“I-I’ll use my left hand…”
Impression
Even after a week, the feels are still strong ;_; Mizusawa have come so far – steadily advancing round after round and finally managing to win the Nationals (off Fujisaki as well, who’ve claimed the title for the past 5 years at least). For Chihaya, it’s definitely a euphoric moment, but the painful reminder that her hand is still injured served to be a jarring contrast. It looks a lot worse than it did last time – while it isn’t a fracture, it’s still swollen completely and serious enough for the doctor to recommend not being involved in any intense activity. It must feel absolutely crushing to be told to give up on the individuals in order to let her hand heal, which is almost the reverse of what happened last year, where Mizusawa left the team tournament early due to Chihaya’s fatigue. The fact that her hand hasn’t gotten any better after a night does imply that something is seriously wrong – unlike Kana-chan’s injury, Chihaya kept playing with that hand and ignored the pain, which most likely made it a lot worse.
Yet it would be very unlike Chihaya if she just gave up – we all know of her long-standing sentiments towards the individuals, as well as her desire to play both Arata and Shinobu again. Using her left hand as a substitute was a good idea in theory (as Shinobu is left handed after all), but I guess it just won’t work out in practice – I doubt she’s ever used it to play before, and is completely unfamiliar with any of the arm movements or techniques she’s built up with her right hand. Against an A-Class like Yuube, who beat Nishida (and is all fired up over wanting to play Megumu) I honestly don’t think she stands much of a chance. Hearing is all well and good, but if you can’t physically react, it’s pointless – and pushing her right hand now will definitely get tragic in the long-run. And it’s not just Yuube who’s fired up – Shinobu wants to destroy everyone, Hokuo want to get revenge, and Fujisaki wants to dominate the tables. Oh, and Arata wants to win. I feel for you Shoji. Arata will destroy you.
Arata’s conversation with Taichi was the final thing I wanted to talk about – Arata revealing to Taichi that he wants to win the individuals, and get a scholarship to attend a university in Tokyo, presumably so he can play karuta with Chihaya and Taichi. Sumire’s actually got things spot on – while Chihaya herself might be clueless, Taichi’s very aware of the love triangle in between them, and seems more determined than ever to win Chihaya’s heart for himself. While Arata seemed amicable enough, Taichi’s “you’re my enemy” reply was completely different from how I thought he’d react – even though he’d tried his best to not broach the subject of Arata and clearly wasn’t too fond of him, I didn’t think he’d be this hostile.
