After being unable to spend time together on New Years eve, Hotaru and Saki pick-up where they left off for a New Years gathering with Hotaru’s friends. Hotaru was excited about it since she wants Saki and her friends to get along with each other, but Saki (while he didn’t show it in front of her), wasn’t all about it.
At the very least, it seems Saki has reserved some degree of respect towards Hotaru’s friends, unlike Keigo, who already left a very poor impression on him as Saki knows he was the one who planted those ideas about ‘kissing to find out one’s feelings’ in Hotaru’s head. Keigo also didn’t do himself any favours of prattling on about how Saki’s head over heels for Hotaru, but refuses to share any of that ‘sunshine’ with his classmates. So Saki wasn’t shy of pointing out that he has no intentions of becoming friends, and that he was very annoyed that this gathering happened in the first place. That left Keigo feeling awkward enough for the two to split up on the snack duty. I wouldn’t be surprised if he were to share that side of Saki with Kyo.
But even if he does, the girls on the other-hand, are already far much intuitive on how Saki is feeling. They already have talked to Hotaru about Saki’s personality to a certain degree before, and today both knew Saki wasn’t happy to dragged into this. In fact, in the beginning of the episode, Kyo pointed out how had she had known Hotaru and Saki were still dating, she wouldn’t have invited Hotaru to come to a big group, and even apologized to him. Kyo was also the one to explain to Hotaru how when one’s in love, being apart can feel like an eternity. So if there’s anyone who understands Saki’s grievances best right now, it’s probably safe to place your bets on Kyo. Actually, Saki should be thankful Hotaru has a friend like her to explain the process. If it weren’t for Kyo to break it down to her, it’d probably take Hotaru longer to pick up on these things.
Hotaru’s definitely learning though, as she realized Saki values their time together, so instead of telling him he doesn’t need to walk her home from work, she accepts it. In fact her new job at a bookstore is part of her way of trying to get to know his interests better, as she has noticed he likes to read.
A
nother positive progress thanks to Hotaru’s initiatives this week was learning how to communicate and be open to each other to some extent. Hotaru (thankfully) explained the the reason why she didn’t hold hands with him at the shrine was because she couldn’t help but feel shy about it. Hearing that gave Saki some relief that they are actually making progress, as it points to her becoming more self-conscious of him. The other big thing is that Hotaru finally understands what it means to ‘recharge’ with the person of interest, and that’s being together, getting their fill after being apart for a while.
Hotaru also came to realize that she hasn’t shared much about herself, so she mustered up her courage and explained to him why she’s hesitant about growing her hair back. It’s a bad memory for her, as a friend she trusted pulled an (awful) ‘prank’ on her by cutting her hair. It’s the same one that had the fall-out. Though if I may be so frank, the circumstances is starting to make me wonder whether Hotaru was gaslit into thinking she’s the one at fault back then, and that’s why she’s become so self-conscious over the fact that she doesn’t understand other people’s feelings.
That said, we do know that it is difficult for Hotaru to pick up on some cues, something the simplest things just blows right over her head. A part of it has to do with fact she doesn’t think to include herself in the context. Like when Saki said he needed to recharge, she took it literally– as in needing to charge his phone. What he really wanted was just some quiet alone time with her, since it’s been a while since they’ve seen each other, but I digress.
When Hotaru asked if she could see Saki’s photo album some day, he was quick to shoot it down, claiming he was just a boring kid, nothing interesting to see. Or maybe there’s really not much at all to share, considering how he has been left to his own devices. There’s also the fact he struggled to make friends when he was younger because he’d be transferring in the middle of term, suggesting perhaps he did travel around the world with his parents at some point. If that was the case, it would explain why Saki keeps to himself in class. He’s so used to being the outlier that he decided he just needs one person to think he’s special, and he’ll be happy with that.
It’s also says a lot about how much Saki has given up on receiving anything from anyone for that matter when he doesn’t feel compelled to pray to god since ‘God has never really done anything for him’. Considering the context with his family’s situation, if anything, Saki probably feels as though God takes things from him. And with a not-so-subtle cue for Hotaru to reunite with Yao, from elementary (as seen in her photo album), Saki is bound to feel threatened by it, so we’ll have to see whether his more possessive side he doesn’t like to show Hotaru comes out when that happens.
Side Note: HOTARU SAID SHE LIKED HIS HAIR LONG SO THERE’S HOPE THAT MAYBE, IF SAKI DOESN’T MIND MAINTAINING IT, HE’LL GROW IT LONG AGAIN. THERE MAY BE HOPE FOR LONG HAIRED SAKI AGAIN (IN THE VERY DISTANT FUTURE). MAYBE??? PLEASE????
