Masato set a chair down in his courtyard and looked really pleased about it. He, Haruka and Eisuke gazed at a poster of Kento, posed in a mid war-cry, and Haruka told him that he had to attend this festival that was meant to allowing bonding in the neighbourhood. Masato didn't want to, because the weather was cold, but Haruka laughed at him, and called Hayato to tell him that they had a found a stash of money from their father, and if he didn't return home soon, they would forgo his share. Haha, smart move. 

It's the day of the festival, and everyone was in a very jovial mood. Hayato did his job as a brother by helping Masato and Haruka run errands.

He's cute!:D

Masato learnt that the people had a tradition of writing their wishes on a piece of white cloth and trying it around their heads. They watched it in amusement as (Here's when I introduce the code names. Leads of this Episode: The Aunt and Mother-In-Law) the aunt and her mother-in-law both instructed their husbands to get ready for the 'battle'.

It's obvious that there's tension between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law, when they stared at each other with slight contempt. Masato ran into Yuki who joked about how cold it was.

Laughing at Yamapi in shorts~

The battle started, and each group of men had to carry a carriage across the river. It looked like Masato's team was winning, but he fell into the river, and the camera cuts to him sneezing while hosting all the other people for dinner. Hayato told Haruka that he had turned in his apartment and would be moving back into the house soon, "So I don't count as disqualified right?^^" 

Sigh. When will Hayato and Momoko grow up?

The Aunt told Masato about how she had been married for twenty years, and that her wedding anniversary date was the same as her birthday. Mother-in-law was unhappy  thatThe Aunt estimated 19 years and 11 months off to 20 years (I was like, seriously:O at this point in time) and the two of them soon got into a quarrel. The Aunt told them (Masato, Haruka, everyone who was listening) that she had put together a bouquet of roses for her mother-in-law on her birthday, but was told off by her, and later when she kept one dried rose, the mother-in-law felt that she was making a dig at her. It became a heated argument and Mother-In-Law accidentally fell down while walking off in anger. 

Luckily, she wasn't hurt except for a slight swell in her wrist. The Aunt stormed off after thinking that the mother-in-law was just making a fuss out of nothing. Haruka had a new mail from someone who had been emailing her for years, and wanted to meet her. She got a shock when Masato suddenly appeared and she quickly slammed the lid of her laptop down. Later, Haruka murmured that till now, their brother still didn't know that their father had passed away. Scene cuts to Kento, who worked happily in a small shop. Something was obviously wrong, when he couldn't remember that the photographer of a photograph taken mere days ago, was he himself. 

Haruka went to buy a book on first dates, but caught sight of herself, limping, from the mirror. Masato learnt that Mother-In-Law had ran away from home last night and the Aunt told him that the mother-in-law had said that she would take 20 years to judge whether the aunt was a good daughter-in-law. She lamented over how the dried rose was very important to her, because it was grown by her mother who had passed away, but her mother-in-law kept thinking that it was a dig meant for her. Then, she got a call from Yuki, who told her that they had found Mother-In-Law's body. 

DD:

She rushed to the station with Masato, and was shocked to find that it was really her mother-in-law's corpse. She was found dead in a house with another man, Seiyu, and they realised that he's from a host club. Scandalised by her mother-in-law, the aunt felt really angry that she actually had affairs before. 

Masato watched as she got angry hearing the neighbours gossiping outside her shop (about mother-in-law's scandal). On the way home, Masasto saw Momoko getting off her sensei's car, and asked her about it later on. She hurriedly replied that it was a coincidence, and proceeded to change the topic by laughing at the magazine she found in the room — Haruka's magazine on first dates-. 

Seriously, woman, learn some manners. 

Haruka was irritated and said that she's just a child who had yet to learn how to take care of herself, and Momoko replied that Haruka loved to exercise her power at home. Momoko got angry at Masato who tried to step in, and the situation spiralled into her insulting Haruka by saying that Haruka was fortunate for she could blame every single thing on her leg. Haruka was so angry that she took up the bowl of instant noodles she was eating and splashed it towards Momoko.

Momoko got splashed with her own milk because of Hayato. Now, instant noodles because of Haruka. I'm starting to think that Masato will be the next to throw something at her…..which I wouldn't mind you know. 

Haruka and Momoko got into a physical fight and they crashed into their paper doors, causing themselves and the doors to collapse to the floor in pain. (Them, not the doors.) Masato was finally annoyed, and told them to stop fighting. 

The next day, he saw The Aunt crying while sitting next to her mother-in-law and he looked thoughtful. He returned home to find Itsuo sitting on the chair that he had put earlier. (Aww, that's nice of you Masato:D) He sneaked up behind him, and gave him a scare.

Hah. They started talking as usual, and Itsuo suddenly dropped a really random comment, "You are someone who really love to jump in." "What?" "Jump into a whirlpool." 

Masato was confused, "Birds' nest?" [He mistook whirlpool for birds' nests which had similar pronunciations.]

The dog was sooo cute!! He looked to Masato when he spoke.

Then back at Itsuo, when he repeated, "Whirlpool."

Before Masato realised that Itsuo meant, "Kennel." [whirlpool, kennel and birds' nests all have similar pronunciations]

He headed over to the station where he 'bribed' Nagamine with another awesome photo. Nagamine decided to get Yuki to liase with the funeral home/Masato. Masato learnt that Seiyu and Mother-In-Law had headed to another district and they knew that they went to a restaurant at one pm, but between one to six, no one had any idea where they went, and the incident at night was just a pure accident. [excessive gas] Masato told Yuki that he couldn't really believe that Mother-In-Law would actually betray her husband, since she looked so kind and gentle. He wanted to be a busybody [significance of kennel was made here. There's a saying, "The dog catches the mouse, what a busy body."] and try to find out more, so that The Aunt wouldn't be so sad and guilty. 

Hehe, here's when it gets cute. Masato tried to wheedle out of Yuki which day her leave was. She accidentally let it out that it was the next day and but tried to cover it with, "I made a mistake!" Masato laughed and said, "If things can be settled with just 'I made a mistake!" then what is the police for?" 

Thus they headed over to the host club,

and were welcomed by those hosts. Hahaha. Yuki was so pleased when one of them gave her a rose:P While the others entertained Yuki, Masato learnt from one of the hosts that the district they went to was Seiyu's hometown.  

Yuki was once again, drunk. 

I love the trolley seriouslyXD 

They went to the very restaurant that Seiyu and Mother-In-Law had dined in, and Masato was put off at how Yuki seemed to be disgusted when he was mistaken to be her boyfriend. Hah. They learnt from the waiter that the two of them had gone for a foot spa before that, and so Yuki and Masato decided to head over and check the place out. There's no counter there though, so they had no way of verifying if Seiyu and Mother-In-Law had indeed gone for a foot spa. While sitting down, Masato looked around and spotted something.

He walked towards a building that resembled a warehouse, and opened its doors. Slow-mo on that as we watched both Yuki and Masato being amazed at what they had found. The Aunt got a call from Masato, requesting for her to make a trip down. The Aunt was reluctant at first, because she's supposed to be by her mother-in-law's side, but Haruka assured her that for Masato to call at such a point in time, it must be really important. 

Thus The Aunt rushed down but was confused when she was led to the foot spa. Masato revealed that the other day, after she had stormed off angrily, he had actually seen the mother-in-law picked up the dried rose that had toppled on its side. He told the aunt to sit next to him, and looked to her right. Masato told her that the mother-in-law met up with Seiyu because he had someone back in his hometown who could help her in preparing a surprise for someone…for someone important, "For tomorrow, which is so important."

The Aunt murmured that it's her birthday the next day. Masato brought her in front of the warehouse, and she opened the doors….to rows and rows and rows of roses. It's a greenhouse, filled with nothing but roses, and all was meant for her. The person who had helped Mother-In-Law grew all these roses told them that she had expressed her happiness when her daughter-in-law gave her a birthday present. She knew that the dried rose carried her memories of her mother, "She will feel so blissful, when she sees these roses."

The Aunt started crying, as she realised she had mistaken her mother-in-law all these years. 

The scene cuts back to the funeral, where the Aunt slowly put one rose by one rose into the coffin.

Tears gathered in her eyes as she told her mother-in-law, "I felt really blissful to marry into the family….I love you very much… thank you."

Oh my, I'm tearing for the second time while watching this scene. 

As everyone closed their eyes, Haruka read out a message, "Showing flowers, but not the roots…people always place thousands of emotions into their everyday lives. With warm smiles, warm words, let us send her on her way." 

And Masato murmured, "Be safe on your journey."

—

Yuki thought that Masato had sent flowers to the station because of her, but was taken aback when Nagamine said it was another bribe for him, for his girlfriend. Aww, Yuki looked heartbroken….does she have a crush on him?:O Haruka happily turned up for her meeting and she spotted someone who was reading a message. The camera cuts to a man looking at Haruka's message, saying that she would be late. Haruka watched the man pressed a button, and she promptly got a text. She was excited to have spotted the guy, but her face fell when she read his reply, "It's okay! I will wait here until Haruka happily runs all the way."

Runs all the way.

And she turned around. 

Masato spotted Itsuo sleeping in his courtyard and scared him awake again. He thanked Itsuo for advising him and invited him to eat with them, but he left. 

In a voice over, he told his father, "Tanada-san told me that funerals are supposed to allow people to feel sad from the bottom of their hearts. I realise that funerals are just as hard to organise as weddings and birthdays that are organised to make your loved ones feel happy, but the meaning is very significant. That's how I feel….Just joking~" 

Haruka came home, close to tears, and was shocked to see a surprise birthday party. Even Momoko (grudgingly) wished her a happy birthday. She started sobbing and Masato thought she was so ecstatic that she cried. Then, she got a call from Kento, wishing her a happy birthday. "Keni-chan?" Haruka was surprised. Upon hearing his name, all the other siblings looked up.

This screenshot was taken purely because I thought he looked cute here. Heh.

-the end-

Sorry for the late recap! 

I realise that I will most probably never come to love this drama in the same way as I did with, let's say, Moon That Embraces The Sun, or Buzzer Beat…but that's because this drama couldn't be even be compared with most of the dramas out there, simply by its different genre. And so I like it in a different way. I love how the leads of the episode go from hurt and anger, to pure sadness and appreciation in the end.

Many people had regrets of not telling their loved ones in time that they loved them. I'm not sure if this actually makes sense, but I like the way how this show portrays the feeling that the dead could hear the living. Given any other drama, or perhaps, even reality, a daughter might wail over how she couldn't tell her mother she loved her, but in here, we see how the aunt was sure that her love was felt by her mother-in-law, even if she was dead. Deaths are painful and sad, but funerals, in a way, can help heal wounds. 

So far, all of the three deaths had been because of accidents/murder. I wonder if it's going to be accidents all the way, or if the scriptwriters might include suicides as well. 

Jya.

<3thoughtsramble