This is where love stops being a plot device and becomes the thing that actually defines who you become. Takemoto, Mayama, and Morita don't get neat resolutions because people don't get neat resolutions, just the slow, bruising clarity of knowing what you want versus what you're willing to sacrifice for it. The show knows the difference between a happy ending and an honest one.

Takemoto returns from his journey across Japan with a clearer sense of self, but the emotional tangles binding him to his friends remain unresolved. Newly confident, he at last tells Hagumi how he feels, though she has been struggling to make sense of the enigmatic Morita, whose playful manner hides the weight of his own talent. Mayama, now working full time, uses his company to steer pottery orders toward Ayumi as a friend. The five face setbacks in school, work, love and friendship, and the love triangles among them gradually shape the directions their futures take. This twelve-episode drama and romance concludes the story with a quiet slice-of-life focus on growing up.