Monster

Minato begins to display unsettling signs, including cutting his own hair and returning home with only one shoe. Saori notices the changes and becomes increasingly worried about her son. The odd incidents set the tone for the unfolding mystery surrounding Minato.

One night Minato does not come home, triggering Saori's frantic search. She eventually locates him in an abandoned train tunnel, a strange and unsettling scene that deepens the mother's concern. The location hints at danger and secrecy surrounding him.

Saori questions the faculty about reports of abuse she suspects. The staff respond coldly, showing indifference as concerns are dismissed or minimized. The confrontation culminates in Mr. Hori delivering a disingenuous apology.

During the confrontation, Hori asserts that Minato is the aggressor toward Yori, shifting blame and complicating Saori's concerns. He tries to frame Minato's behavior as bullying rather than the other way around. Saori's understanding of the situation becomes more tangled.

Saori goes to Yori's house and sees a different side of Yori, who despite his own strange behavior seems fond of Minato. The visit deepens Saori's curiosity about the two boys' relationship. It hints at something hidden beneath the surface.

Hori is dismissed to protect the school's reputation, but returns days later. Minato seeks to escape him and falls down a flight of stairs in the process, an event that heightens the stakes for everyone involved. The incident intensifies Saori's sense of danger.

During a raging rainstorm, Hori visits Saori and Minato's home only to discover Minato has gone missing. The tension between family, school, and the teacher reaches a breaking point as the search begins.

The narrative shifts to Hori's perspective, noting Minato's disruptive behavior in class and his visit to Yori's house where he learns about Yori's father, Kiyotaka, an abusive alcoholic. This flashback reveals the origins of the teachers' concerns and the complexities of the boys' relationship.

Under pressure from the faculty to protect the school's reputation, Hori is pushed to resign. Journalists hound him, and his relationship ends as his girlfriend leaves him. The social fallout compounds the sense of danger surrounding Minato.

After Minato's fall in a later incident, Hori returns to confront Minato and contemplates jumping from the roof. The moment reflects his despair and the extent of the moral gray area surrounding the case.

In the rainstorm, Hori discovers a pattern in Yori's old homework that seems to spell Minato's name. This realization ties the two boys together and reframes their relationship in a chilling light.

Realizing that Minato and Yori are connected beyond ordinary friendship, Hori rushes to the Mugino household to apologize and reassure Saori that nothing is wrong with Minato. The emotional stakes escalate as he confronts the truth.

Saori and Hori search the abandoned railcar tunnel for Minato and find only a poncho, suggesting a grim fate or further danger. The moment crystallizes the sense that Minato's whereabouts remain unresolved.

A final flashback from Minato's perspective shows the boys' budding closeness turning into something deeper, with Yori protected and their plan to escape. They emerge from the railcar to run through a field, and a gate free path hints at a new beginning without wreckage.