Japanese students tend to visit Kyoto, huh? But if they’re originally from Kyoto, then where do they go? Hinamizawa? Hanyuda? Meh, probably just Tokyo.

— My school never sent us to another city. I went to Sea World one time… then AstroCamp, which was okay aside from the part that I don’t like rooming with loud, obnoxious classmates. So yeah, I bet a peaceful trip to Kyoto would’ve been nice.

— But I’m not really into historic sites either. Tohru and Arisa want to hit up all these shrines, but I’m more in Saki’s camp. When I visit another city, I just wanna try the regional cuisine. Not herring soba, though. That sounds too fishy for me.

— I love the seemingly infinite number of torii gates behind the five friends. Or how Kyo and Yuki both feel the need to pose as if they’re in a GQ magazine.

— Apparently, school trips in Japan is the perfect time to confess your feelings. Unfortunately, Yuki’s fan club is too busy running interference to even talk to him. I guess it’s one of those “If I can’t him, then nobody can!” sort of deal. They’ve put him on such a pedestal that they’ve ironically isolated him from everyone. They don’t realize that they actually play a role in hurting him.

— On the other hand, Kyo of all people gets a confession! Who on earth would like him? Okay, sure, Tohru would, but she’s an anomaly; he’s actually nice to her! With everyone else, however, Kyo’s a total brat. I mean, look at him! Kyo doesn’t have to date this girl, but there’s no reason to be such a dick about it. But hey, some people out there like that sort of thing, and maybe that’s why this random girl is attracted to Kyo in the first place.

— Oddly enough, Yuki tells Tohru not to worry about Kyo, because “[h]e won’t accept.” It almost feels like he accepts her feelings for Kyo. And when the cat tells Tohru that the confession is none of her business, the rat lashes out. Sure, I guess you could say he’s more concerned about protecting Tohru than winning her for himself.

— Speaking of our heroine, she seems to be inching towards Kyo… inching towards him ever so slowly. In fact, she’s still thinking about their talk from last week’s episode. She feels his subtle attempts to maintain a distance between them, and she’s only hurt because her feelings run deeper than even she herself realizes. What’s going to be the catalyst, though? What will finally make her conscious of her romantic yearnings? When he starts to prepare himself to get locked up?

— These cats look cute, but instead of letting them meow like a normal cat, they have some poor voice actress going “nyaaah” over and over. That’s not cute at all.

— Ah, it’s the dreaded shirt tug! It’s one of the top five girlish ways to excite your man! I gotta give her a B on the execution, though. Tohru didn’t go for the sleeve. You gotta grab the sleeve! And because she didn’t excite him enough, Kyo was able to execute a perfect counter and thus send her heart a-flutter.

— It ain’t a mystery. She obviously likes him.

— The second half of the episode pivots to Yuki, who is apparently not a morning person. Or maybe he just can’t sleep well outside of his own bed. That’s me, sadly. Trips are fun and all, but I can never get a good sleep.

— With Yuki, some things will always remain the same. For instance, he’ll always drown himself in his own thoughts and go on and on about how much he cares about Tohru. Yeah, we get it. Luckily, the annoyingly persistent Kakeru is pretty much forcing the rat out of his own shell.

— The vice prez joking suggests that he might like Tohru (he reveals later that he actually has a girlfriend whom we have yet to meet). Yuki tries to be all cool and elegant about it at first, but his true feelings eventually get the better of him. Since he thinks Kyo and Kakeru are similar in one aspect (i.e. their ability to make friends), Yuki projects his worries about the former onto the latter. Again, it sure seems as though he’s already conceding Tohru to the cat. Plus, the easy solution here is to just have a calm and collected conversation with Kyo, but they can’t go a second without bickering like idiots.

— Eventually, Yuki’s mask slips and he says something juvenile like “I won’t be your friend.” This embarrasses him at first, but luckily, Kakeru is a big dork himself, so he responds accordingly. The rat then realizes that he doesn’t always have to put on airs. It’s okay to be not be so goddamn uptight and proper all the time, especially when you’re still a kid. The reason people treat him like a prince is because he honestly tries to act like one. In the end, I guess this is the happy memory that Yuki ends up making on the trip? Shrug. I guess if the shoe fits…

— When they return from the trip, Yuki ends up giving Machi a leaf. No, really. But hey, she… uh, seems to really like that damn leaf. Maybe she’ll open up to Yuki of all people one day.

— Meanwhile, Tohru is busy trying to add the cat back into the zodiac. That’s cute and all, but just wait until “God” hears about this. I can’t help but picture Godzilla coming outta nowhere and gobbling up all the cute animals.