"Chihayafuru -Meguri-" "Chihaya" Hirose Suzu and other Mizusawa alumni gather together to excite viewers

The ninth episode of the drama series "Chihayafuru: Meguri" (NTV, Wednesdays at 10 PM), starring actress Ami Touma, aired on September 3rd. The episode featured a scene in which alumni of the Mizusawa High School Karuta Club, including Suzu Hirose, played by Hirose Suzu in the film series, gathered at the final qualifying venue to decide the second representative to advance to the national tournament, which sparked a stir on social media.

◇The following contains spoilers.

In episode 9, Meguru (Touma) and the rest of the Umezono Karuta Club, who lost to Mizusawa in the first round of the Tokyo qualifiers, win the repechage tournament and advance to the final qualifiers to decide the second representative. Meanwhile, Mizusawa, the champion who missed out on the championship, also wins the repechage tournament and advances to the final qualifiers. With the big match three weeks away, the Umezono Karuta Club is making their final push.

After an old injury to his right hand recurs during the preliminaries, Fuki (Jun Saito) is training under Taichi (Nomura Shuhei), an alumnus of Mizusawa, in order to play karuta with his left hand. Meanwhile, Taichi, who is watching Megu's karuta as she accompanies Fuki in her practice, says, "Aizawa's karuta is unique and interesting." Megu looks at the cards that have been read and the ones that are remaining and decides which one is most likely to be read next, and then makes a move. Taichi sees through Megu's personality and gives her some advice: "Why don't you try changing the way you think about karuta a little?"

On the day of the final qualifying round, Megur and Umezono compete against Kitao, Mizusawa, and Adore in a match for the last ticket to the national tournament. Meanwhile, while Mizusawa Karuta Club alumni Komano (Morinaga Yuki) and Sumire (Yuki Mio) are talking in the venue lobby, they are joined by tournament staff member Tsukuba (Hayato Sano). Taichi also rushes to the venue... and so on.

After that, Umezono lost to Adore in the first match and was on the brink of defeat. With no other option but to win, Umezono substitutes Sota (Soma Santoki) for Fuki in the match against Kitao. Despite fighting well, Sota and Chieri (Arashi Rina) lost, but Yakumo (Sakamoto Aito), Meguru, and Haruma (Takamura Yoshito) won, leading to a major upset victory over Kitao.

Meanwhile, while Taichi, Komano, Tsukuba, and Sumire are talking in the lobby, Chihaya, who had been stranded at the airport, rushes into the venue with Nishida (Yamoto Yuma). Nagi (Nanoka Hara), who sees them, hugs Chihaya, saying, "Aya-sensei...", and the Mizusawa members gather in front of Chihaya. Chihaya and the other Mizusawa alumni retie the players' loose sashes. Chihaya then encourages Nagi and the others, saying, "Everyone, believe in yourself, believe in your teammates, and play the most fun karuta you've ever had."

On social media, there was a flood of excitement at the sight of Chihaya and the other Mizusawa alumni gathered together. Comments included, "All the Mizusawa alumni are together!", "I wanted to see this scene", "This is so luxurious", "This is so emotional", "All the alumni gathered together makes me want to cry", "Mizusawa's overwhelming all-star feel is amazing...!" and "The sight of all the legends lined up side by side is so intense".