Hitori No Shita - The Outcast (一人之下)

Yeah, that's right.

I'm the one who killed him.

Soran-kun, stop!

Jo San, Jo Yon.

There's no need for secrets anymore.

Let's tell him everything.

Soran-kun,

would you be willing to listen to what I have to say?

I'll tell you everything

about Amu and me.

Who the hell is Amu?

It's Houhou.

Looking back, we've known each other for quite a while,

but I'm still not used to calling you "Houhou."

For quite a while? You mean like twelve years?

No... I first met Amu long before that.

It was in 1944.

1944?

More than seventy years ago?

Summer 1944

This area's gotten pretty dangerous.

Every day we find more corpses of people who aren't from around here.

I guess that's because of the war.

Hey, miss. What's wrong?

Well, I'll be damned. You can't talk?

Did something happen in town, miss?

I don't know what happened,

but don't you think she has a pretty face?

Hey! What are you gonna do?

Isn't it obvious? I'm—

Hey! What do you think you're doing?!

You brute! Get him, honey!

Wait! I didn't do anything!

And don't ever come back!

Those fools.

Are you all right, miss? Are you hurt?

Here we are.

This is my house.

Oh, this is my son, Pup.

Jo Shou, Age 9

His real name is Jo Shou, but he's so small for a boy of nine.

She doesn't seem to talk at all.

I wonder if she understands what we're saying.

Yeah, I'm not sure.

She seems to be from a rich family, though.

Maybe someone dumped her in the mountains because she's sick.

Don't say something so terrible!

Go into town and ask if anyone's looking for her.

B-But...

What are we going to do if we can't find her relatives?

If that happens, I'll take care of her.

We can't leave her out here alone when it's so dangerous.

Yeah, that's true... All right. I'll do as you say.

Dad went into town, but he couldn't find anything out.

So we all started living together.

At first, people in the village were wary,

but since a lot of people were escaping the war,

everyone just got used to it.

Because she never replied to people when they talked to her,

everyone started calling her "Amu."

Amu, this is a dog.

A pup?

"Pup" is what we call my boy, but this is a dog.

Dog...

H-Hey! That's not food! Let him go!

But Amu learned things very quickly,

Come on, now! Really!

so she learned to speak competently within a few months.

Mom thought it wasn't that she couldn't speak originally,

but rather that something happened, causing her to forget how to speak.

Fuu Houhou

How do you read this?

It's read "Fuu Houhou."

I'm Fuu Houhou.

I'm pretty sure that this is my name.

Fuu Houhou...

From then on, my mom became even more determined,

and started teaching Amu how to read and write.

Hmm... I think it's like this.

No, you're wrong!

Ow!

For goodness' sake, you need to take after Amu!

I'm not smart like Amu, Mom!

Not to mention, Amu just forgot, didn't she?

That doesn't excuse how bad you are.

Ow!

By the way, Amu, have you remembered anything since?

Your memories of the past.

Anything other than your name, like where you lived, or your family,

or what you were doing?

Amu?

Ow... Ow... Ow...

Amu, what's wrong?

Pup, go get the doctor.

Got it.

Mom, I brought him. Where's Amu? Is she okay?

That was the first time I ever encountered ki.

It was like the air was different just around Amu.

Mom, what is this?

I'm not sure...

Goshinchouten.

This girl can use ki?

Wh-What's ki?

It's like a psychic power that people called outsiders have.

You two, don't speak of this to anyone.

Amu's past might be more complicated than we thought.

Hey, Amu. What happened earlier today?

I'm not sure.

When I tried to remember something,

my head felt like it might crack open.

But doing whatever you did helped, right?

Yeah.

Isn't that ki training?

Did someone teach that to you?

I'm not sure.

I think I've known how to do it for a long time.

A long time?

You spin what you have in you around in circles.

When I did that, my head stopped hurting, and I felt calmer.

Wow, that's amazing!

Yup. You have it, too, Pup.

I do?

Yup.

I feel it.

It's definitely inside you.

A-Amu?

Pup, try sitting like me for a sec.

Hey, Amu... I don't feel anything.

That's strange. I can feel it.

Try it for a bit longer.

Oh, that's why.

You're thinking about too many things.

You need to calm your mind.

You say that, but you can't tell what I'm thinking.

I can.

I can't tell exactly what you're thinking,

but I can tell that your ki isn't in order.

Ki is like water,

so when you think about unnecessary things, it doesn't come together well.

Calm your feelings, and concentrate.

And then your ki will finally come together as one.

Bring it together, and calm yourself.

Repeat that, and lastly, concentrate on the area around your belly button.

Your hand is so warm, Amu.

It's really calming.

Quiet. Concentrate.

There it is! It's just like you said, Amu!

It was there! I could feel it, too!

I did it! Amu, I did it!

That was the first time I learned to use my ki.

I'm just like you, Amu!

After that, I started training my ki along with Amu.

But I kept the ki a secret from everyone in the village,

including my mom and dad.

It was our own secret.

The smooth shoulder pole, ah, gayahariya...

is carrying rice to Longzhou.

Older brothers and older sisters are heading to Longzhou.

Gayahariya.

What was that? It was beautiful.

The shoulder pole song.

Song? What's that?

To think that you'd call something beautiful...

Did you like it?

All right. I'll teach it to you, so just repeat after me.

The smooth shoulder pole, ah, gayahariya...

The smooth shoulder pole, ah, gayahariya...

Yes, that's right. Now, let's continue.

Is carrying rice to Longzhou.

Is carrying rice to Longzhou.

Looking back, those were the best times of my life.

Older brothers and older sisters are heading to Longzhou.

I wished those happy times with everyone would go on forever.

Gayahariya.

Spring 1949