Summary
Heading up to apartment #305, Aki gathers her items as her mother prepares to greet their brand new neighbors. As Aki makes her way up she observes some passing children making their way to school before entering her new home.
At the time, Aki does not attend school due to something occurring at her old home. She got into a horrendous argument with her friends at school roughly two months ago, and since then she has been too afraid to return.
Placing down the box, Aki gets a call from her father. He asks how she is adjusting before assuring her that if she changes her mind she can always move back and stay with him. She barely responds, ending the call after he tells her that running away won't solve her problems- just in time for her mother to return and ask who she was speaking with. After Aki responds, she pauses before telling her that she'll be fine here. She doesn't need to deal with drama from school anymore, and her father won't be around to force her to either.
Aki feels as though she has become a burden, remarking on how her parents usually fought over her. Their relationship has been troubled lately and they decided to separate for the time being.
When their doorbell rings, Aki and her mother are surprised to see a group of neighbors have shown up. They apologize for the inconvenience and explain how they enjoy coming together in times like this, and in this time one of them happens to see Aki and she asks about her schooling. Her mother brings up that she doesn't attend it at the time, delighting the woman -whose name is revealed to be Oda- and she brings up that her daughter tutors a girl in #207 who is about Aki's age, so she can lend her a hand. Seeing no harm in this, Aki's mother agrees. Before they go the neighbors hand over a bunch of groceries as a welcome present, delighting Aki and her mother because they won't need to waste time and energy going to the store for a while.
Aki is surprised to see how genuinely kind these new neighbors are. She thinks about how catty her old neighbors had been; with their time often spent gossiping about her because of how much school she missed and the drama going on.
Finally... she can have a fresh start!
The following day Aki joins Oda's daughter and the girl from #207, Yukie, at Oda's place to study. Right away both girls take to Aki, causing her to ease into things; although she does wonder if Yukie may have a similar situation to her own as Oda joins them with snacks. Seeing how amazed Aki is by the fresh, vibrant produce, Oda explains how they have a field they take care of and how they never shop for food sources. Everyone likes being here so much that they never leave. She points out how lucky Aki was to have gotten the recently opened apartment, then assures her that she has more than enough for everyone when she sees her concern.
Here everyone is like one, big family. Everyone is more than willing to help one-another.
Being so welcome, Aki happily accepts. As her mother joins them she is delighted seeing how happy Aki has become there. Aki doesn't even bother to answer her phone when it starts to ring.
Sometime passes when Aki realizes she's getting low on notebook paper. She decides to run to the nearby store to pick some up since she has a study group planned for later, and she grabs her money to leave when suddenly, Oda and a few of the other neighbors stop her. Curious, they ask what she is doing and after Aki explains what happened, she is startled by Oda's sudden change in attitude. Oda bluntly states that Aki doesn't need to leave, because they have supplies she can use. All she has to do is ask. Aki is hardly given time to respond to this when her phone starts ringing again. But before she can answer it, Oda swipes it from her hands and smashes it on the ground. Aki is left shaken by these events as the women take off.
In this time she begins to notice other strange things that she didn't see a month ago. It seems that no matter what a person could want, the apartment complex always has it: food, clothing, stationery, even friends!
She hasn't even left once.
Later, the women from earlier attempt to locate Aki for her study group and she takes shelter behind some nearby shrubbery. Their behavior has been strange and she can't figure out what's going on. She rushes back to her apartment to hide, but she is caught off-guard when she finds a group of neighbors digging through her trash. They pick out a few things before gently chastising her for bringing in "foreign objects", like packaged pudding. They point out that if she really wanted some all she had to do was ask Sato, from #107, as she makes sweets and wouldn't have minded.
Aki can only remain frozen in spot until she notices her mother has returned. She turns to show her, only to realize that her mother has began to act like the others when she brings up quitting her job.
Now she will never have to leave. They can just stay here forever, and never have to worry about anything ever again.
Frightened, Aki runs away after locking the entrance door and she rushes straight into her bedroom. She can't understand what's happening as the neighbors ferociously bang on the door and try to open it, demanding that she come out and making threats. She retreats for another room when she hears the phone ringing and recalls how her mother never unpacked her items; so her phone is still in her things!
Aki is relieved when she pulls out the phone to see its her father on the other line and she hurriedly catches him up to speed on whats going on before begging him to come and get her. She cries and apologizes for how she behaved earlier, and she blames herself for not noticing something was wrong about this place sooner. After calming her down, her father assures her that everything will be okay and he promises they can talk everything over with her mother when he gets there.
As time passes Aki anxiously awaits for his arrival. By now the neighbors -and her mother- have stopped trying to get in and she has been given time to calm down. It's then the doorbell rings and she gets up to answer it; but to her horror, she finds that the crowd hasn't left! They're right behind him!
Slamming the door shut again, Aki locks it again as her fathers asks why she isn't letting anyone in. He can't understand why she would behave like this and push them away when they seem so nice. He asks if she doesn't like being there before admitting that knowing she was doing better as of late had made him happy. He had been so worried over her when she quit school, and she never talked about it. But it's okay now, because she doesn't need to worry about the pain from her past anymore. Prior to her calling him, he gave it a lot of thought and decided to quit his job and join her and her mother to become a family again.
Aki remains in place as she recalls the pain she has felt and she soon starts to realize that instead of lingering on this and let it control her, she can move on. She can forget about the pain and enjoy these new, wonderful things she has found.
She doesn't need to be afraid anymore...
Rising from her spot, Aki opens the door and embraces her parents. Everyone happily observes the reunited family.
Some time passes when Aki decides to write a letter to her old teacher. While they had been worried over her, she explains that she most-likely won't be returning. She has a new home now and she's very happy, and she gets the schooling she needs there. She's made new friends, and her family has become one again.
Later, two women are seen walking by the apartment complex when one remarks on how strange it is. She responds to them very friendly when she passes by, but the people from inside never show the same courtesy; in fact, she's never seen anyone who enters it leave to go to the store or anything. The other woman agrees, causing them to wonder what might go on in there.
As they walk away, a smiling Aki is shown observing them from the shadows of a curtained room.
Tropes:
- All of the Other Reindeer: Possibly the withdrawn Aki. It's implied she may have social problems or was a victim of bullying, because she had friends prior to the story, but they turned on her for some reason and it got so bad that she was too afraid to go back to school. It even led to adults near her old home to gossip.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Oda seems to be an older variant of this. She is very friendly and sweet towards residents of the apartment. She helps them in any shape or form possible. But the second that they bring up needing/wanting to leave, she turns. Fast.
- Close-Knit Community: The residents take care of each other, the adults and older children tutor the younger ones and they have gardens where they grow all their food, so there's no need to head out and buy any groceries. And they get strangely obsessive over any neighbor in the complex that wants to go outside...
- Disproportionate Retribution: How does Oda respond to Aki mentioning that she has to run to the store nearby to get a new notebook? She snatches away her phone -an item she is shown to be dependent on and wears on her neck- and smashes it in front of her.
- Gilded Cage: Woe to the person who wants to leave or get anything from outside the premises; you're guaranteed to be brow-beaten until you want to stay forever.
- It's also implied that they might even hurt or kill people wanting to leave. After telling Aki ''you are no longer needed here'' when they corner her, she is left to think about the mysterious circumstances around what happened to the prior owner of her apartment.
- Happily Ever After: Aki's parents reunite and they become a family again! Not only that but they are surrounded by loving neighbors and friends, and she got school covered so they never have to leave!
- In Yomi's closing narration, she calls this "ignorance".
- You Are Not Alone: Everyone in the apartment complex eventually learns this or is brow-beaten into thinking it. Especially Aki, who struggled adjusting because of how withdrawn she was.
