Mayu gets her shot at happiness a bit sooner than she expected – as in, literally right after Shigure left.

Mayu: Just looking at you in that suit makes me sweat.

Hatori: My apologies.

Mayu: No, sorry. You surprised me a bit…geez, I’m just really shocked! I thought you were a waking dream!

These two are a wonderful couple.  Her honesty combined with his straightforwardness is just fantastic.  Also, they have a mutual distrust of Shigure from knowing him too well.

Hatori-kun hasn’t changed much. He’s as matter-of-fact as ever. That’s why people get the wrong idea and think he’s “scary”…I wasn’t able to say, “I’m glad you found someone.” Geez, what’s wrong with me? But still, I thought he would’ve had more of an air of happiness about him.

She believes he’s “moved on”, but can’t see any sign of it in his demeanor.  In fact, most of the time she knew him was when he was with Kana (and thus when he was actually happy), so Hatori might seem a lot colder now than she remembers him (we never see him smile during their encounter).

The darkness of the Sohma estate is instantly palpable in this short scene, and we’re suddenly reminded of how foolish Hatori thinks it would be to even wish for a new love (and why that’s entirely logical).  It forms a contrast with the (literally) brighter, if more mundane, world that Mayu inhabits.

Hatori comes back the next day at a bad time for Mayuko (her mom was just in the middle of pestering her to find a man already), so she takes the initiative to drag Hatori far away from the shop (and his car).

Mayu: You seem kind of…listless

Hatori: Well, I don’t feel under the weather.

Mayu: I don’t mean physically. How can I put it? You’re not all “Happy! Yippee!” (internally) Like you were back then…(aloud) You don’t seem to give off an aura of “happiness”, I guess.

Hatori: I don’t know what you’re trying to say, but that feeling you’re talking about has nothing to do with me.

Mayu: What do you mean? Hatori-kun, how could you say that? I don’t believe it! Look at how blue the sky is! Look at that water sparkle! Everyone is laughing and having a good time…so it can’t be true, Hatori-kun, this idea that you and happiness don’t belong together! It can’t be true! I won’t believe it! I won’t believe in anything!

Hatori: You’re not making any sense…

Mayu: I don’t care! I don’t care. I don’t care anymore. (internally) Help him. Please free this man. I pray, with my huge ego, for him to be happy.

What bugs her most is that he doesn’t seem to care that he’s not happy, that he doesn’t see how tragic it is that he believes “happiness” has nothing to do with him.  And it takes her sudden, intense emotional outburst to make Hatori take notice.

Mayu: I’m really ashamed of myself…

Hatori: Well, you did make a scene, crying in my stead. So thank you.

Then she finds out that (surprise!) Shigure lied about the girlfriend thing (the woman he saw with Hatori was Hiro’s mom and he knew it).

Mayu: Give me back my tears right now, with interest!

Hatori: You’re being unreasonable again…

But he invites her out to lunch, and she keeps a hold on his handkerchief.  And evidently he tells her how to get a hold of Shigure so she can properly chew him out.

Shigure: See, didn’t I tell you? I am fond of you, in my own way. That’s why I even gave your next romance a little push. […] Anyway, the rest is up to you, Mayu-chan. I don’t know how many years it’ll take. I mean, we are talking about Haa-san here. But you’ve stubbornly cared about him this long, so you’ll be okay, right? What’s another five or ten years?

Mayu: Never call me again.

Personally, I still don’t think the ends justify the means (even if the end is making his friend happy), because there had to be some other way to get them together that wouldn’t undermine Hatori’s judgement or cause Mayu unnecessary emotional turmoil.

Five to ten years was an exaggeration, but a little more time would pass before I cut my hair short, he started calling me just “Mayu” again, and just the two of us would go out on days when the weather was nice.

This bodes well for the whole cast, anticipating a future where they can all be happy – not near, but not too far.

Until next time…