Original subtitles

ORIGINAL WORK BY YUKI MIDORIKAWA

Huh?

What was that sound just now?

Sorry.

I'm really sorry.

Have you seen our ball?

You who would protect us, reveal his name.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for giving me back my name.

Please accept this as a token of my appreciation.

These are ashes from a 300-year-old cherry blossom tree that once stood on

the sacred Mount Senba, and which was struck by lightning.

If you use this in pottery,

your tea utensils and sake cups will take on the scent of cherry blossoms.

What?

If you make it into a vase,

the flowers in it will live for 30 days.

I'm grateful but I can't accept…

I must be off. Please take care of yourself.

Wait!

What about this?

I have seen strange things from time to time, ever since I was a child.

I think that these things that others cannot see

are a type of so-called yokai.

Ashes as a token of gratitude? That sounds like a fairy tale.

So there are polite ayakashi out there too.

You are right.

All I did was return something to him that was his.

And it feels a bit weird

to needlessly receive a gift from an ayakashi.

Oh, I just remembered, Natsume. I have something for you.

What the heck is this?

It's clay for pottery.

Tanuma's dad had some left over

from an event. So he gave it to me.

You're going to make some sake cups or a decanter?

No way. But I thought I could pull off a small vase.

I guess I'll practice shaping it without the ashes first.

Damn it!

If only I didn't have these cute paws!

A sake decanter, a sake decanter.

I might be no good at this.

Give it to me. I'll make a sake bottle.

Be my guest.

Only if I had a sample to look at.

Ugh, It's no use. These nails…

I can't do it.

How do you make a sake bottle out of pottery?

-I did it! -What?

What the heck is this?

It's you, Master Kitty Cat.

You idiot!

-This isn't a game! -I'm sorry.

We're here!

Way, hey, hey.

No….!

The ashes have scattered everywhere!

Is there anything here?

No, I can't see.

There's no way we can collect that.

I'm so sorry, Lord Natsume.

We started drinking in the afternoon in the warmth of the mild spring

weather and ended up making a rambunctious entrance. Apologies.

Don't worry about it.

I was never going to use it in any case.

My most sincere thanks.

As expected of Lord Natsume.

-You are so very magnanimous! -And I'm an ignoramus.

Damn it! I'll never get to drink that cherry blossom flavored sake now.

No need to fret Madara.

How about a small cup of sake as an apology?

Cheers, big ears!

-Hey… -Maybe just one cup.

…it's almost time for dinner, Master.

-I guess there's nothing I can do. -Hey, hey, hey.

Tomorrow, I'll buy you some of Nanatsujiya's new dumplings.

What? That's enough from you all. Go home.

Oh, you're a testy one.

Be fair, my hairy friend.

Just have one cup.

Go on, scram. I'm going to go

eat new dumplings!

NANATSUJIYA

…So that's why

I couldn't make anything with the ashes.

I'm sorry to have wasted the clay.

Don't worry about it.

Those yokai don't leave you alone, huh?

Was it the same for your grandmother who said she could see them too?

I'm not sure.

I think she had a lot of interactions with the yokai.

My grandmother Reiko was said to have great magical powers.

She sought out many monsters, challenging them to fights

and defeating them.

As proof of her victory she had them write their names on paper, collecting them

in the Book of Friends, a collection of contracts binding the listed to the owner.

After inheriting the book,

yokai now visit sometimes and I return their names to them.

-I'm home. -Welcome back.

I'm here too.

Is that you, Tanuma? Come in, come in.

Ms. Touko,

what's wrong?

A 500 yen coin rolled under the cabinet.

Maybe you can fish it out with a ruler?

You're right, could I leave it to you?

Oh, there it is. Maybe it was stuck behind something.

What do you make

of what happened with the 500 yen coin?

Something may have found its way into the house.

Hey, Master Kitty Cat, you're supposed to ward off such things, right?

But I am a free-spirit.

Huh? I just felt something prickly.

It's a drawing pin.

A drawing pin?!

-Is your cushion okay, Tanuma? -What about you, Natsume?

Hey, why aren't you worried about me too?

There's nothing under our cushions.

I wonder if someone is out to get you, Master.

With a drawing pin?

Look at this, Natsume!

That's weird. I was sure I put them away.

Earlier,

I felt like I saw someone push the coin out from behind the cabinet.

I just saw something looking at me!

There's nothing there.

But our eyes met. Maybe it was a mouse or something?

Yeah, that must be it. I guess it isn't a yokai.

Huh?

The little version of Master Kitty Cat that I made is gone.

I wonder if the mouse rolled it away somewhere?

Maybe it did.

That's a little unfortunate. I wanted to see it.

I actually kind of liked that mini model of Master.

I had a weird dream that night.

Despite lying down, my body felt strangely light.

And it felt like my legs and arms didn't belong to me.

Then, before I knew it, a man with a really sad look on his face

was staring at me.

I was incredibly surprised.

I didn't care about how I looked

and I wasn't even a bit sad.

I wanted to let the man know that.

But I couldn't open my mouth to do it.

I guess it was a dream.

Good morning, Master Kitty Cat.

Woah, so tiny!

Wait!

What happened just now?

It couldn't be the clay model I made… could it?

I presume it had some of the ashes on it when you made it.

Something may have possessed that doll

when it ceased to be part of this world.

Possessed?

It must be a yorishiro.

It's the same way as how I occupied this lucky cat vessel,

and now everyone can see me.

Can that really happen?

It was just a clay doll.

I think that your strong magical powers must have had some effect.

Just like Reiko, you involuntarily

cause things to happen.

‎Yorishiro…

I wonder what could have possessed

the mini version of Master.

H… Hey, wait!

After that, I started to see

the Mini-Master in our house from time to time.

Such as inside a drawer,

or sitting on top of the beams.

He would also sit on the edge of Master's cushion.

I thought that I should probably try to catch him,

but I started to find him cute.

That's called a pendulum clock you know.

It looks like he nodded just now.

-Good mornin-- -Oh my…

What happened?

Oh, good morning, Takashi. Well, you see,

I thought that I saw a mouse.

Did it do something bad?

No, nothing at all.

So maybe I am just imagining things.

Oh, wait, I just remembered something.

One of my wooden tea cups went missing yesterday.

I don't use it so I was actually

thinking about putting it in storage.

Well, if Tanuma can see it

then it makes sense that Touko can see it too.

But maybe…

it's about time to start hunting for mice.

Don't go too hard on him now, Master.

Huh? There it is!

M… Mini-Master?

Wait, be quiet.

He is thanking you for the hospitality.

You know what he is saying, Master?

He's communicating with me through thoughts.

He's really something.

He says he's terribly sorry to impose but he would like you to give him

this vessel and one of your wooden tea cups.

I don't mind about the clay vessel but the cup is a bit much.

I am in your debt. I must be going now.

Wait!

Hey!

There he is!

What does he plan to use the tea cup for?

How far is he going?

Master…

Yes,

I get a bad feeling from this place.

-Keep your guard up. -Got it.

What's more, we've lost sight of Mini-Master.

Being so small and made out of clay, he'd be toast if something attacked him.

Something's coming!

Beware of my prey.

Mi-mini…?

Huh?

Master Kitty Cat and Mini-Master!

What are you, Mini?

My name is Jozan Souhou.

Originally, I was a fragment from a statue of a Buddha

on the upper stream of the Akaishi River.

But I became mixed in with the soil, got carried away

and ended up becoming a piece of pottery.

You're a part of a Buddha statue?

By chance, I was placed in a small shrine

but my form broke in a small accident.

As a result, I couldn't return to my vessel.

I didn't have the power to merge back into my original form.

I floated around aimlessly for a while as a soul,

but then I flew past a window by chance

where I saw an odd object inside that I thought

I could occupy for a while.

This was that vessel.

After I possessed it, I noticed I could do many things.

Once I got used to it, I was able to move about.

I thought that in this vessel I could return to where my original form lies.

That's what he is saying.

What was that yokai from before?

It seems that the shrine where his original form was placed

is located nearby.

There is an evil and mysterious presence in the area

so before leaving this place for a time,

he came here in order to get rid of that presence.

So that was his idea.

He wanted this place to be peaceful after he left.

He has a crack in his arm.

Mini-Master!

It seems as though there is another one.

Wait, Mini-Master.

Hey, Natsume.

He can't do anything with his arm the way it is.

A shrine? Is that where his true form is?

There he is.

Wait, Mini-Master!

You have a crack in your right arm.

If we don't patch it up, you will break.

This is tougher than I thought.

What did you expect? You're working on something very small.

There was a pendulum clock in the shrine's chief priest's home too.

I used to love watching it go tick-tock.

But then it broke and it stopped moving.

But the chief priest didn't throw it away.

Instead he hung it on a pillar.

He really is a strange fellow.

What kind of vessel did you used to occupy Mini-Master?

-A bird. -Oh.

A small white bird with beautiful wings.

Because I was an ornament I wasn't able to fly,

but I also thought there were benefits to not being able to move too.

But if I really was a bird,

I guess I would have been able to avoid disaster.

And in that case…

In that case…

It's close!

But where? Where will it come from?

Mini-Master!

I'm going to break this.

I must destroy it!

Let go of Mini-Master!

Natsume, be careful. He's tough!

It's no use. Mini-Master!

When the clay vessel breaks,

where will Mini-Master go?

Even though he could go back to where he's from,

where will he go?

We're sorry.

We hit the bird that we know you really cared about.

We're really sorry.

Thank you for being honest.

It's fine. It's fine.

All things have a natural life.

We don't know when it will end, but it happened to be today.

I'm sorry.

It's my fault for putting it on the windowsill.

I'm so sorry.

Even though he said it himself,

that objects have a natural life.

If he was a real bird,

I wonder if he would've been able to avoid disaster?

If he had,

maybe he would've escaped without causing anyone to be sad.

Apparently, you're a weakling.

I saw a pendulum clock working for the first time in a while.

Although I enjoyed it, I realized that

I liked the look of that stopped clock.

I miss things that don't move.

Are humans having an impact on me?

What a pain.

I tried to patch it up.

He just needs this vessel until he gets to his original form.

I'm sure it will be fine.

This teacup is a parting gift.

I will apologize to Touko on your behalf.

It was just a simple clay piece I made as a joke.

And yet even still,

the wooden tea cup that we placed Mini-Master into

mysteriously travelled upstream.

I'm sure that Mini-Master

will safely return to where he needs to get to.

What's gotten into you?

It's nothing, nothing at all.

NEXT TIME ON NATSUME'S BOOK OF FRIENDS

I'm so excited.

Takashi is going to make us a flower bed.

It felt like I'd seen it before. It took me back.

That's no way to treat a cat!

It's time to celebrate.

We should celebrate ourselves. The house and garden too.

Subtitle translation by: Shane Forde