Can you really just live in the past forever? 

— Kohaku tells us about the first time she used magic. I dunno, magic still seems cool in this universe, but less cool at the same time, y’know? It feels almost purely visual here.

— Again, the girl insists that she wants to make everyone happy with magic. Again, I’m gonna call her Shiny Chariot.

— These characters keep talking about postcards, but honestly, I can’t remember the last time I ever saw anyone in real life actually buy one. I’m sure the postcard industry must still be alive, but I can’t imagine it thriving. Why bother with a postcard when you can just send someone a Snapchat?

— We now see Hitomi asking her friends what colors things are, but it doesn’t feel like the breakthrough that the story wants it to be. Again, I never understood her hesitancy to tell everyone that she’s colorblind.

— Afterwards, Kohaku is still trying to understand why Hitomi was able to see colors again that one night. Her theory was that her granddaughter had inadvertently made herself colorblind with magic, but now the self-imposed “curse” is undoing itself?

— These two end up revisiting the exact location where Hitomi had briefly regained her ability to see colors. I don’t think the location mattered, though. Rather, it was all about the moment. In that moment, Yuito had just told the girl that he wanted to show her his future drawings, and that made her immensely happy.

— Hitomi won’t bring up the fact that she had just talked to Yuito that night (she’s too embarrassed), but it surprises me that Kohaku has forgotten all about the encounter. If we go back to that episode, Kohaku had caused Hitomi’s umbrella to get blown away. She directly engineered a scenario in which the guy would have to chase after Hitomi, which obviously played a role. How could she forget?

— Finally, obaachan drags the truth out of her granddaughter, and she’s disappointed that it’s nothing scandalous. Girl, I wish. If you wanna give me romance, give me romance. Not this weak “I want you to see my drawings” nonsense. Sweep the girl off her feet and kiss her on the lips!

— Oh well, at least Kohaku is now pointed in the right direction.

— The problem is that shoving these two into the same room isn’t going to just make magic happen. Like with most chemistry experiments, you need a catalyst.

— They’ve also managed to draw unwanted attention, and from the look on Sho’s face, he seems disappointed. I mean, he was never going to win Hitomi’s heart, but I guess he wouldn’t know that. I won’t pity a guy who has a cute childhood friend pining for him, though.

— At the end of one of the experiments, Hitomi apologizes to Yuito again for dragging him into this. The guy smoothly replies, “I don’t mind. If it’s for you.” This makes Hitomi’s heart skip a beat. Too bad Kohaku wasn’t around to witness that.

— I thought Yuito only had half an hour to entertain Kohaku’s whims, but we’re still going at it.

— Hitomi then brings up Sanami, the girl from the solo exhibit two episodes ago. Sounds like someone’s jealous.

— An impatient Kohaku then uses magic to get these two into an embarrassing situation. She should’ve just kept her distance and let the conversation play out. Yuito might have asked Hitomi why she brought Sanami up, but we’ll never know what might have happened next, now will we?

— Afterwards, Kohaku talks to her mother about time magic. We see her cast a spell that allows an hourglass to flow in the opposite direction. We also see a wilted rose come back to life. Since her future self sent Hitomi back in time, she wants to be able to reverse the spell should they need to. Plus, the thought of Hitomi staying in the past forever seems… insane. She’s going to grow up and… what? Meet her future self? There’ll be two Hitomis in the same timeline?

— The next day, we see that it is Hitomi’s turn to pick the club’s next location for one of their photo shoots. She wants to take pictures of everyday life, so we’re just… well, standing around in the middle of a sleepy neighborhood.

— Like most shows, the girls are more cognizant of their feelings than the boys. Asagi asks Kurumi if it isn’t painful for the latter and Chigusa to remain in limbo. They tease each other a whole lot, but no one’s about to make a move anytime soon.

— On the other hand, Asagi admits that she’s fine with the way things are between her and Sho, but as we’ve seen in previous episodes, she’s been struggling. Meanwhile, the boys seem to have no clue how the girls feel about them.

— I don’t really agree with this sentiment. They’re friends. Scratch that. They’re close childhood friends. If he can’t handle her feelings, then that’s messed up. I’m not saying that Sho has to reciprocate Asagi’s love, but he should be able to at least hear her out.

— Elsewhere, Kohaku asks her granddaughter if the latter would like to return home one day. It looks as though Sho had overheard this question, so he immediately goes to bug Yuito about it. At the same time, Kurumi wants Asagi to confess to Sho right now.

— The animation can be so good, but every once in a while, the characters look super derpy.

— Yuito keeps his feelings all bottled up, so he’s not about to open up to anyone — not even Sho. When the latter asks him about Hitomi possibly returning to her original timeline one day, the artist simply replies that it’s none of his business. But is that what he truly feels? Probably not.

— Could everyone honestly hear what these two are saying when they’re that far away? I guess if it’s truly dead quiet around them. And if they overheard the conversation, then Asagi is going to have to deal with the fact that she just heard Sho tell Yuito that he wants Hitomi to be happy. I mean, that sounds innocuous enough to us, but we’re not a teenager in love.

— In the end, Kohaku uses magic to trick cats into being friendly.

— Afterwards, Sho gives Hitomi a quick tutorial on how to process her photos. At first, he seems happy. He even tells her that he likes her the way she is now… in a friendly way? But she’s lost in her own world as she stares at her photos, so she doesn’t even respond. The guy then frowns because he can’t help but think that she might leave one day. It looks like he even wants to tell her to say, but he decides against it in the end.

— Eh, I dunno if I like the direction that Sho’s character arc is headed. This show definitely needs an infusion of drama to make things a little more interesting, but if he’s going to compete against Yuito for Hitomi, it just seems so one-sided. Also, there’s the fact that he and Hitomi have absolutely no chemistry, so what’s even the point? Well, I guess he wouldn’t know that.

— Asagi’s camera randomly breaks, so to everyone’s amazement, Kohaku steps up and uses her time magic on it. Needless to say, she is able to fix the electronic. A camera is nothing to worry about, but you have to wonder what else the girl is capable of. Yeah, yeah, she only knows minor time magic for now, so it’s not like she could bring a person back to life. But what about a hamster? Then what happens once she masters it? Couldn’t she conceivably work her magic on people at some point? Wouldn’t everyone be seeking her out to save their loved ones? Well, I guess this isn’t the sort of show to delve into these issues. Instead, it’s all about Hitomi and her budding romance.

— When Kohaku returns home later that night, she sees that the rose she had revived is dead again. In fact, it died without even blossoming. So what’s the big worry here? Well, she won’t be able to return Hitomi like this, I suppose. Plus, Asagi’s camera is going to fall apart again.

— Nevertheless, Kohaku’s obaachan assures her that her future self believes in her… and thus herself! Believe in me who believes in you!

— Kohaku keeps worrying that she won’t be able to help her granddaughter out in time (no pun intended), but the next day, the latter confesses that she would like to stay here. At least for now, anyways. Like I’ve said, it does seem weird if Hitomi stays in this timeline forever, especially if the rest of Kohaku’s life plays out the same way (get married, have a daughter, said daughter gives birth to Hitomi, so on and so forth). But none of these things will happen for decades and decades. In the short term, would it be so bad for Hitomi to just stick around for a couple more years?

— People change a lot during their teenage years. They continue to change a lot during their 20’s. Hell, people still change in their later years albeit at a much reduced rate. Who knows how Hitomi will feel in a year or two? Or five? Or ten? I know this episode wanted to focus on Kohaku and her worries, but as dismissive as this might sound, I just don’t think her concerns are all that pressing at the moment. Let’s just let things play out.

— Then again, the show has… what? About a month’s worth of episodes left? So we’re going to have a resolution one way or the other. These characters are finally going to have to make some major decisions one way or the other. Will Hitomi stay in the past? Will Yuito decide how he truly feels about her? Will Asagi confess her feelings to Sho? Will Kurumi and Chigusa finally get together?

— Sounds like someone wants to confess their feelings in next week’s episode.