Hapimari: Happy Marriage!? Episode 9 Recap

For those who are wondering if I’ll finish Hapimari: Happy Marriage!? here’s your answer. Tadah! Episode 9. Three more episodes to go and I’m done. Yay! Yep, I know this is severely overdue. Gomen-ne.

Finally, some questions were answered. But still, the biggest, most intriguing puzzle remains. Who wants to kill Hokuto?

Episode 9 Recap

Chiwa is stricken with shock and worry when Hokuto falls unconscious right before her very eyes. She runs towards him and notices the oozing blood from an obvious stab wound. While Hokuto battles with death, Chiwa can only wait outside the operating room. She looks at the already spoiled birthday cake he was supposed to give her as a gift. Though a little late, she reads “I love You” on the cake. She smiles and cries, calling him lame for confessing in such a way.

Since Hokuto wasn’t able to come to the meeting, the prospective investor prepares to leave. Misaki tries to stop him and in a very doubtful coincidence, Takayuki arrives, informing them that he’ll be replacing Hokuto.

Thankfully, Hokuto’s life is spared. As he gains consciousness he immediately asks Chiwa about the birthday cake. Chiwa shakes her head. Sadly, the cake was too crumbled up to eat. She then sighs, saying it was the worst birthday ever and teasingly asks what was written on the cake.  Weakly, Hokuto answers “I love you”. Chiwa smiles and says “Me too” before leaning for a kiss. Aww!

Two weeks after the unfortunate incident, Chairman calls for a family meeting. He’s clearly not happy with happened and advises Hokuto to be more careful because “outstanding people are easy to hate”. He’s undoubtedly hinting something to someone.

Since Hokuto was hospitalized for days, Takayuki fill in his post as President. Of course, Takayuki reaps praises from other family memebers for supposedly “getting the company back on its track”. They even suggest that he should be President instead since he already proved his worth and Hokuto wasn’t up to the task. Chairman could have agreed… if only Takayuki wasn’t playing dirty tricks.

Chairman is done being calm. He angrily declares that Takayuki doesn’t deserve the Mamiya name. Chairman unveils that it was Takayuki who hired a professional killer to prevent Hokuto from meeting the potential investor and masterminded the whole Rene Claire issue. If only he wasn’t family, Chairman would have reported him to the police. And so as punishment, Takayuki will be reassigned to a remote branch.

With the sudden turn of events, everybody is too dumbfounded to react. Even the matriarch gives up. Surely, Hokuto will be President now that Seiji is at his last stage of cancer. The information comes as a shocking news to Hokuto, who seems to be the only one who didn’t know about his Dad’s condition.

Chiwa also learns about Seiji’s health from Souma. She asks Hokuto about it, but the latter remains indifferent. For him, Seiji’s death only means cutting off hospital bills. He bitterly retorts that compared to his Mom, who got ran over by a car, his Dad is lucky to pass away in peace. Chiwa argues that despite what happened, he can’t change the fact that Seiji is still his father and he might regret not seeing him one last time. This riles up Hokuto. He tells her to just shut up and in anger, throws the bottle of water he’s holding. Unperturbed by his sudden outburst, Chiwa tells him she’ll visit Seiji no matter what.

At the hospital, Chiwa is obviously tensed. Seiji tries to cheer her up and says she mustn’t feel bothered about his health. His own son isn’t even worried about it. Truth be told, he thinks Hokuto is happy seeing him suffer. He can’t blame Hokuto though. He deserves all of his son’s anger because he took away the person Hokuto loves the most, his Mom. It’s a sensitive topic but Chiwa can’t help but ask if it’s true that he killed Hokuto’s Mom.

Seiji admits to the deed. Yes, he was responsible. He desperately wanted to be on top of Mamiya Group. And in order to succeed, he needed a son. He needed Hokuto. But Yoko, his mother disagreed. And in her attempts to avoid him, she was hit by a car.

When Chiwa comes home, Hokuto asks how Seiji was. Ha! So, he’s concerned after all. But Chiwa is mum on the details. If he wants to know, he should see his Dad himself. With that, Hokuto falls silent. Chiwa then changes the topic and reminds him that she’ll be taking of the business Yagami and his senior is putting up. Still, Hokuto disapproves of the idea. He remains silent and visibly sulking on the matter. However, Chiwa is resolved. She wants to become someone who won’t lose to him. No matter how small the steps are, she wants to work at something she can be proud of. Hokuto gives in. It’s just that he doesn’t want her to get caught in a strange situation. Chiwa smiles. She understands her husband’s sentiments now. He just loves her so much that he’s worried.

It’s the product launch of Mamiya Group and Michel Hearts’ new clothesline, Meilleur. It’s a success and Hokuto and Misaki now faces the media for an interview. One reporter asks if their relationship is beyond business and friendship. Misaki smiles and suddenly kisses Hokuto on the cheek. She explains that it’s common to kiss your friends abroad. There’s no malice in that and people just misunderstand. Yeah, but you don’t need to kiss him to prove your point. Zzz! I love the revolting look he gave her. 

Alone, Misaki expresses her delight for the success of their product launch. Somehow, the rumor about them being together became a good selling point. And so she suggests they continue with the pretentious affair. She even looks forward to more business ventures with him in the future. However, Hokuto isn’t interested anymore. He doesn’t want to have business with the world looking at them like that. Masaki is confused. The Hokuto she knows is so ambitious he’ll do anything just to succeed. Hokuto admits to being that kind of guy before, but now, he’s changed. He realizes that everything he did was for work and neglected his wife. In the process, he made her worry. He doesn’t want to give his wife sadness anymore. Misaki concedes, smiling sadly. She understands. Media will calm down eventually, for the mean time, they should think of some products to launch.

Misaki does some overtime work alone.  By chance, she sees a picture of her and Hokuto during their college days. She stares longingly at it. All she could do is cry. It’s game over for her.

Chiwa is busy making a report for work while Hokuto walks aimlessly around the house. After his doctor told him to ease up on the workloads, he has so much idle time. To kill his boredom, Chiwa suggests they go on a date.

Our loving pair spends their date on a nearby park. Chiwa is glad to finally have a rare moment of solitude with Hokuto. When she came to the Mamiya house, his relatives were so mean and they had problems too. She never thought they’ll find time to just sit and relax. She suddenly stands and says “I like you, I love you, I love you for eternity”. Hokuto is confused. Chiwa explains that it’s what he wants to tell her but he’s just too embarrassed to say it. Hokuto laughs and tells her to think whatever she likes.

While buying drinks on a vending machine, a car, clearly waiting for the perfect time, accelerates to Hokuto’s direction. Chiwa sees the car and shouts Hokuto’s name. With Hokuto too stunned to react, Chiwa rushes to push him away from the raging car. With the recent life threat, Hokuto forbids Chiwa to go out. She, however, she strongly resents the idea since it’s too inconsiderate for Yamagi and Okudera. Hokuto insists she’ll just have to deal with it because the culprit might be after her and he can’t compromise her safety.

Souma agrees. Chiwa should just concede since Hokuto doesn’t want her to suffer the same fate as his Mom. The truth is, his Mom died trying to save him. Thinking about it, maybe the real target was Hokuto and his mom was just collateral damage.

At the hospital, Seiji stares at the picture of Hokuto and his Mom. Souma asks if he has no plans of telling them the truth. Undoubtedly, he loves Yoko  and Hokuto so much that it’s impossible for him to kill her.

Seiji: Hokuto saw his mom died right in front of him. If he doesn’t bear a grudge on someone, he wouldn’t get over her death.

Ah, so that’s his reason. He then starts to cough hard, making Souma panic.

In order to know more of Hokuto’s intriguing family background, Chiwa visits the Mamiya house to see some old albums. She laughs looking at how Hokuto was so cute. One thing she notice is, he doesn’t smile. It’s evident he had a sad childhood after his Mom died. There’s one picture that catches her attention though. It’s a picture of his Mom, Seiji and someone else.

Just in time, Chairman arrives and informs her of Seiji’s condition. She immediately keeps the photo and goes with Chairman to the hospital. On their way there, Chiwa calls Hokuto, telling him of the news.

At the hospital, Souma informs them that Seiji is currently undergoing an emergency operation and from the looks of it, he’s not doing good. Chiwa worries that Hokuto will continue to be hard on his father. Clearly, he misunderstood Seiji. Someone who has a picture of his wife and son in his hospital room can’t do those horrible things. She’s convinced that someone else wants to kill Hokuto.

Chiwa talks with Souma in private and shows her the picture she discovered at the Mamiya house. It’s Souma with Hokuto’s parents. Souma reveals that she’s best friends with Yoko. Since Yoko’s death, she made it her life mission to protect Hokuto at all costs.

No matter how Hokuto tries to deny it, he is clearly bothered by the news. After some thought, he stands and runs towards the hospital. He’s waiting for the traffic light to change along with some pedestrian when suddenly somebody pushes him. Next thing he sees, is a truck fast approaching.

Obviously, our killer isn’t creative. After so many years, he still uses cars and trucks every time he tries to kill Hokuto.