Woman
Episode 4: "I Want to Meet Dad"
Do you have a lot of homework for the summer vacation?
Look, I have to study something.
Ah, independent study.
- Mom, did you do independent study? - I did.
I once observed snails.
Like how snails have 10,000 teeth?
They do?!
Mom, if you don't even know that, you must not have studied them.
Nozomi, what are you going to study?
- Underground people. - Underground people?!
- I'll discover them. - You can't discover them.
I'll get them to come to our home.
What should I do about dinner?
Mom, if you see any holes, check them out for me.
All right. Be careful. Those can be dangerous.
Mom! That's a manhole cover.
- No underground people in there. - That's true.
Riku?
Riku! What are you doing?
"Father and Child Summer Vacation ~Parent and Child Radio Exercises~"
You want to do radio gymnastics?
I'll come with you, okay?
Mom! We're falling behind.
Riku! Riku!
Oi, Riku! Come on!
The results of your detailed examination have been released.
The name of your disease is...
..."Acute Myeloid Leukemia."
Huh?
Maeda-san, when we say "leukemia"...
...we're not talking about an incurable disease these days.
Please rest assured that I will be doing my best for you.
I'll want to begin the admission procedures as soon as possible.
Yes...
Ah, what'll I do...
I intended to return this...
...so I brought it.
I'll return it.
You'll be okay.
Ah, when she's finished filling it out, bring it to me over there.
Yes.
Ah, thank you.
Sensei, your hands were sweating quite a lot there earlier, weren't they?
The air conditioner's broken, isn't it?
Making that kind of announcement is like taking away a patient's future, isn't it?
What has been your tensest one so far?
I wonder if it was the one I gave to my wife?
"Bone Marrow Aspirate Examination Report Koharu Ayoyagi"
When does Aoyagi-san come in next?
Next week, Monday.
He shouldn't be this late in using words, should he?
- Good afternoon. - Good afternoon.
Whatever sort of thing could it be...
I've discussed this before with the rehabilitation center.
But he could understand the words both I and the older children used...
...and he expressed emotions at them.
Because I was a quiet one, too...
I thought it was just his personality type.
Shall we trying giving him an intelligence test just this once?
"Children Who Are Late in Using Language"
What kinds of things would underground people always be eating?
Huh? Because they live in the soil, wouldn't they eat roots?
- "Roots"? - Huh? Like vegetable roots.
Such as carrots and radishes and lotus roots.
I wonder if they like them simmered?
Maybe they wait for the Daikonbatake to come in? (a type of radish)
Then from below they pull on the daikon until it comes to them.
Meanwhile, we're pulling on it from above!
Riku, what about you? Is there something you want to do this summer?
Go to the pool?
- Something athletic? - A dog.
- A dog? - You want to keep one?
Hmm...
A dog would cost money and would eat a whole lot of food.
What kind of dog do you like?
Ones with folded ears?
Those are cute, aren't they?
Ah...
Sacchan, another one.
- Where are the seeds? - Huh?
Ah, didn't you notice?
Two years ago I thought they would be good for my health...
...so I've been eating them.
What? You've started a funny way of eating at your age.
Age has nothing to do with starting something new.
Don't ignore me.
There are all sorts of people, aren't there?
There's that person who climbed Mt. Everest when he turned 80.
And a person who began eating watermelon seeds when he was 60.
Putting it that way just makes it sound sad.
Hmm... Hot, isn't it?
Yeah...
Koharu-chan's home must be hot, too.
That kind of home doesn't come with a cooler, does it?
And there's those kids of hers there...
Don't ignore me.
"I know."
"You're the daughter of the man who used violence against Mom, aren't you?"
Shiori...
Why would she say such a thing?
I think things would be complicated enough...
...what with her mother already having one other daughter... But...
Shiori didn't do anything wrong.
Well...
Why are you trying to blame her?
"Tama Art University Exam Pass Ranking"
Huh? What is it?
Huh? Just a minute...
Uesugi-san?
- Remember me? You don't? - Miki-chan?
I'm so happy! I've wanted to see you!
- What are you doing these days? - Eh?
Drinking this...
Not that.
I'm at "Ao University" now. How about you?
- Ah... - Huh?
Just as creepy as ever, aren't you?
Yeah...
- Thanks for your hard work. - Ah, I'm good, I'm good.
- There's a bit of a breeze here, right? - It's a bit better up here.
It's a burning hell down there.
"Children Who Are Late in Using Language"
Yes, hello?
- Ah. - Ah...
- Ah, going to the nursery? - Yes.
I felt I should leave my child here for the time being as well.
I was just contacted by them...
...and it seems he hit a friend of his with a fire truck.
Ah...
That was probably my child.
It doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt...
It doesn't hurt. Yeah...
- I'm very sorry. - Ah, not at all.
- It doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt. - Why did you hit your friend?
- Apologize. - It's okay. Please don't get angry.
C'mon. We're sorry.
Riku-kun was ignoring me.
Because Riku-kun wouldn't answer him...
...it seems that's when he raised his hand against him.
- Shunsuke-kun! - Riku-kun.
I envy that.
Children can fight and yet won't pull away afterwards.
That's true.
Aoyagi-san, you've been raising your children alone for 4 years now and you work as well, right?
Yes.
You really don't get any help from your parents or anyone else?
- No. - Ehh...
Are things difficult for you?
It's not just difficult.
I'm at my limit!
No, it's nothing to laugh at.
How did those words get spread around? That things are "awful" or "terrible"...
- I understand your point. - Eh? Can you understand?
It's tough from first thing in the morning.
Um, it's like being at an airport when an airplane is canceled...
...and all these people gather in a rush around the counter.
What I feel right now is what that receptionist must feel at times like that.
If I can't get my wife to hurry and come back...
...I'll collapse.
It'd be best if you two could reconcile, wouldn't it?
Yeah...
If she apologizes, I intend to forgive her at any time though.
Ah, it's Bun.
In the mornings, it's best if you have onigiri you had made in advance and frozen.
- Ah, frozen, huh? - Yes.
Ah, yes.
Is this Bun?
Ah, his name is Ririko.
He's a good boy.
Here, here, Ririko-chan.
- What's your name? - Riku.
Riku-kun, huh? Nice to meet you!
- Welcome back. - I'm home.
You're hungry, aren't you? I have croquettes.
Your father went drinking with Kodama-san.
Hmm...
Kodama-san's the one who puts a 100 yen coin in his ear, isn't he?
Right. Your father put one in his for a time as well.
Ehh... That's the worst.
"Stop doing that," I told him.
"Why?" he answered, "it's just in case."
Even if it is just in case, what can you do with a 100 yen coin?
Say, Dad is strange, isn't he?
I wonder why he wears such flashy underwear for?
- Right? - Right? Geez!
When my salary comes in, want to go out shopping for clothes again?
Say, let's go and buy some in Shinjuku.
I'll go up to the 8th floor again...
...and have some Anmitsu while I'm waiting. (syrup-covered anko (bean jam) and fruit)
Mom, I don't want to buy any.
You tell me to buy things like that, but you only buy cheap clothes for yourself.
What would I do with nice clothes?
- I don't go anywhere. - But I don't go anywhere either.
- To school. - It's just a prep school.
That has nothing to do with it.
It does. It's just a prep school.
You'll be going to the university next year.
How would you know that, Mom?
Because your drawings are so good.
I've never seen anyone who's better at that than you, Shiori!
I wonder...
Say, want some watermelon?
It's just leftovers from what your father and I ate during the day though.
Mom, you were just eating along the edges again, weren't you?
There...
Riku.
What's the matter?
Do you hurt somewhere?
Come here.
What is it, Riku?
Huh?
What's the matter?
Riku!
Where did he go?
Eh?
Where did he go?
What? What's this about?
Where has Bun gone?
"Bun"?
Huh?
What is it?
Bun!
"Looking for this dog."
"Features. Hair color: white and brown; Nose: black."
"Likes playing with balls; rolls his tongue when running."
"Will lick your hand."
"He's a friendly dog who won't bite."
"We're really, really searching hard for him!"
He's lost.
There's no people where he is and he's alone.
He's lost.
You've been worried about him all this time?
I feel sorry for him.
You're worried, right?
Riku. Crying won't help you find Bun.
Do you want to look for him?
Where has he gone?
Hmm...
Because it seems he has a collar...
...he might be hiding somewhere, right?
- Let's look for him! - Yeah!
Okay, let's go search for him!
- Bun! - Bun!
- Buun! - Come out!
- Bun! - Bun!
Buun!
Bun!
Buun! Come out!
- Bun! - Bun!
- Buuun!
- Bun! - Bun!
Bun! Come out!
- Bun! - Bun!
Buuun!
- Bun! - Bun!
- Bun! Come out!
Bun!
- Bun! - Buun! Come out!
- Bun! - Buuun!
Ah, this way, this way, this way. Let's go this way.
- Bun! - Riku, over there, over there!
- Bun? - Bun!
- Not here, is he?
- Let's go over there, over there. Bun! - Bun!
- Bun, come out!
Bun, come out!
- Bun! - Nozomi, Riku, you go that way.
- I'll go this way. You head that way, okay! - Yes!
Bun!
- Bun! - Bun!
Bun!
- Bun! - Bun!
Come on out!
Bun!
Not here...
- Ah, you're here? - Ah, Mom! He wasn't there.
Let me wipe your sweat. Riku's, too.
There! Okay, let's go! Let's go this way!
- Bun! - Bun!
- Buuun! - Bun!
Bun, come out!
- Come out! - Buun! Buuun!
He's not here. Riku, how about the ones ahead?
- The ones ahead? - Bun, come out!
Bun!
"Looking for this dog Bun (3 years old)"
Is that right? You went out of your way just to look for him.
Thank you very much.
Then, let me thank you.
No, um...
Bun came back home? Bun is at your house?
No, he hasn't come back.
These little ones were crying so badly about him, too.
It was awful until just yesterday.
He wasn't at the park.
I see.
He wasn't where they store bicycles.
Yeah. Thank you.
But you don't have to worry anymore. Because I went and bought a new one.
We just returned from the pet shop with him.
He's a cute one, isn't he? Right?
But, since you did go looking for him, I'd like to thank you somehow.
I know!
Please have these cookies I bought in Jiyugaoaka.
Ah, no thank you.
- They're delicious. - Where's Bun?
What?
Where has Bun gone to?
He'll be okay, right?
Where has Bun gone to?
He was probably put down at the public health care center.
What are you saying?
We sweated a lot, didn't we?
Since I'll make dinner right away, go get in the bath.
Nozomi, what about your homework?
What's a "public health care center"?
What does "put down" mean?
What is called a "public health care center" is...
...a place where jobs such as keeping the city's people healthy...
...and things like cleaning up the town...
...and such are done.
What about "put down"?
What does "put down" mean?
I'm not sure.
Then, where has Bun gone to?
I'm sorry, I don't know.
I'll cook dinner.
Why don't we try drawing?
Nozomi, go check on the bath water.
Yeah.
- Not full yet. - Thank you.
What are you drawing?
Mom.
What's the matter? Riku?
Please look for Bun.
Bun is a dog. A dog who is 3 years old.
He's the Uchimura family's dog.
His color is white.
He's also a brown color.
He has lots of white.
He's got a tail.
His nose is black.
He's got whiskers.
He's got folded ears.
He's very cute.
He plays with balls.
He runs.
His tongue sticks out when he runs.
He's very cute.
He licks your hand.
He's kind and won't bite you. He's cute.
We're looking really hard for him.
Please look for him.
Please... Pretty please.
Please look for him. Please.
- Mom. - Huh?
Will Dad look for him?
Yeah.
Even though Dad and I never met? Will he listen to my wish?
He will listen! He will listen to you.
Your father will listen to your wish, Riku.
Even though you never got to meet, you're a very important person to him.
Even though you never met...
...he loves you very much.
Your father loves you, Riku.
"Oi!"
"Oi! Can you hear me?"
"Riku!"
"'Riku'? That's what you've chosen?"
"This is your Dad."
"I want to hurry and meet you. I'm waiting."
"Oi! Riku!"
Your father...
He wasn't able to meet you, but...
He wasn't able to hold your hands, but...
Your father is thinking about you.
Even if you didn't get to play together...
Even if he didn't get to hug you tightly...
He loves you.
That's why...
I hate it.
Huh?
I hate only being thought of.
I want to hold Dad's hands.
I hate only making wishes to him.
I want to play with Dad.
That's true.
I hate it, I hate it.
That's true, huh?
- Mom. - Huh?
What'll we do about the bath water?
- Go turn it off. - Yeah.
You want to meet him, right? You want to see him.
You want to meet him, right?
- Mom. - Huh?
- I turned it off. - Thank you.
It'd be nice if you could find your underground people during the summer break, right?
I have to do my picture diary, too.
Then, since I have today off...
...once I've had a little talk with the doctors at the hospital...
...how about we go to the splash-splash pond!?
- Let's go! - Let's go!
Splash-splash pond! Splash-splash pond!
Are you lost?
What's your name?
Thank you very much. Please come again.
I guess I'll go have some Anmitsu on the 8th floor.
- Again? - Yeah, again.
- Say, take your time looking around. - Yeah.
We have a variety of advantageous discounts.
We'll prepare and guide you through them.
A cellphone is an inexpensive purchase...
Feel free to drop by.
Welcome.
Allow me to explain the product we have here...
"New Air-conditioners Power-saving Conservation Counter"
Whenever you are ready to order, just ask through that.
Yes.
- This place is huge. - It's that kind of place.
Really?
- What a big remote control. - What do you want to eat?
Huh? Shiori, you go ahead and eat what you want.
I'll just have some oolong tea.
- Know how to use that? - I'm just looking at it. I'm not singing.
- Won't you sing? - I'm not singing.
Mom, even though I felt like bringing you here to have some fun.
I'll look forward to listening to Shiori sing.
Only just me again.
It's okay.
I saw a purse earlier that would look good with you, Mom.
- A purse? - Should we buy it?
Hurry and order.
It's not that expensive. Just 40,000 yen. ($400)
That is expensive.
It's about the same as an air-conditioner.
They cost about that much, right?
Wonder if it'd be more with construction costs added in?
She could ask your father.
Dad doesn't have that kind of money, now does he?
You wouldn't buy it even if she asked, would you?
I'm not getting an air-conditioner.
I'm that person's weak point.
I hate being called a "weak point."
What are you ordering?
I think if she isn't good at living on her own...
...then she should remarry without depending upon our family.
She doesn't want to rely on me particularly.
You don't think so?
She loves her husband who died, doesn't she?
That makes me feel sick.
What's the matter?
He's dead.
That man is dead.
That's true.
Even if she thinks about him forever, there's nothing that can be done about it.
Right? I think she's pretty stupid.
She'll be alone forever?
That's just weird. That goes far beyond turning her back on him.
It'd be better just to get someone new to love.
Wouldn't it?
Even if you put it like that, it may not be so.
That's a way some people live...
And there are people who can live like that.
Because there are people who live their entire lives...
...with only one day or one moment's happiness to them.
It's not a bad way to live your life.
Be sure and order your favorites, okay?
Can I order?
Chicken nuggets and fried cartilage...
...and French fries with the skin and takoyaki fried noodles...
...and a sausage with cheese pizza and bambang chicken salad with tofu and...
Ah, two orders of the chicken nuggets.
Shiori, that much would be...
Honey toast with chocolate banana berry-berry...
...and a cola and... Mom, what'll you have?
- Eh? Oolong tea. - Oolong tea, yes.
Shiori...
That man was a molester, right?
He was, right?
Because I was the victim.
He was run over by that train right in front of me.
- You mustn't run, Riku. - Nozomi! Nozomi! Bring Riku back.
- Ah, good afternoon. - Good afternoon.
Nozomi!
Shh! Shh!
This is Nozomi and Riku.
Hello there.
Look, after Mom talks to the doctors, we're going to the splash-splash pond.
How nice!
This is Shunsuke-kun's mother.
I'm not good.
I'm not good at drawing.
There are lots of people far better at it than I am.
- You are good. - Mom, you wouldn't know.
Being praised that way by you...
...being flattered and enthused over...
...I grew up misunderstanding about myself...
But I was wrong; I'm not good at it at all.
Did something bad happen at the prep school?
No. It's not that.
I've always been no good.
- At what? - I haven't been any good at it since grade school.
At what?!
Though I could make nothing and since only my evaluation of myself was high...
...and since the only thing strong about me was my self-consciousness, I was bullied.
In grade school and in middle school, was bullied the entire time.
- Why didn't you say something? - There was no way I could say it, now was there?
Because I didn't want you to see just how useless I was.
During one year...
...in high school...
...there was this group of 5 or 6 people.
And before I knew it, I was one of them as well.
And, what they told me to do was...
...to take the hand of some salaryman...
...and then lie saying, "This man's a molester."
It was in order to get money.
From the first it really seemed to be true.
That there really was a molester...
Of weak-minded girls. Who were always left crying.
And so they told me that by going with a stronger girl...
...they would catch molesters.
And then they started telling the molesters to give both of them 20,000 yen each.
At first I was the one put in charge of saying, "this man's a molester."
All of them praised me on having done so well at it.
Ah, you could say it felt like I had found a place for myself...
...and that I was happy.
But I soon proved to be no good at that, too.
One of those girls hit me in the nose and broke it...
...and they all became scary and you could say I was back to where I had been...
"Ah, it's gonna start again," I thought.
And, "should I kill myself before then?"...
That was when that man came over.
The man who was the marriage partner to Aoyagi Koharu-san.
Both Mom and Dad were happy being with him.
The three of you ate together, right?
Without me. (At this point Shiori switches to referring to herself using her own name rather than with a pronoun. This is considered childish, so Shiori has started regressing)
I was there the entire time though...
...sitting hidden in the unlighted corner where the sewing machine is...
...where I heard I had a true older sister...
...who was married and had children... And that Mom had a grandchild.
During the time I was listening, Mom's voice changed a little.
How you talked like that after...
...not having met her for 20 years, I thought...
"Ehh... I don't have a place here, either."
Mom, when he left, you gave him pears, didn't you?
"Because Koharu loves these," you said.
That man, Aoyagi Shin-san, then took those pears and left, didn't he?
I followed him after that.
I rode the same train as him.
"Ah... He's a man who smiles so much," I thought.
"There are people in this world who can smile like that."
"There are people who are that happy, right?"
"He doesn't have the thoughts I have, right?"
"If people such as him came to our home, it'd be best if I just went away somewhere, right?"
Thinking I'd have to go and not come back anymore made me angry...
And so...
...that man's hand...
...I grasped it...
...held it...
"Ah... that man's hand is trembling," I thought.
What I thought... Things were different from what I thought...
What was trembling...
...was MY hand...
My own hand...
He... was surprised.
But he was different from the men who had given me money up until then.
Not worried about himself...
...he seemed to be looking as if he was worried about me.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
At the next station, that man was dragged down by people...
...drunken people gathered around...
...and they pushed that man down to the ground...
They beat him and kicked him... kicking him in the stomach...
They stomped on him...
And, and that way...
While that was happening...
I don't know; I don't know why, but...
That man probably said this to me.
"Are you okay?"
That's wrong... "It'll be fine," he said...
I thought of making them stop...
Before he was about to leave, a pear fell from one of that man's hands...
It fell... And that man...
...attempted to pick it up...
The pears Mom had given him...
...for Onee-chan...
The... the pears he'd been given...
And then someone said, "don't let him get away"...
Someone then pushed him from behind...
...onto the tracks...
Then the train...
I want to die...
I want to disappear...
I want to die...
Enough!
I have the food you ordered.
- Say Mom, read this. - Yeah.
Ah... I've read this picture book.
"The Ugikuku Children" But isn't this a little scary?
It's okay; read it.
"The Ugikuku Children."
"These children were all living in a hospital."
"They ate breakfast at the hospital and ate lunch at the hospital."
"And they ate dinner at the hospital."
Have you told this to anyone?
You mustn't tell it to anyone.
She won't be coming around to our place anymore anyhow.
"When she opened the door to the boiler room..."
"...from out of the darkness she heard, 'crunch, crunch'..."
"It was the sound of something being eaten."
"Lulu said this. 'Are you the Ugikuku?'"
- Aoyagi Koharu-san. Come in. - Yes.
I'll be back right away.
- Bye-bye. - Bye-bye.
I'll read it to you.
"Are you the Ugikuku? I'm Lulu."
"What on earth are you eating?"
- Thanks for taking care of me. - Good afternoon. Please have a seat.
Good afternoon.
The results of your detailed examination have been released.
"Why do you eat children's souls?"
"Please don't eat mine."
"The Ugikuku blinked his one eye in surprise."
"And then Lulu gave him a red flower and a yellow flower."
"The Ugikuku bit the red flower with a chomp and then spat it out."
"He took a bite out of the yellow flower and then returned it."
"Something that bad just isn't edible."
"Are you ready? I can see life."
"I know where human lives come from..."
"...and where they might go."
"I know when they are born and when they'll disappear."
"Lulu asked him."
"Do you know when my life might disappear?"
"Ah, I do know."
"Lulu asked him."
"Tell me. When am I going to die? Where?"
"Where will it be?"
"The Ugikuku once again blinked his one eye in surprise."
"A once-in-a-century lightning blast..."
"...then struck the hospital roof that night."
You can go back home today...
...but next time let's discuss your future examinations...
...and make plans for your treatment.
Are you okay?
- Give her a hand. - Ah, yes.
That's okay. No thank you.
"I will become a doctor soon."
"Before that, I will give you this."
"When she said that, the Ugikuku..."
"...held its hand with long, long fingernails out to Lulu."
All done?
All done.
Shall we go to the splash-splash pond?
- Yeah! - Yeah!
"The Ugikuku Children"