At Banten School: a teacher tells Thobari's class that for personal reasons he's taking a leave of absence.
Kouichi and Raimei confer: he's decided to shoulder the whole thing himself and leave; can't we do anything to help?
It feels so hopeless, and I can't contact Miharu either, worries Raimei. Kouichi says cheerily that Miharu might've just
forgotten to charge his cell phone, but the samurai girl isn't distracted by his attempt at humor, and gazes at their friend's
empty desk. I wonder, she says,
what Miharu-kun is going to do now...
Yoite and Miharu walk through a crowded street: don't you have any idea at all where Kumohira Thobari might go now? anything he's said in the past?--asks Yoite. I don't, replies Miharu, I don't know anything about Sensei.
Weren't you two always together? says Yoite, a bit snappish with frustration, but Miharu just says, he's always like that; he'd never tell me anything important. He kept things from me and went off on his own...he remembers the night that Thobari pledged to protect him.
Sensei is definitely regretting the past, he says thoughtfully... -- Yoite stops and leans on the wall, pressing a hand to his chest. Don't mind me, he tells anxious Miharu. Miharu says they need to stop and rest. Yoite says there isn't time for that, he'll be fine; but when he
takes out his pill packet, he sees he's used them all. Miharu supports him as he doubles over in pain.
Yukimi is having an uncomfortable interview with Hattori, as he has to admit that Thobari's disappearance caught him completely off guard. Where's Yoite? asks the leader, isn't he taking any action? That guy doesn't look too good, stammers Yukimi; he'd be too much trouble, so I didn't bring him along. --He grins, but
Hattori isn't fooled for a second. Very well, he says, we have no choice. You continue searching for Thobari and the Engetsu-rin--give that your full attention. Ichiki arrives to summon him to a meeting; he rises from the table, but as he walks past Yukimi, he says that perhaps Yoite shouldn't be left in his care. After he's gone,
Ichiki tells Yukimi she's observed that adults' judgment always becomes impaired when children are involved.
Back at the Kairoushuu hospital, Yoite is in bed and on an intravenous line while Kazuho gives Miharu the rundown on his condition. It's bad. Due to the fever caused by pneumonia, his respiratory function is lowered, and he's malnourished because his digestive system is failing, which is weakening his immune system and his regenerative ability.
And he's taking these extra-strength cardiac pills constantly--does he think he's fine as long as his heart keeps beating?--she asks Miharu in exasperation. Is he going to be all right? he asks, and she just looks at him, knowing he knows the answer. The life-draining consequences a Kira user faces are unstoppable, she says quietly; all I can do is slow them down a little. The kinjutsu has no mercy.--She studies his chart.
His body's in rags and tatters, she says, I can't imagine what gives him the will to keep moving. Miharu asks if there's any news of the hijutsu research, and Kazuho says there's been no progress since they still don't have all five scrolls. Do we have to have Engetsu-rin?--he pleads, and she tells him it's the most enigmatic of the scrolls.
[I'm guessing she means, no one can guess what part it would play or what effect its absence would have.] Is there no way to use the shinrabanshou without it? he asks, and she glances at him in surprise, saying it's unusual for him to be so persistent. It's because of Yoite-kun, isn't it, she asks him gently. Miharu hesitates, then says, not really; he just thinks that things will
become very complicated if Hattori doesn't use the hijutsu soon. This doesn't fool her.
She turns in her chair and looks at him. There's no need to hide anything, she tells him, and besides--she lowers her head, reluctant to tell him---it's too late. Miharu gasps; Kazuho, her eyes very sad, watches him with compassion.
Yoite has a dream-flashback: a man and a woman standing in a small apartment, first one voice, then the other, saying "it'd be better if you'd died"; a shattered wine glass on the floor, and a seeming dizzy plunge from the height of a skyscraper. (--it transpires that this was a suicide attempt, which his parents openly wished he hadn't survived.)
That's wrong, stop! he cries out: he wakes, sits up gasping for air. Miharu, he says; he detaches himself from the needle and --barely able to stand--stumbles out of the room.
Miharu stares wide-eyed at Kazuho. What? it's too late?--he manages to say. No matter how much we speed up the pace of the shinrabanshou research, she says sadly, there's still no chance. We see Yoite walking down the hospital corridor in his pajamas, his feet as grey as his hands, leaning on the wall; he stops as he overhears the discussion.
In Gau's room, Raikou stands by the bed. He remembers Kazuho's last report on him: in theory he could regain consciousness any time, she said. Then why aren't you waking up, Gao-kun?--Raikou lowers his head in sorrow and leaves the room, only to meet Yoite in the hall. Have you come to visit as well? he asks, and then remarks that Yoite looks pale. Where's Miharu-kun? it's rare for you not to be together. Yoite says nothing, stands motionless.
I've said too much, says the samurai, but it does seem you two are always together. He gazes in at the unconscious Gau. If there's anything wrong between you, he says quietly, you'd better patch it
up quickly, before it's too late to regret it...He smiles. I envy you two a little, he says, to Yoite's surprise.
You met and became comrades in the Hidden World; it's not the same with us.
He should still be in the outside world with his brave and righteous heart,
but he was dragged into the bloody violence of Nabari by me... he tells Yoite that he believes the reason Gau hasn't awoken
is that he blames himself, and refuses to return to Raikou's side, even though everything that's befallen him is Raikou's
own fault. This is my punishment, he says with quiet finality; the person I've become doesn't deserve to see him again.
If you want to save him, do it, says Yoite sharply; you can use Daya. Raikou says he'd do anything to save Gau, but Daya is a forbidden jutsu. You can still use it, says the
assassin; didn't you say you'd do anything? Raikou says that even if it were to save Gau, to take another person's life as a sacrifice...no, he won't let Gau be stained by any more blood. Then give up, retorts Yoite in fierce bitterness;
if he's only going to be a burden to you, why don't you just kill him?! --Raikou slaps his face, knocking him into the wall.
I don't know why you learnt the kinjutsu, he says angrily, but to see life through the eyes of a shinigami--don't put us in the same league as you! ==Yoite recovers his balance.== I've heard that when the leader brought you in you'd been abandoned, says Raikou; was it that, that made you hate everything in this world?
Yoite stands up and faces him. I don't care what people think of me, he says, I have nothing that's precious to me; I'm only living to fulfill a wish. And you say you're envious? There's angry reproach in his dark blue eyes.
If you can't end it, I'll help you, he says, and levels a smoky grey finger at the glass pane in Gau's door. Raikou lunges to stop him; Yoite throws a Kira blast that hurls the samurai boy to the wall. A nurse rushes up, tries to stop him, then turns her attention to unconscious Raikou.
We see Miharu standing by Yoite's empty hospital bed. As he leaves the room, he hears a voice calling anxiously, come quickly! the patient's life is in critical danger! Two medical staff run past with Kazuho on their heels. He asks her if she knows where Yoite is, and she breathlessly says that he used Kira on Gau and Raikou, then disappeared.
Miharu gasps: he must have heard us talking, he says, and runs for the door.
The city streets are decorated for Christmas. Yoite, stumbling through the crowd, draws startled stares with his pajamas, bare feet and discolored skin. He stops, coughs up blood, goes on. I don't want to die, he thinks..if I were to die... We see a partial replay of his flashback, and he looks wistfully at a happy child with her parents,
stops and closes his eyes. Make me disappear, he thinks; just make me disappear from here.
Miharu runs through the street searching for him. You're too cunning for one person, he thinks--remembering their conversation in the train car that started this --too apathetic and cold-blooded, that's why we promised...He stops to catch his breath, sees a kitten in an alley, mewing anxiously at a cat that lies motionless in the snow. I don't want--He shakes his head hard, runs on.
Raikou regains consciousness in the hospital; he's lying fully-dressed on a cot. He realizes where he is and runs for Gau's room. There a doctor is asking the nurse who saw it, how did this happen? is it the effect of Kira? They all stare, as does Raikou, at the sight of Gau sitting calmly on his bed, gazing out at the falling snow.
Miharu trudges on, beginning to fear he'll find Yoite dead. Yosei-san, he calls to the shinrabanshou, I really need you now--and then he spots a trail of blood drops in the snow. He breaks into a run, following the trail up a flight of steps, calling Yoite's name--and finds him on the landing, half-conscious, snow gathering on his head and shoulders. Why did you go out alone? we made a promise! cries Miharu,
brushing off the snow and hugging him tight. No--no--Yoite gasps, and he shoves Miharu away and curls into a a fetal ball, arms wrapped around his head. ==This is all wrong, he bursts out frantically. Sora--that person--he's disappeared, his senses have vanished, but he's still here! Miharu, desperately worried, reaches to touch him and draws back. The person that's here is me, says Yoite, gripping his head, eyes squeezed shut--
no, it isn't--the me of 16 years ago had no name, not until the day Yukimi called me "Yoite" for the first time! --Miharu comes closer, wracked with fear and pity. I feel like someone's puppet, says Yoite (the word he actually uses is "kigurumi", a costumed animal character like a team's mascot)--everyone watches the puppet, but I'm not really the one inside...he rocks back and forth. Miharu reaches out to him, trying to hold him still.
--no, gasps Yoite, that's wrong! it has to be wrong! This person, Sora--the words are a terrible howl--never existed to begin with!
There's a moment of silence. Who is it...it's you, asks Yoite, and his blue eyes are blank, as if he's gone blind. Where are you?.. he reaches out, and Miharu takes his hand. I'm here too, we're both here, he says, and he folds his arms around Yoite and draws him close. Instantly the haze clears from Yoite's eyes; he sees Miharu, and embraces him for the first time.
They huddle together in the bloody snow, and again Yoite begs Miharu to erase his existence and everything he's lived through. I understand, says Miharu; we made this promise right from the start.
The festive crowds go by in the brightly lit street, and on the concrete stairs above their heads these two orphans of the secret world hold each other tight, eyes filled with tears.
OK, if this one didn't make you cry, you're not ever invited to come watch anime at my house. That's all.
...go on to next episode.
...go back to Episode Guide mainpage.
But Yoite's still able to walk and speak, and eat, protests Miharu. --All the functions
of his organs, mind, and senses are being pushed to their limits, Kazuho replies; it's only because of his extraordinary determination that he's been able to hold on this long.
Then--Yoite's life-- Miharu can't bring himself to ask it. In the hall, Yoite holds very still, listening.
There's... only about a month left, Kazuho says very quietly. Miharu is stunned; Yoite's eyes fill with shock and anguish. He turns and walks away.
Yoite walks into Gau's room: there is such sorrow and longing in his eyes as he looks down at the bed.
He points and sends a Kira shot at Gau; Gau's body jolts and shudders, and then we hear the sound of a strong, regular heartbeat. The nurse gasps, not sure what she's seen. Gau sinks back into the bed, and Yoite turns and leaves.
Outside it's begun to snow. Yoite leans on the wall, racked with a coughing jag. It's too late, he thinks, remembering what he heard.. Even if Miharu...it's too late... He watches the snow for a moment, walks out into the street. [not much security in this place for a hospital run by ninjas...]
I understand, Miharu thinks, but...I don't want you to disappear...