Random Curiosity

Summary:

When Tsukushi returns to the hospital, she finds that Tsukasa is already gone from his room. It seems that he’s left the hospital already, so Rui drives Tsukushi back to the Doumyouji home. Along the way, Rui wonders if she’s going to buy flowers, but Tsukushi says hana yori dango (dumplings rather than flowers) about Tsukasa. Hearing this, Rui suggests that Tsukasa’s dumpling is Tsukushi. Upon arriving at the Tsukasa’s home and going to his room, Tsukushi is surprised to find Umi already there. Tsukasa doesn’t take kindly to Tsukushi having come to his home and tells her to leave because he still thinks that she’s Rui’s girlfriend. This gets Tsukushi pissed off enough to start yelling at him until Umi interrupts them. Privately, Umi tells Tsukushi not to come here again because her irritating Tsukasa is interfering with the recovery of his memory. She thinks that Tsukasa will remember soon and asks Tsukushi to leave this to her. Umi then brings Tsukasa his tea, but he would rather have those cookies again. Tsukushi is shocked to find out that Umi is pretending to be responsible for the cookies, but she doesn’t say anything to refute it and instead starts crying. She finally leaves after throwing her Saturn necklace at Tsukasa.

After hearing from Tsukushi about what happened, Yuuki wants to go give Umi a piece of her mind, but Tsukushi stops her. Tsukushi had felt that even if he lost his memory, Tsukasa would choose her, but she knows now that it was wrong to think so conceitedly. Back at the Doumyouji mansion, Tsukasa can’t help but think about how Tsukushi had been angry and crying. Umi herself starts crying about how he’s concerned for Tsukushi and confesses that she likes him. Tsukushi meanwhile ends up returning home, but she gets a phone call from Rui inviting her to a ski resort courtesy of Akira. He reminds her that she won’t lose even if she’s stepped on because she’s Tsukushi the weed. She ends up going, but Tsukasa also shows up with Umi in tow. When Tsukushi encounters Umi in the hot springs later, Umi reports that Tsukasa hasn’t remembered Tsukushi. She does say, however, that he’s considerably more cheerful now. Umi also decides to declare to Tsukushi that she likes Tsukasa. Outside, Soujirou and Akira are considering what to do about Umi, but Rui doesn’t believe that Umi will end up with Tsukasa because Tsukasa is like a wild animal and Tsukushi won’t be surpassed by Umi. He feels that the bond between Tsukasa and Tsukushi is stronger than how they feel.

After her bath, Tsukushi runs into Tsukasa in the hotel lobby, and he surprisingly asks her why she hasn’t shown herself around him lately. After she points out that he was the one who didn’t want her around, he then asks if she knows something. Tsukushi admits that she does know, but she feels that it won’t have meaning unless Tsukasa finds out himself. She remains on Tsukasa’s mind and he continues to hold on to the Saturn necklace when Umi brings him a new batch of cookies. As soon as he bites down, Tsukasa realizes that the taste is wrong and he angrily throws away the entire box. He now knows that she lied because she didn’t make the original cookies. This causes her to question if he remembers everything now, and although he hasn’t, he’s figured out that she has nothing to do with him. Umi calls him cruel and then runs out, but Tsukasa doesn’t even give her another look and instead focuses on the Saturn necklace in his hand. At that time, Tsukushi is searching for Yuuki and runs into Umi in the lobby. After thinking for a moment, Umi tells Tsukushi that Yuuki went to the restaurant at the top of the mountain to get something she left behind. Concerned for her friend, Tsukushi rushes out into the snowstorm outside. In actuality, Yuuki had been in the hot springs, and when she shows up for dinner by herself, Rui becomes worried about what happened to Tsukushi.

Realizing that Tsukushi must have gone out, Rui and Yuuki confront Umi, and she admits what she did. When Tsukasa comes to see what’s going on, Yuuki tells him that Tsukushi may have had an accident. Noticing the big snowstorm outside, Tsukasa springs to action and rushes outside to a snowmobile. Akira is surprised to see Tsukasa act like this since he was supposed to have forgotten Tsukushi, but Rui feels that it’s Tsukasa’s instinct to go save her. By now, Tsukushi has collapsed in the snow somewhere in the woods and thinks about how she doesn’t want to die because she still has her dreams: she still has to become a lawyer and make her family happy, and she also wants to put on a wedding dress. Tsukushi is awakened from the visions of her future self when she hears Tsukasa calling out to her. His snowmobile is out of gas, so he carries her to a nearby cabin in the woods. The authorities and media have been notified of them being missing, and Kaede is frustrated again after watching the news report. She becomes shocked when Ken suddenly comes into her office and reveals that he confessed everything to Tsukasa after he was found out. Back then, when he had begged for Tsukasa’s forgiveness, Tsukasa had inquired about the well being of Ken’s wife and children. Tsukasa had actually been really glad that Ken was still alive and had cried as a result. Because of this, Ken sees Tsukasa as a man who stands at the top of the group and pleads with Kaede to send a special rescue force.

Inside the cabin, Tsukasa gives the shivering Tsukushi his coat and then starts a fire in the fireplace. Before falling asleep, Tsukushi is relieved to hear that Umi lied and Yuuki is actually okay. She wakes up again sometime later and asks Tsukasa if he remembered everything. When he tells her that he hadn’t, she questions why he saved her. Tsukasa isn’t so sure himself and admits that his body acted on its own when he found out that something happened to her. He then collapses and Tsukushi realizes that he’s got a high fever. She manages to finds some medicine for him, feeds it to him, and then covers him up. Because Tsukasa wonders if she’s not cold too, Tsukushi says that she’s okay because she’s used to the cold as a poor person. She also calls herself Tsukushi the weed, and this reminds Tsukasa of something like this happening before. He remembers that he waited and waited in the rain and they had been later confined to a place they couldn’t run away from. He had gotten a cold back then and she had made him take some medicine before they had spent the night together. He recalls now that the woman he fell in love for the first time was Tsukushi - she’s his destined woman. Tsukushi is in tears over how he finally remembered and is even happier that he kept the Saturn necklace. He struggles back up to put the necklace back around her neck and says that they are a fated union. Because of all this, Tsukushi can’t help but cry tears of joy as Tsukasa holds her in his arms.

The next morning, Tsukushi and Tsukasa are discovered and rescued by a search party. When the news reaches the ski resort, Umi can’t help but feel bad and apologize. Rui, however, tells her that she won’t be forgiven even if she cries - as long as she isn’t sincerely reborn, no one will forgive her. Tsukushi eventually returns home to her parents and finds a celebration awaiting her. The reason seems to be because the newspaper is running an article about the countdown to the engagement announcement of the woman who helped Tsukasa - in other words, her. What’s more, the president of the company that Tsukushi’s father used to work for now wants him back because he saw the article. Everyone is excited that they can return to the company housing, but Tsukushi first notices that there’s another article of interest on the back of the newspaper. It involves the old man she talked to before Tsukasa lost his memory who seems to have made a big invention using nanotechnology. In fact, at that time, the old man Tooyama is in talks with Kaede about their companies cooperating together. He tells her that if the talk about the marriage is true, then he wants to help Tsukasa. Tsubaki comes into the meeting to explain to her mother that Tsukushi is Mr. Tooyama’s benefactor, and Tooyama himself even goes as far as to suggest that Tsukushi is perhaps the Doumyouji Group’s savior.

Under pressure from Tsubaki to accept Tsukushi and Tsukasa, Kaede tells Tsukasa the following day that she’s entrusting the company to him. She’s officially naming him as the successor, but Tsukasa has a condition first: he wants Nishida as his secretary. He says that he’s not a stupid manager who would leave a competent secretary fired, and after Tsukasa walks away, Kaede smiles. Tsukasa then goes home and asks his sister for help in going to New York to settle business with Shigeru’s family. He knows that Tsukushi has been blaming herself for the failed merger, so he wants to make her feel better by getting it worked out again. Tsukushi meanwhile is helping her parents pack up and is looking forward to her graduation ceremony tomorrow when her father comes in with a large package from Tsukasa. In it is a red dress for the prom, and Tsukushi’s mother couldn’t be prouder of her. The day of graduation soon arrives, but Tsukushi’s family’s van gets stuck in the mud on the way there. Although they get out to try to push, the family can’t move the car. It’s not until Umi shows up to help push that they get the car out of the mud. The two girls laugh when they get their clothes dirty, and as the van drives away, Umi apologizes for everything she did to Tsukushi, allowing the girls to part on friendly terms.

Tsukushi ends up missing the graduation ceremony and is noticeably absent still from the prom as Rui, Soujirou, and Akira wait for her. Many familiar faces show up to the Nippon Budoukan, including Shizuka, Sakurako, and even Shigeru with Tsukasa, but Tsukushi is at that moment stuck because the van ran out of gas. With the encouragement of her mother, she runs on foot towards where the prom is being held, and she happens to encounter Kaede and Nishida along the way. Kaede comments on how she’s dirty as usual, but she also tells Tsukushi to get into the waiting car. An excited Tama explains to Tsukushi that Kaede has accepted her, so Tsukushi goes over to thank Kaede. As her car drives away, Kaede smiles and waves out the window. Unfortunately, despite the ride, Tsukushi doesn’t arrive at the prom until its dark, and the sign is already being taken down. Unable to believe that it’s already over, Tsukushi rushes inside and finds herself in a dark auditorium with a single spotlight. Tsukasa appears in the light and yells at her for being late and not wearing the red dress. Tsukushi had forgotten about it and tries to justify it by saying that dresses don’t suit her because she’s Tsukushi the weed.

After a moment of silence, Tsukasa announces that he has something he wants to tell her. That something is a marriage proposal, and he once again holds out his hand to her. After she slowly approaches him, he feels that despite all the bad experiences, he still wants to be with her. Saying that it can’t be helped, Tsukushi takes his hand. To her surprise, he then sweeps her off her feet and the lights to the auditorium turn on to reveal thousands of cheering people. Tsukasa explains that he had asked them all to wait after the prom was over because he was making a proposal. With all of her friends are here to congratulate her, Tsukushi can hardly believe what’s happening. She then dances with Tsukasa while everyone watches on, and she also gets to dance with Akira, Soujirou and Rui. Outside the arena, Kaede tells Nishida that she’s not going in, but she tells him that if he wants to go, he should. After Nishida excuses himself, Kaede can’t help but smile again. Sometime after the party, Tsukasa arrives at the Makino home to ask Tsukushi’s father for Tsukushi’s hand in marriage, but he screws it up and asks her father to marry him instead, much to everyone’s amusement.

Describing the members of the F4, Tsukushi starts with Akira who is the most adult and the nicest. She feels that Soujirou is the biggest playboy, but he’s also the most pure. He would always give you a push so that you can live according to your desires. Rui was her first love, the person who always helped her, and the person who understood her the best. She really wants to thank him a lot. That leaves just her destined person, Doumyouji Tsukasa. From now on, she’ll be, for a long long long time, together with him. When she goes out on a date with him at their normal meeting spot, he’s angry that she’s late again. She responds by grabbing him by the scarf, pulling him in, and kissing him.

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Well I think this is as happy an ending as I could have hoped for. It was certainly a lot more conclusive than the ending of the first series. I had read last week that the finale got filmed with 11,500 extras, so I had been expecting something like that arena scene to happen. It was good to see everyone gathered for the finale and Tsukasa’s marriage proposal, though it was a little frustrating that they saved the kiss for the very last 30 seconds of the episode. They should have also kissed (they were so close!) during the cabin scene and maybe while Tsukasa was holding Tsukushi in the arena too. But I guess all’s well that ends well.
My hatred for Umi continued even as they tried to redeem her character a little at the end, whereas Kaede actually started not looking so bad in comparison. It still felt awkward to see Kaede smile like that, but it wasn’t that bad. The person I feel the most sorry for is still Rui, who didn’t get the girl despite all he did for her. He gave away his violin at the end, so maybe that’s a sign that he’s moving on.

Final Thoughts: Overall, I think this season started out well, but the middle few episodes felt very frustrating because of how Tsukushi and Tsukasa just couldn’t get together for whatever reason. The most important thing for me is that it ended with Tsukasa and Tsukushi finally clear of all obstacles in their relationship, and this time they aren’t on opposite sides of the world. In any case, I’m really glad I watched both Hana Yori Dango series because they’ve been thoroughly entertaining. Although I would like to see more about Rui and maybe Soujirou and Yuuki, I think they’ve exhausted most of the story, so I can’t see them making a third series. Still, I can imagine the possibility of a wedding special or something…