A PRODUCTION BY KUNIO KAWASHIMA & KYOKO OBAYASHI
DIRECTED BY NOBUHIKO OBAYASHI
BASED ON A FILM NOVEL BY HISASHI YAMANAKA (KODANSHA/KAN)
HARUKA, NOSTALGIA
PRODUCED BY KYOKO OBAYASHI & KATSUMI KOIDE
MUSIC BY JOE HISAISHI
THEME SONG - "TSUIOKU NO X.T.C - LOVE THEME" BY JOE HISAISHI & HIKARI ISHIDA
STARRING
HIROSHI KATSUNO
HIKARI ISHIDA
YOJI MATSUDA
TOSHINORI OMI
BENGAL TOSHIE NEGISHI
TOMOKA SHIBAYAMA, HITOSHI OMAE KOEN OKUMURA, HISAKO HARA
TORU MINEGISHI MIYOKO AKAZA
EIKO NAGASHIMA SHIRO SANO
ITTOKU KISHIBE KEIKO MASUDA
TAKUZO KAWATANI
SCREENPLAY/DIRECTED BY NOBUHIKO OBAYASHI
There are things in life you must not forget.
Simply recalling them and continuing to suffer from them
can be a form of atonement.
This is the tale of a man with a strange heart,
who returned to his hometown after a span of 30 years,
as if called back by distant memories.
THE YEAR 199X OTARU, SPRING
I had intended it to be a short trip.
I had planned to go straight back to Tokyo
after two or three days in this hilly town.
However...
Ouch...
Are you OK?
Yeah.
Here.
What'll you do about this?
- Damn it... - Let's get it to the cleaners, OK?
I know a great place - fast, friendly, perfect for travelers.
- Did it break? - Yeah.
Can't be helped.
It's not like there was anything I wanted to photograph, anyway.
Really?
Something wrong?
This might sound like an excuse, but this is the first time I've ever fallen over.
You suddenly felt your age, and fell over!
Hey!
This way!
Sorry for making you take a detour.
- I'm just happy to help you out. - Is that so?
I fall over all the time, you know.
That's different to this, though.
I never imagined I'd fall over like that,
but meeting this girl twisted my journey into a wholly unforeseen direction.
Unforeseen...but was it really?
Hey, big brother.
You got a customer. He fell over up on the hill.
Just look at this! I told him that you're fast and friendly,
so make it snappy - please.
It'll take some time.
Cutting back on time is one of the friendliest things
you could do for a traveller, right?
(speaking German) "There is a time for everything."
I can't just lengthen or shorten time.
Come back at 10 tomorrow.
9 tomorrow, then!
Thank you.
What a surly guy.
So, that's that!
- So, how about a coffee? - Huh?
As a thank you.
Thanks for the invite, but...
I see. No reason why you'd be into this clumsy old man, really.
You're not cold?
No, not at all.
"'It's spring in Otaru now,'
said the girl.
From that moment, the entire world turned into spring.
That's what he thought."
- You... - "Love is High Tide".
Shinsuke Ayase!
If you want to thank me, write me into one of your novels.
Goodbye!
Don't go falling over any more!
The girl's smile was as bright as spring,
but my heart was dark.
The reason I had originally set out for Otaru
was because of the death of an old friend.
Seemed like he fell down totally unexpectedly.
It was the first time something like that had happened.
He was pretty surprised himself.
He'd been staying up all night for quite a while.
I said, "How about you rest for a day or so?", but...
There's something I have to take care of today.
- It's pretty windy now. - Be careful!
The cover of "Love is High Tide".
It's truly a masterpiece. He knew Ayase would be pleased.
- Hello. - Thank you for coming in all this rain.
He said that his mind began to overflow with images of the heroine, Manami Setouchi.
He was full of enthusiasm, saying it'd be one of Shinsuke Ayase's
"Otaru-esque" series' most famous works.
He phoned late at night, which was unusual.
All he would say was, "Hello? Hello?"
So when I responded, raising my voice,
he said, "So you are there! I can hardly hear you!"
"You should be able to hear me - I can hear you loud and clear!" I said,
"That's odd," he said, "maybe my hearing's gone bad."
"Shouldn't you be coming home soon?",
I yelled two or three times into the mouthpiece,
and he replied...
"I'm drawing! I'm drawing so much!"
...just like a child.
Children...!
When one of his students visited Kinomiya's workplace in the morning,
they found him collapsed under his desk.
Mr. Kinomiya! Mr. Kinomiya!
Blood was trickling out of his ears, so they called a doctor.
But by then, he was already...
Recently, there have been more funerals than celebrations.
It was always somebody else that passed away, though.
To think that your time comes so suddenly...
Enough already! Die already, quickly!
Dear!
Akira Kinomiya - your work just gets better and better.
I've decided on a title for the 8th book.
"Love is High Tide". Sounds good, right?
- Yeah. - Make it a masterpiece, Ayase.
Take a look at these fan letters, though.
Oh - this is me.
Ayase's "Love is..." series -
half of their popularity came from Kinomiya's portrait illustrations.
If Akira Kinomiya dies, half of Shinsuke Ayase dies as well.
For me - all of it.
It didn't turn out to be bright and cheerful,
but I still had a memorable youth.
Dreams for the future mixed with compromises,
- and my friend's beautiful fiancée. - OK, photo time!
That was what symbolized my youth.
Oh, no - the person in the middle dies first.
That's you.
Write a masterpiece, okay?
I'm counting on it, Shinsuke Ayase.
Shinsuke Ayase? What a wonderful name!
- Don't you think, Okazaki? - Yeah. Our "hope"!
Perhaps we're finally at the age where we can't get work
that'll last us for the year - or even six months, perhaps.
It's pathetic that we can't settle down into a nice big job.
Though we ought to have been the future of Japanese literature,
perhaps our lives will end with Lil' Bunko novels.
Thinking of my own death is unbearable.
What is this?!
I couldn't sleep - not even a wink until morning.
That girl's voice would ring in my ears now and then.
Shinsuke Ayase!
If you want to thank me, write me into one of your novels.
Thank you.
"There the girl stood, as if he had foreseen it."
"Love is a Gentle Breeze".
I think I'll take that coffee after all.
It's you! What's up?
I thought getting a date with a famous writer might be a once-in-a-lifetime chance.
"'Is it a bother?',
the girl said in an adult-like way, stretching taller with all her might."
It'd be my pleasure, young madam.
"Love is Tedium".
That was how the strange story of this girl and I began.
Looking at it this way, Otaru has indeed changed considerably.
"Nostalgic memories gradually come to nothing."
- Is it sad? - No.
That's why I felt alright coming here.
Has it been a while?
Yeah.
Since high school.
Really? That far back?
There are still students like that here, I see.
What a silly boy.
Were you like that back in those days?
- Yeah. - Sorry for the wait.
I had heard that it'd all changed - that all that had been destroyed.
I came to make sure that was true.
"I have no past here anymore."
"It was all buried in the far reaches of my memory."
- "I felt much better about my present." - "I felt much better about my present."
- "Love is Illusion". - "Love is Illusion".
I give up! You really have read all of them, haven't you?
All your novels have the same themes, after all.
Well...perhaps so.
It's weird, though - why do you only write about Otaru,
even though you want to forget it?
So that I can forget it.
I paint it over with a false, present-day Otaru.
You hate Otaru that much?
I hate who I was as a boy.
How literary of you!
- That's because I'm a novelist. - I guess so.
Reading your "Love is..." series,
I always thought you were in Otaru all year round.
That's why I thought bumping into you like that wasn't such a strange experience.
How did you know it was me?
Well, you appeared in the Popprui Grand Prix just the other day.
"Shinsuke Ayase: in the Midst of a Passionate Romance!"
With a lovely young woman - Reiko was her name, right?
My partner Akira Kinomiya always used to research Otaru for me.
Akira Kinomiya! Manami Setouchi from "Love is High Tide" -
don't you think she looks just like me?
- Did she? - "Did she"?
It's Lil' Bunko's latest book!
If I was a girl in one of your "Love is..." series novels,
what would you call me?
"Yoko Miyoshi".
Yoko Miyoshi?
How would you write it?
The kanji for "3",
"like", "distant" and "child".
- "A distant child"...? - Like this.
YOKO MIYOSHI
I'm only joking.
Which reminds me... I never asked what your name was.
Yoko Miyoshi.
Stop that!
Sorry...I don't think you should joke about your own name.
- Tell me your real name. - Alright.
Haruka.
Quit making stupid jokes.
Oh, come on! This is Otaru.
You're going to paint over all of it with a false present, right?
I, Haruka, will help with that!
Alright then, Haruka - I welcome your help.
- Show me around Otaru. - Of course!
You're my accomplice, after all.
In other words, we're lovers - accomplices of love and hatred!
Won't you need a camera? Shall I borrow his?
- Whose? - The cleaning guy from yesterday.
He's my private tutor.
He always says to me "Don't fall over!", like some kind of guardian.
All he needs to do is look at my work.
He takes one look at the covers of your novels and snorts.
"You're the perfect age for reading this stuff," he says.
"You don't know anything about love or romance." What a jerk!
Give me a break. That's what life is like for Shinsuke Ayase.
That's not true!
I learnt what love, romance, and all other worldly happinesses are from you.
Thanks.
What'll you do about a camera?
I don't need one. There's nothing to photograph, after all.
Research is Mr. Kinomiya's job after all, right?
Akira Kinomiya is dead.
That means Shinsuke Ayase's "Love is..." series is over, too.
I remembered them as days of emptiness.
My hatred toward Otaru was like a dark passion for me.
Kinomiya was different, though.
He really loved Otaru.
Amazing!
- That night, too. - I read "Love is High Tide".
It's good. Nice work.
- Thank you. - Congratulations!
About the place for that romantic scene with Manami Setouchi...
I think Takashima Cape would be perfect for it.
I'll leave it up to you.
Is this another "ice-creamy tale" of a middle-aged lolicon man and a young girl?
Quite bold of you to write about that. Is that what you're into?
Or is it the editor?
Lil' Bunko is quite popular with younger people, though, isn't it?
My friends go green with envy when I tell them
I'm friends with the Ayase/Kinomiya combo.
You really ought to write a novel that'd woo a real woman like me, though.
It'll be snowing in Otaru soon. I'd love to go see it.
Snow in Otaru?
The snow in Otaru comes up from the front - from the sea.
It's beautiful.
Seeing Kinomiya's childlike face suddenly made me want to return to Otaru.
- Snow in Otaru! - You're kidding!
Otaru's really popular as a location for commercials and fashion shoots right now.
- Let's go. - Just like that - naturally!
What are you doing? Let go of me!
- Hey, you! Let go! - That's it, just like that!
- What are you...? Let go! - Naturally! Straight ahead, like that!
- OK! - What is this?
Hey, don't photograph me!
This is the essence of photography!
What a crazy town this place has become. Let's get out of here, quick.
Get a move on!
It's spring snow in Otaru!
Well, this is a surprise.
The view from here hasn't changed a bit since the old days.
Really?
One morning, out of nowhere, American battleships lined up across that sea.
It truly was a strange sight to behold.
How nice that adults are so strange.
Why's that?
They know about things from long ago, that I'd never know about.
I see. But to tell the truth, that view I spoke about
wasn't one that I saw for myself.
It was the day after that long war with the Americans had ended -
I had been born, of course, and it was just before I entered primary school.
I was evacuated into the countryside.
Do you know about those wartime evacuations?
Evacuations?
Basically, the children were sent far into the safe countryside,
separated from their parents - so that they'd be safe even during an enemy attack.
A lot happened during that time, and it was after I had started
high school that I returned to Otaru.
For some reason, my father and I came to this spot, just once.
That was when I heard that story.
I had completely forgotten, until just now.
What did your father do?
Self-proclaimed novelist.
A novelist? What was his first name?
His last name wasn't Ayase. His full name was Tosaku Sato.
Tosaku Sato?
- Was that a pen name? - No, it was his real one.
He always insisted on using his real name for everything.
- So what's "Shinsuke Ayase"? - My pen name.
I threw away my last name. I only write "ice-creamy" novels.
Ice-cream?
Sweet and goes down easy, but quickly melts away into nothing.
So what kind of books did this Tosaku Sato person write?
No books. He just won an honorable mention for Fukkou Bungei's Up-and-Coming Prize.
- Did you read it? - Just once.
Then I forgot it.
- You forget everything. - That's right.
Was it really that easy to forget?
It wasn't easy. I had to work hard to forget it.
Haruka.
Yes?
What do you think the best ability humans have is?
Wouldn't that be the ability to create things?
No.
In terms of creation, humans have nothing on God.
The best ability humans have is that of forgetting.
I think the God that gave us the ability to forget
is a truly kind God.
If humans didn't have the ability to forget,
life might as well be hell.
Mr. Sato?
So you're Mr. Sato.
I suppose I am.
It's like you're a stranger.
The me that's here now is Shinsuke Ayase.
Just like how you're Haruka.
I want to see battleships, too.
Would we have been able to see Takashima Cape from here?
Takashima Cape is further over that mountain.
You can't see it from here.
Does it take a while to get there?
We'd make it back by dark, as long as we don't make any detours.
- Detours? - Yeah.
Like the Former Nippon Yusen building, the Otaru Museum,
or the ancient inscriptions at Temiya - we'd have to avoid visiting those.
We're not on holiday, thankfully.
I just suddenly felt like going after seeing you.
I know -
let's go by taxi.
That way we'll be back before it gets dark.
I'll call my tutor.
- As a bodyguard? - As a driver!
He's got his own car.
I'd feel bad about that - he has his store, you know.
It's fine - he's my slave, after all!
I wanted just the two of us to go - as accomplices, of course.
Don't worry, I'm sure he'd just amuse himself
in the car listening to Chopin or something!
When I mentioned I liked Chopin, he said, "Such droll music!",
so I gave him a cassette.
Now all he listens to is Chopin. That's what's no good about him -
those that are fine with anything.
So whether we're there or not, he's the same person.
Ah, here he comes!
That's an odd jumper, by the way.
It was a present from Noboru, as thanks for the Chopin cassette.
Thank you.
"Nähere Untersuchunge" - "Far Investigations".
- "Laundry of the Soul". - Take us to Takashima Cape!
You can't eat nishin-don this time of year.
We're not on holiday!
By the way, where did you live when you were in Otaru?
I forget. Otaru's changed quite a lot since then, you know.
Otaru Station! "Romantic, graceful Otaru..."
I remember this. I arrived here yesterday.
I see.
The Otaru I lived in wasn't like this.
It used to be a much gloomier town.
Things look old and faded in those old black and white photographs -
that's how it felt.
I never felt like living in a place like that when I was in Otaru.
Mr...Ota, was it?
- Noboru Ota. - I'm Shinsuke Ayase.
Can I open the window?
You can open it after we leave the tunnel.
Okay.
When I look out on an ocean as large as this,
I feel like I'm being embraced by my mother.
Manami Setouchi from "Love is High Tide" said the same thing, didn't she?
I always thought the same thing.
That's why I think you're so amazing!
Those are just words I came up with when I saw a photo Kinomiya had taken.
It's my first time coming here, after all.
So what was that you just said, then?
They were just my honest thoughts.
Haruka...
stop reading those Shinsuke Ayase young girl romance novels, alright?
The middle-aged men in those stories seem lonely, romantic and austere,
but the fact is, nice men like that don't exist in real life.
They're nothing but cheap, greedy people,
thinking nothing but lewd thoughts.
If you admire those stories too much,
you'll be lured in by one of those gross old lolicon men.
Are you one of them, too?
Probably.
I'm aware of it, so I'm just trying not to behave like it.
So in your heart, you're a pervert!
You got me.
Shinsuke Ayase.
You shouldn't underestimate girls.
It's not just middle-aged lolicon men that have lewd thoughts.
Even younger girls can look upon those middle-aged guys as men whenever they like.
They're well-built for their age.
Their thighs are full, their muscles are strong.
They're passionate, and they may have some of that unpleasant breast hair.
A wife in the prime of her womanhood has a single daughter.
She's a little tired from work, but her marriage
enjoys a healthy sex life. The family is peaceful.
The father of the girl shares a weakness with her:
being terribly frightened of a young girl's arousal.
What's more, he has a habit of treating her like a child.
Stop it - don't be foolish. You shouldn't make fun of adults.
Mr. Ayase.
I'm not always eating ice-cream, you know.
I read more adult-oriented novels, too.
I know what reality is like.
But, you know...
that's exactly why I want to cherish the world of your novels.
Is it so bad to aspire toward a world like that
even if you know it's just a dream?
Why is it bad to believe in fairytales?
Haruka...
I imagine it feels good to self-deprecate yourself,
but it becomes an insult to so many Shinsuke Ayase fans.
I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to be so brazen.
No - thank you.
I don't have anything to respond with.
I'm glad I came to Otaru after all.
I know this old story -
a story about how this ocean was filled with herring.
One day, suddenly and completely without reason,
every last herring disappeared from the ocean.
It's a strange, sad story, don't you think?
After that, Otaru became a lonely city.
Far off past the sea spray, to the west is Siberia
The boat we row...
- What song is that? - ...goes beyond all horizons...
It's a school song - Shiomidai High School.
I see.
I would've sung it a long time ago, too.
- Did you forget? - Completely.
But do go on.
Typhoons may scream, and the seas may wild
We go on flying the flag of ideals
Ah, the bell of daybreak sounds over the tides
It resounds cheerfully on the shores at the bay of Otaru
There he is again.
I wonder if he was in school?
It's getting cold. Let's go back.
Noboru!
- Sorry to keep you waiting! - Thank you!
- What's your major? - You wouldn't understand if I told you.
- A German philosopher. - Ho-ho!
"Ho-ho!" doesn't mean you understand.
Take us to a delicious sushi place, please, Mr. Ota.
You'll eat with us, won't you?
(speaking German)
"Dinner is essential."
- Sushi is good for you, then? - I can't say no to that question.
Is something wrong, Mr. Ayase?
Not really.
I just felt like something like this happened long ago.
This kind of atmosphere here has given me some odd feelings in the past.
- Odd feelings? - Jealousy.
Jealousy?
You mean, jealous of Noboru and I?
How romantic!
Not at all. I'm not a high school student, you know.
(speaking German)
"If the desire to monopolize something intersects feelings of alienation,
people can be seized by feelings of jealousy at any time."
It's nothing unusual.
You can sit more comfortably, if you want.
- Sitting cross-legged tires me out. - Is that so?
Talking to Noboru like that is no good, Mr. Ayase.
There's a trick to it. Amateurs don't stand a chance.
- I'm an amateur, am I? - Yes.
You need to train for a year first.
- Should I close the window? - No, it's fine.
- Alright then. - Here you go.
I'm fine. You go ahead and drink.
Of course - I'm sorry.
It's fine. He doesn't drink, anyway.
I'll drink his portion. I always join my mother for a dinnertime drink.
Your mother?
That's right.
Does your mother look like you, Haruka?
That's a weird thing to ask.
It's usually "Do you look like your mother?", isn't it?
Adding "-chan" to the end of my name sounds weird, too.
I guess you're right.
So, do you?
I don't look like my mother.
Not at all?
Nope.
I see.
She says I look like my father,
but he died before I was born, so I don't know how similar we look.
- There must be photos, right? - Haruka's house burnt down long ago.
There are no records left.
It happened just after Haruka was born.
You brag about having forgotten everything, Mr. Ayase,
but I don't know anything in the first place.
Between the things that you have to forget, and things you never knew,
which is more sad?
My mother is a beautiful woman, after all.
You'd be floored if you saw her.
You're pretty too, Haruka.
(speaking German)
"No girl believes that her own face is beautiful."
"Und," - "And,"
(speaking German)
"The saddest thing in the world is knowing the truth."
Far off past the sea spray, to the west is Siberia...
It's gotten quite late. I hope your mother isn't worried.
She rests easy when she knows I'm with Noboru.
So he is a bodyguard, then?
...goes beyond all horizons Typhoons may scream, and the seas may wild...
Oh, we're here!
My house is up there.
- It's so dark. Should I see you off? - I'm fine.
Noboru will drive you to your hotel. You'll get to ride in the front seat!
9am is fine for tomorrow morning, right?
Don't you have to study?
Nope - it's spring break.
- Right? - Up to you.
Well then, I'll meet you at 9am in the hotel lobby!
Goodnight!
I'm sorry about everything today.
I don't mind. I'm used to it.
I'll bet you were surprised when I called her Haruka.
Not really.
She was the one that came up with "Haruka", though.
Is she always like that?
Must be hard being her babysitter.
I enjoy it.
The way she talks is almost like music.
You like Chopin, don't you?
(speaking German)
"There's no suffering if you just grow to like something."
Those odd feelings started to rise up inside me once again.
I tried to get some sleep by taking sleeping pills I hadn't used before.
That was when the girl's voice caught up with me.
You shouldn't underestimate girls, Shinsuke Ayase.
Don't underestimate older men.
The girl continued to eat into my heart further and further.
Sorry.
It was already afternoon by the time I finally woke up.
There you are!
Here I am.
Thank goodness. I thought you wouldn't be here.
- We had an agreement. - That was for 9am.
It's already 3pm. What a failure that was.
All because I took a sleeping pill.
You take sleeping pills?
I started using them after Kinomiya died.
I'm still an amateur - I think I messed up the dosage.
You were waiting for me, but I was fast asleep.
That's what it was?
Here I was thinking you'd suddenly had a rush of inspiration, and had begun writing a novel.
And because the heroine is Yoko Miyoshi,
I waited patiently so I wouldn't get in your way.
Oh well.
I'm glad I could see you, though. I thought I'd never see you again.
That's a bit of an exaggeration, isn't it?
Not at all!
Look, I'm all out of breath.
My heart's going to tear in two. Water!
It's like I've been running toward you since the beginning of time.
- What a passionate romance this is. - It sure is!
So, what shall the two lovers do today?
Coffee, first of all.
You have to be awake to be in love.
Isn't love something that you dream about?
In a novel for young girls, yes.
This is an adult relationship.
Why do you suddenly want to go to a narrow alleyway
that has low wooden houses that hold each other up as if they're about to collide?
There's something I'm curious about.
Hasn't the past all been buried?
This might not be about the past.
It might have ties to today, or tomorrow.
At long last, Shinsuke Ayase's fresh new Otaru will begin!
We've just started our passionate romance, haven't we?
By the way, about yesterday...
has anyone ever taken a picture of you at Takashima Cape?
People take photos of me all year round.
I guess I'm a perfect model for traveling older men.
Is that so?
This is it.
I thought so.
I didn't think we'd find it so soon.
That's because I'm the person that understands your literary expressions the most!
I'm surprised you know so much about a place like this.
It was only like that years and years ago.
Nowadays, everybody passes through here.
Did you used to come here a lot as a high school student?
Yeah.
- So you are a pervert. - No...
that wasn't why I came here.
I used to come and see my mother.
Your mother?
My mother was...
a prostitute.
That's a shock.
It was a shock for me, too.
It was when she was around your age, as well.
You sure had quite the high school life.
You dreamt of becoming a Lil' Bunko writer,
but your upbringing was like pure literature.
It was literature that made my father sell his own wife off to prostitution.
In other words, your mother worked so that your father could write good novels.
- Did I say something weird? - No...
I was just a bit taken aback - I'd never thought about it like that.
I feel I'm completely back on my feet again. No shadows from the old days any more.
A long, long time ago...
what kind of high school student was young Sato?
I can't remember.
I don't remember what kind of friends I had at this school,
or what I learnt from what kinds of teachers...
I only feel like I was lonely, as if I were alone all the time.
But I think I remember coming here to the edge of the campus at dusk,
and smoking a cigarette by myself.
Like that?
Yeah.
Just like that.
I'm sure it was because I didn't want to go home.
Home was where my father would have been drinking since noon.
My mother would have been piling on makeup and leaving the house in the evening,
only to return in the dead of night.
There were also times when she wouldn't even return when morning broke.
That's what it was like that day...
I returned home from school to find my father white as a ghost, grasping the table,
and shaking so much his teeth chattered.
Dad...? What's wrong?
Should I call a doctor?
Go and get money from your mother.
This is where she is...
Your mother is here.
In Ironai.
Go past Yogima,
turn left at Ishikabe Street, and a little bit further down...
I tried to draw a map, but my pen hand shook so much I couldn't manage it.
I wrote down the instructions my father gave me, and bounded out of the house.
Reading the memo I had written, I searched the area it had led me to.
Hi there, little boy! How cute!
Hey, high schooler!
It was the first time I had gotten lost in the neighborhood.
It felt hopeless. I wanted to cry.
I bought cigarettes for the first time in my life.
- The green one. - Golden Bats. Here.
Here's your change.
Here's something extra.
- Thanks. - Thank you.
Pretty quiet tonight.
It was then that I saw my mother with a client.
I was in shock.
I vaguely knew what went on between men and women,
but there it was right in front of me.
My mother didn't seem filthy in that moment, though.
She was extraordinarily beautiful.
If you go this way down this path, it takes you to a park.
That park's further down, on a bigger road.
This is a shortcut. I used to go through here back in the old days.
Are you scared to come with me?
No.
- It's totally different now, isn't it! - Yeah.
What is it?
You suddenly started referring to yourself with a more masculine "I".
Really?
See?
You were right! I never knew this secret pathway was here.
Over here is the real entrance - see?
You never come here any more though, right?
Nowadays it's hamburger and ice-cream joints.
I guess.
You may know that reality can be romantic, but you don't know true romanticism.
That's because nobody teaches me anything like that.
(speaking German)
"The saddest thing in the world is knowing the truth."
Noboru!
That young man really is a good person.
You really do need professional skills to talk with him, though.
He understands people's feelings in a more delicate way than anyone else.
You should listen to what he tells you properly, Haruka.
He just tells me, "Don't fall over!" over and over again.
Hearing you praise Noboru makes me think you're trying to hide your jealousy.
Girls are such cruel creatures.
Here.
So, the young Sato who came to know true romanticism...
- what did he do here? - That's it.
That's what I'm starting to remember.
That's odd.
When I look at you...
That's odd -
those weird feelings have come back to get me.
- Jealousy? - No, this is more acute.
I'm shaking so much.
So you are.
Please! Would you sit here for me?
No - not like that.
More...like this.
Yes...that's it!
They were sitting there just like that.
- Who was? - You were.
Me?
You sat there waiting for me.
- For you? - No...
I was the one waiting.
I thought perhaps you wouldn't come.
That the world would truly end if you didn't.
It scared me...
I peered carefully at the gazebo over there,
and waited for you to come.
A long time passes.
It feels like forever.
I feel like my heart will overflow.
Just then, finally, from the far entrance...
I see your figure.
Over there! Could you walk in from the entrance over there?
That's it -
that's how you walk to the tree we promised to meet at, and sat waiting for me.
To slow my heart rate, I start counting.
One...
two...
three...
and then I turn to walk towards you.
I want to run to your side,
but I make sure to move slowly.
I grow closer to you, step by step.
Did you wait long?
Yes.
No.
Just a little.
I'm sorry.
Today was a good day, though.
I wrote a poem for you.
For me?
Do you want to hear it?
Yes.
Ready?
"Your two black-colored eyes
vibrate the strings, and weave the music
of the koto of my heart.
Your two black-colored eyes
blow the wind that shapes the waves
in the ocean of my heart.
Should your two black-colored eyes ever part from my gaze,
the koto of my heart, and the ocean of my heart,
shall sink into the depths of the cold, black sand - lonely, heavy sand -
of the desert of death."
It's beautiful.
- Do you like it? - I do.
- It's like Chopin's music. - Chopin?
- Beautiful, yet... - Yet?
- Sad. - Sad?
Yes.
That's because my heart is sad.
- Why? - Because...
I like you.
Why does liking me make you sad?
You're not sad?
I'm...happy.
Whenever I'm with you like this...
that's the only time I feel like I can be my true self.
Yoko.
This isn't Yoko.
Who are you?
I'm one of your memories.
- A memory? - I'm Hiroshi.
- Hiroshi? - Hiroshi Sato.
- Hiroshi Sato? - Hiroshi Sato?
Quit fooling around!
I wondered who the weird guy was that's been following us around. What are you after?
- And how'd you know my real name? - That's because I'm you.
Don't be ridiculous. I don't know who on earth you are, first of all.
- I don't have any memory of you at all! - You forgot all about me,
so I'm here to make you remember.
You did a good job of erasing me from your mind.
Writing worthless novels for young girls,
using thin, filthy words to smear and paint over my existence - and Otaru's.
It wasn't easy living as myself through all that.
Let me give you a bit of an extension, though.
We've reached a good point for tonight, anyway.
A great success for 3 days in.
Let me give my thanks to you.
It appears that it was you that helped him begin to remember me.
You'd best be careful, though.
The love he feels for you isn't directed toward you yourself.
It was directed at Yoko Miyoshi.
Yoko Miyoshi?
Well, I'll be seeing you both tomorrow.
What a load of nonsense.
Probably some literature freak who found out
I was an author, and tried to catch me off guard.
It happens sometimes.
It was a beautiful poem, though.
It was trash.
Nothing but old-fashioned nonsense.
Why did he know the name Yoko Miyoshi, though?
Because I yelled it accidentally when I was looking at you before.
But you only said "Yoko".
You didn't say the last name, "Miyoshi".
Didn't I?
Well, he followed us around everywhere. I'm sure he heard us saying it somewhere.
Do we have to go home already?
Yes.
Your mom will be upset with you.
My mother never gets upset with me.
Really?
I'm sure she'd be worried about you being with an older man like me.
I'll just say I was with Noboru.
You're such a child, aren't you?
Could you see me off a little bit further up?
I want to try being more of a delinquent, and have my mother scold me.
This is it - my house.
I see.
This is where you live...
it's like a different world to me.
I'll see you again at 9am tomorrow.
- I'll drag you out of bed this time. - Please do.
I'm an amateur, after all.
A Haruka amateur, as well.
Haruka...
Haruka.
Yes?
Can I treat you as an adult?
Not now.
Goodnight.
I felt like something precious had flown from the palm of my hand.
That beloved feeling seemed to call forth a fond memory of something I had.
What do you think of her? She's great, isn't she?
Manami Setouchi from "Love is High Tide" -
she's gonna be the best heroine from the Otaru "Love is..." series.
- Where did you take this? - Otaru, of course.
What's up?
I suddenly felt like I'd seen it somewhere before...
Of course you have - you used to live in Otaru.
- It's the nishin place at Takashima Cape. - No, I mean the girl.
Not likely.
It's a sign you're growing old - young girls all begin to look the same.
I guess so.
Haruka...
just who are you?
So in your heart, you're a pervert!
I'm off.
"Your two black-colored eyes..."
Good morning.
Do you mind walking together for a while?
- Why? - There's something I want to ask you.
I want to thank you, too.
- Thank me? - Yes.
He was acting so serious at the park yesterday,
so I put serious effort into acting as his past.
You made a great acting partner, too.
I felt like that moment from long ago had returned once again.
It made me happy.
After all, I myself am his past.
"Your two black-colored eyes vibrate the strings..."
You remembered it?
It was a wonderful poem.
It felt like it was devoted entirely to me.
So, I was happy, too.
Thank you.
I want to give you my thanks, too.
Really?
Thanks.
So, you're a poet?
Well, after seeing my father, I decided I'd never bother with literature.
- It only makes people unhappy. - I don't think I agree.
My father is an unsuccessful novelist. All he does is complain about it and get drunk.
So, I told my father that I'd quit school and start working a job,
so that he could write good novels.
- Sounds like you were kind to him. - He hit me hard after I said that.
"Don't be cheeky!" he said. "You can't write literature relying on help from others!"
I see...
"I only graduated from upper elementary school.
If I had graduated middle school as well,
I would have won Fukkou Bungei's Up-and-Coming Prize.
That's why I plan to send you to university, no matter what.
People in this world are foolish - they judge people
on their academic history, not what's inside them.
I don't want you to be subjected to such frustration." That's what he told me.
What a kind father he was.
I'm sure I was unusual to him.
I had only started living with him 10 years prior to that.
That was the only time he spoke to me about that, though.
One afternoon, we decided to take a walk together up a hill.
It was a beautiful sunny day. The sea shined in the light.
"One morning, out of nowhere,
American battleships lined up across that sea."
- How do you know that? - Shinsuke Ayase told me.
I see.
So he remembers it.
I guess that was a special day for him, too.
Need this?
It truly was a peaceful day.
If there was ever a prime of my life,
that day was it.
That's what it was like.
I wanted to drift off into peaceful sleep.
Oh no! I really have to hurry.
I promised to wake him up at 9 o'clock.
I see.
- Just one more thing... - Oh, that's right!
What was it that you wanted to ask?
About your...
Never mind.
I thought I'd ask what your name is, but I'm not going to.
Why not?
There's no way it'd be Yoko Miyoshi, that's for sure.
But even if you do have a different name,
it won't make any difference knowing it.
Do I really look like her that much?
The splitting image.
I honestly thought you were her last night.
Mr. Ayase would look at me strangely every now and then, too.
He spent a long time forgetting about Yoko Miyoshi.
What a stupid thing to do.
Well, I'm off to wake up that stupid man!
Hey, listen!
Thank you.
You were kind enough to think of me, even a little.
That's why I was able to come and see you.
And...
- What? - I...
do I look like a weird guy to you?
No - you're Hiroshi Sato.
And that's just wonderful!
"Your two black-colored eyes..."
vibrate the strings, and weave the music
of the koto of my heart."
"Your two black-colored eyes...
blow the wind that shapes the waves...
in the ocean of my heart."
"Should your two black-colored eyes
ever part from my gaze,
the koto of my..."
Good morning!
What happened?
I was waiting for you to drag me out of bed.
That's odd. If you were waiting, you would have already been awake, right?
I was.
I was awake waiting for you the whole time.
I'm sorry.
Let's go.
So, where will our Otaru journey take us today?
It's a little way away from the city,
but I think there's a hot spring somewhere nearby.
- A hot spring? - Yeah.
A small one in a beautiful valley up in the mountains.
There's a river, too.
That's Asarigawa Onsen, I think.
About 30 minutes away by car.
Asarigawa Onsen?
Right. That's what it was called.
Can we go there together?
Yes.
But why do you want to go to a hot spring?
There's something I'm curious about there.
I know -
how about we ask Noboru to take us there?
You'll feel safer with a bodyguard, right?
There's something unhappy about us today.
- Why? - We were so in love yesterday.
Today, I'm just confused.
You can go home, if you like.
I'll bet it's boring being with an old guy like me.
Yeah, it is.
I'm not going home, though.
Adults may seem romantic, but this is what they're truly like.
I feel sorry for adults.
I know that what you're truly like is wonderful, though.
That could be because of that young literature fanatic
that came and challenged you, perhaps.
Or, it could be your secrecy, brought on by someone somewhere.
If that Hiroshi Sato is the actual younger version of Shinsuke Ayase, however,
I believe the younger Hiroshi.
After all, "If there are a range of possibilities for all things,
you must believe in the most beautiful possibility."
Isn't that the theme of the Otaru "Love is..." series?
They're words - just words.
For a novelist, words are for deceiving people with.
For readers, words exist to be believed.
- Noboru! - Thanks for coming.
How about some coffee? We don't need to go right away.
- Is coffee alright? - I'll have tea.
- Make it milk tea, please. - Of course.
I see - you're a pro.
There's no confusion between you and Noboru.
Please, continue your conversation. I have other issues on my mind.
This has already become quite an important idea for me.
If my mother actually is Yoko Miyoshi...
- What did you say? - No...
my mother's name is Shino, and her maiden name isn't Miyoshi.
She doesn't look anything like me, either.
It's kind of weird, though.
These parts of me are shaking so much.
I always longed to be like the characters in your novels.
It's a curse.
I'm going to become Yoko Miyoshi's daughter, though.
That might mean that I'll become the child that my mother doesn't want me to be.
(speaking German)
"When wanting to convey feelings of love,
people choose the most distorted expressions."
I always thought I knew this city inside and out, being born and raised here...
but looking out at it now, with you,
it's as if I know absolutely nothing about it.
A city like a box of broken toys, with old memories piled up like rubbish.
Amusing, lively, lonely, and cruel...
it's a city that perfectly suits the awful incident that happened in it.
How did Hiroshi Sato come to meet Yoko Miyoshi in that kind of Otaru?
Do you really want to know?
We're accomplices, aren't we?
Give me alcohol.
Didn't you hear me?
My parents fought every day.
I got so angry.
Not toward the fighting, but toward my father
who never wrote a single word, despite saying he would.
What are you doing...?!
I thought of strangling him, then killing myself.
That way, I was sure my mother would be freed;
not to mention things would be easier for my father, too.
- At that moment... - If you want to kill someone, kill me!
I'd prefer being killed by you, Hiroshi!
Just then, my father froze up, and collapsed against the sliding screen.
Dear?
Dear! Dear!
Your father is dead.
Dear?
Dad!
Dear...
The blood ran from my face. I thought I had killed my father.
Dear...
Mom...I'm going to turn myself into the police.
Upon hearing this, my mother said...
Wait!
If you're going to go,
make love to me before you do.
I'm able to tell you this now.
I'm not your real mother.
Don't worry.
Don't go to the police.
Just then, my father...
- Dad! - You whore!
What are you trying to do to my son?!
My head split open, and bright red blood spilt from it.
God damn it!
I walked to the hospital by myself, holding a handkerchief to my wound.
FAR INVESTIGATIONS - LAUNDRY OF THE SOUL
I was unable to go directly home.
My heart was wrought with unease about why my mother had acted that way.
I ended up wandering into the park, and it was there that I met Yoko Miyoshi.
At first, I found it eerie that a girl was sitting
by herself in the park that late at night.
I thought it was a ghost - a crying ghost.
Crying? Why was she crying?
Who knows - I was crying too, though.
When both of you are crying, you don't need words or reasons.
All you need to do is cry - no questions, only forgiveness.
We made a promise then and there.
We wouldn't ask anything about each other -
not our names, families, or where we lived.
We simply promised that every night at 8 o'clock,
the two of us would meet, alone.
If the promise was broken, we would part ways.
Surely you didn't stay silent the whole time, though?
- You spoke a little, right? - We did.
But it was about silly things - things that would make you burst out laughing.
For example...
- I would say something like this. - Hey...
- where are we right now? - And she would answer like this.
We're in the world of our hearts.
There is nothing unclean here.
Then...
- you're not sad anymore? - No, I'm happy.
Whenever I'm with you like this...
that's the only time I feel like I can be my true self.
It was true happiness. It was a feeling that transcended heaven.
I wanted to somehow tell you that I loved you.
And then, one day...
I wrote a single poem.
Nearly every evening, we would read it to each other right here.
"Your two black-colored eyes
vibrate the strings...
and weave the music of the koto of my heart.
Your two black-colored eyes
blow the wind that shapes the waves in the ocean of my heart.
Should your two black-colored eyes ever part from my gaze,
- the koto of my heart, - and the ocean of my heart,
shall sink into the depths of the cold, black sand...
the lonely, heavy sand...
of the desert of death."
Just then, a miracle happened.
I drank up the tears that ran down her face, one by one,
and then...
Yoko!
What is this?
You really are Yoko!
Hiroshi?
This isn't Yoko.
No matter how much she looks like her, she's not Yoko.
That's what you said last night, isn't it?
Indeed I did.
You're not Yoko - there's no way you could be.
But...
It's fine.
Yoko is fine.
I'm fine with Yoko.
If both of you want to think of me as Yoko...
if you both love Yoko Miyoshi from the bottom of your heart...
then I'll become Yoko.
Please call me Yoko.
Yoko Miyoshi has become an important person for me, too.
I want to meet her.
I want to look for her.
So from today, the three of us will all be accomplices.
Haruka...
You mustn't call me Haruka anymore.
I'm Yoko.
Promise?
There's no use getting him to make a promise.
He's broken an important promise in the past before.
- An important promise? - Not asking anything about each other -
not names, families, or where they live.
Promises get in the way of a loving heart. They ought to be broken, don't you agree?
That's what I thought. One night...
we followed Yoko home.
I felt like I was floating.
"I love you! I love you!"
I felt like I wanted to scream it out loud.
I wanted to know everything about her.
I eventually found out where she was going.
It'd be a private night-school these days.
She was studying there,
but I didn't see any other students.
I heard her laughing.
I felt an enormous amount of jealousy.
The only thing that managed to comfort me
was the fact that her and I had kissed.
I had a sudden thought, however.
She had only let me kiss her,
so perhaps she was giving this suave-looking man something more special.
I couldn't bear to think of it.
Her face changed into something unfamiliar before my eyes.
After that, she stopped showing up at the park.
I went there every night,
and searched for her frantically.
I went back to the night-school, too.
She had apparently stopped going after that night.
Please!
I even tried to find out her name from that man...
but it was no good.
I felt her secrecy through the straightforward reception I received.
I was so sad.
But I was getting what I deserved -
I was the one that broke the promise, after all.
That night...
my mother was at home, but my father wasn't, which was unusual.
- I was about to go out when... - Hiroshi?
Come here.
I have something I want to talk to you about.
What is it, mother?
You and your father...
you'll be fine just the two of you, won't you?
He's a lot calmer at night these days.
I'm thinking of going to another town,
and starting a new life.
What?
Give your father my best, will you?
Wait...wait a minute! You have to stay here, mother!
I'm sorry.
I...
I can't take it anymore.
I remember it clearly. I was desperate to let my father know.
I ran to Yukimushi, a place he went to often.
"Sadness is the town of Otaru...!"
Huh? Who's this?
Your father isn't here today!
Walking around without anywhere to go,
I suddenly found myself wandering into that area of town.
Why hello there, young man!
Hey...hey!
Let's go!
- I'm not drunk! - You'll get in trouble!
Go home!
The girls hate drunkards. Go home!
I'm not drunk!
Go home!
Go home, now!
- You're drunk. - No I'm not!
Dad?
Move!
Hey, you! I'm not drunk, right?
I'm not drunk, am I?
I'm not drunk.
Hey...!
Go home! This is no place for children!
Dad!
Stop it, please!
Mom's leaving home!
I should've died with everyone else!
I should have just died!
I should have joined that war and just died!
If it wasn't for these legs, I would've died a soldier!
My friends...
- Hey! What are you...? - Him too...
everyone...
that's how they all died!
If I did that...
What are you doing?!
Dad!
I wouldn't have been such a pathetic lone survivor...
and I wouldn't have written such a worthless novel!
Stop it, dad!
I wouldn't have ended up with that whore,
and I wouldn't have killed your mother!
My mother...?
- You killed my mother? - Yes!
I couldn't ask her to leave me...
she was such a pure, kind-hearted woman.
I was foolish! Forgive me!
Forgive me! Forgive me!
Forgive me!
Hey you, wait!
Forgive me...
It was morning when I arrived back home.
I don't know how or where I had wandered all that time.
There were two policemen waiting.
Hiroshi Sato? You're part of Tosaku Sato's family?
- Yes. - Your father's dead.
- He was drunk, and drowned. - He collapsed in a pool of water, and...
I believed that my father's death was suicide.
I'm sure it left both my mother and father in peace.
Clutching my father's ashes, I departed Otaru.
I visited my relatives in Tokyo, in order to go to university as my father had wished.
I had been in Otaru for 75 days.
Erasing those memories meant living a new life.
I thought I'd never return there for the rest of my life.
So we've finally reached this point.
That required much more effort than writing for your Lil' Bunko, didn't it?
So, was that the last time you saw each other?
No - there was one more time.
It was the night before the day I would leave Otaru.
I came to this park once more.
I had no hope of meeting her again, at all.
However...
A girl student I had never seen before sat in our place.
It felt like a holy place was being defiled,
so I turned to leave.
Excuse me!
"Your two black-colored eyes vibrate the strings and weave the music..."
- Who are you? - "...of the koto of my heart."
Why do you...?
- It's your poem, isn't it? - Yes.
- But why do you...? - I wanted to make sure.
To make sure?
Hiroshi Sato is quite a common name, and I didn't want to mistake anyone...
Don't treat me like an idiot.
Come with me, Hiroshi!
- She's waiting for you! - Who is? Where?
Come with me, please.
It's a little far, but it's my aunt's house.
A ryokan in Asarigawa Onsen.
She's waiting there.
Let's go to Asarigawa Onsen!
I'm - Yoko Miyoshi is waiting for us.
Of course...it's the climax, at long last!
I'll see you over there then, Shinsuke Ayase.
You're not coming with us, Hiroshi?
I won't fit in that car.
And Shinsuke Ayase only has to remember about Yoko Miyoshi
for me to appear at any time.
I see... so that's how it works.
That means ever since Mr. Ayase fell over and met me for the first time...
...I've been Yoko Miyoshi.
This will be the definitive work in the Otaru "Love is..." series.
Isn't that right, Shinsuke Ayase?
See you later then, accomplice!
Did we keep you?
(speaking German)
"If someone's waiting, there's no point asking them if they've been waiting."
No need to get touchy.
SHINKO OHASHI ASARIGAWA ONSEN
My name is Yoko Miyoshi.
I was very sorry to hear about what happened to your father.
I visited the temple on the day after the funeral.
I heard from the priest that you're leaving Otaru.
Hiroshi Sato.
I learnt your name from the priest, too.
One last time...
I wanted you and I to meet - as Hiroshi Sato and Yoko Miyoshi.
That was my wish.
Have I caused you any inconvenience?
No.
I wanted to see you again.
Hiroshi...
The lights...!
Your foot...
Be gentle with me.
Hiroshi...
Call me Yoko.
Whore.
This is the ending you chose.
You believed that you were her favorite, and decided to bury your past -
- and my existence as well. - It can't be helped.
That's all you say - that I was the one that did it.
Isn't it because you did that to Yoko back then?
Back then? For you, it might be "back then".
But for me, it's the here and now.
So how is "back then" different to "now"?
- Yoko Miyoshi. - Yoko Miyoshi?
You believed Yoko was a prostitute-- no...you tried to convince yourself!
It was revenge for you.
She was a prostitute - you saw her yourself!
The only thing I saw was Yoko in front of the brothel - that's it.
She pushed my father over.
A young woman will do that if she's groped by a drunkard.
- She looked the same as my mother. - The kimono just made her look like that.
Why was she coming out of the brothel, then?
You didn't think she could've been someone's daughter?
Someone's daughter?
Yoko came to meet me to escape all that had been sullied.
You took that hope and...
...no - I was the one that cruelly destroyed her hopes.
- You can't be sure of that, though. - If Yoko was a prostitute,
why did she come all that way to see me?
Why did she announce herself as Yoko, and give herself to me?
The most important thing isn't confirmation - it's believing.
But it was you who cried "whore" and slept with her!
Yes. That's why I was in pain.
Not forgetting that pain, and putting myself through it...
that's what I believed to be the sole proof of my atonement -
of my love for Yoko.
My sadness, my pain, and my love for Yoko...
you, Shinsuke Ayase, tried to forget all of them.
You ran away - from Otaru,
and from me, who lived inside you. I was erased.
I was only in Otaru for 2 and a half months - a mere 75 days.
But I lived fully during that time!
I loved people with all my heart! How can you forget something like that?
This is the end, Shinsuke Ayase.
If you are able to believe in that, I'll disappear.
If you can't bring yourself to,
I'll have to follow you around for the rest of your life.
Haruka.
Time for you to go home.
This is where the story of Yoko Miyoshi ends - all of it.
You're Haruka - I'm sure of that now.
Not my accomplice, and not Yoko.
I'm going to stay in this ryokan tonight,
and think about myself a little bit more, for now.
Come at 9am tomorrow morning, too.
I...
I've been here before.
Just once, a very long time ago.
The pattern on the ceiling...
it looked just like the face of my late grandmother.
I remember it well.
Hiroshi?
What is it?
Will you be going back, after all this?
Back to your time?
Yeah.
So, you'll be able to see Yoko Miyoshi there, won't you?
Yeah. That's where she lives, after all.
So then...
can't you start everything over with her?
That's impossible.
What's done is done.
There's no undoing it.
That's so sad.
If I knew that Shinsuke Ayase wouldn't have acknowledged me,
and I couldn't return to my own time and had to continue living here...
I actually would have wanted to start things over with you.
If it was with you, we could have loved each other once more,
and I could have been able to redo my entire youth.
I'm sorry - I'm only joking.
Just a dream within a dream.
Life doesn't let you redo things "once more".
But, Hiroshi...
you're forgetting something important.
The Hiroshi Sato from long ago is the Shinsuke Ayase from the present.
You can still do things over.
It's Noboru.
I made him wait again.
Hiroshi...
what is Haruka, I wonder?
"Your two black-colored eyes...
vibrate the strings, and weave the music of the koto of my heart."
"Your two black-colored eyes...
blow the wind that shapes the waves in the ocean of my heart."
"Should your two black-colored eyes ever part from my gaze..."
Haruka!
Yes?
So you finally found out.
I always knew this day would come.
- Mom...? - Looking at you all grown up now...
you look so much like Yoko did all those years ago, it's hard to believe.
Today...
I went to grandma's house.
Your grandmother's house?
The ryokan at Asarigawa.
We went there just once when I was a kid, for grandma's funeral, right?
I heard everything about Yoko Miyoshi there.
The person that brought Hiroshi Sato and Yoko Miyoshi together there...
that was you, wasn't it?
Come inside.
It's cold out.
That was a once-in-a-lifetime romance for Yoko,
that ended in sadness.
She even tried to take her own life.
The person that was devoted to taking care of her
was the college student that was her tutor.
Eventually, she married him,
and gave birth to you.
Even I had no idea
what thoughts she kept hidden in her heart,
but she looked happy from the outside.
She led a quiet life.
However, one night, there was a fire.
By the time they got there, the fire had engulfed the whole house,
and miraculously, you were the only thing saved.
And then... you took care of me?
Yes.
I had to.
What about my father? Not Yoko's husband,
but the man you married?
The truth is...
I've never been married, not once.
What?
Haruka...
This -
this is a hair decoration Yoko treasured dearly.
She gave it to me to wear at her wedding.
I wanted to give it back to you someday.
The only thing in my life...
is you.
I did it because of the sense of friendship and justice I had when I was young.
Or was it something else?
Mom, please...
Please what?
Hit me - as hard as you can.
That feels much better!
For me, too.
Mom!
Just when I thought you're all grown up...
you're still like this - like a kid!
"LOVE IS HIGH TIDE" - BY SHINSUKE AYASE PICTURES BY AKIRA KINOMIYA
Yoko Miyoshi...
thank you.
I love you.
Noboru!
Oh, good morning.
Sorry - I'll be ready to go in a minute.
Don't worry.
I'm sorry, too.
I'll call a taxi and go by myself.
I can't act spoiled with you forever, after all.
In exchange - or whatever...
take care of this for me, please.
It's special to me, so be gentle with it.
See you.
You don't say it at all these days.
- Say what? - "Don't fall over!"
That's because you're all grown up.
You don't fall over yourself any more.
Say it.
P-l-e-a-s-e.
Don't fall over.
Thanks.
I like the way you say it.
(speaking German)
"There are also things that won't be ready despite the time you put into them."
Good morning.
- Haruka. - It's 9am on the dot.
This is the first time we've met up on time.
Guess so.
Hiroshi Sato.
Stop running away.
I am Haruka,
and Haruka loves Hiroshi Sato.
I came here today to directly inform you of that.
Don't run away any more.
You won't regret it?
Regretting saying "I love you"
is better than regretting not saying it.
Hiroshi!
I'm sorry...
my chest...
Haruka...
We surrendered our entire selves to that single moment.
It was a moment that was completely new for me,
something I had never experienced before.
And then I saw it - the burn mark on Haruka's breast,
colored as if it were the flame of love, burning brightly.
It was then that I was able to believe, in the midst of an eternal peace.
Believe in Haruka, in Yoko, and in the existence of Hiroshi Sato.
That afternoon, I left Otaru.
While waiting for the train, I climbed up the hill overlooking the sea once more.
As if by foresight, the younger version of myself met me there.
"One morning, out of nowhere, American battleships lined up across that sea."
That was the opening line of my father's only novel.
You helped me remember a lot of things.
In the confusion following the end of the war,
an older man runs off with a woman he falls in love with, and kills his wife.
That was the plot of the novel.
In other words, he killed our mother.
When I read that dry Fukkou Bungei novel
wondering what kind of thing my father was writing,
finding something like that out gave me a shock.
That was what he was screaming about on the night he died,
but was it the truth?
Or was it just a drunken delusion?
I don't know.
Even if the story is a fabrication,
the feelings conveyed in it were real, I'm sure.
That means that my father really did love that woman.
Right?
It means that he wanted to die as miserably as possible.
A lot of things were lost in that war.
I'm sure my father had a lot of feelings of despair at their loss.
Tosaku Sato...
He always insisted on using his real name for everything.
Shinsuke Ayase.
I wonder if you'll ever write your own novel, using your real name.
Well...if I don't,
Otaru, or meeting Yoko, you,
or Haruka would have no meaning for me.
I'm counting on you.
Sure.
I'm going to try shining a light on the sadness
of the Hiroshi Sato from way back in my youth.
This morning, Haruka came to see me.
She did?
We made love.
It wasn't me that she came to make love with, though.
Not Shinsuke Ayase -
the Hiroshi Sato inside of me.
You.
You're inside of me. I was glad to be able to believe that.
It gave me courage.
I've got to go - the train's almost here.
I might go home, too.
I can't be absent from my own time forever.
Farewell - I'll see you again.
Yeah.
Next time we meet, I'll be you,
and you will..
He had disappeared before I knew it.
I climbed down the hill alone.
I remembered -
the words that Haruka softly said that pierced my heart,
while the two of us shared that blissful moment...
I wonder if I'll ever...
want to forget what happened on this day.
I wonder.
There's no way I'll forget what happened today.
I've decided:
if I ever give birth to a girl,
the name I'll give her...
it'll be "a distant child".
A distant child...?
That's right -
"Yoko".
Haruka...
Snow in Otaru...the snow that comes up from the sea.
I know not of Otaru snow, not even now.
I know not of the story buried in that snow.
What I do know of is the light spring that comes to this northern place, then and now.
That peaceful, beloved, and cruel season.
I waited for the Otaru snow to cease, and for spring to come.
Hi.
They say that one day, long ago,
in that sea...
one morning, out of nowhere, American battleships were all lined up.
I know that story, too.
It's a very old story.
This hill is very nostalgic for me, too.
Really? That's great.
My mom always told me, when the Otaru snow ceases,
and a light spring comes - when I'm a young girl,
and climb this hill to look out over the sea...
there'll be someone that comes to visit me, without a doubt.
You must be Yoko.
I'm Yoko.
Well then, Yoko.
Here's a present.
Thank you.
"HARUKA, NOSTALGIA" HIROSHI SATO
I made sure not to ask about her mother.
I was certain that somewhere in this town,
she was married to a sincere, Noboru-like young man,
living a peaceful life with her family.
Wearing an expression as if she'd forgotten all about the faraway past.
And that's how it should be - I suppose that's what it means to be alive.
That's precisely why I chose to write down
all the truths that lie in people's hearts in a single book.
That is the only way for me to answer for
all the love and thoughts that were left to me.
That's what I believe.
What I sometimes find myself thinking about is...
"HARUKA, NOSTALGIA" - HIROSHI SATO
does Haruka still like Chopin?
The scent of sin lies in the act of living.
Being forgiven, and acquiring the repose of a cradle -
that is what we call a birthplace.
Otaru - my love. Haruka, nostalgia.
Prologue - Hiroshi Sato
English subs by OHAKOSUBS Translation notes: ohakosubs.tumblr.com