Promise Cinderella

Hayame Katsuragi was living a peaceful life as a housewife, until her husband Masahiro Imai suddenly asks for a divorce. Hayame runs away from home in shock but has all of her money stolen by a pickpocket, turning her into a penniless, unemployed, and homeless divorcee. A few days after Hayame began sleeping in the park, Issei Kataoka, a rich and handsome high schooler, appears before her. Issei is the son of a luxurious long-established Japanese inn. He invites Hayame to his estate as a way for him to kill some time. In exchange for letting her stay at his estate, Issei proposes that they play games of real life. If Hayame can clear the mission on the die, she will win large sums of money. The game is in poor taste, but she has no choice due to her large amount of debt.

Hayame starts working at the inn, but her co-workers are cold towards her. They are jealous, thinking that Hayame may be in the running to be Seigo’s wife. Meanwhile, Issei hears from Yoshitora that Seigo is worried for Hayame, and he is unhappy that the girl he brought may be taken away by his older brother. Hayame is close to quitting her job at the inn, but is not sure why she hates the inn so much. Then, one day, Etsuko asks Issei to take out a hanging scroll from the storage room in the old building, which is supposedly haunted. Issei not only hates the inn, but is also a scaredy-cat. Thus, he comes up with a new game to make Hayame do it: Retrieve the hanging scroll from the haunted storage room. But Hayame, who decides to take part in the game, is met with unexpected misfortune.

Issei finds out that Hayame is not officially divorced and suggests a new game. This time, she is to return home with signed divorce papers and obtain a three-million yen settlement from her cheating husband, Masahiro. Hayame is still having trouble with letting Masahiro go, but she agrees to take part in the game, partly because of how pushy Issei is. First, to get proof of Masahiro’s cheating ways, Hayame and Issei tail Masahiro on his way home. In her heart, Hayame hopes that her husband’s adultery is not actually true, but they unexpectedly meet on the scene. Meanwhile, Seigo once again runs into his first love, Hayame, and he cannot keep calm. And for some reason, Kikuno seems to be concerned for her. Seigo visits Etsuko’s home to see Hayame.

Hayame is shaken when she runs into her first love Seigo after ten long years. But the kinder Seigo is to her, the more her co-workers harass her. Meanwhile, Issei hears about this and shows a sense of rivalry towards Seigo. Then, Hayame tells Issei the truth about what happened ten years ago. Meanwhile, the inn receives a party reservation from Reika Saionji, a Super VIP who holds multiple grand parties at the inn every year. The female workers are afraid of this party, which they were prohibited from entering. On the day of the party, Saionji is in a bad mood after learning that Seijo was away. The other male employees tend to her needs instead, but they cannot stand her and flee one after another. Hayame is unable to look on in silence, so she heads in to help.

Issei’s behavior has been confusing Hayame recently. Not only is he in a sour mood, but he says self-deprecating things out of nowhere and even suggests games that are clearly half-baked. His recent behavior has also been a hot topic at the inn. The female inn employees, who were completely enamored by Issei's kimono look at the party the other day, begin to turn their attention from Seigo to him. Meanwhile, Seigo invites Hayame to a meal. Hayame goes to meet him while keeping this a secret from Issei, who senses something wrong and follows her. Issei sees them enter the restaurant and observes them from a nearby table, accompanied by Kurose, whom he ran into on the street. On the other hand, Kikuno feels that Seigo is growing distant from her and secretly takes action.

Hayame gets into a fight with Issei and runs away from home, finding temporary refuge at the inn. But all of a sudden, her ex-husband Masahiro comes to the inn, offers her an apology and suggests they start over again as friends. Hayame is enraged by Masahiro’s selfish actions, and Seigo intervenes to help settle things down. But as Hayame quarrels with Masahiro, she realizes that she regrets running away without having a proper talk with Issei. Meanwhile, Issei has run away from home after quarrelling with his grandmother, Etsuko. He feels helpless upon finding out that his friends until now were only after his money. Issei, with no one to rely on now, realizes that Hayame is an irreplaceable existence to him. And that is when Hayame appears before him.