Gravitation - Maki Murakami

Track 22: Shuichi mopes for a week after the "Hit Stage" appearance. He is frustrated that he is not nearly as talented as Ryuichi. But Hiro comes over to cheer him up, and Shuichi decides that it's time to stop being a fan. In order to compete, he'll need to work hard and go head-to-head against Ryuichi. K deduces (correctly) that Eiri's relationship with Shuichi is going to be the deciding factor as to whether Shuichi can make the big leap. K resorts to rather violent measures to ensure that Eiri makes nice with Shuichi. His promise to take Eiri on a date if Bad Luck's album sells a million records is a powerful motivator. Shuichi devotes himself to work with a renewed passion. K presents them with another TV appearance opportunity. Except, it's not a music program - it's a cooking show. Major Eevent: Shuichi mopes for a week, but he decides to stop trying to copy Ryuichi and compete with him full throttle. Track 23: Shuichi coerces Eiri into teaching him how to cook. A nice effort, but nowhere near five-star class results. But Shuichi is determined to win the cooking championship in order to gain more publicity, all in the hopes of selling 1 million albums.;Eiri leaves for New York for an unexplained reason, so Hiro goes to Tatsuha for help. He asks Tatsuha to dress up like Eiri and show up in the audience to give Shuichi a jolt...and hopefully motivate him to give a grand performance. One of the judges on the panel turns out to be Noriko's husband, and he seems to be no ordinary celebrity judge. Shuichi burns his meal during first round of cooking...and time is running out. Major event Hiro convinces Tatsuha to dress up like Eiri and show up in the audience at the cooking show. Hopefully lightning will strike again, and Shuichi will be inspired to summon another magical performance. Track 24: Things look bleak for Bad Luck - they burn their cooking, and Tatsuha has left. But Noriko persuades Tatsuha to stay and provoke Shuichi more. Shuichi is charged up by Tatsuha's sudden reappearance, and their cooking starts to take shape in the form of a singing and dancing trio. But they get carried away and kiss in front of the cameras, and the producer decides to edit out all of Bad Luck's scenes. Eiri is visiting the grave of the man he killed in New York.;He and Seguchi have a cryptic conversation, and it is apparent that Eiri is harboring some dark secrets. Major Event: Shuichi is revitalized by Tatsuha's reappearance as Eiri, but they get carried away and kiss on stage, and their performance is edited out of the show. Track 25: Eiri seems to recall some of his lost memories, and it becomes apparent that his friendship with Seguchi may not have been a purely innocent one. Although their appearance on the cooking show was edited out, Shuichi and Hiro are congratulated by Ukai for putting on a grand performance. But their elation is short-lived. TV camera crews descend upon Eiri's house, with Shuichi inside, to get the scoop on their relationship. Shuichi tries to prevent Eiri from returning to his house, but Eiri seems committed to Shuichi and prepared for whatever may come. Meanwhile, K and Sakano view the commotion as an opportunity to sell records, and an enraged Hiro threatens to quit the band. Major Event: Eiri, at considerable risk to himself career-wise, decides to go home and meet Shuichi even though TV camera crews are waiting for him to broadcast the scandalous news.