01x04 - Episode 4

[bunniefuu]

A few days after it was decided to treat

the orifices as part of the landscape.

Kana Omura, who lived

in a nearby apartment,

started observing an orifice every day

and kept a diary.

This is what she wrote.

April 16th.

Since the blockade has been lifted,

people are coming to see the orifice.

April 29th.

Every night, I go to sleep

thinking about entering the orifice.

May 8th.

The decision to enter the orifices is

now left to the individual.

Why is it that no one is coming out?

June 15th.

I've been looking

at the orifice every day.

I somehow feel like I'm already in it.

My homeroom teacher is entering

an orifice next week,

so we are going to throw a farewell party.

June 27th.

I'm glad my teacher seemed

to have enjoyed the party.

She is really looking forward

to entering the orifices.

By the way, a famous actor also went in.

Everyone seems so happy going in,

it's making me jealous.

July 11th.

I started dreaming about

the orifices every night.

Inside the orifices

It's dark at first but you can see

a light on the other end.

Once you reach the other side,

there's nature

and you never feel hungry.

This is the last entry in her diary.

Why is it that people believe in aliens

but they don't believe in gods?

Same goes for ghosts,

but what's the reason

they can't believe in gods?

Well, aliens

they kind of feel tangible, don't they?

You could grasp them.

But I guess, to many people,

gods seem intangible.

What about the orifices, then?

The orifices are actually there.

That's why I can believe in them.

But we're talking about

the god of the orifices here.

Yeah, but

the orifices actually exist

here and there.

They're there.

Objectively?

I don't know if it's objective but

What do you think it's like

on the other side of the orifices?

I believe there's nothing

and it doesn't lead anywhere.

To be honest, I don't care

if there's something or not.

We won't know until we enter, right?

Right.

Who's up next?

It's Ms. Aoyama.

Yes, that's me.

Um

Thank you.

I'm ready.

Okay, so

I may not look like it

but I was born in the UK.

-Oh, really?

-Wow.

I lived there until

I was about five years old.

My parents had started living in the UK

due to my mother's job.

They're both Japanese

but I was born in the UK.

That's why I look like this.

Are you a British citizen, then?

I haven't decided yet.

While we were living there,

my parents only spoke English,

so when we came to Japan,

I couldn't speak Japanese at all.

We moved to Japan right before

I started elementary school.

I was the only one in school

who couldn't communicate with anyone.

My classmates started

asking me why I couldn't speak.

That's why I had no friends.

But there was this one girl,

Ms. Ishida, who walked home

with me every day.

She didn't play with me in class,

which makes sense

because I couldn't speak Japanese.

But we happened to live

in the same direction,

so we started walking home together.

On their way home,

Aoyama and Ishida played a game.

One of them counted up

to a number of their liking

and tagged the other.

The one who was tagged had to continue

counting from that number.

Five.

Five.

Six, seven, eight, nine,

ten, eleven, twelve.

Twelve.

Twelve.

Twelve!

Twelve.

Twelve!

Thirteen.

However, as they started second grade,

Ishida transferred to another school.

Aoyama was alone once again.

Do you want me to teach you that?

The hiragana?

That's hiragana.

You were close with Ishida, right?

My mom and Ishida's mom are friends

because we're neighbors

and Ishida's my childhood friend,

so she's coming to my place.

You want to come too?

I have a brand-new cotton candy machine

that I got as a present

so we'll play cotton candy shop

and we'll even create our own money.

I grew more and more discouraged.

Maybe it would've been better

if I could have laughed more.

Ms. Iijima.

Oh, Ms. Aoyama. Hello.

Hi there.

H-Hello.

How have you been?

I was surprised to hear you had come back

to Japan with your child.

Moving to different countries

for work can be tiring.

I got fed up of relocating. And elementary

school marks a new chapter, right?

I think it's a good time

to start ballet too.

She still can only speak English

and can't fit in at school.

Could you teach her ballet?

So she wants to do ballet?

No, but I didn't want to leave her

with strangers she can't communicate with.

My English is not very good but

In the end, I learned to speak Japanese

by the time I graduated

from elementary school.

Does becoming able to speak Japanese

have anything to do with ballet?

No, it doesn't have

much to do with ballet.

Ultimately, I couldn't make friends

with anyone at school or in ballet class.

-Hey, Aoyama.

-Hm?

Let's go to the mall. Do you have ballet?

Okay, but I'm going to have

to leave early because I have ballet.

Cool. Let's ask Nagase as well.

Okay.

I took the entrance exam for a prestigious

junior high school and got in.

Once I could speak,

I started interacting with more people.

Still, I didn't have

any friends like Ms. Ishida.

I continued taking ballet lessons.

If anything, I grew to like ballet

more than when I first started.

And one,

and two, and three, and four, and five,

plié, arabesque, cross.

And one, and two,

and three, and four, and five,

plié, forward, cross.

Good.

Mr. Miura, do an arabesque for me.

Keep your hips aligned.

Straighten it up here

and point your toes to here.

Hey, I have two tickets for a show but

I can't go that day. You want them?

What show?

A ballet company coming from Germany.

I have to attend a memorial service.

How much are they?

13,000 yen each.

That company doesn't come to Japan often,

so it'll be a great learning experience.

The tickets are hard to get

because the lottery odds are high.

If it's such a great company,

aren't there other people who want to go?

There are,

so it's first come, first served.

Maybe someone who wants

to go pro should go.

But I want to see that show too.

You once said you wanted to quit

because practice was tough.

Since you have high school entrance exams

coming up, now's a good time to quit.

I don't want to quit anymore, though.

I'm going to ask Ms. Iijima when would be

a good time to quit, so think about it.

Right around that time,

I heard that my elementary school friend

Ms. Ishida was moving

into the neighborhood.

Ms. Ishida and I had both

just gotten smartphones,

and collecting contact information from

elementary school classmates was a thing.

My mom might make me quit ballet.

Convince her that ballet

won't interfere with your studies.

If I hadn't brought up the tickets,

it wouldn't have turned out like this.

But you don't want to quit, right?

I mean, I don't know

if I can become a pro or anything.

Everyone else is amazing

but I'm not particularly outstanding.

I do want to dance, though.

It's not ballet but my parents

are still letting me dance.

Though it won't help

with the entrance exams

Remember that counting game

we used to play?

The one we played on our way home.

I wonder what was so fun about it.

What game?

We counted and tagged each other.

Oh

Sorry, I don't remember. Did we play that?

Oh, really? We used to play it a lot.

I don't remember it at all.

Did we even walk home together?

You don't remember?

Not really

I only remember you as the kid

who couldn't speak Japanese.

Well, it was in first grade after all.

But hey, your Japanese got really good.

Right?

Yeah

Yes, so I'm thinking of making her quit.

I think now's the time.

Aoyama was debating

whether to indicate that she could hear

what her mother was saying on the phone.

I mean, a lot of the kids

have long limbs and slender physiques

that are more suited for ballet.

I regret not letting her do another sport

that's more suited for her.

I hoped she could make friends through

a sport where she didn't have to speak.

Let's go out for a meal

again sometime, Ms. Iijima.

I want to thank you

for looking after her until now.

I didn't choose to be born

in this body and,

as for friends, it's not my fault

I couldn't communicate.

That's what I wanted to tell her.

But

I also knew

I couldn't become a pro.

I repeated my mother's words

to Ms. Iijima.

Although the reason I had to quit ballet

wasn't of my own making.

Everyone else started when they were

about three but I started late.

They're all tall and have long limbs.

Everyone moves so gracefully

and are much more talented than me.

I have to start going to cram school.

If I spend more time studying,

I'll fall further behind everyone else

and will become a burden to you, so

I want to quit.

Is the decision to quit

truly coming from you?

I'm not talented.

But you've improved at things

you couldn't do before.

Becoming able to do something

you couldn't before is amazing.

It's a waste of time for me

to continue with ballet.

I haven't had talent

since I was born in this body.

If you truly want to continue ballet,

I will support

It's pointless for me to continue,

so don't bother.

I

I didn't start ballet on my own will.

I only did it because my mom told me to.

And because I didn't have

friends at school.

I was only listening

to what my mom told me

because I didn't have

anyone else to talk to.

But, to be honest

I wanted to continue a little longer.

You can go to cram school

and come to my studio.

Just tell your mother

you're going to study and come here.

Aoyama washed her leotard at the studio

and left her equipment there too.

She covered her tuition

by helping out in the studio.

However, since it didn't amount

the full tuition fee,

it was largely thanks

to Iijima's kindness.

Aoyama told her mother

she was going to study at the library

and continued taking ballet lessons.

And one.

Extend your arm to the side.

Arabesque.

Keep your back straight.

Aoyama's mock exam results were good

and she was deemed likely

to gain admission

to her preferred schools.

Most of the high schools she was going

to apply to were picked by her mother

but the list also contained

some schools Aoyama herself liked.

Ms. Aoyama.

I'm hoping you'll take on a role

in the next recital.

It's Columbine.

I'd love to.

Great!

Also

I think it might be good

if you told your mother about this.

I don't know if you plan on continuing

ballet once you're in high school,

but I think it would be good for her

to see you perform.

I'll apologize to her, too,

for having kept this a secret.

I'll try inviting her.

Mom, can we talk?

What is it?

Um

Is it bad news?

No, it's not that.

Then tell me.

So, I was going to cram school, right?

And I was studying with friends

at the library. Well, I still am.

I also got good results on the mock exam.

That's because I studied a lot

and I'm glad I did.

I think I can get into

my first-choice high school.

So, the thing is

When I said I was going

to the library, I was lying.

What do you mean?

At times, I really went to the library.

But most of the time

I was taking ballet lessons.

On the day I went to tell

Ms. Iijima I was quitting,

she said if I helped out at the studio,

she would let me take lessons for free.

I kept all of my equipment at the studio

and washed my things there too.

So, there were days where

I pretended to go to the library

and took ballet lessons.

And

So

Um

I don't plan on continuing ballet

in high school.

Although I do love ballet.

Ms. Iijima and I were talking

about taking it easy, you know?

And

My last recital is coming up.

Ms. Iijima offered me a role,

and it's a proper role.

It's my first big recital,

so I was hoping you'd come.

It would be great if you came to see it.

What do you

think?

How dare you meddle

in other people's educational choices?

You've not just been meddling

but also interfering.

I can't believe you've been

deceiving me all this time.

Working together with a child

to deceive her parents?

Are you going to adopt her, or what?

I'm not going to let her

participate in the recital.

Children this age aren't allowed to work,

and it's not just about paying her or not.

It's just wrong.

Making her work in exchange

for lessons? Seriously?

She was struggling and

you made her believe I'm a toxic parent.

What are you going to do about

our parent-child relationship now, huh?

Or did you think I couldn't afford

the tuition? How much is it?

I'll wire it to you.

Although it's money I shouldn't have

to pay since I thought I'd made her quit.

But I'll pay you that money.

Please accept this dirty money and

continue teaching ballet.

Now, please give me your banking details.

This goes for everything

but it's all about talent, right?

In the end, I couldn't

participate in the recital.

I haven't danced since getting

into high school, and now

The only feeling I have left is

that I wanted to dance.

Aoyama's mother had

already entered the orifices.

In her mind, Aoyama organized

the things she wanted to tell her mother

and headed towards an orifice.

If I could've chosen

how I wanted to be born,

I'm not sure if I would've chosen myself.

Subtitle translation by:

Mariko Yasuoka-Sator

I didn't get a job.

I wanted to take the judicial exam.

Shouldn't you give up

on the judicial exam?

I wanted to live an age-appropriate life.

How about getting a regular job?

What should I do then?

Should I just end my life here?

Seven Orifices.