Asian Addicts Anonymous

I did like this episode, but at the same time there is still this feeling of regression and going in circles. Every time it looks like Rei and her family are finally getting back on their feet and getting their personal issues resolved, a new incident happens. Sometimes it looks like this drama is trying to hard to tackle too many issues and thus none of them are getting resolved satisfactorily. I have heard there is only 2 episodes left. Shall we get a good ending, I wonder? I stand corrected, there’s 11 episodes, not 10.

Rei goes to Charlotte and looks at the shop wistfully yearning to go in, but she doesn’t as she doesn’t want to cause the store any more problems. Jun catches sight of her and tells the others that he saw her. This seems to make Abekawa feel badly. Unfortunately, you have to do what is best for business and that isn’t always what is best for your employees. It sucks, but it does happen. The depressed Rei goes and sits on her usual bench and tries over and over again to reach Ayukawa who is currently at the hospital with his phone off. Apparently the man has a brain tumor. [Correction, apparently it’s pancreatic cancer—I swear that looked like a brain. :P] It’s treatable, but Ayukawa is not complying with the doctor’s wishes and getting treated. I guess at this point if he had felt like he had been forgiven by Yuko and accepted by his “maybe” daughter, he would have accepted treatment, but who knows? I want to feel bad for him, but all his past transgressions can’t be made up for now just because he learns he’s dying.

To break the melancholic mood, up comes Kiyama with a can of Rei’s favorite coffee drink and he silently puts it against her neck. She jumps and turns and there is Kiyama with a childish grin. How kawaii! Mmm. Kiyama’s smile here is the complete opposite of how he started this series. It’s nice to see him changing and becoming happier and more open with Rei. Kiyama sits down to chat with her and the younger girl puts on a smile and tells him that she’s doing well despite the recent string of unlucky events. Meanwhile, Tanazki visits Natsume in the hospital and he tells her of Rei visiting him and he also apologizes for the trouble he’d caused. Yoko then comes in with a bouquet of her mom’s favorite flowers. It’s a small step, but it’s still a step in the right direction. She doesn’t stay long at all, but before she leaves, Natsume has to tell her just how cute he finds his two granddaughters.

Rei and Kiyama start walking and she lets him know about how Charlotte has forced her to take a leave of absence. While Rei understands why she was requested to, you know it still smarts. Kiyama decides to help improve her mood by spending the day with her once more. Rei suggests karaoke and this takes Kiyama back. Karaoke, huh? Rei asks if he’s bad at it and Kiyama says he doesn’t know, but no one ever said he was good at it either. This causes them both to laugh and Rei wonders just what he is good at since he sucks at bowling, too. She then gets a phone call from Abekawa asking her to please come back in to work if she’s in the area. Awww. No karaoke date for our couple. But it’s a good thing that Rei is able to go back to the job she loves. Unfortunately, Rei has no idea that trouble is brewing on the horizon with Nakatsu turning in his completed article, the first in a series about the kiseki law system in Japan which is part of the reason there are children without registers [this is in regards to the 300-day divorce law—not in regards to parents wanting to hide children from families, etc, which is another reason].

Mao comes home from tennis practice and overhears Yoko talking to a representative from the hospital who is concerned about her stint in jail (and the fact that she may or may not have tried to kill someone). Yoko promises to come in and try to sort out the mess and see if she can’t possibly still keep her job. Knowing her mother is troubled, Mao hides the fact that she is being bullied at school thanks to that same event. Rei and Tanizaki then arrive home and Mao quickly hides her fouled up tennis racket bag. She goes out and receives a present of tennis shoes for the upcoming tournament. This makes Mao happy, but at the same time sad as she is being bullied by her fellow club members. Rei goes outside and leaves Ayukawa a message requesting a DNA test to prove whether or not they are blood related. When she goes back inside, she overhears her mother telling Tanizaki that even if she doesn’t agree with Rei’s decision to do the DNA test, she will do her best to support her daughter. Rei then goes into her and Mao’s room where Mao reveals what she overheard earlier.

The next morning Rei asks her mom about it. Yoko puts on a smile and says that they must continue to do their best and be as cheerful as they possibly can. Rei is still worried, but tries to let her mother’s words bring her comfort and strength. Meanwhile, the magazine with the article has hit the newsstand. Kusano happens to pass by and it catches his eye. He is horrified! The article is not about him like Nakatsu had said. No, Kusano doesn’t care about 15 minutes of fame (or more likely shame in this case). What he’s unhappy about is his pure, golden girl, Rei has been dragged through the mud. Nakatsu, on the other hand, is happy with himself for writing the article while Rei remains blissfully unaware. However, soon the family begins to find out. Yoko happens to see the article while waiting for the bus to the hospital. Natsume happens to see it while he is out in his wheelchair in the hospital corridor. As another note, Kusano wasn’t doing this just for his story to be heard—he was doing this to try to help make people aware of the law and its problem, just like Nakatsu was. The only problem is Nakatsu’s grandstanding and not considering the consequences of honing in on a specific subject (especially without their consent).

Nakatsu goes to visit Kusano who demands to know what happened. Why isn’t the article about him? Nakatsu wishes to know why Kusano isn’t happy as this article talks about the injustice of the kiseki system and 300 day law. Plus, it also paints Yoko in a horrible light. Isn’t Kusano always griping about irresponsible parents? Kusano yells that Rei was different. She is a cheerful girl with a dream in life. Kusano on the other hand has already given up. He is sullied and jaded with no dreams of his own for a better life. Kusano then reveals (he’d been on the net earlier and saw all sorts of horrible comments about Rei already) that Nakatsu has opened Rei and her family up to a world of hurt by writing such a misleading and trashy article. Nakatsu doesn’t believe he was wrong at all as he wrote it as he saw it. Whatever. He then tries to give Kusano money, he even included extra, but Kusano refuses. Nakatsu urges him to take it so he can finally stop being a prostitute, but Kusano again refuses to take that money. Nakatsu leaves and our poor boy collapses on the floor and talks about how it’s all his fault that Rei is ruined. No, it isn’t. Nakatsu wasn’t stupid and put two and two together and then jumped to his own conclusions about the whole incident.

Abekawa rushes into the kitchen with the magazine and asks if Rei knew about it. Rei takes a look and is horrified. Even though Rei’s name was withheld, it was obvious the article was talking about her. They even mention the name of the café where she works as a pastry chef. The article also talks about how her mother had a violent breakdown and tried to kill Ayukawa and ended up stabbing her own father instead. Oy. Of course headquarters calls right away and they are not happy. They are sending someone down to figure out how to deal with the situation. This is not good at all. Kiyama then hears about the article when his boss rushes in with the magazine. It’s a bout Rei-chan, right? Kiyama reads it and notices his junior’s name. He then rushes out of the office. Naoto notices that Kiyama is late and Kataoka notices in the newspaper that there is an article out about Rei. Yep, she doesn’t look happy at all as she must realize Kiyama hasn’t come home from work because of this incident.

Kiyama confronts Nakatsu who says that he did it for Kiyama. Wasn’t he all gungho about getting the truth out there? Well, one, it isn’t really the truth. Nakatsu has skewed the truth for a more sensational story. He has painted Yoko in a much more horrible light than she really is. Yes, she was irresponsible, but she did have somewhat valid reasons. Kiyama then explains that you can’t take back what has been written. The problem is that a journalist moves on to the next story while the person who was written about must live with the article and fallout for the rest of their lives. Nakatsu still doesn’t think he was wrong. Doesn’t he understand why Kiyama left journalism? The article he wrote led a man to commit suicide, leaving behind his wife and baby. You can’t take stuff like that back.

Management comes in and they are not happy at all. How can they deal with this situation. Since the article has come out, their servers have been flooded with requests for them not to fire Rei (who wasn’t technically in danger of being fired). He goes out and Rei bows deeply and apologizes for all the trouble that’s been caused thanks to her. He tells her not to worry as it is impossible for their company to fire her (too much public whiplash now for them to do so). Of course, this does not make Rei feel happy at all as she knows that she is hurting the company by being there and she does not wish to hurt the place she loves dearly. At this time Kiyama shows up at Charlotte to see Abekawa rejecting a reporter who wishes to interview Rei and staff. He then asks where Rei is and tells the reluctant Igawa that he isn’t a reporter, but from the ward office.

Igawa tells him where Rei is. She is sitting on a bench in the park looking very depressed. He rushes up and says he has read the article. He also apologizes to Rei since it was his junior who wrote it. Rei smiles and says that she and her family have done nothing wrong [this is technically untrue as her mother did attack and attempt to silence Ayukawa from revealing he’s Rei’s father] and will do their best to work through the situation. She then says that she is a lot stronger  than she looks. Meanwhile, Kataoka has gotten the magazine and is reading the article. She then gets a text from Kiyama saying that something has come up and he won’t be coming home. Yep, she’s definitely not a happy camper. Jealous, possessive, crazy woman.

Nakatsu has finally realized what Kiyama was trying to tell him earlier. He gets back to the office and he starts seeing all of these comments. Some people say Rei should just kill herself and end the problem and a lot of people say that if Rei does end up committing suicide over the backlash, then it will all be Nakatsu’s fault. This shakes him. I guess he really didn’t consider the fact that article could ruin lives instead of just inform people of the problem of Japan’s kiseki system and 300 day law. Wow, writing dirt about people won’t have any negative effects? What an idiot. I do agree that the issue is important and needs to be addressed, but he should have chose to act more wisely and discretely instead of using Rei who had recently been featured in a magazine herself over being an up-and-coming pastry chef.

Rei gets back to the store where a woman comes up to her. She bought four slices of Rei’s pie. Rei thanks her, but her smile quickly goes away when the woman hands her a flier about protecting abused children. This woman apparently is worried that since Yoko is a violent person, she will start beating her children. Rei is furious. Her mother is not abusive. Of course, the woman doesn’t believe her and keeps pushing her. Igawa then steps in and snaps, telling the customer to leave immediately. Abekawa comes out and sends the two girls back into the kitchen while she apologizes profusely. The woman then states that she was just trying to help because if you let things go it will be too late. True if you do have a loony psychopath of a mother. Yoko just had one brief meltdown and her kids were never in any danger from her. Abekawa then scolds the two and Igawa says she couldn’t stand it as it was invasive and rude to Rei. But still, the customer is king. The shop is then closed down for the day as they need to figure out how to deal with the whiplash from the article. This makes Rei feel even worse.

Thanks to the article there is no way Yoko can keep her job now and she is let go. Meanwhile, Natsume invites Rei and her family to go live with him in Hokkaido until things die down here. It’s sad to say, but getting away at this point might be best for everyone. When Rei gets home, her mother is apologizing to angry neighbors who blame her for the reporters and bad element coming into the neighborhood. Yoko apologizes once more and the two go up to their apartment to find Mao cleaning her new shoes which have more bad things written on them. Apparently she started getting bullied because she stood up for her mother and sister. After Mao calms down and goes to bed, Rei asks her mother to seriously consider moving to Hokkaido for everyone’s benefit. Natsume can get Rei a job there and probably Yoko, too. Plus, Mao won’t have to deal with the bullying any more.

Rei goes and writes a resignation letter and heads off to Charlotte to put it on Abekawa’s desk while everyone is gone. It’s at this time Ayukawa returns back to his apartment and gets Rei’s message. He quickly calls her back, but the girl forgot her cellphone. Kiyama is worried about Rei. He then gets a phone call from Nakatsu asking him what to do since he ruined that girl’s life. This pushes Kiyama over the edge and he rushes out in a panic. He recalls all his times with Rei. Her smiles, her tears, her dreams, her anger. He then recalls how she rushed into his arms crying about how it would probably be better if she didn’t exist. He rushes to Charlotte, but no Rei. He goes to her apartment and sees her bike there, but I guess he just has this feeling she isn’t home as he starts running again.

Kiyama finally finds Rei on a set of stairs. The girl is visibly upset. She says that she wanted to call him to talk to him, but realized she forgot her phone. How stupid is she? Of course it’s raining and Rei tells him about leaving to go live with her grandfather. You know she doesn’t really want to leave her home, but she tries smiling and putting on a brave face, but that crumples and she cries. She is happy that she has had a chance to thank Kiyama for all he’s done. She just doesn’t know how she can do her best anymore now. Kiyama is pained to see her so broken. He pulls her into a hug and that’s where we end this episode with Kiyama trying to comfort Rei and Rei begging him to save her.

Previews for the next episode don’t look too hot. I mean, it looks like Kiyama might realize there’s something between him and Rei and he may be okay with exploring what that is, but Kataoka gets involved. Of course it’s about time for her to rear her ugly head. Oy. What will happen in the end?