Riverside Mukolitta Ending Explained [SPOILER!]

SPOILER ALERT: the following article contains massive spoilers, including the ending. If you have not yet seen the movie, proceed at your own risk, or better, come back to this article later!

SPOILERS AHEAD

Riverside Mukolitta Plot Summary and Synopsis

Takeshi Yamada arrives in a small village in the Hokuriku region. There, he begins to work at a small factory which makes shiokara (salted fish paste). Through the introduction of the CEO of the factory, he begins to live in at an old and cheap apartment building. One day, his apartment building neighbor Kozo Shimada visits Takeshi and asks to take a bath in his bathroom. Since then, Takeshi begins to make relations with the residents at the apartment building and he becomes friends with Kozo. Later, Kozo learns the secret on why Takeshi came to the village.

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).