Episode 8

Mitsuba (ミツバ) is the eighth episode of the Toilet-bound Hanako-kun anime.

Synopsis
Kou, who has resolved to deal with supernaturals in a different way than Teru, meets a ghost haunting the middle school entrance, Mitsuba.

In order to help him rid of his ties to the living world, he helps Mitsuba with the photography work he left behind.

And yet, only days full of Kou being teased by and made fun of by Mitsuba follows...

Funimation Description
Kou gets more than he bargained for when he tries to help a student's ghost rest in peace. The late Mitsuba may look delicate, but his language is anything but. Can Kou put up with him long enough to help him?

Plot
After Mitsuba has tired himself out from saying an onslaught of insults against Kou, he turns his head to say something until Kou immediately realizes that he shouldn't show his weakness upon the first meeting. He performs a determined introduction of saying his name and family ancestry of exorcists, but it only causes Mitsuba to cautiously assume he watched too much anime. He arrogantly refers to Kou as lame-ass traffic-safety earring instead of his real name, thus angering Kou further and playing on an innocent, puppy-like facade in front of the exorcist--to which Kou responds by threatening to exorcise him with his electrifying staff.

What's your name? Kou questioned first, until he was given the nonchalant answer of Mitsuba. What grade? He questioned next, but Mitsuba ignored it with a shrug. ..What grade did you die in? The golden-haired boy again asked, and Mitsuba looked the other way with a defiant pout. What are your regrets...? Kou lastly inquired, and Mitsuba playfully acted like he didn't know the answer to that question either. When Kou angrily forced his staff onto Mitsuba's chest, Mitsuba immediately pleaded it was photography, but he wasn't too sure either when Kou's confrontation took him by surprise. He said there was a photo he wanted to take before he passed away, thinkingly. He requested that Kou brought back his donated camera from the photography club if he wanted to help him fulfill his regrets.

When the two were outside, with Mitsuba currently taking pictures behind the bushes, Kou questions when will they be finished. Mitsuba takes this as an opportunity to insult Kou further by saying he doesn't keep to his promises very well--only to be stopped by Kou's staff. Kou comments that Mitsuba has been taking pictures of animals and sceneries, and suggests that perhaps he should take pictures of people too since the baseball club was outside. Mitsuba dismissively replies that it would be easier to win awards by taking pictures of people, but doesn't make an effort to do it until Kou suggests that maybe he should take a picture of him instead. Mitsuba immediately refuses the offer, which causes Kou attempting to snatch away his camera until Yokoo arrives at the scene.

Yokoo asks Kou what he is doing. Since Mitsuba is a ghost, he cannot be seen by anyone but Kou. Kou awkwardly responds saying that he is taking photos. Yokoo seems to recognize the camera that Kou is holding, and tells him that it belonged to a person named Mitsuba. Yokoo says that he believes it was sometime this winter when Mitsuba died in an unknown accident. He tells Kou that Mitsuba was a classmate of theirs in the first year. It came as a surprise to Kou who turned his head, seeing an irritated Mitsuba. Yokoo tells Kou that he moved to a different class and supposes that Kou wouldn’t have known about him.

Kou tries to recollect his past. In this recollection, a young Mitsuba comes to approach Kou. He greeted and introduced himself as Mitsuba Sousuke, who is assigned to be seated in front of Kou for a while. He extends to Kou his hand of friendship. He accepted it and they shook hands. The recollection then fades.

In the cloudy atmosphere, Kou stares at a translucent Mitsuba, still stunned by this recollection. Yokoo parts as he gets called out by somebody informing him that break time is over. Rain falls and Kou tries to go closer to Mitsuba and call out his name. Mitsuba interrupts. He confesses that he tried to call out to everyone who he thought was his friend, but none had remembered him… but he remembered them. Mitsuba turns to Kou, and as the rain falls, he suggests that they move inside.

They climb up the school staircases and Mitsuba confesses that he got bullied a lot in elementary school because he was “girly” or “cocky,” and discounts them as dumb reasons. Kou interjects, which irritated Mitsuba who advised him not to act like the reasons that was said explained it. He continues and said that these reasons prompted him to want to start junior high on the right foot, he professes that he read the mood and acted friendly and that he got along casually with everyone. But for these reasons, he was a plain guy that people barely notice. He didn’t get bullied, but he also didn’t make friends. He expresses this possibility that no one pays attention to him now that he’s dead because of it. They paused for a moment before Kou broke the silence, launching remarks on Mitsuba’s personality. He affirms that he would say those remarks when someone asks him what Mitsuba Sousuke is like. He apologizes for failing to notice him, explaining that he looked so different from the first year that he didn’t recognize him. He advises Mitsuba that he shouldn’t have forced himself to act differently from what he is. He tells Mitsuba that he does think he has issues, but he doesn’t hate him. Mitsuba laments that it is too late for him to receive these pieces of advice. Kou agrees reluctantly.

In the dusk of sunset at the school’s stairwell, Mitsuba captures photos in his surroundings. He asks Kou if they would’ve been friends if they were still alive. Kou prevaricates the question and asserts that just because he’s dead, it doesn’t mean they can’t be friends. They pause and Mitsuba points his camera to Kou and captures a photo of him. Kou hears the shots and asks what he is capturing. Mitsuba tells him to take a guess, hinting that he had captured something that meant a lot to him. Mitsuba starts pushing Kou upstairs, telling him to forget about the comment he made. He tells Kou to stick with him until it develops tomorrow and hopes that things will work out.

They enter the corridor. Kou issues his parting words, telling Mitsuba that they will pick this up tomorrow. Mitsuba affirms that he’ll wait at the entrance. A boy suddenly appears behind them as the door started to close. The boy calls out Mitsuba and informs him that he can’t have him running off on his own. They both turned around and looked at him. At Kou’s first thought, the boy seemed to resemble someone much like Hanako, with choppy hair and a black hat, but much to these resemblances, Kou raises his staff and started to wonder who he is. But before Kou could notice, the boy rushes to Mitsuba, passive-aggressively questioning his motives to leave without telling him, before making a hole through Mitsuba’s torso with his bare hands. The boy is none other than Yugi Tsukasa, who was seen in the previous episode. Mitsuba collapses to the ground, setting Kou to rush in forward to attack, but was immediately overpowered with Tsukasa crashing his head against the wall, Kou collapsed afterward. He approaches Mitsuba, reminding him that he made a wish for everyone to remember him. He gets a hold of Mitsuba’s hair asking if he’s satisfied with just one. Kou regains his senses and grabs Tsukasa’s shoulders, and urges him to stop touching Mitsuba. Tsukasa then blasts him away. Tsukasa introduces himself in front of Kou as an apparition, he grants wishes to whoever summons him and take one thing in payment. Amane (Hanako) grants wishes for living people, while he grants them for dead people. Mitsuba wished, and he answered. Tsukasa appeared determined to grant the wish in his method. He summons a radio and calls on a person named Sakura over the radio, telling her that everything’s ready.

"Broken Neck Boy of the Entrance. As you approach the Junior High Entrance, you might be greeted by a ghost with a broken neck. He's suffering from crippling loneliness. Some have felt his grip as he reached for them or heard a voice say...

"Hey..."

"Do you remember me?"

"Or have you forgotten?"

The key is to answer by saying his name, and if you can't, he'll break your neck and make you just like him so that you'll understand how lonely he feels."

- Sakura Nanamine

Mitsuba slowly transitions into madness as the rumors begin to spread into the school. He then transforms into a monstrous entity. At the bathroom, the hakujoudai seemed to have informed Hanako of the current events.

Mitsuba turned into a monstrous entity and bears no resemblance to his humanoid form. As Kou stares blankly at the monster in front of him, Tsukasa explains that the Seven Wonders maintain the relations between humans and apparitions, but he sees no need for it. He believes in the idea that humans and apparitions should just be however they want. If it breaks the world, then it would have been better off broken. He describes Mitsuba’s wish as “kind of vague” so there were a lot of gaps to fill in. He didn’t really know what he wanted to stay here to do, he just didn’t want it to end so suddenly. He said he wanted everyone to remember him. With such vague wishes, the only thing he could only complete it half-way without fully understanding it. He thanks Kou for drawing out Mitsuba’s real wish. He says that the strength of the regret determines the strength of the apparition. He doesn't just want to be remembered, he also wanted to have friends, and he wanted to be with those friends forever and ever. Kou activates his staff, urging him to turn Mitsuba back to normal. Tsukasa then encourages Mitsuba to attack Kou, telling him that if Kou ends up like him, they can be together forever. He also proclaims that the price for his wish is “reason.” Mitsuba then turns his head to Kou and quickly restrains Kou with long bands that stretch from his body. He tightens the restraint, causing his bones to crush. Kou screams in pain, calling him out to stop. Kou tries to grab his shoulders, asking him to say something. Pincers came out of the apparition’s body, and it appears as if Kou was about to die, but then Hanako appears and cuts Mitsuba in half.

Hanako pins Tsukasa to the wall, asking him to explain himself. Tsukasa answers and says he likes the way people look when they stop holding their urges in. He proceeds to recall the time when Hanako killed him, leaving him in shock. Tsukasa seems to shows liking to Hanako’s emotional distress. He says that he loves him, suggesting that they should play together as they used to, before disappearing. Kou asks if Hanako could turn Mitsuba back, but he gave no response. Kou tries to get a response from Mitsuba, who is unresponsive. Hanako says it’s pointless.

"It’s pointless. Don't you know? Because that's the way death works. Wandering the world of the living unnoticed as a spirit, that 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 suddenly do it when you die. That’s just how it works, no way to defy it. Try, and you end up like this. I thought that you might be able to sever his regrets and relieve him of his attachments to the living world, but it looks like it backfired. A lesson for you. Don't work so hard for the dead, it's wasted energy you see. We no longer have futures to fight for."

- Hanako

Kou grievingly states that there is something he could've had, and something he should've done. He expresses that if he was as strong as Teru, this would never have happened. Hanako tells him not to blame himself, as for the dead, he is sure annihilation is the only salvation. He tells him this was for the best. Kou grabs his hand and tells him not to say things like that. He says he’ll never forgive him for doing that to Mitsuba.

At the Minamoto Residence, Kou expresses his agreement with Hanako’s idea that the world has a system, and there’s nothing he could do to change it. He expresses the possibility that maybe the reason he was given the power to see and interfere with unearthly apparitions is to do at least a little to turn that “nothing” into “something.” Kou then looks through the photos Mitsuba took. He then finds a photo of himself and recalls the time when Mitsuba said he was capturing something that meant a lot to him.

Characters

 * Minamoto Kou
 * Mitsuba Sousuke
 * Yugi Tsukasa
 * Hanako
 * Yashiro Nene
 * Yokoo