Honey and Clover II – 05

Summary:
Yamada and Miwako are working together at Fujiwara Design choosing some color arrangements. When Miwako comments on how Yamada seems really busy, Yamada reveals that she’s working on flower bowls for an old private house that was dismantled and reconstructed, a job introduced to her by Rika. On the topic of Rika, Miwako admires how she’s is in Spain and has the Valencia museum job. Yamada thinks about how Rika left for Spain a week ago and how Mayama didn’t go with her. She doesn’t know what happened between them before Rika’s trip, but she does know that the way Mayama talks to Rika over the phone is different now; it’s now a mix of calmness and deepness. With their work now done, Miwako decides to take Yamada to a Kenko Land (a health spa). There, the two enjoy a rose and fruit bath and then an akasuri performed by two very muscular women. Afterwards, Miwako dances around in her one piece muumuu. Yamada can’t help but laugh at the clothes, prompting Miwako to say that wearing these means that you can’t think about sad things.
While enjoying draft beer and edamame, Yamada realizes that Miwako probably brought her here to raise her spirits. Since the two are outside on a patio, Miwako points out the good smell of the kinmokusei (the Osmanthus fragrans). It reminds Yamada of how this smell would flood the town right around the time when school’s interdisciplinary preparations started every year. It was in this smell that Yamada looked for the back of the person she loved, passing by numerous times through the place where they could meet. Even for just a little, she had wanted to see his figure and hear his voice. These memories cause Yamada to start tearing up, and when Miwako asks her if she likes the kinmokusei, Yamada proclaims that she loves it. Her tearful smile turns to just tears, so Miwako tries to tell her about all the other fun stuff they’ll be doing. The two eventually return to the office by taxi and Yamada collapses on a bed.
It’s at this point that Nomiya calls the office and Miwako picks up. She tells him that Yamada is over there sleeping after a full course treatment at the Kenko Land. Nomiya wonders if something happened and Miwako says that it was something about Rika and Mayama. Yamada did cry a little, but she’s ok and sleeping now with her leg out and in her underwear. Nomiya reacts to that last bit of information by honestly saying that he wants to see it. Miwako talks about how Mayama isn’t swayed by Yamada’s charming proportions, yet he still considers her very important. After the phone call, Nomiya curses at his phone, frustrated over how Yamada didn’t call him even though she was feeling down. Yamazaki then walks in wondering if something happened with Yamada and if Nomiya is going to go over there to answer an SOS. A furious Nomiya isn’t going anywhere and instead starts smoking on the balcony. Actually, he knows that he’ll be able to go back to Tokyo soon, and until then, he begs her not to cry alone and not to cry in front of anyone else. Back in Tokyo, Yamada is asking herself in her sleep why she can’t let go of the sand on the hill, the expression on Nomiya’s face, and those words he said. With her eyes still closed, Yamada starts crying again.
Sometime later, at school, Takemoto is freaking out because Morita is eating his food. It seems that Takemoto spent all of his money to get his driver’s license, leaving him penniless for the month. With 100 yen, he could only buy a bag of bread crusts, which were supposed to last him until next month and Morita is now eating. Hearing this, Hagu offers him her steamed bread, though Takemoto tries to turn it down. Just as Hagu is insisting that he take it, Morita comes up and glomps down on Hagu’s hands, consuming the bread whole. Hagu starts crying and screaming “filthy” as she quickly goes to cleanse her hands. When Morita and Takemoto start arguing, Shuuji lifts them up by their heads and tells them not to make so much noise. If they get in the way of Hagu’s work, he’ll kill them. With that, he chucks both boys out the window, and all of the money that Morita was carrying comes flying out. As Morita frantically tries to collect it back up, Takemoto wants to know why Morita ate his stuff if he had all that money. He asks Morita about his job; Takemoto sees that Morita works so much, yet he never sees Morita spend any of the money. Why does he need to earn so much money?
Before Morita can give a clear answer, his phone rings. Seeing the message, Morita apologizes because he has to go. That night, he arrives at his brother’s office. Kaoru has something he wanted to show Morita as soon as possible. What is finally complete is a system that will allow them to take 50 yen from children all over the world every month for almost eternity. Kaoru says that his assistant Shiroyama is so emotionally moved by this that he’s crying. Morita knows that Shiroyama is crying for a different reason. Stopping with the nonsense, a serious Kaoru asks if his little brother can do some more work by next month. But Morita doesn’t think the one hundred million figure that his brother cites is possible, so Kaoru turns to Shiroyama and refers back to the earlier system. He orders Shiroyama to condense “almost eternity” into “one year” and to change “children” to “single people under 30 years old.” Hearing this, Morita decides to do it after all. In a serious tone, Morita asks his brother if he’s sleeping properly. Kaoru claims he is even though he’s only getting four hours. Morita lectures him about sleeping more, but Kaoru doesn’t want to hear this from him. As for how much more they have to go, Kaoru thinks it’s just a little more.
Meanwhile, Mayama is feeding Takemoto back at their apartment building. Mayama asks Takemoto why he wanted to get his driver’s license so much, so Takemoto recalls how Shin (from shrine repair group) had told him to get a driver’s license while he was still in school if he wanted to go work for them. Mayama realizes Takemoto’s goal and decides to treat Takemoto to a bath at the public bathhouse tonight. On the way there, Takemoto asks Mayama why he’s living at the apartment if he’s working and can afford to rent a better place. Mayama says that he’s saving money just in case. He explains that when he was little, he had read in of a book about how everyone gets at least three chances. When a chance comes along, it’s up to you to have or to not have money. Takemoto realizes that means Mayama must have a lot of money saved up, making Takemoto the only poor one left. Mayama says it’s ok because Takemoto is still a student. Another way of looking at it is if something happens to the woman you like, you can tell her not to think about anything and just to go rest for a while. That’s why he thinks it’s good to have some money saved. Mayama suddenly realizes that what he’s saying is kind of stupid and urges Takemoto to forget about it. In retrospect, Takemoto thinks about how he had nodded his head to Mayama’s words. However, it was only nodding without a real understanding of the meaning of those words.
At Fujiwara Design, one of the employees apologizes to Yamada for her trouble of coming over when Miwako has gone off somewhere. Fortunately, Yamada is willing to play with Leader while she waits for Miwako. With Leader in her lap, Yamada remembers their trip to the Kenko Land and the kinmokusei which in turn elicits painful memories of Mayama and Rika. She looks over at the telephone and remembers how Nomiya told her to call him when she feels helpless. Instead of doing that though, she just hugs Leader tighter. Suddenly, the doorbell rings. Yamada walks over to the hallway thinking that Miwako’s back, but the person who enters is actually Nomiya. He walks over and plays with Leader, who is still in Yamada’s arms. Nomiya then leans in close to her and announces that he’s back. Because he got so close, she screams and delivers a whirling kick that leaves a streak on the wall. Ready to cry, Yamada runs out of the office and onto the street. She felt like he could see through her heart: in reality she really did want to call him because there were a lot of things she wanted for him to listen to. But she felt that the her who had those thoughts was somehow unpleasant. Yamada is afraid that by thinking like that, all of her feelings for Mayama would become lies. No matter how others might see this miserable or shameful, these cold and bright feelings are her treasure. Having stopped on a bridge, Yamada hears a barking behind her. She turns around to see Leader, with leash in mouth. And walking up behind Leader is Nomiya. Thinking to God, Yamada says that she didn’t want to be saved because she always thought and cried for Mayama. Nevertheless, Nomiya came back, making her very happy and at the same time very sad.

Preview:

I guess this means that YamadaXNomiya is finally coming about. I thought it was a nice touch how that final scene happened in a backdrop of the kinmokusei in the water, a symbol of Yamada’s love for Mayama. I really do hope she can find some happiness because she’s spent so much time crying – every episode she’s been in this season, which is all of them except for last week’s. Maybe Nomiya can put an end to that, or maybe I should just accept that Yamada is a crybaby very emotional person. All this going back and forth between Tokyo and Tottori must be really hard on Nomiya though.
And with the Yamada and Mayama stuff finally getting close to concluding, the focus can shift back to Takemoto, Morita, and Hagu-chan. I think it says a lot about how Hagu feels when she calls Morita filthy after he bites down on her hand – it’s still like she’s afraid of him. Then there’s still the question of what the Morita brothers are planning and why they need so much money. Anyway, looks like there’ll be more Hagu and Morita development next week.
The insert song this week is Spitz’s 「ジュテーム」 (Je t’aime) from their 2000 album 「ハヤブサ」 (Hayabusa).