She was fantastic.
She was my first love.
The one who played a male role...
Her.
Emi Okabe & Yukie Onoda
So, yeah, it didn't work out.
You're quick to give up, huh?
I'm happy just supporting you, Emi-chan.
Awajima Revue School Accepting Applications
Knock it off already.
Emi-chan, the transfer student, was just so, so cool.
She was so fashionable and so well-spoken.
I was absolutely stunned by how confidently she carried herself.
A Hundred Scenes of AWAJIMA
It was always a foregone conclusion that she'd pursue the revue school.
Ecchan, I made it!
I got accepted to Awajima!
Mom, Mom! Get this!
Emi-chan got into Awajima!
Emi-chan's the best!
What's Awajima?
Emi-chan's the best!
You know, that school for singing or what not.
Ah, the one Etsuko was making a fuss about going to.
What a silly thing to do.
Going there won't make her a star or anything.
Emi-chan's the best!
Can I go watch her perform when I'm in college?
I wanna cheer her on.
Emi-chan's going to be performing?
At their newcomer's show.
Emi-chan's guaranteed to get the lead role!
I have to snag a front-row seat!
She might be playing a scarecrow.
This isn't some school play, you know!
You'd never get that at Awajima.
I scanned the stage for Emi-chan.
Thinking back on it, she would have called me if she were performing.
So I figured she just wasn't getting parts yet.
I decided that as soon as I got word of her first show,
I would use what money I was making to celebrate.
The phone still never rang.
Oh dear, you didn't know?
I heard Emi-chan quit a long time ago.
She left the dorm before she ever made it into a show there.
Her uncle has a shop in Hiroshima
where she's been waiting tables, apparently.
It takes talent to make it in that world, you understand.
Don't say that like Emi-chan isn't talented!
Mom doesn't know anything. She has no idea what she's talking about.
I guess Emi-chan hasn't said anything because she doesn't want to face me.
Two hours to Hiroshima...
It's close enough that I could go visit,
but it feels like she's gone off to some faraway land that I've never heard of.
After that, I found a job, married through an arranged introduction,
and became the mother of two boys.
Kubota Family Funeral
I never saw Emi-chan again until her funeral.
She had a family of her own.
I gave my regards to her husband and sons,
and I felt a little relieved.
Emi-chan wasn't alone.
Was I feeling sorry for her?
Excuse me!
Might your maiden name be Onoda?
I apologize for stopping you.
No, that's fine.
But, well...
It isn't.
My maiden name is Takehara.
My last name is Uragami now.
O-Oh no! You're going to be soaked!
I'm very sorry for the imposition.
No, thank you for offering to let me in.
I've been asking other women around the same age the same thing.
Miss Emi
What's this?
A letter I found after my wife's passing.
Yukie Onoda
It was no less than an apology and a confession.
The cherry blossoms fell with such little hesitation
I wished my flesh would crumble away with the same decisiveness.
The day I quit Awajima, I was lonely.
Rather...
There wasn't a single day when I wasn't lonely.
Emi-san...
I...
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry...
It's fine.
I made this decision myself.
I'm just glad you came to see me, Onoda-san.
I don't know what happened between her and my wife.
Or what my wife wrote in reply.
If she ever did, for that matter.
I would've preferred to stay out of it.
To be honest, I wished I hadn't even seen it.
Behold.
If it isn't Emi Okabe, the scholarship student.
Look at you, walking so proudly down the center of the hallway.
Hey, I hear Kumada's still playing favorites with you.
Is that who you gave your virginity to?
Wait, Katsurako-san!
I couldn't protect you.
You were so beautiful, and yet...
I'm a loner and a weakling.
What...?
I spat on you.
Please apologize!
Why should I apologize?
I've tolerated her long enough.
I brushed off all her childish behavior.
I told myself it was nothing.
It's not like I'm a grown-up, either!
I hate her guts. I wish she'd drop dead.
No...
That's not the point!
You can't cross Ibuki-san!
She has loads of bad friends!
She'll do horrible things to you.
Especially to someone as pretty as you, Emi-san...
She will.
Onoda-san...
She didn't do something to you, did she?
Hey.
You're the one Katsurako Ibuki hurt, aren't you?
No...
She didn't do anything to me.
But if something ever happened to you...
I think I might die.
"Was it really Katsurako Ibuki who put you in that situation?"
"Perhaps she was the catalyst."
"But I think I was the one who drove you out of Awajima."
"I was afraid of you."
"I was in love with you."
"How many more times will I fall in love, only to be betrayed by my own emotions?"
"Just thinking about it scares me."
"And I can't imagine that any other will ever surpass my love for you."
"I'm terrified of people like you, so beautiful inside and out."
"I wish I had never seen the Awajima Revue Troupe perform that day."
"I should have never dreamed so big."
"I curse the fact that we were alive at the same time."
"I've finally decided that a selfish life like mine ought to be extinguished."
I ought to have visited Emi-chan.
Not that I can be sure it would have changed anything.
I didn't want to see Emi-chan so defeated because it was just too much of a bother.
How was I even to know what to say to her?
Emi-chan was so, so cool.
I couldn't bring myself to see her after she'd wandered astray.
Ito Clinic
Onoda-san is in room 301.
What an idiot.
I'm sorry for shocking you.
But I meant what I said.
I thought you'd really died.
I will.
It's time.
I'm just glad you came to see me in the end.
I won't forgive you if you die.
I'm already beyond forgiveness.
Not that I'm in any position to say this, but Awajima isn't everything.
I want you to become a star.
The ones who drove me to this were Katsurako Ibuki, you, and myself.
We've been looking for an excuse.
Someone to blame for our failure to find happiness.
It's like some old kayokyoku ballad.
That doesn't mean I'll forgive any of you.
Nor will I ever forgive myself.
I came to tell you that.
You really are beautiful.
You were my first love.
Did you see her?
I did! She's so pretty!
We're going to be in the same vocal class.
I'm gonna talk to her.
No fair! Me too!
I'm Katsurako Ibuki.
I'll be in the dorm room next to yours.
Let me know if you ever need anything.
Thanks.
There really are perfect people.
Right?
Fall Joint Class Twelfth Night, or What You Will
Viola
Okabe
Duke Orsino
Olivia
Sato
Onoda
Looks like Okabe-san's getting the lead role in the joint class.
But Onoda-san's playing the other lead.
Ew!
Come on, cut it out.
I hate to say it, but she's out of her league.
I know.
Have you never even seen her perform?
She's better than any of you.
Gracious!
Don't run in the hospital!
I'm sorry.
Can you apologize?
Sorry!
She looks like Ecchan.
I'm gonna come see you when I'm in college!
I hope she's doing all right.
I couldn't keep our promise.
I'm sorry.
You're late, dickwad.
What's up?
There was a gorgeous lady crying on the bus.
Mom! Phone!
Yikes, it's already dark out!
Who is it?
Auntie Takehara.
Hey, you! Been a while.
You ought to come visit sometime.
Huh? What?
Kinue? You mean little Kinue-chan?
No way!
She's applying to Awajima?!
It's going to be tough, though!
You know how her dad's been gung-ho about getting her into a classy girls' school?
He's furious. "An entertainment school? Are you serious?"
What nonsense!
You just leave this to me!
I'll give her all the backup she needs!
I know where all that man's skeletons are.
I need to talk to Kinue someday.
It was always a foregone conclusion that she'd pursue the revue school.
Thanks, Auntie.
To be honest, I was really close to having a meltdown.
You've given me the boost I needed.
How are you going to survive if you're already having a meltdown now?
Things are about to get a lot more demanding.
Katsurako Ibuki & Wakana Tabata
Hey, wanna all go shopping together sometime?
Sounds good.
Oh, but we need to submit that campus leave thing.
Gosh, what a pain.
It'd be one thing if it was just a pain,
but we have to deal with the Demon Instructor.
I hate this.
Start with rock!
Rock, paper...
I always lose when it counts.
Same.
Why is that?
Murakami-san.
Yes?
Have you resubmitted your homework?
Oh, I totally forgot!
Sheesh.
I'll give you until 5 PM. Hurry up, please.
Wha?!
That's my line, Momo-chin, you dummy!
Is Ibuki-sensei really that scary?
She's beyond scary.
She's a terror of a demon instructor.
That's what one of the upperclassmen said,
so we dropped the "terror" part and called her the Demon Instructor.
Campus leave, huh?
Where are you going?
The Minato-dori shopping arcade, and we're hoping the seaside, ma'am!
That's it, I swear! We won't get into any trouble!
I never suggested you would.
Although that is a good thing to keep in mind.
Be careful, and be back by curfew.
Y-Yes, ma'am.
Thank you.
Pardon me.
The heck?
She wasn't particularly scary.
Campus Leave Request
That's a surprise.
She sounds awful from what my mom told me.
Oh, right, Waka-chan wouldn't know.
Zawa-chan's mom went to Awajima too.
She graduated with Ibuki-sensei.
That's amazing!
Not at all.
She said she only ever got small roles.
No way! That's plenty awesome!
You're second-generation!
Ibuki-sensei's third-generation, you know.
There was her grandma, her mom, and then her.
My mom says she's always been scary.
I bet.
She said she didn't like her much, either.
Was she a bully?
No, she was their ringleader.
Like, you can kinda see it, right?