It’s school festival time, which means people from outside the school will be paying a visit. If you want to be dramatic, you can say that Suzuki’s past has come to haunt her, ooooh~! But it’s anything but the case. I always found this portion of the story to be a little odd. More specifically, people keep trying to act as though Suzuki has a romantic history with a former friend, but she doesn’t. She and this Oka guy were and are still friends, people suggested that they should date, he jokingly went along with it while expecting Suzuki to shoot him down, but she didn’t. We know how she used to be. She would read the room and get swept up with the flow. As a result, they agreed to date… without actually dating. There were no feelings involved. They held hands maybe once? She even deliberately turned away from Oka when he tried to kiss her, but he wasn’t even doing it ’cause he liked her. He was just going through the motions. From my Western sensibilities, nothing happened. But back in the present, Yamada says, “Hey, don’t pretend like you and Ricchan were never a thing.” What thing?
Nevertheless, we get an awkward encounter where Suzuki bumps into her “old flame” with her boyfriend right beside her. She is clearly uncomfortable the entire time. After the encounter is done and dusted, Tani simmers with jealousy. Suzuki naturally worries that he is mad at her. She can’t help but wonder that perhaps he doesn’t like girls with a past, which is silly. On message boards and forums across the internet, you have countless people mentally torturing themselves over their partners having a high body count. Yeah, body count. As in literally having sex. Meanwhile, Suzuki “dated” a friend for what seems like days at best. Seriously, they didn’t actually date. A couple of dumb kids had a verbal agreement that amounted to nothing. Suzuki doesn’t have a “history.” But more importantly, her ultimate conclusion is correct: it shouldn’t matter what her “history” is. Even if she had slept with tons of guys in her past, it wouldn’t matter. What does matters is who she is now.
As for Tani, our feelings aren’t always rational. I thus can’t blame the kid for being bothered, especially since this is his first relationship. He even admits in this episode that he constantly doubts himself. After all, he doesn’t seem like the guy who would get a girl like Suzuki. There’s a reason why Honda keeps referring to him as the “light novel protagonist.” It’s the author being cheekily self-aware. So what do you expect a kid like Tani to feel when the tall and supposedly handsome “old flame” comes along and calls Suzuki by her given name Miyu. Whoa, her name? Her real real name? Of course, I’m being facetious. Even so, I can’t blame Tani for wanting to step away from the situation for a second. As long as he doesn’t take his frustrations out on Suzuki, then I think he’s in the clear. All he did was ask for space to sort out his feelings. He doesn’t lash out at her. He doesn’t ignore her the entire day. Upon reflection, he knows his insecurities are silly. What happened is that he got sucker punched by reality, and he just needs a second to recover. This is one of those situations where nobody’s at fault. Just take your time, communicate, then get over it.
Stray thoughts & observations:
— Japanese school festivals are completely alien to me, as is preparing for them. The idea that your class has to perform a play, so you gotta contribute is a no go for me. I’ll try a lot of things. Acting is not one of them.
— I also can’t imagine giving a bunch of American teens the responsibility to safely prepare food. They were already idiots back when I was a kid, and I’m told they can barely read and write nowadays.
— That’s a cute, little dance, but I only remember her meeting Tempura.
— Yeaaaaaah, it ain’t that serious, girl.
— Sheesh, if her resistance is truly zero, then it’s a good thing she’s only caught the attention of a nice guy.
— Seeing all these kids with their normal black hair feels so odd.
— According to Suzuki, Yamada dated his first girlfriend for a while. I wonder why they broke up.
— Taira is so negative. He sees Nishi and Honda glance at him, so he automatically thinks they’re making fun of him. My mindset is that even if it’s true, who cares? If you’re trash enough to shit-talk me outta nowhere, then your opinion isn’t worth squat anyway. Problem is that Taira cares too much. Why does it matter what strangers think of you? I’ll never understand it.
— Lots of fried foods on the menu…
— There’s no one there? That feels kinda lonely. If anything, I like art exhibitions.
— Jesus, relax. What must it be like to be nervous and anxious about every little thing.
— Hey man, getting a clear, focused shot of a cat is difficult. I think this is the most impressive shot in the entire collection.
— Bro just straight up cracked his expensive phone because he bumped into the girl he likes. It had a case, too. I actually don’t use a phone case. I hate how bulky it makes the phone feel. Just be more careful. I’ve yet to break the screens on any of my phones.
— You can see the Taira-Azuma dynamic slowly developing. He wants to be ignored, but for some reason, she’s always around to forcibly drag him outta his shell. Taira’s lucky. Lots of kids like him would just move through high school completely unnoticed.
— What’s with this guy buttoning only the top button? Is that actually a thing? I dunno, I just think it looks silly. Also, they omitted his eyes on purpose.
— Again, it’s so odd to see these familiar characters with their natural hair color.
— I suppose from Tani’s point of view, he might be wondering, If there aren’t lingering feelings, then why is she behaving so oddly right now? Why does she keep avoiding hang-outs with her middle school friends whenever this Rihito guy is in attendance? Maybe she is still hung up on their relationship. But it isn’t always that deep. Sometimes, things are just awkward between old friends, especially when something weird happens (them trying to date) and they never hash it out (until now).
— Preach it! Why do people care about this shit?
— Lots of couples share their sexual history with one another. I don’t think it matters how many people you’ve slept with, but I don’t want the details either. As long as your sexual health is green, i.e. no STDs, then it’s all in the past.
— Be careful what you wish for.
— Oh, the foreshadowing.
