The 5th episode, which covers the 5th short story from Fujimoto centers around Nayuta, who is the child of the prophecy. Essentially, Nayuta met all the conditions that met the prophecy. Of course her father and older brother wouldn’t just let her die. After all, they are family. Even as the father died, Kenji still did everything that he could to protect Nayuta. What this episode does well is raise tension. As Nayuta can’t communicate with her brother, you can see the oppression they feel. You just wonder, at some point will Kenji throw out her brother? Even if his superior at work didn’t believe in the prophecy, it became so widespread that he couldn’t risk having Kenji working.
We see Nayuta killing various animals, and when she kills the cows, we see that the men who didn’t press against Kenji start doing that. Which makes sense since Nayuta’s behavior was affecting their bottom line. Which more than likely sees Kenji beaten off. This probably was a mercy on their end for Kenji to receive a punishment for his sister, but not to ruin him. This is the point where you wonder, can Kenji never understand Nayuta?
Though the turning point of the episode is when Nayuta sees her brother beaten. When you add the “I’m sorry.” that she writes, it leaves you perplexed about what it means. As this is the first time we see emotion on her face. Then when she sets out and starts doing what everyone was afraid of. Though in reality she did it to protect her brother, and she saw him getting hurt and wanted to help. Again, her inability to communicate was a problem for her. Though it seems she felt guilty of how much she ate. Her killing animals was trying to provide her starving brother food for himself. The simple fact Nayuta tried to learn how to write shows she does have a kind heart, but she has a different circumstance that makes the situation tougher. Though in this moment it is clear now that Kenji won’t lose his faith in Nayuta as he notices she deeply cares for him now.
It is more shown in the final scene where we see Kenji and Nayuta on the beach. Now we know this is inseparable. This is even more driven when Nayuta writes of her brother being scared of him. Of course the answer is no. A beautiful short story by Fujimoto that showed that despite how different and potentially terrifying Nayuta was to others, Kenji stuck with Nayuta. Eventually that rubbed off onto Nayuta who learned how to communicate with her brother; he did everything he could for her. Sometimes it’s best not to judge someone immediately on how they first appear to look on the outside.
