Taira explains how he goes out of his way to avoid bumping into people he might know. Whenever I see this mentality, I always wonder what’s the worst that could happen? Basically, so what if you bump into someone? He says he keeps his distance to avoid hurting people, but how? This doesn’t just randomly happen. But I guess that’s why we call it a lizard brain, because some people just can’t help catastrophizing. And, well, that’s Taira to a T. Plus, maybe I felt the same way when I was his age. But one thing for sure, once you put a decade or two between yourself and those high school years, they are truly and utterly insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I’m too busy keeping a roof over my head. If I somehow bumped into someone from my past on the train, I honestly couldn’t give a damn.
Azuma chased Taira down just to lend him her umbrella. Unsurprisingly, he feels weird accepting it. He can’t help but overthink when she’s simply being nice to a friend. I know a lot of people root for these two, but I dunno… he’s still got so much baggage to sort out. You like whom you like, but I think Azuma deserves someone who isn’t falling apart over walking home with a friend or, well, an umbrella. Sure, I wanna see these two kids happy, but Taira ain’t ready. Granted, the more he spends time with the rest of the gang, the more he’s starting to come out of his shell. A sleepy Azuma casually mentions how she’s always been rooting for him. For Taira, this helps recontextualize a lot of their past encounters. Mr. Pessimist thought she was mocking him all this time, but that wasn’t the case at all. He always had a buddy in his corner, and he never knew it. This gets him thinking later that night, and he even starts reflecting on his decision to keep everyone at arm’s length. True change takes time, and he’s making slow but steady progress. I’m just not sure when he’ll ever be ready for a relationship.
After having a good cry — and there’s nothing wrong with that — Taira takes the standard train to school the next day. On the plus side, he gets more quality time with Azuma. Whether he will ever admit this or not, he wants this. On the other hand, the damn train car is packed to the brim. Yeah, I always opted to come in early, i.e. 7 or 8 am. I didn’t do it because I wanted to avoid seeing someone I knew. Nah, I just didn’t want to feel claustrophobic. Taira and I are not the same.
At the start of the second half of the episode, Suzuki looks like she’s trying to scheme something again. In the end, however, she simply drags Yamada to the library, so they can hang with Tani and Nishi respectively. I guess this is mentally preparing all of them for a future double date that she wants to go on so badly. Well, I suppose Nishi could use the training. She’s gotten comfortable around Yamada, but she’s not comfortable around Yamada and other people. Like with Taira, she’s worried what others might think if they found out about her and Yamada. Again, so what? Oh man, to be so insecure…
We then get to see how Honda became friends with Nishi. More importantly, we understand why she’s so invested in Nishi’s budding relationship with Yamada. Sure, friends root for each other, but Honda really wants this relationship to work out. It’s her way of making it up to Nishi. Apparently, she used to hate the girl. For example, she would often pretend not to hear Nishi call out to her. If I have this right, Honda isn’t the most cuddly person in the world. She’s blunt, and she doesn’t pretend to empathize with others. In a polite society where people often hide their true feelings out of etiquette, you can easily imagine people reacting poorly to Honda. Well, Nishi was and still is different. She’s always accepted Honda despite the latter’s many social warts. Kinda reminds me a bit of Azuma and Taira, I suppose. Here, we have two people who always try to push others away, and yet, their best friends remain undeterred.
Stray thoughts & observations:
— Damn, people really do carry around heat packs. I’ve lived in California all my life and San Francisco for the past couple of decades. I’ve never seen snow in my life.
— I think the show is running outta budget. This is the worst the show has ever looked.
— I still wonder why Azuma’s drawn to Taira, though. Even back in middle school, she made an effort to talk to him and give him advice. She gets along with everyone, but she makes the extra effort to spend time with him, especially now. Is she in love already and just doesn’t know it? Kinda sucks for Azuma if this is the case, though. She either gets guys who treat her poorly or a nice guy who’s too insecure to even imagine himself in a relationship.
— Suzuki is super extra this week.
— Wait, is this really how they check books out over there? You look up a student’s bar code in a big book?
— Man, Tani is so slow on the uptake: “Yamada-kun and Nishi-san seem to have become friends at some point.” On their way home after school, he just now realizes that Nishi is the girl Yamada has been alluding to all this time. Bro needs to watch his own show.