OOOOOOOOH SNAP. And thus the love triangle rears its ugly head, causing teenage angst and deteriorating friendships. YAAAAYYYYYY.
But before that, I honestly was getting pretty anxious throughout this episode. Especially when it started out with Yamabuki offering to show Hitomi some good spots to take photos and THEN got jealous when he saw a picture of Hitomi and Yuito together. Just the tip of the jealousy iceberg there. But it doesn’t stop there. I honestly thought the love triangle stuff was done with. How foolish I was because this episode definitely put it in full swing. Asagi notices several pictures of Yamabuki looking over at Hitomi and understandably gets pretty jealous. Because while before it was subtle, it is VERY noticeable now.
It’s definitely at this point where Yamabuki has fallen pretty hard for Hitomi, even flinching when Yuito brings her up by name. Yamabuki even seems to be very proactive in going after Hitomi. He even tells Yuito straight out that he is spending the day with her. Honestly, this whole episode has a very uncomfortable vibe because of how on edge everyone was. After hearing that Yamabuki was spending the day with Hitomi, Yuito was kind of out of it the entire episode. Being more awkward than usual and making mistakes at work. (I laughed hard at how much he said that customer’s total was lol) And Asagi is anxious because of the attention Yamabuki is giving Hitomi. Even Kohaku seems somewhat uneasy about the whole thing. Probably because she knows that Asagi is crushing on him.
But dang, I was surprised that Yamabuki and Hitomi spent the ENTIRE day together. For some reason I didn’t expect them to be hanging with each other from sun up to sun down. However, the whole thing definitely looked like a date of some sort. Especially when Yamabuki gave Hitomi an ice cream. While I felt pretty relaxed during their little outing, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread by the end of it because I just knew what was coming. And boy howdy was I right because Yamabuki finally confessed. I was like screaming OH NO the entire time. This confession has definitely been built up to for a while now and I was just waiting to see when it would happen.
Unfortunately, Hitomi wasn’t emotionally ready for such a thing and Yamabuki didn’t help in the fact that his confession was a bit too forceful with him saying “I want you to go out with me” instead of asking. Though, considering that symbolism earlier in the episode with the signal light going from red to green pretty much indicated that Yamabuki was stepping on the gas. But man, seeing Hitomi get so distressed over a confession was hard to watch. I was afraid she was going to shrink back into herself again.
However, being the best support a person can have, Kohaku does her best to help Hitomi. I just love how Kohaku figured out almost immediately that Yamabuki confessed to her. I also chuckled at the fact that when Hitomi asked Kohaku hypothetically if someone confessed to her and she wasn’t interested, almost all the girls in their class were suddenly around them. Also, did those two boys who looked dejected like Hitomi? It feels like it kinda came out of nowhere since those two guys were literally the ones who were the most wary of Hitomi to begin with. Though we haven’t seen much of the classmates in a while, which probably took away from the moment a little. ANYWAYS, Kohaku offers Hitomi some solid advice to stop running away and just telling Yamabuki that she doesn’t see him in that way. Though I did sad “aww” at the fact the no one has ever confessed to Kohaku before. YOU’LL FIND YOUR HUSBAND ONE DAY KOHAKU.
Hitomi finally confronts Yamabuki about his confession and I honestly felt pretty sad for the guy. I don’t know if I necessarily ship them, but I did feel like it would be an interesting twist if Hitomi did try dating him, but we all knew she had strong feelings for Yuito so that wasn’t happening. However, the fact that she said she never believed herself to be desirable was really sad and pretty much hints towards her circumstances in her present time. (I’m still SUPER curious about Hitomi’s past) And while it probably hurt Hitomi to hurt one of her friends, I think this definitely helped push her in realizing her feelings for Yuito since she told Yamabuki that she has someone she’s interested in already. And being the bro that he is, Yamabuki gracefully accepted her answer, telling her he can finally move on. Though afterwards he belted out the most sudden scream that probably scared the living daylights out of the other students, myself included. Poor guy… Though I do have to admit I started laughing halfway through it… Sorry Yamabuki… I’m terrible…
However, when I thought we could move on from this love triangle shenanigans, Asagi basically throws her feelings for Yamabuki in Hitomi’s face and runs off. I understand being a teenage girl with a crush is hard but don’t take it out on your friend! Asagi frustrates me. I understand that her portrayal is very human, but that’s probably why she frustrates me. I’m just worried what this will mean for Hitomi since this whole thing has left her unintentionally hurting two of her precious friends. Will her magic spiral out of control with her hurt feelings? UGH THIS IS WHY LOVE TRIANGLES ARE THE WORST.
I got so absorbed into this episode that I didn’t even realize how far in I was until the end. I’m also enjoying the little details in the characters. Like how Hitomi’s voice SOUNDS so much more expressive and even how perceptive Fukazawa is towards his friends. AH THE FINE DETAILS. However, looking back at it, I feel like this episode was slightly unnecessary. I only say slightly because we all knew that the build up to Yamabuki’s confession had to pay off some time and I think they handled it rather well. However, it felt like hindered the progress of Hitomi’s declaration of staying in the past. Though I suppose this may possibly be building up to Hitomi losing control of her magic again and will have to be sent back to the future. But we’ll see what happens from here since things look to be ramping up for the finale.
