This week, Taiki found himself paired off not only to go up against Haryu for singles scrimmages, but also to be his partner for doubles! Now this is Taiki’s biggest opportunity to show that he keep up the pace to be included in the starting lineup!
And man, HARYU’S SUCH A TROLL!! After he overheard Taiki talking about how he likes Chinatsu, Haryu saw that as a ripe opportunity to bait him hard, and boy did make the most of it. It’s funny because Kyou called Taiki masochist, where as Haryu’s friends called him a sadist. Well, they certainly weren’t wrong about that hahaha! But at least he was earnest with his strict training, because he too recognizes Taiki’s potential and most importantly, his drive to improve.
But believe me when I say I’m glad there isn’t a love triangle between Chinatsu and these two. It just makes things a lot less complicated. Sure that could’ve added some beefy rivalry on top of the whole badminton game, but it probably would’ve been over the top and kind of muddle on the fact they are both very focus on their game.
At first I was a little worried about where Haryu was going when he started trash talking Taiki, but thankfully he turned that around to make the point that Taiki has great potential. And he certainly does, as he is presently the only first year who is able to keep-up with Haryu’s rigorous training to really push him to the limit. Taiki’s absolutely worn out, but he’s taking it with stride because he’s highly motivated to improve.
Also as it turns out, Haryu just recently got a girlfriend who’s in show business. The other day when he and Chinatsu were walking home together, it was because Chinatsu was helping him find makeup to give to his girlfriend. and it was endearing how shy he was about it when he finally admitted it.
Aside from Haryu’s hilarious trolling, I really appreciated this week’s episode finally focused on just how engrossed Taiki is in the sport. We really got to see how contrary to how much he freaks out about Chinatsu, above all, badminton is his number one priority. We saw how he was constantly reflecting on his performance, critiquing himself to remember what points of weaknesses he needs to work on and polish up. He wants to win, so it’s frustrating to not be able to take control of the match, and constantly have to adapt to how his opponent (in this case, Haryu) is dictating the pace of the game.
First round left him with 4 VS 11, but the second time they went up against each other was 21 – 15 (though sadly we didn’t get to see this part). We were told the time it took him to score another 10 points to get to 21, Taiki scored had managed to 11 points! That’s actually pretty big deal when you think about it. Not to mention they also had a long rally, which points to both of his tenacity and stamina to keep up with Haryu.
Best of all, I absolutely love how focused Taiki is on his goal. So much so, that even Kyou underestimated how focused Taiki was during his first scrimmage against Haryu. He thought for sure Taiki would be distracted by his imaginations running wild about Haryu and Chinatsu being close to each other. But nope, that didn’t cross his mind for a second. Badminton is presently taiki’s true love at the moment, and that will be his number one, just as basketball is to Chinatsu.
Speaking of Chinatsu, oh goodness, when she brought out the badminton rackets to play together in the park, I thought it the cutest thing ever! It was so nice to see her take the initiative this time of (attempting) to practice with him, just has he has done with her for basketball. Spoiler alert: She’s terrible at serving for badminton ahahaha! I can totally relate to that because I’m pretty bad at that part too! I really enjoy playing it though!!!
That said, I do wonder if Chinatsu has already started falling for Taiki a little bit. It seems disagrees with Taiki’s assessment that it “might not bother her” (aka, embarrassing) to be seen walking home together. The two of them really are kindred spirits and that’s a big part why they are just clicking so well together right now. Both of them are wholeheartedly devoted to their game, and are laser-focused on their goals, so it really does makes them seem like a match-made in heaven.
