Episode 9

## "Past"

**"Past"** (過去, *Kako*) is the ninth episode of the Hige wo Soru. Soshite Joshikousei wo Hirou. Anime.

## Summary

Issa Ogiwara, Sayu's older brother arrives at Yoshida's Apartment and demands that Sayu come home. On the other hand, Sayu refuses, claiming she's not ready yet. Issa then tries to reason with her claiming that there are adults that would take advantage of her, but she argues that Yoshida isn't that kind of person.

Later everyone sits in Yoshida's living room area to talk things over. Issa first asks if the two have done anything inappropriate together, to which, they flatly deny. Relieved that's the case, Issa then reveals that their mother is worried for her, but Sayu refuses to believe that and wishes to know the real reason. Issa then states that Sayu's teacher has come looking for her several times after she left and her mother has kept them at bay leading the teacher she's locked in her room. Sayu quizzically asks if her mother is seeking to prove her teacher wrong. Issa gives no reply and Yoshida chimes in claiming that Sayu's mother is more worried about what people will say rather than her well-being. Denying that's the case, Issa does claim that once his mother gets an idea regardless of how thoughtless it may be, she'll go and stick with it. Yoshida then requests that Issa gives them three days for Sayu to make a decision whether or not she'll return home or not. Seemingly acquiescing to the request, Issa asks if he can have a brief moment alone with her sister and promises that he won't take her away. Yoshida allows it and Sayu agrees to talk with him.

Soon Issa leaves the apartment and gets into his car. Back inside the apartment Yoshida and Sayu talk about their encounter with Issa. Getting dressed, Sayu confesses that she's a little anxious, however, when she's with Yoshida she feels relaxed. When she's ready, Sayu heads to her brother's car and Yoshida feels stubble on his face and decides to shave while Sayu is out. The conversation between Sayu and her brother starts out with him being relieved that she's found a decent person to stay with. Issa also reveals that their mother contacts him every day asking if he's found her yet, noting she's become unstable after something happened and more so since her disappearance. He suggests that Sayu return home for now and that he'll do all he can to help her. Confessing that she originally left because of the pain, Sayu later realized that wherever she went it was no different and that she was always alone. However, Yoshida made her realize how stupid she was and the important things that she lost leading up to him. Hence, she resolved herself to think for herself and what she wants to be. Until she knows what she'll take home with her after coming all that way, she refuses to come home. Surprisingly, Issa understands and details that Sayu has changed a little, saying she speaks her mind more openly than before. He then informs Sayu that he'll buy her a week at maximum and Sayu thanks him.

Afterward, Asami comes over to Yoshida's apartment and is brought up to date about Sayu's situation. Yoshida admits that Issa gave Sayu's decision more respect than he anticipated. From there, Sayu goes in-depth about her past that caused her to run away from home. Sayu admits that she never got along with her mother, which was one of the reasons that when she got into high school, she never put any effort into anything. Things like schoolwork and hanging out with friends didn't matter to her and because of it she was avoided in school, which was fine with her. However, a single person changed all of that, her name was Yuuko Masaka.

In a flashback, Sayu and Yuuko eat their lunch on the rooftop and Yuuko asks why Sayu always looks so cool and the question baffles Sayu. Sayu considered Yuuko like her, an outcast in their school, but she enjoyed spending time with her. Eventually, a group of girl bullies targeted her, and when Sayu asks why they are on the school rooftop, Yuuko asks if she rejected someone on the school basketball team. Apparently one of the bullies liked him and to get through to Sayu they targeted her. Curious as to why she's not the one being targeted, Yuuko states that Sayu is beautiful and cool, also she doesn't look like a bad person. This makes it hard to spread lies about and to get people to hate her. Hence, Yuuko was targeted because of her connection with Sayu. Although Yuuko claims she's "alright" with it and the bullies claim that she's a "groupie" of Sayu, she vehemently denies that claiming Yuuko was her first friend.

Time passes by and while walking past the girl's bathroom, Sayu overhears a group of girls talking about how they taught a girl a lesson. Realizing that it was about Yuuko, Sayu enters the girl's bathroom and finds Yuuko in one of the stalls soaking wet. Right when Sayu tried to confront the girls, she's stopped by Yuuko. Not wanting to back down from this, Sayu grabs Asami's hand and says that she'll never betray her and that they should fight together. Yuuko then embraces Sayu and in retrospect, Sayu confesses that she thought she acted with the best of intentions, however, this was by far the biggest mistake she ever made. One day on the roof, Sayu finds Yuuko over the rooftop guard rail and she confesses her thoughts and opinions about Sayu and confesses how she ruined her with her presence. Before leaping off the rooftop, Yuuko's final words were, "So keep on smiling, okay?". This event left Sayu emotionally devastated.

Eventually, news reporters gathered by the Ogiwara household where Sayu's Mother kept them all at bay. When Sayu meets with her mother in the dining room area and she reprimands her for everything related to that girl's death, to which, Sayu apologizes for. However, she becomes angry when her mother asks if she really killed Yuuko and goes on a tirade about her and Yuuko's friendship. Believing that she's more of a hindrance than anything staying in that household, Sayu leaves, but is stopped midway by her brother Issa. She explains that she's leaving because their mom accused her of killing her friend. Understanding Sayu's disposition, he agrees that she needs to have some time away from their mother for a while and later drops her off at the Asahikawa Station. Before she leaves, he gives her an envelope with 300,000 yen inside and suggests she stay in a hotel for a while and to contact him if anything goes wrong. Sayu thanks Issa and parted ways with him, however, the money given to her quickly ran out and the feeling of loneliness and worthlessness slowly crept in on her. Even the kindness from her brother felt like pity and so she cut ties with him. Not long after this, Sayu runs into a man who takes her in from what she thought was out of the goodness of his heart. That wasn't the case, however, as a few days after living with him, he wanted her to have sex with him and so she caved in and did it with him.

Back in the present, Sayu admits that she's stupid, that she doesn't even remember the man's name that she first did it with. The cycle of staying with men in exchange for sexual favors continued until she met Yoshida. After this long revelation, Asami and Yoshida talk together on his balcony about Sayu told them and what Yoshida will do about Sayu. He refuses to get involved in Sayu's family issues and that it's best that she return home. Asami, however, asks what Yoshida wants to do with Sayu, which makes him ponder.

## Characters

List of characters in order of their appearance:

* Issa Ogiwara
* Yoshida
* Sayu Ogiwara
* Asami Yuuki
* Yuuko Masaka *(flashback)*
* Sayu's Mother *(flashback)*