"Chihayafuru -Meguri-" "Chieri" Arashi Rina hugs "Meguru"Ami Touma! Viewers are moved by the friendship between the two

The third episode of the drama series "Chihayafuru -Meguri-" (Nippon TV, Wednesdays at 10pm), starring actress Ami Touma, was broadcast on July 23rd. In the episode, there was a scene where the friendship between the karuta club member Aizawa Meguru (Touma) and the former baseball player who joined the karuta club, Murata Chieri (Arashi Rina), deepened, which caused a stir on social media.

◇The following contains spoilers.

In the third episode, Meguru retracts her decision to quit, and the Umezono High School Competitive Karuta Club, now with five members, is now able to participate in team matches and aims to compete in the national karuta tournament. However, Meguru is not physically strong, and Chieri is struggling to remember the songs, so it is unclear whether they will be able to make it to the Tokyo qualifying tournament at their current pace. The anxious group decides to join a "Karuta Club," which can be considered a karuta club team, in order to improve their level.

With the help of Oe Kanade (Mone Kamishiraishi), the Umezono members knock on the door of the local karuta club, "Fuchu Yugiri-kai." The president of "Yugiri-kai" is Nishida Yusei (Yamoto Yuma), also known as "Nikuman-kun," an alumnus of the Mizusawa High School karuta club. Nishida presents an entrance test, saying, "The condition for joining is to take three cards from me." Meguru and Chieri both try to take the test against Nishida, but fail without taking a single card. Haruma also fails, and only Fuki passes.

Megumi and Chieri start intensive training for the retest. Meanwhile, they run into Yuuki (Yamazaki Yudai) from the baseball club. Yuuki is not happy about Chieri joining the karuta club and says, "It doesn't suit you. You're a baseball fanatic." Chieri has no reply and just clenches her fist.

The next day, while Kanade was explaining the song in front of everyone, Chieri started crying without even realizing it. When everyone noticed that she was crying, Chieri ran away and left the clubroom. After that, Haruma (Takamura Yoshihito) told Meguru and the others that Chieri had been a battery partner with Yuki, and that he didn't know the real reason why Chieri quit baseball... and so on.

Afterwards, Meguru chases after Chieri who has left the clubroom, and receives instruction from her at the batting center. On the way home, she hands Chieri a stack of illustrations she has drawn, saying, "I came to give you this." Meguru has drawn pictures of the mnemonics of the set characters so that Chieri can easily remember the song.

Surprised, Chieri jokes, "You're quite a talented artist," but then hugs Megu, who doesn't listen to anything, saying, "Thank you for not asking me any questions," and then says, "I'll tell you properly once I've sorted out my feelings, so just give me a little time."

The exchange between Megu and Chieri became a hot topic on social media. Comments such as "Meguru and Chieri are the best duo," "Youth!", "The friendship between the girls is so precious," "Their dazzling youth really hits home," and "They're too cute, I could die" were lined up.