The fourth episode of the drama series " Since I Took You Away " (Kantele/Fuji TV, Mondays at 10pm), starring actress Keiko Kitagawa , aired on May 12th. The scene depicted Hiromi(Kitagawa) attending an interview to transfer to a new supermarket chain "Switchback" run by Yuki Asahi (Nao Omori), drew a lot of attention on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers.
One day, Hiromi, who was trying to buy a drink from a vending machine near the nursery school, meets a man from the vending machine business. The man is Kumura (Abe Ryohei), who used to be Ririko's (Taira Yuna) private tutor. Kumura confesses that he was accused of sexual harassment by a female student he was tutoring, and his job offer was revoked. Hiromi sympathizes, but finds out that the family Kumura frequented is the Yuki family. Kumura also calls Asahi a murderer.
From Kumura's story, Hiromi learns that Asahi has risen to the position of managing director at "Tainasu", and finds out that Asahi has started "Switchback" and is recruiting employees. Kumura, who has been moving from job to job, tells Hiromi, "It's all the fault of those damn parents and son", and further reveals that he saw Asahi and an employee arguing the night before the incident was reported, and voices his suspicions that Asahi was covering up something with the entire staff.
And so, in order to find out what "something" Asahi has hidden, Hiromi decides to transfer to "Switchback"...and so the story unfolds.
As Asahi watched, Hiromi was shown undergoing an interview. Hiromi was only able to give flubbed answers to the questions from the head of the personnel department, but when Asahi asked him what he thought of the "Switchback" store, the painful memories of his daughter's death came to his mind, and his expression changed completely.
In response to Asahi's question, she spoke fluently, saying, "Excuse me, but I was disappointed," "The store is not suited to families these days," "When I saw the prepared food section, it looked too lonely," and "In short, Switchback is not fun at all." Finally, she concluded, "I am a mother. I have taken the food I give to my children more seriously than anyone else. I am no less serious than everyone here."
On social media, many people expressed sympathy for Hiromi, who confronted Asahi and told him how she felt. Comments such as "So cool!", "It's amazing that she could say all that in an interview", "Her voice was trembling when she said 'I'm your mother' and it felt so real", "Hiromi's reaction to her words was intense", and "Hiromi is so cool...I'm in love with her" were posted.
