Recap
We see Sakura embarrass herself by confessing to Issei and running away. Suzu joins him in the truck, pretending nothing happened.
Chiaki hides a letter by throwing outside when Sakura comes home. Sakura cries in her room while Chiaki retrieves the letter. Sakura’s birth mother wrote, wanting to see Sakura before moving out of Japan.
Issei apologizes sincerely to Suzu for his behavior after her house was vandalized. She asks about Sakura’s confession but knows he loves her. They’ve made up.
Issei lays his head in her lap and signs that stars seem between life and death since some stars we see are already gone. Both of their jobs involve life and death. Issei says it’s why he doesn’t want any regrets and suggests they live together.
They go into Issei’s room and make out. Meanwhile, Sasaki brushes his teeth and realizes Issei isn’t Suzu’s little brother.
Suzu wakes in Issei’s bed, and he makes her and his grandmother a huge breakfast.
Chiaki makes Sakura a breakfast of leftovers and hands her the letter. Sakura wants to ignore it, but Chiaki encourages her to make her own decision, and Chiaki will support her.
Sakura avoids Issei and gets info from Charlie to get her hair dyed bright pink, which both Charlie and Issei see.
The first place Issei and Suzu look at together vibrates with the sound of a nearby train. Issei thinks it’s nice, Suzu can’t do it, even if it’s cheap.
Sakura shows up at Suzu’s clinic and lies she’s pregnant with Issei’s child, then makes Suzu accompany her to meet her birth mother. She learns about why Suzu became a doctor and admits she doesn’t want kids. Sakura talks about how she doesn’t miss her birth parents, and Chiaki is awesome. She meets her birth mom, but we don’t see anything further.
Chiaki is drinking with Sasaki, afraid Sakura will abandon her. She asks Sasaki if he ever cried and if the house is still the same. He avoids answering.
Haru and Issei join them. Issei forces Haru to sign his aggressive male posturing, and Sasaki calls him ‘direct’. Chiaki explains how she knows Sasaki, including his wife and child passing away.
Issei and Sasaki drag drunk Chiaki back, running into Sakura and Suzu. Sakura reassures the drunk, messy Chiaki that she’s prettier than her birth mom. Also, she doesn’t hate her birth mother, but she doesn’t need to see her anymore and really loves Chiaki.
Issei, Suzu and Sasaki hang out after. Issei finally warms up when he learns Sasaki was going to name his son Issei, with the same kanji 一星. Issei exchanges text info and tells Sasaki to be casual with him. Suzu and Issei tease each other while Sasaki stares at the night sky.
At Suzu’s work, the Pink Emperor nurse explains that she and Charlie went through a rough patch. They parted, but since he came back as a dropout with pink hair things have been great. Charlie brings her a birthday cake on his birthday, which makes her tear up.
Sakura has her hair color back, and Charlie shows up to do a flirt-and-run on his bike.
Sakura texts Issei that she likes Suzu, along with a cute picture of the two of them.
Suzu’s Stalker shows up at the clinic and calls her a murderer.
Thoughts
In this episode, the show really highlights that there’s no ‘right’ way to be a family. Issei makes his girlfriend and grandmother a lavish breakfast. Chiaki serves her stepdaughter leftovers. Charlie and Pink Emperor are happy now that they had time apart and he dropped out of school.
That there are so many ways of being is an inspiring message to me.
Also, Sakura seems to represent the baby we saw earlier, a child who grew up without her birth parents and is just fine despite it.
One thing I love in romantic dramas is when the various characters get to interact. In real life, a new relationship (romantic or not) can mean meeting new people and creating this new web of relationships. Sakura gets to know Suzu because of Issei but also decides not to pursue any further relationship with her birth mom.
Issei also gets to know Sasaki because of Suzu and decides to get over his silly attitude and befriend him.
There are also some great side characters here that I don’t have room for in the recap without it ballooning in size. There’s the food truck guy, who teases and encourages Issei. There are the Pink Emperor’s juniors, who help out by patrolling Suzu’s. There’s the appraiser at Issei’s work who seems to have her own interesting story. None of them get that much screen time but they all feel like they could be main characters in their own dramas.