December 2004
You two are...
so pathetic.
You are so pitiful.
You don't have to tell me...
what's right.
I see.
Then, you won't be saved.
Please tell them...
that the true punishment comes down to the heart.
The crime that we've swallowed, ate away our souls.
and eventually...
our bodies...
and our lives.
There's even a last request.
When Ryouji was depressed over that incident involving his father...
I remember saying this to him.
I thought maybe something might've happened.
Um...
You said that you killed him...
What do you mean?
That's...
Ryouji's, right?
I killed him.
When I came to check on her...
Do people die this suddenly?
Um...
Actually, the machine...
We were also...
providing her with the best care.
However, unfortunately...
the cardiac recovery...
You mean, it was her time to go?
I was...
on the phone with a friend...
I said I was tired.
Because I said that...
I was punished.
Karasawa
I don't think the hospital will say anything...
because it seems that they want to cover up the mistake.
Are you okay, Yukiho?
I'm fine.
Just a bit tired.
I'm sorry.
Thank you,
Ryo.
I'll take care of the rest.
Because this is the life I gained by killing my parents.
I'll keep living forever...
Karasawa Yukiho's mother?
I just heard from Takamiya.
She had a heart attack...
and died.
That's very sudden.
When I questioned my contact from the hospital...
he said it was probably from the equipment getting disconnected.
Malpractice?
That's what the hospital seems to think.
Anyway, I'm going to the funeral.
Wait...
Remember, don't get anymore involved than needed.
I want to make sure, with my own eyes.
What?
How she looks when she sends off her mother.
Shinozuka.
You should also...
find the missing piece as soon as you can.
I have to hurry...
Koga.
It seems that everyone is disappearing.
Listen...
Yukiho.
Your mother said that...
we won't be saved
I don't need all of this.
In my own way...
I was trying to...
bring you into the light.
However,
the more I tried...
the deeper you got boxed in.
At this point...
that's how I feel.
But...
I'm sorry.
I didn't know...
of any other way...
to love you.
Byakuyakou (JourneyUnder a Midnight Sun) Chapter 10
Welcome home.
Why are you here?
Eh, I'm not allowed?
I thought you were long gone.
I was just doing some research for my novel.
Did you finish?
That's why I returned it, didn't I?
Yes.
Why don't we have a date tomorrow, Noriko?
She called from the hospital last night.
For two hours, she complained on the phone.
It seems her mother passed away during that call.
Why do you ask?
I just want to know what happened.
Why?
I'm her ex-husband's friend and he asked me to help.
Do you want me to help you?
Did Takamiya ask you to come here?
He says...
he can't face you now.
It's going to be lonely for you.
People...
they all die someday.
Even if I cry...
it's not going to bring my mother back.
Nishimoto Yukiho's second mother.
She died two days ago.
Some medical equipment got disconnected.
There's no evidence...
but the probability that he did it is high.
Hey!
Haven't you...
done enough?
You've...
been keeping an eye on this place...
fearing that something might happen again, right?
Watching the crime scene like a watchdog.
In your own way...
you've been trying...
to protect your son.
Isn't that right?
This may sound harsh, but...
you are only...
trying to atone for your sins...
by protecting your son.
Am I wrong?
What's this?
This is...
It's from him?
I...
don't know for sure.
Ooe Library, Everyone's BBS
What are you reading?
"Gone with the wind."
What are you reading?
I finally managed to get a day off and we come to a place like this?
I wanted to see your hometown just once.
Say...
What is your novel about?
It's about a man who's never noticed no matter what he does.
The main character shoplifts as a child...
and when he doesn't get caught, he thinks he's smart.
Then he does a lot of bad things.
In the end, he even kills people.
But one day he notices...
That he's a ghost?
It's not that he escapes everyone's notice...
it's just that no one takes notice of him.
And pretty soon he falls in love with someone.
He gives her stolen things...
and kills people who make her sad.
But still, no one notices him?
Yes, because he's a ghost.
What a pity for the ghost.
And then...
where does the potassium cyanide come in?
There's one person who notices him.
He uses it to kill that man.
Sorry to keep you waiting...
are you Sasagaki?
Are you Taniguchi?
Yes.
It's about Kirihara and Nishimoto, right?
Yes.
Please...
Ah, thank you...
There's one thing...
I want to ask you.
Were they reading the same book here?
You mean, "Gone with the wind"?
Kirihara tried to catch up with Nishimoto...
He tried his best to read it.
Before that, he would only look at picture books.
Neither of them laughed.
After they met, they started to laugh.
On those stairs outside...
Kirihara...
used to make her pictures cut out of paper.
They were really a cute couple.
Um...
Did something happen to Kirihara?
No, no.
It's nothing important.
I'm sorry, but...
If there's any more mail, please contact me here.
I'll leave you now.
Thank you very much.
Stop it!
What is your hometown like, Yuichi?
Really stinky...
and a dirty town.
Can we go there sometime?
That would be good.
Sorry...
He surely has someone else.
It's over now.
How about Sasagaki?
He didn't come.
Instead, Shinozuka came.
He seemed strangely normal.
Surely nothing will happen after this.
It won't be that easy.
It's okay to get lucky sometimes, isn't it?
Lucky?
Eh?
Are you talking...
about Sasagaki?
You...
did it?
That can't be, right?
If so, Shinozuka wouldn't stay quiet.
What do you intend to do?
Why won't you say anything?
Because if you do, I'll be an accomplice?
You're not...
by any chance...
planning on killing yourself, right?
Say something!
Yukiho, I...
want to go back to my hometown someday.
Let's go back!
The statute of limitations runs out in two years.
We can go back together!
You can, Yukiho.
But I still have a lot of other things...
And there's too many witnesses still alive.
But there hasn't been a single case built against you yet.
Who knows when that'll happen.
Why do you give up so easily?
What have we come this far for?
I liked you...
Yukiho...
a lot.
But if you're not here, Ryo...
I beg you.
I'm going to be all alone... how many times do I have to say that!
But still...
the people that stand in the way...
of your future...
without a doubt...
are only him and me.
Are you done?
Yes.
It's done...
all of it.
Really?
Really.
Ah, Yukiho, the funeral director wants you.
I'm sorry...
that he bothered you.
Yukiho!
Yukiho?
Yukiho!
Hey...
I told him that I'd believe him.
Say...
About your son's...
scissors...
Hey...
Hey!
That child is still in the airduct.
The one who put him there...
is me.
I'm sorry for giving him this kind of life.
I'm sorry...
Why?!
Why did you choose this kind of life?
Why?
I'm sorry...
I...
Um...
Where's Ryoko?
She's writing off the funeral bills...
as your store's expenses.
Can you do that?
I'm sorry, Shinozuka...
I'll call you a cab right away.
Ah, you should get some more rest.
You haven't slept these past couple of days, right?
Ryoko also said...
that you're always taking care of everything.
Say...
That spot only has cactuses.
My mother was...
like those cactuses.
When her husband died...
she lived by herself.
Despite her appearance...
she was a really strong person.
I'm really mad.
That's your heartache.
Very strict...
and straight-forward.
She had sharp thorns...
Yukiho...
let's go to school.
But...
she always protected me.
You'll always...
have a place to come home to.
She was a person...
of true strength and kindness.
I liked you, Yukiho... a lot.
I don't understand...
I...
What?
How to love a person.
Since when...
have you not known?
Karasawa...
I...
I was useless.
Useless?
Even children...
have to be useful to their parents.
You just got 1 million yen as an advance right?!
Even though I should've done it properly...
I couldn't do anything.
I...
couldn't do anything in return for her.
Return?
She was sold by her mother.
You know...
Maybe you shouldn't make him kill someone...
The ghost.
Still talking about that?
Shouldn't the ghost be crying out of joy?
Because that man noticed him.
Okay, then he'll kill him while crying.
Stop it with that conclusion...
But this story wouldn't end otherwise.
I don't want to be writing this novel forever.
That's okay, isn't it?
It's okay...
for you to continue to be here.
So, if I am...
You are?
lf I'm living the ghost's life...
will you still take me?
If I don't ever go to work?
It's fine.
The thought that I suppressed, started coming back.
Then...
let's do that.
The truth is...
I have this impulse of wanting to expose everything.
What kind of connection did you have with her?
However...
this won't make her happy.
This person...
I shouldn't go any further with her.
I'm scared of wanting it myself.
I'm scared of the person that could destroy your future.
I also...
needed to be useful ever since I was born.
For the future of Shinozuka Pharmaceutical.
My allowance was determined by my test scores.
If I wanted money I had to prove myself.
Someone who can produce results for himself...
can get thousands of employees...
to do the same thing.
I didn't hold any grudges...
but I was lonely when I was little.
But you know...
there're still many kids...
with zeros who get hugged.
Like Eriko.
But you, Karasawa...
were you really...
all alone?
You can, if you put your mind to it.
I'm getting some cigarettes.
Can you buy some for me too?
Okay.
The one who gets tricked is dumber.
Isn't that right Yukiho?
We're in the same boat. Haven't you thought of that? Scarlett?
You want to get them to turn themselves in?
For Karasawa, I think that's the only way.
I'll look into it...
but it's unlikely, that we can find evidence for password theft anyway.
That's...
hard to find, isn't it...
But there's a slim possibility.
Are you...
trying to get involved with them?
Yes.
For example, I can assist her with her store.
That way, I might find something out.
Maybe that really is the only way.
However...
there's also a probability, that it'll be a complete waste of your time.
Eriko used to say...
that me and Karasawa were alike.
The hole that Karasawa fell into...
might be...
the same as mine.
I thought that I shouldn't shield my eyes from it.
That's why this is...
for myself.
Make sure that...
you don't fall into the hole with her.
Have you found the missing piece?
Yes.
Tell me on your return.
Sure...
sometime.
Yes.
Someday...
I'll give him...
your bones.
I wonder...
if he'll come sneak around...
Yes? This is the Sasagaki Detective office.
This is Taniguchi from Ooe Library...
My plan was simple...
I'll produce the potassium cyanide gas here...
He'll be poisoned when he inhales it.
And then I'll just dispose of his body...
and make it look like Sasagaki was on a long business trip
As for Shinozuka...
I'll just need to send him an email or something to keep him away.
Even if he notices and starts searching...
neither I or Sasagaki...
will be in this world anymore.
No way...
That child is still in the airduct. The one who put him there is me.
Kirihara Ryouji - Karasawa Yukiho
I'm sorry about this place...
I don't want to invite anyone into my office right now.
I'm sorry also, for coming so suddenly.
I'm sorry.
So...
what do you want to talk about?
Actually, I...
I saw those two after that.
After that incident...
Kirihara kept coming by himself...
During his senior year of high school, I think...
I saw them together once.
Senior year of high school, around December?
Yes.
Kirihara helped Nishimoto up when she fell.
After graduating high school, Nishimoto started coming to the library.
She talked to me like a friend about love life in general.
Around November, freshman year of college?
By the end of her freshman year, she stopped coming.
After that...
from time to time...
messages would appear which sounded like them...
I thought something must've happened to them.
Whenever I tried to send a reply, I couldn't contact them.
In the mean time...
the last message arrived...
and you came also, Sasagaki.
Taniguchi...
What I'm about to tell you...
is not based on any solid evidence.
So...
please don't tell anyone.
Yes...
Around the time you saw the two of them together...
they committed rape.
What?
Nishimoto Yukiho, who's past was revealed at school...
and Kirihara Ryouji, who was threatened with bad photos...
as if to silence the perpetrators...
conspired together.
Excuse me...
And the last time you saw Kirihara Ryouji...
Right before that...
Kirihara had sent in his own death report.
Death report?
He probably had a guy named Matsuura Isamu make a fake one for him...
What you say is all lies!
Who asked to be born?
Debit Card fraud case. Nishiguchi Namie murder case...
There's no evidence.
This is really something...
Kawashima Eriko rape case...
When Nishimoto Yukiho started coming...
you said she came for advice about love?
Yes.
Yukiho was in love with someone...
but it didn't work out.
Yes, she said something like that.
I won't forgive you...
Is it wrong to try to destroy someone else's happiness!
Because of that, Kirihara Ryouji...
raped that man's girlfriend.
Koga Hisashi dies on duty
And then, around the time Yukiho stopped coming to the library...
Matsuura Isamu killed a police officer.
The eyewitness was Kirihara Yaeko.
Matsuura disappeared and hasn't been found ever since.
Die already...
Ryo...
I'll return you under the sun.
2002 Nishimoto Yukiho marries
Could you give me your room?
Around the time the first message came to the library...
Yukiho got married.
That marriage was planned to end in divorce...
and to put Kirihara Ryouji back into normal society.
In return.
You can get into Touzai Densou with this.
2004 Ryouji as Akiyoshi Yuichi
The second message arrived...
around the time...
Yukiho got divorced and opened up her own shop.
After committing all these crimes...
they actually...
had the nerve to name the store R&Y...
as Ryouji and Yukiho.
2004 December Karasawa Reiko dies
I'm sorry...
mother.
Immediately...
after this third message...
Nishimoto Yukiho's second mother dies.
An accident or a murder...
no one will ever know for sure.
Those kids...
Why something like that?
From the start...
they both killed their own parents for the sake of the other.
"Exchange murder"
Kirihara Ryouji's father...
bought 11 year-old Nishimoto Yukiho.
Eh?
Seeing that, Kirihara Ryouji killed his father.
And to cover up that crime...
Nishimoto Yukiho...
killed her mother.
Why?
Why that kind of life...
That's because...
they're both stupid!
Those kids...
they asked me...
Scarlett...
is strange.
Killing people in order to live...
She's too tough.
Killing people...
to find happiness. Does she have any shame?
To continue on living...
To continue on living, is it okay to kill people?
Would a murder...
be forgiven?
Those kids...
were sending me lots of signals.
I should've noticed it and told them it was wrong.
No, no...
There's no reason at all to sympathize with them.
But their parents are to blame, right?
And me who didn't notice...
Those kids...
They were only 11 years old!
Just kids...
They were victims of their parents!
No! That's completely wrong!
If they're smart enough to kill people, they must be smart enough to turn themselves in.
If they can deceive people, they must be able to imagine people's lives!
From the very beginning, they did everything knowingly.
You're not at fault.
Don't misunderstand...
If...
If there is someone to blame...
that person is me.
That day...
I should've arrested them.
It was me.
Um...
What can I do?
As a person...
who has had a relationship with them...
I want to do at least something...
Please tell everyone...
what Kirihara Ryouji said.
These are...
your words, right?
They came close, but didn't actually turn into monsters...
thanks to you.
That's already...
more than enough.
2004 December 3rd, Kirihara Yaeko kills herself
Relatives refuse to take her body
The body was cremated at a municipal facility
Last words: That child is still in the airduct...
Hey...
Yukiho...
The notes he made...
told of our journey.
With those feet he went...
and with those hands he wrote.
I wonder how long...
he has been watching us with his eyes.
These notes...
were made with his flesh and blood.
Shouldn't the ghost be crying out of joy?
Because the man noticed him?
That's why...
I can't kill him like this...
Kirihara?
At the very least...
I wanted to be covered with his flesh and blood when I killed him.
I want to go back to my hometown someday.
I liked you...
Yukiho...
a lot.
Hey...
Ryo...
Byakuyakou Last episode