天下制覇

Check it and see. I’ve got a fever of a hundred and three.

Sorry it’s a bit late. I got an unexpected invitation to help decorate friends’ house/play with their baby/hang out with an ex-ladyfriend who was passing through town that led into dinner that led into Settlers of Catan and you know how those things go. Unfortunately, my colony was short of wheat and victory was not to be.

Impressions:

Man, I despise those damned frogs. They are a pox upon this show. I really am getting a bit tired of seeing grumpy Mao, especially with these strange relationship signals she’s sending out at Kouichi. Where’s the Mao who shows off her ability to tie cherry stems with her tongue? That’s the Mao I want back. Forget this moping Mao crap. Even whiny Mao stuff aside though, this really felt like kind of a waste of an episode. Mao spent most of the first half preoccupied with a nonsensical dream, and Kouichi spent most of the second half being ill. Neither make for a compelling watch.

I suppose Kouichi did officially pass off Mao to Kai, but if she’s going to be grumpy and whiny about it, then forget her. On the other hand, it’s not like Yumi made any real effort to spend time with Kouichi either. I can understand his hesitation to call her. "Hi, I’m ill. I’d like you to come to my home where we’d be alone and put moist things on my body." Yeah, that’s not creepy in the slightest. I’m not certain that calling Kazuki was much better, but at least you wouldn’t feel bad sending the human doormat to go buy you medicine. Everybody else takes advantage of the doofus, Kouichi may as well get his fair use out of him as well.

Mao and Kouichi search for her contact. She smiles at him as she looks. He asks her what the matter is, but she shakes it off. He finds it… and holds up a sax. Then starts playing it terribly. Mao doesn’t understand it at all and yells at him to quit. Then she wakes up.

She gropes for her alarm clock and then pulls the covers back over her head before giving up and geting up.

Kouichi’s mother chews him out for being slow to breakfast.

Somehow, Mao managed to beat him down and helps set up. Kouichi’s mom chews him out again before running off. Mao gets up and glares at him before wandering off. Kouichi’s mom leaves the house to them and takes off.

The two watch cartoons together later. Mao’s strangely unenergetic and just looks at Kouichi when he tries to talk to her. He asks if anything’s wrong, but she responds curtly. He asks about Kai and gets an immediate reaction. She demands to know exactly what he thinks, but he says that he doesn’t know. Mao remembers back to her dream mixing Kouichi and Kai’s sax and wanders off to get the mail.

Later, Kouichi tries to drag Mao out of her room, but she just wants to mope around and nap. She wonders again what her dream meant.

Kouichi buys magazines to entertain himself. At the next counter, he sees Kai buying jazz books. The two end up talking at a coffee shop. Kouichi asks him about music and jazz, saying that Mao likes it too.

Kouichi says that he’ll leave Mao in Kai’s care to make her feel better. Kai smiles and thanks him. The two keep talking more or less happily as it begins to pour. Kouichi ends up running home in the rain.

At the school, Kazuki and Sakino practice in the downpour. She easily beats him, and he wants to call it quits. She’s not finished with him yet.

At home, Mao cooks as she continues to contemplate her dream. The phone rings. It’s Kouichi’s mother who tells her that she won’t be back until tomorrow. Mao tells her that’s fine and she can take care of things here. As she hangs up, she hears the door slam.

Kouichi is soaking wet. Mao chews him out a bit for being careless, but goes to fetch him a towel. Her cellphone rings and it’s Kai. She immediately perks up as she makes plans to go out with him tomorrow. Kouichi looks downcast for a moment, then smiles… then sneezes. A natural progression. Mao then beans him in the face with a towel.

Tomorrow comes and Kouichi sees Mao off, all dolled up. Her, not him. She tells him to take care of himself and to use the time to hang out with Yumi.

After she leaves, Kouichi turns around and loses his balance. His eyesight dims as he gropes at the wall.

Yumi sits outside in the park and reads.

Back at home, Kouichi is running a fever. He digs out the medicine, but they’re all out of basic stuff. He tucks himself in and tries to nap it away.

Eventually, he pulls out his cellphone, pauses on Yumi, but then calls Kazuki instead. Unfortunately, Kazuki’s laid up in bed with a flu as well from Sakino forcing him to practice in the rain.

His suffering is compounded by the frog wenches getting in his face. Kouichi realizes that it’s hopeless and hangs up.

A little later, Hiiragi stops by to check on his boytoy. He takes care of Kouichi for a bit and uses the chance to share his big news. Hiiragi has decided to add a princess role and Mitsuki accepted.

Flash over to Mitsuki, bathing in rose petals and answering the phone, saying that playing a princess is perfect, Hiiragi-sama. It’s Hiiragi’s romanticized version of course and Kouichi calls him on it.

News passed, Hiiragi excuses himself and leaves Kouichi to stew in his own juices.

Yumi checks her mail again. She looks out into the sunset.

Mao thanks Kai for having fun with her today. He makes a comment that ‘Mao was fine after all.’

Mao picks up on it and demands to know what he meant.

Back at home, Mao storms in to chew out Kouichi. She finds him still tucked in and running a fever and has the wind knocked out of her sails. After calling his mother and fetching medicine, she starts taking care of him. She yells at him a bit for not letting her know that he was sick, but he tells her that he didn’t want to ruin her date with Kai. She gets annoyed at him and slaps the wet cloth on his forehead.

As he starts fading off to sleep, he murmurs about how Kai told her about them talking and why she wasn’t energetic. She tells him about the dream that she had, where they were looking for the contact and found a sax. She tells him that she feels better for having told him, but he’s already out cold.

She looks down at him and thinks about how she’s always watching over him. She leans down and kisses his forehead. He stirs and wakes up as she pulls back, surprised.