「SLEEP」

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**「SLEEP」** is the 31st episode overall, and the 5th episode of season 3.

## Characters

* Popee
* Kedamono
* Papi
* UFO Girls

## Summary

Popee tries to act like a robot but fails. He removes his eyelids to get the job done, however, this proves to be a fatal error in Popee's part as he's unable to sleep at night. When he and Kedamono try to take care of the issue by themselves, Papi barges in, and the events that unfold take a disturbing turn.

## Plot

The episode starts with Popee, Papi and Kedamono. Popee's attempting a convincing imitation of a robot; unfortunately, because of his eyes closing, it's not effective. Papi shakes his head and shrugs disappointedly while Kedamono wears a frowny expression on his mask. Popee gives it another try, and Kedamono uses a robot-eyed mask to take a closer look at Popee's eyes, where Kedamono comes to the conclusion that Popee blinking is the problem. When Popee finishes, Papi places a hand on his forehead and appears to be exasperated with his son. Suddenly, Kedamono bursts into an enthusiastic visual explanation and shows Popee that he should try to keep his eyes open for as long as he possibly can to add a touch of realism to the performance.

Popee stares into a mirror, interpreting Kedamono's instructions in a particularly brutal fashion with him tearing his eyelids off. He's finally successful, and Papi and Kedamono clap for him. By nightfall, the consequences of Popee's actions present themselves; Popee is dry-eyed and cannot sleep, no matter how much he wants to. Popee's efforts to put his eyelids back on only resulted in them falling off like thin sheets of paper, turning about bemusedly in his bed. Watching TV proved to be futile in tiring him out, as the only channel available to Popee was the one featuring the UFO Girls. Kedamono walks by, curious as to why Popee's up so late, and giggles while Popee mashes the remote control to change the channel.

Angrily, Popee punches through the television's screen, breaking it. He points at his eyes in a similar way that Kedamono did earlier (this time, his gesture resembling a middle finger) and Kedamono repeats it, understanding that he's fatigued. Kedamono tries to calm Popee down and help him sleep by playing a music box containing a plastic squirrel bumping into an acorn. They both smile peacefully until the moment Papi is roused awake by the sound of the music box and stands upright with the force of his paternal mania. Kedamono and Popee are utterly horrified to see Papi holding a baby milk bottle on the left side of his chest, striding forth dramatically and squeezing the bottle as though he were stimulating a breast. Its milk lands on Popee, covering his face in the liquid as Popee hurriedly wipes it off, shocked and confused. Papi shoves the bottle into Popee's mouth with tears streaking down his cheeks to try and compel him to drink the milk. Kedamono watches, disgusted. Popee slaps Papi's hand away, the bottle shattering on the floor.

Papi shakes resentfully. He shoots Popee and Kedamono a death glare, with the sunrays on his sun accessory extending and glowing with the man's rage. Under Papi's waterline is red eyeliner, the makeup elongating his mouth as well. Quickly, a terrified Kedamono grabs the music box and begins to play the same soft melody they had listened to before, acting as a tranquilizer for Papi. Papi relaxes, doing a bizarre wiggle-dance and holding two milk bottles in his hands. Relieved that they've distracted him, Popee and Kedamono play a round of chess, only for Papi to run back to Popee after a few minutes. They're invested in the game and mostly ignore Papi. The music box stops, and Papi jiggles the bottles as an offering to Popee, one that Popee grits his teeth at and turns his head from in refusal. Papi's sunrays extend anew again; he attacks Popee, the pair tumbling to the sand and Papi crossing his boundaries despite Popee's panicked writhing. Kedamono is too scared to help Popee out, looking on from his spot at the chess table with masks that change as the scene progresses (the vast majority representing degrees of awkwardness, resignation and guilt, including a Noh Mask).

The end of the episode reveals that Papi had swallowed Popee whole, where Popee is resting in the darkness of his stomach as a now "pregnant" Papi sits, knitting a baby blanket for his son. The scene further pans out to show that Kedamono is finally able to sleep, despite what just happened.