WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Episode 17 of Healin' Good Pretty Cure, "Finest Hospitality Trainee Innkeeper" now streaming on Crunchyroll.
It's been a while since Chiyu received an episode focused on her. The past weeks have primarily centered on Hinata, Nodoka and the healing animal's turmoil while Chiyu has been pushed to the wayside. Her last major moment was in episode 8, where she was training for a track and field event. In that episode she dealt with her own lack of confidence as she overcame her fears and learned how to high-jump again.
This episode we see Chiyu's trajectory further. With fuller confidence in herself and her abilities, Chiyu comes across as the most stable of the Pretty Cure team. Despite her maturity, Chiyu still has a long way to go, both as a Pretty Cure member and as a future innkeeper.
Chiyu and her brother Toji are tasked to help out at their family inn for the weekend due to a staff shortage. Chiyu decides to bring Pegitan as well and all three work hard to clean the floors of the inn, cooking food for guests and setting up rooms. Chiyu pays especially good attention to how her grandmother and mother handle all these tasks.
Here, she learns the most important factor in being a good innkeeper: hospitality. Her grandmother recalls the favorite items of each guest and asks Chiyu to adorn their rooms with the items prior to their arrival. Her mother meanwhile is learning English so she can communicate and be accommodating towards a wider selection of visitors. As we learn from the Byogen's discussion earlier in the episode, people come to the hot springs to heal their bodies and hearts. Therefore, the innkeeper holds an especially important job of making sure each guest arrives and leaves feeling happy and fulfilled.
Thus, a challenge appears before Chiyu. A family of foreigners arrives at the inn. Inherently, there is already a communication disconnect, but to make matters worse, their child Emily is especially unresponsive. Chiyu takes on the role of a tourist guide, trying to show the family some interesting spots around the city and feed them local food, but Emily is rather unimpressed until she comes across a small park. She doesn't comment about the park, but Chiyu takes note of her longing gaze.
Still, Chiyu struggles to get Emily to open up to her. She vows, yelling at the sea, that she will make Emily smile no matter what. Proceeding this, Chiyu asks Nodoka and Hinata why they brought her to the ocean specifically, to which Nodoka simply responds that she knew it was a place she liked. With this offhand comment, a lightbulb goes off in Chiyu's brain. The solution towards better hospitality is simple: communication. Instead of trying to solve everything herself, Chiyu asks Emily about what she likes and about her own problems. Emily is stressed out cause she will soon be moving to Japan, a place where she has no friends. In her home country, she always liked to play tag and other games at parks but was unsure if she could do the same in Japan. With this information, Chiyu finally learns all she needs to do is bring Emily to a park to play with some local kids.
The Byogen's try to ruin the park but the Pretty Cure team beat the boot-infected Byogen and saves the rain element from further suffering. With that out the way, Chiyu brings Emily to the park to play with the children. Emily is shocked to learn that games in Japan aren't that different at all, and though shy, she manages to make her first friend.
Upon leaving the inn, Emily smiles happily from inside her family's car. Mission accomplished for Chiyu, as she vowed, she was able to make Emily happy through her hard work and hospitality.