Yuuko.
Yuu-kun, I want you to know.
You're really good.
Don't look.
You're stingy. It's not like showing me that is the end of the world.
If I show you, you're just going to blabber more and more.
The reason you can't get a girlfriend is because of your lack of courtesy.
It's none of your business.
Well, I'm here now, so I can look, right?
You've started to draw again, haven't you?
I'm relaxing.
Studying too much will reduce efficiency.
You've even got an excuse for it.
As expected, a honor student is good at improvising.
You... are you making fun of me?
Nope. I love you.
That again?
You're just not being serious.
No, I am. I love you!
I feel like I can try my best at everything just by looking at your face.
Are you not getting enough sleep again?
Just a bit.
Stop pulling all-nighters.
It's not something to laugh at.
Are you studying properly?
Good night.
Again?
Hey, Nagi!
Writing on the desk is-
I can't draw.
I can't draw anymore.
Nagi...
Even if I do draw, they come out twisted.
It becomes something I didn't draw.
I re-drew them over and over, but the result is always the same.
Are the drawings gradually becoming twisted? Am I, the artist, becoming twisted?
Or is this world becoming twisted? I don't know anymore.
I become sick, even by just holding a brush.
Is it a slump?
It's not a phenomenon that can be defined by something so ordinary, or so she says.
Who?
Me, the artist.
I'm predicting that, at this rate, I might not be able to draw for the rest of my life.
You're predicting your own future?
The one that's making the prediction is me, the artist.
The one who listens to that prediction...
Get out.
Enough, get out!
...is me, the woman.
Yo, Himura!
Are you good for tomorrow?
Tomorrow?
My farewell party!
I forgot.
How cold.
Are you really my close friend?
Sorry.
Well, there's no helping it.
Not the time for that, is it?
I guess I can't keep quiet, can I?
What is it?
You told me to look into Yuuko-chan, didn't you?
During that time, I heard something from the other female students.
They told me that sometimes, when they look into her eyes, they get the creeps.
The ones that were scared may actually be those girls.
I think you feel it too. I feel like she's lying.
Isn't that girl hiding something?
I think you're the only person she'd trust.
Senpai, do you believe in God?
If something such a thing as God truly existed, there's no one there now.
There's too many people who hate fate.
God would have been killed by them.
You're right.
I might have one or two complaints to make too.
You're angry too?
I don't always have the face of a nice person.
Everyone has a few faces.
Faces?
Yes. It might be better to call them masks.
You're hiding something behind those masks too?
Yes, of course.
Girls have a lot of secrets!
Do you want to know my secret?
You really are hiding something, aren't you?
If it's you, then I can show you.
No. I'd like you to see it.
The true me.
I also agree with you.
God doesn't exist anywhere.
It's because God doesn't exist that there are so many sad and painful things.
If there is a God, I'd want Him to make this world more beautiful,
erase all painful things, make everyone nice, and prevent anyone from being sad.
There's no world that that is that convenient.
I know.
That's why I want a world like that.
Today, I'm still alive.
Am I serious?
I don't care if he sees.
No. I want you to see, Yuu-kun.
I knew it. You're still here, Nagi?
Hey, Yuu.
Kuze's farewell party is starting.
Something came to mind.
Yuu, if your name and mine were to be combined, the would become "Yuunagi."
What is it, all of a sudden?
Yuunagi is the time in the evening when the wind doesn't blow.
There's no wind on land, nor at sea. Everything just hangs in the air.
But, if time flows, the wind must flow.
You're still not drawing?
I forgot.
I can't draw anymore.
You make it sound like it's someone else's problem.
I know the problem, that's why.
Then hurry up and fix it.
You don't have any redeeming feature besides your drawings.
It's kind of lonely if that's the only thing I can do during my youth.
Nagi.
Yeah, I was lonely.
Both Kuze and Yuu are getting farther away from me.
I'm not going to go anywhere.
Are you saying that seriously?
As usual, you're thick-headed.
Or are you just pretending to be dense?
I see.
The truly thick-headed one was me, wasn't it?
All I did was hurt myself.
Nagi.
I thought that this would continue forever.
Even though there's no way that could happen.
I was too late to realize it, wasn't I?
Sorry, Nagi.
Don't apologize!
I couldn't see my true self, so I couldn't draw.
I might be able to draw now.
Go. Yuko-chan is waiting, isn't she?
What? You could only get this many people?
No. The only ones that I invited in the beginning were you guys.
What's about to start isn't just a farewell party - it's Kuze Shuuichi's concert!
Concert?
I haven't had you listen to me even once, right?
What I'm saying is, I'm presenting you this as a farewell gift!
Listen to it with gratitude.
Oh? You say it like you're only playing for Himura-senpai.
I was rude!
Today is for my two friends who are in love, Himura Yuu and Amamiya Yuuko.
I'll present this final, best performance, to this group,
this place where feelings have collected.
Yuuko?
Yuuko!
I'm sorry, Himura-senpai.
I started crying.
To produce a sound with such tonality, Kuze-senpai must be true and genuine in his heart.
It really was a beautiful, undistorted sound of serenity.
Kuze-senpai must have been raised without the junk of the people around him.
That's why he can produce such sound.
It's just too beautiful; I couldn't keep listening.
Perhaps there's some kind of worth in this world.
I couldn't believe that I started to think that way.
It'd be better if you believe it.
It's it fine if you just accept what you've felt for yourself?
Senpai...
Or are you thinking that there really is no worth to this world?
Yuuko, what are you harboring inside?
Nothing... I'm not...
That's a lie!
It's not a lie.
No, it is.
You don't say what you want to say.
You don't listen to what you want to hear.
Even if something does affect you, you say nothing.
All you do is deceive with silence or with words that have no meaning.
Just what is true and what is a lie?
Which one is your love for me?
A truth? A lie?
Yuuko, speak to me.
Speak? About what?
Don't deceive me!
What I want is an answer!
You're arrogant, senpai.
I don't care if I am. Speak to me.
Why are you so stubborn?
That's because I love you!
That's why I want to know.. about you.
Is that true?
Yeah.
Do you truly love me?
Yeah.
Do you truly want to know about me?
Yeah.
Do you truly, truly want to hear everything about me?
Yeah.
Finally, you said it. I've wanted you to say that.
I've wanted you to pursue me.
Let me ask you one thing.
Yeah.
When we were at the orphanage, I chased after you the entire time.
I always looked at you.
You did.
But why didn't you become my older brother?
If you had become my brother, I would have... I would have...
Stayed beautiful. I would have been wanted!
Yuu-kun, I want you to know. What I truly look like.
I must have gone wrong somewhere, somehow.
That's what I've thought the entire time, but I don't even know anymore.
Or maybe the world's gone wrong?
Brother was nice to me.
He took me out to play, and looked after my studies.
He was nice to me as if we had really been siblings.
But, as this went on, while his time with me was accumulating, he must've realized it.
I wasn't his sister. I was something different.
He tried to make me a replacement for his dead sister, who had died in the earthquake.
But I was a different person.
The younger sister didn't exist anywhere.
The person beside him was someone else.
When he realized that, he hated me intensely.
From the night he lost his younger sister, the violence in him had subsided.
And he had been searching. Searching, for someone he could hate.
That's when I appeared.
At first, he only did things like beat me and throw things at me.
But he gave me medical treatment.
"Sorry." he'd say, all the while apologizing profusely.
But two years ago, during Christmas, that person...
My first time was on Christmas.
Isn't that sensitive of him?
I wanted my first time to be with someone special.
I wanted someone who would hold me gently, someone who treated me like a Princess.
That dream was shattered.
It was still Christmas, so I still held hope.
I wanted to look cute. I wanted him to praise me.
But after beating me like usual, he ripped apart my crumpled up skirt.
He then grabbed me.
Stop it.
It was such a cute outfit, too.
Stop it.
If I resisted, he'd beat me again.
Stop it.
Even when I cried, he didn't stop.
Stop it!
So, in the span of just one night, I had a body that was completely worthless.
Stop it!!!
If you had been my first, I would've been happy.
If it had been you, you might have been as gentle with me as you were with that kiss just now.
Unfortunate. Very.
I'm nothing now.
The past where I would have been cherished. The future where I would have had dreams.
I'm a tool for the escape of anger and hatred.
I couldn't become a replacement for someone who had died, either. A doll.
No! You're not a tool or a doll!
Don't say there's no future!
As long as you're alive, there's happiness!
No matter what kind of sad past you have, it's possible to forget it!
As long as you continue believing, you can change the future!
That's why you shouldn't say you don't have a future!
How commendable.
This is from yesterday.
This is from the day before.
This is on top of what healed last week.
Maybe it was during the time when you study at home.
That's right. After meeting you, it's been continuing every night.
Always. No, after meeting you, it's gotten worse.
This is from the night I met you again.
This is from the night you and Nagi-san went shopping.
This is from the night I called you out onto the roof.
This is from the night you helped me find my indoor shoes.
This is from the night we went on a shoe-shopping date.
As long as he felt a bit of displeasure, I'd be treated horribly.
If I tried to be tame, it would become worse.
Did I do something bad? Something that made me have to endure something like this?
I thought and thought, but couldn't think of anything.
Eventually, none of it mattered anymore.
And so I just quietly waited for the day I would disappear.
But it was extremely tiring, waiting for that day.
It was painful.
Searing,
suffocating,
sad,
severe,
I wanted to cry,
couldn't bear it,
wanted to run,
couldn't undo it,
it wouldn't end,
tried to ignore it,
I wanted to scream,
squirm,
vomit,
stop it,
resist it,
snap at it,
endure it,
flee from it,
hide it,
avoid it,
shut myself in from it,
refuse it,
bite at it,
brush it aside,
shake myself loose,
I was cornered,
caught,
dragged,
attacked,
coerced,
unforgiving,
bound,
fastened,
pushed,
ripped,
beaten,
tortured,
I wanted to moan,
howl,
go insane,
couldn't stand it,
tied,
punched,
shattered,
pulverized,
kicked,
burned,
branded,
singed,
violated,
defiled,
broken,
ravaged,
destroyed,
tormented,
crushed,
played with,
stepped on.
Finally, he had enough.
He let me go,
threw me down,
fainted away,
feeling no pain,
shattered my heart,
yet, no tears came,
but I was picked up,
caught again,
beaten again,
defiled again,
crushed again,
shattered again,
ravaged again,
destroyed again,
branded again,
burned again,
singed again,
...even though I hated it.
Even though I hated it.
EVEN THOUGH I HATED IT.
This is the me that you never knew.
This is the woman you threw away.
Senpai, do you remember that day?
That day?
I asked you that day, didn't I.
Whether you wanted a younger sister or not.
A distant relative was found.
A person who might take me in.
But I didn't know how my feelings could have been respected.
At that time, I could only open my heart up to you.
If you had said that you wanted me as a sister, I could have...
But, you refused my hand.
Why didn't you say, "I want a sister?"
Why didn't you say, "Don't leave?"
Why didn't you say, "Stay here?"
Why didn't you protect me?
Why?
I didn't...
I didn't want to be like him.
I didn't want you to be a substitute for Akane, who died!
LIAR.
Did you know?
You blink when you lie.
But you said you loved me earlier, without blinking.
Ten years?
You're late.
NOOOOO!!!
To stand up and face one's troubles is courage.
Or...
ef, a tale of melodies.
reflection
Can you hear it? The true melody.