Imouto yo

Episode Three

Yukiko is waiting for Kikuo outside a public bathhouse.  Kikuo finally comes out and he’s all happy, saying that he can now have a clean start.  As they go home, they start to bicker in a friendly way about him taking her shampoo.  At home, as Yukiko is now painstakingly labelling her name on her shampoo bottle, Kikuo - who’s in the kitchen looking for food for his lunchbox tomorrow - all of a sudden gets really serious and calls a “family meeting”.  Yukiko thinks it’s about his lunchbox, but then he brings up the subject of the umbrella outside the door the previous night, and she lies and says that it was because she had a girlfriend over who was crying from a broken relationship.  Kikuo is relieved that it’s not because Yukiko had a guy over, but he tells her that she must confide in him and not cry on her own, if what happened to her colleague ever happens to her. 

Masashi hears one of his staff taking Yukiko’s call and he picks up the phone.  Yukiko was calling to ask for his bank account so she could deposit the money he’d put in the flowers and she didn’t really want to talk to him.  He arranges to meet her at 7 pm the next evening.  Miura walks him and makes some sarcastic comment about him locating his sister, which he’d heard from the driver, saying that his father was against it.  Masashi says that his sister is family after all, and tells Miura the bargain he’d struck with Kenji to leave his sister. 

Hitomi’s at the nightclub, and asks Kenji if it’s true what she’d heard from their friend that he has given up music because of her and that he would not get back on his own feet so long as she was by his side. 

At home, Goro is making hotpot but he’s forgotten the meat!  As he’s making the preparations, he tells Yukiko that he’s not moving out even though he now has a job as he wants to keep an eye on her.

Meanwhile, Masashi is having dinner with his dad and Kanzaki Hatsue and her father.  Masashi wants his dad to call off the marriage arrangements with Hatsue but later in the car, his father tells him that he can’t because of their business arrangements.  Masashi then asks his father if “business” was also the reason why he lied during dinner about Hitomi being abroad at school… or was it because he wanted to “save face”… His dad said for both those reasons, and then says that even if he doesn’t want to marry Hatsue, he would have to find someone more appropriate than Yukiko, who had neither education nor background. 

At home, Yukiko is frustrated by her brother not moving out and they start to bicker over how the other person didn’t prepare the meat.  Suddenly Yukiko makes a move to call their parents, saying that if Kikuo didn’t have money, she’d ask mom for him, but he stops her and then tells her the truth about how their family inn was about to shut down from the lack of business due to a big new inn that had opened up right next to them, and that he was in Tokyo to try and make enough money to pay the debts and living together would help economize. 

Yukiko calls her mother later that night and tells her not to worry about them and that they’re doing fine in Tokyo.  Her mom says that she worries about Yukiko because unlike Kikuo, she tends to keep things to herself and asks Yukiko to promise to tell her if she has any problems and her mom would come out to Tokyo to be by her side. 

Hitomi decides to leave Kenji, and she packs up one morning while he’s still asleep.

Yukiko’s getting ready to meet Masashi after work, but she jokes with Nakamura about how she’ll just throw the money at him like in the movie, but then she finds the money missing!  Meanwhile, Kikuo finds the money at home and has already wired it home to their parents!! 

Yukiko goes to meet Masashi and she’s really embarrassed and apologises that she can’t return the money yet because it’s been spent by mistake and she’ll have to repay him later.  He’s not too bothered by it and tells her that he’s already booked a place for their dinner.  She demurs but he tells her that she’ll have to come, now that she’s spent the money. 

At the restaurant, she’s still reluctant to be there and grumpily says that she’s not hungry.  He tells her that he used to come here with his sister, and that once during a fight, she told him that he doesn’t understand other people’s feelings.  He then apologizes to Yukiko for hurting her the other day, and says that the reason he wanted her to come to dinner tonight was so he could apologize.

After dinner, Masashi asks for Yukiko’s phone number, saying it’s too lonely to just wait for her call, but she says it’s just a line for him to date girls and that she doesn’t understand why he’s making such an effort over her because she’s nothing special.  He says abruptly to forget it, saying that he’s not interested in people who look down on themselves – and sends her home on her own in his car, telling his driver that he’d make his own way back.  

On the drive back, Sasaki, the driver, tells Yukiko how he’d kept her umbrella and gave it to Masashi – and that he’d waited a long time in the rain on the street that day when he returned it to her, not knowing if she’d show up… 

When Masashi gets home, his driver is waiting at the door and hands him Yukiko’s hankerchief, on which she’d written her phone number… 

Kikuo comes back from the public bathhouse and finds Hitomi waiting on his doorstep.  When he learns that she wants to stay with him, he’s naturally overjoyed – and then she explains that it’s because she knows he has a sister living with him and also that he’s a “safe” guy.  Nonetheless, Kikuo decides on hang the red umbrella on the door-handle, but as he’s doing it, Yukiko arrives home!  As Hitomi is explaining to them both that she’d fallen out with her flatmate and telling Yukiko that she’s a cabaret dancer, suddenly the phone rings and it’s Masashi, but Yukiko prevaricates and tells Kikuo it’s just someone from work.  Kikuo starts to tell Hitomi this embarrassing incident that happened to Yukiko in high school and Yukiko tries to shush him up and they start bickering in this sibling-like way. Hitomi comments that she too has a brother, but they lead separate lives.

Hitomi asks Yukiko if the phone-call is from her boyfriend, but Yukiko quickly denies it.  Later that night, Yukiko sneaks out to a payphone to call back Masashi.

Masashi’s in his office and receives a wedding invitation from his ex-girlfriend, Misaki-san. Miura sees it and makes a scathing comment about why anyone would send an invite to their ex. He then tells Masashi that his dad has asked that he invite Hatsue-san to a cruise next week.  Misashi tells him to mind his own business, but he says that it’s “company” business, and then asks if he’s serious about Yukiko.  Masashi replies that he just finds her comforting to talk to, and Miura asks him if he still hasn’t forgotten about Misaki yet.  Masashi just replies that he has no mind for such things as marriage right now.

Kenji comes to the office to look for Masashi and Masashi goes down to the lobby to see him but he’s not pleased.  Kenji tells him that Hitomi’s left him, so he considers himself to have fulfilled his part of the bargain to Masashi.  But then, just as Kenji leaves, he says to Masashi that Hitomi’s so in love with him but she’s bound to come crawling back.

Meanwhile, Hitomi’s watching Kikuo teach kids to swim at the club where he’s started his new job.  When Kikuo notices Hitomi there, he starts to show off his butterfly stroke.

Later that evening, he boasts about it to Yukiko but she’s not that impressed and asks Kikuo if he’s in love with Hitomi.  But Kikuo denies it, saying that 23 is too young for a 30-yr-old like him and that he only sees her as a little sister.  Yukiko – thinking of herself and Masashi - asks if that means a 30-year-old guy would only look upon her (being 23-yrs old) as a sister, but Kikuo misunderstands and replies – “but you really ARE my sister!”.  Kikuo then says he’ll be home late tonight, and Yukiko guesses that he has a date – and says that she has one too – but he doesn’t seem to pay any attention to what she’s saying and she is irritated by his self-absorption.  So when he asks her where to take Hitomi, thinking Italian food, she suggests in a huff that they just go for sushi.

Kikuo takes Hitomi to a sushi place, and as they’re eating, he starts to ask about her fight with the flatmate – and finally realizes that it’s a guy!  But then she tells him that she wants to start afresh, and look for a new relationship and he gets all flustered and tries to imply that there’s a potential person right in front of her eyes.  But she doesn’t take the hint and just feeds him some sushi instead – only it’s only one that he likes!

Meanwhile, Yukiko returns the money to Masashi and as they eat hotdogs at the stand together, he asks her if it’s only with her brother that she’s out so late, but she replies that Kikuo has his own issues to deal with, and tells him about her family problems.  Masashi then says that he’s prepared a surprise for her, to apologize for last time, and takes her to this amusement park.  It’s late and the park’s closed, so she gets flustered when he first tries to take her there but then she finds out that he’s made special arrangements and it’s open for just the two of them…

After they go on the rides, she tells him how when she first decided to come to Tokyo, her mom was dead-set against it but then relented in the end and came to the station to see her off, giving her a scarf so she won’t get cold.  She says that she wasn’t really cold anyway, but wearing her mom’s scarf gave her a warm feeling inside.  Yukiko says that her mom’s a strong woman, and that she’s been managing the inn’s business since her father’s no good at it, and that being forced to close the inn must come as a big shock to her.  Suddenly, Masashi leans in to kiss her, and she averts her face at first but then decides that it’s okay, because she likes him, and the two of them embrace and start to kiss…