#I find it interesting how pure sensory information usually makes it into their MVs

[waiting-on-a-dream]

𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 (𝐊𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢 𝐀𝐤𝐚𝐧𝐞'𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝟑 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐚)

Akane: You look like shit.

Haruto: You could say that.

Akane: What? Is being a guard too stressful for you?

Haruto: Its stressful, but nothing I can't handle.

Akane: Sure.

Haruto: Anyway, Ichi-kun says he can hear his victim crying all across the prison, so I was wondering if its the same for you?

Akane: No, I haven't heard anything from him since his first day here. He doesn't bother yelling until he sees me anyway.

Haruto: I see. Speaking of Ichiro, you've been getting along well with him lately. That's good.

Akane: Uh, yeah.

Haruto: What brought this change about? You struck me as the type to look out for yourself.

Akane: Ah, I dunno. He just started following me around one day. I didn't mind, so I let him.

Haruto: How do you feel about him?

Akane: What kind of question is that?

Haruto: Just curious.

Akane: Uh. I guess he's cute in a way. I wouldn't want him to get hurt.

Haruto: Could you say the same about yourself?

Akane: Huh?

Haruto: How do you feel about yourself?

Akane: Well, I'm...me?

Haruto: You would do anything to protect yourself, right?

Akane: I guess...? What are you trying to get at?

Haruto: Your motive for your crime.

Akane: I already told you, my father was a useless drunk.

Haruto: I always thought you killed out of self-defense, but was that really the case?

Akane: Does this mean you're voting me guilty?

Haruto: Were you in danger when you killed him?

Akane: O-Oi!

Haruto: Answer the question.

Akane: I was really angry, okay?

Haruto: Why, what did he do?

Akane: I just received my paycheck for the month and he asked for half of it.

Haruto: Was that the first time he did that?

Akane: No.

Haruto: So shouldn't you be used to it?

Akane: I HAD ENOUGH OF HIS SHIT, OKAY?!!

Haruto: What about that day in particular made you kill him?

Akane: It- It just happened. I was really angry. It spilled over.

Haruto: If you could go back in time and retain all of your knowledge, would you kill him again?

Akane: I... I don't know. He's still the same piece of shit so-

Haruto: But you've changed.

Akane: I- I don't want to go back. I'm trying to be a good person. If I go back to that shitty life, I'll return to being scared and angry all the time and everything will go wrong again-

Haruto: Calm down. I'm just asking a hypothetical question.

Akane: ...Right.

[Bell rings, mechanical sounds in the back.]

Haruto: Let's see if you have any surprises for me.

Akane: I've been telling you the truth the whole time.

Haruto: Hmpf. Prisoner 002, sing your sins!

[MV description - (Don't) look at me]

"Where did it all go wrong? Probably from the start. Children tend to make their way through life blissfully unaware. If only my eyes were opened later."

The MV starts with a younger Akane walking with her back facing the camera, hand in hand with her father and mother. She smiles, looking up at her mom, and then her father. She's wearing a backpack as she walks. A school comes into view with other kids making their way in. Turns out its her first day of kindergarten.

"With a tick tock drone, time drags me along with it. Adults and children live different lives. My body isn't catching up fast enough."

The camera cuts to a teenage Akane sitting by her dining table. A closeup of the table reveals several overdue rent notices and empty beer cans. Her father lies asleep on the couch in the living room. She counts through a stack of bills in her hand. A shot of a calendar on the wall reveals that its the start of the month.

"Filial piety is a virtue. They made you, its only fair that you repay them. Screw that! At this rate, I'm starting to wish I was never born."

Akane takes out a container of leftover fried rice from the fridge and heats it up in a microwave. The calendar shows that its the seventh day of the month. There's a new bandage on her cheek. She takes half of the food onto her plate and leaves the rest on the dining table. She then retreats into her room.

"A world that keeps spinning without me. I'll curse it. Open your eyes and look at me. (Don't look at me.) Look at me. Open your eyes and see."

A montage ensues as the chorus starts. Akane attending school. Working at the café. Receiving her paycheck. Being pulled by the hair by her classmates. Walking home in the rain. Sorting through the bills. Eating ice cream in the convenience store. Getting hit across the face. The calendar is present throughout the montage at a lower opacity, pages flying off to show that three years have passed.

"You disgust me. Don't even make me look at you. What I remember about mom, I really loved her."

The song stops playing. Crickets chirp in the background. Akane and her father sit opposite each other by the dining table. He tears up slowly and says: "I loved her too."

"A world that keeps spinning without me. I'll curse it. Open your eyes and look at me. (Don't look at me.) Look at me. Open your eyes and see."

Akane stands by the sink, scrubbing the dishes. She stares blankly ahead of her. Her fist clenches harder around the sponge, squeezing out more bubbles. Back and forth. She scrubs faster and harder. Back and forth. Back and forth. Its the thirty first day of the month.

"Children lie to get out of trouble. Adults aren't so different. You disgust me. Don't even make me look at you."

Its the first day of the month. A reply of the last scene of Testimony where Akane's father takes half of her salary. She grabs the beer bottle and stalks after him. The camera switches to her point of view as she steps closer to him in the hallway. The camera cuts off before the bottle makes contact with his head.

"An unchanging testimony, I always tell the truth. All you have to do is open your eyes and look at me. (Don't look at me.)"

A teenage Akane walks with her back to the camera, carrying a backpack. She's alone this time. A school comes into view with other teenagers walking in. Turns out its her first day of high school.

┊ ⇄ ◁◁ II ▷▷ ↻ ┊

#Ichiro and Akane have a lot of montages in their MVs #I find it interesting how pure sensory information usually makes it into their MVs #as compared to Suzume's trippy ones #prisoner 002: kobayashi akane #prison guard: suzuki haruto #milgram #milgram oc #milgram project #ocgram