Takemoto reluctantly returns home for the New Year and meets Kazuo, his step-father.

In the second part of the episode, the gang takes a road trip to a hot spring using the money won from a lottery ticket.

Everyone is working late preparing their exhibits for the school festival including Hagumi, who has trouble with her wax work. She later finds a white broach that someone had made for her. The broach is quite similar to the one she had doodled on her notebook. Hagumi also gets a job to help Yamada sell Christmas goodies at her family store but they have to compete with a new supermarket that has opened nearby.

Takemoto views the map the night before he starts traveling the next morning. He comes across a store near a school, and ends up eating sweet rolls. The store owner talks to him about her time in America, offering him some corn for the trip afterward. Takemoto reminisces about the time he wished he could go to America with his father. Not paying attention, he falls off his bicycle, but manages to get back on and continues on his journey back to the apartment. When he arrives home, he goes to see Hagu. Professor Hanamoto goes to see Hagu shortly after, but finds out ...