目錄
⚠️ This article contains full spoilers for Episode 3 of GATE24: The Border (Japanese title: 大空港～GATE24～) and also references Episodes 1 and 2.
Keiichiro Hayami says one line quite often in the first two episodes: “It’s not my call.” It is not my decision, and it is not my responsibility.
At first, I kept reading that line as part of Hayami’s elite-bureaucrat sense of boundaries. Immigration handles immigration, customs has its own responsibilities, and when something happens, the first step is to confirm whether it falls within your jurisdiction. If it does not, then do not interfere. But once Episode 3 reveals what happened in Hayami’s past, the line suddenly means something completely different. It is not that he never used to involve himself in other people’s problems. He once genuinely tried to follow something through to the end, and the price he paid was being transferred away.
That is why, by the end of this episode, the most meaningful moment is not simply that Hayami finally steps in to save Luis. It is that he knows exactly what can happen when he crosses that line and still chooses to run after him.
GATE24: The Border Episode 3 Basic Information: Air Date, Ratings, and Case Theme
Episode 3 of GATE24: The Border aired on TV Asahi’s Thursday drama slot on August 6, 2026. Its subtitle is “消えた子供と兎を追え！” (“Chase the Missing Child and Rabbit!”). It recorded an average household rating of 9.1% and an individual rating of 5.3% in the Kanto region, slightly down from Episode 2’s 9.6% and 5.5%, although all three episodes so far remain within a similar range.
The episode places two incidents side by side. One involves a rabbit that escapes from a traveler and may be carrying an infectious disease. The other involves a child reported by his father as having been “abducted.” The rabbit throws GATE24 into chaos and also creates the circumstances that leave Luis behind to be handled separately, but what truly pulls Hayami back into his past is the international parental custody dispute that follows.
GATE24: The Border Episode 3 Recap: Luis Goes Missing and an International Custody Dispute Emerges
The Melsia Rabbit Escapes: Why Are Luis and Fumika Kept at GATE24?
Everything begins when a traveler’s concealed Melsia rabbit suddenly escapes. The drama establishes that the animal may carry an infectious disease, so the GATE24 inspection area is immediately sealed off and the passengers who had been waiting there are redirected to other counters. As the crowd begins moving, Fumika Shinomiya refuses to leave. She is accompanied by a very young boy named Luis, and after Ran Fukazawa assesses the situation, she decides that Machi and the others should continue processing the two of them in a nearby room.
What begins as a small disturbance caused by an escaped animal soon turns into something completely different.
Why Does Hideto Kijima Want to Take Luis Away? The Hague Convention and Custody Dispute Explained
Hideto Kijima from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Consular Affairs Bureau arrives at GATE24 together with Iuchi from the Metropolitan Police Department’s International Crime Division. Hayami reacts noticeably when he sees Kijima. The two were university classmates, and Kijima clearly knows why Hayami went from working at the Ministry of Justice headquarters to being stationed at the airport.
Kijima is there because Luis’s father, Julien, has reported that his son was abducted. Julien is a senior foreign government official who was once married to Japanese picture-book author Saeko Shinomiya. After their divorce, Julien received custody, while Saeko returned to Japan. Fumika then took her nephew out of the country while Julien was away. According to Kijima, if Fumika is now allowed to simply take Luis to see his mother, the case could involve the wrongful international removal of a child and return procedures under the Hague Convention, potentially escalating into a diplomatic issue.
The drama layers legal and diplomatic pressure together here. In reality, the Hague Convention generally works on the principle of returning a child who has been wrongfully removed across borders to the country of habitual residence first, with custody matters then handled by the relevant local judicial system. However, exceptions also exist, including cases where return may expose the child to a grave risk. So whether a child should actually be returned is not something that one Ministry of Foreign Affairs official can simply decide at the airport.
Fumika is taken away to be questioned by Iuchi, while Machi stays with Luis. Hayami and Matsuyama speak with Julien over video. At that moment, Fumika suddenly rushes in and begins arguing with Julien through the screen. The room descends into chaos, and when Machi turns back around, Luis — who had been sitting beside her moments earlier — is gone.
Was Luis Really Abducted? His Luggage, Picture Books, and Julien’s Unusual Reactions
After Luis is found, Hayami directly asks whether someone forced him to come to Japan. Luis does not answer that question. Instead, he picks up his tablet and asks everyone to read a picture book to him.
The tablet contains picture books created by his mother, Saeko, along with videos of her reading stories to Luis. After looking through his luggage and the material on the device, Machi begins to feel that the trip does not fit with the idea that he was forcibly taken away. At the very least, the things Luis brought with him suggest that he knew exactly whom he was going to see and that he had continued to maintain an emotional connection with his mother.
Meanwhile, details revealed in the adults’ conversations become increasingly strange. Fukazawa notices that despite speaking for so long, Julien barely calls his son by name even once and does not show any real urgency about seeing Luis. Hayami is struck by the language Julien uses when referring to the child, which sounds close to the idea of “managing” him. Later, Iuchi also discovers evidence of injuries on Saeko’s body consistent with violence, and Fumika finally explains what had been happening inside her sister’s marriage.
According to Fumika, Saeko was subjected to prolonged abuse by Julien. She had raised the issue during the divorce as well, but Julien’s position allowed the matter to be suppressed. In the end, neither the lawyers nor the consulate succeeded in getting those allegations meaningfully incorporated into the custody decision.
Hayami brings these concerns to Kijima, but Kijima’s position does not change. He argues that without evidence, they cannot detain the child of a senior government official based only on suspicion. Julien’s reputation affects relations between the two countries, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot take that risk based on a few claims. Eventually, he even brings up Hayami’s past directly, telling him that he needs to understand what actually matters to an organization — otherwise he would not have been transferred from the Ministry of Justice to where he is now.
After Kijima walks away, Hayami kicks a pillar. The reaction lasts only a moment, but looking back after the episode ends, it becomes clear that what truly angers him is probably not simply that Kijima is unpleasant. It is that Kijima has hit the exact thing Hayami has been avoiding for years.
Why Does Keiichiro Hayami Always Say “It’s Not My Call”? His Ministry of Justice Past Revealed
Hayami’s past is explained by Fukazawa to Sugihara.
When Hayami was still working at the Ministry of Justice, he was completely different from the person he is now. He genuinely believed that a civil servant could use his position to expose something unjust. He once investigated problems inside a company after a young woman died by suicide following long working hours and severe workplace pressure. Hayami wanted to continue pursuing the case, but his superiors told him to stop. The company also had connections within the Ministry of Justice. Hayami refused to back down and was preparing to expose what had happened when he was transferred away from headquarters and ultimately sent to the Kanto Regional Immigration Services Bureau.
After learning this, the phrase “It’s not my call” from the first two episodes sounds completely different. Hayami is not someone who was naturally uninterested in other people’s problems. He knows exactly what can happen when he goes one step too far, because he has already experienced it himself. So afterward, he simply drew the boundaries of his work as cleanly as possible. If he did not cross them, he would never have to pay the same price again.
What Is Hidden Inside Super Daddy? The Real Reason Luis Keeps Asking Someone to Read to Him
The person who eventually figures out what Luis is trying to communicate is still Machi, although her method looks nothing like the usual style of deduction in a mystery drama.
She simply goes through everything on Luis’s tablet, one item at a time, until she reaches his favorite picture book, Super Daddy. The story is about an ordinary father who becomes a hero and protects his family. As Machi reads it, she even thinks the father resembles Hayami and casually jokes that the mother must therefore be like herself.
Then she notices one small detail. Every other picture book has a recorded video of Saeko reading it aloud. Only Super Daddy, the book Luis keeps wanting someone to read, does not.
Which means that when he kept repeating, “Please read me a picture book,” he may have been referring to this one from the very beginning.
Episode 3’s Key Scene Explained: Hayami Goes From “It’s Not My Call” to “This Is My Problem”
As more and more time passes, the situation eventually reaches the point where Luis is about to be returned to his father. Only then does Luis finally say what he wants: he does not want to go back because his father hurts his mother. He only wants to see his mother.
Kijima continues following the original procedure and takes the child away. During the struggle, Luis’s tablet falls to the floor. As he is led away, he keeps looking back and shouting “Daddy,” but the person he is calling is Hayami.
Hayami finally runs after him.
The confrontation in the corridor almost overturns everything the first three episodes have established about him. Kijima argues that Julien has custody and that the case involves international child-return procedures, so immigration has no reason to continue intervening. Hayami brings the issue back to its most basic point: whether the child should be returned must go through the appropriate process. It is not something Kijima can decide on his own. Kijima asks what any of this has to do with immigration.
Hayami does not say “It’s not my call.”
He says this is his workplace, and Luis is a child whose inspection he is responsible for. Then he says: “This is my problem.”
At the same time, Machi finally finds the missing reading video for Super Daddy. The video was not absent at all. It happened to contain footage of Julien physically abusing Saeko, meaning the evidence everyone had been missing was hidden on the tablet Luis used every day. At that point, Hayami finally has grounds to argue that the child cannot simply be sent away immediately. Although the Hague Convention generally requires return, domestic violence that may place the child at risk of physical or psychological harm can become grounds for a court to refuse return.
Episode 3 Ending Explained: Why Does Julien Withdraw the Report and Give Up Custody?
Once the video appears, Julien’s previous position can no longer hold. He ultimately withdraws the report and agrees to give custody to Saeko, but not because he suddenly feels remorse. He simply does not want a domestic violence scandal to damage his position.
Meanwhile, the rabbit that has been running loose since the beginning of the episode is finally found, and it turns out to have originally been stolen from a facility overseas. The two storylines are wrapped up together. But while finding the rabbit brings that problem to an end, Luis’s family situation is clearly not something that can be resolved so easily.
GATE24: The Border Episode 3 Theme Explained: How Hayami Reconsiders What Counts as “Not My Problem”
After Episode 3, it becomes easier to see what each of the first three episodes is doing.
Episode 1 has the audience assign roles to strangers based on appearance and reaction. The quiet person looks like the victim, while the emotional person seems more suspicious, and then the story deliberately dismantles those instincts. Episode 2 is more about systems. Everyone follows the rules of their own department, protects what should remain confidential, and follows the relevant procedures, yet a gun still enters the terminal through the gaps created by departments failing to share information.
By Episode 3, the problem lands directly on Hayami himself. If rules exist for a reason and professional responsibilities really do need boundaries, then when a child in front of you may be sent back into a violent household, where exactly should a civil servant stop?
I do not really want to force the first three episodes into a neat three-part argument because the cases themselves are very different. But one thing does keep repeating: airport staff never have complete information, yet they still have to make decisions immediately. Sometimes they can only rely on experience, sometimes on procedure, and occasionally they have to trust the uncomfortable feeling in front of them that cannot easily be written into a rule.
What makes Episode 3 work better is that Hayami does not suddenly turn into some hot-blooded civil servant. He used to be idealistic, and the consequences were ugly. So by the time he runs after Luis, the audience already knows that he is not ignorant of the cost. That is why “This is my problem” carries more weight than a conventional heroic line. He is not deciding to get involved for the first time. He is choosing to do it again after the first attempt ended in failure.
I also would not immediately treat Kijima as a villain. From his position at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, those concerns genuinely exist. Detaining the child of a senior foreign government official without sufficient evidence is not something that can be resolved with a simple statement about believing the victim. What makes Kijima uncomfortable is that, by the end, this logic is all he has left. He keeps looking at diplomacy, the organization, and reputation, but never really looks at Luis himself.
Why Is Machi Able to Find the Key Evidence? Episode 3 Again Uses Her Ability to “Keep Looking Until the End”
Machi is not placed at the center of the story as constantly as she was in the first two episodes, but by the end, I actually understand better why this character belongs in GATE24.
She does not start by guessing whether Luis is telling the truth, nor does she begin by deciding which parent looks more suspicious. She simply goes through what the child brought with him one item at a time: which picture books are on the tablet, which ones have recorded videos of his mother reading them aloud, and which book he keeps mentioning. Only then does she notice that Super Daddy is missing its video.
It is very similar to the suitcase in Episode 1 and the inspection footage in Episode 2. Other people reach the point where the information seems sufficient and move on. Machi often keeps going until she has looked at the remaining part too.
I am starting to like how this drama handles “observation.” It does not write Machi as a genius who sees one detail and instantly knows the answer. She is more like someone who is genuinely willing to keep looking a little longer and cannot easily tolerate leaving something half-finished. A lot of the time, the answer is not hidden especially deeply. Everyone else has simply already moved on to the next task.
GATE24: The Border Episode 3 Cast Performance: How Gordon Maeda Plays Hayami’s Change
After Episode 3 aired, reactions on Japanese social media to Hayami’s corridor scene were very direct. Comments like “so intense” and “too cool” appeared frequently, and media coverage also singled out the line “これは俺の問題だ” (“This is my problem”). Taken on its own, the scene is certainly stirring, but I think Gordon Maeda’s stronger acting actually comes when Kijima first appears.
Hayami does not visibly panic or immediately become angry. He looks more like he slightly withdraws, as though he does not want someone who knew his former self appearing in his current workplace. Later, when Kijima uses that past directly against him, the earlier reaction connects to it. That is why the corridor explosion does not become nothing more than shouting a dramatic line.
Toranosuke Kobayashi is also effective as Kijima. He does not constantly wear a villainous expression. In fact, most of the time he remains calm, and everything he says sounds like something a civil servant might genuinely say in a meeting. That kind of person is more difficult than a villain who simply threatens the protagonist, because it is hard for the audience to say that every single thing he says is wrong.
Atsugiri Jason’s Julien appears mostly through a screen, and I like that distance. He is the most powerful person in the entire situation, yet he almost never physically stands in front of his child. Everyone else is busy searching for Luis, questioning Luis, and deciding where he should go, while Julien remains remote, demanding that other people send his son back to him.
Kaname Ouki and Haruka Hizuki are both former members of the Takarazuka Revue, and the controlled, commanding quality of Fumika’s voice is particularly noticeable in the interrogation room. Ethaniel Hiiragi, who plays Luis, has comparatively little dialogue. Most of his presence comes through the tablet, facial expressions, and a few very short lines. He spends almost the entire episode being discussed by adults who are deciding where he should go, and only near the end does he finally say for himself that he does not want to go back. That structure also fits what the episode has been doing all along.
Is GATE24: The Border Episode 3 Good? Strengths of the International Custody Case and Problems With the Ending
Looking only at the first three episodes, Episode 3 is probably the heaviest emotionally so far. International custody, domestic violence, and diplomatic pressure are all packed into the same case, while the episode also has to explain Hayami’s past. The story is very full, but most of the information remains easy enough to follow, so by the end you do not suddenly lose track of what everyone is arguing about.
What feels more disappointing is how quickly Julien gives in. Earlier, the episode establishes that he had enough influence to make Saeko’s domestic violence allegations disappear through lawyers and the consulate and that he could use his position to involve the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Then, once the video appears, he quickly withdraws the report and gives up custody. The reason — fear of scandal — certainly makes sense, and even his final decision is still driven by self-interest rather than remorse. But because the first half builds his power up so strongly, the actual collapse of that power feels slightly too brief.
Another issue that becomes even more noticeable by Episode 3 is why Machi became the person she is now.
Hayami’s past has been opened up, and it looks as though Fukazawa, Sugihara, and the other GATE24 members will gradually receive their own stories as well. Machi is the only one whose origins remain difficult to identify. Why is she more sensitive to objects than people? Why does she insist on following every inconsistency all the way through? So far, all of that remains blank. It did not feel especially urgent in the first two episodes, but once Episode 3 begins giving supporting characters more background, the absence becomes harder to ignore.
GATE24: The Border Episode 3 Review: Rethinking the Boundary of Responsibility Through “It’s Not My Call”
Is “It’s Not My Call” an Excuse? Hayami Redefines the Limits of His Own Job
That is not my responsibility. That does not fall under my department. You need to ask someone else. Once you have worked for a while, these phrases become very easy to say, and a lot of the time that is exactly how things should work. An organization without division of responsibilities cannot function.
The problem is that the phrase is almost too convenient. Sometimes it protects professional boundaries. Sometimes you are simply tired, do not want to get involved, or do not want trouble. The words you say out loud can sound exactly the same either way.
So when I think again about the scene where Hayami runs after Luis, I do not really see it as “crossing the line.” Luis is a child who appeared inside his inspection area and is being taken away right in front of him. Hayami does not try to take over the work of the courts or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He simply refuses to declare that his own part is already finished just because the procedure is preparing to move to the next stage.
When Hayami used to say “It’s not my call,” he was reminding himself not to involve himself in matters beyond his responsibilities. When he says “This is my problem” this time, he does not suddenly become someone who wants to take responsibility for everything. He simply decides again what it actually means for his own work to be finished.
Did Luis Watch the Domestic Violence Video? Super Daddy Leaves the Hardest Question Unanswered
After the episode ended, the thing I kept thinking about was not Hayami’s line but the video inside Super Daddy.
The book is about an ordinary father becoming a hero and ultimately protecting his family. Yet the reality hidden inside its reading video is Luis’s own father hurting his mother. If that video has remained on his tablet this entire time, the drama never tells us whether Luis has watched it or how many times.
That makes his earlier request — “Please read me a picture book” — much harder to hear in retrospect. Maybe he knows what is there. Maybe he does not know how to explain it to adults. Maybe he only knows that he wants to open that particular book again.
I do not really want to decide for Luis whether that should be called a cry for help, because the drama does not explain his thoughts in that much detail. Just knowing that a child’s favorite story about a heroic father sits next to footage of his real father abusing his mother is already enough.
Does Having Evidence of Domestic Violence Solve the Problem? The Institutional Question Left by Episode 3
The ending of Episode 3 uses the video to break the entire situation open. In the moment, it is obviously satisfying. Everyone has been blocked by the phrase “there is no evidence,” and then an actual recording finally appears, creating the relief of having something concrete at last.
But after thinking about it for a while, Fumika had already said earlier that this was not the first time Saeko had reported domestic violence. She spoke about it during the divorce. Lawyers knew. Relevant authorities knew. Those claims simply never retained enough force to change the outcome.
That is what feels more painful to me about the episode. The problem was not necessarily that there had never been any information before. The problem was that the information never reached a position where it could produce consequences. This time the video changes things because Machi finds it, Hayami refuses to let Luis be taken away first, and there is a group of people on the scene willing to keep handling the problem.
So I do not really read the ending as “once the evidence appeared, the system started working normally.” It feels more like the evidence finally encountered a group of people who did not immediately let it go.
After three episodes, the direction of GATE24: The Border is becoming clearer. Each episode uses an airport case to dig a little deeper into one member of the team. Episode 3 belongs to Hayami. Matsuyama, Nozomi Endo, Tamai, and the others probably still have stories waiting for them. But the person I remain most curious about is Machi.
As for whether GATE24 has actually started to feel like a team, Episode 3 is the first time I really begin to feel it. When Hayami says in the corridor, “This is my workplace,” he is no longer talking about the sharply separated immigration division from the beginning. He is talking about GATE24.
FAQ
Episode 3 has two storylines: a Melsia rabbit that may carry an infectious disease escapes and forces the inspection booths to shut down, while an international custody case is reported as an “abduction.” A young boy named Luis is brought to Japan by his aunt Fumika to see his mother, while his father Julien demands his return under the Hague Convention. In the end, Machi discovers footage on Luis’s tablet showing his father abusing his mother, changing the direction of the case.
Hayami originally worked at the Ministry of Justice and tried to investigate a company after a young woman died by suicide following long working hours and pressure from her superiors. His bosses warned him not to expose the case, but he decided to continue anyway and was transferred to the Kanto Regional Immigration Services Bureau. His strict attitude toward staying within his official responsibilities comes from that experience.
It refers to the international convention dealing with the civil aspects of international child abduction. In the drama, Kijima uses it to argue that Luis should be returned to his father, who has custody. Hayami responds that other child-protection principles also apply. This is how the drama presents the issue; actual legal decisions in individual cases should be based on professional legal advice.
Hayami tells Kijima, “This is my workplace. This child is a child I’m responsible for,” and then says, “This is my problem.” The scene generated a large amount of reaction on Japanese social media after the episode aired.
Hideto Kijima from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Consular Affairs Bureau is played by Toranosuke Kobayashi. Luis’s father Julien is played by Atsugiri Jason, Fumika Shinomiya by Kaname Ouki, Saeko Shinomiya by Haruka Hizuki, and Luis by Ethaniel Hiiragi.