From the town where I was born and raised,
you could see Mt. Fuji.
It was so big and beautiful,
it always helped clear my mind...
Sometimes, after staring at it for a while,
I wouldn't want to go home anymore.
Yakiniku Daruma Offal
On the ground floor of our house,
our father ran a small yakiniku restaurant.
It was always dark inside,
and the oil hung thick in the air.
The pillars, the walls,
even our furniture...
Everything was covered in a layer of yellow oil.
Since our mom was gone, no one took care of it,
to the point that there was a steadily growing layer of fat on the futons in the closet.
No matter how many times I tried to wash things,
the fat would come back.
To make matters worse, my dad was incredibly oily himself,
and would always give off this uniquely fatty smell.
I also had a brother who was two years older.
He had a warped personality,
and whenever Dad wasn't around, he would bully me violently.
He also had a strange habit...
Every now and then, he'd sneak into the kitchen
and drink vegetable oil like he was enjoying it...
You saw, didn't you, Yui?
Listen up. You better not tell Dad!
You know what I'll do to you if you do, don't you?
The sticky walls,
the disgusting smell of my father,
and my brother, who was as disgusting as the fat itself...
I hated it all.
I started to get more and more sensitive to oil.
I was eventually able to tell how saturated the air in a room was.
50% Saturation
Oil saturation.
That's the term I used to describe how thick the air was with oil.
Ding dong ding dong...
The current oil saturation is at 50%.
Please be cautious around open flame.
The current saturation level is 60%.
The current saturation level is 60%...
When my brother entered puberty,
he started getting pimples on his forehead.
They spread from there to the rest of his face.
Come on, he'll hear you!
Hey, Goro, stay the hell away from us!
Your whole face looks like it's about to erupt!
Idiot!
You got your gross oil on us!
You better pay for the cleaning!
Yakiniku Daruma Offal
Hey, Yui!
You laughed, didn't you?!
You thought I deserved it, didn't you?!
Stop it, Goro!
Let go, Dad!
It's your fault my face is like this in the first place!
My whole body is polluted with all this oil!
What the hell are you gonna do about it?!
Stop it, Goro!
Damn it!
Enough!
After that, my brother shut himself up in his room
and drank oil every day.
Yui?
Yui!
Where the hell are you, Yui?!
What is it, Onii-chan?
Oil!
Go buy some more.
And a new futon.
This one is so sticky, it's disgusting.
I know, but Dad won't give me any money...
Shut up!
There's gotta be some somewhere.
Ugh, I'm so pissed off!
Gross!
Did you...
just say I was gross?
I see...
You hate my oil that much?
I'll give you a big taste, then!
How's that?!
All that oil coming up from my volcanoes!
Serves you right!
All of you, always making a fool out of me!
You just wait and see... I'll kill you all.
And you get to go first,
as punishment for calling me gross!
Sorry, Goro...
You want to go to Yakiniku Daruma?
No way!
That place is filthy.
No, actually, I went the other day and the meat was amazing.
Really fatty!
Really?
Daruma
Welcome!
Mister, give me some of that tasty meat.
The kind from the other day.
I'm sorry.
We actually ran out of that meat yesterday.
Really?
Y-Yeah...
The current oil saturation is 70%...
70%.
It was then that I started having odd dreams.
In my dream,
I was looking at Mt. Fuji.
Oil...
It's oil!
The oil saturation is currently 90%.
Oil saturation is 90%.
Please be extremely cautious around open flame.
I feel so gross...
Oh, no!
More and more pimples began to appear on my face.
And so,
I started hiding inside, too.
Yui?
Still not feeling better?
Why not take a walk or something?
Shut up! Go away!
The current saturation is 80%....
80%.
Drink it! Drink it, Yui!
What are you doing?!
Yui, you're awake?
Sorry.
I thought you might be hungry, so I gave you some oil.
Even if I was hungry, I wouldn't want to drink oil!
I guess that's right.
You didn't drink oil, did you?
Wait... Have you been making me drink it all the time lately?
Nah...
You have, haven't you?
You're crazy.
I'm off to bed.
It's true...
I know it's true.
The last few days,
Dad has been making me drink oil.
From that point on, I took precautions.
I couldn't sleep without being careful...
Due to circumstances, we are temporarily closed
I'm done! I'm done with all of it!
Who gives a damn about yakiniku anyway?
My father became even greasier,
and even getting close to him would make the saturation level rise.
There would be a layer of grease in the bath after he used it,
and more oil had soaked into his futon than ever before.
Then, one night...
What's that sound?
What dribbled down to the floor wasn't blood,
but golden-brown oil.
The current saturation level is 100%...
Saturation level 100%.
Greased
Collection No. 107
My grandmother, who lives in the country alone,
seems to be afraid lately.
She asked for someone, anyone, to come over.
This place is always gloomy whenever I visit.
Who would be here at this hour?
A friend of Grandma's?
Good evening.
Excuse me, but do you know my grandmother?
I thought as much.
She's been here since last year when my grandfather died,
and we've all been worried about her, staying here all by herself.
Please keep visiting her.
Bridge
Collection No. 026
Grandma, open up!
It's me! Kanako!
Grandma! Grandma!
Is that you, Kana?
Let me just open this up.
Grandma, what was that?!
Well, that's Kingoro-san.
He's my uncle
who died long ago, when I was just a child.
He's out there every night...
Out there on the bridge.
Since your grandpa died and I'm the only one here now,
those things pop out every night.
Are you saying they're ghosts?!
They must've been waiting for me to be alone.
The ghosts are calling for me...
But... there are so many voices.
A lot of people have died in this village.
Many haven't passed on.
Why would they want you?
Well, dear...
They want to drag me down into the river.
Take a look.
They're waving for me.
Osode-chan!
They call all night long. I can barely get any sleep.
I doubt you can sleep here either, Kana,
so I'll tell you a story from when I was young.
Take a seat and hear me out.
I think this'll be the first time I've told you about it...
You see, I was born and raised in this house,
and have spent my whole life here.
There's hardly anyone left,
but in the old days, this village was pretty lively.
Back then, there was an odd tradition, though...
How we handled our funerals.
The first instance I can remember was during Kingoro-san's funeral.
The day of the funeral, everyone in the village met at the edge of the river
to see off the dead.
I remember watching from the edge with my mother.
Hey! Kingoro-san is headed this way!
Osode, your uncle is coming.
Let's get a good look at him.
He ran into the edge of the bridge.
Kingoro-san sure has bad luck.
Your uncle fell!
Oh, the poor thing!
Hey, Mom,
what's going to happen to Uncle Kingoro?
The river widens out there, on top of being deeper...
He won't drift downstream. He's going to sink there.
If he had just stayed on the mat, he still would've been able to float on to heaven!
Can't we at least tie them to the mats?
Sad as it is, that's tradition.
Shokichi-san was...
Shokichi-san?
Well, Shokichi-san was a young man who died at the age of 20.
He was also the last person put to rest by sending his body down the river.
I was 16 at the time.
Shokichi-san was the biggest man in the village.
Goodness, he must've been over two meters tall.
But his heart was as soft as cotton.
He was my first love...
and my fiance.
But some trees collapsed on him in the mountains, and he passed on.
At the funeral, we used two mats...
Okay, let's get him flowing!
I was so sad, I was beside myself,
but a lot of the other villagers thought it'd be quite the show.
Look, Osode's actually crying.
Can you blame her?
He's floating this way!
Shokichi-san...
It's gonna hit!
Look!
Shokichi's body is too big, and since it's stiff, he's stuck!
Hey, you young folks!
Do something!
Don't you feel sorry for poor Shokichi?!
At the time,
it felt like Shokichi had his eyes open and was looking at me.
At you?
I wonder if he was telling me something...
That's right...
His eyes were telling me to come soon.
The people who fell into the river must be waiting for me.
That's why the ghosts appear every night and call me.
I'm so scared...
Osode-chan!
Kana, dear,
I don't think I'm going to last much longer.
What are you saying, Grandma?!
You only think that because you've been here alone so long!
Let's leave tomorrow!
It's too late.
I'm going to die.
Grandma! Snap out of it!
Kana, dear,
if I die, bury me in the ground.
No matter what happens, don't float me down the river.
I don't want to sink into the river...
Kana, dear, I'm counting on you...
Grandma?
Grandma, what's wrong with you?!
Grandma!
Grandma?!
Please, Grandma!
Oh...
It was just a dream.
I get it.
I must've gotten sleepy on the way and taken a little nap.
Creepy...
Just like in my dream.
It can't be.
Good evening.
Osode-san...
just passed away.
Grandma!
Grandma, where are you?!
Grandma?
Look, here comes Osode-chan!
Osode-chan...
Osode-chan!
Osode-chan...
How wonderful.
Now Shokichi and Osode can finally be married.
But Osode-chan has gotten quite old.
Grandma! Grandma!
It seemed like she was looking at me...
Osode-chaaaan
Collection