"Aya stands there, holding on to that strap as if it were her lifeline." "She can't be bothered taking a sneak peek at what some guy's trying to show off." "That said, she doesn't want to look at the reflection of her worn-out self on the window either, so she stands there with her eyes closed." "She held on to the strap so tightly that her right hand's gotten all red, so she replaces it with her left, only to switch them around again before eventually settling for holding it with both hands." "The station where Aya gets off is still a ways away." "A Watchful Gaze" "A Watchful Gaze" "A Watchful Gaze" "A Watchful Gaze" "Valentine's Day is here!" "This year—" "It's freezing!" "Currently Locked" "Confirmed" "Okamura Aya" "Answer Don't" "Okamura Kouji" "Okamura Kouji" "Dad?" "What's up?" "I'm fine." "Perfectly fine." "Aya's lying." "How many times must I tell you to make these reports?" "She got completely wrung out by her section chief today." "Hey, are you listening to me?" "How are you and Mii?" "Fine." "We're both doing great." "Dad's lying too." "How many times must I tell you to make these reports?" "He got yelled at today by a superior at work, and Mii, his cat, has gotten so old that she's been stuck to her bed lately." "I just happened to have some work near your place, so I thought we could get some food together for old times' sake." "Uh..." "Sorry, I'm still at work." "Okamura Kouji" "Okamura Kouji" "It seems Aya's past the age where she'd be happy to eat with her parents." "Carrots." "Cherries." "Mushrooms—" "Aya, food's ready." "Yay!" "No matter what you were doing or what you saw, you were a girl that always seemed so happy." "You can have this, Dad." "That's your portion." "Whether you ran, ate, talked, or sang, your actions were always teeming with joy." "Salisbury steak, sashimi, meat and potatoes..." "Then Mom got busier and busier with work, which meant you lived alone with Dad most of the time." "This one likes this one." "That's when you seemed so lonely that Dad brought Mii home for you." "They get along well!" "You two became the best of friends in no time." "Come here, Mii!" "Come here!" "Before long, you grew old enough to wear a uniform and gradually started finding more and more joy outside the family." "The place your father occupied in your heart grew smaller by the second, and in the end, you even came to hate how ordinary he was." "Even that brought him happiness since it was a sign of your growth, but at the same time, it also brought him an immense amount of loneliness— an amount you don't even try to imagine." "Once you started working, you moved out and fulfilled your long-cherished dream of living alone." "And now, you desperately try to make it through life on your own two feet." "I've become quite the old lady now, but I remember everything about the kind of lives you led." "I do wish I could've seen you one last time, though." "Dad?" "What do you want?" "What?" "No way!" "Out on a walk?" "How nice." "Okamura Yoriko" "Yeah, it'll be all right." "You take care of your health too, okay, Mom?" "Bye." "You know..." "I think this hurts me more than it would to see an actual person die." "Is that weird?" "It's not." "Mii was family." "I'm sure there's someone out there" "There are loads of things you two have forgotten about." "Who will wipe away your tears" "The day Dad swore to keep you safe, you made a resolution of your own:" "When you're hurting inside" ""I have to keep Dad safe."" "They'll be watching over you" "One day, you and your friends got all worked up bitching about your parents." "That night, you felt so guilty that you made Dad dinner for the first time." "The first night after you moved out," "Why do we have a heart?" "the two of you shed a few tears in solitude." "When he called you up saying he was at a nearby station," "I've realized that it is a question he'd actually bought two luxurious lunch boxes and was calling from right next to your building." "Sushi Ginza" "That I can't answer all by myself" "Isn't this gonna be the first time I eat your cooking?" "Maybe, just maybe," "How rude!" "I might choose" "It'll be the second time." "You know, I had a dream about Mii yesterday." "A path that is longer than expected" "Me too." "It made me recall a lot of things." "But it's all right" "Same here." "Like what?" "Like how you didn't have a wrinkled brow back when you were a kid." "What the heck?" "You're the last person I want to hear that from, Mr. Wrinkles." "It's all right" "The gaze that gives you strength" "Will be there waiting for you" "I'm home!" "I came to check out your new girlfriend." "So tiny!" "Just like you when you were a kid." "Uh, I was probably a tad bigger." "Is that Mom?" "Coming!" "Still, you're well aware that true happiness will be truly long-lasting."