A Class to Remember 4: Fifteen (十五才 学校IV)

A Class to Remember IV ~ FIFTEEN ~

I hate school.

Just being in the classroom in school uniform sucks.

I hate the teachers' stereotyped way of speaking also.

Why do I have to go to school?

Why do I have to learn things

that don't look to be useful when I become an adult?

When I said so to my father, he suddenly hit me.

Directed by YOJI YAMADA

I haven't been to school...

for six months now.

There's an aquarium with two goldfish...

on my desk.

What are you going to Osaka for?

My grandfather is sick. I want to visit him at the hospital.

Why don't you ride a bullet train?

I don't have money.

Where in Osaka does your grandfather live?

In Tennoji.

Where in Tennoji?

How dare you lie to an elder?

What are your parents thinking?

Don't they care where you spend your time?

That's today's parents for you!

They spoil their children too much.

And teachers?

If a child misbehaves, he must be beaten!

That's how I was raised.

How old are you?

Are you still in secondary school?

Isn't attendance compulsory there?

Yes! Yes! You're getting on my nerves!

How dare you talk to me like that?

You looked so miserable, standing there in the rain. That's why I picked you up.

The company's rules prohibit picking up strangers.

I broke the rules only out of pity for you.

That's it, I'm getting off!

Idiot!

We're on a highway!

Are you out of your mind?

Cheerful, honest and obedient...

that's what good children are supposed to be like.

Says who?

Shut the door.

There's someone on the phone for you.

There'll be a return match next week.

Have you learnt how to play already?

What line?

Four.

Prepare well.

I'm here.

Oh, it's you.

What happened?

What? Daisuke ran away from home?

How do you know?

I found a note on the table.

Just listen.

'I'm off to seek adventure. Don't worry.'

Signed 'Daisuke'.

Adventure, you say?

Doesn't make any sense!

I'm still at work.

You're distracting me.

I thought we agreed that you'd deal with his upbringing!

Are you trying to put the responsibility on me?

This is ridiculous! He's your son as well.

What are you going to do if something happens?

I could pretend to be a good boy.

But I don't want to. I would be lying to myself.

'TO OSAKA'

Mister, I'm hitchhiking. Can you give me a lift?

I don't care where to. Please!

Well, alright.

Let's go.

Thank you.

Damn!

I'm so sleepy!

That was a close call.

I'm exhausted.

Didn't I tell you to get some sleep?

We have to be there at 8 in the morning.

We can't afford to be late. The boss will fine us!

Thank you.

Miyamoto, what are your plans now?

I'm going to waste my money on pachinko.

Come off it!

What about your son?

I want him to start working as soon as possible.

But he wants to carry on studying no matter what.

And, as ill luck would have it, he studies really well!

If he was a fool, he would give up this idea.

Stop talking nonsense!

Your son would be happier...

if he lived with his mother.

Didn't I tell you not to mention her again?

Yes, but she's his mother.

She would, no doubt, support his willingness to study.

Shut up!

I was only joking!

Cretin!

Yes, of course.

Anything new about Daisuke?

Hideo is home.

I'll notify you as soon as I know anything.

Maybe, he's at his grandfather's in Shizuoka?

Sorry for having disturbed you.

I just called. He's not there.

Maybe, he's with friends then?

I've called everyone already.

How much longer do we have to tolerate his tricks?

I thought Mai might know something, so I asked her.

She said that...

he wanted to go to Yakushima Island.

Yakushima?

Yes, the one with the famous old cedar. I checked in Daisuke's room...

the rucksack and the sleeping bag that you bought for him have disappeared.

If this is what happened, it's terrible. How is he going to get there?

Don't be ridiculous.

Just think.

Going to Kyushu by himself?

This milksop isn't capable of that!

But he wrote here, 'I'm leaving to seek adventure'.

What adventure? All he can do is roam around the city.

Don't be stupid!

Dad, you should be ashamed of yourself!

Why do you keep putting my brother down?

Yakushima? Wow, brother! But that's on Kyushu!

I've given many people a lift, but you're the first one to go that far.

But I can hitchhike there, can't I?

You have to get to Osaka first.

There are a lot of trucks going to Kyushu there.

What's so interesting on Yakushima?

In the textbook, there was a poem about a cedar tree on Yakushima.

In the thick of the forest...

there is a giant cedar tree.

It's seven thousand years old.

I wanted to touch its trunk at least once.

That would give me strength.

So I decided...

What about school? Spring holidays are over.

I don't go to school.

Why is that?

School is boring.

Why go there?

I see. Did you break up with your girlfriend?

It's not because of that.

Better stay away from this guy!

Though he jokes around,

the transportation company he joined went into bankruptcy.

He lost his job. I wonder what he'll do now.

He has three kids. The oldest is still in the 9th grade.

And the wife has left their home.

He lives with an old man with intermittent dementia.

The world continues to get worse.

I wonder why things go like this, young man.

Hey, neaten up the floor!

Yes, sir.

I should help his unloading, as he kindly picked me up.

So I thought. But... It was hard work.

I almost died.

- It smells good. - Does it?

Take sugar and a spoon. They are over there.

Yes.

Did you run away from home or what?

I did that too once.

I was in 9th or 10th grade then.

You also ran away from home?

I wanted to see Tokyo.

I used to dream about Tokyo every day.

I didn't even have a driver's licence.

One night, I took my father's motorbike and set off.

And?

I didn't have any money.

In the morning I got to Lake Biwa.

It started raining. I ran out of gas.

A motorbike is useless without gas.

I had to push it all the way back...

in the rain.

Suddenly...

a policeman noticed me.

And what happened next?

He called my father and my father came to pick me up.

When he saw me...

he hit me over the head. That's it.

What was the point of running away?

And did you misbehave often?

Check this out.

A scar!

One boy in school threw a stone at me.

So I broke his nose.

There was a lot of blood.

Drink your coffee while it's hot.

Well, let's go to Osaka!

The other schoolchildren don't know anything.

Come in.

Daisuke often talked about...

going far away.

Right?

Yes. We looked at the map, the three of us,

and dreamed that it would be good... to go to Hokkaido. Or to Okinawa.