The Gourmet Festival is just around the corner. Mari and other competitors are preparing for the competition, hoping to win. Hajime Taki, an employee of Yabusame, also plans to win, but in a devious way. He buys up all the cabbages in the market and manipulates what’s in the ballot box. Kaba knows what Hajime is up to. With that said, he has to make a choice between the two opposing forces that will change his course of life. This is the same for Shuta, Ran, and Koki.
The opening sequence outlines the conflict between Hajime and the 24th Ward’s competitor to reveal where the character’s humanity stands in the critical event. Shuta, Ran, and Koki discover who’s behind buying up all the cabbages and try to figure out what to do. They discuss back and forth how to help Mari out by getting her what she needs for the competition and how to expose Hajime’s devious acts. Suddenly, their cell phones ring. It’s Kaba. He’s able to get the cabbage from an acquaintance who respects him.
Fast forward to the scenes. Mari is happy to see a cart of cabbages delivered by Shuta, Ran, and Koki. She goes to her section to prepare her favorite dishes. The use of jump cuts reveals her commitment to doing her best work, which paid off. Customers are waiting in line to taste the dishes she makes. Other competitors don’t get as many customers as she does, especially the competitor of the Mon Jungle, a restaurant/cafe at the new Takara Mall. Later, Itadaki food has good reviews from customers compared to Mon Jungle, which foreshadows who will be the winner without manipulating the ballot box. Still, Hajime isn’t worried about it. He seems so confident that he’ll win, and no one will expose him, not even Kaba, who’s in charge of the ballot box. Why?
At the festival, Wataru Chikushi (Yuichi Nakamura), a police officer or SARG, has a chat with Shuta, Ran, and Koki. He knows what Hajime is doing and tells them about the secret meeting Kaba had with Hajime. In a flashback, Kaba disapproves of what Hajime is doing and tries to disqualify him from the festival competition. Hajime tells him that he wouldn’t be able to do that. He has a leg up on the executive committee and a negotiating chip with his daughter.
As the announcer has the Mon Jungle’s vote in the ballot box, he wobbles with it. He announces that it’s heavy and that he’s going to weigh it. Kaba quickly grabs the ballot box from him and tears it apart to let everyone see what’s in it. The ballot box contains pieces of wood with one wood square block. With evidence in plain sight, Kaba announces that Mon Jungle is disqualified, which further demonstrates his characteristic trait. He’s the type of person who just stands by and does nothing. He hasn’t changed his mind about exposing Hajime’s deception. He still upholds his moral principles and values regardless of the obstacles. He just needs to be at the right place at the right moment to gather enough evidence to expose him.
Hajime gazes at Kaba with contempt as his team starts panicking. He thought Kaba wouldn’t dare expose him since he cares about his daughter and his family, but no. He underestimates Kaba and expresses his idiocy while others express it differently. Mari is surprised. Wataru is happy that Kaba finally comes through with his dilemma and ends up doing the right thing. Shuta, Ran, and Koki express their gratitude.
Shuta, Ran, and Koki receive a call from Asumi. They feel weird about the call, but they answer it anyway. Suddenly, they receive power again to see a new futuristic vision, as shown in soft focus. The first part of the vision is when the announcer announces that the winner is Mari, who’s holding a trophy. The second part of the vision includes a tornado crisis and the outcome of the casualties. A tornado is heading toward the festival. Asumi gives Shuta, Ran, and Koki two choices and illustrates the outcome of these choices.
Shuta, Ran, and Koki work as a team on how to move people across the bridge as the two SARG and Wataru try to find out what’s happening. Koki convinces Kaba to evaluate people and bring them across the bridge. Shuta clears the bridge by moving the cars away. Ran accesses the traffic system to operate the cargo trucks that go to the bridge regardless of the plan. Koki disagrees with what Ran did. He didn’t stick to the plan. They argue back and forth, but they end up getting as many people as they can in the cargo trailers and linking them together.
The following scenes emphasize the heartrending moments of the tornado crisis. Shuta hears someone crying out for help from a distance. It’s Kozue. He asks Kaba if her daughter is here. He tells him no until Shuta points out where she’s at: holding on to a lamp post in the parking lot. Kaba rushes toward her regardless of the strong wind that stops him from reaching her. He keeps moving forward, and the wind suddenly tosses him in her direction. He shields his daughter, followed by her reaction. The sound of howling wind fades into the background in order to focus on a grateful conversation between father and daughter. He thanks her for coming out to the festival that has just been canceled. Kozue hasn’t been attending school or socializing. Her father asked her to come out of the festival. She refused, but changed her mind later. She saw Kinako’s (Ran’s helper) post from the festival on her cell phone.
Ran and Koki put a wire on Shuta’s waist so he could get Kaba and Kozue. Shuta rushes halfway to the parking lot, trying to reach them. Kaba shouts to him to take Kozue when a car in the air smashes to the ground in front of them and tosses her in the air. Shuta catches her as cars are hurling everywhere. He then rushes to get Kaba, but the wire isn’t long enough. He struggles to hop forward as much as he can, but it’s no use. Kozue opens her eyes with tears and turns to look at her father as Shuta watches him with sadness in his eyes. Together, they watch Kaba being carried away by the strong wind. The moment of silence and the reaction shots from medium-close-up to close-up shots of Shuta, Kozu, and Kaba provide insight into these characters’ feelings. At the same time, it also raises questions about this scene. What is the purpose of killing Kaba off in this episode? Kaba is an upright character so far, and it seems that he can guide Koki, Ran, and Shuta to create a future.
At the end of the episode, it shows the emotional conflict of their ability to save everyone, especially Kaba. In the first episode, they felt optimistic about the outcome of saving Mari and Daisy. They had the ability to make a difference in a positive way. In this episode, there’s a mixed feeling among the three. Koki and Ran feel hopeless and defeated as a result of the death toll in the tornado crisis. In Koki’s dialogue, he feels responsible for Kaba’s death. Shuta, on the other hand, still stays positive and encourages them to too.
The post-credit scene introduces the new villain named Carneades, who’ll unleash choices on the world. The question now is what Koki, Ran, and Shuta are going to do about it to choose a better future or outcome of the event.
Rating: 8.6/10
