Seiren – Episode 3 [In the Men’s Bath]

It’s been a week since the summer cram school began, and Shouichi’s not doing so hot. His classmates don’t seem to like him or Hikari very much, and after he suggests to Hikari that they talk less in class, she seems to grow distant from him. The silver lining to Shouichi’s unpopularity is that this means his time in the summer cram course progresses somewhat smoothly; talking less to Hikari means that Shouichi can actually focus on his studies.

He’s studying one night when Hikari knocks on his door pretending to be a cat. She pushes her way into the room and says she’ll study with him, but she quickly grows bored. Shouichi of course is getting no studying done because he’s distracted (and aroused) by the bare soles of her feet.

Hikari announces that she wants to show Shouichi her new bikini, and she wants to do this by taking him into the men’s bath. He has no bathing suit so he wears Hikari’s pareo, what is essentially a wrap-around skirt. They sneak down to the bath and he compliments her suit, and then they get into the water together. The bath curfew for students is 9pm, so if they get caught they’d be in a lot of trouble.

Of course, someone approaches the bath and Hikari hides by holding her breath underwater. The intruder is one of the student teachers, Araki. He scolds Shouichi for being in the bath past the allowed time and tells him to get out, but Shouichi is still turned on from Hikari’s bikini and so when he gets out of the bath… yeah. Araki gets all flustered and runs away with some lame excuse, and Shouichi and Hikari return to their rooms. However they’re both a little flustered from Hikari fainting in the bath, so Hikari suggests they go for a walk.

They sit down by the empty outdoor pool, and Shouichi confronts her about her lie that the mixer trip being a “family trip.” She uses some twisted logic to say that she could have a family with one of the participants one day, so therefore it wasn’t a lie. o_O   Shouichi follows up that question by asking about her feelings for Araki and asking about her workplace.

However, this latter question sets Hikari off. She reveals that someone ratted her out to her parents for working after school, and she got in trouble with their school’s disciplinary committee. Shouichi denies that it was him, but Hikari’s behaviour towards him for the remainder of the summer cram course indicates that she may not totally believe him.

Once everyone returns home and life goes back to normal, Hikari visits her old boss and asks him for his help with something (which is not revealed to the viewer). Back at home she talks to a friend on the phone, and spots something suspicious in her call history.

The next day, Shouichi is walking with a female classmate and they tease each other about hitting on girls together. Shouchi spots Hikari as they walk to school, and she seems unhappy about seeing Araki walking with another girl. Hikari spots Shouichi but declines to talk to him, and that’s where the episode ends.

My thoughts: Ok, so this wasn’t as weird as the last episode I reviewed. I’m still not totally sold on Seiren, but this route is almost over and I’m looking forward to seeing what the next one will be like. I guess Hikari is just not the best girl in my book, although she was substantially less irritating in this episode so I’m thankful for that.