The eighth episode of the drama series "Chihayafuru: Meguri" (NTV, Wednesdays at 10 PM), starring actress Ami Touma, aired on August 27th. The episode featured a scene in which Mizusawa's Nagi (Nanoka Hara) from her childhood, talks to Yakumo (Sakamoto Aito) about Meguru, which sparked a stir on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers.
Episode 8 is the first round of the Tokyo preliminaries. Meguru and the rest of Umezono go up against the reigning champion, Mizusawa. While Mizusawa should have had an overwhelming advantage, Kusata (Soma Santoki) reads the order perfectly and there's a slight chance that Umezono could win. However, the match takes a turn for the worst. Yakumo is crushed by the pressure, and Nagi keeps taking his cards, bringing him to the brink of self-destruction. Fuki (Jun Saito) has a relapse of an old injury and withdraws. Fighting as a four-person team, Umezono is completely defeated by Mizusawa 5-0 and moves on to the losers' bracket.
Megu and the others are determined to win for Kazuki's sake, but Yakumo, feeling responsible, runs away from the venue. As the first round of the losers' bracket begins, Megu uses her memorization time to go look for Yakumo. Meanwhile, Yakumo bumps into Nagi during a break... and so the story unfolds.
In the same episode, when Yakumo says, "I'm not good at karuta, so they don't need me," Nagi responds, "I don't think Umezono-san sees you that way. You're on Megu-chan's team, aren't you?" Nagi then adds, "Everyone just doesn't know, but the real Megu-chan is, how should I put it... an incredible person." She continues, "She has the courage to do things when it matters, the ability to sense when the game is going to be tough, and words that draw people in. It's a kind of human 'gravitas' that can't be replaced by numbers." She continues, "She doesn't seem to realize it herself, but I can tell... she has unfathomable power. Mizusawa won this time, but if Megu-chan shows her true potential, who knows what will happen in the next match." She talks about Megu's true worth.
On social media, many people were moved by Nagi talking about Meguru. Comments included, "They think each other are amazing... what a great relationship," "It makes me cry that Nagi is the only one who notices Meguru's charm," "Nagi really loves Meguru," "Nagi really pays attention to Meguru," "You can tell Nagi really likes Meguru," and "I cried because she knows more about Meguru than Meguru knows her."
