Asian Addicts Anonymous

We open at an amusement park 19 years ago where Tokage plays with his father. After they ride a rollercoaster, Tokage’s father has him close his eyes once more and quizzes him on things he’s seen. Why exactly did his father keep doing this to him? Yes, his son had an impressive photographic memory…but it does seem like he’s training him…why?

Anywho, this memory is interrupted by the arrival of Sota who sits on top of Tokage and says it’s time for breakfast. The little boy fancies something tasty. At Tokage’s expression, the boy asks what is wrong. Tokage picks up the boy and sits up. Doesn’t Sota get lonely not having a father around? Well…yes, but he believes his father wouldn’t want him to be said, plus he thinks his father is always looking after him. Tokage smiles at the little boy, a genuine smile, and rubs his head.

We then cut to a murder scene where a man has been beaten to death. Amane, Makihara, and Terashima are all present and taking care of the case. Terashima is horrified to learn that Kishimori has forbade them to investigate the school the man worked for as Tokage is being sent in instead.  We then cut to our private eye who is drinking his soy milk box and putting up another sticker…does so many stickers get him something? He hears something sizzling and pulls back his curtain to see Kaori cooking downstairs while Kishimori talks with Yanagida about the victim Ichinose. They think there is some bad things going on at the school and its possible Ichinose was silenced to cover things up. So that means Kishimori wishes for Tokage to go in undercover and risk his life? Kishimori smiles—there will be ample compensation.

As Kishimori goes to leave, Tokage walks upstairs. Kishimori smiles and greets him. Has it been two years already? He then walks away and Tokage looks rather unhappy. Yanagida then holds the meeting. This time Tokage will be going undercover as a recently hired English teacher (have you heard Matsuda-san speak in English? It’s adorable and not half bad?) to find evidence on the murder and suspected bribery. Kaori is still not happy about kidnapping the people that Tokage goes undercover as. Nothing like breaking the law to enforce it. Kaori is still amazed at how fast and how well Tokage can memorize faces and data. Yanagida assures her that she must have some special talent, too. This makes her happy until Tokage cuts in and asserts he’s just as certain she doesn’t. LOL.

Tokage starts his undercover work as Doi-sensei. While he greets the students in English at the opening ceremony, he surveys everyone around and makes mental notes on appearances and brand name goods, etc. During class, he even saves a boy being bullied by a trio of girls by switching his ruined workbook with his own, upsetting the girls. The trio then approach him after class asking for him to explain things after school The trio then point out another teacher, Ninomiya, smoking on the roof which is forbidden. They then comment on how he’s been acting strange of late.

Later, Tokage sneaks into the girls’ locker room to check out one of the bullies’ phones. In it he finds photoshopped pictures of the boy they bully. The bell sounds and before he can make it out of the locker room the girls return. LMAO. Tokage desperately hides in a locker where he overhears the girls talking about a “Tulip Curse” and people getting murdered in some particular order.

After school, the principal asks about his day and Tokage brings up his worry over the bullied student and asks about the tulip curse. Another teacher scoffs at the curse and tells Tokage to concentrate on getting the kids into Todai [elite Japanese university] instead. It then looks like Tokage swiped that teacher’s ID card… but I could be wrong.

At lunch, Tokage watches the girls throw water on Shijo, the boy being bullied. He is then shocked to find Kaori working as a cafeteria worker who returns the boy’s missing shoe. She goes over to him and asks how his first day of school is and Tokage demands to know what she’s doing there. Working undercover to help him of course! He doesn’t need her help. Be that as it may, she’s responsible for reporting back to HQ. Tokage then reveals that both Ninomiya and Principal Mikumo own designer goods (which you should NOT be able to do on a teacher’s salary, let me tell you). Meanwhile, Terashima and Makihara are investigating the company that Ichinose belonged to (he sold textbooks to the school Tokage is now undercover at) and they discover a ledger of hidden transactions.

Back at school, Tokage sees Shijo staring morosely at the crimson tulips and recalls the girls’ words about the weird tulip curse. We then cut to flashback Shijo running upstairs crying and running into someone coming from the roof, but we don’t see who. Kaori then comes up and explains the curse started when 10 years ago a student fell from the building and one year later red tulips grew where his body was found. How does she know this? Simple. She asked Shijo who then collapses.

They take him to see nurse Amemiya who tells him the infirmary is the boy’s haven from bullying. Why doesn’t the other teachers acknowledge the bullying? They turn a blind eye to it so low performing students drop out and the success rate stays high. Kaori cannot believe how well Tokage acts with the nurse—does he like older women? Totally irrelevant. Shijo then wakes up and Kaori asks him to explain the curse to Tokage. Students dug up a time capsule that had a letter from the student who died 10 years ago which said killed in order by numbers. Ichinose was present and was a fellow classmate of the deceased then five days ago…he died. So…did the “one” in Ichinose stand for the first to be killed? That’s what Shijo thinks.

Kaori goes to Masato’s [Makihara’s little brother] bar before it opens to join the debriefing. No one really welcomes her aside from the nice Amane. They talk about what they discovered and how Ichinose, Ninomiya, and Mikumo were all in the the deal together. Kaori then tells them about the curse. The next one to die should be Ninoymiya (2 is in his name in kanji) and Mikumo (3 is in his name in kanji). The others cannot believe she’s honestly talking about a curse. So where did she learn about it? Gossip from the students. Terashima is very negative—this is all Tokage and she could dig up? Kishimori warns Terashima to stay away from the school and Terashima vows to solve the case without going undercover and prove that Tokage is unnecessary. He and Makihara then take their leave.

Makihara and Terashima decide to hit the weakest link of the chain—Ninomiya. When they go to meet him, the teacher is obviously very jumpy. Is he afraid of being murdered next? Terashima hands him his card and Ninomiya bolts from the bar. Enter Tokage who complains that Terashima is interfering again. Makihara then says she hears Tokage is taking care of Sota. Is that his way of making up for leaving Modegi behind? There is no way he can ever make up for that. Tokage recalls the crates once more and merely says Makihara likes to tell old tales. Terashima then grabs Tokage’s collar and vows to expose his true nature. He then complains Tokage has no feelings whatsoever. Can feelings solve a case? He asked the same thing to Kaori in the last episode.

Tokage hides in the ceiling of the school and spies on the principal’s office where Mikumo and Ninomiya are talking. Murakami wishes to know if it was Ninomiya who killed Ichinose. Ninomiya quickly refutes this—ever since the murder he had been frightened to death. So…is it really Marukawa’s curse? Or is a former student using the curse to kill off teachers he doesn’t like? This freaks the young teacher out even more. He then wonders if he should confess what happened 10 years ago. Murakami reminds him they made a pact to keep that secret. During this conversation, a rat sits on Tokage’s hand and urinates. How…random.

Tokage goes to the infirmary to disinfect his hand and runs into Shijo and Kaori. When he openly confronts Shijo about the bullying and asks him about transferring, Kaori drags him out. Amemiya returns and we finish the flashback. The crying Shijo met her at the top of the stairs she hugged him. What was she trying to tell him? That she would always be there for him. Sounds fishy. Kaori then pulls Tokage into a supply closet and scolds him for not understanding Shijo’s feelings. Why? was she bullied? Kaori says she wasn’t. She was mostly ignored. Sometimes people would write “die” in her textbook or steal her things, but she wouldn’t call that bullying. Right. She wasn’t being bullied at all. Anywho, Tokage then hands over numbers to Mikumo’s safe and tells her to crack the combination. He also hands over his ID which has Mikumo’s thumbprint on it as they will need that, too.

Kaori takes the ID to Yanagida who processes it so they can use it to open the safe while Kaori works out what the combination is. Meanwhile, Tokage digs into the boy behind the curse and his relation to Ichinose, Mikumo, and Ninomiya. The fingerprint is ready and Tokage says they will move the next day when Mikumo is at a meeting with other schools. That night Kaori finally cracks the code and happily goes to tell Tokage who tells her to not get so close and to mind his poor plants. LOL.

Kaori reports to Tokage as soon as the principal leaves. Tokage gets into the office through the ceiling and tries out the different variations of the principal’s granddaughter’s birthday. After two failed attempts, he finally gets in just as Mikumo makes his way back to his office. Tokage quickly pilfers everything from the safe. He barely makes it back into the ceiling before Mikumo enters. That was too close.

Tokage hands the books over to Yanagida who will pass them on to Kishimori to investigate the bribery. They then take out the note from Marukawa. The note threatens to kill his bullies in order by number. Kaori then wonders why she has such a sudden urge to eat sushi? Sota calls her crazy. It’s the note! It has a the faint aroma of soy sauce. She has a sensitive nose, you know. Now she’s craving sushi because of the smell. Yanagida gets this and Tokage tells the old man not to encourage his assistant. This makes Kaori so happy that he has acknowledged her as his assistant. Sota then says she’s become annoying now. Tokage is  quick to agree.

Mikumo confronts Ninomiya about the safe and he denies anything—maybe it’s the curse. If that’s the case then Ninomiya is next, right? The frazzled teacher goes to the roof and calls Terashima asking him to come to the school as he will confess about Ichinose and the incident 10 years ago. Terashima and team rush out while Tokage goes to the roof to confront Ninomiya himself about the bullying and what happened 10 years ago. Ninomiya freaks out thinking Tokage is the killer and backs against the railing which falls down. Tokage reacts quickly and pushes Ninomiya to safety and falls off the roof himself. While falling he notices something in one of the classrooms.

Tokage saves himself from going splat by catching a branch of a tree. Kaori quickly rushes out and asks if he’s okay. The rattled Tokage quickly asserts that he is fine. He is taken to the infirmary where he learns Amemiya has a fourteen year-old. She quit her job at a hospital so she could work normal hours and be closer to her child.

Terashima and Makihara investigate the roof. The bolts were removed from the railing after the security guard did his routine check. Many people knew Ninomiya went up there to smoke, so they were definitely trying to kill him. Amane then comes up and states they found the bolts in the science classroom. A student reported they saw Mikumo come in and hide something. Ninomiya had a feeling it was Mikumo all along. Terashima then asks him to tell them what happened ten years ago.

Kaori rushes to the infirmary and asks how Tokage is doing. He replies he is fine. She tells him Mikumo has been fingered as the murderer. If that is the case then what about Marukawa’s note and the her desire to eat sushi? Say what? In television, soy sauce is often used to make paper look aged. Tokage believes that is also the case with this letter. Really? Tokage then asks Koari to come closer as he has a favor to ask. He looks over and she is sitting far from him on the other bed with her hand to her ear (remembering him telling her earlier not to get too close). Tokage then tells her closer than that. Cute moments, cute moments.

Poor Shijo isn’t feeling good and is sweating bullets. The girls wonder if he may be the murderer. One girl then texts him a photoshopped picture asking for a 2,000 yen donation. Tokage who sees this from out in the hall recalls being bullied as a child for his memory. He and Kaori seem to have somewhat similar pasts. When Shijo can no longer take it he rushes from the classroom. One of the bullies seems to have an odd look on her face.

Mikumo tells Terashima and Makihara he is being framed and Amane is ordered to bring in the student who witnessed the principal hiding the bolts. Shijo goes to the infirmary asking after Tokage. Amemiya assures him Doi-sensei is fine. Tokage then asks if it was Shijo who reported the principal. Why did the boy lie? What does Tokage mean? Tokage saw Shijo in the classroom. How is that possible as Tokage was falling from the roof at the time? Tokage reports that he managed to see as hew as falling. It wasn’t Mikumo but Shijo in the room. Tokage asks him what happened when Amane comes in and asks him to give his witness report. Shijo shoves a rolling cart at Amane and rushes out of the office.

He runs up to the roof and looks down at the tulips. Will he junp? Tokage reaches the roof and tells the boy that he can’t escape the truth. Kaori then rushes up and says that Doi was right. About what? Shijo then says that Mikumo is a horrible person who deserves what he gets for hiding the bullying. Come one and face the truth. Shijo witnessed Amemiya removing and hiding the bolts in the science classroom, right? (Tokage saw her leaving the room when he saw Shijo.) She is Marukawa’s mother after all. She did all of this for her dead son. Shijo cannot believe this—how could Tokage know this? Tokage reveals he’s an undercover cop.

Enter Amemiya on the opposite rooftop. She confesses to wanting revenge for her son who she was certain killed himself after being bullied by Ichinose and Ninomiya. When he reported it to  Mikumo, the teacher slapped him and said no such thing happened at that elite school. She was also the one who planted tulips where he died, right? because they were her son’s favorite flower. She apologizes for making Shijo lie and for nearly killing Tokage by accident. She then steps to the edge of the roof and Tokage takes a running leap and manages to tackle her to safety before she could jump. That leap just didn’t seem physically possible.

Tokage yells at her and says death is not the answer. He then tells her the story of the fatherless Sota who isn’t sad because he believes his dead father watches over him. Thus Amemiya shouldn’t give up as she still has much more to do before she can face her dead son. Tokage then stands and helps Amemiya up.

As Amemiya is being led away, Makihara and Terashima come out and say Mikumo has confessed to staging Marukawa’s suicide to look like an accident to cover up the bullying. Terashima then hands over Marukawa’s student handbook which contained his last words to his mother wishing her to save more lives as a doctor. Amemiya cries and Terashima wishes her to serve her time and come back stronger as she will most definitely be able to help others.

Kishimori goes to Yaginada to give him the payment for Tokage’s successful mission. Kishimori asks why Tokage agreed to join them once more after quitting two years ago. For Sota’s sake. Some day the boy will need to know the truth and thus Tokage is searching for answers about what really happened. Does Yanagida want Kishimori to reopen the Modegi case? Kishimori smiles and calls him funny as Tokage is the number one suspect.

Shijo goes up to Tokage and asks if he should be arrested since he lied to the police. Tokage then tells the boy the police are too busy to deal with him. He then says that he’s a tough opponent and should let those girls know. Shijo goes up to the one bully who demands her money. He slaps her hand away—life’s too short to deal with someone like her—he has more important things to do. Kaori is happy that Tokage helped Shijo stand up to the bullies at last. Tokage says it has nothing to do with him and walks away. Typical Tokage.

Kaori sees Makihara and Terashima and bounces over to them thanking them for their hard work. Terashima replies he didn’t do it for Tokage, but because he’s worried about Kaori. He then hands over his card and tells her to call if she ever needs him. Is Tokage really that bad of a person? Kaori doesn’t think so (I don’t either). Makihara asks if Kaori knows about the case two years ago. Yes, she does. Well, Modegi was Makihara’s lover. Ano…what does that have to do with Tokage being good or bad?

Tokage may be cold and aloof and behave rudely towards Kaori and others, but you know he cares deep down. And while I know the case two years ago makes him look bad, I don’t know why everyone points their fingers at him being the culprit. Wasn’t it more along the lines of a victim of circumstance? He was lucky and his crate hit rocks and broke open…Modegi wasn’t so fortunate.