Original subtitles

ORIGINAL WORK BY YUKI MIDORIKAWA

Don't you think people were looking at you strangely

because you were laughing uncontrollably?

That's not true!

I'm sure that that girl clerk at the store was smiling at me.

Positive as always, Nishimura.

See you tomorrow.

-See you. -Don't take any detours.

I could say the same to you, Nishimura. You have cram school today, right?

Hey, why did you have to remind me!

What is that bright light?

Is it some sort of string?

No, it must be…

The white dragon glided effortlessly through the sky

as it emitted fractals of light.

It then quickly disappeared over the mountains.

It was so beautiful how it sparkled.

I hope I can see it again sometime.

A dragon?

Sometimes I see it flying in the sky.

I wonder if it started living here recently.

Do you know anything about it, Master?

I have never seen it.

It's white and sparkles. And it flies slowly through the sky.

Just once, I'd love to ride a dragon like that.

The nerve of you saying that when you ride on me all the time!

Well, they do say that it's auspicious to see a dragon.

If it's that beautiful, I'd like to see it too.

Takashi, dinner is ready.

Today we are having fried shrimp.

Our luck must be in already. It's a sign!

Hey, Master. Calm down!

I want to see the dragon too!

This is how the Master and I

began looking up at the sky, searching for the white dragon.

But we could not predict

when the dragon would make an appearance.

It never appeared when I was out searching with Master Kitty-Cat.

But I would see it sparkle when randomly looking up on my own.

I'm home. Master!

You may still be able to see it from the window.

CAT SOLDIER

Wake up, Master! Master!

More, more.

NANATSUJIYA

Does it really exist?

Are you sure your brain isn't just playing tricks on you?

It's your fault for drinking.

-You missed your chan-- -You listening?

It's Chobihige.

He seems down in the dumps.

What happened, Chobi?

Lord Natsume.

It's nothing. I'm just a bit depressed.

It is not something worth bothering a human with.

Chobi…

To tell you the truth,

the beloved comb I have had

-for a long time has broken. -Comb?

I picked up a beautiful seashell on the beach long ago.

And I made a comb from it.

I need a comb so I'm using the broken piece at the moment.

Why don't I try to fix it? Maybe I can glue it together.

If it's not fixed correctly,

my delicate whiskers might get caught and be ruined.

Your whiskers?

Don't concern yourself with it. Nothing lasts forever.

It was an old comb anyway.

However, I still cannot find anything

that lights up my heart like that seashell.

It got me thinking that I may not

find something I can cherish so dearly for some time to come.

I'm sorry to bore you with my story.

Let me take my leave.

A seashell, huh?

What's up Natsume?

-You seem spaced out. -Oh, Tanuma.

I was just thinking about something.

Is it to do with…

-With yokai? -Yeah.

An ayakashi friend of mine broke a comb he really loved

that was made out of shell. He is quite depressed about it.

A comb made out of shell?

I'm sure it's very beautiful.

Yes, it was a very charming comb with various colors mixed together.

He made it from a seashell that he picked up on a beach.

Wow.

That reminds me, when I was a child,

I received an old raden box from my father.

Raden?

Yes, it was made with lacquer and had shells embedded into it.

But when I was given it, it was old

and the shells were coming off in places.

But the design looked beautiful even with the shells coming off,

so I couldn't throw it away.

I put the shell pieces inside the box,

but after that,

the box got misplaced when we moved.

I had completely forgotten about it until now,

but I was really shocked when I lost it back then.

Thinking about it now,

there was no way that I could have fixed it myself though.

Something beautiful like a seashell.

There it is again.

Is that light coming from a scale?

If I can get that scale…

It's no use. It's too far. I've no idea where it fell.

But if I follow the dragon,

I may be able to find the fallen scales.

Natsume, want to go see a movie later?

Sorry, I have something I need to do. Bye!

Having always been helped by others,

I wanted to do whatever I could for Chobi.

So this is being impacted by the exchange rate, huh?

I'm home.

-You're quite late-- -I'm beat!

I wonder if it's impossible.

What the heck were you doing, Natsume?

Aren't you just looking for a dragon?

Oh yeah, I wanted to see the dragon with Master too.

The scales that fall off of the dragon as I follow it,

shine brightly and are beautiful.

If only I could give one of those to him…

I thought it fell around here.

Lord Natsume!

That was like a knock out with a roundhouse kick.

As always, you come out of the gate with a straight right punch.

It's you two, chukyu yokai. Sorry about that.

But what are you doing here?

I could ask the same of you. Where have you been of late?

We were worried about you.

We thought you have become wrapped up in something you shouldn't be again.

We couldn't miss out on something exciting like that!

We just couldn't, no way, no doubt.

So the Dog Circle has assembled

and we decided to follow you.

You guys are here too? What for?

We're just looking for some way to pass the time.

Is Chobi here?

We invited him but he said he wasn't in the mood.

Speaking of Chobi,

he really seems out of sorts of late.

So Natsume, what are you up to?

Dragon scales?

That would certainly be auspicious

and would make a beautiful comb, no doubt.

I didn't intend to be sneaking around,

but I wanted to collect a scale.

-Then I'd gift it to Chobi as a surprise. -How silly.

How interesting! I wonder what face that stumpy guy will make.

I want to see it. So you're looking for a dragon?

Has anyone seen it?

I would really love to.

I'd like to drink a cup of sake while looking at it.

We can drink with passion as we see the dragon.

Speaking of dragons,

I heard a rumor about an elegant white dragon.

That it's flying in these skies recently.

Just as I thought.

So let's commence the Dog Circle's Dragon Scale Gathering mission!

Let's start the Dragon Scale Gathering mission!

Let's start, let's start.

I'm grateful to you guys for trying to help,

but I want to give Chobi a gift that I prepared by myself.

I want to gift things to all of you at some stage too.

Lord Natsume,

one of your powers is your ability to inspire us.

Thank you.

I hope he is right.

And that was how I began searching for the scales with the Dog Circle.

They began helping me to look for the dragon scales.

It may sound like an easy mission,

but that dragon doesn't want to make an appearance, does he?

But what is that Chobi guy

doing with such a fancy comb in the first place?

Does his mustache really need that?

I mean we have to brush you from time to time too, Master.

To prevent hair balls.

Don't you dare compare my fur to that guy's mustache!

I wonder if a dragon scale

will appear floating above a cup of sake.

That sounds like a great idea!

That would make for a splendid party.

Hey!

What? What? You haven't seen him yet today?

Is he playing hide and seek?

Ugh, I guess it's no use. I lost sight of it.

-Are you sure you saw it? -Yes.

I felt I saw the light of its tail

on the other side of that mountain.

Nothing to report, I guess?

Thank you for your efforts in any case.

However…

I couldn't find anything.

What? You say that he passed by your way just now?

He went that way.

We just missed it by a whisker yesterday too!

I can't believe this!

We didn't have any luck.

Hey, dragon, show yourself!

Come out! Come out, dragon!

Please calm down!

Show yourself right now!

Oh my.

Has something happened to you?

It's a secret.

A s-e-c-r-e-t.

How many days have I been doing this?

Is my plan a bit reckless?

There it is!

Ugh…

Wait, don't go dragon!

It looked this way for a moment.

But it didn't drop any scales today.

So a human can see that dragon?

A yokai!

How fascinating?

You almost never see that dragon take to the skies,

but now it's doing so during its molting period,

and it's shedding its old scales.

By the looks of it,

it seems it has already shed almost all its scales by now.

It takes flight only in its molting period?

Am I too late?

But…

It is an extremely rare sight to see that dragon.

You are a very lucky human.

Everyone was trying so hard

to find the dragon.

Where are you going human?

There it is!

Hey, hey, dragon!

Please let me pick up just one of your scales.

They are very, incredibly beautiful.

I want to give one to an important friend!

Having spotted me, the dragon disappeared behind the mountains.

I hurried desperately after it,

but I couldn't find the dragon or any of its scales.

You asked the dragon politely?

Are you an idiot?

I couldn't find any scales,

but I felt like the dragon shook it's body massively,

like it was telling me that it would drop a scale for me.

You must be seeing things.

Or maybe he was playing with you,

knowing that he had no more scales left to shed.

Even so, it made me happy in a way.

In the end, I didn't get to see the dragon together with you.

I need to tell everyone that they can call off the search.

-Boo! -Lord Natsume!

We gathered every piece of information that we could in town.

Someone saw something unusual

shining atop a large pine in Mitsugaura.

Twinkle-winkle-Twinkle!

It may be nothing but should we take a look?

Thanks.

-Okay, this way please. -Go, go!

Over here, over here. It's this way.

It's over there.

Should we climb up to the top Lord Natsume?

I'm going to go up there on my own if that's okay.

I want to finish this on my own.

Hang in there, Lord Natsume!

You can do it, Lord Natsume!

You can do it!

Hooray, hooray!

Show them how it is done, Natsume!

Come on, Natsume.

You can do it!

Oh my, oh my.

Oh dear, what an idiot. I can't watch him like that.

I got it!

The scale was so beautiful. I could never have done it alone.

Chobi, we all worked together to find this beautiful dragon scale for you.

Why don't you try to make a new comb with it?

I knew you were up to something,

but I didn't know it would be something so bizarre.

You believe this is beautiful, Lord Natsume?

Oh, maybe it's just something that I thought was beautiful.

After all, it's just an old scale that fell from a dragon.

It does look like it could be a good comb.

Let me give it a try.

It's that dragon!

Lord Natsume, you thought this scale was beautiful

and went to find it with everyone, for me.

Lord Natsume, I will cherish it

so very dearly.

I'm sure that it will last longer

than even the shell comb.

Wow!

I can't believe that Chobi was a white dragon!

What an unexpected turn of events!

I guess you can't judge a book by its cover.

He looks so graceful flying across the sky.

I guess that's why he had such a big head.

My respect for Lord Chobi just flew off the charts.

Yay, yay, yay!

Wow.

I wanted to show this to Tanuma too.

Can you believe this? Me and you,

we were both chasing him desperately.

How foolish of us.

In any case, we finally got to see it together.

Look at it. It's quite beautiful, isn't it?

Hey, Lord Chobi!

To be honest, I think that is a better look for you!

You look great!

NEXT TIME ON NATSUME'S BOOK OF FRIENDS

I sense something strange around this house.

They created a yokai?

You are such a slave driver, Natsume.

Matoba, do you like birds?

Please keep this a secret.

Subtitle translation by: Shane Forde