Neighborhood Story

The thing I want most is... (1x39)

: 16, 1996

The inception of another ordinary school day sets the stage for Risa and P-chan to acknowledge Mikako's seventeenth birthday with a hand-made Happy Berry doll along with a poster of NakaKen and a Manbou CD. While Mikako tries her best to avoid dismissing the teacher's instruction as she reads the lyrics, Tsutomu is finding that Yuusuke and Jiro do not share the euphoria of his upcoming birthday before Mariko exhorts transportation from Yuusuke. The class intermission becomes the forum for it to be explained how Mikako and Tsutomu's birthdays have been celebrated for the past sixteen years as the two adolescents compare notes about their idea of the ideal birthday present. Mariko acknowledging Mikako and Tsutomu's birthdays the next morning sets the stage for the joint party at Hiroaki's bar where the inebriated adults form the backdrop of Mikako reflecting upon her prologue alongside Tsutomu who is bootstrapping himself to score his first kiss from Mikako while trying to shake off Yuusuke's playful derision. The ultimate irony of the whole matter is that the one thing Mikako really wants that is worth a kiss is the return of Mikako's father -- something that Ruriko has decided to purge from her life.