Episode 4
THEY. ARE. SO. FREAKING. CUTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And that’s it! That’s the episode!
Okay more seriously, Rin gets really flustered and shy around Kyouya real quickly so she invited Yuki and Itsuomi to join them. But Kyouya mentioned to Rin that he personally had some reservations about what’s driving Itsuomi’s interest in learning Sign Language because Yuki is the only one who speaks it in their circle. Kyouya doesn’t want to see Yuki get hurt like other girls who had fallen for Itsuomi. Though to counter that point: The fact he wants to learn the language is a good thing because he wants to be able to communicate with her better! But that said, it seems Itsuomi was able to pretty much kill that concern on his own with how affectionately he spoke to Yuki during their shopping trip to Costaco, so much so, that Kyouya and Rin were shook! It is a bit bittersweet though, to know someone spoke in an affectionate note, but will never get a chance to actually hear it. It made Yuki happy, but it also made her wonder what he sounds like when he speaks with her in general. But like Itsuomi said earlier, our eyes can convey our feelings and our words. And I think Yuki will come to notice a pattern in his expressions when he speaks a certain tone over time.
Then we have Oushi, and man this guy is sooooo childish. It’s no wonder that Yuki doesn’t want to deal with him. The pouting, the way he plays with her hair, and in ways being clingy, leaving Yuki unimpressed with how immature he’s being. The sad thing is, I can’t even feel bad for him because he believes Yuki needs to be constantly protected, and gets all huffy and puffy when she forms relationships with others who don’t speak sign language. It’s a shame really, because it makes it as though his character only exists to serve as a “road bump” and nothing more than that.
As for Emma, I don’t know what the heck is going on with this girl. It feels like she’s just bouncing back and forth between Shin and Itsuomi, like she can’t make up her mind. She comes off as spoiled in a sense, like with Shin taking her to a fancy place to eat. She also isn’t too pleased to see that Itsuomi has picked up yet another language of study. She just comes off as a very self-centered and selfish girl.
Episode 5
Since Itsuomi invited Yuki to his place to eat, the two of them got some nice alone time to get to know each other more. They learned a lot about each other’s families, the language spoken (and not spoken). What stood out to Itsuomi the most though was learning Yuki can speak, but she doesn’t because she had been told she has a weird voice. She’s so self-conscious about it, that she only speaks aloud with her family and makes an effort not to even laugh aloud because of it. Itsuomi however was very curious and decided he’d do whatever he could to hear that little voice, and managed to suceed when he did make her laugh. It was endearing to watch, and it’ll be a very sweet moment when Yuki eventually feels comfortable enough to engage a bit more verbally with him (such as laughing aloud more freely), even if it’s just a little bit.
That said, the significance of Itsuomi’s interest in learning Sign Language to Yuki cannot be understated when not even her own family has learned to speak it. And while there’s technology, paper and gestures and lipreading, I still find that quite sad and lonely that they don’t. So Itsuomi being the one to take the initiative to do so is a powerful thing, especially since she has already fallen for him.
Of course it can be argued that Oushi had done the same thing… except the way he went about it was terrible as a kid (doing to challenge Yuki, or whatever it was), and the way he feels Yuki needs to be coddled to death is suffocating to be around. So it’s no wonder that Yuki doesn’t harbour any attraction towards him, but I digress.
Ah, speaking of annoying secondary characters… Poor Itsuomi is stuck with clingy Emma, who much my annoyance is the type to deliberately stir up misunderstandings to sabotage relationships. She deliberately thanked him loudly for letting her stay the night– which blew up in her face because not only did Yuki not hear her (having her back to her), it ticked Itsuomi off. Unfortunately Yuki did see her return the key, as well as seeing her cling to Itsuomi like a leech, which only made her feel uncomfortable about the whole thing despite her logic rationing there can’t be anything going on if he were going to walk her back anyways. But her anxiety was greater, so she ended up leaving before Itsuomi should shake Emma off and resolve the misunderstanding. And to make matters worse, Itsuomi had tried to catch up to Yuki, but ended up running the opposite direction she had!
However since Emma interrupted them during their important discussion, Itsuomi made a point to find an opportunity to talk to Yuki again. Hearing that it’s because he wants to be able to talk to her more gave her that reassurance she needed to finish what she was going to tell him the night before: “Everything”, which led to Itsuomi laying a very sweet kiss to her hand!
On that note, it’s hilarious in a way how Itsuomi and Yuki are progressing much faster with their relationship than Kyouya and Rin (and poor Rin, who is just STRUGGLING because of she’s so nervous) because they are a lot more upfront with their feelings and expressions. Yuki of course is still flustered and shy about it, but she’s willing to take that leap of faith with Itsuomi. That’s why Itsuomi is the special exception when it comes to touch. These two were already snuggling when they were hanging out at his apartment for supper! They are the MVPs when it comes to skinship, because for them it’s a key part of how they communicate with each other!
