‘Cause nothing remotely interesting happens until then. Just a whole bunch of pointless chatter until the big dumb reveal of a new major character.

— When we last left off, Ginji became sick and collapsed in front of Moonflower. Why? Shrug. The anime never tells you why. Nevertheless, Aoi apologizes for not noticing that Ginji isn’t doing well. But why? Since when did it become her responsibility to monitor a grown man’s health? Chill, girl… sheesh.

— As you might expect, Aoi’s going to fix Ginji right up with food. Every single problem is solved with food. Of course, there’s a story reason for that: her cooking has magical spiritual healing properties! One cold soup coming right up!

— And just like that, Ginji’s back to normal. He even has the audacity to wipe away her tears! Oooh, how scandalous! She’s betrothed to Odanna, you cur!

— Somehow, Ginji’s one finger grazing Aoi’s cheek for a second is enough to set her mind racing. It’s enough to make her think that she’s felt his touch before. For a second. Again, these characters have no chill. Instead of just asking Ginji (or Odanna) straight up if she’s met them before — or just plain ask them about her memories — all she ever does is sit there and internally freak out? “IS IT HIM? OR IS IT HIM?! AARRRRGGH, WHO FED MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?”

— Anyways, Ginji gets all angsty, because people here don’t fully trust him. After all, he used to work for Orio-ya. Like I told you guys, these characters have no chill. Why is this even a big deal?

— Nevertheless, Aoi starts going on and on about how she never could’ve opened Moonflower without him, so she needs him. Boy, I bet Odanna wouldn’t like to hear that! But you notice how this anime has absolutely no romance whatsoever. None of these guys have tried to court Aoi. None of them. Not even Odanna. He just teases her. That’s not romance. That’s barely even flirting. Likewise, she doesn’t show any romantic interest in any of the eligible bachelors. All she’s interested in is figuring out who filled her tum-tums with food that day. Nobody ever goes on dates, nobody ever talks about love, nobody ever does anything remotely related to romance.

— Later that night, Odanna has returned from his errands. As a result, we now see Aoi dutifully hand-delivering his bento to him. Y’know, I’m not a huge fan of bento. Sure, when it’s freshly cooked, it’s delicious. But that’s the thing: I like my food piping hot. I don’t like my food sitting in a box until it becomes lukewarm or cold.

— When she gets to Odanna’s room, she finds him hanging out with Hatori. After all, the bird man did use to work for Tenjin-ya. Nevertheless, as soon as Ginji’s name comes up, Aoi freaks out and falls into the room. No chill…

— Look at those stones just clumsily float off the board. The animation is so embarrassing.

— Look at Hatori also float off. He doesn’t even bother to flap his wings. What are the wings for then?

— So does Aoi ask Odanna about Ginji? Of course not. That would be sensible, and why would we do anything sensible in this anime? Instead, they just talk about inane stuff. Ooooh, I brought you yeast! But I already have a yeast substitute! Oh no, me sad. Oh, don’t be sad, because I can make real bread with your yeast! Ugh.

— Apparently, Odanna met Suzuran in the human world, and she’s happy as a clam. Good for her.

— I think he’s trying to pat her head, but he just ends up palming her forehead instead. Awkward.

— The next morning, Byakuya drops by for more kitty food. Seriously. I told you nothing happens in this episode until the last two minutes. I don’t even know why you’re reading this. I don’t even know why I’m writing this.

— Then she accompanies Byakuya up the mountain until she finds Odanna playing Go with Hatori again. The accountant starts telling Hatori off. Then he also tells Tokihiko off. It’s like, “Dude, did you come up here just to lecture people?”

— Out of nowhere, Odanna suggests that they have a party, and Aoi should start cooking. I’m just like what? How did we go from Byakuya yelling at people to a party?

— Okay, okay, boring party-planning montage time.

— It’s a box! Marvel at the box!

— Wait, that’s it? That’s all the food for the party? And why are there finger sandwiches?

— Later that night, a drunk O-Ryo gets on Aoi’s case for hogging all the hot bishies to herself. Aoi plays dumb… or maybe she’s just plain dumb.

— Odanna tells her how important she is to the whole inn, so she guffaws. Haw haw haw, I’m having so much fun!

— But oh no, fox man is not having so much fun! Fox man looks sad! What’s wrong, fox man!

— All of a sudden, Orio-ya’s ship comes flying in, and it’s Ranmaru riding on top of it! Not only that, he’s wearing a mask! Not a mask! Oh noooooo!

— Dude, I’m not even joking. Aoi’s seriously losing her shit over this. This is going to happen every fucking time she sees a mask in the hidden realm. “Is it hiiiiiiim?” Like even it was him, so what? Are you forced to fall in love with the guy you met as a child? The guy you met for all of what…? Five minutes? The guy who gave you food once then fucked off and never saw you again? Like what is even the problem here?