My Happy Marriage Season 2

Episode 17

Miyo's made a friend! I hope it can last. Still, even if it doesn't – and certainly Godo seems to think that there may be something suspicious about Kaoruko – the simple fact of meeting someone who has no reason to like her stands out as a major event in Miyo's life. Hazuki is Kiyoka's sister, giving her a dedicated reason to be kind to Miyo (their mother notwithstanding, since she's the outlier in the Kudo family). At the same time, Godo and Yurie work either with or for Kiyoka so being kind to his fiancée is basically required. The other military members aren't pleased she's there (and an Usuba to boot), but they're scrupulously polite due to her position as Kiyoka's betrothed.

Kaoruko, though, who could have fallen into two of these categories, seems genuinely interested in befriending Miyo. Although there could be an element of female solidarity at play – Kaoruko is the army's only lady soldier, after all – that doesn't necessitate that she asks for friendship specifically. Doing so could be seen as running counter to her mission as Miyo's guard; getting too chummy with her target may not be a great idea. Although now that I'm writing that, perhaps it's a reason to be suspicious of her; surely a trained soldier would be aware?

We could still write off her behavior as sheer desperation on Kaoruko's part. She is the lone woman in the armed forces and also the new kid at the base, having recently been transferred from the old capital to fill in for the injured Godo. That makes her the odd woman out in more than one way, and we see that many of her comrades aren't pleased with her presence. The low-key bullying Miyo witnesses in the dojo is accompanied by good old-fashioned sexism, as Kaoruko's superior sword skills are met with a jeer about how women are “supposed to make men look good.” Could the kitchen be in such an awful state because the men feel that cleaning it is “women's work?” Miyo's decision to clean it as the first task she assigns herself while she's accompanying Kiyoka to work does draw an old-school gender line, and I can't imagine that one of the other soldiers seeing Kaoruko helping her would aid Kaoruko in any way. There's just a lot going on with her as a new character underneath the surface, and seeing Miyo at long last find someone who appears to want to be her friend just because risks blinding us to what Godo may be hinting at.

If that's the case, I doubt if Kiyoka is going to notice all that quickly. The threat of Usui is a major one, as their confrontation at the train station shows; Usui absolutely got the better of both Kiyoka and Arata. As we learn more about Usui's fixation with Sumi, Kiyoka's decision to have Miyo come to work with him sounds better and better. The glimpses of the past Miyo sees in her dreams this week indicate that Usui has always been deeply troubled – torturing ants isn't a great sign of a healthy child (while understanding that most kids do mess around with insects to a lesser degree). Sumi seems to be the only person who ever told Usui “no.” His obsession with her risks transferring to her daughter under the mistaken or misguided impression that Miyo ought to have been his daughter, and given that Usui's gifts are so strong, that makes me wonder if the entire Gifted Communion cult isn't designed to get Kiyoka's attention. Usui doesn't need to worry about being powerless, so why would he lead a group that's all about giving powers to those without?

Perhaps having other people ingest grotesqueries to see what happens to them is just another version of forcing ants to drown themselves. Whatever the case, Kaoruko had better be on the level, because if she's not, Miyo is in serious danger while Kiyoka assumes she's safe.

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