Panel 2
View of Inuyasha. Something has caught his attention.
Houjou (offscreen): With the
jewel shattered, Kagome and I were bound together against our will to collect
and reassemble the pieces.
Kagome (offscreen): Ooh! It’s cold!
Panel 3
Inuyasha crouches on a bank looking down at the Kagome, who is standing naked in the river.
Panel 4
Long view: Inuyasha launches himself from the bank down toward Kagome, who has just begun to turn.
Panel 5
Close-up of the naked Kagome, in the water, reacting to Inuyasha.
Kagome: Oh! What…
Panel 6
Kagome and Inuyasha face off. He grabs her wrists; she is shocked.
Kagome: No! What…?
Inuyasha: Where is it, bitch? Where’d you hide that shard?
Panel 7
The two face off. He still holds her wrists. She is getting angry.
Kagome: No! You’ll never find it! Not where I’ve hidden it!
Inuyasha: Oh, really? Now this is getting interesting!
Panel 8
The two are nose to nose. He still has her wrists.
Inuyasha: Hmm. Has she hidden it back inside? Searching for it will be…amusing, won’t it?
Kagome: No! No! You animal! No, you mustn’t! No! No!
Page 18
Panel 1
The two embrace, kissing passionately.
Kagome: No! Oh, No! Oh, yes! Yes, yes! Oh! Oh!
Panel 2
View of Inuyasha, looking surprised. He is, in fact, still sitting on the bank.
Kagome: Osuwari.
Inuyasha: Eh?
Panel 3
As Kagome watches from the foreground (and a safe distance away), Inuyasha crashes down from the high bank to the riverside.
Panel 4
Close-up of the two. Inuyasha is scowling at a smiling Kagome.
Houjou (offscreen): We traveled together for a year, she and I, alone and with others. She never got the point. She was always happy to see me. She believed in my essential goodness.
Panel 5
Close-up of the smiling Kagome, with both Houjou-kun and Inuyasha in the background.
Houjou (offscreen): A dozen years ago, or twenty-five years ago, or 450 years ago, or before I was a baby, I watched her, on both sides of the well……as she changed…from being cheerful and vibrant…
Panel 6
Same view, but Kagome is more serious, and slightly less well-kempt.
Houjou (offscreen): …to become gradually quieter, more solemn…both of me watching her, the boy she barely acknowledged, and the boy she would not abandon…
Panel 7
View of Koinu watching Kagome, who looks faraway, in shock, her hair tangled.
Houjou (offscreen): And then it was just one of me watching. One day she stopped missing school…"Oh, good," we all said, "she’s finally getting…"
Panel 8
Extreme Close-up of the emaciated Kagome.
Houjou (offscreen): "…better."
Page 19
I am called Inuyasha Who Seeks the Shikon no Tama.
I traveled with the Lady Kagome for one year, seeking the shards of the shattered jewel.
During that year, I learned to love instant ramen.
I spent hours and days and weeks alternately arguing and making up with my girlfriend.
I developed a knack for sleeping lightly, sleeping little, or going without sleep entirely, for days at a time.
For the first time, I had a friend, and was initiated into the male pastime of talking for hours about women—when what we really wanted to be doing was screwing them.
On the other side of the well I was handed over to the care of Kagome’s little brother, and spent entire days watching old movies on television and playing video games.
In short, by the end of that amazing year I had acquired most of the skills I would eventually need to be successful in graduate school.
You understand that I lived that year on both sides of the well: hanyou on one side, Houjou on the other. During that year, Kagome's love for me burned hotter and hotter. During that year, Kagome's regard for me grew colder and colder. For my first self, that was the wonderful year, the year of my revival, the year of blooming and growth, the year of triumph.
For my current self, that was the year of disappointment, humiliation, and disillusionment.
I don't even know how I should feel about that year.
Page 20
Panel 1
View of Inuyasha, wearing his white kimono top, lying on his crimson jacket on some straw inside what appears to be a storage shed, with Shippou next to him.
Shippou: I wonder what Kagome’s doing right now.
Inuyasha: Don’t you ever give up? Just forget about Kagome!
Panel 2
Close-up profile of Shippou, looking sad.
Shippou: . . . .
Panel 3
Close-up of Inuyasha looking sad.
Inuyasha (thinking): As long as she’s alive somewhere… I couldn’t stand to have a woman die again…
Panel 4
Close-up of Inuyasha coughing blood into his hand.
Panel 5
Inuyasha looks at the blood on his hand.
Inuyasha: Looks like the poison from Sesshoumaru's claws is still in my gut. It's going to take some time for this wound to heal.
Panel 6
Inuyasha lies back on the mat.
Inuyasha: Shit . . .
Panel 7
Close-up of Koinu, age 15. He wears plaid shirt covered by a sweater covered by a heavy knit jacket. He is holding a drink from a fast food restaurant.
Koinu: (Thinking) Shit. I don’t get it. Why are we doing this?
Panel 8
Close-up of Koinu, scowling.
Koinu: (Thinking) She leaves me standing in front of the movie theater for three hours. Then she apologizes and says she had to take a makeup exam. OK, fine.
Panel 9
Close-up of Koinu.
Koinu: (Thinking) You’d think she could call, or just send somebody to tell me she wasn't coming. But OK, maybe she really did forget she had a math exam. She used to say stuff like that on the other side, too.
Page 21
Panel 2
Close-up of Koinu.
Koinu: (Thinking) Except she’s still mad at me. When I asked her out in gym class the other day, she started screaming to her friends about how nobody could love such a rude, self-centered guy. Like she wouldn’t even give me a chance…
Panel 3
Close-up of Koinu.
Koinu: (Thinking) But then after all that she said she’d go out with me anyway!
Panel 4
Close-up of Koinu.
Koinu: (Thinking) Except then she wouldn’t say a word after the movie.
Panel 5
Close-up of Koinu.
Koinu: (Thinking) Maybe she just didn’t like the movie.
Panel 6
Close-up of Koinu.
Koinu: (Thinking) Except it was Shakespeare! Kagome always acted like Shakespeare was a big deal! And it was the kind of stuff girls like! Ladies in long dresses, and everybody standing around and talking and shit.
Panel 7
Close-up of Koinu.
Koinu: (Thinking) It was kind of cool when everybody got killed at the end, though.
Panel 8
Close-up of Koinu.
Koinu: (Thinking) I guess she’s mad at me because it took me like ten years to find her.
Panel 9
Close-up of Koinu.
Koinu: (Thinking) Except, if the well was a time slip like I think it was, maybe it hasn’t been ten years. Maybe it’s only been a couple of months.
Panel 10
Close-up of Koinu.
Koinu: (Thinking) I mean, she doesn’t look ten years older. To be ten years older, she would’ve had to be like four or five years old back then, right?
Panel 11
Close-up of Koinu.
Koinu: (Thinking) Which would make sense, because I was like four when I transformed, right?
Page 22
Panel 1
Close-up of Koinu.
Koinu: (Thinking) Except I kind of remember being three, you know? Only it was like it wasn’t me. Except it was me. Wasn’t it?
Panel 2
Close-up of Koinu.
Koinu: (Thinking) Sigh. I’m really confused. Maybe I’m just making it all up.
Panel 3
Close-up of Koinu.
Koinu: (Thinking) I’ll bet I’m just making it all up. Except how could I make up Kagome?
Panel 4
Pullback of Koinu sitting in Wack Donald’s with Kagome, who is sipping a drink and looking down.
Koinu: (Thinking) I mean, she’s sitting right here with me in…in…Wack Donald’s…oh…shit…
Panel 6
Close-up of Koinu, looking shocked.
Koinu: (Thinking) I zoned out! I can’t believe it! We’re in the middle of a date, and I zoned out!
Panel 7
Close-up of Kagome, who is frowning and staring down.
Koinu: (Thinking, offscreen) Shit! Look at her! She’s going to blow...! She’s …
Panel 8
Koinu gapes at Kagome, who is still looking down.
Koinu: (Thinking). . . She’s not? She’s just…staring? Is she all right?
Page 23
Panel 1
Koinu waves hand in front of Kagome’s face
Panel 2
Koinu grins at his own hand.
Koinu: (Thinking) Hey! I finally got to do that to somebody else!
Panel 3
Koinu stares at Kagome
Koinu: (Thinking) Wow. Maybe she really is sick! I was starting to think her grandfather was making all that stuff up just to get rid of me.
Panel 4
Close-up of Koinu, looking worried.
Koinu: (Thinking) What if she caught some disease back in the past? They had different viruses and stuff back then, didn’t they?
Panel 5
Close-up of Kagome, still looking down and frowning.
Koinu: (Thinking, offscreen) What if she caught some incurable illness going back through the well to see me? Oh, man…
Panel 6
Koinu looks at Kagome
Koinu: (Thinking) Man, she’s really out of it! I’ll bet she shouldn’t even be here! I’ll bet she should be back in the hospital! I’d better snap her out of it!
Page 23
Panel 1
Close-up of Kagome, looking down.
Koinu (thinking, offscreen): Okay, stupid, just say her name! Her name’s Kagome. Ka. Go. Me. You’ve said it a million times! Kagome!
Panel 2
Close-up of Koinu, looking worried.
Koinu: (Thinking) Except…what if I made it all up? What if she thinks I’m being really familiar using her name? What if she thinks I want to…to rape her, or something?
Panel 3
Close-up of Koinu, looking emphatic.
Koinu: (Thinking) I would never rape Kagome!
Panel 4
Close-up of Koinu.
Koinu: (Thinking) I mean…I wouldn’t object to a little…consensual sex. If she wanted it…
Panel 5
Koinu looks determined, clenching his fist.
Koinu: (Thinking) Okay, I’m just going to say her name. I’m just going to say her name, like I always did. I’m going to say…
Panel 6
View of the two. Koinu is wide-eyed, full Houjou-kun; Kagome is surprised and flustered.
Koinu: (aloud) H…H…Higurashi?
Kagome: Huh?
Koinu: (thinking) Shit.
Panel 7
Inuyasha slices up some of Ryoukan’s wolves.
Inuyasha: Shit!
Panel 8
Miroku strikes some insects with his staff, while Kaede looks on.
Kaede: We can’t keep up with them!