The Sound of Waves

A postcard from Hiroshi arrives. He describes seeing his first-ever movie in a cinema—he and his friends didn’t know that the seats flipped down. Hiroshi says he hopes that one day he can take his mother to a movie, too. Shinji’s mother, crying, orders Shinji to kneel with her before their home’s prayer altar and pray for Hiroshi.

That night, after visiting the bathhouse with his mother, Shinji spies someone standing on the street looking up at the eaves of one of the nearby houses. Shinji recognizes the figure as Yasuo. Yasuo turns around and spots Shinji. Shinji smiles and waves, but Yasuo only stares back at Shinji.

The day before—unbeknownst to Shinji—Chiyoko went to see Yasuo. She told Yasuo that she had seen Shinji and Hatsue coming down the mountain, clinging to one another and in various states of undress. Now, Yasuo stands looking up at the water-drawing roster pinned to one of the buildings near the bathhouse—the roster lists whose turn it is to draw water from the small spring in town. He sees that Hatsue’s turn to draw water is tonight at two in the morning. He is determined to have his way with Hatsue.

After spotting Shinji—and purposefully ignoring him—Yasuo hurries home, where he obsesses about how Shinji managed to bed Hatsue. His animosity toward Shinji keeps him awake until it is time to sneak out of the house and head for the spring through the dark streets of town. At the stream, Yasuo waits near a tree until Hatsue comes down to the cistern carrying two water buckets. Yasuo watches as she draws water into her buckets, imagining what he is about to do to her. Yasuo is unaware that just above him, in the tree’s branches, a swarm of hornets are growing excited by the ticking of the gaudy watch Yasuo always wears. A hornet flies at Yasuo and stings him on the wrist. Yasuo shouts, alerting Hatuse to his presence. 

Hatsue greets Yasuo defensively but politely. Yasuo says he has been waiting to give her a fright. Hatsue laughs. Yasuo takes advantage of Hatsue’s naivete, rushes toward her, and grabs her by the wrist. He wonders, in the back of his mind, how Shinji managed to seduce Hatsue. Yasuo tells Hatsue that unless she wants everyone in the village to know about what she and Shinji did up on the mountain the other day, she will comply with whatever he tells her to do. Hatsue struggles and tries to escape, screaming as loudly as she can, but Yasuo will not let her go. Hatsue knows that if she is able to get away now, she can tell her father what happened—but if Yasuo succeeds in raping her, she will be far too ashamed to tell her father anything.

Yasuo wrestles Hatsue to the ground. Hatsue spits in Yasuo’s face—but this only arouses him more. As he leans down to kiss Hatsue, another hornet stings him on the back of his neck. He stands up to try to catch the hornet, and Hatsue begins to run away. Yasuo chases after her and catches her again. As he forces her down to the ground again, however, another hornet stings him on the buttocks. This time, when Yasuo leaps up, Hatsue runs away into some trees, takes hold of a large rock, and waits quietly.

Yasuo drives the hornet away and begins calling out for Hatsue. He promises he won’t do anything bad to her. As he approaches the stand of trees, Hatsue lifts the rock above her head. Yasuo asks Hatsue to drop the rock—and not to tell her father about what has happened. Hatsue agrees to keep her mouth shut as long as Yasuo draws fresh water for her and carries it all the way home. Yasuo does as Hatsue asks. When he's finished, Hatsue follows him back to her house.