By mid-1996, another V&amp;R Planning director, Katsuyuki Hirano (who was married) had replaced Company Matsuo as Hayashi's lover and the two of them traveled to the north of Japan in July 1996 on a bike trip. Hirano produced an AV version of their trip titled "Tokyo - Rebun 41-day Adultery Bicycle Touring Trip" and later in 1997 edited a mainstream documentary on the trip entitled "Yumika". Hayashi received credit for the shooting of the film, and Hirano was Hayashi's co-star. In 1998, she was again working in television in the NHK TV drama "Blue Fireworks" (青い花火 or Aoi Hanabi) broadcast on November 28, 1998. Hayashi also appeared in director Yōichirō Takahashi's drama "" (日曜日は終わらない) which originally aired on NHK TV as a High-Definition satellite TV broadcast on October 21, 1999. It was subsequently shown as "Sunday's Dream" (1999) at the 53rd Cannes Film Festival, and won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Chicago International Film Festival. In their review of the film, midnighteye.com commented, "The big surprise is that former porn star Yumika Hayashi is also very good as the happy-go-lucky Sachiko".