Episode 7: Promise
Mishima does not turn up for his session at the rehabilitation centre. This worries Midori and she calls her father who now knows that Mishima is the father of the child his daughter miscarried. Katsu relays how he almost punched Mishima for the suffering he brought on Midori. Even though her father advices her not to be associated with Mishima any more because “Jun believes a god-like person” saved her, Midori is consumed with worry and looks about for him.
Three days pass and there is still no sign of Mishima. Then, the words of Midori’s patient, Nakayama, make her think of a place and she rushes off to the French-style inn and restaurant set atop a hill overlooking the sea in Numazu where she last met Mishima one year earlier. Midori finds Mishima sitting at the bus stop where they parted, but he refuses to go back.
At the inn where he has been staying for the past few days, Mishima stammers the words “Dori, forgive me” with great effort as he apologises for not knowing about Midori’s pregnancy. Midori gently tells him her feelings 16 years ago and how she wishes she could turn back the clock.
“That day, my mind was a complete blank.
I sat on a bench on the train platform
as I watched train after train go past.
I was sad, sad … …
When I’d wrung out the last of my tears,
I suddenly had the strong desire to see our child.
But, you see … … I’ve myself to blame.
If I’d taken better care of the life we had been blessed with … …
If I’d talked to you about it at that time … …
If only I could live my life again from that moment.”
Hearing this, Mishima tells Midori that he wants to be with her. Midori points out that it is unfair for him to say such a thing at this point, but her protest dies on her lips when he hugs her hard against him. The two of them try to make up for the time that can never be recovered, and end up in bed together.
The next morning, Midori takes the first train back home. As she hesitates before the front door of the house, it is opened by a worried Jun who chides her for not answering his phone calls or contacting him. In a fluster, Midori claims that she spent all night looking for Mishima and finally found him at a place called Amihama in Numazu a while ago. But when asked how she knew where to look, she lies that it was a place that she had hung out at with Hirose and others during high school days.
Jun has his doubts and the next time he sees Hirose he asks him about Amihama in Numazu. Hirose’s response confirms that Midori had lied to him.
On the other hand, Sachie, who had been informed of Mishima’s whereabouts by Midori, goes to the inn but Mishima is no longer there. She finds a note in the room that reads “I’m leaving on the first train, Dori”, and immediately heads for Jun’s office. Touching on the relationship between Midori and Mishima, Sachie asks if Jun is pretending that there is no problem. She tries to reach out to him by confiding how it agonised her to know that an unforgettable person lived in Mishima’s heart while she was married to him. Is there such a thing as an endless love, she wonders and suggests that Mishima has gone missing again because he wants to see Midori. Although this unsettles Jun, he brushes Sachie off by telling her not to get Midori and him involved. An upset Sachie takes out Midori’s note and leaves it on the table.
Momoko, who has secretly overheard the conversation between Sachie and Jun and found the note, volunteers to tail Midori or do anything Jun wants. This seems to propel Jun to take action. Grabbing his jacket and bag, he leaves the office.
Meanwhile, Midori receives a message with pictograms of a piano and a building from Mishima. She makes her way to the old community hall where he is waiting for her. The two of them play ‘Stay Gold’ on the piano like they did in high school. Then, Mishima tells her again that he wants to be with her forever. Midori resolutely responds that they cannot return to the past.
“Since I met you again for the first time in 16 years,
I’ve started to think
if I could live my life again from that moment.
But, there are no “ifs”
and we cannot undo the past … …
I’ve a family that is precious to me.
I cannot hurt the two of them.
Absolutely not.
So I won’t see you anymore.
I said goodbye over again and again,
but I’ve not been able to bid farewell.
However, this is truly the last.
Say ‘goodbye’ too, Mishima-kun.”
Midori smiles in reaction to Mishima’s “goodbye”. But as she is about to leave, she sees Jun at the entrance and gasps in shock … … Jun accuses Midori of secretly meeting Mishima like this. Mishima steps in between the two of them in an attempt to mediate, but his reference to Midori as “Dori” makes Jun lose his head. Gripping Mishima’s collar, Jun repeatedly yells that Midori is his wife and not “Dori” while Midori desperately tries to pull him off Mishima. Unable to give full vent to his anger, Jun bangs the piano keys, then grabs Midori and leaves the place.
Back at home, a visibly calmer Jun apologises to Midori for suddenly snapping and flying into a rage. He appears relieved that Midori has chosen him and Kenta, and will not see Mishima again. Giving an awkward laugh, he muses about the irony of the situation. One year ago, Midori and Mishima were patient and doctor, and now they are speech therapist and patient. “That’s all there is to your relationship, right?” Jun looks to Midori for confirmation. However, she does not reply and stares straight ahead of her despite his prompting. Then, in a small voice, she tells him that she is sorry.
In the growing silence, Jun is hit by the unpleasant realisation that Midori slept with Mishima. “What did you take the 8 years we had?” he asks in chargrin, wondering if everything was a lie. Midori desperately tries to get him to believe that she would not have loved anyone if she had not met him back then and cries out that she loves him. Jun thrusts her aside. All that he sees are actions at odds with her words. “Then why did you sleep with him?!” Midori just sobs inconsolably. After a moment, Jun tells her that they have to break up because he cannot live with a woman who thinks of another man. He wants her out of the house before Kenta returns home. At these words, Midori pulls Kenta’s schoolbag toward her in a hug. But Jun snatches it out of her grasp, not wanting her to touch it. “I won’t let you see Kenta again.”
Midori grabs her handbag and leaves the house. The sound of Kenta’s laughter in the distance makes her run to hide among the trees. The sight of her son playing with his friends brings fresh tears to her eyes and she sinks to the ground on her knees. As the bus that Midori boarded pulls away from the bus stop, Kenta comes running after it, having come out of the house in search of her when he got no reply from Jun. Crying out for Midori, he stumbles and picks himself up to give chase but Jun holds him back. Midori breaks down in tears … …
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