"Us Forever"
Someday, I want you to tell me
why you lose your voice,
and about that girl in that photograph.
This is pathetic...
I remembered
that tomorrow is not always guaranteed.
I wanted to tell you while I still can.
About my...
voice too.
He decided
to face his past that he's been ignoring this whole time
to overcome himself.
However,
she will come to regret it.
Her name
is Maori.
She...
was my first love.
She died...
right in front of my eyes.
She must have wished
to have not heard that story.
"Fifth Episode"
I met her in the fall of 11th grade.
We moved from Osaka to Matsue,
and my first friend there was named Horiuchi.
"Matsue, 2006"
Horiuchi's family owned a business hotel.
Is it okay?
It's okay.
Our hotel's things are my things.
Satoshi!
Maori was working part-time there.
Your mum will scold you again.
I just checked to make sure that it was chilled.
It's chilled.
Is he your friend?
Yep, this is Sudo.
He's a city boy from Osaka.
A transfer student.
I'm lchiharu Sudo.
I'm Maori Oshima. I'm in the adjacent class.
She's my childhood friend.
Don't just play games. Make sure to study too.
Shut up!
I thought our high school prohibited working part-time.
Right, so it's a secret.
If she doesn't work, her home would be in trouble.
It can't be helped.
Trouble?
Well...
they are financially unstable.
It wasn't love at first sight or anything.
Honestly...
maybe I was just feeling sorry for Maori at the beginning.
But then at Christmas of that year,
my feeling started to change.
Is it hard?
Miyawaki and Sakashita are on a date at Lake Shinji-ko.
For real?
Let's go check it out!
- Let's go check it out! - Let's go!
Hurry! Let's go!
Satoshi, your mum wants you to quiet down a bit...
He left you to clean alone? Satoshi is horrible.
Oshima, you're working today too?
Yes.
"Merry Christmas"
Want some?
No.
I just thought it was wasteful.
Here.
Back then, I didn't know how rude it was to offer
leftovers to someone.
I didn't know how a girl who had to work on Christmas
would feel when I did that to her.
I was stupid,
insensitive and ignorant,
and I was upset that Maori didn't appreciate it.
"Keep closed at all times"
Oshima!
It's dangerous to cross the street there.
Sudo, you are like a mother.
I'm leaving too, so I'll see you home.
I'm fine.
I go home alone all the time.
Then I'll go part way with you.
It's late.
You really are like a mother.
By the way, Oshima,
you ranked fourth in the final exam.
Horiuchi told me
that you're always ranked in the top 10, since 10th grade.
You're smart.
That's not the case.
I just study more than others.
Although you work pretty much every day?
I have time after school until I start my work.
I study at the library.
That's great that you work so hard.
I have a goal.
I....
want to leave home.
You want to leave home?
How come?
Sudo, you'll never understand.
She had every right to push me away.
I had my kind parents at home.
Delicious meals always awaited me.
I was able to sleep in a warm room.
That was my daily life.
I started to realise that I was raised in a happy home...
and that there was a gap between me and Maori.
I wanted to do something to lessen that gap.
"January, 2007"
Sudo, were you at Satoshi's?
A bunch of us are playing a game,
I'm just heading to a convenience store now.
I got a flat tyre there.
I have to go to work now.
Hey.-
I'll take your bicycle to get it repaired now.
What time are you working till?
About 9 o'clock.
- But-- - All right.
I'll be back around that time. There.
"Watahiki Cycle 800, 1,200, 230 yen. Thank you very much"
Hey there.
It's really fixed.
Your brakes aren't doing great, so they said to bring it in again.
How much was it?
- That's okay. - It's not okay.
I don't like it when I owe something.
It's 500 yen.
I'll see you home.
Did you go to the library after school again?
Yes.
Do you study after you get off work too?
I don't.
I can't study at home.
This is good.
I'll see you home.
This is fine.
It's embarrassing.
Are you working tomorrow too?
Yes.
Then I'll take you home tomorrow too.
Why?
Why? Because...
I'm worried about you.
Okay-
Sudo!
Thanks!
Every day after that,
I would take Maori to her neighbourhood.
Senior year of high school,
we started to study together for college, at the library.
I never told her I loved her,
and I never asked her out either.
I was satisfied just spending time with her.
But then, I started to have more desires.
"5th October"
Why don't we take a break?
Okay-
You know...
What?
Which is your first choice?
School of Science at Kyoto University.
For real?
I like mathematics.
I want to study mathematics until the day I die.
How about you, Sudo?
I'm thinking of majoring in architecture.
I haven't selected the university yet.
I see.
We'll be busier with studies now.
Right.
Let's go somewhere on Saturday, two weeks from now.
What?
Well, you know...
it's your birthday, right?
You knew?
I just happened to hear it from Horiuchi.
He said you were working last year and the year before that too.
I figured that'd be boring for you.
So...
It's fine.
I don't need your sympathy.
It's not sympathy!
I want to spend time with you.
On your birthday, Maori.
I think...
I want to spend it with you too.
With you, lchiharu.
I'm heading back now.
"20th October"
Sorry to make you wait.
Let's go.
Let's eat!
It's delicious!
"Horikawa pleasure boat dock"
This is pretty!
It sure is.
That shocked me!
It seems prettier than usual.
lchiharu?
Is she your friend?
How do you do? I'm Maori Oshima.
How do you do.
Is it okay to take a picture for keepsake?
No, mum...
Yes, please!
Come on! Get closer.
Here goes!
I had a great time today.
Me too.
I wish this time...
would continue forever.
Hey!
Dad...
What were you two doing?
Are you Maori's man?
I'm Sudo and I'm in her class.
I said, are you Maori's man?
Dad!
We are not going out yet.
But I intend to go out with her.
I'm not going out with her yet.
But I intend to go out with her.
We are not going out yet.
But I intend to go out with her.
Then...
Maori's father started acting up.
Darn it!
Maori is
going to take care of me forever!
- Dad! Stop it! - Take that!
Hey!
Do you want me to beat you up?
lchiharu!
lchiharu, leave now.
- But-- - Please!
Dad, stand up.
You'll regret this!
Maori's father
used to be a skilled sushi chef.
But he started to gamble.
When Maori was ninth grade, her mother left.
Since her father won't work,
Maori had to work
to support them.
Cleaning buildings
is not a job for me!
That's no way to talk to your father!
"21 st October"
I'm sorry to take you away from your studies.
I wanted to apologise
about yesterday.
It's not for you to apologise.
Were you okay after that?
That was an embarrassing moment.
Maori, you're leaving home, right?
You're going to Kyoto University, right?
Then you'll have nothing to do with your father.
If I go to Kyoto...
my dad will be all alone.
I'll be abandoning my dad,
like my mother did.
You're not abandoning him.
You'll be studying what you want to study
at a university you want to study at.
My dad might die...
if he's left all alone.
Maori...
let's go to a university in Tokyo instead of Kyoto.
What?
I'll be going to a university in Tokyo too.
And let's live together at my grandpa's house in Tokyo.
Then you won't need to pay rent.
You just work and send that money to your dad.
But...
This is not difficult.
It's simple. It's solved!
Tokyo?
I can go to Tokyo?
You can.
Let's go together!
With you, lchiharu?
There's nothing to be scared of when you are with me.
/had very little burdens.
So I was ready to take on
all of Maori's heavy burdens.
Wad no doubts.
It was our goal
to go to a university in Tokyo and live together.
Maori was still working in December of her senior year.
That day...
she was heading home from work as well.
"10th December"
lchiharu, why?
What about your fever?
I don't have it anymore.
Even so...
You don't have to take me home today. Just go home.
- I'm fine. - You are not fine.
It's almost time for the entrance exams.
Fine then.
See you tomorrow at school.
Okay. See you tomorrow.
Don't go there--
I thought it over...
tens of thousands of times...
If only I had seen her home like I always did...
If that brake had been fixed...
If my voice had worked...
Then the following year...
I started to lose my voice...
on the day Maori died.
This is the first time I told this story.
I wanted you to hear this, Sakurako.
Sakurako?
Was it better if I didn't tell her?
It feels as though this part of me is being burned...
You wanted her to know
the most important part of you.
Wait!
I don't want to be jealous of Maori anymore.