ひずみ (Strain)

For my listening activity, I listened to the song ひずみ (Strain). The song is the debut single released by the artist HARUHI as well as the ending theme song of the film "世界から猫が消えたなら (If Cats Disappeared from the World)".
The melody is sad and beautiful and HARUHI has a very unique voice. The song is a very touching piece of work. I would also highly recommend the movie, which talks about the story of a young man, who is living alone and working as a postman. One day, he is given a terminal diagnosis of brain cancer. As he despairs and wonders who will miss him when he dies, he returns home to find a doppelganger of himself, who claims to be the devil. The "devil" tells the man that if he agrees that one type of thing, chosen by the devil, will be removed from the world (as if it had never been), then the man can have another day of life instead of dying the next day. The items are removed at the end of that day, giving the man one last day ostensibly to enjoy them before they disappear from the world. The story proceeds through successive days with new things being removed each day: after phones, then movies, clocks, and finally cats. The story focuses on the way in which the world is different for the man and his backstory without the removed items. Each of these is somehow crucial to his relationships with his few friends and family: an ex-girlfriend, a best friend who only knows how to interact with others through sharing movies, an acquaintance met in Buenos Aires, and most importantly, the man's late mother, whose cat he inherited. The story is told both in real time and in a series of flashbacks, and the viewer comes to have a better understanding of the young man's relationships with family and friends, and the pain and beauty of mortality.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_Cats_Disappeared_from_the_World)

link to ひずみ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RUvUqFcsu0
link to 世界から猫が消えたなら: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8REHmnqAZwk (I couldn't find any version with good quality and subtitles)