Natsume Yujin-cho Roku
Takashi-kun, can you get that?
Okay!
This is the Fujiwara residence.
Oh, it's you, Natsume.
How've you been?
Um, who is this?
You can't tell?
Shibata!
Shibata?
Shibata... You mean that Shibata?
Who is "that" Shibata?
Shibata was an old classmate of mine.
He fell in love with a youkai.
And then, he also found out that I could see youkai.
Hey, want to meet up? It's been forever.
Come here tomorrow.
You don't have any weekend plans, right?
He's not a bad guy,
but he's very inconsiderate and we don't really get along.
Sorry, but I've got plans with a friend tomorrow.
Bye.
A friend? You?
Yeah.
Does he know that you can see them?
Yeah.
Shibata, it's starting!
Let's go!
Yeah, I'm on my way.
Bring him, too.
I'll get you at the station at noon.
Bye.
Wait—
Shibata!
Nitai-sama
Sorry, Tanuma, I was planning on going to your house.
Don't worry about it.
As long as we're back by dark, it's okay.
The guy we're about to meet, Shibata...
If you find yourself not liking him even in the slightest, tell me and we'll go home.
It's fine.
And you, too, Sensei.
Shibata thinks you're just a cat.
Don't act weird.
Don't worry.
As long as I can hit up the cake places in this town, I don't care about you.
Oh, Natsume!
I thought you were gonna blow me off for sure.
What?
You've still got that ugly cat with you, huh?
So?
This is your friend?
Yeah, this is Tanuma.
Hello. I'm Tanuma Kaname.
I'm Shibata Katsumi.
Nice to meet you.
But you know...
You look like a beanpole.
Natsume doesn't look like a beanpole!
Tanuma doesn't look like a beanpole!
Okay, I'll treat you to someplace good.
Follow me!
Shibata!
Great, huh?
Yeah.
This is...
Why are you spacing out, Natsume?
Oh, no reason.
I'm paying for this. Chew thoroughly.
Right, right.
Shibata is still as forceful as ever,
but I'm a little relieved to see he's doing well.
So your dad's a priest, Tanuma?
So can you see ghosts?
Shibata!
Unfortunately, I can't.
But my dad tells me scary stories and rumors all the time.
He does?
Then have you ever heard of the Doll Mansion of Sotogi?
The Doll Mansion...
Of Sotogi?
No, it's nothing...
What? Tell me.
This isn't what we're here for today.
But now I'm interested.
Tell me, Shibata.
I come to this park all the time.
You know how girls love me, right?
Get to the point.
There's an elementary school girl who comes here.
She's kind of a brat,
but lately she hasn't been doing well.
I asked why, and...
Several days ago, lightning struck the house next to hers.
And ever since then, she hears weird sounds from that house at night.
She's too scared to sleep, she says.
Weird sounds?
Some kind of sound like something's rolling, she said.
But nobody's lived in that house for a long time.
An empty house, huh?
That's weird.
Is that the Doll Mansion of Sotogi?
Yeah.
Is there some reason they call it the Doll Mansion?
Well, just like the name suggests, the last owner collected dolls and stuff.
This is it.
I think a cat or a dog might have moved in, but...
What's wrong, Natsume?
Nothing...
Th-There was a big bug.
A bug?
Don't scare me.
This is bad.
I met the gaze of something strange.
Then you're going to stay at Tanuma's place tonight?
Yeah.
Tanuma's dad's going to be away tonight because of a meeting,
so we're watching the place.
Sounds like you're actually having some fun, huh, Natsume?
Seriously, if you really had something to do, you could've just told me to go away.
I tried!
I'm gonna hit the bathroom.
We're still talking!
Hey, Natsume.
You saw something, didn't you?
Yeah.
So, sorry, but I think I'm not gonna stay over tonight.
It might follow me.
If you wanna fight off something like that, you're better off at a temple, Natsume.
What do you mean "fight off"?
You're sure it's going to follow me?
I don't mind, Natsume.
But...
You don't want Touko and Shigeru involved, right?
Yeah, but...
Don't worry.
My place is better equipped to deal with youkai, right?
Tanuma...
Hey, what does he mean "deal with youkai"?
Shibata!
Damn it, Natsume, you really did see something, didn't you?
Why are you coming with me?
I got you caught up in this.
If a ghost is following you, I'll fight it, too.
You just met Tanuma today. You can't just stay at his place!
I don't care.
We're not playing around here!
Of course!
I'm the one who didn't keep my mouth shut,
even knowing what you can see.
Let me do something, too.
I'm back.
Come in.
Thanks for having me.
Wow, this place is huge.
My place is a condo, so...
I bet hide and seek here must be great.
I always wanted to do that.
Hey, what do we do for dinner?
We make it, of course.
You help, too, Shibata.
What are you making?
You can tell by looking, right?
Rice omelettes?
Fried rice.
I'm the master of rice omelettes.
He just said we're making fried rice!
This is good fried rice.
Yeah, it's pretty good.
What's wrong, Shibata?
You're not eating?
Hey, have you ever heard of Nitai-sama?
Nitai-sama?
No...
I didn't mention it because I didn't want to scare you for nothing,
but the reason the person who lived in that house was collecting dolls...
was to make dolls they could use for spells.
Spells?
Yeah.
I don't really know much about it,
but I guess you can put snakes and bugs in a box and make them eat each other,
and then use the last thing that survives in a curse.
They were doing the same thing with dolls.
They'd pack a room with all kinds of dolls that met some set of conditions,
and then leave the house for a certain number of days.
When they came back,
all the dolls were broken in some place or another.
But if two of the dolls, or "nitai," were unharmed, the ritual had succeeded.
And they become enchanted dolls called "Nitai-sama."
Supposedly, the person who was living there told everyone about it.
Everyone just called him a weirdo, though.
But one day, he started screaming, "Nitai is here! Nitai is here!"
He ran out of the house and never came back.
And all that was left was the rumor about the doll mansion.
What do you think?
What do I think?
That feels too real to be just a rumor.
It's just a scary story the girls told me, though.
But they have to be mistaken, right?
Dolls, huh?
I see.
What I saw in the window
were the faces of two dolls.
Why are you telling us this now?
I'll be too scared to shower alone!
It's your fault for bringing it up!
It's just the wind, Shibata.
I know.
I'll go lock the doors.
I don't know if Nitai-sama is coming, but...
Wait, Tanuma!
Where are you going?
It'll be scary with even one less person here!
Shibata, calm down!
Natsume Yujin-cho Roku
The doors are locked,
and Shibata finally went to take his shower.
I never thought he was such a scaredy-cat.
But he came with us anyway, huh?
Yeah.
Still, I don't want him getting any deeper into this.
Tanuma, if Nitai-sama does come,
Nyanko-sensei and I will deal with him.
So can you keep him far away?
Got it.
Sorry for always dragging you into this stuff.
It makes me happy.
Sometimes it's scary,
but I'd be more scared if you insisted on keeping me in the dark.
I'd actually prefer to help you more,
but just hearing you tell me what to do
makes me think maybe you're counting on me.
It makes me kind of happy.
It's not an "if."
It's definitely coming.
It'll follow your scent.
Sensei.
And for a youkai that was created by ritual magic,
someone with strong power like you is a feast.
You'll help of course, right, Sensei?
Yes, if you're willing to give me this melon I found in the fridge.
Sure.
Then negotiations are successful.
Natsume, you, too.
Next time it's fried shrimp for dinner, you have give them all to me!
That's very greedy, Sensei.
What's that sound?
What's wrong, Natsume?
Natsume?
What happened?
I just saw a doll's legs.
It went toward the kitchen.
That's what gave me that headache?
You okay, Tanuma?
Yeah.
More importantly, was that...
That was probably Nitai-sama.
Nya
It's got my name on it now.
So it did come.
They were talking about lightning hitting the house.
That probably broke the door on the room the doll was in,
and set it free.
Even with a vessel, the thing inside still isn't very powerful.
Draw it out from its vessel,
and I'll get rid of it for you.
How do we do that?
Hey, Tanuma.
You've got a protective talisman or two in this house, right?
A talisman?
Yeah.
I'll find the ones we can use,
and you can put it on the doll's forehead.
Got it.
I'll go check on Shibata.
This is my fault, isn't it?
I think something just went by the window.
Shibata, stay away from the window.
So Nitai-sama is here?
Is there something I can do?
I don't know all that's going on,
but this is because I told you that weird story, right?
Let me take responsibility.
If there's something I can do, let me do it!
Yeah.
Thanks.
I searched all the rooms and only found this one.
I see.
We need another, right?
The only other place I haven't checked is...
the attic.
Shibata, can you go with Tanuma to look for another one of these?
Okay, leave it to me.
We'll be right back, if we find it.
Yeah.
I'll make sure nothing gets in.
Nitai-sama won't come in from the roof, will it?
It should be fine.
It'll be drawn to your presence.
You look unhappy.
Why did the person who owned that house want to cast that spell?
Why did he leave something he wanted in the first place?
Who cares about the reason?
They probably thought they were just playing.
They got scared.
That was...
It came in.
It's coming!
Take this!
One more left...
I need to keep the other one pinned down
until they can bring back the other talisman.
Oh, no!
That's...
Damn it, it's not coming off.
Make sure you don't break it, Shibata.
I know.
Jeez, what a pain.
This stupid Nitai-sama thing.
Why would you make something like that?
Did they have that much hate in their hearts?
Or...
Humans are scary, aren't they?
Yeah.
If we hadn't noticed that thing, we could've ignored it.
But now that we did, we can't ignore it.
Natsume is always dealing with this stuff, isn't he?
Yeah.
I wish there was more I could do.
Just having somebody like you at his side will change a lot, I think.
Got it!
Natsume!
Wait, Shibata!
Something's on top of Natsume!
A youkai?
Shibata, the talisman!
Throw it at Natsume!
Natsume!
Sensei!
Natsume?
Are you okay, Natsume?
What just happened?
Shibata?
Tanuma?
Shibata, it's okay now—
I'm sorry, Natsume.
I just wanted to see you again, since it had been so long.
And I told you that story and got you involved in this...
Now I understand what Tanuma told me.
I was happy, Shibata.
You were far away, and you remembered me.
You tried to connect with me again.
You kept talking to me, even though you knew what I am.
It made me happy.
It made me want to help a friend who'd come to me with a problem, too.
Several days later,
this time, Shibata came to visit me.
I thought I should give you an update.
An update?
Yeah.
I went back to the park like always after that.
And that girl said the scary noises stopped coming from the house next door.
She was doing much better.
It's thanks to you, huh?
That's just how it ended up.
Well, maybe it's okay for us to think we were responsible, if we don't tell anyone.
Yeah.
But...
You really do have it rough.
Being able to see youkai isn't all fun and games.
Shibata met the youkai girl many times in that park.
The girl was the youkai of a dying tree,
and Shibata had a sad love.
I felt a little bad that he might still be going there.
And at the same time, I was happy.
Oh, right.
This is a present.
Give some to Tanuma, too.
What's inside?
Kashiwa rice buns.
The ugly cat just started talking like an old man...
Natsume, watch out!
This cat's possessed by something!
Nyanko-sensei!
Next time Natsume Yujin-cho Roku
Lying Eyes
Are you the Natsume
of the Book of Friends, that I've heard so much about?
Natsume always tells me exactly how he's feeling.
What happened to the familiars
that my father commanded?
How would Natori-san feel if I told him?