Natsume Yujin-cho Roku
Ever since I was little, I've sometimes seen strange things.
Other people don't seem to be able to see them.
I think they're what people call "youkai."
Run, Sensei!
Wait, Natsume! It's too hard to run after eating!
It's your own fault!
You ate all the dango for the guests!
If they're sitting next to you, I'm going to think they're a snack.
Touko-san bought them for me because she said they were really good.
Your "guests" are just that Tanuma kid and that Taki girl, right?
Give them lollipops or caramel or something.
Jeez... I hope the store still has some.
What's that?
I hear what sounds like two things colliding.
The
Days
Eater
A pot?
Why's he hitting his head against a wall?
How should I know?
That's a youkai, right?
Let's get out of here before we get involved.
Yeah.
I can't get this pot off.
I can't break it.
Can you take it off?
What do you think, Sensei?
I want to help, but...
He's not a sealed youkai, is he?
I don't think I sense any kind of spell from that pot, but...
I found an old pot and looked inside,
and I guess I got stuck.
As you can see, I'm not anyone suspicious.
Please help me.
Anybody who says they're not suspicious is maximum suspicious!
Right, Natsume?
I'll take it off you,
but if you try anything, Nyanko-sensei will exorcise you, okay?
What?
Are you trying to make me work for free?
I'm going to pull.
One, two...
Got it!
I am the Days Eater.
I am on a journey.
The Days Eater?
I must repay you for this.
No need.
Take care.
Bye.
As thanks, I will restore your youth.
Hey, wait! Wait!
Listen, don't try anything!
You'd better not!
Sheesh...
Natsume got tiny!
A weird cat's talking!
Hey, Natsume!
How do you know my name?
What are you?
A tanuki monster?
There's so much I want to scream that I'm not sure what to say!
Damn it... he got younger and lost his memories, huh?
Hey, Natsume!
Please stay away, tanuki monster.
I'm not a tanuki! I'm Nyanko-sensei!
Calm down!
Think about it.
Do you know where you are now?
Forget about me.
Do you know where you are, or what today's date is?
How old are you today?
No...
What happened to me?
I don't really know...
Right now, I'm...
It seems less like he went back to being a kid
and more like his memories are confused.
Listen carefully, okay?
I am Nyanko-sensei!
I saved your life, and you are my servant!
You are presently a high school student with completely average grades,
no girlfriend at all,
freeloading at the Fujiwara household.
You can look at me that way all you want, but that's the truth.
Anyway, we're going home so we can figure out what to do.
Go home?
To this Fujiwara-san household?
But if what you're saying is true, tanuki,
will they be okay with me coming back like this?
It's true that not only can we not explain this to them,
if Natsume's memories come back, he might rip the hair out of my tail.
You're going to pay for frightening Touko-san and Shigeru-san, Sensei!
Maybe I'll take him to Natori then...
A child?
What should I feed him? Milk?
He wouldn't be useful at all, I think.
You're so rude.
The Dog's Circle then!
You're so cute, Natsume-sama!
We, the Dog's Circle, will take care of you forever!
Forever! Forever!
Shut up!
No, if I'm not careful, he'll be reported as missing.
T-Tanuki, it's okay.
I'll figure things out on my own.
I can't go with a youkai I don't really know well.
I'm sorry.
It's Nyanko-sensei!
Huh? Sensei? What are you doing here?
Who's that?
Great timing, you guys!
Do something!
Is it okay for you to be so loud?
Where's Natsume, by the way?
Look carefully at that kid!
Natsume's... little brother?
Close! That's him!
I'm sure it's hard to believe, but a youkai turned him back into a kid.
A kid?
But... can he be fixed?
No idea.
For now, I want to go someplace else.
Tanuma, let us go to your room.
Yeah.
Natsume-kun!
Wait, Natsume!
Where are you going?
You know me?
Yeah.
We're your friends.
Come to my house for now.
You might be scared because you don't know what's going on,
but we know that you can see youkai.
You're close enough to us to tell us that.
Is that enough for you to trust us?
Let's go, Natsume-kun.
Thank you, sir.
Look, over there.
You can see a temple, right?
That's my place.
Wow.
You live in a temple, Tanuma-san?
Just call me Tanuma.
Call me Taki.
Okay...
You don't have to force yourself.
Yeah, you can just call me Taki-san... it's fine.
But I feel like I know this path.
That... field?
Do a lot of lotus flowers bloom there?
That's right, Natsume-kun.
We once made a wreath of flowers there.
Look, Natsume.
We went to the shrine up those stairs for a festival.
And, if you follow that path between the fields, you'll come to a river
where we go fishing with Nishimura and the others a lot.
A festival?
Yup.
Fishing?
Yeah.
It's like a fairy tale.
No, Natsume-kun.
It's true.
It's all true.
Excuse us.
So what do you remember now, Natsume?
I don't know.
It's like my head's gone blank,
but I feel lighter all of a sudden.
It feels really weird, but I don't know why...
That tanu—cat monster tells me
that I'm really in high school, but I can't believe that.
Sensei, how did this happen?
It's the work of the Days Eater.
The Days Eater?
I thought I'd heard of him somewhere...
He travels around, staying in old houses and storerooms,
and when he leaves, as thanks he takes one of the old things there
and makes them new again.
He has the power to make even men and beasts young again,
and supposedly certain shamans were desperately looking for him.
Natsume just helped him and got "thanked."
So if we find this Days Eater again and ask him for help,
I might be able to go back to normal.
Yup.
Then I have to get back to where I was...
I'm going.
Natsume!
Sorry.
But I want to see for myself.
Then we'll go, too...
What's the point of going along if one of you
can't see it and one of you doesn't know what it looks like.
It'll be a bother if the youkai around here find out that Natsume became a kid.
You stay here and babysit him.
I'll find him.
Why is a youkai doing this for me?
Because if you don't get back to normal, I can't go home and eat Touko's dinner!
Thank you, Nyanko-sensei!
Leave Natsume-kun to us!
I love you!
Stop it!
It's strange...
It's so hard to believe,
but the way his face tenses up from time to time makes you
realize it really is Natsume-kun.
Yeah.
I'm glad, though.
If we hadn't run into them,
where would Sensei have taken Natsume-kun?
What happens if he doesn't come back?
Sorry. Nyanko-sensei will take care of it, won't he?
There isn't much we can do at times like these...
Yeah.
Let's make curry or something.
Natsume might stay here tonight,
and Sensei might come back hungry.
You're right.
Can I stay for dinner, too?
Of course.
Natsume-kun?
Yes?
I'm going to make curry, so give me a hand.
Okay...
Hey, little guys.
Have you seen a youkai with a face like a wood knot around here?
Hey, you guys!
You seen a youkai with a face like a wood knot?
Sheesh, what a pain.
Where did the Days Eater go?
Hey, did anybody see a youkai with a face like a wood knot?
Dang it...
Maybe I'll just leave Natsume as a little brat.
He just brings too many youkai near him to begin with.
If he'd left that pot-head alone this never would've happen...
Please stay away, tanuki monster.
Oh, I know!
The Book of Friends is mine now, if I want it.
That makes me feel a little better...
Looks like I can find you, Days Eater...
Sheesh.
Tanuma-kun, where's the ladle?
Other side of that drawer.
Um... where's the pot.
Can you make the rice, Natsume-kun?
Um...
Oh no, this is the kind of onion that stings your eyes...
Everyone, run.
It's too late.
It got me already.
Natsume, you can use a peeler.
You're scaring me, so let's use a peeler.
Nice, Natsume.
Yeah.
You did well.
Are you okay, Tanuma-kun?
I'm fine.
Where's the towel?
I'll get it.
Here it is.
Huh?
How did I know where it was?
I've never been here before.
Is all that true, maybe?
About the festival, and the fishing...
Are they really my friends?
Open the door.
I won't.
Get lost.
Tanuma-san and Taki-san are here.
I won't let any youkai in.
No, I won't come inside.
Open the door and I'll take you away.
They're very scary and cunning youkai.
They were talking about tricking you and eating you.
You're lying.
They won't do that.
And if that was true, that cat monster wouldn't leave me here.
No, the cat just didn't want to get eaten himself.
So he tricked you and ran away himself.
Think about it.
He hasn't come back, has he?
Poor thing.
He's being deceived!
Open the door and we'll save you.
We'll take you away.
Hurry, hurry...
Those two and the cat are laughing as they trick you.
Hey, Natsume.
You're lying!
Get lost!
Natsume?
Natsume, what's wrong?
Natsume!
Natsume-kun?
Natsume-kun, what's wrong?
Taki, something's wrong.
It's dangerous, so grab him.
Got it.
Wait, Natsume-kun!
Natsume!
Natsume-kun!
Natsume!
G-Gotcha...
What's wrong, Natsume?
Did you see something?
Well?
Feel a little better?
Yes. I'm sorry.
I see.
Sorry.
When I was young, my parents were pretty strict.
So I've never played tag in someone else's house.
I know it's not a good time, but it was kind of fun.
Me, too.
Until I came here, I never played tag indoors.
Actually...
There were monsters outside the window.
And so...
Th-They said that you were...
Are you hungry, Natsume-kun?
I know!
I almost forgot!
Here, cupcakes.
Eat all you want!
The curry still needs to stew a while, so it's perfect timing.
I brought them so we could all eat them while we hung out at your house.
You were going to hang out at my house?
Yup.
The home of those Fujiwara-san people the cat was talking about?
Yup.
What are they like?
Are they nice?
They don't hate me?
They're very nice people.
They don't hate you.
They care about you very much.
They care about you and Nyanko-sensei.
I feel like I can remember a lot of things...
But if I try, a lot of scary and painful things are going to come back, too.
Are you my friends?
Yup.
Both of you, and that cat monster, are youkai,
and you're playing a prank on me...
I know that if I don't think of things that way,
I'm going to be disappointed...
But it would be nice if it were true.
If it were true, I'd like to go back to normal soon.
If I could go back,
would I remember how we played together?
We'll remember.
So come back soon, Natsume.
Hey, Days Eater.
I finally found you.
What the heck do you think you're doing?
Oh, the one from before.
What's wrong?
Everything's wrong!
Turn Natsume back.
You can do it, right?
I can, but why?
Both humans and objects have short lives.
So aren't they happy to get younger?
Different people want to get old, or to be younger.
Do you know which Natsume-sama prefers?
I'm tired.
Where are Tanuma and Taki?
They're finishing the curry.
I felt tired for some reason, so I'm taking a nap.
I asked him to undo the spell.
That's probably why.
It'll be gone by the time the sun sets.
I'm tired, so I'm going to sleep.
Eventually you're paying me back double, okay?
Yeah, thanks.
Nyanko-sensei, are you and I friends?
Nope.
We're just kinda stuck together.
Natsume, the curry's ready...
Next time Natsume Yujin-cho Roku
It Blooms Tomorrow
The Stone-Washer?
Once you wash 80,000 stones,
you can return to Fujima village.
It was such a beautiful sight...
He draws the most beautiful flowers...