Hige wo Soru. Soshite Joshikousei wo Hirou – Ep 3

I must say, the opening scene really surprised me with how much they showed. But while it was uncomfortable to see, it was also important to show the kind of experience Sayu has had leading up to this point. That is why she has been having a hard time grasping with Yoshida’s kindness, feeling like she hadn’t been able to give him something equivalent of value in return. She doesn’t believe in unconditional kindness, and because he is so good to her, she has grown terrified of being kicked out.

So when Yoshida let he know he had gone to the movies with a work colleague, Sayu had left the house to check who he had gone to the movies only to see he was with a woman, she became jealous, scared and worried about her situation and decided not to return home. She was found by Mishima, who gave her some words of encouragement to speak from the heart, and that’s exactly what she did.

And it makes sense why Sayu feels that way.  Up until now, the way she survived was offering her body as the “benefit” for being taken in. She talked about how sometimes didn’t mind because she felt “needed” and “fulfilled”, but let’s just set something straight here: Just because she says those things doesn’t mean it was a pleasurable experience. We saw that in the opening scene, where she was a dead-fish and clearly was not having a good time, much less interested in the engagement. And these experiences were sure to take a toll on her overtime when she would be repeatedly kicked back out onto the streets, and the cycle would start all over again.

But it’s also because her benefit strategy was so successful that she couldn’t wrap her head around why Yoshida adamantly refuses, and has shown no interest whatsoever in having sex with her. Even when she tries to seduce him by touching him. But finally today, she got a concrete answer: He is not in love with her.

[SALUTES] Seriously, I have all the respect for Yoshida right now (honestly I’m almost afraid I’m giving him too much credit because it’s still early on). Even when she stripped herself to her undies, he didn’t bat an eye and the first thing he told her was put her clothes back on and then they’ll talk. But even after she refused to do so, Yoshida recognized she had something important on her mind to say, so he didn’t push it any further and just listened. And yet even when she touched him he said NOPE. Sure he was turned on, (whether it was a good idea to admit he was turned on can be left up to debate, but personally I think that was the right thing to do. It reinforced his conviction to keep that line drawn, and lying about it could have backfired,) but the fact he didn’t even flinch from his stance was what mattered most.

For Yoshida, it would upset him to sleep with her because she is not a girl he is in love with. Having sex is something he would rather do with someone he cares deeply about. Instead he turned the focus back onto her, telling her about her good qualities and how the little things such as just being there is enough for him. Home used to be a place where loneliness would be at its peak, but now that he has someone to talk to, eat with and life is more fun now because he has someone to share it with. Thanks to that, home is has become a place he looks forward returning to, and that is more than enough.

As for Mishima, since she just happened to find Sayu and Yoshida encountered them int he park while looking for her, the cat is officially out of the bag. She is expecting an explanation, but honestly I’m a little worried about her character. I thought she was cute last week, but this week I felt she came off a little too headstrong for my taste. I really liked her conversation with Sayu today, and I would like to see more of that in the future…. But I’m not sure if it’ll last once she considers Sayu an obstacle for pursuing Yoshida… It would be nice to see the women positively support her too.

Next week Sayu’s getting a part-time job! Our girl is making progress! One step at a time!