ERASED (僕だけがいない街)

Shall I tell you a story about my past?

About when I was in sixth grade...

Once, a girl, one of my classmates,

brought a box of seven or eight hamsters over by me.

They had bred after she'd been careless,

and now she was at a loss, unable to take care of them all.

I agreed to take them.

On the way home, I filled up an empty large fruit wine bottle

and drowned all of the hamsters in it.

Three hours later, after dinner, I went to my room,

where I was captivated by what I saw.

One hamster, treading water above the other floating, lifeless hamsters.

To be honest, it excited me.

I named the survivor Spice and decided to raise it.

The moment I saw it in there,

I thought of the short story, "The Spider's Thread."

Do you know it?

A sinner named Kandata is in Hell one day when Shakyamuni,

moved by the single compassionate act of his life, sparing a spider's life,

lowers a spider's thread down from Heaven to him.

Kandata begins climbing towards Heaven,

kicking down at his fellow sinners when they try to climb up after him.

Then the thread snaps, and Kandata falls back down to Hell.

I don't think you'll believe this, but I'll tell you anyway.

Or maybe you will understand.

Since I became acquainted with Spice,

it's as if I could see the spider's thread.

I've murdered the people who I could see were connected to it.

But at some point, a boy disrupted my plans.

And then I saw a spider's thread

attached to the top of his head, too.

Yashiro!

I know your future!

But he didn't die.

I named him Spice and began observing him.

I'm talking about you, Satoru.

ERASED

That'll be 987 yen.

Thank you.

ICHI REAL ESTATE

Come to think of it, didn't Satoru tell me once...

The fact is, you can go to Ueno without changing trains.

It's true.

What was that about?

FIGHT, WONDER GUY! TV THEME SONG

Good morning, Satoru.

FUNABASHI GENERAL HOSPITAL

Yes. I'm surprised.

It's hard to believe you were asleep for 15 years.

Fif... teen... years...

Oh! You can speak.

I don't think you'll have to wait long before starting rehab.

Mom has spent four hours of every day for the last 15 years caring for my body.

For the last three years, she's been using an EMS device

to prepare for the day when I woke up.

She took care of my joints and my muscles.

I was 139 cm tall in fifth grade, and now I'm 169 cm tall.

Dr. Kitamura keeps saying, "This is all because of your mother"

and "It's remarkable."

Well, Satoru, I think this is a good time for it.

Answer my next question.

What's the last thing you remember before falling asleep?

The last thing I remember...

Huh?

Huh?

What was it again?

That memory was blocked, locked up tight behind a door.

Do you want to see yourself?

Don't be shocked.

What?

Your face has changed a lot since you were 11.

Your memories are scrambled too,

so there may be discrepancies regarding your sense of self.

At the time, I thought maybe he was right,

but even being in the Heisei era for the first time,

nothing felt out of place.

PATIENCE

"Patience." "Heart rate monitor."

HEART RATE MONITOR

SENSE OF LOSS

"Sense of loss." "Arbitration."

ARBITRATION

I can read all of these words.

When in the world did I learn them?

BOYS' FLIGHT

Who am I?

Good morning, Satoru.

Good morning.

Satoru, you've got visitors.

Long time no see, Satoru.

You look good, Satoru.

Kenya Kobayashi and Hiromi Sugita

were especially good friends of mine.

Kenya's a lawyer now, and Hiromi's a doctor.

I talked with them about trivial things.

It seemed that Kenya wanted to ask me something,

but I think Mom had given him strict instructions.

So we just chatted that day.

See you!

See you!

There were a lot of things I wanted to ask them too,

but it seems Mom was trying to avoid the topic of my past.

Mom had been spending her life for the past 15 years only for me,

having faith that I would awaken one day.

If it's what Mom wishes, I guess I don't have to remember.

Are you okay?

Why don't we call it a day?

Satoru!

Congratulations, Kayo.

Episode 11 Future

I got married.

My name is Kayo Sugita now.

Your baby's father is Hiromi then?

Yeah.

It seemed like Hiromi wanted to tell me something.

Maybe it was about your child.

Could've been.

Come to think of it, the baby has Hiromi's long eyelashes.

Yeah, even though he's a boy.

His name is Mirai.

Mirai... The "future"...

That's a good name.

Satoru...

To be honest, we felt kind of uncomfortable.

Thinking "Is it all right for just us to become happy?"

Even though we may have been the cause of you being in a coma...

It kind of felt...

like we were leaving you behind.

Kayo, my fate is my own.

There's no need for you to feel responsible.

I'm sure that what's become of me was a result of something I wanted.

You were asleep for 15 years but still have a silver tongue.

Even so, Satoru...

Before, I could only imagine being alone,

but now I've got a family,

and it was all made possible because of you.

Thank you.

Thank you...

What did I do?

Okay, okay.

Are you hungry?

Okay, okay.

Satoru?

Are you all right?