Episode 2 picks up where we left off in Episode 1, near the train tracks where Kengo has just asked Risa to become part of his family. Risa thinks that he is mad and walks off. Then, suddenly, she stops. I will give you my liver, she says. But her debt is 3 million yen. Will Kengo pay it off? Kengo agrees readily. Then, Risa says, I will stay at your place tonight.
“I will give you my liver.” Risa washing away her past.
Risa follows Kengo back to his place. She seems impressed by his house. I mean her apartment is a 1K place – Just a 6 tatami-mat place (maybe smaller?) with a small kitchen (enough for the sink and fridge) near the front door. In comparison, his place is like a palace. There’s a driveway and a proper dinning area. Risa takes a bath in the ofuro. It’s as if she’s trying to wash away her past, her job, her brother.
After the bath, Risa passes by Kengo’s room and enters. It seems Kengo is really into jellyfish. He has a couple of tanks full of the floating creatures. Kengo tells Risa more of the transplant surgery and the deal he wants to strike with her. Basically, Risa will get the 3 million yen to pay her debts when she puts her name on the marriage certificate. Once the marriage has been approved by the authorities, they will be able to submit her as a possible donor for Maria. The hospital will conduct compatibility tests to see if they can do the transplant.
“What a gambler you are.” “I will still keep the 3 million yen.”
When Risa heard this, she immediately replies that she will still keep the money even if the test proved that she is not a suitable donor. Kengo seemed a bit taken aback, like that thought has never crossed his mind, that Risa might not be a suitable donor. But he agrees to the condition. “What a gambler you are,” Risa tells him. To which he replies, there is no one else but you I can depend on.
What about after the surgery? “Divorce,” says Kengo. Of course, says Risa. But I want another 1 million after the surgery. Sure, Kengo agrees. And they shake hands to seal the deal.
“The deal is on.”
The next day, we see Risa being called away by work again as she was having breakfast. She seems to enjoy the cooking of mom and they have a cordial relationship. Before going to work, she drops by the aquarium to look for Kengo, causing his colleagues to speculate on their relationship.
Asking for money, she promised to return after work. She also took his house keys and gave him her contact number.
Arriving at work, she soon realizes that the person who has requested for her is none other than sleazy brother. He makes a few suggestive remarks about her in sailor uniform, and how they are siblings and should take care of each other. Shrugging off his hands on her shoulders and denying their sibling relationship, Risa screams for the boss, accusing her brother of molest. Next, we see Brother being beaten to a pulp by Boss’ men, serve him right.
“It’s been a long time seeing you in a sailor uniform.” Sleazy brother getting beaten to a a pulp.
On the other hand, Kengo has been invited to dinner at the home of his concerned colleague, Kawamoto-senpai, who has also invited Minako. We learn more of Kengo’s relationship with Minako and this senpai, and understand why he feels the need to go on his knees to apologise to Kawamoto-senpai when he announces that the wedding is off, that they have broken up. He gives them no reason, leaving them to speculate.
Outside the apartment of the senpai, Kengo and Minako bid farewell. Minako asks Kengo if it’s okay to cancel the reservation of wedding hall. Kengo says yes and leaves.
Kengo apologising to sen-pai for calling off the wedding. Minako, “Shall I cancel the reservation with the wedding hall?”
While all these are going on, Maria is also having some action of her own – a forbidden excursion to Asakusa to watch rukugo with a fellow patient and her good friend. Unfortunately, the outing turned bad when the fellow patient, Ryota, started turning green and had to be rushed back to the hospital. Maria soon realized that her illness is the same as Ryota’s as they are on the same medication. The seriousness of her condition hits home.
Maria and friends at the rakugo. Risa and brother getting “cosy”.
Talking about hitting home, someone has also hit home. It’s none other than Risa’s brother. Kengo, concerned because Risa has not been coming home, goes looking for her, at her work place and her apartment. And inevitably meets Risa’s brother. Risa, returning in the nick of time, chases him away as she doesn’t want them to meet. She cooks a meal for her brother, and the next day, she packs her stuff while brother is sleeping and leaves.
Meeting Kengo at the aquarium, she hands him the marriage certificate for him to fill in his portion. Kengo hesitates. Is it okay, he asks. Why are you asking this me now? You shouldn’t be asking me this now. Why did you save me? I can’t go back now. Just like you, there’s no-one else but you I can turn to.
“I have no one else except you.”
Comments
Kengo is indeed at his wits end. That is why this drastic move, an illegal one. I guess from his point of view, since Risa is going to die anyway, because of her suicide attempt, why waste a good liver that can save his sister. The thing is, I don’t think that was his thought when he tried to save her. His intentions, initially was just to save her from the impending train. It was only during the struggle that he recognized who she was. And later that he hatched this desperate plan.
Kengo doesn’t know how to turn on his infra-red to transfer phone details.
I found a rare comic moment when Risa wanted to transfer her cell phone details to Kengo. He took a long time trying to set it up for the transfer that Risa decided that it would be faster to just take it and do it herself. It shows the generation or perhaps even cultural gap between the two. How unsuitable the two are for each other, what more to say for marriage. Yet, fate is bringing them together for just that.
As for Risa’s relationship with her brother, it is something that I still can’t figure out. She gets people to beat him up, yet still cooks for him. There is a hint of something bordering illicitness in the innuendos that Brother Shuichi is making, yet, she is willing to pay for his debts. She allows him to sleep on her bed. Are they really siblings? They do share the same surname. It is a mystery, their relationship. Especially since Risa keeps insisting to Kengo that she has no next of kin.
Talking about relationships, there’s the one between Kengo and Minako. When Minako asked Kengo if it’s okay to cancel the wedding hall reservation, you get a feeling that she hopes that he would say no. She is perhaps still hopeful that they might go ahead with the wedding. But I guess from Kengo’s point of view, the most important thing at that moment is saving his sister, and he cannot afford the emotional entanglements of a messy break up. Also, I think as a guy, it’s easier for him to put in down, perhaps? So he doesn’t really initiate the break up. He just allows Minako to make her own inference. Could it also be that he is hoping that after the surgery and divorce, he can get back with Minako?
I like the ending when Risa tells Kengo that besides him, she has no one else. Yes, she is doing it for the money. But at the same time, getting into this marriage contract with Kengo is also a way out for her. A chance at a new life. One where she gets to “choose” her family. Thus, Kengo’s initial question at the train tracks was an appropriate one. She has lived there with Kengo and his mom, and she has decided that yes, she can be a part of this family. There’s no turning back for her.
