The biggest change from this episode onwards is that the narrator becomes Kasugai instead of Shiba. As such, the narration is taken from her viewpoint i.e. how she views Shiba's efforts in uncovering the truth compared to the "monsters" attempting to cover it up.Shiba finds out that the address supposedly belonging to Mie's family was a hoax after all and happens to meet Yoko's brother Hirai Kunio at the police post. Kunio introduces himself and even mentions to Shiba that he had been following Yoko to find out what is going on with her much to Shiba's surprise. When Kunio offers to help Shiba with his search, the latter decides against revealing the details as he feels that something is not quite right with Kunio.
As a result of financial backing from Hyuga, Okubo starts to order advanced medical equipment and spends money on improving things in the hospital much to everyone's amazement. When Shiba approaches Okubo about what he has found out, Okubo stops him from investigating further since it may cause unhappiness with Mie's family. Soon after, Shiba finds himself being sent back to the university hospital in an attempt to stop him from investigating further and can't operate on Itokawa. At the same time, Yoko finds out that her brother approached Shiba and in an attempt to protect him (not sure from what yet), she initiates a breakup. However, Kunio doesn't want to back off and seems to be keen on continuing what he's doing in order to get money.
Meanwhile, Keiko's status in the Hyuga family is elevated as a result of her son (well, Mie's son) Kei. Her mother-in-law even slaps Kimiyo, Toshio's ex-wife for insinuating that Kei isn't Toshio's and Keiko's child which makes Keiko smirk with pride. However, this new-found confidence also causes conflict between Keiko and her mother-in-law because Keiko is no longer a pushover like before. Keiko's newfound assertiveness even causes her to flare up at her mother-in-law for attempting to take Kei away from her which would have been unthinkable in the past.
Shiba finds out that Toshio was the one who took away Kei from the hospital and goes to look for him at his company. However, Toshio denies having any knowledge of this while his mother is suspicious after hearing what Shiba said. When Shiba goes back to the university hospital, he chances upon Keiko's medical records in Prof Shiono's office and finds out that she could never have given birth to Kei because her womb was removed during her miscarriage!
In an attempt to find out the truth, Shiba gatecrashes the party held by Toshio and Keiko which makes Toshio very uneasy. Keiko doesn't realise that Shiba is investigating the birth of Kei and even smiles heartily at him. Before Shiba can probe further, he is brought to another room by Kasugai and she reveals the truth to him. Just when Shiba has sort of come to terms with what Kasugai told him because he knows that Kei will be in good hands in the Hyuga family, he arranges to meet Mie's ex-lover Honma at her grave and finds out that Mie has a rare blood type which is usually not available at hospitals. This leads Shiba to suspect that Mie's death might not have due to his lack of inexperience in the operation but rather she was murdered!
Just as I thought that it will be a straightforward search for the truth which the viewers already know, it turns out that there is more than meets the eye. This episode not only gives us more information about Mie's past but also provides an useful clue in finding out what really caused her death. If the blood transfusion Mie received was indeed tampered with (most likely by Kasugai), does this mean she had the intention of killing Mie so that Mie wouldn't cause any trouble for Keiko? That's the only logical explanation I can think of at the moment since Kasugai loves Keiko that much and may be prepared to go the distance for her sister. Besides, she was the one who brought the blood packs into the operating room after switching the blood type stickers so it doesn't seem like anyone can tamper with the blood given to Mie.
Keiko's assertiveness isn't that surprising after all since she went through so much to get Kei. Of course, she would want to stop her mother-in-law from bullying her like in the past now that she has Kei as a bargaining chip. However, this definitely rubs her mother-in-law the wrong way and I won't be surprised if she sets out to find out what is going on now that her suspicions are aroused.
Looks like the truth is going to get uglier as we approach the end since Mie's death is likely not to be an accident. The "monsters" involved would probably come to no good end but I think Shiba won't be necessarily happier when that happens. It's most likely going to be a lose-lose situation by the time everything gets out into the open.
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