Didn’t we already get an episode that was all about Miyuki? Well, here’s another one.

— In the first short story, Miyuki is still despairing over what he saw last week, i.e. Kaguya having a casual conversation with Yu. Normally, this would be no big deal, but it is to him! She’s been avoiding him lately, so it’s just not fair! Ah, to be young and insecure.

— Are you really not allowed to drink juice at dinner? I did as a kid.

— I can understand why Kei is annoyed with her brother. After all, they don’t really have a typical siblings’ relationship. With the mother out of the picture and their father being so unreliable, Miyuki probably feels that it’s up to him to give Kei the proper guidance that she needs to become a proper adult. Proper guidance, however, is often seen as nagging from the other party. Nevertheless, Miyuki won’t relent. Even if this damages their relationship, he probably feels that the ends justify the means. Well, I sympathize with him, but I don’t agree. At the end of the day, he should really get on his dad’s case. He’s still a kid, so he should be a kid.

— I wonder what their mother’s story is. To leave your husband is one thing, but to abandon your children is rather heinous. But sometimes, there is no story. Sometimes, people are just simply selfish.

— Kei wants to ask about Miyuki’s girl troubles, but she also doesn’t want him to think that she cares. So naturally, she gets nothing out of him. It’s too bad, because she’s the only one here who can give him a young schoolgirl’s perspective. On the other hand, their father has an odd ability to get people to talk to him. Too bad he doesn’t actually have any decent advice to give.

— Huh, do both parties really need to sign divorce papers in Japan to finalize it? That’s kind of a pain in the ass.

— In the end, it takes the combined efforts of both Kei and their father to give Miyuki the help that he needs. And eventually, Kaguya does come around. All’s well that ends well, I suppose.

— In the second story, we find Miyuki spazzing out in front of Chika. Apparently, this is his rendition of the soran bushi dance.

— Chika gets mad at the president’s incompetence as usual, so she initially storms off. This leaves the door open for Kaguya to step in as coach, but her intentions prove to be less than innocent.

— Interestingly enough, Chika can’t stand to see Miyuki switch coaches. I guess she’s playing the jealous mother who has lost her son’s attention to some girl. This results in a tug-of-war between the two girls that somehow teaches Miyuki how to properly do the dance. As you can see, there’s really not much to say here. It’s just a silly slice of their daily lives.

— We take a brief break from all the Miyuki stuff to focus on Yu. Apparently, he got suspended for stalking a girl and beating up her boyfriend. Obviously, this isn’t the true story. The Yu we know isn’t like that. Knowing how these stories often work, he was probably trying to protect her but he refuses to reveal why he did what he did. And to twist the knife even further, I bet the girl doesn’t even know that he helped her. Y’see, he also helped Miko back then, but he kept it a secret. So there’s something commendable about that.

— Lots of people only do good things for attention. Hell, right now, we have social media influencers pretending to be part of the BLM movement by staging photo ops. So when a person does a good deed without reaping the benefits, we know for sure that they’re a good person. They’re doing it because it is the right thing to do, not because they stand to benefit. It’s like Kant’s shopkeeper example.

— But I’m not entirely on Yu’s side, though. Okay, he beat up a dude probably to protect some girl. But was that his only solution? Did he have no choice other than to make himself the bad guy and nearly get kicked out of school? Therein lies my problem with anime characters like Yu and his ilk. They can sometimes tunnel-vision so hard that they don’t see the big picture. Granted, I don’t know what the big picture was. I don’t know the full details of what happened back then. Nevertheless, I can’t help but be skeptical. Yu did a good deed, but some of these anime boys are gluttons for punishment. But why? What can be so great about being hated? Well, y’see, they don’t need validation from their peers if they can get it from another source. They are characters within a narrative. As such, these self-sacrificing anime boys can draw validation from the audience. And this is why I’m not on Yu’s side. I feel as though anime boys like him try to maximize their pitifulness just to get us to like them, and I’m not keen on that sort of cheap characterization.

— I guess I’m not really mad at Yu. It’s just an annoyance that I have with anime storytellers.

— In the final story, Miyuki’s dad shows up to the sports festival, and well… teenagers are often embarrassed by their parents. Miyuki tries to hide his father, but he just ends up putting the old man in Kaguya’s path.

— Speaking of Kaguya, she wants to cheer for Miyuki, but she can’t bear to do it around her classmates. As a result, she retreats all the way back here just to be able to openly cheer for him. That’s kinda… pitiful in a way.

— But because she’s all the way back here, she ends up bumping into Miyuki’s dad. Unfortunately, she doesn’t know who he is.

— Sensing that this girl might have a meaningful connection with his son, the old man starts to troll her. Well, there’s no easier way than by insulting Miyuki. In a way, he’s not wrong. After all, he should know his own son very well. Still, like a deluded k-pop fan, Kaguya instantly jumps to her president’s defense.

— In the end, however, there’s really nothing all too interesting here. Kaguya tells Miyuki’s dad that Miyuki changed how she viewed the world, but we already knew that. But this is all the confirmation that the old man needs to discern that the two kids have romantic feelings for each other.

— Right before the episode comes to an end, Yu actually cracks a smile when he hears people cheering for him. That smile probably won’t last, though. After all, it looks like someone from his past is about to pay him a visit. Maybe we’ll get a Yu-centric episode next week.