Nodame makes it to the final round, but an untimely fever from practicing too much sets her back as it now becomes a race against time to finish memorizing the pieces for the final round. Just when the pressure couldn't have been any heavier, she runs into a colleague from her childhood, Yuuto Segawa, a student at Nodame's first-attended piano class, Hanazakura, which in turn brings back her bad memories she had repressed. Chiaki, on the other hand, has his hands full with the new violinist, but attends the Maradona finals to observe Nodame and the other contestants. The episode ends with a cliffhanger, as Nodame suffers a memory slip and grinds to a halt in the middle of her final piece.