Original subtitles

"Mushi-shi"

They are kept at a distance...

Coarse and mysterious... They seem to be completely different

from the flora and fauna that are familiar to us.

This group of strange looking creatures

has inflicted fear onto humans since long past,

and have come to be called..."mushi".

"Mushi" and have come to be called..."mushi".

"Mushi"

Good morning, Sui.

Good morning, Biki.

"The Light of the Eyelid"

How are you feeling today?

Do your eyes still hurt?

Say, Biki...

Hmm?

I'll let you in on a secret.

I know... what's causing my disease.

There's a mushi...

living in there... all this time... inside my eyes.

Sui is the youngest daughter of the head family.

About a half a year ago,

she contracted a disease which made her eyes sensitive to light.

None of the eye doctors could find the cause of her strange illness,

and before they could even figure out a course of treatment,

her eyes became so sensitized that even a little light began to cause her great pain.

As a result, she was left with our family

since we have a sturdy storage shed which blocks out light.

Although it may have been for Sui's own good,

it appeared to me that she was abandoned at our house.

There's another eyelid behind my eyelid.

It's a place where outside light can never get in.

That's where the mushi live.

A second eyelid?

That's right.

Don't you know how to close your second eyelid?

Then, I'll teach you how.

Close your eyes.

Okay.

Do you see anything?

No, nothing.

Oh, but...

I do see some flickering movements within my eye.

You see? Even after you close your eyes,

your eyes are still looking at the backs of your eyelids...

so they're not really closed.

That's why, whenever I want it pitch-black,

I close my eyes again to those flickering movements.

That's when a curtain of true darkness falls.

I can't do it.

Really? You're so uncoordinated.

We play in the deep darkness.

Although I can't see anything when I first step into the shed,

after a while, the outlines of things start to gradually appear.

How can you see the ball when it's pitch black?

It's because there is a river of light running under the ground.

What?

You can see it if you close your second eyelid.

When I keep staring at true darkness...

...from afar, tiny specks of light start appearing

and they rapidly form into a river.

When I look at the light carefully, I can see that it's all made up of tiny mushi.

But when I try to go closer to get a better look...

Stop.

Don't get any closer to that river.

It's a man I've never met before.

A man with one eye is always on the other side of the river saying that to me.

That's why I just look at the river from a distance.

I...

...sometimes become uneasy.

Those things that Sui sees with her eyes closed... what on earth...

What on earth can they be?

Biki! You spend way too much time inside the storage shed.

I disposed of all the used eye bandages by burning them.

I disinfected my hands and all the eating utensils, too.

Still... there's no guarantee that you won't get infected, too.

The head family had the same fear.

That's why they abandoned Sui, right?

That's why we...

I know. You're right.

Sui's a good girl. A very good girl.

I'll just have to deal with it.

Keep supporting her so that she doesn't lose the light in her heart as well.

But please...

don't get infected with that disease like she did.

Really?

You're...

...coming here for me?

What just happened?

Don't tell me...

No...

It can't be... Mom...

Biki!

Are you still sleeping?

Biki!

Biki?

Biki?

What's wrong?

Biki...

...won't be allowed to come here any more.

He's caught your illness.

It's not... your fault.

It's our fault for taking pity on you.

Who's there? If you leave the storm door open, Biki will!

Don't worry.

I am an expert in these matters.

I applied medicine and some painkiller.

Leaving him in the dark will only make the disease progress further.

Who are you?

Oh, pardon me.

My name is Ginko. I am a mushi-shi.

I caught wind of the girl in your storage shed.

Her disease is something that can't be cured by an eye doctor,

but by a mushi-shi.

Will Biki... will my son be cured?

Oh, the mushi he has seems to be a newborn.

So treatment with medicine alone will probably be effective.

Biki...

Biki...

Biki...

I'm sorry...

I'm sorry...

I'm sorry.

Sui!

I see you're awake now.

Do your eyes still hurt?

No.

Good. The medicine worked.

The cause of Sui's illness is the Manako Yami mushi. (Manako = eye, Yami = darkness)

They multiply in darkness.

You spent too much time with Sui in the dark.

You know Sui?

He's one-eyed...

Every time I closed my second eyelid,

she was on the opposite bank of the river.

Oh?

That river of light is comprised of a different element from earthly light.

It's harmful to your eyes if you look at it too closely.

He has his other eye.

I wonder if he's a different person from the one Sui mentioned...

I'll start Sui's treatment after the sun sets.

Okay...

All right.

Sui!

You...

After I told you so many times not to go into the river!

Sui...

Sui's eyeballs are already dead.

What?

But I'll try something anyway.

If you close your second eyelid for too long,

your eyeball gets eaten by the darkness.

Well then, ready, Sui?

I'm going to lure out the mushi with the moonlight.

While keeping your second eyelid closed, slowly open your eyes.

Come out, mushi.

There's light out here.

M- mushi!?

There it is!

Sui, that's enough. Close your eyes!

That should do it.

Now... let's take a look at Sui's eyeballs...

M-mushi! There really was a mushi in Sui's eyes!

Just as I thought, her eyes are no longer functioning.

I don't know if this will work, but...

I'll give this to Sui.

Hey, you've been overreacting for a while now.

Don't freak out so much. It's a glass eye.

This is the liquid mushi that you saw earlier.

If I inject this into a glass ball, it should turn into a functioning eyeball.

Um, can I ask you something?

That river of light that you both can see...

Just what is it anyway?

Try closing your second eyelid.

Have you forgotten?

Then the path to darkness will be revealed.

Long ago, you too were watching it, just like us...

From the time a person opens his eyes to the light,

he is said to have forgotten how to close his second eyelid.

However, it was perhaps for the better to those living,

for before that time, it is said that many had lost their eyesight

from staring too much at the river of light.

The second eyelid, true darkness, alien light...

The group of infinite life forms swimming beneath our feet...

All around us became really bright and right after, we were plunged into darkness.

The ground fell out beneath me and I saw a river of light flowing way below.

It just happened for a split second

after that mushi-shi-san put the glass eye into you.

But it was so pretty and I felt as though my body was being pulled into it.

I wanted to stare at it forever.

I'm ready.

Sui came out of the shed.

She looks a lot at the trees and flowers and light.

She will probably never be lured by that strange light in the darkness again.

I wonder if that mushi-shi lost his real eye in the same way Sui did...

"The Light of the Eyelid"

"The Tender Horns" The Tender Horns

"The Tender Horns"

"Mushi-shi" "Look forward to the next episode."