Once upon a time, in a certain place, there lived a young couple.
[We open on a small clearing in a forest. In that clearing, there is a house, a well, a clothesline, and a small garden. The woman is straightening a blanket on the line while the man carries an armload of food.]
The two got along very well. They were always laughing together. Theirs was a fun and happy existence.
But those happy days did not continue for long.
[The man sets a bouquet of flowers down in front of a tombstone.]
In the second spring after they were married, the wife became ill and died. The man who had been left behind was very sad, and cried every day.
[The man lies sprawled face-down in bed, with the blanket cast off to one side and light streaming onto the bed through a side window.]
He shut himself away in his home, not seeing anyone, and cried every day. For a long interval he continued to cry, until at last he had no more tears left to shed. Then, after a long time, he tried going outside the house.
And there, in his garden's flowerbed, he found something strange growing.
Spring
[It looks like a little woman, with long hair and pointed ears. There is a flower growing out of the top of Its head.]
The man wondered if his eyes were going bad because he'd done nothing but cry for so long, and rubbed his eyes again and again. But no--there really was something strange growing in the flowerbed. Somehow or other, It didn't seem to be an optical illusion.
[It waves to the man.]
When It met the man's eyes, It smiled and waved to him. For a little while, he worried about what to do with It...
[The man turns away with a frown.]
For the time being, he decided to act as if he hadn't seen It.
[We see the man curled up on his bed.]
Again, the man shut himself up in his house. Outside, the weather was nice, but he had no desire to do anything, and just ignored it without getting up.
And then, several days later, he tried going outside again--and found that the strange thing had completely withered.
[It lies on Its back, arms sprawled out, eyes blank and unseeing.]
Even though the weather was nice, there had been no rain, so It didn't seem to have enough water.
The man frankly, didn't want to get involved, but he had a little bit of pity and decided to give It some water.
[It cups Its hands together, bringing the water to Its mouth.]
It drank the water, and regained Its health right before his eyes.
[The man watches as It laughs and waves Its arms about.]
Once the man made sure It was all right, he went back inside the house.
[It watches silently as the man turns away.]
The man was still in no mood to meet with anyone. And so, the man once again secluded himself inside his house...
[The man sits at the foot of his bed and peers out the window.]
...but, as the good weather continued, he gradually became worried. "Could It have withered again?" he thought, and so could not calm down.
[The man frowns as he pictures It lying sprawled on Its back.]
No matter what you might say, he was fundamentally a good person.
The man went out to check the flowerbed--and, as he thought, It was in trouble. (1)
[The man slumps in exasperation.]
The man, thinking that if this went on, he wouldn't be able to have the peace of mind to seclude himself, decided to move It to a flowerpot and take It into his house.
From that day on, the mysterious life of the man and It began.
[It smiles, while a faint blush darkens Its cheeks.]
The man's day begins by giving It water. (2)
[The man, hair rumpled, walks up to It with a watering can.]
It eagerly drinks the water. (3) It loves water.
As a result, if he forgets to water It even a little, It gets down in the blink of an eye.
[The man looks on in alarm from the doorway as It slumps over in Its flowerpot.]
After giving It water, he places It by the window, in the sunlight.
[It rests on the edge of Its flowerpot and gives a contented sigh.]
It closes Its eyes in contentment. (5) It loves basking in the sun.
[The man slumps down, leaning back under the window.]
The man, too, basks in the sun together with It. The warmth throughout his body feels good, and before he knows it, he is taking an afternoon nap.
When the day comes to an end, it is suppertime.
It stares intently at what the man is eating for dinner.
[It holds out its hands to receive a morsel of food from the man's fork.]
It seemed to want the food, so the man tried giving It some...
[It spits out the food in disgust.]
...but the food wasn't palatable for It.
Even so, the next day it wants his food again.
[The man stares uneasily as It waves Its arms, reaching for his fork.]
It doesn't seem to be very smart.
[Outside, the sun shines in the sky.]
In spending every day like this, the man gradually became energetic.
[The man laughs as It looks at a picture of two cats in a book.]
The sorrow of losing his wife hadn't gone away, but...
[Near a riverbank, It stares wide-eyed at a fish the man has caught.]
...in spending time with It, he was able to forget--just a little bit.
[The man and It lay contentedly outside on the grass, basking in the sunlight.]
As always, he didn't meet with any other people--but as long as It was there, for now that was enough for the man.
Before he knew it, being with It was fun for the man. The man, who'd thought that he would never have such feelings again, gave thanks to God for his meeting It.
[The man stands with a beam of sunlight, hands clasped, with Its flowerpot on his head.]
And, at the same time, he prayed that these times would always last. (6)
[The sun slowly sets behind the distant mountains.]
However...
[The flowerpot stands empty.]
Without any warning, It left the man.
With the sun shining high in the sky, and the giant columns of clouds--with summer's arrival, It had disappeared to someplace else.
The man again fell into depression. The tears that should have been exhausted fell once more.
[The man lies on his bed, staring at the ceiling.]
The man thought, "Why do the fun times always end?" (7)
[The man stands in front of his wife's grave, holding the empty flowerpot.]
"Parting is always painful...very painful..."
"Very painful, and very sad..."
[The man's wife and It smile at him...]
"After every meeting, there is a parting."
[...then slowly fade away.]
"If I didn't meet anyone...if I lived without those sad and painful feelings..."
"Then I don't want to meet anyone anymore! I can't stand having those feelings, so..."
[The man and his wife work together on a meal.]
"So..."
[The man and It sit together on the roof at night, looking at the stars.]
"So..."
[The man watches as his wife looks up at the snowfall.]
[The man laughs as It doodles on a piece of paper.]
[The man and his wife hold hands as they watch the sunset.]
[It, riding in Its flowerpot on the man's head, reaches out for a passing butterfly.]
"But..."
"If I hadn't met them, all those fun things--all those happy things would never have happened."
[The man sits up in bed.]
The man gave thanks.
[The full moon shines brightly in the night sky.]
One to God.
[On a crowded street, the man and his wife catch each other's eyes.]
One to meetings.
[It reaches out from Its flowerpot for the man's face.]
One to fun memories. And...
[It and the man's wife smile at him.]
...to the people who gave him those memories.
After that, the man's vigor returned.
[The man walks down a sunlit road.]
As before, he headed out into town.
[The man waves to people in what appears to be either a bar or a general store.]
For the sake of "meeting," he did not fear "parting."
Like the harsh cold of winter, there might be painful farewells...
But, even so--in order to be able to meet again...
[The man tilts his head back, closes his eyes, and enjoys the spring breeze.]
Someone like the warm spring sunshine...
[The man smiles contentedly--and behind a bush, the ghostly outline of It smiles, as well.]
To be able to meet again...
[And we draw outward, we see someone holding a sketchpad on which is drawn the last scene.]
Shirogane-sensei: ...Hm-hm, I see. This is quite a mä~~~r-mär-mär...
[Shirogane-sensei beams.]
Shirogane-sensei: MÄ~RCHEN!
[Pulling back further, we see that we are in Shirogane-sensei's office. Shiratori stands at her desk, while his classmates stand in line behind him.]
Shirogane-sensei: I, personally, like it very much!
Shiratori: Th...thank you...
Shirogane-sensei: By the way, Shiratori-kun, it feels like you especially put a lot of thought into this It-san. Did you use someone as a model?
Shiratori: Eh...
[It, on the one hand...and Kozue on the other...]
Shiratori: ...
[Shiratori turns red.]
Shiratori: N...no, not really...
Shirogane-sensei: Oh? I see...
Short- and Long-Haired Girls: [thinking] It's definitely her...
[Arrow: "Read it ahead of time"]
Shirogane-sensei: For later assignments, you don't have to do it all in hiragana. (8) (Furigana are fine. [9]) Please keep that in mind as you draw next time. I'm looking forward to your next composition!
Shiratori: Y...Yes! I'll do my best!!
Shirogane-sensei: Now, then--next person!
Ponytailed Boy: ALL RIGHT!! I have a lot of confidence in my work this time!!
Shirogane-sensei: Really! I'm looking forward to this, then.
Ponytailed Boy: I've put all your lessons into this story--it's an epic!! (I won't lose to Shiratori!)
[The cover of his "epic" features three bikini-clad female androids--a bunny-girl, a cat-girl, and a dog-girl, from the looks of it.]
[Title: Sexy Sentai: BIJO (10) VISION]
Shirogane-sensei: ...
Ponytailed: Boy: This is a heroic saga where three nice-bodied sisters freely use every part of their own bodies to defeat evil! The trap of the enemy who obstructs their path! A conspiracy!! Betrayal!!! But the enemy takes them lightly because they're women, and is beaten, one-by-one!!!
[He continues to rant as Shirogane-sensei takes him by the hand and heads for the door.]
Ponytailed Boy: You see, I've applied your lessons about how if you judge everything by appearances, you'll pay for...HEY, WAIT!
Shirogane-sensei: Everyone, please excuse us for a moment.
In many ways...
Ponytailed Boy: Sensei! Sensei!! Read it first! READ IT BEFORE YOU EVALUATE--!!
Shirogane-sensei: There are problems before the reading~
Ponytailed Boy: SENSEI~!!
After this, I decided to seriously give it my all...
1 しおしおになっていました ("Shio-shio ni natteimashita"): Lit. "It had become dejected/in low spirits." BACK
2 For a stretch here, the tense switches to present, for the most part. I've tried to preserve that. BACK
3 それはとてもおいしそうにおみずをのみます ("Sore wa totemo oishisou ni o-mizu wo nomimasu"): Lit. "It drinks the water as if it is very delicious." BACK
4 なかなかきがぬけません ("Naka-naka ki ga nukemasen"): Lit. "It by no means loses flavor." BACK
5 それはとてもきもちよさそうにめをとじます ("Sore wa totemo kimochi yosasou ni me wo tojimasu"): Lit. "It closes Its eyes as if It feels very good." BACK
6 いつまでもこんあときをすごせますように ("Itsumade mo konna toki wo sugosemasu you ni"): Lit. "That he would always be able to go through times like these" BACK
7 どうしてたのしいときはいつまでもつづかないだろう ("Doushite tanoshii toki wa itsumade mo tsuzukanai darou"): Lit. "Why do the fun times always not continue?" BACK
8 Children's literature, in Japan, is typically written all in hiragana, with no kanji. (This, in turn, makes it a real pain for non-native speakers to read, because not only are there no kanji to help with the meaning of a word, but there are no kanji to separate words, either--imagine an English sentence or paragraph without any spaces, and you'll get the idea.) BACK
9 Furigana are kana placed alongside a kanji to give the reader the correct pronunciation (or a more precise meaning, on occasion). I am eternally grateful to Kojima-sensei for using furigana throughout Mahoraba--it makes my task so much easier. :) BACK