Well so much for Minato’s chances of getting closer to Koyuki this winter break! Not only were everyone busy with work and club activities, he sadly missed the one opportunity to hang out altogether at Miki’s work because of club practice. Upon realization what he had missed (since it was never specified what they were going to be doing), he ended up feeling understandably left out. But hilariously for the entire duration of the break, and into the new semester, Minato constantly found himself shell-shocked by how Koyuki would slip into his mind, or how he’d freeze up and have all sorts of complicated feelings whenever he sees Koyuki and Youta seemingly getting closer to each other. The poor guy is losing his mind because he hasn’t realized that he’s already subconsciously falling for Koyuki!
Another thing we did get this week was some backstory covering why Minato’s the way he is. It appears he has never really understood what drives one’s ‘feelings’. He simply likens them to the brain sending signals, so he thinks it’s a no-brainer to be able to keep them in check. That’s why he didn’t understand why his brother was having such an emotional outburst about their parents not supporting his dreams. But what he also had come to learn, if you show too much of your emotions, it can be used against you.
And so because he doesn’t understand where ‘feelings’ really come from, he can’t fathom with why he can’t stop thinking about Koyuki. For a guy who has yet to truly fall in love (and realize it!), all while having a bad habit of being overly analytical, it’s going to be interesting to see how he’s going to come around to unravelling all these feelings he never previously understood.
Following last week when Miki felt like she’s the one to blame for Koyuki’s failed romance, we got a flashback to help fill in why she feels that way. Back then, Miki been having terrible luck with dating, and after getting freshly dumped and ghosted yet again, she ended up taking out that frustration on Koyuki. At the time she didn’t know that Koyuki was being bullied, so when she thoughtlessly told her she’s being too greedy and should be grateful for being liked by someone, she didn’t realize how that was going to get twisted. Koyuki’s mind was already in a fragile state, and in that moment she interpreted it as Igarashi is the ‘last person’ who will keeping liking her, so she should take his hand before he changes his mind. This whole conversation was honestly messed up because you had Miki literally going on about, “‘Well sure there’s a lot to dislike about him,” and yet says in the same sentence, “but he’s so into you.” See the problem here? The first part is the red flag that obviously, she SHOULDN’T even be considering dating him if there’s parts of him she finds repulsive.
Honestly I’m not sure how Miki plans to remedy this, if ever. Since she has acknowledged it, this is something that she and Koyuki probably should if not needs to sit down and talk about sometime. Yes it will involve digging up old wounds, but until this gets sorted out, Miki’s going to be haunted by the fact she was a contributor to the mess that unfolded between Igarashi and Koyuki, which completely destroyed Koyuki’s faith in love and relationships. Though considering (thanks to her boss) she finds herself now shipping Koyuki and Youta together, it’ll be interesting to see if that might either be a motivating factor to confront it, or choose stay out of it because she’s afraid she might make mistakes again if she makes the wrong input.
Speaking of relationships, it was very nice to see Koyuki and Youta fleshing out their friendship more this week. While Minato thinks and is worried about Koyuki’s falling for Youta romantically at the moment, that’s not quite the case (just yet, if ever). Koyuki feels incredibly relaxed and comfortable around Youta. She even had a moment when she wished she could be like him, being able to just zone out and quiet the mind since she knows she tends to get overwhelmed by her own thoughts. And by the end of the episode, when she got lifted because of an awkward positing standing on the hill, it made he realize the reason why she’s so comfortable around him is because he reminds her a lot of her father when she was little. I was actually surprised she even told him since that can potentially be super embarrassing to say. Youta seems to have been greatly amused by the comparison, so there’s that at least. He had even joked that if she were his daughter, he’d always have to go to the Lost Child Center every time they go out, haha!
But it’s thanks to hanging out for as long as they’ve had, that at long last, we finally got to see a glimpse into the complicated life Youta has. It’s been clear for while now, that as relaxed Youta looks, just like everyone else, he’s got a lot of stuff on his plate too– and that matters involves his family.
While escorting Koyuki to the station, they happened across his stepmother, who much to Koyuki’s shock looks as young as them. His birth mother passed away while he was still in Elementary so it appears his father has since remarried to someone much younger than him. Perhaps this may be what Minato was referring to, though there could still be other reasons (such as the hints Youta might like Miki), that have yet to be disclosed. For the time being, Youta says since it’s been a while since his mother’s death, the family he has feels normal to him.
That said, it’s a bit difficult for me to gauge what might be going through Koyuki’s mind right now. Whether it’s regret for presuming the woman had been his sister, or is relating to the pain of not having one of their parents around any longer, either way she did look quite upset on his behalf. Nonetheless, even though Koyuki thinks of them to be ‘Polar Opposites’ (nice Easter-egg reference here by the way), perhaps they may not be as different as she thinks of them to be.
Last but not least, it was lovely to see Koyuki being able to interact with another one of her classmates, Shimojima. After being forced into the library committee, with the two having to work together, Koyuki had the chance to clear up a bit of her reputation as the Queen of Ice. A great step-forward!
