Shiro and Kenji celebrate New Year’s apart, leading to Shiro thinking more about how serious their relationship is.
Spoiler alert! Read at your own risk.
Episode 5
Shiro goes with his parents back to the hospital for his dad’s post-operation checkup. Thankfully, no further complications were found. Back at home, however, things get more complicated with Shiro’s mom nagging him that he should think more about the seriousness of his relationship with Kenji. She said that Shiro should celebrate New Year’s with them, instead.
When Shiro talked to Kenji about his issue with his parents, Kenji was quiet, but Shiro knew he was angry at him. Kenji basically tells him to accept his fate and be grateful because, despite everything, his parents still support him. Shiro was so worried about Kenji being mad at him that for dinner, he cooked all of Kenji’s favorite food and said that he would spend New Year’s with his parents instead. Kenji smiled and they ate their dinner peacefully.
Come New Year’s Eve, Shiro goes back home to his parents while Kenji spends the night celebrating with his colleagues. However, instead of spending the whole night drinking with his colleagues, Kenji went home by himself and gleefully cooked the Sapporo Ichiban Ramen he had been craving the whole night. As he watched the countdown on their TV, Shiro kept trying to call him and he received an earful when Kenji only answered after a couple of tries. Kenji apologized and said that he was not able to answer his phone because he was cooking Sapporo Ichiban Ramen. Shiro paused for a moment and acknowledged that it was an acceptable excuse because you have to eat the ramen as soon as it gets cooked. The two smiled and celebrated the New Year’s while talking to each other on the phone.
The next day, Shiro’s neighbors came by together with the children in tow. Shiro sees how happy his parents are playing with the neighbor’s children and he feels some sort of guilt that he put aside. Before going home, Shiro’s mom packed up some food (including loads of leftover mochi) that he wanted her to take home. He wanted to talk to his mother about retirement plans, but his mom only said “You already know” and went on to pack more food.
The rest of the week was spent with Shiro cooking all kinds of food that has mochi. So much so that Kenji had to beg him to stop cooking mochi because he had had enough. He was so desperate to eat any other carb that’s not mochi that he would even eat bread being sold by Shiro’s ex! Needless to say, Shiro obliged and let him eat bread.
