This story is a work of fiction, with no relationship to real persons or groups.
November, 2004
December 25th, 2004
Miyashiro
Hang out the laundry
Taku?
You came, huh?
Doing the laundry?
Will you help out?
Yup.
Taku?
I can't reach!
Then take them out of the basket.
I'll hang them up.
No. I want to hang them up.
You've never done it?
No...
Oh, fine.
It's done!
The wind will blow them down.
No!
Then can you do it right next time?
Yup!
End of School Ceremony
Kazuya Matsuki-kun.
Here.
You worked really hard in Japanese class, huh?
Keep it up next year, okay?
Okay!
Takuru Miyashiro...
Oh, right. He's absent.
Miyashiro-kun,
at least don't be late for the last day of school.
Why were you late?
Th-The laund...
I overslept.
Didn't your mom wake you up?
No... I fell asleep again.
I see.
The Two's Walking Trail
See you at 3:00!
Yeah, definitely!
My family said we're going somewhere.
I can't go.
Seriously?
Sorry. Next time.
Taku!
Look!
You want me to read it?
Yup.
That's 574 yen.
Out of 1,000 yen, yes?
Um... and, um...
It's good.
Want some, Taku?
No, I've got this.
Is that good?
Yeah, it sure is.
You okay?
Yeah, I'm fine.
What about this?
Read it later!
Wow!
You can go first.
Serika?
It's dangerous!
Ready?
Ready!
Hey, stop playing games.
Aw, what's the big deal?
Santa might not come next year at this rate.
No! No!
Taku?
Found you!
You found me, huh?
Next it's your turn to find me.
Okay!
Eriko Miyashiro: I don't think I can get home tonight. You?
Saneo Miyashiro: There's stuff I need to finish by the end of the year, so no.
Eriko Miyashiro: What about Takuru?
Saneo Miyashiro: He'll be fine.
Eriko Miyashiro: You're right.
After that, I waited for my parents to come back.
But it seems they didn't get home before morning.
November 5th, 2015
Did she stay over at your house?
No.
I think she went home.
You don't really remember, huh?
You met her around first grade, huh?
Did anything change between then and now?
I'll have to talk about myself a little...
That's fine.
Continue.
I stopped really going to school.
I didn't have any other friends I was close to.
I stayed up all night on the old computer my parents gave me.
Did the school call your home?
Yes.
My homeroom teacher called when I was in third grade.
My mom happened to be home that day and she picked it up.
She sounded really annoyed.
In the end,
she just said, "My husband handles all that," and hung up.
Your dad never said anything to you?
Nope. My dad said nothing.
It felt like he didn't even know my teacher's name.
Kunosato-san, this is...
Neglect, huh?
Yes.
Child neglect.
At the time, I'd learned what it was called on the internet.
Serika was the same.
But I think her situation was worse than mine.
Worse? You mean...
No...
I don't think Serika was ever hit by her parents or anything.
One day, my parents gave me a debit card,
and Serika was really jealous.
I see.
But there was one time when she ran over to my place really scared.
Supposedly, her parents had forced her to go to a hospital.
Which hospital?
I don't know the details.
But I guess her parents said stuff about how she was crazy and abnormal.
All kinds of awful things.
She cried a long time.
I let her stay in my room for a while.
My parents would never look inside my room anyway.
And when I was in fourth grade,
about two years before the earthquake,
we heard the urban legend about Amy-chan.
The two of us snuck into the basement of the hospital.
Do you mean...
Yes. AH Tokyo General Hospital.
But why did you do something like that?
We loved that kind of thing.
AH Tokyo General Hospital
Both me and Serika.
There we saw the experiments they were performing on Nono.
We got scared and ran.
At the time, I couldn't imagine what was going on there.
That was the first time Serika and I went outside and snuck in somewhere.
Do you remember how Serika Onoe was acting then?
She was scared, I think.
I remember feeling like I had to protect her.
But I think the two of us were equally excited.
We were able to find out about something that nobody else knew about.
At Serika's urging, I went to school and told people about what I'd seen.
But everybody called me a liar.
I mean, obviously they would.
And after that, I started going to school even less.
The two of us chased after other urban legends.
We even made a web page to investigate them.
And then...
When I was in sixth grade,
the New Generation Madness started.
That was 2009.
It was like I had a fever back then.
At first, I couldn't believe that something like that happened in Shibuya,
the town where we lived.
We spent most of the day clinging to the PC following the case.
When something big like that happens,
if you take your eyes off the internet for just a few minutes, you get left behind.
The case kept going, and a guy named Takumi Nishijou became famous as the killer.
But in the end, he proved his innocence.
Both Serika and I got very excited.
He seemed so cool!
Proving your innocence means having better information
than the people who are wrong and shoving it in their faces, doesn't it?
It seemed like a bigger version of what I was doing at the time.
"He's amazing, huh?" is what Serika said.
I agreed.
When the Shibuya Earthquake happened, Serika and I were near the O-Front.
Nishijou-san was causing a commotion there at the time.
We'd wanted to see it.
And then we heard a high-pitched voice.
And everything went white.
Damn it...
Hey, this way!
Hurry!
Will this do?
Yeah, it's fine.
It's okay! Hang in there!
We'll make it better soon!
I'll go find some water.
Yeah.
Why?
Miyashiro... Is that you, Miyashiro?
Are you okay?
Do you have any water?
Why?
Isn't it obvious? Are you saying we should just leave her?
Just come with me!
Help us save her!
Miyashiro...
W-Wait...
I-It's not safe here.
I have to go to AH Tokyo General Hospital.
Th-The top priority right now is finding a safe place.
Y-You guys might not know this.
You never listened to me...
B-But the woman's hurt, and I have to help her.
But I have to get Serika there...
And I've seen lots of people who were hurt so far.
I-It's dangerous!
I need to find someplace safe first...
I-I...
Forget it. Get lost.
He says he found water!
Okay!
Here. Water.
Drink it!
Why am I running?
I know exactly what to do!
When they're wasting time at school with useless information,
I was above them, not being deceived!
I should be the one looking down on them!
That's right.
That's right!
I know things they don't!
I'll go back and tell them what they have to do.
Are they treating her wounds right?
Are they doing things in the right order?
I'm sure I can make the right decisions.
Takuru?
What are you doing here?
It doesn't matter. Let's go.
This hospital's no good.
Why?
Someone just said this place was safe!
It's filled to overflowing.
I've heard it's safer up north.
Come on.
Takuru, what are you doing?
Hurry!
What's your problem?
This is no time to be causing us even more trouble!
You're saved!
I'm saved?
Saved...
Even though you guys only see me as a nuisance...
You're saving my life?
You're running away with me?
Just come with me!
Help us save her!
My ignorant classmates are doing the right thing...
...and I'm running away with parents like this?
Because I'll be saved?
From what?
Who's saved?
Forget it. Get lost.
I'm not that type of person!
That's right. Where's Serika?
I came here to save Serika.
That's right... I'm doing what I need to do.
I'm saving someone's life!
Serika will understand!
She always tells me what I'm doing is right!
I'm sure she'll understand what to do!
Serika...
Come on, Serika...
Please... Please...
Give me...
Serika?
You...
Wait.
I'm not here to fight.
Don't bullshit me.
It's true.
Hinae Arimura,
would you put that away?
If I was going to hurt you,
I wouldn't just show up like this.
Did I really create her?
Yes.
It's just as you think, Takuru Miyashiro.
I was created by you back then.
You're lying.
That's not...
It's my smartphone.
I'm putting my hand in my pocket.
I won't take anything else out.
Understand?
What she's saying is true.
Put it on speaker.
Such a suspicious woman.
Takuru Miyashiro.
Brace yourself one more time.
You're about to face a shock that's as bad, or worse, than any you've faced so far.
I don't want to see your mind shatter.
What are you...
Hey, you make it to Freesia?
How did you know I was here?
I guess that's a stupid question.
Yeah.
I knew if I told you that, you'd head right there.
Hey, Takuru!
You're there, right?
It's me.
Dr. Sakuma?
So that's it?
He knew exactly what we were up to, huh?
Hey, Takuru, you listening?
Hello?
Dad... Why?
Oh, there you are.
What, Onoe hasn't told you yet?
The ones who drew this whole thing up...
...were me and Onoe.
It was a lot of trouble!
Onoe and I had to do a lot of prep work.
I'm not like you!
How cold!
It's true, right?
We worked so hard to kill them!
Ootani the clairvoyant.
Takayanagi the trance girl.
Kakita the mind-reader.
Watabe, Haida, and Yui!
And Nono!
Looks like the Nono job was a bit of a screw-up, though.
But it was all the result of your and my effort, right?
Senpai! Miyashiro-senpai?
Dad was working with Serika?
Raise your head.
They killed Yui. And Nono!
They were part of my family!
Look at me!
Why? What's going on here?
I don't understand a thing!
What's going on?
Look at me, Takuru Miyashiro!
It's okay.
I'm here for you.
Dad, why?
What's going on here?
I told you.
Me and Onoe did it.
Wataru Sakuma works for the Committee.
For an organization on the bottom rung of the Committee, to be more precise.
He was part of the team that researched Gigalomaniacs in that hospital basement.
They considered the psychics that appeared as a result of the Shibuya Earthquake
a bother and were hunting them down.
I helped them.
In exchange for ensuring that you, Takuru Miyashiro, would not be a target.
Onoe, are you really planning on taking Takuru and running?
You broke our deal.
I'll do as I please.
Do you think that's possible?
Hmm, seems like it's going okay.
Turn on the TV.
Any channel is okay.
What?
You've got a TV there, right?
An update on the bizarre series of murders in Shibuya.
This incident has attracted attention due to the release of a minor's name,
but there was just an announcement from Takuru Miyashiro,
the boy who's been designated a person of interest, sent to the media via email.
It says that he will end his own life during the Shibuya Restoration Festival.
Sakuma, you...
Well, you said you were going to take Takuru and run.
So I tried to come up with a way to get you to give up.
Don't worry. He's not actually going to take his own life!
But it makes for a hell of a story, right?
Every single person in the city participating in the Restoration Festival
will be searching for Takuru so they can watch him die.
Freesia Offices
You can hide at Freesia,
but a single leak from me on the internet, and that's over.
There'll be no place for you to hide.
Scum.
What will you do, Onoe?
If you're willing to give up on Takuru,
I'd like to keep working with you.
There's still hunting to do!
All right.
But I have a condition.
What is that?
Let me kill you.
Where are you now?
I'll come kill you. Tell me.
In other words, the answer's no?
Takuru Miyashiro is the very reason I exist.
I won't let anybody who could hurt him lay a finger on him.
Are you serious?
It's been six years since I gained a body during the earthquake.
I killed people while you threatened me.
I piled up a mountain of corpses for your organization. Don't underestimate me.
It's cute to hear you bluff.
You just got your stomach ripped open,
and you think you can kill me?
Fine, I'll play along.
Come to where it all began.
Where it all began?
Can't you tell?
The place where everything began for this case—
no, this case and the one six years ago.
There, huh?
Yes, there.
While we're at it, let's match the time, too!
"Same time, same place," you know?
It's the perfect place for you to die, right?
Of course, bring Takuru, too.
Episode 10
Memories Stalk You From the Past