UGH MY EMOTIONS! Satowa’s backstory hurts my heart. After her father had passed away, while Satowa was happy to look out for her mother, she sacrificed so much for it, only to be all for naught. The loving mother she wanted to protect was no more, and instead became a stranger. Satowa had tried and tried again to reach out to her mother, until finally she met her breaking point and decided to play her own piece in a competition instead of performing Yaegoromono. By doing so, she was disqualified, but it was the price she was willing to pay in hopes for her mother to finally hear her cry. Unfortunately it didn’t, instead her mother claimed the koto as a weapon. It was hard to watch the distance grow between them, along with Satowa’s desperation to reclaim the blissfully happy days that had been lost alongside with her father.
We also got to learn the real reason why Satowa had come to this school and joined their club was because she had seen the former club members and Takezou’s performance. It didn’t matter to her that they weren’t good, what made her want to join their club was how it looked like they were having so much fun.
With Satowa with a fever, we got some fluffy moments between her and Chika. He is so sweet, I can’t! It was so cute how he caught her, and then because of her failed instructions, he accidentally opened the bra drawer! He also ends up finding a DVD of her performance from the national competition where she rebelled, and after “asking permission” (kekeke hardly!), he watched it. But the fact it made Chika cry goes to show the weight of Satowa’s despair, and despite how loud she had cried, her feelings still didn’t reach her mother. It’s no wonder Satowa had given up on the Koto for a period of time. She had lost control of her life, and was tried of sacrificing so much to get nothing in return.
Also bonus points: He stayed overnight to take care of her, and even made her porridge for breakfast!
Hiro is a quite messy character. She was hurt quite badly in the past by a transfer student who turned everyone, including her friends and boyfriend against her so that she could take them all for herself. Hiro couldn’t understand how or why that had to happen, and began to wonder if all relationships were just that fragile. As result, she started to inflict her own wounds onto other people, by putting their bonds to the test and would easily tear them apart. And because it was so successful, she kept on doing it— not that it’s okay, it’s inexcusable what she has done. But when she tries to use Satowa’s secret against her, to her surprise, not only was Satowa willing to open up about it, but the boys were not upset about her not telling them she had actually been basically kicked out from both home and her family’s koto school. And frankly, that’s how it should be. This is a huge personal matter to Satowa, so it has always been in her right to open up whenever she felt ready. In fact, Chika had a great response when he found out about her living situation. He didn’t push her to open up about it, he simply told her he’s ready to listen whenever she was ready to talk about it.
And what makes Hiro realize how stupid she has been, and how her actions were only sabotaging herself of attaining healthy friendships was when she expirences what makes the Koto Club such a tightly-knitted group in the first place. Despite the shit she had been trying to pull, they didn’t lash out against her. Aside from the pure-hearted trios who didn’t catch her malicious intentions, Takezou, Satowa and Chika were all willing to give her a second chance, and it wasn’t simply out of good heart, but because they recognized something had pushed her to behave this way. Takezou wanted to understand why Hiro does these things to kill time, so he confronts her to tell her: If she ever wants to talk about it, he is willing to hear her out. Satowa also took the initiative to reach out to her, because she realized Hiro was jealous of how much fun they were having altogether. As for Chika, he had been keeping a close eye on her from the moment she joined the club. He knew she up stirring up trouble, and put his foot down when it was needed, but given his nature and past, I highly suspect he subconsciously recognized she was someone who needs to be in the right environment to correct her ways, which she did by apologizing to the others by the end of the episode. This goes to show that Hiro deep down isn’t a nasty girl at heart, but someone who had gone astray after getting hurt. Now that she’s with a great group of people, she too has the opportunity now to turn a new leaf. And honestly, it’s actually quite a beautiful thing how this club and its members this year are all individuals who needed a fresh start.
Last but not least, it was great to see Takezou actually lose his cool for once. It’s just another step of him leaving the shell of his timid self behind. I absolutely loved the way he responded to Hiro after she lashed out, and as well how he followed up on it. Luckily for us, next episode, it looks like Takezou will be in center of spotlight so there is a lot to look forward to!
