Seeing the report’s conclusive evidence in a confrontation with Akamatsu, Sawada and Muroi are shocked. The report had been falsified to evade a government enforced vehicle recall. Muroi alerts Kano, who immediately decides that corrective measures must be taken. Hope Motors will “re-investigate” the Orient Logistics case because of a “mistake” in the written records and “acknowledge” that a higher rating should have been assigned to the accident vehicle.
Akamatsu also takes the report to the police and asks Detective Takahata to find out the truth. Takahata examines the evidence brought in by Akamatsu and conducts a raid of Hope Motors on suspicion of a violation of the Road Trucking Vehicle Act but there is no decisive proof for arrests from the items that were seized. The hub belonging to Akamatsu Transportation has also been destroyed. It had all been a company-wide cover up orchestrated by Kano … The police have put their reputation on the line by taking on a big corporation like Hope Motors and Takahata is pressured to answer for it.
On the other hand, Kano anticipates that most of the Dreamer trailers, which Hope Motors should recall, will be replaced with a new generation of trailers in a few years. He is counting on time to disguise the design flaws in the rest of the Dreamer trailers that will still remain in service. This will allow Hope Motors to continue to identify poor maintenance as the cause of any potential problem.
However, Hope Motors has not come out of the police raid unscathed. The ensuing media coverage has impaired the company’s performance and Kano wants Makita to arrange a loan of 200 billion yen, financed by Hope Bank and other companies within Hope Group, to demonstrate that Hope Motors’ financial affairs are still in order. Makita is momentarily stunned but pledges his support. Izaki is perturbed to learn about the financing arrangement to save Hope Motors. He voices his reservations but his views are disregarded.
Then, an article written by Kiwako on the 200 billion yen loan, is published in a magazine. Was this Izaki’s doing? Kiwako approaches Akamatsu to ask for his permission to write an account of Akamatsu Transportation’s struggle against Hope Motors in a story portrayed as a David versus Goliath fight.
Meanwhile, Kyoko meets Sawada and tells him that she will be moving to Osaka. Before leaving, she entrusts a laptop loaded with documents from the “T meetings” to Sawada because her mother’s condition has taken a turn for the worse. Sawada warns Kyoko that he may not be able to do as she wishes but she does not agree. She says she would have misjudged him if that happens and she will rest her case.
Sawada agonises over what he should do with the laptop that is now in his care. He finds himself visiting Akamatsu at Akamatsu Transportation. The two men regard each other awkwardly and Sawada confesses that he neither knows what has brought him there nor understands why Akamatsu had rejected that “guarantee deposit” of 1 million yen. Akamatsu admits that the money would have eased matters for Akamatsu Transportation but he does not regret his decision because there are things more important than money. Then he shows Sawada the picture that the son of the late Yuki Saeko had drawn of his mother. Sometime later, Sawada visits Detective Takahata at the police precinct …
The documents inside the laptop give the police a breakthrough in the case and the proof needed to arrest Kano on suspicion of violating the Road Trucking Vehicle Act and professional negligence resulting in death. Akamatsu Transportation is finally exonerated.
Kano continues to deny the charges until Takahata shows him that the laptop belongs to Hope Motors. When Izaki pays Kano a visit, Kano tells him that he had a duty to serve the company and protect the lives of the employees and their families. He just did as he had to at that time. But Izaki points out that Kano was wrong to have sacrificed an innocent life for the sake of all the employees. Kano acknowledges that he ended up protecting no one – not the company, the employees or even Kaori.
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Watched ep 1 at MySoju. Couldn’t wait for the others to be subbed. Definitely high emotions and enticingly put you on the edge of the seat. Glad I found the forum. Now I can rest. Aaahhh.