Random Curiosity

Summary:

Having witnessed the kiss between Shigeru and Tsukasa, Tsukushi walks away from the meeting spot and doesn’t see Tsukasa push Shigeru onto the ground. Although Tsukasa is furious about the kiss, Shigeru just teases him as if he’s shy. She thinks that after having spent a year in America, he wouldn’t be opposed to a kiss in public, but Tsukasa tells her that they don’t have that kind of relationship. In fact, he called her here to make her understand his point of view and now wants her to go home. She pretends to leave, but actually stays and keeps watch over him to see who he’s waiting for. Meanwhile, Tsukushi goes to work, but gets paid a visit by Rui who heard about the meeting from Soujirou and Akira. Tsukushi wonders if he came just to see her, and is surprised when he says he did. Rui figures out that she went to meet Tsukasa, something was said, and she came back, but Tsukushi tells him that she actually stopped midway. What’s more, she says that her relationship with Tsukasa is already over. Rui, however, thinks that Tsukasa will wait and wonders if it’s ok for her to stand him up. Tsukushi is reminded of how Tsukasa waited in the rain for her previously, but she still doesn’t go back to their meeting place. Nevertheless, Tsukasa continues to wait there, just like Rui thought he would, until Nishida finds him and tells him that his mother is waiting for him. Nishida suggests that Tsukushi won’t show up even if he waits longer, and although Tsukasa feels that Nishida doesn’t know anything, he reluctantly leaves. Back at home, Tsukushi is trying to do her homework, but the memory of the kiss still lingers in her mind. When she suddenly hears the Imperial March ring tone of the golden cell phone, she chooses to ignore it and buries herself in bed instead. She’s surprised when a voice tells her that her cell phone is ringing and finds out that this voice belongs to Shigeru, who came bearing all sorts of good dishes for the Makino family to eat. Meanwhile, Tsukasa heads to his mother’s office and accuses her of being responsible for Tsukushi not showing up. Kaede however knows that Tsukushi did indeed come and then went home on her own volition. More importantly, Shigeru’s parents are coming to Japan next week, and Kaede sees it as an opportunity to formalize the engagement and make a big announcement to the media.

At school the next day, Tsukushi tells Soujirou and Akira about how Shigeru revealed that Tsukasa called her out and then wanted her to go home. Shigeru had ended up staying the night and had hoped to Tsukushi that they could be friends for a long time before she fell asleep. Soujirou thinks that Tsukushi should have gone to the meeting place so that Shigeru would have noticed that Tsukasa still had an attachment to Tsukushi, but Tsukushi feels that Tsukasa doesn’t have any feelings for her. She starts to bad-mouth him and doesn’t notice that he has actually arrived until he’s standing behind her. The two then get into a big fight, and Tsukushi ends up heading to her favorite spot on the stairs. Because of her angry yelling, Rui finds out that she saw the kiss and left, but he wonders aloud why Tsukasa told Shigeru to go home afterwards. After this, Tsukushi decides to stop talking about Tsukasa and instead asks Rui to help her study. The two head for the library where she tells him about wanting to become a lawyer. She confirms his suspicion that Shizuka had an influence and admits to wanting to become a person like her. When Rui reveals that Shizuka is actually coming back to Japan the week after next, Tsukushi feels that she wants to meet her. During all this, Tsukasa has left school and is having more flashbacks after seeing a homeless man, but this is interrupted when his car abruptly stops. The reason for this is because Shigeru found him and is blocking the car’s way. Since she gets in the car with him, Tsukasa gets out and tries to get away from her. When she proceeds to chase after him, he tells her that he doesn’t recognize her as his fiancée even though Shigeru tries to call it fate. Tsukasa wonders if she understands what expectations exist on the other side of this marriage, but it seems that she does indeed know that that the Doumyouji group has no future if they don’t cooperate with the Ookawahara zaibatsu. He then tells her that he doesn’t want to be with her and that he’ll think of a way to open up a future for the company. Above all, he wants his fate to be with a woman who’s not Shigeru. With what he said in mind, Shigeru visits the dango shop where Tsukushi and Yuuki work and hears Okami-san’s theory of how fate needs to be forced open. Because of this speech, Yuuki wistfully thinks about how Soujirou hasn’t called her, so Okami-san phones Akira and finds out that Soujirou is going to Akira’s place tomorrow. While Okami-san is setting things up, Shigeru asks if Tsukushi has a destined person and suggests that Rui likes her.

The next day, Tsukushi and Yuuki show up at Akira’s house and are greeted by a woman they think is his sister. As it turns out, she’s actually his mother, and he has a pair of sisters too that closely resemble her. When Soujirou shows up, he sees Yuuki and almost immediately turns back around towards the door. Running after him, Yuuki greets and passes by Tsukasa right as he’s arriving. Tsukushi also runs into Tsukasa, and by the time Rui gets there, the two of them have gone outside to talk privately. She reveals that she saw his kiss with Shigeru, but before he can explain, Tsukushi starts praising Shigeru. Not wanting to hear what Tsukasa has to say, she tells him that she can’t be friends with him after separating. She apologizes for calling him the other day and says that she won’t do it any more. With a simple “bye-bye,” Tsukushi leaves Akira’s mansion in tears. Rui sees her leave and initially chases after, but he eventually decides not to go after her this once. That night, Tsukasa opens the box containing the now-broken cookie that Tsukushi gave him way back then. Tsukushi had actually made him several more cookies in the shape of his face as a present for his most recent birthday, but she now dumps them in the trash can. Her studying is interrupted by her father’s announcement that his project at work ended in failure and he attempted to play the stock market with the company’s money. He needs their help, so Tsukushi finds herself looking for a late night second job. Yuuki warns her to be careful about her health since Tsukushi needs to study too, but Tsukushi is more interested in what happened with Soujirou. He and Yuuki had actually gone to a café the day before, but there were plenty of awkward moments in the conversation, so Yuuki has decided to join a group in learning the tea ceremony that Soujirou knows so well. Yuuki had recognized one of the women there, but couldn’t identify her. In any case, Okami-san thinks that Yuuki’s desire will force open the door of fate. Meanwhile, Tsukasa has gone to see his mother to talk about Tsukushi again, but she stops him and reminds him of the confusion he can cause with his careless words. The consequences of his actions would be a shadow descending onto the people related to their group, and it would be impossible for the company to succeed.

While walking through the streets thinking about what both his mother and Tsukushi said, Tsukasa is made fun of by a bunch of Americans, so he proceeds to beat them up. Across town, Tsukushi has taken a job directing traffic around a construction site, and finally gets off work late into the night. Returning homing, she finds Shigeru waiting in front of her apartment building, and Shigeru immediately gives her a hug. She reveals that she met with Tsukasa and he asked her to go out with him - he would make an effort to like her. Because of this, she’s now so happy that she can’t stop crying since she likes him so much. With Shigeru so emotional, Tsukushi simply congratulates her and starts to get teary-eyed herself. When Tsukushi confides all this to Yuuki and Okami-san the next day, Okami-san wonders if she’s really ok with it. She answers that she’s completely fine with it and even feels refreshed. Tsukasa also tells of what happened to the other members of the F4, and they want to know what he’s going to do about Tsukushi. He considers his relationship with her over and claims that he’s not a kid anymore. Since Tsukasa feels that he’s grown up, Rui gives him his blessing and congratulations. His own mother also congratulates him when she hears the news, though Tsukasa looks less than happy. The day of the meeting with Shigeru’s parents soon arrives, and on that day, Tsukasa takes another look at the now-broken cookie that Tsukushi made him. He finally takes a bite of it, but then throws out the entire box when Nishida comes to tell him that it’s time to go. Nishida suggests that Tsukasa not regret anything, causing Tsukasa to wonder whose ally Nishida really is. The private secretary calls himself an ally of justice, but Tsukasa doesn’t take that very well. Tsukushi meanwhile has been pushing herself with her jobs and her studies. It is on this night that she finally reaches her limit and faints on the construction site job. Tsukasa is having dinner with Shigeru and her family when Nishida passes him a note saying that Tsukushi had been taken to the Sanraku Hospital and that details are unknown. After thinking about what to do for a moment, Tsukasa excuses himself from the table and runs out, heading towards the hospital on foot.

Preview:

Well it felt like the episode didn’t really get interesting until the final 5 or 10 minutes. I actually even groaned when Flavor of Life -Ballad Version- came on even though I really like the song. Anyway, as I had suspected and feared, they’re splitting Tsukushi and Tsukasa further and further apart so that they can bring them back together in some grand fashion at a later date. I guess it’s just very frustrating that they’re doing this, particularly when both Tsukushi and Tsukasa are obviously not stating their true feelings. I also found it odd that Nishida somehow knew that Tsukushi was taken to the hospital, almost as soon as she was. Nishida in general was not a character who I thought would get much development, but this episode shows that he cares at least a little.
Next week looks like fun though. The preview shows Rui kissing Tsukushi and the return of Shizuka among other things.