“Exhalation” is set shortly after the death of a young man named Yosuke. Naoko (Kiki Sugino) and Sayuri (Tomoe Shinohara) reunite in their small hometown to prepare for the funeral. Naoko had previously decided to set out for Tokyo on her own while Sayuri remained behind to help with her father’s restaurant. Together, the two of them talk about Yosuke and visit the mirror-adorned road in the woods where he died. They go to a stream, where they find squares of paper and a folded crane in the water, and an abandoned building where hidden truths are shared. Impulsively, Naoko decides to go back to Tokyo before the funeral, leaving each of the two women alone in their later waves of grief.