The feelings between Yamada and Akane are starting to stir~!
Episode 8
It’s the school festival time, and poor Runa was having a combination of crippling anxiety due to her upcoming entrance exams in hopes to be admitted into Tosei, and not having eaten anything the night before because she wanted to eat all the food. But things got awkward when not only did the entire school seem to be staring down upon the two of them like hawks, but Eita decide to “play” (for the lack of a better word) a joke about how Yamada and Akane should date, and Yamada who is used to Eita’s games played along as usual– except it backfired because the whole thing made Akane super embarrassed. And it sucked for her because she knew it was a joke and how she was supposed to resond, which was to play along and brush it off, but her heart went POOF.
But nice thing about this little mess the had was the active communication to prevent drawn out misunderstandings and awkwardness. Yamada didn’t miss a beat when Akane had ran off because she was so flustered. He was worried that what they did had upset her and wanted to immediately apologize for it, and even called her out by her name! (It was pretty funny though that she had thought he didn’t even know it!) Also side note, that freaking face be made when she said she wasn’t mad— ILLEGAL SIR. MY HEART!!!!!
Thanks to that, Yamada and Akane gave us a tease with their feelings and trickled on the idea of dating each other, but we’re not quite there yet. For now we know that Yamada considers Akane out of his league, in a sense that she’s too good for a “nobody” like him (funny he says that considering he’s a pro gamer and all, and even if he wasn’t, he’s still the furthest from a “nobody”). As for Akane, she is definitely interested in him too, to the point that she accidentally blurted things out that she otherwise would have preferred to keep zipped. Luckily she did manage to barely cover it up, and on the bright side, she got an unexpected good answer from Yamada. And that’s something I really like about him, he doesn’t beat around the bush, and is straight-forward with his feelings and answers.
Episode 9
This week Akane was coming down with a cold and because of an unreliable co-worker she had to cover him for him even when she wasn’t feeling well. Unfortunately that only worsened her condition, and she ended up getting seriously ill to the point she couldn’t drink anything, hardly stand up, and worse off couldn’t think straight enough to realize she could have just ordered take-out instead of hauling herself outside in attempt to ride a bike, which she thankfully realized was a freaking stupid idea considering she’s having trouble just standing upright!
But perhaps it was a good thing that she did wander outside when she did because when she had called Runa to let her know she wouldn’t be able to play with her, Yamada was tutoring at the time so he was able to hear about her poor condition. Considering he had known she had been coming down with a bad cold for a while now, thankfully he went to check-up on her, and sure enough she ended up passing out outside. But had that happened within her apartment, Yamada might have not been able to get inside unless the door was left unlocked.
However this episode does show us where Akane considers her relationship with Yamada at the moment. Throughout the episode, Akane had been wondering about how she feels about Yamada, and while a part of her wouldn’t mind being in a romantic relationship with him, the other half of her feels she shouldn’t feel that way about him, and they should simply stay as friends. We also saw where she draws the line at the moment. When she was sick, the first and only person she thought of contacting was her friend Momo. But even when Momo couldn’t be reached, she didn’t even think of calling Yamada. And this is probably because not only she is the older one, but she wouldn’t want to inconvenience him— and not to mention, the only reason why she has his number in the first place is because Runa added it herself. Heck, she didn’t even want to take the bus in consideration of not wanting to spread her germs to others, so she thought of taking the bike instead.
That said, this event will probably serve as a turning point in their relationship– at least to some extent, as we can clearly tell that Yamada cares about Akane enough to check up on her when she’s sick. We have seen him thinking a lot about his feelings towards her lately, and has established in the last episode that he is certainly not opposed to the idea of dating her, in fact it would be considered an honour. His classmate Yukari who was briefly announced to be joining their guild in FOS this week also has been playing a part in inadvertently prompting him to think more about how he feels about Akane as well. Though the girl is sort of shooting herself in the foot by doing so because while she is crushing hard on him, she is asking him about what sort of girl her rival is, and even goes as far to questioning if he likes her. All of these things contribute to making Yamada confront and analyze his feelings a little more each time.
And lastly as for Runa dealing with the new member (Yukari) joining the guild. Runa remains very possessive of those in her circle, but now especially of Akane since she’s afraid the new girl will hog all of her time and attention, and she doesn’t want that. It appears she didn’t quite fully learn her lesson of not to sabotage those who join their circle, but thankfully thanks to being able to vent to Akane about it, Akane was able help her calm down and purge that thought process. Still, hopefully she gets rid of that book of doom altogether (sooner than later).
Anyhow, since the episode ended with a cliffhanger we’ll have to wait till next week to see the rest of it. :3c Yamada been super smooth this episode, so I’m looking forward to seeing him take care of her and I cannot wait heheh~!
