Shigofumi - 05

[Arika]

Summary:
Some time ago, the poet Mikawa Kirameki appeared on a television program and talked about how he liked beautiful things. He felt that the world was divided into two halves - the beautiful and the ugly - and this caused the interviewer to joke that he’s personally in the ugly category. Mikawa Kirameki in turn suggested that the interviewer die. Back in the present, Fumika has tracked down a cat but is hesitant to reach out and touch it. Before Fumika can do so, Chiaki bursts onto the scene because she’s after the same cat, however all she’s able to do is crash into Fumika. The cat ends up getting away, and the girls figure out that they both have Shigofumi for the cat whose name is Schrödinger. The Shigofumi are from elderly couple who owned it: Chiaki’s is from the old woman and Fumika’s is from the old man. To catch Schrödinger, Chiaki suggests using catnip, but the problem is that they have no money to buy any. Fortunately, they are then approached by two sleazy guys who try to pick them up, and Fumika ends up beating them up and getting their money.
As they try to attract cats with the catnip at a park, Chiaki asks Fumika why she grows older since Shigofumi couriers are supposed to be chosen from the dead and take on the appearance of how they looked when they died. Chiaki never gets her answer though because cats soon start showing up, and Fumika’s scared reaction to them makes Chiaki realize that Fumika dislikes cats. Elsewhere in the city, Kaname has been calling up his old classmates to ask about Fumika. One of these is a girl by the name of Kasai Natsuka, and Kaname asks her if she knows Fumika’s contact information. Natsuka first wants to know if Kaname had feelings for Fumika though, so Kaname admits that he had been rejected by her. As for Fumika’s location, Natsuka reveals that she’s at a particular hospital. Back at the park, Fumika wakes up in Chiaki’s lap, and Chiaki gives her some water to drink. They haven’t had any success with finding Schrödinger, but right as they start to talk about it, the cat in question runs past. Both girls give chase and use their ability to fly, but they get in each other’s way more than anything else.
Fumika follows Schrödinger all the way to a hospital, but when she flies past the hospital room where the real Mikawa Fumika is sleeping, she becomes so shocked that she doesn’t pay attention to where she’s going and crashes into a tree. She ends up landing on Kaname, and after realizing who it is, she covers his eyes so that he can’t see her. This is made harder by the fact that Schrödinger comes back and jumps onto her, causing her much discomfort. Schrödinger eventually runs away again, and Fumika flies up out of Kaname’s view before he can see her. Chiaki meanwhile follows the cat into a house that’s about to be demolished, and she catches it right as she runs out of time with her wings, causing her to crash and skid along the floor. Outside, a wrecking ball is ready to hit the house, so Fumika takes over and scares away all the workers. With that done, Fumika heads inside to find Schrödinger in Chiaki’s arms, and Chiaki reveals that a cat was a lucky item for her. Fumika in turn feels that today was a lucky day because she made a friend.
Schrödinger then starts clawing on a nearby door, and Fumika explains that this is where the Shigofumi senders lived when they were alive. As it turns out, the Shigofumi contain keys, and the keys open the door. Inside, Schrödinger immediately takes his place on a small cat bed basket, and Kanaka comments on how the cat was the only family for the elderly couple. Chiaki then asks Fumika about her own family, but Fumika only reveals that she broke up with them. Back at the hospital, Kaname is surprised when his father also shows up at Fumika’s room, and they both go inside. After his father explains that it’s been three years since that incident and that Fumika hasn’t woken up a single time, Kaname wonders about who it was that he met on the school rooftop.


Preview




If I had to describe this episode in one word, it’d be “cute”. Fumika showed more emotion here than she has in all four previous episodes combined, and her reactions to all the cats were just priceless. Even Chiaki had some feel-good moments towards the end. None of that has any major impact on the overall story though, and it’s mainly the very beginning and the Kaname scenes that are of any note. Mikawa Kirameki doesn’t exactly seem like the nicest of guys, and what he said to that interviewer could be a clue to why Fumika killed him. I also wonder if the fact that he had white hair is the reason that Fumika has white hair now. It doesn’t appear that we’ll learn more about him (and Fumika) until later in the series though since next week appears to be another standalone story.