KOI NO KISEKI

Episode Two

Taeko(Hazuki Riona) was saved at the last minute by Ijiri Tatsuhiko(Tanabe Seiichi), a mysterious doctor. Taeko agreed to let Ijiri-san experiment on her. Everyday, her meals were extremely limited, and she had to undergo extensive and tiresome exercises in order to cut down her weight.

According to Aoki Eri, Ijiri's assistant, Taeko was being hospitalized at a university hospital, and that Ijiri-san was an assistant professor of psychology. He was a therapist. It seemed that Taeko was chosen as a theme for his new experiment.

As time went by, her meals became more limited, and she wasn't able to drink much water either. One day, she just couldn't take it any longer, and went to the hospital's cafeteria. She started searching for left-over food, and when she found some, she started eating it like a pig eating slop. Ijiri-san finds Taeko eating the left-over food, and takes her out of the cafeteria, and into a room where she is made to sit in front of a mirror. Ijiri-san tell her to look at herself in the mirror. He tells her that what's more important than the diet is to make an effort to change her way of thinking, her heart. Taeko was shocked at what she was told, but decided to do her best to become beautiful on the outside and inside.

One year later...

Taeko had to go through a lot to make herself thin, but she was able to become beautiful. It was almost a miracle that Taeko was able to become so attractive.

During the diet, she wasn't allowed outside, so she had no idea what was going on in the outside world. When she finally was allowed to leave, she decided that she wanted to see her father, Masaharu, and her best friend, Kai-kun(Hagiwara Masato). But when she goes to her house, she sees that it was being sold. And she didn't know where her father was. Taeko automatically comes to the conclusion that Yukino(Kanno Miho) was behind all this.

She goes over to Kai-kun's house, but finds out that he has moved out and started living by himself. Taeko walks back to Ijiri-san's car with a sad face, with no home to go back to, and no friends to see. She was shocked because she had expected more good things to come out of her miracle diet. She decides to call her father's cellular phone. But when she does, it wasn't her father that answered. It was....Yukino! During the past year, Yukino had become a famous model in Japan, and was working on a commercial for a big make-up company, the one where Kai-kun worked at. She had just been chosen to appear in the CM.

"Where's my father?" asked Taeko, but Yukino says, "I have no more interest in your family! It's your fault...leaving like that for one whole year. How in the world could you blame me!". Taeko was shocked, but couldn't say much back to Yukino. She goes back to Ijiri-san's car.

But it seems that Ijiri-san knew about all of this, that her house had been sold, that Kai-kun had moved, and that her father had suddenly disappeared. He wanted to know how much of this Taeko could handle. He tells her that he wants her to become a strong woman, who not only has good looks, but has a strong heart. At first, Taeko was shocked that Ijiri-san knew everything and didn't tell her anything, but she decides to become strong.

One day, Ijiri-san tells Taeko that she can "graduate". This meant that she could leave the university hospital, and be free to go out into the outside world. But there was only one condition. Taeko would have to throw away her past, and begin a new life. This condition was the same for all people who were hospitalized in Ijiri-san's care. Taeko would not be able to meet people she knew from the past. And she would have to change her name.

But Taeko couldn't refuse, because Ijiri-san was able to help Taeko become beautiful, so she takes the name "Inoue Ayako", throwing away her old name, Tsukamoto Taeko. She decides to take up a job as a make-up assistant. It seemed like a hard job, but the other employees there were nice to her, so she decided to do her best, no matter how hard the job was. But Taeko meets Yukino, who had become one of Japan's most popular models. But when Yukino sees, Taeko, she stops for a minute, but didn't know that it was Taeko, the once fat Taeko. Yukino asks her manager if she could let Ayako(Taeko) put her make-up on for her. So Ayako was by Yukino. Ayako was surprised.

Yukino always wanted to be #1 and always was able to get everything she wanted. She sees that Ayako is putting on a beautiful necklace, and asks her if she could wear it for a little while. But Ayako(Taeko) remembers that a year ago, when she let Yukiko borrow the scarf she got from Kai-kun, she found it in the trash a few days later. So she refused and threw Yukino back. Yukino fell down, and everyone started looking at Ayako. Ayako was then fired by her boss.

Ayako goes outside. She goes to Kai-kun's company to see him, but when she does, he doesn't seem to recognize her. She was shocked, but knew inside that she wasn't the same person outside anymore.

But then she sees something more shocking. When she sees Kai-kun going back to his car, he sees Yukino riding the car also with Kai-kun. Were Kai-kun and Yukino going out? Ayako didn't know what to think of it, but was nevertheless shocked.

- End of Episode Two -