Rhapsody: The Strawberry Glasses

The pregnancy test is positive. Hayashi is six weeks along, and she doesn't know if the father is Takashi or Nao. She keeps the secret for days, terrified—until Takashi shows up at Room 808 unannounced and demands the truth. He doesn't ask what she wants. He asks if she's pregnant, and when she nods, he calls Nao himself to deliver the news: the baby could be either of ours. The fallout is devastating. Nao is shattered—he's been falling for Hayashi in quiet, steady increments, and the revelation that she was sleeping with Takashi all along breaks something in him. Asakura, who has been watching Hayashi drift further away, realizes the full scope of the deception and lashes out—not at Hayashi, but at Nao, in a fury that's really about her own grief. She shatters Hayashi's favorite strawberry-patterned glasses—the ones she's carried since the train—in a fit of heartbreak she can't name. Takashi takes charge. Cold, efficient, possessive, he announces he'll marry Hayashi to protect his reputation. Nao, heartbroken, steps aside. Hayashi, too exhausted to fight, accepts. The wedding moves forward—not a love match, but a transaction. Asakura, who has been given the news by Kenji, can only watch as the life she built with Hayashi crumbles. She flees to Kenji, but even his arms can't quiet the fear that she's losing the only person who ever really saw her. Hayashi moves out of Room 808. Her room is emptied. When Asakura finally works up the courage to return home, she finds nothing but a goodbye letter on the floor—and the shattered glasses in the sink, which she can't bear to touch. Across the city, the media storm breaks: a tabloid exposes Asakura and Kenji's relationship. The scandal threatens both RIOT and LABYRINTH. Kenji is whisked to the UK to protect his band's image, leaving Asakura alone to face the press. Yasu faces down the cameras on her behalf, but Asakura's composure shatters on live television—she declares, raw and defiant, that she'll make Hayashi's dreams come true. Hayashi watches from Takashi's luxury apartment, sobbing into her hands. The scandal, unexpectedly, fuels RIOT's debut. Gaia Records decides the controversy is free publicity and pushes the band toward their first major-label release. Asakura, desperate and determined, hatches a secret plan nicknamed the "Mochi Show": she'll win Hayashi back by making RIOT so successful that Hayashi has no reason to stay with Takashi. Meanwhile, Takashi returns from the UK early to formally meet Hayashi's family. He charms her parents, despite their financial concerns, and places an engagement ring on her finger. Hayashi wears it like a collar. In London, Rei discovers Kenji is secretly using drugs to cope with the pressure. The cracks beneath LABYRINTH's polished surface are beginning to show. Shin is still entangled with Rei, and his own demons are mounting. Back in Tokyo, RIOT returns to a media circus and is sequestered in a talent dorm. Asakura, overwhelmed by the pressure and the grief of losing Hayashi, suffers a severe panic attack. She's diagnosed with stress-induced hyperventilation syndrome. Nobu—who has been nursing his own broken heart—strikes up a gentle friendship with Miu, an aspiring actress in the same dorm. Shin and Rei grow closer, discovering they share the same birthday and beginning a genuine relationship—free of money, free of transaction. The episode builds toward the fireworks festival—the night Asakura has orchestrated to reunite with Hayashi. She disguises herself and gathers RIOT at Room 808, ready to surprise Hayashi. Nobu loses his nerve at the last moment, leaving Asakura to face Hayashi alone. At the festival, Asakura coaxes a reluctant Hayashi away from Takashi's orbit, and the two share a tender moment watching the fireworks. Asakura doesn't beg. She doesn't demand. She simply holds Hayashi's hand and tells her to stay strong in her marriage—because it's the only way she can protect Hayashi from Takashi's coldness. It's a surrender wrapped in love. The episode then jumps forward in time for the first full glimpse of the future: an adult Satsuki—revealed to be Hayashi's daughter—gathers with the old friends at Room 808. Asakura is notably absent. The implication hangs in the air like smoke: something happened to her, and no one knows where she is.

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