Mitsuyoshi conquered his fear of flying and flew countless hours to some made-up country, and he still didn’t manage to confess his true feelings. Gah. Whether or not he gets the girl, he’s supposed to say what he needs to say and hold nothing back. Mitsuyoshi has been living with regret, because he never expressed his true feelings to his parents before they died. He’s about to do the same with Teresa. It’s kind of maddening, really. But then again, they’re all kinda maddening in this week’s episode. Teresa dances around the fact that she’s still in love with Mitsuyoshi after all these months. Alec is content to watch Teresa marry Charles even though she’s still in love with the French noble after all these years. Charles about to marry a girl who doesn’t love him at all. Who’s going to finally say what they need to say? Will it be Charles? Is he going to have to gallantly save the day again? Also, I did not realize that this was going to be a 13-episode series. I had hoped to return from NYC with a nice conclusion to the story, but I guess I’m stuck in limbo for another week.

— Teresa’s got a busy life ahead of her. Even if she does end up with Mitsuyoshi, how is it going to work out? Is he going to move to Larsenburg?

— After god knows how many hours on the plane, our hero spends another three hours slumped at the airport. Flying can be exhausting. Mitsuyoshi probably got to fly first class, but I got crammed into a row with five other people. It’s such a pain.

— Yeah, Kaoru ends up following his best bud all the way to Larsenburg. It must be nice to be rich. He can afford to drop everything and just go on a little European excursion. Mitsuyoshi’s family must be pretty financially secure as well if they can let him fly off for a few days like this. I guess if you’re poor, you can’t afford to pursue true love. Then again, if you’re poor, you wouldn’t have such a cozy coffee shop for your beloved love interest to drop by.

— Grandpa Tada didn’t send Mitsuyoshi here empty-handed. He has a letter he wants hand-delivered to Reiko, a.k.a. Teresa’s beloved Rachel. The old man also has a few Japanese snacks he wants to share with the woman. These two seem to have a long history, but I’m not exactly sure what that entails. We probably won’t find out until the very last episode.

— Kaoru is supposed to tail Mitsuyoshi every step of the way, but he ends up being distracted by those chocolate spoons. I like the French-esque music playing in the background. Since Larsenburg is made-up, we’ll just steal influences from other western European cultures.

— The animation in this anime isn’t mind-blowingly impressive, but I still think it’s a very pretty show. I’m always pleasantly surprised by the amount of work that goes into these backgrounds. Sure, they’re still-images, but they’re so nice to look at.

— Even when Mitsuyoshi is walking through an outdoors market, everything looks so detailed.

— Back home, Kaoru left his friends a nice, fat bird to chew on.

— Dude, of course the guard can hear you, but even if he was allowed to respond to people, why would he understand Japanese?

— Teresa is not very good at burying her feelings. You don’t keep such a valuable keepsake and photo in the drawer of your desk if you want to forget your first love. Granted, she reasonably assumes that Mitsuyoshi is on the other side of the planet, but her marriage to Charles has no hope of succeeding if she’s going to stare at Mitsuyoshi’s face every day.

— Hm… how much older than Teresa is Charles anyways?

— It’s depressing, isn’t it? All these people are in love with the wrong person.

— After Charles leaves, Alec clutches his jacket and breathes in his scent. That’s assuming there’s even any scent. I mean, he barely wore it. Unfortunately, Teresa walks in at this exact moment, and the shock causes these precious daifuku to drop to the floor. Oh no.

— Outside the fancy estate, Mitsuyoshi finally bumps into Reiko. Again, just look at all the detail in these backgrounds. Man… anyways, after reading Grandpa Tada’s letter, Reiko has a rather loaded response. Again, we’ll probably find out what she’s talking about in the final episode.

— Back in the other room, Alec tells Teresa it’s pointless for her to reveal her true feelings. Likewise, Teresa probably think it’s pointless for her to tell Mitsuyoshi that she loves him. But as I’ve been saying over and over again, I don’t understand why this is still a thing in 2018. What royal family in the Western hemisphere still arranges political marriages for their kids? The most recent example of royal intermarriage in Europe was over 30 years ago.

— Charles bumps into Mitsuyoshi first, so he takes our hero to see Teresa. The girl does not look the least bit happy to see the man she truly loves. I mean, I understand that she’s trying to fulfill her duty and forget Mitsuyoshi, so that’s why she’s scared to see him — scared to tell herself that she cannot have what her heart desires. It’s just a little weird to me that nobody else in the room makes any mention of Teresa’s apparent lack of comfort.

— Charles is such a nice guy.

— This is not a room that anyone can relax in.

— Teresa notices that Mitsuyoshi still carries around the matching Rainbow Samurai keepsake, and that makes her happy. It also, however, gives her the determination to tell him everything about herself. She’s a princess, she has an obligation to her country and her people, and… oh yeah, she’s going to get married when she turns 18! Dun dun dun!

— Teresa tells our hero that everything has been decided since the day she was born. Again, that’s a bit weird to hear in this day and age, but whatever.

— In the end, Mitsuyoshi has to leave empty-handed. We don’t know for sure if he confessed his feelings to Teresa or not, but I bet he didn’t. Nevertheless, Reiko slips a letter into his backpack. Again, more stuff that we won’t find out about until next week’s finale.

— Teresa ends up collapsing on her bed and sobbing into her pillow. Neither Alec nor Charles can really console her. Likewise, Kaoru finally catches up to Mitsuyoshi, but only finds his best friend in tears.

— Welp, we only have one more episode to go. I know I said that last time, but this time, I’m right! And as a reward, we get to see Teresa in a fancy dress. I wish she’d do something about those bangs, though.