We pick up where we left off last week, so Miki confronts Minato directly and asks him what he thinks of Koyuki. At first, he says he pities Koyuki, which is partly true. Miki proceeds to call him “sanctimonious,” so he quickly course corrects and says he’s interested in Koyuki for some other reason. It’s totally not love, though! Hmm. Well, I do agree that the pity thing doesn’t explain the whole story. After all, Koyuki is happy with Miki and Giraffe Guy, so she isn’t alone all the time. If Minato merely pitied her, then he could probably find sadder, more pathetic targets lurking around the school. So why does he insist on knowing whether or not Koyuki is dating Giraffe Guy? Why does he want to personally worm his way in when Koyuki already has friends? Not only that, she has been relatively indifferent to Minato’s attempts to close the distance between them. It’s not love, he says. But he’s being real fishy.

Miki met Minato when she was down in the dumps and having trouble making friends, so a pattern is emerging. Basically, she should be wise to his antics. For whatever reason, he likes to chat up all the lonely people. Maybe Yota is right in that he pities them. But what happens afterward? Does Minato stay in touch with his “patients?” Or does he drop them once he can’t look like a savior to them? The latter would explain why Miki looks so bothered about Minato’s clumsy attempts to befriend Koyuki. I just wish she would say something to her friend.

Is this story going to feature a love triangle, square, or any polygon for that matter? Who knows? But Minato already seems to be jumping to conclusions. Why is he so fixated on Koyuki anyway? And why so soon? Hell, he just recently got dumped, so he’s had a girlfriend this whole time. You can of course befriend the opposite sex regardless of your relationship status, but his jealousy over Koyuki and Giraffe Boy would suggest something more. So what’s his deal?

From the looks of it, Koyuki, our protagonist, was bullied and teased relentlessly in elementary and middle school. She was even ostracized because a girl got jealous. Even now, jerks will target her (though this will likely happen to any girl or woman just trying to mind her business in public). As a result, she has developed a defense mechanism; she projects an icy exterior that keeps others away. I’m glad the series decided to literally show us what the rampart might look like. Y’know, just in case the metaphor hasn’t sunk in.