"Toilet-bound Hanako-kun"
My name's Minamoto Kou!
Shut up, lame-ass traffic-safety earring!
One day, I heard a rumor and managed to catch a ghost at the school entrance!
He looks like a pushover and doesn't seem all that strong,
but I'm gonna take care of his regrets so he can rest in peace!
You say that, but I know!
Just 'cause I'm a cute ghost, you want to get rough!
--No, I-- --Like in porn!
--Huh?! That's not-- --Just like in porn!
"Apparition 8: Mitsuba"
"Huff puff"
"Tired out from insulting"
A-Are you calmer now?
You...
Oh!
I can't show weakness to an evil spirit!
My name's Minamoto Kou.
I'm the second son of an ancient clan of exorcists.
Exorcists?
Whoa, you've been watching too much anime.
Creepy!
I'll annihilate him!
So, what's an "exorcist" (LOL) with a lame-ass traffic-safety earring want with me?
It's "Kou"!
Lame-ass traffic-safety earring pervert.
"Whimper" Lame-ass traffic-safety earring pervert.
"Whimper" Don't get rough with me.
Tell me your name and regrets in five seconds or I'll just get rid of you.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry!
What's your name?
Mitsuba.
What grade?
"Silence"
What grade did you die in?
"Humph"
What are your regrets?
Ah! Stop!
Photography! It's photography!
Photography?
Probably.
I don't know what to say when you ask me my regrets out of nowhere,
but there was a photo I wanted to take before I died.
I think.
I see...
If you're really going to help me do what I never got a chance to,
then go get my camera. It was donated to the photography club.
Leave it to me!
Mitsuba.
Hey, Mitsuba.
Hmm?
Would you finish up already?
Excuse me?
Aren't you going to stick with me until I find the photo I wanted to take?
Or what?
Is the great hereditary exorcist Lame-ass Traffic-safety Earring
a lying pervert who breaks his promises at the drop of a hat with a lame-ass traffic--
--Don't get cocky.
--I'll disappear! I'm gonna disappear! --Don't get cocky.
Anyway, you've just been taking shots of animals and landscapes and stuff.
What about people?
How about some shots of club activities?
Huh?
Oh...
Well, it's easier to win awards for photos of people, but...
Hey!
How about me?
I'll be the ultimate subject!
Umm...
I'm good.
"Shock!" What's wrong with me?!
Just take one already!
Hey, give back my camera!
I bet you only take dirty photos anyway!
That again?!
Hey!
That you, Kou?
What are you doing over here?
Yokoo.
Umm... taking photos?
Photos?
Guess you're up to something weird again.
"Mitsuba" Guess you're up to something weird again.
"Mitsuba" Hey, that camera.
Is that Mitsuba-kun's?
You know him?
I think it was sometime this winter.
I hear he died in some kind of accident.
Huh?
He was in our class in first year, you know.
What?!
Really?!
Yeah.
Well, he moved to a different class, so I guess you wouldn't know.
Mitsuba...
Hey, what are you looking at?
Mitsuba?
Nice to meet you.
I'm Mitsuba Sousuke.
We'll be sitting in name-order for a while, so I'll be in front of you.
Let's be friends.
Sure.
Kou?
Yokoo! Break time's over!
Oh, better go!
See you!
--Mitsu-- --I called out to everyone I thought was my friend,
but none of them recognized me.
But...
...I remembered them.
It's started raining.
Let's go inside.
I got bullied a lot in elementary school.
Why?
Because I was "girly" or "cocky."
Dumb reasons like that.
Oh, okay.
Could you not act like that explains it?
S-Sorry.
Well...
...because of that, I wanted to start junior high on the right foot.
I read the mood and acted friendly so no one would call me cocky.
I got along casually with everyone.
And this is the result.
I'm a plain guy people barely notice.
I didn't get bullied,
but I didn't make friends.
Maybe that's why no one pays attention to me now that I'm dead.
So...
That rumor, huh?
I see.
You're cocky.
Huh?
You look girly.
--You're rude. --Hey--
You're selfish. You're loud.
--You're a camera geek. --Huh?!
You're gloomy sometimes, and you're a faker.
What the hell?
If someone asks me what Mitsuba Sousuke is like, that's what I'll say.
Sorry for not noticing you.
You seemed so different from first year that I didn't recognize you.
You know...
...maybe you shouldn't have forced yourself.
Just be yourself.
I mean, I think you've got issues,
but I don't hate you.
It's too late for that.
I guess so.
Minamoto-kun.
Hmm?
If I were still alive,
could we have been friends?
Just because you're dead
doesn't mean we can't be friends.
Hey, I said quit it!
--You sure love sweets. --Come on!
--He who laughs at a sweet cries for a sweet! --Yeah! Keep it up!
Huh? What are you shooting?
The sky?
Take a guess.
Something that means a lot to me... I guess.
Hmm...
Forget it. Let's go.
Huh?
Stick with me until it develops tomorrow.
If you do that...
...I'm sure things will work out.
Really?
Okay, let's pick this up tomorrow!
Yeah. I'll wait at the entr--
Mitsuba-kun.
I can't have you running off on your own.
Hanako?
No, it's not him.
Who is this guy?
Leaving without even telling me?
That's not nice.
Huh?
Wha...
What the hell are you doing?!
Hey, Mitsuba,
you made a wish to me, right?
For everyone to remember you?
You're satisfied with just one?
That can't be right.
Can it,
Mitsuba?
Hold it right there.
Who the hell are you?
Get your hands off...
...my friend Mitsuba!
Oh?
I'm an apparition.
I grant whoever summons me a wish and take one thing in payment.
Amane grants wishes for living people in this life,
and I grant them for dead people in the next.
He wished, and I answered.
So, I'll grant his wish.
My way.
A radio?
What is he going to do?
Now, Mitsuba,
I'll make your wish come true!
Sakura, everything's ready!
All right.
Broken Neck of the entrance.
Huh? What?
He's a ghost with a broken neck who haunts the junior high entrance.
He's a very lonely ghost,
so he might try to talk to you.
"Hey..."
"Have you forgotten me?"
Mitsuba!
If you can't answer by saying his name,
then...
...he'll break your neck and make you just like him.
Oh, how creepy.
The junior high entrance, right?
--No... --Have you heard?
I got it from a friend of a friend. An accident in winter.
I heard he'll break your neck.
How scary.
No way.
Mitsuba!
Minamoto... kun.
What's wrong, Haku-joudai?
Now,
I'm sure no one will forget about you anymore.
Isn't that great,
Mitsuba?
"Broken Neck"
The Seven Wonders say they maintain proper relations between humans and apparitions,
but there's no need for that.
Humans and apparitions should just be however they want.
If that would break the world,
then it's better off broken.
Don't you think so?
Mitsuba, why...?
Mitsuba's wish was kind of vague.
He didn't know what he wanted to stay here to do,
but he didn't want it to end like that.
He wanted everyone to remember him.
With a vague wish, I could only make him into a half-baked apparition.
But things are different now.
All thanks to you.
To me?
Yup.
You drew out Mitsuba's real wish for me.
The stronger the wish, the regret,
the stronger and more definite the apparition can be.
Mitsuba's wish is:
"I want friends."
"I want to be with my friends."
"Forever and ever."
What are you talking about?!
Cut the crap and turn Mitsuba back to normal!
B-Besides, Mitsuba's regret was a photo he wanted to--
Hmm...
But you know,
the more people's memories you stick in, the longer you can stay here.
Oh, that's right.
If that boy ends up like you, you can be together forever.
Huh?
Don't worry.
No matter what you want, or what you hurt to get it,
I'll forgive you everything.
The price for your wish is "reason."
There's nothing left to get in your way.
Now, struggle. Defy the world's design,
Mitsuba.
Mitsuba!
Stop!
Hey!
Mitsuba!
Stop.
Can't you hear me?!
All thanks to you.
Did I...
...get it wrong?
Come on.
Say something.
H-Hanako!
Oh!
Amane!
How many years has it been?
Ten, twenty...
Oh yeah, we just saw each other on the roof the other day!
Why would you do this,
Tsukasa?!
Hmm...
I guess I like the way people look when they stop holding it in.
That time was great.
That time you killed me.
That's a good look.
I love you, Amane.
Want to play together, like we used to?
Come on.
Mitsuba!
Hey, Mitsuba!
Boy.
Hanako.
Hey... you can turn him back, right?
Back to normal. Like with the Misaki Stairs and...
Mitsuba!
This...
This isn't you!
The Mitsuba I know,
Mitsuba Sousuke,
is c-cocky,
girly-looking,
rude,
selfish,
and...
...and loud.
He's a camera geek,
gloomy sometimes, a faker,
...and...
...my friend!
Mitsuba!
It's pointless.
No...
Boy,
death is the end.
Wandering the world of the living as a spirit isn't a continuation of life.
When you die, that's it.
There's nothing more.
Nothing new begins.
No matter how much you regret or wish,
if you couldn't do something in life,
you can't do it after death, either.
That's how the world works. Defy that, and you end up like this.
I thought that you might be able
to sever his regrets, his attachment to the living world,
but it looks like it backfired.
You shouldn't be too kind to the dead.
After all, we...
...no longer have futures.
...more.
Th-There has to be something more.
Something I could have, should have done.
If I were strong like Teru-nii,
this would never have happened!
Don't blame yourself, boy.
For the dead, I'm sure annihilation is the only salvation.
This was for the best.
It was not!
Not one bit!
Plus,
"disappearing is the only salvation"?
Don't say things like that!
I'll never forgive him for doing that to Mitsuba!
I see.
Hanako's probably right that the world has a system
and there's nothing I can do to change it.
Even I know that much.
But maybe the reason I was given the power
to see and interfere with unearthly apparitions
is to do at least a little to turn that "nothing" into "something."
I still think so.
I don't get it.
Huh?
What are you shooting?
Take a guess.
Something that means a lot to me... I guess.
Mitsuba...
"Next Episode Preview"
"Tell me, Mitsuba-kun: Gossip"
"Were there any girls you liked?"
"Huh? Girls?"
"Tell me, Mitsuba-kun: Gossip" "Were there any girls you liked?" "Huh? Girls?" "I don't think so."
"I mean, I was cuter than all of them."
"Bam!"
"I mean, I was cuter than all of them." "Sparkle" "Bam!"
"Oh, okay..."
"Next Time: Apparition 9: Tea Party"