Episode 7: The seventh day
20 years ago, Yuda and Suzuki promised each other that they would change the medical field and the country if the storm they were caught in cleared up and they made it down the mountain. “I’m entrusting Japan’s future to you. Change it into a great country even if you’ve to stage a coup,” Suzuki said to Yuda.
In the present day, Yuda tells Suzuki that he is about to make what he said on the mountain a reality. Could it be a … … the words die on Suzuki’s lips as he thinks back to their past. Yuda smiles and reaches into the breast pocket of his jacket for an envelope which he hands to Suzuki. It contains an air ticket for a flight bound for Boston the next day. Yuda wants Suzuki to leave before he plays a high stakes game the day after. If something were to happen to him in the event he loses, Suzuki may get implicated. Suzuki tries to persuade Yuda not to be rash. Without the chip in his brain to numb his fear, he might not have considered something as brazen as a coup d’etat. Yuda wonders if Suzuki really thinks that it is better for him to go back to being the old Yuda again.
“My previous self only expounded ideals.
I was just a coward who took no action.
You probably abandoned Japan because you thought that
this country has no future.
That’s correct.
The Japan of today is about to keel over.
And once that happens, it will not be able to hold its ground.
But the person I am today, can do so.
If you extract the chip,
there’ll no longer be such a person.”
Yuda believes that the people will not think that they should not have been rescued by someone who has undergone medical treatment for suicide. In their hearts, they will be grateful to have been saved. He urges Suzuki to return to Boston to fulfil his own promise to change the medical field. Suzuki accepts the air ticket without a word.
Meanwhile, Kaburagi appears before a terrified Shoko and subdues her. He has her brought to Matsunaga’s hideout, muffled, bound and stuffed into a body bag as a bewildered Matsunaga watches on with growing worry when Kaburagi tells him that she is a police spy. Kanbayashi has a vision of a dead Shoko and tries to contact her, but her mobile phone is shut off after his first attempt. Kaburagi orders Matsunaga to clear out of the hideout this evening and informs him that the plan has been changed.
It is just a day away from the environment summit that will be attended by the leaders of 11 countries including the US, China, Russia and S Korea.
At a meeting in preparation for the summit, Yuda announces that he has received “intelligence” that Mebius might have old boys from the Self Defence Forces, and asks the chairman of the National Public Safety Commission to submit the security details to him. This raises the heckles of the chairman who wonders if Yuda doubts them. Yuda points out that his wife was kidnapped by Mebius, but he would protect the country even if it has to be in exchange for Eriko’s life. Prime Minister Saegusa’s aide informs Yuda that the Americans have communicated that no demands should be made regarding the issue on the military base. At the same time, he conveys a message from the prime minister that Japan is the 51st state of the United States. However, Yuda suggests that it is the prejudiced view of people of Prime Minister Saegusa’s generation. He goes on to outline that he will use the summit as the platform to wipe out the mentality that Japan is the same country as the US and let the world know that Japan is a power in its own right.
Yuda passes the security details to Kaburagi, who outlines plans to stir up the youth by transmitting information online to discredit Prime Minister Saegusa later in the night, and detonation of explosives at a train station near the government office buildings when the leaders of the 11 countries, including Yuda, get down to the business at hand at the summit the next morning. The explosion will be the signal for Kaburagi and co-conspirators to charge into the meeting venue and take all participants hostage. Naturally, they will ensure that Yuda has an escape route. Yuda says that he will mobilise the Ground Self Defense Force’s Rapid Reaction Force, Special-ops Forces and First Airborne Division. This unit of close to 1,500 troops will be ordered to suppress the “terrorists”. A state of emergency will be declared and the present cabinet will be forced to make way for an interim cabinet that will allow Yuda to assume full power. Kaburagi’s turbulent emotions are reflected in his darkening expression as he listens to Yuda’s words.
“You will not enjoy honour or glory
once you’re suppressed,
Please sacrifice yourselves for me.”
Yet he seems to find peace in Yuda’s request and his expression clears.
At that same moment, the chairman of the National Public Safety Commission reports to Prime Minister Saegusa that Yuda had been very concerned about the security for the summit. The prime minister orders him to monitor Yuda’s movements, as a precautionary measure.
Tachikawa meets Suzuki who says that the people who abducted and confined him have connections to the organisation called Mebius. Identifying Kaburagi as one of his abductors from a photo that Tachikawa shows him, Suzuki divulges that Yuda is using them to plot a coup in an attempt to change post-war Japan. At the same time, Suzuki belatedly hands Tachikawa the notes he had prepared for the press conference to expose Yuda’s medical treatment. The only way to stop the plot is to force Yuda to come to the clinic to take out the chip embedded in Yuda’s brain, and Suzuki makes a request to Tachikawa.
Tachikawa takes the matter to Kanbayashi in the hope that he will be able to help, but is flatly rejected. Kanbayashi gets right to the point. He is only interested in information on Kaburagi. That is the reason why he has been probing around Yuda. At that moment, Kanbayashi receives a anonymous phone call on Shoko’s whereabouts, and quickly walks off. He finds the voice of the young female caller familiar although he cannot put a face to it.
Tachikawa is about to go after Kanbayashi when he is intercepted by a female journalist named Maruko Yuri, who appears to be an aquaintance. He tries to brush her off when she suggests sitting down to exchange information, but he does an about face when she mentions the Shinonome.
According to Yuri, US forces have determined the location of the Shinonome but are waiting for the right time to use this information. So Tachikawa ventures to ask what would happen if there were to be a coup d’etat in Japan right now. Yuri unhesitatingly says that US forces would be mobilised from their base in response to the crisis. However, a coup d’etat will not happen in Japan, she tells him confidently.
On the other hand, Kanbayashi enter Matsunaga’s hideout and locates Shoko who blurts out that the homeless girl had been here with her. Although Kanbayashi appears relieved to find Shoko alive and admonishes her again for attempting to play detective, he makes no move to untie her and get her out of the place. Something seems to occupy his mind as he tells a surprised Shoko that she deserves this fate. Then, he pastes the masking tape back over her mouth and zips up the body bag.
Sometime later, Kaburagi comes back to the hideout. He trains his gun on the body bag as he walks up to it, and appears almost disappointed when he hears Shoko’s muffled cries. Standing above the her body, he starts to pull the trigger, but in that same moment, he is hit in the stomach by a gunshot. His assailant is none other than Kanbayashi who had guessed that he would return and lay in wait for him. Kanbayashi handcuffs Kaburagi, arresting him on suspicion of attempted murder and violation of the gun control law.
Tachikawa pushes his way up to Yuda after a press conference and asks for an exclusive interview. When Yuda pays no heed, he tells Yuda that Suzuki has a message for him regarding the plan tomorrow.
Yuda therefore makes a trip to the clinic where Suzuki is waiting for him. Suzuki asks Yuda one last time if he will let him operate and remove the chip. Yuda looks put out and curtly refuses. He stresses that his answer will be the same, no matter how many times Suzuki asks. With a finality in his voice, Suzuki replies that he will not make the request again. It will also be the last time the two of them meet. To mark this occasion, he wants Yuda to have a last drink with him. But Yuda merely stares blankly at the glass of alcohol that Suzuki offers him. Noting Yuda’s hesitation, Suzuki comments that he will not be so underhanded as to spike a friend’s drink with a sleeping pill. He gives his own glass to Yuda and the two of them drink up. Yuda smiles at Suzuki.
In the next moment, Suzuki shuts the door of the room and abruptly asks, “Yuda, can you die for me?” Yuda turns around with a look of surprise on his face. Determined to take responsibility for his actions, Suzuki shows Yuda a bottle of volatile poisonous substance which can stop the breathing of any living thing in the room. “I’ll die with you too otherwise I can’t take responsibility.” Yuda trembles with feeling as he asks Suzuki if he knows what he is about to do. Suzuki calmly nods and holds out the bottle, preparing to drop it … …
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