Kimagure Orange Road episode 5

Two People's Secret! The Puzzling Part-time Job.

Aired:
May 4, 1987
Synopsis by:
George Robbert
Kyousuke is running through town, and accidentally interrupts Ushiko and Umao sitting on a bench. He remembers receiving a phone call from Hikaru just a bit ago. She was extremely upset, telling him, ``I can't take it anymore, I want to die.'' Hearing a river in the background he tells her not to do anything foolish, and runs off to find her. He finds her shoes by the edge of a bridge and thinks the worst. Fortunately, she only waded into the river to retrieve a soccer ball for some younger kids.

With a little prompting Hikaru tells Kyousuke what's on her mind. She happened upon ``an adult situation.'' She doesn't know how to handle it, and to make matters worse she's going to be out of town over the coming spring break. What she saw was Madoka going into a hotel with an older man she doesn't recognize. Walking home, Kyousuke himself is wondering how to deal with the problem.

He comes home to find an overjoyed Kurumi and Manami. Their father has his next job (as a photographer) in Hokkaido and is going to take all three of them along, since it's spring break. Kyousuke says he's not going, which prompts everyone else to examine him to see what's wrong (testing his reflexes, looking in his ears, etc.). He insists that he's perfectly ok, but thinks to himself that he'd rather spend the week sleeping, and knows he can't.

Kyousuke's father and sisters head off for Hokkaido, and he heads over to Madoka's house. He feels he's got to talk to her, but isn't good at that kind of thing. He imagines a couple different conversations with her, both in person and by telephone, trying to explain that nothing happened between himself and Hikaru. Unfortunately, his imagination doesn't yield very satisfactory responses from her.

Madoka comes out of her house, and Kyousuke follows her, trying not to be seen. He thinks that she looks quite mature, and more feminine in clothes other than her school uniform. He follows her through a shopping district of town, and imagines the guy she went to the hotel with buying her things. She ends up getting on a bus. Kyousuke has to use his powers to help in the chase, but ends up teleporting directly in front of a bus, and then into a sewer. Climbing out of the sewer, after being knocked back in by the bus, he emerges in front of a sign that warns women about Peeping Toms, not exactly the best place to be sneaking after someone. Soon after this, he bumps into a policeman, who asks if he is looking for something. The gals who saw him sneaking in front of the sign accuse him of being the Peeping Tom. To escape all this, he runs off and ducks into a restaurant.

The waitress that greets him when he comes in is none other than Madoka herself. It's hard to figure out which of the two are more surprised.

The restaurant turns out to be the Abcb Coffee Shop. Later Kyousuke is sitting at the counter talking with Madoka and Master, the owner of Abcb. Madoka explains that Master called her last night and asked her to work here, and that last night he also took her to dinner at the hotel restaurant as advance payment for helping him over spring break. Kyousuke is quite relieved to find out that this was all that it was, but at the same time feels guilty for suspecting Madoka. She asks him not to tell anyone about this, since, in Japan, junior high-school students are prohibited from having part-time jobs. Then, to beat everything, Master asks Kyousuke if he'd like to work here over spring break too. When Madoka adds her request too, he agrees in a hurry.

Kyousuke changes into a uniform in the employee room. He muses that now he has a secret he can share with Madoka. Meanwhile, Master goes out to pick up a few supplies. Madoka is impressed by the fit of Kyousuke's uniform and how he looks in it.

Before Master returns, two customers arrive. Unfortunately they are none other than Komatsu and Hatta, the two worst gossips at school. Kyousuke imagines how quickly word would spread even if these two promised not to tell.

Madoka also wonders what they should do. The two guys ask for water and she has to deliver this to them before they can come up with a plan. She does manage to deliver the water while facing away from the customers the whole time. When they each ask for a cream soda, Kyousuke gets an idea and uses his power to change the price of it on their menu from 500 yen to 50,000 yen. Upon realizing this, the two promptly exit the coffee shop. Madoka and Kyousuke are both relieved that their secret is still safe. When she asks why they left, Kyousuke almost slips and tells her of his power.

Kyousuke and Madoka continue to work at Abcb. Kyousuke is not the best waiter, accidentally spilling on customers or almost breaking the entire supply of plates, but his mistakes are laughed off by all. He really enjoys working with Madoka, but both of them get embarrassed when they find themselves doing things like holding each others hand instead of a dish in the dishwater, or backing into each other while mopping the floor. Master just smiles and enjoys their fun.

At the end of the week, Kyousuke feels privileged to share this secret with Madoka and to have gotten to know a little more of her daily life. After closing, Master, Madoka and Kyousuke sit down to a little celebration. Master thanks Kyousuke for his great help. Kyousuke says it was rough, since it was his first job, but was also fun. Master playfully asks him if that is because Madoka was there too. Kyousuke doesn't know how to answer, but Madoka responds by asking him if his wife isn't waiting for him. Master then leaves and asks the two of them to close up the shop for him.

Kyousuke thinks that this is the first time he's seen Madoka joke like this. She comments that he is a completely honest boy, since he's only been drinking soda all night. When he says he's not, she agrees bringing up the example of how he promised to date Hikaru and ended up taking Madoka out for a boat-ride instead, calling him a flirt. She then asks ``Do you really like her?... I mean Hikaru.'' She doesn't wait for his answer and apologizes for asking. They both laugh in embarrassment.

That evening Kyousuke and Madoka are at the bus stop waiting for the bus. He thinks that she's really enjoying this night. She notices that the last bus has already left. Then, with eyes full of emotion, she asks, ``May I stay at your house tonight?... I won't tell Hikaru.'' Kyousuke is surprised by this. He thinks to himself, ``I... I don't have that strong a will and...'' But she's fallen asleep on his shoulder, with a contented smile on her face, before even hearing what he had to say.

Hikaru comes up in a car to bring Madoka home. She asks if they've just finished work, surprising Kyousuke. It turns out that Madoka told her about their job on the phone yesterday. Kyousuke is disappointed the secret isn't just between the two of them anymore. The still sleeping Madoka is taken home with Hikaru, leaving Kyousuke near home, alone.

Back at home Kyousuke remembers Madoka's words to him and the times they had together. He is trying to sleep, but failing, when his father and sisters return. He wasn't expecting them until the next day, but they managed to get a return flight sooner. Kurumi says she has brought him a souvenir, but it is nowhere in sight. She then teleports it in and it lands right on top of Kyousuke. It is a large statue of a bear with a fish in it's mouth. Takashi and Manami berate Kurumi for this, but she says she just wanted to save money on the delivery fee. Kyousuke is trapped underneath.