天下制覇

But what a lovely way to burn.

Impressions:

Alright, so probably not that lovely, but it was nice to see things moving along again, even if Yumi’s persecution complex is starting to irritate me something fierce. I swear, every time she opened her mouth this episode was to either apologize, or ask if something was her fault. I still despise that Mao is going after Kouichi now instead of accepting saxy Kai, but at least it only took her an episode to go from breaking up with Kai to screaming her love for Kouichi into his face. She probably should have also slapped him to get the point across, but I think a sick, angry yell that you love somebody is probably the equivilent of a 2000 pound cluebat. Still, I can’t help but assume that Mao’s doomed. He already has the Yume honeypot, and he didn’t even think of doing anything untoward while taking care of the weak and sickly Mao. I also can’t imagine that they’d leave Kai alone after he doted on her for the first 17 episodes. Hopefully Kouichi shoots her down next episode so she can go running back to the jazzman.

Kazuki is back to his manly ways… dumping his sister on her face, knocking Sakino over, and running like a scared puppy from Futami. The sudden flashbacks to Futami’s horrible horrible swingless childhood felt pretty forced, especially since she hasn’t shown any signs of childhood mental trauma for the previous 17 episodes. Kazuki also needs to wake up and smell the Sakino…

That came out entirely wrong…

Kazuki needs to wise up and give Sakino her chance already. She is burying herself by getting Futami and Kazuki back together, but this episode made it pretty clear that all Futami really wants is a friend… or any social contact with anybody. She kisses in the OP, so dammit, unless she gets some action, I refuse to be satisfied. She’s easily the most selfless one of the bunch… and the Ice Queen just wants somebody to push her on the swing. You’re smart and probably rich, Futami. In five years, you can hire as many people as you want to push you on the swing. Hell, you’ll probably be able to buy an entire playground and hire the most expensive therapist around to work out your playground issues.

Kai is of course shocked that Mao’s a bitch. It starts to rain as she apologizes. She tries to run away, but he grabs her arm. He asks her what it is… and she admits that watching Yume and Kouichi together has made her realize her own feelings. She apologizes again and runs off.

Kouichi talks to his mom about Mao. They’re both worried about her out in the rain.

Mao runs through the rain. She passes a couple under an umbrella and stops… crying.

The next day, it’s sunny. Kouichi and his mom talk about how Mao came home last night soaking wet and is now sick. When she got home, Kouichi asked about the date, but Mao apologized and just sort of stood there. Back in the present, Kouichi looks in on the sleeping and sick Mao… remembering the tears in her eyes last night.

At the Kazuki home, Nana and Kazuki shoot the breeze. Nana wants to play with Kazuki, but he tells her that nobody wants to hang out with a tag-along sister. His phone rings and he dumps Nana unceremoniously on the couch. It’s Sakino.

They meet in the park. He thanks her for saving his ass from the Nana plague. Futami walks up and Sakino calls her over.

Sakino tells the two that it’s her fault the experiments stopped, and she felt bad for it and they should talk and continue if that’s what they want. She runs off, sparing them a backward glance as she goes.

Futami and Kazuki awkwardly make small talk. "Blah blah, what are you doing for the summer?" "Nothing much." Etc. Seeing a kid swinging makes Futami remember to her childhood watching others swing but not getting to swing herself. Kazuki sees her staring at them… but Futami then turns away and tells him to come with her.

The two go to her home. She tells him to sit and goes to prepare more of her crazy drinks. She plops herself down on the couch right next to him and he shuffles away. You putz, Kazuki. She’s throwing herself at you. Her iced coffee is as scary as normal, though Kazuki does tell her that he missed it.

He turns to Futami and asks her why she ended things. She doesn’t answer. He  tells her that if she doesn’t want to tell her that’s fine. They dance around the "do you like me" question without actually saying or answering.

Futami finally relents and while thinking about her lonely childhood, admits that people shouldn’t be like that. Futami gets up and walks to the window. Kazuki tries to tell her that people do like her, but she ignores him and finishes her thought, saying that’s why the experiments had to end.

Nana hooks up with Hiiragi at the udon joint since there’s no filming with Mao sick. Now there’s a pairing I didn’t expect. Or maybe he’s there for Narumi. Hiiragi and the old man exchange eye glances over the quality of the food. Ah… he’s here for the old guy. That makes so much more sense.

Kouichi bums around at home. He calls Yumi and the two chatter. Yumi thinks it might be somewhat of her fault because he wasn’t around to keep Mao out of trouble. THAT’S THE SPIRIT, YUMI. WAY TO STAND UP FOR YOURSELF.

Kouichi goes to the still sleeping Mao and takes her cloth, then sees himself out. Mao thinks it was Kouichi’s mom, but looks up and sees nobody.

Kouichi comes back in with the cloth and water. He replaces it on her forehead and sits down next to her. He tucks the blanket up over her a bit more and shows himself out.

SEE THAT MAO? He didn’t try to kiss you or fantasize about you or anything. Mao starts crying after he leaves.

Some time later, Mitsuki and Kouichi film their scenes together. Kouichi is totally zoned out and blows his lines entirely. I think his cheek got cut off in this scene.

Hiiragi wants to keep going, but Kouichi needs a short break. Yumi apologizes for him for some reason. Use that backbone girl, you go.

At home, Mao is feed by Kouichi’s mom. She’s looking better.

On the soccer field, Sakino is distracted and Kouichi manages to slide tackle the ball from her. Afterwards, the two talk a bit. Kazuki tells her that being with Futami reminded him of important soccer and whatnot is to him.

Sakino apologizes for getting between them, but he tells her that she’s got nothing to worry about and razzes her for such a sad face.

Kouichi walks Yumi to the train and the two say goodbye. On the way out, he runs into Kai. The two look at eachother and Kai tries to go past. Kouichi asks him what happened between him and Mao. Kai admits that he knows… but just says that he has to go to work and leaves Kouichi.

Kouichi lets himself into Mao’s room. She’s hiding under the covers. He tells her that he ran into Kai… but Mao tells him it’s got nothing to do with Kouichi and tells him to butt out. He keeps pressing and she gets cranky, annoyedly asking why he has to be like this. Kouichi tells her that he’ll talk to Kai, she likes him… right?

Mao gets out of bed and angrily yells in his face that Kouichi is the one she likes. She pushes him out of the room and slams the door in his face as he just stands stunned.

Preview:

Oh hey, it’s Kuryu. Remember her from back in episode 2?