When we last left our cross-cultural duo Yuri finally admitted she liked Tae-Oh. Now they just need to deal with her Big Secret.
But first, we get some cute couple time
Tae-Oh brings Yuri breakfast while she hides in a sweater despite looking gorgeous first thing in the morning. Tae-Oh wants to confirm they’re a couple and they talk about going on a date.
At work, advice from coworkers leads Tae-Oh to take Yuri on a date to a spa, which is quite a first date. Tae-Oh gets hot and Yuri gets hot and bothered. Later they walk along the water and do Korean and Japanese tongue twisters. They play a silly game that ends in a kiss.
They’re so cute that I know everything will go wrong soon.
Meanwhile, our second-not-couple is still confused
Mahiro’s refusal to give up on Onada rewards her with the chance to harvest sea slugs with him. Onoda still doesn’t understand the chocolate or anything that Mahiro does. Even when she kisses him, he doesn’t understand that she likes him. She’s about to scream.
Mahiro goes to Yuri for comfort because Onodo rejected her. She’s never been rejected. Yuri was rejected in High School. She doesn’t want to talk about it because it involves her secret abilities.
Mahiro is frustrated that Yuri never opens up to her.
Time for everything to be miserable
Yuri tells Mahiro that she can read people’s minds. In a repeat of what happened with her High School boyfriend, Mahiro thinks she’s scary before leaving.
The professor tells Tae-Oh not to date Yuri, upsetting both of them.
Tae-Oh is depressed. Yuri is depressed. Mahiro is depressed.
Mahiro asks Hanaoka what he’d do if he learned shocking info about her. Hanaoka is confused but says she’d still be her no matter what. Hanaoka is the best.
Tae-Oh walks Yuri home and notices she’s depressed. He suggests she talk openly with Mahiro. Yuri’s hard to read and most people can’t read other people’s thoughts. He looks her in the eyes and thinks in Japanese that it’ll be okay and he’s here.
It’s almost like he knows she can read minds.
Everything gets better again — or does it?
Mahiro and Yuri meet up and engage in competitive apologies. Mahiro is now concerned with protecting Yuri and reassures her she doesn’t need to tell Tae-Oh.
Yuri feels better and tells her father the whole truth. Then she tells Tae-Oh a version of the truth and vows never to tell the whole truth. There are some good kisses and hugs.
Things are great until Yuri is alone at Tae-Oh’s place and finds the Book. That Book. The one we saw in episode one, about a girl who can hear people’s thoughts. Using her phone to translate, she discovers the book’s story mirrors her and Tae-Oh’s relationship.
Yuri gets to the part of the book where terrible things happen before she hears Tae-Oh returning and quickly puts it back. She doesn’t say anything to him about it.
Can a picture book be a prophecy of doom?
Yuri and Mahiro decide it’s a coincidence until terrible things happen. Terrible things like a coworker having back problems and an investor pulling out. So. Normal life things.
Mahiro has a plan. They go to Tae-Oh’s for food and she tries to get him to leave by calling him oppa, which is both incorrect and cringy. She doesn’t manage to pull him away for very long. Yuri isn’t able to read much further.
Onoda arrives and he’s decided to treat Mahiro like a research project. He wants to collect data on her before deciding her place in his life. To give them time alone, Tae-Oh picks Yuri up and carries her out of the apartment. When they are cute they’re very cute.
At their favorite swing, Yuri feels they should learn more about each other. Tae-Oh says no matter what he learns, his feelings won’t change.
It’s almost like he knows what he’ll learn.
Can a picture book have all the answers?
After they have dinner together, Mahiro tells Yuri she looked at more pages of the book. But I guess not all of it? Is it that long?
In it, Mahiro discovered that if Yuri locks eyes with the one she loves for 33 seconds, she’ll no longer have her power.
(Note: As far as I can see, the Japanese translation of the Korean is 愛する人, “a loved person”, which isn’t necessarily romantic.)
Yuri gets word that her father’s condition has worsened and rushes to see him. He’s recovered, and she tells him about the book and this potential cure. The problem is, she wouldn’t be able to hear his thoughts anymore either. Her father isn’t worried and feels they’ll always be able to communicate.
He wants her to try locking eyes with him. Here I get confused because she closes her eyes and she sees him sitting there, healthy, drinking her coffee, and telling her how happy he is. I’m not sure why she closed her eyes or what she’s seeing or what was going on. Her eyes open and she’s in hysterics with worry that she won’t be able to hear him any longer.
But she still hears his thoughts. The book must be wrong.
Tae-Oh has a secret about Yuri’s secret
Tae-Oh brings Yuri omurice and she tells him the full story about her dad’s condition, but never mentions her abilities.
But of course, Tae-Oh knows about her abilities. Earlier, the professor called Tae-Oh to his office to tell him, but Tae-Oh already knew. He also knows about some potential doom this could spell for him.
Meanwhile, Yuri learns that the professor visited her father and told him that Tae-Oh knows her secret too. Professor is busy.
Even though Tae-Oh acted confident with the professor, we see him alone with the book on the roof, looking teary-eyed.
Supportive characters, good dilemmas, vague doom
I like that once Mahiro got past her fear, she used Yuri’s ability to their advantage. I like how Tae-Oh helped and supported Yuri using her abilities without letting on that he knew about them. That suits both their characters.
I also love it when one character discovers the other’s Big Secret and chooses to understand and accept rather than turn it into a Big Fight.
I’m a little less enamored with how Tae-Oh’s professor handled everything. I guess it’s hard to warn someone that their girlfriend can read people’s minds. And since Tae-Oh is like a son to him he went to talk to another dad. And because of this he’s afraid of– They haven’t told us yet. More on that in a second.
I love that the solutions to Yuri’s problems bring on hard choices. Getting closer to Tae-Oh is great, but it only means she could get hurt even worse by rejection. Getting rid of her power would be a relief, but it would also mean never hearing her father talk again. These are hard choices.
And finally — WHAT DOES THE END OF THE BOOK SAY??? Tae-Oh and the Professor aren’t telling, and Mahiro and Yuri are incapable of discovering it. It’s being dragged out to create anticipation, but I’m irritated. I want to see Yuri and Tae-Oh work through her secret. I’m less interested in a picture-book-prophesy.
At least, with two episodes left, they’ll be dealing with it soon.