Hana Yori Dango 2, Episode 4 Recap
Well then, no rambling here. Except maybe to show this pretty picture of Matsujun that I found on someone else's page recently.
Otherwise, I think heading STRAIGHT into the recap would be a good idea here.
We get our previouslies. Basically, I think it's outlining Makino/Tsukasa's relationship and Shigeru/Tsukasa's relationship. Then it shows where we left off on the last episode. We're back to Tsukasa running and MFH (Mother from Hell) is apologizing to Shigeru's parents. The father says something about how it's better to act outside the box in the long run and then gets up to leave. He makes the rest of the family leave and explains that what kinda talk would there be without the fiance there. And he seems kinda mad... But then what was the meaning of the "act outside the box?" Ugh, you people confuse me. MFH looks DEVASTATED. And well, a new look than unusual for this lady.
MFH looking ... weak? Devastated?
So she chucks her napkin onto a nearby chair, likely Tsukasa's. Speaking of Tsukasa, he's running into a hospital. That's... not working? Because really, what hospital has its lights off like this? He looks around and goes towards the front desk, but hey, no people there! Dude, what is up with this place? No employees either? Are they running out of money or something? Anyway, with no people there, Tsukasa looks for anyone he can. And unfortunately for the man passing, Tsukasa dashes towards him, grabbing onto his arms and asks him frantically where Makino's room is. Predicatably, the man goes "Eh?" which just has Tsukasa SCREAMING his question at the man.
We cut to MFH who's leaving the hotel with Nishida waiting by the car to open her door for her. MFH asks Nishida if he STILL cannot find him, and Nishida doesn't say a word as MFH is entering the car. As he's closing the door, he apologizes to her and I think, SLICK! He didn't say yes; he didn't say no. He did not lie to her at all. He could be apologizing for not finding him, or for being the one who caused Tsukasa to leave in the first place. Oh, you, smart aleck, you. Anyway, back to MFH. She hopes that they're not going to cancel the engagement after this to which Nishida goes "I..." (He could have confessed that he's the reason why Tsukasa left.) But no, he doesn't even get a chance to talk much before MFH starts babbling about how the Domyouji Corporation lies on this marriage. The usual.
She flips open her cell phone and we see Tsukasa's shoes running around some corner and hopping up stairs, skipping steps. As he's walking up, you hear his cell phone go off and Tsukasa stops to look at it only to see his mom had been the one calling him. He goes "Old hag" and HANGS UP ON HER! Yes! And then says outloud to "Shut the hell up." He continues on his way and once he reaches his floor, he sees someone walking. He stares at shock and goes, "Rui?"
Tsukasa surprised at the sight of Rui there.
Rui goes into the room, and greets the people there "Good evening." We hear Makino's dad greeting him, followed by her mom. Tsukasa's confused by the sudden appearance of Rui and slowly makes his way towards Makino's room. He peeks through the small gap that the unclosed door makes and watches what's going on between Rui and Makino's parents. Makino's mom apologizes for making him come out here so late and Rui tells them that it's alright. Then Makino's mom makes a comment that Rui seems to be taking care of her daughter and then her dad says that Makino always talks about him in positive ways. And, how could you NOT? It's Hanazawa RUI. Anyway, the dad holds out his hand to shake Rui's and Rui takes it. Mind you, we're looking at this from what must be Tsukasa's point of view and by this point, he sees Makino lying on the hospital bed.
Back to the father, he tells Rui that just by having him by her side, Makino's the happiest girl on Earth. Then her mom tells him to "Please take care of her for a long, long time." Um... Do they know that her and Tsukasa broke up? Because that is the ONLY way this works. Rui is almost beaming as he says "Me too, in return." Hee! I think he's pleased with their acceptance of him. It's kinda sweet.
The parents look at each other in ... something of shock and then bow to him telling him that they're counting on him. We're back to Tsukasa's point of view and he's staring at Makino again who's still unconscious. Rui bows back and Tsukasa is slowing back-stepping away from the hospital room. He walks away without a second thought and we can hear Makino's dad telling Rui to take a seat. We're back inside Makino's room and Rui is taking a seat. Rui tells them that he's glad that it's just from exhaustion. Her dad says that he's ashamed to admit that they've been counting on Makino too much. Rui asks if it's alright with them, he'd like to stay by her side for the night. Her dad's immediate reply is "Eh?" Rui kinda covers by saying that they look tired too. At first the dad doesn't seem sure of this and her mom's mouth kinda drops open. Rui assures them not to worry because he doesn't have classes the next day. HAAA! I'd so plug in a dirty joke, but it's so not appropriate right now. Anyway, the dad still isn't sure about this, but then the mom elbows him and somehow that translates into words in his head.
The mom elbowing the dad as he's thinking about what Rui has said. Hee!
The dad tells Rui that they'll take him up on his offer. They both bow to him and say "Please take good care of her" although Makino's mom sure is looking at Rui with a big grin, isn't she? They take their things and head out the door. We're back to Tsukasa who's walking slowly out of the hospital. Then back to Rui who retakes his seat and looks on at Makino. He smiles a little then reaches out to hold her hand tightly. And more of Rui smiling down at Makino... On a random note, have they been pushing his bangs more and more to the right as well? I feel like we've stopped seeing his eyes. For the left side, that was fairly normal. But now they're covering up the right side as well. @.@ At this rate, we'll stop seeing his eyes all together! It'll be like the neighbor from Home Improvement. XP And I'm making a reference that I bet not a lot of people get.
Anyway... back to the recap. We cut back to Tsukasa who's walking slowly down the street. He slumps against a fence and seems to be thinking. We turn to Shigeru who's also thinking... on top of some roof, still in her kimono and likely cold judging by the wind blowing through her hair.
Back to Tsukasa who's now at home and walks past a room that his mom is in. Immediately, she asks him where he's been and then asks whether he has any idea what he's done. He asks if they canceled the marriage, secretly hoping they did and she tells him that there's no way she's going to let that happen. She gets up from her chair and says Makino's name then follows that up with a question on if he still has feelings for her. Tsukasa walks into the room, and leans against the door, saying "So what if I do?" She turns around and asks him if he's saying that he doesn't care what happens to their company? Ugh, I get pissed when people say things like that. Can he NOT have both? Tsukasa is definitely affected by these words as we get flashbacks of MATD (man about to die) again while MFH is v-oing slightly, asking if he's saying that he doesn't care if innocent people are killed by his reckless actions. Tsukasa tells her to shut up, obviously affected (the flashbacks are gone again) and then he tells her that he's already given up on Makino and not to have him saying it so many times. He rushes to his room and he's breathing roughly. He breaks down, falls to his knees and takes a couple of ragged breathes before giving in and screams at the top of his lungs.
We see Makino's eyes flutter open and she's asking herself what happened. She realizes someone's holding her hand and we see Rui slumped against her bed, lying against one of his arms, obviously having slept in that position. He's not going to like how his back feels, I bet you. Rui has just woken up and says (IN THE GREATEST FREAKING SLEEPY VOICE I THINK I'VE EVER HEARD) "You finally woke up?" He yawns slightly, then forces himself to sit up and Makino asks if she's in the hospital. Rui says yes and explains that she collapsed while working. Then he tells her not to worry and that if she rests well, she should be able to leave that afternoon. He yawns again, covering his mouth and all Makino can say is "I see..." Rui explains that he had called her last night, while she was in the ambulance and the paramedics picked up the call.
He goes "aaah. I was surprised." Then Makino continues his little story, saying that he came immediately and Rui tells her that he had nothing better to do anyway. Heee! You know, that could be taken as an insult slightly. But whatever? She asks him whether he stayed by her side the whole night and he quickly says "Yes." She seems to be thinking this over in her head and then thanks him. He smiles back and there's a little pause before she asks him if he was holding her hand the entire time. At first, he goes "Hmm?" as though he hadn't realized himself that he was still grasping her hand until he sees it himself. Then he squeezes it a little and we see Makino really thinking now. Rui yawns a little.
We cut scenes and we're with Shigeru who's greeting Tsukasa with a "Good morning!" She scolds him, telling him that he's going to catch a cold if he sleeps there and we see Tsukasa had slept on his couch, with no blanket or anything. Gonna catch a cold that way. Anyway, she's swatting him, telling him to get up and he asks what's wrong with her. A lot of things, but I digress. Shigeru remarks that it isn't her with the problem here, it's him. I don't see how, other than the fact that he apparently sleeps without blankets. He hisses that he's sleepy and then turns over on the couch, peeved. She asks him, out right, what he was doing that made him sleepy. LOL! Dude, dirty girl. He goes "Eh?" and Shigeru repeats her question asking again what he was doing last night. Except, it wasn't exactly... in anger, more like in jest. Which is weird. Because if she was asking him what my mind is thinking, then shouldn't she not LIKE that thought? Or maybe I'm just perverted. Probably that last one.
Anyway, Shigeru reaches out and starts... tickling him. I am NOT looking at this wrong nor am I typing this wrong. She literally TICKLES him. I... There's just so much I can take. He tells her that it tickles, stupid and he's like frantically trying to twist out of her hands. And he's making this little noises as well as telling her No and whatnot. She, on the other hand, is trying to get him to speak. Um, nobody can talk when they're being tickled. Just so you know. For a second there, he goes "Ouch" in the most... strangest voice that I cannot explain. This scene has me CRACKING up like crazy. Just typing it makes me want to break down and just burst out laughing. She continues her tickling attack and he's still pleading for her to stop. And he makes another noise, that makes me wonder what the crew was doing while they were filming this. Was there some kind of BIG crowd with all the cast there to just see Matsujun make these weird noises? Heee! Oh, I can just picture it.
Back. Now it doesn't seem as much fun as he's literally screaming for her to stop. She does in fact stop, only to ask if he was seeing another woman. He's thrown a little and she talks about his actions. He doesn't seem to really understand what she's talking about which leads her to ask if he's still half asleep and moves to tickle him again. She manages to sneak in a couple of tickles before Tsukasa gets out of her grasp and shoves her against the couch as he gets up and flees far, far away from her, which is basically the other side of the room. He snaps at her to stop it, "pervert." She tells him that she doesn't think it's perverted. And he insists that it is and she comments that they're engaged. ...No comment. Shigeru rushes at him again, seeming to tickle him again and he basically grabs her by the arms and shoves her against the side of his bed, yelling "Cut it out, Monkey!" Gah, this boy is SO bloody violent, isn't he? He asks what's up with her so early, bitch? To which she says that she's neither a monkey or a bitch. Shigeru turns to look at him, kinda reminding him that she's "Shigeru, his lover, his fiancee." Well, two out of three isn't so bad.
He looks at her strangely and she asks if he's finally calmed down. He snaps at her to stop fooling around and she apologizes. No wait, she's telling HIM to apologize. Oh, I was wondering. It seemed strange for her to apologize. Anyway, she tells him to go out on a date with her after school today and that maybe she'll forgive her for last night. Mind you, she added that last part after a few seconds. I don't know why, but I get the feeling that Shigeru doesn't want to seem TOO forward sometimes. But that could just be me. Anyway, we don't get an answer from Tsukasa, instead he seems to be thinking.
We jump back to Makino who's just realized that she was supposed to have the college entrance exam that day. She sits up and Rui tries to calm her down, telling her that she has to stay in bed. But Makino's still frantic, so Rui assures her that he'll talk to the school about it for her. Awww. Nice move. You're really getting nice guy points here, Rui. She looks up at him and he continues, telling her to just worry about her health. Those words seem to comfort her and Makino tells him that he's so nice and that she had to rely on him again. She comments on how he's always there whenever she's in a mess and Rui smiles at her. He asks her if she knows why he's always there whenever she's in a mess. (Am I the only one amused that when he's posing the question, he literally says "Hanazawa Rui" like she does?) She looks at him, thinks about it for a second, then asks him "Why?" He tells her that he likes her... he thinks. LOL! I have the vague feeling that he said the same thing in the manga... but that could just be me projecting. She's surprised by this and Rui swoops in and lightly taps her on the lips... And we cut to credits. XP
I know, I know. I screencapped this for the previews. Then I screencapped it again. Is it wrong to say I'm pathetic? Because I am. I keep jumping ships and it's bad. I squee for Rui/Makino... But I squee for Tsukasa/Makino. @.@ In other news, I feel like I've seen this SAME picture... Only in an anime. The same features on the girl and boy... But it was an ANIME. I get the feeling it was "Aishiteruze Baby," but I have no idea why. I think I need to go look that up.
They sure cramped a lot of things BEFORE the credits, didn't they? We see Makino and she's telling someone that they didn't need to bring flowers and that it's a waste of money. (Well, that automatically rules out the F4.) We pull back, and no need to guess. It's her dad, arranging some flowers on a vase. He tells her that she shouldn't worry because he found the flowers by the roadside. LOL.
Makino's mom comes in and she tells Makino that once her IV drip finishes that afternoon, she can leave by tonight. She's pleased and her dad exhuberantly proclaims how great it is. Makino apologizes for making them worry and her dad tells her not to apologize and that he should be the one to apologize for always giving her trouble. He then apologizes which sets him off and he starts crying a little. That sets her mom off and she starts crying along with the dad.
I seem to be just recapping moments that were also in the preview, aren't I? But I couldn't resist. They're so cute together.
Makino tells them not to cry and asks what's wrong, that they're both acting weird. The dad avoids the question and asks Makino if Rui left first thing in the morning. Makino tells them yes, looking down slightly. Her mom goes over to her and leans in, asking if there's any hope for a relationship with him? ...I definitely think they MUST know that Tsukasa and her are over. Makino quickly goes "What?" and then tells her no, no, although she seemed a little strangled with that protest.
She flashes back to the kiss and all I can think (past the whole OMG, Rui's KISSING her) is that THIS is what a surprise kiss should look like. The kiss between Shigeru and Tsukasa looked like Tsukasa had been ready for it. Am I the ONLY one who thinks so? Anyway, Rui pulls back and Makino blinks a couple of times, obviously stunned. She looks around with her eyes and Rui asks if she was surprised, sounding surprised that she was ... surprised. Oh boy. Makino tells him that anyone would be surprised. (I'd be surprised AND ecstatic were I in this position.) Rui asks if it was wrong and he is looking so adorable with his thumbs in his pockets, and looking down at her like that. Hee! He sounds like a little boy, curious if his actions were wrong or not. She lies back into bed, pulling the covers up to her mouth, telling him "Of course it was" and how friends don't do that. Rui smiles lightly as he says, "Friends, huh?" Makino asks, "Aren't we?" and that she can't do it so suddenly, she needs time to prepare. LOL! Does that mean she wants to be kissed again by Rui? Oh dear. The fangirl in me is resisting from having to type this. All I want to do is go back and replay it over and over again. XP
Back. Rui tells her that he just felt like it and that he can't help it. LOL! I keep laughing during this episode! I think I'm going to go on record as saying this is the FUNNIEST beginning of an episode I've ever seen. (I say beginning for a reason, I might add, but you'll see as this goes on.) Anyway, Makino is just turned away from him, pondering her own thoughts. We jump into Eitoku and Soujirou is saying "So that's why you were looking after her the whole night." Rui tells him that it wasn't really looking after and they just slept together. o.O Akira goes "Slept together?" Rui must've seen where his words went wrong and verifies that he sat in a chair and slept. Akira starts to talk, saying "But even so..." but then Soujirou kinda comes in and asks Rui, "What's going on between you two?" and "Does Tsukasa know?" Rui, almost innocently, notes that Tsukasa and Makino broke up, didn't they? (I just realized that Rui keeps his napkin tucked at his neck. Heee! I didn't know people still did that.) Soujirou says that that might be true, but... Akira also starts a sentence, "Tsukasa at least still has..." But NEITHER of them finish said sentences before we hear SCREAMS in the background. Do they purposely do this to make me gag? I mean, do they need to start screaming whenever any of the F4 is seen?
Anyway, the F3 look over, in their lounge, and Akira greets Tsukasa. Tsukasa greets him back before his eyes catch Rui's while Soujirou is asking Tsukasa what's up and that it's rare to see him coming there. (Um, as I've been writing this, I've begun feeling like I'm writing up a story. Kinda. Except with my commentary and a lot sloppier, of course. But this is outta place.) Back to the recap. Tsukasa seems awkward and he dashes up the stairs and says in a strange voice that he thought he might join them for lunch. Soujirou says he sees and then Tsukasa adds in that he can't stay long though. Maybe you should've gone earlier. That might've helped.
Tsukasa sits down in the empty chair and addresses Rui. He can't seem to say what he WANTS to say and instead asks Rui what he's eating. Rui says simply that it's curry. And Tsukasa enthusiastically nods, while Soujirou comments that anyway he looks at it, it'd be curry. Tsukasa's like fidgeting as he speaks, "It might be poop that looks like curry." Ugh, appetizing. I'm sure we ALL want to eat after that comment. Rui seems to agree with my thought as he pulls off the napkin, wipes his mouth with it and then plops it onto the table. Then, Tsukasa finally asks Rui what he was doing last night. Soujirou goes "Eh?" and then Tsukasa explains why he's asking, that he had called him last night, but it wouldn't connect. *coughLIARcough*
Rui is about to tell the truth, because he sees no reason to lie when Akira cuts in asking Tsukasa how HIS thing went last night. Mind you, he was VERY obvious at trying to get Tsukasa's attention. Tsukasa's, at first, a little confused and Soujirou asks him, "Didn't you have an engagement dinner last night?" Tsukasa mixes up a word again, "yuinou" and "yuunou" to which one means skillful. He tells them that he's ALWAYS skillful, not just yesterday. While they look on in utter confusion, he tops this ALL off by saying, in English, "You know?" Then he proceeds to laugh at his OWN joke. LOL!! Oh Tsukasa, never change. Tsukasa continues CRACKING up at his own silly joke and Akira is saying, out loud, "On top of making a mistake, he made a joke and laughing over it himself." He's seriously CRACKING up, the whole smack your hand against your knee kind too and Soujirou presses his fingers against the side of his forehead and says, "He's a true idiot." Just a little.
I honestly had no idea where to plug these in, so just added it here. They basically start after Tsukasa has just sat down to the last point of the recap. I thought it'd be a nice interlude here before I go on with more pictures of Tsukasa's antics.
Tsukasa gets up from his chair and then he's talking about how he made a joke in English and that maybe he's a genius now, and how maybe he's as smart as "Shakepia." Soujirou comments on how he was close, but to make a mistake like that was really sad. Akira said that it's more painful. Tsukasa runs down the stairs towards the main hall and we see some magazine being passed from one student to another (and is apparently a magazine called "Pia." Convenient. Thanks to fruitlolita who explained this to lowly people like me. LOL. Actually, said person made a couple of notes that I'll be referencing here and there.) Tsukasa grabs said magazine and calls out to the boys to look at him and he is LITERALLY shaking with the magazine in his hands. As in Shake-pia. @.@ Tsukasa, I repeat. NEVER freaking change.
Tsukasa.. Shaking Pia. Oh boy.
Akira feels the need to AGAIN point out that Tsukasa's making a joke from a mistake. Soujirou decides to ignore that and instead asks Tsukasa why he's so hyper. Rui also wants to know and then Tsukasa tells them it's not like he's agitated or something. Boy, you SURE hid that well. Agitated? You? NEVER. As he's saying that, he just tosses the magazine on the ground and rushes back up the stairs, tripping on the thing that kept the lounge kinda off limits.
Because I don't know what it's called, I thought a picture would be so much better. Tsukasa tripping, because he's agitated.
Rui asks Tsukasa whether he met Shigeru's parents last night and Tsukasa looks like he's JUST remembering that. Rui takes Tsukasa's agitation to mean that they must've decided on the wedding date. Tsukasa wants to say no, but with his hesitation, Rui furthers that thought, asking if that's why Tsukasa's so hyper. On another note, there's this kid in the background that's just STARING at them. He seems to be on the same level, so I wonder what the heck he's doing at the lounge... But there's another part, right? Scratch that, there are MULTIPLE kids on another upper level. They're just staring at the F4 and probably trying to hear what they're saying. Anyway, back to the F4. Soujirou thinks that Rui's thought seems likely to be the reason why Tsukasa's irritated. Akira asks, "So your wedding's official now, huh?" Instead of just saying NO, Tsukasa instead decides that now is a time he wants to confront Rui. Oh look, I can see TIG (three irritating girls) just standing there and watching the F4. My GOD, these people stare a lot. It's a wonder how half of them don't just become stalkers.
Tsukasa goes face to face with Rui, who is still standing against the ledge, while Soujirou and Akira have returned to their seats. Tsukasa stands there, silent and Rui, who had previously been smiling, looks at Tsukasa in mild confusion and goes "Hm?" Tsukasa hesitates for too long and before you know it, his cell goes off. Tsukasa goes to pull it out, grinning slightly, as though he thought it'd be Makino on the other line. Turns out, it was Shigeru. The smile is dropped quickly and Tsukasa fidgets a little before stepping to the "side" and picking it up. He angrily tells her over the phone that he gets it and then asks for directions. As he's going down, you can hear the whole cafeteria starting up in their squealing, but I sincerely doubt he's paying attention. Akira asks loudly to the other boys and then to Tsukasa about why he came there for and then what about lunch? (Since Tsukasa had said he wanted to eat lunch with them). Tsukasa rushes out, asking Shigeru where "Daikai Gate" is and we see Rui turning to watch Tsukasa leave with a smile and a bit of a chuckle. I do wonder why Rui started smiling though. Was he smiling because he's amused at Tsukasa's relationship with Shigeru? Or is he GLAD that Tsukasa's going full into this relationship with Shigeru? You wonder, don't you?
We switch scenes back to Makino's hospital room and Yuki went to go visit Makino. She tells her that she worried for nothing (in a teasing tone), since Makino can leave soon. Makino confesses to Yuki that she realized by collapsing, she caused so much trouble for so many people and that she's going to be more careful from now on. Yuki turns to look at Makino with a sly smile, and Makino catches it. She then asks "What?" Yuki starts out with "Nothing, but..." and notes that with all that's happened, depressing and whatnot, she thought Makino'd be more depressed, but... Her words trail AGAIN, and Makino asks, "But... what?" Yuki observes that Makino's strangely happy and smiling and her eyes are laughing. Awww, what a good friend to realize those little things. She pulls her seat closer to Makino and asks her gleefully, "What happened?" Makino hesitates before answering, looking every which way and speaks kinda brokenly... Wow, that made little sense. Anyway, her reply isn't very certain when she tells Yuki that it's because she came to see Makino.
Yuki grinning at Makino. She SUSPECTS something's up.
Yuki totally doesn't buy it and tells Makino that she's acting weird. She asks point blank if something good happened while she was in the hospital. Makino is VERY obvious as she protests this. Yuki asks if it's because of Tsukasa (that she's happy). And Makino looks a little broken just from hearing his name again.
We hear Shigeru yelling out to Tsukasa (likely anyway) that he's going too fast and that he should walk slower. We see Tsukasa striding along some sidewalk, OBVIOUSLY deep in his thoughts with Shigeru pratically limping behind him. She stops at one point, just given up and calls out his name. He finally stops in his path, maybe having heard his name and we see that they're quite a distance away from each other. He turns around, and she catches up to him. Shigeru scolds him not to walk ahead by himself since it'd be no different from before they started going up. Oh dear. You know, I LIKE Shigeru and all, but she is starting to grate on my nerves. If he doesn't seem to want to change the relationship you're in, as in he doesn't care to move it forward in any way, that should be a NEON SIGN that's telling you "NO DESIRE TO BE IN THIS RELATIONSHIP." I mean, seriously!
Tsukasa bats these thoughts aside, asking her who cares if they don't walk side by side and that it's no big deal. She tells him that it matters to her and latches onto his arm. Tsukasa looks extremely uncomfortable at this and tells her to stop. She, on the other hand, tells him not to be shy and that they're a couple. She lays her head on his shoulder.
Tsukasa looking awkward and Shigeru looking happy at this arrangement. A stranger walking by, staring at Tsukasa. God, if
they get people to PAY to look at him, I'm sure that the Domyouji Corporation would likely to be saved.
We jump out of the awkward attempt to become a couple, to a "couple" that's much better. Makino/Yuki. LOL. Anyway, Makino has obviously told Yuki what has happened as Yuki pratically SCREAMS "He kissed you?!" in sheer surprise. Makino shushes her and hisses not to talk so loud. Yuki ignores this and says that that's amazing, but then asks why and since when? Those are questions that Makino would like to know as well. She tells Yuki that she doesn't know and that she thinks it's different, despite what Rui says. Yuki exclaims, "Why?" and that didn't Rui tell Makino, "Maybe I like you." LOL. I still find it funny that he said "I like you," he adds maybe... or I think. There's just something so ... Rui about it. Anyway, Yuki is looking extremely amused, or just happy for her friend. Makino points out to Yuki that Rui already has Shizuka, who's so great that even Makino admires her. Yuki points out that that might be finished. Then Makino tells Yuki that Rui had told her that Shizuka was coming back soon. But before Makino can finish her sentence, Yuki asks her why Rui would kiss her then.
Makino thinks about it for like a second, (she likely thought about it for HOURS and HOURS before this) and tells Yuki that Rui is the kind of guy who does things when he feels like it, just for the sake of it. "My pace" as she puts it. Right as she finishes that sentence, there are SCREAMS outside her door. Gah, this has me reminiscent of the cafeteria. I wonder if they work as nurses on their off time... Wait, those are RICH kids. Scratch that thought. As the girls hear the screams, Makino wonders what happened. Her door opens and it's Akira and Soujirou, here to visit Makino! ^_^ They greet her and the camera pans to Yuki who sees Soujirou. Soujirou talks to Makino and tells her that she looks well. Akira drops a fruit basket (I think it's a fruit basket) on the table as Makino asks if they TWO came for her. We hear more screams of "Kawaii" as Rui approaches the door and tells Makino, "No, the three of us." Makino's smile is hesitant as she sees Rui and just nods in reply.
We switch back to Tsukasa and Shigeru and they're walking underneath some tunnel when Shigeru asks Tsukasa where they're going. (Although it does take her several tries to get Tsukasa's attention.) Tsukasa tells her that he doesn't know and then proceeds to ask Shigeru where they're going. Shigeru is astonished that he doesn't have a place in mind, but then Tsukasa points out that she had been the one who wanted to go out and that he figured she had some place in mind already. Shigeru asks him then where he was going when he had walked ahead by himself. Tsukasa tells her that it wasn't like he had a place in mind. Shigeru looks surprised by that bit of information.
We hear Rui telling Makino not to worry about her exam. We're back inside her room and we see that Makino is TOTALLY not looking at Rui or in his area. Rui, on the other hand, is looking at her intently. She thanks him and just looks in a totally different direction.
The room's set-up. I love how Akira's between Soujirou and Yuki. I wonder if Soujirou yanked him to sit there.
Anyway, Akira is VERY quick on the pick-up and realizes that there's some awkward air around Makino and Rui. He quickly brings up that there's some thing that he and Soujirou has to go do. Soujirou looks at him confused, as do the rest of the people in the room, but Akira insists that they leave. Makino slightly protests, telling them that they just came and Akira points out that it was just malnutrition and that she hsould eat a lot and get better. As soon as Soujirou steps out of the door, we hear the nurses screaming again. Gah, were they there the ENTIRE time? Anyway, all that's left in the room is Makino, Rui, Yuki, and that fruit basket. Wait, Akira pulls Yuki out of the room, telling her that Soujirou told him that he has something to tell Yuki. Oooh, smart move. Does this mean that Akira WANTS to match-make Makino/Rui? Or that he just wants to clear their air. Hmm. Curious. Yuki looks at Akira in sheer surprise and goes "Seriously?" jerking her head back slightly. Funnily enough, Akira does too, in a kinda teasing way as he goes "Seriously." And then proceeds to pull her out of the room. Yuki doesn't even bat an eye before she's grabbing her things and dashing out of the room, telling the two people left "Bye" and that she'll talk to Makino later. Yuki's pretty much out the door as Makino tries to thank her and then say bye. Rui is grinning as he comments that he wonders if that's their way of being considerate. Makino wonders the same thing.
We hear Soujirou exclaiming, "Kissed?!" and we see Yuki walking with Soujirou along some street. Yuki tells him that it seems so. Hmm... Did they do this as some kinda parallel to Tsukasa/Shigeru. Because the two are walking TOGETHER, despite not being a couple, but it's not side to side. But there doesn't seem to be any problem here. But that's beside the point. Soujriou is looking quite fetching. Gah. Okay, enough off topic things. Soujirou is agrivated at this whole thing and wonders what Rui is thinking and if he's serious. Yuki tells Soujirou that Makino was really depressed over Tsukasa and that Rui seems much calmer and he'd be better for her. Soujirou protests this and tells her that he thinks things don't work that simply. He tells her that he thinks that Tsukasa still has feelings for her, but then Yuki points out that Tsukasa and Shigeru's marriage is already settled, isn't it?
We get a brief shot of Tsukasa and Shigeru at some park with Shigeru lying against Tsukasa's lap with Tsukasa lost in thought. Shigeru sits back up and looks at Tsukasa while we hear Soujirou's voice telling Yuki that Tsukasa has a reason for giving up on Makino and that after seeing her face again as well as coming into conflict with her, maybe he'd start to go back to Makino again. We're still watching T/S's date in the park and Tsukasa leans forward, as does Shigeru who has looped an arm around one of Tsukasa's again. She's grinning at him, but he notices none of this (again) as he stares off into the distance.
The two on the street (S/Y) have stopped in the tracks and Soujirou is looking at Yuki. Yuki protests this, telling Soujirou that that is too selfish of him. Soujirou turns to walk away and simply says that "That's just the way things are. Oh well." Yuki doesn't let this conversation go and rushes to catch up to him. She walks in front of him and stops him. "Oh well?" she scolds, and then asks him if he had any idea how Makino was feeling as she waited for Tsukasa and how much she suffered when she tried to forget him after he stopped calling her. You can tell she's definitely emotional just by the tone of her voice.
Soujirou looks down, kinda guiltly as Yuki continues with her barrage of how he can wrap everything up as "oh well" and that there's a limit to how much you can play with her feelings. Soujirou is definitely looking a little guilty here as he puts his thoughts together. He looks around and catches sight of something in a store nearby. He walks towards the tea cup, and starts to talk, seeming to talk from experience, about how love isn't rational. That to fall in and out of love is all irrational.
Yuki and Soujirou.
We see a cut of T/S again and Shigeru has just bought a tons of hot dogs and as she raced towards Tsukasa, who's leaning against a tree and AGAIN lost in thought (surprise, surprise), she drops them all. Tsukasa doesn't notice a thing. Soujirou's voice is talking about how just liking someone could get you hurt or could hurt somebody yourself. Dude, he's totally speaking from experience. He goes on to say that to truly love someone is something you'd have to be willing to give up your life for, otherwise it wouldn't work. The shot's back to Soujirou and Yuki and Yuki looks on at Soujirou with an expression of stunned-ness. Not a word, but am too tired to think of an actual word. Soujirou tells her that this is what he thinks when he watches Tsukasa. She seems to be thinking of his words and we see the tea cup that Soujirou had been staring at.
The shot of Soujirou staring at the tea cup, as well as Yuki staring at said tea cup.
Before I go on, I want to talk about this whole thing. This is slightly out of place, but I wanted this written down before my thoughts go bye-bye. This whole opinion thing will be in italics so just skip over if you don't want to read. The thing about this argument is that I can see it from both sides. The relationship between Tsukasa and Makino is definitely as Soujirou describes it, irrational. They're crazy for each other, and yet sometimes, they drive EACH OTHER crazy. And it's a nice thought, that they'd affect each other so much that they're just screaming at each other because they KNOW that even with this, the other will not just leave them. The other person can take this ... "abuse" for lack of a better word, and give as much as they can take. But yet, Tsukasa has hurt her a lot and she's been pained way too much. There's only so much a girl can take, or rather there's only so much one person can take before they begin to feel broken. And Makino has basically reached that line. Yuki, as Makino's best friend and the one who's been by her side for this whole thing, has seen how much this has affected the girl and she really wants is for her to be happy. At this point, I don't know if Tsukasa can make her happy again. There's just been too much pain caused by his actions and it'll take a LOT (I think) to redeem him in Makino's eyes. So for Yuki, the best choice for Makino IS Hanazawa Rui, who has been steady in his connection with Makino and has helped her through so much pain, along with Yuki. Rui knows Makino in a level that I don't think Tsukasa has reached or will ever reached. Their relationship is much different than Tsukasa and Makino's and thus, to Yuki, their steady friendship seems like it could develop into something more.
However, Soujirou is seeing it a different way. He can read Tsukasa quite well and he knows, or rather thinks, that Tsukasa still has feelings for Makino. But that he has reasons for his actions. It's not as though Tsukasa is acting of his own free will. He has made decisions that he's not very proud of, but because he's MADE them, he has to follow through... for the most part. For Soujirou, Rui seems to be kind of a wild card. He doesn't seem to know what exactly Rui's doing or what he's feeling or whether the male understands what Tsukasa feels. That is one of the reasons why I think Soujirou cannot see this thing between Rui and Makino progressing. Especially since, as Makino said, Rui's a "my pace" kind of guy who does things solely because he feels like it, without regard sometimes for those around him. It's a sad thought, but I think Soujirou worries that maybe Rui isn't entirely sincere in his ... actions towards Makino and that he's just doing this because he feels like it. If that were it, then not only would Tsukasa be hurt by all this, but so would Makino and thus as a result of THOSE two being hurt. Everyone else would too. And that would ruin so many friendships. ... It's either that, or he's just a huge Tsukasa/Makino shipper. Well, there's also other options, but those are my thoughts on it.
The show does this clever thing where the tea cup in the store is being picked up and then we cut to a scene where MG (mysterious girl) is picking up a tea cup and we know we're at the tea ceremony class with Yuki. MG is demonstrating a part of the ceremony where she raises her cup and then turns it twice and we can make out Yuki's figure beside MG. Yuki is staring at the tea cup, obviously dazed and MG picks up on it. She asks Yuki what's wrong and Yuki snaps out of her daze only to say "Huh?" MG tells Yuki that she was zoning out and Yuki apologizes. MG tells her to do it again and we can hear Makino's voice telling someone that she's sorry for causing you so much trouble. We're back in Makino's hospital room and she's packing up her bags and Rui is there with her. (Is it wrong that every time I'm about to type hospital, it keeps coming out as hotel? Is this signifying something?)
Anyway, Rui doesn't say much of anything, although it's not like Makino gives him much a chance to talk as she wonders, out loud, on what happened to her mom and dad. We can hear some lady screaming at the nurses to move outside Makino's door and I wonder why the hell they're still outside Makino's door. Do they NOT have patients? It's no wonder the whole place was all dark and dreary without people at the front desk and like the electricity off. The nurses were all probably gathered around a room of some hot guy or something, or patients stopped checking in after checking in once and started telling people of those weird nurses. ...Enough rambling. Said lady enters Makino's room and is about to say sternly, "Makino-san" but she falters when she sees Rui and says kinda softly and girlishly if she could go downstairs and pay her bill. Rui immediately offers to go pay for that and Makino starts after him, protesting this. The nurses quickly follow him and the lady who had gone to Makino, pulls her aside and asks her what Makino's relationship with him is and how far she's gotten. Makino seems a little iffy at this point and the lady covers her mouth and gasps, "Don't tell me..." Makino definitely feels uncomfortable at this point and starts covering her stomach as she protests this.
We cut to outside and Makino is thanking Rui for everything. He asks her if she's sure he doesn't have to walk her home and she insists. Then she tells him that she's going to pay him back in full. Rui tells her that it's okay and not to worry about it and how he's just glad she's better now. Makino's about to tell Rui something when he leans forward and kisses her forehead. She gives a little "ah" in surprise and he pulls back and pats her on the head. He tells her to take care and then leaves. Makino stands frozen. I honestly think he did that just because he doesn't want to hear her turn him down. Nip it in the bud for now. Postpone the inevitable, in other words.
Rui kissing Makino on the forehead and then patting her on the head.
We cut to Tsukasa who's in some fancy dining place along with Shigeru who's trying to get his attention, for what, the 20th time this entire episode? "Hm." Shigeru asks him if they're going to get married and Tsukasa doesn't seem invested in this conversation. His reply is "Hm." Then she tells him that she reserved a room. "Hm." But then Tsukasa seems to have HEARD the words as he goes, "Eh?" a second later. Shigeru smiles at him and tells him that it shouldn't be a problem. Wow, you move fast. He doesn't even want to be in a relationship with you and ALREADY you want to have sex? Awkward. Tsukasa looks around awkwardly and the last shot of him has him looking at her with raised eyebrows.
We hear Makino letting herself into her home when she notices something strange. What is it? Her home's completely bare. She's gasping in shock as she's asking, "What is this?" However, she doesn't have to figure it out for too long as Susumu comes out of his room to talk to her. He welcomes her home with his high pitched voice (dude, has puberty NOT hit for this kid yet?) and she's panicking, asking what's wrong and where mom and dad were. He's more surprised that she didn't hear. "Hear what? Wait a minute... What's going on?" XP This is just so wacky. Her parents didn't even tell her that they packed up and left... XP
We cut back to Tsukasa and Shigeru who are now in that hotel room. Shigeru is looking ou tthe window while Tsukasa has taken a seat by the couch and is what? Oh, look, lost in thought. Shigeru makes a comment on how the night scene is beautiful and Tsukasa doesn't even BOTHER to make a reply. She looks away from the window and tells him that she's going to go take a shower. He barely glances at her before she strides into the bathroom. We hear the shower go off and Tsukasa is definitely confused about where he's at right now. He thinks back to Makino and her many faces. He remembers the cookie...ugh. Why'd they have to show us the shot of him eating it again. And then remembers her good-bye. He gets up, likely to leave and we go into the bathroom to see the shower going off, but nobody in it. The camera goes further into the bathroom and we see Shigeru sitting down, leaning against the wall and once she hears the door close outside, she sighs sadly. She knew that would happen, didn't she? Okay, okay, I'm back to feeling bad for this girl. XP
Shigeru looking sad.
We get a shot of Yuki and she's exclaiming into a phone, "Fired?" Makino's on the other side of the conversation and she's explaining that they have to get out of the company home and how Susumu still has to take exams and Makino has school. Yuki then asks the question that we all want to know the answer to, "So where did your mom and dad go?" Apparently they went to a fishing village where their relatives live and be fisherman. Um... okay. And since it's BETTER to see these shots than me describing. Here's a bunch of pictures.
Yuki: "Fisherman?"
Makino's dad: "Hurry up!"
Makino's mom: "I've caught them!"
Makino tells Yuki that they've gone somewhere that no one has ever heard of.
No words are necessary here. XP
Yuki then asks Makino if she has to look for a place to live and we can see MG in the background, wondering what's going on with Yuki. Makino tells her exactly and that everything's so confusing and unbelievable. I'm more curious as to how fast these parents pack. I mean, Makino's only been away for a DAY. They could not have had everything packed up within one day... Or am I just projecting again? Yuki asks if she has any idea where to start and then suggests talking to their boss at the dango shop. Makino seems to agree with this as Yuki tells her that she'll go ask her. She hangs up the phone and MG approaches Yuki, asking if she's looking for housing.
We cut to a cab pulling up near Makino's building and the driver's enthusiastically talking about how lucky the person riding is because if it was any further, the meter would've jumped. We see that it's Tsukasa that's in said cab. Tsukasa hands the driver a credit card and the driver looks at it in confusion. He makes a comment on how the cards black and Tsukasa sees streaming news on the cab wall about how stock prices are plunging. Um... Is it often that those things are in cabs? Because that's interesting. Tsukasa gets a flash-back to New York and we hear the words "stock prices are plunging" and are now in a room with lots of white people arguing loudly. Some guy tries to calm the room down and continue their meeting and we see MFH at the head of the circle with Tsukasa lazily looking around beside her. She talks in Japanese to the crowd (for some strange reason) about to address this stock price plunge when she notices her son being distracted and not invested. She scolds him for creating this mess by one wrong word he had said and he doesn't seem to care. Nishida tells him that this isn't a joke and Tsukasa again ask so what? MFH tells him that thousands of people will be unemplyed because of him. We cut to Tsukasa in the cab who's having flashes of MATD again, inside the cab when he sits back and tells the driver to pull out. The driver is MORE curious about why the card is so black and Tsukasa yells at him to pull out. Whoa. Well, we know what startles his nerves now. The driver complies.
We're back to Makino who's with Susumu, eating dinner... which is ONE bowl of ramen noddles. Wow, that's not so good. Susumu tells her they shouldn't give up and to make the best of things. Mind you, Makino's still in her jacket. Makino asks him if he's okay for his exams and Susumu insists that he's ready. He tells her that she's the tough weed Tsuksuhi (Wow, it's been a while since we've heard that) and that he's the optimistic Susumu that moves forward no matter what. She smiles at him proudly and nods in agreement. Her cellphone goes off and Makino picks it up to see that it's Yuki. Apparently, Yuki found an apartment for free. She turns around to talk to Susumu... tell him maybe? (Despite the fact that he probably heard her himself) and finds out that he's eaten a whole lot of the ramen.
Next Part.
Once again, this got so lengthy that I had to split it. Ugh. I NEED to stop rambling! @.@
Otherwise, I think heading STRAIGHT into the recap would be a good idea here.
We get our previouslies. Basically, I think it's outlining Makino/Tsukasa's relationship and Shigeru/Tsukasa's relationship. Then it shows where we left off on the last episode. We're back to Tsukasa running and MFH (Mother from Hell) is apologizing to Shigeru's parents. The father says something about how it's better to act outside the box in the long run and then gets up to leave. He makes the rest of the family leave and explains that what kinda talk would there be without the fiance there. And he seems kinda mad... But then what was the meaning of the "act outside the box?" Ugh, you people confuse me. MFH looks DEVASTATED. And well, a new look than unusual for this lady.
MFH looking ... weak? Devastated?
So she chucks her napkin onto a nearby chair, likely Tsukasa's. Speaking of Tsukasa, he's running into a hospital. That's... not working? Because really, what hospital has its lights off like this? He looks around and goes towards the front desk, but hey, no people there! Dude, what is up with this place? No employees either? Are they running out of money or something? Anyway, with no people there, Tsukasa looks for anyone he can. And unfortunately for the man passing, Tsukasa dashes towards him, grabbing onto his arms and asks him frantically where Makino's room is. Predicatably, the man goes "Eh?" which just has Tsukasa SCREAMING his question at the man.
We cut to MFH who's leaving the hotel with Nishida waiting by the car to open her door for her. MFH asks Nishida if he STILL cannot find him, and Nishida doesn't say a word as MFH is entering the car. As he's closing the door, he apologizes to her and I think, SLICK! He didn't say yes; he didn't say no. He did not lie to her at all. He could be apologizing for not finding him, or for being the one who caused Tsukasa to leave in the first place. Oh, you, smart aleck, you. Anyway, back to MFH. She hopes that they're not going to cancel the engagement after this to which Nishida goes "I..." (He could have confessed that he's the reason why Tsukasa left.) But no, he doesn't even get a chance to talk much before MFH starts babbling about how the Domyouji Corporation lies on this marriage. The usual.
She flips open her cell phone and we see Tsukasa's shoes running around some corner and hopping up stairs, skipping steps. As he's walking up, you hear his cell phone go off and Tsukasa stops to look at it only to see his mom had been the one calling him. He goes "Old hag" and HANGS UP ON HER! Yes! And then says outloud to "Shut the hell up." He continues on his way and once he reaches his floor, he sees someone walking. He stares at shock and goes, "Rui?"
Tsukasa surprised at the sight of Rui there.
Rui goes into the room, and greets the people there "Good evening." We hear Makino's dad greeting him, followed by her mom. Tsukasa's confused by the sudden appearance of Rui and slowly makes his way towards Makino's room. He peeks through the small gap that the unclosed door makes and watches what's going on between Rui and Makino's parents. Makino's mom apologizes for making him come out here so late and Rui tells them that it's alright. Then Makino's mom makes a comment that Rui seems to be taking care of her daughter and then her dad says that Makino always talks about him in positive ways. And, how could you NOT? It's Hanazawa RUI. Anyway, the dad holds out his hand to shake Rui's and Rui takes it. Mind you, we're looking at this from what must be Tsukasa's point of view and by this point, he sees Makino lying on the hospital bed.
Back to the father, he tells Rui that just by having him by her side, Makino's the happiest girl on Earth. Then her mom tells him to "Please take care of her for a long, long time." Um... Do they know that her and Tsukasa broke up? Because that is the ONLY way this works. Rui is almost beaming as he says "Me too, in return." Hee! I think he's pleased with their acceptance of him. It's kinda sweet.
The parents look at each other in ... something of shock and then bow to him telling him that they're counting on him. We're back to Tsukasa's point of view and he's staring at Makino again who's still unconscious. Rui bows back and Tsukasa is slowing back-stepping away from the hospital room. He walks away without a second thought and we can hear Makino's dad telling Rui to take a seat. We're back inside Makino's room and Rui is taking a seat. Rui tells them that he's glad that it's just from exhaustion. Her dad says that he's ashamed to admit that they've been counting on Makino too much. Rui asks if it's alright with them, he'd like to stay by her side for the night. Her dad's immediate reply is "Eh?" Rui kinda covers by saying that they look tired too. At first the dad doesn't seem sure of this and her mom's mouth kinda drops open. Rui assures them not to worry because he doesn't have classes the next day. HAAA! I'd so plug in a dirty joke, but it's so not appropriate right now. Anyway, the dad still isn't sure about this, but then the mom elbows him and somehow that translates into words in his head.
The mom elbowing the dad as he's thinking about what Rui has said. Hee!
The dad tells Rui that they'll take him up on his offer. They both bow to him and say "Please take good care of her" although Makino's mom sure is looking at Rui with a big grin, isn't she? They take their things and head out the door. We're back to Tsukasa who's walking slowly out of the hospital. Then back to Rui who retakes his seat and looks on at Makino. He smiles a little then reaches out to hold her hand tightly. And more of Rui smiling down at Makino... On a random note, have they been pushing his bangs more and more to the right as well? I feel like we've stopped seeing his eyes. For the left side, that was fairly normal. But now they're covering up the right side as well. @.@ At this rate, we'll stop seeing his eyes all together! It'll be like the neighbor from Home Improvement. XP And I'm making a reference that I bet not a lot of people get.
Anyway... back to the recap. We cut back to Tsukasa who's walking slowly down the street. He slumps against a fence and seems to be thinking. We turn to Shigeru who's also thinking... on top of some roof, still in her kimono and likely cold judging by the wind blowing through her hair.
Back to Tsukasa who's now at home and walks past a room that his mom is in. Immediately, she asks him where he's been and then asks whether he has any idea what he's done. He asks if they canceled the marriage, secretly hoping they did and she tells him that there's no way she's going to let that happen. She gets up from her chair and says Makino's name then follows that up with a question on if he still has feelings for her. Tsukasa walks into the room, and leans against the door, saying "So what if I do?" She turns around and asks him if he's saying that he doesn't care what happens to their company? Ugh, I get pissed when people say things like that. Can he NOT have both? Tsukasa is definitely affected by these words as we get flashbacks of MATD (man about to die) again while MFH is v-oing slightly, asking if he's saying that he doesn't care if innocent people are killed by his reckless actions. Tsukasa tells her to shut up, obviously affected (the flashbacks are gone again) and then he tells her that he's already given up on Makino and not to have him saying it so many times. He rushes to his room and he's breathing roughly. He breaks down, falls to his knees and takes a couple of ragged breathes before giving in and screams at the top of his lungs.
We see Makino's eyes flutter open and she's asking herself what happened. She realizes someone's holding her hand and we see Rui slumped against her bed, lying against one of his arms, obviously having slept in that position. He's not going to like how his back feels, I bet you. Rui has just woken up and says (IN THE GREATEST FREAKING SLEEPY VOICE I THINK I'VE EVER HEARD) "You finally woke up?" He yawns slightly, then forces himself to sit up and Makino asks if she's in the hospital. Rui says yes and explains that she collapsed while working. Then he tells her not to worry and that if she rests well, she should be able to leave that afternoon. He yawns again, covering his mouth and all Makino can say is "I see..." Rui explains that he had called her last night, while she was in the ambulance and the paramedics picked up the call.
He goes "aaah. I was surprised." Then Makino continues his little story, saying that he came immediately and Rui tells her that he had nothing better to do anyway. Heee! You know, that could be taken as an insult slightly. But whatever? She asks him whether he stayed by her side the whole night and he quickly says "Yes." She seems to be thinking this over in her head and then thanks him. He smiles back and there's a little pause before she asks him if he was holding her hand the entire time. At first, he goes "Hmm?" as though he hadn't realized himself that he was still grasping her hand until he sees it himself. Then he squeezes it a little and we see Makino really thinking now. Rui yawns a little.
We cut scenes and we're with Shigeru who's greeting Tsukasa with a "Good morning!" She scolds him, telling him that he's going to catch a cold if he sleeps there and we see Tsukasa had slept on his couch, with no blanket or anything. Gonna catch a cold that way. Anyway, she's swatting him, telling him to get up and he asks what's wrong with her. A lot of things, but I digress. Shigeru remarks that it isn't her with the problem here, it's him. I don't see how, other than the fact that he apparently sleeps without blankets. He hisses that he's sleepy and then turns over on the couch, peeved. She asks him, out right, what he was doing that made him sleepy. LOL! Dude, dirty girl. He goes "Eh?" and Shigeru repeats her question asking again what he was doing last night. Except, it wasn't exactly... in anger, more like in jest. Which is weird. Because if she was asking him what my mind is thinking, then shouldn't she not LIKE that thought? Or maybe I'm just perverted. Probably that last one.
Anyway, Shigeru reaches out and starts... tickling him. I am NOT looking at this wrong nor am I typing this wrong. She literally TICKLES him. I... There's just so much I can take. He tells her that it tickles, stupid and he's like frantically trying to twist out of her hands. And he's making this little noises as well as telling her No and whatnot. She, on the other hand, is trying to get him to speak. Um, nobody can talk when they're being tickled. Just so you know. For a second there, he goes "Ouch" in the most... strangest voice that I cannot explain. This scene has me CRACKING up like crazy. Just typing it makes me want to break down and just burst out laughing. She continues her tickling attack and he's still pleading for her to stop. And he makes another noise, that makes me wonder what the crew was doing while they were filming this. Was there some kind of BIG crowd with all the cast there to just see Matsujun make these weird noises? Heee! Oh, I can just picture it.
Back. Now it doesn't seem as much fun as he's literally screaming for her to stop. She does in fact stop, only to ask if he was seeing another woman. He's thrown a little and she talks about his actions. He doesn't seem to really understand what she's talking about which leads her to ask if he's still half asleep and moves to tickle him again. She manages to sneak in a couple of tickles before Tsukasa gets out of her grasp and shoves her against the couch as he gets up and flees far, far away from her, which is basically the other side of the room. He snaps at her to stop it, "pervert." She tells him that she doesn't think it's perverted. And he insists that it is and she comments that they're engaged. ...No comment. Shigeru rushes at him again, seeming to tickle him again and he basically grabs her by the arms and shoves her against the side of his bed, yelling "Cut it out, Monkey!" Gah, this boy is SO bloody violent, isn't he? He asks what's up with her so early, bitch? To which she says that she's neither a monkey or a bitch. Shigeru turns to look at him, kinda reminding him that she's "Shigeru, his lover, his fiancee." Well, two out of three isn't so bad.
He looks at her strangely and she asks if he's finally calmed down. He snaps at her to stop fooling around and she apologizes. No wait, she's telling HIM to apologize. Oh, I was wondering. It seemed strange for her to apologize. Anyway, she tells him to go out on a date with her after school today and that maybe she'll forgive her for last night. Mind you, she added that last part after a few seconds. I don't know why, but I get the feeling that Shigeru doesn't want to seem TOO forward sometimes. But that could just be me. Anyway, we don't get an answer from Tsukasa, instead he seems to be thinking.
We jump back to Makino who's just realized that she was supposed to have the college entrance exam that day. She sits up and Rui tries to calm her down, telling her that she has to stay in bed. But Makino's still frantic, so Rui assures her that he'll talk to the school about it for her. Awww. Nice move. You're really getting nice guy points here, Rui. She looks up at him and he continues, telling her to just worry about her health. Those words seem to comfort her and Makino tells him that he's so nice and that she had to rely on him again. She comments on how he's always there whenever she's in a mess and Rui smiles at her. He asks her if she knows why he's always there whenever she's in a mess. (Am I the only one amused that when he's posing the question, he literally says "Hanazawa Rui" like she does?) She looks at him, thinks about it for a second, then asks him "Why?" He tells her that he likes her... he thinks. LOL! I have the vague feeling that he said the same thing in the manga... but that could just be me projecting. She's surprised by this and Rui swoops in and lightly taps her on the lips... And we cut to credits. XP
I know, I know. I screencapped this for the previews. Then I screencapped it again. Is it wrong to say I'm pathetic? Because I am. I keep jumping ships and it's bad. I squee for Rui/Makino... But I squee for Tsukasa/Makino. @.@ In other news, I feel like I've seen this SAME picture... Only in an anime. The same features on the girl and boy... But it was an ANIME. I get the feeling it was "Aishiteruze Baby," but I have no idea why. I think I need to go look that up.
They sure cramped a lot of things BEFORE the credits, didn't they? We see Makino and she's telling someone that they didn't need to bring flowers and that it's a waste of money. (Well, that automatically rules out the F4.) We pull back, and no need to guess. It's her dad, arranging some flowers on a vase. He tells her that she shouldn't worry because he found the flowers by the roadside. LOL.
Makino's mom comes in and she tells Makino that once her IV drip finishes that afternoon, she can leave by tonight. She's pleased and her dad exhuberantly proclaims how great it is. Makino apologizes for making them worry and her dad tells her not to apologize and that he should be the one to apologize for always giving her trouble. He then apologizes which sets him off and he starts crying a little. That sets her mom off and she starts crying along with the dad.
I seem to be just recapping moments that were also in the preview, aren't I? But I couldn't resist. They're so cute together.
Makino tells them not to cry and asks what's wrong, that they're both acting weird. The dad avoids the question and asks Makino if Rui left first thing in the morning. Makino tells them yes, looking down slightly. Her mom goes over to her and leans in, asking if there's any hope for a relationship with him? ...I definitely think they MUST know that Tsukasa and her are over. Makino quickly goes "What?" and then tells her no, no, although she seemed a little strangled with that protest.
She flashes back to the kiss and all I can think (past the whole OMG, Rui's KISSING her) is that THIS is what a surprise kiss should look like. The kiss between Shigeru and Tsukasa looked like Tsukasa had been ready for it. Am I the ONLY one who thinks so? Anyway, Rui pulls back and Makino blinks a couple of times, obviously stunned. She looks around with her eyes and Rui asks if she was surprised, sounding surprised that she was ... surprised. Oh boy. Makino tells him that anyone would be surprised. (I'd be surprised AND ecstatic were I in this position.) Rui asks if it was wrong and he is looking so adorable with his thumbs in his pockets, and looking down at her like that. Hee! He sounds like a little boy, curious if his actions were wrong or not. She lies back into bed, pulling the covers up to her mouth, telling him "Of course it was" and how friends don't do that. Rui smiles lightly as he says, "Friends, huh?" Makino asks, "Aren't we?" and that she can't do it so suddenly, she needs time to prepare. LOL! Does that mean she wants to be kissed again by Rui? Oh dear. The fangirl in me is resisting from having to type this. All I want to do is go back and replay it over and over again. XP
Back. Rui tells her that he just felt like it and that he can't help it. LOL! I keep laughing during this episode! I think I'm going to go on record as saying this is the FUNNIEST beginning of an episode I've ever seen. (I say beginning for a reason, I might add, but you'll see as this goes on.) Anyway, Makino is just turned away from him, pondering her own thoughts. We jump into Eitoku and Soujirou is saying "So that's why you were looking after her the whole night." Rui tells him that it wasn't really looking after and they just slept together. o.O Akira goes "Slept together?" Rui must've seen where his words went wrong and verifies that he sat in a chair and slept. Akira starts to talk, saying "But even so..." but then Soujirou kinda comes in and asks Rui, "What's going on between you two?" and "Does Tsukasa know?" Rui, almost innocently, notes that Tsukasa and Makino broke up, didn't they? (I just realized that Rui keeps his napkin tucked at his neck. Heee! I didn't know people still did that.) Soujirou says that that might be true, but... Akira also starts a sentence, "Tsukasa at least still has..." But NEITHER of them finish said sentences before we hear SCREAMS in the background. Do they purposely do this to make me gag? I mean, do they need to start screaming whenever any of the F4 is seen?
Anyway, the F3 look over, in their lounge, and Akira greets Tsukasa. Tsukasa greets him back before his eyes catch Rui's while Soujirou is asking Tsukasa what's up and that it's rare to see him coming there. (Um, as I've been writing this, I've begun feeling like I'm writing up a story. Kinda. Except with my commentary and a lot sloppier, of course. But this is outta place.) Back to the recap. Tsukasa seems awkward and he dashes up the stairs and says in a strange voice that he thought he might join them for lunch. Soujirou says he sees and then Tsukasa adds in that he can't stay long though. Maybe you should've gone earlier. That might've helped.
Tsukasa sits down in the empty chair and addresses Rui. He can't seem to say what he WANTS to say and instead asks Rui what he's eating. Rui says simply that it's curry. And Tsukasa enthusiastically nods, while Soujirou comments that anyway he looks at it, it'd be curry. Tsukasa's like fidgeting as he speaks, "It might be poop that looks like curry." Ugh, appetizing. I'm sure we ALL want to eat after that comment. Rui seems to agree with my thought as he pulls off the napkin, wipes his mouth with it and then plops it onto the table. Then, Tsukasa finally asks Rui what he was doing last night. Soujirou goes "Eh?" and then Tsukasa explains why he's asking, that he had called him last night, but it wouldn't connect. *coughLIARcough*
Rui is about to tell the truth, because he sees no reason to lie when Akira cuts in asking Tsukasa how HIS thing went last night. Mind you, he was VERY obvious at trying to get Tsukasa's attention. Tsukasa's, at first, a little confused and Soujirou asks him, "Didn't you have an engagement dinner last night?" Tsukasa mixes up a word again, "yuinou" and "yuunou" to which one means skillful. He tells them that he's ALWAYS skillful, not just yesterday. While they look on in utter confusion, he tops this ALL off by saying, in English, "You know?" Then he proceeds to laugh at his OWN joke. LOL!! Oh Tsukasa, never change. Tsukasa continues CRACKING up at his own silly joke and Akira is saying, out loud, "On top of making a mistake, he made a joke and laughing over it himself." He's seriously CRACKING up, the whole smack your hand against your knee kind too and Soujirou presses his fingers against the side of his forehead and says, "He's a true idiot." Just a little.
I honestly had no idea where to plug these in, so just added it here. They basically start after Tsukasa has just sat down to the last point of the recap. I thought it'd be a nice interlude here before I go on with more pictures of Tsukasa's antics.
Tsukasa gets up from his chair and then he's talking about how he made a joke in English and that maybe he's a genius now, and how maybe he's as smart as "Shakepia." Soujirou comments on how he was close, but to make a mistake like that was really sad. Akira said that it's more painful. Tsukasa runs down the stairs towards the main hall and we see some magazine being passed from one student to another (and is apparently a magazine called "Pia." Convenient. Thanks to fruitlolita who explained this to lowly people like me. LOL. Actually, said person made a couple of notes that I'll be referencing here and there.) Tsukasa grabs said magazine and calls out to the boys to look at him and he is LITERALLY shaking with the magazine in his hands. As in Shake-pia. @.@ Tsukasa, I repeat. NEVER freaking change.
Tsukasa.. Shaking Pia. Oh boy.
Akira feels the need to AGAIN point out that Tsukasa's making a joke from a mistake. Soujirou decides to ignore that and instead asks Tsukasa why he's so hyper. Rui also wants to know and then Tsukasa tells them it's not like he's agitated or something. Boy, you SURE hid that well. Agitated? You? NEVER. As he's saying that, he just tosses the magazine on the ground and rushes back up the stairs, tripping on the thing that kept the lounge kinda off limits.
Because I don't know what it's called, I thought a picture would be so much better. Tsukasa tripping, because he's agitated.
Rui asks Tsukasa whether he met Shigeru's parents last night and Tsukasa looks like he's JUST remembering that. Rui takes Tsukasa's agitation to mean that they must've decided on the wedding date. Tsukasa wants to say no, but with his hesitation, Rui furthers that thought, asking if that's why Tsukasa's so hyper. On another note, there's this kid in the background that's just STARING at them. He seems to be on the same level, so I wonder what the heck he's doing at the lounge... But there's another part, right? Scratch that, there are MULTIPLE kids on another upper level. They're just staring at the F4 and probably trying to hear what they're saying. Anyway, back to the F4. Soujirou thinks that Rui's thought seems likely to be the reason why Tsukasa's irritated. Akira asks, "So your wedding's official now, huh?" Instead of just saying NO, Tsukasa instead decides that now is a time he wants to confront Rui. Oh look, I can see TIG (three irritating girls) just standing there and watching the F4. My GOD, these people stare a lot. It's a wonder how half of them don't just become stalkers.
Tsukasa goes face to face with Rui, who is still standing against the ledge, while Soujirou and Akira have returned to their seats. Tsukasa stands there, silent and Rui, who had previously been smiling, looks at Tsukasa in mild confusion and goes "Hm?" Tsukasa hesitates for too long and before you know it, his cell goes off. Tsukasa goes to pull it out, grinning slightly, as though he thought it'd be Makino on the other line. Turns out, it was Shigeru. The smile is dropped quickly and Tsukasa fidgets a little before stepping to the "side" and picking it up. He angrily tells her over the phone that he gets it and then asks for directions. As he's going down, you can hear the whole cafeteria starting up in their squealing, but I sincerely doubt he's paying attention. Akira asks loudly to the other boys and then to Tsukasa about why he came there for and then what about lunch? (Since Tsukasa had said he wanted to eat lunch with them). Tsukasa rushes out, asking Shigeru where "Daikai Gate" is and we see Rui turning to watch Tsukasa leave with a smile and a bit of a chuckle. I do wonder why Rui started smiling though. Was he smiling because he's amused at Tsukasa's relationship with Shigeru? Or is he GLAD that Tsukasa's going full into this relationship with Shigeru? You wonder, don't you?
We switch scenes back to Makino's hospital room and Yuki went to go visit Makino. She tells her that she worried for nothing (in a teasing tone), since Makino can leave soon. Makino confesses to Yuki that she realized by collapsing, she caused so much trouble for so many people and that she's going to be more careful from now on. Yuki turns to look at Makino with a sly smile, and Makino catches it. She then asks "What?" Yuki starts out with "Nothing, but..." and notes that with all that's happened, depressing and whatnot, she thought Makino'd be more depressed, but... Her words trail AGAIN, and Makino asks, "But... what?" Yuki observes that Makino's strangely happy and smiling and her eyes are laughing. Awww, what a good friend to realize those little things. She pulls her seat closer to Makino and asks her gleefully, "What happened?" Makino hesitates before answering, looking every which way and speaks kinda brokenly... Wow, that made little sense. Anyway, her reply isn't very certain when she tells Yuki that it's because she came to see Makino.
Yuki grinning at Makino. She SUSPECTS something's up.
Yuki totally doesn't buy it and tells Makino that she's acting weird. She asks point blank if something good happened while she was in the hospital. Makino is VERY obvious as she protests this. Yuki asks if it's because of Tsukasa (that she's happy). And Makino looks a little broken just from hearing his name again.
We hear Shigeru yelling out to Tsukasa (likely anyway) that he's going too fast and that he should walk slower. We see Tsukasa striding along some sidewalk, OBVIOUSLY deep in his thoughts with Shigeru pratically limping behind him. She stops at one point, just given up and calls out his name. He finally stops in his path, maybe having heard his name and we see that they're quite a distance away from each other. He turns around, and she catches up to him. Shigeru scolds him not to walk ahead by himself since it'd be no different from before they started going up. Oh dear. You know, I LIKE Shigeru and all, but she is starting to grate on my nerves. If he doesn't seem to want to change the relationship you're in, as in he doesn't care to move it forward in any way, that should be a NEON SIGN that's telling you "NO DESIRE TO BE IN THIS RELATIONSHIP." I mean, seriously!
Tsukasa bats these thoughts aside, asking her who cares if they don't walk side by side and that it's no big deal. She tells him that it matters to her and latches onto his arm. Tsukasa looks extremely uncomfortable at this and tells her to stop. She, on the other hand, tells him not to be shy and that they're a couple. She lays her head on his shoulder.
Tsukasa looking awkward and Shigeru looking happy at this arrangement. A stranger walking by, staring at Tsukasa. God, if
they get people to PAY to look at him, I'm sure that the Domyouji Corporation would likely to be saved.
We jump out of the awkward attempt to become a couple, to a "couple" that's much better. Makino/Yuki. LOL. Anyway, Makino has obviously told Yuki what has happened as Yuki pratically SCREAMS "He kissed you?!" in sheer surprise. Makino shushes her and hisses not to talk so loud. Yuki ignores this and says that that's amazing, but then asks why and since when? Those are questions that Makino would like to know as well. She tells Yuki that she doesn't know and that she thinks it's different, despite what Rui says. Yuki exclaims, "Why?" and that didn't Rui tell Makino, "Maybe I like you." LOL. I still find it funny that he said "I like you," he adds maybe... or I think. There's just something so ... Rui about it. Anyway, Yuki is looking extremely amused, or just happy for her friend. Makino points out to Yuki that Rui already has Shizuka, who's so great that even Makino admires her. Yuki points out that that might be finished. Then Makino tells Yuki that Rui had told her that Shizuka was coming back soon. But before Makino can finish her sentence, Yuki asks her why Rui would kiss her then.
Makino thinks about it for like a second, (she likely thought about it for HOURS and HOURS before this) and tells Yuki that Rui is the kind of guy who does things when he feels like it, just for the sake of it. "My pace" as she puts it. Right as she finishes that sentence, there are SCREAMS outside her door. Gah, this has me reminiscent of the cafeteria. I wonder if they work as nurses on their off time... Wait, those are RICH kids. Scratch that thought. As the girls hear the screams, Makino wonders what happened. Her door opens and it's Akira and Soujirou, here to visit Makino! ^_^ They greet her and the camera pans to Yuki who sees Soujirou. Soujirou talks to Makino and tells her that she looks well. Akira drops a fruit basket (I think it's a fruit basket) on the table as Makino asks if they TWO came for her. We hear more screams of "Kawaii" as Rui approaches the door and tells Makino, "No, the three of us." Makino's smile is hesitant as she sees Rui and just nods in reply.
We switch back to Tsukasa and Shigeru and they're walking underneath some tunnel when Shigeru asks Tsukasa where they're going. (Although it does take her several tries to get Tsukasa's attention.) Tsukasa tells her that he doesn't know and then proceeds to ask Shigeru where they're going. Shigeru is astonished that he doesn't have a place in mind, but then Tsukasa points out that she had been the one who wanted to go out and that he figured she had some place in mind already. Shigeru asks him then where he was going when he had walked ahead by himself. Tsukasa tells her that it wasn't like he had a place in mind. Shigeru looks surprised by that bit of information.
We hear Rui telling Makino not to worry about her exam. We're back inside her room and we see that Makino is TOTALLY not looking at Rui or in his area. Rui, on the other hand, is looking at her intently. She thanks him and just looks in a totally different direction.
The room's set-up. I love how Akira's between Soujirou and Yuki. I wonder if Soujirou yanked him to sit there.
Anyway, Akira is VERY quick on the pick-up and realizes that there's some awkward air around Makino and Rui. He quickly brings up that there's some thing that he and Soujirou has to go do. Soujirou looks at him confused, as do the rest of the people in the room, but Akira insists that they leave. Makino slightly protests, telling them that they just came and Akira points out that it was just malnutrition and that she hsould eat a lot and get better. As soon as Soujirou steps out of the door, we hear the nurses screaming again. Gah, were they there the ENTIRE time? Anyway, all that's left in the room is Makino, Rui, Yuki, and that fruit basket. Wait, Akira pulls Yuki out of the room, telling her that Soujirou told him that he has something to tell Yuki. Oooh, smart move. Does this mean that Akira WANTS to match-make Makino/Rui? Or that he just wants to clear their air. Hmm. Curious. Yuki looks at Akira in sheer surprise and goes "Seriously?" jerking her head back slightly. Funnily enough, Akira does too, in a kinda teasing way as he goes "Seriously." And then proceeds to pull her out of the room. Yuki doesn't even bat an eye before she's grabbing her things and dashing out of the room, telling the two people left "Bye" and that she'll talk to Makino later. Yuki's pretty much out the door as Makino tries to thank her and then say bye. Rui is grinning as he comments that he wonders if that's their way of being considerate. Makino wonders the same thing.
We hear Soujirou exclaiming, "Kissed?!" and we see Yuki walking with Soujirou along some street. Yuki tells him that it seems so. Hmm... Did they do this as some kinda parallel to Tsukasa/Shigeru. Because the two are walking TOGETHER, despite not being a couple, but it's not side to side. But there doesn't seem to be any problem here. But that's beside the point. Soujriou is looking quite fetching. Gah. Okay, enough off topic things. Soujirou is agrivated at this whole thing and wonders what Rui is thinking and if he's serious. Yuki tells Soujirou that Makino was really depressed over Tsukasa and that Rui seems much calmer and he'd be better for her. Soujirou protests this and tells her that he thinks things don't work that simply. He tells her that he thinks that Tsukasa still has feelings for her, but then Yuki points out that Tsukasa and Shigeru's marriage is already settled, isn't it?
We get a brief shot of Tsukasa and Shigeru at some park with Shigeru lying against Tsukasa's lap with Tsukasa lost in thought. Shigeru sits back up and looks at Tsukasa while we hear Soujirou's voice telling Yuki that Tsukasa has a reason for giving up on Makino and that after seeing her face again as well as coming into conflict with her, maybe he'd start to go back to Makino again. We're still watching T/S's date in the park and Tsukasa leans forward, as does Shigeru who has looped an arm around one of Tsukasa's again. She's grinning at him, but he notices none of this (again) as he stares off into the distance.
The two on the street (S/Y) have stopped in the tracks and Soujirou is looking at Yuki. Yuki protests this, telling Soujirou that that is too selfish of him. Soujirou turns to walk away and simply says that "That's just the way things are. Oh well." Yuki doesn't let this conversation go and rushes to catch up to him. She walks in front of him and stops him. "Oh well?" she scolds, and then asks him if he had any idea how Makino was feeling as she waited for Tsukasa and how much she suffered when she tried to forget him after he stopped calling her. You can tell she's definitely emotional just by the tone of her voice.
Soujirou looks down, kinda guiltly as Yuki continues with her barrage of how he can wrap everything up as "oh well" and that there's a limit to how much you can play with her feelings. Soujirou is definitely looking a little guilty here as he puts his thoughts together. He looks around and catches sight of something in a store nearby. He walks towards the tea cup, and starts to talk, seeming to talk from experience, about how love isn't rational. That to fall in and out of love is all irrational.
Yuki and Soujirou.
We see a cut of T/S again and Shigeru has just bought a tons of hot dogs and as she raced towards Tsukasa, who's leaning against a tree and AGAIN lost in thought (surprise, surprise), she drops them all. Tsukasa doesn't notice a thing. Soujirou's voice is talking about how just liking someone could get you hurt or could hurt somebody yourself. Dude, he's totally speaking from experience. He goes on to say that to truly love someone is something you'd have to be willing to give up your life for, otherwise it wouldn't work. The shot's back to Soujirou and Yuki and Yuki looks on at Soujirou with an expression of stunned-ness. Not a word, but am too tired to think of an actual word. Soujirou tells her that this is what he thinks when he watches Tsukasa. She seems to be thinking of his words and we see the tea cup that Soujirou had been staring at.
The shot of Soujirou staring at the tea cup, as well as Yuki staring at said tea cup.
Before I go on, I want to talk about this whole thing. This is slightly out of place, but I wanted this written down before my thoughts go bye-bye. This whole opinion thing will be in italics so just skip over if you don't want to read. The thing about this argument is that I can see it from both sides. The relationship between Tsukasa and Makino is definitely as Soujirou describes it, irrational. They're crazy for each other, and yet sometimes, they drive EACH OTHER crazy. And it's a nice thought, that they'd affect each other so much that they're just screaming at each other because they KNOW that even with this, the other will not just leave them. The other person can take this ... "abuse" for lack of a better word, and give as much as they can take. But yet, Tsukasa has hurt her a lot and she's been pained way too much. There's only so much a girl can take, or rather there's only so much one person can take before they begin to feel broken. And Makino has basically reached that line. Yuki, as Makino's best friend and the one who's been by her side for this whole thing, has seen how much this has affected the girl and she really wants is for her to be happy. At this point, I don't know if Tsukasa can make her happy again. There's just been too much pain caused by his actions and it'll take a LOT (I think) to redeem him in Makino's eyes. So for Yuki, the best choice for Makino IS Hanazawa Rui, who has been steady in his connection with Makino and has helped her through so much pain, along with Yuki. Rui knows Makino in a level that I don't think Tsukasa has reached or will ever reached. Their relationship is much different than Tsukasa and Makino's and thus, to Yuki, their steady friendship seems like it could develop into something more.
However, Soujirou is seeing it a different way. He can read Tsukasa quite well and he knows, or rather thinks, that Tsukasa still has feelings for Makino. But that he has reasons for his actions. It's not as though Tsukasa is acting of his own free will. He has made decisions that he's not very proud of, but because he's MADE them, he has to follow through... for the most part. For Soujirou, Rui seems to be kind of a wild card. He doesn't seem to know what exactly Rui's doing or what he's feeling or whether the male understands what Tsukasa feels. That is one of the reasons why I think Soujirou cannot see this thing between Rui and Makino progressing. Especially since, as Makino said, Rui's a "my pace" kind of guy who does things solely because he feels like it, without regard sometimes for those around him. It's a sad thought, but I think Soujirou worries that maybe Rui isn't entirely sincere in his ... actions towards Makino and that he's just doing this because he feels like it. If that were it, then not only would Tsukasa be hurt by all this, but so would Makino and thus as a result of THOSE two being hurt. Everyone else would too. And that would ruin so many friendships. ... It's either that, or he's just a huge Tsukasa/Makino shipper. Well, there's also other options, but those are my thoughts on it.
The show does this clever thing where the tea cup in the store is being picked up and then we cut to a scene where MG (mysterious girl) is picking up a tea cup and we know we're at the tea ceremony class with Yuki. MG is demonstrating a part of the ceremony where she raises her cup and then turns it twice and we can make out Yuki's figure beside MG. Yuki is staring at the tea cup, obviously dazed and MG picks up on it. She asks Yuki what's wrong and Yuki snaps out of her daze only to say "Huh?" MG tells Yuki that she was zoning out and Yuki apologizes. MG tells her to do it again and we can hear Makino's voice telling someone that she's sorry for causing you so much trouble. We're back in Makino's hospital room and she's packing up her bags and Rui is there with her. (Is it wrong that every time I'm about to type hospital, it keeps coming out as hotel? Is this signifying something?)
Anyway, Rui doesn't say much of anything, although it's not like Makino gives him much a chance to talk as she wonders, out loud, on what happened to her mom and dad. We can hear some lady screaming at the nurses to move outside Makino's door and I wonder why the hell they're still outside Makino's door. Do they NOT have patients? It's no wonder the whole place was all dark and dreary without people at the front desk and like the electricity off. The nurses were all probably gathered around a room of some hot guy or something, or patients stopped checking in after checking in once and started telling people of those weird nurses. ...Enough rambling. Said lady enters Makino's room and is about to say sternly, "Makino-san" but she falters when she sees Rui and says kinda softly and girlishly if she could go downstairs and pay her bill. Rui immediately offers to go pay for that and Makino starts after him, protesting this. The nurses quickly follow him and the lady who had gone to Makino, pulls her aside and asks her what Makino's relationship with him is and how far she's gotten. Makino seems a little iffy at this point and the lady covers her mouth and gasps, "Don't tell me..." Makino definitely feels uncomfortable at this point and starts covering her stomach as she protests this.
We cut to outside and Makino is thanking Rui for everything. He asks her if she's sure he doesn't have to walk her home and she insists. Then she tells him that she's going to pay him back in full. Rui tells her that it's okay and not to worry about it and how he's just glad she's better now. Makino's about to tell Rui something when he leans forward and kisses her forehead. She gives a little "ah" in surprise and he pulls back and pats her on the head. He tells her to take care and then leaves. Makino stands frozen. I honestly think he did that just because he doesn't want to hear her turn him down. Nip it in the bud for now. Postpone the inevitable, in other words.
Rui kissing Makino on the forehead and then patting her on the head.
We cut to Tsukasa who's in some fancy dining place along with Shigeru who's trying to get his attention, for what, the 20th time this entire episode? "Hm." Shigeru asks him if they're going to get married and Tsukasa doesn't seem invested in this conversation. His reply is "Hm." Then she tells him that she reserved a room. "Hm." But then Tsukasa seems to have HEARD the words as he goes, "Eh?" a second later. Shigeru smiles at him and tells him that it shouldn't be a problem. Wow, you move fast. He doesn't even want to be in a relationship with you and ALREADY you want to have sex? Awkward. Tsukasa looks around awkwardly and the last shot of him has him looking at her with raised eyebrows.
We hear Makino letting herself into her home when she notices something strange. What is it? Her home's completely bare. She's gasping in shock as she's asking, "What is this?" However, she doesn't have to figure it out for too long as Susumu comes out of his room to talk to her. He welcomes her home with his high pitched voice (dude, has puberty NOT hit for this kid yet?) and she's panicking, asking what's wrong and where mom and dad were. He's more surprised that she didn't hear. "Hear what? Wait a minute... What's going on?" XP This is just so wacky. Her parents didn't even tell her that they packed up and left... XP
We cut back to Tsukasa and Shigeru who are now in that hotel room. Shigeru is looking ou tthe window while Tsukasa has taken a seat by the couch and is what? Oh, look, lost in thought. Shigeru makes a comment on how the night scene is beautiful and Tsukasa doesn't even BOTHER to make a reply. She looks away from the window and tells him that she's going to go take a shower. He barely glances at her before she strides into the bathroom. We hear the shower go off and Tsukasa is definitely confused about where he's at right now. He thinks back to Makino and her many faces. He remembers the cookie...ugh. Why'd they have to show us the shot of him eating it again. And then remembers her good-bye. He gets up, likely to leave and we go into the bathroom to see the shower going off, but nobody in it. The camera goes further into the bathroom and we see Shigeru sitting down, leaning against the wall and once she hears the door close outside, she sighs sadly. She knew that would happen, didn't she? Okay, okay, I'm back to feeling bad for this girl. XP
Shigeru looking sad.
We get a shot of Yuki and she's exclaiming into a phone, "Fired?" Makino's on the other side of the conversation and she's explaining that they have to get out of the company home and how Susumu still has to take exams and Makino has school. Yuki then asks the question that we all want to know the answer to, "So where did your mom and dad go?" Apparently they went to a fishing village where their relatives live and be fisherman. Um... okay. And since it's BETTER to see these shots than me describing. Here's a bunch of pictures.
Yuki: "Fisherman?"
Makino's dad: "Hurry up!"
Makino's mom: "I've caught them!"
Makino tells Yuki that they've gone somewhere that no one has ever heard of.
No words are necessary here. XP
Yuki then asks Makino if she has to look for a place to live and we can see MG in the background, wondering what's going on with Yuki. Makino tells her exactly and that everything's so confusing and unbelievable. I'm more curious as to how fast these parents pack. I mean, Makino's only been away for a DAY. They could not have had everything packed up within one day... Or am I just projecting again? Yuki asks if she has any idea where to start and then suggests talking to their boss at the dango shop. Makino seems to agree with this as Yuki tells her that she'll go ask her. She hangs up the phone and MG approaches Yuki, asking if she's looking for housing.
We cut to a cab pulling up near Makino's building and the driver's enthusiastically talking about how lucky the person riding is because if it was any further, the meter would've jumped. We see that it's Tsukasa that's in said cab. Tsukasa hands the driver a credit card and the driver looks at it in confusion. He makes a comment on how the cards black and Tsukasa sees streaming news on the cab wall about how stock prices are plunging. Um... Is it often that those things are in cabs? Because that's interesting. Tsukasa gets a flash-back to New York and we hear the words "stock prices are plunging" and are now in a room with lots of white people arguing loudly. Some guy tries to calm the room down and continue their meeting and we see MFH at the head of the circle with Tsukasa lazily looking around beside her. She talks in Japanese to the crowd (for some strange reason) about to address this stock price plunge when she notices her son being distracted and not invested. She scolds him for creating this mess by one wrong word he had said and he doesn't seem to care. Nishida tells him that this isn't a joke and Tsukasa again ask so what? MFH tells him that thousands of people will be unemplyed because of him. We cut to Tsukasa in the cab who's having flashes of MATD again, inside the cab when he sits back and tells the driver to pull out. The driver is MORE curious about why the card is so black and Tsukasa yells at him to pull out. Whoa. Well, we know what startles his nerves now. The driver complies.
We're back to Makino who's with Susumu, eating dinner... which is ONE bowl of ramen noddles. Wow, that's not so good. Susumu tells her they shouldn't give up and to make the best of things. Mind you, Makino's still in her jacket. Makino asks him if he's okay for his exams and Susumu insists that he's ready. He tells her that she's the tough weed Tsuksuhi (Wow, it's been a while since we've heard that) and that he's the optimistic Susumu that moves forward no matter what. She smiles at him proudly and nods in agreement. Her cellphone goes off and Makino picks it up to see that it's Yuki. Apparently, Yuki found an apartment for free. She turns around to talk to Susumu... tell him maybe? (Despite the fact that he probably heard her himself) and finds out that he's eaten a whole lot of the ramen.
Next Part.
Once again, this got so lengthy that I had to split it. Ugh. I NEED to stop rambling! @.@