Chapter 45 is the 45th chapter of Kodocha, the fifth chapter of the ninth book in the Tankōbon Release, and the second chapter of the seventh book in the Kanzenban and Bunkoban releases.
Summary[]
The news of Akito moving has hit Sana so hard it's induced and episode of "doll syndrome", an emotional illness she had a bout of as a seven year old. Meanwhile unbeknownst to Akito, his sister Natsumi questions if the move is happening for reasons beyond the dad's job.
Plot[]
Sana asks her mom if she looks strange, and she responds she doesn't - she's fine. Rei is thoroughly confused and concerned, and Sana suddenly gets really sleepy, and goes to take a nap.
Rei explains how at the photo shoot she wouldn't smile at all, and acted like everything was normal. He assumed at first he was joking around, but realized she wasn't. Misako explains that this happened once before when Sana was seven - she wrote about it intending for it to be included in My Daughter and I, but not only did she decide it was better left out since Sana doesn't remember it - it also still worries Misako to this day. Misako gives Rei the unedited copy of the chapter for him to read, in order to understand everything.
Misako believes it's a type of emotional sickness, and she's dubbed it "doll syndrome". One of the symptoms is that she can't emote, if she looks in the mirror, she sees herself smiling. She theorizes that the reason Sana first got doll syndrome was because she was at an age where she more thoroughly understood what being adopted meant. Exaggerating this was the fact she was in a Komawari Theater play where she played a orphan who struggled to find a permanent home. Misako pulled Sana out of the Komawari Theater temporarily in response, but she kept going to school (with Misako keeping an eye on her, unbeknownst to Sana). One day, Misako was unable to watch over Sana while at school, so Shimura took her place. She momentarily lost sight of Sana with the rush of classes being dismissed, and found her sleeping on the side of the road - and when she woke her up, she was back to normal. In total it lasted fifteen days, and they could never figure out what caused it to go away.
When Sana was filming Mizu no Yakata and Misako was called about Sana being unable to act due to finding out Akito was dating Fuka, Misako was scared her doll syndrome reemerged - however once she arrived she was happy to learn that wasn't the case. This time however, doesn't seem to be a false alarm.
Rei and Misako try and brainstorm what could have caused this new bout, and both can only think of one thing: something to do with Akito.
Rei immediately goes to pick him up, telling him Sana is sick. Once at the Kurata residence, Akito is confused since Sana looks fine - but then Misako creates a scenario that makes Sana laugh - where Akito sees her lack of facial expression in spite of laughing. He asks what's wrong, if it's some acting trick, and she doesn't know what he's talking about. Rei and Misako pull him aside and have him read the cut chapter as well, and they tell him their assumption that he might know why she's in this new bout of it.
He explains his family's plans of moving, and run with the idea that this is the root. Akito wants to help her get better, and wants to talk to Sana more. Misako insists that he can't tell her about doll syndrome, since that might upset her more.
Akito goes to talk to Sana, and Sana had fallen asleep (seemingly another symptom). Akito tries to make her emote, to no avail. She asks if his dad's changed his mind about moving at all, and he says he hasn't. Akito's going to say more on the matter, but Sana forces the subject to be dropped (confusing Akito, since she brought it up). She then talks about how she won tickets to a amusement park on a quiz show recently and that she'd like to go with him, he admits he's unsure if they can go soon since the park is far - and Sana again brings up his move, acting like he brought it up. Then she fluctuates between seemingly talking about the park (saying she wants to go, and is excited), and talking about Akito's move (telling him she doesn't want him to go). Sana hugs Akito, and Akito embraces her.
Rei comes in with some tea, leaving Akito in an awkward spot, as Sana has fallen asleep in their hug. He clarifies the situation to Rei, and decides to head home.
Meanwhile, while Akito was gone, Natsumi knows somethings up. She thinks the way their dad denied Akito's requests to stay in the country went against his morals, and tells him this. Their dad concedes, and she deduces that there's more going on here - questioning if the move has anything to do with treatment for Akito's hand. He doesn't confirm it, but also doesn't deny it - just saying he's not ready to talk about it, and not to tell Akito.
Back at the Kurata household, Shimura remembers that the day Sana's doll syndrome went away when she was seven: Sana said she was happy and that she met a foreign girl. They question what this means, why did this foreign girl have such an impact on her? What would a seven year old Sana define as foreign, blonde hair? Speaking a different language? Or maybe having blue eyes? Cut to a closeup of Naozumi's eyes, as Naozumi is told by his manager that Sana is sick.
Characters[]
Author's Notes[]
STILL CONTINUING...: "If there's anything that makes an artist happy, it's the ability to do work that you can truly be proud of (whether anyone else appreciates it or not). Unfortunately, I don't feel I've accomplished that yet...so someday, even if it's just once, I'd like to do something that makes me So I'm going feel that way... to keep trying! Of course, I could be fooling myself...maybe this is as good as it gets, and it's all downhill from here. I think that's my negative side talking...the sort of manic-depressive "Sana" side to me. By the way...the second half of Book 9 is definitely kind of...down for me. Please bear with me! (I want to talk about this more in the next sidebar...) By the way, Kodocha is published by Shueisha Publishing...so why do I get the Kodansha Publishing Award? I'm sure a lot of other people are asking the same question..."
Trivia[]
- This chapter was never adapted in the anime.