Tell Me a Story
(scene of Meiko and Rin walking down the street)
Meiko: So, why are we out here again, Rin?
Rin: If I recall correctly, it'll be Miku's birthday in a few weeks. Last year, neither of us got her presents, so I was hoping we could somehow make it up to her.
Meiko: You might want to be careful about that.
Rin: What do you mean?
Meiko: Well, in a way, this situation reminds me of an old folktale I heard… (fade to white)
(fade from white to slideshow of old folktale)
Meiko: (offscreen) There once was a girl named Tokoyo, the daughter of a distinguished samurai named Oribe Shima. Shima had displeased the then-sick emperor, was subsequently banished from the kingdom, so he had to set up home on a group of islands called the Oki Islands, away from his daughter. Both he and Tokoyo were miserable at being separated, and she became determined to find him. She sold all her belongings and set out for a place called Akasaki, just off the coast from the Oki Islands. Although she asked the fishermen to ferry her there, they all refused, since it was forbidden to visit anyone banished there.
One night, she took a boat and sailed to the islands herself. She spent the night on the beach. The next morning while searching for her father, she encountered a fisherman, whom she asked about her father. The fisherman said he knew nothing, and warned her not to ask anyone else about his whereabouts. Therefore, she had to eavesdrop on people's conversations, rather than simply asking them directly. Unfortunately, Tokoyo could not gather any useful information this way.
On one evening, she came upon a shrine of Buddha, and after praying to him, collapsed and fell asleep. She was awoken by the sound of someone crying, and looked up to see a priest leading a young girl to the edge of a cliff. He would've pushed her off the edge if not for Tokoyo's intervention. The priest said he was going to sacrifice the girl in order to appease the god Okuninushi, who demanded the annual sacrifice of a—(cut to Meiko and Rin walking down the street)
Rin: Excuse me, but what does any of that have to do with getting Miku a present?
Meiko: I'm getting to that. Sheesh. (fade to white)
(fade from white to slideshow of old folktale)
Meiko: (offscreen) Now, as I was saying, the god Okuninushi demanded the annual sacrifice of a young girl. Tokoyo offered to take the girl's place, distraught from not finding her father. After praying to Buddha again, she dived down into the ocean with a dagger in her teeth.
At the bottom of the ocean, Tokoyo found a huge cave with a statue of the emperor who banished her father, and she immediately decided to destroy it. But after thinking about it again, she tied it to herself and began to swim back up with it. Before she could leave the cave, a serpentine creature (not Okuninushi, but something else) confronted her. Devoid of fear, Tokoyo first stabbed it in the eye, blinding it, then relentlessly attacked until she finally killed it. When she arrived at the shore, the priest and girl carried her to town. Word of her heroic deed spread everywhere, and the emperor's unknown ailment suddenly disappeared. He realized that Tokoyo must have released him from a curse, because of what she did to the statue. He ordered the release of Oribe Shima, who happily returned with her daughter to their home town. (fade to white)
(fade from white to Meiko and Rin approaching a party store)
Rin: I still don't get it. (Rin and Meiko stop walking, then pause)
(cut to inside of party store; Meiko repeatedly beats Rin over the head with two books1 while other customers look on)
1 One of the books is titled "Disillusion". The other is titled "Stop Hitting Yourself!"