Erased Season 1 Episode 2 Recap

Satoru wakes up in front of his old school: Mikoto Elementary School. It snows, so it takes him time to get up and go inside the school. He attends class like a usual day. Satoru asks himself why the revival takes him back that far. He remembers his mother and makes an excuse to go to the nurse’s office. He runs to their old home and pounds at the door — no one answers. He remembers where they used to hide the key, so he finds it. Satoru goes inside the house and is glad there’s some food on the table.

He wakes up to his mom cooking dinner. “This is happiness,” Satoru says as he eats dinner with his mother. Sachiko tells him they fought that morning, but Satoru doesn’t seem to remember. Satoru smiles at his mom and tells him he’s sorry.

A girl wearing a red coat, Kayo Hinazuki, walks to the classroom the next day. Satoru realizes the time he was in was before Kayo was kidnapped and murdered. During their math class, Satoru just stares at Kayo. He wonders if he’s supposed to prevent Kayo’s murder. Satoru notices Kayo’s bruised legs, but he doesn’t say anything.

After school, Satoru walks home with his friends. He realizes one of his close friends, Hiromi, gets taken after Kayo. Satoru decides he will take on the case. “You stupid?” says Kayo when Satoru asks to be her friend. Kayo says she gets that Satoru is fake like her. Then she mentions seeing him running back home the day before. She asks Satoru if his mother is that important to him. When Satoru says yes, Kayo walks away. Satoru stops Kayo and asks her again to be friends with him. “Friends? Then, can you murder someone for me?” Kayo asks him.

Satoru’s friend, Kenya, says he thinks what Satoru is doing is important. He adds that if Satoru needs help, he can come to him. Kenya asks Satoru to read the essays because they’re interesting. As soon as he gets home, Satoru reads the essays Kenya mentioned. He flips to read Kayo’s entry. The entry’s title is “A City Where Only I Am Gone.” Kayo talks about going to a faraway place. A place without sadness, adults, children, teachers, and even her mother.

Satoru talks to Kayo again in a playground. Satoru tries to get Kayo to open up to him so he can help her. He thinks he has to do things he hasn’t done to get what he wants. He invites Kayo to his birthday party and hands her an invitation. “You’re a little easier to talk to right now,” Kayo says. Satoru remembers that the playground was the last place Kayo was seen before she went missing. But he still can’t remember when she went missing. All he remembers is that the first kidnapping happened in March. He remembers the book he read at the bookstore. Kayo’s age back then was ten years old. Satoru thinks everyone should turn 11 in 5th grade. “Hinazuki’s birthday must be in March. And she was killed before her birthday,” Satoru tells himself.

February 20th, as soon as Satoru sees Kayo in class, he asks when her birthday is. But the students suddenly tease them that they are flirting, so Kayo goes to her seat without answering him. Satoru is determined to find out when Kayo’s birthday is, so he asks his teacher, Mr. Yashiro. Kayo’s birthday is on March 2nd, the same as Satoru’s. He now knows that the first kidnapping happened on March 1st. Satoru thinks he must stay with Kayo as often as possible because March 1st is only ten days away, and the killer might approach Kayo.

Satoru visits Kayo at her house. No one answers the door, so Satoru goes behind the house. He looks inside through the closed window. Looking around, he sees Kayo’s bag and things scattered on the thick snow. Satoru walks slowly to the adjacent bungalow. When he opens the door, he sees Kayo in a plain white dress lying on the floor. Kayo’s face, legs, and arms are bruised. “Don’t look. Close it!” Kayo says. Before Satoru can help Kayo, Kayo’s mother stops him. She coldly asks Kayo what she’s doing there. Then she tells her to go back to her room. Satoru asks Kayo’s mother how Kayo got injured. “Why don’t you tell him, Kayo?” her mother says. “I tripped,” Kayo replies.

Our Thoughts

Where did Kayo get her bruises? It’s impossible to get that from playing. Is it possible she got that from her mom? She looks like she doesn’t have any friends. When Satoru visited her, lying on the floor, it made us think about many things. It was snowing at that time, so it was freezing. When Kayo’s mother showed up, she didn’t ask Kayo if she’s okay. If you see your daughter in that position, we think the first thing you will do is run to her and help her, but Kayo’s mother just stands there at the door and talks to Kayo as if she doesn’t care.

What is happening? We thought Kayo died after being kidnapped. But when we saw her situation at home, could something else possibly happen? Something that even her classmates didn’t know about? We hope Satoru can save Kayo because it would be so sad to see her die — again.