01x10 - Truth

[bunniefuu]

WEBVTT

He's dea...

Hi... Hikaru?

C'mon, stick back on!

Stick on, stick on, stick on, stick on!

Damn it, why won't it stick?!

THE SUMMER HIKARU DIED

THE SUMMER HIKARU DIED

KIBOGAYAMA HOSPITAL

Honey, are you okay?

EPISODE TEN: TRUTH

Mom...

Is it true?
Did Old Man Takeda really attack you?

Hang on a sec.

Tell me the police ain't involved...

It's being swept under the rug
as a minor village feud.

Even if I called the police--

There's no need for that. Where's Hikaru?

Sleeping right beside you.

He hasn't woken up yet.

It took forever, but I sure got lucky.

Having it show up in this era...

And what a fascinating case.

It's got a sense of identity now,
and even chose to weaken itself.

Looks like I'm already making progress
toward my ultimate goal.

I guess it takes longer
when there's life-threatening damage.

My father probably won't survive this.

They say it was a heart attack.

I bolted to the scene, but I was too late.

I'm sorry.

Honestly, it's a sigh of relief
for my wife and me.

Terrible, I know.

By the way, have you seen my sunglasses?

Right under yer nose.

Whoa, you...

Don't tell me... Are ya blind?

Yes, I am.

Yes. All right.

Thank you so much for all your help.

Ready to go?

Yeah.

It's a type of paranormal impairment.

With these on, I can see.

They're from my company,
which is annoying in itself.

When'd this happen to ya?

Ages ago.

Can I go now?

Wait!

What's your purpose for comin' here?

I'm here for work.

My company is looking for
a certain something from their world.

I don't care 'bout your company.
I wanna know your personal reasons.

Ya must have some reason
for doin' all this.

You're sharper than you look.

Nonuki-sama.

Make no mistake,
I'm going to do something about it.

At the very least, I'm on humanity's side.

I've just added a few things to my plate.

Yoshiki, are you sure you're okay?

Yeah.

Ya mean it? Hikaru too?

Yeah.

Hey, what were you doing
at the Takedas' house in the first place?

You're not involved
in any shady business, are you?

- If something's wrong, you can--
- I'm fine.

- Thanks for dinner.
- Hold it!

Just leave him alone.

You okay, Yoshiki?

Sure.

A man in his twenties,

last spotted near Darumazuka Tunnel
in Kibogayama Town,

has gone missing.

This tunnel is well-known
as a haunted spot.

The man, a YTuber,
posted this on the 20th of last month.

"Going to Darumazuka.
If I survive, I'll upload a video..."

Hey, did ya know?

The reason Darumazuka Tunnel
is said to be haunted.

I know it's well known, but I dunno why.

Way back when,
they found people's bones here.

A whole lotta old bones.

The strange thing was,
all of the bones were from human torsos.

After that,
they found arm bones in Udekari.

Then, leg bones were dug up in Ashidori.

They say there was a custom
of burying people in bits and pieces.

But ya know what's even weirder?
They never found the skulls anywhere.

KUBITACHI

Only the skulls were missing?

Now that ya mention it,

all the monsters I've seen so far
were messed up above the neck.

That man with the sword
is a mystery, though, ain't he?

It's been two days
and he still hasn't done anything.

What's he doin' here, anyway?

Think he's a spirit medium or somethin'?

Here to exorcise this thing?

No, no, ain't no way!

This kinda thing can't be exorcised.

Sure, it's weaker now, but not so much
that a human could do anything.

All we can do
is physically remove it from the village

or lock it up, I guess?

Stay alert, and if anythin' happens,
you run straight to my house.

I'll investigate that man myself.

Investigate? How?

I can see more than the average folk.
I know where to look.

A spirit medium, huh?
Or maybe that company sent him...

Hikaru!

Hey, Hikaru! You okay?

Hikaru?

Stop that!

Can you tell us your name, boy?

Hikaru. My name's Hikaru Indo.

What the heck did I just do?

Thank goodness. You're back.

Yoshiki...

I'm glad you're okay.

I was sleepin' for two whole days?

Ouch...

I thought ya couldn't even feel pain.

I never could before.
But lately, I kinda can...

Hikaru, you're a whole lot weaker
than before, ain't ya?

Ever since I met you, I've been thinkin'.

You're much smaller than
the presence I felt from that mountain.

It's all my fault.

No, it ain't. Quit talkin' like that.

Oh, right!
Remember the dude with the shades?

That ain't no ordinary sword.

I think there's somethin' to it.

He knew what he was doin'...

I'm an idiot. I was completely oblivious.

What if he attacks you again?

I'll run away.

If he cuts my head off again,
just stick it back on.

But I reckon
my head might pop off easier now.

Is that line around your neck gonna heal?

Huh? What line?

Round your neck...

Whoa, wait!
My head really is gonna pop off!

What? Stop it, stop it!

Just joshin' ya.

Hey! Quit jokin' around!

Here, wanna touch it?

- Gross!
- See? I feel great!

- Wait, I feel sick...
- Make up your mind!

THE SUMMER HIKARU DIED

THE SUMMER HIKARU DIED

KIBOGAYAMA HIGH SCHOOL

I'm so glad you're okay!

Surprisingly, Maki was the most worried.

- Ain't that cute?
- Huh?

"It's so darn boring without Hikaru!"
Heard ya say that at least ten times.

Like hell I did!

Ya sure did!

What're you scribblin' over there, anyway?

TRADE HEAD FOR REQUEST

Nothin'. Forget it.

You researchin' Unuki-san?

Wait, what? Did you say Unu...

Unuki-san, right?

Lemme tell ya.

It's a secret code word
they used round here a long time ago.

Back then, there wasn't enough food,
so they had to reduce the population.

The area was impoverished
by all kinds of disease,

so they made a drug
to abort unborn babies.

A drug specially made for this area
out of mercury mined from the mountain.

I believe they called it Uronuki Medicine.

Apparently, that means
"baby-k*lling drug."

Mercury, huh?

So that's where the forbidden mountain
Nisayama got its name.

Nisayama?

"Nisa" means cinnabar.

And cinnabar is a source of mercury.

Anyway, using this ab*rtion drug

was talked about in code, like "making
an offering to Unuki-san on the mountain."

And then...

Before long, they enshrined it
as the god of the mountain.

And after that, the diseases and stuff
mysteriously eased up.

I don't remember a thing.
Was I on the mountain from then on?

Unuki-san might be the reason
Hikaru went missin' on Nisayama.

What? There ain't no god like that.

Could be closer than ya think.

Scary, huh? Ooh, scary!

Say that god really was among us.
What would y'all do?

Like, if it'd possessed one of us and...

Huh? I bet we'd notice right away.

We'd send it back to the mountain
where it belongs.

Kinda freaky when ya think about it.

But wouldn't it eventually get exposed

and go back to where it came from?

Hang on, Maki.
How come ya know so much about this?

Oh, my big brother
is obsessed with occult stuff.

He's studyin' folklore
at a university in Tokyo.

Could ya message him real quick?
I wanna ask him something.

About Unuki-san.

Maki's big bro
goes to college in Tokyo, huh?

Ah, didn't you wanna go there too?

What would ya study? Bugs and critters?

That's a strong contender.

By the way, remember how ya came
to my house last night?

What happened?

That? Well...

I dunno. My memory's all fuzzy.

I don't even know why I did that.

LEAVE IT TO ME!

Guys, my brother replied.

"By the time the village split
around 1700,

Unuki-san as a religious figure
was already long gone."

"However, throughout the domain,

the rumor persisted of a curse befalling
those who interfered in this area."

"After that, believers of another religion
facing oppression at the time, fled here

and settled down
without fear of persecution."

"That's why Kibogayama
has so many churches even now."

Churches?

There ya have it.

Why so curious about this stuff?
Are you one of those occult freaks too?

Sure, yeah.

But there ain't one church in Kubitachi.

All we got is a single shrine.

The religion disappeared?

Is that really true?

Ya know, we hold this festival
for the god who lives on that mountain.

Maybe it ain't gone.
Maybe it just looks different.

Faith in this mountain god Unuki-san
could've changed somewhere along the line.

URONUKI → UNUKI → NONUKI

Changing names ain't such a rare thing.

That would mean
that when the village split around 1700,

"Unuki-san" had already changed
to "Nonuki-sama."

Did the split
have somethin' to do with religion, too?

Can ya hear me?

Nonuki-sama became a curse god
after all those villagers died.

With nowhere to turn,

the villagers adopted new religions
to practice instead.

Nonuki-sama was forgotten.

But I know for a fact that
Kubitachi still believes in Nonuki-sama.

Every other village
forgot about Nonuki-sama

except for Kubitachi.

We weren't allowed to forget.

We needed to pay for some kinda sin
committed by the Indo family.

So Kubitachi was never forgiven?

Hey, Yoshiki.

Are you listenin'?

What?

Nothin'. Where did we leave off, again?

Somethin' about
how I was called "Unuki-san" at first.

I wonder how much of this
the dude with the shades knows.

He's been quiet since then, huh?

Before he shows up again, we gotta see
the temple Old Man Takeda mentioned.

I wonder what happened to Old Man Takeda
after all that.

I always knew it existed, but...

Looks like they take good care of it.

Oh, did ya bring the key?

It's too dark. Can't see a thing.

The hell?! Human heads?

Nah, take a closer look.
They're made outta wood.

- Don't touch 'em...
- What're they doin' here?

That kinda hurts...

Whoa, you okay?

I know this place.

Huh? From Hikaru's memories?

Yeah.

These heads are called "Okubi-sama,"
offerings made to Unuki-sama.

For years and years,
this area's been plagued by disaster.

So the people were poor.
They had it rough.

That's why we offer these heads.
In exchange, Unuki-sama helps us out.

It helps our crops, prevents disease,
stuff like that.

After we offer the heads, they vanish.

So we make replacements outta wood
to honor the dead here in our temple.

So, these are all heads of dead people?

Sure are.

Our family's name comes from this temple.
For generations, we've taken care of it.

Body parts other than the head
gotta be buried as far away as possible.

The village was split into five
to make this process easier.

And by coincidence,
the layout looks like a person's body.

Ain't that funny?

No, it's freaky.

Whose heads are those, anyway?

Most of 'em belonged
to the terminally ill or the elderly.

But, well...

Ya know that tiny shrine
on the outskirts of the village?

It was built after they forced
a travelin' monk to give up his head

'cause they were afraid of bein' cursed.

So they're all a buncha murderers?

Sure are.
And that monk ain't the only one.

They k*lled tons of innocent people,
cut off their heads, and offered 'em up.

All in secret.

Hikaru, this is the curse of our village.

Never forget that, ya hear?

Don't forget the Indo family's sin either.

This place is a freakin' m*rder village?

No wonder they kept it a secret.

So that "particular offering"
turned out to be human heads.

Yeah, it's gone.

Hichi-san used to be right here.

That's what we'd bring to the mountain
for that ritual

as an offering for Unuki-san...

What's the point, though?
I don't need these heads to grant wishes.

Do you remember all Hikaru's memories now?

What's the Indo family's sin, anyway?

Don't remember.
That part of my memory's still hazy.

Still nothin', huh.

We gotta get more information
from someone who was close to your daddy.

I know someone we could ask.

But...

My insides are cold and empty.

So I wanna fill myself up.

I wanna swallow 'em all.

Then I'll be satisfied.

That's what I'm supposed to do.

Yoshiki...

Hikaru?

What're you standin' there in a daze for?
Did something happen?

Yeah...

Don't just stand there. Come in.

Yeah...

Warm...

Hikaru?

Sorry. Never mind.

What was that about? Hikaru?