Amachan

I Like This Sea! (1x4)

: 04, 2013

Haruko remembers how she hated when Natsu forces her to dive when she was a young girl. She would get pushed into the sea by her own mother, too. She worriedly runs towards Aki who even though she was pushed, was laughing and enjoying the water. "Why do you like the only thing I hate the most?!" Haruko walks away angrily. Later, Aki finds out from the Ama-sans that her mom hates the sea and was a rebellious teenager. Natsu says she assumes things are not going well with her husband in Tokyo. Yayoi tells her not to say that in front of her grandchild. But Aki says it might be her fault. "Because I'm plain and gloomy, lacks ambition and coordination...And that I don't stand out." Natsu: "Who told you that?" Aki replies, "Mom." Meantime, Haruko goes to the Tourism Office where Daikichi is badgering Sugawara Tamotsu (Head of Tourism Office, 42 yo; former classmate of Haruko) on why his proposal for a city website is taking too long. Then, when Daikichi is alone with Haruko in his car, he attempts to confess his love for her but gets interrupted when a train comes closely by. That night, Haruko gets into another argument with her mother. Natsu says bitterly, "You didn't even tell me you got married and had a child!" "And you did not tell me Dad was dead!" Natsu retorts back after praying in front of her father's funeral picture at the family altar. Natsu says she knows Haruko goes around town playing pachinko all day because she does not really want to go home. "Is it because things are not going well at your home in Tokyo?" Annoyed, Haruko goes out into the night. When outside she visits her private retreat, a beacon near the beach. There, she sees the words she wrote on the concrete floor 27 years ago, "Tokyo, Harajuku, Omotesando..." The next morning, Aki and Natsu go to the train station where they sell Natsu's famous unidonburi*. Then, a pretty girl steps on board from Hatano Station...