Secret ~THE TOP SECRET~:Summary of Episode 9 released: The final chapter begins. Will “Takimoto” Mashima Hidekazu face “Maki”Rihito Itagaki again in the Ninth?

The ninth episode of the TV drama "Secret ~THE TOP SECRET~" (Kantele/Fuji TV, Mondays at 10pm), starring actor Rihito Itagaki and Yuto Nakajima from the popular group Hey! Say! JUMP , will be broadcast on March 24th.

The drama is based on Shimizu Reiko's "Secret - Top Secret" published in the manga magazine "Melody" (Hakusensha) and its spin-off work "Secret Season 0". The script is written by Sato Tsumako, who has worked on the "Unfair" series (same network) and the movie "Onmyoji 0" (2024). The story is set in the Forensic Science Laboratory No. 9, commonly known as "No. 9". Itagaki plays Maki Tsuyoshi, head of the No. 9 laboratory, while Nakajima plays Suzuki Katsuhiro, a former member of the No. 9 who lost his life in an incident, and Aoki Ikko, a rookie investigator who looks just like Suzuki and is later assigned to the No. 9.

Episode 9 is the beginning of the final chapter, which will continue to episodes 10 and 11. Traces of someone trying to break into the server of the MRI images of "The 9th" are found. The password used was an old one from the time when Kainuma (Kunimura Jun), the developer of the MRI technology of the 9th and a serial killer, was alive. Furthermore, when Maki (Itagaki) finds out about this, the car he is about to get into explodes. A bomb was planted in the car. Aoki (Nakajima) and Okabe (Takahashi Tsutomu) think that someone is after the "secret" information that only Maki, who has seen various important secrets since the founding of "The 9th", knows. Meanwhile, Maki thinks that a certain person may be the culprit because he deliberately used an old password and planted a bomb that would be discovered, and heads to the hospital to meet that person.

Thinking that Maki is the only one who knows the classified information and is therefore the target, Aoki suggests that the top-secret Level 5 data should be shared with everyone in the 9th. However, Maki sternly rejects Aoki's suggestion, asking if he has ever considered the possibility that harm could come to those he cares about, or to Yukiko (Kadowaki Mugi). A few days later, after a dinner party with Aoki's mother (Kamino Misuzu) and sister (Satsukawa Manami), Yukiko realizes that someone is watching her...

In episode 9, former Ninth investigator Mikio Takimoto (Hidekazu Mashima), who became confused after seeing Kainuma's MRI footage and was recuperating, reappears. Mashima, who plays the character, commented, "The way Takimoto returns (to Ninth) is such that it's hard to understand what he's thinking. That's the unfathomable nature of the character Takimoto, and I hope that this will be conveyed to the viewers as something interesting."

Regarding the highlights of the final chapter, he said, "As Maki, played by Itagaki, becomes increasingly precarious and dangerous, reaching his limit, Takimoto, played by me, reappears and shakes things up even further. Maki is actually incredibly thoughtful, intelligent and calculating, and Takimoto also appears for a certain purpose. I hope that everyone will watch the ending, which unfolds as their respective schemes begin to overlap."