Wolf Children Ame and Yuki, The

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This might get laughed off as a mere fairy tale.

As a fantasy that couldn't possibly happen in the real world.

the story of my mother's life.

The man she fell in love with...

was a werewolf.

Yuki

My mother was a student at a national university in the outskirts of Tokyo.

She covered the tuition fees with a scholarship,

and raised money for her living expenses by taking on multiple part-time jobs.

Men highly esteemed for their wisdom

certainly do possess great knowledge about their crafts and other miscellaneous topics.

On a certain day in early summer,

He was wearing a t-shirt with a very loose collar,

didn't have a textbook on hand,

and was earnestly jotting down notes with all he had.

She said he looked completely different from the other students.

Please wait a second.

You'll be marked absent if you don't fill this out and turn it in.

So

I'm not a student here.

If you find me an eyesore, I won't show up anymore.

Who's that?

Wait.

I don't care if you're a student or not,

but I think that lecture would be a bit hard to understand without a textbook.

Want to look over it together?

Welcome.

It'll be ready on Friday.

Thank you very much.

Thanks for waiting.

Oh, welcome.

This way.

The three plaintiffs in this case were Meletus the poet,

Anytus the politician,

and Lycon the orator.

Meletus was the representative,

but it is said that Anytus was the one pulling the strings.

What type of food do you like?

What kind of people have you fallen in love with up until now?

Why "Hana"?

Are you talking about my name?

Yeah.

I was born at a time when cosmos flowers were blooming in our backyard.

Not ones that we'd planted, but those that had grown naturally.

Looking at that gave my father the idea, or so he said.

I was given this name in the hope that I'd grow up to be someone whose smile never went out.

He told me to keep smiling through tough or painful times,

even if I had to force myself to do it,

because I'd probably be able to get through them if I did.

That's why, during my father's funeral, I had a smile on my face the entire time.

My relatives got really mad at me, though,

saying I was being "thoughtless."

being thoughtless.

You weren't.

That's a relief.

Even though each apartment is in the same complex, the people who live there are nothing alike.

There are rich homes,

poor homes,

homes with big families.

Ones with only a single resident.

Homes with babies.

Those with only senior citizens.

How nice it'd be to have a home.

I'd say "I'm home" when I got in,

take off my shoes, wash my hands and face,

and sink into my chair.

It'd be great.

I'd make a bookshelf.

And when it couldn't hold any more books, I'd just make another one.

home.

I'd welcome you home, then.

Hana.

Yeah?

There's something I need to tell you.

Go ahead. You can say anything.

The truth is...

I'll save it for tomorrow.

Okay.

Hana.

I'm sorry, Hana.

My bad.

I've never told anyone about this.

I was scared.

But I should've told you much earlier.

No, I should've shown you.

Shown me?

Close your eyes for a bit.

A bit longer.

Can I look yet?

Hana.

What do I look like?

She found out that those stories about transforming at night during a full moon

and attacking people were all just myths.

"The world is full of things I don't know about,"

is what my mother thought at the time, apparently.

Shocked?

Never want to see me again?

You're trembling, though. Are you scared?

I'm not scared.

Because it's you.

My father was a descendant of the Japanese Wolf, considered to have gone extinct a hundred years ago.

He was the last one to inherit the blood of both wolves and humans.

His parents taught him about their history when he was still young,

told him not to speak of it to anyone else, and then passed away.

Afterward, he was taken in by relatives who didn't know a thing,

and had a difficult childhood.

He moved to the city in search of a job once he got his driver's license.

No one knew about him or paid him any attention.

He lived his life almost like he was in hiding.

That's what he said, or so I heard.

Natural Childbirth

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My mother gave birth to me in that tiny apartment.

It was snowing that day.

They didn't go to a hospital, or even hire a midwife.

They handled it all themselves.

My mother was worried it'd shock the living daylights out of the doctors if,

by chance, she gave birth to a child that looked like a wolf.

Thank goodness she was born safe and sound.

There's still a long way to go.

Will she grow up to be a gentle and kind girl?

Maybe she'll grow up to be smart.

I wonder what she'll grow up to be.

A nurse, teacher, or baker...

I want to let her be whatever she wants to be.

I want her to grow up healthy, without facing any hardships.

Let's watch over her until she does.

Yup.

My brother was born the next spring.

It happened on a rainy day.

Suddenly, my father all but disappeared.

No one knows what went through his mind on that day.

His natural instinct to hunt for his newborn baby might've come into play,

or maybe he wanted to provide my mother, who'd just given birth to a child, with nourishment.

"Take good care of the kids."

That's what my mother thought she heard him say.

Yeah. Leave them to me.

I'll raise them well.

My mother went through some tough times after that,

but I don't remember it at all.

Momma!

I'm making it now.

Wait a bit, Yuki.

Momma!

Just a bit longer.

Yuki!

I'm told I frequently let my hair stand on end and turned into a wolf when I got mad or agitated.

Jeez, what do I do with you?

Tasty.

I'm also told I was a glutton and kept crying out for food all day and night.

A large contrast from my light-eating and frail brother, Ame.

My mother had to take leave from college and quit her part-time jobs so she could raise us.

That was close!

What little my father had saved up was all that supported us.

Huh?

That was close!

My mother said it looked like the two of us were having trouble deciding which life to lead

That of a human, or of a wolf.

They got me...

Given that she couldn't ask anyone else for help or advice,

my mother had no choice but to learn how to raise us using books.

We had to be breast-fed once every two hours, regardless of whether it was day or night.

When we were unwilling to drink from her nipples,

But at times, we'd refuse to drink any milk at all and simply kept crying.

Not knowing what to do,

do was to keep caressing our backs all night.

That wore her out in the blink of an eye...

It's all fine.

And due to that, she picked up the ability to fall asleep as soon as she closed her eyes.

Mom.

What?

The biggest problem was when we got sick.

Yuki?

Yuki?

Yuki!

She didn't know whether to take us to the pediatrics or the vets.

My kid accidentally ate some desiccant.

She's two years old.

Yes, she threw up.

There was no blood mixed in.

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