Episode 3: Love’s recipe notes
Nakano Yumi, who has been asked by Tamura Yumi to find out when and why she died, learns that life for Yohei and Ami has been lonely since her death two years ago. Yumi had not wanted to get involved but finds herself drawn into helping the family in someway or other. However, Ikuko confronts her at Takata Design the next morning, wanting to know if she had gone to Ami’s playschool because she had heard from both Yohei and a teacher that a woman came to see Ami. Ikuko finds her behaviour preposterous since Yohei did not tell her where Ami’s playschool is. Yumi tries to explain her actions by saying that there are many things she would like to know if she is to date him. But it seems that Ikuko has already made up her mind. She thinks that it is also her fault for introducing Yumi to Yohei before knowing her better, and asks Yumi to forget the matter. The relationship between them will only be a professional one from now on since they still have to work together for the design competition. Yumi looks miserable but there is nothing she can say in defense.
After that, Yumi calls Yohei out to apologise to him for going to the playschool. He surprisingly takes her intrusion into his private life better than Ikuko and even admits that he felt a little happy to hear from Ikuko that she had given careful thought to dating him. She learns that it has been a struggle for him to fill his wife’s role while juggling work, and says with great feeling that it must be tough for him. Spying an opening in the conversation, she grabs the opportunity to ask how his wife died. This catches Yohei by surprise but Yumi prompts him for an answer with the guess that it was because of an illness. A long silence stretches out as conflicting feelings play across his face. Just as he is about to reply, he gets a phone call summoning him back to the office. He apologises and promises to call her again.
Meanwhile, Tamura Yumi wakes up with a message from Nakano Yumi who says that she will do what she can to find out when and why she died. Tamura Yumi decides to do what she can too with the time she has left. This starts with letting Ami wear a frilly dress after she sees her daughter look glumly at her outfit for the day. In response, Ami happily hugs her. Noticing the quizzical expression on Yohei’s face, she says she should let Ami wear the clothes that she likes to playschool whenever she wants. Yohei smiles to himself. Next, Yumi tries to encourage her husband to turn down invitations from his boss to go for drinks if he really feels like coming back home earlier, suggesting that he leave office at a time when he can go and pick Ami up from playschool. Yohei protests that this will be impossible, but eventually concedes that it may not be the case at her prodding.
On the way to work, Yumi gets the feeling that someone is looking at her while she waits at the train platform. When she glances in that direction, she spots Tatsuno and finds herself seized by an irrational fear. He, on the other hand, turns around to face the tracks. At that moment, Ikuko happens to arrive at the same train platform and notices how pale Yumi looks. In concern, she asks what is wrong. Yumi tells her about seeing a strange man who might be an acquaintance of an acquaintance. By this time, there is no sight of Tatsuno.
That night, Tamura Yumi thanks Nakano Yumi for asking her husband and Ikuko about her. She suggests that someone at Yamane Tax Accountants may know something about her death, and also mentions that she does not know why Tatsuno had shown up in front of her a second time.
The next morning, Yumi corners her boss at work in an attempt to ask him for more information on Tatsuno. But Hayashi does not know anything else about his former classmate other than his full name, Tatsuno Isao. There is also no information on him when she does a name search on the internet. Having hit a dead end here, Yumi decides to make enquiries at Yamane Tax Accountants. To her dismay, Tamura Yumi’s boss refuses to disclose any personal information when she tries to ask for the date of her death. He points out that if she calls herself a friend, she should know, or ask the family. When she persists, he cuts her off with the reminder that they are at work and indicates the door. As luck would have it, Ikuko emerges from the lift just as Yumi walks out of Yamane Tax Accountants.
Yumi has no choice but to explain her presence at Yamane Tax Accountants to Ikuko. At a cafe, she tells Ikuko that Tamura Yumi appeared in her dreams and asked her to check on her death. It sounds like an incredible tale, and Ikuko naturally reacts to this with skepticism. Making no attempt to hide her unhappiness with Yumi, she demands to know if Yumi takes her for a fool. It baffles her that Yumi would make up this sort of childish excuse when she is such a competent person in her work. Ikuko asks if Yumi understands the pain of losing a loved one. Bowing her head, she requests that Yumi not to bring up the past, especially now that Yohei is finally about to move forward after two years. Yumi stays silent the whole time.
That night, Yohei calls Yumi to ask her out for dinner next week. When she says that she is a little busy right now, he apologetically tells her that he will call her again. Yumi thinks to herself that what Ikuko said is right. Tamura Yumi is already dead in this world so everyone should accept her death and move on with their lives but … …
Yumi picks up a photo frame on a side table in the living room and looks at it. It contains a photograph of her and her fiancee Tokita Makoto in happier times. Memories of the day he proposed to her with a ring, and then the day the world came crashing down on her when she was notified that he had met a traffic accident, assault her. She had rushed to the hospital, only to come face to face with his cold, lifeless body wrapped in a white cloth. Overcome with grief, she had shaken him and called his name over and over again but got no response. In the present, Yumi decides that she will not stand by and watch if she is the only person who can lend a hand. Having made up her mind, she makes a phone call.
That weekend, Yumi visits the Tamura household to make dinner for Yohei and Ami who have been eating bento meals from a shop in the neighbourhood for the past two years. Yohei is surprised that Yumi knows her way around the kitchen so she lies that kitchens are all similar.
Yumi serves up Ami’s favourite hamburger steak for dinner. Ami delightedly notes that it tastes just like what her mother used to prepare, and Yohei proclaims it to be very delicious. Yumi breaks out into a wide smile. Then, Yohei takes out a book addressed to him and Ami and shows it to Yumi. It is a handwritten book of recipes which he discovered his wife had left behind while cleaning the house. Yumi frowns slightly as she looks through it. Tamura Yumi had only started to write the book a few nights ago after being shocked by the realisation that Ami has had to eat bento meals after she passed away. Yohei marvels at the combination of hamburger steak with mayonnaise, wondering if it is a common way of cooking. Ami pipes up that she wants to eat her mother’s cookies and asks if Yumi can make other things. Yohei is about to gently chide her for that, but Yumi gamely suggests that they will make cookies together the next time. Ami stretches out her hand. They hook fingers and pinky swear.
While Yohei and Yumi do the dishes, Ami sits at the dining table doing a drawing with crayons. When it is completed she shows it to them. She has drawn her father, herself and Yumi together in what appears to be a family portrait, and an embarrassed Yohei gives Yumi an apologetic look.
After Ami is put to bed, Yumi tries once again to ask Yohei about his wife’s death. She tells him with all sincerity that she understands the pain she is putting him through by dredging up the past again but she is not asking out of mere curiosity. Yohei bends his head and hesitates briefly, as if steeling himself. Then he gestures towards the living room. They move over from the dining table, and Yumi notices an altar with Tamura Yumi’s photo placed against one of the walls. Yohei kneels before the altar and tells Yumi that his wife committed suicide. The answer she had been seeking comes as a surprise to her.
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