I was afraid things were going to turn ugly where the last episode left off, but it was strangely calm on the train ride home with the three of them. Nothing was said between them, Akira only shared her lollipops with them. However, it doesn’t mean things are just okay now.
First off, I’m glad that Miyao called out Haruo on his feelings. He really needs to do something!! Anyway, it looks like Akira is finally going to make her move and the girls are going to have a real fight just between them in order to prove themselves. And of course win…Haruo, I guess. It gave me a kick when Makoto said Haruo wouldn’t even make a decent consolation prize. This boy is so damn dense, but it totally makes sense why Akira cares about him so much.
With her dark humor, Akira has Haruo get kidnapped and taken to her house. As usual, Akira doesn’t say anything but once Makoto explains to Haruo’s mom, it’s so Akira can get even with Hidaka. Hidaka spent a night with Haruo in Shibuya, and now she wants to spend a night with him playing video games and hanging out and also sleeping over (in a separate room). While Haruo didn’t think she was totally mad, she was still a little upset with what happened at Shibuya. What with the kidnapping, then making her butler buy only the Final Fight games and specifically picking the blonde female characters so Haruo couldn’t pick them. Pretty obvious here, Haruo you dummy! At least Haruo was able to realize and remember his middle school times with Akira when he popped in the first Final Fight game, the game they played together when they were younger. It was a pretty sweet scene, how he thanked her for worrying over him, asking to play SF Alpha 2 together again, and just going over his memories of them. I thought after he said all those things about hating her when they were kids, to now playing games with her in her room that he would MAYBE just POSSIBLY finally realize his feelings for her. Finally put two and two together or accidentally blurt out he likes her. Sigh…
But I’m looking forward to what’s going to happen next. When Haruo goes home and he suffers endless teasing from Makoto and his mother, Akira goes to Hidaka’s place and asks her to hang out together at the arcade. Not believing it was just a normal hang out, she realizes that it’s way more serious than that. Akira brought her there to seriously compete against her. Haruo’s mom describes this whole situation in fighting game terms. Both Hidaka and Akira won rounds 1 and 2 respectively, but this is the final showdown. Hopefully this will really put an end to things. But while the competition will end between them, Haruo really needs some self reflection. But I’m looking forward to seeing the girls seriously compete since we’ve never seen them this serious before. But…being Hidaka is really suffering.
This was a slower episode with lots of laughs, but I’m excited for next time. As usual, Makoto and Haruo’s mom together are such a riot. Haruo’s mom’s snoring is insanely hilarious, and the entire scene was just priceless. They really do make the show even more fun.
