Neighborhood Story

A Message to Papa (1x41)

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Aided by the prior data he has of Mikako's father, Tsutomu searches around for any recent publication that mentions the photography industry and gets a clue from a magazine in a bookstore while out for a drive one night. An elated Mikako is naturally overwhelmed at the data Tsutomu has gathered of Hirohiko Sakurada right down to the location and date of his upcoming photo exhibition during their school commute; a heap of ambivalent panicking during a lengthy train ride and a brief sightseeing session later, Tsutomu successfully locates the destination gallery but finds that its public debut is in two hours. Ruriko bootstraps herself for a diurnal outing as the two adolescents wait out that time period only to get a lucky backstage pass into Hirohiko's latest handiwork -- a specimen of which affirms Hirohiko's yearning for his child relative. The irony of the whole thing is that Mikako could have easily found Hirohiko's residence in the prefecture district and Hirohiko himself if she had not so hastily left the gallery for the beach; the ultimate deus ex machina is the signature that she has not used for the past three years that clues in Hirohiko to the presence of his long-lost daughter.