Rumour 10 «Reverse Town»
[The beginning of this song is similar to the children's song «Yuuyake Koyake» (see video description for more on that), but then it changes. Unfortunately, it's hard to understand...]
YUKARI: (What... is this place?)
YUKARI: (That girl... I know her from somewhere.)
YUKARI: (And that song...)
YUKARI: "Ah... Wait!"
YUKARI: "This light... It's so bright! I can't see anything..."
YUKARI: "Somebody...!"
YUKARI'S MOTHER: "Yukari. Yukari!"
YUKARI'S MOTHER: "Wake up, Yukari!"
YUKARI: "......"
MOTHER: "Is something wrong? I don't usually have to wake you up."
YUKARI: "......"
MOTHER: "Come, you'll be late for school. Or are you not feeling well?"
YUKARI: "......"
MOTHER: "Yukari, what's wrong? Are you okay?"
YUKARI: "It's nothing..."
MOTHER: "Is that so... Well I hope so."
MOTHER: "By the way, I might be late again tonight."
YUKARI: "......"
YUKARI: "I... had a strange dream."
MOTHER: "What?"
YUKARI: "There was a park at sunset... And a small child kept sliding down a playground slide."
MOTHER: "A child?"
YUKARI: "Yes... That's all that happened in the dream."
MOTHER: "Since you mentioned a small child... You know Chii-chan from next door, right?"
YUKARI: "Chii-chan...?"
MOTHER: "Chikako! The cute one who's going to kindergarten."
YUKARI: "... Ah, her."
MOTHER: "Yes, well... I've heard that she's gone missing since yesterday."
YUKARI: "What?"
MOTHER: "Yes, the poor thing. She disappeared on the way home when her mother left her alone just briefly."
YUKARI: "......"
MOTHER: "Her mother is worried sick... Just earlier, the police came to her place. Some old woman claimed the girl must've been spirited away, and things got out of hand."
YUKARI: "Spirited away...?"
MOTHER: "Well, that old woman is rather superstitious."
MOTHER: "But the police said it's possible the girl might have actually been kidnapped."
YUKARI: "......"
MOTHER: "I truly hope they'll find her unscathed, but who knows..."
YUKARI: "......"
Rumour 10 «Reverse Town»
MIKA: "What a nice day!"
MIKA: "Whole suburban centre is covered in smog again, though."
YUKARI: "Tch... You're always so carefree..."
MIKA: "Making us come to school for one day, even though we have such great weather today... Sigh..." [There is a day at some schools where students have to come to school for one day during summer vacation.]
MIKA: "Hey, why don't we go to the beach?"
YUKARI: "What?"
MIKA: "We could just ditch school and go somewhere."
MIKA: "The beach, the mounatins... I don't care where! Let's just go and forget our worries!"
YUKARI: "Sorry, but I don't feel like going..."
CHISATO: "...Yukari, are you perhaps not feeling well?"
YUKARI: "No, that's... not it."
MIKA: "What's up then? You've been oddly silent lately!"
CHISATO: "Could it be... Are you worried about that Chii-chan you mentioned earlier?"
CHISATO: "Were you close to her?"
YUKARI: "Huh? ...No. We'd occasionally greet each other in the morning. That's about it."
YUKARI: "But she was a really cute and docile girl."
CHISATO: "Her parents must be really worried then."
CHISATO: "At that age, children usually can't wander off that far."
MIKA: "Is this about the one who was spirited away?"
YUKARI: "Well, some old lady claims that's the explanation, but..."
YUKARI: "Say, you wouldn't happen to have some useful information?"
MIKA: "Hm, it is a rather classical topic, but..."
MIKA: "It's probably just a normal kidnapping, anyway, don't you think?"
YUKARI: "I don't really like to consider it, but that IS the most likely scenario, huh..."
MIKA: "And since there hasn't been any ransom demand, yet, I'd wager it's not about money making."
MIKA: "If it's the work of a pervert, then I guess by now he's already..."
YUKARI: "Stop it. There are things that shouldn't be said, not even if you're just joking."
MIKA: "......"
CHISATO: "Yukari... It feels like something's bothering you... Is that true?"
YUKARI: "......"
YUKARI: "Actually... I had a weird dream..."
CHISATO: "A dream?"
YUKARI: "In this dream, a little girl kept going down a playground slide in a park at dusk again and again."
YUKARI: "Endlessly..."
YUKARI: "She'd slide down, go up again... slide down again only to go up again..."
YUKARI: "She just continued this forever..."
MIKA: "What of it?"
YUKARI: "Chii-chan actually disappeared in... a park."
MIKA: "In a park? Wait, so the girl you saw in that dream was... Chii-chan?"
MIKA: "Holy shit! Yukari, that's like, spiritual vision or something!"
YUKARI: "Don't make light of the situation."
CHISATO: "It does sound rather strange, though."
CHISATO: "Did you recognise the girl in your dream as Chii-chan?"
YUKARI: "Not really..."
YUKARI: "The only thing I felt was that the whole... scene felt somehow very... familiar."
YUKARI: "Like I've seen the same scenery somewhere before in the past."
MIKA: "Isn't that, like, what do you call it? Déjà vu?"
MIKA: "That happens a lot during puberty."
YUKARI: "Puberty?! You do know, I'm already--"
MIKA: "Well, you're often pretty nervous and stuff. I guess you could still be going through some phase of it!"
YUKARI: "......"
CHISATO: "Yukari... Since you said that the scenery looked familiar, could it be that the girl in the dream was... you?"
YUKARI: "Hm... I wonder."
YUKARI: "It was a dream, after all, so I've forgotten most of the details by now."
MIKA: "Yeah, it all sounds pretty fuzzy and vague."
YUKARI: "Because it was a dream! Can't be helped, can it?"
YUKARI: "I can't really tell you who the girl in the dream was, or if the park in the dream really was the park Chii-chan disappeared in."
YUKARI: "I can only tell you that something about it felt... strange."
CHISATO: "You can't get it out of your mind, hm?"
YUKARI: "Maybe the girl in the dream was me, after all?"
YUKARI: "I have no definite proof, but still..."
MIKA: "Maybe it was a doppelganger!"
YUKARI: "A what?"
MIKA: "Have you never heard of that? About meeting an exact copy of yourself?"
MIKA: "A doppelganger has often been considered as a herald of an ominous death."
MIKA: "People who meet their doppelganger are said to die shortly afterwards."
MIKA: "They say, famous writer Akutagawa Ryūnosuke also saw a doppelganger of himself while walking through town one day before he committed suicide."
CHISATO: "Mika!"
YUKARI: "......"
MIKA: "If it's bothering you that much, then why don't we just try and go to that park?"
YUKARI: "Huh?"
MIKA: "It's close-by anyway, isn't it?"
MIKA: "We can just drop by on our way home."
MIKA: "Who knows? Maybe it turns out, your dream really was prophetic?"
A: "Let's try that." B: "That seems a bit unnecessary..."
A: "Let's try that." [X] B: "That seems a bit unnecessary..."
YUKARI: "You're right. I mean, it's not like I believe I had a prophetic dream, but it does lie on the way."
MIKA: "Maybe we even find out something about the whereabouts of that girl!"
YUKARI: "Yeah, you never know..."
MIKA: "Okay, then it's settled!"
MIKA: "I'll come to your classroom after school, then, okay?"
MIKA: "Don't go without me!"
MIKA: "So this is the scene of the crime, huh..."
YUKARI: "You know..."
YUKARI: "Some day, that habit of yours to make light of just about every situation is bound to get you into trouble..."
MIKA: "I'm not worried. ♥"
MIKA: "If I get into trouble, you guys will save me, right?"
CHISATO: "......"
MIKA: "Anyway..."
MIKA: "It's not even that dark, yet, but there's not one child on this playground..."
YUKARI: "What do you expect? A child disappeared here, so obviously the other parents are keeping their children inside now."
MIKA: "Oh, I see..."
CHISATO: "Not much has changed here, hm? Except, maybe it's not as green as before anymore?"
YUKARI: "You think so?"
YUKARI: "I think it's actually gotten a bit smaller compared to back when we were young."
CHISATO: "That's just because we've gotten bigger."
CHISATO: "The height from which we view things is different now."
MIKA: "Did you come here often?"
YUKARI: "Well, it is close to where we live. So, yeah, Chisato and I came here quite often when we were small."
CHISATO: "Yes. How many years has it been, though...?"
CHISATO: "This is rather nostalgic..."
MIKA: "Hey, enough! Stop indulging yourselves in memories that I can't be a part of!"
YUKARI: "Hey, a climbing frame! ...Has it always been this small?"
CHISATO: "It felt much bigger and scarier back then, didn't it..."
MIKA: "This is pretty nostalgic. I kinda wanna climb it."
YUKARI: "Don't. We'd see your panties."
MIKA: "I'm wearing normal pants. I don't--"
YUKARI: "I don't really want to know."
MIKA: "That reminds me, there was this guy in kindergarten who couldn't climb to the top, even though he was a boy."
MIKA: "So all us girls climbed to the top instead and made fun of him until he suddenly started crying."
MIKA: "Man, did we get scolded..."
YUKARI: "Well, at least now I know that you haven't changed since kindergarten."
MIKA: "It just means, I'm a girl that never lets go of her pure heart from her childhood days!"
YUKARI: "It just means, you haven't matured since then."
MIKA: "Ouch..."
MIKA: "Is this the slide in question?"
YUKARI: "Yeah, probably..."
YUKARI: "At least, Chii-chan was last seen playing on this slide before she disappeared."
MIKA: "What was her mother doing?"
YUKARI: "She had picked her up from kindergarten and they were now on their way home."
YUKARI: "Apparently she always lets Chii-chan play on this park's playground while she goes and buys some groceries for dinner."
CHISATO: "And when she came back...?"
YUKARI: "Yes. Chii-chan was gone."
MIKA: "Wasn't that a bit irresponsible of the mother?!"
YUKARI: "I guess so... But it's something they did every day."
YUKARI: "It always takes her just a few minutes, and you'd never expect a child to go missing in this neighbourhood."
MIKA: "Were there any witnesses?"
YUKARI: "How would I know. I'm not the police. Or do you perhaps want to start an investigation and interview the people here?"
MIKA: "Tempting, but I'll pass, boss."
YUKARI: "Very funny..."
CHISATO: "And what about the slide in your dream? Did it also look like this?"
YUKARI: "I'm not sure..."
YUKARI: "Slides all look the same, anyway."
A: "Hm... I wonder..." B: "I really don't know." C: "But it COULD have been this one..."
A: "Hm... I wonder..." B: "I really don't know." C: "But it COULD have been this one..." [X]
YUKARI: "Hmmm..."
YUKARI: "I mean, it COULD have been this one, I guess..."
MIKA: "Does it look exactly the same as in your dream?"
YUKARI: "How would I know!"
YUKARI: "It's not like I remember the scenery from my dream very clearly."
MIKA: "Oh..."
YUKARI: "But it does feel like it could have been this one..."
MIKA: "How about you touch it?"
MIKA: "If you really have spiritual vision, we might learn something that way!"
YUKARI: "What's that supposed to..."
MIKA: "In spiritual investigation you touch something that is related to the subject of your investigation which in turn causes you to get a vision!"
MIKA: "And the girl that disappeared played on this slide, so by having you touch it, we might actually learn something about her disappearance!"
YUKARI: "Don't tell me you actually believe that stuff?"
MIKA: "Just give it a try. It's not like you have anything to lose, right?"
A: "Fine. I'll touch it." B: "No way. This is stupid."
A: "Fine. I'll touch it." [X] B: "No way. This is stupid."
YUKARI: "Fine. I'll try. But... what exactly should I do?"
MIKA: "First you concentrate... Then you place your hand on that handrail... And then you close your eyes..."
MIKA: "And? Do you feel anything?"
YUKARI: "......"
YUKARI: "Not really..."
YUKARI: "...?!"
MIKA: "Did you see anything?"
YUKARI: "Just now, I..."
MIKA: "You what?"
YUKARI: "......"
MIKA: "...?"
CHISATO: "What is it, Yukari?"
YUKARI: "Forget it... It's nothing..."
YUKARI: "How about we... try out the slide?"
CHISATO: "What?"
YUKARI: "Seeing it like this has made me feel kind of nostalgic..."
YUKARI: "So maybe, since we're here..."
MIKA: "You know... You do say pretty cute things sometimes, Yukari!"
YUKARI: "Nobody asked you..."
MIKA: "Well, I mean, I actually like that part of you! ♥️"
YUKARI: "......"
A: "It's too embarrassing after all." B: "Whatever, let's use the slide!"
A: "It's too embarrassing after all." B: "Whatever, let's use the slide!" [X]
YUKARI: "Whatever. Come on, let's use the slide!"
YUKARI: "...Ahahahaha, this is so surreal, I cannot help but laugh."
YUKARI: "Ha! I kind of feel like an idiot."
MIKA: "Not exactly the reaction I expected..."
CHISATO: "Yukari..."
YUKARI: "Hm?"
CHISATO: "That girl in your dream..."
CHISATO: "You said she used the slide again and again and again, right?"
YUKARI: "Yes."
CHISATO: "When I was a child, I was actually afraid of slides for a while."
MIKA: "Really? Why?"
CHISATO: "It felt like I might end up in another world when I slide down."
YUKARI: "...What do you mean?"
CHISATO: "There's this belief that if you go in circles in the same place for a long time, you might get pulled into a different world."
CHISATO: "Think back to when we summoned that restroom girl. That ritual also included spinning around 3 times."
YUKARI: "......"
CHISATO: "And this slide... When we used it just now, it felt strange."
YUKARI: "You're saying, if you slide down this slide often enough, you'll..."
MIKA: "If that were real... then all the other children who used this slide in the past would've disappeared, too!"
CHISATO: "I don't know... Maybe you only slip into a different world at a certain time? Or it only affects certain people?"
MIKA: "Maybe it only works at twilight?"
CHISATO: "Perhaps..."
MIKA: "Hey, let's try and slide down once more! Slipping into another world sounds kinda cool."
A: "No way. Let's go home." B: "Okay..."
A: "No way. Let's go home." B: "Okay..." [X]
YUKARI: "Okay, I guess we could slide once more."
MIKA: "Yay! ♥️"
MIKA: "Did anything change?"
YUKARI: "I'm not sure..."
CHISATO: "......"
A: "Let's try one more time." B: "Let's go home already."
A: "Let's try one more time." [X] B: "Let's go home already."
YUKARI: "Let's try one more time."
MIKA: "Was that thunder?"
YUKARI: "Maybe an evening shower is coming?"
MIKA: "Guess we should go home soon..."
YUKARI: "Yeah. Actually, let's just go now."
YUKARI: "Hey, a swing."
MIKA: "Oh, I loved these as a kid!"
MIKA: "I would usually stand on it while swinging. Put some force into it and you can get crazy high that way! When there were trees in front of the swing, I'd often have contests with friends, who could swing high enough to reach the branches!"
CHISATO: "That's pretty dangerous..."
MIKA: "But that's what makes it more exciting, don't you think?"
MIKA: "Same could be said about what we're doing right now."
YUKARI: "Chisato actually collided with a swing as a child once and got hurt pretty badly."
YUKARI: "You even had to get... 3 stitches, right?"
CHISATO: "Yes."
CHISATO: "I still have the scar from back then."
YUKARI: "It was pretty scary."
YUKARI: "Back then I actually thought, she'd die."
CHISATO: "It could be that I just forgot about it, but I think it didn't actually hurt."
YUKARI: "No way! Half of your face had been covered in blood, you know? That MUST have hurt!"
YUKARI: "I'll never forget the whole thing. We talked a lot about it in the past, too."
CHISATO: "Yukari quickly went to get an adult."
YUKARI: "Yeah, but I was all shaken up and crying, and meanwhile you were super calm."
YUKARI: "Even the adult that I brought along was pretty shocked when they saw you."
MIKA: "This feels kinda... unfair."
YUKARI: "Huh? What?"
MIKA: "Nevermind... Can't be helped, since you got to grow up together... Being able to share all these memories, must be nice..."
YUKARI: "Why are you pouting all of a sudden?!"
MIKA: "It's fine! Don't mind me!"
MIKA: "Hm? What's up with that guy over there?"
YUKARI: "What do you mean?"
MIKA: "I dunno, he seems kinda strange..."
MIKA: "Have you ever seen him here before?"
YUKARI: "......"
PERFORMER: "Hey, young ladies! Too bad, but the play is already over."
YUKARI: "Excuse me?"
PERFORMER: "Today's performance is over, is what I mean."
YUKARI: "I'm not... sure I follow...?"
PERFORMER: "It was a really interesting one at that!"
PERFORMER: "The hero Red Mask arrived on the continent and had a showdown with a monster released by the general of the Gorgons."
PERFORMER: "This monster was called Octopussy."
PERFORMER: "«Why such a strange name?», you may ask! And the answer is: Because it was an actual octopus monster!"
PERFORMER: "And what a formidable enemy it was!"
PERFORMER: "The mysterious light that shot from Octopussy's mouth had the ability to freeze Red Mask!"
PERFORMER: "What happens next? That'll be shown tomorrow!"
PERFORMER: "What do you think? Sounds pretty interesting, huh?"
PERFORMER: "The kids today loved it!"
YUKARI: "U-Uhm..."
[Some more info on this guy is in the video description.] A: "Are you... performing some kind of plays here?" B: "Actually... How does the story go on?"
A: "Are you... performing some kind of plays here?" [X] B: "Actually... How does the story go on?"
YUKARI: "Are you... performing some kind of plays here?"
PERFORMER: "Why, yes! Indeed I am! It is the most fun thing in the world!"
PERFORMER: "Just ask the kids around here."
PERFORMER: "Aaall of them are saying they love my performances!"
YUKARI: "......"
CHISATO: "That reminds me... I once heard from my mother about performers who would be on the street every day and perform serial stories."
PERFORMER: "You are most well-informed, young lady!"
PERFORMER: "With these plays, you can only see the continuation of today's story, if there is a tomorrow."
PERFORMER: "And so they come tomorrow... the day after tomorrow... every day..."
PERFORMER: "Their eyes shine in anticipation of the story's next instalment."
PERFORMER: "And I love seeing that sparkle in their eyes!"
A: "Since when have you been doing this?" B: "But isn't this kind of...outdated?"
A: "Since when have you been doing this?" [X] B: "But isn't this kind of...outdated?"
YUKARI: "Since when have you been doing this?"
PERFORMER: "Since looong ago. And I will continue for a looong time. And no matter for how long, I will never grow tired of it."
PERFORMER: "And when today's children have eventually grown old, their grandchildren will come instead."
PERFORMER: "And so I will continue enjoying my performances with everyone... forever..."
PERFORMER: "Isn't that great?"
A: "Even in the day and age of TV?" B: "...What planet are you from?!"
A: "Even in the day and age of TV?" [X] B: "...What planet are you from?!"
YUKARI: "But in this day and age of television, I'd expect no one to come watch stuff like this anymore, to be honest..."
PERFORMER: "Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure?"
PERFORMER: "Are you sure what you are watching is television?"
PERFORMER: "Perhaps what you were actually watching is just my performance?"
YUKARI: "What do you mean?"
PERFORMER: "I have shown sooo many of my performances to sooo many children..."
PERFORMER: "Maybe I have shown one to you, as well, at some point...?"
YUKARI: "......"
A: "...What planet are you from?!" B: "What performance have I supposedly seen?"
A: "...What planet are you from?!" [X] B: "What performance have I supposedly seen?"
MIKA: "Uhm... What planet are you from?!"
PERFORMER: "Me?"
PERFORMER: "What a nice question!"
PERFORMER: "I'm actually from the star cluster Signales close to the Betelgeuse star."
MIKA: "Signa... what?"
MIKA: "What, so you're actually an alien?"
PERFORMER: "Sure! But please don't tell anyone!"
PERFORMER: "Nobody is supposed to know this!"
YUKARI: "......"
MIKA: "Despite your age, you're good at playing along, mister!"
PERFORMER: "Ain't that the truth!"
YUKARI: "Mika, let's go already."
MIKA: "Huh? Oh... Yeah, okay."
YUKARI: "Okay, we have to leave now."
PERFORMER: "Ah, one second, young ladies..."
PERFORMER: "Plays are great fun, right?"
PERFORMER: "But no matter how much fun they are, there will always be a time when the final chapter comes. So... Sometimes I wonder..."
PERFORMER: "Isn't there a play that doesn't have a final episode? That just doesn't end?"
PERFORMER: "I want to create more and more stories, forever and ever, and have everyone enjoy them eternally..."
YUKARI: "......"
MIKA: "In the end, what was up with that guy?!"
MIKA: "I didn't really get any of the nonsense he kept spouting..."
MIKA: "Maybe he's dangerous?"
CHISATO: "Yes... Something was... strange..."
YUKARI: "Huh? Where are we?"
MIKA: "Is there a place like this in Hinashiro? I'm seeing this for the first time..."
CHISATO: "......"
MIKA: "I'm not even sure which side of the station this is."
MIKA: "Where's PARKO? Where's Tokyu?" [Could be references to the department stores "Parco" and "Tokyu Hands".]
CHISATO: "Everything looks much older..."
CHISATO: "The Hinashiro we know doesn't have a place like this."
MIKA: "Wh... What?! Don' tell me... We actually really jumped into another world?! No way..."
YUKARI: "This isn't a movie."
YUKARI: "We probably just took the wrong turn or something...right, Chisato?"
CHISATO: "......"