"Barbara Ikai" 8

Flowers 2003 August


Watarai wakes up in the bed, where he stayed a night with Nanami. He has a hangover. His pager rings and he hears Momota's recorded message telling him to get in touch with him.

Carla tells Nanami to go back. Nanami says she doesn't want to go back. She says she wants to give birth to Watarai's child and redo her life because she's fed up with the old woman who is always complaining. Carla says it's impossible because Nanami is only rejuvenated temporarily. Nanami asks for Carla's help saying she doen't want to be captured in the old woman's body. Seeing Nanami's other personality appeared, Carla thinks the experiment has failed.

Watarai goes back to Hokkaido with Momota to go to the reserach center, which is flooded with seawater. Momota asks Watarai to go into Aoba's dream. He wants to know what kind of dream Aoba is in after such a great poltergeist phenomenon. He tells Watarai to forget what Mejiro said. He says they don't need to make Aoba unhappy.

Nanami wakes up in the bed of the beauty aesthetic garden in Shinjuku. She tells Carla she had a strange dream. "What was it like?" asks Carla. "I can't say." says Nanami. She opens the closet and finds the clothes that she wore last night. Carla says Nanami bought it. Nanami can't admit the woman in her dream was actually her. Carla says it's natural for everybody to hope for their own child. Nanami says she only wants Chana back and that she wouldn't cooperate on the experiment again. However, Nanami's other personality remembers passing pink champagne from mouth to mouth and Watarai's loving eyes. The personality thinks, "I wish you were dead. The rest of your life will be mine."

Watarai finds himself in Barbara, wearing Marienbad's coat. A big elephant rushes towards him. Even though he's sure he has only to wake up to escape from it, he can't wake up. Taka and Pine rescue him by lifting him up. Watarai thinks Aoba has grown up a bit since he last saw her, whereas Taka and Pine stay the same age. Even though they take Watarai to Granpa Thunder's inn, he isn't accepted because he doesn't have an ID card, money or job. Aoba says Ma-chan will put him up. Ma-chan and Aoba remind Watarai of Kiriya and he sheds tears. Taka shows Watarai an English book about evolution. Daiya comes home and tells Watarai to pay rent if he stays there. Taka asks Daiya if Tokio is better looking than his father. Daiya says she's fogotten his face. Pine asks Taka if he wants a father. Pine says Taka wouldn't need a father if he was born from an artificial womb as Pine was.

Taka asks where Watarai's child is. Watarai answers he is in Tokyo. Taka says he is jealous of him because he is a citizen. Taka wants to go out of the island. Aoba doesn't because Barbara is in the center of the world and a human will die if he or she goes out of this world. Watarai asks what it means. Aoba says, "Everyone knows there's a war outside the island. Many humans and Martians died in the war and they will never come back to life. But nobody dies here. Mary Jane, the elephant, has been living for a hundred years. " "Then you are happy here?" says Watarai. "Of course. Taka, Pine and Ma-chan are all here. You stay here, and be Taka's dad." says Aoba.

Watarai starts working at Grandpa Thunder's inn. Hinako comes and tells Grandpa to give a doll to Senri, who is sleeping in the cage. She says she's decided to go far away and that food in her refrigerator should be eaten by anybody. Watarai asks Grandpa if it's true people in Barbara never die. Grandpa says it's not true. Watarai asks if strange people are living there because the island is isolated. Grandpa says they are confined there so people outside the island can make the elixir of life out of the islanders' blood. "Are you serious?" says Wataria. "Yes, I'm serious." says Grandpa, "When an islander dies, the Human Body Research Center receives the dead body and it will be made into medicine in the factory of Jujo Pharmaceutical company in Tokyo. Watarai wonders if Aoba, who got into sleep at the age of nine, was able to create such a complicated world by herself. He suspects someone else could be involved in creating this world.

When Watarai is doing a laundry, Daiya comes to talk to him. She takes Watarai to Hinako's workplace. Daiya says she will let him know whatever he wants to know about the island if he promises he will take Daiya with him when he leaves the island. She tries to seduce him. She says she doesn't age, so her blood is drawn four times a year. When she kisses Watarai, he touches a note attached to the refrigerator. It reads, "Thank you for everything. Eat food inside. Hinako." He opens the door and finds Hinako's dead body.

Kiriya is searching for the Jujo incident that happened in 2045. He reads the article that says the wife took out her and her husband's hearts. Standing behind him, Aoba says "Yes, Mommy gave me the hearts. You didn't stop Watarai. Listen, it's coming." Kiriya hears a doll's footsteps.

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