Go join your Onee-chan. Yes, there you go.
Then let's pretend we've come into the store and Sloth-san is the shopkeep, okay?
Please leave it to me. Then, some customers!
Me and Riku are with the police.
The police?
Shop keep, you're a bad man, so we've come to arrest you.
In that case, I wonder if we need to pretend this is a store...
We're the police.
Ala?
I'm home.
What about your job?
Ah... They said it would end early this afternoon.
Welcome...
Welcome.
- You're not feeling bad? - No.
I'm going to be pushing here a little, so please tell me if you feel any pain.
Yes.
- This way, this way - Ow! Ow, ow...!
Hold on a minute.
Neigh! Neigh! Stop! Stop!
Stop, stop, stop...
Sacchan, could you get me some water?
- What'll we do next? - Next!
Wait... Let me rest a little.
Riku, let's try drawing.
They're so well-behaved. Did you hear that?
They're such well-behaved children, aren't they?
Sacchan, it's the phone.
Isn't it Murata-san?
If it is Murata-san...
...I'll have to bring him the articles I finished today.
Then, I'll ask you to watch over them.
Eh?
I'm off!
Have a nice time!
Ah, Murata-san.
I'm leaving right now.
What is it?
Hot!
Here.
Children these days have gotten good at currying favor, haven't they?
Thank you.
This is a ladybug human, right? This is a ladybug rabbit, right?
This is a ladybug snake, right? And this is a ladybug crayfish.
If you start aching at night...
Please don't just endure it, but contact me.
Yes. Thank you very much.
- Aiko. - This is the hospital.
- Then pick up your phone. - We have no business with one another.
You neglect your child and and won't pick up and yet we have no business?!
It's not neglect; I told you to take care of him, didn't I?
I have work, too, and it was horrible looking for someone to care for him today...
Are you still a mother?
I understood.
What?
That sacrificing for their children doesn't make one a mother.
The person who sacrifices for a man is what's called "Mother."
You raise Shunsuke.
Koharu-chan!
Here, here...
Nozomi-chan! Riku-kun!
Your Mom has come back.
Ala?
Not here...
Ah, Sacchan, where are the kids?
- Taking a bath. - A bath?
When I told them it was made out of wood, they said they wanted to get in it.
Koharu-chan, did you bring a change of clothes with you?
Ah, in my bag...
- Ala? Those are...? - It's nothing.
Those are yukata, aren't they? (light, summer kimonos)
Riku-kun's yukata was worn by my nephew year before last, wasn't it?
The bath is wood! It's made of wood.
That's something, isn't it?
Mom, why don't you take a bath in that wood bath, too? You'd get to wear a yukata.
I'm fine.
I don't have any yukatas to lend her.
Don't say things like that each and every time.
Nomomi-chan, you guys are hungry, aren't you?
Starving.
- Let's go eat dinner. - Sure.
Don't eat. We'll go home and eat.
No, no... To go home and eat...
- She said she doesn't want to, didn't she? - Don't make them feel reserved.
I don't feel reserved. We'll really be fine.
Nozomi-chan, you're starving, aren't you?
I'm not hungry.
You said you were hungry, didn't you?
Hey! Hey, hey!
Being hungry can't just go to not being hungry.
From a spot like this...
...won't these children forget about feeling well-behaved?
Don't exaggerate things.
Nozomi-chan, what do you want to eat?
Shabu-shabu? Eel?
- Chikuwa with fried rice. - "Chikuwa with fried rice"?
Grandma's version, right?
- This is a strawberry. - Wrong.
- It's a ladybug crayfish. - It's a strawberry.
- Totally wrong. - Then what's this? This here.
- That follows with this. - It follows it? A watermelon...
That's not a watermelon; it's a ladybug human.
Are there ladybug humans?
Ladybug and human.
It has the same flavor as Mom's.
I thought so. It's like that, huh?
It does, doesn't it? Right?
Wouldn't Shi-chan want some of this fried rice, too?
She doesn't eat Chikuwa.
Shi-chan's just so picky.
Wouldn't it be better if she would just eat anything?
There's no reason to force her to eat Chikuwa, now is there?
The other day, when we went to the wedding ceremony at Shibata-san's house...
...she left all her vegetables with the person next to her.
That's undignified of a good person.
You don't put out Chikuwa for a wedding ceremony.
When the groom is an employee for a Chikuwa maker, you do put it out!
When she goes someday to...
...the wedding ceremony for that employee of a Chikuwa maker, then she can eat some.
That's no reason for her to eat Chikuwa today, now is there?
- Why are they fighting about that? - Huh? Keep eating.
- It's better not to be picky, isn't it? - Yes.
What was that?
Huh?
What was that "yes" for?
Huh?
Why are you interfering? This is about our daughter.
- I wasn't interfering. - You said, "yes."
I was only answering him. Here, eat up.
Why would you say such a thing when it comes to Chikuwa?
I didn't say anything!
It's because I asked her, so she only answered "yes."
By answering "yes," that was interfering.
Until the time when she goes to the ceremony for that employee of a Chikuwa maker...
...she can just go on saying she doesn't want to eat Chikuwa.
Ah, I'm sorry...
It was wrong of me to make an example of that by talking about the wedding ceremony.
I'm very sorry!
That doesn't matter.
- All I said was, "yes." - Eh!?
It's nothing... I didn't say anything to interfere with you.
That's true. Koharu-chan didn't say anything.
I'm sorry.
- What's the matter? - Huh? It's nothing. Eat.
Bringing up such things.
- That's the sort of person she is. - Sacchan!
When something happens, she's sure to be on anyone else's side but mine.
"Something happens"? Nothing has happened.
She's been like that since long ago.
I have no idea what you're talking about.
Koharu-chan, doing this in front of the children...
I know.
Is it good?
That's right. Upstairs. Want to go up and watch "Anpan"? "Anpan."
No, we'll eat and then go home.
No... Just a little longer. Right?
If you go home like this...
...these ill feelings will only increase even more. Okay?
Let's go watch "Anpan." "Anpan."
You two... don't fight in front of the children.
I wasn't fighting.
- I was only speaking facts. - Ah, I see.
But, well, for this occasion, let's set the facts aside, okay?
Since long ago, she's been saying how she dislikes me.
You're bringing that up again?
- Because it's always been like that. - All right, all right.
- Is this about the piano? - Piano?
If I'm wrong, that's fine.
It is about the piano.
I told you over and over about that.
What? What's this about?
I sent her to go to the piano classroom twice a week.
She only went once at the start.
After that she was always at the park playing Shogi with the old people there.
A first year grade school student was lying to me.
Ala. Why was that?
"I wonder if winning or losing at Shogi..."
"...isn't more tense and exciting than piano?" I thought.
And when I was hospitalized...
Isn't this enough already?
Why were you hospitalized?
Isn't this enough already?
I was hospitalized with pneumonia.
This girl didn't come visit me.
Even though her own mother had been hospitalized?
Is there any such a child as her?
Why didn't you go for a sympathy visit?
I was scared of the hospital.
Eh?
A picture book I read at the time said the "Ugikuku" monster would appear.
This Ugikuku lived in the basements of hospitals.
And it would eat children's souls.
A child who's soul had been eaten would...
Because this child believed in such a worthless story book like that...
...she wouldn't come visit her mother in the hospital.
I went to the hospital over and over.
I went, but I was so scared...
...my feet were frozen...
I was lonely.
I thought, "Ah, that girl doesn't care about me at all."
Ever since she was born and ever after she was born...
When I wanted to hurry and see her and talk to her...
...I would think that of her.
I who had given birth to her and who had raised her.
The two of us who would eat together and take baths together...
...and who I would sing lullabies to.
But who this girl missed...
...was the man who only came home occasionally on a whim...
...and who would spoil her.
On school visitation day she read from her essay...
"When I grow up, I want to be a novelist just like my father."
She didn't want to be like me.
That was fine though.
Because that man was a nothing novelist.
Ah, well...
I didn't think it would go all the way from Chikuwa to this...
It wasn't only that.
Putting it into words it just becomes that, but it wasn't only that.
What is it?
Still, well, you are mother and daughter.
Just because we're mother and daughter doesn't make it any more bearable.
It's because we are mother and daughter that it's unbearable!
I haven't prepared the rice.
That's the reason?
When you left...
...Dad threw away how many cardboard boxes...
...of manuscript papers he had in his closet.
When I asked him, "why are you throwing those out?"...
...he said, "because these things are mere scribbles."
"I'm sorry, Koharu."
"It was because I clung onto these things..."
"...that your mother left," he said.
Even I think he was an unclever man.
He wandered from job to job.
When seen by society, he may even have been called a useless man.
But to me, he was always a good father.
The way I hold my chopsticks is a little strange.
But, I don't feel the need to correct it.
Because that was the way Dad taught me how to hold them.
Because Dad and I both hold them in the same way.
Because he raised me through hardships; because he raised me alone...
I treasure Dad.
It was Dad who had a tough time alone...
That I wouldn't practice the piano...
...and that I didn't go to the hospital on sympathy visits...
Such things... Such things were the reason you left?
Is there something funny about that?
There is.
What is it that's so funny!?
How, after messing up our family, can you laugh like that!?
Koharu-chan, you're wrong. That's wrong.
- You keep still. - But she's wrong!
Sacchan and Koharu-chan...
...shouldn't be fighting.
You two are just buttoning things up unevenly.
It's just a little off, but you're buttoning things up incorrectly!
It wasn't your mother.
It was me.
I...
...was the one who messed up Takamura-san's family.
I...
...took your mother...
...away from you, Koharu-chan.
Why?
Sacchan...
Because Sacchan...
...wasn't all that happy.
Sacchan was...
Put away the dishes.
Yes.
Everyone, let's sing together...
...so those in back can have fun, too.
That's right.
All sorts of things were said, but you guys are the same.
At what?
- Welcome home. - Welcome back.
Ala? Is this Shi-chan and Koharu-chan's first meeting?
Shi-chan, this is Aoyagi Koharu-san.
- Your mother's... - I know.
You're the daughter of the man who used violence against Mom, aren't you?
Can you reach it?
You can do it.
Can you reach it?
Shi-chan, um, you're friends with that Chikuwa maker?
When you attend his wedding ceremony...
Well, aren't we talking about something different...?
My father didn't take your mother away from you.
Dad only rescued Mom...
...from the violence your father was using on her.
Shi-chan, how did you...
I knew. I heard from Uncle.
Uncle was praising you, Dad.
This person's father...
...would hit and kick Mom every day.
Say, you still have some of the wounds from that, don't you?
Say, why are you hiding it?
He knocked out Mom's front teeth and now she has false teeth there.
He kicked you so hard in the stomach you had to be hospitalized, right?
Say, why do you let her get away with saying things like that?
You say Mom abandoned her family, but you're completely wrong.
And that you're so pitiful because Mom had abandoned you.
Wasn't it just that you had chosen to be with a guy who was human trash? Right?
What are your intentions in saying such things to Mom? Hey.
Shi-chan, come over here. Come over here.
Dad, you're wrong. You're wrong, aren't you?
It's different from just having things buttoned up wrong, isn't it?
There's no reason to start things over with her.
She didn't become strange somewhere along the way, she was strange from the very start.
Who you thought of as being a good father was just human trash.
And to have such pretty memories of that dead person...
...while those who are living still have the scars from him...
...and then saying things like, "ah, he's a beautiful star now"...
...is the pattern of a person who stomps on flowers beneath their feet, isn't it? Right?
And your... marriage partner...
...molested someone and then died.
But that's what it says in the newspaper...
Shiori...
That's enough.
Enough.
Pretty, isn't it?
Snow is falling!
- It's falling. - It's falling, isn't it?
We were under your care.
Come again...
Be careful going home.
You be careful too, Sloth-san.
Yes!
I'll return the yukatas after I've washed them.
We don't have to return them.
Because that's what Mom's Mom said.
"That yukata is Koharu's yukata," she said.
When we were in the bath she said...
"Because you're the same height Koharu was..."
"...I think you can get into it."
Thank you very much.
The fried rice was delicious.
Uesugi-san, thank you very much.
Mom!
Huh?
Is it okay for me to accept this yukata?
It's okay.